August 8, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



317 



fourths of an inch across. Aside from its comparative easi- 

 ness it is of no more value than many of our most common 

 species. 



Pentstemon gracilentus, from northern California, has a 

 greater number of flowers on a panicle than most species of 

 this genus, though they are individually small. They are 

 about three-fourths of an inch in length and purple in color. 



One of the more striking plants just flowering now is the 

 perennial Globe Thistle (Echnops Ritro), from southern 

 Europe. The large round heads of blue flowers are quite 

 attractive. 



The Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), which is so com- 

 monly found gleaming among the rank vegetation on boggy 

 soil, does admirably treated as a garden-plant. It takes kindly 

 to drier land, and when properly cultivated it attains a greater 

 height, with longer spikes of its deep cardinal-red flowers. It 

 blooms earlier, too. Rhexia Virginica, the Deer Grass or 

 Meadow Beauty, is another attractive native plant at this season 

 in the border, where it attains a height of about ten inches, 

 bearing numerous rose-purple flowers an inch across. 

 Charlotte, Vt. F. H. Horsford. 



Notes from. Cornell University. 



Currants.— Mr. S. D. Willard, of Geneva, recently sent 

 specimens of the Wilder currant and of the White Imperial 

 currant to the station to be tested. The Wilder is a red cur- 

 rant with stem and berries as large, or larger, than the Fay's 

 Prolific, and a little less acid than Fay's. It is a beautiful ' 

 variety and promises to be a valuable acquisition to commer- 

 cial curants. No currant as sweet as the White Imperial has 

 been tested here. The clusters and berries are of good size 

 when compared with the White Grape ; the difference in acidity 

 seems as great as that between sour and sweet cherries. This 

 variety can be highly recommended for family use. A new 

 variety, which resembles the Versailles in cluster and berry, 

 was received from Albertson & Hobbs, Bridgeport, Indiana. 

 Its favorable points are less acidity than Versailles and the 

 small number of seeds which it contains, each berry having 

 only from three to eight. 



Sweet Corn. — A test of sixty-one varieties of Sweet Corn is 

 being carried on at the station. The Corn stands on a piece of 

 ground that has received uniform treatment for the past ten 

 years. The object of the test is to determine the earliness, 

 productiveness and quality of each variety. The stalks of each 

 kind have been counted and a record is made of the tasseling, 

 of the appearance of silks, of the first roasting ears and of the 

 yield. The Corn has received high cultivation, and with the 

 uniform conditions the results should be fair and reliable. 



Club Root of Cabbage. — This fungus (Plasmodiophora 

 Brassicas, Wor.), which has been quite destructive to the Cab- 

 bage and Turnip crops in New Jersey, and in the truck-gardens 

 around Philadelphia and New York during the past few years, 

 is receiving attention from the station. The disease is caused 

 by a fungus, which causes the roots to become swollen and 

 distorted. It affects the cabbage and vegetables belonging to 

 the Cabbage family, and also the Shepherd's Purse (Bursa 

 pastoris, L.), and the Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium vulgare, L.) 

 Two barrels of soil, in which the disease had been prevalent, 

 were imported from Long Island in the spring, and Cabbages 

 set in the plot in which the soil was mixed. Every plant 

 examined has the disease and is rendered useless for market 

 purposes as growth ceases. This shows the highly infectious 

 character of the disease. As the fungus is known to live on 

 certain kinds of plants only, Buckwheat will be sown on part 

 of the plot to determine whether the fungus can be starved 

 out in one season. 



Cornell University. G. Harold Powell. 



The Kitchen Garden. 



TV/TOST vegetable-gardens in this vicinity now present a 

 *■**■ sorry spectacle on account of the parching drought, but 

 even in places where irrigation is not practicable, if the sur- 

 face has been kept constantly stirred the lack of rain will not 

 be so seriously felt. Of course, it is always in order to kill 

 weeds, one great reason for this being that the weeds are 

 taking the water which the plants need. But, as has been 

 often explained in Garden and Forest, this surface tillage 

 has a value beyond the mere destruction of the weeds, and it 

 is most useful when the weather is dry and hot, as it generally 

 is in midsummer. The ground should not be stirred so 

 deeply now that the moist soil is brought up from below, for 

 the water evaporates and is wasted, and just now every drop 

 of moisture should be husbanded with care. Evaporation 

 goes on from the surface, and the loosening of a thin layer of 



top soil acts as a sort of mulch or a blanket full of air-spaces, 

 and checks the waste of the water which rises from below. 

 So far as possible all the water that now escapes from the 

 ground should be utilized — that is, it should be taken up by 

 the roots and pass away through the leaves of the plant. 



Where the ground is not dust-dry, varieties of Peas which 

 grow low and ripen rapidly may now be sown, for, although 

 the autumn crop of this vegetable is precarious, the vines will 

 sometimes escape mildew and yield fair crops before frost. 

 Some Cucumber-seed may still be planted in frames, where 

 the plants can be covered before the earliest frosts. From 

 plants now in bearing the mature fruit should be picked 

 every day, and they will continue producing longer than they 

 will if seed is allowed to ripen. Fresh tobacco-stems scattered 

 among them will repel plant-lice. Caution should be used not 

 to step on the plants when picking cucumbers and melons, and 

 in the case of melons more perfect fruit can be had if pieces of 

 board are placed under them to keep them off of the ground. 



Late Turnips for table use should grow quickly if they are 

 to be crisp and sweet, and such growth is made in cool autumn 

 weather. The latter part of August is abundantly early to sow 

 such varieties as Purple-top, Strap-leaf or the Flat Dutch. When 

 grown to the largest sizes, these are not fit for table use, and this 

 is another reason for late sowing. Of course, the ground should 

 be rich to insure the quick growth, which is a prime necessity. 

 The flea beetle often attacks the plants as soon as the earliest 

 leaves appear, but this insect can usually be driven away by 

 a sprinkling of slacked lime. If the lime alone will not suffice, 

 a little Paris green can be mixed with it in the proportions, say, 

 of one part of Paris green to two hundred parts of lime. 



It is hard to grow good crisp Lettuce in hot and dry summer 

 weather, but the middle of August is a good time to make a 

 sowing of seed to head in frames, and another sowing should 

 be made the last of the month, and this can be used in late au- 

 tumn, and even up to Christinas. 



New York. o. 



Strawberries. — If a Strawberry-bed is to be kept for one or 

 more years, it should be worked over as soon as possible after 

 the crop is gathered, in order that the new plants may find a 

 soil in suitable condition for starting into growth. If the field 

 contains much grass and tall weeds, it is often a good thing 

 to cut them with a mower, and if there is so heavy a mulch 

 that it will hinder working the land, it can often be burned off. 

 The fire will also destroy many insects, and, as the old Straw- 

 berry-leaves will also be burned, most of the spores of the leaf- 

 blight will be destroyed and the injury the following year less- 

 ened. The bed may be broken up in various ways, one of 

 the best being to turn furrows away from either side of the 

 row, leaving only a narrow strip with plants upon it. The fur- 

 rows can then be worked down with a cultivator, and the rows 

 of plants thinned out and treed from weeds with a hoe. In this 

 way the ground will be broken up and prepared for the new 

 plants that will be formed. Especially if the summer is a dry 

 one, the cultivator should be kept going throughout the month 

 of August, so that a crust cannot form. The new plantations 

 also should receive similar care, so far as cultivation and hoe- 

 ing are concerned. One of the principal reasons for the run- 

 ning out of varieties is that they become subject to and weak- 

 ened by the rust or leaf-blight. In the case of some varieties, 

 much of the foliage is entirely destroyed, and the spots are so 

 numerous upon the flower-stems that they are girdled, and as 

 a result they shrivel and the fruit dries up. From this cause 

 half the crop is often lost. It has been found that this disease 

 can be kept in check if the plants are properly sprayed with 

 Bordeaux mixture. This should be put on in July or early in 

 August, in order that the plants may make a healthy growth 

 during the fall. This should be repeated in the spring before 

 the growth starts, and again as soon as the blossoms are off. 

 By the last application the flower-stalks will be covered with 

 fungicide and the chance of the drying up of the berries is 

 thus reduced. — L. R. Taft, in the American Agriculturist. 



The Forest. 



Mixed Oak and Beech Forests of the Spessart : 

 Management by the Bavarian Government. — III. 



REGENERATION OF THE OAK HY SELF-SOWN SEEDLINGS. 



THE third special point to which the attention of the Ba- 

 varian Government was directed was the regeneration 

 of the Oak. At first these mixed ( )ak and Beech woods were 

 treated uniformly on the usual plan, the mature timber be- 

 ing removed gradually by successive cuttings, so as to 



