CONFERENCE CORNER. 



A Bacterial Disease of Corn. — January Garden, p, 

 53. This malady has prevailed here for many years. 

 The description in the review corresponds exactly to 

 the disease as I have seen it. But it works entirely on 

 old corn ground. By rotating our crops of corn we 

 avoid the disease. I have always thought that the dis- 

 ease was due to an insect, and am still of that opinion. 

 An insect lays its eggs about the base or roots of the 

 plant, and these eggs hatch out into hundreds of mag- 

 gots, — W. F. Wing, Pueblo, Colorado. 



Injuries from Snails. — For some years my flowers, 

 plants, grasses, and even trees have shown depreda- 

 tions by some insect or worm. After careful watching 

 I found the depredators to be snails, a shelless kind, 

 that forages at night and hides during the day. They 

 have increased until I am in a fair way to be a complete 

 victim. Last summer they went to the very tops of the 

 highest plants, devouring flower, leaf and branch. 

 Sweet peas, hollyhocks, pansies. grasses, almost every- 

 thing is the object of attack. I notice that they have 

 slimed the glass of cold-frames this open winter. What 

 can I do to be rid of them ? — George P. Hunter, 

 Warren, O. 



[Snails are often destructive to many kinds of plants. 

 They are usually worst in wet years. The common 

 remedy or preventive is quicklime dusted over the 

 ground and the plants. The application must be very 

 frequently repeated to be effective. But wherever it 

 can be used, some poison is best. Paris green and 

 London purple sprayed upon the plants are to be 

 recommended, or hellebore may be used. — Ed. Am. G.] 



Heat for a Greenhouse. — We have a large con- 

 servatory 80 feet long, 30 feet wide, 20 feet high, 6 feet 

 from ground to the gutters, side ventilators, all the glass 

 6x8 inches, aspect northeast by southwest, with a 

 slight slope in ground to the north, exposed to the 

 winds. Heating aparatus to be at northeast end. 30 

 feet of southwest is to be used as grapery ; glass partition 

 The house was built 30 years age aud is in a tolerable 

 state of preservation, so that my employer does not 

 wish to have it taken down. The heating aparatus is 

 entirely gone. Would you recomment this to be heated 

 with steam or hot water ? Would like some heat in 

 grapery. I know that the house will be difflcult to heat 

 properly. If steam, can you recommend any particu- 

 lar aparatus, or would a locomotive boiler answer? — J. 

 F. C, Philadelphia. 



[The ideal heating system is one which uses both hot 

 water and steam, as circumstances may require. 

 Several apparatuses can be used for both systems. In 

 any case, pipe the house essentially as if you were to 

 use steam, for the ordinary steam pipes are better than 

 the old-fashioned cast-iron pipes for hot water heating. 

 We suspect that you will find hot water preferable for 

 your conditions, particularly as you have a grapery to 

 heat. For heating apparatuses, consult our advertising 

 columns. — Ed. Am. G.] 



Portable Houses. — L. V. M. — These may be ob- 

 tained of either the Grand Rapids Portable House Co., 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., or Decker Portable House Co., 

 735 Broadway, New York City. 



Kentia Forsteriana. — /. T. T. — You should have 

 but little difficulty growing this plant. In the summer 

 it needs plenty of water, both at root and top. It is apt 

 to be troubled by the red spider or thrip, in which case 

 soapy water will be found efficacious. 



Lady Washington Geraniums. — Z. B. H. — This 

 variety is no longer in existence. The general opinion 

 is that the name is specific, or applied to a class, which 

 is a mistake. The name was given to a variety of the 

 fancy pelargonium, so long ago that it has been lost 

 sight of, and the variety has had to give place to others 

 far more beautiful. 



Alpine Plants. — F. G. J. — There are plants found 

 growing at high elevations, not necessarily in the Alps, 

 as the name would imply. Many of them are very 

 beautiful, but cannot be grown in a sunny exposure. A 

 shaded rockery, where there is plenty of moisture, is 

 what they require. 



Do Fruit Trees Come True from Seed? — A. G. 



P., Keeseville, N. Y. — In general, no. All the common 

 sorts of apples do not reproduce themselves from seeds, 

 but some Russian sorts will do so with tolerable ac- 

 curacy. A few peaches, as Hill's Chili, come nearly 

 true to seed, and the Crawfords have that tendency. 

 But it may be stated, as a principle, that varieties of 

 fruits do not reproduce themselves from seed. 



Locomotive Cinders as a Mulch for Trees and 

 Shrubs. — W. C. Egan, Chicago. — Cinders dumped from 

 locomotives, like any coal ashes, make a tolerable mulch. 

 But they are apt to pack too hard, and must therefore 

 be loosened up occasionally. A looser mulch, like straw 

 or some litter, usually keeps the surface of the ground 

 in better condition, and its decay affords some nourish- 

 ment to the plant. 



Chicory. — I would feel much obliged if any of your 

 readers could tell me the methods of growing, drying, 

 roasting and grinding, and generally the best method of 

 disposing of a crop of chicory. It seems to do well 

 here. — Fred. D. Cooper. Soiiris, Mas.t. — Chicory is 

 a very easy crop to grow. Although a perennial, 

 it is treated as an annual In fact, the culture does 

 not differ, if roots are wanted, from that of the par- 

 snip or salsify. By fall the roots will be an inch 

 or inch and a-half in diameter, and will weigh 

 from 6 to 12 oz. The roots are cut into thin slices, 

 roasted, and then ground. The Brunswick and 

 Magdeburg are the best sorts for root production. 

 For leaf-salads, for which Chicory is much grown, 

 these sorts and several others are good. 



