NOTES ON DISEASES OF PLANTS 119 



getting sick than in finding a cure afterward— or rather, finding a 

 cure that will bring the plants back into a healthy growing condition 

 quickly enough to make it worth while. 



Given clean houses, proper ventilation, the right kind of atmos- 

 phere, temperature and watering, and regular spraying or fumigating 

 to keep out aphis and green fly, you are well on the way toward 

 healthy stock. 



The growers who let aphis and green fly get a foothold, always 

 invite other troubles, and so does he who keeps the soil in the pots 

 or benches too dry or too wet; whose steam or hot water pipes 

 run too close to the benches; who maintains a temperature that 

 is too high and sometimes, but not frequently, too low; who keeps 

 a stuffy house or one in which, for some reason, the atmosphere 

 is too dry. These, to my mind, are some of the principal causes of 

 plants getting sick, and only through experience will one be enabled 

 to know just what his crops require in order to do weU. 



Many of us know of instances where a beginner — often with 

 little or no experience — has turned out a splendid lot of plants or cut 

 flowers. One case in particular is fresh in my mind in which 

 a man bought, in June, 300 Cyclamen out of 33^-in. pots. He 

 offered them the following December in 6s in full bloom! They 

 were wonderful plants, yet some of the pots were hardly three- 

 quarters full of sofl, for the man had never potted much of anything 

 before in his life. A few blocks away at a Cyclamen grower's estab- 

 Ushment where the owner had been making this crop a specialty, 

 there were, in December, almost 4000 plants as fine as you would 

 want to see; but all of the buds dried up. None knew what the 

 trouble was so we called it the Cyclamen mite. This you cannot 

 see, but it was there somewhere — at least we thought it was. 



I don't want to be understood to say that scientifically prepared 

 insecticides and fungicides are of no use, for I am firmly convinced 

 they are a blessing. Each year we find out more about effective 

 remedies with which to fight plant diseases. On the other hand, 

 I claim that if by experience you find out what your plants need in 

 the way of care and a proper environment in order to grow and 

 thrive, and if you keep them clean with nicotine in one form or 

 other, you wiU have gone a long way toward rendering it unnecessary 

 to use other remedies in treating sick plants. 



THE WINTER PROTECTION OF HARDY PLANTS 



OARM is more often done by covering hardy stock too early 

 ■'or too heavily than by not covering it at all. 



If you are located in a section where severe Winter conditions 

 make necessary the protection of perennials or biennials, it is always 

 well to delay the covering until the ground is frozen. To pile manure. 



