4 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[January, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Young Trees in exposed localities should be 

 guarded against being 1 down over by heavy 

 winds. If stakes are used for this purpose 

 they must be driven in firmly and deep 

 enough not to be thrown out by frost, else 

 they leave the tree in a worse condition than 

 if it had not been staked at all. Provision 

 should also be made to prevent the rubbing 

 of the bark against the stake ; this may lie 

 effected by wrapping pieces of old carpet or 

 straw bands around the stems. There is less 

 danger from this cause when two stakes are 

 used for each tree. 



Mice do often a great deal of damage to 

 young trees by gnawing off a girdle of bark 

 clean around the stem. Their depredations 

 are more frequent in grassy or weedy ground 

 than where the land is kept cleanly culti- 

 vated, and more under snow than on bare 

 ground; if, therefore, the fresh fallen snow is 

 firmly tramped down around each tree, less 

 damage is to lie feared. Banking or hilling 

 up with earth around the stem, a foot or 

 more high, is a very effectual preventive, 

 provided the mounds are kept smooth and 

 firmly packed with the back of a spade ; the 

 snow should also lie packed down on them 

 after each heavy snow-fall. If these pre- 

 cautionary means have been neglected before 

 the freezing of the ground, lirotection can 

 be afforded at any time by tying strips of 

 heavy tarred sheathing paper or tin around 



the ground, and tying the upper end with a 

 wire or heavy string. Old tomato or fruit 

 cans, cut open lengthwise, answer the pur- 

 pose completely. 



Rabbit* are an unmitigated nuisance in 

 some of our Western States, and threaten 

 to become as great a pest as they are to the 

 farmers of Australia. The natural aversion 

 of the animal to blood furnishes a ready 

 means for preventing their damage to young 

 fruit trees. If the blood of slaughtered ani- 

 mals of any kind is rubbed around the stem, 

 rabbits will keep at a respectful distance 

 from it. A mixture of lime, water, and cow- 

 dung is also used with success, and when 

 only a few trees are to be protected, a light 

 frame or lattice-work maybe fastened around 

 the stem. 



Caterpillars. The eggs of the tent-eater- 

 pillar, girdling in glossy, dense, hoop-shaped 

 clusters, small branches of Apple-trees may 

 now readily be found, and time cannot be 

 put to better purpose during mild winter 

 days than to make systematic hunt for these- 

 embryo destroyers of our fruit crops. Every 

 cluster contains from three to four hundred 

 eggs, and it is evident how much mischief 

 maybe prevented by their destruction. With 

 a pair of priming-shears, fastened to a stiff 

 pole, a man can clean a large number of trees 

 in a day. The cut-off branches should, of 

 course, be burned, as lying on 'the ground 

 the eggs would hatch as readily as if left on 

 the trees. By repeating this search once or 

 twice during winter little damage need be 

 apprehended from the ravages of caterpil- 

 lars. 



Fruit-cellars should lie ventilated freely on 

 all mild days, as in wintering fruit it is just 

 as important to guard against loss from too 

 high a temperature as from frost, 



THE WHITE GRUB. 



(Lachnosterna fusca.) 

 In a speech before both Houses of Con- 

 gress " The Father of his Country" once 

 said : "To be prepared for war is one of the 

 most effectual means of preserving peace." 

 The same principle of punctual iirecaution 

 lias been condensed into the common saying, 

 "In peace prepare for war." This is the 

 peaceful season of winter, when the gardener 

 reviews the progress made in the campaign 

 fit the year that has closed, and should be 

 equipping himself for the conquest that 

 opens in the spring. 



The enemies of the farm and garden are 

 also in great part resting from their labors, 

 j and, with appetites made keen by their long 

 , winter of fasting, will be out in full force so 

 soon as the lengthening days and high sun of 

 approaching summer warm them into ac- ; 

 | tivity. 



Not the least of the insect pests, both as ! 

 to individual size and destructive work, i 

 is the White Grub; and now, while lie is 



! snugly tucked away under the snow and the 

 sod. it may be well to look up his habits 



: and history, and thus be able to recognize 

 him on his first appearance. In its perfect 

 state the White Grub is known by several 

 names, the leading ones of which are : May- 



| bug or May-beetle, June-bug or June-beetle, 

 and Dor-l>ug. 



These clumsy beetles come from the 



I ground in May or June, as the above names 

 suggest, and are familar to all on their 

 visits upon the family, especially at evening 

 when, witli the windows and doors open, 

 they l.eat their heads against the wall or 

 burn their wings at the lighted lamp. 



The beetle is about an inch long, of a dark I 

 chestnut color, and more or less covered with | 



i a yellowish down upon the breast. In this 

 state the June-bugs do much damage to 

 fruit and other trees. It is fortunate that 

 they soon pair, after which the females 

 quickly enter the earth and lay their eggs, 

 and soon die. The eggs hatch in a few- 

 weeks, and the young grubs live upon the 

 small roots of various plants. In the second 

 year they make their presence felt ; they 

 work just below the surface of the soil and 

 feed upon any roots that may be within their 



In this way much damage is done by the 

 \ White Grub to the field and garden crops ; it 

 I revels in the strawberry bed as well as in the 

 flower garden, and does much mischief to the 

 lawn ; in fact, the roots of trees are not free 

 from its destructive attacks. 



The grub is full grown in its third year, 

 and is then a plump, dirty white "worm," 

 sometimes nearly as large as one's little 

 I finger. It is usually found with the body 

 curved into a semicircle by bringing the 

 I mahogany-colored head near to the some- 

 what hairy posterior extremity of the body. 

 During the third season, the White Grub, ' 

 I having reached its full size and done much I 

 mischief, forms an earthen chamber around 

 itself by sticking particles of earth together 

 with an adhesive fluid, and in this it assumes 

 the inactive, or pupa state. In May or June i 

 the ehrysalid changes into the perfect state, i 

 or beetle, and the cycle of the changes 

 of this insect is completed. Eggs are again 

 laid in the earth, and in a short time a new 

 generation of the white grub enters on its 

 underground life of destruction in either the 

 farm or garden soil. 



REMEDIES FOR THE WHITE GRUB. 



As might be expected from the duration 

 of the larval or grub state, in each locality the 

 perfect insects or beetles are more nu- 

 merous once in three years than at other 

 times. They may be so abundant as to liter- 

 ally cover the trees during the short time 

 that they remain above ground, and can be 

 shaken from the trees upon sheets, and de- 

 stroyed. The fact that they are attracted 

 by light may be used to advantage. Traps, 

 consisting of a lamp throwing a strong light, 

 with a tub of water beneath, can be used 

 with success in destroying this pest. Several 

 lanterns have been devised especially for 

 lighting the June-beetle on its giddy way to 

 destruction; the "bugs "strike against the 

 glass of the lamp and fall into the tub of 

 water. 



There are a number of natural remedies, 

 among the chief of which is the crow. There 

 is no doubt that this much-abused bird knows 

 that a tender morsel lies at the base of a 

 young spear of corn ; but for the most of the 

 year the crow is busy destroying insects, 

 and for this it should be protected. The 

 skunk likewise is fond of the beetles, and 

 does a good woi'k in keeping this pest in 

 cheek. 



There is very little to be done with the 

 white grub, as it works underground, and is 

 out of reach. When the sod of the lawn has 

 grown brown, and can be lifted like a blanket 

 from the earth, it should lie removed and the 

 worms exposed to the birds, or otherwise 

 destroyed. Swine will get a majority of the 

 fat grubs out of an infested pasture. There 

 is a fungus that grows upon this pest, and 

 it is hoped that its tribe will increase until 

 we need not look further for the complete 

 eradication of the White Grub from all culti- 

 vated soil, either of the farm or garden. 



Dr. B. D. Halsted. 



FRUIT IN ENGLAND. 



"No attempt is made," says Professor 

 Budd, in a letter to the Iowa Homestead, 

 "at Chiswick — or elsewhere, so far as I 

 have seen — to grow Grapes in the open air. 

 The climate is too moist and cool ; very fine 

 Grapes are grown by almost all land-owners 

 under glass. 



"Currants are grown in tree-form almost 

 exclusively. Gooseberries are here in their 

 chosen land. The size is fabulous. Quality, 

 to my taste, is below our Houghton. The 

 Strawberry here exceeds my expectation. 

 The crops are as bountiful and the fruit as 

 large as that of our best varieties in Iowa, 

 but the quality is far below our Charles 

 Downing, or even Crescent and Cumberland 

 Triumph." 



APRICOT WINE. 



Among the numerous products of Southern 

 California the Apricot seems to be not the 

 least in importance. It grows there in great- 

 est luxuriance and abundance, but, so far, it 

 lias been used only fresh and for drying. It 

 is now stated that excellent wine, equaling 

 in quality some of the celebrated brands of 

 foreign wines, has been made from ripe 

 Apricots. That a fruit so luscious and sweet 

 should produce good wine does not seem at 

 all improbable, thus extending its cultiva- 

 tion and adding another profitable industry 

 to the Golden State, already so lavishly en- 

 dowed with Pomona's treasures. 



