668 



EXPERIMENTS IN FORCING AND CROSSING TOMATOES. 



good pear ; we like it for family use, but it would be 

 folly to plant it for market in this vicinity, when we have 

 such a good sort as Bartlett. Anjou, like Duchess, 

 grows enormously large. To judge from the bearing 

 tree on our grounds, it is a strong grower, having re- 

 markably healthy foliage. It bears every year, too, but 

 only moderate — even small — crops. If we could manage 

 to gather all pears growing on the tree, and sell them at 

 a fair price, this would still be an unprofitable variety. 

 We cannot secure more than half the crop on an average. 

 The pears grow to such large size, and become so heavy 

 during September, that the strong winds, which seldom 

 fail to come in that month, blow off a large portion of 

 the crop, if not the whole of it, as they did this season, 

 long before the fruit is mature enough to be ripened in 

 the house for market or family use. 



The apple crop in this section is a complete failure. 



We have not seen a perfect apple here this year, and the 

 few scattering specimens on the trees are diminutive, 

 scabby, misshapen and worthless. The Baldwin, how- 

 ever, seems to represent the most dismal failure of them 

 all. Trees in especially protected situations bore a crop 

 of good fruit last year. On our grounds is a young Bald- 

 win orchard of several acres. The trees are vigorous, of 

 bearing age, and have had fairly good treatment, includ- 

 ing heavy manuring. They bore a heavy crop in 1888, 

 but have not yielded a bushel of fruit since, this being 

 the fourth year of their complete barrenness. Is it worth 

 while to have these trees cumber the ground any longer ? 

 What a difference in the proceeds from a Baldwin apple 

 orchard and a Bartlett pear orchard I In the light of 

 this experience, we should not wonder if people were soon 

 struck with the Bartlett pear "craze," and should begin 

 to grub out their apple orchards. 



EXPERIMENTS IN FORCING AND CROSSING TOMATOES. 



NOTES FROM CORNELL UNIVERSITY AND THE RURAL GROUNDS. 



lEARLY all forced plants are subject to 

 many diseases and annoyances, arising 

 from the fact that the enemies, as well 

 as the hosts, are protected by the con- 

 genial and equable conditions of the 

 glasshouse. The tomato is rapidly 

 becoming an important winter crop' 

 and its enemies are, therefore, coming into prominence, 

 Two of these troubles - the winter blight and root-gall — 

 are so obscure in their methods that growers often fail to 

 recognize then until the crop is ruined ; and as they al- 

 ready appear to be widespread in the north, it has been 

 thought best to call attention to them. 



I. Winter Blight. — The most serious disease of 

 forced tomatoes which I have yet encountered is what. 



Fig. 1.— Leaf diseased with 

 Winter Blight. (Half size.) 



for lack of a better name, I propose to call the winter 

 blight. This disease has not yet been carefully studied 

 in the laboratory, but various attempts have been made 

 to check it ; and as it is likely to prove a serious disease, 

 the attention of both growers and experimenters should 

 be called to it. It first appeared in our houses in the 

 winter of 1890-91, when about a dozen plants were some- 

 what affected. At this time the trouble was not regarded 

 as specific ; the plants were old and had borne one crop, 



and it was thought that they were simply worn out. In 

 some of our experiments it became necessary to carry 

 about a dozen plants over the summer, and these were 

 introduced into the house when the forcing season 

 opened last October. From this stock the trouble again 

 spread, and in six or eight weeks it had become serious, 

 and there was no longer any doubt that we were contend- 

 ing with a specific disease. 



This blight attacks the leaves. The first indication of 

 the trouble is a dwarfing and slight fading of the leaves, 

 and the appearance of more or less ill-defined yellowish 

 spots or splashes. These spots soon become dark, or al- 

 most black, and the leaf curls and becomes stiff, the 

 edges drawing downward and giving the plant a wilted 

 appearance. This condition of the leaf is well shown in 

 fig. I. The spots grow larger, until 

 they often become an eighth of an 

 inch across, or even more, and are 

 finally more or less translucent. 

 This injury to the foliage causes the 

 plant to dwindle, and the stems be- 

 come small and hard. Fruit produc- 

 tion is lessened, or if the disease ap- 

 pears before flowers are formed, no 

 fruit whatever may set. In two or 

 three instances, in which young 

 plants were attacked, the disease 

 killed the plant outright, but a dis- 

 eased plant ordinarily lives through- 

 out the winter, a constant disappoint- 

 ment to its owner, but always inspir- 

 ing the vain hope that greater age or 

 better care may overcome the difficulty. Fig. 2 is a graphic 

 illustration of the appearance of the disease. The box 

 contains four plants, one of which is healthy and three 

 diseased. The small plant in the rear died before it 

 reached full stature. It is not known that this disease 



