LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.—NO. 7. 
151 
the worm. But when once it has carved its way 
through, and found a resting place beneath the sur¬ 
face of the bark, the application of any of the 
above-named substances seems entirely useless, as 
they cannot reach or in any way affect the worm. 
When ashes, lime, etc., is used, I would recom¬ 
mend from one to eight to be thrown out at the 
base of the tree, and on the surface of the earth, 
entirely surrounding the body. A tree would not, 
of course, bear the use of as much salt. Straw 
bound around the tree with wisps of the same ex¬ 
tending some four inches below, and eight inches 
above the surface, might assist for some little time 
in keeping off the insect; but the straw would soon 
decay, and the process would be considered too 
tedious to be often renewed in large orchards. But 
still bear in mind, none of these substances are to 
be invariably relied on as a positive preventative. 
Like many other good things, the peach-tree not 
only deserves but requires some attention. Let the 
tree be carefully watched, and the worm often 
searched for. Clear away the dirt, scrape the bark 
clean, digtiut the “varmint,” and cut off his head. 
Then as you replace the dirt, throw around the tree, 
as before directed, some ashes, lime, or fine char¬ 
coal. As a moderate use of these is not injurious 
to the tree, and being somewhat nauseous to the 
worm, they may assist in preserving the tree for a 
time. A small mound of earth heaped about the 
body of the tree, at the time of setting out, may be 
found useful, as at every hoeing of the ground some 
little may be drawn away, and thus expose directly 
the spot most likely to be attacked. One other 
plan I would only suggest, having never tried it. 
Trees have often been noticed to thrive and bear 
well when growing in a very stony hedge-row, or 
close alongside a rough stone fence. This I have 
seen in orchards where the ground is very stony, 
and we have thousands of such acres in Jersey: 
a heap of stones about the body of the tree might 
answer a very good purpose. I hope soon to 
see it effectually tried. A heap of stones is indeed 
quite indefinite, but one’s own judgment will dic¬ 
tate the proper quantity; When stones are very 
plenty I would have* them piled neatly about the 
tree, say three feet in diameter and one and a half 
or two feet in height. If this should succeed, a 
double purpose would be gained, as all after-cul¬ 
ture might be with the plough and harrow, the hoe 
or spade being dispensed with. 
As for the yellows, 1 have never known, read, 
or heard of a remedy for them. My plan with 
the yellows is as with the knots on plum-trees. 
At the very first appearance I would utterly annihi¬ 
late and consume by jive every vestige of them. A 
tree affected with the disease generally bears taste¬ 
less and insipid fruit. Lose no time, but dig up 
and burn up the whole tree. I have known the 
yellows to occur in almost every imaginable loca¬ 
tion, in rich garden soil and on poor mountain- 
land, in orchards beautifully cultivated, and in 
orchards unwisely neglected. I have known trees 
clothed with a beautiful, very healthy looking 
dark green foliage, growing very thrifty, yet show¬ 
ing unerring signs of disease. I consider it of no 
practical importance to know whether or not it is 
“ contagious.” 
The above advice will be found, I think, practi¬ 
cable, as due calculation can be made in supplying 
trees for a few to be lost every year. Indeed, the 
trees ^pre so easily procured, and so very cheap 
(#6 per hundred in this part of Jersey), I always 
think it decidedly the best plan, if one would secure 
a constant succession of fruit-trees, to set out some 
trees every year. The best orchards in West 
Jersey are kept in constant cultivation until the 
bearing year, when buckwheat may be sown with 
advantage over the whole orchard, to save*the 
labor of hoeing and working down the weeds. 
This answers well to keep the orchard clean of 
weeds. In gathering the fruit, the buckwheat is 
more or less trampled down ; but when the peach- 
harvest is over with, if there is any buckwheat 
ripe and worth cutting let it be gathered, if you 
only get enough to seed it again in the same way 
another season. There will be so much saved, as 
you will have gained the purpose for which it was 
originally sowed. W. D. 
Morris Co ., N. March, 1847. 
LETTERS FROM THE SOUTH.—No. 7. 
New Orleans. —There are two prominent features 
of this place that unsettle every preconceived opinion 
of those who visit it. The first is an apparent 
change in the points of compass, as the river, whose 
general course is south, flows past the city nearly 
due north. This confusion is “ worse confounded” 
in consequence of a whirl in the current at the cen¬ 
tre of the crescent, which makes a vast eddy the 
whole length of the steamboat landing, and sends 
the unfastened sterns of the moored craft directly up 
stream. The second is owing to the peculiar con¬ 
formation of the surface, previously mentioned in 
speaking of the delta of this region, and consists in 
the declination of the streets from the bank of the 
river to their farthest extremities. What is every¬ 
where else the foot of the street, is here the head or 
highest elevation. 
No part of the surface occupied as the city, va¬ 
ries three feet. The general elevation is but five 
feet above that of the gulf. Throughout the spring 
and the first two summer months, the water is 
usually higher than the general surface, and for 
some weeks past, has been about four feet above it. 
Nothing short of a continuous levee, on either side, 
from near the gulf to the high lands above, would 
prevent a general inundation. It is a fearful con¬ 
sideration, that millions of acres of highly cultivat¬ 
ed land, and tens of millions of property, and a 
vast population, are all at the mercy of this terrific 
stream, whose waters are now rushing along on 
their downward course to the ocean, within a few 
inches of the utmost height of the embankment. 
Immense devastation is sometimes occasioned by a 
crevasse or break in the levee ; but this is so well 
secured that it seldom occurs except in the highest 
stage of water. 
It is a question which the future only can solve, 
how far this artificial restraint of the waters will 
effect the character of the stream. M. De Prouy 
asserts, that since the Adige and the Po of Italy 
have been shut in by embankments, the deposits 
on the bottom have raised their surfaces far above 
the intervening territory, and that the water in the 
