418 
FEB,IB 
pened the Lady Washington and had found U 
fine in appearance, of good quality and a little 
later thaa the Concord. Mr. Willard 6poke 
nighly of the Vergennes, which was a little 
later than the Concord, of good quality and a 
flue keeper. Mr. Fowler had eaten specimens 
of the Niagara on Oct. 2d, when they were 
picked from the vines, and he had found them 
good. Mr. Thomas regarded the quality of the 
Niagara about half-way between the Concord 
and the finer sorts. Mr. Hooker said the Pock- 
lington was a good grower, but not so strong as 
the Niagara; it was hardy, as early as the Con¬ 
cord, and of better quality than he had thought. 
W. C. Barry was agreeably surprised in the 
Pocklington. 
The question of new peaches was then taken 
up. M r. Bronson said that the very early sorts 
were not giving satisfaction, and to recom¬ 
mend them as profitable sorts would be veiy 
misleading. Mr. Hooker said that May's 
Choice was a beautiful peach of Crawford 
character, hut he was not sure it was a valu¬ 
able aequisitiou. The Downing and Wilder 
were like the Alexander and Arntden. Mr. 
Yonnglove had found the Sal way to beaprofit- 
able late variety. 
In the evening Mr. Zimmerman, of the Com¬ 
mittee upon Entomology, read a report de¬ 
scribing the insects which prey upon the plants 
and trees, which was followed by a pstyerupon 
the subject of destruction of noxious insects 
by Prof. Wm. Sannders, the celebrated ento¬ 
mologist of Canada. 
The morniug of the second day was devoted 
to the hearing of the reports of the different 
county committees upon visiting orchaids. 
Mr. V. Bogue, of Orleans County, reported the 
crops of that county to be:—of apples, 140,000 
barrels; quinces, 2,600 barrels; pears, 1510 
barrels; plums, 3 300 bushels; cherries, 63,000 
pounds; grapes, 2,500 baskets. W. S. Little, 
of Rochester, read a paper upon the Hornbeam 
as a hedge plant, regarding it as of great value 
for this purpose. Mr. H. B Ellwanger fol¬ 
lowed with a paper upon Typical Hoses, after 
which the President delivered his address. A 
desultory discussion followed. Mr. Fowler had 
used saltpeter upon tender grapevines at the 
time seeds were forming, and with good re¬ 
sults. Mr. Younglove thought that if flue 
fruits were wanted, thinning was very import¬ 
ant. It pays well. It must be done thoroughly 
to secure the best results. 
The subjects of canning and drying fruits, 
the profit and benefit of the fruit grower, were 
taken up. Mr. Redmond reported that Wil¬ 
son’s Albany was the best strawberry for can¬ 
ning. Mr. Hooker said that in addition to its 
other good qualities the Baldwin was very valu¬ 
able for drying. It weighs heavy, is of good 
color and is acid. Mr. Woodward thought 
evaporating to be just what we want, and if we 
keep the poorest apples out, it will prove a 
great benefit. 
The subjects ol pear blight and peach yel¬ 
lows, preventives and cures, elicited no new 
thoughts. The best way to do is to keep your 
trees in a good, healthy condition. If blight 
appears cut off the affected portions and burn 
them; but if yellows appear dig out the trees 
and burn them root and branch. Mr. Wheel- 
ock, an extensive buyer of fruits, had found 
the Newtown Pippin to do well in but few 
places, and only on the east side of the Genesee 
River and through the valley. 
The society then discussed the questions 
"How shall we get sufficient manure for our ex¬ 
tensive ore bards in Western New Tork?" “How 
can we increase the qualny of barn-yard ma- 
ure?” “Can any of the artificial manures be 
profitably employed in orchards ?” Mr. Hooker 
6 ald that two objects were aimed at by the fruit 
grower—1st, a good growth of wood; then 
fruit; but he doubted if it was economy to 
stimulate trees too much. Mr. Pnelps used his 
barn-yard manure upon his orchard, while his 
field crops were treated to superphosphates. 
Mr. Barry said ground bones were good. Mr. 
Saunders thought a very small amount of 
phosphorus in manures would be beneficial. 
Mr. Woodward said the measure of the manure 
was the measure of the fruit. He would apply 
manure just when he had it. Mr. Reynolds 
told of a case where a crop of green clover 
turned under, produced better effects than 
could be seen ou a neighboring field well ma¬ 
nured. 
In the evening, in reply to "Is it profitable 
to graft apples upon crab stock?" Mr. Bogue 
cited a case that had given very poor results. 
Mr. Dempsey had a Peck’s Pleasant upon a 
crab stock. The union worked satisfactorily, 
although the graft was larger than the stock. 
" What is the comparative value of wood 
ashes, lime, plaster and salt for fruit trees and 
In what way may they be applied ?’’ was the next 
question discussed. Mr. Green thought ashes 
were much the best. Mr. Willard believed that 
salt was very oeneficial to some trees. 
The question " Is the clematis meeting pub¬ 
lic expectation as a decorative plant, and what 
are the best and most useful varieties?" was 
discussed. W. (J. Barry thought it a very use¬ 
ful plant, and one of the best ornamental 
climbers. It iB hardy and very beautiful. Mr. 
Hooker said there is everyihing to say in 
favor of the clematis. 
The society then adjourned. h. 
PAS8IFL0RA PFORDTII. 
PETER 11. MEAD. 
J iikkic is scarcely a genus of any size so en¬ 
tirely made up of singularly interesting and 
beautiful plants as that of Passifloj'a. Seme 
of them are valued in their own country as 
much for their fruit as their beautiful flowers. 
Some do best in a hot-house ; others do well 
in a green-house, and two or three are suffi¬ 
ciently hardy to be grown in the open air, with 
a Blight protection iu the latitude of New York 
or none at all in some cases. The tops dieoff, 
or rather are killed off, during the Winter, but 
the crowns send up very strong shoots in the 
Spring. To the latter class belongs Passitiora 
Pfordtii; but it is not so hardy as either Buisl's 
seedling or the old P. cmrulea and incarnata, 
though very much finer in the abundance and 
beauty of its flowers. It is a strong grower, 
with mostly three-lobed leaves, the lower ones 
sometimes being entire. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced in the axils of the leaves, ar.d are of a 
bluish-purple color, the sepals being sometimes 
edged with white. 
The accompanying portrait is a faithful one, 
showing the average 6ize of the flower, as well 
aa the remarkable farm common to all the 
Passion Flowers and Tacsonias, a closely 
allied genus. In the green-house it will bloom 
constantly and abundantly all Winter, but to 
me its chief value consists in its usefulness as 
an ornamental flowering plant for the open 
air. It will soon cover a large space, aBd msy 
be grown on the piazza, against the side of a 
house, on a fence, or wherever wires or strings 
can be placed for its tendrils to cling to. It 
delights in an open, sunuy exposure. An old 
plant will bloom more abundantly than a 
young one. 
Beginning with a young plant, it should be 
turned into the border early in the Spring, or 
iuto a large pot or tub, if that be preferred, 
Let it make four or five feet of growth, and 
then cut off five or six inches of the end, 
which will secure three or four leading shoots 
instead of one. The flowers are borne in the 
axils of the leaves, and more abundantly ou 
the laterals than on the main shoots; it will 
therefore increase the number of flowers if the 
ends of the leading shoots be pinched off as 
soon as the laterals make their appearance. 
A young plant, like the one started with, will 
come into flower about August, (an old plant 
sooner,) and will continue to bloom till stopped 
by freezing. When the ground gets a little 
hard I cut the plant back to about four feet, 
bend the canes to the ground, fasten them there 
with pegs, and cover the whole plant, crown 
and all, with two or three inches of 6and or 
light soil, and finish off with a covering of 
five or six inches of leaves or long litter, The 
plant may be grown in a tub during the sum¬ 
mer, (in which it will flower freely), pruned 
late in the Fall, and kept in a cool cellar or 
room during the winter. 
The flowers of P. Pfordtii are fragrant, as 
are others of this class, but not all. The 
flowers of others remain open only a day; but 
in September, when the nights begin to get 
cool, I have often known the flowers of 
Pfordtii to remain open thirty-six hours, and 
then seem to close reluctantly. It is a plant 
that I do not hesitate to recommend for gen¬ 
eral cultivation ; if not iu the border, at least 
in a tub, to be wintered in the cellar. It strikes 
readily from cuttings in September, which can 
be easily wintered iu the house. It is too sub¬ 
ject to the mealy bug and red spider for a 
room plant; but is free from these pests iu the 
open air. 
-M-*- 
COAL OIL FOR MEALY BUGS. 
Two or three years ago I wrote to some 
horticultural journal, recommending, from my 
own experience, uudilnted coal oil for the de¬ 
struction of the mealy bug. Since that time 
I have tried all the various remedies mention¬ 
ed in the “papers,” but I am sure I could not 
keep my little greenhouse free from the pest 
without that little bottle of kerosene and a 
feather to apply it with. £ use a pail of hot 
water whenever I wish to give my plants an 
"overhauling.” and holding my hand to keep 
NEW DOUBLE WHITE BOUVARDIA. — FIG. 96. 
the soil from falling out, I souse the plant 
in water aa hot as I can bear my hand 
in, and have never injured any plant, except 
mimulus. Afterwards I use the same water to 
wash the mold from the pots, and in this way 
one pailful of water will clean twenty or thirty 
three to fivt-ineh pots. I then take all the 
pots which are too large to be dipped In the 
pail and search them carefully for mealy bugs, 
and if I find anything suspiciously white, I 
touch it with oil. when, if it iB mealy, it will 
turn red. I apply the smallest possible quan¬ 
tity of oil and brush with a feather around the 
sxils of leaves and branches which give any 
appearance of being infested. If the plant is 
tied to a stake or trellis, the pest is sure to 
be under the string or on the wood, and I aiu 
quite certain that an old trellis will harbor the 
family for years, even without a plant near 
them. This thorough treatment will last for 
a month, but every time I handle a fuchsia or 
bouvavdia I look for mealy bugs and have my 
coal oil convenient. 
I think there are not many greenhouses free 
from this pest, from the fact that I often find 
plants, and even cut flowers which I order, 
white with the filthy thiugs. 
I should not dare to use coal oil mixed with 
water and applied with a syringe, as has been 
lately recommended ; for where I have applied 
it to growing or tender leaves it has sometimes 
killed them, while I use it on the stems or the 
older leaves with impunity. Besides it would 
never completely destroy the mealy bugs if 
used iu that promiscuous way, for it does not 
kill unless it touches them. For that reason 
neither hot water, soap-3uds, carbolic acid, 
tobacco or any other solution or compound 
applied with a syringe will do any more than 
hold the bugs in check. I know of quite a 
number of florists and amateurs, who use 
coal oil as I do, and they all agree that they 
have found nothing better. G. w. 
Rock Falls, Ill. 
-- 
A New Bouvardia.— A new, double-flow¬ 
ered white Louvurdm is offered in Loudon by 
William Bull of which the accompanying illus¬ 
tration muy serve to give some idea. Bouvar- 
dias are delightful plants either under glass or 
for the 8ummcr border, for which latter pur¬ 
pose they arc uot as much employed as they 
deserve to be. 
We have mislaid Mr. Bull’s catalogue from 
which our cut is reproduced. Is this the " Al¬ 
fred Neuuer ” of Nanz & Neuner of Louisville, 
Ky. ? Or are there two double white bouvar- 
difts ? In the latter case, it appears that one 
engraving answers for both, since Messrs. 
Nanz & Neuner’s cut is the same as Mr. Bulls. 
jSrifnftfit auti Useful. 
THE PREVENTION OF INFECTION. 
PROFESSOR F. H. STOKER. 
It is noteworihv that many points of inter¬ 
est for agricultural practice might be gained by 
an attentive examination of the conclusions of 
medical men with regard to the 60-cilled 
" Germ-theory of disease;’ for. taken iu it? 
widest sense, this theory assumes not merely 
that various diseases but most kinds of fermen¬ 
tations and decay, are produced by tbe action 
of microscopic organisms. Whatever ihe 
doctors may have gained in the way of do- 
stroying such organisms or of checking their 
increase may well be taken to heart by ihe far¬ 
mers ; uot because such knowledge can always 
be made immediately useful at the farm but. 
because some of these practices of the physi¬ 
cians are likely to be analogous to wbat is 
needed by farmers, and because they indicate 
very clearly what kinds of methods the farmer 
may fairly hope for and seareh for to meet his 
own peculiar needs. Thus, in the case of 
wounds, it was noticed long ago by surgeons 
that wounds healed much more rapidly in the 
country, even at a distauce of but a few miles 
from the city, than they did in ciiv hospitals. 
Apparently, the air of the hospitals was at 
fault; and pains were taken in some places U> 
purify the hospital air to the utmost. Build¬ 
ings were constructed with a special view to 
having the air within them pure; and perfected 
ventilating arrangements were introduced, 
without regard to cost, by means of which all 
unpleasant odors and even the carbonic acid, 
whieh results from breathing and from lights, 
should be kept down to almost or quite as low 
a proportion as exist* in country air. But all 
to little purpose, for the disparity between 
country and hospital practice, as regards the 
healing of wounds, remained. Then, the idea 
was broached that something in the wound 
itself must be the cause of the difficulty ; some¬ 
thing which b\ passing from one wound to 
another should propagate the huitful influence 
and maintain it in spite of the purest air. 
There is now good reason to believe that this 
is the correct view, aud that the trouble is 
really caused by minute organisms which find 
fit feeding place upon disorganized animal 
matter, and which may be carried from one 
wound to auother by way of inoculation, as it 
were. 
In order to destroy these organisms and .to 
keep them at bay also, as they come floating 
through the air, as well as to gnard against the 
risk of inoculation when the wound is touched 
with anything, surgeons now use disinfecting 
agents, and notaoly carbolic acid, when dress¬ 
ing wounds. One device is to throw, by means 
of an “ atomizer," a fine spray of diluted car¬ 
bolic acid upon the wound while dressing it. 
So too, the sponges used for washiug wuun.ls 
are soaked m the same liquid, as well as the 
bandages and dressings; and, in addiliou to 
these precautions, care is taken to protect the 
wounds from all unnecessary contact with tbe 
air. Carbolic acid is freely used also for 
cleansing all kinds of surgical instruments and 
apparatus before use; the idea being.to destroy 
any and all germB which may have attached 
themselves to the implements. In cases where 
so powerful an agent as carbolic acid is inad- 
missable some milder chemical, 6uch as a so¬ 
lution of borax, for example, is substituted. 
Now the question of preventing the spoil¬ 
ing of milk, cheese, butter, flesh, or what not, 
is a problem of the 6anie general order as the 
foregoing; and although carbolic acid is man¬ 
ifestly uot a good agent for the farmer's pur¬ 
pose there is every reason to believe that there 
are many chemicals which would serve him 
admirably well, much belter, for example, 
than the time-honored salt which now takes 
precedence of all things. 
Yet again, the methods employed by phy¬ 
sicians for preserving anatomical aud patho¬ 
logical speciiut-ns point most emphatically to 
thecondusiou that analogous methods for pre¬ 
serving food must eventually come into gen¬ 
eral use. A considerable number of disinfec¬ 
tants have approved themselves to anatomists 
and the practice of dissection has been not. a 
little simplified by their use. At the agtieul- 
tural schools, for example, the horses and 
other animals that are to be dissected by the 
students are prepared for this purpose by 
pumping into their veins, immediately after 
death, mixtures of glycerine and carbolic 
acid with the addition in some cases of arsenic, 
or alum, or the like; and it is found that the 
flesh of auimals thus treated remains 9weet 
and soft for months. The effect of these pre¬ 
servative materials is so eminently satisfac¬ 
tory for the purpose iu hand, that it is im¬ 
possible to escape the conviction that in the 
near future some of them, or agents of simi¬ 
lar character, will come into practical use for 
the preservation of flesh for food. Indeed 
many things have been proposed already, and 
they ate now on trial in some sort, but it will 
be seen at a glance that much more study, and 
more careful and more extended experiments 
