1866 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
187 
counted upon ; that the blossoms are furnished 
•with honey in order that they may attract in¬ 
sects. And it is easy to see that insects, in vis¬ 
iting these flowers, may help the pollen on to 
the stigma in cases where it would seldom if 
ever get there of itself. For instance, in the 
flower of Dutchman’s Pipe, shown in figs. 1 and 2. 
A small insect, crawling into the flower and to 
the bottom of the tube, where a little nectar is 
secreted, could hardly fail to get some pollen on 
his feet or legs on the way out, and would be 
very likely then to pass over the stigma and 
leave some pollen upon it. It is interesting to 
see how admirably adapted to insect action the 
flower of Iris is, and to watch a bee or bumble¬ 
bee in his visits to it. The only access to the 
nectar in the bottom of the flower is between 
one of the outer recurved leaves of the flower 
(which in most species bears either a crest or 
beard), and the petal-like branch of the style 
directly over it; for the intermediate spaces are 
occupied by the three inner leaves or petals, 
which are upright and curve inward, so as to bar 
access in that quarter. The insect, alighting 
on tlie crest or beard, thrusts his head under the 
petal-like part of the style, and thence by his 
proboscis, or sucker, reaches the nectar below. 
In so doing he rubs the top of his rough and 
hairy head against the outer or open side of the 
anther, and gets it well covered with the loose 
pollen. On withdrawing it, he would never 
leave any on the stigma, for Lliis faces the other 
way; but on entering anew this plate or shelf 
Fig. 5.— A LONOITUDtNAL SKOTIO^r OP PIO. 4, TWO OF THE 
BRANCHES OP THE STYLE BEING OUT THROUGH BO AS TO 
SHOW THE PLATE-LIKE STIGMAS O, a, WHICH LOOKS PROM 
THE ANTHERS 6, 6. 
of stigma, projecting a little forward, is hit by 
the head of the bee, and in such a way that the 
pollen-powdered head rubs against the proper 
surface of the stigma, where it is pretty sure to 
deposit some of the pollen. A moment’s exam¬ 
ination of the flower itself will make the whole 
operation clearer than a long description. 
So the puzzle is explained. Such flowers are 
arranged for the visits of insects, and the spe¬ 
cies depend upon them for their fertility, that is, 
for their continued existence. Insects are as 
needful to them as they are to the insects which 
they nourish. So many cases of the kind are 
now well known, so many flowers that cannot 
fertilize themselves at all, and so many more 
that cannot make a sure thing of it without 
help, but which are visited by insects and do 
seed regularly, that we must conclude they are 
intended to depend upon insect aid. But when 
we think of it, another puzzling question arises. 
Are we to believe that in such flowers (as that 
of Iris for example), the pollen is placed near 
the stigma, but where it cannot reach it of itself, 
nor by any ordinary chance, in order that an 
insect may overcoine the difficulty? That the 
anther and the stigma of Iris, which, if they 
faced each other, would do their own work, are 
turned from each other in order that a hee, seek¬ 
ing its food, may carry some of the pollen from 
the one to the other? We can not believe that. 
We have not yet got to the bottom of this matter. 
The Peach-tree Borer. 
The fourth number of the Practical Entomol¬ 
ogist is occupied by an.essay on Borers, by its 
associate editor, B. D. Walsh, Esq., of Illinois. 
He pictures the various troublesome insects, the 
larvae of which bore for a living, and describes 
them in a popular and readable style. We give 
his engravings of the perfect insect of the Peach¬ 
tree Borer, and condense 
the following from his ac¬ 
count. Tliis borer general¬ 
ly works a little below the 
surface of the ground; it 
lives only one year in the 
larva state, and the perfect 
insect comes out in July 
and August. The following are the various rem¬ 
edies and precautions that have been proposed. 
1st. The Corn-col) and the Knife. —In autumn 
remove tiie earth from the base of the trunk, 
and rub the bark vigorously with a corn cob. 
This kills the larviE before they burrow under 
the bark. In spring use a knife to reach them. 
2d. Hot-wader. —Pour it on the part attacked; 
it kills the larvaj without hurting the tree. 
3d. The Hoe Cure. —In June bank up the 
trees a foot high, and in autumn before the 
frosts set in, level down the bank. This ex¬ 
poses the larviB to the frosts and birds. 
Preventive Isi.—Remove the earth from around 
the base of the trunk, 
and surround it with 
a strip of roofing pa¬ 
per a foot or more 
wide; tie it on with 
strings, taking care to 
have at least two 
inches of paper un- F‘g- 2.—female. 
der ground. See that no larviE or eggs are 
there before using the paper. 
Preventive 2d. —Remove the earth, and sur¬ 
round the base of the tree by a bundle of straw 
to the thickness of two inches; tie it securely 
and cover the huts of the straw with earth. 
Preventive 3d.—Place a heap of tobacco stems 
around the but of the tree in June. The smell 
is offensive to the parent insect. In using any 
of the preventives, the borers, should they al¬ 
ready be in the tree, are to be probed with a 
knife or wire. Their presence is indicated by 
exudation of gum from the wound they make. 
- - — '- I ■ 
Evergreens for Wind-breaks.—Willows. 
Under this title we have a communication 
from Mr. S. J. Frost, Hudson River Institute, 
Claverack, N. Y., which sets forth at some 
length the advantages of shelter from the pre¬ 
vailing winds, and the superiority of evergreens 
for this purpose. As we have frequently ad¬ 
vocated the use of shelters of this kind, for the 
house, and barns, and for the orchard and gard¬ 
en, we can not give room to our correspondent’s 
arguments in their favor. His practical advice 
is however timely and may be followed by those 
who live in localities where young trees may be 
had from the forests. Those who live where 
there are no native evergreens must depend 
upon the nurseries, which furnish young Nor¬ 
way Spruce, Hemlock, and Arbor Vitae, at mod¬ 
erate prices. Mr. F. says; 
“For planting evergreens. May is the most 
suitable month. They are very easily taken up, 
since the roots grow in a close knot about the 
stock. For a wind-break. Hemlock is the best 
and most hardy; but Pine, and Flat Leaved 
Fig. 1.— MALE. 
Cedar (the Arbor Vitae of the nurseries,) will 
also answer to the purpose. Go to a pine or 
hemlock grove with a team, select the smaller 
trees or shrubs, cut with a spade, or better an 
old axe, a circle large enough to include the 
most of the roots, and the ti'ee may be lifted 
out very easily. The dirt will cling to the roots, 
and their growth will hardly be checked. The 
great trial for evergreens, taken from the woods, 
is the sunshine, to which they have not been 
accustomed. But if they are set thickly and 
in considerable numbers, only a few will die. 
Those obtained from the nurseries are acclimat¬ 
ed and do not suffer in this w'a}’’, but they are 
more expensive. Evergreens are not suitable 
for shade. Except a few low, choice sjrecimens, 
for ornament, they should not appear in the 
front yard. They will form a hedge in almost 
every kind of soil, and this is tlieir proper use. 
But if tlie soil is very wet, a willow hedge will 
make a good wind-break. Willow (the common 
yellow) twigs or rods set closely, say from one 
to two feet distant, will soon grow into a beauti¬ 
ful summer hedge, and even in winter be a flue 
protection against winds. If set in this ■way 
they will not grow too large, and the dry limbs 
will afford the best of light fuel for kindling 
and oven-wood. The canes of the willow when 
dry, are tough and substantial, notwithstanding 
the brittleness of the green bough. M}-- neighbor 
obtains his whole supply of oven-wood—no un¬ 
important consideration—from the dead limbs 
of a willow hedge set to resist the washing of 
a stream. Nothing more is necessary than to 
sharpen the eud of the stakes and thrust them 
into the soft soil.” 
Peas and tkeir Names. 
Those who are accustomed to look over 
seedsmen’s catalogues and advertisements, es¬ 
pecially the English ones, cannot help being 
amused with the great number of new peas that 
appear every spring,—as numerous as spring 
styles of calico. The sellers of these so-called 
novelties show a commendable amount of in¬ 
genuity in selecting attractive names, and we 
have ; First Crop, Express, Ringleader, Sur¬ 
prise, Advance, Wonderful, Victory, etc., of the 
different dealers. A committee of the London 
Horticultural Society, in I 860 , procured all the 
varieties offered for sale, and planted them in 
their garden at Chiswick, alongside of the old 
and well known varieties, and carefully watch¬ 
ed and timed their periods of blossoming and 
maturing, and compared the old and the new in 
all respects. The committee’s report has been 
recently published, and is quite interesting to 
all but the seed growers who have pet peas, as 
it shows that but few of tlie new sorts have 
anything novel about them except tlieirnames. 
Thus, Carter’s First Crop, Dickson’s First and 
Best, and Sutton’s Ringleader, all prove to be 
identical with Dillistone’s Early, an old and well 
established early kind. Turner’s Wonderful, 
Carter’s Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales, 
and Yorkshire Hero, are all alike, and the same 
as McLean’s Favorite. The Horticultural Society 
have done well in showing up this early pea 
business, and such trials not only protect the 
public from imposition, but they benefit the 
honest seed raiser whose varieties, if really val¬ 
uable, are thus brought into notice and com¬ 
mended. When will our Department of Agri¬ 
culture give us one bit of positive information 
like this? Under its present management it 
will of course prefer to continue in the seed 
business and send out peas under wrong names. 
