1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
143 
it flexible, and bound around the tree with strong 
twine, and that is all. The traps must be exam¬ 
ined every week or two, the worms crushed, 
and the traps replaced. With proper care a 
set of veneers should last for several years, and 
if all the fruit-growers in a neighborhood would 
combine and use this trap thoroughly, the lav¬ 
ages of the Codling-Moth would soon be reduced 
to a minimum. 
Peaches Here and in England.' 
“ The Garden” publishes an account of a 
profitable peach-tree at Rochampton Park, and 
after giving the method of cultivation presents 
a tabular statement of the dates of ripening, 
produce, and sum realized for the fruit for the 
past eleven years. This table we copy : 
Date. 
Fruit Ripe. 
Produce. 
Sum realized. 
1862. 
June 15 
... 42*4 doz... 
.... £-12 10s. Od. 
1863. 
May 28 
... 48i4 “ ... 
.... 48 10 0 
1864. 
. May 1 
... 42>? “ ... 
.... 67 00 0 
1865. 
April 21 
... 2714 “ ... 
.. . 65 00 0 
1866. 
May 10 
... 38 y 2 “ . .. 
.... 50 00 0 
1867. 
May 3 
.. . 39!4 “ .... 
.... 49 17 0 
1868...... 
April 21 .. 
... 37 1 / “ .... 
50 00 0 
1869. 
April 29 .. 
..54 
.... 60 00 0 
1870. 
May 3 
... 5 “ .... 
6 03 0 
1871. 
June 3 
... 74 
.... 37 00 0 
1872. 
... 64 “ ... 
... 53 11 6 
Total 
£529 11s. r,a. 
The total produce of this tree in eleven years 
is in round numbers $2,600, and the peaches 
brought on an average $5.50 a dozen, and each 
year’s product of the tree was not far from $236. 
It is true thnfc these peaches were grown under 
glass and forced, but notwithstanding this the 
story of this tree has a lesson for our fruit-grow¬ 
ers. Mr. Robinson, the editor of “ The Garden,” 
was here in the liight of our fruit season, and 
when he stated that he had not seen a decent 
peach in the New York market, we were dis¬ 
posed to regard his remark as a bit of Jolin- 
Bullism.’ The next year we passed a week in 
the peach orchards of Delaware and Maryland, 
and were quite convinced that we had never 
seen adecent peach in the market. All peaches 
for market are picked just before they are 
ripe, and are expected to come into eating 
condition by the time they reach the consumer. 
The difference between a peach ripened upon 
the tree and one ripened in a basket, can only 
be appreciated by those who have tried both. 
There is one thing well settled as far as the 
markets of our l arge cities are concerned—extra 
fruit will always bring an extra price. In evi¬ 
dence of this we have only to recall the Jucun- 
da strawberries of the late Mr. Knox, which on 
account of their enormous size and fine appear¬ 
ance sold at several times the price of ordinary 
fruit. We do not expect that many of our peo¬ 
ple will go into the forcing of peaches, but we 
do believe that it will pay peach-growers to 
take more pains with their fruit. Instead of 
having their peach-trees so loaded that the 
branches trail upon the ground, they should be 
thinned—with a part of the crop at least—so as 
to get a smaller number of finely-developed 
peaches, and then they should devise such a 
method of packing as will allow tree-ripened 
fruit to be sent to market. Boxes to contain a 
single layer packed in cotton might accomplish 
this. At all events, we have no doubt that 
whoever tries the experiment of sending to the 
New York or other large market, extra peaches, 
will find his remuneration in extra prices. 
Water-proof Screens.— According to the 
Florist and Pomologist, both paper and cotton- 
cloth may be rendered water-proof and trans¬ 
lucent by giving them a coating of “ a solution 
of gelatine or glue, to which one fiftieth part by 
weight of the bichromate of potash is added.” 
. . . “ The process must be carried out in full 
daylight. It is stated that the Japanese prepare 
their paper umbrellas in this way.” This is 
provokingly indefinite, as we are not told how 
strong the solution of glue should be, nor whether 
the weight of bichromate should be one fiftieth 
of that of the glue or of the solution. 
Plant-Covers or Protectors. 
“ Eternal vigilance is the price of” cucumbers. 
The plants as soon as they are out of the ground 
are met by the Striped Bug and “Flea” and at 
no time of their existence are they safe from 
the attacks ot the spotted Yellow Lady-Bug and 
the sober-looking Squash-Bug. If we can 
manage to protect the plants until they get large 
enough to “run alone,” the attacks of insects 
are not so disastrous, and those who have cold- 
frames or other glass can carry their cucumber 
and melon plants beyond their feeble stage be¬ 
fore they set them out. The majority of per¬ 
sons, however, sow the seed in the open ground 
and trust to various kinds of protection. Pow¬ 
ders and washes of various kinds have been 
found more or less effectual, and shields are 
used varying from a common newspaper to 
elaborate hand-glasses. Frames of various 
make covered with netting have been sold and 
used with more or less satisfaction. The best 
screen of this kind that we have seen is one 
offered by B. K. Bliss & Sons, and is illustrated 
here by an engraving. It is simply a wooden 
frame upon which is a support of galvanized 
wire which holds the screen of netting. The 
wooden base allows the affair to be placed in 
close contact with the soil, so that no insects can 
crawl under it, and at the same time lifts the 
netting above contact with the earth, which 
with most other protectors is a great annoyance, 
especially when there are frequent rains. 
Screens of this kind are not only useful to pro¬ 
tect plants from insects, but they keep off chilly 
winds and slight frosts, while they do not inter¬ 
fere with the growth of the vines. 
- m-t -—-- 
Foreign Horticultural Items. 
The First Lady Writer on Horticulture is said 
to be an English woman, Mrs. Ives, who wrote 
upon Gilliflowers in 1690 or thereabouts. 
The Last Potato in England is the “New 
Hundredfold Fluke Kidney,” which is lovely 
.for a name. The engraving looks like a painted 
Easter egg, with not a visible eye. 
A Precocious Cocoanut. — The Gardener’s 
Chronicle figures a Cocoanut which still in the 
seedling state bore flowers. The plant was 
only a few inches high, and, as well it might, 
much astonished the natives at Bengal where 
this unusual development was manifested. 
Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora .—Take it 
all in all, this is the finest shrub we have. 
“ The Garden ” says it is 20 to over 30 inches 
high. Ours last year was about five feet high, 
and is a young plant yet. 
Don't know Sweet Apples. —A correspondent 
of one of the English horticultural journals 
says : “ Will any of your readers kindly inform 
me what the American papers mean by ‘sweet’ 
apples, which they seem to distinguish as a 
peculiar class?” That man never ate baked 
apples and milk. 
Briar-wood Pipes. —John R. Jackson, Royal 
Gardens, Kew, writes to “The Garden” that 
his investigations show that briar-wood pipes 
are made from the root of a species of Heath 
{Erica arborea), and not from the root of a 
Smilax. Every one at the South knows that 
briar-wood is abundant, and that it is a Smilax. 
It is not improbable that two widely distinct 
plants furnish material for the manufacture. 
*-- *q > «— ■ ii Ta -3> g» —-— *—<&»-■ 
Tree and Plant Swindlers, 
Last year we had occasion to show up the 
pretensions of Lafayette & Co., who offered 
Blue Roses, Tree Strawberries, and similar im¬ 
probable horticultural “novelties.” We learn 
that a similar concern has already appeared 
at the South and is working northward. Tree 
peddlers, with their pictures of astonishing 
fruit, are now around, and are about as bad as 
any foreign rogues. Recollect that the regular 
dealers have all the novelties worth having, and 
that new and valuable fruits and flowers are 
hot introduced by unknown traveling dealers. 
If a man pretends to be an agent of a nursery¬ 
man, ask to see his papers. Some nurseries 
send out traveling agents, but always give them 
papers showing their authority. Buy always of 
regular dealers—if mistakes are made they 
can be rectified; and do not believe any stories 
about new fruit or flowers of great value, no 
matter how attractive, the names of which are 
not to be found in the regular lists. 
■---■ 
The Management of Blackberries. 
Several letters are at hand asking about the 
treatment of blackberry plantations, especially 
such as have been neglected. It is difficult to 
give advice in each particular instance without 
seeing the condition of the plants, but we can 
indicate general principles which each one can 
apply to his own case. If the manner in which 
the blackberry grows be understood, then the 
course to adopt with an old plantation or in 
forming a new one will be plain. The illustra¬ 
tion shows a blackberry-buSh at three years old 
or more. For the sake of simplicity, only one 
of each part is shown, while in an old and neg¬ 
lected plant there will be half-a-dozen more or 
less of tlie growths here represented. Looking 
at the bush in the spring of’73, we find an old 
cane (a) which grew in ’71 and bore fruit in ’72, 
and is now no longer of use, but should be cut 
away, else it will die down and add to the en¬ 
tanglement of the plantation. Then we have 
the cane (b) of bright new wood which grew in 
’72, and which will probably bear this year, and 
should, after it lias fruited, be cut away. Just be¬ 
low the surface, and ready to start very early, 
will be found strong buds (c), which this year 
will grow and form canes like b, and bear in 
1874. The canes are biennial, growing one 
year, fruiting the next, and afterwards are of no 
further use, a constant supply of new canes be¬ 
ing kept up from buds at the root of the plant. 
