176 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



wrapped in their slumbers. When a person gets 

 so interested in his occupation that it rests on 

 his mind, he is sure to be successful, I care not 

 what business it may be. It has never entered 

 my mind to reduce the time of cultivating:, but 

 to see if I could cultivate oftener with the same 

 capital invested. 



In General. Man.v failures are made by farm- 

 ers who think they can make a success of jL^row- 

 ing fruit in a year or so. This is a mistake, and 

 it cannot be done, for you have to become ac- 

 customed to its secrets. Were I to stand before 

 you all day I could not tell you all that has to be 

 gone through in the cultivation of fruit. Nor 

 could you tell me your rotation of work on the 

 farm. Whatever may be a possibility as to size, 

 yield or growth of the plant to the amateur, 

 these matters are not for the commercial grower 

 if not compilable with a clear, economical invests 

 ment. Look at the matter as you may, the 

 question arises: " Will it payV" This is a test by 

 which the whole matter must be tested. 



Knowledge is power in fruit growing as well 

 as in any other occupation, and the man that 

 knows most about his business is the one that 

 will be successful. 



I cannot but believe that manure this year has 

 an added value ne.vt, with the strawberry es- 

 pecially, for the manure in this time becomes 

 more available for plant food. It reciuires more 

 manure for some varieties than for others. The 

 Sharpless and Cumberland require more fertili- 

 zation than Wilson or Crescent. Why'/ Because 

 they require more plant food; it takes a greater 

 amount for the plant, and should the plant take 

 all the substance from the soil, what would be- 

 come of the fruit at fruiting time? To the man 

 that grows poor fruit we can give but little en- 

 coui-agement. He is like the poor farmer; he 

 meets discouragement e\ery time he turns. He 

 will neither give good culture, nor has he money 

 to spend for fertilizing. The cost of plants and 

 experience of setting are the same to him in what- 

 ever way he goes at it. 



The Strawberry Midget. 



IFrom a Paper by Clarence M. Weed, Champaign, 

 before the Central Illinois Hortieultural Society. ^ 



About the middle of last May there began 

 to appear iu the local papers of some of the 

 principal Strawberry-growing regions of 

 Illinois accounts of a minute "midget" 

 that was swarming iu the Strawberry blos- 

 soms, and was supposed to be blighting the 

 fruit. The insect was generally believed to 

 be entirely new. Some observers saw the 

 insects in Raspberry and Blackberry blos- 

 soms, and were apprehensive that these also 

 would be injured. 



Ic is a Thrip. The Thrip family (Thripithv) to 

 which this Strawberry midget belongs is a pecu- 

 liar one, which has as yet been very little studied 

 in this country. In Europe, something over 

 forty species have been described, but American 

 entomologists have so far recognized only about 

 one-third this number. The 2'hriinilm are minute, 

 active insects, mostly less than one-tenth of an 

 inch long, having delicately-fringed wings folded 

 flat upon the back, with free mouth pai'ts, by 

 means of which they can both bite and suck, and 

 two-jointed tarsi without claws. 



The species in question was described in IH.'j.') by 

 I)r. Asa Fitch, at that time State Entomologist 

 of New York, as Thrips tritici, or the Wheat 

 Thrips. It is yellow in color, with the thorax 

 tinted with orange, and the antenna- with dusky 

 annulations. The female is larger than the male, 

 the wings in the latter reaching beyond the 

 abdomen, while in the former they do notextend 

 to the tip. The \\ heat Thrips occur abundantly 

 throughout the season on blossoms of clover. 

 Wistaria, Apple, Pear, Raspberry, Blackberry, 

 and many other plants. Its life history has not 

 been fully traced, but probably is similar to that 

 of related species which are known to pass the 

 winter as adults, and deposit their eggs on the 

 surfaces of the leaves in April or May. There 

 are probably many broods each season. 



How it Inflicts Injury. Prof. Herbert Osborne 

 states that he has found what was probably the 

 same species as our Strawberry midget in Apple 

 blossoms, doing serious in.iury to the style of the 

 pistils. A careful examination of a number of 

 unopened buds revealed the fact that in eighty 

 per cent, of them the style had been more or less 

 injured by biting and puncturing. He became 

 convinced that they were doing much injin-y b.v 

 preventing the fertilization of the flowers. 



The injury to the Strawberry blossom is very 

 similar to that just described. 1 examined hun- 

 dreds of blossoms at Normal and found that 

 those in which the Thrips were swarming almost 

 invariably had a large proportion of the pistils 

 seriously injured, the styles being usually the 

 part attacked, and soon became black and dead. 

 Of course the effect of this prevention of fertil- 

 ization is to dwarf or blight the berry, as the 

 receptacle does not develop beneath non-fertil- 

 ized seeds. Probably much more damage was 

 attributed to the Strawberry midget than it really 

 did. The effect of its injury is much the same as 

 might result from half a dozen other causes, and 

 1 am inclined to believe that much of the blight- 

 ing was due to an insufficient supply of pollen 

 quite as much as to the midget, and that had the 

 weather been favorable to a strong, healthy 

 development of the blossoms the injury would 

 not have been so great as it was. 



The Worst in Dry Seasons. The past seasonal 

 superabundance of this insect is probably due to 

 the extraordinary dry weather of this and pre- 

 ceding years. Dry weather is favorable to the 

 multiplication of most terrestrial insects. Inas- 

 much as these insects have doubtless been pres- 

 ent in the Strawberry fields of Illinois for many 

 years, but have never before been known to do 

 such serious damage, and as this increase in 

 numbers was concomitant with the extreme dry 

 weather, it does not seem probable that there 

 will be a regular repetition of the damage in the 

 future. This insect may possibly serve to em- 

 phasize seasonal extremes of weather. 



Semedies. Little can yet be said upon this 

 part of our subject. It is not probable that the 

 burning of plantations after the fruit is gathered 

 will produce any appreciable effect upon their 

 nurabei's, as they largely leave the \ines when 

 the blossoming season is over. Nor does it seem 

 pr<jbable that topical applications will prove of 

 practical value. It does seem desirable, however, 

 that the supply of pollen should be as large as 

 possible; and I believe that many of our growers 

 would be benefited by planting a larger propor- 

 tion of staminate varieties. 



Some Insecticides and Their Uses. 



lE,rtractfroui a paper by F'rof. F. M. Webster, before 

 the Indiana Horticultural Society. Observatiotis by 

 N. Ohmer.] 



Arsenical Poisons. Of poisonous substances, 

 u.sed as insecticides, Paris green, London 

 ])urple and white arsenic are the most popu- 

 lar, their popularity being in the order given. 



A|iplied in the powder unadulterated Paris 

 green should be thoroughly mixed, 14 pound to 

 20 pounds of flour, or some other powdered sub- 

 stance, and this mixture dusted upon the plants 

 to be protected. In a liquid form the same 

 amount should be mixed with 40 to 50 gallons of 

 water, and applied in the form of a spray, using 

 only enough of the mixture to wet the foliage, 

 without drenching it. London purple is used iu 

 the same manner, but only about J^ of a pound 

 with the above amount of flour or water. Many 

 people prefer the purple to either of the other 

 substances. White arsenic should be used in the 

 same proportions as London purple, but if used 

 in the liquid form, it should be first boiled in a 

 small amount of water, and this added to the 

 required amount of water to properly dilute it. 

 For single applications for leaf-eating insects, a 

 slightly larger amount of the poisons may be 

 used, but where the plants require several appli- 

 cations, the proportions given will be found the 

 most satisfactory. 



The efficiency of these applications in combat- 

 ing the Apple worm of the Codling Moth has been 

 settled beyond the shadow of a doubt. Experi- 

 ments indicate that the loss by reason of the 

 attack of this insect could be reduced 69 to 71 per 

 cent by the application of a spray of Paris green 

 and water, three times during the season. 



In the experiments of Mr. Hammond of Illinois, 

 a mixture of London purple and water was used, 

 mixing one-half pound of the former with about 

 forty gallons of the latter, and spraying three 

 hundred Apple trees three times, the cost of 

 these applications amounting to three cents per 

 tree. From these three hundred sprayed trees 

 there were gathered .-iOO bushels of Apples, eighty- 

 five or ninety per cent of them marketable. 

 From the same number of trees in an adjoining 

 orchard not spiayed not a peck of perfect fruit 

 was obtained. Mr. Hammond thinks his mixture 

 was too strong this year, and next season will 

 reduce it to the extent of using one-half pound 

 of the purple to sixt.v gallons of water. 



In using these mixtures they should be applied 

 as soon as the bloom disappear, and not contin- 

 ued after the calyx of the fruit has turned down- 

 ward, whether to destroy the Codlin Moth, or 

 leaf -eating insects. No stock should be allowed 

 to graze in the fields where these poisons have 

 been applied, until after several drenching rains 

 have fallen. 



Either of these substances can be used in the 

 powder for poisoning baits for cut-worms. These 

 baits are simply bunches of clover or leaves of 

 Cabbage, sprinkled with the powdered poison, 

 and these laid upon the ground where the worms 

 are known to depredate, and when the latter 

 come forth at night to feed, they partake of the 

 baits, instead of the plants, and are destroyed. 



Kerosene emulsions are very effective when 

 used against plant lice. Squash bugs and Chinch 

 bugs, none of which the arsenical mixtures 

 will kill. They may be made in three different 

 ways. First.— By mixing one part milk and two 

 parts kerosene, agitating this until it forms a 

 butter-like mass, which may be reduced in 

 strength by adding thirt.v or thirty-five parts 

 water. Secntul. — By dissolving half a pound of 

 whale-oil or other soap in one gallon of hot water, 

 using this instead of milk, adding the kerosene 

 while the mixture is still warm. TJtird. — By sub- 

 stituting eggs for either milk or soap, using eight 

 eggs to one gallon of kerosene, and diluting this 

 with water to the proper strength. These emul- 

 sions are all of them used in the form of spray. 



Pyrethrum may be used in the powder mixed 

 with five or even ten times its bulk of flour and 

 dusted on the plants, though the mixture should 

 stand in an air-tight vessel several houi-s befoi-c 

 using, in order that the flour may absorb the 

 strength of the pyrethrum. The powder also 

 must be studiously kept from the air, as its 

 strength is soon absorbed by the atmosphere. 

 This is a perfectly harmless substance. 



Whale-oil soap is used to form a suds, which 

 may be sprajed upon the plants to be protected. 

 This or any bar soap may be rubbed on the 

 trunks of trees to protect them from the attacks 

 of borers. 



Miscellaneous. Lime, ashes, soot, sulphur and 

 even road dust is sometimes dusted upon plant 

 lice, but usually with little effect. The fumes of 

 sulphur, as well as those of tobacco and tar, are 

 used to drive away insects. Tobacco water is 

 often applied with good results. Carbolic acid, 

 one part to one hundred of water, is used both 

 for above ground in.sects and under ground ones. 



As I have many times stated, ninety per cent 

 of the efficiency of any insecticide lies in its being 

 properly applied and at the proper time. 



N. Ohmer's Experience with Apple Worms. I 

 would like to say a word with regard to London 

 purple for the CodUng Moth. We applied the 

 poison just at the time they were blooming; 

 about two weeks after we repeated the dose. In 

 going to the house for water my men would 

 sprinkle several of the trees frequently which 

 they passed as they went and came. We noticed 

 these trees had scarcely an imperfect Apple on 

 them. Those not sprayed but once or twice were 

 not so good. This satisfied me ihat it can not be 

 done too well. Those not spra.'ied so much were 

 probably about one-fouith as good. 1 know of 

 nothing that would pay better than a spraying 

 machine, effectively used at the proper time. 



From one to two gallons of the preparation 

 can be used to a tree. It took us a day and a 

 half to go over .500 trees. The article itself costs 

 1.5 cents per pound. I prefer London purple be- 

 cause it does not need stirring up all the time. 

 Paris green has to be stirred almost constjintly 

 to keep it from settling. There seems to be no 

 danger of getting the poison in your eyes, or 

 otherwise poisoning. My boys came home wet 

 with the spray, but it did not hurt them. The 

 majority of men, who give their experience, say 

 to use about one pound of the poison to 1(X) gal- 

 lons of water. I would take one pound to 12(1. 

 It is best not to make it too strong. 



The Garden Culture of Roses. 



[A Paper by William H. Spooner, read before the 

 Ma^sachusetttt HortictilturaJ Society,^ 



Notwithstanding the many treatises that 

 have been written on rose gardening, said 

 Mr. Spooner, the commercial cultivator is 

 constantly met by anxious inquiries as to 

 how Roses shall be grown and what varie- 

 ties. The pttrpose of this paper was to 

 make some suggestions founded on his own 

 experience. 



