250 



Garden and Forest. 



[NUMBBR. 487, 



The forests were barriers against the wind; they tempered 

 the heat of the sun in a region where the air is extremely dry, 

 and their removal is thought to account for the dust storms 

 which have been so Irequent in that country this year. 



Professor N. E. Hansen, Horticulturist of the United States 

 Experiment Station of South Dakota, at Brookings, was re- 

 cently appointed a special agent by the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture to visit eastern Russia, Siberia, and the elevated plateaus 

 of central Asia, to gather garden, farm, fruit, shrub and tree 

 seeds. Professor Hansen states that the few plants from this 

 dry inland European region already tested in South Dakota, 

 Manitoba and the north-west territory have proved hardy, and 

 it is his intention to collect during the present summer and 

 autumn as complete a representation of the plants of that 

 region as possible. 



In some places anthracnose of the Black Raspberry has been 

 so prevalent and virulent as to warrant the special study which 

 has been made at the Geneva Experiment Station in this state, 

 and a late bulletin suggests the following measures of preven- 

 tion and cure : Use only healthy plants and adopt a short rota- 

 tion of crops. Protect the new shoots in spring by spraying 

 with Bordeaux mixture when they are about six inches high, 

 or spray for the first time when the first few spots appear on 

 the young canes. This should be followed by two or more 

 other sprayings at intervals of ten or fourteen days. Old canes 

 and badly diseased new ones should be removed as soon as 

 the fruiting season is over. 



The sixty-sixth fair of the American Institute of this city 

 will be held in Madison Square Garden, September 20th to 

 November 4th. The exhibition of the agricultural and horti- 

 cultural department will continue from September 27th to 

 October 23d, in the Concert Hall, and will comprise plants, 

 flowers, fruits, vegetables and cereals. No entrance fee is 

 required for exhibits in this department, and there are classes 

 open to amateur and to commercial growers. An interesting 

 feature will be the display of vegetables grown on vacant-lot 

 farms. Those who intend to exhibit in any of the classes of 

 this department are requested to notify Dr. F. M. Hexamer, 

 No. 52 Lafayette Place, New York. 



The first new apples, green and small, came from North 

 Carolina last week. Niagara grapes, from Florida, are already 

 offered here, a three-pound basket of large-berried attractive 

 bunches costing fortv-five cents. Other new-crop fruits are 

 currants and black and red raspberries ironi Maryland, Dela- 

 ware and New Jersey. Watermelons and muskmelons are 

 now of good size and flavor and sell readily. Choice English 

 gooseberries of immense size bring twenty cents a quart. 

 Nectarines, from California, large and showy, cost fifty cents a 

 dozen, and new grape-fruit, from Jamaica, twenty-five cents 

 apiece. Forty-four car-loads of California fruits were sold here 

 last week. Lemons have advanced Ji 00 a box during the past 

 ten days, in anticipation of warmer weather. 



At the Annandale Rose Show, held last week under the 

 auspices of the Dutchess County Horticultural Society, one of 

 the leading features was a collection of Orchids, Croions and 

 greenhouse plants from the Dinsmore estate (Mr. Thomas 

 Emerson, gardener), and Gloxinias from Archibald Rogers, Esq. 

 (Mr. James Horrocks, gardener). The principal prize-winners 

 were Wallace Gomersall, gardener to Wmthrop Sargent, Esq., 

 who took the silver cup for the best twenty-four distinct varie- 

 ties of Roses ; Mr. Richard Lewis, gardener to Miss Cruger, 

 who won the society's prize for the best collection of outdoor 

 Roses, and Thomas Harrison, gardener to Ex-Governor 

 Morton, for Roses in various classes. Miss Cruger's exhibit 

 of vegetables and Ex-Governor Morton's strawberries were 

 exceptionally good. 



The early blight of Celery is sometimes very destructive in 

 the hot midsummer weather, and when the young plants are 

 set out it is advisable to dip the leaves in some fungicide, the 

 ammoniacal copper carbonate solution being most promising 

 so far as known. The formula generally used is eight ounces 

 of copper carbonate and three pounds of ammonia water 

 (26 ) added to forty-five gallons of water. In fields where 

 the disease has prevailed in previous years many of the spores 

 have undoubtedly been carried over during the winter, and it 

 is best not to wait until the spots appear. If the plants should 

 be sprayed at intervals of two weeks with the same solution, 

 or one a trifle weaker, the disease may probably be pre- 

 vented. Dry sulphur has been used with considerable suc- 

 cess at the experiment station in New Hampshire, dusted on 

 the plants at the rate of one pound to six hundred plants. It 



should be remembered that this disease, Cercospora Apii, is 

 quite distinct from the late blight which begins before the 

 other fungus has completed its work and continues its activity 

 even after the crop has been stored. 



Among the latest teachers' leaflets which are intended to 

 help on " nature study " in the common schools of the state of 

 New York, and prepared by the College of Agriculture of 

 Cornell University, are two relating to insects, by Anna Botts- 

 ford Comstock. One of these is entitled " Some Tent-makers," 

 and it contains suggestions for lessons in the life of the Apple- 

 tree tent caterpillar, commencing with its eggs, and then 

 explaining how to watch the caterpillars as they shed their 

 skins, make their cocoons, etc. Another leaflet gives hints 

 about making collections of insects. The directions are very 

 practical, and in the hands of a skillful teacher they can 

 undoubtedly be made of great use in training the mind and 

 eye of pupils while young and receptive to habits which 

 will be of inestimable value to them later in life. 



Many volumes of conjecture have been written about the 

 influence of woodlands upon climate, and especially upon the 

 influence of forest areas on the humidity of the air, but authen- 

 tic data are still needed. We are glad, therefore, that a series 

 of observations upon this point has been instituted by Pro- 

 fessor Corbett, of the South Dakota Agricultural College. A 

 set of hygrometric and other instruments was placed in an 

 open cultivated prairie some four hundred feet from the edge 

 of a grove fifteen acres in extent, and another one was placed 

 within the grove. Practically these fifteen acres are only a 

 grove in embryo, since the Box Elder, Cherry, Maple and 

 Scotch Pine trees of which it consists have only been planted 

 six years. Without going into details of temperature at the 

 surface and below the surface of the soil we can only say that 

 the average daily humidity reported in the open prairie during 

 six months, as ranging from sixty-two to seventy-four per cent., 

 was less than the daily mean humidity in the so-called forest 

 by from two per cent, to ten per cent. This would seem to 

 indicate that the influence of trees is felt in some ways long 

 before they are fully grown. 



String-beans, estimated by the number of packages, seem to 

 be among the most popular vegetables, for, besides 25.471 

 boxes of unclassified vegetables sold in the New York mar- 

 kets, and which included some beans, nearly 25,000 pack- 

 ages of green and wax beans were received here last week 

 from states between New Jersey and North Carolina. Other 

 vegetables handled in large quantity were cabbage, of which 

 more than 16,000 packages reached our markets last week, 

 and there were even more cucumbers. Tomatoes, firm and of 

 good quality, are now coming from Florida, Mississippi and 

 Georgia; large new onions, from Louisiana, Maryland, Vir- 

 ginia and Delaware ; besides cabbage from the south, 

 considerable quantities are brought from New Jersey and 

 Long Island, as are peas and asparagus. Eggplants, Yellow 

 Marrow, Crookneck and scalloped squashes, turnips, cauli- 

 flower, kohl rabi, beets, radishes, carrots, okra, peppers, garlic, 

 celery, rhubarb, mushrooms, Romaine and other It ttuces are 

 all seen, well-grown and fresh-looking, from near-by and 

 remote states. Almost 60 000 barrels of new southern pota- 

 toes were consigned to this city last week, many trom as far 

 north as Virginia, and old potatoes are still plentiful. 



At the meeting of the American Institute Farmers' Club on 

 June 8th, Mr. T. J. Dwyer, in the course of an interesting 

 address on Strawberries, said that he considered Marshall, 

 Brandywine and Parker Earle the three leading varieties of the 

 time, not for any specially favored locality, but for cultivation 

 over a wide range of country. The plants of Marshall are 

 luxuriant and healthy, with dark, rich foliage, perfect flowers 

 and large handsome, uniform fruit of the highest flavor, of 

 dark rich color and no white point. It is a firm shipping berry, 

 ripening early and continuing in good form until late, its season 

 covering almost an entire month. Brandywine is also a strong 

 grower with fine foliage. It is very productive ; the fruit 

 averages nearly as large as that of Sharpless and retains its 

 size from midseason until late. The flavor is not the very best, 

 although it is fair, and the fruit is firm and of good shape. The 

 fruit of Parker E^rle is firm, light red, with a short neck and 

 about the same size as the old Charles Downing. The plants 

 have a tendency to make very large stools, so that a single 

 plant not infrequently yields two and three hundred blossoms 

 and berries. Of course, so prolific a variety needs a great 

 amount of food, and when abundant water and fertilizing 

 material are provided this is a highly profitable berry for 

 market. 



