560 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 196. 



low temperature, and the closer it is kept to the latter con- 

 dition the more satisfactory it will prove in all that makes it 

 valuable to the general public. Few persons are interested 

 chiefly in the size of Chrysanthemum-blooms, but all of us 

 enjoy their decorative effect. 



The certificates at a flower-show are beyond the comprehen- 

 sion of an ordinary mortal, and one can only ask sometimes 

 what they mean, unless it be to show the kind-heartedness of 

 the judges and their desire to give a helpful advertisement to 

 the originators or owners of new flowers. One is kept busy at 

 this season noting certificates from all quarters, and by the 

 time he has compared notes with other observers the novel- 

 ties are reduced to a very short list, and he makes a rather 

 longer one of some of the old favorites which continue to come 

 to the front again and again. Still, year by year, we find great 

 gains, some jumping into favor, and some creeping slowly. 

 Such flowers of recent years as Viviand Morel, Mrs. Alpheus 

 Hardy, W. H. Lincoln, Ada Spaulding, Minnie Wanamaker, 

 Mermaid, Lilian Bird, Jessica, etc., leave little to be desired 

 either in form or coloring. Good reliable dark-colored Chry- 

 santhemums seem to be for the future. 



Elizabeth, n.j. J. A. Gerard. 



Fertilizers for Tomatoes. 



THERE has always been, among market-growers, a belief 

 that a heavy fertilization of Tomatoes will lessen the yield, 

 and prevalent opinions of this kind among farmers or garden- 

 ers, even when no sufficient reason can be given for them, 

 usually turn out, upon careful investigation, to have a basis of 

 truth ; and yet, in spite of the belief above mentioned, tests 

 which have been conducted for some years at the various 

 agricultural experiment stations have given almost uniformly 

 larger yields where the land was heavily manured. Of course 

 .the character of the soil may have some influence, and the 

 character of the fertilizer may have still more; but a recent 

 bulletin from the Cornell Station is worthy of attention, be- 

 cause, while the experiments recorded still show that heavy 

 fertilization increases the crop, it is also explained that under 

 certain circumstances the popular view of the case may be 

 the true one. The productiveness of a Tomato-plant de- 

 pends largely upon its earliness or on its ability to give the 

 greatest number of pickings before frost. Therefore, any 

 fertilizer which starts off the plant rapidly in its early growth 

 and hastens the appearance of fruit is beneficial. We can 

 conceive, however, that whenever plant-food that is immedi- 

 ately available is applied late in the season it will cause a 

 vigorous growth of the plant, and thus delay production and 

 ripening of the fruit. The same effect might follow the early 

 application of raw and coarse stable-litter, in which the plant- 

 food cannot be made ready for assimilation until late in the 

 season. 



In order to determine the results of a late application of fer- 

 tilizer, nitrate of soda was used at the rate of ten pounds to 

 seventeen plants at one application, on the 25th of June, a fort- 

 night after the plants were set. On a similar number of plants 

 the same amount of nitrate was applied at intervals of about 

 three weeks, in' applications of two and three pounds each. 

 The results showed striking differences. The first lot of 

 plants up to the last week of September gave a much higher 

 yield in the number of fruits to the plant and in the average 

 weight of the crop. After that date, however, the intermittent 

 application of the fertilizer in the second lot was beginning to 

 be felt ; and, as frost held off unusually long, this lot, tak- 

 ing the season through, gave the best yield. If, however, the 

 frost had come at a time when it usually does the popular be- 

 lief would have been vindicated. The rule seems to be that a 

 quick fertilizer, like nitrate of soda, ought not to be applied in 

 this climate as late as the latter part of August. As this fertil- 

 izer, however, is readily dissolved in water and escapes in 

 drainage, it is not advisable to make it in one heavy applica- 

 tion early in the season, but it should be distributed in differ- 

 ent applications, and extended from the time of planting until 

 midsummer. Of course, nitrate of soda is not a complete fer- 

 tilizer, and both potash and phosphoric acid, in some form, 

 may be needed, too. All these materials are found in good 

 farm-yard manure, and no mistake will be made when this is 

 abundantly applied early in the season, provided it has been 

 thoroughly disintegrated. 



called leaf-spot diseases. This Septpria is propagated from 

 plant to plant by means of long slender spores "that are pro- 

 duced in large numbers in pear-shaped bodies imbedded in 

 the surface of the affected portions of the leaf. The diseased 

 spot itself enlarges by means of the threads of the fungus 

 already in the leaf, spreading out laterally into the surround- 

 ing healthy tissue. Moisture favors the development of these 

 spots very greatly. Some varieties seem to be more subject 

 to the blight than others, but probably all will take it when con- 

 ditions are most favorable and the spores or germs of the fun- 

 gus are present. There is no reason to doubt that spraying 

 the young plants with the standard compounds of copper would 

 do much to check this disease, and thus save the foliage. It is 

 very important to spray when the plants are small', and not de- 

 lay until the blight is present. No remedy can restore a 

 blighted leaf to a healthy condition. 

 Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



The Vegetable Garden. — Many of these are now covered with 

 a dense growth of weeds that have ripened seed, which, if left, 

 will fill the soil and give trouble for years. A large part of this 

 can be destroyed by burning if the garden is covered with a 

 thick coat of straw and fired when a good breeze is blowing. 

 Straw makes a very hot fire, and even much of the seed which 

 has fallen on the ground can be destroyed in this way. It is a 

 great advantage also to plow the garden in the fall, and if 

 plowed deep the weed-seed still left will be turned down so 

 deeply as to give much less trouble than it would if near the 

 surface. Besides, if the garden is plowed in narrow lands and 

 the dead furrows opened so as to carry off the water, it will dry 

 off so as to admit of being planted much earlier in spring than 

 if left unplowed, and it will also be in much better condition. — 

 W. F. Brown, in The Tribune. 



Correspondence. 



A Chrysanthemum Blight. — The particular disease referred to 

 appears upon the leaves of the plant, blotching them with 

 brown until they wither and fall away. The trouble is due to 

 a species of Septoria, and therefore close in kin to many kinds 

 of fungi that prey upon cultivated plants, producing the so- 



In the Shore Towns of Massachusetts. — III. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Marblehead has Crocker Park, a headland on the har- 

 bor, given to the town by Hon. Uriah Crocker — a fine view, 

 rocks, no trees, very steep in places, and not safe in its present 

 undefended condition. Railings are needed at the top of the 

 ledges. There is another headland, or portion of a hill-top 

 and slope, which was given to the town by Hon. J. J. H. 

 Gregory. This also affords a good view of the water. The 

 Old Burying Hill has few interments of late years. The title is 

 in the town, and it is much used as a place of public resort. 

 The site of the fort on the shore, occupied during the civil 

 war, has been improved and cared for by the Town Improve- 

 ment Association with the understanding that it was a public 

 possession, but the owners of the adjacent land have recently 

 built a fence across the area which had been used by the pub- 

 lic, enclosing about half of it, and greatly impairing the value 

 of the remainder for public use. 



I spent a memorable day with Messrs. Chase, YX\pt and Wig- 

 glesworth in the Lynn Woods. This tract of i,6oo acres of 

 land and water is a possession of extraordinary importance. 

 No other of the smaller cities of our country has anything to 

 compare with it in extent. It is a region of unspoiled wood- 

 land, and it will so remain, as it is not intended that it shall 

 ever be made a park in the ordinary sense of that word. There 

 is an admirable system of roads, which will be extended, and 

 there will be need of shelters at various points. There will be 

 as little artificial construction as possible, no decorative gar- 

 dening, no perceptible interference with the wild sylvan 

 beauty, which is the essential charm of this great public re- 

 sort. Its proper official and distinctive name is The Lynn 

 Woods. 



The two wolf-pits are objects of great historic value. I have 

 not been able to learn of the existence of any similar remains 

 anywhere in this country. They are perhaps eight or ten feet 

 deep, but have been partly filled up by leaves drifting in. I 

 thought them about eight or nine feet long and three or four 

 feet wide. A recent newspaper article described them as cir- 

 cular, with walls narrowing at the top. I suppose the writer 

 thought wolf-pits ought to have that form. But those I saw 

 are parallelograms with vertical walls, their corners right an- 

 gles, and, in short, with nothing circular about them. The 

 smooth stone walls were so well laid that they are still not per- 

 ceptibly out of plumb. These pits should be very carefully 

 protected and preserved that they may never become mere 

 restorations. 



Quincy has Merrymount Park, seventy-five acres on the 

 shore, woodland and ponds, given to the city by Hon. Charles 



