584 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 4, 1889. 



About the time the plants blossomed the middle plat (No. 3) 

 was, as usual, struck by the blight, and in two weeks all of the 

 potato tops on this plat were dead and dry. The plants on 

 the other plats were green and growing as vigorously as could 

 be wished. They remained green and growing until killed by 

 frost in November. 



I then dug and weighed separately the total product of each 

 plat. Plat No. I, sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, yielded 346 

 pounds of fiHe, large, marketable potatoes, which were sold 

 as soon as dug for a dollar a bushel. Plat No. 3, not 

 sprayed, yielded only 164 pounds of small-sized tubers, scarcely 

 one of which was marketable. 



The diameter of the largest tuber on the untreated plat was 

 three inches. The diameter of the largest on the treated plat 

 was five inches. There is a marked difference in the cooking 

 of potatoes from the unsprayed and from the sprayed plats. 

 Those from the plat not treated are immature and "soggy." 

 Those from the treated plats are mealy and have all the 

 excellence for which the Peachblow potato was formerly 

 esteemed. 



I have saved ten or fifteen bushels of these Peachblows to 

 plant next year, in the confident expectation of a crop of 350 

 bushels of potatoes per acre. Under the unfavorable condi- 

 tions in which these experimental plats of potatoes were grown 

 (between rows of trees twenty feet apart and twenty years old) 

 I did not expect a large crop. Yet the yield of the treated plat 

 (No. i), 346 pounds from 225 hills, is not bad, under the 

 circumstances, being about 125 bushels per acre. 



Of the Bordeaux Mixture employed the formula is : six 

 pounds of pulverized sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), dis- 

 solved in four gallons of hot water ; four pounds of fresh lime, 

 dissolved in four gallons of cold water ; mix the two solutions 

 and dilute with cold water to make twenty-two gallons of liquid. 



I believe, however, that the ammoniacal solution of car- 

 bonate of copper will be found as efficient a fungicide as the 

 Bordeaux Mixture, and it has the advantage of being more 

 readily prepared and more easily distributed in spray. Its 

 formula is : carbonate of copper, three ounces ; ammonia, 

 one quart ; mix. The copper carbonate will dissolve almost 

 at once in the ammonia liquor. Then dilute this mixture with 

 cold water to make twenty-two gallons of liquid. 



From sundry experiments which I have made this year, and 

 which I have reported in detail to the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, I conclude that it is the copper in solu- 

 tion which is specifically antidotal to fungus germs, and not 

 the other component, sulphuric acid, of the sulphate. In ex- 

 perimenting on treatmentof the Black Rot of the Grape I tried 

 quite extensively a mixture made similarly to the Bordeaux 

 Mixture, only substituting sulphate of iron (copperas) for the 

 copper-sulphate. This mixture had no effect whatever in pre- 

 vention of Grape Rot. I saw some benefit from its use, how- 

 ever, in prevention of leaf mildew, and it is quite likely that it 

 may be found sufficiently effective for treatment of the blights 

 of the Potato and Tomato. It is much cheaper, pulverized 

 sulphate of copper costing about eight cents per pound, while 

 copperas costs only seven-eighths of one cent per pound. 



Further experiments are required to teach which of these 

 fungicides may be the preferable one, and for what uses. Cer- 

 tain fungi will endure with impunity applications imder which 

 others will perish, and certain varieties of plants are damaged 

 by chemical solutions which do not harm others. Thus, the 

 Tomato plant will not tolerate a spraying with Bordeaux Mix- 

 ture as it is used for the Potato. The mixture for the Tomato 

 must be reduced in strength at least one-half. Nor will Vitis 

 astivalis endure spraying with copper sulphate mixtures, 

 which do not injure the vegetation of Vitis Labrusca. 



My coimsel to those who purpose engaging in these vegeta- 

 ble therapeutics is to go slow. When all ready for spraying 

 try only a few patients at first, and wait to note the effects of 

 the medicine. Otherwise there is great danger of learning 

 pathological wisdom as did the quack doctor who found out in 

 his practice that " what cured the shoemaker killed the tailor." 



prac 



Vlneland, N.J. 



A. W. Pearson. 



Bleaching and Keeping Celery. 

 'X'HE Dwarf Celeries now used by most cultivators are grown 

 -•■ on a level surface in rows four to six feet apart. Hand- 

 ling is the first work toward bleaching. I use cotton cord, and 

 tie it loosely around the first plant, and then passing the string 

 to the next, take a turn around this, tying it the same way, 

 and continue through the row without breaking the cord, 

 which is tied to the last plant. In this process all the leaves 

 are gathered and tied firmly enough to hold the plant erect 

 and compact. If tied too tightly the Celery, as it grows, will 

 double back when the string is reached and injure the ap- 



pearance of the heart. After the Celery is banked with earth, 

 the string rots under the ground and gives no trouble at the 

 time of digging. 



Many methods of bleaching are practiced. During the past 

 season I saw heavy paper tied about the plants by one grower, 

 and earth was then drawn up against the paper. Another 

 grower placed corn-stalks against the plants to hold them up- 

 right, and then banked against these. A third tied each plant 

 separately with tobacco cord, and left them without banking 

 and exposed to all weather till November ist, when they were 

 carried into deep hot-beds to bleach under leaves and boards. 

 Another banked the plants half way up, and still another cov- 

 ered Celery almost to the tops. This last lot bleached in from 

 two to six weeks, according as the weather was warm or cool. 



The warmer the place in which Celery is kept, the quicker 

 the bleaching will be complete. In early fall, bleaching causes 

 little trouble, whether it is done by tile, paper, boards or earth. 



The great difficulty is to keep Celery through the winter into 

 late spring. That intended for late keeping ought to be left 

 out-of-doors in the rows until severe freezing is threatened, 

 and it should be banked half way up at least. The part out of 

 ground should be protected from hard frost, for this makes the 

 stalks hollow. After the plant has been taken from the ground 

 it will still continue to grow. If the leaves are green when 

 stored, they will remain green, and a growth from the centre 

 will appear, which will always be wliite. Celery partly bleached 

 when brought in will be better in quality than if the whole 

 process of bleaching be left till after digging from the garden. 



Darkness with a temperature of sixty degrees in the cellar will 

 fit celery for the table quickly. If it is to be kept until spring, 

 then a temperature as near forty degrees as. possible should 

 be maintained. Last season I saw 100 roots brought in before 

 a hard frost and set on a cellar floor and against the wall, "in a 

 space ten by four feet and filled in with dirt half way up the 

 stalks. The hatchway-door above was open daily, and the 

 winter air drifted down upon the Celery, which kept until 

 April, when more than half of each btmch, as put in, in the fall, 

 was eatable. The tops were kept cool and often frozen, while 

 the dirt between kept the stalks crisp ; there was no furnace 

 in the cellar. I see no advantage in trimming the roots before 

 bringing them into the cellar. 



West Springfield, Mass. W^ H. Bull. 



Winter Flowering Plants. 



AT this dull season of the year some change in arrange- 

 ment and a few bright flowers make a great difference 

 in the appearance of the plant-house. As it is rather early for 

 many of the most showy flowers, as, for instance, Primulas in 

 variety. Narcissi, Calceolarias, Cinerarias and Azaleas, we 

 must look elsewhere for the glow of color which is needed. 

 It is true that some of these plants may be had in bloom 

 during the winter by a little forcing, but they are more often 

 looked upon as spring flowers only. 



For winter flowering some of the Eranthemums, though 

 considered by many as rather too old-fashioned, will be found 

 very useful and effective, and they have the additional merit 

 of being among the easiest to culti\'ate. This is an extensive 

 genus of plants, many of which are natives of the East Indies, 

 and, although some of the species are rather weedy, yet there 

 are a number of very pretty ones among them, and it is to a 

 few of these that attention is now directed. 



Perhaps the oldest, and certainly one of the prettiest, of the 

 Eranthemums is E. piilchelhun, its flowers being of a rare 

 shade of vivid blue. It is a rapid grower, and if generously 

 treated will give an abundance of blooni, and though the indi- 

 vidual flowers do not last long, yet, as they open in succession 

 on the spike, the plant continues to make a show for a con- 

 siderable time. Eranthemuin tubercidattim is another fine 

 species. It is of slender growth and shrubby habit, the 

 branches being more or less marked with small, knotty tuber- 

 cles. Its nearly white flowers are produced from the axils 

 of the leaves in great profusion. Eranthemuin Aiidersonii is 

 also a notably pretty member of this family, though perhaps 

 less frequently seen than the two previously mentioned sorts. 

 E. Andersonii forms spikes of bloom from six to eight and 

 sometimes even ten inches in length, while the flowers are 

 quite showy, the upper lobes being pure white and the 

 lower one dotted with dark crimson. 



While speaking of Eranthemums, it may be well to state 

 that one kind, at least, E. atropurpureum, is a useful plant for 

 bedding out in summer, its dark, glossy foliage being some- 

 what similar in color to that of Achyranthes Lindeni, though 

 rather broader and more showy than the latter. 



Either of these Eranthemums may easily be rooted as cut- 

 tings, and will flourish in almost any moderately light soil, 



