THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



167 



entire beauty. It thrives best in 

 strong, clayey or micaceous soils." He 

 adds, "It is short-lived in towns, and 

 soon shows a distaste for city life." 

 Some fine specimens are to be seen 

 sxrowinar on one of the streets of St. 

 Catliarines, but perhaps the city has 

 not yet become so large as to be dis- 

 tasteful to the Liriodendron. They 

 are handsome at all times, and particu- 

 larly atfci-active when covered with 

 their large, yellow, tulip-shaped flowers. 



AN ORCHARD FERTILIZER. 



The best fertilizer I have used for 

 fruit trees is chip-dirt from the wood- 

 pile, and old ashes. I mix in the pro- 

 l>ortion of one bushel of the ashes to 

 three of the chip-dirt, stirring well with 

 the shovel. About two bushels of this 

 mixture is to be spread around each 

 young tree, giving large, well-grown 

 trees more. The manure is applied at 

 any season. Do not pile around the 

 trees any litter or rubbish that would 

 harbour mice. In summer keep the 

 weeds from around the trees. Ex- 

 perience has taught me that this fertil- 

 lizer serves a very important purpose, 

 not only in supplying the trees with 

 suitable food, but in mellowing the soil, 

 and helping on such crops as I may 

 choose to plant in my orchard. It is 

 an excellent fertilizer for any crop, 

 annual or perennial, and the ashes (from 

 hard-wood), supply the trees with the 

 element they most need, and the soil 

 lacks, namely potash. 



It is a pleasure to see how a young 

 orchard will thrive after an application 

 of this fertilizer. Sometimes I burn 

 logs to get ashes for this purpose, and 

 if I have no chip-dirt, I go to a dead oak 

 or hickory, and scrape together the 

 fallen bits of bark, and the rich earth 

 around the tree. It is a very good 

 substitute for the chip-dirt. It is ob- 

 vious that this material is rich in the 

 elements of food of trees. I believe in 



keeping fruit trees well fed, and that 

 a large space around each tree should be 

 given exclusively to the tree from 

 which to draw its supplies. I never 

 plant close to my trees, preferring to 

 have them branch low, and to trim 

 down rather than up. — B. W. Jones in 

 American Agriculturist yor March. 



A NEW REMEDY FOR THE IMPORTED 

 CABBAGE WORM. 



Professor C. V. Riley says : " One 

 of my correspondents, Mr. Chaides H. 

 Erwin, of Painted Po.st, IST. Y., has 

 accidentally hit upon so simple and yet, 

 according to his experience, so perfect 

 a remedy for the imported cabbage 

 worm that I w4sh to give his experience 

 as much publicity as possible, that it 

 may be widely tested and, if possible, 

 verified the coming season. It is, to 

 sum up an extended experience which 

 he narrates, simply ice cold water, or 

 water but a few degrees warmer than 

 ice water, sprinkled upon the worms 

 during the heat of the day. Mr. 

 Erwin found that such an application 

 in the hot sun caused them to quickly 

 let go their hold upon the leaves, curl 

 up, roll to the ground, and die, while 

 the cabbages suffered nothing, but look- 

 ed all the fresher for the application. 



Should this method prove as success- 

 ful with others as it has with him, it 

 is evident that we have here a remedy 

 of very general application, and one 

 which in cheapness and simplicity far 

 ti'anscends the Pyrethrum which, since 

 I discovered its value for the purpose, 

 in 1880, has been, on the whole, our 

 safest and most satisfactory remedy 

 against Pieris rapae. Where ice is 

 readily obtainable, as in the moi'e 

 Northern States, or where cold springs 

 obtain, Mr. Erwin's discoveiy will prove 

 of very great value to cabbage growers, 

 and will probably prove just as useful 

 against some of the other cabbage 

 worms." — Scientific American. 



