THE ÆSTHETIC IN HORTICULTURE.—We think that in no department of rural
life are there so great inducements to the cultivation of a refined
taste as in horticulture. The farmer must year by year turn up his soil
and plant over, so that no arrangement is permanent; but the grower of
fruit plants trees that are to endure for two or three generations. The
latter may plan out his roadways throughout his orchards, and decorate
them with ornamental trees and shrubbery; he may also remove all those
hideous cross-fences which disfigure a grain and stock farm, and if he
has means, so arrange his trees and driveways that his grounds shall
almost deserve the name of park. We know some would cry out against such
waste of valuable ground; we plead for it nevertheless to a greater or
less extent, according to circumstances. Is everything to be for the
mouth and nothing for the eye? Is the body to have all, and the mind to
starve? Was it not a wise hand that gave the purple bloom to the grape,
and the blush to the apple? Might not the sun have given us as much
comfort, and yet never have tinted the western sky with glorious hues?
And who will say that these things are not beyond money value? So also
will it be with the home and its surroundings; and while we cultivate
our gardens and fruit farms for profit, why shall we not mingle the
beautiful with the useful, and so cultivate a refinement of taste that
shall be a source of pleasure through life?
THE APPLE TREE PRUNER.—This beetle, whose technical name appears to be
_Stenocerus Putator_ (Peck,) is becoming almost too friendly a visitor
among our orchards. Twelve years ago, at a meeting of the Fruit Growers’
Association, at St. Catharines, the first specimen noticed in Canada was
exhibited by Mr. Arnold, of Paris, as may be seen by consulting the
Fruit Growers’ Report for 1870, p. 75. If its pruning were done with an
eye to the symmetry of the tree we would not object to its increase, but
when we find it only consults its own convenience, and prunes off limbs
that are loaded with fruit, we decidedly place it among the enemies of
the fruit grower. The larva is but little more than half an inch in
length, and has six small legs. Its jaws are peculiarly fitted for
boring in hard wood, which it does with wonderful neatness and
precision. The infant grub first uses its jaws in boring through the
soft young wood of the twig in which it hatches, but soon finds its way
to the heart of the larger branch. Before transforming to the pupal
state it cuts the branch in which it lives nearly off, but cunningly
leaves a few threads that it may creep safely into its burrow before the
fall to the ground. The winged beetle appears in the month of June, and
belongs to the _Cerambycidæ_, or family of long-horned beetles, so named
from their long recurved antennæ, which are very prominent.
We add the following account of its habits, taken from the report above
mentioned. “The parent beetle, with a view to provide soft and easily
masticated food for the tender jaws of the infant grub, lays its eggs in
the green fresh growth of a twig proceeding from a moderate sized limb.
The young worm, immediately upon its exit from the egg, burrows down
into the centre of the twig, and consumes all the soft pulpy matter of
which it is composed. By the time it reaches the main branch, it has
become sufficiently matured to be able to feed upon the strong meat of
the hard wood, and accordingly makes its way into the branch, leaving
the hollow twig to gradually wither and drop off. It now eats its way
downwards a short distance, half an inch in the specimen before us,
through the centre of the branch, and proceeds deliberately to cut off
its connection with the tree, and make its way to the earth by the
shortest possible route. This, however, is a somewhat delicate
operation, and requires the exercise of all the insect’s wonderful
instinct or skill, for were it to gnaw too much of the wood away the
branch would break during the proceeding, and probably crush the workman
to death. But with admirable forethought and precision, it leaves the
bark and just enough woody fibre untouched to sustain the branch until
it has time to make good its retreat into its burrow. ‘But,’ as Dr.
Fetch relates, ‘the most astonishing part of this feat remains to be
noticed. The limb which he cuts off is sometimes only a foot in length,
and is consequently quite light; sometimes ten feet long, laden with
leaves, and quite heavy. A man, by carefully inspecting the length of
the limb, the size of its branches, and the amount of the foliage
growing upon them, could judge how far it should be severed to insure
its being afterwards broken by the winds. But this worm is imprisoned in
a dark cell only an inch or too long in the interior of the limb. How is
it possible for this creature, therefore, to know the weight and length
of the limb, and how nearly it should be cut asunder? A man, moreover,
on cutting a number of limbs of different lengths so far that they will
be broken by the winds, will find that he has often miscalculated, and
that several of the limbs do not break off as he designed they should.
This little worm however, never makes a mistake of this kind. If the
limb be short, it severs all the woody fibres, leaving it hanging only
by the bark; if it be larger, a few of the woody fibres on the upper
side are left uncut in addition to the bark. If it be very long and
heavy, not more than three-fourths of the wood will be severed. With
such consummate skill does this philosophical little carpenter vary his
proceedings to meet the circumstances of his situation in each
particular case.’
Having performed this operation successfully, and closed its hole, that
the jarring of the branch when it falls to the ground may not shake it
out, the grub retreats to where it first entered the limb, and goes on
eating up through the heart for about six inches or a foot, and this it
does both before and after the branch reaches the ground. The object of
this amputating process it is difficult for us to understand fully; but
the obvious remedy for these singular insects, when they attack fruit or
other valuable trees, is to gather up the fallen limbs and burn them
before the grub has time to complete his transformation into the perfect
state.”
THE GLUT IN THE APPLE MARKET.—The year 1878 has not been a prosperous
year for the fruit grower in many ways. Cherries failed completely;
strawberries fell to a price that scarcely paid for picking and
marketing; and now, (Sept. 1st,) fall apples have followed suit. From $6
per barrel apples have fallen to $1.50 in Montreal market, and one
shipment of ordinary quality was sold as low as $1.25 per barrel, which,
after deducting cost of barrel and expenses, left about fifty cents for
the fruit.
Our commission agent in explanation wrote: “We are sorry to have to make
such a poor show for apples, but the fact is, our market is so loaded
with American fruit, which is selling at from $1 to $1.50, and fine
apples they are too, that we cannot do better than follow suit. We think
that when good Canadian, hard keeping apples begin to come in, they will
command better prices.”
The natural lesson from this is that it will not pay to trust largely to
fall apples for market. Good keepers are the only ones with which we are
not liable to be overstocked. Still there are two or three varieties of
fall apples that have kept up to fancy prices notwithstanding the
demoralized state of the markets. The Gravenstein, the Duchess of
Oldenburg, and the Cranberry Pippin, coming along in succession with a
profusion of beautiful fruit never fail of attracting buyers at high
prices. The Fall Pippin has completely lost favor in many sections as a
market variety, on account of its spots, which start decay in the apple
as soon as it is placed in heaps, or in the barrel.
The commission system we think a good one so long as the connection be
made with an honorable house. The writer has shipped in this way for the
past five years, with, on the whole, satisfactory results. As a rule
however it seems best to choose such houses for consignments as do not
mix matters. A commissioner should confine himself to that branch in
order to gain confidence, otherwise he may be suspected of putting his
own goods to the front, and sacrificing those he has on commission to
attract custom; or in a full market he may allow goods on commission to
waste, in order that his own may be sold to advantage.
THE YELLOWS.—It appears, as has been shown by a previous writer in
these pages, that we are in danger of an invasion from this plague of
the peach orchards. Growers here, being unable to get sufficient
quantities of home grown trees, have in time past imported largely from
the States, without sufficient enquiry about their origin. In this way
some trees have been imported in which the Yellows was hereditary, and
is now showing itself.
The premature ripening of the fruit, the spotted skin, the deep color
about the pit, the appearance on the tree of adventitious shoots,
slender, and bearing yellowish leaves, all prove conclusively that we
have need to beware of danger, and speedily to destroy every vestige of
such trees from our orchards.
At a recent meeting of the peach growers, in the Town Hall, Grimsby, the
following resolution was moved by the writer, and carried: “That whereas
we are made aware of the presence of the Yellows in one or two peach
orchards about Grimsby, therefore _Resolved_, that we do most strongly
advise every grower to carefully watch the first indications of its
approach, and at once to uproot every tree affected by it; and further,
to use the utmost caution in the selection of trees for planting.”
The following letter will be of interest in this connection.
NEWBURGH, N.Y., Sept. 11, 1878.
MR. A. M. SMITH, Dear Sir:—Your favor at hand, and in reply say
that you describe the Yellows very correctly. I know of no
positive cure, and the only preventive that I know of is to mark
the trees when you discover that they are diseased and remove
them the following fall, otherwise those standing near will take
it the next season. The first appearance of the disease is that
one or two branches will ripen their fruit a week or two before
the usual time. When you notice this, mark your trees and remove
them. We have had the Yellows here at intervals for over sixty
years, sometimes continuing for five or six years and then
several years free from it. But much depends upon the care that
is taken to keep rid of it, not only yourself but your
neighbors.
Very respectfully,
CHAS. DOWNING.
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