iSgs- 



• GARDENING. 



73 



to make a photograph for an engraving 

 for this article, did not use the specimens 

 sent in the box, as they were not suitable, 

 but went out to a field where he had not 

 looked before and found at least a peck of 

 ])ods and stems that were mildewed and 

 ruined. The engraving is made from a 

 groupoftwo clusters, the five pods all be- 

 ingstill attached to their stems. The pod 

 upon the right hand is a healthy one, the 

 engraving being taken with the subjects 

 natural eize. The portion of the bean 

 ])lant usually attacked is the pods, and 

 the mildew maj' be found upon them 

 while they are quite small. Frequently 

 the pods will become yellow and brown 

 and usually various black moulds follow 



THE BEAN MILDEW 



so soon after the attack of the mildew 

 that they might be taken as the cause of 

 the destruction. The fact is that the Phyl- 

 ophthora is so deeply seated and vigor- 

 ous in its work that the attendant moulds 

 simply feed upon the ruins so to speak, 

 and finish the work of destruction. 



Occasionally a good sized bean will be 

 nearly free from the moulds and then the 

 mildew may be met with in its rankness 

 and purity. When such pods are found 

 they show a dense white felt upon the 

 surface of the collapsed pod. In the 

 engraving the next to the largest pod, 

 namely, upon the left hand shows at the 

 lower end such a whitish forest growth 

 of the mildew. The same is seen upon the 

 free end of the lowermost pods which 

 is thoroughly pervaded by the fun- 

 gus, as shown by its shrunken and 

 contorted ap])earance in the engrav- 

 ing. The two pods near the center 

 of the picture are also ruined by 

 the mildew, the upper one showing the 

 white coating while the lower one only 

 appears as a wrinkled and worthless pod 

 which in fact is overrun by black moulds. 



It is not necessary to go into the micro- 

 scopic structure of the mildew further 

 than to state that the minute threads 

 penetrate all parts of the afi'ectcd portions 

 and rob the tissues of their vital sap. 

 After a while certain threads come to the 

 surface and branching bear innumerable 

 spores, which with the branches bearing 

 them make up the whitish patches. From 

 these patches the spores are carried to 

 other parts of the plant or field and start 

 new centers of destruction. 



This mildew is closely related to the 

 Phylophthora intestans which causes the 

 very destructive rot of potatoes, the one 

 that is fatal to the crop in Ireland as to 

 cause a famine in that island some years. 

 From the nature of the bean mildew and 

 the results that have been obtained with 

 fungicides with thepotato IMiylnplithora 

 it is reasonable o inlcr tli.it spraying 

 with Bordeaux would be a profitable 

 check to this disease. As yet the writer 

 does not recall any experiments with fun- 

 gicides with the bean mildew. He h >pes 

 however, next season to be able to write 

 with more knowledge upon this most 

 practical point. Byron D. Hai.stkd. 



Agricultural College Experimental Sta- 

 tion, New Brunswick, N.J. 



Mushrooms. 



MUSHROOM BED, IS IT fllL RIGHT? 



[. K , Scarborough, N. Y , writes: "I 

 matic a mushroom bed under the stage of 

 the greenhouse some days ago, but it 

 does not seem to heat. It is horse manure 

 with considerable straw and a little fresh 

 sod soil mixed through it. I had the 

 manure taken from the heap, spread in a 

 shed and turned several times in the 

 course of ten days before putting it into 

 the greenhouse; the bed is afoot deep and 

 firmly packed, but not tramped. It feels 

 a little warm to the hand inside but is 

 quite cold on the outside. Is it likely to 

 heat with waiting, or is it probably 

 worthless?" 



There is nothing amiss so far as we see. 

 The temperature of the outside of the 

 bed is about the same as the atmosphere 

 of the house; slightly warmer inside is all 

 right to set the spawn running. Spawn 

 the bed, and if it gets too cold (inside 

 under 65°) cover it over with some hay 

 or straw; and after casing it with loam 

 cover again with the hay or straw, keep- 

 ing it covered three or four inches deep 

 till it istimeforthemushroomsto appear, 

 when the straw should be removed for 

 convenience in gathering the crop. But 

 we cannot tell whether your beds are 

 good or not. Without seeing and examin- 

 ing the beds and having a full knowledge 

 of the details in connection with them we 

 cannot tell anything positively about 

 them; our remarks are simplj' of a general 

 nature. 



Had Poor Success.— In November 1893 

 I bought the book "Mushrooms: How to 

 Grow Them" and followed its instruc- 

 tions as closely as possible, with the re- 

 sult that from 300 square feet of bed, I 

 gathered 120 pounds of mushrooms. 

 Next year I hired an empty stable and 

 sheathed it inside, packing the air space 

 with fine shavings and in that built 1800 

 square feet of beds and from which I 

 picked only three small mushrooms! Then 

 I threw out all the beds and put in fresh 

 ones and got 105 pounds from the ISOO 

 square feet of surface. Three months ago 

 I began again, and have now 900 square 

 feet of beds on which, although they were 

 spawned eight weeks ago, I cannot find 

 a trace of mycelium, let alone see a mush- 

 room coming up. J J. T- 



Bayonne, N. J. 



The New Mushroom (Agaricus subru- 

 iescens). — J. V. H. N., writes: "I raise 

 mushrooms on my farm in Ulster County, 

 near Kingston, N. Y ,in the pastures, and 

 would like to introduce the new mush- 

 room there." Verj' good, but wait till 



May before planting the spawn. Spawn 

 planted now is almost sure to get killed 

 by wet in winter. 



Books. 



The Baltimore Cactus Journal con- 

 tinues to flourish with all the vim of its 

 promoters, the Baltimore Cactus Society. 

 It is an illustrated monthly m igazine 

 devoted to cacti and other succulent and 

 kindred plants and costs only 50 cents 

 per year. We admire the spirit that 

 prompted its birth, and the enthusiasm 

 that sustains it, and would suggest to 

 those of our readers who are interested 

 in the spiny beauties of the desert to send 

 for a copy. 



American Gardens and Gardening is 

 the name of a new $2 a year illustrated 

 monthly magazine, gotten up by Mr. 

 Lucius D. Davis, of Newport, R. I. The 

 first number is largely devoted to the 

 gardens of Newport. We extend to our 

 contemporaryaheaity welcome and wish 

 for it a long, useful and successful life. 



Insects and Insecticides, bj' Clarence 

 M. Weed, D. Sc. This is a second and 

 revised edition of this practical manual 

 concerning noxious insects and the 

 methods of preventing their injuries, by 

 one who knows his subject thoroughly 

 and has the good sense to place it before 

 us in a concise, practical and easily un- 

 derstood way. It tells us about the 

 damage caused by insects and how it can 

 be modified or prevented. It illustrates 

 and describes the insects in their various 

 stages and shows their destructive work. 

 It explains to us what insecticides are, 

 and how to make them up, and when and 

 how to apply them. The book is 7U'x5 

 inches, and contains33-l- pages, and there 

 is a full and excellent index in it. It is 

 published by Orange Judd Co., New York. 



Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, a 

 pocket guide to British wild flowers for 

 the country rambler, by Edward Step, is 

 an exceedingly interesting, beautifullj' 

 gotten up, and dainty little book pub- 

 lished by Frederick Warne & Co., London 

 and New York. It is about eiix^VL- 

 inches, and contains 173 pages of matter 

 and 155 pages of illustrations. There are 

 128 full pages devoted to colored pictures 

 of 156 species of the most popular and 

 frequently met with wild flowers; and 

 23 pages to black and white plates of as 

 many plants. There are 400 species of 

 plants described in the book. While the 

 work is correct technically, it is written 

 in such a delightful and popular way that 

 the most inexperienced person who loves 

 flowers must at once become interested, 

 the more so when opposite every page we 

 see a colored plate ofsuch favorites as the 

 daisy, wood anemone, fumitory, blue bell, 

 rock-rose, pimpernel, broom, bluebottle, 

 wild orchids, and so on; and black and 

 white pictures of the trees. At the end of 

 the work all the plants illustrated and 

 described in it are arranged in their 

 natural orders, genera and species; and 

 there is a full index. The price of the 

 book is $2.50. 



Autumn Blooming Snowdrops.— Mr. 

 F. W. Burbidge, of Trinity College 

 Botanical Gardens, Dublin tells the 

 Garden that the first snowdrop of the 

 autumn {Galanlbus Octohreiisis) began 

 b'ooming with him October 3, and was 

 soon succeeded by another and much rarer 

 species, namely Galanthus Reginx Olgic. 

 Both bloom on scapes five or sixinches in 

 height, that appear before the leaves. 



