638 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



The old adagg, " that prevention is better than 

 cure," is in few cases better exemplified than as 

 regards thrip, red -spider, mildew, &c, which 

 are so annoying in most forcing-houses. Peaches, 

 vines, and all deciduous plants may be in a great 

 degree protected from them by the use of sul- 

 phur in a volatilised state ; in no other are its 

 effects so completely accomplished. It must be 

 obvious to every experienced cultivator that a 

 wholesale riddance of such pests is of vast im- 

 portance, compared with the bit -by -bit and 

 often superficial modes so frequently practised, 

 and those only after the evil has done its worst. 

 No doubt, applied either in a dry or pasty state, 

 sulphur is sufficient for the destruction of mil- 

 dew; and in this state it can be safely applied 

 even when the trees are in full foliage : but for 

 the destruction of insects of such tenacity as 

 the thrip and red-spider, it is of little more use 

 than any other covering would be that would 

 exclude the air and imprison them until it is 

 washed off again by repeated syringings, except 

 in so far as it may become partially volatilised by 

 the heat of the sun or the temperature of the 

 house. Mr Robert Fish, one of the conductors 

 of " The Cottage Gardener," on this very subject 

 throws out the following useful suggestions : 

 " If, then," he says, " the fumes of sulphur are 

 so useful to the gardener, how can he most safely 

 apply them? A most important question — no law 

 of mediums here will do. If you err, let it be 

 on the safe side of low temperature. Whenever 

 sulphur burns, it will destroy, not only animal 

 life, but everything vegetable that is growing and 

 green. It will burn spontaneously when ex- 

 posed to a temperature of 302°; at a higher 

 temperature still the very fumes will ignite. 

 In putting a paint of flour of sulphur on the 

 warm end of a flue there is always this great 

 danger. It should always be put on at some 

 yards from the furnace. It fuses or melts, but 

 does not burn, at 220°. Long before that heat, 

 it gives off volatile fumes. Hence, for hardy 

 things, smearing hot- water pipes, unless close to 

 the boiler, will never be dangerous, because the 

 water will scarcely ever reach 200°. But at that 

 heat the fumes given off would be ruinous to 

 foliage just forming, and many flowers would 

 immediately drop. In all cases where leaves 

 are young and deficient in organisable matter, I 

 should not like to use a higher temperature to 

 obtain fumes than from 170° to 180°." Many, 

 tender plants in leaf will survive the fumes so 

 produced with impunity, but the utmost care 

 must be taken that the heat do not exceed the 

 first of these limits. Some plants will not bear 

 them at all ; therefore such should be removed 

 during the operation. It is not, however, to 

 plants in leaf that we are at present referring; 

 it is to the peach-house and vinery, and such 

 deciduous fruit trees as are in a state of rest ; 

 and the object is, by giving them the full amount 

 of fumigation that they will bear, to rid them 

 of the insects which lie ensconced in crevices of 

 the bark, under loose fragments of it, and at 

 the base, and even within the scales of the buds, 

 as well as those taking shelter in the woodwork 

 or masonry of the structure. 



The intelligent authority we have quoted. 



above, not content with the Volatilised fumes, 

 goes still farther, and actually burns the sul- 

 phur, thereby producing sulphurous acid, burn- 

 ing, in the case of French bean, melon, cucum- 

 ber pits, &c, a handful or two of sulphur upon 

 the removal of one crop, and before a succeed- 

 ing one is put in, removing a little of the sur- 

 face-soil, and giving air freely for several hours 

 after the operation is completed. That more 

 disagreeable than dangerous insect, the scale, 

 which sometimes attacks both peach and vine 

 trees, was completely subdued by the same 

 means. In regard to the mode of burning and 

 the necessary conditions, the following is the 

 substance : A few bits of dry straw are laid over 

 red embers in a pot, and on that the flour of 

 sulphur is placed, and the top of the pot covered 

 with dry moss. The embers and the sulphur 

 are quite effectual of themselves, as combustion 

 proceeds slowly. Whatever is mixed with the 

 sulphur must be dry. " Use no other noxious 

 matter with it. To make assurance doubly 

 sure," Mr Fish " had burned tobacco and bruised 

 laurel-leaves with the sulphur; but in every case 

 the painting was affected, being rendered brown 

 or black — a matter of no great moment in a 

 pit, but of great consequence in an ornamental 

 house." Regarding the state of the trees, " the 

 growth must be finished, and the wood hard 

 and firm. If not well ripened, the bark will be 

 injured in places, as if burned with a hot iron. 

 The dryness of the wood is indispensable. 

 Equally indispensable is the dryness of the: 

 house, especially on all parts covered with 

 paint. If wet, a grey sulphuret of lead is apt 

 to be formed, and covers the paint with a dark 

 powdery substance, if there is enough of mois- 

 ture for sulphurated hydrogen to be formed." 

 In regard to quantity, " in this Mr Fish has 

 never been particular; a small handful, or two 

 table-spoonfuls, to a house 12 feet by 8, repeated 

 according to size, is an average quantity." Time 

 and mode of application, " a quiet day or night, 

 every cranny in the house stopped, and no door 

 or window opened for at least a dozen of hours 

 after it is seen that combustion has fairly com- 

 menced. Used with caution, sulphur, more than 

 it has been, will be found a great auxiliary ; 

 used carelessly, it will bring disappointment." 



The vine scale (Coccus vitis Schr.) is found on 

 the branches of the vine as well as on other 

 fruit-bearing trees. It is, while young, some- 

 what long and of a brownish colour, changing 

 with age to a blackish brown, and in shape 

 hemispherical and wrinkled. This is a true 

 coccus, characterised by the female having a 

 scale or covering inseparable from its body. In 

 their young state both sexes are alike, but the 

 male larva produces insects with two wings, 

 with two tail-threads, while the females have 

 no wings, and afford shelter under their scales 

 for their young. The females are shield-like, 

 somewhat concave below; they have six small 

 legs, changing, as the insects become old, into 

 part of their bodies. The insect is furnished 

 with a sucker underneath, with which it pierces 

 the cuticle of the plant and extracts their juices. 

 The female dies soon after impregnation, afford- 

 ing by her body a protection to her eggs, which. 



