22 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



Feb 



some sixty or seventy pear trees, fine speci- 

 mens of standards and dwarfs, in the grounds 

 where I now reside. Tliey were in perfect 

 hcaltli, and just imported from France where 

 blight is unlinown. In some five or six years, 

 they were all dead with blight except one, 

 wliich I had planted on the nortli side of a 

 Silver-fir, set out the year before. The two 

 trees grew up together, and the branches for 

 four or five years have been interlocked. 

 The fir is now about twenty-five feet high, and 

 the pear fifteen or sixteen. This tree is on 

 quince stock, and the only one left of my 

 original planting; is quite healihy, bears an 

 annual crop; every alternate year a heavy one. 



Five years ago last summer, my attention 

 was called to a very nice and healthy looking 

 row of pear trees in my nursery, most of 

 them then fruiting. Near to, and north of 

 this, were three other rows, some of which 

 were dead, and the others badly diseased. 

 The inquiry was made of me at the time, 

 "why one row appeared so healthy, and 

 the others were looking so badly ?" I was 

 puzzled what answer to make, but on a little 

 reflection it occured to me that the mystery 

 might be solved. The first-menlined row 

 was near to, and on the north side of a row 

 of Arborvitfes, the latler growing very com- 

 pactly, being considerably taller than the 

 pears, and so shadihg them that the rays of 

 ihe sun could not touch their trunks, except 

 for a short time in the mornings and evenings. 

 The other rows were out from the evergreens 

 in the open grounds, and had not the benefit 

 of their shade. 



I may state that there were several varie- 

 ties in each row. The more I reflected about 

 the circumstances, the more I was inclined to 

 believe that I owed the health of these trees 

 to their contiguity to the Arborvilse hedge. 



In the fall of 1807, being about to thin out 

 the evergreens, I transplanted about twenty of 

 the dwarf pear trees in the grounds around my 

 dwelling. They were transplanted with 

 great care, and well mulched for the winter. 



The next season, ( 1868 ) the most of them 

 bore a small crop of fruit, and the past season 

 (1869) every one produced a good crop, 

 maturi d its fruit well, and all appear now 

 perfectly healthy. This, though on the same 

 principle. ( shading the stocks aud larger 

 branches from the winter sun,) is, I think 

 even better than Mr. Dowing's system of 

 wrapping with straw, on account of the 

 warmth and protection of the cvergi-eens to 

 the roots, as well as to tne tops, of trees 

 planted near to them. There is, also, another 

 advantage, which is, that they are secured 

 from from Ihe hot suns we have at the season 

 when the blight occurs, and which are un- 

 doubtedly the proximate cause of its devel- 

 opment. 



I believe I have on a previous occasion re- 

 ferred to the circum^-tances which I have now 

 related, or a part of them at least, but it 

 being a subject of such vast import, and being 

 more and more satisfied by a continuation of 

 this experiment, that it will at least prolong 

 the existence of the trees, I could not con- 

 sistenlly with my responsibilities to you, and 

 the people for whose benefit we are laboring, 

 forbear alluding to it again, in hopes that if 

 Ihe proposed preventive, shall not upon 

 further trial be found altogether effectual, it 

 will lead to investigations and experiments by 

 more skillful culturists than I claim to be, 

 resulting in a signal victory over the enemy. 



I have endeavored to make my remarks 

 plain and practical, indulging in no mere 

 Speculations, or ooujeclural theories, which 1 

 think, in our lesearches after knowledge, 

 ought to be ignored as much as possible. 



Sensib'e that I have already taken up loo 

 much of your time, permit me in conclusion to 

 thank you for your serious attention and 

 patient indulgence, in listening to an address 

 more prolix than I at first intended. 



The Progress of the Potato Bug. 



The following is from the American Ento- 

 mologist : 



An interesting account of the Colorado 

 Potato Bug (Dertplwra 10-lineata, Say,) is 

 given in some of the former numbers of the 

 American Entomologist. It states that, 

 starting eastwrrd from the Rockj' Mountains 

 in 1859, this iuscct had already in 1808 

 reached the ."outhwest corner of Alicliigan, 

 and Danville iu Indiana, about the center of 

 that State; making its average anuual pro- 

 gress about 03 miles. Another writer say.s 

 that "the southern columns of the graud 

 army lagged far behind the northern col- 

 umns." Lass summer (1868), to my own 

 knowledge, it had reached the south shore 

 of Lake Superior, northwest corner of Mich- 

 igan, where it abundantly manifested its 

 presence in its usual destrtictive attacks on 

 the potato. I have since learned that be- 

 tween the Potato Bug and the drouth of the 

 early part of that season, the crf>p was well 

 uigh ruined in that region. I shall not 

 easily forget the appearance of one potiito 

 field I witnessed, ou the lake shore, in north- 

 eastern Wisconsin, which was nearly covered 

 with these pests iu both the larva and perfect 

 states. The lazy Indians, to whom it 

 belonged, idly lounging in the sun, and 

 probably ignorant of the noxious character 

 of the insects, made not the slightest effort 

 to stay the work of destruction. 



Its march last summer (1869) through 

 Michigan has been duly recorded, though, 

 owing to various causes, not attended with 

 the dire consequences anticipated, as the 

 price of potatoes in Detroit would go to 

 show, they selling here last Fall at from 35 

 to 40 cents per btishcl. — Jlenry OiUman. 



Toads vs. Bugs. 



We make the following extracts from some 

 passages in Fogt's book ''on noxious and 

 beneficial animals," which are quoted at full 

 length in the fourth number of Le Natund- 

 Mte CciTiadien. For the benefit of the Ameri- 

 can reader, we translate from the original 

 French. 



" A remarkable fact has lately been pub- 

 lished in the newspapers. There is actually 

 a considerable commerce in toads between 

 France and England. A toad of good size 

 aud iu fair condition will fetch a shilling 

 (twenty -five cents) in the London Market, 

 and a dozen of extra quality are worth one 

 pound sterling (five dollars"). You may see 

 these imported toads iu all the market gar- 

 dens where the .soil is moist, aud the owners 

 of those gardens even prepare shelter for 

 them. Many grave persons have shaken 

 their heads, when they heard of this new 

 whim of the English; but those laugh the 

 best who laugh the lust. This time the Eng- 

 lish are in the right. I use to have in my 

 garden a brown toad as big as my fist. In 

 the evening he would crawl out of his hiding 

 lilace and travel over a bed in the gttrdeu. I 

 kept careful watch over him ; but one day 

 an unlucky woman caught sight of him and 

 killed him with a single stroke of her spade, 

 thinking that she had done a very fine thing. 

 He had not been dead many weeks, before 

 the Buajls ate up all the mignonette that for- 

 merly perfumed everything round that bed. 



* » * * » 



" Toads become accustomed to man, and 



do not appear to be incapable of tender sen- 

 timents. Every body has heaid the story 

 which seems borrowed from some old popu- 

 lar legend, of a toad which for thirty years 

 lived under an espalier tree aud came out 

 every evening, when the family was taking 

 supper, and got his share of the meal like 

 the dogs and the cats. The family shed tears 

 on the day when an accident deprived that 

 devoted servant of life. Some of my friends 

 believe that, after having heaped benefits 

 upon a toad, they have obtained from that 

 despised animal evident proofs of gratitude. 

 A certain Capt. Perry has told me that, in 

 traveling through the interior of Sicily, he 

 once found en the road a snake that was 

 just about to devour a toad. He killed the 

 snake, and the .toad went his way. Six days 

 afterwards he returned by the same road. 

 All of a sudden sometliing hops along close 

 behind him. It was his toad, who had 

 adopted this mode of expres.siug his grati- 

 tude towards his preserver, and who had 

 positively recognized him. 'But' Captain,' 

 I said to him, ' how could you pcjssibly iden- 

 tify the particular toad whose life you have 

 saved? One toad is as like another toad as 

 one egg is like another egg.' 'That is very 

 true,' replied the Captain, 'but he looked at 

 me With such grateful eyes, that I coudl not 

 doubt his identity for a moment.' " — Am. 

 Entomologist. 



The Ravages of Insects. 



We may say positively that destructive 

 insects are increasing every year, aud that 

 they destroy as great an amount of food as 

 is saved. 'To meet these scourges will re- 

 quire our best efforts. The science of Ento- 

 mology, by which insects are classified aud 

 their nature studied, is becoming of national 

 importance, aud we are sure that without its 

 help little will be done. The first step in 

 every pursuit is analysis, by which we sep^ 

 arate a whole into parts, upon each of which 

 attention is to be fixed. Here progress com- 

 mences. One of the first results in this study 

 is to make distinction between insects that 

 are useful aud injurious, for unless this be 

 done one will be as likely to destroy his 

 friends as his enemies. At present this study 

 is so far from being popular, that the greater 

 part of educated men, so-called, are as igno- 

 rant as the unlettered. It is manifest that 

 tie elements of this science should be taught 

 in our common schools, if it is to become of 

 much use ; for the transmission of learning 

 directly from the learned few to the common 

 people, without the intervention of a teacher, 

 is impossible. In fitting teachers for their 

 duties, a knowledge of this science should be 

 included among their qualifications, as much 

 as of arithmetic or grammar. — N. T. T. F. 

 Club. 



Destroying the Codling Moth. — 6. M. 

 Smith of Berlin, Wis., writes to the Ameri- 

 can Institute Farmers Club, that in July, 

 1868, he discovered accidentally that the 

 codling moth had a liking for cider vinegar, 

 and he hung open mouthed vessels contain- 

 ing diluted vinegar in his trees, and caught 

 lots of them, and^ had thus almost altogether 

 prevented his apples from being stung by 

 them. The past jaar he got empty oyster 

 cans, cut them in two lengthwise, put a bale 

 iu each aud the vinegar in them, and thus 

 caught the noxious insects. 



Wintering Apples. — At a late meeting 

 of the New York Fruit Growers'- Club, it 

 was stated that a gentleman in New Jersey 

 kept from two hundred to three hundred 

 barrels of apples, last winter, in perfect con- 

 dition by simply piling them together in 

 the open air and covering them with a quan- 

 tity of salt hay. 



