Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/171

 its depredations just at the surface of the ground, perforating every part of the stem, is the greatest enemy. Heaping round the tree, during the month of May, about eight inches of coal ashes, lime, or sand, will greatly prevent it. These heaps must be spread down again in October or November. It is said that by putting a peck of hot lime about the stem of a tree that is affected by this grub, it will be entirely restored. Naturalists say that this insect (Sapènda bivittàta) remains two or three years in the tree, and comes out in a butterfly form in June, flying about at night and depositing its eggs on the tree close to the surface of the ground.

Caterpillars may be kept under (and in fact it is the only way to do it) by destroying their nests early in the morning, or about noon. If they are allowed to progress, they will soon cover an orchard; while, when taken in time, they are very readily destroyed.

.—Hand-picking is undoubtedly the best way of collecting the fruit, and whether for family use or the market, the superior quality and appearance of such will command a price that will more than cover the expense. Early fruits should be handled very carefully. Winter fruits may remain on the tree till the approach of frost, when they should be collected, and those for sale put into good barrels at once, to be conveyed to market when required. Those intended for family use should be placed in a dry shed for two weeks, and then carefully wiped with a cloth, and put away in a dry cellar, free from frost. Those that are required to keep till May and June should be packed in dry sand, or some other material, to exclude them from the air.

Apricot is one of the most beautiful of fruits, and has been cultivated for about eighteen hundred years. It is a na-