112 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[April. 



bushel; prunes, $2 to $2.50 per bushel; Renie 

 Claude de Bavay, S1.50; Bradshaw, {(1.50 to $2; 

 quinces, $2 to $4 per barrel ; pears — Bartlett, S4 

 to $6 ; Duchess and Seckel, $3 to S5 ; apples, 

 Si. 25 per barrel. 



Product per Acre of Strawberries in 

 Western New York. — Mr. C. M. Hooker says 

 that in 1884 strawberries produced a wonderful 

 crop. Never before was so heavy a crop grown 

 here — 6,000 to 8,000 quarts per acre not being un- 

 common. The usual average in previous seasons 

 not being over 2,000 quarts per acre. This great 

 production arose doubtless from a very favorable 

 growth of the plants in the fall of 1883, the plants 

 coming through the past winter in good condition, 

 and frequent rains during the growth and ripening 

 of the fruit. Prices were very low. 



Cure for Grape Vine Mildew. — Prof. Cald- 

 well told the recent meeting of the Western New 

 York Horticultural Society that it has been dis- 

 covered that mildew can be prevented by soaking 

 the stakes on which the vines twine in a solution 

 of blue vitriol. These stakes were mi.xed with 

 others not soaked, through the vineyard, and in 

 every case where not soaked all the leaves were 

 entirely ruined, while those on the soaked stakes 

 were healthy. A weaker solution of the vitriol 

 was not so effective. The effect of the soaking 

 gradually dies out, but will last from four to six 

 years. 



The Japan Plum. — This is being largely planted 

 in California. This is a real plum. The Japan 

 plum of the Southern Atlantic portion of the 

 United States is a kind of Medlar, Mespilus Ja- 

 ponica. 



Experience in Gardening. — After the Pil- 

 grims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, they 

 wrote home their experiences. The pea was pro- 

 nounced a total failure in the New World. They 

 planted of course in the time of year they had 

 been accustomed to plant. But in a few years 

 after they wrote to the old folks at home of their 

 wonderful success with many vegetables, and 

 then we find the pea in this wonderful list of suc- 

 cess. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Insect Injurious to the Tomato. — A Vine- 

 land correspondent says: "I have taken the 

 liberty to send you, by express (paid), a paper 



package that contains a specimen of what may 

 perhaps be called the club-root in a greenhouse 

 tomato-plant ; the cause of which I would like to 

 ascertain, and I know of no one more likely to be 

 able to give information on such a subject or more 

 likely to be interested in its investigation than 

 yourself. 



" We have raised winter tomatoes successfully 

 several years in our greenhouses, the only serious 

 difficulty we have had to contend with being mil- 

 dew. Last year there was some of the club-root 

 in the houses ; this year there is a great abundance 

 of it. Several queries have arisen in my mind in re- 

 lation to this disease, whether the excessive mil- 

 dew this year may have been the cause of the dis- 

 ease, or the disease the cause of the mildew ; or 

 . whether the disease may be owing to too much or 

 too little enriching, or to the kind of enriching ; or 

 whether the soil may not have been poisoned by 

 growing in it the same kind of plant several years 

 in succession ; or whether an insect may have had 

 something to do with it. The manure used has 

 been principally stable manure, but, perhaps, not 

 enough of it, or not sufficiently rotted. The soil 

 is naturally a sandy loam. 



" We raise, in tlie same houses. Black Ham- 

 burgh grapes, the roots of which run below those 

 of the tomatoes. 



" Any information as to the probable cause and 

 the possible remedy of the disease referred to will 

 be very thankfully received." 



[The roots were knotted like strings of beads 



about the size of peas. There is no relation to 



club root, which is the work of a fungus. It is 



the work of an insect, and they are indeed galls. 



By cutting across the excresences, squeezing a 



1 little, and examining with a pocket lens, a number 



I of transparent eggs about the size of pin heads are 



I seen to have emerged. These eggs have of course 



to remain here till they hatch, become larvae and 



enter the pupa stage. It ought not to be difficult 



to destroy the whole race by taking out the roots 



of the tomatoes carefully some time before the 



' creatures leave them, and burn. It would also be 



a benefit to remove as much earth as possible and 



replace with fresh. 



From this letter and a large number of others 

 I we have received during the past few years it is 

 surprising how many people try to get along with- 

 out a pocket lens. Gall insects that operate on 

 roots are very common, and in a large number of 

 cases sent to us, if people would only cut open 

 and examine, they would see the " cause " for 

 themselves.— Ed. G. M.l 



