36 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 30c, 



all trees and shrubs that thrive in the open air in some part 

 or other of the British Islands. Mr. Webster has not at- 

 tempted to describe the plants he enumerates beyond 

 stating that they have large or small flowers of a certain 

 color. Nor has he gone into details in cultural directions. 

 His book may be recommended, as it contains the names 

 and a little information about a great many plants which 

 are not generally grown in the open air in England. It 

 will also be of some service to American horticulturists, as 

 it gives a good idea of the extent and variety of the mate- 

 rial available in this country for the outdoor garden. 



A Chat About Orchids. — The author of a book bearing 

 this title, and recently published by Messrs. Chapman & 

 Hall, is Mr. Frederick Boyle, a literary gentleman who for 

 some years has taken an enthusiastic interest in garden 

 Orchids, cultivating, chiefly with his own hands, I believe, 

 a nice little collection of them in several small greenhouses 

 in his garden at Croydon. The book is made up of articles 

 contributed by Mr. Boyle to English periodicals, and 

 written, as he says, to show that the delight of growing 

 Orchids may be enjoyed by persons of very modest for- 

 tune and possessed of an ordinary amount of gardening 

 skill. Professional cultivators will, no doubt, be tickled by 

 Mr. Boyle's optimism, as shown in the following passage : 

 "For one shilling the poor man can buy a manual which 

 will teach him what species can be easily grown, and most 

 of the things necessary for him to understand besides. An 

 expenditure of five pounds will set him up for life and be- 

 yond, since Orchids are immortal. Nothing else is needed, 

 save intelligence." Mr. Boyle has had considerable expe- 

 rience in writing to catch the public eye, and, no doubt, he 

 has felt bound to use strong colors if he is to succeed in 

 turning every householder with a "bit of glass" into an 

 Orchid-fancier. Chapters on "My Gardening," "Orchid 

 Sales," "An Orchid Farm," "The Lost Orchid " are pleasant 

 and suggestive reading, as also are those on the different 

 classes of Orchids into which they are divided for cultural 

 purposes. From a professional standpoint, the last chapter 

 in the book, which treats on " Hybridizing," is the most in- 

 teresting and useful. There are also eight beautifully ex- 

 ecuted little colored plates, representing as many choice 

 Orchids. The book is one for the drawing-room table, and 

 exactly the kind of treatise to recommend to any one wish- 

 ing to know something about Orchids, and what is some- 

 times called the Orchid fever. 



Mr. Richard Spruce, the Brazilian traveler-botanist, who 

 collected for Kew forty-five years ago, died this week at 

 the age of sixty-six years. A Yorkshireman, the son of a 

 schoolmaster, with plenty of what his countrymen call 

 "go" in him, he won the interest of Sir William Hooker, 

 Humboldt and others, and was sent, when only twenty- 

 one years of age, to explore the River Amazon in the in- 

 terest of commerce as well as science, a mission which 

 extended over fifteen years. He crossed the continent from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, collecting 7,000 species of plants, 

 many of which were new to science, and some have 

 since proved valuable to commerce. His papers on the 

 Palms of the Amazons, published in the Journal oj 'the Lin- 

 ncean Society, are among the most valuable of his contri- 

 butions to botanical literature. He retired on a Govern- 

 ment pension some years ago, and devoted his leisure time 

 to a study of Mosses, Liverworts, etc. „. „, 



London. W. natSOIl. 



Cultural Department. 

 Spraying Fruit-trees for Fungoid Diseases. 



THIS subject is one so important to every one who 

 attempts to grow fruit, that hardly too much 

 can be written about it, and we, therefore, add to what 

 was said last week some of the essential points in an 

 address delivered before the New Jersey State Horticultural 

 Society by Dr. Charles Parry : 



Many fruit-growers use the Bordeaux mixture regularly on 

 their Apple as well as Pear trees for fungoid diseases, and it 



is, no doubt, beneficial, not only in securing finer fruit the 

 year it is used, but, by keeping the leaves healthy and hanging 

 late on the trees, more fruit-buds are formed and a heavier 

 crop of fruit is secured the following year. There are some 

 plant-diseases, however, that seem proof against the Bordeaux 

 mixture — for instance, the mildew of the Peas. When sown 

 early these escape the mildew and mature a good crop, but 

 it is well known that those sown in May and June are ot very 

 little account. Experiments tried the past season showed that 

 vines sprayed with the Bordeaux mixture once a week suffered 

 quite as much as those not treated. Perhaps one reason of this 

 is that the Pea-leaf is so smooth that the mixture will not stick 

 to it, but rolls off and leaves the vine as dry as before the appli- 

 cation. The effect on Gooseberry-foliage was not so good as 

 we should expect ; three applications were made a week apart, 

 but the foliage remained on the treated vines but very little 

 longer than on the untreated. The effect on Lima Beans and 

 Potatoes was good, keeping the foliage healthy and increasing 

 the crop. Experiments on Sweet-potatoes to prevent the 

 black-rot seemed to do good, but further work is necessary to 

 secure positive results. But, whatever the effect of the Bor- 

 deaux mixture upon other crops, there is no question that 

 it has a magical effect upon the Grape. So uncertain had the 

 grape crop become in some parts of New Jersey from the rot 

 and mildew that many growers grubbed out their vineyards, 

 but the mixture has so changed the state of affairs that the 

 grape crop is now one of the most certain and reliable grown, 

 and many growers who grubbed out their vines a few years 

 ago are now planting anew. 



The question of nozzles is important, and it is worthy of note 

 that the Vermorel, which was one of the first introduced, has 

 not yet been surpassed, for grapes at least. In economy of 

 material, in evenness of distribution and in simplicity of con- 

 struction it is very hard to improve upon it. For spraying 

 trees there are several good nozzles, the McGowan being one 

 of the best. This nozzle has the important feature of freeing 

 itself of small obstructions that would clog other nozzles. 



Our improved method of making the Bordeaux mixture con- 

 sists of using prussiate of potash to determine the amount of 

 lime necessary to neutralize the sulphate of copper, instead of 

 weighing a small amount of lime and slacking it each time. It 

 is difficult in some places to get small quantities of fresh lime, 

 and a large quantity, if not used soon, spoils. By keeping on 

 hand a bottle of the solution of prussiate of potash, costing 

 five or ten cents, a bushel or more of lime can be slacked 

 at a time. Then, after the sulphate of copper is dissolved, add 

 the milk of lime until the test shows there is sufficient, then 

 add enough water to make the required quantify, say about 

 eight gallons for each pound of sulphate of copper. A few 

 drops of the prussiate of potash in the sulphate of copper so- 

 lution give a deep brown stain ; as the lime is added this stain 

 shows less and less, and when it no longer appears there is 

 enough lime added. The old plan of dissolving the sulphate 

 of copper was to use hot water or to put the lumps in the 

 bottom of a tub or barrel and stir them. By this plan the water 

 on the bottom became saturated with the copper salt until it 

 could dissolve no more, and being heavier than the pure 

 water it remained on the bottom and prevented further solu- 

 tion, so that it took days sometimes to dissolve large lumps 

 of the copper salt. The proper plan is to place the lumps of 

 sulphate of copper in a grape basket and suspend it in the 

 water as near the top as possible. As the water takes up the 

 salt it becomes heavier and sinks, while a fresh supply sur- 

 rounds the salt. Thus a constant circulation is maintained, 

 and it is surprising how quickly the lumps are dissolved. 



The effects of the Bordeaux mixture were strikingly shown 

 the past season in a large orchard of Bartlett Pear-trees affected 

 with leaf-blight. This orchard blooms freely every spring, 

 but persistently fails to bear fruit. A series of experiments 

 upon the orchard with various fertilizers, running from one- 

 half ton to three tons per acre, was interesting, but was not 

 effectual in producing fruit. The leaves in this orchard gen- 

 erally fall in July and August from leaf-blight. To counteract 

 this, a series of plots were sprayed with different mixtures, a 

 different number of times, from four to six, and at different 

 seasons of the year from April to August. Without going into 

 detail, it is sufficient to say, by the last of September there was 

 not a leaf to be seen in the orchard, except on the sprayed 

 trees. Those that had been sprayed several times, and espe- 

 cially those which had been treated for two years, were as 

 rank and green with abundant foliage as they had been in the 

 spring. It could be plainly seen, on the tall trees, how far the 

 spray had reached ; below the line the foliage was green and 

 abundant, above that line the trees were as bare of leaves as 

 in winter. Another noticeable feature was the difference in 



