The Garden. (From " Hortus " in Auckland " Star.")

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 326, 19 December 1888, Page 3

The Garden. (From " Hortus " in Auckland " Star.")

A New Insect Post. Mr C. McDonald, nurseryman, Newmarket, has received the 'following communication, which he has furwarded me to be published. All orehardi«»ts in New Zealand should endeavour to ascertain whether this insect has made its appearance, and if so, every effort should bo made to stamp it out : — " Dear sh\— The last advices I have received from the U.S. rti ision of entomology contain a waniing that in Japan at th« pi-esentti ue there is an insect -a moth supposed to be akin to the codlin moth, whose larva attacks the peach fruit. This insect lias destroyed the entire of the valuable peach crops in Japan. It bores into the fruit (several worms in each), and venders it quite unfit for use. Professor Riley has been instructed by his principal. Commissioner Coleman, t,o make strict inquiries from the Japanese dentists respecting the life history of this fly. and further information w 11 bo forwarded. In. the meantime, I would suggest the propriety of your asking your members to search their peaches tins year, and if any such insect is lound in them to stamp-it out. As we have been importing plants of one kind or another 1 so freely from Japan, there is a great probability that we may already have the pest here, and if it it. allowed to gain head, there are reasons why it will be found even more difficult to get rid of than its congener, the codlin moth. The report is a correct one, having originated with Mr Hall, the U.S. State Naturalist, who visited Japan. We should look ; out for the Japanese plants ; it will never do to : get that worm here. Some of you should see ! MrPeacocko ("Xew Zealand Farmer" Office) ! about those parasite flies that have destroyed the cottony scale m Adelaide. Mr Crawford, the Government scientist there, has promised me some of them, and I have asked Mr Peacocke to receive them ; but f-omc of j our practical men should really call on him and arrange about them. T cannot come up mjsclf. and he basso little time to spare. Tt would bo worth your while as nurserymen to get the flies, boasto eleo.r your places. Whangarei people have had another importation of the scale, and the sooner it is clear i?one from tho Auckland nurseries tho better for both you and your customers. Ir we get this new peach worm, it is ten times worse than all the codlin moths and cottony scales together ; tell the rest to look out tor it. I always hear of all these things from Professor Riley, but the difficulty is to let other people know, as so few that ought to take the " New Zealand Farmer" do so, and even then it is a mouthy paper By-the-by, look over yo'>r per-imons: there is a Japanese scale that has reached some places in U.S. on them, and so bad they have had to be burned for it. I cannot say much about it now, but have written to the department to know more. I have regular communications with them now and letters once a month.— R. A. Wight, Te Komata."

Improving Plants by Selection.— (Continued.) As regards raspberries and strawberries, we had rather better success with the foreign varieties than with grapes, buc they were far from satisfactory, and only succeeded in a lew localities and within very circumsciibed limits ; but the circulators of these berries were so thoroughly imbued with the idea of the great superiority o£ the foreign varieties that the indigenous ones were almost entirely neglected up to within the past twenty or thirty years. Buc within this period such progress lias been made in improving these iruit*. that foreign varieties have almost disappeared from our Eastern markets. The late Dr. Brinckle, of Philadelphia, attempted to produce a race of hybrid raspberries, employing for this purpose the native red specie? and the European, and while he succeeded in producing some veiy large and tine-flavoured varieties, not one of them was any better adapted to our climate than the ordinary importfd borit. Similar attempts have been made to produce a 1 ace of hybrid grapes between the Euiopean and American species, bub the re&ults have not been salidfactoi y, because the foreign element introduced is a depressing one, making the offspring of such a union lett> capable cf withstanding the extreme* uticl changes of climate than if it wereapure native. It may "be advisable to hybiidiso our indigenous species, but we may very much doubt if any foieign element can be introduced with benefit, except for climate^ like that of California, and in some regions of the South. Whenever our fruit giowers have taken hold of any species of native fruit with the determination of improving it by cultivation and selection of the best of eich generation, they have met with success, as is shown in the .strawberry, raspberiy, gooseberry, cranberry, grape, and plum, and this is in itself sufficient to. encourage them to extend their experiments to many other native fruits m hich brave not as jet come in for a share of their attention. It may also be said with truth that, as a rule, the varieties of foreign species of fruits, grains, and vegetables that aie raised in this countrj are superior, or at least better adapted to our climate than those produced abroad.

Summer Pruning of Fruit Trees. The growing season is the best period for pruning fruit. Growing shoots can ao that time either be pinched back or taken out | altogether. Where young trees have been | planted, great care should be taken with i them so as to cause the main branches fco I break low down. To attain *his object the growing shoots should be pinched back now, in order to cause one or two more shoots to break during the autumn, thus forming the basi& of your tree this season instead of wait ing for another sea&on. Where large trees have become well furnished with a proper supply of branches, care should be taken to keep them free i from all superfluous shoots, as all trees will generally tnrow out more than is needed, especially in the centre of the tree. The small shoots, when they first appear, may nob seem to be any too close together, but it should be borne in mind that they will not. only increase in size, bub that in time they will also produce more or less aide shoots which will rapidly fill up the space between them, causing such intricacy of small sprays that all will be prevented from making a healthy growth, let alone good fruit-producing trees. Some kinds of trees, such as the apple, pear, plum and cherry, produce their fruit principally on spurs which grow from the old wood, or at least from wood of one orj two years' growth. These spurs, if nob injured or broken off, will continue beaiingfor many , years if the tree be a healthy one. All pinching back should be done with the object of increasing the number of these spur?, especially on the outer limbs of the tree. In the centre it is better to cut them out altogether so as to leave that part as open as possible. When a tree has once attained a proper number of main branches regularly arranged, only so much summer pruning will be required as 1 is necessary to keep the brapches from coming into contact with one another or to keep any particular one from taking the lead of its neighbour and. thereby drawing to itself more than its proper share of food. - (To be Continued. ) '

Mrs Bascom : Did you see the mummy in the museum, Ebenezer? Mr Basoonv: Yaas,< bub I was kinder disappointed. Mrs Bascom: Why so? Mr Bascom : Why, 1 the dnrned thjng was dead. Private advices received in Sydney state that Lord Tennyson, whose serious /illness was reported by cable, was, when the last mail left, in a very precarious condition. He had to becarried irom, his *bed to a sofa in a sheet, and could not walk < without assistance. The pq§t '...laureate; tviU th^gO years of age in August next. Still coming J A Victorian merchant predicts a boom for New Zealand.