November, 1889. 
211 
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4 
The Celery Crop. 
At this season celery is the most impor- 
tant of all our garden crops. That which 
is needed for use up to Christmas should get 
its final earthing as rapidly as possible, but 
that for late winter and spring use should 
still be exposed as long as possible. Even 
in the latitude of New York the final earth- 
ing or pitting should be delayed late in the 
month, and in the latitude of Philadelphia 
to Baltimore to the first and second weeks in 
December. Here in latitude 35° it will 
grow nearly all winter, and is just now- 
making its best growth. No general direc- 
tions can therefore be given to lit the wide 
range of our country. While here in North 
Carolina our celery has just realized that 
the hot weather is gone and its time for 
grow-th is here, our markets are supplied 
with Kalamazoo celery of mammoth pro- 
portions, and perfect bleaching. In any 
part of the country where frost does not 
penetrate deeply, say from Baltimore South 
ward, celery will always do better if pro- 
tected and left standing where it grew. 
But I feel satisfied that our method of grow- 
ing in beds and covering with leaves and 
corn stalks could be profitably extended 
much further North than it is now practic- 
ed. x\t best celery is a crop involving more 
labor than any other, and the grow-ing of it 
in single rows, to be eaithed up singly and 
then dug and pitted, makes it doubly labor- 
ious over the bed system. In this latitude 
the beds should have their final earthing 
and cover by Christmas, as there is then 
risks of hard freezing and, while moderate 
freezing w-ill do no serious harm, a temper- 
ature of 20° or less would nip it hard enough 
to start decay. Great harm has been done 
to gardeners S >uth of the Potomac by the 
constant recommendation in northern seeds- 
men’s catalogues of the dwarf varieties of 
celery. While valuable North these will 
not do Southward. The large sorts are bet- 
ter here. — W. F. Massey. 
Tlie Winter Supply of Vejretables. 
The stock of vegetables designed for win- 
ter use should be gathered and stored in the 
best possible manner. When the cellar be- 
neath the dw-elling house is used for this 
purpose there is always more or less un- 
pleasant odor arising from them unless, as 
should always be the case in every well- 
built house, there is a chimney that reaches 
to the bottom of the cellar. An out of-door 
cellar is a great convenience but not always 
to be had, and pits are difficult to get at 
during the freezing part of the winter. If 
therefore, we are to he content with the or- 
dinary house-cellar care should be taken by 
occasionally opening the windows at either 
side, to provide a free circulation of <.ir 
across it. 
The vegetables should he stored mostly in 
boxes and barrels with sand or soil filtered 
through them and shakeu down to fill up 
the little spaces. Potatoes should be kept 
covered from the light, occasionally picked 
over and dusted with air-slaked lime. 
Conducted by A. B. Coroley, 
Agricultural College, Michigan. 
The Apple-root Plant-louse or Wool) 
Aphis. 
( Schizoneura lanigera Hansm.) 
We have lately received from Messrs. W. 
S. Epes & Co., of Nottoway Co., Virginia, a 
request for information regarding the 
“Wooly Aphis,” which is very troublesome 
in their nursery, and some economical 
method of dealing with it. 
This insect is dimorphic. That is, there 
is one form which works upon the trunk 
and branches of the tree and another form 
which works upon the roots, producing 
very irregular wart- like swellings. 
The form which works upon the trunk 
and branches was formerly known as the 
“True Wooly Aphis,” and was thought to 
have been introduced into this country 
from Europe, while the underground form 
was familiarly known in Europe as ‘The 
American Blight” and was thought to have 
been introduced into Europe from America. 
It is now generally conceded that both 
forms are of the same species and are indi- 
genous to Europe. 
These lice obtain their nourishment by 
piercing the tender roots with tlieir sharp 
beaks and appropriating the juice which 
should go to strengthen the tree. This pro- 
duces serious deformities on the roots, di- 
minishing the vigor of the tree, and if very 
extensive, produces gradual decay and 
death. These excrescences contain in their 
crevices small pale yellow lice having their 
bodies covered with a bluish- white cottony 
matter which is excreted from the upper 
surface of the body. In the summer the 
mature insects frequently ascend to the 
trunk and branches of the tree, where they 
are very conspicuous o\\ ing to their downy 
covering. Under this down is usually a 
female with her young. When full grown 
the female is about one-tenth of an inch 
long, with yellowish abdomen, black head 
and feet and dusky legs and antennae. In 
the spring, only females hatch from the eggs 
laid the fall before. These are wingless 
and produce their young alive. These in 
turn continue to produce wingless females 
until October when winged forms of both 
male and female appear. These females 
fly from tree to tree and deposit eggs for 
another generation the following spring. It 
therefore becomes very essential to exter- 
minate these winged forms as completely 
as possible in order to prevent the occur- 
rence of countless hosts the next year. 
The most effective remedy yet discovered 
for the underground form is hot water. If 
the trees are to remain in the ground the 
water may be used bailing hot. Enough 
should be used to thoroughly 7 drench all Ihe 
roots, for if only a few of the lice escape, 
so rapidly do they multiply that soon the 
roots will be as badly infested as ever. If 
the trees are removed from the ground for 
transplanting, the temperature of the water 
should not be above 150 degrees Fahr. A 
higher temperature would be liable to in- 
jure the trees. I am also inclined to think 
that Bisulphuret of Carbon would be effec- 
tive in destroying these lice. Several holes 
should be made among the roots and the 
liquid poured in after which the earth should 
be quickly stamped into the holes. About 
one-half gill per tree will be sufficient for 
nursery stock. The fumes w 7 ifl rapidly 
spread through the ground and probably 
destroy the lice. This remedy may how- 
ever be too expensive to be practicable on a 
large scale, but if only a few trees are to be 
treated I think it will prove very effec- 
tive. 
For destroying the lice upon the trunks 
and branches, Saunders advises the vigor- 
ous use of a stiff brush wet in a solution 
made by reducing soft soap to the consist- 
ence of a thick paint by the addition of a 
strong solution of washing soda in water. 
We believe that to thoroughly spray every 
part of the tree with an emulsion made by 
thoroughly agitating with a force pump 
one part of kerosene, two parts of soft soap 
and about fifteen parts of warm water, 
would be equally effective. 
Tlie Peach Tree Borer. 
(vEyeria exitosa , Say.) 
One of the smallest, most interesting and 
most injurious families of moths is Htlger- 
iadae. The moths can readily be told by 
their narrow, usually, transparent v ings, 
and general wasp-like appearance as they 
flit rapidly about in the hot sunshine. They 
can, however, be easily distinguished from 
wasps by the fact that most of the species 
have a tuft of scales or hairs at the tip of 
the abdomen which they can spread out 
fan-like at pleasure. 
The larva; are soft, whitish, slightly 
downy, sixteen leg- 
ged borers, more 
or less flattened on 
the under side, and 
living mostly in the 
stems and roots of 
plants. When ful- 
ly grown they 
transform, within 
their burrows, into rather long, brown, 
chrysalids surrounded by oblong, oval co- 
coons made of chips cemented together 
with a gummy secretion. 
Among the moths of this family those of 
most interest to the horticulturist are, the 
pear tree borer, (JE. pyri), the currant borer 
(JE. tulipiformis ), the raspberry -root borer 
(JE. rubri), the maple borer ( EE. acerni), the 
squash borer (JE. curcubitae), and the peach 
tree borer (jE. exitosa). With the possible 
exception of the squash borer, the peach 
borer is the most widely distributed and 
most destructive of all the segerians. The 
moth appears in the Northern States from 
the middle of July until the end of August, 
but farther south is much earlier — in some 
