1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
821 
HOW TO PROPAGATE CURRANTS. 
M. H., Paterson, N. J .—When is the 
proper time, and the proper way to raise 
currant bushes from cuttings? My red and 
white currant bushes seem, to be running 
out, they have been bearing for about 15 
years. Should they not be renewed? 
Ans. —Currants are very easily prop¬ 
agated from cuttings made from one- 
year-old wood. It is essential to select 
healthy, well-ripened wood. There are 
three ways of handling currant cuttings: 
1. Take the cuttings in August when the 
leaves are beginning to fall, set them in 
the ground immediately. Such cuttings 
should he mulched in the Autumn so 
that the frost is not likely to heave them 
up. 2. Make the cuttings in early Oc¬ 
tober and plant immediately, mulching 
as above. 3. Make the cuttings at the 
same time as No. 2, but put up in pack¬ 
ages of 50 or 100 and store in soil or 
sawdust in a cool cellar. Plant early in 
Spring. Currant cuttings are made by 
cutting the one-year-old wood into eight 
or 10-inch lengths and planting these in 
the ground up to within an inch or two 
of the top. In loose soil they may be 
planted with a dibber or just back of a 
cleft made by a spade or against the 
land side of a furrow. Planting in a 
large way, nurserymen now usually em¬ 
ploy a trencher and planter. 
By judicious pruning currants may be 
kept in bearing many years, but com¬ 
mercial growers' think it wise to replant 
at the end of eight or 10 years. Tn 
pruning no wood over three years old 
should be retained. Keep four to eight 
main stems, and cut out straggling 
young growth. Effort should be made 
to have straight young shoots coming 
on each year for future fruiting. The 
pruning should be done in early Spring. 
If the bushes under discussion are not 
too much neglected it would be wise to 
prune them early next Spring, give a 
dressing of old manure, spaded in, keep 
the soil mellow and clean, and thus keep 
them going until the young plants are 
ready to take their place. 
Remedy for Woodchucks. 
J. J. N.,Bennington, Vt .—About a year 
ago you gave a formula for destroying 
woodchucks in their holes. 1 have lost 
this and am being terribly bothered with 
the pests. Will you republish the formula? 
Ans. —We gave a dozen “remedies” 
running from traps to poisons. The one 
you mention was bisulphide of carbon. 
This liquid evaporates and forms a 
poisonous gas. Rags, wool or cotton are 
wrapped around a stone and soaked with 
the liquid. It is then rolled into the hole 
and the entrance closed. The trouble 
with this remedy is that the woodchucks 
often have several entrances to the holes, 
so they can get away from the fumes. 
A good marksman with a rifle is the 
best “remedy.” 
Insects Attacking Iris. 
IF. IF. If., Bergen Co., Is. J .—A number 
of Iris plants, I. pumila and I. Pseudacorus, 
made poor growth this year, and began to 
die down immediately after flowering. I 
attributed this to the dry season and the 
creeping in of grass, so decided to lift the 
plants and reset them in early August. On 
digging them I found the roots eaten away 
to mere shells, and among them quantities 
of large and very active" grubs, quite dis¬ 
tinct from the ordinary white grub. What 
is this insect, and how can the Irises be 
protected against them? 
Ans. —The insect is one that is usually 
accounted rare among entomologists. It 
has no common name; but its technical 
name is Macronoctua onusta. Nobody 
ever sees it except by accident, and there 
are very few specimens in collections 
generally. Once in a while in some 
special locality a bed of Irises will be¬ 
come infested and the grubs play havoc 
with the plants. The work for the pres¬ 
ent season is done. The adult moths 
will make their appearance during the 
early part of September and will lay 
their eggs on the leaves of the plant very 
close to the surface of the ground. They 
remain in that position during the Win¬ 
ter. The caterpillars hatch during the 
following Spring and work their way 
into the underground portions of the 
plant. The remedy is, late in Fall, cut 
off every particle of leafage as close to 
the ground as it can be cut in order to 
get rid of the eggs that are on the plants, 
and of course destroy the cuttings. Any 
time after the first of October any sort 
of treatment that removes all the over¬ 
ground portion of the plant will rid the 
bed of the source of infestation for next 
year. joi-in b. smith. 
N. J. Experiment Station. 
Failure of Le Conte Pears, 
T. L. >S'., Neiefield, N. J .—We have about 
250 Le Conte pear trees sot in a plot with 
about the same number of Kieffer. The 
Kiefifers do very well, but the Le Conte 
have never borne enough to pay for the 
picking. They are about 12 years old, and 
look very well, excepting this year they 
have shed part of their leaves up to the 
nresent time, and are now throwing out 
(piite a number of new leaves. The old 
leaves have small known spots on them 
about the size of a small pea. The trees 
seem to be making a vigorous growth. 
There are a few of the^j Le Conte trees 
scattered over a large orchard which we 
have of about 2,500 pear trees, and they 
seem to be perfectly healthy and bear quite 
well. 
Ans. —The LeConte and Kieffer pears 
do not bloom at the same time, and 
therefore cannot cross-pollinate each 
other’s flowers, and that is probably the 
reason of the failure of the LeConte 
trees to bear that are near the Kieffer 
trees. Both these varieties are only par¬ 
tially self-fertile. Those set among 
other kinds, some of which bloom at 
the proper time and doubtless do pollin¬ 
ate the LeQonte blossoms and cause these 
trees to bear well. 1 have seen just such 
cases. As the fruit of LeConte is 1- 
most unsalable at any price I would sug¬ 
gest that part of the trees set with the 
Kieffer be grafted to that variety and 
the rest of them to Garber. This latter 
variety will pollinate the Kieffer and 
cause it to bear heavily. I have seen this 
done with good results. The spots on 
the pear leaves are made by a species 
of fungus. This might have been pre¬ 
vented by spraying with Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture or a weak solution of lime sulphur, 
self-boiled, eight pounds of sulphur and 
eight or 10 pounds of lime to 50 gallons 
of water. This is now known to be a 
better fungicide than Bordeaux Mixture, 
and yet will not injure tender foliage. 
By adding two pounds of arsenate of lead 
the mixture will be a deadly insecticide 
as well for all leaf-eating insects. It 
should be applied early and again later. 
II. E. VAN PE MAN. 
'VSMuuuTfSSS!! 
Why Fall is the Time 
to Paint 
&AINT lasts longest 
and gives the best 
service when it gets 
the strongest hold 
upon the surface; 
and the drier the 
surface the better 
hold it gets. 
In the fall the air is dry; so 
is the wood. There are no in¬ 
sects to get stuck in the fresh 
paint, and very little dust and 
dirt to settle. 
But no matter when you paint, you 
will always get the best results when 
you use 
Pure White Lead 
(“Dutch Boy Painter” Trade Mark) 
and linseed oil. Then you know you 
are right. Use it this fall. Look for 
the “Dutch Boy Painter” on the keg. 
Write us for our "Dutch Boy Paint 
Adviser Iso, 8 ” — a beautifully 
illustrated booklet, containing 
many valuable suggestions. 
National Lead Company 
An office in each of the following cities: 
New York Boston Buffalo Cincinnati 
Cleveland Chicago St. Louis 
(John T. Lewis & Bros.Co.. Philadelphia) 
(National Lead & Oil Co.. Pittsburgh) 
The passing of the wood lot 
VI .Jr 
; f -‘AG 
There will be no genuine regrets 
when the wood lot, with its end¬ 
less task of splitting and sawing, 
becomes a thing of the past. 
Consider the cost of the extra 
house-cleaning caused by the fly¬ 
ing ashes, and the damage to 
furniture, carpets and curtains. 
Also consider the uneven heat 
that endangers health, and the re¬ 
pairs and replacement of stoves 
and hot air furnaces. Then it is 
easy to see how very wasteful 
such old-fashioned methods are as 
compared with heating by 
Radiators 
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SANDWICH MFG. COMPANY 
277 Main Street Sandwich, 
KING SPREADER ONLY 
TRY IT Distributes Lime, Ashes, Fertilizers, $15.00 
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