August 28, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



547 



indicator connected with tlie force-pump sliows the water- 

 pressure, and a number of outlets, four, six or eiglit, are con- 

 nected with as many lines of hose as may be practicable. 

 Hose guaranteed to stand two hundred pounds pressure to 

 the inch can be had of the Mineralized Rubber Company of 

 this city, at twelve cents a foot. Tlie McGowan nozzle, made 

 at Ithaca, New York, and costing $1.10, is the best for produc- 

 ing a fine spray, and with 180 pounds of steam-pressure it 

 throws a shower vertically for thirty feet or more. Some form 

 of agitator should be used to keep the materials forming the 

 poison-drench uniformly mixed in the tank. Besides the 

 horses needed to bring this apparatus into position, a driver 

 who can operate the agitator, an engineer and four or more, 

 sometimes as many as eight men, to manage as many lines of 

 hose, with an assistant to charge the tank, constitute an effec- 

 tive force. A man with creepers ascends a tree, carrying a 

 stout cord, and choosing a good position in a crotch hauls up a 

 line of hose and fastens it to the limb so that by holding the 

 hose near the end he can direct the nozzle on every side. 

 When the power is applied, the poison-spray, by skillful hand- 

 ling of the nozzle, is quickly applied to all parts of the foliage. 

 To avoid waste of material the nozzle is held only a moment 

 toward any one point, and two or three minutes at the most 

 are required to finish the work of a large tree. While two or 

 more men are directing the spray into as many trees, the same 

 number are climbing adjacent ones, so that the engine and its 

 attendants are fully occupied. 



The first spraying should be made in May as soon as the 

 leaves are half-grown, to destroy the beetles before they de- 

 posit their eggs ; the second in June, when it is seen that the 

 eggs which have been laid are hatching out. This is the most 

 effective method of combating this pest, and it should be kept 

 up for several years. Trees which lose even more than half 

 of their sound leaf-surface may survive the attack for one year, 

 but they will be destroyed beyond remedy by the beetles and 

 worms that will attack them next year unless a well-organized 

 campaign for their suppression is undertaken early next spring. 



If the spraying of the trees is impracticable, efforts must be 

 made to destroy the pupaj on or beneath the trees. This is 

 done by sprinkling the kerosene emulsion over the ground 

 under the trees through a watering-pot. The application does 

 not injure the grass, and it should be made in sufficient quan- 

 tity to saturate the soil where the pupse exist. By examining 

 the ground, the grass, the falling leaves, etc., under the trees 

 the pupse can be found, and the proper time for applying the 

 emulsion, as well as the extent of ground which demands treat- 

 ment, can be ascertained. The soft yellow pupiB in this lati- 

 tude will be found on the ground from the middle of June to 

 the middle of July or later. The application should be made 

 as soon as they are observed, and repeated, if necessary, to 

 destroy them. To be thoroughly effective this method should 

 be practiced every year. The rough outer bark of the tree for 

 some distance from the ground should be scraped, as many 

 pupa2 are likely to be concealed in the crevices, and the scrap- 

 ings should be burned or drenched with kerosene. Many as- 

 cending worms can be intercepted by a band of hay an inch 

 thick and eight inches wide secured to a scraped trunk at a 

 convenient height from the ground by the aid of a six-inch 

 girth of cheap cotton cloth, which is first tacked by one end to 

 the bark, and, after packing the hay under it around the tree, 

 is fastened at the other end by pins. As often as the hay be- 

 comes stocked with larvs and pupae the band (not the naked 

 bark) is hammered with a mallet, wdiich crushes most of the 

 vermin. The hay, with any live insects, is then burned and 

 replaced by a new band. 



New Haven, Conn. O. --^. 



Transplanting Kalniia latifolia. 



'T'O move plants of Kalmia latifolia from their native woods 

 ■•• and use them for beautifying public grounds has been 

 considered a difficult operation, and, undoubtedly, it is, unless 

 proper care be exercised in the work. At Twin Oaks, the 

 estate of Gardiner Hubbard, Esq., during the past winter the 

 gardener, Peter Bisset, has been successful in moving about 

 tour thousand plants from the surrounditig woods and placing 

 them along drives and walks among such plants as Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Indian Azaleas and Japanese Conifers. The Kalmias 

 at the time of lifting were from a foot to eighteen inches high. 

 The work was done, as weather would permit, from the mid- 

 dle of November to the end of December. During all of that 

 time the ground was wet, many of the plants being moved 

 when the snow was on the ground. Care was taken to have 

 the soil in which they were planted as much resembling that 

 in which they were growing as possible ; if a hard stony patch 

 was struck, the holes were prepared beforehand with soil con- 



taining a large amount of vegetable humus. All of the plants 

 were moved with as large roots as possible. Notwithstanding 

 the hot dry spells of the past few months, there have been only 

 a few dozen deaths among the plants ; the remainder are in a 

 wonderfully good state of health, having made growths which 

 compiare very favorably with those of plants growing naturally. 

 All the flower-buds were nipped off just as soon as they could 

 be got at. Mr. W. R. Smith, of the Botanic Gardens, has also 

 successfully moved a lot of ICalmias from their native wilds, but 

 the plants in this instance were smaller. As soon as received 

 they were potted into four and five inch pots and plunged in a 

 cool frame for a year, where they have made a good growth, 

 filled the pots with roots, and are now in good condition for 

 planting out this fall. 



Botanic'Garden, Wasliinjjton, D. C. G. IV. O. 



The Coral-trees. 



'^HE Erythrinas, or Coral-trees, unfortunately so seldom 

 ■•- seen in our gardens, are among the most showy flowering 

 plants of their order. They are chiefly subtropical trees and 

 shrubs with large trifoliate leaves and long terminal or axillary 

 racemes or spikes of scarlet flowers of various size and shade. 

 Of course, none, except, perhaps, the beautiful Cherokee 

 Bean, Erythrina herbacea, is hardy in any of the northern 

 states, but a few of the exotic species may be successfully 

 grown for sunimer decoration in the garden, either for the 

 sake of the rich glossy foliage or because of their gorgeous 

 flowers. The best of these and the easiest to cultivate suc- 

 cessfully is E. Crista-galli, a species with herbaceous shoots, 

 flowering during the summer or early autumn months, accord- 

 ing to treatment and location. 



The Coral-trees are widely different in growth and habit. 

 Some are arborescent species, indigenous to the Cape, the 

 East Indies and the South Sea Islands ; others are frutescent 

 or herbaceous. These latter are common in the West Indies, 

 and are represented in the United States by tiie above-men- 

 tioned Erythrina herbacea, a small and delicately beautiful 

 plant common in the Pine-lands of the south from Florida to 

 Carolina and Virginia. 



The herbaceous forms, which annually throw up strong, suc- 

 culent shoots terminating in a long and brilliant raceme of 

 flowers, should be stored in a dry, cool place during winter 

 until the frosts are over, when tliey may either be simply 

 planted out in a very rich and well-dug border in a sunny posi- 

 tion, or they may be potted and started in a greenhouse in 

 moderate heat, to be planted out as early as the weather will 

 permit. After planting in the open air these kinds will gen- 

 erally take care of themselves and flower profusely in season, 

 provided the soil is rich and the plants are not suffering for 

 want of water. In France, where Erythrina Crista-galli and 

 especially E. Bidwillii are largely grown for the market, the 

 plants are started in gentle heat and planted out quite early in 

 beds which are mulched with a deep layer of well-decayed 

 horse-manure. Here they are cared for during the summer, 

 watered profusely during dry spells, and the shoots are tied to 

 , neat sticks so as to render the plant even and uniform. From 

 three to five shoots are allowed on each plant. The plants are 

 lifted and potted in September or October before the flowers 

 expand, and when established are sold in the open markets and 

 by florists for window decoration. 



The woody species produce their flowers from the young 

 wood of the previous year, and care should be taken not to 

 prune the plants until the flowering season is over. When 

 the season's growth is finished, the plants are gradually dried 

 off and allowed to lose their leaves. In this dormant state 

 they are stored in a cool, dry place until early in the season 

 when they are looked over, cleaned, and potted if necessary. 

 They should be started in a moist atmosphere and about 

 seventy degrees of heat. Watering must be plentiful, and the 

 plants require all the sunlight that can be had so early in the 

 season. The beautiful flowers soon develop, in advance of 

 the leaves. After flowering, the young shoots are trimmed 

 back to a couple of eyes, which will develop strong flowering- 

 shoots for the follOiving year. In the mean time, the leathery, 

 glossy leaves make the plants quite ornamental without flow- 

 ers. Erythrina corallodendron is the chief species treated in this 

 manner. E. Indica is an evergreen tree chiefly grown in 

 botanical gardens. The variety Parcellii has variegated foli- 

 age and is very ornamental. These are grown on without 

 interruption the whole year. 



All Erythrinas require rich soil, an abundance of water dur- 

 ing the growing season and a warm, sunny position. They 

 are propagated by means of herbaceous cuttings, which are 

 taken with a heel and rooted in bottom-heat. 



