March 1, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



287 



Out-door Fruit and Vegetables 



Brussels Sprouts 



For exhibition as well as for ordinary use these should 

 be sown now. The reason of most failures with this 

 fine vegetable is because of too late sowing; it requires a 

 long season ; needless to say it must be sown in a green- 

 house or hotbed. Brussels sjDrouts has not acquired 

 that degree of popularity among the American public 

 that its fine qualities as a winter vegetable deserves, pos- 

 sibly because of a lack of knowledge of the best methods 

 of cooking it. Next October or November as they are 

 coming into season we shall give in these ■ notes what 

 we consider the best methods. 



Care of Young Seedlings 



Pot on the onions, leeks and globe artichokes just as 

 soon as they are rooted through, or if you are growing 

 them in flats and they have been pricked out rather close, 

 transplant them into other flats giving more room just 

 as soon as you observe the least cessation of growth. The 

 temperature for these will still be about 55 degrees at 

 night with 60 or 65 degrees in the day. Egg-plants, 

 tomatoes and peppers will stand five degrees higher and 

 the cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and celery will be bet- 

 ter for a night temperature of 50 degrees and plenty of 

 air during the day. Green-fly is apt to attack most of 

 the foregoing plants and should be carefully guarded 

 against by spraying with some nicotine solution or by 

 fumigation. Some parsley sown now and brought along 

 slowly will be found very useful, as the out-door-sown 

 stock is always late before being ready for use. Assum- 

 ing that the hot-bed material has been properly prepared 

 as recommended in these notes of two weeks ago it will 

 be ready for use and no time should be lost in getting it 

 made up. Be sure to tramp it thoroughly and see that 

 it is in the right state of moisture — neither very wet nor 

 very dry. Put on about six to nine inches of light soil 

 and cover the whole with frame and sash, leaving it a 

 few days to warm up before sowing anything. 



Spraying the Orchard 



After the pruning is done it will be very necessary to 

 take advantage of the warm still days to spray either the 

 orchard or any fruit trees planted in the garden or else- 

 where. We take spraying for granted now. The day 

 for questioning its manifold advantages belongs to the 

 past and we must think of spraying as we think of dig- 

 ging or plowing the garden. The outfit is the first con- 

 sideration and this is something which the grower will 

 have to accommodate to his varying conditions. For 

 very few trees the knapsack or ordinary hand sjnayer 

 may fill the bill ; next comes the barrel with force pump 

 attached which will do for any ordinary place. And last 

 the various engine-operated, high pressure outfits which 

 will satisfy the largest requirements. Now arises the 

 question of what to use as material for spraying. We 

 have used a soluble oil spray for years against both San 

 Jose and oyster shell scale and have always found it 

 satisfactory. However, I believe the weight of authority 

 is in favor of the lime-sulphur spray which is made as 

 follows, 16 pounds of unslaked lime, 16 pounds of flow- 

 ers of sulphur and 50 gallons of water. The method of 

 making this mixture I copy from Waugh's "American 

 Apple Orchard" and is as follows : "An iron kettle 

 holding fifty gallons is necessary, then begin slaking the 

 lime in the kettle, using hot water. In fact the fire 

 under the kettle should be started at this time. As the 

 lime slakes add water slowly. When the slaking is well 

 under way the sulphur should be added. Then the heat 

 generated by the slaking lime will help to melt it. At 



this stage the kettle should only contain ten to fifteen 

 gallons of water. Vigorous and constant stirring of 

 the mixture is necessary during this period, which will 

 occupy about fifteen minutes. When the lime is thor- 

 oughly slaked and the sulphur dissolved the rest of the 

 water (preferably hot) may be added. The whole is then 

 brought to the boiling point and vigorously boiled for 

 forty minutes to an hour." 



After straining it is ready for use and the hotter it 

 is used the better. A spraying material that the writer 

 has used and thinks very highly of is the Caustic Alkali 

 Solution which is made up as follows : One pound of 

 caustic soda, and three quarters of a pound of crude 

 carbonate of potash dissolved in about a gallon of water 

 after which add enough water to make ten gallons; also 

 add about ten ounces of dissolved soap. Stir thorough- 

 ly and it is ready for use. Of course to make larger 

 quantities ingredients are proportionately increased. It 

 is well to remember that this material is caustic; use 

 rubber gloves in handling and also be sure to spray on a 

 still day so as to avoid getting it blown on the face. I 

 might add that I have used this wash for mealy bug on 

 grape vines and cleaned the bug right out in one season, 

 putting the wash on with a brush and being careful not 

 to rub it in too hard on the buds. The eggs of red spider 

 are killed by this same caustic alkali solution. 



Lenox, Mass. 



The Bleeding of Grape Vines 



Your correspondent, Mr. Jenkins, is a gifted writer, 

 and we look forward to his articles every week. They 

 are instructive, although we may not always agree with 

 him, because they set us thinking and reasoning. In his 

 last effusion on the bleeding of grape vines he is entirely 

 too radical in his views. It seems singular that in one 

 breath he smashes and condemns all that has been writ- 

 ten on this subject, cries over the wasted styptic and 

 printer's ink, and then in the next breath as a balm to 

 his conscience deplores the man who prefers actual ex- 

 perience to book learning. 



Those conversant with the physiology of plants will 

 entirely agree with him in his description of the move- 

 ment of the sap in the plant, but his axiom is entirely 

 too dangerous and broad to go without qualification. 



If a vine be in good health, thoroughly ripened, 

 pruned at the proper time, all the so-called bleeding that 

 will occur will not be harmful, but should a vine be 

 pruned too late and the loss of water be excessive than it 

 will be injurious. An instance of this has come under 

 my own observation. A late grapery was pruned too 

 late, the pruned shoots dripped copiously, the buds 

 started and developed about two inches and then dried 

 up, showing that they had used up all the stored-up 

 material, and the water which should have passed into 

 them was running in the line of least resistance; con- 

 sequently the young shoots were starved. 



I claim Mr. Jenkins' axiom for the week as absurd 

 and misleading, especially to younger men who are seek- 

 ing knowledge through such mediums as yours. 



The axiom should be : Excessive hleeding of grape 

 vines is injurioits and sJiould he avoided. 



Greystone, 

 Yonkers, N. Y. 



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