238 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 1 
LEAF BLIGHT ON STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
HOW MAY WE CUBE IT ? 
A Tough Problem. 
I have a bed of fine young strawberry plants, which I wish to 
use for setting out a new bed this Spring, but they are affected 
with leaf blight. As I wish my new bed to be entirely free from 
this disease, shall I endeavor to obtain plants free from disease, 
or can I destroy the blight on the plants which I have by dipping 
their tops in weak Bordeaux Mixture before setting? To keep 
the plantation free from disease after setting, when and with 
what should they be sprayed, both the first and second year ? My 
plants were free from blight last season until the soil was satur¬ 
ated with the excessive rains after harvest. Should healthy 
strawberry plants remain perfectly green until the ground 
freezes, or Is it natural for them to turn red or bronze-colo r ed upon 
the approach of Winter ? r. r. l. 
Fallsington, Pa. 
Dip Them in Bordeaux. 
Probably the best thing R. P. L can do now is, after 
the plants are all taken up and trimmed ready for 
planting, to dip them in Bordeaux Mixture, perhaps 
somewhat reduced in strength, although I have often 
dipped them in full-strength Bordeaux without appar¬ 
ent injury. In my own experiment p'lot of strawber¬ 
ries, where I have from 50 to 100 varieties at all times, 
some of them very much subject to the rust, notably 
such varieties as Parker Earle, Marshall and Downing, 
I find that one spraying, usually in August or early 
September, once again in the Spring just before 
growth begins, and twice more before the fruiting 
season, carries all varieties through the year in per¬ 
fect foliage. 
As to whether healthy strawberry plants remain 
perfectly gieen until the ground freezes, depends 
entirely upon the variety. My field of about 25 acres 
with, perhaps, 50 varieties, grown for nursery-plant 
purposes, looked like a patch-work bed quilt the last 
time I was over it late in November. Some varie¬ 
ties were perfectly green, while others like Clyde, 
were flaming red and yellow, like the red Autumn 
tints of the Sugar maple; but there was no sign of 
rust here, it being the natural condition of some vari¬ 
eties to change the color of the foliage at the approach 
of Winter. This red rust is one of the most serious 
drawbacks to successful strawberry culture, and while 
it can be kept down by thorough sprayings of the 
Bordeaux, there are so many good varieties that are 
practically free from the rust, that I should prefer, in 
growing for family use or for profit, to depend upon 
the rust-resisting varieties, some of the most produc¬ 
tive of which are Cobden Queen, Gardiner, Pride of 
Cumberland, Clyde, Ilaverland, Ruby, and Tennessee. 
Connecticut. j. h. hale. 
How the Blight Lives Over. 
The disease known as Leaf blight, Sphaerella Frag- 
arioe, is propagated by mycelium, slender, thread-like 
bodies that correspond to roots in higher plants, with¬ 
in the tissues of the leaf as well as by spores that are 
set free from the surface of the leaf. It is, according 
to Trelease, carried over Winter in this climate by 
mycelium within living tissue. Dipping the plants 
in Bordeaux Mixture might check the spread of the 
disease, but would not insure a rust-free plantation. 
It would be better to set healthy plants if these could 
be obtained without any great expense, but R. P. L. 
need not hesitate to use the infected plants, if proper 
care be given them after setting. Spraying with Bor¬ 
deaux would, probably, tend to prevent the spreading 
of the blight, but much more can be accomplished by 
intensive cultivation. Plenty of water and manure, 
with thorough and frequent cultivation the first year, 
will put the plants into condition to resist disease. 
Immediately after the fruit is harvested, the planta¬ 
tion should be mowed close to the ground, and all 
leaves, mulching and rubbish raked off and burned. 
If this plan be followed every year, there will be no 
need to fear Leaf blight. 
A few of the older leaves of strawberry plants ma¬ 
ture and color somewhat at the approach of Autumn, 
but healthy plants continue growth until the end of 
the season, and should maintain a green color until 
frost. FREDERIC CRANEFIELD. 
Wisconsin. 
Hard to Kill the Fungus. 
The plants that have been afflicted with Leaf blight 
are not in as good condition to grow, and will not do 
as well when transplanted as perfectly healthy plants. 
They are much in the condition that a man is for work 
when he is having, or is recovering from, a fit of pro¬ 
tracted sickness ; weak and undecided whether to do 
anything or not. The disease on the plants cannot 
be cured by dipping in Bordeaux, although it will 
help to prevent further depredations of the Leaf 
blight. My idea of spraying strawberry plants with 
Bordeaux is that it will do very little good for the 
crop unless the sprayings are made the first year, the 
year that the plants are first set out, as well as in 
the fruiting year. Of course, if the bed is to be kept 
another year, it will always pay to spray the fruiting 
year, even though spraying has been neglected the 
first year. I know that spraying accomplishes its ob¬ 
ject. The difficulty on large areas is to get a machine 
to work that will not grind out and destroy more 
plants and fruit than the spraying pays for. We 
have used knapsack sprayers, and it is very hard 
work, and the sprayers clog and work badiy. 
As we have many times stated, we practice the 
plan of setting the plants in small beds closely to¬ 
gether, and spraying them while they are thus com¬ 
pacted together. This can be done with a knapsack 
or bucket sprayer very cheaply, and all the blight 
killed before the plants go to the field. We use six 
pounds sulphate of copper, four pounds lime and 50 
gallons of water. If the fungus is killed on the 
plants before they are set permanently in the field, 
they will not be troubled with it to any great extent 
unless the land is an old strawberry site. I believe 
that blight and mildew are transferred on the plants 
from one bed to another in resetting, and if we kill 
the fungus before we set the plants, we put a quietus 
on it, as a rule. 
I believe that a perfectly healthy strawberry plant 
will remain green until frosty weather. However, if 
very dry weather comes on in the Fall, dry enough to 
check the growth, the leaves will sometimes turn red¬ 
dish. Especially is this true if the plants are matte d 
thickly in the rows. In order to have the plants re¬ 
main perfectly healthy till Winter, they must not be 
allowed to mat the ground too thickly, else they will 
stop growth, because the ground is full of roots. 
WORK OF THE GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE. Fig. 101. 
They must be cultivated and hoed frequently, also, to 
keep them healthy. Some varieties, especially the 
great plant producers, tend to ripen off their foliage 
earlier than others. It is a good rule not to grow 
strawberries on the same ground continuously, year 
after year. l. j. farmer. 
Oswego County, N. Y. 
WORK OF THE GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE. 
An exhaustive study of this insect, its habits and 
its ravages, together with many illustrations, is given 
in Bulletin 157 of the Cornell Experiment Station 
(Ithaca). The work of the beetle in a vineyard is 
easily recognized, but it usually commits most of its 
depredations before its presence is suspected. The 
results of the work of this insect are shown at a, Fig. 
101, b showing a vine free from its depredations. These 
two pictures are from photographs taken the same 
day, June 6 last, in two yards less than five rods apart; 
the one leafed out all right, the other did not. Ex¬ 
amination of vines like the latter will show many of 
the buds nearly all eaten and dead. Some not so badly 
eaten will begin a weak, discouraged and deformed 
growth. A careful examination will sometimes reveal 
the beetles at their work. 
By far the greater amount of damage is done in 
early Spring. Sometimes vines as badly injured as 
that at a, Fig. 101, will recover fully, but bear no fruit, 
thus the profit is destroyed. This insect has natural 
enemies which tend to hold it in check. All rubbish 
and loose bark should be destroyed before warm 
weather. The beetles may be collected by hand when 
they attack the opening buds, or may be shaken into 
a pan of kerosene. Full directions for combating 
them are given in the Bulletin, which should be in 
the hands of every grape grower. 
STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME GARDEN. 
THE BEST OF THE OLD AND NEW. 
Some Old Timers. —If I were selecting varieties 
for market purposes for the most profitable results, I 
would not select the kinds that I am about to recom¬ 
mend. In making up a list of fruits for planting for 
our own family, we should select those of the finest 
flavor. It often pays well, also, especially when we 
have the right kind of customers, to grow this cfco'ce 
fruit in a commercial way. 
In writing about fine-flavored strawberries, I find 
myself away back in the seventies. We had the Mar¬ 
shall P. Wilder, the best-flavored berry then grown. 
We had the Jucunda, an excellent variety when given 
high culture on rich, heavy soil. Triomphe de Gand 
was another berry of the same class. Then, we had 
the Seth Boyden, Agriculturist and Black Defiance ; 
the last was one of the most luscious, fine-flavored 
berries ever grown ; besides it was of a dark red color, 
and one of the finest-looking strawberries I have ever 
seen. One of the peculiarities of this berry was that 
the young plants on the present year's runners always 
produced a nice lot of choice fruit during the month 
of September. This was the case each year with un¬ 
failing regularity. 
Another grand berry was the Monarch of the West. 
This berry was very large and almost white when it 
was fully ripe, having no more color than Lennig's 
White, but the flavor was superb. I remember well 
when the fruit brought 30 cents per quart in New 
York City. I had charge of the berry pickers, and 
had to select several crates of choice berries each day 
for a prominent New York hotel, which was paying a 
fancy price for the finest-flavored fruit. This fruit 
was, of course, graded and prepared in the best man¬ 
ner. The first picking of the Monarch of the West 
was consigned to this hotel. After receiving and look¬ 
ing at the berries in the crates, the manager tele¬ 
graphed to us : “ Don’t send any more of those green 
berries”. About eight o’clock in the evening (after 
the guests had eaten the fruit), we received an¬ 
other telegram saying, “ Continue shipping the green 
berries.” 
In speaking of these old varieties, we have some¬ 
thing to compare with our best-flavored kinds of the 
present time. Many good judges of fruit will, proba¬ 
bly, say that we have no varieties that will compare 
in flavor with some of these I have mentioned. I have 
a decidedly different opinion, and feel quite sure that 
we have as fine-flavored varieties to-day as were ever 
grown. 
Newer Good Ones. —The two best-flavored extra 
early varieties I know, are the Van Deman and Anna 
Kennedy. In quality, they are very fine, something 
quite(unusual for extra early kinds. They are both 
shy bearers, but the fruit is of good size. Next in 
order.of ripening we have the Marshall and Wm. Belt. 
The person that would not be satisfied with these two 
varieties would, indeed, be hard to please. The Mar¬ 
shall ripens early, and continues in fruit for, at least 
20 days. We have had it in fruit for 26 days. It is 
productive, the fruit is very large and uniform in size, 
the last of the berries being quite as large as the first. 
The color is dark, a beautiful-looking strawberry, of 
the finest flavor. No other variety that I know, suits 
my taste as well. 
The Wm. Belt ripens after the Marshall, and is more 
prolific than that variety. A bed of the Belt in fruit, 
such as I had last season, was a sight to behold. The 
fruit is fully as large as the Marshall, but not of its 
uniform size and shape. The color is a brilliant, 
glossy red, the flavor is of the very finest. I have had 
people declare in favor of the Belt after comparing it 
with the Marshall. 
The very latest berry that has been thoroughly 
tested is the Gandy. We have some later varieties, 
but they are inferior in quality. The Gandy is one of 
the handsomest looking berries we have, and while 
not as productive as the two varieties before named, 
it should have a place in every private garden. The 
fruit is very large, firm and of excellent flavor. While 
the five varieties named above may not be all the best 
flavored sorts we have, I am sure no one will make a 
mistake in selecting them for the home garden if the 
best are desired. t. j. dwyer. 
Orange County, N. Y. 
Board Fence Windbreak.— I now have had two Winters’ ex¬ 
perience with my farmhouse inclosed on its Dorth and west sides 
by a board fence, and with most satisfactory results both as to 
personal comfort and saving of fuel. The several blizzards of 
the past two months were effectually excluded from pressure 
upon the foundation walls and the first story thereon, full neces¬ 
sarily of crevices which no ingenuity can close, but which usual¬ 
ly permit all heated air to be driven out of the house. Wind 
moving 70 miles an hour spent its force against my board fence, 
leaving me to deal only with low temperature. My fence is about 
100 feet long and 10 feet high, and touches all angles so as to give 
as many dead-air spaces as possible on its south and east sides. 
Washington, D. C. r. s. l. 
