1863. 



THE ILLINOIS f AKMEE. 



205 



serted and has commenced to grow fast. By tak- 

 ing off the stock the sap forces a growth into the 

 newly set bud, and it will make a good growth the 

 same season, often two feet. 



This is a good month to correct the habit o* 

 trees, either by cutting back or pinching out the 

 leading buds. 



Insects should be looked after and not allowed 

 to make their nests. A little attention in time 

 will save no small amount of damage. The birds 

 being fully protected in our grounds, we have little 

 t* do, as they cheerfully attend to it in return for 

 ground and nest rent. They take a small per cent 

 of the fruit also, for pay, but thus far tTie benefits 

 are mutual, and we shall extend the contract an- 

 other year at least. We think seriously of growing 

 canary seed for them, and to take our pay in bird 

 music, we think it will pay. Cannot gome of our 

 young readers give us something on this head wor- 

 thy of attention ? We have whole orchestras of 

 bird music at so slight a cost, that we would re- 

 commend them to others. This morning Bob 

 White leads the choirs, and we have taken the 

 hint that a rain storm is brewing, and have chang- 

 ed our work hands to taller weeds, that will be 

 sure to die if cut off or pulled up, even if they 

 are wet down. 



Trees that are overloaded should be thinned out. 

 In doing this shake the fruit from pendant twigs 

 ane not those that grow upright. The best and 

 largest specimens are on spurs or upright branches, 

 especially is this the case with the peach. Peaches 

 growing on branches that are above a horizontal 

 line aie always the largest, and in thinning the 

 fruit be careful to leave all such, and take off only 

 those from the branches that droop, that is at the 

 point of the fruit, where the branch grows out- 

 ward and falls below a horizontal line. 



All newly planted trees will need mulching this 

 month, otherwise many of them will be lost. Trees 

 that were set last fall, will need less care as they 

 are better established before the dry weather comes 

 on, and thus enabled to stand the dry weather. 



The Plum Gouger. 



I am glad to add a little imperfect testimony 

 concerning the insect so christened by B. D. Walsh, 

 in the Prairie Farmer of June 13th. 



About the 10th of June, as I was examining 

 some nectarines, to ascertain the extent of the rav- 

 ages of the curculio, the present season, I noticed 

 the round puncture described by Mr. Walsh, differ- 

 ing however, in being considerable larger than he 

 figures it. This, however, might be an enlarge- 

 ment of the original puncture. The gentleman 

 within, struck directly for the stone, and was "al- 

 most there," a thin wiry looking fellow of pale 

 countenance. 



I suppose this to be Mr. Webb's new insect, but 

 did not know anything of his paternity. 



W. C. Flagg, 

 In Prairie Farmer. 



Madison Co., HI., June, 1863. 



— At this date, June 28th, the round puncture 

 in our plums, do not look as though they would be 

 of material injury. The plums are nearly an inch 

 long, and if the insect is to damage them he will 

 have to bestir himself soon. It is very probable 

 that we have more than one insect that makes the. 

 round puncture, as we cannot find any deep holes 

 spoken of in another place by Mr. Walsh. 



Our plum trees are in the yard between the 

 house and barn, where the poultry have fi'ee access 

 at all times, and not a plum has been stung by the 

 curculio. We had planted the trees in the orchard, 

 but losing this crop wo removed the trets, and this 

 is the third year the crop is unharmed. Ed. 



«■> 



Address by the President. 



B. D. Walsh, Esq., of Rock Island, President of 

 the Society, read a paper upon "The Fire Blight," 

 which has proved so destructive to many classes of 

 fruit trees — especially pear trees. He assumes 

 that the great difference between the price of ap- 

 ples and pears is owing to the destruction of pear 

 trees by fire-blight. 



Some writers have advanced the idea that the in- 

 sect saollatus pyru8 is the cause'; others attribute it 

 to one and another cause. There is also a differ- 

 ence of opinion as to the advantage of cutting oflPvc 

 the limbs affected. Mr. Welsh carefully compared * 

 the symptoms and appearance of the trees said to ' 

 be affected in the East, with those in the West. : 

 Downing's "frozen sap blight" cannot be the cause. 

 This is demonstrated by the fact that here and 

 there only patches of trees, or frequently only a 

 portion of one tree is thus affected ; again, after 

 remarkably mild winters, the blight has been fully 

 as prevalent as after the most severe winters. Thus 

 far there is apparently no exceptions in the varie- 

 ties, soil, or climate. He does not think Downing's 

 theory correct. 



He believes that the insect commonly called 

 "leaf-hopper," (of which there are several species 

 of the same family,) about one-eighth of an incb 

 long, is the cause of the so-called fire-blight. His 

 careful observations, for two or three years past, 

 has confirmed him in this belief. Since the publi- 

 cation of an article in the Frairie Farmer, some 

 months since, on the subject, he has actually ob- ■ 

 served the insects in the act of penetrating the 

 bark of trees, where its eggs are deposited. He 

 concludes that the eggs are deposited in the au- 

 tumn or spring upon the twigs by this insect, and 

 that they do not hatch in less than three or four 

 months, and the effects of their work is not appa- 

 rent till June or July. He believes that two 

 broods are hatched every year — one in spring, and 

 the other in August — depositing from 400 to 700 

 eggs each. 



He claims-that many of the insects of America, 

 as well as many of the animals, are distinctly na- 

 tive American — peculiar to this country. Hence, 

 the so-called fire-blight is unknown in Europe. 



