128 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number jyo. 



Growers differ, and, no doubt, it would be safer for tlie inex- 

 perienced to make four. Knowing the character of most of 

 the varieties we grow, helps us to decide on tliis plan. We shift 

 them from two to four inch pots, and from six to twelve inch 

 pots.- The nine or ten inch stage might be added, and for 

 many growers this will be the most convenient limit. Speci- 

 mens from four to five feet in diameter may be grown 

 in a ten-inch pot. Again, it might not be advisable to shift 

 a poor plant into a twelve-inch pot, and judgment must 

 be used. We are not afraid to make this shift in any case. 

 We use a rather light loatn, not very rich, relying on the judi- 

 cious use of stimulants later on. We do not use any sand, 

 although this is needed in heavy soils, but we add some leaf- 

 soil. We pack loosely, and find this provision against over- 

 watering a safe one, and overwatering is a common misfor- 

 tune in the cultivation of Chrysanthemums in the earlier 

 stages. If care in watering can be counted upon it is as well 

 to use twelve-inch pots, but not otherwise. At no season is it 

 more important to attend carefully to the stopping of plants, 

 for now, perhaps, more than later, foundation is made for 

 future development. A poorly shaped plant now is not likely 

 to make a good specimen' later on. The tips should be taken 

 when an inch or two long, and the softer the better. 



Stock plants for cuttings intended for specimen blooms, 

 stored in cold frames, will be moving now, and if they have 

 made five or six inches of growth, as is likely if they have 

 been imusually protected, it is better to cut Ihem over. Noth- 

 ing will be lost thereby, as there will probably be an abundant 

 crop of cuttings by the first of May. Those stored in the cool 

 greenhouse have already been cut over and are now breaking 

 from the bases. These we shall top-dress in a few days and 

 place in cold frames. In the mean time we shall take every 

 leaf-eye and shoot we can get of reputable novelties. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 



Bordeau.K Mixture and Color Tests. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — The use of color tests to determine the presence of cop- 

 per in solution offers a very convenient method for preparing 

 the Bordeaux mixture. The necessity of weighing and strain- 

 ing the lime required by the formula each lime the mixture is 

 prepared is thus obviated. This method simplifies the prepara- 

 tion of the mixture so much that those who have learned to 

 use it will not like to give it up luiless it can be shown that it is 

 unreliable, or unless something better is brought forward to 

 take its place. So far as our present knowledge goes, no more 

 convenient method than the color test has yet been suggested, 

 neither have the color tests been shown to be unreliatjle when 

 rightly used. 



The work of fighting fungous diseases of cultivated crops for 

 the season of 1895 will soon be upon us, and as some articles 

 published in the columns of Garden and Forest and else- 

 where within the last few months have tended to cast doubts 

 on the advisability of employing one of these color tests, the 

 potassium ferrocyanide, it may be well to consider briefly 

 some of the objections to its use. 



In an article on pages 456 and 457 of the last volume of Gar- 

 den AND Forest Professor Lodeman calls attention to the 

 unusual russeting of apples and pears noticed in many west- 

 ern New York orchards in 1894, and especially to "the impor- 

 tant point that Bordeaux mixture, however prepared, increased 

 the evil," and expressed the opinion that the most severe cases 

 were found in orchards sprayed with Bordeaux mixture made 

 by following the potassium ferrocyanide test. 



On page 497 of Garden and Forest, 1894, Professor Jones 

 states that after thorough trials he has no hesitation in sanc- 

 tioning the use of the ferrocyanide test in preparing Bordeaux 

 mixture for spraying Potatoes, yet in his work in 1894 a rus- 

 seted appearance of apples and pears followed the use of Bor- 

 deaux mixture made by this test for spraying orchards. 



Trees at the Geneva Station sprayed with London purple or 

 Paris green with the addition of lime only, so that the arsenites 

 might not spot the foliage, also showed a russeted appearance 

 of the fruit and spotting of the foliage. Trees sprayed with 

 Bordeaux mixture to which no arsenites had been added 

 showed russeted fruit as a result of the spray, as also did trees 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture combined with London purple 

 or Paris green. In all three instances corresponding unsprayed 

 trees were practically free from this peculiar russeted fruit. 

 The only substances used in all three instances were the lime 

 and water, in one case combined with an arsenite, in one case 

 with copper sulphate, and in one case with both copper sul- 



phate and an arsenite. The Bordeaux mixture was prepared 

 by means of the ferrocyanide test. Taking into consideration 

 only the evidence given here, one might conclude that it was 

 the lime and water in the spraying mixtures that caused the 

 injury raiher than the use of the ferrocyanide test. 



Bordeaux mixture made according to the ferrocyanide test 

 was used at the Geneva Station in 1893, prepared according to 

 the same formula that was used in 1894. No injurious effects 

 were seen either on foliage or fruit sprayed with this prepara- 

 tion in 1893, even when six treatments were used, but tlie same 

 preparation sprayed but once in 1894 showed some injury both 

 to foliage and fruit. The prominent new condition which at- 

 tended the work in 1894 was the unusual cool, cloudy and wet 

 weather during a considerable portion of the spraying season. 

 At Geneva during the week from May 17th to May 23d, 1894, 

 there was less than three per cent, of the possible amount of 

 sunshine, and during the two following weeks but fourteen 

 per cent, and thirty-nine plus per cent, respectively, showing 

 an exceptionally long [)eriod of cloudy weather for this locality. 

 The records also show that during this period the temperature 

 was low. From May i6th to June 5th, a period of twenty-one 

 days, rain fell every day, and the total rainfall for these three 

 weeks was seven and thirty-eight hundredths inches. Trees 

 at this period, having just finished Ijlooming, were in a state of 

 active growth both of fruit and foliage. Under such circum- 

 stances the unusually long period of dark, cool, rainy weather 

 undoubtedly produced a tender condition of Ijoth foliage and 

 fruits, rendering them peculiarly liable to injury upon slight 

 irritation. Such irritation was produced by spraying com- 

 pounds made without the ferrocyanide test as well as with it, 

 as has already been shown. In fact, as stated by Professor 

 Lodeman in the article cited, and as noticed by others, an un- 

 usual russeting of the fruit was found in some instances where 

 trees had not been sprayed at all. Similar weather conditions. 

 Professor Jones informs me, were met with in connection with 

 his work in Vermont. 



A series of careful tests in a rainy season, for the purpose of 

 comparing Bordeaux mixture prepared according to the ferro- 

 cyanide test, with Bordeaux mixture prepared according to the 

 old and tedious method of weighing the lime, would certainly 

 be a very interesting line of work. We know that the ferro- 

 cyanide test has proved reliable in orchard work in an ordi- 

 nary season, and as yet we have not met with sufficient evidence 

 to prove that it is unreliable in a rainy season such as visited 

 western New York in 1894. 



By means of the ferrocyanide test, one part of copper can 

 be detected in 400,000 parts of solution, certainly a delicate 

 test. It is our practice, after this test shows that there is no 

 more copper in solution, to add still more lime so as to insure 

 an excess of that ingredient. 



One gentleman reported to the writer that he had injured 

 his Pear crop by spraying with the Bordeaux mixture made by 

 following the ferrocyanide test. Inquiry developed the fact 

 that he stopped adding the lime while the test still showed 

 slight discoloration when dropped into the mixture. Unless, 

 in the instances referred to in Professor Lodeman's article, the 

 mixture was prepared by competent hands, it is possible that, 

 as in the case just cited, the test was not properly used. It is 

 admitted that when Bordeaux mixture is not properly pre- 

 pared it is liable to produce injury, whether the weather be fair 

 or foul. This may happen when the lime is weighed, as well 

 as when a color test is followed.* If the work must be in- 

 trusted to men who cannot be relied on to follow the color 

 test properly, it may be better to have them use the scales, 

 slake each portion of lime by itself and patiently work it all 

 through a gunny sack or some other strainer, according to the 

 old-time custom, rather than depend on a color test for deter- 

 mining the proper amount of lime. 



Geneva, N. Y. -J- ^- heacll. 



Forest Fires in Minnesota. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The best way to stop forest fires is to prevent them from 

 starting. This cannot be done by enacting laws merely. The 

 best of laws will utterly fail, unless the people see to it that 

 they are carried out. Every person in the woods must have it 

 impressed on his mind that no fire must be allowed to get be- 

 yond his control. This may seem a great undertaking, but 

 when we consider that there are 20,000 to 25,000 men employed 

 by lumbermen in the Minnesota woods, that the merchants 

 are all studying how to perpetuate the lumber industry, and 

 that they can get information concerning any one through the 



* Note the experience of Professor Galloway, Bulletin 3, Division of Vegetable 

 Pathology, U. S. Department of .Agriculture, 1892, pp. 30 and 40. 



