52 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



bushels. Though the quality is not first- 

 class, being rather acid for an eating Apple, 

 for baking purposes it can not be surpassed. 

 They come in very nicely in February and 

 March. We have kept them perfectly until 

 the Middle of April, Our trees of this vari- 

 ety produce a fair crop every year. This 

 year nearly all of our Apples, consisting of 

 some fifty varieties, are an entire failure; 

 a few producing fair to good crops. The 

 Streintovvn Pippin, Boston Russett, York 

 Stripe, and Great Bearer are the only kinds 

 in the whole lot that are at all doing well; 

 last fall all varieties had an extra heavy 

 crop. 



The small, red Apple I send is the " Great 

 Bearer." This is a sweet variety and pro- 

 duces wonderfully, the trees appearing like 

 a solid red mass of fruit. Last fall they 

 were literally covered with ,\pp!es, and this 

 fall they are nearly as full. Though they 

 are very good as an eating Apple in the win- 

 ter, their chief value is as a cider Apple. 

 Being a certain heavy bearer, this variety is 

 valued as the first for cider-making pur- 

 poses. Neither of these varieties have been 

 very widely disseminated, though they have 

 been grown twenty-five or more years in 

 this and ad.ioining counties." 



Local Peach. During our recent visit at 

 the fruit farms in the northern part of this 

 county, and near Niagaraon-the-Lake, Can- 

 ada, we became acquainted with the Long- 

 hurst Crawford, a fine Peach of the Smock 

 type (probably a Smock Seedling) much 

 grown in that vicinity. Its quality is decid- 

 edly good. Our friend Henry Lutts tells us 

 that the tree is a remarkable bearer, never 

 missing a crop, and the fruit much esteemed 

 by canners. It was found in the garden of 

 a Mr. Longhurst some tliirty years ago. 



Remedies For The Striped Cucum- 

 ber Beetle 



We have met the enemy and we were 

 theirs — that is about the outcome of our last 

 season's experience with the striped Cu- 

 cumber beetle (i5(((7)rot((o vitiata). Altera 

 short and decisive fight we conceded our 

 utter defeat; but now think it is time we 

 should repair our weapons and prepare for 

 another test of strength. 



In the first place it may be well to find out 

 by what methods and devices we can 

 not hope to conquer. In this respect we are 

 aided by a number of experiments made by 

 Mr. C. M. Weed, of the Ohio Experiment 

 Station, and reported in a recent bulletin of 

 that station. Mr. Weed comes to conclu- 

 sions, which, it may be hoped, will put for- 

 ever at rest the "infallable remedies" 

 which heretofore have been making the 

 rounds of the agricultural press every season. 

 The methods proposed for preventing the 

 injuries and depredations of this insect may 

 be divided into four classes, says Mr. Weed, 

 viz.: (1) Keeping away by strong odors, 

 supposed to be offensive to the beetles. (3) 

 Coating the plant with substances making 

 a mechanical barrier to their feeding. (3) 

 coating the plants with poisonous subtances. 

 (4) Fencing out the insects by enclosing the 

 plants inside some form' of tent or gauze- 

 covered frame. 



Protection by Offensive Odors. It is 

 often stated that the injuries of the striped 

 beetle may be prevented by covering the 

 earth about the plants with hen manure. 

 Accordingly, 23 hills were given a liberal 

 application of this substance June 11. The 

 day following it rained, so that the manure 

 was put in as effective condition as it well 

 could be. The second day, however, the 

 beetles were working upon these hills in 

 great numbers, and the third day they had 

 ruined a large proportion of the plants. 



Five hills were treated with cow manure 

 in the same manner as in the experiment 

 just described, but the results were but a lit- 



tle better. The beetles did not seem affected 

 by the application. 



It is frequently stated that the striped 

 beetle can be kept at bay by placing rags 

 saturated with kerosene on the hills. We 

 gave the method a thorough trial, but as 

 our results show it is of little practical value. 



Bisulphide of carbon is occasionally rec- 

 ommended as a preventive of the injuries 

 of this insect. We tested it twice on three 

 hills, each time pouring it in holes in the 

 soil, closing them immediately. Wherever 

 the holes were made near the plants the 

 latter were injured by the bisulphide; and 

 in no case could any effect upon the number 

 of beetles be seen. 



Carbolic acid was tried in the same 

 manner as the kerosene experiment, strips 

 of thick felt paper dipped in crude carbolic 

 acid being laid upon the hills, in the vicinity 

 of, but not in contact with the plants. The 

 results of this experiment were the most 

 promising of any of this class of preventives. 

 The beetles seemed very sensitive to the 

 odor, and only worked sparingly upon the 

 plants, which survived in fairly good condi- 

 tion, while neighboring plants, protected by 

 kerosene and other substances, were de- 

 stroyed. There is danger, however, of in- 

 juring the plant foliifge by using this sub- 

 stance. Wherever the plants were touched 

 by the paper strips the leaves were destroyed , 

 and in some cases the fumes brought out 

 from the acid by the hot sun seemed to burn 

 the plants. 



Protection by Mechanical Coatings. 

 But three substances of this class was tried; 

 coal soot, plaster and saltpetre. The latter 

 perhaps does not properly belong to this 

 class, but I place it here in lieu of some 

 better disposition to make of it. 



The plants of five hills were covered with 

 coal soot, but it seemed to have little effect 

 upon the beetles which biu-ied themselves 

 in it repeatedly. 



Gypsum or plaster was applied to 23 hills 

 with only partial success. The same diffi- 

 culty that was found in so many other cases 

 —that of the beetles working beneath the 

 soil surface and feeding upon the stem— was 

 experienced. To be most effective the plants 

 must be dusted when covered with dew. I 

 doubt whether this or any other substance 

 of a similar nature will be wholly successful 

 where the beetles are very abundant. 



Saltpetre is frequently recommended as 

 a protection against the striped beetle.but its 

 value is very doubtful. 



Coating With Poisonous Mixtures. 

 The only substances of this class used were 

 pyrethrum, slug shot and peroxide of sili- 

 cates. 



Pyrethrum. When put on it killed many 

 of the beetles present, but it had only a tem- 

 porary effect, seeming to become innoxious 

 after a few hours, exposure to the air. 



Slug shot was dusted on June 11, and 

 again the following morning while the leaves 

 were still wet with dew. June 14 the leaves 

 showed a decided injury due to the slug 

 shot alone. They had also been considera- 

 bly damaged by the beetles, which not only 

 worked upon the surface above groimd, but 

 went down in beside the stem and devoui-ed 

 it, frequently severing it completely. From 

 this experiment it appears unsafe to apply 

 this substance, at least in the proportions in 

 which it is now mixed, to the tender foliage 

 of young curcurbitaceous plants. 



Peroxide of silicates was used freely on 

 a large number of hills, and obtained fairly 

 satisfactory results when the plants were 

 well started before the bugs attacked them. 

 It was applied with a Woodason bellows to 

 both surfaces of the leaves. But the trouble 

 with this, as with any other substance of 

 the kind, is that when the beetles are as 

 thick as they were in our fields, they will 

 dig down to meet the sprouting plants be- 



fore they reach the soil surface. We found 

 this insecticide, however, of much value in 

 protecting the plants after the mechanical 

 barriers described below had been removed. 

 Doubtless Ijondon purple or Paris green, 

 diluted with flour or plaster, would have 

 done just as well. 



Excluding by Mechanical Barriers. 

 One of the simplest and most successful 

 methods is that of placing the ends of half 

 a barrel hoop in the earth at the sides of the 

 hill, and then laying over it a square strip 

 of thin plant cloth or cheese cloth. The 

 edges of the cloth are then drawn taut and 

 covered with loose earth or small stones. 

 This excludes the beetles, and at the same 

 time allows access of air, moisture and sun- 

 shine. Squash plants are able to grow un- 

 til they get four or five leaves, and Cucum- 

 bers and Melons even more, before they are 

 crippled by contact with the cloth. 



Instead of a barrel hoop, wire may be used. 

 On some of our hills we used a bent wire 

 with excellent results. Another way con- 

 sists simply of two pieces ot wire bent over 

 each other in the middle like the center arch 

 of a croquet ground. Of course the ends 

 are pushed into the soil and the cloth drawn 

 over and held down by loose earth as de- 

 scribed above. Good results were also ob- 

 tained by simply placing the cloth over the 

 plants without any standard, and covering 

 the edges as above. By loosening the cloth 

 occasionally it will not cripple the plants. 



We also tried various forms of gauze- 

 covered boxes, which, however, have the 

 decided disadvantage of not allowing free 

 access of air and .sunshine, so that the plants 

 are liable to be slender and weakly, falling 

 an easy prey to the voracious beetles after 

 the protection is removed. 



Water Bouquets. 



Procure a glass shade or globe, and a glass 

 dish on which the shade will stand evenly. 

 A stand on a short pedestal so as to lift the 

 ornament somewhat up from the table is 

 best. Then proceed to arrange the flowers 

 and foliage in bouquet form, the stems be- 

 ing shortened and tied securely to some- 

 thing heavy, which will serve to keep the 

 flowers erect yet fixed to the stand. Next 

 get a large bath or tub, fill it full of clear 

 water, and high enough to not only fully 

 immerse the flowers, but to cover the shade 

 when placed over the bouquet. 



Place the dish or stand at the bottom of 

 the tub, put the flowers unto it, in erect 

 form, then take the shade and lay it side- 

 ways in the water, the l)Ottom edge touching 

 the edge of the dish or stand on which the 

 flowers are placed. The shade must then be 

 gradually and very carefully brought over 

 the flowers so that no air is retained. It is 

 important that this act should be performed 

 quite beneath the water, as if air bubbles are 

 admitted the attempt must be repeated until 

 the experiment is successful. Small bou- 

 quets, and flowers of but two to three pleas- 

 ing color are best. Novices may well try 

 their hands first with a tiny bouquet beneath 

 a glass tumbler, and on a small plate. Such 

 bouquets are appropriate subjects for ex- 

 hibition at all flower shows. 



Repairing Hot-bed Sash. 

 It not unfrequently happens that the tenon 

 at one of the corners of a sash rots off allow- 

 ing the sash to spread apart, or at least 

 rendering it very weak and shaky at that 

 point. Mr. J. N. Hibberd, of Erie County, 

 in a recent visit at our grounds, recom- 

 mended the following as a superior method 

 of repairing such a sash. A hole half-inch 

 or less in diameter is bored obliquely into 

 the end, as indicated in engraving. A peg 

 of sufficient length is then made to fit closely 

 into the hole. This peg is split at one end, 



