218 
ANTS. 
must be examined, and in time removed. 
The ties also should be looked at, and if the 
union does not seem complete, replace the 
clay; but by the end of the month the clay 
can mostly be dispensed with altogether. 
Trees budded last year want examining also, 
and whatever of the Stock is growing should 
be removed. 
Gooseberries, Currants, and Rasp- 
berries may be assisted by hoeing the weeds 
off, and stirring the surface of the ground 
between them. See that the raspberry canes 
are supported properly, as a good deal depends 
on that being done. In gathering currants 
and gooseberries early, they should be so 
removed as to give what are left more room 
to grow. The gooseberries or bunches of 
currants, which may be called a full crop, 
will bear two or three off for one left on, and 
those left should be at equal distances, as they 
would grow larger and much finer for having 
room. 
Strawberries require the same treatment 
as mentioned last month. If you want runners 
to make good plants for the next year's 
fruiting, peg them down to the earth, or into 
pots; but if you value the fruit only, remove 
the runners as fast as they appear until the 
fruit is all off. 
Espalier Trees always want looking to, 
as their growth frequently displaces some of 
the fastenings, which should be made good. 
The fruit also may be thinned, as they are all 
within reach, and the remaining fruit will be 
all the better for it. See that no useless 
branches have been overlooked and left to 
grow ; if there be any, they ought to be re- 
moved forthwith. 
Standards, in many cases, do not allow of 
such management, but they would be much 
the better for it, if it be at all practicable. The 
wind generally thins them a little — sometimes 
a good deal, but it bruises the remainder of the 
fruit ; whereas, if they are thinned to a rea- 
sonable distance, they are not bruised or 
damaged by one another, and are so greatly 
strengthened that they are larger and clearer 
for it. 
Grubs and Caterpillars are to be re- 
duced, if not extirpated, by the syringe, which, 
if applied well and in time, dislodges thousands 
and injures nothing. It is a wet, uncomfort- 
able job; but some fruit trees are worth all the 
trouble, and well repay you for the work. The 
syringe, or garden-engine, should have a fine 
rose, that will project with some force, but 
not heavy enough to disturb fruit or bruise 
the leaves; and the force should be used direct 
against the branches, and under-sides of the 
leaves. Some, where trees are much infected, 
burn bunches of reeds, such as are used 
against boat or ship- sides, when the men are 
pitching them. These make a considerable 
smoke, and arc sometimes held to windward, 
so that the smoke is blown all among the 
leaves and fruit; but even then the syringe is 
necessary, to disturb the half-stupified insects, 
which merely fall from one part of the tree to 
another, and Avould, perhaps, recover. Many, 
on using this remedy, sprinkle occasionally 
some flour of brimstone on the flame. It is 
no use trying this unless there is wind enough 
to blow the smoke through the head of the 
tree ; the operation is only worth while when 
the fruit is choice, and the caterpillar 
threatens to destroy it. Anything that will 
burn easily, and make a great smother, may 
then be used the first time there is a gentle 
breeze ; and, after smoking for some time, the 
tree may be shaken, which will bring down 
many; and then the garden-engine or syringe, 
applied as directed, once or twice on following 
days, Avill generally clear a tree, however 
much it is infested by these plagues. 
Ants. — These should be destroyed at every 
cost in the fruit, flower, and kitchen garden, 
as well as in frames and hot-houses, pits, &c. 
None but those who suffer can tell the mischief 
they are capable of doing, and how completely 
they overcome everything before people 
see the extent of the evil. These insects, if 
they once get into a pot, turn the whole con- 
tents into a sponge, eating and destroying the 
tender fibres of roots, and all but killing a 
plant before the mischief is suspected. In 
the fruit garden, if they once locate under a 
wall, they destroy the fruit by wholesale, long 
before it is ripe enough to gather; and, in the 
flower garden, it is discovered that a large 
portion of the mischief attributed to earwigs, 
and other insects, is performed by these little 
pests. The various situations which they oc- 
cupy render as many remedies necessary; for 
although any one may answer in some places, 
the means will be found inapplicable to other 
circumstances. A mixture of grease and 
arsenic has been found efficacious in circum- 
stances where the ants have an unassailable 
retreat. By dipping sticks into it while warm, 
and letting them cool, they are covered thinly, 
and the insects will eat it off to the wood. 
They do not attack it with such avidity if in 
greater thickness or in lumps. By inverting 
flower-pots, where they infest plants, stopping 
the hole up to make it dark, you may take 
millions in the bright weather. By making 
deep holes with a crowbar, say a yard deep, 
wherever you can, in their haunts, they fall 
down, and are destroyed by thousands. By lay- 
ing a beef bone, fresh from the table, where they 
assemble, they will cover it as long as there are 
any, and you may scald them by filling a 
watering-pot with boiling water, and pouring 
it over them with the rose. 
