The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-07-08

good. Most of the plants have been
killed and l do not expect to save any.
1t is very discouraging. Is hellebore
the best thing to kill currant worms2
Is there any danger in using it? How
much would you use to gallon of
water? Last year l used Paris green
on my squash and cucumber vines to
kill the striped bugs. 1t worked to
charm. l used it the same as for pota-
toes. Hope you can give me some adj
vice about the strawberry business, so
l shall not have to give them up"
REPLY BY AGRICULTURAL EDIToR.-
l. We know of no remedy for the
white grub of the June bug" except
digging them out and smashing them.
1t is rare that they are so very destruc-
tive to strawberry plants. The eggs
that produce them are usually deposited
in grass or very weedy ground, and
such should not be taken for planting
out strawberries. As the insect re-
mains two seasons in the grub state,
sod land is not safe for this purpose
until the third year from blowing.
2. Pure hellebore is as good as any
thing to destroy the currant worm.
We wish it were not so hard to get.
London purple and Paris green, a tea
spoonful to two gallons of water, may
be safely applied to currant bushes if
it is done before poisoning. Helle-
bore is not strictly a poison, at least
not more so than tobacco, and in the
quantity required is quite safe to use at
any time, if no more is applied than
heaping tablespoonful of the powder
in two gallons of water Wet every
leaf with it as soon as the worms show
on the lower leaves, and they will be
Immediately killed if the hellebore is
good. Don't buy it if it is the least
lumpy or damp, or if little sniff of it
will not make you sneeze your head
off"
FROM A. G. B., CALAIS, VT.-"I
have three plum trees, variety I'M
known, one of which is of large size
and yellowish white in color; the two
other reddish purple, all in grass, which
will bear freely this year. No particu-
lar care has been given them, only a
little strawy manure put under them
once in while. Though the mercury
went as low as forty degrees on the
streams in some places around here, it
only registered twenty-four below with
me the past winter. The black knot
has never troubled my trees. l want
to set few plum trees, but shall wait
until l think | can get some that are
perfectly hardy, productive and salable.
And / can say the same of pears.
have done trying home varieties
Could you help me to any plums and
pears of Russian varieties sooner or
later? Should like some next spring"
REPLY BY AGRICULTURAL EDITOR.
Where the thermometer does not 90
lower than twenty-four degrees below
zero we think Mooer's Arctic plum will
do well. 1t is very good dessert plum,
of moderate size, and very productive.
We have had trees live to be six inches
through and twelve years old here, at
Newport, but last winter they were
badly hurt (though many will recovery
by the forty degrees and more below of
last winter.
The Russian plums, pears and cher
ries imported by Professor Budd of
the Iowa Agricultural College in 1882,
and since, have not been propagated
sufficiently to be offered for sale yet.
BY the kindness of Professor Budd and
of Mr.. Glib of Canada we have already
small trees of some twelve kinds of
pears and two kinds of cherries, also
one or two plums, and we hope to get
full set in a few years, but it will be
some time before they can be well
tested. They came from latitude sixty
to sixty-fve degrees north, where the
mercury goes to fifty degrees below
about every winter, and are grown there
in large orchards which ship the fruit
by the trainload to the large Russian
cities. Messrs. Budd and Glib saw
them growing, and had many oppor-
tunities to test their quality. There
can be no doubt that, like the Russian
apples, they will be great acquisition
to our cold North.n
How to Milk.