April 13, 1907 



HORTI CULTURE 



489 



There are two mildews which are met with in cucum- 

 ber houses,, one of which is known as the powdery 

 mildew, which occurs on the upper surface of the foli- 

 age, more abundantly on the lower leaves or older ones, 

 whicli possess a reduced vitality. Powdery mildew sel- 

 dom, if ever, occurs in houses which are well lighted 

 and ventilated, and can gen'jrally be found when the 

 opposite conditions prevail. Fortunately powdery mil- 

 dew is not a serious factor ia cucumber growing, and 

 if attention is given to the moisture, heat and light 

 there is little probability of its gaining a foothold. 



Dowmy mildew is a more serious factor to deal with, 

 although it occurs in houses only during a short period 

 of the year — from August to late fall. We have never 

 failed to hold this in check by controlling the moisture 

 conditions. If new crops are not started until the latter 

 part of September and October there is little risk of the 

 mildew's appearing in the house ; therefore, the best way 

 to keep it out of a house is to start the crop rather late 

 and maintain at first dry conditions in the atmosphere 

 of the house. 



Bacterial wilt has lately caused some damage to 

 crops of indoor cucumbers started in August. It has 

 not been observed on cucumbers started in September, 

 and what is true of downy mildew appears also to be 



true of bacterial wilt. In general it may be stated that 

 if growers wish to start their crops in August the at- 

 mosphere .should be kept dry, and if any syringing is to 

 be done, it should take place on sunshiny mornings 

 when the plants will dry off quickly, not allowing the 

 spores to germinate. 



This is also true of Anthracnose, which is common 

 out-of-doors in August on melons and cucumbers. This 

 disease, however, occurs in greenhouses in spring as 

 early as March^ and it is necessary to be on the lookout 

 for it at that time of the year. 



There are various other troubles common to cu- 

 cumbers which are the resiilt of peculiar handling of the 

 crop. Some of these are leaf curl, stem curl, wilt, etc. 



Timber rot is occasionally present, and eel worms 

 have been known to do much harm to cucumbers under 

 glass. The former is not a very troublesome disease, but 

 eel worms have proved to be so, and the best method of 

 eliminating them is by sterilizing the soil. 



Amherst, Mass. 



A Palm House at Oakdale, N, Y. 



The accompanying pic- 

 ture gives an interior view 

 of W. K. Yanderbilt's palm 

 house at "Idlehour," Oak- 

 dale, L. I. Its noticeable 

 feature is the unique em- 

 ployment of a raised vesti- 

 bule entrance, giving an 

 opportunity to look directly 

 down upon the palms and 

 showing to the best possible 

 advantage their indi\ndual 

 beauty. These raised vesti- 

 bules give a charming note 

 of distinctiveness to such a 

 house and take away that 

 usual storage room effect. 



This design and treat- 

 ment was the work of the 

 Lord Burnham Com- 

 pany, who replaced (at one- 

 third the cost) the original 

 $70,000 palm house with its 

 heavy shade-easting archi- 

 tectural features, which 

 made the tliriving of palms 

 an impossibility. 



A Colored 



Plate will be sent o\it witH 

 next issue. 

 Subject— "ALLINGTON PIPPIN." 



