io6 How to Make the Garden Pay. 



Lettuce Mildew. The mildew which is often so very trouble- 

 some and destructive on lettuce grown under glass will have to 

 be treated in a different way. In the first place we should aim 

 to surround the crop in greenhouse or hot-bed with the same 

 conditions which nature provides in early spring to the outdoor 

 crop, in other words, grow them in a natural way, especially in 

 a cool atmosphere. Heat from the air, I believe, is better than 

 bottom heat. The temperature should not be much above 40 

 degrees at night, nor 70 degrees during the day. Lettuce needs 

 plenty of moisture, but water should be withheld on cloudy 

 days, and drainage be perfect. Always water in the morning of 

 bright days. Applications of nitrate of soda, and perhaps of 

 potash also, will render the plants vigorous and mildew-resisting. 



A sure and easily applied remedy is the one suggested by 

 the Massachusetts Experiment Station (Prof. Maynard), and 

 consists in keeping a kettle or basin of sulphur (brimstone) 

 heated to nearly the boiling point, in the forcing house for three 

 or four hours twice or three times a week. Enough sulphur 

 must be evaporated to fill the room with vapor so that it will 

 be visible, and give a perceptible odor of sulphur. It might be 

 well to advise great caution in the use of sulphur to avoid its 

 taking fire, for the fumes of burning sulphur will quickly destroy 

 all plant life, and a few .minutes of burning might result in the 

 loss of the whole crop in the building. 



From the testimony of Prof. Thos. B. Meehan we have no 

 reason to doubt that a paint of sulphur and linseed oil, put on 

 the hot water or steam pipes in the greenhouse, will effectively 

 prevent the appearance of lettuce and other mildews. Besides 

 these there are other promising preventives worthy of trial. I 

 think that the mildew will be likely to stay away if the ground 

 is given a liberal wetting with a one per cent, solution of sulphate 

 of iron (green copperas) before or shortly after setting the plants. 

 The new germicide naphtaline, costing only a few cents per 

 pound, may also be given a trial. It is not soluble, but very 

 volatile, and a little box of it kept in the room will fill it with 

 its penetrating vapor, and unquestionably prevent the germina- 

 tion of the mildew spores. The odor, however, like that of 

 carbolic acid, is offensive to many persons. 



Melon-leaf Blight. The fungus disease which attacks mel- 

 ons, cucumbers, and other vines, and is as destructive as it is a 

 common visitor all over the United States, is often confounded 

 with the work of the squash borer. The vines, generally on a 

 hot day after a rainy spell, show signs of wilting, and gradually 

 wither away, the leaves appearing as scorched, and soon death 

 ensues. Wetting the ground with the copperas solution as 

 mentioned for lettuce mildew, and naphtaline scattered among the 

 vines, may prove effective as preventives, and these measures 



