829 
THE KUKA I> NEW-YORKER 
RURALISMS 
Poison Ivy ; Hardy Vines. 
I am about to move to a country place 
which has a stone wall in front border¬ 
ing the road, and which is overgrown 
with poison ivy. It looks well but I 
would like to get rid of it. Would you 
advise me how best to do this and also 
suggest some good, quick-growing hardy 
substitute? j. r. m. 
New York. 
Poison ivy growing over a stone wall 
is not easy to eradicate, because much 
of it will be rooted under the stones, and 
is thus in a position to start fresh 
growth. Grubbing out with a hoe and 
burning the brush, constant cutting of 
the tops, applications of hot brine, are 
all helpful. Crude sulphuric acid, ap¬ 
plied to the crown of the plant during 
the growing season, is very destructive 
to it, but this poisonous and highly cor¬ 
rosive acid should be used with much 
care. A workman who is immune to the 
poison can do great execution with mat¬ 
tock or grubbing hoe. When the brush 
is being burned, spectators should keep 
out of range of the smoke, which will 
cause poisoning to those susceptible, af¬ 
fecting the eyes quite seriously. Con¬ 
tinued cutting every time growth is made, 
will weaken the roots, and thus destroy 
plants remaining after grubbing out. 
Among quick-growing vines that will find 
a congenial home clambering over a stone 
wall are the native Virginia creeper, Am- 
pelopsis quinquefolia, the native Virgin’s 
bower, Clematis Virginiana, attractive in 
flower, and also when covered with its 
feathery seeds, and the Japanese C. pan- 
iculata, which blooms a little later than 
the native Clematis, making a beautiful 
mass of starry white fragrant flowers. 
The native bittersweet or climbing wax- 
work, Celastrus scandens, will not grow 
so quickly at the start as the vines men¬ 
tioned above, but when established it 
makes a rapid growth, and its brilliant 
berries are an Autumn beauty. It is es¬ 
pecially happy rambling over stones. A 
Japanese vine that often does well in 
such a place is Vitis heterophylla, with 
small grape-like leaves, often blotched or 
variegated, and small berries, magenta 
when unripe, bright porcelain blue when 
fully ripe. It is feebler in growth than 
the vines given above, but highly orna¬ 
mental. Some of the climbing honey¬ 
suckles, such as the common Japanese, 
or the scarlet trumpet sort (Lonicera 
semporvirens) would also be desirable. 
Hybridization and Fruits. 
In reading the articles about “mixing” 
nf squash and other vine plants I can see 
how this would affect the seeds so that the 
following year’s crop from such seeds 
would be a “hybrid.” I cannot see, how¬ 
ever, how such “mixing” could affect the 
flesh of this year’s crop, and I would like 
to ask if it is necessary that the seeds 
be fertile in order to produce the fleshy 
part of the fruit. p. r. j. 
This agrees with the general statement 
that pollen is essential for the fertiliza¬ 
tion of the seed, and that the effects of 
hybridization are only apparent in the 
following seed generation rather than in 
the immediate product of the plants 
crossed. This is as stated in an earlier 
communication, page 723, and is true 
with most plants. 
Is not pollen essential to the develop¬ 
ment of the fruit envelope? In general, 
this is the case. There are only a few 
fruits which develop to edible maturity 
without the development of fertile seeds. 
Two common illustrations of this are 
found in the banana and in the pine¬ 
apple, neither of which normally produces 
fertile seeds. It was demonstrated by 
Webber, however, that when properly 
fertilized, the pineapple could be made 
to develop fertile seeds from which he 
grew a number of new varieties, some of 
them hybrids. Whether or not the ban¬ 
ana would respond in this way, I am un¬ 
able to say, as I know of no experiments 
which have been conducted to prove or 
disprove this point. 
Among our common garden vegetables, 
the nearest approach to a phenomenon 
of this kind is found in the so-called Eng¬ 
lish cucumber which is a variety with 
very long fruits and which has been de¬ 
veloped to meet the requirements of forc¬ 
ing house conditions in Europe. This va¬ 
riety is not extensively grown in Amer¬ 
ica outside of a very restricted industry 
in the vicinity of New Orleans, but the 
variety has been used to cross with the 
American type of cucumbers, and has re¬ 
sulted in the production of some of the 
most highly prized strains of forcing 
house cucumbers now grown by the mar¬ 
ket gardeners in the vicinity of Arling¬ 
ton, Mass., and Irondequoit, N. Y. 
Both the English variety and its Ameri¬ 
can hybrids often develop to a very con¬ 
siderable size without pollen, sometimes 
reaching edible maturity, and for this 
reason they are especially desirable for 
use in the forcing industry. 
A number of experiments have been 
conducted which demonstrate that some 
plants are capable of developing an ap¬ 
parently normal envelope without devel¬ 
oping fertile seeds. In the work which 
has been conducted in the cross-pollina¬ 
tion of squashes and pumpkins a number 
of results of this character have been ob¬ 
tained, in fact there are instances on rec¬ 
ord where without the use of pollen arti¬ 
ficial stimulation has been used to cause 
the development of the fruit envelope 
(pericarp). 
I have no doubt that the English cu- 
cumber or its hybrid derivatives may 
oftentimes behave in this way and actu¬ 
ally develop an apparently normal fruit 
which contains no fertile seeds. In fact, 
one of the great difficulties in handling 
the English varieties of cucumbers is to 
secure a sufficient quantity of seeds to 
maintain the industry, because of the 
habit of producing but few seeds. They 
are, as a result, very expensive, and this 
has tended to restrict the use of the va¬ 
riety. Ordinarily, however, the fruit en¬ 
velope does not develop except as a cov¬ 
ering or protection for the fertilized ovum 
which develops into the fertile seed. 
With most plants, unless such fertiliza¬ 
tion is effected, the embryo shrivels and 
falls away, but in the case of the pine¬ 
apple, this is not so, for in this instance 
it is not the true fruit which is eaten, but 
the receptacle and this grows and ma¬ 
tures regardless of whether or not seeds 
are produced. The pineapple is more 
nearly comparable in its structure with 
the strawberry than most any other fruit 
which comes to my mind. 
The question of the influence of pollen 
on the development of the fruit envelope 
or pod is one which has received consid¬ 
erable attention by the physiological bot¬ 
anists, and the few observations which I 
have made serve to indicate some of the 
complex and interesting phases which are 
brought out by studies of this character. 
L. C. CORBETT. 
Culture of Witloof. 
Can you give me any information in 
regard to the commercial growing of 
witloof or French endive? What I want 
particularly is to know what the 
Belgian practice is in regard to trench¬ 
ing, and their methods of prolonging the 
period of production. I have read num¬ 
erous articles in various publications in 
regard to this, but they are not adapted 
to commercial work. I have raised it 
for market for a couple of years with 
some success, but I do not think I am 
working as economically as I should. 
Towanda, I*a. 
II. u. c. 
The principal use of witloof is as a 
Winter salad, and it is most delicious 
served with French dressing and eaten 
like cos lettuce. The seed should be 
sown in the open ground not later than 
June, in drills 12 to 18 inches apart, 
thinning out the plants so that they will 
stand not closer than three inches. The 
plant forms long parsnip-shaped roots, 
and these should be lifted in the Fall, 
cutting off the leaves and then store in 
soil in a cool place until wanted for forc¬ 
ing. The roots should be planted in a 
trench 16 to 18 inches deep and placed 
upright about one and a half to two 
inches apart, which will allow the neck 
of the root to come within nine inches 
of the level of the trench. The trench 
should be filled with a light soil, and if 
a quicker growth is desired, this can be 
accomplished by a mulch of fresh manure 
about two feet deep. It requires about 
one month to force the roots, and the 
heads are cut off with a small portion of 
the neck of the root attached. 
I have now got rid of all but two of 
them, and in their places have planted 
walnut, pecan, locust and white mul¬ 
berry trees. It is to the last-named tree 
that I wish to call attention, as it is a 
very rapid grower, forms a very beautiful 
top, has most attractive foliage and— 
what is best of all, as a foil to adjacent 
cherry trees—it bears an abundance of 
large, white, very sweet berries, much 
liked by the birds—preferred in fact to 
all else of the season. These trees repre¬ 
sent an investment that fills me with sat¬ 
isfaction which increases with the speed¬ 
ing years. I like the berries myself, and 
the children love them. The ground for 
three or more weeks is covered with 
them. They do not stain, and are pre¬ 
ferred to the dark varieties even by our 
discriminative feathered friends. 
I have two very large trees of the sil¬ 
ver-leaved Acer dasyearpum recommended 
by “K.” They are fine shade trees; but 
they cover the lawn with pussy tails in 
Spring, and lose their foliage very early 
in Autumn, and they send up root shoots 
continuously and most persistently for a 
space 100 or more feet in diameter, 
which—if not constantly looked after and 
pulled up—will speedily result in a dense 
thicket very difficult to deal with. The 
White mulberry has none of these objec¬ 
tions. JOHN F. KEENAN, M. D. 
Washington, D. C. 
Cabbage Worms. 
Last year I was greatly troubled with 
small green worms on the cabbage. We 
were afraid to use poisons on them, as 
the cabbage was pretty well grown and 
we were unable to control them at all. 
What can we do? 
G. 
b. w. 
after 
We do not like to use poisons 
the cabbage begins to head up. It is safe 
to use them before the head forms. Red 
pepper is useful on a small patch. 
Our Improved 1913 
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bents every hand implement for killing Potato 
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F. O. B. Factory 
'Portable Engines 
Proportionally Low. 
WITTE Engines 
Kerosene, Gasoline and Gas 
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1691 Oakland Av., Kansas City,Mo- 
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The Auto-oiled Aermotor. 
Tha windmill that wears a hat. 
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No. 108 
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The White Mulberry Tree. 
In reply to “H. T. L.’s” inquiry on 
page 753 as to quick-growing shade trees, 
I can endorse all that “K.” says in re¬ 
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long that I was influenced to plant the 
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shade on the west of my home buildings. 
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ow how to judge a wire fence for yourself. 
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