netting; sacks holding about a quart are the most convenient size, filling them about half full of hellebore and plaster in equal parts. These may be fastened to short sticks and the bushes dusted with the mixture while they are wet with dew, rain or by sprinkling. It is better to take a still day for the application, to prevent loss of the fine powder by the wind; also be careful to keep the windward side of the sack, as the sensation produced by the powder in the eyes and nose is not very pleasing, though perhaps not seriously injurious. He would not hesitate to use it on bushes loaded with fruit, but would wash the fruit carefully before using it, especially if the powder had not been washed off by rain. It might also be applied by sifting with a large size pepper-box. One application may not be sufficient, and two or even three may be necessary. The worm is three brooded, and if not all destroyed by the first application, those left will send out another brood. A pound of hellebore would be sufficient for use on bushes usually cultivated by an ordinary farmer.

Whale oil soap has been recommended and used extensively for the destruction of worms and insects, but it was disagreeable to handle, disfigured the foliage and was not always efficient. The great trouble with us is, not that we do not know of remedies, but that we will not use them. We read of remedies, we see what others can do with them, but we fail to apply them ourselves. For years our plums have been eaten up by the curculio, and we have been deprived of this fruit, not because it was necessary, but because we would not use the remedy within our reach. No one need lose his plums. The never getting about the destruction of the insects is the great trouble. When once commenced the work of destruction becomes interesting and is readily followed up. Five minutes to a tree, two or three times a week for three weeks, will preserve the fruit from this pest. He uses a light frame, 6x6, covered with a cotton cloth, having an opening on one side, to allow it to be spread around the tree, with the trunk in the center; lap the edges of the cloth over the slot left for the body of the tree to pass through, so as to cover the ground completely; then jar the tree suddenly and the little Turks will drop on the sheet. He uses a light stick with a rubber bunter on the end to jar the tree with. Many who make a practice of jarring their trees year after year, bore a small hole into the body of the trees, drive a sharp bar of

iron with the ends cut off square into these holes, and then jar the trees with light blows with a hammer. If this jarring process was faithfully followed up for a few years, we would save our fruit and exterminate the foe. This is rendered much more certain by the fact that the egg is not deposited by the curculio until some days after he makes his first appearance. The fruit is often stung earlier, but the egg is not deposited until the plum is one-third or one-half grown.

Mr. Plumb remarked that insects were very numerous the present season; great damage was being done throughout the state by the canker worm and leaf roller; in many sections whole orchards were being ruined by them, and they had already destroyed much of the fruit which was left by the frost. On the University farm, in Madison, the foliage and fruit on whole rows of apple trees had been destroyed by the leaf roller; other trees were nearly stripped of leaves by the canker worm. He found both of these insects were

doing great damage in this section. He had brought specimens of two kinds of worms that were at work on friend Tuttle's orchard, one the old canker worm, a small, dark-colored looper, known everywhere as the regular canker worm; the other a larger worm, also a looper, with yellow stripes along the back. This was not usually found on fruit trees, but was now destroying the foliage and fruit of the orchards through our state. Various methods have been tried to destroy these insects. The one most commonly used is to encircle the body of the tree with a band or trough covered or filled with tar or some other sticky substance, and thus to entrap the wingless female moth as she progresses up the tree to lay her eggs. To make this a sure remedy it is necessary to keep close watch, and often to renew the liquid used, so as to prevent its being hardened or bridged over, so as to allow the moths to pass up. Hatching out as they do at different seasons of the year, from early spring until fall, it requires long and close watching to make this effectual. A better method is to shower the young leaves soon after they appear in the spring with a solution of arsenic. If done at the right time and in the proper manner one application will be sufficient. Mr. B. B. Olds, of Clinton, has found this an effectual remedy, killing the worms in a large orchard with it. The cost of the material is very light, and the expense lies mostly in the labor required, but this is not great, for when the preparation is once

made, a good active man, with a garden pump and hose attached, will sprinkle the trees very rapidly. Five minutes will be sufficient for the largest of trees. The preparation is made by taking a pound of arsenic to sixty gallons of water; in one or two gallons of water mix the arsenic, boiling it about twenty minutes, and then mixing it with the rest. While being used, it should be stirred occasionally, as the arsenic settles to the bottom of the liquid, and will scorch the foliage. This preparation is better than Paris green and less likely to injure.

Whale oil soap had been tried by some, but was far from being efficient. Mr. Plumb also spoke of the great damage usually done by the codling moth, but said that he had not seen any harm done by them the present season. This may be the result of the light crop of fruit last year. If there were a general effort made to destroy this moth, in two or three years we should be nearly rid of them. The more familiar we are with the habits of these our enemies, the better we are able to meet them. The egg from which the first brood of worms is hatched is deposited in the apple soon after it has set. On maturity it leaves the apple, crawling down the tree, or letting itself down by a web (seldom falling with the apple), and seeks some sheltered place to enter the chrysalis state. By placing a band of cloth or paper around the body of the tree, a convenient place will be furnished them which they will take advantage of, where they can be easily killed. These bands should be examined twice a week and all the worms destroyed. Vinegar had been used to attract and drown them, but the bands were the most successful.

Mr. Tuttle thought the moths could be caught much more readily in shallow dishes of vinegar than in any other way. He tried it last season, at the time the second brood of moths appeared, and caught more in a single dish in one night than with bands in a whole week. Had put out his dishes this spring, but caught no moths; there were no moths, or it was too early for them. In reply to a question whether it would not answer as well to put vinegar in bottles suspended in the trees, Mr. Tuttle replied that he thought wide dishes much preferable, as he had caught a much larger number in them, in proportion, than in those that were deeper and of small surface.

President Smith had used Paris green with success in preventing

the depredations of cut worms in his strawberry bed. Last year these worms destroyed many of his plants, eating off the leaves soon after they started out in spring. He sprinkled the beds with Paris green, using one part to fifty or sixty of plaster. Had tried the same remedy this season just before the blossoms appeared, and had not been troubled with worms. He regarded the hens and birds as great helpers in the destruction of our insect enemies. Mr. Stickney thought that the benefit derived from hens and birds, was largely due to their destroying the insects in their chrysalis state, and thus preventing a large increase in numbers. Mr. Smith's hens were confined to the yard containing the currant bushes, and when insects matured and entered the ground they hunted out and destroyed them.

In reply to an inquiry in relation to the benefit derived at the east from the English sparrow, it was stated that at first they rendered great assistance in destroying the canker worm in eastern cities, but they soon acquired a taste for other food, which they found in abundance, and that but little benefit was derived from them now in the destruction of injurious insects. They had become regular scavengers in the cities, and when crowded by numbers out into the country had proved destructive to crops. It was the general impression at the east that "their room would be much preferable to their company," as by their quarrelsome disposition they had driven off the song birds, whose company was more pleasing, and whose aid in destroying insect foes was equal to, if not greater, than that of the sparrows.

It was also remarked that much was being accomplished by the destruction of the nocturnal moths, most, if not all of whom are our enemies, by putting out lights at night. A lantern placed on a block in a pan or tub of water, will draw to it many may-beetles, moths of the leaf worm and caterpillars. No pains should be spared in destroying them in this manner.

Society adjourned.

SOCIAL AND FESTIVAL.

In the evening there was a very pleasant and social gathering at the parlors of the Presbyterian church, in connection with an exhibition of fruits, flowers and vegetables. The cheerful greetings and kind attentions of the citizens of Baraboo made the occasion

one of more than ordinary interest and pleasure. The parlors were beautifully adorned with evergreens, flowers, house plants, and the smiling faces of the ladies of Baraboo. The refreshment tables bore witness to the generous hearts and skilled hands of those who had prepared the feast, and the liberality with which the luxuries were dispensed bore with them satisfaction and good cheer.

June 13th. The day opened with the brightest of suns, and with the pure mountain air of those bluffs was most auspicious for the excursion to Devil's lake, which had been arranged by the local society, and at eight o'clock two carriages steamed up the mountain valley to Kirkland, where, by the courtesy of the proprietor, N. C. Kirk, the morning session was held in the spacious pavilion at that famous summer resort. J. S. Stickney read a paper on "The Production of New Varieties."

PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF FRUIT.

BY J. S. STICKNEY, WAUWatosa.

You will not expect from me an elaborate and exhaustive treatment of the subject of new varieties; first, because time would not permit; second, because it would be neither entertaining or profitable; and third, because I could not possibly do it. If I can present a few thoughts that will interest you, and lead here and there an individual to investigate and experiment, it will, perhaps, be placed to our credit as time well spent.

President Smith, in calling for this paper, inquired earnestly for the "coming strawberry." Well, in a general way to fully satisfy the public expectation, it must be immensely large, say about the size of an average pineapple; its flavor must be a high concentration of sugar, sweet cream and strawberry aroma; color, bright and attractive; texture firm-perfection in this last point would enable the producer to market it in bags, something like the present style of apple marketing. Its habit of growth must be luxuriant, enabling it to suppress grass and weeds without the aid of hoe or cultivator. Perhaps this standard is a little high, but we read in the special circulars, introducing new varieties, near approaches thereto, and these statements are substantiated by many. strong