248 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 222. 



ancestors of these sixty-five plants had been free from disease 

 and had not borne a crop, at least since 1888, and, as Mr. Smith 

 affirmed, for many years previous. This bed now contains 332 

 strong plants, besides some others that have suffered from the 

 winter, or a fraction over five and one-tenth plants to each one 

 set last spring. It should be remarked liere that August and 

 September of last season were the driest I have ever known, 

 which explains the meagre growtli of plants. Twenty-six 

 young plants from the blighted bed abo\-e mentioned were set 

 last spring in two short rows adjoining the sixty-five plants 

 just mentioned. The vigor of this blighted bed had become 

 so much reduced that a larger number of young plants could 

 not be obtained : these twenty-six plants are, therefore, from 

 parents blighted severely for two generations, and yielding a 

 crop of fruit the summer previous. But forty-three plants have 

 survived the winter from this bed, or a little less than one and 

 seven-tenths plants to each one set last spring. 



Another small bed of thirty-nine young plants was set last 

 spring adjoining the one just mentioned. For this the plants 

 were taken from a bed that was set in 1889, and hence had 

 borne a crop of fruit but which had not suffered much from 

 blig'ht. In this bed a fraction less than four plants have sur- 

 vived the winter for each plant set. ' Recapitulating then, we 

 have : 



Plants with ancestry free from disease, and not weakened by 

 bearing, five and one-tenth surviving plants for each plant set. 



Plants with ancestors suffering from disease two preceding 

 generations, and further weakened by bearing, one and seven- 

 tenths surviving plants for each plant set. 



Plants with ancestry nearly free from disease, but having 

 borne one crop of fruit, four surviving plants for each plant 

 set. 



It may be added that the above three lots of plants were all 

 set on the same day and have received exactly the same 

 treatment. 



It will hardly be denied that the differences of vigor mani- 

 fested in the above plantings are greater than we should 

 usually expect from different varieties of the Strawberry sim- 

 ilarly treated. The lesson seems clear enough. It is unwise 

 to plant a new Strawberry-bed from a plantation that has suf- 

 fered from the attack of Ramularia. The young plants from 

 such a bed, whether they develop the disease or not, are re- 

 duced in vig'or, and are not likely to prove satisfactory. I 

 ascribe Mr. Smith's fine success with the Wilson Strawberrv 

 more to his having always grown his plants from parents that 

 were free from disease, than from the fact that they had not 

 been permitted to bear. 



It seems not improbable that in fruits like the Strawberry 

 better results may be gained through methods which aim at 

 promoting the vigor of the varieties we already have, than in 

 continuing the production of new seedlings, the method of 

 improvement usually adopted. 



Wisconsin Experiment Station. .c.. o. trOJ/. 



Cultivation for Health. 



T^HE notes from Colonel Pearson in a late number of Gar- 

 -*• DEN AND Forest touch a question of importance in sev- 

 eral directions. He planted Potatoes on poor soil, where they 

 made but feeble growth, and near them he planted the same 

 variety of Potatoes on soil enriched with nitrogenous ma- 

 nures ; and the weak plants on the poor soil were attacked by 

 insects and devoured before the others were touched — indeed, 

 the strong plants were practically untouched. The same con- 

 sequence followed when the blight appeared. The truth illus- 

 trated by this instance seems to be that insects and fungi, to a 

 considerable extent, are in the habit of attacking and destroy- 

 ing vegetation already enfeebled or dying. My own illustration 

 of the same truth occurred last year in a field where, of a 

 dozen sorts, one variety stood green and untouched by beetles 

 while every other kind was badly devoured. This was not 

 owing to soil or fertilizers, for the same treatment was given 

 to all sorts ; and this exception was surrounded by others that 

 were eaten. The two rows stood up as green as June in the 

 middle of frost. What was the reason of this ? My own solu- 

 tion is, that the exempted plants were of a new variety, a sport 

 of Morning Star, that is exceedingly vigorous and does not 

 blossom till September, nor mature till late November ; in 

 fact, it needs a season longer than I can give it. Planted al- 

 together on the same date, the other sorts came up quickly 

 and received a check from early frost ; the tops were en- 

 feebled. This new kind did not start up until after the frosts, 

 and grew stoutly and steadily. The beetles attacked the feebler 

 plants and did much mischief, just as they did in New Jersey. 



The lesson, therefore, is to get a vigorous growth which has a 

 resistive power against insects. Examine your house plants ; 

 if the aphis appears you may, as a rule, look for water-soaked 

 roots or pot-bound roots or other cause of enfeebled growth. 

 The bugs appear as nature's provision to turn sickly and sick- 

 ening vegetable matter into non-deleterious animal matter. 

 On a wider scale we may look on the bugs and worms in many 

 cases as scavengers in our fields for our own good. 



Healthy growth should be the ambition of cultivators. I do 

 not mean to say that those destroyers that prefer unwhole- 

 sorne vegetation will not go farther and spread devastation 

 over comparatively healthy foliage ; but I was astounded at 

 the appearance of the Potato I have mentioned. Plant a Cherry- 

 tree in a dark and shady spot, and it will be loaded with the 

 black aphis ; and your Viburnums will, if set in shade, be cov- 

 ered with green aphides ; while the same trees, if in open 

 sunny spaces, are comparatively free. So far as our Potatoes 

 are concerned the tendency of our system of cultivation is to 

 enfeeble the plant. We plant small potatoes or small pieces 

 which do not nourish the stalk well to begin with, and do not 

 contribute to the health of the plant. The application of Paris 

 green is also enfeebling. The growth in poor soils without 

 food, as Mr. Pearson suggests, is in the same hne of deteriora- 

 tion. Of course, there are insect hordes and plant pestilences 

 which sweep everything before them, but the value of vigor as 

 a protection against the attacks of disease and of insects ought 

 to be more thoroughly appreciated. ^ „ „ 



Clinton, N. y. S ■)■ 1 H ^ p_ pg^^n^ 



T^ 



Plum-flower Blight. 



"HERE is complaint that the flowers of Plum-trees are 

 blighting badly. An examination of specimens thus 

 affected shows that the blossoms, and particularly the 

 flower-stalks, are brown instead of green, as they should be, 

 and are covered with a gray mould. This mould is a fungus 

 (Monilia fructigena) that frequently appears upon Plums, 

 Cherries and Peaches later in the season, and most commonly 

 when the fruit begins to ripen. The fungus is a rampant 

 grower and will destroy a ripening fruit in a few hours, coat- 

 ing the decayed substance with a felt-like layer of spores. 



In the case in hand the Monilia has come early while the 

 crop is in the blossom state, and upon some trees no fruit will 

 set because every flower is already mouldy, and all the flower- 

 stalks are dead and covered with the spores of the fungus. 

 Nothing can be done to save the fruit upon such trees, but it 

 should be borne in mind that they are nurseries of a fungus 

 the spores of which will find their way to other Plum-trees 

 later in the season and induce a destructive decay. They 

 may likewise seriously diminish the crop of the Cherry and 

 Peach orchard. 



Here is, therefore, an instance when spraying is important, 

 not that the sprayed tree will bear fruit, but that the fungicide 

 may save the fruit of other'and more fortunate trees. Spray- 

 ing one tree to save the crop upon another is practicable — it 

 is, in fact, taking hold of the long end of the lever and using 

 the ounce of prevention that often outweighs the ton of 

 attempted cure. 



Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Aquilegia Stuartii. 



'X'HIS Columbine has been described as the most beautiful 

 ■'■ of all cultivated kinds, and as the plants are just flower- 

 ing with us for the first time from seed, I wish to add my tes- 

 timony to its excellence. Its parents are said to be Aquilegia 

 ccerulea, a North American species, and A. glandulosa, which 

 Is of Siberian origin. The plant shows plainly by its very 

 dwarf foliage the influence of A. glandulosa, but the flower- 

 stems are longer than those of that species, although not more 

 than eighteen inches high, while the flowers are large in pro- 

 portion, being four inches across. The petals are dark blue 

 and the centre white, so that in general appearance the flow- 

 ers resemble a good variety of A. ccerulea, but the spurs are 

 shorter. Taken altogether, A. Stuartii is an improvement on 

 its parents, both of which have a rather doubtful reputation as 

 good border-plants. A. ccerulea has a provoking way of dying 

 after flowering, and sometimes before, and A. glandulosa 

 rarely does well in gardens unless raised from seed and set 

 out where it is to remain. Stuart's Columbine is probably the 

 only authentic hybrid from A. glandulosa, the seeds of which 

 differ from all others, being of a dull opaque black, and the 

 seeds of A. Stuartii are similar, while the seeds of other Colum- 

 bines are of a bright shining black. A. Stuartii, we believe, 

 was raised in Scotland, and was first distributed by Mr. Wm. 

 Thompson, of Ipswich, England. 



I 



