Mine Enemies 131 



or more. Do not wait until the rust appears before you begin 

 treatment, but start with the first growth of leaves. Mean- 

 time I advise a renewal of the stock by raising a yearly crop 

 of seedlings and replacing old plants with strong young ones 

 from time to time. 



Then there is mildew that attacks roses, Michaelmas 

 daisy, larkspur and other plants. It is due to continued wet 

 weather, sour soil or unfavorable situation. Various remedies 

 are offered. As a preventive, apply once a month Bordeaux 

 mixture diluted to half strength, using the formula : sulphate of 

 copper, six pounds; lime, four pounds; water, ninety gallons. 

 This renders the foliage unsightly^ and a milder preventive 

 is often used: sulphide of potassium, one half ounce; water 

 one gallon; apply once a week if the weather is wet and washes 

 off the mixture. Another remedy is one tablespoonful of 

 sulphur and wood-soot, made into a paste with water. Add 

 boiling water, perhaps one or two quarts, and when cool, 

 sprinkle plants or bushes. For mildew that has actually ap- 

 peared, powder the plants and the ground beneath with 

 flowers of sulphur; also stir into the soil a little slaked lime. 



The Clematis Jackmanni has an artless way of disappearing 

 without a word of farewell mine did before I learned the 

 probable cause and remedy. The bark on the stem of the 

 Clematis is very brittle, and easily scraped when packed for 

 transportation, and when this has occurred, the wounded 

 place becomes an easy entrance to the eel worm that burrows 

 in and destroys the vine. It travels at the surface of the earth, 

 and if the wound is near the ground it has access. The 

 remedy is to cut the stem off to the very root when planting, 

 hill up sand about the plant, and cover the crown at least an 

 inch with soil. 



My Physostegia sometimes suffers from a blight that turns 

 the plant yellow, and rots the stem off at the root and it dies. 



