1882 1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



11 



oughly testing the alarm have come to put great 

 confidence in it, as it can be regulated to within 

 a single degree, and while absent or asleep my 

 anxiety is reduced to a minimum. 



TAR WATER FOR INSECTS. 



BY D. M. DEWEY, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



In conversation to-day with a farmer friend, I 

 got from him what I think every planter should 

 know. As he is a reliable man, I give you his 

 statement, believing you will confer a favor on 

 many of your readers by pubhshing it : 



Gras tar water sure death to potato hugs- Mr. 

 S. R. Hart, of Brighton, N. Y., near Rochester, 

 has for two years past used on his potato vines 

 water which has been impregnated with gas tar. 

 Two quarts of gas tar in a pail, and fill the pail 

 with water ; stir it up well, and let the tar settle. 

 Then sprinkle the vines with the water from a 

 sprinkling pot. This has proven more effective 

 than Paris green. He has also tried it on cur- 

 rant bushes, and finds it equally effective. It is 

 inexpensive and perfectly reliable, and no doubt 

 will prove equally sure death to insects of every 

 kind on trees. This gas tar can be had for $1.00 

 a barrel, and one barrel would supply a whole 

 township. I give you this information, believing 

 your readers will find it a great desideratum in 

 these days of insect pests. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Growth of Plants by Electric Light. — We 

 do not know how the idea originated that plants 

 do not grow in the dark, though the idea seems 

 widely prevalent in Europe. In America it has 

 been proved that Indian corn grows more rapidly 

 by night than by day. In American cellars 

 potatoes sprout, and all kinds of vegetables grow 

 to our aggravation, if there is any heat much 

 above the freezing point. True they require 

 light to make a green growth, but the actual 

 rapidity of growth is at least the same. It does 

 not seem to be true in England, however, where 

 they are much exercised over Dr. Siemen's ex- 

 periments with the electric light. The doctor 

 has a large forcing-house, in which are many 

 kinds of fruits and vegetables which mature dur- 

 ing the winter. There has to be a steam engine 

 to make the electricity which gives the light; 

 and the waste steam from the engine, condensed, 

 gives hot water, by which the temperature is 

 kept at 60 degrees. 



So far as we have been able to gather from 

 Dr. Siemen's experiments, they are not com- 

 parative. The electric light was kept all night 

 in his forcing-house, and under this perpetual 

 brightness by night and by day, the crops were 

 wonderfully productive and remarkably satis- 

 factory. This is all the experiments amount to. 

 There was not another house just alike, and 

 under the management of the same excellent 

 gardener, to show how much better the lighted 

 house was. 



So far as the electric light on the growth of 

 plants is concerned, we do not feel that it will 

 be of great value in our culture, not only be- 

 cause plants grow as well in the dark, but be- 

 cause the means of communication between the 

 tropical and the arctic portions of our country 

 are so perfect that we can have the rarest sum- 

 mer fruits and vegetables on our tables while 

 zero winds are blowing on our homes. Forcing- 

 houses are not as popular as in the old world. 

 But there is great value to us in Dr. Siemen's 

 experiments as showing how the introduction of 

 the electric light may be made use of in heating 

 greenhouses. As a general rule it will not pay 

 to buy and run a steam engine for lighting our 

 country homes instead of gas or oil ; but if at 

 the same time we can heat our greenhouses with 

 the waste steam, or make the engine useful in 

 other things, it may come into general use. 



Sick Trees and Flowers. — Mr. Walter Elder, 

 of Philadelphia, makes the very good point that 

 the knowledge obtained from long experience 

 and close study of the laws of health in vegeta- 

 tion, is deserving of as much pecuniary reward 

 as, at least, the knowledge required for sick ani- 

 mals. There should be physicians of trees and 

 flowers, as well as doctors for horses, cows, dogs 

 and cats. And we have no doubt that people 

 would be just as willing to pay for good advice 

 for a valuable plant as for a valuable animal, if 

 only those who have the knowledge would 

 charge for their advice and services. There is 

 Mr. Elder himself, for instance, who has for so 

 many years contributed of his knowledge freely 

 to so many periodicals, could render valuable 

 assistance to his Philadelphia amateur friends in 

 this way. There is no reason why he should not 

 be consulted and paid for his advice. We have 

 no doubt it would be well w»rth the small fee he 

 would charge. 



Tuberous Rooted Begonias. — An Upland (Pa.) 

 correspondent of the Ridley News gives a highly 



