184 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



1,739. Oeraniums not Bloomini;. I suspect the 

 cause of the plants not blooming is that the 

 temperature of the greenhouse during the winter 

 months was not high enough To successfully 

 flower the Geranium during the winter requires 

 a moderately high temperature. Now that the 

 days are longer and warmer, your plants will 

 soon bloom and repay you for all the trouble 

 that they may have cost you. As they are 

 making good growth you cannot do better than 

 continue your present treatment.— H. W. Smith. 



1,758. Fiah Oeraniums not Blooming. It the 



plants are in the open garden they have no doubt 

 suffered from the cold weather we lately ex- 

 perienced and are only just recovering them- 

 selves. If they are growing in pots in a window, 

 I would advise that they be moved to a room 

 where they would recf'i\'e the sunshine for a 

 longer period. This would aid them, in a good 

 measure, to produce bloom. — H. W. Smith, La. 



1,7*0. Rubber Tree Cuttings. To enable these 

 to form roots requires a damp atmosphere and a 

 temperature of between 60 and 70°.— H. W, S. 



1,771. Euphorbia Splendens, To grow this 

 plant well requires a stove temperature. The 

 pots should be well drained, and a quantity of 

 small crocks may be mixed with the soil to ad- 

 vantage. To enable it to do its best it should be 

 stood in the sunniest part of the greenhouse and 

 at no time be shaded. It is rather too soon in the 

 season for the plant to Uower.— H.W. Smith, i,a. 



Arbor Day Celebration. 



A small beginning only, and without con- 

 spicuous immediate results— a shade or lawn tree 

 added here and there ;a schoolhouse site embel- 

 lished with a bit of bush and tree ; a little senti- 

 ment poured out in well-set speeches; a home 

 made more enjoyable, a landscajie more pleasing 

 —yet it may lead to great things in the future 

 clothe the barren hillsides and the treeless plains 

 with valuable forests, temper the climate, and 

 even the rainfall. 



The Forestry Division of the Department 

 of Agriculture in a circular on .\rbor Day plant- 

 ing gives the following hints concerning choice 

 of trees : Trees for school grounds and yards, 

 along road sides and streets, must be such as are 

 least liable to suffer from injuries; they should 

 be compact and symmetrical in shape, free from 

 objectionable habits, such as bad odors, root- 

 sprouting, frequent dropping of parts, etc., and 

 from Insect pests, and if planted for shade, 

 should have a broad crown and a dense foliage, 

 budding early in the spring, and retaining leaves 

 long into the fall. .Vbsence of skillful hands at 

 tree planting on Arbor Days would also limit 

 the selection to those which transplant easily 

 and require the least care. The Division names 

 as three trees to be planted where nothing else 

 will grow, easily transplanted, growing rapidly, 

 but short-lived, liable to injuries, root-sprouting, 

 etc.: Silver Maple (Acer dasycirpum), Carolina 

 Poplar (Popultis moniUfera); Box Elder (Ncgun- 

 do aceroide^). Among the best for street and 

 lawn, the following are named : Sugar Maple 

 {Acer saccharitmm); Ked Maple (Acer 7-ubra); 

 Linden (Til'a Americnna); Elm (Ulmits Ameri- I 

 cana). Desirable for lawn and yard are also the I 

 following: Tulip tree (Liriodeiidron tultpifera); 

 Red Oak {Quercus inihr,)); Willow Oak, (Querciis 

 phelUis); Black (Jherry (Prunun serotina); Sweet 

 Gum (Liipiidamhar xtyracifluai. 



New Varieties as a Result of Bud 

 Variation. 



There can be no doubt that many varieties 

 owe their existence to bud variation. Mr. 

 A. S. Fuller, in his" Propagation of Plants" 

 mentions among these sports many varie- 

 gated leaved plants, as the Varigated-leaved 

 Elder, Dogvsrood, Ginkgo, Maples, etc., also 

 the Retinispora obtusa Fulleri, thus named 

 by Dr. Geo. Thnrber, and obtained as a sport 

 of a Golden Retinispora in Mr. Fuller's pos- 

 session; a number of well-known varieties 

 of Roses, Hi the Striped Moss (obtained as a 

 bud sport of old Red Moss), White Baron 

 Prevost (obtained in same way from the old 

 Pink Hybrid Perpetual of the same names), 

 American Banner, Painted Orleans, etc. 

 "Among fruits," says Mr. Fuller, " bud var- 

 iations are constantly occurring, but the 

 larger number are probably overlooked, and 

 consequently lost. The Red Magnum Bo- 

 num Plum is said to have originated from a 

 bud of the Yellow Magnum Bonum. Many 

 instances are recorded of Peach trees pro- 

 ducing Nectarines on one or more branches, 



and these sports have frequently been pre- 

 served and propagated. The seed of Nec- 

 tarines originating in this way usually pro- 

 duce Nectarine trees, not reverting to the 

 Peach." 



Mr. C. L. Hopkins, of the Division of Po- 

 mology, Department of Agriculture, thinks 

 it desirable that this matter be more fully 

 investigated, and for this purpose asks those 

 among our readers who have had practical 

 e.xperience with "bud variations" among 

 fruits, and the propagation of new varieties 

 from this source, to give an account through 

 our columns. 



The points about which definite informa- 



.small garden. It needs no further descrip- 

 tion, except to say, that the frame may be 

 made about fifteen inches square, and the 

 stakes about two feet high from the ground. 



A New Enemy of the Elm. 



The imported Elm-leaf beetle has for 

 some time been doing considerable mischief 

 among Elm trees in City avenues and 

 parks. Now another insect enemy of this 

 tree has been imported, and seems to have 

 already gained a foothold here, threatening 

 destruction to our Elms. 



This isthe Elm-twig-borer,Zcuzerap{/n"7io 

 which in the image stage is a very hand- 



am 





THE;eLM twig borer, a MALE; b FEMALE; C CATERPILLAR. 



tion is especially desired, are as follows: 



What varieties are positively known to 

 have originated as the result of budding 

 with the intention of perpetuating a bud 

 variation which had been observed ? 



What varieties are positively known to 

 have originated by budding with buds taken 

 from a positively known source, and all sup- 

 posed to be the same variety, but among 

 which a sport or sports were found after- 

 wards? 



Who among' our readers have fruit trees 

 with natural branches (not the result of 

 grafting or budding) which produce fruit 

 distinct from that borne by other portions 

 of the same tree? 



What varieties oftenest show cases of bud 

 variation in their fruit? 



Our practical fruit growers>ow have the 

 floor. 



Trellises and Frames.for Bush Fruits. 



Where Raspberries and Blackberries are 

 grown on a large scale for market, the ex- 

 pense and labor^involved by the use of even 

 the simplest form of trellis or frame must 

 prevent the grower from attempting to do 

 more than keep the plants within bounds 

 by heroic pruning. And this usually ans- 

 wers the purpose very well. 



In the home garden, however, we'always 

 pay somewhat greater attention to conven- 

 ience and neat appearance than in the field. 

 If our garden patch is large, we may con- 

 tent ourselves with setting a simple stake 

 to each bush, and tie the latter to it some- 

 what loosely. Or 

 we may confine 

 each row of bush- 

 es within two lines 

 of wires or laths, 

 fastened to stakes 

 set along each side 

 of the row. All 

 these are simple 

 means of keeping 

 the bushes up- 

 right, and the 

 paths between the 

 rows unobstruct- 





S; =isei 



^> ed by thorny canes 



^^ which are apt to 



hook into the 



clothes, and perhaps into the flesh of the 



good wife and the daughters of the house. 



Our illustration shows a way of treating 

 single bushes, suitable for a few plants in a 



some white moth, rather closely spotted 

 with black, as shown in illustration on 

 this page. For several years back, writes 

 the entomologist of the New Jersey Experi- 

 ment Station to Garden and Forest, single 

 specimens of the species have been found 

 in the city of Newark, and their occurrence 

 has been deemed accidental, owing to the 

 small number; biit they increased steadily, 

 and for the past three years they have been 

 numerous around the electric lights along 

 Broad street, especially near the parks con- 

 taining many Elms. This occurrence point- 

 ed to the Elms as their probable food plant. 

 Mr. Anglemann, examining the branches 

 of a felled tree, found the larva of the borer 

 in considerable numbers in the smaller 

 twigs, and in burrows in larger branches 

 found also the pupa. The moth, it seems, 

 deposits its eggs in the fork of a small 

 branch, and the young larva burrows down- 

 ward toward the larger branches, tunneling 

 generally through the center, and usually 

 killing the branch. In color the larva is 

 whitish as is usual with borers, with black 

 dots, each bearing a single hair, arranged 

 as shown in the figure, which also gives 

 very well the general appearance of the 

 caterpillar. 



The terminal branches of many of the 

 trees in Newark have been noticed to be 

 dying, but the cause has not been hereto- 

 fore discovered. There is little doubt that 

 this insect is responsible for the injury, and 

 that it has gained a firm foothold. That it 

 is spreading is indicated by the fact that 

 during the season of 1889 it made its appear- 

 anqe at Arlington, a suburb of Newark. 

 The insects are attracted by light, and many 

 hundreds of them are drawn to the electric 

 lights and destroyed; they are mostly 

 males, however. There is no reasonable 

 doubt that this destruction of the moths has 

 done much to prevent a more rapid spread, 

 and it is to be feared that once out of the 

 influence of the electric lights their march 

 will be rapid. 



As to remedies, I have no suggestion to 

 make at present. Borers are hard to deal 

 with at best, and a borer that attacks 

 branches from sixty to seventy-five feet 

 above the ground is an especially unsatis- 

 factory creature to deal with. Heroic reme- 

 dies would be best here, and I recommend 

 free cutting and burning of affected 

 branches as the best means of checking 

 their increase and spread. 



