The Canadian Horticulturist. 391 



be profitable, and would afford those who drink it both meat and drink at the 

 same time." 



We also suggest the importance of giving a hard and smooth surface to 

 the ground under the trees, as the insects appear to have little power to 

 penetrate a hard crust. A loose sandy soil favors their transformation ; a 

 clayey soil has a retarding effect. The growth of grass in the orchard, making 

 a tough soil, increases the difficulty of their penetrating the soil, and when 

 the grass becomes dry it may be burned with them. As they enter the earth 

 only an inch, some systematic mode of turning them under half a foot may 

 be the means of placing them where they will stay. — Country Gentleman. 



SOME JOTTINGS IN PEAR CULTURE. 



This season we have secured a fine crop of pears, grown in two small 

 orchards of about two hundred trees. Each year the ground is tilled and 

 enriched by the liberal application of wood ashes. The trees were sprayed three 

 times with copper carbonate and Paris green. In August, about one-third of 

 the fruit was thinned out. In these orchards there is more or less blight every 

 year, but in an orchard of ten acres, standing in sod for two years, there is not 

 any blight this year and scarcely any fruit. Five years ago this orchard was 

 coated with barnyard manure and thoroughly tilled. For two or three years 

 following the trees were so injured from blight that a number of them were 

 completely killed, and the others averaged the loss of half of their branches. 



A very successful remedy for pear blight is to seed down the orchard and 

 to watch closely for the first appearance of blight, and remove the diseased 

 branches and burn them, coating the wounds with raw linseed oil ; and be very 

 careful not to injure the buds or bark on the healthy branches, and do the 

 least possible pruning during the seasons of blight. 



Waterford, 0?it. J. K. McMichael. 



Pruning" Peach Trees. — Peach growers are gradually learning that the 

 peach tree will not only stand very severe pruning, but that it does best under 

 such treatment. Where this is not practiced, long, slender branches form, and 

 these produce fruit mainly at their outer extremities. This overloads the 

 branches and causes them to break down even when the tree is producing no 

 more fruit than it could easily carry if properly distributed. If the branches 

 were cut back to within two feet of the trunk, they would throw out numerous 

 fruit spurs and produce fruit close to the trunk and main branches, where it 

 could be easily supported. Trees handled in this way will also produce more 

 perfect fruit. Such severe cutting back may be done without any injury what- 

 ever, if performed while the tree is dormant. Although peaches are reckoned 

 an uncertain crop, it is still one of the most profitable fruits that can be grown 

 in localities adapted to it. Select the finest varieties and give high culture, and 

 it will require but little fruit to give you a good money return. — Am. Farm News. 



