April, 1910 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



93 



I 



case they should be re-transplanted as 

 soon as they become crowded. 



Some gardeners leave the plants fair- 

 ly close and keep them short and stocky 

 by repeatedly clipping the leaves. This 

 practice is apt to exhaust the vitality of 

 the plants and is often followed by a 

 large percentage running to seed. 



The principle to be observed in rais- 

 ing celery plants is to secure an even, 

 vigorous, unchecked growth throughout. 

 The dangers to be avoided are over- 

 crowding, unnaturally forced growth 

 and subjecting the plants to a moist, 

 steamy atmosphere, often the case in 

 greenhouses and hotbeds. Any severe 

 check to the young plants may result in 

 disaster by weakening their vitality, 

 rendering them likely to run to seed 

 and making them liable to attacks of 

 disease. 



Leaf Hopper on Vegetables 



Arthur Gibson, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa 



In eastern Ontario and Quebec the rav- 

 ages of the apple leaf hopper (Empoas- 

 ca mail) to potatoes, beans and many 

 other kinds of plants, were very serious 

 in igo8; in fact, this outbreak was one 

 of the most important of the year. The 

 apple leaf hopper is a very small, slender, 

 pale, greenish insect, about one-eighth 

 of an inch long when mature. That year 

 it began to make its presence known to- 

 wards the end of June, by causing the 

 leaves of the attacked plants to curl up 

 and turn brown. The injury is done by 

 thousands of these small insects sucking 

 the juices from the leaves and stems of 

 the plant, which very soon blackens and 

 fades. 



The young leaf hoppers do not get their 

 wings for some little time after they 

 hatch from the egg. It is during this 

 stage that most of the harm is done, and 

 this is the only time when a remedy can 

 be applied with much success. Potatoes 

 which were sprayed at the Central Ex- 

 perimental Farm with whale oil soap, one 

 pound in five gallons of water, or with 

 the ordinary kerosene emulsion, early in 

 JiJy, before the young leaf hoppers had 

 acquired their wings, were freed from the 

 pest and not since injured to any apprec- 

 iable extent. As these insects feed on the 

 lower side of the leaves, it is necessary 

 in order to reach them with a spray, to 

 attach a nozzle to a short joint of pipe 

 about a foot long, having an angle of 

 about forty-five degrees in it. The sever- 

 ity of the outbreak of this insect in 1908, 

 was doubtless much aggravated by the 

 exceptional drought and heat, which 

 weakened the plants and made them 

 more than usually susceptible to injury. 



Tomatoes in Western Home Gardens 



Brervda E. Neville, Cottonwood, Saskatchewan 



THE hotbed for tomato plants should again, choose a coudy day if possible, 



be made just as for raising other If a cloudy day does not come, never 



seedlings — a couple of feet of straw- mind. Lift each plant carefully, and 



less horse manure well packed, covered set in garden, deeply, so deep that only 



with nearly six inches of light sandy the top shows. Do not leave a bare stem 



loam, very fine. Water well, cover with above the ground, no matter how long 



glass, and leave for a few days until the it is. Fill the hole the plant stands in 



weed-seeds start to grow. It will be with cold water. Fill in with earth, 



safe then to set in the tomato plants. leaving the soil loose on top. If the 



Rake the surface of the bed well to sun is very hot a little shade may be 



kill all weeds that have started. Slip given beneficially, but I have set plants 



the plants carefully from their pots, and out in this way without shade, and had 



.S2t them quite deeply in the soil of the them do nicely. 



hotbed, placing water about each root 



The ideal location for a cranberry bog 

 is one that imitates natural conditions 

 as far as possible and enables the grow- 

 er to have the greatest control over late 

 frosts in spring and early frosts in fall. 



Branch of Dwarf Giant Tomato 



Grown by Mr. E. A. Sanderson. Dauphin, 

 Man. Seventeen tomatoes averaged fourteen 

 ounces each. 



as before. The plants should stand six 

 inches apart each way in the hotbed. 

 After planting, sprinkle the whole bed 

 lightly with cold water. Cover with the 

 glass, and shade the bed if the sun is 

 hot, by spreading over it an old blanket, 

 or a length of burlap. Shade will only 

 be required for a day or two, after which 

 the sun will do no harm. 



On hot days the glass should be raised 

 a little to admit air. As the plants grow 

 they should be given all the air possible 

 without chilling them. Accustom them 

 gradually to the wind. Long before 

 time to set them in the open garden, the 

 glass may be removed all day. Stand- 

 ing so close together the wind will not 

 break the plants easily, and they will 

 become tough and hardy. 



It will not be safe to set them in the 

 garden until after the first full moon in 

 June. We usually have a light frost 

 then. When the nights grow warm 



Watch your plants, and when the sec- 

 ond bunch of flowers opens on each 

 branch, nip off the rest of the branch 

 above the flowers. I would say nip off 

 all but the first bunch of flowers only 

 sometimes the first bunch does not set 

 fruit. Do not prune the side branches 

 off. It leaves the plant too much ex- 

 posed to the winds which prevail here. 

 But keep the ends nipped closely. 



Do not water after transplanting ; 

 and do not cultivate deeply. It induces 

 too rank a growth, and the fruit will 

 not ripen. 



Following the above method, a small 

 crop of ripe fruit may be gathered most 

 seasons ; and a large crop of nearly 

 ripe fruit may be picked and stored 

 away in boxes of bran, where they will 

 ripen slowly after the plants are frozen 

 outdoors. Tomatoes mature slowly here 

 because our nights are so cold even in 

 the hottest weather. 



Profit in Potatoes 



At the convention of the Western 

 Horticultural Society held at Winnipeg 

 in February an address was given by S. 

 R. Henderson of Kildonan, Man., on 

 "Potato Growing." Mr. Henderson 

 pointed out that even at the low yield 

 of 192 bushels an acre, given as official 

 returns for the average yield of the prov- 

 ince, potatoes at 35 cents a bushel were 

 a paying crop. He emphasized the 

 necessity for the use of good seed, good 

 cultivation and good land and estimated 

 the profits on one acre as follows : 



COST OF PEODUOTION 



Seed, 20 bus. @ 500 $10.00 



Plowing 2 . 50 



Harrowing 2 .00 



Cultivating 2 .00 



Hilling 1 .00 



Hoeing 4 . 00 



Digging 5-00 



Marketing 16.00 



$42 . 50 

 PROFIT 



Yield, 250 bus. @ 3sc $87.50 



Less cost of production .... 42 . 50 



Profit for one acre $45- 00 



