210 
December, 1890. 
£ 
ORCH RRD 
GARDEN 
overhead, and partly shaded during July, 
August and September, would fruit con- 
stantly. The varieties most highly es- 
teemed in California are Longworth’s Pro- 
lific (early and fine in quality), Sharpless 
(great in size, very poor in quality, never 
allowed to ripen, or it would be soft and 
nearly tasteless), Monarch of the West, 
Wilson. Triomphe de Gand and Cinderella. 
— D. B.Wier, Sonoma Co., Cal. 
Notes from Mass Agricultural College 
Experiment Station. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
The strawberry crop for the past year 
was very variable. Some varieties that 
gave great promise in previous seasons 
doing poorly, while many that gave little 
promise before, were very good. On the 
whole the crop was good, the berries aver- 
aging larger than for two years, but the 
quality was rather below the average. 
The summers of 1888 and 1889 were so 
wet as to produce weeds in large quantities 
in most strawberry fields, and the crop of 
weeds the past season has been so abundant 
that we can only conclude that clean culti- 
vation was the exception rather than the 
rule. 
We believe this condition of things can 
be remedied by growing the strawberry in 
hills, and that the crop would be much 
superior in size and quality, that the cost of 
thorough cultivation would be less, and 
that there would be less of the deteriora- 
tion in varieties than at present, if the hill 
system were practiced. 
To grow strawberries or any other fruit 
profitably, the labor of cultivation must be 
done in the most thorough and economical 
way. We now have cultivators and horse 
hoes by which cultivation of the soil can be 
done close up to small plants without injury 
and the removal of all runners can be 
quickly effected by running the wheel edge 
grass shears both ways of the rows. Even 
by hand, the expense cannot be much more 
than that of pulling out the small weeds 
from between the runners after they have 
so spread that the cultivator or hoe cannot 
be used, i. e. from Sept. 1st to Nov. 1st. 
Another advantage of the hill system is 
that the soil can be more thoroughly stirred 
close up to the plant, which cannot be done 
if the r unn ers are matted together. 
RASPBERRIES. 
The crop has not been large the past sea- 
son owing to drought in July but it was of 
good quality and almost totally uninjured 
by long or frequent rains, as in some pre- 
vious years. 
Hansell was the first to ripen. The fruit 
is medium in size, of fine color and quality, 
and moderately productive; especially val- 
uable for home use. 
Marlboro. This variety has again (under 
good cultivation) proved very profitable for 
market. The berry is very large, of light 
color, is firm and very productive. It is 
not of as good quality as the Hansell or the 
wild red raspberry, but is a sw eet berry of 
fair quality. 
Cuthbert. While this is not a first-class 
berry in quality, its vigor, size and produc- 
tiveness make it the most reliable raspberry 
for market or home use. 
BLACKBERRIES. 
It is often a wonder to those v\ ho know 
the valuable qualities of the blackberry, 
and how easily it is grown, that it is in so 
little demand for market and home use. It 
will thrive on the poorest soil with proper 
cultivation, the suckers may be easily kept 
from growing between the hills or rows by 
the plow, and it requires but little time and 
skill to so train and prune that the bushes 
may be kept in a compact form. 
The Erie is of large size, fine form and 
fair quality. Thus far it has proved hardy 
and fairly productive. It promises to be 
very valuable — S. T. Maynard, Horticul- 
turist. 
Small Fruits in Missouri. 
The best strawberries with us the past 
season wmre, Crescent, Haverland, Warfield’s 
No. 2, Bubach No. 5, Stayman’s Nos. 1 and 
2, and Lady Rusk. The latter stood the hot, 
dry weather the best of any variety out of 
one hundred or more kinds. 
The Acme raspberry did remarkably well 
last year and this season. The Industry 
gooseberry also did well, and produced some 
very fine fruit. — John W. Clark, Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station, Mo. 
old trees are particularly subject to its at- 
tacks. 
Like other plants of the class to which it 
belongs, it lives upon the outside of its host 
obtaining the food it requires by means of 
little suckers — the botanist calls them haus- 
toria — which it pushes through the cuticle 
into the epidermal cells, as shown in our 
figure. Over the surface of a leaf it spins, 
as it were, a white, felt like coating, more 
or less thick, consisting of very slender in- 
terlaced filaments — the mycelium that forms 
the “plant body” 
of our Powdery 
Mildew. From 
these filaments 
there arise upright 
stalks, each bear- 
ing a succession 
of spores (called 
conidia) whiefu 
fall off , one by one, 
as they matuie, 
from the apex. 
Fig. 352. Powdery Mildew c pvpra l n f these 
of the Cherry, m. Mycelium &everal or tnesL 
extending over surface of leaf, conidia-b earing 
}t, Haustoria in epidermal cells , ,, , ,, 
of leaf, a, Conidia on Conidia- stalks and the my- 
spores. b, Conidia nearly ma- pp i:.,rn are shown 
ture. c, Detached, mature con- ceuum drt 8no 
idia. in figure 352. 
The fungus grows upon both sides of the 
leaves, although there is usually less of the 
white coating visible on the underside. It 
is upon this lower surface, however, that we 
have most frequently found the mature 
fruits of the plant. These fruits are barely 
visible to the naked eye, appearing like a 
multitude of minute black specks. Viexved 
under the microscope, they are truly ele- 
gant objects Figure 350 illustrates one of 
these fruits, as seen from above; there is a 
dark, round, central body (the peritheciuui) 
Conducted by Prof. F. Lamson Scribner, 
Botanist, Experiment Station, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Powdery Mildew of the Cherry. 
( Podospliaera oxycanthce.) 
We have already, in our descriptions of 
the Powdery Mildews of the vine and the 
rose, explained somewhat the peculiar char- 
acters of these parasites and their course of 
development. They are a widely distri- 
buted group of plants — we must remember 
that fungi are plants — and live upon, or as 
we are in the habit of saying, attack many 
of the higher forms of vegetation, such as 
the apple, cherry, rose, oak, etc., deriving 
their own nourishment at the expense of 
these. That is, they live upon them as par- 
asites and in the course of their growth they 
inflict more or less injury to the plant sup- 
porting them. 
One of the species, described many years 
ago by a French botanist, for it is as com- 
mon in Europe as it is in this country, at- 
tacks our cherries, both the wild and culti- 
vated species; and also, for it does not seem 
to be very particular in its tastes, plum, ap- 
ples, the hawthorn, species of Spiraea, blue- 
berry anil the persimmon. It appears to 
prefer young and tender plants and shoots 
and it is to these that it is the most harm- 
ful. Young nursery stock and the sprouts 
which spring up during summer around 
Fig. 350. Powdery M ldew of the Cherry, h. Peri- 
tlieciurn seen from above, a. Appendages, c. Termi- 
nal portion of one of the appendages more highly mag- 
nified. as. Asens showing aseospores within. 
to which is attached a number of curiously 
tipped appendages. These appendages vary 
considerably in length and number, and 
while some are simply rounded at the free 
ends, others are more or less extensively 
and symmetrically branched as shown in 
the figure. They are all quite dark in color 
