166 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ence in Illinois of a small insect of the 

 thrip family in the strawberry blos- 

 soms, we have been looking to see if it 

 was also in Canada. Sure enough such 

 an insect is with us. On pressing the 

 blossoms of some Sharpless and Man- 

 chester plants, the tiny creatures i-an 

 out and in among the pistils in great 

 abundance. Time will tell us how- 

 much injury they are capable of inflict- 

 ing upon the long-suffering fruit grower. 



Secretary Garfield at Cornell. — Chas. W. 

 Garfield, Secretary of Michigan Hor- 

 ticultural Society and of the Ameri- 

 can Proraological Society, has con- 

 sented to give, some time in May, 

 six lectures to the students in agricul- 

 ture in Cornell Univei-sity, on the 

 following topics : 1. Some measure- 

 ments in the field of horticulture. 2. 

 Methods of tuition and ways of secur- 

 ing the most available information. 

 3. Problems in promology. i. Tree 

 Lessons. 5. Commercial methods. 

 6. Relations of horticulture to an 

 advanced system of agriculture. 



uestiott gratoer. 



This department is intended as an open one to every 

 reader of the ^* Horticulturist" to send in either 

 questions or answers. Often a reader will be able to 

 ans^ver a question which has been left unanswered, 

 or only partially answered by iis. For convenience 

 of reference the questions are numbered, and any 

 one replyinu or referring to any question will 

 please mention the number of it. 



Grafting Wax. — What causes (/rafting 

 wax to lone its characteristic towjhness, 

 and become yrauidar, or like putty and 

 worthless 1 Is it age, or frost ? 

 [C. E. B., Yarmouth, N.S.] 



Reply fkom Prof. James, Chemist, 

 Agricultural College. — The grafting 

 wax used here is beeswax, resin and 

 tallow in about equal parts, tallow a 

 little in excess. The use of too much 

 resin in the mixture might produce 

 the result you refer to ; or if too little 

 tallow — if oil be added, evaporation, or 



exposure to heat, might cause granula- 

 tion. Here the wax is mixed as re- 

 quired. Not knowing the exact mixture 

 used I cannot say more definitely ; but 

 I think that age rather than yVos^ would 

 produce the effect. 



Rose-leaf Hopper. — Please say what is 

 the best cure for white flies on Prairie 

 Roses. [R., Toronto ] 



The fly is a species of leaf-hopper 

 known as Tettigonia rosce, and of the 

 same genus as that which is so trouble- 

 some to the leaves of the Delaware and 

 other thin-leaved grape vines. You 

 will find an excellent description of it 

 with remedies in the Canadian Horti- 

 culturist for 1886, p. 170. The 

 remedies there suggested are whale-oil 

 soap and tobacco water. We have 

 tried putfing pyrethrum powder up- 

 wards among the leaves with good 

 success. Another effectual way which 

 we have used, is to set fire to a swab 

 moistened with coal oil on the end of a 

 stick, and pass the flame rapidly over 

 the leaves. This is of course at the 

 risk of singling the leaves, but it 

 thoroughly routs the leaf-hoppers. 



Peach Trees. — Will peach trees ripen 

 their fruit well in a cold (irapery here ? 

 [R., Toronto.] 



Perhaps some one experienced in 

 indoor peach culture will reply. Mr. 

 P. Barry, of Rochester, has grown the 

 peach in wooden boxes with success. 

 The trees are trained more like bushes 

 than trees, and ai-e moved into a co )1 

 dry shed each autumn on the approach 

 of frost, where they are plunged to the 

 rim of the tub or box in the earth. 

 Early in spring abundance of air is 

 admitted, and about the 1st day of 

 May they are placed under glass until 

 about the 15th of June, when they are 

 plunged in an open but sheltered bor- 

 der. By this method Mr. Barry has 

 succeeded in obtaining fruit a little 

 earlier than in the orchard, without 



