240 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 486 



Notes. 



At the beginning of a useful bulletin on spray-pumps and 

 spraying, just issued by the New York Experiment Station, is 

 the following important notice : Do not spray trees and plants 

 when in bloom. It is in no instance necessary or desirable. 

 Not only is this practice liable to injure the delicate parts of 

 the flower, but, what is even more important, it poisons the 

 bees and other insects that are our friends. It would be 

 impossible to grow some of our fruits in commercial quanti- 

 ties without the aid of insects in fertilizing the blossoms. 



One of the latest bulletins of the Cornell Experiment Station 

 has been prepared by C. E. Hunn and Professor Bailey on 

 Strawberries under Glass. After quoting a note from this 

 journal to the effect that pots of Strawberry plants in fruit 

 were among the specialties for sale on Broadway at Easter, 

 the writers of the bulletin add that nothing in their experience 

 has ever aroused so much enthusiasm from plant lovers as 

 forced strawberries, and that it is difficult to conceive of any- 

 thing better suited to table decoration than a clean pot with a 

 thrifty, well-formed Strawberry plant bearing from six to eight 

 full ripe berries and a few blossoms. 



Like many other flowering plants, Hemerocallis flava 

 has been unusually handsome this year. The Paeonies, 

 Oriental Poppies, German Irises and other tall plants with 

 large flowers which bloom about the first of June have never 

 been more showy. By the way, The Gardeners' Chronicle of 

 June 5th speaks of a hybrid between Hemerocallis flava and 

 H. Middendorrii, which has appeared in the garden of our cor- 

 respondent, Dr. Christ, of Basle. The resemblance of the 

 hybrid to the latter plant is shown in its shorter flower-stalk 

 and in the color of the flower, while in its inflorescence and 

 the length of the tube it more closely resembles H. flava. 



By long cultivation and crossing the Mock Oranges have 

 assumed a great variety of form. Some of them belonging to 

 the group of which Philadelphus coronarius is the best known, 

 are more beautiful than the type, with much larger flowers 

 and an odor which is not so oppressively sweet. These have 

 all passed their bloom in this latitude, and P. Zeyheri is just 

 coming into flower. It is an old shrub, quite distinct from the 

 rest of the genus, and was distributed in America many years 

 ago by the Messrs. Parsons, of Flushing, Long Island. It has 

 smaller and more scattered leaves, arching branches six or 

 eight feet high, and flowers with narrow pointed petals, which 

 are star-shaped when looked at directly in front, although their 

 general outlines are somewhat like those of a bell. It is alto- 

 gether a pleasing addition to the shrubbery, and could hardly 

 be spared even in this season of abundant flowers. 



Clematis crispa, which is a native of the river-bottoms and 

 swamps of our southern states, is already opening its fragrant 

 lilac-purple cylindrical flowers, and it will continue to produce 

 them until they are killed by heavy frosts in November. 

 These flowers are not as showy as those of C. coccinea, which 

 are longer, vase-shaped and bright pink, deepening toward scar- 

 let. In spite of the fact that it is a native of Texas, C. coccinea is 

 quite hardy in New England. Both of these plants have a long 

 period of bloom and both bloom very late in autumn, in spite 

 of their southern origin. Last year we noticed two or three 

 rods of fence covered with these vines mingled together, and 

 the effect was very pleasing. C. coccinea has rather sparse 

 foliage, but this defect was remedied by the abundant leaves 

 of C. crispa. A screen covered with these two vines would 

 make an interesting display of foliage and flowers every day 

 for four or five consecutive months. 



Mr. A. H. Kirkland, who has been assisting Dr. Fernald, of 

 the Gipsy Moth Committee, has prepared a paper on the habits 

 and food of the American toad, which has just been published 

 as a bulletin by the Hatch Experiment Station, at Amherst, 

 Massachusetts. After an introduction, in which the ancient 

 ideas as to the venomous qualities of this animal are set 

 forth in a very readable manner, Mr. Kirkland gives statis- 

 tics which show that only eleven percent, of the toad's food is 

 composed of insects and spiders which are beneficial or indi- 

 rectly helpful to man, while eighty per cent, of its food consists 

 of insects and other animals directly injurious to cultivated 

 crops or in other ways obnoxious to man. This shows a 

 record which will compare favorably with that of any of our 

 insectivorous birds, and it is suggested that the boys, who are 

 its most continuous persecutors, should be instructed as to its 

 habits and that laws should be enacted to arrest its wanton 

 destruction. 



Receipts of apples are becoming light, and last week was 

 the first of the season in which none have been shipped abroad 



from this port. Northern Spies, from this state, are the 

 choicest apples now seen in the local markets, with Ben Davis, 

 Roxbury and Golden Russets. Pears are already included in 

 the new-crop fruits now in season, and the first Le Contes 

 have arrived from Florida. Botan and Chickasaw plums are 

 also coming from the same state, and the first Alexander 

 peaches arrived from California last week, with the same 

 variety from the southern Atlantic states. Cherries are plen- 

 tiful from near-by points, and those from California, larger 

 and of preferable quality, have been exceptionally cheap, 

 owing to dull business during the rainy weather of early June. 

 Strawberries of all grades may be had from Maryland, Dela- 

 ware, New Jersey, Staten Island and the Hudson River sec- 

 tion in this state. Gandy's Prize is one of the best sorts. No 

 more handsome berries than those now coming from Hilton, 

 New Jersey, have ever been seen here. Besides other field and 

 garden fruits from the southern states, there are still some 

 Valencia oranges from California, with the first cherry plums 

 and apricots. Twenty-six car-loads of California fruit were 

 sold here last week, mostly cherries and apricots. 



Mr. W. R. Dodson, the Botanist of the Louisiana Experi- 

 ment Station, has been examining the tubercles on the 

 roots of leguminous plants by means of which nitrogen is 

 taken from the air and used as a food material for the plants. 

 The experiment seems to indicate that each plant, or at most 

 each genus of plants, will support only one kind of parasitic 

 organism capable of developing root tubercles. For instance, 

 a particular organism must be present in the soil if tubercles 

 are formed on Alfalfa, and any quantity of Cow Peas or other 

 leguminous plants will not furnish the proper form of life. 

 The Cow Pea likewise has its peculiar parasite, and dozens of 

 leguminous plants may be grown side by side and each 

 develop its own specific tubercle. Nevertheless, several 

 imported species have been grown and formed tubercles, 

 although the plants were not found in this country and have 

 never been grown in the soil, which seems to indicate that the 

 organism must have been in the soil before the seeds were 

 planted, as there could have been no inoculation from soil in 

 which the plant had been previously grown. If this is true, 

 the organisms are not dependent on any particular plant for 

 their existence, although the plant may be dependent upon 

 them for its fullest development. Their absence from some 

 soils and presence in others cannot, therefore, be explained 

 satisfactorily. While the tubercles have peculiarities of shape 

 or appearance they do not present characteristics that enable 

 one to distinguish them under the microscope, although there 

 are probably as many varieties as there are species of legumi- 

 nous plants. The fact is that much is to be learned on this 

 important subject before farmers can inoculate their soils with 

 the assurance of success with any given crop. 



An interesting bulletin in popular form has just been issued 

 by the Geneva Experiment Station of this state in relation to 

 Gooseberries. There are two native American species, Ribes 

 Cynosbati, with prickly fruit, and R. occycanthoides, with 

 smooth fruit. The European Gooseberries, R. grossularia, 

 have been cultivated for generations, and, at least, a great 

 number of varieties of this species are being tested at Geneva. 

 These bear large and beautiful fruit, but the plants are so 

 liable to mildew in this country that unless this can be checked 

 they are of little value. Many of them bear fruit an inch and 

 a half long and an inch or more in diameter, while the fruit of 

 the native varieties is smaller and less varied in color. In 

 quality the best American sorts are superior to the foreign 

 kinds, since they have thinner skin and a more delicate flavor, 

 and in spite of the smallness of the fruit they are more pro- 

 ductive than the foreign varieties. Downing, Houghton, Crys- 

 tal and Red Jacket are among the best of the American sorts. 

 The well-known mildew is a fungus which grows on the sur- 

 face of the green shoots, the foliage and the fruit, at first frost- 

 like, and covering later the affected parts with brown or black 

 felt-like patches. To check this fungus the plant should be set 

 in well-drained soil in high locations where the free circulation 

 of air is not hindered by tight fences or wind-breaks of any 

 kind, so that rapid evaporation of dew will be secured. 

 Shallow cultivation, keeping the soil light and free from weeds, 

 and pruning to admit air currents are also essential. The Bor- 

 deaux mixture is liable to spot the fruit, and it is, therefore, 

 better to spray the bushes as soon as the buds begin to open 

 with potassium sulphide in a solution of one pound of sul- 

 phide to thirty-two gallons of water. If one is prepared to 

 make a determined fight against the mildew in this way he 

 can successfully raise European sorts like Industry, Crown 

 Bob and Wellington Glory, and secure fruit both early and late 

 of striking size and color. 



