1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



55 



care ttiat the larvu' in tlie satheriMl fiuit be 

 not allowed to transform and destioj' the 

 windfalls. 



Infested Apples in market places are a 

 fruitful .source of the pest, and fruit dealers 

 should be required to burn or bui'y all Apple 

 refuse, and not throw it on the ground. 



The niagiiots in stored Apples soon leave 

 them and go into the pui):r state in the bar- 

 rels or bins. If marketed the pupa' go with 

 the fruit in the barrel and may spread the 

 pest. In bins and barrels in the cellar the 

 pupa> no doubt retain their vitality, and tlie 

 dies emerge iu the spring. As a precaution 

 the bins should be carefully swept, and the 

 barrels shaken into a tight vessel and the 

 refuse buried or burned. 



The maggots are not able to crawl out of 

 a bo.x, and the refuse from market places, 

 etc., could be thrown into a tight bo.\ or bar- 

 rel, and the maggots prevented from going 

 into the ground. The refuse could occasion- 

 ally be buried a foot or so deep. 



3. Thorough and universal destruction 

 of the windfalls is the most hopeful means 

 of checking the pest. To carefully gather 

 the fallen fruit every day from the early and 

 late varieties, from Aug. 1 until Nov. 1, and 

 biu-n or feed it, would destroy many of the 

 maggots. Sheep or hogs might be allowed 

 the range of the orchard to eat the windfalls. 

 The importance of rigidly adhering to this 

 method for at least two years cannot be too 

 strongly urged upon fruit growers whose 

 orchards are infested. 



4. If the above methods do not succeed, 

 there is a radical one that cannot fail. The 

 destruction of the entire Apple crop for one 

 season in the infested districts of the State 

 by giving the flies no place to rear their 

 maggots, would about destroy the pest. We 

 do not think this will be necessary if the 

 careful destruction of windfalls and infested 

 fruit is practised. Should such a radical 

 means be necessary, the flies could be al- 

 lowed to deposit their eggs, and the fruit 

 approach maturity, when it could be gath- 

 ered and fed and not prove a serious loss. 



Preserving Potatoes for Seed. 



Among all the problems which confront 

 the Potato grower, none we believe is more 

 serious or of greater practical Importance 

 than how to preserve tubers in best possible 

 condition for seed. Tests made by us a few 

 years ago seemed to indicate a loss of fully 

 one-third of the crop in consequence of the 

 use of tubers that had been allowed to spend 

 some of their energies in the emission of 

 long sprouts before planting. These tests 

 justified the conclusion that a maximum 

 yield can only be obtained from seed that is 

 entirely dormant. 



Not one out of fifty growers has yet be- 

 come aware of the full importance of this 

 matter. Most of them store theirseed tubers 

 In a cellar much too warm (especially towards 

 spring) for the good of the seed, and conse- 

 quently of the crop obtained from it. Exper- 

 iments with a view to discover the best 

 methods of preserving tubers in best possible 

 condition for seed are now in order. Mr. T. 

 B. Terry, the Ohio Potato expert, describes 

 in Ohio Farmer how he managed to keep 

 his seed Potatoes in good shape last year, 

 and it may yet be time for many of our 

 readers to try it in the same way. 



Last fall, says Mr. Terry, our seed Pota- 

 toes were dug early in September and stored 

 in the basement of the barn, where it was 

 cool and dry. All light was shut out. .Just 

 before freezing weather, after the ground 

 became cool, we moved them out doors to 

 their winter quarters. In fact, the morning 

 we did this there was a crust of frost on the 

 surface of the soil. 100 bushels were put in 

 a pile, on the surface of the ground, about 

 ■30 feet long and three feet wide at the bot- 

 tom, and piled up as high as possible on this 



base. A load of straw was then brought 

 from the barn and p>it over the Potatoes. 

 A course was laid around the outside first, 

 then another above and lapping over the 

 first one, and so cm until tlie top was reached. 

 The object of this care was to have the straw 

 so it would shed water aud save the trouble 

 of putting a board roof over the pile after it 

 was done. About four inches of soil were 

 put on the straw at this time. Five 2-foot 

 pieces of sewer pipe, three or four inches in 

 diameter, were placed on top of the pile, as 

 chimneys or ventilators. When the four 

 inch layer of soil on the pile was frozen 

 solidly, we drew out another load of straw 

 and covered the pile again in the same man- 

 ner as at the first. Then we covered this 

 straw with about eight inches of soil, top- 

 ping it out nicely. 



Our pile was made on sod ground, and a 

 little chaff had been spread around the base 

 of the pile to prevent the soil from freezing. 

 It was a pretty cold day when we did this 

 last coveriug, but iu this way we had no 

 trouble in getting the earth. On stubble 

 ground, uncovered, we should have been 

 stuck. No more work was done on the pile, 

 except to stuff some straw into the tile 

 chimneys, when very cold weather came, 

 until the latter part of February. We chose 

 a day then, when the earth on the pile was 

 frozen solidly, but there was a prospect that 

 the sun would soon begin to draw out the 

 frost. On this day we drew out plenty of 

 straw to cover the pile and all around It a 

 foot deep or more. The earth on the pile 

 and around it was then frozen solidly. The 

 intention was to keep it so by this mulch of 

 straw just as long as possible. Of course, 

 the sun shining on the pile in March would 

 soon draw all the frost out, and the pile 

 would warm up gradually with the earth, 

 although not quite as fast, owing to the 

 layers of straw beneath. 



About the first of April, I dug into the pile 

 to see how the things were. There was no 

 frost in the fields at that time. I found the 

 earth under the straw frozen so solidly that 

 it was quite a job with a pick to get a hole 

 through it. The Potatoes were in good con- 

 dition, except that a single eye on the seed 

 end of some of them had .sent out a sprout 

 in some cases an inch or two long. This, I 

 think, was done in the early winter, which 

 you will remember was quite warm, and be- 

 fore the pile got cold clear through. You 

 will now see that the object of making such 

 a long slim pile was that they would cool 

 through quicker. We closed up the pile 

 again, until planting time, about the first of 

 May. Then we opened it, drew the Potatoes 

 in and spread them on the barn floor, three 

 or four inches deep. They had changed 

 little since the first of April, and on the 

 whole were in excellent condition for early 

 Potatoes at that late date. At that time the 

 frost had just gone out of the pile. The 

 Potatoes were entirely dry. 



After the pile was opened we drew the 

 straw back into the barn and used for bed- 

 ding. All this was quite a little work ; but 

 when you come to divide it up was not prob- 

 ably more than six or seven cents a bushel 

 on the seed kept. I consider it worth many 

 times that to me; Potatoes usually do so 

 much better when the first sprout grows. 

 Wherever the ground freezes solidly in 

 mid-winter I do not see why this plan can- 

 not be used to advantage. One might even 

 go to the trouble of covering with straw 

 during warm spells in winter, and throwing 

 the straw off when a cold snap comes, in 

 more southern latitudes than ours. If you 

 understand the principle involved you can 

 hardly make a mistake. In brief, keep Po- 

 tatoes in the cellar until the earth is cooler 

 than the cellar ; than use every precaution 

 to get them cooled through in the pile as 

 soon as possible, and then to keep them so 



as late as po.ssible in the spring, by mulch- 

 ing on cold earth. It would be best if one 

 could select a place for his pile just north of 

 buildings, trees or hedges. Land in such a 

 situation is slower to thaw when a warm 

 spell comes. Kept in this way ray early 

 seed Potatoes cost me less than iWO. Last 

 year I had them rushed through from north- 

 ern Maine at a cost of $li;0. It pays largely 

 to change seed occasionally, but I now do it 

 in the fall, at far less cost, and winter them 

 myself. Then I know that I have them. . 



The White Pine Weevil. 



This insect causes considerable damage 

 in gardens and on grounds where Ever- 

 greens are grown for ornamental purposes; 

 not only White Pines are attacked, but 

 other species of Pine and Spruce suffer 

 equally. A letter recently received from 

 Warren County, New Jersey, describes the 

 injury so well that I reproduce parts of it. 

 "Many of my Evergreens— Spruces especi- 

 ally—are much infested by a borer which 

 seems to deposit eggs at the base of the new 

 shoots and leaders, and spreads downward, 



killing all of the tree that is above it 



In this section every White Pine has lost its 

 leader. I do not think I have seen a single 

 exception. Is this done by some insect that 

 attacks the Spruces, or is it a different one y 

 It is most provoking to see one's best and 

 most promising trees cut down in this way." 



The letter was accompanied by specimens 

 of infested Spruce twigs, which showed the 

 characteristic work of the White Pine wee- 

 vil (Pissodes Strobi). The insect is a well- 

 known one, and its history was first made 

 out many years ago by Dr. Harris, who 

 thought it required more than a year to 

 come to maturity. Dr. Fitch afterwards 

 gave a very full account of the species, giv- 

 ing it a period of one year to undergo its 

 transformations. Other writers have men- 

 tioned the insect at intervals, until most 

 recently Dr. Packard has written on the sub- 

 ject and has recorded the species from April 

 to September, his dates leaving little mar- 

 gin for intervals. Dr. Packard gives one 

 brood for the species, the generalised ac- 

 count being that the imago appears in spring 

 or early summer and oviposits soon after. 

 From my collecting and observations, I be- 

 lieve there are in the latitude of New York 

 two broods annually. The first of these 

 issues as imago early in spring, say the 

 latter part of April or early in May, ovipos- 

 iting in May, the larva; of the second brood 

 coming to maturity the latter part of July, 

 imago issuing during earlyAugust, and ovi- 

 positing during that month. 



The larva is a white grub, about one-third 

 of an inch long, with a horny yellow head, 

 slightly curled as it lies In its cell. When 

 full-grown it forms an oval cell either just 

 under the bark or the pith, and changes to 

 a white pupa, and very soon after to an 

 imago. The imago is an oblong-oval and 

 rather narrow weevil, about a quarter of an 

 inch long, of a dull, dark chestnut color, 

 with two dots on the thorax, the scutel and 

 a short irregular band back of the middle 

 of the wing covers white, the wing covers 

 also variegated with a few patches of tawny 

 yellow. The eggs have not as yet been de- 

 scribed. They are deposited on the leaders 

 and other small twigs and branches— some- 

 times also on the trunks of old trees — at 

 very .short intervals. The larvae eat very 

 little more than twice their own length into 

 the wood or under the bark, and a single 

 comparatively small shoot will harbor thirty 

 to forty of them. Of course the smaller 

 twigs thus interrupted in growth are 

 damaged, die, and the shape of the young 

 trees is spoiled, unless the owner believes — 

 as some do — in small, bushy trees, in which 

 case they are no serious drawback, since 

 they never seem to kill larger branches. 



