[86 



GARDENING. 



Afar. 



bowl of a spoon or better the end of a 

 thin piece of wood slightly hollowed to 

 catch and hold the pollen. By holding 

 this under the flower and tapping the 

 same with the finger the pollen is shaken 

 off the anthers and into the spoon, and 

 the stigma then touched with that col- 

 lected, insuring thorough pollination. 



Chemin Market is sometimes mentioned 

 as a good forcing variety of the tomato. 

 Don't try it. While it yields well the 

 fruits are open celled, lackinginthat meat- 

 iness now so much desired. 



A. T.Jordan. 



New Jersey Experiment Station. 



PITHY CELERY. 



Editor Gardening: — Can you tell me 

 what ailed mv celery last season? Every 

 plant out of 20,000 of the White Plume 

 variety was pithy. Had to trim off stem 

 after stem until nothing remained but the 

 heart, and sometimes that was very 

 tough. The crop was grown on low land 

 — a mixture of muck, clay and some sand 

 on a subsoil of blue clay. 



Had heavy rains the last of Ju^e and 

 last of July. The ground was a perfect 

 mush for a week at a time. Some of the 

 plants were set back so that they did not 

 make salable beads. The ground was 

 treated with a good coat of fresh cow- 

 manure and turned under just before 

 plants were put out. Do you think a 

 good application of wood ashes would 

 help? If the fault is with the soil, what 

 would be the proper amount to apply? 



Where can I get good seed that will not 

 show a green plant to every six or eight 

 and seed that has been saved from solid 

 plants? I have an artesian well and a 

 system of irrigation in the event of a 

 drought, A. E. Mabbott. 



Union Center, Wis. 



Understanding that yourcorrespondent 

 means that the outer stems of his While 

 Plume celery were hollow and stringy — 

 often called "pipey" as the term "pithy" 

 i. e , having a pith, is erroneously applied 

 to the celery plant — I shoul'd diagnose 

 his as a very bad case of "hollow stem," 

 caused principally by a saturated soil, 

 one probably with an excess of humus in 

 its surface and an impervious condition 

 of its subsoil. 



There are so many other causes for such 

 a condition of his crop than spurious soil 

 that we should ascribe this condition to 

 them rather than to the seed. Celery 

 requires for best results a damp cool soil, 

 but while true muck lands produce an 

 earlier and more luxuriant growth, soils 

 consisting of more alluvia produce the 

 most "solid" and long-keeping celery. 



Surface soils of a peaty character, espe- 

 cially when new and the decomposed 

 humus not incorperated well with the 

 subsoil, be it loam, sand or clay will in 

 wet seasons produce results such as are 

 in question, while with these conditions 

 corrected a good "solid" crop can be pro- 

 duced from the same bag of seed which 

 failed under the unfavorable circum- 

 stances. 



The White Plume variety is not of such 

 a thoroughly fixed character, but that 

 unusual and unfavorable conditions dur- 

 ing growth can cause reversion, so that 

 we have seen crops grown from the same 

 bag of seed, one of them producing fully 

 one-half green stalks and the other crop 

 showing perhaps not over ten green 

 plants in 1000, though in this respect it 

 is a very rare crop of White Plume celery 

 which will not show a few green stalks 

 here and there in the field. 



I would advise your correspondent, if 

 his land lies so low that in a wet season 

 water rises nearer than sixteen inches to 

 the surface, to ditch or underdrain so 

 that his field cannot become "mushy," to 

 plow deeply and to apply 1000 to 1400 

 pounds of unleaehed ashes on such a 

 nitrogenous soil as his evidently is and to 

 fertilize onlv with thoroughly rotted 

 manures. 



There could bemuch more written upon 

 this subject than space allows of here, 

 but for the purpose of a more exhaustive 

 redy I would recommend to Mr. Mab- 

 bott a perusal of the "Celery Manual," 

 revised edition which will answer his 

 further queries regarding irrigation, seed, 

 etc. Burt Eddy. 



THE SAN JOSE SCALE SCARE. 



Inquiries go far in showing that at 

 least some of the San Jose scale alarmists 

 keep putting themselves in print with the 

 view of securing a fat job as inspector or 

 commissioner, and the question is now 

 trequ ntly asked, "Will these fellows 

 scare away other foreign markets besides 

 Germany?" Ourinformation shows that 

 where the San Jose scale has longest been 

 it is on the decrease, and in some sections 

 that were infested twenty years ago the 

 scale has nearly, if not quite, disappeared. 

 Many attribute this disappearance to 

 natural death, some to its parasite, some 

 to spraving. 



Inquiri s made of authorities in Cali 

 fornia, inform the writer that in that 

 state it is easier and less expensive to 

 combat the scale than codlin moth or 

 fungus diseases, and that one thorough 

 spraying destroys this pest, that thay 

 do not have to burn trees infested with 

 San Jose scale, and further, that it is 

 receiving less attention than some of the 

 pests we have east of the Rockies. Prof. 

 Slingerland of Ithaca, N. Y., says: "I 

 believe that those fruitgrowers who now 

 successfully combat the canker worm, 

 pear psylla andcurculio will be equally as 

 successful in dealing with this pest " 



The idea has been advanced that the 

 scale in colder climates proves harder to 

 combat, that nature in such a climate 

 will, or does thicken the scale. But if it 

 is a native of Tasmania, Japan and 

 Hawaii, will it thrive long in our more 

 severe climates? Its decrease in some 

 sections and disappearance in other sec- 

 tions where it first appeared may be 

 taken as a promise that we are not 

 going to be visited, alter all, with the 

 eighth plague. 



No one advocates neglect. But the 

 alarmists will do more damage than the 

 San Jose scale. If the papers keep on 

 giving nothing but the alarmist side, 

 other foreigners will get panicky and do 

 as did Germany. But above is given 

 simply the result of inquiries made of 

 those where the San Jose scale has long- 

 est been. Irving Spaulding. 



The Flower Garden. 



YARD CULTURE OF ROSES. 



There are three important things to be 

 considered to be successful with the culti- 

 vation of out-door roses: First, a suit- 

 able location; second, suitable soil, and 

 last, but not least, suitable varieties. I 

 know of many persons who go to the 

 woods to get light soil from old tree 

 stumps which they use for preparing a 

 bed for roses, and, after planting their 



roses in this soil and watering them care- 

 fully, feel discouraged that they do not 

 make a strong growth. 



In order to grow roses in the yard the 

 first important thing is a good open 

 exposure, if thirty or forty feet away 

 from large trees so much the better. A 

 yellow, rather heavy fibrous loam with 

 good drainage is considered the ideal soil 

 for roses. Spread two or three inches of 

 well-rotted cow manure over the bed, 

 thoroughly mix same to the depth of one 

 foot or a trifle over. A bed prepared in 

 this manner should grow first-class roses; 

 if your soil is a hard, sticky clay it should 

 be removed to the depth of fifteen inches 

 and replaced with soil such as the above. 



I have often been asked the best varie- 

 ties for outdoor culture, and if I was to 

 be confined to but three varieties, I should 

 plant Clothilde Soupert, Mme. Caroline 

 Testout and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria; 

 these are three gems of the first water, 

 perfectly hardy here, good growers and of 

 good color. I do not wish to convey the 

 idea that these three varieties are the only 

 sorts we should grow as there are many 

 handsome and satisfactorj- kinds which 

 should be in every collection. I will name 

 twelve of the varieties which have given 

 the most satisfaction here: Clothilde 

 Soupert, pink shading to white; Mme. C. 

 Testout, clear pink; Kaiserin Augusta 

 Victoria, white shading to light yellowin 

 center; Meteor, velvety crimson; Belle 

 Siebrecht, rosy pink; American Beauty, 

 deep rose; La France, pink; Champion of 

 the World, rosy pink; Mignonette, very 

 dwarf, carmine pink; Wootton, light red; 

 Mme. de Watteville, white with pink 

 shadings, very beautiful; Souv.de la Mal- 

 maison, flesh color. 



These varieties are all hardy in this 

 vicinity, (except Mme. de Watteville) if 

 planted in a well drained soil; a lightcov- 

 ering of manure, mostl} r straw, thrown 

 carelessly over the plants late in fall will 

 be beneficial. In a later issue I will give 

 my views on summer treatment of yard 

 or outdoor roses. W.W.Coles. 



Indian.i. 



TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 



For several years we have had some 

 beds of tuberous begonias olanted outside, 

 but until the past summer they have not 

 given satisfaction. I now believe that in 

 former years we did not select a suitable 

 place to grow them. Last spring we 

 had two additional beds made on the 

 north side of buildings. Each of the beds 

 had a border of tuberous begonias which 

 bloomed profusely all summer and au- 

 tumn, and were greatly admired by all 

 who saw them. 



The tubers were one year old. They 

 were potted the first week in March; put 

 in 5 inch pots in a mixture of two parts 

 sandy loam, one part leaf mould, one part 

 decomposed cow manure, and one part 

 sand. They were placed under the green- 

 house bench, with the temperature of the 

 house kept at 60°, and watered occas- 

 ionally. 



When they had started to grow they 

 were placed on thegreenhouse bench near 

 the glass. They were removed to the 

 frames about the first of April, where 

 they got some heat from a hotbed. The 

 hotbed was arranged in this way: At 

 both ends were portions in which heating 

 compost was placed. The plants were 

 placed on a board platform near the 

 glass, over the space where no heat was 

 generated. 



The boards were covered with ashes 

 and the plants were carefully tended as 

 regards watering and ventilating. They 



