WATERMELON 



WATSONIA 



1971 



small moth, the larvze of which, light, yellowish 

 greeu caterpillars about an inch long, destroy only the 

 leaves of the Watermelon, but both the foliage and 

 fruit of the cantaloupe or muskmelon. They are 

 "chewers," not "suckers." 



2. The melon louse (Aphis goasypii).— This attacks 

 the foliage, only, in the form of the adult — a small 

 winged green fly, viviparous, whose wingless progeny 

 attain maturity in about a week from birth, and begin 

 to reproduce. 



3. The striped cucumber beetle (Diabrotica vittata). 

 — A small black and yellow-striped beetle, a quarter 

 of an inch long, appearing in spring and attacking the 

 young plants as they emerge from the ground, its larva} 

 at the same time destroying the roots. 



4. The flea beetle (Crepidodera cucumeris). Dimin- 

 utive, like all of its kind, but very active, feeding 

 on the young plants in spring, after maturing under 

 rubbish and stones. The adult insect eats the upper 

 surface of the leaves, in irregular patches, and the 

 larvse are said to burrow their way through the interior 

 of the leaf structure under the surface. 



Remedies: The commercial grower is generally pre- 

 pared to accept the fact that none of these pests is 

 going to neglect him, and therefore makes his prepara- 

 tions to combat all, separately and collectively, and so 

 plans his schedule as to cover the entire list. The fol- 

 lowing is a detail of the operations advised: 



1. Apply a pinch of nitrate of soda to each hill as 

 soon as the young plauts are up to insure full vigor and 

 power of resistance to all enemies as they arrive upon 

 the scene. 



2. For the melon worm, striped cucumber beetle and 

 flea beetle, spray with Paris green — 4 ounces to 50 gal- 

 lons of water— for two or three sprayings, at intervals 

 of a week apart. 



3. Spray intermediately, at intervals of a week (mid- 

 way between the arsenite applications) if the melon 

 louse is found to have located on the plants, with a 



1 to 20 mixture of kerosene and water (using Weed kero- 

 sene attachment to sprayer) or with kerosene emulsion, 

 same strength. Whale-oil soap, 1 lb. to the gallon, may 

 be substituted for the kerosene treatment in ordinary 

 cases, but when obdurate resort must be had to carbon 

 bisulfide, a teaspoonful to the hill, in box-tops, clam- 

 shells or cheap vessels of any kind, under canvas- 

 hooped covers. This remedy is unfailing, but somewhat 

 troublesome, and is only justified when the commercial 

 grower is fighting desperately for his crop and liveli- 

 hood. A detail of the methods of preparing the 

 remedies here suggested may be obtained from the 

 article on Insecticides, in Vol. II of this work, which 

 see - Hugh N. Starnes. 



WATSdNIA (Sir Wm. Watson, M.D., 1715-1787. elec- 

 trician and professor of botany at Chelsea), Iridacece. 

 A genus of 16 species of tender bulbous plants, one 

 from Madagascar, the others from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They bloom from July to September and have 

 scarlet, rose or white 6-lobed flowers, with usually a 

 long, slender tube which is bent near the base. Wat- 

 sonias are very much like Gladioli, having the same 

 kind of a conn, the same sword-shaped, rigid lvs., the 

 same kind of a spike and the same season of bloom. It 

 is, therefore, a great mistake to suppose that they are 

 suited only to greenhouse cultivation. The main dif- 

 ferences between Watsonia and Gladiolus, from the 

 horticultural as well as botanical points of view, are the 

 longer tube and regular flower of Watsonia; three of 

 the six perianth-segments in Gladiolus being usually 

 different in size, shape and direction of spread. An im- 

 portant botanical difference is that the style-branches of 

 Watsonia are simple, while those of Gladiolus are bifid. 



Great interest has been aroused in Watsonias recently 

 by the introduction of the "White Watsonia," known to 

 the trade as W. Ardernei. The plant might be roughly 

 described as a white Gladiolus. It is likely to receive 

 considerable attention within the next few years. It 

 grows 3 or 4 ft. high, strong specimens being branched, 

 and bears about a dozen fls., each2!-2-3 in. long and about 



2 in. across. The purity of its color and its value for 

 cutting make it of exceptional interest to florists. There 

 are other white -fid. forms of Watsonia, but none of 



them seem to be in the American trade. Pure white is 

 tlie exception in the iris family, while it is a com- 

 mon, if not dominant, "color" in the lily and amaryllis 

 families. 



The White Watsonia has acquired so many names 

 that a short historical sketch of the plant is desirable. 

 All the stock in the trade at present is supposed to be 

 descended from plauts cultivated by H. W. Arderne, of 

 Cape Town. The original bulb was found 80 miles away 

 in a peat bog amongst thousands of the common pink-fld. 

 kind. In Oct., 1892, Mr. Arderne had 400 spikes in 

 bloom ami in March, 1803, some of his plants were pic- 

 tured in The Garden Tinder the name of Watsonia alba. 

 However, a pure white-fid. form had been previously 

 found near Port Elizabeth and a bulb sent to J. O'Brien, 

 of Harrow, flowered in England in 1889 and was then 

 fully described as W. iridifolia, var. O'Brieni, the 

 name adopted in this work. In the recent discussions 

 of the plant the fact has been overlooked that T. S. 

 Ware, of Tottenham, cultivated a white variety in 1880, 

 it being figured in The Garden for that year as Wat- 

 sonia alba. A nearly white form was cultivated in Eng- 

 land as early as 1801, but the tube was pinkish outside 

 and there was a rosj' spot at the base of each perianth- 

 segment. 



William Watson, of Kew, was the first to emphasize 

 the close horticultural parallel between Watsonia and 

 Gladiolus and to urge the whole group upon the atten- 

 tion of the plant-breeder. This suggestion, coming from 

 the man who may be said to have created the modern 

 Cape Primrose or Streptocarpus, should result in an- 

 other fine race of hybrids before many years. However, 

 the Watsonia "bulb" is not so easily and safely stored 

 as that of Gladiolus. 



Generic characters: perianth with long, curved tube, 

 the lowest and narrowest part ascending a short dis- 

 tance above the calyx; the tube is then dilated into a 

 cylindrical or funnel-shaped portion which bends down, 

 usually at a sharp angle; segments equal, oblong, spread- 

 ing; stamens unilateral, arcuate, inserted below the 

 throat of the tube. Baker, Handbook of the Iridese. 

 Flora Capensis, vol. 6. 



A. Upper part of tube cylindrical or nar- 

 rowly funnel-shaped. 

 b. Length of p< rianth-segments %-H in.l. aletroides 

 bb. Length of perianth-segments %-l in. 

 c. Stems lull, S-4 ft., often branched. 

 d. Spikes In.r, ItS-gO-fld. 



E. Fls. scarlet 2. angnsta 



ee. Fls. rose-red or white. 



f. Lvs. %—% in. wide: spikes 



about U-fhl 3. Meriana 



FF. LVS. Wider: spikes denser, 



about ISO-fid 4. iridifolia 



dd. Spikes densi , S0-50-tld 5. densiflora 



cc. Stems shorter, mostly 1-2 ft., un- 

 branched. 



d. Tube l%-2 in. long 6. coecinea 



dd. Tube Hi-1% in. long 7. humilis 



aa. Upper part of tube short and broadly 



funnel-shaped 8. rosea 



1. aletroides, Ker. Bright scarlet or pale pink-fld. 

 species, 1-2 ft. high, remarkable for the short perianth- 

 segments: stem simple or branched: spikes 6-12-fld. 

 B.M. 533 (rosy scarlet, splashed with cardinal, the inner 

 segments white at the tip). 



2. angiista, Ker. [W. iridifblia, var. ftilgens, Ker.). 

 Scarlet-fld. species distinguished from W. Meriana by 

 the color of the fls. and by the shape of the perianth- 

 segments. In W. angusta the segments are decidedly 

 acuminate, while those of W. Meriana are more nearly 

 oblong and come to a point suddenly. Also the style of 



W. angusta reaches to the tip of the perianth-segments, 

 while in W. Meriana it does not. B.M. 600. Gn. 17:230 

 (as W. Meriana, var. coecinea), 44:923. 



