Notes and Gleanino-s. 



235 



mildewed. His children, in picking the fruit, were, as is usual, more or less 

 scratched by the thorns : instead of those scratches healing in a few days, as 

 they generally do, they assumed a very malignant form, as if poisoned by dog- 

 wood, showing plainly the effect of that fungus in contact with the blood. 



Denys Zirngiebel. 



Care of Newly-planted Trees. — Many tree-planters ti.ink, that, when 

 the roots of a tree are once in the ground, the work is done ; when, in fact, it is 

 only begun. After the tree is carefully planted, it should be mulched with leaves, 

 straw, tan, or whatever similar material is most accessible ; not so thick as to 

 exclude the air, but sufficiently to retain the moisture in the soil ; for, although 

 there may be plenty of rain early in the season, the probability is, that there will 

 be a drought, more or less severe, before the end. The top should be shortened 

 to correspond with the quantity of roots lost in digging up ; and, in doing this, 

 cut to a good bud, and one so placed that the shoot which grows from it shall 

 improve the shape of the tree. This will generally be on the outside of the 

 shoot. As the prevailing winds in this country are from the west, it may be 

 well to leave the limbs on this side a little longer to assist in balancing the top. 

 Make a neat cut, close, but not too close, to the bud, and, if you are very partic- 

 ular, cover the cut with grafting-wax to prevent evaporation. The cutting-back 

 should be done as early as possible. If in an exposed situation, it must be 

 staked, or otherwise prevented from shaking by the wind. It is sometimes 

 difficult to drive a stake firmly in the soil just loosened by planting the tree, and, 

 the larger the tree, the greater the leverage on the stake : so we prefer to steady 

 the tree by placing large stones on the ground around it, which also assist to 

 keep the ground moist. But for very large trees, we have found the best way to 

 be to fasten four guys near the top, first wrapping a cloth around to prevent 

 chafing, and making the lower ends fast to a short stake driven in at some dis- 

 tance from the tree. The lines need not be large ; one of two or three ropeyarns 

 tvi'isted together will fasten a tree twenty-five feet high so firmly, that nothing 

 but a hurricane can shake it. The further care will be mainly in destroying in- 

 sects, and pinching out any useless shoots as soon as they start, and the ends 

 of those which grow so much stronger than others as to impair the balance of 

 the tree. 



A GRAPE-GROWER in California states that he sent fourteen boxes of grapes, 

 of fifty pounds each, all choice fruit, to San Francisco, and he received for the lot 

 only seven dollars ; while said fruit was sold at retail at twenty-five cents a 

 pound. 



Destroying the Curculio. — Mr. E. Cable of Cleveland, O., has protected 

 his plums from the curculio by scattering the dry sandy loam of his orchard 

 among and through the branches. He employed boys, who were provided with a 

 tin cup fastened on a pole about ten feet long, to throw the soil among the trees. 

 The work was continued from the time of setting the fruit until it was half 

 grown, and was found the most economical method of preserving the fruit from 

 these insects. 



