THE RURA-Iv NEW-YORKER 
877 
RURALISMS 
The Moonseed. 
If any of our people wish a good hardy 
vino, not troubled with insects or disease, 
they will find the Moonseed (Menisper- 
mum Canadense) a good one to train on 
fences and arbors. The leaves are light 
green, grape-leaf shape, foliage heavy and 
regular, the leaves overlapping almost 
like shingles. I found it growing by the 
roadside in Saratoga County, and it was 
neat and pretty. I planted some in my 
garden and am using it to replace other 
vines which do not endure our long cold 
Winters. It does not die down and mine 
have already made six to eight inches 
growth this Spring. Gray’s Botany says 
it grows along banks of streams and is 
common. This does not agree with where 
I found it, nor is it common. The flowers 
are inconspicuous, but the foliage makes 
up for the absence of bloom. Have 
never seen it mentioned in any of the 
catalogues, which is surprising, as it cer¬ 
tainly is worthy of a place in any yard. 
Ballston Spa, N. Y. c. L. b. 
Planting the Gladiolus. 
IIow far apart should Gladiolus bulbs 
bo planted to avoid mixing? Some varie¬ 
ties are increasing in number, while I am 
losing others. A. b. 
New York. 
In commercial culture Gladiolus bulbs 
are set in rows two or three feet apart, 
the bulbs in the rows their own diameter 
apart—that is, two-inch bulbs two inches 
apart. The furrow in which they are 
planted is four to six inches deep. In 
garden planting they are usually set four 
to eight inches apart. “Mixing” is not 
responsible for the loss of varieties, for 
this mixture of pollen, which may easily 
occur through the agency of insects, would 
only affect seed, not the original root. We 
often hear complaint that choice varieties 
have dwindled away, with the supposi¬ 
tion that some have reverted to an origi¬ 
nal stock. This is accounted for by the 
fact that some varieties are much moi'c 
robust than others, making new bulblets 
rapidly, and being less exhausted by 
flower-bearing. An exhausted bulb, which 
was allowed to make seed, may be too 
used up to grow at all when planted the 
following Spring, while the strong grower 
may increase and multiply until it monop¬ 
olizes the collection. Some of the finest 
varieties, especially among pale-colored 
•sorts, need extra care in this way, and if 
it is not given, the amateur grower may 
fiud he has mainly red sorts left. Give 
your Gladioli good care; cut the flower 
spikes before they fade, and your collec¬ 
tion should remain intact—unless, in 
sharing with others, you give away a pre¬ 
ponderance of these slow growers. 
Strawberries Under Grass. 
Can strawberries be grown successfully 
in a greenhouse during Winter? If so 
give full details. William Belt is our best 
berry for outdoor culture; would it be all 
right for that purpose? Our home mar¬ 
ket would take all I could raise at a good 
price. What would be a fair yield per 
stalk with good plants, care and ground? 
New Cumberland. l*a. c. o. G. 
Strawberries of high quality can be 
grown successfully in the greenhouse, and 
the question to be considered is whether 
your near-by market would pay enough 
tor the fruit to render it remunerative. 
')' e believe that growers supplying New 
^ ork raise fewer hothouse strawberries 
now than 20 years ago, as they are no 
longer so great a rarity. The develop¬ 
ment of new growing sections now gives 
us fresh strawberries practically every 
month in the year, and Florida now 
raises high-class varieties that could not 
be shipped satisfactorily in a period of 
ci uder transportation. Many private 
gardeners raise strawberries, as well as 
peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines 
under glass, pot strawberries making 
beautiful plants. Commercially, the high 
prices once received (which newspapers 
used to report as about $2 a berry) have 
fallen to a point discouraging to growers 
unprovided with a special market, for the 
crop is not a cheap one. 
One of the best-known growers of 
forced strawberries for this market sets 
his plants in greenhouse benches, fresh 
soil being given each season, a well-en¬ 
riched sandy 1 am. Two crops are grown 
during the season, the first crop from 
plants layered in three-inch pots, and set 
in the benches in late September. Here 
they grow until frost, when gradual heat 
is given. The fruit begins to ripen about 
the holidays. For the second crop, good 
plants, with an abundant ball of roots, are 
lifted in late Fall, and transferred to 
frames. When the first crop begins to de¬ 
cline, the new plants are set between the 
old, the latter being finally pulled out. 
The second crop was gathered in March. 
Bed spider is a severe pest, and to keep 
it down a daily spraying is needed, which, 
in dull weather, often causes fruit rot. 
In this bench culture, with no hand-pol- 
lenization, we were told that often only 
two berries per plant were secured; with 
hand pollinization and pot plants six to 
eight fruits might be secured per plant. 
One well-known grower visited some 
years ago grew Champion; we are told 
that Marshall and Brandywine are good. 
A dull and cloudy season is detrimental to 
strawberries, as to most other crops under 
glass. They must be grown quite close to 
the glass. The one highly successful grow¬ 
er of our acquaintance threw out soil and 
plants in April, whitewashing the benches 
and leaving them vacant until September, 
which gave control of insect pests and dis¬ 
ease, but one must secure good returns on 
the investment to leave a greenhouse 
structure unproductive for so many 
months of the year. 
Culture of Drug and Dye Plants. 
The following statement has been is¬ 
sued by Dr. N. L. Britton, director of the 
New York Botanical Garden : 
The present practical exclusion from 
American markets of drugs and dyes de¬ 
rived from plants grown in central Eu¬ 
rope, caused by war conditions, is a diffi¬ 
cult economic situation, and one that has 
been much discussed. 
At a recent meeting of the Board of 
Managers of the New York Botanical 
Garden, this important topic was consid¬ 
ered and the Scientific Directors of the 
Garden were requested to prepare a re¬ 
port upon it, such report to include an 
enumeration and account of the plants 
yielding the drugs and dyes derived main¬ 
ly from the Old World, which would prob¬ 
ably be susceptible of cultivation on a 
commercial _ scale within the United 
States. This report is being prepared 
and will be submitted at a subsequent 
meeting, after which it may be given to 
the public. It was suggested that in all 
schedules for exhibits and prizes at agri¬ 
cultural and _ horticultural exhibitions, 
shows and fairs, provision be made for 
entries of drug and dye plants and their 
products, as a means of stimulating in¬ 
terest in this topic, and disseminating in¬ 
formation and bringing it into general 
public notice. It was also suggested that 
many persons owning country estates 
would probably be willing to cultivate 
plots of from one quarter of an acre up¬ 
ward, of drug or dye plants, and report 
upon the results. This suggestion has al* 
ready been taken up by several persons. 
Fungus Growth in Mines. 
You have published a good bit about 
fungus growth. Have you ever seen any 
besides that which belong to the toadstool 
family? We have here in the mines a 
growth that reaches out 10 to 12 feet 
from the decaying organic matter it 
grows from, and I thought if you never 
saw anything of this kind I would send I 
you a piece for you to inspect. It va¬ 
ries in color from a snow-white to a 
brown, depending on what it grows from. 
Sometimes it will spread out all over the 
walls; other places it grows in bunches, 
then in other places it hangs from the 
ceiling (or roof as we call it) in two to 
three-foot lengths. That which spreads 
out is thin, and there are threads run¬ 
ning through it that look like many ar¬ 
teries. s. d. ir. 
Arcadia, Pa. 
The correspondent evidently shares the 
popular belief that the less comely mush¬ 
rooms having stems and caps are toad¬ 
stools. The name toadstool, originally 
the fanciful designation of some of the 
Boleti, is now obsolete, and all fungi 
of whatever form are comprehensively 
called mushrooms. While it is difficult 
to give the name of this coal-mine fun¬ 
gus without a specimen, I should judge 
from the description it was the mycelium 
of Agaricus melleus, which grows in 
great profusion on decaying doors and 
wood props in mines. I have found sim¬ 
ilar growths 350 feet below the surface 
in iron mines in Northern New York. 
The constant temperature of from GO to 
70 deg. and also the humidity are fav¬ 
orable to an excessive growth of the 
mycelium or roots of the mushroom, so 
that these white threads grow on the 
surface of the substratum, becoming in¬ 
terlaced veins and arteries. The mycel¬ 
ium also may reach out into the air, and 
many threads intertwining it may hang 
in pendulous masses, or if effused on a 
perpendicular surface may form fan¬ 
shaped masses of great beauty. As this 
wondrous and beautiful growth can only 
happen in deep mines it is a sight which 
but few can ever see. 
JOHN NICHOLL BROWN. 
Culture of Navy Beans. 
Will you give me information in re¬ 
gard to culture of navy beans? I have 
heard that they should not be cultivated 
while wet with dew or rain. Are the 
vines very apt to blight, and if so, would 
you advise spraying with Bordeaux mix¬ 
ture and at what stages of growth? 
When should they be harvested and what 
care should be given to the vines? 
East Otto, N. Y. g. b. a. 
It is very important that land to be 
planted to beans be plowed early in the 
Spring and given thorough cultivation 
before planting. As soon as the beans 
are up so that the rows can be seen, 
cultivation should be begun and continued 
at frequent intervals for from four to 
six weeks. The first one or two cultiva¬ 
tions should be fairly deep—after that 
they should he more shallow and great 
care should be used not to tear up or 
disturbing the rootlets which come very 
close to the surface near the plant. Cul¬ 
tivate after every rain. There has been 
a good deal of trouble with anthracnose 
or hlight, as you call it, in the bean sec¬ 
tions. There is no known effective rem¬ 
edy for this. Spraying will not control 
the trouble, and it would be impractic¬ 
able to spray even if it would. Cultivat¬ 
ing beans when wet with dew or rain 
tends to spread this disease, and should, 
therefore, be avoided when it is present. 
The best way to avoid this trouble is to 
purchase seed free from the disease and 
to plant on ground which has not been 
infected. The crop should be harvested 
when the beans are fully mature. At 
this time the vines will be yellow. Har¬ 
vesting should be begun just before the 
leaves fall, if possible, as this increases 
the value of the vines as fodder. 
M. C. BUURITT. 
Waterproofed 
^Standard Sprays 
Paris Green Arsenate of Lead 
Guaranteed Waterproof 
Costs no more waterproofed; and 
goes farther. One spraying usually 
sufficient for an entire season. Not 
washed off by rain. 
Made according to U. S. Govern¬ 
ment formulas regulating the produc¬ 
tion of insecticides and fungicides. 
As already supplied to agricultural 
departments and experimental sta¬ 
tions, to which inquirers may refer. 
Furnished in Dry Powdered Form 
or in Water Paste. 
Inquire of Your Dealer 
International Color & Chemical Co. 
Detroit, Michigan 
FUNIA _ 
Fuma Carbon Bisulphide” of 8 
Lime and Sulphur for spravinu pn 
Jl K I L L S Prairie 
Dogs, Woodchucks, 
Gophers, and Grain 
Insects. Stop their 
depredationsby using 
' " A 'so mfrs. 
Solution 
. spraying purposes. 
TAILOR CHEMICAL, CO., Penn Yan, N. Y. 
CORN HARVESTER 
That heats them all. One horse cuts two rows. Carries 
to tho shock. Worked by 1, 8 or 3 men. No danger. 
No twine. Free Trial. We also make stump Pullers 
and Tllo Ditchers. Catalog Free. Agents Wanted. 
H.D. BENNETT & CO., Westerville, Ohio 
WELL D r c WELL 
Own a machine of your own. Cash or easy 
terms. Many styles and sizes for all purposes. 
Write for Circular 
WILLIAMS BROS., 432 W. State St., Ithaca. N. Y. 
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