130 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 212. 



shelves where the glass is nightly covered with frost in severe 

 weather. For the necessary moisture an oil-stove with a single 

 five-inch burner will keep a half-gallon of water boiling any 

 desired length of time, and the oil used is very little. Sprinkle 

 the plants only when this added warmth and moisture are pres- 

 ent. The evaporation of water from the leaves always cools 

 them a good deal, and it will chill them if the room is cold and 

 dry enough to make evaporation rapid. 



Give outdoor air as often as safe, letting it come in through 

 another room if possible. This rule is always insisted on, but 

 it is too seldoni followed. When a plant stops growing en- 

 courage it in taking a season of rest, by light watering, if that 

 is thought to be the reason for inaction, but restore, if possible, 

 the lost condition necessary to vigorous growth where rest is 

 not thought to be needed. 



From lack of heat, and in a less degree of light, I have been 

 obliged to neglect this point somewhat, yet I do not think re- 

 potting is resorted to soon enough, generally, in cases of fail- 

 ing vitality. A large vigorous Leopard-plant (Farfugium 

 grande), which thrives on the lower shelf, requires, like all of 

 its species, copious waterings, but after a season without re- 

 potting it droops very soon after watering. It is then taken 

 out of the pot and every particle of soil washed from the roots 

 by agitating' it in a pail of water. A careful repotting in new 

 strong soil will completely restore it. Most plants should be 

 occasionally repotted in the same merciless way. 



Now as to plants that succeed variously in the conservatory 

 described. It is not quite-warm enough for Abutilons. The 

 three varieties in the collection grow quite well, but they are 

 not very stocky and most of the buds drop off. They are now 

 budded again, and will blossom if the weather is not too se- 

 vere. Begonias generally require more heat than I can give them. 

 Of about fifteen species several drop their leaves badly, and 

 only B. carnea and the round-leafed species really thrive, 

 though B. metallica has done fairly well. No conservatory 

 should be without B. carnea. It is perfectly at home there, and 

 it blossoms in December, when flowers are scarce. It may 

 not be generally known that this Begonia, if placed in a cool 

 window when in full bloom, will retain its blossoms all winter, 

 while if kept in a warm room they will soon fall. Its habits are 

 entirely different from any other Begonia that I am acquainted 

 with. There is not heat enough for B. Weltoniensis and its 

 class. As they do not blossom in winter, they would be put into 

 the cellar but for the fact that they often die there. 



Of course. Orchids are out of the question in a cool conser- 

 vatory, and Roses, Carnations and Violets have not succeeded 

 well with me. I am puzzled to know why Geraniums and Nas- 

 turtiums have not done better. The former stand almost still, 

 and the latter grow so spindling that flowering is out of the ques- 

 tion. Both are wintered for early-bedding plants merely. Even 

 a badly attenuated Nasturtium will blossom out-of-doors ahead 

 of plants direct from seed. 



Fuchsias thrive in cool conservatories, but seldom flower till 

 vi'inter is about gone. I find Storm King too slender, indoors or 

 out, but I have another and very vigorous variety with blossoms 

 almost identical with those of that variety, so that its way- 

 wardness is not greatly regretted. Few plants repay wintering 

 better than Fuchsias, for they can be rapidly multiplied by cut- 

 tings, and thrive in summer in almost entire shade. 



Most foliage plants that do not form succulent stems do well 

 in imperfect heat. The Palms, particularly Kentia, Latania and 

 Cocos, the Rubber-plant (Ficus elastica), Dracaena, Pandanus, 

 Yucca, etc., should be given prominence. Their only fault is 

 that they often become too large for a small conservatory if 

 many, and especially small plants are desired. They all thrive 

 in an ordinary cool window. The true cultivator is alwa3^s put- 

 ting in small plants with slender lease of life, on which to ex- 

 periment, with hope of nursing them into a flourishing state, 

 and large plants interfere with this practice. 



The more woody flowering plants do quite well with me. A 

 pink Azalea, bought a year ago, is again full of flowers, and a 

 Cytisus is putting out buds. Hydrangeas are quite at home. 

 The Heliotrope does not remainstocky, but it flowers very well. 



I am troubled by few insects except the green aphis. They 

 are always present in some quantity, and but for tobacco fumi- 

 gating would do great harm. At the risk of the charge of ut- 

 tering heresy, I confess I am inclined to the policy of includ- 

 ing a few plants in a conservatory that the aphis particularly 

 likes. A few Cinerarias this winter have taken to themselves 

 nearly every aphis in the whole conservatory. But for them these 

 pests would have spread to the Callas, Oxalis, Farfugium, Hy- 

 drangeas, and, indeed, nearly everything but the Begonias. 

 The Cinerarias do not flourish, but their decline is not on ac- 

 count of insects. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. John Chamberlin. 



The Constitutional Health of Plants. — II. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In April, 1890, on about an acre of land, I set Straw- 

 berry-plants between rows of Grape-vines in a young vineyard. 

 These rows made equal plats, five yards apart, one hundred 

 yards long. Three rows of Strawberries, three feet wide, were 

 set in each of these plats and grown in matted rows. During 

 the summer of 1890 Strawberry-blight (Sphaerella Fragariae) 

 became epidemic over this entire patch of Strawberries. 



In April, 1891, I sowed nitrate of soda broadcast, 250 pounds 

 per acre, on the southern halves of alternate plats of these 

 Strawberries. 



In June the contrast between the treated and untreated plats 

 in color and luxuriance of growth of plant and in yield and 

 excellence of fruit was remarkable. Where the nitrate was 

 applied the plants stood fully three times as high as those not 

 treated, and they were of so dark a green that they were plainly 

 distinguishable in color from the untreated plats at a consider- 

 able distance. The yield of fruit doubled under the nitrate and 

 lasted longer, giving two more pickings of good berries. 



On the nitrated plats there was not any blight, while on those 

 without nitrate the blight was prevalent, as it had been on the 

 entire field the year before. Late in August the fungus did 

 appear on the treated plats, but the attack was slight. 



I may mention also as instructive that on the plats not ni- 

 trated in April, 1891, nitrate soda had been applied in Novem- 

 ber, 1890. 



From this autumn application no effects were visible ; there 

 was no improvement in growth or in fruit, and no exemption 

 from the fungus disease ; no difference in any respect between 

 the portions of these plats nitrated in autumn and the por- 

 tions to which the nitrate had never been applied. 



This experiment teaches that — at least as a fertilizer for the 

 Strawberry — the effect of nitrate of soda is immediate, but 

 transitory, and that it is useless to apply it in autumn to leach 

 out of the ground before growth begins next year. 



Whether nitrate of soda directly destroys the germs of the 

 fungus causing the blight I cannot say. When in late August 

 this blight came on the plants which had been treated in April 

 I gave a portion of one of them a free sprinkling of nitrate of 

 soda. It blasted the foliage and stems and severely injured 

 the crowns of the roots of the plants. A very weakly growth 

 again started from them, but it was evident that the medicine 

 thus administered is too strong for the patients' constitution. 



As a preventive of Strawberry-blight it is probable that the 

 nitrate of soda is effective simply by stimulating vigorous 

 growth of the plant, strengthening vitahty to a degree which 

 enables it to resist successfully the attack of the disease. 

 Among organized beings everywhere we see examples of this 

 mysterious resistance of individuals to epidemic influences. 

 Not all persons take the small-pox or the cholera. 



Life contends against life, and it seems that the vital strength 

 of the higher organism resists the vital action of the lower, but 

 since we do not yet understand what life is, we can hardly con- 

 sider this guess as an explanation. 



In the case of various plants I have seen remarkable evi- 

 dence of the beneflt from the use of nitrate of soda applied to 

 the soil just at the commencement of growth, or during its 

 progress. And this beneflt was especially noted in the com- 

 parative exemption of such plants from the attacks of insects 

 and fungi. 



It is essential, however, that the soil treated with nitrogen 

 should be supplied with all the other elements of plant-food. 

 Unless these be present the stimulus of the nitrate will be of 

 little help. 



Increased vigor of growth, secured without fertilization, 

 sometimes seems to give the power of resisting disease. I 

 have four Kirtland Pear-trees planted together in the orchard, 

 which for years have been subject to attacks of the fungus, 

 causing leaf-blight and the cracking of the fruit (Entomospo- 

 rium Maculatum). By the last of August the leaves were all 

 blighted and shed, the fruit was all cracked to the core and 

 totally worthless. 



These trees are thirty years old and were twenty feet high. 

 When I learned that spraying with the copper solutions is 

 protective against this blight, I arranged to spray these trees. 

 To make them more accessible, and to more conveniently 

 harvest the crops of fruit expected under this treatment, I cut 

 back the tops of these trees, taking two-thirds of the length of 

 each branch. This severe pruning was done in April, just as 

 growth began. The trees pushed a vigorous new growth, 

 making a dense mass of fresh sprouts and foliage. One of the 

 trees was left unpruned, and it furnished a chance for com- 

 parison. For some reason the spraying was neglected, and 



