SPRAYING 



Literature. To say that the literature of spraying 

 is voluminous would but faintly describe tin- situation. 

 Hardly an experiment station in the United States has 

 failed to publish two or three times on this subject. 

 Many of them issue annual "spray calenders." The 

 Divisions of Vegetable Pathology and Entomology, 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., have 

 added a great number of bulletins to the general col- 

 lection. One of the first American hooks, "Fungous 

 Diseases," 1880, was written by F. Limison Scribner, 

 then of the Division of Veg. Pathology, Washington. 

 Soon after appeared "Insects and Insecticides," and 

 "Fungi and Fungicides," both by Clarence M. Weed. 

 The most notable book which has appeared and the 

 only complete monograph of spraying in existence was 

 published in 1896, the author being E. G. Lodeman, then 

 instructor in horticulture at Cornell University. Of the 

 experiment stations aside from Washington, prominent 

 in reporting field work, New York (Geneva and Cornell), 

 Michigan, Delaware, California, Massachusetts and Ver- 

 mont should be named, although many others have done 

 well. Spraying, though not an American invention, is 

 now distinctly an American practice by adoption and 

 adaptation. J OHN CRAIG. 



SPREKELIA (J. H. von Sprekelsen, of Hamburg, who 

 sent the plants to Linnaeus). Amaryllidacece. JACO- 

 BEAN LILY. A single species from Mexico, a half-hardy 

 bulbous plant with linear, strap-shaped leaves and a 

 hollow cylindrical scape bearing one large showy flower. 

 Perianth strongly declined, tube none; segments nearly 

 equal, the posterior ascending, the inferior concave and 

 enclosing the stamens and ovary: bracts only one, 

 spathe-like: stamens attached at the base of the peri- 

 anth-segments, and somewhat shorter than the segment 

 by which they are enclosed, having a few small scales 

 at the base of the filaments : ovary 3-loculed : style long, 

 slender: seeds compressed ovate or orbicular, black. 



formosissima, Herb. (Amaryllis formosissima. Linn.). 

 Fls. red. B.M. 47. Var. glauca has somewhat paler and 

 smaller fls. and glaucous Ivs. B.R. 27:16. For culture, 

 see Amaryllis. F- w> BARCLAY. 



SPRING BEAUTY. C'laytonia. 



SPROUTING LEAF. 



phyllum. 



Catalogue name for Bryo- 



SPRUCE. SeePicea. Norway 8. is P. excelsa. Sitka 

 8. is P. Sitchensis. Tideland 8. is P. Sitchensis. 



SQUASH 1711 



SPURGE. Consult Euphorbia. 

 SPURGE, MOUNTAIN. Pachysandra procumbens. 

 SPURGE NETTLE. J<tt,;>i>h. 



SPURRY (Spergula arvensis, which see) has long 

 been grown in Germany, France, Holland and Belgium, 

 when- its value us a soil renovator and as a forage crop 



2380. A Y-fixture with Vermorel nozzles. 



A leather shield is shown, for protecting the hands from 

 the drip. 



108 



2381. A Y-fixture with Bordeaux brand of nozzle. 



was early recognized. It is an annual, and when sown 

 in the spring matures seed in from ten to twelve weeks 

 from time of sowing. This plant possesses special value 

 as a renovator for sandy soils. It has long been used by 

 the farmers of Holland to hold in place the shifting 

 sands along the seashore. So well adapted is it to sand 

 that it has been termed "the clover of sandy lands." It 

 is not recommended for the American farmer except 

 where the soil is so poor that other plants fail. In such 

 circumstances it may be used as a cover-crop to plow 

 under. The seed may be sown any time from April to 

 August, but in orchards it had better be sown in July. 

 Sow at the rate of six quarts per acre. The seed being 

 small, it should be lightly harrowed in upon a well- 

 fitted soil. It is very persistent in the production of 

 seed, and upon fertile soils it will maintain itself for 

 several years unless thorough cultivation is given. 

 Where soils are in fair condition and other crops will 

 grow, it is doubtful if Spurry has any place. Some- 

 times written Spurrey. 



L. A. CLINTON. 



SQUASH (Plate XXXVIII) is a name adapted from an 

 American Indian word, and is applied in an indefinite 

 way to various plants of the genus Cucurbita. The 

 application of the name does not conform to the specific 

 lines of the plants. What are called summer Squashes 

 are mostly varieties of Cucurbita Pepo. The winter 

 Squashes are either C. maxima or C. moschata, chiefly 

 the former. If the name Squash belongs to one species 

 more than to another, this species is probably C. 

 maxima. See Cucurbita, particularly the note on p. 410. 

 The pictures show some of the forms of these species. 

 Plate XXXVIII is the Hubbard Squash, Cucurbita 

 maxima. Fig. 2382 is the Winter or Canada Crookneck, 

 one of the forms of C. moschata. Figs. 2383-88 are 

 forms of the multifarious Cucurbita Pepo. Fig. 2388 

 shows the Vegetable Marrow, much prized in England. 



Squashes and pumpkins are very easy plants to grow, 

 provided they are given a warm and quick soil. They 

 are long-season plants, and therefore in the North they 

 are very likely to be caught by frosts before the full 

 crop has matured, unless the plants are started early 

 and make a rapid and continuous growth early in the 

 season. In hard, rough clay lands the plants do not 

 get a foothold early enough to allow them to mature the 

 crop. On such lands it is impossible, also, to plant 

 the seeds early. As a consequence, nearly all Squashes 

 are grown on soils of a loose and relatively light 

 character. Sandy lands or sandy loams are preferred. 



