44 8 



Garden and Forest. 



[September io, 1890. 



ripen and after the berries arc off, until well into August. 

 There is reason to believe that this disease can be held in 

 check by timely spraying with the Bordeaux mixture, and any 

 treatment will i>e more beneficial if the diseased canes arc cut 

 and burned immediately after fruiting. 



the Strawberry blight has been serious on some varieties 

 and in some parts of the slate. The most approved remedy 

 is potassium sulphide (liver of sulphur) sprayed on the vines 

 once in a week or ten days from the beginning of the growing 

 season until the fruit begins to ripen. One ounce of the sul- 

 phide to eight gallons of water is the proper strength for the 

 mixture. " After the crop is gathered the plants may be 

 mowed and burned over, or destroyed by spraying with 

 sulphuric acid at the strength of one pint to six gallons of 

 water. New leaves start soon and the plants are not injured. 



The advent of rots and mildews in the New York vineyards 

 is also chronicled, but it was to be expected, and no doubt these 

 diseases will spread. The means are at hand, however, to 

 keep these diseases easily and economically in check, and we 

 have often given them. Professor Bailey concludes by urging 

 upon fruit-growers the importance of a state law which looks 

 toward the control of contagious plant diseases. New Jersey 

 has recently passed such an act, and if some officer is cm- 

 powered to look after the fruit interests under the law, an 

 improvement in the health of orchards and vineyards may 

 be expected. 



Notes. 



We received last week several clusters of the Green Moun- 

 tain Grape from the Messrs. Hoyt, of New Canaan, Connecticut. 

 The grapes were in fair-sized clusters, fully ripe, and in flavor" 

 and aroma were superior to any of the old varieties which 

 ripen so early in the season. 



Osbeck's Sumach (Rhus semialata, var. Osbccki) has been 

 exceptionally full of flowers this year and they have but just 

 fallen. Large greenish white panicles at the extremities of the 

 limbs, and held well out above the clean foliage, make the 

 tree particularly conspicuous at a season when there are few 

 others in blossom. It is noteworthy that the bees seem to be 

 especially attracted by the flowers. 



Referring to the fact that Mr. Gilchrist named in his list of 

 twenty native plants for florists' use (see page 423) Swamp Milk- 

 weed (Asclepias incarnata), a correspondent calls attention to 

 a pure white form of the recognized var. pulchra of this spe- 

 cies. This plant grows in great abundance, it is said, in Way- 

 land, Massachusetts, along the road-side on the way to Saxon- 

 ville, and is pronounced one of the best of decorative plants 

 at this season. 



Nearly fifty years ago the Revue Horticole thus described a 

 gigantic Cactus — Cereus speciosissimus — then growing at Andil- 

 libly, in the Valley of Montmorency: "It is an old plant and 

 has been growing in the ground in a greenhouse for seven 

 years past. It covers the whole surface of the wall, which is 

 fifteen feet high and forty feet long. It produces every year 

 from 1,500 to 2,000 Mowers. From 400 to 800 are often seen 

 expanded at the same time, when the effect of the rich colors 

 is that of a glowing and superb tapestry." 



A correspondent of the London Garden says that the trees 

 in the gardens and squares of Edinburgh are as dingy as can 

 be seen in any town, with the single exception of the Oriental 

 Plane, which in the latter part of August was still conspicuous 

 with its glossy green leaves; and it looked especially healthy 

 among the fading Elms, Thorns, Sycamore Maples and Limes. 

 The Elm seemed to the writer to suffer worst of all, because 

 its rough leaf has an exceptional capacity for holding smut 

 and dust, so that the middle-aged Elms in some of the streets 

 were almost as black as the railings under them. 



Colonel Pearson writes from Vineland that success in treat- 

 ing Grapes with copper sulphate for black rot and mildew has 

 been as complete this year in that region as could be hoped. 

 All those who have sprayed their vines with the Bordeaux 

 mixture early and often have almost perfect crops of Concord 

 Grapes. Most of the vineyards there, however, were stripped 

 of their blossoms by the Rose bug, and only a few vine- 

 growers have had the energy to spray their vineyards. Unless 

 these precautionary measures are taken it would seem that 

 for the present Grape-growing is impossible in infected 

 regions. 



The United States Miller, in describing an enormous flume 

 re< ently built to bring water into the city of San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, states that its whole length is lined with redwood. As 

 this length amounts to forty-five miles, it is difficult to compute 

 the quantity of fine trees which must have been utilized in this 



single enterprise. We may hope that less interesting species 

 were used to build the trestle-work which bridges the valleys 

 and ravines over which the flume passes, for the number of 

 these is great, and no rilling-in was allowed owing to the 

 danger of landslips when this expedient is adopted instead of 

 trestles. 



The late Henry Winthrop Sargent was so famous in his day 

 as a horticulturist and pomologist that it is interesting to find 

 in Downing s Horticulturalist for the year 1847 an estimate of 

 the varieties of fruits then growing in his garden at Woden- 

 ethe, near Fishkill. Apples arc not included, as these he 

 grew on another part of the estate, but, in addition to thirty- 

 one varieties of foreign Grapes grown under glass, we are told 

 of 106 varieties of Pears, sixty of Peaches, fifty-six of Plums, 

 fourteen of Nectarines, twelve of Apricots, eleven of native 

 Grape, twenty of Cherries, three of Quinces, six of Raspber- 

 ries, four of Currants, fourteen of Strawberries and twelve of 

 Gooseberries — all of them the choicest kinds then known. 



The case against the Northern Pacific Railroad, brought by 

 Jacob Austin several years ago, has just been decided in favor 

 of the plaintiff by the United States Supreme Court. The 

 cause of action was for damage to plaintiff's standing timber 

 from a fire set by sparks from an engine. The original com- 

 plaint alleged $475 damages, but the testimony developed that 

 more damage than that had been done, and the plaintiff asked 

 leave to amend to $1,000. The case went to the Supreme 

 Court of Minnesota on the judge's affirmative ruling on this 

 motion. It has since gone to the Supreme Court twice — three 

 times in all — and once to the United States Supreme Court. 

 The latter court gives the plaintiff $750 damages, together 

 with costs and disbursements. The total verdict is about 

 $1,100 for Mr. Austin. 



Whether or not there are any oospores to be found in the 

 potato-rot, Phytophthora infestans, is a question on which 

 opinions are divided. Some of the British botanists accept the 

 views of Worthington Smith, who in 1875 described bodies 

 which he believed to be the oospores, by means of which the 

 rot is able to survive the winter and start up again in the 

 spring. On the other hand, German botanists generally 

 adopted the view that the bodies in question were not the true 

 oospores. The latest contribution on this subject is that of Dr. J. 

 Smorawski in Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbuecher of the present 

 year. In cultures of infected potatoes in specially prepared 

 covered vessels he noticed that the mycelium not only pro- 

 duced conidia, but also in places swelled so as to produce 

 oogonia-like bodies. In some cases cells were seen in contact 

 with the oogonia, and Smorawski regards them as antheridia. 

 But in other cases there were no antheridia, and in such cases 

 he thinks it possible that oospores are produced in the oogonia 

 without the action of the male, or, in other words, apoga- 

 mously, to use the expression adopted by botanists. It must 

 be said, however, that the complete development of the 

 oospores is not figured by Smorawski, and the doubtful point 

 with regard to the existence of oospores in the Potato-rot can 

 hardly be said to be fully settled by Smorawski's observa- 

 tions. 



The summer meeting of the American Forestry Association 

 at Quebec last week drew a large attendance, including many 

 delegates from the United States. Lord Stanley came to the 

 meeting and made a very business-like address, as did the 

 principal officers of the Province of Quebec. Lieutenant- 

 Governor Angers gave some very striking figures to show 

 how the forest-wealth of the Dominion had been squandered, 

 while at the same time he made it clear that the Canadian 

 method of leasing the public lands was much more satisfactory 

 than the practice in the United States of sellingforest-property 

 outright. The Province of Quebec alone has produced since 

 1867 ten and a half billion feet of lumber, while the Crown 

 timber dues during the same period had amounted to about 

 ten millions of dollars, and during the last year the revenue 

 from this source alone amounted to nearly a million of dollars. 

 It is no wonder that the authorities of the Dominion are be- 

 ginning to inquire how long the forests can survive such 

 attacks. No officers were elected at this session ; business of 

 this sort will be transacted at a winter meeting which will 

 probably be held in Washington. The discussions, as was 

 very proper, were largely devoted to forest-interests of the 

 Dominion, but excellent papers were read by Professor 

 Lazenby, of Ohio ; Colonel Ensign, of Colorado ; N. H. 

 Egleston, of Washington ; Gen. James Grant Wilson, of New 

 York ; H. G. Joly, of Quebec ; William Little, of Montreal ; M. 

 Vilmorin, of Paris ; H, B. Ayres, of Minnesota, and B. 

 E. Fernow. It is our purpose to publish abstracts of some 

 of these papers at an early day. 



