74 
The Garden Magazine, October, 1920 
as a result of the girdling of the trees. The borer often continues 
laying eggs until October, the grub remaining dormant during 
the winter and emerging as a moth in May or June. Various 
plans of injecting vapor-forming liquids into the trees have been 
tried, but undoubtedly the old-fashioned plan of digging out the 
borers remains the best one to follow. A sharp knife is the 
most useful instrument, but the cut should be made up and down 
rather than crosswise. A wire is often thrust into the opening 
to kill the borers, but this method is not always successful. 
The results are more certain if the wire is nicked so as to form 
tiny barbs. Mounding up the earth around the base of the 
trees helps to restrict the damage, as the moths do not lay their 
eggs on the tree trunk when this is done. It is not a good plan, 
though, to leave mounds like this around the trees during the 
fall and winter. Very good re- 
sults have been obtained bv 
using a flexible mat which is 
fastened around the trunk on 
the ground and sealed to the 
wood by some kind of viscous 
material. 
D O NOT hesitate to plant 
Raspberries, Blackberries, 
Currants, or Gooseberries in the 
fall, except in the coldest sec- 
tions of the country. Fall plant- 
ing is often desirable, in fact, 
but should be done as early as 
possible; that is, immediately 
after the first hard frost has 
killed the foliage. It is further 
a good plan to mulch the 
ground around the plants a 
little with strawy manure or 
something of the kind. Much better results are found by fall 
planting when done early than by waiting until spring, when 
the spring happens to be a late one. Shipments are often 
delayed in the spring so that the plants are not put in until 
long after they should have started growing. 
O F ALL the new Raspberries which I tried this year, Ontario 
has given by far the largest and finest berries. The fruit 
is little less than mammoth in size, and always elicits exclama- 
tions of approval when sampled. The vines, too, are very 
strong growing, and there is reason to believe that this will 
prove one of the best Raspberries yet introduced for northern 
sections. Latham (formerly Minnesota No. 4) has proven an 
excellent bearer, and the berries are very good indeed, although 
not so large as those of the Ontario. Erskine Park has smaller 
berries, too, and the color is less attractive, but the berries have 
a flavor which for sparkle and zest is not surpassed by that of 
any other Raspberry. The habit of growth is such that the 
plants require staking or supports of some kind. 
T HE value of the Taylor Blackberry, both for home use and 
for shipping, is impressive. It is doubtful if there is a berry 
which bears more prolifically, although the Eldorado is a very 
heavy cropper. The Taylor berry is large, well flavored, and 
ripens over a season of two or three weeks, although the later 
berries are not of course so large as those which ripen earlier. 
Apparently this variety has very little tendency to rust, which 
is a point greatly in its favor. If it were not for the fact that it 
rusts so readily the Wachusett would be unexcelled as a home 
Blackberry because of the fact that it is practically thornless. 
Many plantations, though, have had to be given up because of 
the rapidity with which disease has spread. Remarkable 
success in eradicating the rust, however, by spraying with 
lime salt and sulphur, using one part to ten parts of water, 
is reported. 
I T IS a simple matter to in- 
crease the Currant planta- 
tion from cuttings. The best 
time to take these cuttings is 
in October, using wood of the 
present season’s growth. Cut 
them just below a joint and 
have them about ten inches 
long. Set them in a bed to 
about half their length. The 
bed should be well dug over 
and raised slightly so that it 
will shed water; and of course 
it must be placed where the 
drainage is good. This point is 
often overlooked be- 
cause a situation 
which seems perfectly 
dry in summer may 
become very wet later 
on. Firm the soil well 
around the cuttings, 
and before theweather 
gets very cold mulch 
then with coal ashes 
or some other mater- 
ial. Another plan, and 
one which some grow- 
ers prefer, is to bed 
cuttings in the spring. 
The cuttings should 
be taken in the fall, however, just the same, then made into 
bundles and buried, butt end up, in moist sand in the cellar. 
If you do this, be sure that you plant them out early in the 
spring. The next season they may be set in nursery rows about 
eight inches apart, with three feet between the rows, and kept 
cultivated very carefully. There will be very little loss if the 
cuttings are made from well-ripened wood. 
ELIMINATING THE BORER 
By mounding around the tree-base (see 
upper cut) is far simpler and less tedious 
than digging him out (lower cut) 
T HE La France Raspberry has given a splendid account 
of itself again this year. The flavor of the berries is 
remarkably fine, making a strong appeal to home gardeners. 
Although they will produce in the spring, it is as a fall 
berry that it is most prized; and another attribute not to be 
overlooked is the rich red color that is retained after cooking. 
There are plenty of good Raspberries for spring picking, 
but a first-class, large-sized, prolific fall Raspberry is a rare 
treasure. Perhaps the best way to handle this variety is to 
cut it back hard in the spring so as to get a good strong growth 
of canes for fall production. With such treatment the canes 
make enormous growth and bear immense quantities of fruit. 
It must be remembered, though, that this variety suckers very 
freely and that the grower must keep the rows clean — but this 
offers an easy way of building up a good-sized plantation from 
a small beginning. 
W HEN planting the orchard fruits in the home garden it 
is a time-honored custom to set out one each of different 
varieties of the same kind of fruit. Now this mixing of varieties 
has really a deeper importance that may be overlooked, and one, 
too, that will likely account for both the profuse bearing of 
certain trees in one place and the practical failure to bear of 
the identical varieties in another. Many, perhaps all, apple 
varieties bear more freely when the flowers are fertilized by 
pollen from a different variety. The same varieties planted 
together do not necessarily react in this same way where the 
soil, climate, and conditions are different; but the general truth 
remains that a planting of mixed varieties will yield better 
than a large planting of one kind alone. Another thing to be 
considered in selecting apples and pears for the garden is the 
desirability of planting something other than those met with 
every day in the markets. 
