THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



691 



ONIONS. 



Potato onions are often grown in a lettuce house, and 

 they can be bunched in six or seven weeks from the time 

 of planting. They do best in good, sandy garden loam, 

 and one-fourth of good rotted stable manure, with a little 

 bone dust inter-mixed. The temperature should never be 

 below 55° or over 70°. Suflicient water and good drain- 

 age are necessary. Yellow Globe, Danverse, Philadel- 

 phia and others can be forced. They should be planted 

 in rows three by six inches. 



WATER-CRESS. 



Water-cress is easily grown on or under benches in 

 the greenhouses. If the soil is kept uniformly moist and 

 cool, the plants will take care of themselves. The plants 

 must be gathered from brooks or other places and planted 

 at intervals. If once colonized no renewing is needed. 



GARDEN CRESS. 



French, or garden cress thrives well under glass. The 

 seed is sown where the plants are to stand in benches, 

 beds or flats. They can also be sown with spinach, or 

 lettuce. The plants grow very quickly, and only the ten- 

 der leaves are used. 



POTATOES. 



Potatoes can be grown in hot beds or on spent lettuce 

 or other ground beds in the forcing houses after the 

 winter crops are harvested. Place the tubers on a bench 

 or shelf until the eye is started and plant in their perma- 

 nent quarters. I have used Early Rose and Mayflower, 

 but the best of all potatoes for forcing is the Bouree. I 

 have brought them to maturity in eight weeks. 



PEAS. 



Peas may be grown in solid beds or boxed in a lettuce 

 house. They yield very little for the space they take, 

 and they are very seldom grown. 



THE CULTURE OF CURRENTS. 



The raising of currant Inishes from cuttings is not a 

 difficult undertaking, and is the same as practiced by the 

 nurserymen in their work of propagating their fancy 

 shrubs and small fruit. .A_s the bushes are trimmed the 

 cuttings are taken from the present year's growth, and 

 are made about seven inches long; the trimming should 

 be done in the late fall or spring before spraying. Cut- 

 tings are buried in trenches dug about a foot in 

 depth, and a little wider than the cuttings are long and 

 covered with earth which is well tramped down to keep 

 out the water and hilled up for the winter. The place 

 should be on high land. Another method often used is 

 storing them away in the cellar in sawdust or sand, but 

 care must be taken not to allow them to become dry or 

 get too damp, or they might be spoiled. 



The ground for the cuttings should be well plowed 

 and harrowed, and the r(Tws marked with a string the 

 same way a gardener docs when planting seed ; by doing 

 this the rows are kept in a straight line, and much time 

 saved when they are worked later, besides making it 

 much easier while planting, which requires that they 

 should be pushed down four to five inches, leaving about 

 two inches above the ground. It is a good plan to put 

 some well-rotted manure .ilong the rows, and hill them 

 up a little with the plow or hoe, but before doing this go 

 along the rows and traniii them in firmly. This is all 

 that is done if fall planting; in the spring cultivate 

 them and when they get a good growth a little good fer- 

 tilizer cultivated in will be of great benefit. 



TO DESTROY LOCUST BORER. 



The cutting of the locust tree for all purposes, includ- 

 mg thinning operations and for private commercial use, 

 should be done between the first of October and the last 

 of March, says the Office of Information, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



The yellow striped, long horned, winged beetle that 

 produces the devastating borer is found from August to 

 October on trees and the flowers of the goldenrod. Dur- 

 ing this period eggs are deposited in the crevices of the 

 bark of growing trees and, the young borers, after being 

 hatched, pass the winter there and in the spring bore 

 through the bark to the heart of the tree. 



The injury to the trees consists of wounds in the bark 

 and sapwood, which is sufficiently severe and repeated 

 year after year, result in a worthless growth or the death 

 of the timber aflr'ected. The numerous worm-holes in 

 the wood also reduce its commercial value. 



The presence of the insects in injurious numbers is 

 indicated at this season of the year by the frequency 

 of the adults on the goldenrod flowers and on the trees. 

 So extensive has the damage of this pest been in some 

 sections of the Eastern states and the Middle West 

 that it is now considered unprofitable to grow the tree 

 for either shade or timber. One important reason for 

 holding this borer in check is to prevent its extension 

 into the far West and other sections which are at present 

 free from it. 



Experiments have demonstrated that the grubs may be 

 killed by spraying the trees and branches with a strong 

 solution of kerosene emulsion. This should be done not 

 earlier than November and not later than March, because 

 this spraying when the trees are in leaf will destroy the 

 foliage and check growth. 



According to Dr. Howard, chief of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, the brown and apparently dying condition of 

 the yellow or black locust trees in the states of Virginia, 

 Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio is 

 caused by the insect known as the locust leaf-beetle. 

 Nearly every summer the brownish appearance of these 

 trees attracts attention and causes considerable inquirj' 

 and some alarm. However, with a few exceptions, the 

 trees recover and come out fresh and green the follow- 

 ing spring. 



VINCENTS' DAHLIA EXHIBITION. 



The seventh annual Dahlia exhibition given by the 

 firm of R. Vincent, Jr., & Sons Co., at White Marsh, 

 Md., on September 30 to October 2, was the most suc- 

 cessful of any of the exhibitions yet given by this well 

 known firm. Special trains were provided to carry guests 

 from Washington and Baltimore, and the sight of over 

 fortv acres of Dahlias in bloom, with some fifty acres 

 of Cannas, was one which the visitors will long remem- 

 ber. The collections included the best known varieties, 

 there being over si.xty thousand King Humbert Cannas 

 alone in the field. Tlie indoor exhibition in an immense 

 packing room was artistically arranged. Here was found 

 an immense display of cut flowers. 



A fine luncheon was provided by the ladies of the com- 

 munity, as Messrs. \^incent have made this annual show 

 a sort of local fair to which all the neighbors are in- 

 vited to compete in flower and vegetable contests, fruit, 

 etc.. and the ladies in turn delight in furnishing the 

 luncheon as their part of the entertainment. 



Mr. Vincent claims that we hear much publicity talk, 

 but he believes in acting publicity besides talking it and 

 is convinced that shows like those of his firm are pro- 

 ductive of good results. 



