To the Editor of the Nontu-Cuixa Dairy News."
Sin,—The subject of fruit culture hus always been of interest to me, and when I first came out to the East in 1863, we always used to wonder why it was that the Japanese insisted upon gathering their fruit before it was ripe, and that even then you could hardly ever yet a peach that ad not a grub in it. 1 thought I would for myself, and got a collection of peach and pear trees out from England. 1 also got some of your excellent peach trees from Shanghai.
Under my care, for a variety of reasons, chiefly that I had not room," they never really succeeded, I gave the plants a in various directions, and now m the cou try hereabout, partly thanks to these trees, the cultivation has increased and is increasing.
found that a light sandy soil, pecially where it is well watered by a river, is best suited for fruit culture, and of our peaches are really splendid; whilst among the pears I have seen fruit of a size that T never saw in France or England, But my object is chiefly to tell "you how the Japanese have managed to get good crops of peaches with no gruby in th for in talking with an old Shanghai re-dent the other day. he told me you were still unable to secure a crop of pea Sree from this pest. The the peaches they wish to keep on and when the fruit is the size of or it with a paper bag. made from cheap Japanese paper, which has been steeped in what is called here "Shibui," a preparation of the juice of th persimmon tree. This odour that insects will not approach. bag is virtually air-tight. and the throat is fastened by string round the branch to which the fruit hangs. The special grub against which you take these precautions is the produce of a fly which is generally seen about the month of April. T¢ lays its egos, one by one, on the young fruit, generally close to the stem. There the egg for some weeks, until just about the period when the fruit commences to swell and take its sugar; then it hatches, and the first object in life of the young grub to bore its way into the fruit "where it 2ro-poses to live. Prevent the fly fom I its eggs on your fruit and you save it. It is not very material if you leave the bags on or take them off when the fruit has increased in size. If you have provided by making the bags large enough, the fruit will generally ripen inside, and it has one advantage: if your fruit falls when rine it witl fall into your bag and not get bruised, but, on the whole, if you have the time and can give the necessary attention, I should take the bag off about June, for the flies are no longer to be dreaded then and the fruit will generally be better for having ripened in the sun. with a staircase from the tower, The ole of the buildings have been dened by and carried out under the super-ion of Messrs, Dowdall and Moorhead, the architects, and their work is another standing memorial to their high eaptbility, In conclusion let it be said that great praise is due to Pastor Hackmann, the committee, and all who have so ably assisted in bringing about the erection of an ecclesiastical edifice which is in every way worthy of the German com nunity of Shanghai, and which adds one more to the not at all numerous links connecting us with what is best in life in the Western world.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.