September 27, ISS-i. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
295 
- The American Potato Crop. —So bad has the drought been 
felt by the Potatoes that the supply will be a light one. Even good 
rains would now be too late to benefit anything except the last plantings, 
but these constitute the bulk of the area in this crop in Northern New 
York, New England, and the provinces, Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick promise less than the average yield per acre, and the crop of 
Prince Edward Island is not extraordinary, these being the only sections 
of Canada that export Potatoes to any extent. The Potato acreage in 
the United States this season was slightly more than last year ; but the 
late crop must improve wonderfully before September 15th to make 
more than 56 bushels per acre for the United States. A contemporary 
states that at an average yield of 56 bushels per acre the total crop 
would be 147,000,000 bushels. In 1893 the yield per acre was 
72-2 bushels, and the total crop was 183 000,000 bushels ; in 1892, 
62 and 155,000 000 bushels ; in 1891, 93 9 and 250,000,000 ; in 1890, 
67-5 and 150,000,000 ; in 1889, 76 4 and 218,000,000 ; in 1888, 79 6 and 
202,000,000; and in 1887, 56 8 bushels per acre, and a total crop of 
134,000,000 bushels. 
- LlGtuSTRlTM Ibota. —This Privet, from North China and 
Japan, which was figured in the “ Garden and Forest ” some time ago, 
is certainly one of the best exotic shrubs which have been introduced 
for many years. It is beautiful as a single specimen ; attractive when 
massed on a hill side, as it is in the Arnold Arboretum ; beautiful in a 
mixed shrubbery, and, in short, it is almost invaluable in ornamental 
gardening. Its long, arching branches give it a character altogether 
distinct from other Privets. The pure white flowers are borne on 
pendulous clusters and have a long and slender corolla-tube, and at 
this season appear in great profusion. The foliage is good, and turns to 
a dark, rich colour in the autumn, while the dark purple fruit, with a 
bluish bloom, gives the plant additional interest. It will probably attain 
a height of 8 to 10 feet in this country, and it does not seem to get 
straggly with age, for, although it blooms when it is very young, it 
flowers still more abundantly as it becomes more mature. Large sprays 
of it in flower are very graceful when used for decorative purposes. It 
is not only perfectly hardy in America, but seems to take so kindly to 
the climate that it will probably become naturalised. 
- National Horticultural Society op France. —It is 
reported that this Society “ will hold a grand international exhibition 
of horticultural products, objects of art for decorating parks and gardens 
and scientific instruments, such as barometers, thermometers, and 
hygrometers, as far as they bear upon scientific horticulture. The 
exhibition will be held in the gardens of the Tuileries, Paris, May 22nd 
to 28th inclusive, 1895. Three hundred and thirty-four classes have 
been provided ; these are divided into sections for new plants, specimen 
plants, collections of stove, flowering, and foliage plants. Orchids, green¬ 
house flowering and foliage plants, hardy plants. Conifers, hardy flower¬ 
ing trees and shrubs, forced plants in flower, forced fruit, cut flowers, 
vegetables, drawings, prints and specimens of plants, garden plans, and 
materials and instruments used in horticultural industry. A Congress 
of horticulturists will also be held at Paris during the exhibition. 
Various interesting horticultural questions will be discussed and papers 
read, and those who wish to take part in the proceedings or compete 
for the medals offered by the Commissioners of the Congress for papers 
treating on the various subjects chosen by them, are requested to com¬ 
municate with the President, M. H. de Vilmorin, 84, Kue de Crenelle, 
Paris. The congressional meetings will be held in I’Hotel de la Soci^td 
84, Rue de Crenelle, at two o’clock each afternoon. May 24th and 25th 
1895.” 
- American Dahlias. —Last year we published a complaint 
that Dahlias in certain sections failed to bloom, the buds seeming to 
dry off entirely or make imperfect blossoms only. This trouble is 
prevalent again this season in many places, and in the ” Garden and 
Forest” Mrs. W. Seliger writes from Hartford that she has discovered 
the cause to be the work of the common corn-stalk borer, Gartyna 
nitela. The moth of this insect is dark brown, sprinkled with yellowish 
dots, with a whitish band across the wing, and the caterpillar is dark 
brown, with three white lines on the back, the central one being con¬ 
tinuous, while those on each side are interrupted. This borer drills into 
the stalk near the ground and eats out the pith, causing the death of 
the plant. The method generally suggested for fighting the insect is to 
pull up the injured corn-stalks as they begin to wither and throw them 
to the pigs, so that the worms will be destroyed. If this is carried on 
regularly there will be little danger that the moth will become so abundant 
as to be a serious pest. When it occurs on weeds or garden plants these 
ought to be collected and either burned or given to the pigs. Last year 
it was suggested by Mr. Slingerland of the Cornell Experiment Station 
that the four-lined leaf-bug, Poecilocapsus lineatus was the offender, and 
the fact that this insect attacked Dahlias had been put on record by 
Dr. Fitch thirty-six years ago. This leaf-bug punctures the flower bud 
until it withers. A bulletin published by the Entomological Division 
of the Cornell Experiment Station last year gives all the facts known 
about this pest. We should like to know whether the corn-stalk borer 
has been detected preying upon Dahlias in other sections, 
- The Perennial Phlox.—M ost persons will agree with 
“ The American Agriculturist ” that no herbaceous plant can excel the 
perennial Phlox in its rich show of great masses of colour. Clumps 
three and four years old form a bunch as many feet across, containing 
scores, if not hundreds, of stalks, each one bearing a great head of 
flowers. The shades of red and rose are very rich and delicate. A few 
plants of the white varieties should be used to furnish contrast. To 
grow this flower well the ground must be made rich in spring, and 
keep free from weeds. Not infrequently we notice that some horti¬ 
cultural writers advise staking the plants. Do not do so. If you do 
you make them look so stiff and prim that you spoil them. It is not 
at all necessary to give them support, as the stalks are strong and quite 
able to take care of themselves. Those on the outside will be crowded 
by those in the centre, and quite naturally bend downward when in 
bloom, but they will not break, and they give the plant a charming 
effect, making it appear a rounded mass of colour from the ground, an 
effect impossible to obtain when stakes and strings are used. The great 
value of this flower for planting amid groups of shrubbery, and 
especially among evergreens, is just beginning to be understood. 
- Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’ Association.—T he 
meeting of the Amateur Gardeners’ Association held at 116, Colmor 
Row, on Wednesday evening in last week was fairly well attended, and 
was presided over by Mr. C. Shotton. The exhibits of plants, flowers, 
and fruit were of excellent quality, although the number of entries was 
not so large as usual. The great feature of the exhibition was a fine 
display of fruit sent by Mr. J. H. White of Worcester (not for compe¬ 
tition), it contained excellent specimens of Apples, Pears, Plums, and 
Damsons, of varieties suited to this district. Messrs. T. P. Cope, Hy. 
Beech, and W. H. Peake exhibited plants and flowers, which showed 
signs of good and careful cultivation. A pot of Fern and hardy Heath 
growing together, and shown by Mr. Cope, was much admired, as Heath 
growing so luxuriantly had been rarely seen previously. Mr. W. B, 
Child of Acock Green exhibited very fine sprays of herbaceous blooms 
(not for competition). A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the 
proceedings. The Committee has now adopted a special design for 
their medals, and as the die is its property it wdll make the Asso¬ 
ciation medal very valuable. As the winter is now aproaching and 
most outdoor gardening for this year is coming to a close, the Committee 
urge on all amateurs in the district to join the Association and attend 
the meetings, and so keep up their knowledge, enthusiasm, and love 
for what should be to everyone a very fascinating hobby.— 
Wm. B. Griffin, Ho7i. Secretary, Wychbury, Alcester Road, Moseley. 
- The Lily Disease.—I t is sad to see the havoc that has been 
caused by this disease this season. Among a couple of hundred bulbs 
planted last autumn not a dozen has borne good flowers. Old clumps 
of L. candidum have been badly attacked, while newly imported bulbs 
of the best varieties of L. auratum and L. speciosum have been killed 
outright. The plants of all varieties look well until the flower buds 
begin to swell, when first the leaves and eventually the flowers and 
stems turn black and decay, the bulbs also in many cases being quite 
rotten. The Martagon section has made the best stand here, such 
varieties as L. dalmaticum and L. pyrenaicum not having suffered much. 
I have also noticed several kinds that produce their leaves in whorls, 
such as L. pardalinum and L. californicum have not fared so badly. 
L. Krameri, L. longiflorum and its varieties, and the beautiful 
L. nepalense, have all suffered more or less. With the wreck of the 
flowers outside it is pleasing to turn to the plants that have been grown 
under glass, and to note the snowy white blossoms of L. speciosum 
Krsetzeri, and by contrast L. speciosum Melpomene, with its large, 
richly coloured flowers. These are great improvements on the ordinary 
L. speciosum album and rubrum. L. auratum platyphyllum and 
virginale are choice and beautiful Lilies, extremely useful for con¬ 
servatory or room decoration. The broad, overlapping segments of 
these varieties give the flowers a much more substantial appearance 
than the ordinary types of L. auratum. — H. R. RICHARDS, 
Court. 
