524 



LiiGl'LANT 



EICHHORNIA 



or potassium sulphide, may be sprayed about the roots 

 of the plants to good advantage. Practice rotation of 

 crops. 



A second form of blight is caused by SaciJlifS sohina- 

 ceanim, Smith, This disease has its origin of infection 

 in the leaves, and is introduced by means of insects 

 which have fed upon diseased plants and carried the 

 infection to the well ones. The disease works rapidly 

 down the tissues, and causes the death of the leaf and 

 finally of the whole plant. The only remedy for this is 

 to destroy all plants that are affected with the disease 

 as soon as detected, and kill off all insects. When this dis- 

 ease is known to be present in a section, it is best to 

 set the plants as far apart as practicable. In this way 

 the danger of infection from insects is somewhat re- 

 duced. When the disease is known to be present in a 

 field it should not be planted to this crop. 



Insect -Enem ies . —Among the most annoying of the 

 insect enemies we must place the cut- worm (larvse of 



«^r\ 



754 Sprays of Early Dwarf Purple EeEPl; 



Noctudiae). These insects are almost omnipresent, and 

 when nearly full grown are liable to cut off plants that 

 are 4 or 5 inches high. It is not common for one insect 

 to cut off more than a single plant, but in ordinarily 

 fertile soil there are enough cut-worms present to 

 destroy the entire field. So that, on the whole, it be- 

 comes very annoying. Where these insects are quite 

 destructive, it is possible to kill them with poisoned 

 bran or poisoned cotton-seed meal, sweetened with 

 syrup or sugar. 



Another insect that does more or less damage is the 

 cotton-boll worm {Heliothis armigera). This insect does 

 its damage by boring a hole into the stems or the fruit. 

 In the latter case it causes it to rot before it is picked, 

 or possibly in transit. As the fruit becomes larger there 

 is less danger of attack from this insect, so that the 

 main trouble occurs in the earlier stages of its growth. 



The Eggplant aphis (SiphonopJtora cucurbitce) is one 

 of the most annoying pests to this crop. It usually 

 makes its appearance about the time the crop is fit to 

 ship, and appears in such numbers that the plants are 

 ruined in the course of a week or two. The insect at- 

 tacks the lower surface of the leaves, making it difficult 

 to reach the pest with insecticides, but persistent efforts 

 and a good tobacco decoction, applied with a fine nozzle, 

 will give considerable relief. Anthracnose ( Glceasporium 

 meloyigenm) does not cause great damage to this crop, 

 but is one of the agents that reduce the profits. "It may 

 be recognized by its producing decided pits in the fruit, 

 upon which soon appear minute blotches bordered with 

 pink, ' Bordeaux mixture may be used to good advantage 

 for preventing this disease, 



Phoma Solan i frequently causes damping-off in the 

 hotbed. It often renders a whole bed worthless. Plants 



affected with this fungus iisually fall over as if eaten 

 off by some insect. Some plants, however, continue a 

 miserable existence and finally die. Careful examination 

 will reveal the point of injury, which is at the ground 

 level. The best preventive is to use well drained beds, 

 and then avoid excessive watering. When daraping-off is 

 detected in a seedling bed, the atmosphere and surface 

 soil should be dried as rapidly as possible, followed by 

 one application of fungicide. p^ jj^ Rolfs. 



EGLANTINE. Bo.sa Eglanteria. Less properly ap- 

 plied to L^uhns A'ljlanteria and I^osa rzihiginoaa. 



EGYPTIAN BEAN. Same as Black Bean, Dolichos 

 Lahl.ih. 



EGYPTIAN LOTUS. See N>jmph,ra Lotus: -aUo Ne- 

 lumhium. 



£HR£:TIA (G. D. Ehret, botanical painter, born in 

 Germany, 1708, died in England, 1770). Borragindcexe. 

 About 50 species of tender trees and shrubs, found in 

 the warmer regions of the world. Two species are cult, 

 outdoors in S. Calif, and 2 others in European green- 

 houses. Plants with or without rough, short hairs: Ivs. 

 alternate, saw-toothed or not: fls. small, often white, in 

 cymes, corymbs, terminal panicles, or rarely all borne 

 m the upper axils. The 2 species described below are 

 bvergreen trees in S. Calif., attaining a height of 30 ft. 

 Seeds may be obtained through dealers in Japanese 

 plants. 



A. BvH, saiv-toothed. 

 B. Foliage hairy. 



macrophylla, Wall. Lvs. ovate, acute, sharply 

 toothed, with long, harsh, rigid hairs above and soft 

 ]>ul escence beneath: panicle terminal, pubescent: calyx 

 tiliate: fr. globose, obscurely 4-grooved. Himalayas. 



BB. Foliage not hairy. 



acumin&ta, R. Brown {E. serrdta, Roxb.). Helio- 

 Th >i h Tree. This belongs to a different tribe of the 

 s uuH family with the Heliotrope, and the white tis. have 

 1 honey-like odor. Lvs. oblong-lanceolate, acuminate: 

 piiiicles terminal and axillary: fls. clustered, sessile. 

 Trop Asia and Aust. — "Drupes red, the size of a pea; 

 said to be edible." F. iV. Reasoner, Oneco, Fla. 



AA. Lvs, usually not toothed. 



elliptica, DC. Tree, 15-50 ft. high: lvs. oval or ob- 

 long, sometimes saw-toothed, nearly hairless, or with 

 minute hairs and very rough above: fr. a yellow glo- 

 bose druj)o, the size of a small pea, with edible thin 

 pulp. Tex., Mex. -^ jn_ 



EICHH6KNIA (after J. A. F. Eichhorn, a Prussian). 

 PoutederidcecE. This genus includes the Water Hya- 

 cinth {see Fig. 755), the famous "million dollar weed" 

 that obstructs navigation in the St. John's river, 

 Florida, and is a source of wonder and delight in every 

 collection of tender aquatics in the North. The curious 

 bladders made by the inflation of the petioles help the 

 plant to float freely. About flowering time the plant 

 sends down anchoring roots which, if the water be only 

 3 or 4 inches deep, penetrate the soil. The true Hya- 

 cinths belong in an allied order ; the Pickerel-weed, in 

 the allied genus Pontederia, the ovary of which by 

 abortion is I-celled, and each cell 1-ovuled, while Eich- 

 hornia is 3-celled and many-ovuled. 



The plants of this order have been greatly confused 

 by botanists, partly because the fugacious, membranous 

 flowers are not well preserved in dried specimens, 

 and partly because of variation in form of leaves, 

 depending upon whether the plants grow in deep or 

 shallow water, or in mud. The common Water Hya- 

 cinth sends out two kinds of roots, the horizontal ones 

 often thick and fleshy, and apparently for reproductive 

 purposes, the vertical ones long, slender, and clothed 

 with innumerable small, horizontal fibers. Water Hya- 

 cinths are of easy culture and are propagated by divi- 

 sion or seed. If grown in about 3 in. of water, so that 

 the roots may reach the soil, the petioles become elon- 

 gated and the plant becomes weedy and unsatisfactory. 



