August 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



109 



For the Western Pomoloeist. 

 Apple and Pear Prospects on the Illinois 

 Blufls-The Aphis Male. 



Our prospect for a good cVop of pears in 

 oarly spring was vtTy flattering, but now it 

 is poor indeed. The trees blossomed full, old 

 and young. The little lined plant^bug (P%- 

 tocoris lineolaris) of Harris, puctured with its 

 poisonous beak nearly every blossom, every 

 one with me except in the top of the trees 

 six to fifteen feet from the ground. It also 

 seriously injured the apple, Missouri Ash, 

 and strawberry. Every shoot or blossom 

 pierced by the beak of this insect dies, and 

 growth has to push anew. Toung pear and 

 Missouri ash trees in the nursery rows, 

 looked like they had been singed with fire. 

 It belongs to the Chiuch bug family and has 

 been increasing here at a fearful rate for the 

 last five or six years. We are not frightened. 

 Such things come and go in nature's own 

 good way and time. So we will have but 

 few pears here, for all our glorious prospect, 

 blossoms plenty and trees in splendid coudi- 

 tiou. 



Apples blossomed as full as I ever saw 

 them, and there was no frosts to injure the 

 bloom, and all trees that were not greatly 

 weakened by the much too liberal supply of 

 water last year, set a full crop of fruit 

 that up to this date is almost perfectly free 

 from scab, even those inveterate scabbers, 

 the White Doyenne pear and Red June 

 apple will give perfect fruit this seasou, not- 

 withstanding the Aphis Mali or apple leaf 

 louse, that t'r. Hull insists is the parent of 

 the sciib, is greatly more plenty than last 

 year. We can count with certainty of 

 having a great crop of apples in this 

 neighborhood. They are preyed upon as 

 usual by the codlin moth, but like the 

 measles in ^3. Young's family there are not 

 moths enough to go around. We have at 

 least three curculios here that prey upon 

 the apple and apple tree ; I think four that 

 are increasing and are very destructive. I 

 keep my eye on them, and shall write them 

 up some day, that will tix them. In my next 

 I will give thirty years experience on the 

 value of varieties of apples in the west. 



D. B. WiER, Laeona, III. 



Pear Trees in Grass. — A correspondent 

 of the Oardemr's Monthly, at Warreutown, 

 Pa., says that "the war gave me a wrinkle I 

 didn't kuow before. No fences; no cultiva- 

 tiou; and in the country grass will grow. 

 So my trees were in grass 'md are still in 

 grass, and I intend to leave them in grass as 

 long as I get the pears I do. 



Oregon Pears. — Some unknown friend, 

 says the Christian (Oregon) Advocate, left en 

 our table a fine lot of pears ; four of them 

 weigh tog, ther eight pounds and one ounce, 

 the largest one weighing two pounds and 

 three ounces, the smallest one twenty -nine 

 ounces. 



Insects in New Hampshire.— We learn 

 from the Mirror that noxious insects have 

 seldom if ever done so much damage to 

 crops, trees, fruits, -and vegetables, as the 

 present season. The ctit worm, currant 

 worm, and borer, vine bugs, froth insects, 

 and their congeners are on the rampage. On 

 the grass the " froth insect," says the Mirror, 

 " of which we have several times spoken in 

 former years, has waxed powerful for evil, 

 and many a field of grt;ss has been marked 

 for destruction b}' the insect enshrouded in 

 a white foam." Will the Mirror tell us 

 something more about the " white foam " 

 insect — a more definite description, and in 

 what way it affects the grass ? Of course, 

 like every other plague of the Eastern 

 States, it will come to Prairiedom eventually. 

 We should like an introductory letter to the 

 varmint before it gets here. 



From the Grape Cnlturiet. 



Thinning out Grapes. 



Ed. Grape Culturist : — Is the import- 

 ance of thinning out the fruit of the vine, 

 duly considered by the majority of cultiva- 

 tors? I think not. From close observation 

 and even sad experience, the subject, in my 

 opinion, calls for much more attention than 

 is usually given. In young vines this is 

 particularly the case. Such vigorous and 

 hardy constituted varieties as the Concord, 

 may stand it to a con.siderable extent; but 

 even they will eventually suffer. 1 his fault 

 is not only to be found in the vineyards of 

 the novice, but can be seen almost every 

 where in charge of those who kuowu better. 



I his then being admitted, the next ques- 

 tion is, how shall it best be remedied? — 

 Shall we prune so much shorter, so as not to 

 have more wood than the vine can carry 

 safely through, or leave more wood, and 

 then thin out the bunches? The latter, in 

 my opiuion, will be the best ; for by the first 

 plau, we get our fruit too much crowded, 

 and throw too much force into the young 

 canes for the following year's bearing. My 

 impression is, that when a vine is pruned to 

 what would seem about right, the pinching 

 out of every tliird bunch, at the first opera- 

 tion of pinching back, would be the best 

 method. I would leave but two bunches on 

 each bearing shoot ; and in some instances 

 but one. 



We all knowjthat the forming of the seed 

 of any fruit is the heaviest tax on the plant. 

 This being the case, do we not give consid- 

 erable relief when we diminish this tax one- 

 third? I think we would be safe in counting 

 on having the same weight of fruit in the 

 two bunches, as if three are left. Some years 

 ago we grew Concord bunches in this way, 

 which tlu^ committee who were to test them 

 would not admit to be that variety until they 

 tasted them. For marketing table grapes, 

 this is piirtieul:irly practiciible. For in- 

 stance—let one man take Concords that will 

 average three-fourths of a pound to the 

 bunch, and another have them as usually 

 grown, my word tor it, the large bunches 

 will command nearly double price, not only 

 among the wealthy, but the masses. 



What is your idea about this? My object 

 in writing this is to elicit experience from 

 others, and your own opinion in particular. 

 S. Miller, Bluffton, Mo. 



Remarks by the Editor. — Onr friend is 

 right in attaching a great deal of importance 

 to the thinning out of the fruit. The over- 

 loading of the vines has ruined many a 



promising vineyard already. The best 

 course, in our opinion, is, not too prune too 

 short, as many buds w-ll not even start ; but 

 do the first pinching early ; just as soon as 

 the yimng shoots are long enough to discern 

 where the embryo fruit bunches will be, then 

 rub off all weak shoots, and reduce the 

 number of bunches as he suggests. In a 

 future number we will describe it fully, and 

 hope to be able to convince our readers that 

 this is the proper course to grow the best of 

 grapes. 



Curculio, Pigs, and Hens. 



Mr. J. J. Babcock, of Kalamazoo, Mich., 

 and some of his neighbors, have a common 

 sense way of keeping the curculio in sub- 

 jection, and thereby raising good crops of 

 plums, as in times of old. He writes to the 

 N. Y. Farmer's Club : 



"My remedy for the destroyers of this 

 fruit is not one of my own discovery, but 

 one practiced by several of my neighbors. — 

 Just across the street lives a man by the 

 name of John P. Glover, who, this year and 

 a number of years past, has succeeded in 

 raiseng several bushels of nice blue Damson 

 plums, and he is not alone in this. Mr. 

 Glover told me that he selected his grounds 

 for his plum trees near his baru, planted 

 them altogethrs, surrounded them with a 

 tall picket fence, and made his hen-house in 

 the enclosure. He keeps from 30 to 50 hens. 

 He also puts into this same enclosure two 

 pigs ; the hens are fond of insects ; there 

 being only a few of other kinds, they gather 

 and swallow eagerly all, or nearly all, the 

 curculio ; should any escape the hens and 

 sting the fruit, the fruit falls, and the pigs 

 being fond of plums, eat them at once. The 

 plums I have seen of his raising were free 

 from stings, large, smooth, and delicious as 

 they used to be thirty years ago, before the 

 curculio was so destructive. The whole 

 thing, from beginning to end, is most profit- 

 able. A plum-orchard, a pig-pen, and hen- 

 park, all on a small piece of ground. The 

 eggs, pork, and plums produced more money 

 than could have been obtained had the 

 ground and expense been applied to any 

 other purpose." 



New Method of Grafting.— The editor 

 of the Western Uuralist, published at Louis- 

 ville, Ky., speaks of a visit to the orchards 

 and nurseries of Mr. S. L. Gaar. In his 

 " Horticultural Notes " we find the following 

 descriptive method of grafting practiced by 

 Mr. G.: 



" In May last he received by express some 

 cuttings of a new pear, which were inserted 

 in this way : The top of a thrifty young 

 tree, just above the first three or four lateral 

 branches, was sawed off, the stump left after 

 removing the top, about two inches in 

 diameter; dividing the cylinder of bark into 

 four equal parts, four grafts were inserted 

 between the bark and albumen in a particu- 

 lar wa}' — at each of the four points of equal 

 division in the bark two vertical incisions 

 were made through the bark and downward 

 an inch or so — the two incisions about as 

 distant from each other as would barely 

 admit tlie graft when beveled on one side 

 ready fir insertion. This narrow strip of 

 b.irk is then separated easily from the albu- 

 men, the graft inserted, the back afterwards 

 pressed against the inserted graft, and the 

 whole made fast by ligature in some form, as 

 best suits the operator." 



