Kf.brijary 20, 1895. 



Garden and Forest. 



79 



and the time of their flowering noted as a guide for the future ; 

 among these are the great beds of Trillium granditiorum 

 on the Second Mountain. In Franklin County, a search for 

 Gold Thread in the Rhododendron swamps of the South 

 Mountain revealed Dalibarda repens and Waldesteinia fraga- 

 roides. In the same swamps are found Magnolia glauca, 

 Sweet Magnolia it is called there, and quantities of fragrant 

 Azalea, R. viscosum, also var. glaucum, biit thus far no Gold 

 Thread. The meadows of that county show quantities of Ge- 

 rardia tenuifolia, and \n one meadow Pycnanthemum linifo- 

 lium and Poterium Canadense were found. The findmg of 

 Magnolia glauca was of special interest, since Professor Porter 

 assigns its western limit in Pennsylvania to a ridge of the 

 South Mountain, in Lebanon County, or quite seventy nriles 

 farther to the east. 



All the South Mountain plants were located at an elevation 

 of about one thousand feet, but as none of these last men- 

 tioned have been found near Harrisburg, it is a question 

 whether the cultivation of limestone soils destroys many of 

 our most beautiful wild flowers, or whether, like the Rhodo- 

 dendron, many of them are never found in limestone soils. 



Harrislnirg, Va. ^'^- ^' ^- • 



Meetings of Societies. 



Western New Yoi"k Horticultural Society.— IV. 



THE brief notes which follow conclude our report 

 of the late annual meeting of this society : 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FRUIIS. 



Professor M. V. Shngeriand referred to the introduction of 

 the San Jose scale, and then of the similar Plum scale, 

 which has done much damage in some fine orchards in 

 western New York. These remain on the tree all the year 

 as hard, brown, conspicuous scales, easilyfound, and appear- 

 ing like hard brown peas, which leave white spots under them 

 when removed. The eggs are laid under the scales about the 

 last of May, the scales usually being on the under side of the 

 branches of the last two years' growth. The only alarming 

 appearances have been, so far, confined to Geneva, Roches- 

 ter and Lockport, but they caused considerable damage. The 

 indications are, the young scales on the trees, which may be 

 found in July, the old cases on the trees, and the presence of 

 large quantities of honey-dew and its black fungus, as in the 

 case of the Pear-tree psylla. The young scales pump out the 

 sap and thus stunt the growth. There is a similar insect on 

 Quinces, Apples and Elms. The Japanese Plums do not seem 

 yet to have been attacked. In August the young scales place 

 themselves and never move again. The next May egg-laying 

 begins about the middle of May and continues till the hard 

 case is nearly full, each mother laying about a thousand eggs. 

 The eggs begin to hatch about the first of July, and the young 

 then begm to crawl to the leaves, where they place themselves 

 near the veins, preferably on the under side. The scales, now 

 five millimeters long, cannot readily be distinguished with- 

 out a lens. About the last of August they migrate to the 

 under sides of the smaller branches, where they pile up often 

 two or three layers deep. They are brown in August and 

 seal-brown later. About ten per cent, fall with the leaves. 

 The scales are now about twice as large as when hatched. 

 The next spring they are full-grown. If left to themselves they 

 would move slowly, but in their migrations they may get on 

 birds, insects and leaves and be thus transferred. There is 

 little danger of infection from nursery stock, as the scales have 

 not been found on trees under five years old. The scale has two 

 enemies — one a lady-beetle that eats it, and a parasitic insect. 

 The scale must be killed by contact. The kerosene emulsion 

 of a strength of one to four will kill the greater part of Uiem. 

 Between May and October there is but one week in which to 

 operate with any chance of success, and that is about the first 

 of July, when the insects are moving on the limbs. It is im- 

 practicable to kill them on the leaves, except by gas treatment, 

 and this is too expensive. In the autumn, after the leaves fall, 

 the emulsion diluted to a strength of one to four should be 

 used and the tree drenched with it. The dead scales are a 

 bright brown, hard to distinguish from the living ones. Most of 

 the scales are on the under side of the branch and in crevices 

 of the bark. If sprayed in the fall, again some time in the win- 

 ter, and in March twice, the cost will be about three cents a 

 tree for a thorough application. 



PEAR BLIGHT. 



In an illustrated lecture on this subject. Professor VVaite 

 showed that the flowers could be infected artificially, the nec- 



tary being the only part of the tree that can be successfully 

 infected without puncturing. It was shown, experimentally, 

 that insects carry the germs in their rounds from flower to 

 fljDwer and thus inoculate the blossoms. Trees overstimu- 

 lated, especially with nitrogen, seem to take the blight most 

 readily. The blight works downward, and the point it has 

 reached at any time is clearly defined. If the diseased parts 

 are renioved the roots recover. In cutting off blighted por- 

 tions in the dormant season it is only necessary to cut just 

 Lielow the blight. In the growing season the branch must be 

 cut a considerable distance below, and in lioth cases it is 

 advisable to burn the parts. 



The germ usually enters the tips next the blossoms, and ad- 

 vances towards the trunk. Three weeks after the twigs die the 

 germs usually all die. The germs have never yet been found in 

 the soil, but they have been found to live over in affected parts 

 next to the living tissues. They will sometimes live through 

 Bordeaux mixture. If the weather could be controlled, then 

 pear-blight could be, as moist, muggy weather favors it, 

 Bartlett is one of the worst varieties to blight, and so isClapp's 

 Favorite. All Pear-trees, whether dwarf or standard, should be 

 headed in as a preventive measure. Nitrogenous manures 

 should be used sparingly, and blight-proof varieties, such as 

 AngouIt?me, Keiffer and Lawrence, should be preferred. 



Mr. Beach said there had been some injury this year from 

 spraying with the Bordeaux mixture. If the copper sulphate 

 is diluted, or partially diluted, before adding the lime, and the 

 whole is then well stirred before adding the ferrocyanide there 

 will be no trouble if no brown color appears. Free copper is 

 often the cause of injury. The extra irritation of the cold damp 

 weather makes the roughness on so many varieties, Western 

 Beauty and Ben Davis among others. Apples that have been 

 sprayed, even in a wet season, keep better than others. He 

 also said that lime was fresh-slaked if it had been kept under 

 water constantly after it was first slaked and not allowed to 

 dry. He cautioned users of the Bordeaux mixture to turn the 

 nozzle back in the barrel after every stop of even a minute, as 

 the ingredients settle immediately, so thai the first application 

 will otherwise be too strong. . 



Mr. Woodward spoke encouragingly of nut-culture. He had 

 Paragon and Numbo Chestnuts six years old that have borne 

 three years. He took cions in 1893, and top-grafted on native 

 trees, and had fruit in 1894. Paragon is four times as large as 

 our common chestnut. It is a native seedling of a foreign 

 variety. Numbo is larger than Paragon, but not so sweet. He 

 whip-grafted, cleft-grafted and slipped cions under slitted 

 bark. His greatest trouble is in having the cions broken off 

 by wind after they begin to grow. 



Among the new diseases reported are the Peach-scab and 

 the powdery mildew of the Peach. In Niagara County, Bor- 

 deaux mixture injured the foliage, but did not check the 

 trouble. Ammoniacal carbonate of copper also hurt the 

 foliage, with but slight results in checking the disease. In 

 Tompkins County there was a new Raspberry disease, in which 

 the fruit dries on the bushes, the stems are brittle and break 

 like pipe-stems. 



Mr. Hooker said he had three to five hundred trees, fifteen 

 years old, killed outright by the scales. In his neighborhood 

 they had been found on Hickory, Elm. Orange, Quince and 

 Honey Locust. The German Prunes are not exempt, but the 

 Lombard and Reine Claude were the worst affected. . 



Notes. 



In our notes on new plants last week it should have been 

 stated that all the hybrid Cypripediums named were raised at 

 the United States Nurseries of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, at 

 Short Hills, New Jersey. 



Dr. Hoskins says that the Green Mountain grape ripens in 

 northern Vermont thoroughly every year, and in thrift, pro- 

 ductiveness and quality is proving all that could be desired as 

 a family grape ; and he adds that there is only one other grape 

 of good dessert quality which he has found early enough for 

 this region. Is this the Diamond ? 



One of the most famous trees in Germany, the so-called 

 Cathedral Linden of Brunswick, fell and perished a few months 

 since. It must have been large enough to be popularly noted 

 five centuries ago, for in a pamphlet published in the year 

 when America was discovered may be read the statement 

 that, in 1473, the summer had come so early that " the Lime- 

 tree of Brunswick" was in leaf on Easter Day. 



