Editors Letter- Box. 253 



Frank, Milford, Mass. — Some of my neighbors say strawberries will do 

 nothing on sward-land just turned over. How is that ? — If the sod is buried 

 deep so as to cause it to rot, and so as to have sufficient fine mould for the roots 

 of the strawberry-plants, they will grow as well tliere as anywhere, provided the 

 soil is equally good ; but they are liable to be destroyed by the larva of the dor- 

 bug, or May-beetle, which infests grass-land. We know an instance where a 

 large quantity of valuable plants were destroyed under such circumstances the 

 present season. 



The same worm is known at the West, as appears by the following note from 

 a correspondent in Champaign County, 111. The writer is correct in regard to 

 the remedy : that which he proposes is the only one. We have known a large 

 number of valuable plants destroyed by this worm the present season. 



" I would like a hundred plants of the President Wilder Strawberry very 

 much. But we have on these prairies, in the soil, a large white grub : the size is 

 about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half long when full grown, with a 

 tinted head full of horns. If he ever gets to the root of a strawberry-plant, he never 

 leaves it until it begins to wilt and shows signs of death. This is my enemy 

 that prevents me from buying strawberry-plants. There is no way to get rid of 

 him but by digging up every inch of the ground in spring by spading, and pick 

 them up and kill them. This last spring, I killed and picked up for my fowls thou- 

 sands of them. I have an acre and a quarter of garden : it is an expensive job 

 to look after them. Five years ago, I set out a thousand plants of Wilsons : now 

 I have not one, nor do I intend to buy any." 



Idem. — My watermelon-vines do not bear any fruit. When is the proper 

 time to transplant asparagus .'' — With regard to the failure of your melon-vines 

 to produce fruit, we are not provided with the facts necessary to give the informa- 

 tion desired. It may be caused by excess or deficiency of heat or moisture ; it 

 may be that the soil is not congenial ; and it may be that the particular variety 

 under cultivation is not adapted to the climate. If the plants make a healthy, 

 vigorous growth, and are still non-productive, we should certainly recommend a 

 change of seed. 



In regard to planting asparagus, we refer our correspondent to our last volume, 

 p. 242 ; and also to p. 187 of the present volume. 



I. A. Providence, R.I. — Hybrid perpetual roses maybe raised from cuttings 

 at any time by placing the cuttings around the sides of pots filled with sandy 

 loam, and plunging the pots in a very moderate hot-bed. The cuttings soon 

 root, and should then be set out separately in small pots, and gradually hard- 

 ened off. 



H. G. L., Volusia, Fla. — Achyranthus aureus reticulatus with us cannot 

 attain any great height ; for the frost always cuts it off when in full growth. You 

 have the advantage of a long season ; but the plant will probably soon flower, 

 and then will stop growing. Some of the species, however, grow six feet high 

 in tropical countries. 



