September 30, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



395 



badly infested with the rust the general appearance is that 

 of an unseasonable maturing of the plants. Instead of the 

 usual healthy green color, the field has a brownish hue, as if 

 insects had sapped the plants or frost had destroyed their 

 vitality. 



Appearance of the Plants.— Rusted Asparagus-plants, 

 when viewed closely, are found to have the skin of the stems, 

 both large and small, lifted as if blistered, and in the ruptures 

 of the epidermis dark brown spots are readily seen. These 

 brown dots or lines are of various sizes and shapes, and remind 

 the close observer of similar spots in the broken skin of stems 

 of grains and grasses and of the leaves of Corn, also due to 

 rusts, but not the same kind as that of the Asparagus. 



Nature of the Rust. — The Asparagus rust is due to a 

 fungus (Puccinia asparagi, D. C), that is, a minute plant con- 

 sisting of microscopic threads which grow through the sub- 



simple and effective manner by carefully gathering all the 

 parts of the Asparagus-plants that are above ground and burn- 

 ing them. It would be a waste of time to stack the tops and 

 leave them to natural decay ; and to place them in manure 

 heaps would be still worse. The only safe thing to do when a 

 serious enemy like this is in the Asparagus-field is to burn the 

 plants even to the last scrap that can be gathered up. Let this 

 be done at once, for any delay means the breaking up of the 

 brittle, rusty plants and a generous sowing of the spores upon 

 the ground. If the fire could go over the whole field and burn 

 all the small as well as the large pieces, that would be the best 

 of all. This autumn burning should be done by every Aspara- 

 gus grower, even if the rust is not yet seen by him. This 

 enemy may become very serious if thorough measures are 

 not taken at once and by all who are engaged in Asparagus 

 culture. 



Fig. 52. — Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album. — See page 394. 



stance of the Asparagus-plant, taking up the nourishment that 

 is needed, and finally break through the surface to bear the 

 innumerable brown spores that give the dark color to the spots 

 on the Asparagus skins. This is the last stage in the develop- 

 ment of the rust fungus, and as such remains over the winter. 

 When the warm, moist weather of spring and summer comes, 

 the spores above mentioned germinate, and a new lot of 

 Asparagus-plants may become infested. 



Treatment of Infested Fields. — There are two general 

 methods of checking the rust, namely, by destroying the 

 spores and by preventing their growing upon, and getting a 

 foothold in, the substance of healthy Asparagus-plants. The 

 rust fungi are among the most difficult to check by protecting 

 the plants they feed upon with fungicides like Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, etc., sprayed upon them during the growing season. 

 While something may be hoped for with the spraying-pump 

 in July and August, the chief method of eradication lies in the 

 destruction of the spores this fall. This can be done in a very 



Quality in Tomatoes. 



T T is discouraging to those who are trying to improve our 

 ■1 garden vegetables that the popularity of vegetables is much 

 more dependent upon appearance than the quality. This is 

 particularly noticeable in tomatoes, and the sort which pleases 

 the eyes, even though not of best quality, is the popular 

 variety. Many of the observers at our experiment stations 

 seem to be influenced in the same way, and their reports 

 would make it appear that the ideal tomato is perfectly round 

 with no sutures, the interior made up with as many and thick 

 partition-walls as possible, anil that the' fewer seeds and the 

 less pulp they contain and the more solid the fruit, the better. 

 Now, if one takes out a section of the interior partitions of a 

 tomato so carefully that it receives no flavor from the pulp or 

 exterior wall, it will be found that this is a mass of cellular 

 matter without a particle of flavor. The flavor of a tomato is 

 chiefly in the pulp, though there is usually a little in the exte- 



