December 30, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



527 



ranging between 65 and 70 degrees, Fahrenheit, during the 

 night and about ten degrees higher in the daytime. The 

 walks should be wet down every day to keep the atmosphere 

 moist, but it is not necessary to syringe the plants. 



Forcing-house tomatoes are liable to be affected by two 

 common fungous diseases — Cladosporium fulvum and Mac- 

 rosporium tomato. The former is the " mould" or " blight" 

 of the field, and otten attacks the plants in the fall, when they 

 are first set in the benches, and again in the spring, when the 

 heat has been turned off. The upper surface of the leaves 

 affected with blight has a spotted appearance, and the 

 under side of each spot will be covered with a brown- 

 ish mould which becomes darker-colored as the spores are 

 produced. Repeated applications of Bordeaux mixture or 

 ammoniacal carbonate of copper will free the plants from this 

 parasite. 



The Macrosporium is known as " rot " and attacks the fruit. 

 This disease is not so easy to check ; it first appears as a 

 brown or black decayed spot at the blossom end when the 

 fruit is about half grown. Probably the disease attacks the 

 tomato through the pistil of the flower and the mycelium con- 

 tinues to develop in the ovary, which rapidly increases in size 

 and becomes half grown before the disease is apparent. The 

 decay usually continues until the tomato is about half de- 

 stroyed. If the spores of the fungus enter through the flower, 

 as is supposed, any application of fungicides that would kill 

 the spores would also have a tendency to kill the pollen, if not 

 to injure the pistil of the flower, so that until more is known 

 about this disease it is hardly safe to advise spraying to hold 

 it in check. It is seldom serious, however, if the proper con- 

 ditions prevail in the forcing-house. 



Winter tomatoes are attacked by a white fly-like insect 

 known as the "Plant-house Aleyrodes " (Aleyrodes vapora- 

 riorum). The larvse may be found upon the under surface of 

 the lower leaves during the bearing season of the plants and 

 the adults will be seen flying about and depositing eggs 

 toward the tops. Fumigating the house occasionally will hold 

 this insect in subjection. 



An eel worm or nematode, Heterodera radicicola, forms galls 

 upon the roots of tomatoes grown in the forcing-house. The 

 usual remedy is to use fresh soil each season and throw the 

 old out to lie over winter and freeze. Nematodes are not 

 found upon the roots of tomato plants grown in a soil of coal 

 ashes and peat moss. 



Instead of growing new plants for the second crop, the old 

 ones may be cut off a foot above the bench, turned down, and 

 buried in the soil. New shoots will be thrown out, and these 

 will produce a fairly good crop of fruit. The old root-system 

 is again used, and though the plants will grow vigorously, the 

 crop can hardly be expected to equal that obtained from new 

 plants, especially if nematodes are troublesome. Where these 

 worms are abundant, it is probably better to grow new plants. 

 The price of hot-house tomatoes is a variable quantity. Last 

 winter, in New Haven, the crop sold at thirty-five cents a 

 pound, wholesale, during the holidays. Toward spring the 

 price was considerably less. At present thirty cents is about 

 as much as the dealers like to pay. Whether the crop is a 

 profitable one or not depends upon circumstances, but toma- 

 toes can doubtless be grown at a profit near good markets, and 

 especially by market gardeners who wish to keep a part of 

 their help employed the year round. These men know the 

 markets, and can dispose of the crop at an advantage, where 

 others might fail. 



Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. ™ • -£• hritlOH. 



Beefonias. 



A T this season, when showy greenhouse plants are scarce, 

 •**- and the gorgeous display of Chrysanthemums is missed, 

 winter-flowering Begonias are useful for the conservatory. 

 New and old varieties can be had in abundance so that the 

 most fastidious taste can be satisfied. In grouping Begonias 

 in conservatories several plants of one kind ought to be 

 grouped together to produce the most pleasing effects. Well- 

 grown plants of B. Froebeli, a tuberous-rooted species, can 

 hardly be excelled by any that blossom at this season or 

 perhaps at any season. It has not as large individual flowers 

 as some of the tuberous-rooted kinds that bloom in summer, 

 but its flowers are as rich in color as those of any other 

 Begonia. They are brilliant scarlet, and are produced in 

 drooping cymes on red peduncles which are more than a foot 

 long when the plants are grown well. But the flowers are not 

 the only attractive part of this plant ; it has handsome foliage, 

 the leaves sometimes measuring more than one foot in length 

 and six or eight inches in breadth, the upper side velveted 



with the finest purplish hairs. It has been in cultivation 

 twenty-four years, but is seldom seen in gardens although 

 seeds are offered annually in the catalogues. Perhaps one of 

 the reasons why it is not oftener grown is because in raising 

 it from seed the young plants do not produce as large flowers 

 or leaves as older ones. The best flowers are obtained here 

 from tubers several years old. The cultivation of this beauti- 

 ful Begonia is very simple. When the flowering season is 

 over and the leaves begin to lose their color, water should 

 gradually be withheld. After the plants have lost their leaves, 

 then the pots and tubers may be put on a dry shelf where they 

 can remain until they show signs of growth in the fall. The 

 old soil is then shaken away from the tubers and then they 

 are repotted into smaller pots. When they have grown until 

 the young roots have penetrated the fresh compost and 

 reached the sides of the pots they should have a shift into a 

 larger-sized pot. A compost of turfy loam, leaf-mold and 

 sand suits this Begonia. 



Begonia Socotrana makes a good companion to B. Froebeli, 

 and about the same treatment suits them both. A well-grown 

 group of these plants is a sight not easily forgotten. B. 

 Haageana is also in flower now ; in fact, it is almost a constant 

 bloomer. It is easily grown and makes fine bushy plants 

 bearing large clusters of showy blush-white flowers. Its 

 leaves are metallic green with red nerves and of a purplish 

 color on the under side. The flowers are borne on long stout 

 peduncles, and their outer segments are covered with red 

 hairs. B. Credneri is a hybrid rather like the last species in 

 habit and producing immense clusters of showy flowers. 



The most floriferous of Begonias at this time is B. incarnata. 

 It is a well-known plant and is grown by almost every one who 

 has a greenhouse. The rose-colored flowers are produced 

 very plentifully and brighten the plants for a long time in 

 winter. Young plants that were raised from cuttings made 

 last spring are nice flowering plants now. B. semperflorens 

 gigantea rosea could hardly be spared from our greenhouses, 

 now, with its large dark green shining leaves and numerous 

 stout erect panicles of bright vermilion flowers. It is easily 

 grown, and raised in spring makes nice blooming plants now. 

 A near relative of this good Begonia is B. Amelias, another 

 profuse bloomer, but having flowers not quite as large as 

 those of B. semperflorens rosea. A good dwarf pot plant 

 is B. Bruanti, with small obliquely lobed leaves and many flow- 

 ers borne almost without cessation on short axillary peduncles. 

 This Begonia also makes a useful bedding plant in summer. 

 The old and well-known B. fuchsioides, when well grown, is 

 as pleasing and as useful as any other. Although it makes a 

 good pot plant it is always seen at its best in a bench or border 

 with its stems trained to a pillar or a stake where its Fuchsia- 

 like flowers, in drooping branched panicles, are displayed to 

 best advantage. Many more could be added to the list : B. 

 Abundance, B. argenteo-guttata, B. Corbeille de feu, B. Saun- 

 dersii, B. nitida and its white variety, B. phyllomaniaca, 

 besides newer kinds which are plentiful now and many of 

 them in flower at this time. 



Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. Robert Cameron. 



Orchid Notes. 



r THE present time is a critical one in the cultivation of 

 -1 Orchids. It is the resting season of a great many varie- 

 ties, and water should be withheld to a certain extent with 

 only an pccasional syringing, applied as the pseudo-bulbs 

 begin to show shriveling. An overabundance of water now 

 might result in that much-dreaded disease, the spot. A great 

 number of Orchids are destroyed by overwatering during this 

 season. 



During the winter months, while the most beautiful of winter 

 Orchids are in flower, a superabundance of moisture should 

 be carefully guarded against, as it certainly will prove destruc- 

 tive of the beauty of the flowers. The house in which they 

 grow should only be dampened on bright, sunny days, or 

 when heavy firing is necessary to maintain the proper temper- 

 ature, and this shpuld not exceed sixty-live degrees during the 

 day. The floor should be allowed to become quite drv toward 

 eveningand the temperature should be reduced to about liltv- 

 five degrees. Where it is possible, a small house should be 

 reserved for the Orchids as they come into flower. They can 

 then be grouped with other flowering and foliage plants to pro- 

 duce a pleasing effect, and the temperature can be kept drv and 

 cooler in order to preserve the flowers longer. After Ihey are 

 done flowering, repotting should be attended to. The best 

 time for this work is during their resting season, except in 

 the case of varieties which bloom as they make their new 



