The Garden.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 286, 1 August 1888, Page 4

The Garden.

To Destroy Codlin Moths. All apple growers know the extent ot injury to the apple that may be accomplished by this pest ot the farm, and will hail with delight any remedy that promises to be destructive of this enemy to fruit. In a recent essay on " How to Combat the Codlin Moth," by »S. J. Rundel, of Michigan, is described a mode of proceedings which is declared to be effectual. Mr Rundel says it is no guesswork, bub is a recital of experience that has rewarded him with the best apples he ever .saw. His practice has been to procure pint basins with bail ; these are hung about the orchard and filled with about a gill of rain water sweetened with molasses and sufficient vinegar added to give it the aroma of a ripe apple or cider smell, which attracts the mortis to their destruction, Sorghum molasses is preferred to any other. To determine the time to put out the basins, hang one upon a tree with the liquid ii» it, and as soon as one or two arc caught put out as many as is desirable jubt at rlu->k, and in the morning the moths will be iound in the liquid ; this should be changed every two or thiee days, When the eaily crop of moths are destio^ed the basins may be removed until August, when the operation must be lopeated. A practice in New Yoik state ot using orchard" 1 lor pasturages tor pigs, whereby all the apples stung by the inu li that fall to the ground aie devouied, h.is served a good purpose, as the much improved fruit has yearly attested. Suii.e what similar to Mr Rundei's practice J>a> been that of John Main byre, as ropoited in the "Canadian Horbicultuiist," fui May oi last year. His method has bee < to u-e whey in place of the preparation named. The whey was placed in open vessel-, tilled to within two inches of the brim, and sot about two feet from the ground, and. says Mr Mclnbyre, " since I have used the whey trap I have never seen a woun in an apple.'' The odour ot the whey must be seen to. Either of the methods can be easily put into practice, and we Irope that its efficiency will be tested and lcpoited upon although the authois of both r-ystems seem to be very confident that thej are thoroughly efficient.

Pruning Citrus Trees. (Continued.) It a budded tree is desired, bud into the best portion of the seedling stock the fall alter the fourth year's growth, and cat all the s-eedling stock away to within si\inches ot the bud. Allow no other bud to grow save the one incited, and in one season this will grow live or seven feet high. Transplant when this bud is one year old. Drive a stake by the tree, and tie the ti cc to the stake ; that is, if the tiee is crooked or too slim to support itself erect. The same instructions foi pi uning apply to both ! seedlings and budded trees. We ha\c now a beautiful, tall straight stock to build a tree uuon. This straight stock is very important, for without it we cannot make a handsome and symmetrical tree. If the bud i& put into a seedling stock only two or three years old we will not get a handsome stock to build a tree upon ; it will be low and scruboy and is difficult to prune properly. But in any case observe the following rules for pruning young trees : Allow ihe branches all to grow unmolested for three years, at least. Do not pull off the buds which come fiom the tiee above the point of onion of bud and stock. Below this the suckers should be removed. The better way, however, is to wrap paper around the tree from the ground up about eight inches. Do this when the tree is first set in orchard. This prevents the suckers and unnecessary buds from growing, and also protects the tree trunk from the sun and gophers and rabbits. If you desire your tiees to form a head about three oc four feet high -which, however, Ido not recommend you should not pull or bieak oft" the young shoots which will grow thick all along the tree trunk from the paper to the top of the young tree, but allow them to grow until the foliage thoroughly protects the body of the tree ; say let thes^e branches grow to be J about two feet lony ; then cut oft the ends of these low branches and cut repeatedly a& they grow, but at no time cut them away so the body of the tree i& exposed to the sun. Remember, too, that the more foliage you have on the tree, the better will be the growth. If you want to spoil and dwarf your tree, just keep these low branches trimmed oil to the height^you want the top or head of the tree. Your tree will not grow at all, or but little, for several years, and, A\hile your neighbour, who allowed hi.^ trees to ha\e their free will in growing, has been getting profits from his Orchard, you will still be trying to make your trees grow as nature never intended them to grow. 1 much prefer the branches to put out near the ground — say about eight inches above— and from that height to the top of the tree the branches should pub out at regular intervals from the trunk. The lowest branches will droop to the ground the first season. They will be the first blanches to bear fruit and will bear two or three crops before nature is through with them. Theoe low blanches will not grow much after the second or third year, but the growth will be upon branches higher, Avhich, like the first, will droop and overshadow the lower or first branches. This, will be about the third year ; then is the time to begin the use ol the shears. Cut away such branches from the bottom and inside of the tree top as nature seems to be through with, and which do not appear to be vigorous, and are useless in affording either fruit or protection to the tree. It will nob requite an expert to discover which they are. But in no case cut away a vigorous branch just to make the tree look pretty, or to make the top high enough to plough under. As the trees grow older these same instructions should be observed. As the trees grow taller and larger, and the towering branches overshadow and dwarf the lower ones, and as these lower ones cease to bear fruit, they may be thinned out. Take a principal branch, for instance, and follow it outward from the trunk, and you will find many small laterals which nature seems trying to choke to death. These are the first members of this principal branch, and in their time bore the fruit and foliage, but now have been superseded by larger and more vigorous ones — and these old ones should now be cut away — but ab no time thin the body ol foliage so that an open window is left that the sun may shine through upon the inner branches or trunk of the tree. [To be Gontinued.)