3 66 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 446. 



places it grows so rampant upon their various hosts as to 

 almost give the prevailing orange color of their wire-like 

 leafless stems to the verdure of the attacked area. Some 

 species are fond of certain cultivated crops, the Flax and 

 the Clovers being the most frequently found with Dodders, 

 and sometimes to the partial destruction of the crop. 

 Rarely do we hear of the pest making any headway in the 

 market garden. Along with the Dodder-infested onions 

 comes the statement that " it (the Dodder) is increasing 

 every year," showing that the enemy has been observed 

 before the present season. 



A sun-print has been made of some of the onion-leaves, 

 and the engraving (page 367) therefrom, half the natural 

 size, illustrates how the Dodder fastens itself upon the host 

 and causes the collapse of the upper portions of the leaves. 



From these samples it would seem that in a trucking 

 region the growers should be watchful for these intruders, 

 and, realizing that they are flower and seed bearing plants, 

 should destroy all the Dodder, if possible, before it goes to 

 seed. Unlike a blight, smut or other fungous enemy, 

 spraying would not avail. The true remedy is to prevent 

 the pest from perfecting a crop of seed. 



New Jersey Experiment Station. By r Oil D. Hdlsted. 



Carnation Notes. 



THE season is once more at hand for housing the stock for 

 next winter's supply of bloom. Some growers take their 

 plants in at the end of August, while others prefer to wait 

 until the middle or end of September, and we have seen 

 houses filled as late as October in this state, and give excellent 

 results. The proper time to lift depends on locality and the 

 nature of the season. As a rule, we house our plants about 

 September 10th. By waiting until this date we are running; no 

 risk of having any injury done by frost, and there is less likeli- 

 hood of a succession of intensely hot days, which are very 

 trying to newly lifted Carnations, We have never shaded the 

 glass to prevent plants from wilting. If they have been taken 

 up with good balls, carefully planted, so as to preserve the 

 balls intact, and the beds or benches well soaked with the hose, 

 there ought to be no signs of wilting. A syringing morning 

 and evening on all clear, bright days, and an abundance of 

 ventilation at all times, will insure the plants making sturdy 

 growth. 



The past summer has been specially favorable for a strong 

 growth of the plants, and we never remember having seen 

 them larger at lifting-time. Personally we like large plants ; 

 some growers prefer medium-sized ones. We have found 

 from experience, however, that the larger and stronger plants 

 start away to bloom quicker and yield a much greater profusion 

 of bloom than a similar space occupied by smaller ones. It 

 has been urged against the larger plants that they are more 

 difficult to tie and clean. We have not found them so, but, 

 even were such the case, surely the greater returns they give 

 ought to more than counterbalance any trifling addition of 

 labor. The new varieties sent out last spring have all made 

 strong growth, with the exception of Jubilee, which is not one- 

 third the size of any other novelty. Abundance, Amazinda, 

 Triumph and Delia Fox have all grown finely; the last named, 

 however, seems to be somewhat affected with leaf disease. So 

 far we have not noticed any signs of rust, except on Jubilee, 

 which appears to be particularly susceptible to its attacks. 

 There are generally a few dozen plants left over after the 

 benches are filled. If these are potted up into from five to 

 seven inch pots and held over in a frame until the Chrysanthe- 

 mum season is over they will be found very useful for dotting 

 about in the conservatory and to fill up any banks in the 

 benches. There is always a likelihood of a few plants going 

 off. and it is well to have a small reserve stock to draw upon 

 to fill their places. 



Plants grown specially for summer flowering outdoors are 

 now very full of bloom, and under favorable conditions will 

 continue to give a supply of flowers for six weeks yet. To keep 

 the flowers clear the plants need to be tied up securely ; the 

 removal of fading flowers improves their appearance, and a 

 dusting of some chemical fertilizer and loosening of the sur- 

 face soil will promote floriferousness. We have tried several 

 new kinds as outdoor bloomers, but none can be counted suc- 

 cesses. Alaska does fairly well for a while, but cannot at all 

 compare with the older Mrs. Fisher for quantity and quality of 

 blooms. Rose Queen, Bridesmaid and Meteor are all worth- 



less as summer bloomers outside, and are but little better 

 inside. When we pulled our old stock out of the benches at 

 the end of August, Lizzie McGowan, William Scott, Alaska and 

 Tidal Wave were almost as full of bloom as in early spring ; 

 the other three 1895 novelties had not a sign of a bloom on 

 them. 



We are still without a satisfactory yellow perpetual-flowering 

 Carnation. None of the existing sorts in cultivation, such as 

 Buttercup, Bouton d'Or, Eldorado or Goldfinch, can be classed 

 as clear yellows, and very few people are able to grow 

 them satisfactorily. Probably Eldorado is the freest-flow- 

 ering sort yet sent out of this class, but there is much 

 need of a variety which is free from streaks and pencil- 

 ings of carmine. The border section of Carnations, which 

 do so admirably in Great Britain, are not successes here, 

 owing to our hot, dry summers. Immense improvements are 

 being made year by year in this class; the flowers average 

 considerably larger than those produced on our plants under 

 glass in midwinter, and are of almost every conceivable color ; 

 some kinds are very weak in the calyx, which is due in large 

 part to the cooler and moister atmospheric conditions existing 

 there. Among yellows there are some grand clear varieties 

 with large flowers and very stout calyxes ; the best we have 

 seen of these are Corunna, Miss Audrey Campbell, Louis 

 Philippe and Germania ; the last named has been several years 

 on the market, while the others are last season's introduc- 

 tions. We have nothing to equal these varieties in America 

 to-day ; of course, they are not perpetual-flowering sorts, nor 

 will they stand our rigorous winters, but wintered in cold 

 frames there ought to be a future for this beautiful section of 

 Carnations. Our American raised varieties do very unsatis- 

 factorily in Great Britain. Lizzie McGowan, William Scott and 

 Portia were the only sorts we saw last July while over there, 

 and they compared unfavorably with English and French 

 raised varieties of the perpetual-flowering class. We found 

 some growers who were handling the border varieties in pots, 

 and by gentle forcing were having a supply of flowers for two 

 months before any could be picked outdoors. One or two 

 skilled growers informed us that they hoped within a few years 

 to have a race of Carnations by crossing the perpetual and 

 border varieties, as they are now doing, which would be per- 

 petual bloomers even in so fickle a climate as that of England. 

 Malmaison Carnations have come greatly to the fore in 

 Great Britain of late years, and on some private places we 

 noted several houses devoted exclusively to their culture. 

 They are not perpetual-flowering ; the flowers are very large, 

 being sometimes nearly six inches across, but they usually 

 burst the calyx ; they are popular for boutonnieres and com- 

 mand high prices at all seasons. We have been unable to do 

 anything with them in America and cannot call to mind 

 any one who has been able to grow and bloom them satisfac- 

 torily. They are usually short-stemmed and would be of no 

 value here except for button-holes, and would not produce 

 sufficient flowers to be profitable to the grower. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Violets. 



AT this season of the year the greatest growth is being 

 made by the Violets, and it often seems a pity that they 

 must be moved just as they appear to be enjoying the cool 

 nights, but we have found that to delay housing them is often 

 fatal ; the heavy night dews seem to be laden with disease 

 germs that soon develop the dread spot on the foliage, and it 

 is a difficult matter to get rid of it when once it has a foothold 

 so late in the year. Even in frames we have never been able 

 to keep out the disease ; it has always done more or less dam- 

 age before the arrival of cold weather, and we have to wait 

 until spring for the crop that should have been produced in 

 midwinter ; but where a bench in a cool house is at disposal, 

 one is sure of Violets at all times, no matter what the state of 

 the weather is outdoors. The ordinary bench, as built for 

 Roses and Carnations, is not deep enough for Violets, which 

 are deep-rooting plants, and a bench constructed of a board 

 twelve inches wide is none too deep. Having a good depth of 

 soil does away with a good deal of danger from decay from a 

 surplus of moisture in dull short days, for a body of soil a foot 

 in depth does not easily dry out in midwinter when once well 

 moistened, and when the soil is in this condition it is easy to 

 keep the surface somewhat dry so that the flowers that lie 

 near it will not be lost from damp. If a layer of clean sharp 

 sand is placed all over the soil it will aid materially in this 

 respect, and it will also aid the young runners to root freely. 

 At this time we make cuttings of the runners for the nextyear's 

 crop ; it is aimed to get them off the plants before fire-heat is 



