The Portland daily press., 1874-07-13
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM In ADVANCE


THE APPLE TREES.
Now Is the time to go for borers with
sharp stick. They are unusually numerous
this season, aud have just carried their
runious work far enough to be detected and
destroyed. Examine every tree Just above
the ground with a sharp knife. L. YOU see
a mite OF reddish shavings upon the bark.
there Is borer near it and even ii there
De no shayinSs, but only discoloring OF
the bark, # you thrust into it the point Of a
pen-kniie you will very likely find under it
cavity which the borer has made. When
once ON his track go for him regardless
OF any expense or apple tree bark Better
cut the tree half down than leave him I'm
IL. III taken IN seaSon-HOr-he eau gen
orally be readily dug out with the point OF a
knife and without inflicting a severe wound
on The tees, as he will be found very near
the entrance to the passage; but, if allowed
10 go on until. as we have sometimes found
him, he is eight il ehes from where he enter
ed, then it is a job TO follow him ami one Of
the best tools with which to DO il is a small
gouge: with this you can dig into his burrow,
aud do the trees no more damage than is
necessary. When once the tree is tree from
borers it will heal up and grow with rapidity.
While you are about 10 look TO your pear
trees; they are not as liable to attack as ap-
pie trees, but this spring we have found
several in pear trees.
Caterplllars are as thick as the locus;s OF
Egypt ths year, and a constant war on
them Is demanded. Take wet day, when
they are all In their nests, and Won can
shoot them TO death by putting a little pow
der, without wad OF shot, into a gun and
hiring 1t at them with the muzzle about two
feet fron the nest. But the cheapest and
best way is 10 take them Off with the hands
and stamp them to death ON the ground.
Wetting cloth with kerosene and irving to
burn them off is liable 10 be injurious 10 The
tree and Is also expensive. Mirror and
Farmer.
VALUABLE RECIPE.
The Journal Of Chemistry publishes
recipe for the destruction of insects. which.
it it be one half as efficacious as it is claimed
to be, will prove invaluable:
Hot alum water is recent suggestion as
an insecticide. 1t will destoy red and black
ants, cockroacbes. spiders. chintz bugs, and
all the crawling pests which niest our houses.
Take two pounds of alum and dissolve it in
three or four quarts OF boiling water; let il
stand on the fire till the alum disappears;
then apply it with brush, while nearly
boiling hot, to every joint and crevice in
your closets, bedsleacs. pantry shelves and
the like. Brush the crevices in the floor OF
skirting or mop'boards, if you suspect that
lhey bafbor ,ermin. II in whitewashing
ceiling, plenty OF alum is added TO the lime.
It Will also serve to keep insects at distance.
Cockroaches will fee the paint which has
been washed in cool alum water Su.ar
barrels and boxes can be freed from ans by
drawing chalk mark just around the edge
OF the top of them. The mark must be un-
~ l..
iinuous marx half an inch in width will set
their depredations at naught. Powered alum
or borax will keep tue chitnz bugs at a re-
spectacle distance, and travellers should al
ways carry package in their hand bags, to
scatter over and under their pillows in places
where they have reason to suspect the pres
ence OF such bed-fellows.
CRACKING OF PEARS.
Pears do not crack when the soil is suifi-
ciently supplied with lime and potash; aud
they crack most where those salts are def
cient. Common wood ashes contain those
salts, nearly in the quantity and proportions
that pear trees on such soil require-iOrty
per cent of potash and thirty per cent OF
lime. Reasoning from these facts, L applied
wood ashes at the rate of four hundred
bushels to the acre, after tie fruit bad
formed and cracked. Many of them healed
up and made perfect fruit the same season,
others not until the next seasoh. A friend.
at my suggestion, applied it heavily to favor
ite butter pear tree in his own garden Tor
several years in succession, and has had fer
several years perfect and delicious pears. and
will guarantee it 10 cure any case, where
the ashes are fairly and abundantly applied.
was told by an experienced hand that
would kill the trees. but on The contrary L
cured them. Therefore, do not be afraid; ii
one application will not Suffice, give them
larger dose next year.
A moist atmosphere undoubtedly encour-
ages the growth of the tree and fruit, whilst
the insufiiciency of proper food prevents the
perfection of either; hence, cracked fruit and
trough old bark. "-GGrdener's Moathiy.
THE EFFECT OF oDoR IN MILK
For the use of the cali the odor in the
milk of the healthy COW is not Objectionable.
1t helps on the process of digestion, and in
creases the laxative tendency of new milk.
In butter and cheese it is detrimental Ii
promotes a strong disagreeable flavor, and
hastens The decomposition of both. The
more of it there is carried into butter the
stronger will be its flavor, and The more easi-
ly will it become rancid. In the heat of sum-
mer, when the cows are feVerish, there is
more of i in the milk than usual, and mole
works into the butter, increasing its tenden-
cy to rancidity to such degree as to make il
extremely difficult TO preserve. To cheese it
is equally Injurious. 1t promotes huff1ng and
a disagreeable odor and flavor and premature
decay.
To separate this odor and its cause from
milk is therefore one OF the most important
requisites to successful dalrying. To carry
into butter all the odor there is in new milk,
and all there is formed in it while it is stand
ing for the cream to rise, would be 10 rum it
tor use as food. If the correctness of this
statement is not realized, the following ex-
pertinent will demonstrate it Put a small
quantity of new milk into a tin vessel, say a
pint or quart into a two-quart tin pail, so
that it will readily assume the temperature of
the room. Pat on the cover and let it stand
in the milk room long enough for the cream
to rise, and then examine by smelling ai.d
tasting. If the observer does not find that
odor has accumulated to such an extent as to
spoil it for butter, it VIII be because his senses
OF taste and smell are sadly out of order. It
becomes decidedly offensive. We wish every
one who uses milk tor butter, il he has not
already done so, to try this experiment. 1t
will cost but penny or two and but very liz
tie trouble, and will afford an instructive les
son in regard to the rapid changes that are
going on in milk, and the steady formation of
odor that results from them, and be
suggestive of the treatment milk should re-
Farmer.
THE COOLING MOTH.
Prof. Real, of the Michigan Agricultural
College, communicates TO the Country Cen
ttemdR some experiments tried last year in
destroying the codling moth. He says:
About the tenth Of June last year and the
year before, the trunks and larger limbs OF
the trees were well scrapsd and rubbed with