1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



45 



of dipping, we cannot say. We do know that 

 turning the plant in the pot upside down and im- 

 mersing it for an instant in water of a tempera- 

 ture of 130° will destroy any insect ; but it seems 

 such a waste of hot water to use it for syringing, 

 that we suppose no one ever thought to so employ 

 it. We know of no reason why, where hot water 

 is abundant, it should not be used ; only care- 

 ful experiment can decide this. Very soft and 

 tender leaves may be injured at a temperature of 

 130°; on the other hand, after passing through a 

 syringe the original temperature may have to be 

 increased in order that the insects may have the 

 full benefit of the fatal degree. — Ed. G. M.] 



Mildew. — "Rose-grower," Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 writes : " It seems to be granted now, that some 

 of the lower forms of plant life, of which mildew 

 is a type, will attack the healthiest vegetation, 

 though at one time it was supposed to be only 

 connected with disease. If this view is correct, 

 how can we prevent mildew and such attacks ? 

 What is the remedy ?" 



[It may be taken for granted, we think, that 

 fungus, as a general rule, only attacks that which 

 is diseased. The cases where it attacks wholly 

 healthy vegetation, though such cases are un- 



* doubted, are quite exceptional. Between these, 



' however, are a large number of cases, where the 

 plants are supposed to be healthy, and are at- 

 tacked by fungus, which cannot be said to be 

 healthy in the fullest sense of this term. For in- 



I stance, a lot of cuttings are put into a propagating 

 bench to root. They are perfectly healthy ; but 

 fungus appears in the bench, and may clear the 

 whole lot in a day or two. In a certain sense the 

 fungus has attacked healthy vegetation. But the 

 cutting is in unfavorable conditions of life. It 



{ has no roots. Numbers die without any fungus 

 attack, simply because the unfavorable vital con- 

 ditions have conquered. We may say that low 

 vital conditions, as well as absolute disease, favor 

 the growth of mildew. In the case of mildew on 



I roses, mildew on grapes, mildew on lilacs, oaks, 

 and other things, we know in many cases what 

 these conditions are. Our belief is, that where the 

 conditions of good health are tolerably perfect 

 mildew or fungus troubles of any kind seldom 

 bother the cultivator. In the case of the rose and 

 carnation, which are so often attacked by fungus 



j in various forms during the winter, the unfavor- 

 able conditions of the roots are often very appar- 

 ent. -Ed. G. M.] 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



We feel in our seasonable hints this month, like 

 making a full plea for better gardening all along 

 the line. As the Secretary of the Worcester Coun- 

 ty (Mass.) Horticultural Society somewhere says: 

 to take up many of our so-called horticultural 

 writmgs, a stranger would be apt to think that its 

 mission was fulfilled, when we had produced a 

 Thimbleberry ; or that the acme had been reached 

 when some pioneer along the Mississippi stumbled 

 on the Wild Goose Plum. Very few of our new 

 fruits are equal in value to the older ones they 

 have displaced. Something that is tough and 

 hardy and will grow without a thought and with- 

 out a care — a raspberry that is so full of seeds and 

 has so little pulp, that it will prove a " first-rate 

 carrying berry " — a strawberry that will ripen its 

 whole crop in a day or two, so that there can be 



economy in gathering — a peach that will never 

 ripen, so that we may get it to market before it 

 rots— these be the favorites of the day. Now, all 

 this and more is very well. There should be a pay- 

 ing profitable side to fruit growing. Our maga- 

 zine does all it can to aid and advance it. But 

 surely this is not the be all, the end all of fruit cul- 

 ture ! If we have the time and the will to grow a 

 delicious plum, why should we forever have to be 

 satisfied with some compound of tannic acid and 

 mashed turnips, simply because it will not pay the 

 market man to fight the curculio in the only way it 

 can be fought? Why have nothing but a "good crop- 

 per " and one that is "locally adapted "to take care 

 of itself — because a much better thing costs some 

 time and trouble to care for .'" 



But we sometimes think that even the market 

 man does not do himself justice in his race fornew 

 fruits. 



