1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



69 



The American to; rist passing tlirougli 

 German}' is suriu-iscd at tliB number of fruit 

 trees along the sides of tlie puljlic roads. 

 Tliese trees are pruned and looked after by 

 tlie "road makers,!' and three or four weeks 

 before tlie fruit ripens are watched day and 

 night by thi/sc ^'uardians. In the province of 

 Wurlembcrg the sale of the fi'uil thus raised 

 is said to have realized as mueh as !lf2,00(),000 

 in a single year. 



Washing the leaves of the wax plant oe- 

 casionally is the very best tivatineiit for it- 

 When washing, brushing with a soft brush 

 about the axils of the leaves will tend to keep 

 the plant free from mealy bugs, one of it.s in- 

 sect enemies. When the plant commences its 

 growth we would supply it once a week with 

 weak manure water. 



TnK most profitable way to raise beef 

 cattle is to keep them constantly in a thrifty 

 and improving condition. It is not nccessarj- 

 to keep very young stock rolling in fat, but 

 there should always be an abundance of nutri- 

 cious food to help nature in its development. 

 To allow slock to run down in flesh and be- 

 come ill-conditioned, simply because it is not 

 di'.'^igned for market for some time, is the 

 height of folly. 



In killing poultry, the French open the 

 beak of the fowl, and with a sharp-pointed, 

 narrow-bladrtl knife, make an incision at the 

 back of the roof of the mouth, which divides 

 the vertebra) and causes instant death, after 

 which the fowl is hung up by the legs to 

 bleed, lliis is a neat and merciful way of 

 doing it. 



Seasoxed posts treated over the lower third 

 to two or three washes or soakings of cheap 

 petroleum will make them last longor than by 

 almost any other process. This is easier tha.i 

 to coat with boiled tar, and far more sensible 

 than to set top end down. Parker Earle, Cob- 

 den, 111., earnestly commends this treatment 

 after experiments. 



The capacity of the gluco.se factories of the 

 United States is said lo be surticient to use up 

 about 11,000.000 bushels of corn per annum. 

 While this aids a little to keep up the price of 

 corn, it is all e.xtracted back from the farm- 

 er's pocket in the shape of adulterated sugars 

 and syrups. Tfce glucose manufacturer is 

 aliout as much a public benefactor as one who 

 should adulterate our coin with an inferior 

 metal. 



A couRESPONDENT in an exchange wants 

 to know how to purify bad-smelUng cistern 

 water "by throwing something into it." The 

 question does not indicate a surplus amount of 

 "gumption " or taste. He might as well ask 

 what will i)urify bad old cheese, or an egg six 

 months i>ast its prime. He should clean out 

 his cistern and purify that, not the water, and 

 see that only pure water goes into it. Let 

 him apply tlie bad water to his garden. 



Ax old apiile tree past its usefulness had 

 better be cut down or dug out. It is a useless 

 cumberer of the ground. 



MuLCiiixo always retards the ripening of 

 fruit, but that is often advantageous. It also 

 makes the fruit larger and lietter. 



It is not entirely creditable to meij who 

 have long been identified with fruitgrowing not 

 to be able to tell what is the best system. It 



ought lo be the aim of every specialist to find 

 out. 



C'LAi'p's Favorite is a good market pear 

 if picked early enough, so that it does not rot 

 at the core. It ripens in advance of the Bart- 

 lett, an<l is of better qualitv for those who do 

 not like the Bartlett's spicy flavor. 



FuuiT TREES late in bearing can be has- 

 tened in this matter and jiermanently bene- 

 fitted by root pruning. Cut a trench about 

 them and fill up with vegetable or animal 

 matter, including some rubbish, and .see how 

 they will boom. 



TiiERH are many varieties of fruit on near- 

 ly' every fruit farm which are unprolifable t<i 

 grow in spite of excellent and; jiopular quali- 

 ties. Except a few for lioine use these iiad 

 better be grafted to more prolific and profita- 

 ble sorts. In many places the Sheldon and 

 Seckel pears stand in this category. 



A PUOMiNET Illinois fruit grower (Parker 

 Earle), states that the Wilson strawberry is 

 still the popular sort for the Chicago market. 

 The Wilson is a hard berry to root out, and in 

 going to market it l)ears rough handling 

 better than any other sort. The Wilson 

 sometimes is shipped 000 miles successfully. 



Oni-y think of it I When a man eats straw- 

 berries grown on a patch fertilized with .300 

 pounds of rectified Peruvian guano, 250 pounds 

 dissolved boneblack and 2U0 pounds muriate 

 of potash per acre, he eats 29.24 per cent of- 

 potassium oxide, 3.22 sodium oxide, 13.47 

 calcium oxide, 8.12 magnesium oxide, 1.74 

 ferric oxide, 18.50 phosphoric acid and 5.06 

 per cent of sitieic acid. That is what ails 

 them exactly. 



Professor Goesmanx finds thatanapplica- 

 tion of from three to four puonds of muriate 

 of potash per tree to peach trees slightly af- 

 fected with yellows, restores them to health. 

 It woidd be a good plan undoubtedly to keep 

 trees in health well supplied with this fertili- 

 zer, and then they might not get out of health 

 as regards the yellows. It is quite certain 

 that sick peach orchards are generally ne- 

 glected peach orchards. Muriate of potash is 

 also spoken of sometimes by chemists as 

 chloride of potassium. 



Iisr Professor Goesmann's application of 

 muriate of potash to yellow-sick peach trees 

 he recommends distributing it over a radius 

 of eight feet or so on mulch. But no demon- 

 stration has yet been made as to the cause of 

 the yellows. 



Queries and Answers. 



West Chester, Pa., April 17, 1882. 



31r. S. S. Riitliron--Dear Sir: The enclos- 

 ed curiously formed cocoons, I took this morn- 

 ing from a branch of the "SUirarlia Pen- 

 J((!7i/)iH)," a large (lowering shrub, growing on 

 my lawn in West Chester; the whole is so 

 different from anyfliing in the jiroduct of in- 

 sect life, and so curiously striking in uniform- 

 ity of shape in the silk and reeelitacales and 

 their silken connection, that I have ever seen, 

 I inclose it for your inspection. I crushed 

 the smallest of the three, and from the ex- 

 uding matter, I judge that it contained small 

 egg, or perhaps larva or pupa, of some insect. 

 Very Truly, J. Hutta: 



The cocoons were duly received, and in 

 tolerable good condition: but, I am unable to 

 name the "insect," specifically, that con- 



structed them; although, without much doubt, 

 they belong to the genus Tlicridion— most 

 likely T. Imjomwi — a small species of spider. 

 The little globular cocoons arc filled with 

 ciTgs, and the species could only be positively 

 determined after these eggs are hatched, and 

 the animal can be compared with existing de- 

 scriptions; because, so far as the inei'e cocoon 

 is concerned , tliere are otlier species of The- 

 ridion that conslructa similar receptacle — no- 

 tably, T. ijlobvHum. But, as Iriyniiiim Is a 

 northern species, and (jloUnmm^ southern, if it 

 is not entirely new, it is more probably the 

 former. Those specific names are derived 

 from the abdominal forms of the sjiiders 

 alluded to — triangular or globular— and hence 

 it will require the presence of the arachnid 

 itself to determine the question, unless with 

 those who have made this class of animals a 

 special study, and have become "experts'' 

 therein. There are several species of spiders 

 that construct different shaped cocoons, 

 and of different sizes, some of which 

 are two inches, or more, in diameter. The 

 fiber is stronger and more silky than the com- 

 mon spider's web.and efforts have been made 

 to utilize it, and also to rear it, but the suc- 

 cess, so far, I believe, has not been very 

 promising. There is no knowing, however, 

 what a hundred years hence may bring 

 forth.— Jf. 



Essays. 



SOME PRACTICAL POINTS IN PEACH 



CULTURE.* 



Having reason to think that my experience 

 with peaches the past season was something 

 remarkable, inasmuch as I had a fair crop 

 amidst almost universal failure, and as this is 

 a subject of growing imjiortance to the fruit 

 growers o.'' Pennsylvania, I pro])ose to lay be- 

 fore the society a few points that may be of 

 interest from some notes that 1 have made 

 principally in regard to the relative hardiness 

 of difl'erent varieties. 



I see that Secretary Eilge, of the State 

 Agricultural Deiiartnient, in liis report of the 

 crops for 18S1, reports on fruit as follows : 

 Comparative yield compared with average 

 crop, apples 10"), pears 100, cherries 100, 

 plums 110, grapes 100, berries 100, peaches 

 none. So far as I am able to judge this 

 is about correct. And it thus appears, 

 that while all other fruit crops were as good 

 or better than common, in this part of the 

 State, peaches were a total failure. And yet 

 I had, as I Have stated, a satisfactory crop, 

 for though many varieties failed almost en- 

 tirely, others were wonderfully fine, both in 

 quantity and quality. And this in spite of 

 the very severe drought which greatly in- 

 jured some. I do not pretend to be able to 

 give any explanation of this, but the question 

 is certainly an interesting one, why, amidst 

 otherwise universal failure, one should be 

 even parti illy successful. The cause of the 

 general failure of the peach crop last year, as 

 every one knows, was the extreme cold of 

 last winter. The fruit bud of the peach not 

 being able to withstand a very low tempera- 

 ture. And yet it would seem that there must 

 be some other causes or conditions not yet 



•R-wiiy read l)efore llic P<>nn9ylvaiiia State Horticul- 

 ural As-sociatlon, at Harrisburg. 



