WATERMELON 



WATSOXIA 



11)71 



small moth, the larvii? of whirh. liirht, yellowish 

 •ireeu oaterplUurs about an inch linii;-. ilL-stroy only the 

 leaves of the Watermelon, bur both the foli;m:i- and 

 fruit of the cautaluupe or iiiuskuiehni. 'riu'\" ai"e 

 "ekewers," not " suckers." 



L'. The melon louse {^lj>Jiis (lossiipii ) .—'V\\\s attacks 

 the foliage, ouly, in the form of tlit- adult — a small 

 winged i;reen lly. viviparous, whuse wingless ])rt)grny 

 attain maturity in about a week from birth, and begin 

 to reproduce. 



3. The striped cucumber beetle (Di<ibr'>/ic</ rlf!</ta). 

 — A small black and yellow-striped beetle, a ijnarti'r 

 of an inch 1oiil\ aftju'jiring in spring and ;iTt;udcing ihi.-- 

 young plants as tln-y emerge from the ground, its lar"\'a' 

 at the same time dt.'stroying the roots. 



4. The tiea beetle [Crijn'doih'ra cncKincris] . Dimin- 

 utive, like all of its kind, but very active, feeding 

 on the young plants in spring, after maturing under 

 rubbish and stones. The adult insect eats the npju-r 

 surface of the leaves, in irregular patches, and the 

 larvre are said to burrow their way through, the interinr 

 of the leaf structure under the surface. 



Remedies: The commercial grower is generally pre- 

 pared to accept the fact that none of these pests is 

 going to neglect him, and therefore makes his prepara- 

 tions to combat all, separately and collectively, and so 

 plans his schedule as to cover the entire list. The f(d- 

 lowing is a detail of the operations advised: 



1. Apply a pinch of nitrate of soda to each hill as 

 soon as the young plants are up to insure full vigor an<l 

 power of resistance to all enemies as they arrive upon 

 the scene. 



2. For the melon worm, striped cucTimber beetle and 

 flea beetle, spray with Paris green — 4 ounces to 7A) gal- 

 lons of water — for two or three sprayings, at intervals 

 of a week apart. 



3. Spray intermediately, at intervals of a week (mid- 

 wav between the arsenite applications) if the niehai 

 louse is found to have located on the plants, with a 



1 to 20 mixture of kerosene and water fusingWeed kero- 

 sene attachment to sprayer) or with kerosene emulsion, 

 same strength. Whale-oil soap, 1 lb. to the gallon, may 

 be substituted for the kerosene treatment in ordinary 

 cases, but when obdurate resort must be had to carbon 

 bisulfide, a teaspoouful to the hill, in box-tops, clam- 

 shells or cheap vessels of any kind, under canvas- 

 hooped covers. This remedy is unfailing, but somewhat 

 troublesome, and is only justified when the commercial 

 grower is fighting desperately for his crop and liveli- 

 hood. A detail of the methods of preparing the 

 remedies here su£:gested may be obtained from the 

 article on lusectic/des. in Vol. II of this work, which 

 see. HroH N. Starxes. 



WATSONIA (Sir Wm. Watson, M.D., 1715-1787. elec- 

 trician and professor of botany at Chelsea). lrid'}<:en'. 

 A genus of 16 species of tender bulbous plants, one 

 from Madagascar, the others from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They bloom from July to September and have 

 scarlet, rose or white 0-lobed flowers, with usually a 

 long, slender tube which is bent near the base. Wat- 

 son'ias are very much like Gladioli, having the same 

 kind of a conn, the same sword-shaped, rigid Ivs., the 

 same kind of a spike and the same season of bloom. It 

 is, therefore, a great mistake to suppose that they are 

 suited only to greenhouse cultivation. The main dif- 

 ferences between Watsonia and Gladiolus, from the 

 horticultural as well as botanical points of view, are the 

 longer tube and regular flower of Watsonia; three of 

 the' sis perianth-segments in Gladiolus being usually 

 different in size, shape and direction of spread. An im- 

 portant botanical difference is that the style-branches of 

 Watsonia are simple, while those of Gladiolus are bifid. 



Great interest has been aroused in Watsonias recently 

 by the introduction of the ■'White Watsonia," known to 

 the trade as W. Arrh^rxfA. The plant might be roughly 

 described as a white Gladiolus. It is likely to receive 

 considerable attention within the next few years. It 

 grows 3 or 4 ft. high, strong specimens being branched, 

 and bears about a dozen fls., each 2>^-3 in. long and about 



2 in. across. The purity of its color and its value for 

 cutting make it of exceptional interest to florists. There 

 are other white -fld. forms of W^atsonia, but none of 



them seem to l)r in the Amerii;an trade. Pure white is 

 the exception in the iris family, while it is a (.-om- 

 mon, if not dominant, "color" in the lily and amarvllis 

 families. 



The White Watsonia has ac(iuired so many names 

 that a short historical sketch of the plant is desirable. 

 All tht stock in the trade at present is suyjposed to be 

 descended from plants cultivated by H. W. Arderne, of 

 Cape Town. The original bulb was found 80 miles away 

 in a peat bog amongst thousands of the common pink-tld. 

 kin<l. In Oct., lHi»2, Mr. Ardorne had 400 spikes in 

 bloi.nu and in March, iS'.tM, some of Ills plants were ]dc- 

 tured in The Garden nmh-r the name of Watsonia alba. 

 However, a pure white - fl<l. form had been previously 

 foiinil near Port Elizabeth and a bulb sent to J. O'Brien, 

 i>t Harrow, flowered in England in 1889 and was then 

 fully described as TT. iriilifo/ia , var. O'Brieni, the 

 name adopted in this work. In the recent discussions 

 of the plant the fact has l)een overlooked that T. S. 

 Ware, of Tottenham, cultivated a white variety in 1880, 

 it l)eing figured in The Garden for that year as IVof- 

 siniia alba. A nearly white form was cultivated in Eng- 

 land as early as 18(11, liut the tube was pinkish outside 

 and there was a rosy spot at the base of each perianth- 

 segment. 



William Watson, of Kew, was the first to emphasize 

 the close horticultural i'a.rallel between Watsonia and 

 Gladiolus and to urge the whole group upon the atten- 

 tion of the plant-breeder. This suggestion, coming from 

 the man who may be said to have created the modern 

 Cape Primrose or Streptocarpus, should result in an- 

 other fine race of hybrids before many years. However, 

 the Watsonia "bulb" is not so easily and safely stored 

 as that of Gladiolus. 



Generic characters: perianth with long, curved tube, 

 the lowest and narrowest part ascending a short (lis- 

 tance above the calyx; the tube is then dilated into a 

 cylindrical or funnel-shaped portion which bends down, 

 usually at a sharp angle; segments equal, oblong, spread- 

 ing; stamens unilateral, arcuate, inserted below the 

 throat of the tube. Baker. Handbook of the Iride^. 

 Flora Capensis, vol. G. 



alha, 4. 

 aletroides, 1. 

 angusta, 2. 

 Ardernei, 4. 



INDEX. 



for-riiipa, C'. 

 delisillor;i, 5 

 fiilni'})S, 2. 

 humilis, 7. 



iridifolia, 4, 

 Merimiii, '^. 

 O'Brieni, 4. 

 rosea, 8. 



A. Upper part of tiihe ci/lhidriral or no.r- 

 ro>rIi/ fiiiniel-fi.h(ipril . 

 B. Length of peritntih'srgnn^iifs ^.,-"^o In A. aletioides 

 BB. Length of perianth-sii/iii-nts ^4-J in. 

 c. Siem.^ tall, S-4 ft., offrn braiichrd. 

 T). Sjill->'s la.r, ]J-J'f^fUl. 



E. Fl.<!. s>-arl.'f 2. angusta 



EE. Fls. rosr-rrfJ ',y n-hitf. 



F. ir.s'. ^.j-:'.t '"■ ir/'le: spiktS 



about I. .'-fill ?,. Mariana 



FF. Lv>i. n'Idrr: s/nlces fh'Usf^r, 



ahont 2<i-f]il 4. iridiiolia 



DD. spikes den.<;r, .!0-'>'i-fj,i .5. densiilora 



cc. Stems shorter, nio^'^tli/ 1-2 fl., ini- 

 h'lrtvched. 



D. Tube l^'-2-2 in. long 0. coccinea 



PD. Tube V^-F.. in. h'nig 7. humilis 



AA. Vpper part of tube short and broadly 



funnel-shaped 8. rosea 



1. aletroides, Ker. Bright scarlet or pale pink-fld. 

 species, 1-2 ft. high, remarkable for the short perianth- 

 segments: stem simple or branched: spikes r;-12-fld. 

 B.M. 533 (rosy scarlet, splashed with cardinal, the inner 

 segments white at the tip). 



2. angusta, Ker. ( TT. iridifolia, var. fiiJgens. Ker.). 

 8cariet-fld. species <listinguished from TT. Meria}ia by 

 the color of the fis. an<l by the shape of the perianth- 

 segments. In W. angit.'<ta the segments are decidedly 

 acuminate, while those of TT. Meriava are more nearly 

 oblong and come to a point suddenly. Also the style of 



M". avqasta reaches to the li]! of the perianth-segments, 

 while in IT. Meriana it does md. B.M. GOO. Gn. 17:230 

 (;is W. Mcrtana, var. rovriiu'a), 44:023. 



