May 27, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



Fruit and Vegetables under Glass 



YOUNG VINES 



Young vines, making their first year's growth, after 

 being planted out in the border, will need constant care 

 to keep them growing straight and clean. Being cut 

 back to one eye this will now be grown to considerable 

 length and should be stopped at intervals of four feet, 

 which helps to swell out the cane. Keep this growth 

 tied to a wire to keep it straight, as this will be part 

 of the rod next year. Do not allow any laterals to 

 grow from this until it has grown half way up the 

 house. This will give you plumper eyes at base, where 

 they are needed for next season. After reaching the 

 half way line they can be left to grow more as they 

 choose. This extra head growth will cause more root 

 action, helping to fill the new border with fibrous roots. 

 Canes which were started late and have been used to 

 plenty of air will not need to be closed at all now. 

 Wliere it was necessary to start earlier through having 

 pot trees or other stufE growing in the same house, these 

 must be gradually used to more air until they can 

 stand the ventilators open right along. Syringe 

 with good force in the early morning and again as the 

 sun is declining. Leave it as late as possible in the 

 afternoon, so long as the foliage is dry by six o'clock. 

 Tliis will keep down red spider, etc., and invigorate 

 the plant. Frequent waterings will be necessary, as 

 more roots are produced. If borders are kept properly 

 moist no shade will be needed. 



SHADE FOR VINES 



All older vines carrying a crop of partly developed 

 fruit will now be benefited by a light shade on the 

 glass, Muscats taking it a little heavier than the others. 

 This prevents the strong sun from scalding the berries 

 and scorcliing the tender foliage, through excessive 

 transpiration. A serviceable shading is made of white 

 lead and gasoline and needs applying with a brush. 



FINISHED PEACH HOUSES 



Peach houses, after having the crop cleared, will need 

 to have all ventilators thrown wide open and the trees 

 given a thorough syringing. This can be kept up from 

 now on. If any pests have been troublesome, syringing 

 with some approved insecticide twice a week will help 

 exterminate them. Peach and nectarine trees in pots 

 will require similar treatment. . They can be taken out- 

 side and the pots plunged to the rim in ashes, which 

 keeps them moist and stops the wind from blowing them 

 over. Select a place where they will get plenty of sun 

 and use the hose on them morning and afternoon. 



MEALY BUG ON VINES 



1'his is a very unwelcome visitor and when once es- 

 tablished it is very hard to exterminate, the loose bark 

 around the eyes, small cracks and holes affording it 

 ample opportunity to escape the eye of the grower, and 

 from any application which may be applied in the 

 endeavor to kill it. This is a hard matter in the grow- 

 ing season, it usually being the case if solution is ap- 

 plied strong enough to kill mealy bug that it is harm- 

 ful to fruit and foliage. If bug is noticeable on grow- 

 ing vines the best way is to let a boy look over them 

 at regular intervals and kill all he can. If it has got 

 as far as the bunches, a little cotton wool tied to the 

 stalk will help to prevent its getting in. After clear- 

 1 ing the crop in any affected house, wage war against 

 them up until winter cleaning time, and then give them 

 1 extra washings. A mistake is often made in storing 

 > half-hardy shrubs in fruit houses during the winter. 



If these have been in contact with any bug-affected 

 plants at any time they are sure to have some them- 

 selves, and in their turn leave some behind for the 

 fruit grower to discover during the growing season. 

 Wien once established, in a vinery it will take time, 

 work and patience, and no partial supply of either, to 

 exterminate them. 



SHANKING OF GRAPES 



This malady causes this withering of the footstalks 

 of berries and often-times stems of the bunches, gener- 

 ally appearing when the berries show color, continuing 

 until they are ripe and sometimes afterwards. Whole 

 bunches have been known to go this way, but in such 

 cases something is radically wrong. All shanlced berries 

 are sour and worthless. Should any be noticed when 

 bunch is cut they must be removed with the scissors 

 before being used. The causes of shanking are many 

 and varied, the two chief ones being over cropping and 

 borders being in bad shape, not giving the roots a 

 chance to work as they should do. It can be seen at 

 once that the one is as bad as the other. It is always 

 possible to overcrop a vine even with good root action, 

 and with no proper energy at the root shanking wiU 

 show itself in time. 



Vines carrying an excessive crop the first year may 

 shank very little, but probably they will not color prop- 

 eily. The following season is sure to see so many ber- 

 ries shank. Proper care and stimulants if the growths 

 are weak and a reduction of the crop are all that can 

 be done when shanking commences. If the roots are 

 into a bad sub-soil and out of control through the bor- 

 der being improperly made, this must be looked to in 

 the fall and the border given a complete renovation 

 such as Horticulture advocates at that season of the 

 year. 



*fe-rv^ 



^-O-rs^ 



Something More About 

 Hippeastrums 



While endorsing every word of Mr. Finlayson's arti- 

 cle on Hippeastrums, I would like to draw attention to 

 the fact that they can be made to produce two crops of 

 flowers in the course of a season. Wliile growing some 

 of these plants we noticed that they generally send up 

 their leaves in bunches of from four to six. and those 

 that are flowered around the New Year will have these 

 leaves completed by the first of April, and if then dried 

 off slightly a flower will be pushed up that will come in 

 about Memorial Day and there will still be plenty of 

 time to grow another set of leaves by the end of Septem- 

 ber. As Mr. Finlayson points out, they are gross feed- 

 ers. We have given them doses of manure water and 

 sprinkling of Clay's fertilizer alternately, twice and 

 sometimes three times a week and they seem quite able 

 to use it all showing no bad effects from such treatment. 

 However, the plants here are pretty well root-bound in 

 eight-inch pots. 



West Medford, Mass. 



