1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



125 



lialller'a Prolific Red. 



Fruit medium ; weight from five to eight ounces; form round, flattened at the ends; skin dull red, 

 mixed and striped with crimson and grey, in the shade greenish yellow; dots small, numerous, elevated, 

 distinct, giving a rough appearance; stem medium, rather slender; cavity narrow, deep, regular, rus- 

 seted ; eye small, open ; basin narrow, 

 shallow, ribbed ; core medium, wide 

 carpels large; seeds medium, oval 

 dark brown ; flesh yellow, tender, 

 juicy, pleasant, mild sub-acid; qual- 

 ity very good ; use, table and market ; 

 season, November to April. Tree 

 regular, spreading, medium in growth, 

 very productive, healthy, no blight, 

 bark dark chestnut, speckled, leaves 

 rather large, numerous, thick, dark 

 green, buds prominent, end ot shoots 

 woolly. 



This is a seedling raised by Mr 

 Eugene Lallier, of Leavenworth, 

 Kansas, from seed brought from 

 France. It is so very productive 

 and in season so long, and so free 

 from disease — standing by many other 

 varieties badly blighted, we believe it worthy of cultivation, at least for this countr3^ 



Ass't Ed. 



Arsenic for the Canker 'Worm and other Leaf- 

 Eating; Insects. 



BT JOHN SMITH, DES HOINE8. 



Ed. Pomologist. — In the March number of the 

 PosiOLOGisT appeared a valuable article on the 

 canker worm. As a preventive of this orchard 

 pest, the information there given is all-sufBcient, 

 but as this pest is constantly spreading, and making 

 its appearance annually in new localities, no doubt 

 many of your readers will, in the month of May, 

 find it for the first upon their trees, while many 

 others, familiar with it in years past, will have neg- 

 lected to use the proper preventive early in the 

 season. For the benefit of such I will give my ex- 

 perience in ridding my trees of the worms. 



Some years ago my orchard was nearlj' destro3'ed 

 by this worm before I could learn how to protect 

 my trees from its depredations. I at last used the 

 bandage and tar process with perfect success; but 

 in the spring of 18G8, in the hurry of other busi- 

 ness, I omitted it. The consequence was, my trees 

 soon after putting' out were alive with worms. It 

 occurred to me that an application of hellebore or 

 some other poisonous substance thrown over the 

 trees in a liquid form, might check, if not destroy 

 them I made the experiment on a small scale with 

 hellebore, arsenic and strychnine. A half pound 

 of arsenic and a bottle of strj'chnine were dissolved 

 in about four gallons of water in separate vessels, 



and each applied to ten lar-^e trees. I also used 

 two pounds of the crushed hellebore in the same 

 way. In a few days the trees to which the arsenic 

 and hellebore were applied were entirely clear of 

 worms, and putting out new foliage ; but the strych- 

 nine had no visible effect. As the hellebore and 

 arsenic seemed to be equal in effect, and the former 

 costing fifty cents per pound and the latter but 

 twenty cents, I determined to dispense with the 

 hellebore on the score of cheapness. And now for 

 my operations on a larger scale. 



Take a large iron kettle, holding twenty gallons 

 or more, hang it on a pole in the orchard; to twenty 

 gallons of water add a half pound of arsenic, build 

 a fire under it, stir the water, and by the time it 

 comes to boiling heat the arsenic is dissolved; 

 empty into barrels, or a large cask, and add thirty 

 ' gallons of clear water to each twenty. 



I used a hand force pump or garden engine to 

 sprinkle the trees, the nozzle of which I hammered 

 flat-wise so as to cause the water to issue in a fine 

 spray. I screwed the pump to the bottom of a kero- 

 sene barrel, and so fixed the handle as to work it 

 like a common pump, the handle resting on the 

 side of the barrel for a fulcrum. This was placed 

 in a two - horse wagon, filled with the arsenic water 

 and a close fitting lid or cover put on to prevent 

 slopping out. With hose in hand, a steady team 

 and driver, and a man at the pump, I moved slowly 

 along on one side of a row of trees and then turned 



