1911 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
881 
Ruralisms 
How to Tell Perfect Strawberry Varieties. 
D. B., Schenectady, N. Y .—I am very 
much interested iu the article on page 754 
in reference to strawberries. IIow can a 
purchaser of strawberry plants make sure 
that he is getting self-fertilizing plants? 
Ans. —There is no practical way to 
distinguish perfect or self-fertilizing 
strawberry plants from the pistillate or 
imperfect ones, except when in bloom. 
The perfect blooming varieties contain 
a circle of conspicuous anthers or pol¬ 
len-bearing organs just within the 
petals or showy portion, that can never 
be mistaken when once observed. In 
the pistillate varieties the stamens and 
yellow club-shaped anthers are unde¬ 
veloped, and no fruits are borne unless 
pollen is supplied at flowering time 
from some other plant. As a rule pistil¬ 
late or imperfect varieties have plants 
with . thick, dark foliage on compara¬ 
tively short petioles or stems, but the 
rule is not universal. They are more 
productive when pollinated than perfect 
or self-fertilizing kinds, as no energy 
is lost in pollen-production, but they 
cannot bear without outside assistance. 
Staminate or perfect varieties are com¬ 
monly of taller, weaker growth and 
produce fewer berries, but generally of 
greater size and better finish. One must 
rely on the nurseryman or plant grower 
for information regarding this important 
characteristic of strawberry varieties in 
default of an examination during bloom. 
All fruit plant catalogues worthy of the 
name indicate the sexual characters of 
the strawberry plants they offer. If in 
doubt of the character of your plants 
secure some known perfect flowered 
kinds and set in rows among your beds 
in the proportion of one plant staminate 
or perfect to three plants of the sus¬ 
pected pistillate or imperfect kinds, v. 
Protecting Tender Roses. 
R. R. I'., Bellevue, O .—I have watched 
each issue of the paper in the hopes that 
you would give us an article on Winter pro¬ 
tection for tender roses. I have tried cov¬ 
ering them with straw and litter, and last 
year dug them all up (about 150 hushes) 
and heeled them in, but with it all I find 
that about half of them must be replaced 
each year. 
Ans. —R. R. P. does not tell us what 
these “tender roses” are; it may be that 
he is growing varieties unsuited for his 
conditions, or that his rose garden is 
not properly drained. If his roses suf¬ 
fer from “wet feet” there is likely to 
be loss, even when protected overhead, 
and there is also damage where surface 
water forms ice for any length of time. 
We would suggest that he study these 
conditions, especially the underground 
drainage. For protection in our lati¬ 
tude we rarely need anything more 
than a three-inch coating of rough ma¬ 
nure over the surface, but where more 
is needed it is a good plan to put a 
temporary fence of chicken wire 12 
inches high around the bed, and then 
fill in with dry leaves. The following 
method, used in an exposed situation on 
Long Island, is described in “Roses and 
How to Grow Them,” and it may be 
applicable to the inquirer’s conditions: 
By November 15 all the roses, includ¬ 
ing the hardy ones, are given a liberal 
coating of well-rotted manure about 
the base of the plant, forming a cone 
about 10 inches high. All shoots of 
tender climbers are bent down and 
buried, with or without a salt-hay pro¬ 
tection over the earth, according to the 
degree of hardiness. All beds except 
the hardy roses are covered after the 
first hard frost with about 20 inches of 
dry leaves, held in place by wisps of 
sait hay or straw. As a rule the cover¬ 
ing is in place by Thanksgiving Day; 
it must not be put on too early, its time 
of application depending on hard frost, 
the covering is removed gradually in 
Spring, as a rule none of it before 
April 1, and some remaining until April 
20, to guard against late frosts. What 
remains of the manure may be lightly 
forked into the soil. We have never 
found it necessary to dig and heel in 
the varieties of Teas and Hybrid Teas 
we grow here (latitude of New York). 
Standards, which are rather trouble¬ 
some in our climate, need special pro¬ 
tection, a method found satisfactory be¬ 
ing to dig in the Fall and bury in a 
trench lined with hay or straw, cover¬ 
ing with about a foot of soil. Many of 
our neighbors wrap their rose bushes 
in straw or burlap, with a mulch of 
manure on the ground, a useful method 
with tender sorts, but the covering is 
often put on too early, and removed too 
soon, thus causing loss of soft growth. 
One can afford to lose a few tips, which 
would be pruned off in any case. But 
look well to your drainage, and, if need 
be, revise selection of varieties. Weak 
and delicate growers, beautiful though 
they may be, are too uncertain for our 
northern localities. There are some 
exquisite roses that we feel obliged to 
discard, but we always find something 
equally charming to take their place. 
Dew on Foliage. 
F. A. W., Yonkers, N. Y .—On page 4G of 
bis “Principles of Plant Culture” Professor 
Goff makes the following statement: “The 
drops of water that so often sparkle on foli¬ 
age in the sunlight of Summer mornings, 
commonly mistaken for dew, arc usually 
excreted from the leaves. When the water 
supply is abundant, and the absorptive 
power of the roots is stimulated by a warm 
soil, the pressure within the cells often be¬ 
comes sufficient to force the water from the 
edges and tips of leaves.” Presumably this 
applies to grass. Will you kindly ask some 
expert in this field to comment upon and 
verify this statement? If what we see on 
leaves of grass iu the early morning is not 
dew, deposited by condensation from the at¬ 
mosphere, apparently, we only find dew on 
non-living substances. If Professor Goff’s 
statement is correct, then we must entirely 
readjust current ideas on the subject of 
dew. 
Ans. —That the morning dew we no¬ 
tice on grass and other vegetation is 
very largely the result of the conden¬ 
sation of atmospheric moisture on the 
chilly surfaces of the foliage can 
scarcely be doubted when it is fre¬ 
quently observed on plants plainly suf¬ 
fering from drought on morning fol¬ 
lowing clear, still nights, during which 
there is rapid radiation of terrestrial 
heat. Nevertheless, experiments show 
that the transpiration of water from 
leaves, when a warm and very moist 
soil greatly stimulates root absorption, 
is often so rapid that moisture appears 
on the surface and edges faster than 
evaporation can remove it, resulting in 
a coarse “dew.” This is frequently no¬ 
ticed on soft-leaved greenhouse plants 
when the soil is copiously watered and 
ventilation is defective. It appears to 
be a safe conclusion that ordinary 
morning dew from condensation of at¬ 
mospheric moisture is a reality on 
plants as well as on inorganic objects, 
though it may often be reinforced in the 
former by transpired moisture. v. 
Killing the Dandelions. 
I have been interested in the discus¬ 
sion of how to get rid of the miserable 
dandelion. Perha; s my way will help 
some one who does not have too large 
a lawn. I take an ordinary oil can, 
fill it with gasoline, and squirt from 
one-fourth to one-half a teaspoonful of 
the liquid into the crown of Air. Dande¬ 
lion, and I assure you that in three to 
four days he will be as dead as a door 
nail. If I find a dock or a plantain I 
treat them same way, only you have to 
be more particular with the plantain. 
It is surprising how many plants you 
can treat in one hour, and they are 
dead, root and branch, every time. You 
do not need to look after them a sec¬ 
ond time. If you are troubled try this 
way. CHAS. IRWIN. 
Afonroe Co., N. Y. 
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4 
C 
CLARKS 
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