November 19, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



565 



to be sold for exactly what they are — table fruit. Some of the 

 very best, notably Pom me Grise, are almost excluded for lack 

 of beauty and size. On the other hand, for apples for the 

 street stands, where immense quantities are sold, beauty is of 

 the first importance, and this, joined with moderate softness 

 of flesh, is of much more consequence than high flavor. 

 From one end of the Mississippi Valley to the other Ben 

 Davis is the omnipresent apple ; and much as its quality is 

 denounced in the meetings of our pomological societies, its 

 very denouncers plant it by the quarter section because it 

 sells. 



Fruit-growers who have been brought up on Ben Davis, and 

 who have been forced to grow it against their will, are to be 

 pardoned for some violence of feeling against apples of 

 inferior quality ; and I seem to notice that it is they who are 

 the severest critics of the apples of north-eastern Europe. 

 They will admit their beauty, as well as the hardiness and 

 productiveness of the trees ; but because among them merits 

 equal to those of the Greening and the King have not yet been 

 recognized, their patience will not hold out until time elapses 

 for their careful trial and estimation. They rush into denun- 

 ciation as a sort of relief, and kick them as a man kicks the 

 cat when he is angry with his wife. 



I do not think they are wise in this. Let patience have her 

 perfect work. Of these apples of eastern Europe upward of 

 250 varieties have been imported and are now under trial. It 

 is an immense task, and nothing but preliminary and tentative 

 reports can yet be made by any one. I have been at work 

 upon them for twenty years, and yet I am unacquainted with 

 the qualities of four-fifths of them. In one-fifth I have 

 found three sorts that I am planting for profit: one, the Yellow 

 Transparent, for summer ; another, Prolific Sweeting, for fall, 

 and a third, Longfield, for early winter. A fourth, Bogdanoff, 

 is plainly a keeper, but only this year have I obtained enough 

 of these to give them a preliminary testing as to season and 

 quality. Professor Budd, of Iowa, has the whole list under 

 trial in the college grounds at Ames. From him I have lately 

 received specimens of six large and handsome winter varieties 

 which I am also subjecting to test as above. The fact is now 

 established that all these apples are not early kinds. I trust 

 that patience will be exercised in awaiting the careful trial, 

 vitally necessary in the interest of the cold north, of these 

 hardy, beautiful and productive fruits. They will not hurt 

 anybody, and no one is going to gain any credit that he will 

 not richly earn in the long, laborious and careful efforts needed 

 to assign these fruits to their proper position in our pomo- 

 logical records. 



Newport, Vt. A H. tlOSkins. 



Nematodes Again. 



[ AST year I made an examination of Coleus leaves to ascer- 

 -l— ' tain the cause of the serious blotching of the foliage, 

 but nothing in the nature of a Fungus could be found. The 

 knowledge of Nematodes obtained during the past year sug- 

 gested a re-examination of the Coleus foliage for microscopic 

 eel-worms. Upon thoroughly dissecting the first leaf-blotch a 

 number of the worms were brought to light, and their pres- 

 ence was constant throughout the large number of leaves ex- 

 amined. Without attempting to identify the species, which, 

 so far as general appearance goes, closely resembles the one 

 on the Violet, Spinach and Chrysanthemum — namely, He tero- 

 derma radicola — the fact remains, that the worms are there 

 and seem to be the only observed cause of the blackening of 

 the Coleus leaves and their premature falling. The light col- 

 ored leaves are much more noticeably blotched than the dark 

 red ones, but all sorts seem to be equally the prey of the 

 worms. 



Spots or blotches similar to those upon the Coleus were re- 

 cently found upon all the leaves of a sickly specimen of Lan- 

 tana growing out-of-doors. Upon examination for some 

 Cercospora — for the spots appeared to have a mould upon 

 them — it was quickly found that here again were the Nema- 

 todes. Every spot, large or small, contained many worms, 

 and they were active in the soft parts of the leaf between the 

 upper and lower epiderms. These spots, as those of the 

 Coleus, were bounded quite regularly by the veinlets of the 

 infested leaves, and it is probable that the denser substance of 

 the veins may serve as a check to the spread of the worms 

 throughout the leaf. The roots of the affected Coleus plants 

 contain many galls, and in these the worms may be found in 

 all stages of development. It is hoped that some helmintholo- 

 gist may find this branch of his subject — namely, Nematodes 

 in leaves — of sufficient importance to warrant a study of it. 

 There are many interesting questions that arise concerning 

 the worms beside the extremely practical one that always 



comes up from every gardener — namely, what shall be done 

 for the trouble ? Suspicion of Nematodes may well be 

 aroused whenever leaves are brown in patches and otherwise 

 green when no insect or Fungus can be found. 



Rutgers College. Byroil D. Halsted. 



The White-Flowered Perennial Pea. — English periodicals 

 contain considerable information recently regarding this 

 plant (Lathyrus latifolius albus) and its propagation by- 

 seed. Some writers assert that a large proportion of 

 the seedlings come true— that is, with pure white llow- 

 ers — from seed. Raising this Everlasting Pea from seed, 

 however, means growing the plants on until the second 

 year to test them as to their color, and this, no doubt, accounts 

 for the high prices demanded in Europe for the plant. But it 

 is surprising that one should go to the trouble of raising seed- 

 lings of doubtful color when the genuine plant may be easily 

 propagated by means of cuttings. We have usually cut off 

 the whole of the tops of the plants in fall, using two "joints to 

 each cutting, and have invariably found that seventy-five per 

 cent, will root readily, grow rapidly and flower the ensuing 

 summer. After the tops have been cut off, if desired, the 

 root may be lifted and placed in a deep box in a greenhouse, 

 where an abundance of young shoots will appearand these, if 

 taken off while short and stocky, also root freely. When this 

 plant becomes better known and cheaper we may hope to see 

 it frequently used as a screen plant, for these perennial Peas 

 need support just as Sweet Peas do. They are out of place in 

 a border, for they spread rapidly among other things, and the 

 rain bespatters the flowers with dirt, marring their purity. But 

 if the plant has a chance to climb, a little assistance at starting 

 and good, deep rich soil, the result will be a revelation. One 

 thing to be remembered is, that these Peas, in common with 

 most leguminous plants, transplant badly, and an old plant to 

 start with is not half as good as a young one. It takes a good 

 deal of digging to lift an established root of this Pea, and when 

 replanted the old roots need twelve months in which to 

 become re-established. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. O. 



Young Fruit-trees. — We have never found a better way to 

 judge of the bearing of young fruit-trees, and to decide whether 

 they are bearing too little or too much, than to observe the 

 length of the annual shoots. The treatment is then to be given 

 in accordance with the result of this examination. If the 

 growth is slow, mellow culture or fertilizers will be necessarv. 

 If, as generally happens, slow growers bear too much, thin 

 out most or all the fruit when small, which will aid in giving 

 the trees more vigor, and what little fruit there is will be worth 

 more than the numerous small and scrubby specimens. Small 

 growth and too much small fruit go together, and thrifty growth 

 furnishes a few large and fine ones. If the annual shoots are 

 not over a foot long in the early years of fruit-trees, more vigor 

 must be given them. Nothing is better than top-dressing 

 with barn manure late in autumn or early in winter. — J. y. 

 Thomas, in Coit7itry Gentleman. 



Correspondence. 



Some Earl}' Wild Flowers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Although most persons think there are no flowers to 

 be found in our New England woods or fields from the last of 

 November to the first of April, they have been found in this 

 neighborhood in every month in the year. For twenty 

 months in succession, from April, 1879, "to November, 1880, 

 some wild plants were in flower near Boston. Colonel 

 Higginson, in his delightful " Out-Door Papers," says : " The 

 first wild flower of spring is like land after sea. The two which 

 throughout the Northern Atlantic States divide this interest are 

 Epiga'a repens and Hcpaiica triloba." For many years I have 

 thought they blossomed about the same time. The Mayflower 

 does not grow in any quantity near Boston, so that I have not 

 had the opportunity of watching it closely. But my favorite spot 

 for Hepatica, in Middlesex Fells, is only six miles from Boston. 

 When I first collected the flowers here I used to think myself 

 fortunate if I found a good bunch of them on Fast Day. At 

 that time a friend told me he had once found these plants 

 blooming in February. After that, whenever I was near the 

 place on a mild day in winter, I looked for them, and at last, 

 on the nth of January, 1874, I found several plants in Mower, 

 and one out of blossom, with only the involucre and seeds 

 left, indicating- that it blossomed in December perhaps. I 

 found it in flower March 21st, 1878 ; March 7th, 1880; Novem- 

 ber 30th, 1881 ; November 30th and December 31st, 1884 ; 



