July 29, 19U 



HOKT1CU LTU RE 



131 



LILIUM FARQUHARI. 



Our cover illustration this week 

 shows another of the new hardy lilies 

 collected by E. H. Wilson in his 

 Chinese explorations. Mr. Wilson 

 thought enough of this new species to 

 name it Liliuni Farquhari a^ a compli- 

 ment to Messrs. Farquhar of Boston, 

 with whom his relations have for years 

 been of the most friendly nature. 



At Horticultural Hall, Boston, on 

 Saturday, July 22, this lily was exhib- 

 ited for the first time and received the 

 award of a silver medal. It was shown 

 in cut form from the garden and as 

 plants in pots, some of the bulbs hav- 

 ing produced two, three and four 

 flower spikes. 



The flowers are very large, pure 

 white except for a shading of green 

 on the lower outside half of the trum- 

 pet and a soft green stripe towards the 

 base of each petal inside. The nine 

 plants shown displayed considerable 

 variation in type, the shape of the 

 trumpet, height of stalk, and the fra- 

 grance differing in several specimens. 

 The photograph which we have repro- 

 duced gives an excellent idea of the 

 waxy beauty of this new comer which, 

 being hardy and easily grown, should 

 in time take a high place among the 

 forcing lilies as well as for garden 

 use. 



Messrs. Farquhar at the same time 

 showed Lilium myriophyllum again 

 and the impression grows that this 

 beautiful lily has surely come to stay. 

 Pure white with orange flush in the 

 centre and deliciously fragrant, it will 

 undoubtedly become a popular cut 

 flower. Also a large exhibit was made 

 of a very uniform strain of Lilium 

 longiflorum grown in Korea and these 

 were given honorable mention. 



TOMATO DISEASES. 



In Bulletin No. 138, June, 1911, of 

 the Massachusetts Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Dr. George E. Stone has treated 

 the subject of Tomato Diseases in an 

 exhaustive manner. This is a topic 

 to which Dr. Stone has given many 

 years of study and experiment and 

 is an unimpeachable authority. Every- 

 one of the 32 pages covered is valua- 

 ble reading for the vegetable gardener. 

 Some sixteen diseases, induced by par- 

 asitic organisms or by abnormal func- 

 tions are fully treated as their causes 

 and prevention, soil conditions, etc. 

 Dr. Stone sums up as follows: 



"Tomatoes are subject to various dis- 



eases, some of which are common to 

 outdoor plants and others confined to 

 those grown in greenhouses, and many 

 affect crops grown under either condi- 

 tion. 



The methods of treating outdoor 

 crops necessarily differ from those re- 

 quired inside, since in the latter case 

 the environment is more or less under 

 control, and by proper control of the 

 environment most of the diseases may 

 be eliminated. 



The principal diseases affecting out- 

 door tomatoes are the blossom end 

 rot, tomato scab (Cladosporium), an- 

 thracnose (Colletotrichum), leaf blight 

 (Septoria), leaf blight (Cylindrospo- 

 rium), leaf mold (Alternaria), bacte- 

 rial blight, downy mildew (Phytoph- 

 thora) and timber rot (Sclerotinia). 

 The first six occur to a greater or less 

 extent in Massachusetts, some of them 

 occasionally causing considerable dam- 

 age. The others have been noted else- 

 where and have often proved trouble- 

 some. 



For the present, spraying must be 

 recommended for the treatment of 

 outdoor tomato diseases, although in 

 some cases it is of doubtful value, and 

 the returns from the crop during cer- 

 tain seasons in some sections would 

 warrant little expenditure in this di- 

 rection. Proper training and pruning 

 are beneficial and a sufficient water 

 supply is of value in the control of 

 the blossom end rot. 



The principal diseases affecting 

 greenhouse tomatoes are the blossom 

 end rot, timber rot, scab (Cladospo- 

 rium), eel worms, wilt, surface molds, 

 burn or scald, hollow stem, Oedema 

 and mosaic disease. Of these, the 

 first four are the most important and 

 can be absolutely controlled — the blos- 

 som end rot by sub-irrigation, timber 

 rot and eel worms by sterilizing the 

 soil, and scab or Cladosporium by 

 regulating the air moisture. The re- 

 maining ones are of little importance 

 and as a rule result from abnormal 

 conditions which should not be pres- 

 ent. 



The most important features in 

 greenhouse culture are those connect- 

 ed with the management of the crop. 

 Too great stress cannot be laid upon 

 the necessity of the gardener's under- 

 standing the influence of such factors 

 as heat, light, moisture, ventilation, 

 etc. He should be careful about intro- 

 ducing radical changes in the manage- 

 ment of the crop, and much discretion 

 must be used in the application of 

 fertilizers." 



Copies of the bulletin may be ob- 

 tained on application to the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, Amherst, 

 Mass. 



SPRAYING TO KILL DANDELIONS. 



Review of Bulletin No. 335, N. Y. Experi- 

 ment Station, by F. H. Hall. 



In spite of the beauty of their bright 

 blossoms in early spring, dandelions 

 are regarded with disfavor by practi- 

 cally every lawn-owner. Their rapid 

 growth, crowding out the grass, pre- 

 vents the development of an even 

 sward; and their coarse leaves, un- 

 sightly flower-stalks and fuzzy tops 

 serve as unseemly decorations for the 

 ideal lawn. They have been fought, 

 and usually with slight success, wher- 

 ever they have appeared in dooryards, 

 parks or boulevards. Digging them up 

 is tedious and disheartening; for their 

 abundance makes it no small task to 

 cut them out even on a few square 

 yards, and unless cut very deeply, 

 new crowns form and the owner's la- 

 bors result only in an increase in the 

 numbers of plants. In tests at the Sta- 

 tion two plants were cut off repeated- 

 ly, below the crown, before any of the 

 new leaves were four inches long; yet 

 one plant died only after seven cut- 

 tings, the other after eight. 



In other parts of the country, spray- 

 ing with iron sulphate (copperas) has 

 been reported successful in controll- 

 ing these lawn pests; so that it was 

 with high hopes that an experiment 

 along this line was started on the Sta- 

 tion grounds. A 10-ft. strip about 100 

 feet long of blue-grass lawn was 

 sprayed six times during the summer 

 of 1909 with iron sulphate solution con- 

 taining 1% lbs. of the chemical in a 

 gallon of water, the sprayings being 

 about four weeks apart and made, as 

 far as possible, under conditions 

 thought best adapted to kill the weeds. • 

 Success was not reached that year; so 

 in 1910 the sulphate was increased to 

 2 lbs. to the gallon, the applications 

 were made two weeks apart, and in 

 three treatments the strip was sprayed 

 twice, from different directions. 



By the end of June, six treatments 

 had been given and the effect on the 

 grass of the lawn, with checking of 

 growth by drouth, made it unsafe to 

 spray longer. At this time 1085 liv- 

 ing dandelion plants still remained, 

 few less than on the untreated lawn 

 beside the strip. 



The spray blackened the dandelion 

 foliage, so that the first impression 

 was that the treatment was effective. 

 It did retard or prevent blossoming; 

 but it did not destroy the roots. The 

 application of the copperas also made 

 the grass foliage black and unsightly, 

 though this effect usually disappeared 

 before the next spraying. In no way, 

 however, can spraying with* iron sul- 

 phate be considered a success in re- 

 moving dandelions from lawns in New 

 York State. 



Our Seventh Annual Convention Number 



<J Will be issued under date of August 12, 191 I. It will be full of interest for those who go 

 to the Convention at Baltimore, and equally so for those who stay at home. It will be widely 

 distributed and in publicity value to the advertiser will have no superior. Take a genercus sized 

 space in HORTICULTURE. You'll find yourself in good company. J* «** .** «2* J" 



IT PAYS! IT PAYS! IT PAYS! 



