QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



2943. Irrigation Problems — You can run water over 

 grass for a week or ten days without doing any harm. 

 If the water is kept on continuously for a longer period, 

 it will kill out the tame grass, and wire grass or other wild 

 grasses will take its place. The furrow system is a good 

 one for irrigating strawberries. Draw a furrow large 

 enough to hold an inch of water between each two rows, 

 and let the water run in as long as required, the length of 

 time depending on supply of water and slope of land. — 

 Walter L. Hawley, Colorado. 



2948. Grapes under Glass. — Black Hamburgh and 

 Muscat of Alexandria, for all practical purposes, are yet 

 unsurpassed. Strawberries need a place close to the 

 glass and full light, and when they are in flower a dry 

 atmosphere and airy house. You cannot grow them under 

 the shade of grape-vines. — W. Falconer. 



2950. Elm Tree in Low Spot. — See illustrated article 

 on page 492. 



2959. Treating Lily-of-the-Valley.— See illustrated 

 article on page 491. 



2992. Wintering Cabbage in Quantity. — The ordinary 

 method for wintering cabbages for spring use is to stand 

 them, roots up, in rows upon the ground in a well- 

 drained spot, and cover them with ridges of earth. If 

 you want to keep them from freezing, so you can get at 

 them any time during the winter, another method must 

 be employed. Leave the cabbages outdoors as long 

 as safe ; then put them into a barn or other out-building 

 and let them get thoroughly chilled, but not frozen 

 through ; then cover them with straw, hay or chaff enough 

 to prevent them' from freezing solid. Or you may put 

 them in a heap outdoors, cover them with a roof of old 

 boards, straw and earth. The sides of the structure may 

 be simply stuffed with plenty of straw or dry forest- 

 leaves. 



2994. Street Trees for Shade. — As for kinds to plant 

 we cannot advise you better than to use such first-class 

 hardy trees as American elm, horse-chestnut, Norway, 

 sugar and soft maple, linden, red and white oak, and, ac- 

 cording to circumstances, Carolina poplar and the Euro- 

 pean white and cut-leaved weeping birches. An advan- 

 tage of such a selection is that all will give satisfaction 

 in a vicinity where the land is not too wet or too dry to 

 make comfortable house-sites. The elms, soft maples, 

 lindens and birches would be best suited to the wetter 

 lands. Suppose you adopt the grouping system by plant- 

 ing an elm section, a maple section, and so on ; then in 

 passing from one group to another mix the trees some- 

 what, so the change may be gradual. The formal ar- 

 rangement of four poplars or four oaks at the corners of 

 street crossings is not commendable, but if such "cor- 

 ners " were made centers for grouping of oaks, poplars, 

 etc., respectively, that would please us better. Still, we 

 would not care to see this idea too closely observed all 

 over the town — better have some group-centers midway 

 between corners. As for distance apart, a very suitable 

 scale would be 40 feet for elms, and from 30 to 35 feet for 

 the others, except the pyramidal birches, which might be 

 from 25 to 30 feet apart. 



511 



2995. Blood-Leaved Plum and Variegated Cornelian 

 Cherry. — They are planted about three feet apart in a 

 cluster in the center of the bed. The variegated Corne- 

 lian cherries stand in a circle on the outside, about 30 

 inches apart. The bed at this writing is simply magnifi- 

 cent. 



2996. Carnation-Rust.— The leaves sent us are badly 

 spotted with rust, a new and very destructive carnation 

 disease. In the May issue (page 316) you will find a full 

 description of this fungous pest, with suggestions con- 

 cerning its treatment. 



2998. Aphis on Chrysanthemums. — Spraying or 

 sprinkling with strong tobacco-tea or with the kerosene 

 emulsion are the means most likely to give you relief. 



3000. Azalea Treatment. — Assuming that the root of 

 your bush is in a fairly vigorous condition, it would be all 

 right to cut down the plant with a view to forming a new 

 and shapely top from the young growth. 



3001. Starting Nelumbium luteum Seed. — We have 

 no doubt that, between the temperature of 70 and 80 de- 

 grees in the darkness and perhaps the closeness of the room 

 your nelumbiums get such a bad start as to lead to the 

 disastrous results you report. This nelumbium is a hab- 

 itat of some of our northern states, hence it is plain that 

 it could be injured by kindness in the respects which you 

 recount. 



3002. Chinese Fringe-Tree.— This shrub is not fa- 

 miliar to us beyond our knowing that it is a native of 

 China. We do not know where it can be obtained. The 

 American species, Chionanthus ]'irfrinica, or White 

 Fringe, is one of our finest ornamental shrubs or small 

 trees. 



3003. Perennial Poppies from Seed. — Seedlings are 

 easily grown. The transplanting, however, owing to the 

 long, slim roots, is somewhat difficult. The safest and 

 surest way is to sow seed just where plants are wanted. 



3004. Wistaria Not Blooming. — The Chinese wistaria 

 is slow coming into bloom. Be patient ; if the plant is 

 vigorous its blooming should be only a matter of time. 



3006. Borers in Plum and Cherry Trees. — The gum 

 oozing out of the trees indicates the presence of borers. 

 Dig for them with a small sharp knife, or probe them 

 out with a piece of wire or a twig. 



3007. Remedy for Curculio. — The insect sent us is the 

 ordinary plum-curculio, which is especially fond of apri- 

 cots. In order to save the fruit you will have to spray 

 the trees when their leaves begin to unfold, with the fol- 

 lowing mixture ; Water, 200 gallons ; Paris green, i 

 pound ; lime, 2 pounds. Spray again after the fruit has 

 set. Or, instead of this treatment, spread sheets under 

 the trees in the morning during the curculio-time, and 

 jar the tree by a quick stroke against the stump of a 

 limb, or by shaking ; gather the insects as they drop and 

 destroy them. Repeat every morning for a while. 



3008. Niagara and Imperial Gage Plums.— The 

 plum trees on our grounds are only three or four years old, 

 and with the exception of some of the Japanese sorts 

 (Botan and Ogon), have never borne fruit. Growers in 

 this vicinity will answer the question in our next issue. 



