Clearing By Dynamite 
Cae of stumps from a field is of more 
importance than the average individual 
thinks. for the cost of tillage and cultivation 
must be reduced in order to secure from the 
land maximum profits. And until the stumps 
are removed from the field, cultivators, discs, 
planters, etc., cannot be used. Hvery method 
of stump removal possibly has its own particu- 
lar advantages, but by actual experience cov- 
ering a period of several years I have been 
unable to find but one method that gives satis- 
faction under all circumstances, and that is 
blasting with dynamite. A few years ago I 
bought a small tract of land on which were 
many large stumps. I immediately ordered a 
supply of dynamite and used it, getting out 
all the stumps without any trouble. Increased 
production over and around these places told 
the tale of where the stumps were. To obtain 
the best results one should be equipped with 
the proper tools. Right here is where a great 
many people fail in trying to blast out stumps. 
‘Get a one and one half inch auger (which may 
be obtained from any hardware dealer), take 
it to a blacksmith and have him weld to it a 
one-half inch rod about three feet long. This 
now gives an auger about four and one half 
feet long. 
The only other tool necessary is a cap 
crimper; include this in your order for the 
dynamite. Use nothing weaker than a No. 6 
cap and be sure to specify waterproof fuse, if 
any of the work is to be done in wet places. 
The dynamite comes usually in half-pound 
sticks; the amount to use can be regulated 
after a little practice. 
Tennessee. A. H. Harris. 
Why Tulips “Break” 
N_ AN article in THe GarpEN MaGazIne for 
October, 1915, a question is asked by LH. S. 
Johnson, Pennsylvania: “Why do Tulips 
Break?” 
So far as I can learn, this is one of the un- 
explained riddles of nature. In this habit of 
“preaking” the Tulip is unique among flowers. 
Last winter, in preparing a paper to be read 
before a small Garden Club, tapagl occasion to 
consult a number of authorities in regard to 
the life history of the Tulip and possibly I can 
throw a little light upon the freakish conduct 
of those Tulips. 
“The Tulip bulb is made up of layers or 
sheathes, like an onion. There are five of these 
layers, and at the heart lies the tiny rudi- 
mentary flower, already showing its separate 
parts. On the base, between the flower bud and 
the first sheath, may be seen a tiny bud. This 
is the nucleus from which the new bulb is 
formed, that later shall take the place of the 
old one whose substance has gone to feed the 
growing plant. Sometimes there are two buds 
at the base of the bulb, in which case there are 
two new bulbs formed, and a consequent in- 
erease of stock next fall, either of full sized 
bulbs or offsets. The renewed bulb and any 
offsets will produce flowers that are identical 
in shape and habit, color and markings with 
the parent bulb, after the latter have become 
fixed. To that extent the Tulip is perpetual, 
and varieties are now in cultivation that pos- 
sess a recorded history of more than a century. 
“In these markings of the Tulip its greatest 
mystery resides, and also one of its greatest 
fascinations. As with other flowers, new vari- 
eties of Tulips can be raised only from seed, 
and curiously enough, when the seedlings come 
to bloom, the flowers are always self colored, 
rose, brown, yellow or purple, without pro- 
nounced lines or splashes of different color. In 
“this state they renew themselves year after 
‘year, as described above, the new bulb always 
resembling its parent. Then suddenly, it may 
be in two or three years, it may not be for 
FROM EVERYWHERE | 
twenty, there appears a flower of changed ~ 
character. The color has drawn together in 
splashes or lines, or in a band along the edge 
of the petals; the marked or “broken” flower 
as it is called, has appeared, and henceforth 
this particular bulb and its offspring will wear 
the new dress, without further change. Grad- 
ually the other bulbs that may exist from the 
same original stock of seedlings, and are still 
in the self-colored or ‘breeder’ stage, will also 
break in like fashion, but with this character- 
istic, that the original seedling seems to im- 
print its individuality on all its descendants, 
so that through all the years of transforma- 
tion, there will be but oné type of breeder, and 
but one type of broken flower. That is, if the 
original seedling devel- om 
oped a dull yellow 
flower, dull yellow will 
all its descendants be 
until the ‘break’ occurs, 
and after that has taken 
place there will be but 
one type of marked or 
broken flower for that 
particular race.” 
Think of gathering ripe strawberries in the garden 
on October 23d! And berries as large and of as good 
flavor as those gathered in summer 
I do not know whether Clara Butt, Cale- 
donia, La Merveille and others are simply 
named seedlings which have not yet changed to 
their permanent character, or not, but if that 
be the case, would not the above be an explana- 
tion of their puzzling behavior? 
Lewiston, Me. CaRRIE HE. WEST. 
[The Darwin Tulips, to which Clara Butt be- 
longs, are strictly speaking but. “breeders,” 
having some influence of Tulipa Gesneriana in 
their makeup—several so-called Darwins do 
not properly belong, indeed no shade of yel- 
low, bronze or buff can be seen in a true Dar- 
win. La Merveille is a “cottage” Tulip, a relic 
of the old Tulip mania days. Nobody can un- 
ravel the histories of these old-timers.— ED. ] 
Fall-Bearing Strawberries 
HE YEAR 1915 will ever be remembered by 
me for then it was that I first tried out 
fall-bearing strawberries. I had been some- 
what skeptical as to their merits, notwith- 
standing published reports. Then a friend told 
me of seeing a bed of them fruiting in Novem- 
ber. That settled it! Last spring I noted that 
my favorite berry-plant grower ‘listed several 
fall-bearing strawberries and, although I had 
but a corner in a city backyard to devote to 
them, I invested. 
This batch had been planted but about a 
or 
os 
month when I acquired a “farm” in the country 
and so transplanted the strawberries there. In 
spite of this unusual method of replanting 
strawberries the middle of June, the vines con- 
tinued their growth, made a profusion of blos- 
soms, and in July we started to pick the 
berries! 
The quality was superb, indeed. Not a day 
from then till the early part of November when 
ripe fruit might not have been gathered. The 
blossoms were produced in such profusion that 
we often wondered where the plants acquired 
such vitality, and the fruit ripened promptly. 
The flavor was excellent even before the berry 
was fully colored. 
The particular variety I am writing of is the 
Superb, but I understand the other kinds have 
commendable qualities. [We have had excel- 
lent results from at least two other varieties, 
picking fruit into December——EHd.] With the 
nurseryman who sold me the plants I might - 
say, “It is as sure to bear all summer and fall 
as Senator Dunlap is to bear in June. Fruit 
is large, handsome, dark red, glossy, of perfect 
shape, quite firm and in quality unsurpassed.” 
Plants set out in the spring will produce 1,000 
quarts per acre during the fall. 
The photograph was taken October 23, 1915, 
and the berries shown were fully as of good 
quality as those picked in early June. 
Michigan. U. R. PERRINE. 
Another Experience With Root Lice on Asters 
N RECENT issues of Tot GarpDEN MaGAzINE 
I have noticed correspondence from your 
readers regarding the root lice on Asters, and 
while I cannot furnish any authoritative in- 
formation as to where they come from, my ex- 
perience in checking them may be of interest 
to others. 
I have grown beds of different varieties of 
Asters in my garden for some years with pleas- 
ing results. I never plant Asters in the same 
place two years in succession but select each 
year a different location. The seeds are sown 
and started in the coldframe, and when the 
plants are to be set out in their permanent lo- 
cation I have the roots of each thoroughly 
dusted with tobacco dust before planting. This 
treatment seems to discourage the aphis; but 
if a plant shows signs of the lice later on, by 
drooping or showing yellow leaves, I remove 
some soil around the plant and water freely 
with a decoction of tobacco water, obtained by 
steeping tobacco stems until the liquid is the 
color of moderately weak tea, and being careful 
that enough liquid is supplied the plant to 
reach the roots. I have had little trouble with 
this pest after such treatment. When the 
aster-beetle appeared last summer I sprayed 
the plants, even when in flower, with Pyrox 
(one pound to six gallons of water) ; the bee- 
tles did not reappear. 
Worcester, Mass. 
The Rhododendron Lace Bug 
HODODENDRONS have recently become 
afflicted by an insect anywhere on the At- 
lantic seaboard from North Carolina to Massa- 
chusetts and west to Ohio. Such plants are 
apt to be infested with the Rhododendron lace 
bug, an almost microscopical insect which lives 
on the*undersides of the leaves, sucking the sap 
from them. Leaves so infested have a whitish, 
spotted appearance on the upper side, while be- 
low there are frequently dark, brownish-black 
spots which look Tike seale insects, but which 
really are exudations from the leaf. 
One thorough spraying with soap—one pound 
to ten gallons of water—hbeing sure to hit the 
under sides of the leaves in particular, will 
usually eradicate this pest. Sometimes, how- 
ever, it is necessary to make a second spraying 
Do not spray while the sun is shining on them. 
Penna. HAROLD CLARKE. 
CHARLES H. WARREN. 
