April i, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



153 



under glass, it is far from my intention to disparage the sowing 

 under other conditions, but certain it is that these and other 

 plants, even alpines, all pay for being pushed along early in 

 the year. Unless alpine plants are raised early, while we have 

 control of temperature, later in the season we often lose the 



P lants - r? n n + * 



South Lancaster, Mass. ■£■■ O. Urpet. 



Pruning Out-door Roses. — As a rule, all Roses in the garden 

 are pruned in spring before the sap starts. The Teas, many 

 of the Bourbons, the Hybrid Noisettes, the Bengal or China 

 Roses, and all others of comparatively weak growth, should be 

 severely cut back ; but vigorous kinds, like most of the Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, need only a moderate topping besides the thin- 

 ning out of the branches. Close pruning of the strong sorts 

 occasions a great growth of wood, but few flowers. Many 

 Roses are more or less injured for blooming every season by 

 a too free use of the knife, notably the various Briers, climbers 

 and native sorts. The Sweet Brier and Austrian Brier are 

 much better when let alone than when closely pruned. There 

 is a beauty in their free growth which is entirely marred by 

 pruning them ; and the little increase in the size of their flow- 

 ers which might result from shortening in the branches does 

 not compensate for the loss of their free growth. The Prairie 

 Rose (R. setigera), like all climbing Roses, should be sparingly 

 pruned, and the Dwarf Wild Rose R. lucida had better be 

 left untouched. 



Germantown, Pa. / • Meehan. 



More Nematodes.— In a single large greenhouse recently vis- 

 ited, the three following plants, grown in large quantities, 

 were found in a sickly condition : Begonias, Geraniums (Pe- 

 largoniums) and Salvias. The Begonia-plants were of consid- 

 erable size, and some of them had lost a large share of their 

 foliage. The remaining leaves had a wilted but water-soaked 

 appearance, not easy to describe, and quickly fell from their 

 attachments by the slightest touch. There was no sign of a 

 Fungus upon the surface of, or within, the leaf, but upon 

 picking a piece of a diseased leaf apart it was at once found, 

 under the microscope, that countless eel-worms, or nematodes, 

 were present in all parts of the leaf-tissue. It is not a new 

 thing for these microscopic worms to infest the Begonia, but 

 it is rare to find them so abundant and destructive. In a mass 

 of variegated leaved Pelargoniums, perhaps half of the leaves 

 over a considerable area had turned brown and had a disa- 

 greeable slimy feel. It was evident that when one such dead 

 leaf had fallen upon a healthy one the disorder was quickly 

 communicated to it. Here again, upon examination, no trace 

 of any Fungi could be found, but, instead, there was an abun- 

 dance of nematodes. The infested foliage was so transparent, 

 due to the removal of the coloring matter, that by looking 

 through the leaf with the microscope the worms could be seen 

 in all parts of the tissue. The fact that Pelargoniums are sub- 

 ject to attack by nematodes has not been reported heretofore, 

 so far as I know. In the bed of Salvias the leaves were gen- 

 erally blotched, sometimes more than half being dead, but the 

 living and diseased parts were separated by a well-defined 

 line ; in other words, the blotches were angular, and in shape 

 governed by the veins of the leaf. The dry brown patches 

 when dissected yielded a full quota of nematodes. The Salvia- 

 leaves, in general appearance, resemble those of the Coleus, 

 noticed some months ago. This justifies us in adding the 

 Salvia to the long list of greenhouse plants that are subject to 

 nematode invasion. 



Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



The Cultivation of Beans. — The root system of the Bean' 

 while extensive, is but slightly branched, and has but few 

 rootlets. While it is a most persistent and searching collector 

 of moisture and plant-food, gathering a full supply from a soil 

 so poor that the roots of most plants would fail to get anything 

 from it, yet it is comparatively slow in action, and seems un- 

 able to meet any sudden extra demand, and to be very sensi- 

 tive to and slow to recuperate from injury by cold, excess of 

 water, a mutilation from soil-cracking or injudicious cultiva- 

 tion. The entire plant, at every stage of its development from 

 seed to seed again, is peculiarly liable to injury from adverse 

 conditions of moisture and heat. If the seed is planted in 

 earth which is too dry and hot it will malt and fail to grow, 

 even when the soil is afterward made cool and moist. If it is 

 put into ground which is but a little too cold and wet, it will 

 rot ; a few hours in a soil saturated with water will kill the 

 roots, or if the plants are subjected for a few. days to excessive 

 wet or cold they will be checked beyond possibility of recov- 

 ery. If the plants, when in bloom or young pod, are wilted by 



excessive heat and drought, from the injury of the roots by 

 deep cultivation or pulling of long weeds, or because of the 

 sapping of the food and water-supply by the growth of weeds, 

 they will blast and fall off, carrying with them all hope of a 

 profitable crop. As to the best time for planting, no fixed date 

 can be given. It is useless to plant when the ground is in un- 

 favorable condition as to warmth and moisture. Better delay 

 planting until the 20th of July, and then give it up altogether, 

 rather than put in the seed when the soil is too wet, dry, or 

 cold. In general, Beans should be planted just after Corn- 

 that is, just as it is getting a little past the best time for Corn- 

 planting. — Professor W. W. Tracy, in American Agriculturist. 



Correspondence. 



" Insect Lime." 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Mr. Fernow's recommendation of "Insect Lime "for 

 a variety of our common pests, in addition to the "Gypsy 

 Moth," is perhaps suggestive, and worthy of careful considera- 

 tion, but it is apt to produce the same misconception as to its 

 range, which long existed, and still exists, as to the effect of 

 tin collars or oil troughs on tree-trunks. The band of " lime " 

 would, undoubtedly, be effective against canker-worms, for 

 here the female is wingless, emerges from an underground 

 pupa, and must climb up the tree-trunk to reach the branches. 

 She cannot pass a sticky band around the trunk, nor any 

 similar obstruction, and if she oviposits below it, neither can 

 the young larvae. This fact makes the canker-worm an easily 

 controlled pest. It is otherwise with the Fall-web worm, Bag 

 worm and Tussock moth. The female of the web-worm is 

 winged, emerges from a pupa enclosed in a cocoon, 

 flies to the tree, oviposits on a leaf, and the young 

 hatch and feed, intensely ignorant of the dangerous sticky 

 band around the trunk. To be sure the larvae some- 

 times wander when full-grown, seeking shelter to pupate ; 

 but, if they were stopped from coming down the trunk, 

 they would simply pupate above the band, or the larva 

 would allow itself to drop to the ground from the nearest pro- 

 jecting leaf or branch. In the case of the bag worm it would 

 serve as a protection, where the trees were free from the pest 

 in the first place. Here the female never leaves the bag in 

 which the larva fed, and, after impregnation by the male, 

 becomes an egg-sac purely. These eggs remain secure in the 

 bags during winter, suspended from the twigs of the tree, 

 and in spring they hatch ; the young larvae, already on the 

 tree, and finding it unnecessary to leave it or go anywhere near 

 this " lime." The Tussock moth is as safe, for here too, 

 though the female is wingless, the eggs are laid in fall, quite 

 usually far up on the trunk, or in a folded leaf, which is 

 attached to the twig with silken threads. But, in the case of 

 the last-mentioned species, winds will often cause the larva 

 to drop, or, in its wandering instinct, when full-grown it drops 

 voluntarily, and then a "lime" band would be effective. Still, 

 it is only a very partial remedy, and does not begin to compare 

 in effectiveness with winter collecting and destruction of egg 

 masses, as recommended by me in a recent number of 

 GARDEN AND Forest. Concerning the *' Gypsy Moth " I 

 have nothing to say, since I have had no personal experience 

 with it. 



Rutger's College. John B. Smith. 



The Western Arbor-vitee. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I was much interested in reading the article on " The 

 Western Arbor-vitas " in the Garden and Forest for March 

 nth, 1891, but was surprised to see the statement, on page 

 109, " Thuya gigantea, unfortunately, is not hardy in the eastern 

 states, and, like many of the trees of the Pacific forests, it 

 cannot be used to beautify and enrich our plantations," since 

 I know of at least three very fine specimens which are in 

 excellent condition, and appear to be perfectly at home. One 

 is in my own grounds at Morrisville, Pennsylvania — a tree 

 about thirty years old, thirty feet high, and one foot in 

 diameter of trunk at three feet from ground. Another tree, 

 nearly as large, stands in the grounds of William Parry, at 

 Parry, New Jersey. There is also a fine specimen in Central 

 Park, New York City, of several years' growth, but I cannot 

 .give its dimensions. 



While all three of these specimens occupy positions where 

 they are slightly protected from heavy winds by other trees 

 of large size, they do not show any symptoms of weakness or 



