January 23, 1915 



HORTICULTUEE 



lOj 



TOMATOES UNDER GLASS. 

 Horticulture Pub. Co.: 



Dear Sirs: — Will you kindly give me a 

 little information regarding tomato culture 

 under glass? I am using my old cold 

 frame soil, which for two years previous 

 has grown lettuce with good success. I 

 heated this soil upon iron plates (to kill 

 eel worm) which I wheeled to my benches, 

 at the same time adding one double hand- 

 ful of fine ground bonedust to each barrow 

 load of soil, thoroughly mixing same; after 

 this I watered the soil to cause the bone- 

 meal to decay. 



I planted my tomatoes six weeks later 

 from 5-inch pots; the plants stand 21 

 inches and 2i inches in the open bench. 

 Six weeks later I gave a dressing of air- 

 slacked lime and worked this into the top 

 inch of soil. I stirred my top soil slightly 

 to keep the green down. AW soil here uatu- 

 rally is in part decayed pine needle, and 

 it is hard to get soil free from it. I keep 

 my houses as near as possible 70 degrees 

 by day and .j."j to iJO degrees at night. The 

 only venlilatiou is through the top; no 

 side ventilatii'u whatever, except through 

 the doors on \Aarm days. 



The result is in brief: The tomatoes art' 

 Beauty (Livingstone), Redfleld Beauty, 

 Plum, Red Peach. Wonder of Italy, etc. 

 The first bunch of fruit does well, and 

 ripen in four months. The second and 

 third bunch grew to about half size, then 

 stopped swelling and look as though they 

 have done all they are going to do. The 

 bloom of the fourth bunch dropped en- 

 tirely. 



I have a little "sleepy disease," but I am 

 free from yellow spot with my plants. Can 

 you give me any remedy? Am after giv- 

 ing them two light "dressings of phosphoric 

 acid. Kindly oblige a subscriber. W. V. 



Georgia. 



In answer to W. V.'s inquiry in re- 

 gard to tomato trouble, from details 

 given, I should say two things were 

 responsible. In the first place the 

 compost used appears to be satisfac- 

 tory so far, but does not contain suf- 

 ficent food to carry the plants along. 

 When cropping tomatoes will stand 

 quite heavy feeding if the compost of 

 the soil is right. Soil used for two 

 crops of lettuce will have lost some 

 of the necessary food required by the 

 tomatoes. A good compost for toma- 

 toes should be fresh soil with the ad- 

 dition of one half pound each of super- 

 phosphate and wood ashes with a dust- 

 ing of bone meal. The bone meal 

 alone would have the tendency to 

 create a leafy unfruitful growth. The 

 plants should be planted fairly firm 

 to encourage a fine root system and 

 when established in this compost and 

 fruit set they will take regular feed- 

 ing with liquid manure or weak ap- 

 plication of nitrate of soda 1 oz. to the 

 square yard. 



Secondly the tomatoes will not 

 thrive unless supplied with plenty of 

 air and light. It is rather difficult to 

 give tomatoes a circulation of air 

 without bottom ventilation. A chink 

 of air on the bottom and top of the 

 house with a warm pipe will create a 

 bouyant dry atmosphere most suitable 

 for tomatoes' developing and setting. 

 The temperature stated by W. V. 

 should be all right if other matters 

 are attended to 



.1. W. Smith, 



Ridgefield, Conn. 



In our editorial note last week re- 

 garding the influence of environment 

 on seed qualities a slip of the pen 

 made us say "five or si.x months' in- 

 stead of "five of six weeks" as to the 

 time required for the germination of 

 buttercup seed. 



CAMPANULA PYRAMIDALIS. 



The accompanying picture gives a 

 very inadequate impression of the 

 beauty of this stately plant, which in 

 tints of deep or pale blue and pure 

 white adds so rich and dignified ef- 

 fect and delicious perfume to the 

 halls and balconies of the summer es- 

 tates that abound in the mountains 

 and along the North Atlantic Coast. 

 Six or eight feet of inflorescence is not 



Campan'ula ptbamidalis 



uncommon and if the plants are en- 

 closed and screened so that the bees 

 will not fertilize the flowers and seeds 

 will not form they will keep flowering 

 over the entire length of the raceme 

 for a remarkable period of time. 



The plant shown was grown and 

 photographed by William McLeod, 

 Southampton. N. Y. 



PROPAGATING CHRYSANTHE- 

 MUMS. 



Dear Sir; Will you please answer the 

 following question in your next issue? 



When is the best time to strike chrys- 

 anthemum cuttings, and will they do in 

 part of carnation house or rose house after 

 they are rooted? What treatment do they 

 require? Is It best to put glass over them? 



(Connecticut. W. 



The best time to strike chrysanthe- 

 mum cuttings is generally about the 

 middle of March. The early varieties 

 might safely be started March 1, mid- 

 season and late varieties rooted later 

 on in the month and even in April, 

 depending upon whether they are to 

 be grown several to the stem or single. 

 The former should be struck earlier. 

 After they are rooted the cuttings will 

 do very well in carnation temperature; 

 but not in the rose house, as doing so 

 would make them too soft. Do not 

 put glass over them, as they are li- 

 able to damp off when thus shut in. 



PLANT FOR NAME. 



The specimen sent to this ofl[lce for 

 identification by "A. .1. M." Tarrytown, 

 -V. Y.. appears to be Santolina 

 Chamaecy parissus. But for proper 

 identification of any plant something 

 more than the tip of a twig should be 

 sent — also information as to flower, 

 habit of .growth, etc.. all of which A. 

 .1. M. neglected to send. 



THE ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWER 

 SHOWS. 



Editor of Hokticlxtlre: 



My Dear Sir — Your article or edito- 

 rial in the issue of Houticulture for 

 December 26, on more decorative fea- 

 tures for our flower shows interests 

 me not a little. 



It occurs to me to write you of A 

 small episode of my own recent expe- 

 rience. For the Daffodil Year Book ot 

 the Royal Horticultural Society I ha(J 

 occasion to write this past year an ar- 

 ticle on "The Daffodil in America." In 

 the course of this I described the daf' 

 fodil show of the Garden Club of 

 Michigan and spoke with enthusiasm 

 of the beautiful exhibits in the class 

 which called for arrangements of daf- 

 fodils with two other flowers. Rev. W. 

 Wilks, the Secretary of The Royal 

 Horticultural Society in his preface to 

 the Year Book said: 'Some of our cor- 

 respondents must pardon us if we ask 

 that in future such accounts should 

 only contain matter connected with 

 Daffodils and not with other Spring- 

 flowering plants.' 



When the Year Book received its 

 review in The Gardener's Chronicle 

 (London) of November 7th, this pass- 

 age appeared: "Is it too much to 

 hope that we may some day see the 

 baskets and artistically arranged 

 vases and tables referred to by Mrs. 

 Francis King in her account of the 

 Daffodil in America finding a place in 

 the Westminster schedule." 



I venture to add this bit of conflict- 

 ing opinion to the discussion in your 

 columns which is full of interest to all 

 who hope to see our flower shows in- 

 crease in beauty and effectiveness. 

 How the shows at The Grand Central 

 Palace are planned I do not know, but 

 the advice of the best landscape archi- 

 tect in the country would be none too 

 good for such an occasion as this. I 

 mean, of course, on the general ar- 

 rangement of exhibits, —the floor as a 

 whole. 



Very truly yours, 



Louisa King. 



Alma, Jlich. 



GRAFTING ORANGE TREES. 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



I am a subscriber to HORTICULTURE 

 and I write to ask for Information through 

 your paper on the grafting of orange trees. 

 How and when Is the best time to do it 

 under glass and what are the best grafts 

 to use? Should older ripened wood or 

 softer growing wood be used for the 

 grafts? 



Yours trulv, 



C. H. T. 



Oranges under glass can be grafted 

 any time from December to May. The 

 best wood is half ripe material, side or 

 cleft graft or budding. It the tree Is 

 old, shorten the long branches and 

 graft as near to the base of stem as 

 possible or on the old stem if not too 

 coarse. As soon as grafted, keep in 

 close frame or under glass for two or 

 three weeks, occasionally looking to 

 see that there is not too much mois- 

 ture. As soon as the bud or graft be- 

 gins to grow, slacken the binding, but 

 do not take off the tying material until 

 the graft is well established. After 

 about three weeks, it ought to be able 

 to stand in the green house, but not in 

 too airy a position at first. 



J.VCKSON Dawso.n 

 Jamaica Plain. Mass. 



