42 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 153. 



branching scapes ; whereas in Freesia the flowers are tubular, 

 curved at the base, the segments as broad as long, and, in the 

 variety mentioned by Mr. Endicott, pure white save only a 

 small blotch of yellow in the throat. Moreover, the scapes 

 are much weaker than in Tritonia crocata. A cross between 

 these two plants would be most interesting. Has Mr. Endi- 

 cott any plants of the hvbrid he raised ? 



London". " W. WatsOll. 



Cultural Department. 

 A Winter Campaign Against Insects. 



THERE is time for a good many odd jobs during the win- 

 ter in the garden and orchard, or even in the grove, 

 where that is supposed to be kept in order, and no such odds 

 and ends of time can be better employed than in a systematic 

 campain against insects. In orchards usually infested by the 

 tent caterpillar, especially if the trees are young or small, 

 every twig should be examined against the sky for egg-masses. 

 These encircle the twig, making an apparent swelling from 

 half an inch to an inch in length, and are brown, smooth and 

 glistening as if varnished. They look as though a disc of 

 cobbler's wax had been flattened out to about the size of a 

 half dollar and an eighth of an inch thick and then stuck round 

 a twig of suitable size. These egg-masses when once recog- 

 nizedare very easily seen, and should be gathered and de- 

 stroyed. The little caterpillars hatch in the spring and begin 

 the formation of their tent, usually on the twig that bore 

 the egg-mass. Gathering the eggs will of course prevent 

 the formation of nests, and this is easier than to destroy the 

 nest when once formed. 



All dead wood should be removed, and trees that are badly 

 infested by borers should be cut down and the wood burnt. 

 If it is left, even in the wood-shed, the borers will still come 

 to maturity, emerge at the proper time, and nothing has 

 been gained. The Oak-pruner {Elaphidion villosum) some- 

 times infests Apple-orchards to a considerable extent. The 

 usual habit of the larva is to bore in the branches, and at the 

 approach of winter to girdle these inwardly to such an extent 

 that a good high wind will break them and they fall to the 

 ground, the larva remaining in the fallen wood and there com- 

 pleting its transformations. By gathering and burning all 

 fallen twigs and branches, of course all contained insects are 

 destroyed. Where there are Oaks on the grounds or in a 

 grove the fallen branches should be also carefully gathered, 

 not only for the benefit of the orchard, but for that of the Oaks 

 themselves. Dead wood of all kinds should be destroyed. 

 Many bark-borers and wood-borers get into young Oak and 

 Hickory where a fire has been over the ground, and all such 

 material should be cut and burnt. Loose bark on old trees 

 should be removed, and the trunks thoroughly brushed with a 

 stiff broom, which will clear the crevices of many cocoons and 

 pupae of the codling moth and other pests. A clean, smooth, 

 healthy bark offers little or no chance for concealment, and 

 other locations on rubbish, old fences, anything, in fact, on which 

 shelter is obtainable, are selected by the insects, and these 

 should be either removed or cleaned. A good coat of white- 

 wash, thoroughly put on, will destroy much of the insect life 

 hibernating on fences. It should be put on between board and 

 post where the joints are loose, or between the rails on a 

 fence of that description. Sheds in which produce is stored 

 should be treated in the same way, that is, they should be thor- 

 oughly cleaned and whitewashed, and so also should cellars. 

 A liberal use of whitewash is to be recommended not only for 

 the insecticide effects which it may have, but because it offers 

 a very poor resting-place for many Fungus-spores which are 

 the cause of much of the rot and decay in fruit or produce- 

 sheds. 



Where ornamental, especially dwarf, Willows are grown, 

 on lawns or gardens near New York, Jersey City and Newark, 

 they should be carefully examined. There has been intro- 

 duced within a few years last past a weevil, Cryptorhynchus 

 lapathi, which works in Willow-twigs and branches much in 

 the same way that the White Pine-weevil works in the leaders 

 of so many of our ornamental conifers. The Newark collect- 

 ors tell me that in some localities every Willow-copse is 

 infested, and Mr. Machesney informs me that a Kilmarnock 

 Willow in the grounds of a friend has been totally ruined by 

 this beetle. It works preferably in the smaller twigs and 

 branches, burrowing in considerable numbers, in much the 

 same way as does the Pissodes strobi, and making much the 

 same sort of cells when the larva is full grown. Wherever the 

 presence of this insect is noted treatment should be radical, and 

 every infested branch or twig should be burnt. The insect 



will undoubtedly spread and should be carefully watched. 

 Badly infested trees, where they are small, had better be cut 

 and burnt; larger trees should be cut back into sound wood 

 as early as it can be safely done. 



Arbor-vitae hedges are especially subject to bag-worm 

 attacks, and these should all be picked off and destroyed dur- 

 ing the winter. The bags contain the egg-sack, and every 

 sound bag means 200 or 300 larvae early the next spring. Not 

 only Arbor-vitae, but other hedges and a large number of 

 other plants and trees, are attacked. Willows are sometimes 

 almost defoliated, and Poplars are favorites. As the larvae do 

 not usually wander from the tree on which they hatch, clear- 

 ing a hedge or tree during the winter means practical exemp- 

 tion from attack in summer. 



The caterpillar of the White Marked Tussack Moth (Orgyia 

 leucostigma) is a great pest, especially in city gardens and 

 streets. It is recognizable by the bright red head, shining like 

 sealing-wax, and by the thick hair tufts on the back. These cater- 

 pillars pupate in a thin cocoon on the tree trunk, on fences, 

 under the sills of windows, on the sides of weather-boarded 

 houses, and, in fact, everywhere that a projection offers even 

 a suggestion of shelter or a hold for the cocoon. The female 

 moths are wingless, and on emerging cling to the outside of 

 the cocoon, upon which they deposit their eggs, covering 

 them with a pure white frothy mass, which hardens and be- 

 comes brittle, preserving the eggs from damage during the 

 winter. These egg-masses are easily seen, and should be 

 gathered and destroyed. In Albany, a few years ago, Mr. W. 

 W. Hill induced some of his neighbors to unite with him in 

 gathering the egg-masses on their premises and on the trees 

 in front of their houses; and their trees were the only ones on 

 the avenue that escaped defoliation. Trees that are badly 

 infested with scale insects can be sprayed with the kerosene 

 emulsion during the winter, and most or all of the scales 

 destroyed. There is no foliage to interfere, and every twig 

 and branch can be reached. The emulsion, too, can be used 

 much stronger than is possible at other seasons of the year ; 

 the scales are more certainly penetrated and the vitality of 

 insect or egg destroyed. One part of the emulsion to nine 

 parts of water is both effective and safe. 



It is in parks and gardens that these winter campaigns can 

 be most successfully carried on. Cleanliness everywhere is 

 of vital importance. Health is as essential to plants as to man 

 to enable them to resist the attacks of insects and of Fungi. 

 Therefore stimulate weaklings where possible, and where 

 they do not respond destroy them. They offer a favor- 

 able soil for Fungus attack and a direct invitation to insects. 

 Where these are once established on failing plants the healthy 

 are in constant danger. ^ . 



Rutgers College. . John b. bmitk. 



The Cracking of Fruits and Vegetables. 



THE cracking or bursting of fruits and vegetables during 

 growth or at maturity is often a source of considerable 

 loss. A better understanding of the causes of this trouble 

 might enable us in some cases to use preventive measures. 

 At present it must be confessed that the subject has been too 

 little investigated. It is plain that all instances of cracking 

 cannot be referred to a single cause, and it is quite possible that 

 in some cases the real source of the affection has not been 

 suspected. 



In certain vegetables, as the carrot and kohl-rabi, as well as 

 in the potato-tuber, the cracking appears to be the result of a 

 second growth that occurs after some maturing of the tissues 

 has taken place. When a period of dry weather, which tends 

 to premature ripening, is followed by abundant rain, a new 

 season of growth often begins. But the outer layers of cells 

 being no longer capable of growth, the formation of new cells 

 in the cambium region of the vegetable or tuber necessitates 

 a rupture of the outer part, precisely as the formation of a new 

 layer of wood causes ruptures in the bark of trees. The only 

 preventive we can at present propose is the harvesting of the 

 crop before the second growth has gone sufficiently far to 

 cause the rupture. 



The cracking of ripe apples upon the tree in wet weather 

 appears to be due in some cases, at least, to the absorption of 

 water through the skin. Ripe apples immersed in water will 

 often absorb enough of the liquid to burst the skin in a few 

 hours. This process has been ascribed to an osmotic action 

 between the juices of the fruit and the water. In an experi- 

 ment, however, there was no evidence that osmosis had 

 taken place. After soaking an apple in distilled water for sev- 

 eral days, during which the flesh cracked nearly to the centre, 

 the water gave no evidence of containing glucose, and showed 



