1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



169 



nots." He must make up his mind to con- 

 quer ; and then fruit growing is a success 

 in any part of the hind. Plant fruits that 

 on general principles are adapted to your 

 section ; and then take care to make them 

 grow and to keep their enemies away. 



Natural Gas and Insects. 



SN'EAD THOMAS, GRANT CO., IXD. 



In the January issue our friend of the 

 Indiana Farmer refers to the decrease of 

 insects in natural gas districts. Whatever 

 effect gas may directly have in this way, I 

 know that night insects are attracted by the 

 torches, and millions arc burned to death, 

 whether friends or foes I am not entomolo- 

 gist enough to always tell. The number of 

 insects that will acciimulate during the 

 night on the ground beneath the torch south 

 of my house is almost incredible. June 

 bugs were unusually numerous the past 

 season, and I have picked up as many as 

 two hundred and fifty scorched bugs In 

 one morning. The bugs almost defoliated 

 some young fruit trees planted the spring 

 before by the north side of the house, and 

 that in the full glare of the torch not a hun- 

 dred feet away. A sowing of Beets near by 

 was also and almost entirely ruined. 



A neighbor of mine piped gas to his Plum 

 trees, and kept it burning at night, letting 

 the gas escape during the day, but his suc- 

 cess was no better than mine. The only 

 curculio preventive which I found efficient 

 was the old and tried one of letting chickens 

 run under the trees and feeding them there. 



The large green Tomato worm, usually 

 very destructive, has been very scarce the 

 past summer. I attribute the almost entire 

 annihilation of this pest to the nximerous 

 natural gas torches that are burning every 

 night, as I have found numbers of moths 

 with singed mngs beneath the torch. 



A Test of the Nevi/er Potatoes. 



GRANVILLE COWING, DELAWARE CO., DJD. 



A writer familiar with the Chicago 

 market says there are some twenty varieties 

 sold in that city to-day for Early Rose, 

 which are not of that variety. In fact 

 Early Rose are rarely seen there. The same 

 is true of Peerless and Burbank. Mammoth 

 Pearl and a dozen other varieties of that 

 type are sold for Peerless, while the White 

 Star, White Rose, Jordan's Prolific and 

 other long white kinds sell for Burbank. 



The selection of pure seed of the best 

 varieties would probably double the Potato 

 crop of the country without enlarging the 

 area planted. 



Of new varieties of the Early Rose type, I 

 have found Lee's Favorite. Early Pearl 

 and Early Maine very productive and in 

 every way desirable. They mature with 

 Early Ohio, are of the best quality, and their 

 tubers are generally smooth and shapely. 

 New Queen and Sunlit Star, early varieties 

 of more recent introduction, promise to he 

 the most productive varieties of the Early 

 Rose type yet offered to the public. 



Sunlit Star is an extra early variety with 

 tubers uniformly large and smooth, and of 

 the best quality. New Queen is ten days 

 later, and is also remarkably productive, 

 with tubers generally large, smooth and of 

 good quality, and resembling Early Rose in 

 appearance. I planted one pound of seed 

 of this variety last spring which, in un- 

 favorable weather and without petting, 

 produced ninety pounds of fair tubers. 

 Charles Downing is an early white Potato, 

 decidedly productive, with smooth tubers, 

 generally of marketable size, and of the best 

 quality. On account of its appearance, fine 

 flavor and greater productiveness, it pro- 

 mises to take the place of Snowflake in the 

 Boston market where that variety has long 

 been a favorite. 



Of late varieties I have found none as 

 good in all respects as State of Maine, 

 Green Mountain and Empire State— all in 

 shape and color somewhat like Burbank, 

 but all much more productive, of better 

 flavor and with tubers uniformly large. 



Green Mountain and State of Maine ma- 

 ture in August. On my soil neither of 

 them have quite equaled Empire State in 

 productiveness. They are all of good 

 quality and keep late in spring without 

 sprouting. Empire State here matures in 

 September, and is remarkable for its ability 

 to withstand drought and beetles. Last 

 season only about 4 per cent of its tubers 

 were too small for market. 



Experiments in the Treatment of 

 Black-Rot in France. 



Abstract of a Letter from M. Lasserre Printed in 

 " Progres Agricole et Viticole." 

 TRANSLATED BY B. T. GALLOWAY. 



In 1888 I found one case of Black-rot and 

 have no doubt it would have proved a center 

 of infection. My neighbor. Dr. Descoture, 

 who had a single diseased vine of Herbe- 

 mont, which was not treated in 1888, in- 

 fected the vineyard for 30 meters around it. 

 The first step in treatment with copper 

 sulphate is to make sure that it will prevent 

 the germination of the spores by keeping 

 the vines immersed, so to speak, in a copper 

 bath by means of 'repeated sprayings every 

 eight or twelve days from leafing until the 

 Grapes are ripe. 



On April 13, 1888, I applied eau celeste 

 (sulphate of copper 1 k, ammonia m litres) 

 and repeated the applications every eight 

 days up to June 30th. The result was that 

 not a single spot of Black-rot appeared, 

 and on Sept. 4, the grapes were ripe. 



Against a stable wall there is a large 

 Chasselas, having two arms each about 

 three meters long. One of these arms was 

 treated with eau celeste from the beginning 

 of May, receiving three thorough sprayings. 

 Result: upon the treated side no disease, 

 and fine and numerous clusters of Grapes; 

 upon the untreated side the berries were 

 peppered with Black-rot. 



A third experiment was made in the open 

 field on a row of Muscat vines trained on two 

 long arms. This row, excepting one arm on 

 the last vine, also received three treatments. 

 There was no disease excepting on the un- 

 tended arm, which suffered a disastrous 

 attack, the fruit drying up completely. 



A vineyard situated upon a plateau, form- 

 erly produced a hundred and upwards casks 

 of wine, but a Black-rot invasion reduced 

 the product to five or six casks. One 

 hectare was placed at my disposal. The 

 first applications were made June 9, re- 

 peating every eight days on one portion and 

 every fifteen on another. The ends of the 

 rows were not treated. The remainder of 

 the hectare received only two treatments 

 toward the 20th of the same month. 



On July 30, the foliage was spotted with 

 Black-rot, some leaves having twelve spots 

 on them, on that part of the vineyard which 

 had received the two late applications. As 

 to the other treated vines, their foliage was 

 badly burned by eau celeste (which would 

 have been avoided if I had used Bordeaux 

 mixture) but the grapes were saved. The 

 treatments having an interval of 1.5 days 

 were as efficacious as those at eight days. 

 The two late treatments were, it is true, 

 only a pallative, but absolutely nothing re- 

 mained upon the untreated vines. 



It is my opinion that the spores are lodged 

 upon the foliage or berries very early, prob- 

 ably by May 1st, and that it has a long pe- 

 riod of incxibation. When July comes, it 

 appears everywhere and by Aug. 1.5, it is 

 suddenly and spontaneously arrested; from 

 that time the diseased berries are powerless 

 to infect the healthy ones, though in direct 



contact with them. I am of the opinion 

 there is in their cycle of development some- 

 thing analogous to the winter spores of 

 mildew, and these rest until .spring. 



The result of my observations seems to be 

 that only the May treatments were efficaci- 

 ous; it is necessary that the germinating 

 spore find the],foliage well protected; if it 

 has penetrated the tissues, the copper com- 

 pounds are powerless against it as they are 

 against the mildew. 



In my experiments, early and continued 

 applications give perfect success; at Fabric 

 and Aiguillon, (treatments by M. Prillieux) 

 the results were excellent and convincing, 

 but not perfectfuly successful, the first 

 treatment not having been made until late 

 in May or early June. During the month 

 elapsing between the treatments the new 

 leaves not covered by copper were attacked, 

 and some were attacked before May 13. 



All varieties of vines are capable of sup- 

 porting the Black-rot fungus, but some are 

 more resistant than others. I have seen a 

 hectare of three year old vines of Riparia 

 and Solonis planted together without regu- 

 larity, whose branches trailed on the 

 ground and were everywhere interlaced; 

 and while the leaves of Solonis were badly 

 spotted, those of Riparia were healthy. 



The Herbemont seems to be more resist- 

 ant than other vines. I own two rows, but 

 the last seventy vines in each row are 

 Othellos. In spite of three rather late treat- 

 ments the Othellos lost a little by the 

 Black-rot, but although the Herbemonts 

 had not been treated at all, the disease 

 absolutely stopped were they began. 



Feeding the Orchard for Fruit. 



Farmers in general, who have a barnyard 

 full of manure and lots of it wasting by fire- 

 fang, leeching, etc., hardly ever feel very 

 liberally disposed towards orchard trees, 

 although the few they have often give them 

 bigger returns than large fields of grain 

 bountifully manured. A barrel of Apples 

 contains but a fraction of the original plant 

 food that is found in a bushel of Wheat. In 

 fact, a ton of fairly good compost supplies 

 all the food used for the production of one 

 hundred bushek of Apples. 



It is but fair to return to the soil its just 

 due and if the grower adopts the practice of 

 drawing a good load of manure to the 

 orchard for every .30 barrels of Apples he 

 takes away from it, the trees will be enabled 

 to do their full duty year after year. Where 

 so little is required stinginess seems to be 

 altogether out of place. 



A queer method of feeding the orchard, 

 quite commonly practiced by farmers (not 

 by professional fruit growers, we hope) is 

 shown in our illustrations. A few forkfuls 

 of strawy manure are placed directly against 

 the body of each tree, likea poultice outside 

 the stomach. The plant food in the manure, 

 in order to get inside the tree body, and to 

 become available for transformation into 

 fruit and foliage, should be placed in con- 

 venient reach of the many mouths at the 

 extremities of the roots. These, as the pic- 

 ture shows, are all over the ground, but 

 especially numerous and active at the points 

 furthest from the tree. The dotted lines 

 indicate how the manure should be distri- 

 buted, namely, evenly over the whole sur- 

 face, except, perhaps, in immediate contact 

 with the tree, where little is needed. 



Pollen Producers for the Crescent Straw- 

 berry. I believe of all varieties that I have tried 

 for fertilizing the Crescent the Old Ironclad stands 

 at the bead. It is a wouderf ul grower, has a large 

 bloom, and the blossom stems stand up high. 

 Then, the Ironclail begins blooming just a little 

 earlier than the Crescent, thereby oatching all 

 first blossoms, and is in flower as long as the Cres- 

 cent. For second best as a fertiUzer I prefer 

 Miner's Prolitic. 



