1884.] 
AMEEICA]^ AGEIOULTIJHIST. 
2T9 
Orclmr*! a.Mcl Fruit tiiarilvii. 
During the present month and the next, the or- 
chardist and gardener finds work less pressing than 
at any other time, and he is wise if he takes a va¬ 
cation. A week at the sea side, or on the sliore 
of an inland lake or river, will do wonders for re¬ 
cruiting one for the work of the autumn months. 
Go among the fruit growers and gardeners, see 
what others are doing, and how they do it. Such 
visits are useful to both giver and receiver.In¬ 
sects demand attention every month. The Apple- 
worm is noted elsewhere. The Apple-borer and 
the Peach-borer must be looked for; if their saw¬ 
dust is found, or there is a depression in the bark 
of young trees, cut for and probe out the worm. 
... .The Currant and Gooseberry bushes, if attacked 
by the worm, must have powdered White Helle¬ 
bore, a tablespoonful thoroughly stirred in a pailful 
of water, and freely showered to wet the leaves. 
The beetles and large caterpillars upon the grape¬ 
vines may be picked oft by hand.If a Straw¬ 
berry plant is seen to wilt, search at its root for the 
White Grub, and kill it before it can go to another 
plant.The shiny, green Slug upon the leaves of 
pear and cherry trees, may be destroyed by dusting 
them with air-slaked lime, or wood ashes. 
Blight is often destructive to the pear. All that 
can be done ^s to remove the blighted portion, 
whether a small branch or the whole tree, and burn 
it.Budding maybe done as soon as buds are 
mature, and the stocks are ready. The cherry is 
usually the first, followed by the plum and pear. 
-Summer Layer the Grape.—Shoots of this sea¬ 
son that are sufficiently hardened, may be bent 
down and have a portion buried in the soil; I'oots 
will soon form upon it.Wind Falls.—If pigs are 
not pastured in the orchard, the fallen fruit should 
be picked up and fed to them. 
Kitclicu and. IVIai-lcct 
Success in keeping down weeds, depends upon 
attacking them while they are small. A sharp rake 
is most effective if applied early. The use of the 
cultivator must be supplemented by hand weeding 
in the rows.Asparagus tops make a dense 
shade, and keep down small weeds; if any large 
ones appear, pull them.Sowing seeds for Suc¬ 
cession Crops, and setting out plants for late ones, 
will be the chief work this month. Sow Early Beets 
(see p. 234). Of Bush Beans, the Refugee is pre¬ 
ferred for late planting. Sweet Corn, of early quick 
growing varieties, may be planted for table and for 
drying.Sage, Thyme and other sweet herbs, 
may be set out, also late Cabbages, Cauliflower, 
etc.Celery is to be set out from the seed bed. 
If ground can be used from which a heavily ma¬ 
nured early crop has been removed, all the better; 
otherwise the soil must be well manured. Mark 
out the rows, three, or better, four feet apart, set¬ 
ting the plants six Inches apart in the rows, taking 
care to set them no deeper than they stood before. 
Press the soil gently and firmly to the roots with 
the feet, and if it be dry, give an abundant water¬ 
ing. Afterwards keep the celery clear of weeds. 
Ruta Bagas and other turnips, may be sown as indi¬ 
cated elsewhere.When vines of Lima Beans ex- 
tendbeyond the tops of the pioles, nip off their ends. 
... .Tomato vines must be kept tied up to the trellis; 
remove ail badly shaped fruit ; hand-pick and kill 
the great green worm.Egg-plants.—Keep the 
potato bug from them, and place straw under the 
fruit to keep it from the ground. .. .Sweet Potato 
vines should not be allowed to take root at the 
joints ; move them at each hoeing. 
Flower Oarcleii and. Fawn. 
When the grass is growing rapidly, it may be 
mown frequently ; on the other hand, if a drouth 
checks the growth, the grass may be injured by us¬ 
ing the mower too often. Large weeds should not 
be allowed to get established ; take up docks, 
plantains, etc., as soon as discovered. An old thin 
chisel fixed to a handle, makes an excellent 
“spud” to aid in uprooting large weeds. Beds 
planted in Ribbon Style, need care, and if plants in 
the different lines run into one another, they must 
be cut away to keep the outline distinct.Per¬ 
ennial Plants, except in rare cases where seeds are 
wanted, should have the flower clusters cut away 
as soon as they begin to fade.Dahlias, Gladio¬ 
luses, Tuberoses, etc., will need stakes; let them 
be inconspicuous, and placed out of sight.An¬ 
nuals of all kinds will keep in bloom much longer 
if not allowed to ripen their seeds. 
Award of Prizes. 
The following persons were the successful com¬ 
petitors Jor the prizes offered in February for essays 
upon Feeding and Care of Farm Animals : First 
prize (S50), to “A Western Farmer”—Mr. Fred. 
Grundy, Morrisonville, III. Second prize (S40), to 
“ Stock-breeder ”—George Ashbridge, West White- 
land, Pa. Third prize ($30), to “ Zero F. A. 
Deekens, Federalsburg, Md. We will favor our 
readers with a portion, at least, of the first prize 
essay in the next issue of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist. We remind all writers that they have until 
September 1st to compete for the prizes for short 
juvenile stories, offered in June last. 
Cabbages as a Farm Crop. 
JOSEPH HAIilUS. 
Last year millions of cabbages were imported 
into this country from Europe; and such was the 
ease in 1882. They are used largely for Saurkraut. 
In foggy weather cabbages are liable to heat or 
mould on the steamers, and the expense of getting 
them here is very great. The price in the New 
York Market ranged from ten to fifteen cents per 
head. Prices in the inland cities and villages were 
still higher. A farmer can well afford to raise cab¬ 
bages for three cents a head. And the crop has 
this great advantage—if it cannot be sold it may be 
fed out on the farm to cows, sheep, or pigs. 
For late autumn or winter use, cabbages can be 
planted from the last of June, until the middle of 
August. The large varieties, such as the Large 
Late Dnimhead, Premium Flat Dutch, and Short- 
stem Drumhead, should be planted as early as con¬ 
venient in July. If it is necessary to plant late in 
the season, select the earlier varieties. For this 
purpose there is nothing better than the Early 
Winningstadt. 
As a farm crop, cabbages should be planted in 
rows, three feet apart, or sufficiently wide apart to 
admit the use of a horse-hoe, or cultivator. Low 
swampy land that is too wet for corn, can often be 
planted to cabbages with great advantage in July. 
If the land is smooth and clean, the plants may be 
set in rows two and a half feet apart, but if rough, 
and not in fine condition, make the spaces wider. 
It is very little work to set out an acre of cabbages. 
Mark out the land as you would for planting 
corn, and instead of dropping corn, set out a cab¬ 
bage plant. The better way is to mark the land 
both ways, and let a boy drop the plants where the 
rows cross. If the land is in good order, a man 
and boy should set out at least an acre a day. If 
you have not cabbage plants of your own, they can 
be purchased at very low prices—say from one dol¬ 
lar to two dollars xier thousand, according to the 
quantity ordered. You should get more plants 
than you need, in order to have enough to reijlace 
any that may fail to grow. If you plant three feet 
apart each way, there should be four thousand 
eight hundred and forty plants on an acre. If 
three feet by two and a half feet, five thousand 
eight hundred and nine per acre; if three feet by 
two feet, seven thousand two hundred and sixty 
plants per acre ; if two and a half feet by two and 
a half feet, which will answer for Winningstadt 
cabbages, there will be six thousand nine hundred 
and seventy plants per acre. When the plants get 
fairly started, nothing more is required, except to 
use the cultivator freely between the rows, and to 
dress out the weeds around the plants with a hoe. 
Thorough cultivation is the essential point. 
It you are afraid of the green worm, set out five 
acres instead of one acre. There will be about as 
many worms on the small patch as on the large one. 
The Apple-Worm—The Codling-Moth. 
From their letters of inquir 3 % it is evident that 
some of our correspondents think that the Apple- 
worm and the Codling-moth are different insects. 
It will simplify matters if they understand that the 
“worm” is the grub or larval state of the moth. 
This pest has been so general, and has so rap¬ 
idly increased, that a few years ago it seemed to 
threaten to make orchard culture unprofitable in 
many localities. Recently, however, remedies have 
been devised which should encourage the fruit¬ 
grower to hope that he may successfully com¬ 
bat this, his most destructive enemy, and if their 
application can be made general, promise a better 
future for the orchardist. The life history of the in¬ 
sect may be briefly stated thus : In spring, about the 
time the fruit has “ set,” a little gray moth leaves 
the chrysalis in which it has been dormant all winter. 
As this moth flies only at night, it is rarely noticed, 
making its way to the young fruit, where it deposits 
a single egg in the caly.x or blossom end of each. 
The egg hatches in a few days, and the little 
worm eats its way into the young apple, and 
attains its full growth in about two weeks. It 
then leaves the apple by a hole it makes in the side 
and descends the tree. Finding a crevice, or a 
' sheltering scale of bark, the worm conceals itself 
there, and spins a cocoon. In two or three weeks, 
the moths emerge from these cocoons, and are 
ready to go through the same performance again, 
laying their eggs and stocking the apples with a 
second supply of worms, which complete their 
growth, descend the tree, find a hiding place as 
before, and make their cocoons. Instead of leav¬ 
ing their cocoons in two or three weeks, as did the 
first brood, the moths do not issue from them until 
the following spring, in proper time to lay their 
eggs upon the recently set fruit. Of the fruit con¬ 
taining this second brood, a large share of it falls 
to the ground; the worms, when full grown, leave 
the fallen fruit, and if they find no shelter at hand, 
affording a hiding place, crawl back to the tree, 
ascend its trunk, and finding a secure place, make 
their cocoons. The methods of destroying the 
insect depend upon a knowledge of the facts here 
briefly stated. A mo.st important addition recently 
made to the other modes of warfare, depends upon 
the fact that the apple, when young, is erect, with 
its calyx or blossom end upward. As the fruit 
grows and becomes heavy, it turns downward. 
Acting upon this fact, and the other, that the 
young worms enter the apple from the blossom- 
end, some Western orchardists have applied 
Paris Green, which poisons the worm, as it at- 
temps to eat its way to the interior of the fruit. 
The tree is so abundantly showered with water in 
which the poison has been stirred, that a little will 
fall into each upturned blossom-end of the young 
apples. Very little Paris Green is required, a table¬ 
spoonful thoroughly distributed through (for it 
does not dissolve), a barrel of water is sufficient. 
The barrel i§ placed upon a wagon of some kind, 
and its contents showered into the trees by means of 
a force pump. The least particle of the poison kills 
the worm. So little is appliecl that no harm could 
result from the use of the poison, did not the rains 
completely remove all traces of it. The season for 
poisoning is past, but there are other measures that 
may yet be taken. If the trunks of the trees were 
not scraped in early spring, let it be done at once ; 
then apply a bandage of some kind around the 
trunk of each tree. Woollen fabric is best, old 
carpet answers well, but any rags will answer. The 
bands may be about six inches wide, long enough to 
go around the tree and lap slightly and be fastened 
by a single tack at the lapped portion, being care¬ 
ful to not drive it in so far that it cannot be readily 
removed. The worms will seek the shelter of these 
bands, and spin their cocoons. The bands .are 
removed every ten days, and the worms or their 
cocoons crushed. They may be killed by hand or by 
passing the cloth through a clothes-wringer. The 
branches should be shaken, to cause wormy apples 
to fall, and these, and all those which drop spon¬ 
taneously, should be picked up and fed to pigs, 
or the worms they contain otherwdse destroyed. 
