152 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ OCTOBEE, 
In summing up the whole question, M. Mes¬ 
sage!’ concludes that: the longitudinal incision 
replaces, by one act, those natural solutions of 
continuity scattered on the trunk, called 
lenticelles. 
That trees with gummy latex (milky juice), 
especially Cherry-trees and Plum-trees, ‘ which 
have the first layers of the bark crosswise,’ 
(Comte Lelieur, in Po?none .Frfnjgafse, writes :— 
“ Almost all trees have the epidermis or cuticle 
crosswise, after a prolonged stretching ; but in 
Plums and Cherries this epidermis acquires a 
thickness and resistance comparable to that of 
leather”) claim, especially when they have been 
transplanted, the unbridling of these layers. 
Short longitudinal incisions made below but 
near the graft sometimes prevent the formation 
of the cushion or hump often seen at the point 
of union, by facilitating the enlargement of the 
stock, and allowing it to follow the base of the 
graft in its development, which is often rapid. 
Applied at a later stage, the longitudinal 
incision “ diminishes the gum, and often causes 
it to disappear.” (Dalbret, Cours Pratique de 
Taille; Comte Lelieur, Poinone Franqaisei) I 
have many times experienced this, and regard 
it as the surest means to be adopted against 
gumming. 
It contributes mightily to growth in diameter, 
and accelerates thus the production of timber 
(hois d'indnstrie). 
It serves, by the measure of the separation 
of the lips, as a criterion by which to appraise 
the vigour of the tree. 
It never occasions the pouring-out of the 
latex in our Pomaceous and Amygdalaceous 
fruit-trees. 
Lastly, if done without necessity, it produces 
no bad consequences.—M. 
THE PEA CROP. 
)Thas seldom been my fortune to have such 
c] n[} excellent crops of Peas as during the past 
*2^ and present months (July and August). 
Though later than usual in gathering the first 
crops (being the third week in June), they have 
well made up for lost time. About a score of 
kinds have been tried, and really not a bad lot 
is to be seen among them. Two kinds for 
special trial were Telephone and Telegraph 
planted side by side. Wonderfully fine Peas 
they are, very large in pod and pea, and of lich 
quality. Some say they are the same kinds, 
but they are not so with us. Telephone is 
taller in growth and the pod is more bent than 
those of Telegraph, and they are also a shade 
lighter in colour. When planting Peas, we do 
them as French Beans ; but our soil being 
strong tenacious clay, we cannot cover the seed 
■with it, but use siftings of wood-ashes and 
some light soil mixed. The drills or ridges 
have to be formed with the spade, and where 
the Peas are sown they are placed zigzag over 
the surface about 4 inches apart; they are 
well mulched as soon as staking is done. They 
then grow with great vigour, the stems branch¬ 
ing out and becoming a mass of pods. No 
mildew or withering-up is experienced.—M. T. 
CHECKMATING THE CHAFERS. 
T is a generally spread idea that long and 
'51 to hard winters destroy a considerable num- 
her of insects and other enemies of the gar¬ 
dener, particularly snails. But insects and snails 
have both proved to us that they know how, 
when opportunity offers, to shelter themselves 
from the severity of the season. I shall not 
say that I have never seen so many snails as 
this season, but it is a fact that they abound. 
On the other hand, the Chafers (May-bugs) 
are rare. It does not follow that we need not 
fear the ravages of the white worms, since they 
live three years in the ground before being 
finally transformed. But I have somewhere 
read that a very simple means exists for pre¬ 
serving cultivated trees and vegetables from 
their depredations. I have not yet adopted it, 
but give it for what it is worth. 
The procedure consists in burying, at the 
time of preparing the ground, some plants of 
the cruciferous family, such as leaves and 
stumps of cabbages, turnips, colza, cresses, 
mustard, &c. All the crucifers, since they 
contain sulphur in considerable quantities, pro¬ 
duce, in decomposing, a special gas, sulphur¬ 
etted hydrogen, which exhales a strong odour 
of rotten eggs, and is mortal to the white 
worms. This discovery is due to a gardener of 
the village of Orsay (Seine-le-Oise), who had 
observed that the chafers never deposit their 
eggs in soils sown with different kinds of cab¬ 
bage, and who had thus been able to preserve 
his strawberry-plants, when not a single root 
remained in the surrounding gardens. 
This was his manner of proceeding. The beds 
destined for strawberry-culture were first planted 
with crucifers—cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels 
sprouts, &c. In autumn, after clearing off the 
cabbages, the ground was sown in colza, the seed 
of which does not cost much, and which, ac- 
