February 15, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



215 



FRUIT AND VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS 



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CONDUCTED BY 



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Questions Liy our readers in line wltb any of the topifs. presented on this pusie vvill he cordially received and promptly answered 

 hv Mr. I'enson. Such communications should luvarial>ly lie addressed to the office of HORTICULTURE. 



Thinning Peaches and Nectarines in Pots 



The thinning of the fruit on pot trees is a process 

 which requires considerable attention to get the best 

 results. When comjjleted the crop should be spread 

 evenly over the whole tree, so aim to this effect from the 

 start. With an ordinary good set there will be a quan- 

 tity of clusters of small fruit. These should be reduced 

 to one the first time over, also remove any having two 

 pistils. Some varieties, such as Advance nectarine will 

 have a quantity of fruit apparently set but will not swell 

 them all. Go easy on these for a time until the good 

 ones are discernible. It will l)e advisable to go through 

 these early trees two or three times before stoning and 

 leave a crop and a half to stone, which will allow for any 

 failing in the stoning process. A little feeding given 

 weakly will lielp the trees for a few weeks after setting, 

 but cease as the stoning period draws near. Be sure to 

 keep all growing trees clean. 



Setting Cherries 



Cherries are mean things to set at any time. It seems 

 the more you coddle them the worse they repay you for 

 it. When growing outside experiencing all kinds of 

 weather they set with a freedom that is surprising. Fol- 

 low nature as much as possible with them inside. Keep 

 them cool and airy. Not only fertilize the flowers in the 

 ordinary way but shake the trees as often as you go into 

 the house. Spray the trees over with a fine spray after 

 fertilizing. 



A Red Spider Digression 



The unexpected always happens and so it did with Mr. 

 Jenkins and his article on red spider. Apparently the 

 storm hung off for quite a while. l)ut it was inevitable, 

 coming from an unexpected quarter. Mr. Jenkins very 

 generously detailed my letter in an endeavor to turn my 

 argument to my own contradiction, but it is erroneous 

 to assume the .same can be acceiited in that light entirelv. 

 There is still some good dry powder left with a never 

 failing spark so again I open up the fray. 



I would like to ask Mr. Jenkins why there was no 

 i?pider in the house I alluded (d previous to its importa- 

 tion? Syringing was out of the question; never was 

 practiced in that house on account of the quantitv of 

 bloom in there ; the floors were dried off after watering, 

 the water space alone being more than adequate to coun- 

 teract the dryness. Why did it develop most quickly in 

 the dryest places? The '"pun" of moisture having effect 

 on spider "when spider is not present" can be answered 

 when we learn where spider comes from in the first in- 

 stance. Referring to our strain of spider on that place, 

 T cannot sav it was any different from what is beinj' 



continually met with every day. There may be "extra 

 fine strains" or several varieties. In this I plead ignor- 

 ance, all are alike to me — just spider. Of the treatment 

 of the clerodendrons previous to the time I mentioned I 

 know nothing; sufficient for the present purpose to take 

 them up at the time they came to me as distributers of 

 evil. 



Taking Mr. Jenkins' answer — "Spider usually secures 

 a start in a house that has reasonably good care in those 

 spots which are the most inaccessible to the hose," etc.; 

 ■'at the bottom of a tree or vine and near the heating 

 pipes"' (note the latter sentence). Now, why should the 

 bottom of a vine or tree be inaccessible to the hose ? We 

 read of short hoses not able to reach the bottom of a 

 tree or end of a bench properly; whose fault is this? 

 Again, any man who knows his hose is not sutficientlv 

 long enough to reach where he wants it to is a fool if 

 he does not get another length coupled on to it and get 

 it where he wants it. When measuring hose lengths foi 

 any house I cannot imagine a man who has the interest 

 of his charge at heart who would "cut" on a few feet 

 of hose at the expense of spider in corners, etc. Mr. 

 Jenkins concludes by saying, "Heat favoring rapid 2}rop- 

 agation is the cause of spider." If so why do we get it 

 on carnations and violets having a temperature of about 

 50 and 4.5 respectively? Violets at the temperature 

 named can get as lovely a lot of spider as anyone wishes 

 to deal with. Following Mr. Jenkins' theory one would 

 naturally conclude that violets at 45 would be exempt 

 and all the spider would be found on melons at 70. Had 

 he inchided an adjective in his sentence and said "dry" 

 heat I would have acquiesced with him. To my mind 

 there is no other artificial heat than dry heat unless 

 made so by evaporating pans. Some contain more 

 moisture than others, but all are dry. 



Now I'll quote another instance that is in existence 

 today and has three men of wide experience to back it 

 up and all are agreed on the point I am about to bring 

 forward and which is tlie keynote of all this space being 

 utilized on this subject — the dryer your house, artificial- 

 ly, so much easier spider increases. A certain rose hotise 

 of large dimensions lias concrete walks and benches 

 throughout, about the dryest of all materials used. These 

 three men are known to say they never had to fight 

 spider in houses having an ordinary ash walk and 

 beiu-hes made of other material than concrete, as they do 

 in this one. Ask them why and they tell you the dry 

 cement causes it. I do not wish to enter on a rose de- 

 bate entailing spot and spider; that is not the point but 

 I will say I have seen the house in question, saw spider 

 but no spot. The men referred to are rose growers of 

 wide experience and the temperatures approximately 

 were the same. Further where the mains go into the 

 house, which is near the center, they have more trouble 

 than elsewhere. Wliy ? There is no lack of hose or 

 pressure. Now these three men having grown roses in 

 different houses, in the same temperature, say the moist 

 ash walks are a gi'eat assistance against spider and also 

 that the dryest part of the house more easily succumbs to 

 its ravages. 



