338 
.giant) of a |jtoralist. 
small branches or shoots are used for this 
purpose, and for the common Arbor Vitajs 
the size and form shown in the accompanying 
illustration will be about right. The leaves 
DAILY RUBAL LIFE. 
Prom the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
WHAT ARE SOIANUM BERRIES? 
Dec. 2.—During the past month or two I 
have read several articles in a Western agri¬ 
cultural journal in regard to the poisonous 
properties of “Solarium Berries,” and I con¬ 
fess to having become somewhat confused 
over this question. That indefinite quantity 
frequently expressed by the term “ big as a 
lump of chalk ” is really more definite than 
this Solanum muddle, inasmuch as there are 
more than 150 species of the berry-bearing 
Nightshades and a dozen each of Nyctertum * 
and LyoopuHcums, also two dozen or more 
of the Capsicums (peppei>), and as many of 
the Physalis, or winter cherries, to say 
nothing of the Henbanes, Thorn Apples, 
Box Thorn, Atropas, and a dozen other gen¬ 
era containing few or many species, all be¬ 
longing to the great Solanum family. Now, 
the sticklers for common names ought to be 
perfectly happy over this one of “ Solanum 
Berries,” because they can apply it to any 
of the thousand or more species of “ Sola- 
nu ms '* without missing the mark, which 
should certainly be satisfactory to the most 
inveterate hater of the exact sciences. 
But, really, why will people use such in¬ 
definite and meaningless terms when trying 
to convey information to others or seeking 
the same for them selves ' There is certainly 
a fine opportunity for dispute over this Sola¬ 
num Berry question, for there are both nox¬ 
ious and innocuous species, and unless each 
is specifically named when their properties 
are discussed, confusion must necessarily 
follow. Tne berries of the common woody 
Nightshade (iJofflnutn dulcamara) are with¬ 
out doubt poisonous, but those of the Tomato 
(S lycapurecAirn ) are not, and the same may 
be said of the many species of the Physalis, 
or winter cherries. Then again, the roots of 
some of the species which produce edible 
berries p .>ssess strong uarcotic properties, 
consequently it is not safe to lay down uny 
general rule expecting it to apply to all the 
members of the entire family of .Solanums. 
If everybody would remember the maxim 
of Davy Crockett, “ Be sure you’re right, 
then go ahead.” we might get along more 
rapidly and avoid much confusion. But a 
majority of our people persist in using com¬ 
mon local names which, nine times in ten, 
are misapplied, leaving disputants uml those 
honestly seeking knowledge in the predica¬ 
ment foreshadowed in the old Roman prov¬ 
erb, “j Ego de allia luquur , tu de capre re¬ 
sponded or, “ It is of garlic that l am talk¬ 
ing, and you answer mo about onions.” 
MURE EVERQhEEN CU TTINGS. 
Dec. 3.—1 have hod such excellent success 
in years past in growing many kinds of ever 
greens that it is a pleasure to repeat the ope¬ 
ration annually. There are very few persons 
who have a taste for experiments in this di¬ 
rection who could not propagate a limited 
number of certain kinds of evergreens by 
cuttings during the winter months. 1 am 
often surprised that ladies who are fond of 
house plants aud devote much time to their 
culture do not. try their skill upon the hardy 
sorts in the way of propagation by cuttings. 
Almost any room in the house where the 
cuttings will not freeze is suitable for tHe 
purpose, as a very high degree of tempera¬ 
ture is necessary until the cuttings have be¬ 
come well rooted and growth commenced. 
Thore is probably no one class of plants 
which will succeed better under the condi¬ 
tions named than our small leaved evergreen 
shrubs and trees, especially the Arbor Vi- 
tses, Juuipers, Box, lletinisporas, and Yews. 
Boxes filled with the cuttings of such kinds 
are handsome ornaments, and may be kept 
among window plants without appearing to 
be out of place. This is especially true of 
the Golden - Plumed Rethiixpora I R - nuren 
plumosa), Golden Box (Buccus uurea varie- 
yala), and the new Silver-Tipped aud Golden 
Arbor Vitoes, Bait the deep green, plain¬ 
leaved sorts are also beautiful when the cut¬ 
tings are planted in mosses in the usual 
manner. 
Boxes for cuttings of these kinds should be 
three or four inches deep and of a sizj con¬ 
venient for handling, say twelve to fifteen 
inches square. The boxes should be filled 
with pure sand, as this is a l'ar better mate¬ 
rial in which to strike evergreen cuttings 
than common garden soil, in the fall or 
early winter, before there has been any very 
hard freezing weather, is the best time to 
take off the cuttings. Only the ends of the 
,!>■'j 
8tl 
iOORE’S RURAL KEW - YORKER, 
dhtfontolonical. 
THE NEW APPLE TREE DISEASE. 
I call it new, not because I know it be so, 
but because among the fruit culturists in this 
vicinity I can find no one who is familiar 
with it or can explain it. It may be old, and 
only because we are so sensitive to currant- 
worm devastation, to potato-beetle injury, 
to the scarlet raspberry fungus, and to other 
late and spreading evils whose hold on the 
new territory resembles the plum carculio, 
we fear it, and dread any new foe to field or 
garden culture. 
This newly-observed disease begins by the 
sudden wilting of all the leaves on the twigs 
of the ends of a brunch. The small twigs or 
terminal ends, rarely' over two or four inches 
long, they wither to-day, to-morrow begin 
to dry. By the third or fourth day they are 
brown, and show at a distance. The young 
apples, now the size of a cherry to that of a 
walnut, in a day or two more, are also dead 
and brown in color, among the leaves. The 
twigs, aften with leaves in contact with the 
dead ones, so closely do they grow, are 
totally unaffected. There may be scattered 
over a whole apple tree one, five, ten, of such 
dead twigs, with two to five dead apples 
among the leaves of each twig, or t wigs with 
no apples. But »ftener the disease seems to 
prefer one side of a tree ; on some it is the 
east, others the north side : south or west, 
while the rest has no dead twigs. Oftener, 
perhaps, or at least more conspicuous Is it, 
when one large limb, on any' side, as to ex¬ 
posure or sunshine, has all the dead twigs, 
the rest of the tree being healthy. The dis¬ 
ease in these twigs, to this date, of this year, 
has not gone beyond these short twigs, nor 
seemed to spread from one. to another. If it 
spreads, it is by a new and sudden invasion 
of other and independent twigs. In no case 
that 1 have seen has It gone from one twig 
to that next to It. 
1 first observed the disease last year on a 
few trees. Whether connected with it or 
not, large limb*, affected with it last year, 
are dead or dying now. If their death is the 
ultimate effects of this disease, it threatens 
to be a serious evil. It is too early to say' 
whether it affects old trees more than 
younger trees, but I suspect it does. 
The cause of it is obscure. It certainly is 
not the effect of a bold sting of a large insect 
like a locust. Insects, quite a variety of 
them, are found among the dead leaves. If 
caused by insect, or insects, I can lay it to 
the charge, of only two. One is a very small 
red spider or louse that I have repeatedly de¬ 
tected fast to the stem of the leaf, and 
bedded in the juices it cause* to escape. It 
look* on the stem like u minute drop of red 
wine, which, touched with the point of a 
needle, causes the iuscet, like a spider, to 
move off a little. The other insect is a larger 
red spider, that does not cling close to the 
leaf-stem, but has long legs, wine-red body 
and legs, the legs redder than the body. This 
spider spins a web (and webs are seen usually 
in all dead twigs), aud can be seen to suck 
the juices of the leaf-stem and leaf. When 
cut, the leaf and leaf-stem has the smell of 
the crushed spider—a foul, fermenting sort 
of a smell. These two insects may be but 
different forma of one insect. If it is the 
cause of the disease, it must be observed 
early, because as soon as the leaves are dry, 
it is in vain to look for this, or these spiders ; 
for then hundreds may be examined and not 
a spider be found. If the spider is the cause 
it should be known. 
One good observer, connected with the 
Cornell University, thinks it may be a mi¬ 
croscopic fungus, but says I must not say 
that he thinks it is, and that next season he 
will begin to look for it early in the season. 
J said to him, the sap crystallizes in the dis¬ 
eased leaf-stem and twigs, lie replied, “I 
have observed that too, aud liave said the 
crystal* under the microscope resemble those 
of sugar, in the notes I have taken of the 
disease.” To me there is a fungus slightly 
apparent often on some twigs, but there is 
not enough of it to account for it, and in the 
larger number of twigs no fungus can I de¬ 
tect. 
All I wish to say in this article is, that the 
cause is very obscure ; that I have no opinion 
of the oause ; that no insect burrows or chan¬ 
nels are to be found in any part of the twigs. 
That the mycellium of fungus in the leaf and 
the efflorescence of it in the leaf is occasion¬ 
ally seen, and that if confined to twigs only, 
in the apple it is destructive, yet not serious¬ 
ly so. If ir, has a connection with the death, 
a half year, year or more after-wards, of large 
limbs and virtually of the whole tree, it is of 
the greater consequence. As I said early on 
COMMON ARBOR VIT.E. 
from about an inch of the lower part of the 
stem arc cut away, and it is best to use a 
Very sharp knife in making the cutting*, in 
order that the wounds shall be left with a 
smooth surface. Two to three inches in 
length is sufficient for all kinds, and when 
placed in the sand they should be buried 
one-half to two thirds their entire le.ngth. 
The sand in the boxes should be made w<_t 
and packed down firmly before putting in 
the cuttings. When a quantity of the cut¬ 
ting* have been prepared, proceed to set 
them in the following manner Take a pane 
of glass and with the edge make a groove iu 
the sand across one side of the box, about an 
inch from the edge and deep enough to re¬ 
ceive the cuttings, which may now be set in 
close together, or just so that their leaves 
shall touch. Press the sand tightly against 
the cutting*, smooth off the surface and open 
another groove one to two inches from and 
parallel n itli the first. Proceed in this man¬ 
lier until the bed is filled, when water may 
be applied to Be ttle the sand a ad fill up all 
interstices which may have been left be¬ 
tween the cutting*. If the cutting* have 
been made of uni orm size and length and 
set uniformly in depth and distance apart, 
the box will resemble an evergreen nursery 
in miniature, and be withal a very pretty or¬ 
nament. If the specie* being propagated in 
this manner arc very scarce, much smaller 
cuttings may be used ; but this is seldom 
necessary with hardy kinds. The boxes 
containing the cutting* may lie placed iu a 
window where the sun can shine upon them 
a part of the day, or in almost any part of 
the room not actually in the dark. All that 
is necessary from this time forward until 
spring is to prevent freezing and at the same 
time keep the sand moist. 
Under such conditions roots are produced 
very tardily, sometimes none appearing for 
two or three montlia, Btill the cuttings of 
most kinds will remain sound and fresh, 
however long the roots may be delayed. 
The propagation of our smaller kinds of 
evergreens iu this manner is a pleasant pas¬ 
time, and one in which those who have no 
greenhouses or propagating pits may fre¬ 
quently indulge in to advantage, especially 
if they desire to increase the number of rare 
and costly species and varieties. I have 
filled several boxes to day with the kinds 
named, and although placed under the stage 
of niv greenhouse, 1 am quite certain that 
they would succeed equally as well in uu 
ordinary warm room where common house 
plants ure generally kept during tiie winter. 
In the spring, and after the cuttings are well 
rooted, they should be taken out of the sand 
und planted in the open ground. 
--- 
NOXIOUS INSECTS. 
Common Tree Caterpillar. — Kill by syr¬ 
inging curbolic soap solution upon small 
trees, first catching all that can be caught ; 
upon half grown trees, dust the leaves thick 
with slaked litue early in May to keep them 
off. bur. if fairly on hand reach up a round 
hair brush on a long polp, turn it round in 
their nest and pull them down and kill; af¬ 
ter that spread lime over the trees or syringe 
them with strong solution of carbolic soap. 
.Evergreen Tree Grub .—A fly : deposits its 
eggs iu the maiu leader of evergreen trees ; 
grubs are hatched and eat into the heart 
and live upon the pith—eating upwards. 
When the leaders wittier or look sickly, cut 
them off and split them up and kill Mr. 
Grub ; it can be seen when such grubi are 
in the shoots as there are holes with cut 
wood—like sawdust—around them and upon 
the shoots a distance off. 
the grape phylloxera, as quoted hy Dr. Riley, 
“ a cause is at work on the grape that kills 
the vine-cane occasionally, that no climate 
or season will account for,” and, “ which 
needs investigation so I now say, I fear 
this is a disease to be added to the fruit pests 
already so numerous. 
The white mulberry is affected with it; the 
I quince suffers often severely with it, the 
leave* and stems dying, as iu the apple, and 
the young quinces among them also. The 
pear suffers in exactly the same manner, and 
it need* but a glance to see that it is not pear 
blight. 
It is also important that it be not confound¬ 
ed with the aphis, or apple-tree louse ; this 
curls the leaf, which the disease does not. 
The aphis has the moulting* in the hollows 
of the curled leaves, the disease does not; 
the disease makes the leaves deep brown 
color, the aphis yellow dead leaves. Of 
course the locust sting comes later in the 
season and can easily be seen. So of other 
evils and insects. Nor must the decay or rot 
in the apple, or whatever it may be called, 
be confounded with this disease. I mean 
that disease when a part or whole of a tree 
looses its vitality, ceases to grow, turns yel¬ 
low in its leaves, large limbs die, and the 
whole tree at last. 
“ The rot ” prevailed in New England and 
New Jersey a few years ago. It is here now 
to some extent. The “apple rot,” “apple 
blight,” “branch withering,” &c., is one or 
more diseases. Twig blight, or the disease I 
speak of, fs another. Enclosed please find a 
twig killed by this disease, with four apples 
Just out of bloom. The brown is yet seen on 
parts of the leaf, though changed to a muddy, 
greenish brown since picked off the tree. 
The twig died to its junction with another 
twig in full vigor and life.— S. J. Parker, 
in Horticulturist. 
■ v - 
DESTROYING THE CANKER WORM. 
Editors of Rural Nk w- Yorker : — In’ 
your paper of Oct. 30tli, I noticed an article 
from the Boston Cultivator about Canker 
Worm*. As the writer says, tar put upon 
the trees, arrests the femaje worm in its 
travels upwards, bur. only when freshly put 
on ; the air quickly forms a surface. 1 liave 
used printers’ ink for several years, hut have 
found that, in order to catch the worms you 
must look after that every day or two, for 
rain or damp weather will soon form a sur¬ 
face sufficiently hard for the worms to travel 
over. The Cultivator writer recommends 
the best of ink ; my experience has been the 
other way, and T have found the cheap news 
ink to keep more open, and be longer before 
a surface formed upon it. Lost season I 
thought I had looked after the worm sharper 
than ever before, but when June came my 
trees were eaten worse than in any previous 
season. The question then came up—do all 
t he eggs laid hatch out in one season ? From 
the position iu which I found some males 
and females in the ink last season, I was satis¬ 
fied they could not have reached the spot 
without the male having carried the female 
there between its legs. Have you known of 
such cases ? Where the strip of iuk is nar¬ 
row they would easily tly over it with the 
female. 
Allow me to inquire if you know wliat the 
small bright greeu insect is which spins down 
from the apple trees in the fall ? They are 
from a quarter to a half inch in length, aud 
appear to have feet the whole length of their 
body, i have found them swinging from 
pear trees alse. 
That pest, the worm which eats the leave* 
of the currant hushes, 1 have succeeded in 
keeping off by the use of air slaked lime ; 
but as they come at any part of the season, 
you have to follow up with the lime every 
day or two, and I found some eggs and 
worms as late as a fortnight after I had 
gathered my currants. 
There is another worm which destroys the 
currant bush, for which I should like a reme¬ 
dy. They are a white worm which you 
will find eating out the pith of the twiga in 
both old and new wood ; and I have found 
as many a3 three in a twig of a foot and a 
half. They evidently hatch from an egg 
laid on the outside of the twig, and then eat 
it; and the eggs evidently are laid in the 
spring and hatch out in a few days, or we 
should not find them in the new growth. 
My bushes were thoroughly examined in 
Sept., 1874, and where signs of a worm were 
found in good wood a piece of whalebone 
was passed into the aperature and the worm 
killed—badley eaten old wood was cut off ; 
consequently this season they were not so 
plenty in my bushes, but 1 had more than I 
liked to encounter. b. 
Gloucester, Mass., Nov. 6, 1875. 
£_i_ 
