1853. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
219 
The above is a representation of a Garden and Fire Engine, manufactured by Cowing & Co., of 
Seneca Falls, N. Y. From the brief experience we have had with one of these machines, we can bear 
testimony to its value. It is not less useful for washing the outsides of houses, than for watering gar¬ 
dens, and it must prove of great importance in case of tires, as a steady stream of water can easily 
be forced on any part of a two-story building. Every country place should have one. 
Remedy for Black Knot on Plum Trees. 
For a few years past I have been experimenting 
on plum trees. A large proportion of them are 
Yellow Gage, taken from Mr. LaselPs nursery, in 
Schoharie, among which the black knot prevailed 
pretty largely. Having removed them fifty miles 
to Delhi, Delaware Co., and transplanting them 
there-, the knots still affected them. The only pre- 
scription made, was mixing in the earth for a few 
inches, and a foot or two around the tree, 'pul¬ 
verized bla^jesmith’s cinders. 
Since that time, some two or three years past, 
the ground has been annually dug about the roots, 
rather freely in the spring of the year; and now 
they are free from the knots, and they had very 
few last year. They bore well year before last- 
last year but little, and now they are full of bios* 
soms with a fine prospect of fruit. I have confi¬ 
dence in this treatment—think that the iron being 
absorbed into the body of the tree, exerts atonic 
power on it, so as to purify its vitiated fluids, stim¬ 
ulating its vital power to a more healthful action; 
so that not only the knots are prevented, but a 
renovation of the health and constitution of the tree 
is produced. Ferris Jacobs, M.D. Delhi, May 
18,1853. — 
Cure for Rose Bugs. 
Among the many remedies given, only one that 
we are aware of, has ever proved effectual, name¬ 
ly, destroying by first shaking them down on a 
spread sheet. In some localities where they are 
abundant on all kinds of vegetation, this may 
prove totally impracticable, but in ordinary cases 
they may be greatly thinned without much diffi¬ 
culty’-. The best mode we have seen described for 
effecting their destruction, or that which promises 
the best success, is the following, given in a late 
number of the Boston Cultivator: In the center 
of the garden a few bunches of the damask rose 
are planted, which the rose-bug prefers to every¬ 
thing else, and on which they mostly congregate. 
When the roses are in bloom, go to these bushes.- 
with a broad pan of hot water,- and shake or jar 
the insects into it. By pursuing this practice, 
they soon disappear. 
