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1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



269 



Trim the tree thoroughly to facilitate subsequent 

 operations, Make a strong lye and apply it freely 

 with a swab to'every portion of the tree infested. 

 After a few days examine the trees, and if the lice 

 do not appear to be thoroughly dead, repeat the 

 operation. No fears need be entertained of inju- 

 ry to the trees. Those which Mr. Vedder has thus 

 washed are the most vigorous and healthy looking 

 trees we have seen this summer. 



The operation is necessarily a slow and tedious 

 one, and the performer should lay in a large stock 

 of patience before commencing the job. It cannot 

 be done hurriedly and done well, and if not done 

 w«H, may as well not be done at all. It will pay to 

 do it well, as all will admit who will consider the 

 diflFerence between seeing a tree worth $5, to $25 

 destroyed by lice in two or three years, and spend- 

 ing a half day or even a day clearing the vermiii 

 off it. Undoubtedly the best time of the year to 

 apply this remedy is just as soon as you discover 

 that your trees are lousy, though if it should be 

 necessary to do considerable pruning, there may be 

 a choice of time to do that. As however the best 

 authors recommend August for the operation, we 

 recommend every reader of the Cottrant who has 

 an apple tree, to examine it at once, and if lice are 

 discovered commence manufacturing them into 

 soap at once. — Berlin {Wis.) Uourant. 



This bark louse is a bad subject at the best, and 

 should be attended to without delay. We have 

 found the best time to prune in March and April, 

 before the buds began to swell, and then ap- 

 ply the wash of soda or wood lye made into a 

 whitewash An old tree should be headed back 



■ ■ 1 



cutting off all two year old wood, for on this will 

 be found nearly all the live insects. The old scales 

 do no harm and only disfigure the tree ; a wet cloth 

 with a little sand will take off all the insects if 

 properly applied, and is a good way to clean up the 

 tree. The insect is either carried by the wind or 

 flies some distance, generally in the direction of 

 the wind, during the few days that they are allow- 

 ed the privilege of action. — Ed. 



Easpberkies and Blackberries — Prepare them 

 FOR A FuTCRE Crop. — The old canes have about 

 performed their duty, and the new shoots are as- 

 piring to overtop their parents. Remember, that 

 the next year's crop will depend entirely upon the 

 new canes. To insure a vigorous growth, cut out 

 all the old ones as soon as the fruit has been gath- 

 ered — they would never bear again — and unless an 

 increase of stock is wanted, cut out a portion of 

 the weak canes of the present year. This will 

 throw all the growth into the remainder, and se- 

 cure strong shoots for future fruiting. They are 

 often left too crowded. If in large hills four feet 

 apart, four raspberry and three blackberry canes 

 are quite sufficient for a hill. We prefer them in 

 drills, to be trained upon a trellis, with single canes 

 of rispberries fifteen inches, and blackberries 

 twenty inches distant, the rows four feet apart for 

 raspberries and six feet for blackberries. On rich 

 ground well tended, the growth will be sufficient 

 to fill the trellis, which need not be more than two 

 wires or slats in bight. When too aspiring, nip off 



the shoot at a reasonable hight, to induce side 

 branches. This will make a miniature tree, which, 

 with the Lawton blackberry, has been known to 

 produce six and even eight quarts per cane. Do 

 not head back after the first of August, else the 

 late growth will not harden sufficiently to stand 

 winter. — £!x. 



If raspberry plants are cut back one-third of 

 their length they will not require trellising. The 

 distance to plant raspberries is four by eight feet, 

 the latter the width of the rows. We know this 

 from actual field culture. When four feet rows 

 are used it is out of the question to work them 

 with ar horse, and six feet is too narrow ; we now 

 set in rows eight feet wide, and blackberries the 

 same distance. These we should confine to bedge 

 rows of six inches wide, catting down all sprouts 

 outside of that line, and shall shorten back the 

 plants in the spring. This space will admit of 

 working the ground with a horse and for the con- 

 venient picking of the fruit. 



Mntton and "Wool- 



Messrs. Editors : — In addition to the influence 

 of the steamboat and the railroad, affording the 

 means of rapid transit between large cities and re 

 mote districts, there are two principal points for 

 consideration in the determination of the choice 

 between the Merinos and the breeds of mutton 

 sheep. 



^rst. The prices of coarse wools and fine wools 

 are steadily approximating. The demand for the 

 former is constantly increasing, while the demand 

 for the latter is relatively diniinishing. The popu- 

 lar taste for fine cloths for male attire is greatlv 

 changed, while those fabrics requiring heavy and 

 coarse wools are largely multiplied and extended. 



Second. Since the introduction of good mutton 

 sheep, the American people are learning to eat 

 mutton. Next to beef in excellence — and by some 

 esteemed more highly — it is more cheaply produc- 

 ed. The demand for it is steadily and rapidly in- 

 creasing, and the prospect is that it will continue 

 to increase in an accelerated ratio, and that it will 

 in the end overturn the empire of pork. 



These are the principal reasons why the produc- 

 tion of mutton should be paramount to that of fine 

 wool in all districts within easy access of a good 

 market, and why the production of coarse wool 

 and mutton should not in such districts be consid- 

 ered of inferior importance to that of Merino wool 

 with all the disadvantages of breeding, rearing, and 

 inferior carcass and flesh. 



For these reasons it is considered by the best 

 friends of the Merinos that where the market for 

 lambs and mutton is good, the Merino sheep must 

 yield the preferment to the long and middle-wool- 

 ed sheep. The place of the Merinos is in the south 

 of Africa, the pampas of South America, Texas, 

 the prairies of the West, and other regions, which 

 have not been brought into easy communication 

 with some one or more of the large meat markets 

 of the country where high prices are paid. In such 

 I^aces the increase of flocl^ is sufficient at eighty 



