3o8 



QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



2S7S. Clearing a Willow Forest. — Grubbing out is 

 thie only method we could suggest. 



2879. Leached Ashes as Fertilizer.— Use them with- 

 out fear. I would like nothing better than to be able to 

 give all my land a dressing of ten tons per acre. 



2S80. Increasing Size of Vegetables. — I have tried 

 a good many devices for growing large tomatoes but have 

 never been very successful. Thinning the fruit, plenti- 

 ful feeding and watering, careful prevention of injury to 

 the foliage — this is about all that can be done. I wish 

 somebody would give us the details of the method by 

 which the French fruit-growers, near Paris, obtain their 

 enormously large specimens of fruits. 



2881. Remedy for Carnation Disease. — A full ac- 

 count of this is given elsewhere in this issue. It is 

 claimed by some florists that the application of air- 

 slaked lime will check the disease. 



2884. Grafting Seedling Peaches. — Budding is the 

 simplest and safest method of top-working peaches, and 

 it is wasting time to try the grafting process. Bud in 

 August or September. 



2885. Fertilizers for Apple Trees. — As fertilizers for 

 fruit crops we cannot well improve on wood-ashes and 

 bone-meal. If the ashes are leached and applied liberally 

 enough, say at the rate of even ten tons per acre, noth- 

 ing more will be needed iu most cases. Should yellow 

 foliage and slow growth of wood indicate lack of nitrogen, 

 this can be applied in the form of nitrate of soda, dried 

 blood, ground fish, cotton-seed meal, sulphate of am- 

 monia, etc., whatever is easiest to procure, or cheapest 

 in your particular locality. Bone-meal contains over 20 

 per cent, of phosphoric acid and 4 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 and if added to the unleached ashes, at the rate of 200 or 

 300 pounds to a ton or two of the ashes per acre, will 

 make a complete and well-balanced fruit-tree fertilizer. 

 Usually this combination is one of the cheapest, and at 

 the same time most effective, of all manures available for 

 the purpose. 



2886. Growing English Walnuts. — Some of the Eng- 

 lish walnuts are certainly hardy enough to thrive and 

 fruit in protected locations of Connecticut, even if they 

 would not in open fields or full exposures. In the gar- 

 dens of Germany they are usually planted along the rear 

 wall, which forms the boundary, and affords protection 

 to the fruits and vegetables which the garden contains. 

 In the northern states this nut seems to be most success- 

 ful in and near the cities and towns, where buildings, 

 etc., temper the winds, and take off the cutting edge of 

 winter's cold. But we think very lightly of such a 

 hybrid monstrosity as a "nut-apple" orchard. In the 

 first place we do not wish forest growth in an orchard. 

 A nut-tree should branch low, and give the grower a 

 chance for picking or knocking off quite a good share of 

 the nuts while standing on the ground beneath it. Wal- 

 nut trees require a good deal of space, and we would not 

 have them closer than apple trees. But to plant apple 

 trees thirty feet apart and a nut-tree in the center of 



each square would crowd the trees too closely. You 

 would have a dense forest by the time the trees were 

 in their prime. Don't do it. Don't plant apple trees 

 closer together than 40 or 45 feet each way. You may, 

 however, plant a peach tree between each two apple 

 trees, and this course will be safer than to plant tem- 

 porary apple trees (like the Wagener) to be cut down by 

 the time the permanent trees need the space. You are 

 pretty sure that the peaches will becdead and out of the 

 way when the apples need room. If you are "cramped for 

 space," simply plant fewer trees and get good fruit. Do 

 not crowd a large number together and make the whole 

 plantation worthless. 



2887. Japanese Peach-Tree Worm. — We are not 



aware that the insect has yet been introduced into 

 America, but in view of the free exchange of horticultural 

 products between this country and Japan, the probability 

 is that we shall be visited by it sooner or later, and 

 the peach-grower in America should watch for it. 



2888. Tomato Decaying. — Perhaps the inquirer cut 

 off the foliage of his plants to such an extent that the 

 fruit was exposed to the direct rays of the sun, and be- 

 came sun-scalded (cooked). 



2889. Dahlias not Blooming. — You say it was very 

 dry in your section. Perhaps also your soil was not very 

 rich. If so, there was sufficient reason why the plants 

 did not bloom well. Dahlias delight in a rich soil and 

 plenty of moisture at the roots. These are the essential 

 points in their cultivation. Set the tubers low, leaving 

 a slight depression in the soil at their crowns, and then 

 fill the depression with water at intervals in summer, 

 applying it in the evening. 



2890. Window-Plants for Summer Use. — The follow- 

 ing kinds should do well for embellishing your bay- 

 windows in the summer : Acacias, agaves, amaryllis, 

 araucaria, Aspidistra hirida and the variegated form. 

 Begonia Weltoniensis, cactuses, callas, coleus, cuphea, 

 dracaenas, euonymus, Fictis elastica, geraniums, hoyas, 

 ivies, Latania Bovbonica, madeira-vine, maurandia, 

 mesembryanthemum, myrtus, Plumbago Capeiisis, 

 Pleris tremida, tradescantias, vallota, vincas. This 

 selection is given with the assumption that your sunny 

 window would have the shades drawn daily for several 

 hours about noon. 



2891. Plants and Trees for Cemetery Use.— One of 

 the prettiest hardy plants suitable for a cemetery vase, is 

 money-vine (Lysimachia ninnmulai-ia). The hardy 

 vines are also very appropriate. Among tender plants 

 palms and aspidistras are good, as they do not absorb 

 moisture as rapidly as many other kinds. Geraniums, 

 coleus, achyranthes, lantanas, alternantheras, ivies, 

 maurandia, mesembryanthemums, Saxifraga sarmcii- 

 tosa, tradescantias and variegated thymes, are all easily 

 grown in vases. For shade-trees, we can recommend 

 nothing better for cemetery use than such kinds as elms, 

 maples, lindens, oaks, horse-chestnuts, birch and weep- 

 ing willow. 



