May 19, 1906 



HORTICULTURE, 



643 



Forsythia suspensa 



Forsythias are blossoming' most profusely this year. 

 They are glorious shrubs ! How kind they are to give 

 us such a generous feast right after winter. They are 

 one of the harbingers of spring in the shrub line. They 

 have hastened along with their golden blossoms having 

 no time to wait for the leaves to develop. 



There are many shrubs which blossom in early spring 

 which are destitute of leaves but the colors of the flowers 

 in most cases are quite agreeable without the green 

 foliage. Nature has made no mistake in producing the 

 flowers before the leaves. They are not produced in 

 this condition for man alone to enjoy them but insects 

 also love the early spring flowers. The insects no 

 doubt after a long winter's rest find it much easier to 

 extract honey from flowers which have no green leaves 

 amongst them and the flowers are also more easily seen. 



I often think we don't half appreciate the beauties of 

 spring. With the sunshine and rain there are most 

 marvellous transformations of vegetation taking place 

 every hour of the day. Yet people seem to take very 

 little notice of it. There is no season of the year like 

 spring, nearly every herb and plant is clothed anew. 

 How few of us think of the enormous work these new 

 green leaves have to perform. They are not produced 

 just to look at, they have a tremendous work to per- 

 form before they return to Mother Earth next fall. 



1 must return to my subject but I should like to write 

 you a sermon on spring. I pity the poor florist who is 

 confined to his glass houses in glorious spring weather 

 like what we are having now. It's strenuous work, 

 digging, raking, planting, sowing, etc.. but the invig- 

 orating fresh air, the music of birds, and the fragrance 

 of spring flowers, makes a person feel glad that he is 

 alive in such a wonderful and beautiful world as this is. 



The plant in the picture I am sending you is For- 

 sythia suspensa and is well-known to gardeners and 

 florists, but it is not often used as it is shown in this 

 picture. It is simply superb just now. This is a 



gardener's house bui there an' few millionaires that can 

 boast of such an entrance to their castles. 



Tomato Tip Rot 



A short time ago I received this letter which may 

 be interesting to others having the same trouble and at 

 a loss to account for it : 



"I planted a house of young tomato plants out of 

 2 1-"? inch pots on the 30th of January on solid beds. 

 The plants grew very slow till latter part of February. 

 Then I put a light top dressing of old manure on and 

 after that time the plants are rank and healthy at the 

 tops and blooming freely ami setting well but half of the 

 tomatoes when vet small on the first two bunches are 

 rotting and some even on the 3rd and 4th bunch." 



The plants are no doubt affected with what is vari- 

 ously known as point, tip or green rot, something com- 

 mon in tomato forcing houses. It is not a fungus dis- 

 ease, but a physiological disorder and is due to a lack 

 of water in the soil. As the plants grow they require a 



large amount of water and if, as in this case, the evap- 

 oration exceeds the supply, there will be a breaking 

 down or "rotting" of the fruit. 



Here, this condition is probably brought on by the 

 plants being in solid beds. Frequent waterings pack 

 the soil so that the top layers may be soaking wet while 

 the lower ones are dust dry, the water running off 

 instead of being absorbed, thus starving the roots. 



The remedy is to be found in a careful use of the 

 hose. If the top layers are kept mellow and in good 

 tilth, and the bed thoroughly soaked down at each and 

 every watering there will be no mure trouble from this 

 source. 



Gl Ik 



