374 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
who have appointed committees to test the remedy in 
question, to say that those committees have concluded 
to give it another year’s trial, although some of them 
felt fully prepared to report now. The members of the 
committees have no liberty at present to speak of the 
mode of applying this remedy, and it may be that 
they were not expected to divulge their opinions as to 
its merits. In the mean time we would recommend to 
our correspondent the old, excellent, and well tried 
remedies combined, of the confinement of pigs and 
geese under the trees, and jarring down on sheets and 
destroying the insects while laying their eggs in the 
fruit —♦— 
Foliage Destroyed by Grasshoppers. 
For three seasons I have been greatly troubled by 
grasshoppers, and the present season greatly damaged. 
My fruit trees, young shade trees, and evergreens— 
indeed shrubbery, vines and every thing else in my 
grounds, have been ruined by the grasshoppers. 
Before I commenced transplanting again, I thought 
I would ascertain if there was any remedy for this 
evil; if not, I would surrender and make no far¬ 
ther effort to improve and beautify my grounds, but if 
there is, I shall continue my efforts to grow shade, and 
fruit trees and ornamental shrubbery. Will the “ Coun¬ 
try Gentleman” enlighten me with regard to this mat¬ 
ter, and oblige a subscriber ? Jno. P. Dobyns. Mays- 
ville, Kentucky. 
In the Northern States, there are seasons of occa¬ 
sional occurrence, when grasshoppers prove quite de¬ 
structive to the foliage of young fruit trees, in par¬ 
ticular localities. We have known an instance where 
a nurseryman was obliged to employ boys continually 
for some weeks, to pass through his blocks of dwarf 
pears, and frighten off the grasshoppers, or else lose 
their foliage and consequently their growth. But these 
are rare occurrences with us. We cannot give the in¬ 
formation our correspondent desires, and hope some of 
our readers may do so. 
Garden Walks. 
Desirous of making my garden walks hard and firm, 
especially some few that are sloping and apt to wash 
away in winter, I made use of tar as recommended in 
one of the late nos. of your paper, but without the 
wished for success. It is now three weeks since I ap¬ 
plied it to the sandy walks in my garden, but it does 
not harden. I have tried boiled and cold gas tar, but 
without the desired effect either on sand or gravel. 
I want my garden walks as hard as stone. Please tell 
me how they can be made so by tar ? Austin J. 
Roberts. Lakeville , Mass. 
Not having had occasion to construct inclined walks, 
we are not familiar with the details, and would there¬ 
fore request information from some one who has had 
practical experience. We have only witnessed the en¬ 
tirely successful results in the few cases that have come 
under our personal observation, and are unable to say 
how long a period of time is usually required to render 
hard and firm the composition made use of. If the 
tar was good, we have no doubt the walks will get ul¬ 
timately harder, even in case the process may be re¬ 
tarded perhaps by too small a proportion of sand with 
the gravel, which we think an essential ingredient. 
Facts from the Horticulturist. 
The last number contains as usual a rich collection 
of interesting facts on the subject of fruit and orna¬ 
mental culture—a few of which we extract and con¬ 
dense for our pages. 
Budded Roses. —The editor states that last sum¬ 
mer, during the dry and warm weather, many varieties 
on their own roots dropped their foliage ; while on the 
Manetti stock they not only continued fresh and green, 
but remained in blossom nearly all the season. We 
may add that Ellwanger & Barry showed us the 
past season very fine plants budded on the Manetti 
even with the surface of the ground, and subsequently 
set deeper in the soil—thus obviating in a mearure the 
usual objections to budded roses. 
The Concord Grape. —The report on the character 
and merits of this grape is very similar in its views to 
those we have already given. Its great superiority in 
size is not mentioned. The editor thinks it only two 
weeks earlier than the Isabella. If so, it must ripen 
very nearly with the Diana, which for three seasons 
past, has matured with us about that period in advance 
of the former. 
Large Winter Nelis Pears. —Specimens are ac¬ 
knowledged from Adrian, Mich., measuring over eight 
and a quarter inches in circumference—which is very 
large for this high flavored winter variety. These spe¬ 
cimens, ripened about Christmas, into the richest juici¬ 
ness, would be in great danger of throwing the editor 
into raptures. 
Exaggerated Descriptions. —An English horti¬ 
cultural periodical is quoted as describing the new rose, 
the “ Duchess of Norfolk ,” as a “ brilliant colored 
climbing Hybrid Perpetual rose the term climb¬ 
ing being merely an exaggeration of its vigorous 
growth. This kind of exaggeration is, we believe, not 
entirely new with English gardeners, more particularly 
in describing colors. It ought not to be tolerated 
among horticulturists, whose language should be as 
pure and truthful as the beautiful forms they cultivate. 
Falsehood and elegant roses make a bad mixture—and 
we might with equal propriety describe the Bartlett 
pear as a foot long, and the Winkfield as so productive 
that two hundred bushels are usually produced per tree 
the third year. 
Astonishing Transmutation. —We copy the fol¬ 
lowing entire, and commend it as an interesting addi¬ 
tion to the cabinet of facts iu the possession of the ad¬ 
vocates of transmutation :— 
A gentleman in this county presented us with two 
Apples, taken, he says from the same limb of the same 
tree, which had never been grafted or budded, one a 
russet like Pomme gris, and the other a large green 
apple. We of course set this down as a mistake. But, 
what was our surprise, on receiving a letter from a gen¬ 
tleman in Jamaica, L. I., (whom we visited during the 
time of holding the State Fair, and who showed us, 
tmong other things, a large patch of beets, from which 
he offered to supply us,) containing the following an¬ 
nouncement: “On examining my Beets I found that 
some of them had turned to Sweet Potatoes, and there¬ 
fore send you along a barrel, which I hope you will 
receive in good order.” This is the greatest transmu- 
ation we ever heard of, and hope it will continue. 
