February 6, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



57 



to keep the roots cool and moist until the time comes to dry 

 them off in fall. A spent hot-bed, old mushroom-bed material, 

 or even leaf-mold, answers well, and there is not so much 

 labor needed to water when the pots are plunged. 



We find that very few bulbs need a pot larger than six 

 inches. The young offsets that form after the bulb reaches the 

 flowering size are taken off at each annual pottnig when they 

 are large enough. Several of these are put in a pot and grown 

 on until they are large enough to bloom. Sometimes an un- 

 usually large bulb is put into a seven-inch pot, but the majority 

 are grown in the smaller size, which is sufficiently large and 

 more easily handled than are the larger pots. j, „ ^ 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



Sweet Potatoes from Slip Seed. 



IN many parts of the southern states the growers of Irish 

 potatoes find that they have the best success with that crop 

 when second-crop seed is used. The potatoes are planted 

 early in the season, and when mature the tubers are planted 

 and a second crop produced. This second crop, which ma- 

 tures late in the fall, is in great demand for planting the fol- 

 lowing season, as the tubers produce strong, healthy plants, 

 which yield much more abundantly than do those of the first 

 crop when kept over for seed. 



Growers of sweet potatoes in Virginia find that by using 

 what is known as "slip seed" they are able to secure a much 

 larger crop of roots, which are of much better quality than 

 those from the sets ordinarily used. It is also claimed that the 

 use of slip seed produces crops that are free from injury by 

 the disease known as black shank. 



Slip seed is grown from cuttings about six inches long 

 taken during the latter part of June or the first of July from 

 the vines in the fields. These cuttings are at once planted in 

 the same manner as are the rooted plants which are used 

 earlier in the season for the main crop. The cuttings produce 

 tubers which compare favorably in size and yield with those 

 grown from sets, and when used as "seed" these tubers pro- 

 duce a greater number of stronger and healthier plants than 

 those grown from rooted plants earlier in the season. The 

 demand for this seed is increasing every year, and the pro- 

 duction of this slip seed is becoming quite an industry in 

 many sections. ir lt n u ■>/ 



Experiment Station, Newark, Del. Al. H. bcCkWltll. 



Chinese Primroses. 



FOR the past two years we have grown for trial and selec- 

 tion a collection of Sutton's well-known strain of Primulas. 

 Each year we have made notes of the kinds as they flowered, so 

 that the best could be selected for our purpose, both as to bold- 

 ness of stem, large flowers, good colors, and, most important 

 of all, good habit of growth. The first thing noticeable was the 

 failure of the double-flowered kinds to come up to the required 

 standard. The flowers were of good colors, double, and free- 

 blooming, but there was not that individuality about them that 

 we get in the good strains of single flowers. Their use as 

 decorative plants was of correspondingly less value, and we 

 shall in future grow no more of them. Another defect in the 

 so-called giant strains was the sacrifice of other points to the 

 production of very large flowers. The foliage was in nearly 

 every instance coarse and ill-balanced, and the stems rarely 

 carried the flowers erect as in the other strains, owing to their 

 abnormal size. 



Of the other sorts we have, however, selected a few that 

 seem to be as near perfection as it is possible to get them. It 

 used to be a recognized fact that Primulas with leaves and 

 stalks of a red tint were sure to bear colored flowers, but this 

 is changed now, and some that have red stems produce pure 

 white flowers of sterling merit. At the top of the list we place 

 Sutton's Purity. This sort has Fern-leaf foliage of a dark pur- 

 ple hue that sets off the large pure white flowers to great ad- 

 vantage. I have never seen flowers of any Primula that can 

 compare with this kind for size, substance and purity, and we 

 shall grow no other white variety, except a few plants of Pearl ; 

 the latter is a fine selection of the old variety Alba magnifica, 

 and has similarly green foliage. The pink colors we have 

 sifted down to Rosy Queen, a Fern-leaf, compact-growing and 

 very free-flowering variety that has flowers the color of the 

 Grace Wilder Carnation. It has entirely superseded the older 

 and well-known Reading Pink, owing to its delicacy of color 

 and free growth. Reading Blue is still the best Primula of that 

 shade, and it is of a more decided laveiider-blue each year. 

 We have never had this sort so good as during the present sea- 

 son, owing, perhaps, to the cooler temperature in which it 

 was grown. We find that a temperature of forty-five to fifty 



degrees is better than a higher temperature for the full devel- 

 opment of the rich colors and to give substance to the flowers. 

 For a good scarlet we have selected Reading Scarlet as one of 

 the most reliable and the richest-colored. It has, however, the 

 tendency to come into flower early in the fall, and we, there- 

 fore, sow it a month later than the other kinds, say at the end 

 of April. The other sorts are sown in March, except the blue 

 one, which is more delicate in constitution and takes longer to 

 develop. It may be sown in January, or .early in February, if 

 large plants are desired for next fall. 



There are few winter-blooming plants that give more satis- 

 faction than Chinese Primroses, whether for conservatory or 

 house decoration, if a good strain of seeds can be had. Choice 

 Primulas are no more difficult to grow than poor ones, and 

 take no more time and care. We use a light, rich soil at all 

 times, making it a little richer at each potting, until the plants 

 are in the pots they are to flower in. A five-inch pot will pro- 

 duce a good plant, but a size larger is preferable, and if very 

 large plants are required an eight-inch pot can easily be filled 

 by the larger ones before winter sets in. Primulas sometimes 

 get what the older gardeners call water-pot fever ; their sus- 

 ceptibility to overwatering is the only drawback to their culti- 

 vation, but this is easily overcome by a little care. A slight 

 shade is necessary in the hot months of summer, and plenty 

 of air while the nights keep warm. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



Meetinsfs of Societies. 



-II. 



Nebraska State Horticulttiral Society.- 



WE continue our report of the annual meeting of this 

 society by giving abstracts of a few of the addresses 

 and discussions on the cultivation of Cherries and Plums. 



THE CULTIVATION OF PLUMS. 



Mr. E. S. Hartlev'sexperience with this fruit may be summed 

 up as follows : " The first crop I marketed paid the entire cost 

 of my Plum orchard up to that date." He thought that this 

 fruit offered a more promising field for experiment than most 

 other branches of pomology. He had fruited two hundred 

 seedlings, and the result showed a marked tendency among 

 American Plums to vary. We give condensed extracts from 

 Mr. Hartley's address : 



In 1888 I planted 240 trees, but many of them were untrue to 

 name, and therefore my venture has proved less satisfactory 

 than it should have been. However, 140 trees bore full crops 

 last season, six years after planting, and we marketed them 

 at an average price of $1.50 a bushel, or at the rate of $150 

 an acre. Plum pockets began to appear about the time of 

 blossoming, but these were hand-picked and burned. Sprouts 

 were gotten rid of by horse-power, an attachment having been 

 made for the cultivator which shaved them off about an inch 

 and a half or two inches below the surface. By another device 

 the plums were conveyed to the marketing boxes without 

 touching them with the hands, the whole crop of a tree being 

 transferred to the boxes in about ten minutes. This device 

 consisted of a canvas buttoned about the tree into which 

 the plums were shaken, somewhat on the principle of the Cook 

 apple-harvester. 



One of the chief difficulties in estimating the value of new 

 varieties is to determine the influence of the stock upon the 

 cion, which seems to be very marked in the case of the Plum, 

 both in the quality of the fruit and the abundance of the product. 

 For instance, De Soto on Miner stock has proved weak and 

 barren, and seems to lack nutrition. The same variety on 

 roots of Prunus Americana is very productive, and a healthier 

 tree. Varieties of Americana and Chickasaw have been re- 

 ported to do well on Peach stocks. Myrobalan, Marianna and 

 the Sand Cherry, as stocks, are alternately praised and con- 

 demned, according to the cions which are put into them. For 

 this reason it seems necessary to plant the same Plums on dif- 

 ferent stocks until their effect is better understood. 



The improvement of the native Plums is still in its infancy, 

 as compared with the^development of other fruits. I believe 

 the possibilities here are very great, both in the improvement 

 by selection, natural pollination and artificial hybridizing be- 

 tween native varieties and European and Japanese varieties. 

 The time is not far distant when the plum will outrank the 

 cherry as a useful and popular fruit, and rival the peach and 

 pear in popularity. We are in a region specially favgrable for 

 the development and growth of the Plum. The seasons of 1893 

 and 1894 have demonstrated the ability of the Plum to witli- 

 stand drought exceptionally well. The driest year known in 

 in this section of the country has produced the largest crop of 



