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To the Hon. the Chairman : I am not aware that it is " world-wide," but know that it is general in Australia and America, where the peach has been grown on its own roots as with us. To the Hon. Mr. Barnicoat: I consider it desirable that new stocks should be worked with buds taken from non-infected trees. The best course would be to allow the trees in the colony to die out, or even to destroy them, and import plants worked on mussel-stocks from England. To Mr. Hobbs : I do not think there is any necessity for the Government to import trees worked on the mussel-stock. Tbe local nurserymen would import stock of this kind whenever it is demanded by their customers. To the Hon. the Chairman : I should import what are known in the trade as " maidens ; " that is, trees of one year's growth from the bud. They would be purchased wholesale in England at £5 per 100. They might be headed down to save space, and packed in Wardian cases, or even in barrels with chopped sphagnum, cocoanut refuse, or with soil. Mussel-stocks ought to be imported also; probably they would not cost more than from £5 to £8 per 1,000, and would pack in small space. To the Hon Mr. Miller .- The English exporter might ship as early as the commencement of October. To Mr. Hobbs : I consider that all imported fruit-trees should be examined before landing, especially trees imported from America. To the Hon. Mr. Miller : Repeated attacks of any kind of blight will eventually exhaust a fruit-tree. Mr. Hobbs has touched the right point in advising the more general adoption of preventive measures—attacking blights of whatever nature on their first appearance. It is comparatively easy to prevent blights from becoming established ; it is difficult and costly to eradicate them when they have gained a firm footing.
[Extract from " Barry's Fruit Culture."] The Apple-Woem Codlin-Moth. The ravages of this insect on the apple are becoming quite alarming, and unless its destruction be pursued with prompt and persevering efforts, our apple-orchards will soon cease to be profitable. The moth appears in New England, New York, and other places similar in climate, about the middle of June ; further south earlier. It deposits its eggs in the eye or calyx of the young apple ; in a few days they hatch, and the worm burrows into the core of the fruit. It can be traced by the brownish powder it casts out behind it. In some three weeks it attains its full size, and escapes from the apple through a hole that it makes in the side, and takes shelter in the scales of the bark of the tree or such other suitable place as it can find. The insects complete their transformations in two or three weeks, and produce a second brood of moths which lay their eggs, and again stock the apples with worms. The fall brood of worms remain in their cocoons during the winter, and appear in spring as moths. Means of Destruction. First: Scrape and clean the bark of the trees thoroughly early in spring, and see that no cocoons are left in the crevices. Second : Examine all barrels, bins, shelves, &c, where apples have been stored in cellars or fruit-room. Third : Place bandages of old cloth, carpet, or rags of any kind around the trunks and large, branches of every tree, say by the Ist of July, to trap the worms; examine every week or two, and kill all the worms that have been trapped. Fourth : Pick or knock off every wormy fruit before the worm escapes, and destroy; pick up all that drop and destroy in the same way.* Eecently Paris-green has been used against the apple-worm with great success. The poison is mixed with water, and sprayed upon the trees as soon as the fruit sets. The calyx-end of the fruit then points upwards, and the poison will lodge in the blossom end of the apple. The young •worms are poisoned as soon as they begin to eat into the fruit. The summer rains wash the Paris-green from the trees, so that even a chemical analysis will fail to show its presence in the autumn. It is said that a small amount of Paris-green, a table-spoonful to the barrel of water, is sufficient. The best way to spray large trees is to place a barrel of the liquid on a platform-wagon, which can be drawn through the orchard by horses. The fluid may be thrown upon the trees by any one of the several force-pumps sold for that purpose.
[Extract from the Canadian Horticulturist, October, 1884.] Paeis-geeen v. Cueculio. William Ceeed, writing to the Fruit Recorder, says that he applies Paris-green to his plum-trees at the time the curculio is depositing its eggs in the young plums, in the following manner, and that he finds that one application made at the right time, provided no rain follows immediately after, exterminates the crop of curculios : He reduces some glucose to a weak syrup, and puts a little of this —he does not say how much—into a common pail, and mixes thoroughly with it two-thirds of a teaspoonful of Paris-green. He thinks that this helps to keep the Paris-green in suspension. Ho then fills the pail with water, stirs the glucose-syrup mixture thoroughly and rapidly through the water, and with a garden syringe thoroughly sprays the plum-trees until fruit and foliage are covered with the spray. It will help to keep the Paris-green in suspension if the water is frequently forced back into the pail from the syringe while spraying the trees.
* For the information of the public, we beg to state that Paris-green can be obtained at Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co., wholesale druggists, at Is. per lb., and caustic soda, or caustic potash"in 101b. drums, at Bs. per drum. The whale-oil soap, or sulphur mixture, called the " Codlin-Moth Wash," is manufactured in San Francisco. Concentrated lye is to be obtained from the American Lye Company in San Francisco, in lib. cans, of 481b. in a case, $3 50 cents, per case. Garden syringes are used for spraying the trees ; or, for an orchard on a large scale, Gould's pumps, or Mesigot pump, with a San Jose spray-nozzle, can easily be obtained from San Francisco ; but our importers will soon get them if there is any demand for them.
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