576 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 26, li 



quality the best and most carefully grown among the choice 

 table apples of Europe. But the English public buys and pays 

 good prices for some of our poorest American apples. The 

 Ben Davis, even where it is most at home and is well grown, 

 is scarcely " good " for eating out of hand, yet for shipment to 

 England it stands among the first in point of demand and in 

 price. The Baldwin at its best, as grown in south-western 

 Maine, is perhaps the apple first in demand for trans-Atlantic 

 export ; yet I never heard or saw the Baldwin named in a list 

 of our best dessert apples, while the English experts think less 

 of it than its American critics. "Its size, color and keeping 

 quality are what sells it " is the verdict upon both ; and the 

 Rhode Island Greening, in itsbestform (yellow fleshed), though 

 far superior to the Baldwin, hardly equals it in price, either at 

 London or Liverpool. Northern Spys and Kings stand higher, 

 but do not touch or approach the standing of the best New- 

 town Pippins. 



Not so many as ten of the iron-clad Apples are well known 

 outside of the region where they are chiefly grown. They are 

 generally judged upon the character of the Alexander, the Red 

 Astrachan, the Oldenburgh and the Tetofsky. When we ask 

 critics of these apples what they mean by the poor quality of 

 the Russian or iron-clad Apples, they invariably refer to these. 

 Yet Astrachans, Oldenburghs and Alexanders are very salable 

 apples in all our large markets. The Wealthy is never re- 

 ferred to, but the Wealthy is better than the Baldwin. The 

 Prolific Sweeting is unknown or ignored, yet no fall sweet is 

 its superior in appearance, or in quality for dessert or baking. 

 St. Peter, Switzer, Longfield, Winter St. Lawrence, Shiawassee, 

 Gideon's Peter have been grown long enough to be easily had 

 for testing, yet they are not named. But they will all rank 

 with the sorts that stand uncontested as " very good " or 

 " best." 



But how many of these " best " dessert apples are on record 

 in American pomology, which scores altogether more than a 

 thousand named and described varieties ? Let us take 

 the American Pomological Society's select record of 369 

 varieties and count them. There are just twenty-one of them, 

 and the odd one is foreign. In the " very good " list there are 

 155 varieties, of which twelve are foreign and five are iron- 

 clads, leaving but 132 apples in this class of our native apples 

 outside of the native iron-clads. In all, then, of our American 

 named apples (including Canadian varieties) there are but 142 

 that are ranked above the humble "g" which marks our 

 culinary fruit of this class. 



Our native iron-clads, then, are not below the average of 

 the Society's select list. As to the Russians, no grade is yet 

 assigned to any of those recently admitted to the record. This 

 shows it to be the opinion of the Society that the time has not 

 yet come to fix their place. That is precisely the opinion held 

 by those who are most interested and have had the longest 

 experience with them. As the students of these apples take 

 this position, why should those of less experience and knowl- 

 edge regarding them be in such a hurry to give judgment 

 against them ? Of the whole list no American, unless it be 

 Professor Budd, knows the exact season or value of twenty of 

 the iron-clads of north-eastern Europe. 



Newport, Vt. T. H. HosklllS. 



The Root Rot of Salsify. 



DURING the past two years gardeners have complained of 

 much decay in Salsify roots. Before the crop is har- 

 vested some of the plants will be seen to have a pale yellowish 

 appearance and soon the further growth of the top ceases. In 

 the worst cases all of the plants are a mass of rottenness long 

 before the time for harvesting comes. 



An examination of the roots shows that the decay usually 

 begins at the lower end of the main root and quite rapidly 

 works its way up to the crown. The decay is particularly soft, 

 very complete and somewhat offensive. In the decayed por- 

 tion there is little left of the structure of the root, excepting 

 the scattering vessels and woody fibres, which, having thick 

 walls, resist the corroding action of the agent of decay. No 

 threads of any Fungus are to be found in recently disorganized 

 tissue, but thin sections of the decaying substance of the root 

 reveal under the microscope great numbers of bacteria. The 

 first effect of the germs is to dissolve the substance that holds 

 the cells of the root tissue together. After this they penetrate 

 the wall of the cell and increase so rapidly as to literally fill the 

 infested cell with these minute bodies, each in constant motion. 

 A view of such a cell under a high power of the microscope 

 suggests the activity one may see in a bee-hive during the 

 best week in honey-making. 



Inoculations were made of the bacteria upon the healthy tis- 

 sue of other roots, and the infection spread from each point 



with remarkable rapidity. Other kinds of vegetable substance 

 were treated in like manner, and it was found that all of the 

 following were susceptible, but not to an equal extent : The 

 fruit of the Egg-plant, Sweet Potato, White Potato, Onion and 

 Apple. The egg-plant was entirely decayed in thirty-six hours, 

 and the apple least affected. The progress of the decay of 

 the various substances was in the order in which they are 

 named above. . 



As to the beginning of the decay in the Salsify-roots nothing 

 can be said but the decay as found when well under way is 

 not attended by any insect or any Fungus, save the bacterium, 

 which latter is constantly present in the decaying tissue, and 

 small portions of this decaying substance are able to convey 

 the activity to healthy tissue of the same host and to repre- 

 sentative types of vegetables, fruits, tubers and other roots. 



What needs to be done in the way of a remedy it is not easy 

 to say. As the trouble probably begins below ground, and 

 some distance from the surface, it is difficult to detect the 

 presence of the trouble at the outset. The paling of the herb- 

 age should suggest an examination of the root, and if it is 

 found decayed the plant should be dug and destroyed. It is 

 not likely that any fungicide can be sprayed with good effect 

 upon the plant. It is possible that large quantities of manure 

 in the soil may have furnished breeding ground for the bac- 

 teria of decay. It would therefore be well to test the value of 

 some commercial fertilizer upon this crop. As the decay 

 is remarkably contagious, care should be exercised in discard- 

 ing all roots at harvesting, and it should be borne in mind that 

 the virus is active upon other similar food substances. 



Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Carludovicas. 

 '"PHESE form a handsome genus of foliage plants, which, 

 *■ from their general appearance, give the impression of be- 

 ing Palms, though in reality they belong to a division of the 

 Pandanece. The Carludovicas are of free and rapid growth 

 when under congenial conditions, and are deserving of more 

 extended recognition as decorative plants than they have yet 

 secured, for they are not only highly ornamental as stove or 

 conservatory specimens, but may also be used in an out-door 

 foliage bed during the summer, provided they are not exposed 

 to the full force of the sun. Of course it would not be a wise 

 measure to take a Carludovica from a close, warm house and 

 plant or plunge it out-doors for the summer without any fur- 

 ther preparation, as the result would probably be unsatisfac- 

 tory; but if treated as all foliage plants should be treated before 

 they are planted outside — that is, if they are gradually hard- 

 ened off by means of increased lightand ventilation — they may 

 be used for out-door decoration with very pleasing effect and 

 without injury to themselves. 



In-doors they prefer an open, well-drained soil which con- 

 tains a fair proportion of peat, and when the plants. are well 

 established an occasional watering with manure-water is bene- 

 ficial and tends to keep up the color of the leaves. Carludo- 

 vicas are propagated by division, as most of the varieties 

 sucker freely, or by means of seeds, when these are available; 

 but as the seeds are seldom offered the first-mentioned method 

 is that most generally adopted. 



Among the varieties in general cultivation, or rather, most 

 frequently met with, as none of them are particularly com- 

 mon, C. humilis is the best. It bears leaves of rich light 

 green color, one to two feet long and nine to eighteen inches 

 wide, and deeply cleft or bifid at the apex, making a shapely 

 plant, bearing some resemblance to a Licuala, though with- 

 out the thorny leaf-stems of the latter. C. humilis is possibly 

 somewhat more tender than the following sorts, and some dis- 

 cretion should therefore be used in regard to its out-door 

 exposure. 



C. palmata is another handsome plant, with large palmate 

 leaves that are deeply divided into narrow segments, the en- 

 tire leaf being dark green in color. The leaves of this species 

 are thrown up on long foot-stalks and have a very graceful 

 effect. C. palmata also has some reputation as the plant from 

 which the so-called Panama hats are said to be made. The 

 young leaves, cut for this purpose, after having passed through 

 various processes of steeping, bleaching, etc., are split into 

 narrow strips and then plaited into hats. 



C. rotundifolia is also a fine decorative plant, with general 

 characterietics similar to the preceding sort, though the 

 plants are quite distinct, as close examination will show. C. 

 rotundifolia has fan-shaped leaves of a bright green color and 

 deeply cleft into narrow pendent sections. It is not quite so 

 large a grower as C. palmata, the latter sometimes attaining a 

 height of twelve to fourteen feet under favorable conditions, 

 while C. rotundifolia seldom exceeds six to eight feet. 



