NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



261 



Hints are given in another paper on the best time and method for 

 picking and packing fruit intended for cold storage, and one or two 

 speakers mentioned what a difference good roads make, in the appearance 

 and keeping qualities of fruit that has to be carted to market. That 

 prolific pest, the San Jose scale, is also the subject of a paper, and the 

 best and most effective remedies for it are said to be coal oil and 

 the lime, salt, and sulphur wash, to be applied only when the trees are 

 dormant. 



A soap emulsion with oil may be made as follows : One gallon of 

 boiling water, half a pound of soap cut into thin slices, two gallons 

 oil. Stir hard till they mix. Add five gallons of water for a 25 per 

 cent, emulsion, and a weaker solution is not advised when the trees are 

 dormant. When they are in leaf a 15 per cent, emulsion may be used. 

 The formula for the lime, salt, and sulphur mixture used on the Pacific 

 coast is as good as any, and is as follows : Unslacked lime 40 lb. ; flour of 

 sulphur 20 lb. ; common salt 15 lb. ; and water enough to make 60 

 gallons. Take 10 lb. lime and 20 lb. sulphur, and boil thoroughly in 

 20 gallons water over a good fire for an hour and a half, or until the 

 sulphur is dissolved. Stir frequently while boiling. The mixture 

 should become a clear amber colour. Thoroughly slack the rest of the 

 lime with hot water, add 15 lb. salt while still boiling, and stir until the 

 salt is entirely dissolved. Add the two mixtures together and boil half 

 an hour. Add hot water enough to make 60 gallons. Use while hot, 

 straining through fine-meshed wire gauze before pouring into pumps. 



There is a lecture by Dr. L. O. Howard, State Entomologist, which 

 was illustrated by lantern slides, on some efforts which are being made 

 to introduce the appropriate insect antidote to the insect pests which 

 have been accidentally imported into the United States. 



Xovius cardinalis is being imported to prey on Icerya Purchasi ; 

 Apanteles glomeratus to destroy the imported Cabbage worm ; Entedon 

 epigonus to fight the Hessian fly ; Scutellista cyanea and Erastri 

 ascitula, both of which prey upon the black scale of the Olive. 



An enemy to the dreaded San Jose scale seems to have been found in 

 Chilocorus similis, from North China, and the Algerian Blastophaga 

 grossorum, once at home in the San Joaquin Valley, is adding a new 

 source of production to California by fertilising the Smyrna Fig. 



A series of plates illustrates the history of the conversion of 100 

 acres of rocky hilly land in the Connecticut Valley into a thriving Peach 

 orchard, and three more show how a gum swamp became a Strawberry 

 garden. 



The Peach trees are all low-headed, their grower finding that this low 

 heading, which he does to all his trees, makes a difference of 60 to 

 75 per cent, in the cost of labour for pruning, thinning, and picking. No 

 ladder is ever used in his orchards, and he calculates that one third of 

 his Peach crop can be gathered by a man sitting on the ground. The 

 report is provided with an excellent index. — M. L. H. 



FumagU By X. {Rev. Hort. Beige, xxviii. No. 11, p. 260).— The 

 disease described is called Fumagine, and is due to a combined attack of 

 Hemiptera and the ascomycetous fungus Capnodium or Fumago. The 



