NEW YORK 



NICOTIANA 



1087 



rather to organize a new society under the old name, 

 the last effort being made the present year. In 1829, 

 the Albany Horticultural Society was organized, but this 

 ;ilso was short lived. The oldest society in the state is 

 the Western New York Horticultural Society, with head- 

 quarters at Rochester. The preliminary organization of 

 this society occurred at Rochester, February 27, 1855, un- 

 der the name of The Fruit Grower's Society of Western 

 N.-w York, to comprise the counties west of Onondaga. 



1486. 



An Oswego straw- 

 berry field. 



The late John J. Thomas was the first President. This 

 society, with its one big meeting each winter, is the 

 greatest American organization of its particular type. 



One of the earliest experiment stations in North 

 America was organized at Ithaca in February, 1879, as 

 the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 In 1888 this institution was reorganized as a federal 

 station, but previous to this time it had published three 

 reports. The New York Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, supported by the State and located at Geneva, was 

 established in March, 1882. These two stations give con- 

 siderable attention to horticultural matters, particularly 

 the State Station at Geneva which is located in one of 

 the best of horticultural regions. Each station now 

 receives support from both the state and the federal 

 treasury. 



The Agricultural College of New York is a part of 

 Cornell University at Ithaca. It is practically unique 

 amongst agricultural educational institutions in giving 

 courses of true university grade, and its postgraduate 

 courses lead to the degree of Ph.D. Short course in- 

 struction of elementary character is also afforded, and 

 the university is the center of a movement for the ex- 

 tension of agricultural knowledge amongst the people. 



L. H. B. 



NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. Fully treated under 

 Tutragonia. 



NICANDRA (Nicander wrote on plants about 150 

 A.D.). Solan&cece. One Peruvian herb differing from 

 Physalis chiefly in the 3-5-loculed ovary and fruit and 

 in the larger and more showy fls. N. physaloides, 

 Gaertn., known as APPLE OF PERU, is a strong spreading 

 annual, 3-4 ft. high, grown for the showy blue fls. and 

 odd fruits : glabrous : Ivs. elliptic or elliptic-ovate, sinu- 

 ate and toothed, narrowed into a prominent petiole: fls. 

 solitary in the axils, on recurving pedicels, an inch or 

 more across, shaped like a potato flower : fruit a thin- 

 walled and nearly or quite dry berry, inclosed in an en- 

 larged, strongly 5-winged calyx. B.M. 2458. The Apple 

 of Peru is an old-fashioned garden annual, now rarely 

 seen. It has escaped from cultivation in some places in 

 the U. S.. and it is now widely distributed in the tropics. 

 It is often confounded with the ground cherry and alke- 

 kengi, which are species of Physalis. Not advertised. 



L. H. B. 



NICOTIANA (John Nicot was French ambassador to 

 Portugal in the sixteenth century, and was instrumental 

 in spreading a knowledge of Tobacco). SolancLcece. Fifty 

 or more herbs, or one species shrubby, mostly of tropi- 

 cal America. The Nicotianas comprise several stately 

 plants, valued for their rapid growth and large foliage. 

 3tlier species produce showy flowers, and are popular 

 flower-garden subjects. They are mostly viscid-pubes- 

 cent herbs of strong odor, 'and possessing narcotic- 



69 



poisonous properties. Lvs. alternate, never compound, 

 entire or undulate, mostly sessile or nearly so by a 

 tapering base : fls. long-tubular, mostly opening at night 

 and most fragrant then, in terminal racemes, panicles 

 or thyrses ; calyx usually persisting and covering the 

 fr. ; corolla salverform or funnelform, the lobes usually 

 plicate in the bud, the 5-lobed border nearly or quite 

 regular; stamens 5, inserted on the tube, generally in- 

 cluded, the filaments straight; style single, with a capi- 

 tate stigma: fr. a capsule, normally 2-loculed, but usu- 

 ally splitting into 4 valves; seeds numerous and minute. 



Nicotianas are of the easiest culture. They love a hot 

 exposure, and loose, well-drained soil. They are all ten- 

 der to frost. For subtropical effects, the seeds (by which 

 they are usually propagated) should be started early 

 under glass. The seeds are so small that they do not 

 germinate well in the open unless the ground is fine and 

 holds moisture near the surface. N. alata is the only 

 species which is popularly known as a flower-garden 

 plant, being grown everywhere under the name of N. 

 af finis. Of the robust species used for subtropical bed- 

 ding, N. glanca, N". tomentosa and forms of JV. Ta- 

 bacum are best. L. H. B. 



Nicotianas are tropical herbs requiring in northern 

 latitudes a deep, loamy, rich soil and full sunlight. The 

 soil should be especially rich in lime and potash, both 

 of which maybe supplied by the addition of wood ashes. 

 Nicotianas will not grow well in very moist or poorly 

 drained soils. In cool weather the seeds germinate 

 slowly, so that when it may be desired to raise the 

 plants outdoors in early spring the seeds should be 

 "sprouted" before sowing by keeping them moist and 

 warm until growth may be seen. The method generally 

 pursued in northern tobacco-growing regions is to mix 

 the seed, about April 1, with very fine rotted apple tree 

 wood (apple wood is preferable to others, as it contains 

 less tannin, which would be destructive to germinating 

 seeds), and to place the mixture after moistening in a 

 glass jar, and seal. The jar is then placed in a tem- 

 perature of 80 to 90 until the seed is seen to be germi- 

 nating, which should be in from four to six days. The 

 seeds are then sown in frames covered with cloth or 

 glass and rolled in with a light roller, or simply pressed 



1487. Nicotiana alata. 



in with a board. Another method of sprouting the seed 

 is to spread it on a thin cloth stretched over a vessel of 

 water placed where it will be continually warm. When 

 very young, Nicotianas will endure severe frost, which 

 property they lose with age, becoming quite sensitive to 



