PARK AND CEMETERY, 
99 
SELECTED NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 
The Elm Leaf Beetle. 
In reference to the elm leaf beetle would 
say that so far we have escaped its rav- 
ages. I don’t know of anj- damage done 
by this voracious insect in the Mississippi 
Valley, and as far as I know it is still at 
work east of the Alleghany’s. 
Chicago. Jas . Jensen. 
» -x- * 
The beetle produces three or four 
broods in a season, and is so serious a pest 
that the planting of elms has been practi- 
cally abandoned in several districts of the 
middle Atlantic States. The in.sect is 
somewhat like a small striped cucumber 
beetle and the larva is a slender browni.sh 
“worm.” Entomologists say the insects 
pupate at the surface of the ground and 
that they may be destroyed during that 
stage in large numbers by watering all 
around the base of the trees with boiling 
or at any rate very hot water. 
Spraying with various aivsenites has 
also often been tried, some of the large 
parks using a steam outfit for the purpo.se. 
. 4 t the north and west the pest seems 
less troublesome, but in parts of New Jer- 
sey and Penn.sylvania, etc., elms look as 
though fire had scorched out all the 
soft tissues of the leaves and left nothing 
but their brown skeletons behind. In 
such condition elms are a positive disfig- 
urement to the lamlscape, and yet the}’ 
seem to live on, because the insects work 
in .some seasons much less actively than 
in others. 
It is to be hoped that the elm beetle 
will continue local, for it would be a dis- 
tinct loss if many of the fine street ave- 
nues in the lake regions and elsewhere 
should be attacked. 
Newark, N. J. James Mac Pherson. 
» * * 
Tree Paeony. ( Pccony Moutan. ) 
Of the many good plants we have had 
from China none is of more importance 
than the Montan or Tree Pmony. The 
old kind with double pink flowers has 
long been established in Kngli.sh gardens, 
and sometimes attains a large size, when 
as a single hush in some sheltered corner 
of the lawn, it is a beautiful and impor- 
tant object. But of late years our gardens 
have been greatly enriched by a quantitv 
of new kinds, and the range of tints from 
pure white through flesh and salmon-rose 
to deepest claret color in one range, and 
from the faintest blush of cold pink 
through the amaranths to strongest ma- 
genta-purple in another, affords a wide 
choice in the way of coloring. Tree 
pjeonies enjoy a sheltered place in strong 
soil. — The Garden, London. 
Rhododendrons. 
.According to Americatt Gardening 
there need be no fear about the hardiness 
or the capabilities of hybrid rhododen- 
drons in West Chester County, N. Y., if 
those at Briar cliff Manor may be taken 
for a fair sample and guide. This season 
they have flowered superbly and are now 
making tremendrous growths for another 
season. One point clearly brought out is 
this, that where pine trees are used as 
wind breaks not a leaf is scorched, so tliat 
the bushes are perfect, but where the 
clumps have been planted in front of de- 
ciduous trees a slight loss of foliage is no- 
ticeable. The lesson, then, is, use spruce 
or other fir trees to protect your rhodo- 
dendron clumps. Mr. W. W. Law is de- 
lighted with his success and has already 
given an order for 2,000 more from En- 
gland. 
» * * 
Summer Treatment of San Jose Scale. 
In treating on this subject Bulletin No. 
72 of the Ohio .Agricultural Experiment 
Station has the following: Summer treat- 
ment for the San Jose scale should begin 
as early as June 15, and be, continued un- 
til September 15 at least, with intervals of 
not more than ten days between spray- 
ings. This will destroy a very large per- 
centage of the young and thus prevent its 
spreading. Two different mixtures can 
be used, viz: ( r ) Whale oil soap, used 
at the rate of one-fourth pound to one 
gallon of water. This mixture will not 
injure the foliage of tree fruits; (2) a me- 
chanical mixture of kerosene and water, 
in the proportion of one gallon of kero- 
sene to ten of water, or what is called a 
10 per cent, solution. It can be used 
with safety on all tree fruits except the 
peach. For winter treatment, which 
means while the leaves are off, a stronger 
solution of whale oil soap and w’ater can 
be used — two pounds of the former to one 
gallon of the latter. Kerosene from 20 to 
100 per cent, has been used with widely 
different results. The why has not been 
determined as yet. Consensus of opinion 
is that it should be used on a sunshiny 
day — the higher the temperature the bet- 
ter. The whale oil soap solutions can be 
used with any of the better cla,ss of spray- 
ers. The kerosene mixture requires a 
specially constructed one, w’ith a device 
for the mechanical mixing of the kerosene 
and water, of w’hich there are a number 
on the market. In the destruction of 
trees, .shrubs, vines, etc., infested with 
the San Jose scale, great care should be 
taken that stumps and sprouts are grubbed 
out thoroughly and burned with the trunk 
and branches — otherwise your work will 
be in vain and the infection but tempora- 
rily checked, not destroyed. 
■*• * * 
Cactus Plants. 
In the vegetable world no plants are of 
more unique growth or posse.ss greater 
fascination for the cultivator than those 
of the cactus family; and the plants of no 
other order have so wide a range in form 
and size, varying from the Giant Cereus, 
which towers a gaunt and weird column 
ninety feet in height and two feet in di- 
ameter, to the jiretty little Mamillaria 
micromersis, three-fourths of an inch in 
height and half an inch through. The 
flowers of many of the species are the 
most gorgeous, others the most delicate 
and beautiful of all jilants. There is no 
end to the wonders exhibited bythemem- 
bers of this remarkable order. The cac- 
tus family is composed of a number of 
distinct divisions. 
In the genus Cereus there are nearly 
two hundred distinct species in cultiva- 
tion; they are natives of the temperate re- 
gions of North and South America, and 
all are of columnar or creejiing growth. 
For size the Cereus giganteus surpasses 
all others, as it does, also, in the produc- 
tion of articles of commercial value. C. 
grandiflorus, known under the common 
name of Night-blooming Cereus is con- 
ceded by lovers of flowers, whether ex- 
pert or amateur, to be the most beautiful 
of all flowers; it measures from twelve to 
fourteen inches in diameter; the outside 
petals vary from white to redish brown ; 
the inner ones are of a most beautiful 
waxy white; the stamens, which are most 
wonderful in arrangement, are more 
than a thousand. — h'rom Vick's Maga- 
zine for June. 
¥; * * 
Long Spray Flowering Shrubs for Cutting. 
There are many shrubs and herbaceous 
plants that will furnish flowers suitable 
for cut-flower pur])o.ses; but those which 
will furnish long sprays of flowers, suit- 
able for large decorations, are not jflenti- 
ful. Among spring and early summer 
flowers the following are most suitable; — 
Flowering Peach and .-Mmonds, Forsyth ia 
Hales i a N evens ia Spirtea prunijolia, Jap- 
anese Snowball, and Weigcla. The fol- 
lowing bloom in mid-snmmer and fall. 
Desmodium , Boltonia, Helianihus Max- 
imiliani •d.wX Riidbeckia “Golden Glow.” 
The flowers of the la.st named are not ex- 
actly produced in sprays; but the long 
stems, well furnished with flowers on 
shorter stems, fill the requirements. A 
diflficulty with most of these flowers is that 
they will not last long unless in water, 
and except, possibly, in the case of the 
Helianihus, which is well-adapted in 
every way. The weigelas have particu- 
larly long stems of flowers, and always 
look well. — Meehan's Monthly for June. 
