Editors Letter- Box. 315 



R. D., Cambridge. — What is the best protection against the ravages of the 

 canker-worm ? — The simplest is tar put on with a brush round the tree on a 

 strip of tarred paper. Printers' ink answers an excellent purpose used in the 

 same way. There are iron and wooden troughs, so prepared and put round the 

 trees, and filled with oil, that they prevent many of the grubs from ascending. 



Persica, Williamstown, Mass. — Would you advise the planting of peach- 

 trees in the New-England States, where (he crop is so uncertain ? — Yes : plant a 

 few trees each year : you will get a crop occasionally, — as often as one year in 

 three ; and this will pay in satisfaction, if not in money. It is too good a fruit to 

 give up. Peach-trees seem to be improving. There is fair promise of a good 

 crop this year. 



Reuben, Springfield. — What do you consider the best three varieties of straw- 

 berries for market-purposes in Massachusetts 1 — Hovey's seedling, Jenny Lind, 

 and Brighton Pine. 



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July, Portland, Me. — Is the Allen Hybrid hardy enough for vineyard cul- 

 ture ? — It is not safe to leave it up through the winter. It requires protection. 

 It is not hardy enough for ordinary vineyard-culture. 



A. L. S., Rockville P. O., Utah. — The best time to trim grapes is in the 

 autumn, after the frost has killed the foliage. If the growth is judiciously 

 pinched during the summer, the labor of pruning will be materially lessened. 



W. B. C, Boston. — Seeds of Mathiola bicornis can be obtained of Bliss or 

 Washburn, and probably of any importing seedsman. The price is at present 

 rather high, as the plant is comparatively rare. Packages cost twenty-five 

 cents ; but there is no reason why seed should not be plenty another year. 



Mrs. E. L., Brighton P. O., Montgomery County, Md. — We shall publish in 

 the July and August numbers a treatise on Wardian cases by a correspondent 

 who has given much attention to the subject, and whose management has been 

 most successful. 



The subject is one to which we shall particularly direct attention, as no pret- 

 tier decoration for the parlor can be desired ; and the treatment is so simple, 

 that one can hardly make a mistake in the management. 



A New Subscriber. — Your double-flowering almonds have been allowed to 

 STOW too laro:e. Our mode of treatment is to cut the bush down to the ground 

 as soon as it has done flowering. Numerous slender stems will shoot up, which 

 will, during the summer, grow about two feet high : these will be well set with 

 flower-buds, and will bloom well the next spring. As soon as the bloom has 

 faded, cut down the stalks. The plant is hardy, and needs no winter protection: 

 its being winter-killed is exceptional. 



