1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
680 
Ruralisms 
INTER-POLLINATION OF PLANTS. 
P. H. <?., Verdon, Va .—Will pumpkins 
and watermelons mix? Will pumpkins and 
muskmelons mix? Will cucumbers and 
gourds mix with any of the above? What 
melons will mix and what not? Can Irish 
potatoes mix under ground without blos¬ 
soms on top? 
Ans. —There is absolutely no evi¬ 
dence on record that any of the cu- 
curbitaceous plants named above, except 
the gourd and pumpkin, will “mix” or 
hybridize together. As the staminate 
and pistillate flowers are separately 
borne on all and cross-pollination by in¬ 
sects is the rule when naturally grown, 
there must be thousands of instances 
where the pollen of one species is con¬ 
veyed to the stigma of another, but no 
real hybrids appear to have resulted. 
All attempts at the artificial crossing of 
the species named, and many have been 
made, have resulted in failure. “Why” 
is a difficult question to answer. It can 
only be supposed that there is too little 
congeniality between the pollen cells of 
one kind and the ovules of another to 
form a vital union and produce perfect 
seeds inheriting the characteristics of 
both parents. When a melon bloom is 
pollenized with the cucumber, pumpkin 
or gourd under conditions that preclude 
the entrance of pollen from a plant of 
its own species, the ovary or rudiment¬ 
ary melon beneath shrivels and perishes, 
but if fertilized with pollen of its own 
kind is likely to develop into a seed¬ 
bearing fruit. “Gourd” is rather an 
elastic term, being applied not only to 
the true bitter-fleshed gourd or cala¬ 
bash, Lagenaria vulgaris, in its many 
varieties, but to certain small hard- 
shelled pumpkins, such as the apple¬ 
shaped, orange and nest-egg gourds, 
Cucurbita Pepo var. ovifera, and to at 
least one spiny-fruited species of cu¬ 
cumber. Both the calabashes and 
pumpkin gourds will cross or mix with 
certain squashes and occasionally with 
garden pumpkins, but the practical dan¬ 
ger is not great even when grown to¬ 
gether. The watermelon cannot be in¬ 
duced to cross with the muskmelon, cu¬ 
cumber or other cucurbit except the cit¬ 
ron or hard-fleshed preserving melon, 
which is only a variety within the same 
species. Even the different types of 
muskmelons, such as the soft-rinded 
netted varieties and the harder skinned 
cantaloupes intercross with difficulty if 
at all. Each type breeds quite true un¬ 
der ordinary conditions of field culture, 
even if planted near together. The fre¬ 
quent deterioration in quality of melons 
can usually be explained in other ways 
than by the seed “mixing” in the field. 
It can safely be said that neither 
sweet nor Irish potatoes “mix” under¬ 
ground when different varieties are 
planted near together or in the same 
hill. Occasionally a bud sport or vari¬ 
ation may produce a new variety in the 
hill, but this is merely an outgrowth of 
a single parent and not the blending of 
protaplasm or vital matter of two indi¬ 
vidual cells, as when new types are 
raised from the seed balls. w. v. f. 
A NEW VARIETY OF LONG-KEEPING 
ORANGE. 
The Ad Interim Committee on Wilder 
Medals of the American Pomological 
Society has awarded a silver medal to a 
new variety of orange, known as the 
Lue Gim Gong. This variety has the 
following history: In 1888 Mr. Lue Gim 
Gong, De Land, Fla., pollinated Hart’s 
Late with pollen from what was be¬ 
lieved to be a Mediterranean Sweet 
tree. One orange containing 15 to 18 
seeds resulted from the crossing. From 
these seeds about 12 trees were raised, 
no two of which proved to be alike. The 
variety, now called Lue Gim Gong, when 
it came into fruit seemed to be such an 
improvement on Hart’s Late that Mr. 
Lue budded 15 trees with this variety 
in one side and Hart’s Late (Tardiff) 
on the other. About 30 other trees were 
budded with this variety on one side 
and other varieties on the other. Five 
trees are now solid. At this time, Hart’s 
Late is-the standard late orange of 
Florida and it may therefore be well to 
make comparisons between this new va¬ 
riety and the standard sort. On July 6, 
1909, Mr. Lue took 15 boxes of Hart’s 
Late (from one side of above trees) to 
the packing house and after testing for 
weight, packed five boxes out of the 15. 
Those five boxes were shipped to North 
Adams, Mass. Upon arrival they had 
to be repacked at a cost of 35 cents per 
box and then only three boxes remained. 
The three boxes repacked sold for $2.50 
per box. At the same time five boxes 
were picked of the Lue Gim Gong 
orange from the other side of the same 
trees. On arrival at North Adams they 
did not require repacking and the whole 
five boxes brought $4.50 per box. The 
Lue Gim Gong orange is a hardy, thrifty 
growing variety. It can be marketed to 
advantage in August and September; 
when other varieties are out of season, 
and when the only fruit on the markets 
is Valencia Late from California. The 
fruit hangs on the trees with very little 
dropping through the rainy season, 
which in Florida usually begins in June 
and lasts several weeks. The fruit has 
been known to hang on the trees two, 
three and even four years in an edible 
state. There is no question but that 
this variety marks the beginning of a 
new era in late orange culture. 
A full description and history of this 
variety appears in the Report of the 
American Pomological Society covering 
the proceedings of the Florida meeting. 
This variety is unique in its keeping 
qualities. The writer within a few weeks 
has examined specimens of the fruitage 
of 1908, 1909 and 1910 and found the 
fruit of 1908 and 1909 in edible condi¬ 
tion. These had clung to the trees since 
that time. They had become somewhat 
overgrown and .slightly rough, and had 
lost a good deal of the juice, but were 
not vastly inferior to many of the store 
oranges we are accustomed to pay 30 or 
40 cents a dozen for. 
[PROF.] JOHN CRAIG. 
Cornell University. 
Disease Affecting Paeonies. 
IF. C. R., Bridgewater, Vt .—There is a 
moldy-looking disease attacking my paxm- 
ies; it attacks the stalks just at top of the 
ground, causing them to dry up. Do you 
know what it is and is there any remedy? 
Ans. —This is evidently the “drooping 
disease” of paeonies (Botrytis paeoniae), 
which was first noted in Europe in 1897, 
and has since been reported as causing 
considerable loss in Canada and some 
of the Eastern States. It has not yet 
come under our personal observation. 
The plants are attacked almost as soon 
as they appear above ground, ashen gray 
spots appearing upon bud and stems. 
Often the disease is not noticed until 
the stem droops, and the plant dies. 
Bordeaux Mixture, just as the plant be¬ 
gins growth, is advised, but any affected 
plants should be removed and burned 
and the infected soil removed from the 
place where they have grown, the 
ground being filled in with fresh soil 
mixed with lime. Prof. G. Massee says 
a top-dressing of green manure seems 
to cause the disease, possibly because it 
affords a congenial home for the disease 
spores, which then affect young shoots 
as they push through the top-dressing 
in Spring. It is advised that infected 
beds be steamed, but the process of 
steaming an herbaceous border would 
not appeal to a gardener as distinctly 
practical, so we recommend the avoid¬ 
ance of green manure top-dressing, the 
use of Bordeaux Mixture, and a deter¬ 
mination to root out every affected 
plant, replacing the soil in which it grew, 
with fresh soil and lime to fill the gap. 
Always trim off dead leaves and stems 
when setting new plants. 
Treatment of Cyclamens. 
D. If., Michigan .—Can you tell me how 
to treat Cyclamen Persicum bulbs? Do 
they need a rest during the Summer? I 
have some raised from seed three years ago, 
which have never bloomed. 
Ans. —We think there must be some¬ 
thing the matter with those Cyclamens, 
or they would have bloomed before this. 
Ordinarily they are expected to bloom 
within 15 months of sowing the seed. 
Your plants may be affected with a little 
insect, a mite, which gives much trouble 
to growers, rendering the plants useless 
for blooming. It is not the nature of 
the Cyclamen to be dried off during 
the Summer; growth should be con¬ 
tinuous. Our Summers are rather hard 
on them; an outdoor frame, with shade 
during the hottest part of the day, will 
suit them in Summer, but most growth 
is made in early Autumn. Old roots 
are rarely satisfactory, and we would 
advise the inquirer to make a fresh 
start with seed sown in early Winter, 
growing on steadily without interruption 
next Summer, rather than to keep on 
growing those three-year-old corms. Sow 
in light sandy soil, in shallow pans, 
covering seed to little more than their 
own depth. Prick off when first leaf is 
developed into thumb pots or pans, and 
shift again as they grow. Final potting 
should not be later than November 1. 
They need plenty of light, and a tem¬ 
perature that does not go above 50° at 
night. Good loam, lightened with sand 
if heavy, and enriched with one-fourth 
old well-rotted horse manure, suits 
them, and there must be good drainage. 
Use tobacco if green fly attacks them, as 
it often does in a greenhouse. 
Cleaning and Separating Carrot Seed. 
We raise our own carrot seed, as we can 
obtain better stock than when we purchase 
from a seedman. We handle about 75 to SO 
pounds per year. We have a machine for 
scrubbing off the hairs that grow on tho 
stems from the seed. The seeds and stems 
being of practically the same weight, the 
fanning mill is not practicable for this 
purpose. Do you know of any machine 
manufactured for this purpose, or can you 
give me a fair idea of the method used by 
seedsmen? j. h. j. 
Long Island. 
Commercial carrot seed growers mako 
every effort to avoid getting broken stems in 
the seed, as they are always difficult to re¬ 
move. In a small way the ripe seeds are 
combed from the stems by hand and rubbed 
through a succession of sieves, which breaks 
the stems so small that they can easily be 
separated. In commercial seed growing in 
California the carrots are pulled by hand, 
the heads laid together on a hard earthen 
floor and the seeds broken out by passing a 
heavy and slightly convex stone roller many 
times over them. Chaff and seeds are then 
run several times through a seed thrasher 
with many short, close-set, metal spikes on 
both cylinder and concave. This frees the 
seeds from hairs and breaks the stems so 
line that the ordinary seed fanning mill and 
sieves clean them up very well. We do not 
know of any machine specially designed for 
the purpose you mention. 
“For the Land’s Sake, use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it.”— Adv. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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