356 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



Plant out in this locality as soon after the first of May, 

 as weather conditions will warrant so that the roots will 

 have a good foothold before the hot weather comes. 



The soil in the field should be made fairly rich with 

 rooted stable manure. Attend strictly to cultivation 

 and topping, going over the field at least once a week. 

 Cultivation" will bring the plants through a hot, dry 

 summer in a much healthier condition than if watering is 

 resorted to. 



The carnation is without dispute a very beautiful flower 

 and I often feel that the man who chooses the growing 

 of it for a livelihood derives far more pleasure from it 

 than their patrons who buy them to decorate their tables. 



There are no secrets in raising this wonderful flower, 

 and there never was one man who could raise fine flowers, 

 but that there were others who could raise them just as 

 good: — Read before North Shore Horticultural Society, 

 Manchester, Mass. 



CONTROLLING THE CHESTNUT BLIGHT. 



An article which recently appeared in the North Amer- 

 ican reported that "Pennsylvania, which has played a 

 leading part in the war on chestnut blight, or the chest- 

 nut-tree bark disease, comes to the front with the gratify- 

 ing news that science has discovered a means to prevent 

 the spread of the infection and, possibly, to cure trees 

 already aftected. The prevention, which is a spray of 

 Bordeaux mixture, probably cannot be applied to forests 

 without such cost as to be prohibitive. The discovery, 

 however, is the biggest advance made in the study of the 

 chestnut blight. 



Experiments leading to the discovery were made on the 

 estate of Pierre du Pont, Jr., at Kennett Square, Chester 

 County, by R. E. Wheeler, a trained tree surgeon in the 

 employ of du Pont, and Rov G. Pierce, tree surgeon of 

 the State Chestnut Blight Commission. 



The preparation that is found most effective is Bor- 

 deaux mixture, in proportions of four pounds of copper 

 sulphate, five pounds of lime and fifty gallons of water. 

 This seems to be better than the usual 5-5-50 formula, 

 which contains a little too much copper sulphate. 



The trees on the du Pont estate range in height from 

 65 to 100 feet, and it was found necessary to spray from 

 the tops of other trees. The experiment was begun in 

 October, 1911, shortly after the Chestnut Blight Com- 

 mission, which was created by the last Legislature, began 

 its work. At that time badly diseased branches and all 

 infections on limbs and trunk which could be discovered 

 were removed, the latter with gouge and mallet. The 

 wounds were washed with bichloride of mercury in order 

 to kill spores or mycellium on the surface, and then cov- 

 ered with a weather proofing, consisting of pine and tar, 

 creosote and lampblack. Rosin was added for very large 

 wounds. 



The spraying began about April, 1912, and continued 

 at intervals of ten days or two weeks up to the middle of 

 November, 1912. Three times during the Summer of 

 1912 the trees were re-examined for recurrence of blight. 

 About 70 per cent, of the original canker removals were 

 successful ; that is, the disease had not spread from them. 



Wheeler and Pierce examined the trees December 14, 

 and found them in good condition. No blight cankers 

 were found, and there were no signs of blight in the tree- 

 tops, such as withered leaves or small burs. 



It is believed that several sprayings will be necessary 

 each year to prevent the reinfection of the trees from the 

 blight spores, but no more sprayings will be necessary 

 than in the case of apple trees and peach trees sufifering 

 from scab or scale. 



While the spray of Bordeaux mixture is the first non- 



destructive method of controlling the blight fungus, it is 

 not actually the first means of controlling. When the 

 blight appeared as an alarming disease several years ago 

 it was necessary to cut down all trees found infected 

 and destroy the bark with fire. Later tree surgery was 

 employed with success, the tree itself being saved by 

 merely cutting out and burning limbs or spots on the 

 trunk. Now comes the Bordeaux mixture discovery, 

 which means that a sound tree can be sprayed and ren- 

 dered immune, and that in a high percentage of cases a 

 tree can be rendered safe even though it already bears 

 blight cankers. 



Members of the State Conservation Association and 

 the State Chestnut Blight Commission are jubilant at the 

 result of the month's arduous work." x 



We are familiar with similar experiments made on one 

 of the large private estates outside of Philadelphia, where 

 no monev was spared in endeavoring to save a number of 

 fine specimen chestnuts, which showed symptoms of being 

 afl^ected with blight. Tree surgery and the application 

 of various remedies were resorted to, and for a while it 

 appeared as though the chestnut blight had been con- 

 Cjuered. But after careful treatment for nearly two years 

 the disease again manifested itself. There was no cure, 

 and these chestnuts went the way of the others — died. 

 Under these circumstances it appears that it cannot be 

 definitely decided by the experiment reported in the 

 North American, that the blight can be controlled. It 

 has been temporarily checked in some instances, but it 

 remains to be seen whether trees once attacked by the 

 blight can be permanently cured. / 



'\lx. ]\Ioe Spiegel, late superintendent of the T. M. 

 Turner's estate at Shelter Island Heights, N. Y., has 

 changed his address to Mohe2;an Lake, N. Y. 



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