170 



H ORTI CU LTl) RE 



August 8, 1903 



Made-up 

 Kenlia 

 Forsteriana 

 in 12-inch 

 tub 



HEAGOCK'S 

 KENTIAS 



A typical specimen of which 

 is shown herewith, are the 

 standard of perfection in Ken- 

 tias, from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific. 



Our stock consists of strong, 

 healthy Kentias of graceful 

 habit and splendid vigor, — free 

 from disease. 



A visit to our greenhouses 

 at Wyncote (25 minutes from Phila- 

 delphia) will convince you. 



Get your orders in early — it pays. 

 New wholesale price - list sent on 

 application. 



Joseph Heacock Company 



Rose and Palm Growers 

 WYNCOTE, PA. 



"BACK TO THE FARM." 

 There comes up the usual prescrip- 

 tion at this time of a tight money 

 market and a more or less cessation 

 of activity in all lines of business. 

 This is the cry of "back to the farm." 

 The first thing everybody seems to 

 think of is, why not turn all the un- 

 employed thousands loose on the farm 

 and let them help out the poor farmer 

 in this period of few farm hands. 



But it seems to me that this is an 

 unwise agitation. In the first place, 

 farming is a scientific occupation (not 

 an "art" as some would have us 

 think), requiring knowledge, intelli- 

 gence, and capability. That many 

 make a living at so-called farming, 

 simply emphasises the broad scope of 

 the business and indicates the possi- 

 bilities for abusing an industry cap- 

 able of giving returns under misman- 

 agement and neglect. 



For artisans, clerks, and ordinary 

 laborers — the usual classes affected 

 by hard times — to think of farming is 

 laughable, and at the same time pa- 

 thetic. To put them on a farm would 

 be actual hardship to them as well as 

 to the farmer. Even with their work 

 planned for them, one need bring to 

 mind a picture of a clerk plowing a 

 uniform furrow or a hod carrier pick- 



ing red raspberries at anything like 

 average speed, to see how ridiculous 

 the idea is. 



But the main point, it seems to me, 

 is that few of these men would turn 

 to the farm for an indefinite time. It 

 would be only during the period of 

 inactivity in their respective lines, and 

 as soon as business picked up they'd 

 be off to the old life once more. 



For this reason the farmer will go 

 slow about getting such men at work 

 too quickly. He can be no better off 

 after the men leave, and he may be 

 worse off. The proper handling of 

 stock and land is absolutely essential 

 to maximum results, and it is far bet- 

 ter to pay good wages to regular help 

 for the time being, than to rely on such 

 a nondescript supply as a city would 

 send out. R. L. ADAMS. 



MILDEW. 

 Mildew is the bane of plant forcers, 

 whether for flowers or fruit. Being a 

 parasite fungus, having as its host the 

 plants of our greenhouses, both com- 

 mercial and private, its control is one 

 of the vital problems confronting the 

 grower. The problem is rather a pe- 

 culiar one, since, both being plants, 

 death to the one means death to the 

 other. Mildew yields to the fumes of 

 sulfur, and is more susceptible than 

 the host. Hence the question becomes 



one of getting the sulfur fumes into 

 the house when, where and of the 

 strength needed. Three methods have 

 been used, painting sulfur on steam 

 pipes, vaporizing it in one of the vari- 

 ous devices, home made or bought, or 

 dusting it on the bushes themselves. 

 Painting the pipes is not satisfactory; 

 the fumes go all through the house, 

 fading or defacing the product; they 

 are in the house for a long time, and 

 are equally distributed in all parts, 

 whether needed or not. Steam must 

 be used to start them; when mildew 

 is rife during the summer, steam is a 

 detriment. The different vaporizers, 

 ignoring the fact that sulfur when 

 heated to the kindling point will burst 

 into flame, have in them a great source 

 of danger, and, being stationary, if they 

 do "go wrong and take fire." much 

 damage is done before they are dis- 

 covered or can be put out, for burn- 

 ing sulfur is very difficult to extin- 

 guish, and people cannot endure the 

 resulting fumes if strong. Wheu 

 dusted on the bushes ii becomes neces- 

 sary to make the fumes effective, to 

 take off all ventilation and raise the 

 temperature greatly. No comment on 

 this Is necessary. 



Taking all these into consideration, 

 a device has been worked out and pa- 

 tented which, it is claimed, will make 

 mildew and its attendant evils things 

 of the past, and does away with the bad 

 results of successive and prolonged 

 heat and fumigation, in forcing out the 

 buds and fading them. This promis- 

 ing new device will be advertised in 

 the next issue of HORTICT'LTUUR. 



