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 83 



ODDS AND ENDS 



FROM EVERYWHERE 



stesa* 3gsa s . V: ::":, 



Again, Root Lice on Asters 



IN AN article in the August, 1915, Garden 

 Magazine, Mr. S. B. Fracker says: "If 

 asters are planted in ground which has not grown 

 asters or corn the past year, and which is not located 

 near a field of corn, or an infested aster bed, they 

 will not be troubled with this pest (root lice), 

 provided the wild food plants are removed from the 

 vicinity of the bed." 



Now, I am not going on record against Mr. 

 Fracker, because I realize that I have had too little 

 experience. But my experience during the past 

 year has been such that, after reading the article 

 m question, I am wondering where I am to look 

 for a cause, as for the first time I have been troubled 

 with this pest. 



Last fall I moved into a place where no flowers 

 or plants of any nature had been grown for years. 

 As soon as I could I dug up the sod where I had 

 planned for my garden as I thought that if I left 

 it open to the elements all winter I might do away 

 with the danger of cutworms; and if there were any, 

 I succeeded, because I didn't lose a plant that way. 

 But I did lose six or seven nice aster plants, and on 

 pulling up the plants found the cause to be lice ! 



Now for the article in the August Garden 

 Magazine. The nearest corn is in my garden two 

 hundred feet away; as for asters I don't know of any 

 in the neighborhood. The soil is rich and so far I 

 have not seen any ant hills nearer than the woods 

 across the street. The only thing I can think of is 

 that the pest may have been present in the sod 

 which, as I say, was over the entire place. Is there 

 any other explanation as to where they came from 

 and how they can be gotten rid of? 



Massachusetts. Charles A. Forster. 



Winter Bulbs in the Attic 



THE bulb is an early flowering plant, coming 

 before the frost has left for good, putting forth 

 much of its growth under cover of the leaves and 

 ground; therefore, coolness and darkness are two 

 main principals in their successful culture. 



If one wishes flowers for the Christmas table, in 

 September or early October plant the bulbs two 

 inches deep in ordinary soil or sand. The plant 

 carries much of its nourishment in the bulb, so that 

 water is the one element that it needs and must 

 have. For plants to be used on the dining-room 

 table, sand is very much preferable. If the sand 

 is used see that it is thoroughly washed and dried 

 in a hot oven. In this way all bacteria is killed. 

 Very pretty effects may be obtained by placing 

 half a dozen tulips or hyacinths in a dish, the large 

 mass often being prettier than the single bulb. 

 So much depends on where the flower is to be used. 



At the time the bulbs are planted, water them 

 well; then set in a tray and place the whole in a 

 corrugated paper box. Cover tightly and place in a 

 cool, dry place, such as the attic. As the cold 

 weather approaches, place the box in a wooden box 

 with a lining of excelsior or hay between the two 

 walls. The double walls act on the same principle 

 as the walls of the refrigerator or the tireless cooker. 

 The bulbs thus fixed will keep from freezing even 

 when the temperature drops far below zero. 



While the bulbs are in the attic they will require 

 but very little attention, the only attention being 

 to see that they do not dry out. If the water is 

 placed in the tray instead of on top, the bulbs will 

 draw out the water as they need it. 



When the bulbs have pushed through the ground 

 an inch or more, bring them down and place them 

 in a dark box, where the temperature is warmer but 

 not too warm. The pantry is a good place. Still 

 keep them in the dark, and still water from below; 

 they will, require now a little more water. When 

 the leaves have reached six or eight inches bring 

 them out into the light; do not expose the white 

 leaves to direct sunlight for a day or two. By the 



third or fourth day the leaves will have taken on a 

 deep, rich, healthy green. The bud is now showing. 

 If the bulb should be too far down in the heart, place 

 a cone or a stiff piece of paper around the plant, to 

 force the flower to reach up for the light. 



Do not keep bulbs where it is too warm, and be 

 sure to give them plenty of water. 



Iowa. Winnina E. Brownson. 



Castor Bean for a Porch Screen 



OUR house is situated on one of the principal 

 residence streets of the city and is only about 

 twelve feet from the sidewalk. In this climate, 

 we live on our porches about seven months in the 

 year. Our proximity to the sidewalk on this popu- 

 lous street makes the porch too public for a living- 

 room so, not caring for vines and abominating 



Ths Castor bean makes a dense, big growth from seed 

 and is an efficient screen 



porch screens, for the past three years I have used 

 castor beans for a screen. The effect from the street 

 is pleasing, and the interior is a most charming 

 outdoor living-room. 



I plant the beans as early in the spring as I can 

 work the ground, spacing them about eighteen inches 

 apart. They can be put into the ground in the late 

 fall (in this climate), or sowed in a hotbed or cold- 

 frame in the spring and transplanted. 



By the middle of June they are about four feet 

 high and, from then until frost kills them, are a 

 perfect screen that allows a free circulation of air 

 and does not exclude too much sunlight. 



The soil where my beans are planted is not at all 

 desirable, but I obtain a luxuriant growth through a 

 free use of water, keeping them deluged, during the 

 whole summer, and they seem to be able to thrive 

 in water alone. 



Virginia. T. G. Figgat. 



Why Do Tulips "Break?" 



DOES any other reader of The Garden 

 Magazine "break" named tulips? Out 

 of fifties, two years grown in my garden, I 

 have had four and five freakish transformations. 

 Last season I had five changeling Clara Butts; 

 the pink shell, unchanged in its white shadings, 

 was splashed over in vertical dashes of bright car- 

 mine. Sultan gave one magnificent smoky light 

 flower, and a number of variegations in threads of 

 yellow on the dark originals. What I had sup- 

 posed was a stable Fulgens ran into red and yellow 



85 



frivolities like a parrot tulip, all the flowers differ- 

 ent. Squat, strong Caledonia disfigured a full 

 dozen of her daughters by going black and red on 

 yellow in an abandoned pattern suitable for a 

 Georgia plantation's store of bandanna headker- 

 chiefs. La Merveille, keeping her ground color 

 unchanged, grained herself over like mahogany 

 veneer on my grandmother's sofa. The demure 

 Lantern, even, pencilled one flower lilac in a re- 

 served, halfhearted way. 



These are the new creations that I am sure of. 

 But every year I get oddities that never were in 

 my stock before, and which, once declared, persist 

 and multiply slowly. Their original forms are a 

 matter of pure guess work, so changed are they 

 I no longer regard any tulips but Golden Crown, 

 and Picotee as stable. If they kick over the traces, 

 though, perhaps they can all turn Rembrandt or 

 Bybloem on my hands unanimously some spring. 



Does injury to a bulb in digging have any effect 

 in hurrying the "breaking" process? My ground 

 is very good for Holland bulbs, which I dig in the 

 Holland manner as soon as they ripen every June. 

 I plant moderately dried-up bulbs which the fork 

 has scarred, because I find that they generally live 

 along and bloom the second year as if they were 

 unhurt, and I can not bear to throw any away. 

 In the vicissitudes of lifting, shelling, storing, and 

 replanting, it is not possible for me to say that the 

 cripples are or are not the parents of broken stock 

 the second year. But I know that friends who 

 shared my Holland order with me in 191 1 , and other 

 orders previously, and whose gardens never give 

 space to injured bulbs at planting time, never have 

 any "broken" flowers to show in the season. Are 

 there any experiments on record as to root injury 

 producing a change of constitution in a tulip? 



Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



Unorthodox Tree Doctoring Practice 



FOR years it has been accepted as an undisputed 

 fact by most fruit growers that every large 

 wound made by removing a limb should be covered 

 with paint or some other protective material. 

 Now comes the Geneva Experiment Station and 

 tells us that all the work involved in this practice 

 is unnecessary and, in many instances, actually 

 harmful. At the same time the Ohio Experiment 

 Station takes a rap at orthodox practice by recom- 

 mending the use of dry sawdust and asphaltum 

 instead of the conventional cement in the filling 

 of tree cavities. 



For four years the Geneva station has been ex- 

 perimenting with wound dressings and the results 

 wholly disprove several commonly accepted beliefs. 

 Many materials were used but none were found to 

 be of benefit; in every case untreated wounds made 

 as rapid and satisfactory a recovery as those which 

 were painted. In several of the experiments, heal- 

 ing was retarded instead of hastened by substances 

 which were supposed to be highly beneficial. The 

 wounds which were kept from drying out did not 

 heal any better than those which were covered 

 and the exclusion of plant disease germs seemed to 

 be of practically no value in the final results. 



Lead, zinc, yellow ochre, shellac, coal tar and a 

 commercial preparation were tried; and the only 

 difference in effects was that some did more harm 

 than others. On apple trees the shellac did iittle 

 harm, but no good. The same could be said of the 

 lead and zinc, but the yellow ochre retarded healing 

 noticeably and the tar preparations were damaging. 

 Injuries to the peach trees were so pronounced 

 that the experiment station in a recent bulletin 

 has declared that no coverings should be used on 

 peaches and presumably on none of the small fruits. 



While the experiment station has been working 

 out these matters in a more or less theoretical way, 

 Mr. Clark Allis, a prominent New York State com- 

 mercial fruit grower, has been handling trees for 

 years without ever painting the limbs. Economy 



