— Pruned Cherry 

 Produces Hardy 

 Buds" 



PREVENTING winter 

 *- killing of blossom-buds 

 on cherry trees by pruning 

 is discussed in a recent ex- 

 periment in the famous Door county orchards 

 of Wisconsin. 



The modified-leader type of tree, which has 

 been generally adopted by cherry growers instead 

 of the open-centre type, has been found to have a 

 less dense top after it reaches bearing age. The 

 tree known as the modified-leader type is pruned 

 to a leader and a few branches for two or three 

 seasons and then the leader is cut back. It has 

 shorter branches and more spurs, and the work 

 on the Door county trees shows that blossom 

 buds occur in larger numbers on spurs and 

 branches less than 12 to 14 inches long. The 

 special advantage of a larger number of spurs is 

 that buds on spurs are hardier than those on 

 longer branches. 



Other advantages of pruning cherry trees with 

 a view to obtaining maximum fruiting area with 

 ease of harvesting are pointed out in the bulletin, 

 " Pruning Cherry Trees," published by the Wis- 

 consin Experiment station. 



QBSERVAiTIONS 

 ^-' made of grape trel- 

 lises and arbors in Ohio 



— Long Cane 



Grape 



Pruning" 



show that the old ''spur" 

 system of pruning is general. All of the shoots of 

 the previous season's growth are cut back to two 

 or three buds. "A change to the 'long cane' 

 system of pruning with just enough spurs for re- 

 newal of the fruiting wood each year has resulted 

 in greatly increased yield of fruit, larger cluster, 

 less old wood on the trellises, and ease of training 

 and caring for the vines," says the Ohio State Ex- 

 periment station. 



In changing from the spur system to the long 

 cane system it is often advisable to make the 

 change in two years rather than all the first year. 

 Begin at the ground and work out on the old wood 

 to the first good canes of the previous season's 

 growth, selecting from two to four of these, then 

 remove all of the old wood beyond these canes. 

 In addition to the canes one good spur near the 

 base of each cane will be left. This spur will then 

 form the wood to be used for bearing wood the 

 succeeding year. After the change has been 

 made, each season's pruning consists simply in 

 removing the canes which bore the fruit the 

 previous year and the selection of the best canes 

 from the two or three which grew from each spur 

 for bearing canes the next year. 



—The War 

 and our 

 Garden Seeds" 



/"\NE of our basic agri- 

 ^-' cultural industries 

 that has undergone many 

 changes influenced by 

 the war, says Separate 775 of the Department of 

 Agriculture, is the seed industry. Although the 

 detailed changes can not yet be definitely an- 

 alyzed, one of the larger results already apparent 

 is that this country will tend to become more self 

 sustaining in the supply of seeds. Partly be- 

 cause of destroyed sources and transportation 

 facilities, and partly because of a great increase 

 in the domestic demand, "the production of vege- 

 table seed in the United States has been revolu- 

 tionized by the war." In the case of many of 

 these seeds the country has changed from an 

 importer to an exporter, new, favorable but pre- 

 viously untried sections having been developed 

 to meet the situation. Another interesting and 

 generally desirable tendency has been that of 

 many seedsmen "to reduce the number of varie- 

 ties of vegetable seeds handled by them, to mini- 

 mize the number of so-called novelties, and to 

 emphasize the standard varieties." As a reflec- 

 tion of the general trend toward economy and 

 standardization brought about by war exigencies, 



this is a development that can well be continued, 

 with of course a continuation of legitimate inter- 

 est and activity in the production and dissemina- 

 tion of occasional novelties of real and outstand- 

 ing merit. 



— How to 



Grow Good Seeds " 



THE bulletin then 

 t 



takes up in detail the 

 conditions that affect 

 the production of seed 

 in the case of a large number of special crops, in- 

 corporating many practical hints and directions for 

 seed treatment. Asparagus seed is likely to shrivel 

 if picked before fully ripe; smaller seeds generally 

 make much weaker plants; beans should be saved 

 only from perfectly healthy pods and shelled by 

 hand, or be hand picked, discarding all that are 

 even slightly discolored: black rot and other dis- 

 eases may be transmitted on the seed of beets 

 which also cross readily and have to be protected 

 from the pollen of other varieties grown nearby; 

 and of lettuce some varieties are more susceptible 

 to the influence of summer conditions, which 

 induce them to shoot to seed rather than to form 

 a head of leaves. Aster, "the yellows disease 

 reduces seed production very much, but the seed 

 do not transmit the disease." On the other hand, 

 Hollyhock rust may be carried in the seed, though 

 it is destructive to all parts of the plant. Simi- 

 larly because Dahlias are usually planted late in 

 order to get better flowers, the best returns in 

 the form of seed production are often prevented 

 by the injuring of the immature seed heads by 

 early frosts. The question of the "mixing" of 

 different cucurbits is settled in this concise fash- 

 ion: "The many forms of squash belong to two 

 species. . . . The two kinds do not inter- 

 cross, but the varieties of either will mix readily 

 with other varieties of the same species. The 

 squashes and pumpkins do not mix with melons, 

 cucumbers, etc., even when grown close to- 

 gether." 



—The War's 

 Effects on 

 Flower Lovers " 



tpVERY now and then 



our English cousins 

 give us new proof of their 

 wonderful resistance to 

 and resiliency under the weight of crushing bur- 

 dens and obstacles. Take such an activity as 

 Carnation growing and interest therein— one 

 would hardly expect it to be able to survive four 

 years of wartime hardships such as England has 

 passed through. Yet there comes to hand the 

 1919 Yearbook of the British Carnation Society 

 (formerly the Perpetual Flowering Carnation 

 Society), with 64 pages of interesting records and 

 discussions, a number of good halftone illustra- 

 tions, and abundant testimony that Carnation 

 lovers while at war have not lost their interest in 

 their chosen flower. On the contrary, with only 

 a slight reduction in membership, an actual in- 

 creased cash balance (due, it is true, largely 

 to wartime economy), the registration of fourteen 

 new seedlings, and participation in June, 1918, in 

 the Floral Fair held in behalf of the British Am- 

 bulance Funds, the Carnation Society was able 

 through the energy of its members and the success 

 of its stall to donate more than £224 to this cause 

 at the end of the week. 



—Promising T TNDER the uninspir- 



New Roses" ^ i ng name of W. S. 



18, Dr. W. Van Fleet de- 

 scribes in a recent issue 

 of the Journal of Heredity a new Rose seedling 

 which he calls "a most promising new hardy 

 pillar or low-climbing Rose of composite parent- 



237 



age." Just what this new- 

 comer offers will be ap- 

 preciated by Rose lovers 

 upon reading Dr. Van 

 Fleet's statement that 

 it is "a result of apply- 

 ing pollen of a vigorous 

 hybrid between the new 

 Chinese Rosa Soulieana and R. setigera, the 

 wild Michigan or Prairie Rose, to the stigmas 

 of an unusually hardy seedling of R. wichuraiana 

 that had the Tea Rose Devoniensis as its pollen 

 parent." As he observes, all other seedlings of 

 this crossing carry a bit of the characteristic pink 

 of R. setigera, but this one bears blooms two 

 inches or more across of pure white against which 

 the prominent yellow stamens make an attractive 

 contrast. These are borne in graceful clusters 

 over the whole plant, being succeeded by deep red 

 fruits that persist with little or no change in color 

 all winter. The blooming season in Washington, 

 D. C, is early June, and although the plant under 

 observation has not yet attained full growth, it 

 promises to attain a height of ten feet or more in 

 favorable situations, offering more, apparently, 

 as a tall bush or pillar Rose for an open location 

 than as a porch or pergola climber. It appears 

 sufficiently vigorous and stout in habit to call for 

 no support and but little pruning. On top of 

 this its proven hardiness and apparent resistance 

 to all the foliage and cane diseases that attack 

 the Rose species make it a true "find." Dr. 

 Van Fleet divides the responsibility for the com- 

 posite excellence of the seedling quite equally 

 among its parents, Rosa setigera having appar- 

 ently contributed the important trait of hardi- 

 ness, R. Soulieana, the habit, foliage and abund- 

 ance of bloom, and R. wichuraiana and Devon- 

 iensis (R. odorata) the "size, substance and finish 

 of the individual flowers." 



—Horticultural A GARDEN club in 



Clubs That Are -TX tne larger sense, 



Different from which much can 



well be expected, is that 

 of Takoma Park, D. C, of which more than half 

 the 140 members are scientists and experts of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture and therefore, 

 presumably, in constant touch with, if not the 

 personification of, the latest and best knowledge. 

 The organization was formed to promote vege- 

 table gardening, flower growing and the beauti- 

 fication of home grounds, together with the 

 support of broader movements for civic improve- 

 ment by means of planting. It holds regular, 

 educational meetings, buys seeds, fertilizers and 

 other equipment for its members on a coopera- 

 tive basis, and offers prizes for horticultural 

 achievements. During the 1919 season twenty- 

 three such prizes, including two loving cups, 

 eleven gold and silver medals, and a savings 

 bank account will be awarded. 



—Vegetables That 



Win 



Prizes " 



HpHE Massachusetts 

 *■ Horticulti 



ural Society 

 recently made its first 

 award for an improved 

 variety of sweet corn by presenting a medal to 

 Mr. Frederick S. DeLue, a Boston oculist who has 

 originated the variety Golden Giant. This is 

 the result of some seventeen years of investiga- 

 tion, study and practical breeding and selection. 

 Not with a view to making an "odious compari- 

 son," but merely in order to describe it in terms 

 more or less familiar to gardeners, Golden Giant 

 is said to be of about the same quick growing and 

 maturing quality as the standard Golden Ban- 

 tam, of similar rich yellow color and not dissimilar 

 flavor, but with ears a good inch and a half 

 longer than the average in the other favorite 

 sort, bearing twelve or more rows of kernels. 

 The present season will probably find the new 

 variety fairly generally distributed; heretofore, 

 though frequently highly commended by gar- 

 deners here and there, it has not really ente:°d 

 the commercial field. 



