1865.] 
AMERICAN AORTCUr^TURIST. 
271 
Cranberry CiiUure.— After the Auj^ust 
number went lo press we li;iJ a iiole from Dr, Russ, 
whose ariicle on craiibeny culture we publisheil, re- 
quesiing us to supply an omission. In his ariicle he 
omilted to siale thut where the vine worm was tmuhle- 
some, flowing the bed in winter w^ould prevent its 
attacks. Where the locality admits of it, it is well to 
have airangemenls to flow tlie bed at pleasuie, as after 
the fruit is set it is sometimes attacked by an insect from 
which it may oe protected by coveting with water. 
Orape XrelliJiie** upon a Hill-side. — 
J. MciMurray asks if trellises upon a steep hill should 
lun up and down the hill, or across. The trellis should 
be at right angles with the slope, for unless the arms be 
hoiizontal, it will be impossible to equalize the crowlh 
of ihe canes : tlie earth will wash less if they run across, 
Aslics Tor l-Vnit Xrees. — K. Presser, Al- 
leghany Co., Penn., inquires " What kind of manure the 
ashes from furnaces of tanneiies will make for fruit 
trees. Tanners burn their spent tanbark, which makes 
vast quantities of ashes, which they throw away," 
Ashes from Dark are excellent manure and certainly 
good for fruit trees ; and unless the ground is covered 
with them so deep as to kill vegetation, there is little 
danger of applying too lar^e quantities. Still, such ashes 
are not so valuable as wood ashes, for they contain but 
a small amount of alkali ; hence soap makers consider 
bark ashes as of very little or no value to make lye. 
Saving Xomato Seecls.— M. B. Pratt 
gives the following as lus method of treating tomato 
seeds: " Lay the seeds and pulp upon a dry cloth, spread 
them with a knife, then lay another cloth over, and roll 
all up tight, then scrape off the seeds into a pan of water 
and wash out with the hand all the pulp that is left after 
rolling, and lay them in the dry cloth for a few 
minutes ; place them in a paper, and in course of the day 
they are clean and dry, and ready for sale." Another 
subscriber spreads the pulp, containing the seeds, thinly 
upon newspaper, without washing, and allows it to dry 
there. The paper is then rolled up and put away until 
spring. When needed for sowing, the paper is cut into 
strips and planted (seeds, paper and all) in the hot bed. 
A gfreat Year for Toadstools, — Every 
where around New York City the months of July and 
August have been lemarkably favorable to the growth of 
the different forms of Fungi, not only of the larger kinds, 
which are popularly recognised as toadstools and mush- 
rooms, but of the more minute ones, known as mildew, 
rust, etc. A friend informs us that he found the etiible 
mushroom growing as finely and as abundantly in an old 
orchard in July, as it usually does In October. Various 
kinds of toadstools have been so abundant in the garden, 
as to make it necessary to hoe them up like weeds, and 
such is the rapidity of their growth, that the process had 
to be repeated the next day. Flower-pots and rustic 
baskets, placed out of doors, have borne large crops of 
these fungi, to the detriment of the plants they contained. 
We have in anotlier place alluded to the geneial pre- 
valence of mildew, which is a minute fungus growing 
upon living plants. This lias not been confined to the 
grape alone, but has appeared upon plants not usually 
affected by it. We had a nice patch of cucumbers in a 
rather sheltered spot, and tlie mildew appeared upon the 
leaves of these and swept them off as if by fire. The 
rust upon the raspberry, which is still another fungus, 
has been prevalent and fatal. Indeed all plants of this 
low grade seem to have perfectly revelled this year. 
<jvarden Edg^ing^s — Inrormation 
Wauted.— W. S. Gridley and several others have 
written to know of a good substitute for box. We do 
not know what to recommend. Box is not hardy far 
north of New York, and there is a great need of some 
other dwarf hardy plant to use in its place. Grass will 
do. but it is very troublesome on account of its propensi- 
ty to run, and it is very difficult to keep it clear of weeds. 
We have tried Cratasgus Pyracantha, and Privet, but 
they are naturally large shrubs and do not succeed well 
when kept as dwarf and close as is required for an edg- 
ing. The dwarf Iris and some other herbaceons plants 
are used, but they have not a good green color. An- 
nuals are too mucli trouble, as by the time they are large 
enough to look well they are cut down by the frost. We 
shall be glad of any suggestions on this subject. 
The ^Vistaria.— "T. H." It is not unusual 
for the Wistaria to flower a second time, especially in 
such a damp season as the past summer has been. The 
flower clusters are, however, never as full, nor as abun- 
dant as in early spring, its usual flowering time. 
Abont IVantes.—" Inquirer " askes if he 
should say Whortleberry or Huckleberry. The best 
American writers ii^e Huckleberry, and English authors 
say Whorile-and Hurtie-berry. All these words are de- 
rived from Myrile-berry. and we prefer to follow good 
usai,'e and call it Hnckle-berry. With regard to Tomato, 
it is pronounced both Tom-ar-to and Tom-ay-to. Though 
we were taught to give the broad sound lo the a, analogy 
with potato would show that the long sound is most 
proper. Where the botanical name, whicli follows the 
rules of the Latin language, becomes the common one, 
it is often difficult lo decide whether the name should be 
Ansilicised or not. There has been much discussion 
wheilier one of our beautiful bulbs should be called Glad- 
i-olus or Gladi-rjdus. and an equal discrepancy exisis 
wilh regard to C/em-atis or Ciema-lis, though the best 
authorities adopt the former. Still more puzzling is it 
to decide what shall be the common name of a peren- 
nial, likely to become popular, named from the botanist 
Michaux, whose name is pronounced Mee-show, The 
plant is Michauxia. Shall its common name be Mee- 
show-e-ahor My-chorx-eye-a ? 
I>on1»le Apple Klossom.— The London 
Gardener's Chronicle figures a double apple blossom as a 
novelty. Scarcely a year passes that we do not see them. 
They usually appear after the general blooming is over. 
Plants I\amcd.— Irene Cole, White Co., 
Ind. Lamium maculatum, the spoiled Dead-nettle ; a 
plant from the South of Europe that has been in cultiva- 
tion for nearly two centuries, and is quite as handsome as 
some of the "foliage plants" now sold E. A. G. 
Wellington, O. A red-leaved Polygonum, which has 
been dropped from the catalogues and we have forgotten 
the species W. W. Matthews, Wis. The leaf of 
Celastrus scandetis, the w;ix-work or Climbing Bitter- 
sweet, figured and described in August of last year 
W. H. Johnson. Some plant of the Borage family which 
can not be determined from leaves only J.Barnard. 
Hihiscus Moscheutos, sometimes called American Jute ; 
an account and figure will be found in the Agriculturist 
for Feb. 1863 Louisa Van Tassel, Wood Co., O. 
Specimen not recognized from leaves only ; it looks like 
some species of Baptisia. S. C. Larkln, Worcester 
Co., Mass., sends a Helichryum, or Straw-flower, in 
which the head of the flower bears a cluster of smaller 
heads. This is not an unusual thing with plants of this 
family, the Hen-and-chicken Daisy is an old and well 
known example of the same thing. No other plant seen. 
Insects npon Insects. — Several have sent 
us specimens, and others have sent us descriptions of 
caterpillars of various kinds, which weie more or less 
covered by small white oval bodies, that some of the 
writers recognised as what they really are— the cocoons 
of a parasitic insect. It is one of the wise provisions for 
preventing the undue increase of insects, that most of 
them have insect enemies Among the most destructive 
of these are the Ichneumon flies, a term applied to a 
large claEs of four-winged insects, which deposit their 
eggs in the larvae or pup« of other insects. The maggots 
hatched from these eggs, feed upon Ihe living animal in 
whioh they are enclosed, and by the time it dies, they 
have attained a sufficient size to undeigo their trans- 
foimalion. The number of parasites that are nourished 
by one caterpillar is sometimes astonishing. A few days 
ago we took from our tomato vines the larva of a Sphinx, 
which was almost completely covered wilh the cocoons 
of an Ichneumon. From counting a [lorlionof these, we 
estimated the whole number at between three and four 
hundred. It is quite remarkable that this number of 
maggots could have lived within the caterpillar, attain 
their full growth and spin their cocoons, without killing 
it. Though still alive, the caterpillar was evidently 
much weakened by rearing such alarge unnatural family, 
and will probably in a short time die from e.xhaustion. 
Insect Qneries. — We have of late received 
an unusual number of queries in respect to insects. 
While we try to keep the run of those which serious- 
ly injure cultivated plants, there are many sent to 
us which are merely curious to the sender, or are not 
known as enemies to the cultivator, which we have not 
heretofore had the means of determining Finding spe- 
cimens of tliis kind to accumulate upon our hands, we 
have made such arrangements wilh competent entomo- 
logists, as will in future enable us to determine the spe- 
cimens sent. The field of Entomology is so large, that 
our best naturalists in this line usually confine themselves 
to a single order. VVe must request those who send in- 
sects to put them in boxes that will not be crushed in the 
mail. Very small ones go readily in a quill, and a turned- 
wooden, or tin pill box, or even a stiflf pasteboard pen or 
other box, answers well for larger ones. There are many 
grubs, caterpillars, or larvas. which are not known in the 
perfect state, and on the other hand there are beetles, 
butterflies, etc., the grub or larva state of which is not 
known. As a general thing, injects are the most destruc- 
tive, as caterpillars on grubs, and it U well for those who 
have the .ipportunily, to watch ihe transfoiniations of 
these, and find out what they become in their perfect 
stHte. Tho.«e caterpillars that spin are easily fed and 
managed; those which burrow should be provided with 
a box or flower-pot of earth, in which to make their 
transformation Mr. G. C. Morris, of Phila. Co., Pa., 
writes to know if his potatoes are troubled by the 10- 
lined Potato beetle, figured m August. This beetle has 
not yet been found far east of llie Mississippi valley, and 
we have not heard of iis doing any mischief below 
ground From our correspondent's description, we 
infer that the trouble is done by ilie grub of the common 
May-bug .. L Coburn, Columbiana Co., O., sends us a 
very common pest of the vine, Philampelus Achemon. 
The '*eggs" are cocoons of a parasite and are alluded 
to in another item. This insect does not appear in great 
numbers, and is readily removed by hand picking 
Eddie A. Popenoe, McLean Co., 111., sends us some 
galls from a grape vine. The remains of the grub were 
found there, but so much dried as not to be recognised. 
Killing- Insects.— A Ely wishes to know 
the best way of killing insects for entomological speci- 
mens. Butterflies and moths are almost instantly killed 
by letting fall upon their bodies a few drops of chloroform. 
This rapidly evaporates and leaves the insect with its 
colors unchanged. Beetles may be drowned in alcohol. 
It is said that Benzine will kill insects very promptly, but 
that it renders their limbs so brittle that they break with 
the least touch, and it is necessary to let them remain for 
a few days, lo become flexible, before setting them up. 
Still anotUer Cnrcnlio Remedy.— 
Mr. B. B. French of Washington, D. C. writes to the 
N. E. Farmer, that he has succeeded in keeping the cur- 
culio away from his plums by pulling a "cartload of gas- 
lime" around each tree. It appears to us that the gas- 
lime must have been very poor, or the plum-trees very 
tenacious of life. We mention this as an item of current 
news, but do not advise our reatlers lo try the experi- 
ment upon any tree which they are not willing to risk, 
A ne^v View of tlie Caterpillar 
Question*— It is well known that the tent caterpillar, 
which is such a scourge to our orchards, is very fond of 
the wild cherry. A progressive farmer friend of ours, 
who has a constant battle with the old fogy notions of his 
less wide awake neighbors, had some wild clieny tices 
badly infested with caterpillars, and proceeded to cut 
them down. Some of his neighbors, on seeing what he 
was at, came to him and implored him to save Ihe trees, 
as otherwise the caterpillars, being deprived of these, 
would destroy the neighboring orchards. Our friend kept 
on wilh his work, informing the anxious ones that when 
they set apart a particular field for weeds, with a view to 
keep them from the rest of the farm, he would keep a 
grove of wild cherry trees especially for the insects. 
IIo"*v to make Cider Vinegar. — M. 
Kelly, Fayette Co., Ind., writes to the Agriculturist: 
" I have twenty-four barrels of cider, that has had 
sulphite of lime put in it to keep it sweet. It is now loo 
sour to drink, and nqt sour enough for vinegar. Do tell 
me how to make vinegar of it." Procure a lot of cheap 
molasses, and mingle one gallon of molasses, or 12 to 14 
lbs. of sugar with ten gallons of water. First rack off 
the cider from the sediment, then add five gallons 
of such liquid to every barrel of the cider. Fill each 
barrel not more than fi full, and plnce them by the side 
of some building, covering them with boaids to prevent 
the sun warping the barrel-staves. Leave the bung hole 
open. A bung hole 4 inches square is better. Or put the 
cider, after adding the sweetening into large open tubs 
under a shed, covered with loose boards. It will make 
excellent vinegar in a few weeks. Then fill the barrels 
and put them in the cellar, until wanted for market. 
Analytical Cliemist.— Prof. F. F. Mayer, 
whose card appears in our adveitising columns, is a gen- 
tleman well known to us as a competent chemist, and is 
one to whom we should not hesitate to commit any 
investigation requiring thorough chemical knowledge. 
Catalogrne.iii, etc.. Receive*!.— B. L. 
Ryder, West Franklin Nurseries, Loudon, Franklin Co., 
Pa. Catalogue of Fruit trees and general nursery s*ock. 
I. W. Hicks & Co., Bridgeport (Conn.) Nursery. 
General catalogue and special list of vines.... Francis 
Brill. Newark. N. J. An abridged list of Nursery Slock, 
including new Strawbenies and 20,000 Japan Lilies 
Andrew S. Fuller. Woodside Nursery, Ridgewood. Ber- 
gen Co., N.J. Descriptive Catnlogue of small Fruits, 
Ornamental Shrubs, etc , with numerous illu.'^trations 
The twelfth Report of the Ohio Pnm<. logical Society, an 
interesting volume, containing among oiher useful mat- 
ter a revised catalogue of fruits suitable for Ohio. 
