HORTICULTURE 



July 22, 1905 



the German irises, but it is a grand one. The tirst 

 Japanese irises are just in. We wish they had held 

 later, as rose bugs play havoc with them. Vincetox- 

 icum japonicum, although a member of a weedy 

 family, is quite handsome. The foliage is light green, 

 and flowers pearly white. Though not exactly a 

 climber, like some of the genus, its long stems are 

 wreath-like, and have been used for garlands quite 

 effectively. 



We did not expect our rock roses would live out 

 last winter. A few were left for trial, and all came 

 out well. Lychins viscaria splendens is an old-fash- 

 ioned border plant — very bright for a time. L. 

 Chalcedonica is unique in the color of its flowers — 

 scarlet. No border plant is as bright. It can be seen 

 a long distance. It is a good plant to have, takes 

 care of itself nicely, and is nearly always in bloom. 

 After the main crop it can be cut back, like many 

 larkspurs, and it gives a second crop soon after. 

 L. coronaria Walkeri, is attractive at any time — 

 from early spring when its masses of grey foliage 

 appear, until it blooms, now. L. Flos-cuculi pi. is a 

 pretty little thing for the front, also for the rock- 

 garden. Self-sown seedlings come single and there 

 are white ones among them. Oriental poppies are 

 past; but we have yet some Iceland poppies, which 

 were among our first flowers, and also a few of the 

 Alpine kind, P. alpinum. P. pilosum is odd. Its 

 color, a satiny drab, takes every one's attention. 

 The old Welsh poppy, Meconopsis Cambrica, is very 

 early, with yellow flowers. It is a good perennial. 

 Centaurea montana, with deep blue flowers, is very 

 early and lasts a long time. C. nigra is just coming 

 in. C. nigra variegata has a charming yellow vari- 

 gation, which could be effectively used in formal 

 gardening. 



We'.leslcv, Mass. 



bite into the young leaves, sucking the juices, so that 

 when such leaves are held to the light they show 

 pellucid spots, faint yellow in color. Finally the 

 leaf turns yellow and shrivels up. The insect inserts 

 his sucking organ into the fibro-vascular bundles and 

 in some manner poisons the leaf. Sometimes purple 

 spots are found, these are also made by a little leaf- 

 hopper. 



Treatment. Kill the insects by fumigation, and 

 by spraying throughly with water under a pressure 

 of twenty to twenty-live pounds. 



6. DRV STEM ROT. (FUS.\RIUM) 



The dry stem rot gets into the stems through the 

 soil, working up into the ducts and clogging them, 

 so that the plant dies for lack of nourishment. 



It sometimes makes a spot on leaves, but it is not 

 important as the fungus can only gain entrance 

 through the epidermis when it is ruptured. 



Rosette is probably due to the entrance of the 

 elliptical spores of the Fusarium, during the healing 

 over of the cutting. 



Treatment. Sterilize soil. The disease is not very 

 important. 



Carnation Diseases 



II 



4. RHIZOCTONIA. (.\SC0MYCETES) 



This is a sterile fungus disease made up of slender 

 threads, several cells long. It reproduces by these 

 threads breaking off and continuing the growth. It 

 is a parasite, spreading through the soil, doing great 

 damage to cuttings, being a form of damping-off. 

 The filaments also work up into mature plants, caus- 

 ing wet stem rot. The affected plants turn green and 

 finally die. The inside is .soft and rotten. 



Treatment. No remedy is known. Grow plants 

 under the best conditions of moisture, nutrition, and 

 temperature. Absence of freshly decaying vegetable 

 matter in the soil, change of earth frequently, and 

 liming help. Sterilizing soil is a sure preventive. 



5. STIGMANOSE OR PUNCTURE DISEASE 



This is the so-called " Bacteriosis" but is caused by 

 thrips, aphis, red spider, and leaf hoppers. These 



a^. 



Stocks 



Among the most useful plants for the florist are 

 the wliite and colored stocks of the ten-week varie- 

 ties. Some years ago, we grew the biennial or in- 

 termediate sorts, of which the East Lothian and 

 French Cocardeau were the best types. They made 

 magnificent pot plants and sold well then, but the 

 demand has lessened now and they do not sell so 

 readily. As for cut flowers, the annual or ten- 

 week varieties have taken the place of the above- 

 named as a comparative, y short time is required for 

 their coming into bloom. The sorts mostly used for 

 cutting are the white, crimson, and purple shades of 

 the Globe and Column stocks, the Globe blossoming 

 a little longer, and of a more bushy habit than the 

 Column, which makes it better adapted for pot cul- 

 ture and market plants. 



While we do not believe in raising stocks as a 

 special crop, financially speaking we have found them 

 useful as an intermediate one, or for filling gaps in 

 case of failure of other plants, such as carnat ons, 

 etc., and so keep on hand, in winter, a stock of 

 small plants, to be used as needed, as they will come 

 in bloom in a few weeks and, in fact, I do not know 

 of any other plant that will answer the purpose as 

 well and be salable at the same time either for home 

 trade or market purposes. It was our practice, 

 years ago, to raise our own seed, selecting the end 

 pods of the flower spikes, as we found by experience 

 that the lower seed pods did not give us so large a 

 proportion of double flowers, and also using seed 

 two or three years old in preference to the new. 

 Of late years, however, by getting seed of reliable 

 growers, we have had very good results. 



r<Z^. 



