FARMING CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6827, 3 October 1883, Page 6

FARMING CORRESPONDENCE.

"To 'Agricola.'—l. Would yon kindly say if you have ever come across the Tree Lucern (Medicago Arborea), or noticed it mentioned in any of the numerous papers or catalogues you Have seen? This shrub should be a most useful and interesting introduction to the northern parts of the colony. It is a native of the Greek islands, and is grown in Italy and France, and also has been grown in England in sheltered situations, and is a most useful as well as ornamental plant in its native habitat, as it produces foliage that animals are extremely fond of, and flowers even in England from April or May till August, and should in this climate bloom a couple of months longer. This latter qnality ought to make it highly valuable to beekeepers alone, who are alive to the value of good flowering plants. It ripens its seed in England, so no difficulty would be met in propagating it when once it flowered here. 2. Has it not been proved that apples on Spy stocks bear earlier than when on the Majetin ? And, if this ii; go, how is it that the Majetin ia credited with being the quickest bearer ? Does the Spy behave different, i.e., does it fruit earlier when naadjto graft upon than when it is left to produce its own fruit? 3. Could you say who sells River's Miniature Fruit Garden, and its price? Answers to above in the Weekly News would much oblige.—l am, &c., J. B. Opotiki, Bay of Plenty, September 4, 1883.*' — 1. I do not remember having Been the Medicago Arborea in this country, nor have X noticed any mention of it in papers or catalogues. The plants of the genus called Medicago are very numerous. I think Paxton mentions about 80 varieties. They are nearly all from Southern Europe, and grow from Bix inches to a foot high. The Arborea growß the tallest of all the varieties, reaching as high as from five to six feet. Being a native of Italy, it should do" well in this North Island. 2. 1 should very much question that it haß been proved that varieties worked on Spy Btocks boar earlier than the same varieties worked on Majetin stocks. In fact, I have proved iui my own orchard,. by both budding and grafting, that stocks make very little (if any) difference in regard to the time of braring. Of course, as a general rule, a Majetin will bear sooner than a Spy. But if another sort is worked on either tree, according as that sort is an early or slow bearer, so it will prove, no matter what the stock on which it is worked. Take fer instance, a Bismarck,, which is an early, and abundant bearer. Well, I'll venture to assert that if at the same time a Bismarck is grafted on healthy, free-growing stocks of both the Spy and tue Majetin, those grafts will bear fruit at the same time. " J. 8." asks "Does the Spy behave different, i.e. does it fruit earlier when used to graft uponj than when it is left to produce its own fruit?" In reply, I would advise " J. 8." to try his hand on a Spy four or five years old, which at that age, should haves some fine healthy shouts. Let him either graft or bind a few of these shootii with several sorts of apples leaving some of the shoots or branches untouched. He will find that while the varieties he has worked on tho Spy may bear, the first or Becoad or third year, according to what they are, the Spy itself, that is the branches left, will have undergone no change. They will bear somo time I suppose, though when I should not like to say. To show what I mean I may mention that between two and three years ago I budded on a branch of a Spy an American Golden Rusaett. That bud grew and formed a small branch, which, last season, had 15 apples on. Bnt the Spy itself had not a single fruit. At the same time I put some buds of the Rymer on to a Majotin. Last year Uheir buds, or branches rather, ware loaded with fruit, and the I

; Majetia had: fmfc ,;on aUb. < Rom whkh7» wcold appear that rtocka ma&e HtfcdW fere** as It; depends Z" on the raraty, not npoa the stock, as £ when fniiijnay be expected..: 3. Ei,e£ Miniature Frmt Gardener, is published Orange Jodd Co., Kew York, Price Idol By an advertisement in tlie AvCKUjm Weekly News it will be se<a that at the next fruit season, an American fruiWrur b to be at work, the principal ftnit w_ operated upon being peaches. . An intelligent man is required to manage the machined different times a good deal has been written in the News about this partirailar industry engravings of driers and evaporators have also been given. It is to be hoped that next summer will be a good peach iseaaon, that a practical man will be found, and that peachdrying will be thoroughly tried and found to be a remunerative venture.

"To 'Agriccla,'—Dear Sir—Perhaps yon •frill kindly answer the following queries, u I many settlers in this district would be ■of the information. 1. When should the African box thorn bctrimmed! 2. Whether on planting out from the beds it should be cut down ? 3. After being planted out along line of fence, when should it be first trimmed ; I may add that there is a great; diversity of opinion on the above questions. Some persons say the box thorn 3hould be trimmed twice a 5 ear, in the months of March and September. Others fay it should be trimmed j only once a year, in the winter. Again, some say it should not be cut down when planting oat, nor should it be touched for at least two years after being transplanted into the line o£ fence. By inserting the above yon will greatly oblige.—l am, Ac., Sett lee." No nard nor fast rules can be Lud down in. respect to either the box thorn or any other hedge plant. The object in cultivating the thorn is to get a close and compact hedge, not a weak one, full of gaps, witih the plants, growing all straggling about. To get euch a hedge, the plants must be trimmed accordingly. When the box thorn was first introduced into Auckland, it wsis stated that it grew rapidly, and would soon form a dense, strong, close fence, the numerous thorns growing on the bushes making it impenetrable to stock. Many settlers have tried the box thom ; but they have not all succeeded in getting good hedges; in some cases because the soil has not been suitable, but probably in the majority of cases because no attention has been given to the plants after they were put out. Whereas, when young, the plants must be attended to, and all weed* about them kept down. The folio King is the method to be adopted in grovring the box thom : The first rammer after the planting of a hedge, every plant shonld be cut down to about four inches from the ground. The next thing is to keep them quite clear of weeds for a year or two. The trimming afterwards must all depend npou the progress the thorns make, and the grower will have to exercise his judgment whether he trims once, twiee, or thrice, during, the year. He wants a compact hedge, and he must trim bo as to get one, whether be does is in spring or in autumn. 1 may add that so far as I have observed, the box thorn grows better on the level than on the bank of a ditch. The ground requires to be prepared for the plants that is well dug and pulverized, and plants should be put in not more thim six inches apart. "To ' Agricola.' Sir,—As the leech is now one of the worst of our orchard, pests, anything regarding it that can be known is of importance. I write, then, to askif you or any of yonr readers know anything ;is to what becomes of it during the winter. If its habits were known previous to the commencement of its ravages upon our frnit trees, something might be done now perhaps more effectually than afterwards, towards its extirpation. I would suggest that such a pest; as it would form a good subject of investigjition for some of our naturalists—say for such a patient observer as Gaptain Broun.—l am, &c., Old Colonist."

In America investigatiwjs have already been made as to the movements and transformations of the abominable and destructive insect which we call the slimy slug, or leech, hut which in the States is commonly known as the cherry and pear slug. It is certainly one of the worst enemies with which orchardista have to contend, devouring greedily the pulpy substance of the leaves of fruit trees of several kinds, indeed completely skeletonizing them; giviDg beautiful, luxuriant thorn hedges a brown and withered appearance and so defoliating trees as to cause c, growth from buds provided for the next season's leaves. It is impossible to form an estimate of the losses that annually take place through' the ravages of the insect. Many settlers have given up all attempts to cultivate pear trees, because of the certainty of their being attacked by the pests. The plum and cherry crops also must naffer greatly when, during the previous season, leaves of trees have been so perforated and destroyed. This dark, bottle-green slag, in length, when full grown, about half an inch, and of tadpole shape, is the larva of a fly of the order Hymenapteru, described thus : —"Thefemale fly is slightly over one-fifth of an inch long, the male is somewhat smaller, of a glossy black, the first two pairs of legs being yellowish, with blackish thighs. The trans-, parent wings are iridescent, IShe front pair having a smoky tinge across the middle. They lay their eggs in little incisions made in the skin of the leaf." Any observer must have noticed how minute jira the slugs when first they make an appearance on the leaves of trees, showing on the Vermont damson plain as soon as any. Commencing the work of destruction, they soon develope from a tiny into a full-grown slug, from investigations that have taken 1 place, it appears that "it takes these slugs abont .twenty.six days to complete their growth ; and after their final moult they no longer have their slug-like appearance, but as cl<an sellow caterpillars, leave the trees, and eatering the ground for a few inches, form an oval earthern cocoon, in which they become chrysalids, and .at the end of sixteen days come out in their perfect state." Some idea may be formed of the number of.eggs laid by the flies, by watching the creatures on the trees or hedges when, in full awing, they are working away and gorging themselves with the parenchyma of the leaves, on many of which may be counted from a dozen upwards. Indeed so numerous are they that a thorn hedge, chains in length, and six to eight feet high, will in a short time be robbed of its verdant and luxuriant appearance, being left as if scorched by fire. With an insect of this character "Old Colonist" will see how difficult its destruction must be; for what can be done until the slugs appear? Of course the birds, which were to do such wonders, ought to catch the flies, and thus prevent any eggs being deposited. But they don't, being otherwise engaged, so that, as far as can be judged, the fight will have to be with the slugs. Settlers, if they want to be free of the peats, will have to go on using dry lime, ashes, lime-water, tobacco water, or helebore pon« der, all of which are more or less efficacious in the destruction of the larva. Helebore powder appears to be the favourite remedy with a number of persons; and, judging from communications I have received, some fruitgrowers have not much difficulty in keeping their trees tolerably free from the insects by a liberal use of the syringe and helebore powder. Fine dry lime sprinkled on the leaves m the moraiDg when the dew is on them, will, however, have the effect of killing the slugs. Fine ashes, too, are very useful. But, of course, whatever application is employed, it must be made at the right time, and as often as may be required. Some people are of opinion that there should .be some attempt made by the Government to suppress bliutit and insects on fruit trees. In July last Mr. Levestam asked the the Colonial Secretary "if the Government intended, during the present session, to introduce a bill for the suppression of blight on. fruit trees." He was sure that, unless some legislation took place, the fruit-growing industry would be stopped. He said that in other colonies legislation had had good effect. In reply to Mr. Dick, who understood the hon. member to refer to some fresh species o£ blight, which had made its appearance in Nelson, Mr. Levestam explained that there were several kinds of blight in existence, butin Nelson they had now to contend with a blight known as the leech, which attacked cherry trees, plum trees and quick hedges, and if an effort were not made to combat the bb'ght fruit-growing would soon become impossible. Mr. Dick replied that if it could be shown that legislation would be deairable, of course he should be happy to see what could be done. It is not therefore improbable that (at a future time) a bill may be introdtseed into the House, which may have the effect of setting such machinery in operation as will suppress, if not wholly eradicate, blight and insect pests, just as the Sheep Act was passed to suppress and eradicate scab. In the meantime settlers must do what they can to keep the slug in check. AGKicotA.

Every householder shouldhave a copy of directory,} u at out, price sa, lor sale at