646 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 2l 
; Ruralisms ; 
lifOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Fighting the Melon Blight. —Gar¬ 
deners have many theories regarding 
the destructive blight of melon vines 
that blackens whole fields of these deli¬ 
cious fruits just as the oldest melons 
approach maturity. No matter how 
healthy and luxuriant the plants may 
be; how thorough the cultivation, nor 
how generous the supply of plant food 
may have appeared at planting time, 
the dreaded brown spots are almost cer¬ 
tain to appear on the foliage at the base 
of the vines, shriveling the leaves and 
spreading with disheartening rapidity 
out to the youngest growths, until the 
field looks as though it had been sub¬ 
jected to a killing frost. The vines stay 
green and plump for some time after the 
leaves are gone, but the melons remain 
absolutely in a stage of arrested develop¬ 
ment, those not ready for the table gain¬ 
ing nothing more in sweetness or fiavor, 
but falling into insipid decay as the leaf¬ 
less vine perishes. The rapid progress 
of the blight, often spreading in a day 
or two from a given point over the whole 
patch, and the partial immunity that 
goes with a thorough use of the copper 
fungicides, when begun at an early 
period in the development of the vines, 
quite conclusively prove it to be of fun¬ 
gous character, though many practical 
growers who have repeatedly witnessed 
the devastation of their fields, claim it 
to be simply unpreventable sunscald. 
The most violent attacks generally oc¬ 
cur when hot sunshine closely follows 
profuse rains, but this is precisely the 
condition that most favors the spread 
of germ troubles. The Melon blight, 
though not unknown in early days, has 
spread nearly over the country in its de¬ 
structive form, and is most prevalent in 
the older melon-growing sections, where 
the soil seems thoroughly infected. It 
is beginning to affect the Rocky Ford 
melon fields, although the cry climate 
does not favor its development, and it 
seems to be only a question of time be¬ 
fore it invades any new tract upon 
which melons are grown. While it at¬ 
tacks all melons, the better varieties of 
muskmelons are most subject. Water¬ 
melons and some of the coarser canta¬ 
loupes are partially resistant, and in fa¬ 
vorable seasons often escape serious in¬ 
jury, though the most successful grow¬ 
ers count on a yearly curtailment of the 
crop from this cause. 
In past years the market gardens 
about the Rural Grounds were noted for 
the excellence of their melons, which 
were largely shipped to less favored lo¬ 
calities, but the crop has lately grown 
so precarious that it is only planted for 
casual trials, with little hope of profit. 
The vines generally start off well under 
expert treatment, but succumb when the 
strain of fruit ripening comes on, leav¬ 
ing the blackened field full of nearly 
matured but worthless melons. Our own 
record is two partial crops of fair melons 
in six years. The cost in money and 
labor of spraying the plants from the 
blooming period to maturity each week 
is too great, and the effort was made 
this season to give greater vital resist¬ 
ance by supplying them with abundant 
soluble plant food at the critical period 
of greatest strain when the prepared 
fertility in the hill was becoming ex¬ 
hausted. When the first melons attained 
a diameter of two or three inches, five- 
inch fiower pots were sunk in each hill, 
a tablespoonful of nitrate of soda 
thrown in and the pot filled with water, 
which gradually soaked into the soil, 
distributing the fertilizer. This was re¬ 
peated two times, adding as much bone 
phosphate and muriate of potash at al¬ 
ternate applications. Several hills were 
left without preparation as checks. Al¬ 
though the growing season was too 
rainy for the best results of such stimu¬ 
lating treatment, the treated plants grew 
much more vigorously, resisted the 
blight longer and ripened the only well- 
fiavored melons we secured. Two appli¬ 
cations of dry Bordeaux powder were 
made when blight was firet noticed, and 
it undoubtedly delayed the spread of the 
disease, which was very gradual. There 
was enough difference in the behavior 
o" the stimulated plants to warrant re¬ 
peated trials, and better results may be 
possible in a normal or dry season. The 
idea is to feed the plants just at the time 
the rapidly developing fruits demand 
the greatest activity in the elaboration 
of the sap by the foliage. The plants 
under trial an had a plentiful supply of 
compost in the hills, but it is probable 
that nitrification of organic manures 
may not go on quite rapidly enough at 
the moment of supreme demand to pre¬ 
serve the vigor of the plant and enable 
it to resist parasitic germs. 
A Long Tree Avenue. —The first bul¬ 
letin of the International Society of 
Arboriculture is wholly devoted to ad¬ 
vocating the extensive planting of the 
hardy native Catalpa, C. speciosa, as the 
most useful and promising timber tree 
of the future. The Government and cor¬ 
porations are specially urged to make 
extensive plantings to counterbalance 
the rapid exhaustion of hardwood tim¬ 
ber now evident to all. The true Catalpa 
speciosa, growing naturally in the lower 
Wabash Valley, is often confounded 
with the more common C. bignonioides, 
found in all the Southern States. Big¬ 
nonioides is much inferior as a timber 
tree, being of smaller crooked growth, 
yet its seeds have been substituted for 
Speciosa to a great extent, much to the 
disappointment of planters. T'ne timber 
of Speciosa is declared to be, as the re¬ 
sult of innumerable experiments, the 
most useful of any of our native woods, 
equaling the best in strength, durability 
and beauty of finish, and greatly exceed¬ 
ing all in rapidity of growth. A special 
plea is made for the cultivation of Spe¬ 
ciosa for railroad crossties, the consump¬ 
tion oi which yearly sweeps away thou¬ 
sands of acres of thrifty young forest. 
It is said to be very lasting for this pur¬ 
pose; ties put in under ordinary condi¬ 
tions 10 years ago scarcely showing de¬ 
cay, and the prediction is made that 
they will endure 30 years when properly 
ballasted, and posts set half a century 
ago are still in use. Some were exhi¬ 
bited at the New Orleans Exposition 
that had been standing in a fence for 90 
years and were still sound enough for 
long additional service. The cause of 
this great durability, which is quite 
unique among rapid-growing trees, is 
sought in the chemical composition of 
the wood, which is found to be charged 
with fatty and resinous matters, acting 
as permanent antiseptics. If the rail¬ 
road corporations of the country could 
be induced to plant Catalpas along their 
right of way the astonishing feature of 
avenues of trees over 1,000 miles long 
would be possible along many important 
lines. As experiments have already 
demonstrated that the Catalpa will 
make ties in 16 years and renew itself 
from the stump when cut even more 
quickly, it seems possible to keep up a 
continuous supply after plantings are 
once established. The present limited 
dissemination of Catalpa speciosa is ex¬ 
plained by the fact that the seeds are 
not distributed, like species bearing edi¬ 
ble fruits or nuts, by birds or animals, 
and only to a limited extent by wind; 
the winged seeds being almost entirely 
scattered down stream by water. The 
confusion with the comparatively value¬ 
less C. bignonioides is responsible for 
the general lack of appreciation of its 
economic qualities. 
The Lescovez Quince. —Several dis¬ 
tinct and excellent quinces are grown 
among the Balkan Mountains, forming 
the northern boundary of European 
Turkey. Among these is the Lescovez 
quinoe recently illustrated in a foreign 
horticultural journal. It is said to be 
very large and handsome, and to possess 
a most distinct fiavor, which it imparts 
to marmalade, the product being very 
light in color. Considering that quince 
marmalade has been made and appre¬ 
ciated for more than 2,000 years the de¬ 
sirable varieties of quinces have in¬ 
creased very slowly in number. We are 
still planting practically the same varie¬ 
ties that were popular at the close of 
the eighteenth century, although hopes 
are entertained of the new kinds origi¬ 
nated by Burbank. The Lescovez 
quince trees are said to be hardy and 
very prolific. The Borgeat quinces now 
on trial on the Rural Grounds are vigor¬ 
ous and handsome growers, but have 
not yet fruited. w. v. f. 
Hardiness of Munson's Grapes. 
W. H. IF.. Malden, Mass.—I have been very 
much interested in Dr. Tinker’s article on 
Prof. Munson's new grapes. But when he 
says America, Manito and Beacon are 
“hardy,” what does he mean? Hardy 
where? In Texas or in Ohio? 
Ans. —In writing from eastern Ohio 
reference to hardiness in my article on 
Prof. Munson’s new grapes applies to 
Ohio, for a grape that is hardy here is 
hardy in any part of this State. The 
parentage given following each variety 
v/ill give to those acquainted with the 
hardiness of each of the species of 
grapes some idea of the probable hardi¬ 
ness of these sorts. However, all Prof. 
Munson’s grapes can be grown in the 
Northern States that do not ripen later 
than the Catawba, and fruited success¬ 
fully by covering the vines with soil in 
the Fall, and so can many of the pure 
Vinlfera if grafted upon resistant stocks. 
Nearly all of the pure Vinifera will stand 
zero temperature in Winter. America 
and Beacon have stood 27 degrees below 
zero, and borne good crops. I have rea¬ 
son to believe that a large number of 
Prof. Munson’s new grapes can be suc¬ 
cessfully grown in the grape districts of 
the North without protection. 
G. L. TINKER, M. D. 
Tardy Bearing Plums. 
JJ. J. 8., Kenwood, N. Y.—I have 18 plum 
trees with three seasons’ growth on them 
from nursery. They are Abundance, Spauld¬ 
ing, Satsuma, Juicy, Milton, Burbank and 
Wlckson. They have made a growth of 
nearly four or five feet In a season. None 
but the two trees of Burbank have borne 
except specimens. The Burbank, with 
much thinning of fruit, has done well this 
year. The new growth has been cut back 
freely each Spring. Can I induce bearing 
by cutting back the new growth before the 
leaves fall this Autumn? 
Ans. —It sometimes occurs that plum 
trees will not bear as early as they 
should, but they are rarely faulty in 
this respect, especially the varieties 
that are mentioned, except it may be 
Satsuma and Wickson, which are quite 
thrifty growers, and somewhat tardy in 
their bearing. To cut them back severe¬ 
ly at this time of the year would not be 
wise, but a little clipping of the branches 
would not hurt them. But I don’t think 
it would cause fruit buds to develop, 
because it is too late in the season. Fruit 
buds are usually formed in June and 
July, according to the best information 
we now have. They are not old enough 
to bear much yet. h. e. v. d. 
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