Edgar-mum“-

THE BRITISH AMERICAN

ﬂu. 1.

HORTICULTURE AND

AGRICULTURE.

From “Transactions of the Botanical and Horticul‘ tural Society of the Counties of Durham, orthum- berland, and Newcastle upon Tyne."

CANKER IN TREES.

“ Much has been said and written on the dis- ease called canker in apple trees: it generally seizes old varieties andgreat bearers; but the soil, and especially the subsoil, have often a great share in producing it, and some varieties have a greater tendency to it than others, as Sir Walter Blackett's Favourite, the Royal Russet, &C- &.c. Mr. Knight conceives that this disease, as well as the wearing out ofthe old varieties, arises from the age ofthe variety; for, ofcourse, in all cases of propagation by graft- ing or budding, the scion or the bud is of the same age as the original plant. Yet, as it is engrafted or budded on a vigorous seedling. stock, I imagine that its growth is by this neans in some degree renewed. And I think

‘ 5 been clearly proved by a very ingenious

Xp ‘ment made by a gentleman in Hereford- shire, who, having a very old Golden Pippen apple tree which was in a dying state, planted around it several young seedlin crabs, and when they had established themse ves, engraft- .d or inarched them into the trunk of the old tree ; the consequence was, that in the course of a year or two, the old tree became nearly as healthy as ever it had been, from the vigor that was infused into it by the sap of the young crabs that had been introduced into it. And yet I am strongly induced to think that the who, in some cases at least, has a ver great

"mt on the stock on which it is place , as in

136 J encrafting an apple scion, qr that my 6f the v.“ .. tics ufcrab on the same nlllu of

:ck. The apple will have a much more ﬁbrous,

n! a smaller root, while the crab will have a

i'ge, strong, wiry root, which, after standing nee or four ears, will be far more difﬁcult to she up than t at of the apple. There is another virious fact, which it may not be amiss to motion here, and which conﬁrms me in my pinion of the stock being affected by the scion

"bud that is introduced into it. There is a

shed leaved variety of the English Labur- ,a bud even of which being inserted in the k ofthe common laburnum, whether the bud ‘l or not, the laburnum invariably becomes tched in its leaves like the bud. If the tched or striped leaves ofthe plant arise, as I ll; is generally admitted, from a disease, this '«justly be considered as virulent a disor-

in the vegetable world as the small pox is .he human race, and this operation may very riy he said to be inoculation."

.i'LE‘. METHOD OF DESTROYING THE HES- SIAN FLY.

\sthe wheat crop some seasons suﬂ'er con- srable damage from the destructive effects his insect, we pubiish the following direc- for destroying it. iewﬁsian Fly deposits its eggs on the at ear before it is reaped; the egg is so ‘I as to be invisible to the naked eye, but be very distinctly seen with a microscope; lates one grain of wheat will be observed 3‘9 \veral of these eggs on it. They are _°d‘t\the wheat by a glutinous substance, “0'1 3“mad them, by the parent ﬂy, by - Ifexheld so ﬁrml on the surface, to be easily removed by the motion of 03’. tfﬁ'eShiI-g, Etc. Shortly after the seeds

‘\ ‘\

begin to germinate in the soil, the genial heat of the season brings the young ﬂy from its egg in the form of a very small maggot (as is the case with all insects) : these little mag- gots deposit themselves at the root of the stalk to the seed of which the eggs had been attached between the stem and the lowest blade or leaf, where they may be discovered during the month ofMay and beginning ofJune quietl reposing : here they remain until the warmt of the season brings them to maturity, when they commence eating the substance to which they have been attached. It is not until this period that their destructive effects are visible, 1y the wheat becoming withered and blighted.

his accounts for the fact that wheat, which is attacked by this destructive insect, presents ahealthy appearance in the month of June, the period at which the embryo-ﬂy begins to use food-

Now itis evident that ifthe eggs of this ﬂy can be destroyed on the seed wheat. by any process that will not also destroy the vegetable quality of the grain, the ruinous effects will be avoided—This can be done by the following very simple process—“ Soak the seed wheat in water for twelve hours; spread it outpn the barn ﬂoor, so as to allow the superabundant water to escape : then take fresh slacked lime and mix it among the wheat in quantity sufﬁcient to have every grain covered with the lime, ta. king care to stir the wheat well with a shovel, so that no particle may escape coming in full contact with the lime, which, when thus ap- plied, will in a short time destroy the eggs, and consequently preserve the grain from des- truction.”

Our correspondent assures us that the egg, which before the application of the lime ap- pears, clear and transparent, afterwards he. comes opaque, and puts on the appearance of an’addled egg. The eﬂicacy of the above re- Enedy haNgeen established by sevevalexperi- ments, one of Wllicli we wil here relate.— Wheat supposed 1’0 be infested by the Hes- sian ﬂy, was taken, one half of the quantity treated with lime, and the other half was sown in the same soil with the prepared, in al- ternate drills; the result was that every stalk from the prepared seed came to maturity and was productive, whilst the alternate drills which had been sown with unprepared seed, were almost totally destroyed.

Canadian Courant.

FARMER’S WORK FOR AUGUST.

.Mowz'ng Ground—There are but few objects connected with the management of a farm of more importance than that of obtaining good crops of rouen, after math, or second crops of grass. If your mowing land is in such good condition that you can hope to obtain a second crop, be careful to keep it from the intrusion of cattle, sheep and horses, for rouen in the winter and spring is very valuable for ewes, young lambs, cows and calves, &c.

A writer in Hunters’ Georgical Essays, recom- mends manuring mowing ground immediately after haying, and especially ifasecond era is expected. In such case, some part ofthe er- tilizing qualities of the manure will be lost by its being exposed to a burning sun, but the manure, when ﬁrst applied, will protect the roots of the grass, and as soon as the grass has grown a little its tops will protect the manure: so that on the whole this application may not be unproﬁtable, Composts composed in part of loam or rich earth, are supposed to be better for manuring grass land than unmixed stable or barn yard manure; because such composts are less liable to be deprived of their fertilizing

qualities by the sun, air and violent _rains.' Whenever manure of any kind is applied to grass land it should be spread as evenly as possible, and a bush harrow should be drawn over the surface, which will break the _small lumps remaining in the manure, and bring it closer to the roots of the grass. Or as Dr. Deane directed, ‘ when the land becomes bound or mass , so as to diminish the growth of the grass,i it be not convenient for the farmer to break it up, it should be cut or scariﬁed by; spiked roller; or if the farmer does not possess this, by a heavv loaded barrow, when the ground is softene by rains, or b coming out of the frost. Then dressed witi some short rotten manure, suited to the soil; hushed, and a roller passed over it. There is no danger if, destroying the roots of the grass by this ope - tion. Though they are broken they will 6 speedily renewed, new offsets will be m e plentifully formed, and the crops will rise h renewed vigour. N. . \

Hay .Making.—If amowing lot is to be ut twice inaseason, the ﬁrst crop ought t be mowed earlier than where it is cut ut once, in order that the roots may re immediately, and be ready for vege afresh. Where the grass is cut later, the ge- tation ofthe roots stops for some time. grass, however, which is thus cut early wt not be so heavy as that which is cut later. as will shrink after cutting; but the roots will t be so much exhausted, and will afford a rger crop the next time of cutting, or the net lsum- merifmowed but once in a season, I “don says in the cutting ofgrass crops, fort pur- pose of being made into hay, it is u ssary that they be in the mongkitable “" growth and maturity, Tali anurding the best and most nutritious fodder. With this view they ' should neither be cut at too early a period, nor suffered to stand too long; as in the former case there will be considerable loss in the drying from the produce being in so soft and green a condition, and in the latter from a large proportion of the nourishing properties being expended. Grass when mown before it comes in full ﬂower, while the rich saccharine juice is in part retained at the joints of the ﬂower stems, is in the most proper condition for being cut down, as at that period it must contain the largest proportion of nutritious materials, but which then begin to be absorbed, and taken up in proportion as the ﬂowers expand and the seed ripens, so as to constitute the meal or starch of the seed lobes, and is either dispersed upon the land or fed upon by birds; the grass stems with their leaves being left in a similar situation to that of the straw of ripened grain. But their are other circumstances, besides those of ripeness, to be attended to in deter mining the period of cutting crops of grass, some cases, when they are thick up! ground, the bottom parts become of a colour before the ﬂowering fully tak under such circumstances, it will 0' most advisable practice to mow a weather will possibly admit; for ‘ lected there is great danger of it any rate of its acquiring a disap and becoming of little value. very tall, as is often the case i it is liable to fall down and 10 same effects are produced.

The same writer, under th serves that ‘ The making of 1 bay is a process somewhat , of making hay from nature herbage tribe ought to be n is formed and indeed bef