262 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
eral years, and find it one of those easy-growing 
things that lias every element of popularity. It is 
not particular about soils, does not get so rampant 
as to need much checking, forms a shapely bush, 
which in early spriug shows an abundance of pure 
white flowers, which last a reasonable time. It is 
equally deserving of a place in the shrubbery with 
the Weigelas, which are now deservedly popular. 
--- 
The Oleander Poisonous. 
The different varieties of the Oleander ( Nerium 
Oleander), so popular as house plants in cool 
climates, are in warm countries often cultivated as 
ornamental trees, and used as hedge plants. The 
tree, in a suitable climate, will reach the hight of 
20 to 30 feet, and forms a most beautiful object, 
both in its leaves and flowers. But with all its at¬ 
tractiveness, it has the misfortune to be highly poi¬ 
sonous, a quality not so likely to be manifested 
when grown as a house plant, but one which be¬ 
comes of serious importance when it is in common i 
cultivation in the open grounds. Some months 
ago, one of our correspondents in Bermuda, where 
Oleander hedges are very common, wrote to ask if 
the tree could poison the herbage around it, as he 
had found animals that grazed near the Oleander 
hedge were frequently made seriously ill—a trouble 
which might be readily caused by a few fallen 
leaves. Later accounts come from another British 
colony, New South Wales, of the death of six cows 
at Sydney; the animals were fed upon grass re¬ 
cently cut from a lawn on which the Oleander grew, 
and its leaves became mingled with the fodder. 
It is quite likely that the poisonous principle is 
more active in climates which will allow the plant 
to grow continuously in the open air; still, while we 
do not remember to have heard any casualty from 
house plants, it is well to know of the danger and 
be on guard against it. St. Louis, Mo., may almost 
be called the City of Oleanders ; such is their abund¬ 
ance, that it would seem that every house has one 
or more bushes, and the markets are gay with 
them. We should expect accidents here, if any 
where, from the plant. A case is recorded in Eu¬ 
rope, in which fatal results followed eating meat 
in which a skewer of Oleander wood had been used. 
— n a o 
Dwarf Pear Culture. 
We were recently in the pear-orchard of one of 
our most distinguished pomologists, who had put 
out some eight hundred trees of all the well-tested 
varieties, as well as those that promised well. The 
ground had been most thoroughly prepared, cleared 
of stones, trenched, and enriched with stable and 
other manures. A large portion of the trees were 
dwarfs, cultivated in rows, with ample space be¬ 
tween for vegetables. The ground was annually 
manured, and kept in the highest cultivation. 
Great pains were taken to train the limbs of the 
dwarfs very low, to shorten in the annual growth, 
and by thinning the fruit to restrict the bearing to 
the production of limited crops of the very finest 
specimens. It must be said in justice to the ex¬ 
periment, which extended over some twenty years, 
that while the proprietor lived, and gave his per¬ 
sonal attention to the dwarfs, the most of the vari¬ 
eties flourished and gave fair crops, though they 
could hardly be called remunerative, when com¬ 
pared with the products of his standard trees. 
Since the death of the proprietor, which occurred 
some two years ago, they have missed his supervi¬ 
sion and the care also of a competent gardener. 
The rows of dwarfs are sadly thinned, many of 
them having been cut down as unprofitable, and the 
spaces between are covered with a wonderful growth 
of clover. In our own garden we have three dwarf- 
pears—two Bartletts and a Muskingum, the plant¬ 
ing of a former occupant. They bear a limited 
quantity of good fruit every season, but they do not 
compare favorably with the yield of standards 
planted at the same time, and sharing the same 
treatment. We have three trees contiguous in the 
same row, a dwarf Bartlett, a dwarf Muskingum, 
and a standard Vicar of Winkfield between the two. 
From the Vicar last fall we gathered a barrel of 
pears, and not to exceed a half bushel from either 
of the others. This is about the average yield of the 
dwarfs, and less than the average of the standard. 
For market purposes we doubt if the dwarfs can 
be made to pay. They are desirable in small gar¬ 
dens, where one is anxious to eat fruit of his own 
growing at the earliest date after planting. The de¬ 
sirable varieties that do well upon the quince are 
quite limited. Belle Lucrative, Duchesse d’Angou- 
leme, and Louise Bonne de Jersey, are among the 
best in most soils. Then come St. Michael, Law¬ 
rence, Comice, Beurre Diel, Beurre Bose, and Doy¬ 
enne d’Ete, which succeed fairly with generous cul¬ 
ture. The dwarfs require a richer soil and more 
attention than standards. Some varieties yield finer 
specimens upon quince than upon the pear-stock. 
The dwarfs are properly regarded as the pets of 
small gardens, on which amateurs in narrow quar¬ 
ters may bestow their husbandry. Connecticut. 
[Our correspondent’s notions as to the market- 
value of dwarf pear trees—that with few excep- 
1 tions, and these annually growing fewer, they are 
not advisable, are well expressed by an old Dutch 
market-gardener in our neighborhood. He says: 
“ You plant a dwarf pear tree, and you can go for 
your crop with a basket; plant a standard, and 
you must take a wheelbarrow and a barrel.—E d.] 
--- 
The Thick-leaved Elm. 
In January last, we gave an engraving of a twig 
of the Thick-leaved Elm (Ulmus crassifolia,) with 
notes from our own observations of the tree, and 
asked for further information concerning its value 
from those living in its native localities. TVe are 
favored by a letter from E. H. Smith, M. D., of 
Victoria Co., Tex., from which we abstract the fol¬ 
lowing : “ This tree is abundant on the Colorado 
[of Texas, Ed.] and on all the streams west, to and 
including the Rio Grande, and also on their tribu¬ 
taries. In our rich river valleys, its average dia¬ 
meter is 20 inches, while on high dividing ridges, 
and at the head of small streams, its diameter ranges 
from two to ten inches. This difference in size is 
accounted for'by its capacity for enduring extremes 
of dryness and moisture. The tree makes no ap¬ 
proach to an evergreen, its leaves being dropped 
on the first advent of cold. For a dense 6hade, 
where it is not crowded by other trees, it is un¬ 
equalled, and 1 think it would prove hardy in almost 
all parts of the United States. The wood makes a 
good fuel, and it is often made into rails and shin¬ 
gles ; rails of this wood last only about five or six 
years, but I have known a roof shingled with this 
Elm to be good for more than ten years.” Dr. Smith 
will please accept our thanks for his note. 
Fighting the Canker-worm too Late. 
A correspondent writes: “The canker-worms 
have made their appearance in great numbers in 
Eastern New England, even upon trees that were 
tarred during March and April. This does not 
prove that the application of tar is not a successful 
remedy. The open winter, which admitted of 
plowing in January in some places, also favored the 
ascent of the moths. In severe winters, there is 
probably no ascent of the moths until spring. 
Harris says : ‘ It was formerly supposed that the 
canker-worm moths came out of the ground only 
in the spring. It is now known that many of them 
rise in the autumn, and in the early part of winter. 
In mild and open winters, I have seen them in 
every month from October to March. They begin 
to make their appearance after the first hard frosts 
in the autumn, usually toward the end of October, 
and they continue to come forth, in greater or 
smaller numbers, according to the mildness or se¬ 
verity of the weather, after the frosts have begun. 
Their general time of rising is in the spring, begin¬ 
ning about the middle of March in the latitude of 
Massachusetts, and they continue to come forth 
for about three weeks.’ 
“ No farmer who beholds the melancholy aspect 
of his orchard this summer, riddled by the canker- 
worm, should infer that the case is hopeless. The 
tar should be applied always on paper or cloth— 
never directly on the bark—as early as the 1st of 
November, aud it should be renewed daily as long 
as the insects continue to rise. This can be known 
by the capture of the female moths in the tar. 
While the ground remains frozen upon the surface, 
there can be no danger from the insects, and, of 
course, no need of the application. In the lati¬ 
tude of New York City, there will not be more than 
60 days that the tar will be needed. This remedy 
is effectual, and it is only expensive in labor.” 
-— ■ i » 
Notes from the Pines. 
Those who have been so enthusiastic over the 
earlj' spring, had abundant reason to change their 
note about May 12th. I say about that date, as a 
wide-spread frost from the far West to the far East 
occurred, either two or three days before or after 
that time. Many, trusting to the early promise, and 
forgetting the lessons of former very early springs, 
had prepared themselves for disappointment, and 
as I went to and from the city in the cars, the 
losses in Tomatoes, Lima Beans, Corn, and other 
crops, seemed to form the chief topic of conversa¬ 
tion. Our chief loss was 
Among the Grape-Vines. 
These we could not well retard if we would, and 
the succulent shoots had pushed just far enough 
to expose the whole “set ” of buds for the crop— 
and a most promising set it was—to the action of 
the frost. The vineyard presented a sorry sight 
when a few succeeding warm days had quite dried 
the shoots and leaves that the frost had killed. 
Yet, on going over the vines, I find probably a 
fourth of the clusters of buds unharmed, and it is 
likely, if we can manage the rose-bugs, that we 
shall still have some grapes. In many eases the 
shoots were killed back, but not quite far enough 
to reach the clusters ; in these cases I allow the 
uppermost sound “ lateral ” to grow, and that will 
furnish enough foliage to perfect the fruit. Still 
the evil was not without its compensations. Some 
vines had from one cause and another got out of 
training, aud these were cut back 
For a New Start, 
throwing the whole energies of a vine several years 
old into growing two arms for another year. 
Another benefit. I had working with me a pupil 
who had been studying vine structure and growth, 
and as in this case each vine had to be treated ac¬ 
cording to its present condition, and what was ex¬ 
pected of it in future, he volunteered the opinion 
that “ an hour of this experience is worth more 
than all the books.”_There is much talk of the 
Injury to Strawberries 
by the frost, but so far as ours go, and some of 
them are on rather low land, where the frost was 
most severe, I find but little damage. The Straw¬ 
berry is a fairly hardy plant, and while no doubt 
those flowers that happened to be in full bloom 
just at that time were blighted, and will fail to per¬ 
fect fruit, enough will escape to give a good crop. 
The fact that the flow r ers of the Strawberry come 
on in succession, and but a few of the whole num¬ 
ber are in full flower at once, has no doubt saved 
them. As to Strawberries—last spring Messrs. E. 
& J. C. Williams, of Montclair, N. J., sent me a 
dozen plants of their new variety, 
Tlie “EDincan” Strawberry, 
These were put out where they might multiply, 
but being at the end of a row grown for fruit, from 
which the runners were kept off, the man who was 
to cut the runners from the old plants, also kept 
the Duncans clear of them, and I had this spring 
only the original dozen plants. What they would 
have done had it not been for the frost, I can not 
say, but while they did not bear many berries, the 
few they did give were so far ahead of any others 
that I am almost afraid to write “two weeks.” 
Still it is a fact that in this spring of 1878 the “ Dun¬ 
can ’ ’ gave us ripe fruit two weeks before any other 
of some 20 or 30 varieties, but not much of it. See 
here, Messrs. Williams, if you quote this—quote it 
all—“ excessively early, but a very small crop in an 
