Chapter C: S. Harrison, York, Neb (5)

Mr. G. D. Black, of Independence, Ia., is to represent the Northeast Iowa Society. Mr. Black has been with us before and he will find many who recall his presence here in previous years. He is to give us on the program his later experience in connection with the growing of the gladioli, a work to which he has given large attention for many years.

From South Dakota is coming the president of that society, Rev. S. A. Hassold, from Kimball, S.D.

Other visitors from Iowa not officially sent to us who have signified an intention to be present are: Chas. F. Gardner, Osage, Ia.; E. M. Reeves, Waverly. Prof. S. A. Beach is also to spend the last two days of the annual meeting with us and his name will be found upon our program on several topics. No professional horticulturist in America is better or more favorably known than Prof. Beach, and our membership who are interested in orcharding should not fail to hear what he has to say on the subjects he presents.

Mr. N. A. Rasmussen, of Oshkosh, Wis., is also to be with us and will be found several times on the program. Being an expert in market gardening we are going to work him to the limit while he is with us. We anticipate that Secretary Cranefield of the Wisconsin Society, will also spend the week with us. Prof. C.B. Waldron will be here as representative of the North Dakota Society, and also Prof. F.W. Broderick of Winnipeg as representing the Winnipeg Horticultural Society--and of course our Prof. N.E. Hansen, of South Dakota. All of these friends will be found on the program.

There may be others, but this will do for a start.

While it is not the intention to publish anything in this
magazine that is misleading or unreliable, yet it must be
remembered that the articles published herein recite the
experience and opinions of their writers, and this fact must
always be noted in estimating their practical value.

THE MINNESOTA HORTICULTURIST

Vol. 44 DECEMBER, 1916 No. 12

Perennial Garden at Carmarken, White Bear.

J. W. TAYLOR, ST. PAUL.

We have had so many inquiries about our garden as to how we make things grow, and as to the best plants to use, that we take pleasure in answering through the Horticulturist and giving the result of our experience in making an attractive perennial garden. Our soil is sandy loam, very quick and warm, except in one place where it is low and there is a heavy black soil over clay. It has been well enriched with well rotted manure and cultivated as much as possible every spring, where it could be done without disturbing plants and bulbs. The arrangement of flowers as regards the blending and careful selection so that one bloom does not kill another is the secret of a beautiful garden. Acres of flowers placed without any regard to color, no matter how expensive individual plants may be, is not pleasing to the eye. It is like a crowd of mixed people, and we know crowds are never beautiful. There is incompatibility among flowers as there is among people, and the compatible must be associated or there is no harmony.

What do we raise and how do we do it? We will, in the space allowed, answer this as best we can. It is not necessary to spend a great lot of money if one uses good judgment and knows where to buy. Take that grand flower, the peony. One can spend as much money as one pleases on these. There is just now a fad regarding these flowers, and some rich people are paying as high as $30.00 a root for certain kinds, but it is not necessary. The most really lovely gardens I have seen in the East and West have not been filled with plants bought at fancy prices. We have some that originally cost us a good deal of money and which are now cheap, as for instance, the Henryii lily. We bought the first we heard of at one dollar and one-half each. Now they can be bought for thirty cents. In peonies, Baroness Schroeder, an ivory white, is selling for three dollars a root, while the most beautiful of all the whites according to my taste, Festiva Maxima, can be bought for fifty cents. The Kelways are all fine. The best cost about one dollar each. In our garden, among others, the Pallas, Edulis Superba, Golden Harvest, Madame Crousse and Queen Victoria, all fine, cost us fifty cents each. We have a row all around our garden of these splendid flowers, many varieties, some very rare, and nothing could be more gorgeous in color or more effective than this border. Hundreds of people came to see this peony show this year and were extravagant in their praise. The perfect harmony of arrangement was what pleased. We made many friends happy with armfuls of them to take home. That is the pleasure of your garden, the enjoyment one gets from making others happy. We especially notice how pleased the children were, the girls more so than the boys, perhaps, as they wandered along the paths fondling this or that bloom with loving fingers. With such an amount of bloom it is easy to send bouquets to the childrens' hospitals and to sick friends. We plant the peonies with the crown just under the earth, two feet apart. In the fall we cut off the old stalks and replace them over the plants after putting a good dressing of rotted manure on the beds.

Another flower, which is very attractive, is the larkspur Belladonna, turquoise blue. It shows from a great distance as its heavenly blue meets the eye. When arranged in a vase with white flowers it makes the most beautiful, choice and refined bouquet we know of. The Formosum is a lovely dark blue and very striking. Give them plenty of water and some wood ashes to keep off the slugs. Cut off the stalks after blooming, about August first, and they will bloom again in autumn. We had this year a large clump of Madonna lilies and next to them a large bunch of larkspur. The effect was stunning. Just before the larkspur came the whole north end of the garden was aflame with Oriental poppies, hundreds of them. No other flower produces the effect upon one that this great proud, wonderful flower does. It is the queen of the show. We transplant this in September in ordinary soil. Or we sow the seeds in August and transplant the seedlings as soon as up. They need no protection, but we protect everything with straw and branches. The branches to keep the straw from packing too hard and keeping the air out. Protection of roses is necessary, of course. We had a great collection this season. Our plan is to cut them back to within a foot of the ground then fill a box with leaves and turn over them. We never lose a rose thus protected. Neither sun nor mice injure them.

Another grand flower is Digitalis, or foxglove. These gladden your heart as the medicine made from them strengthens it. Get the mixed plants or seed, Gloxinia flora. When in bloom, look into their little gloves and note the wonder of nature's coloring. With us they grow six feet tall in black, heavy soil. They self-sow, and the plants of the present year bloom the next. A bed of these make a most gorgeous, dignified group in your garden. They are hardy with a very slight covering. Many with us self-sow and live through the winter without any protection. We made up a bed of these self-sowed in fall of 1915. They were a glory this summer. A few years ago every one said, don't waste your time on Japanese Iris. They thrive with us and bear blooms fully as large as a tea plate and of most exquisite beauty. We divide them every third year and in the spring cover them with old fertilizer and water them well. They grow in a heavy soil with some sand worked in. Our best varieties are Oriole, Distinction, Alice Kiernga, Beauty of Japan and Blue Flag.

The Gladiolus is another bright and interesting addition to our floral family. The best we have are Marie de Ruyter, a pretty blue; Badenia, lavender; Golden King, a magnificent yellow; Florence, lilac blotched; Mazie, corn color; and Dawn, shell pink. Plant these bulbs in succession, three weeks apart, from April first, six inches deep, so they will stand up, and eighteen inches between rows. In this way you will have them until frost. For the house cut them when first bud comes out, and they will all blossom in water.

A flower which attracts much attention with us is the Canterbury Bell, cup and saucer variety, in different colors. Very showy. This is not a perennial but a biennial. We plant our seeds in July and transplant in September or October. The Persicifolia in white and blue is a hardy perennial and grows on stalks two to three feet high, a great favorite among white flowers. In some soils they do not do well, but with us grow rampant. We prefer the white. We cut over two thousand stalks this summer from one hundred fifty plants.

Of Tulips, which are so welcome in early spring, the Darwin leads all. We love them as we do the Stars of Bethlehem, the Hyacinths, Narcissi and the darling little blue flowers, Scilla Siberica, that come with the Snowdrops and Crocuses before the snow is gone. We thus have bloom from snow to snow. Always something bright, and that is another strong reason for a perennial garden.

We have many calls from persons wishing to buy plants or seeds. We do not sell either, but gladly give away our surplus. We have furnished many gardens in this way all about us and thus added to the beauty of the surrounding country and made ourselves and others happy. Our collection of Lilies, Auratums, Speciosums, Tigers, Madonnas, are all planted six to eight inches deep and, after spreading manure are covered with straw, after frost. We cover all bulb beds with manure in the fall. Among lilies all but the Auratums last years, but these lose their vitality in two or three seasons. Plant all lilies in fall except Madonnas, which should be put in in August. Two fine flowers we would recommend to flower lovers: the Amaryllis Hallii, or, as we call it, the wonder flower, which grows a large bunch of leaves in spring and in June they all die down. In August there springs up a single stalk from the apparently dead plant, bearing a lily-like bunch of flowers of charming colors. It is as hardy as an oak. The other is the Dictamnus, or gas plant. Most beautiful and very hardy. Get one white and one pink and plant near each other. They are fine. Of course we have named but a small part of our collection, but will be glad to give any further information to our Horticulturist readers and will be glad to welcome them at our grounds any time.

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CANNING FRUITS WITHOUT SIRUP.--Can the product the same day it is picked. Cull, stem, or seed, and clean the fruit by placing it in a strainer and pouring water over it until it is clean. Pack the product thoroughly in glass jars or tin cans until they are full; use the handle of a tablespoon, wooden ladle, or table knife for packing purposes. Pour over the fruit boiling water from a kettle, place rubbers and caps in position, partially seal if using glass jars, seal completely if using tin cans. Place the containers in a sterilizing vat, such as a wash boiler with false bottom, or other receptacle improvised for the purpose. If using a hot-water bath outfit, process for 30 minutes; count time after the water has reached the boiling point; the water must cover the highest jar in container. After sterilizing seal glass jars, wrap in paper to prevent bleaching, and store in a dry, cool place.

If you are canning in tin cans it will improve the product to plunge the cans quickly into cold water immediately after sterilization. When using a steam pressure canner instead of the hot-water bath, sterilize for 10 minutes with 5 pounds of steam pressure. Never allow the pressure to go over 10 pounds.

The Minnesota State Fruit-Breeding Farm.

CHAS. HARALSON, SUPT., EXCELSIOR.

The Minnesota State Fruit-Breeding Farm was established eight years ago, principally for breeding new varieties of fruit adapted to our climate and conditions. The aim of this work is to assist the people in getting better commercial varieties of the various fruits grown in the state, so that better returns could be secured for the people engaged in the various lines of fruit growing. Some of the plant-breeding work is beginning to show results, a few varieties of fruit are being distributed in a small way for trial in different localities.

A great deal of work has been done with apples. Seedlings have been grown by the thousands every year with the idea of selecting some desirable varieties when the trees come into fruiting. Hardiness of tree, long keeping and good quality of fruit are the most desirable points we are looking for in our selections. A great deal of crossing under glass is being done with apples; a number of seedlings, the results of this crossing work, are planted every spring.

Some of the six thousand Malinda apple seedlings planted seven years ago have fruited to some extent for the last three years. These show a great variation in fruit, both in color, quality and long keeping. Some of the fruit ripens with the Duchess, while others will keep until spring in good condition. There is a chance for some desirable varieties out of this lot, but it will take several years to determine whether we have anything better than the Wealthy. The Wealthy is by far our best commercial variety, but we are looking for something that will keep until spring.

Gooseberries and currants are easily raised and are perfectly hardy with us, but we are working to get some improvement on these varieties. Many thousand seedlings are being grown for this purpose. Our native gooseberries are used in breeding work with the cultivated varieties to a great extent, as they are hardy, strong growers and resistant to mildew.

As to cherries, we have none that are satisfactory. Some work has been carried on for several years, but we have not obtained anything of special value so far. The most promising combinations are Compass cherry crossed with the cultivated varieties. None of these have fruited, but we have some hope for a hardy cherry from these seedlings.

Peaches and apricots are not hardy in Minnesota, and consequently nobody thinks of planting them. Some years ago we started crossing the sand cherry with peaches and apricots. The results were a number of seedlings, but all turned out to be worthless; the trees after several years growth were small, or grew mostly in bush form. They blossomed every spring but never set any fruit on account of some imperfection in the flowers. Four years ago we started to use the Compass cherry as the male parent, and this combination is more promising. The seedlings make a good growth and a fairly good sized tree, practically as hardy as the Compass cherry. The seedlings resemble the apricots and peaches in blossom, tree and foliage. This fruit will not be exactly an apricot or a peach, but may take the place of these fruits in a small way.

The Compass cherry crossed with Prunus Pissardi, or purple leaf plum, is a very interesting combination. We have about fifty seedlings growing. Most of them have the purple foliage and bark, are very ornamental and can be used with effect for lawns and landscape planting where large shrubs are wanted.

The grapes. The Vitis Labrusca, such as Concord, Worden, Moore's Early and many other varieties, are not hardy unless protected during winter. There is a demand for hardy grapes that do not need any winter protection. At the Fruit-Breeding Farm this problem has been taken up on a large scale. The Beta grape is hardy but lacks in size and quality. This variety has been used to grow many thousands of seedlings from, and also used in cross-breeding with the better varieties. A large percent of Beta seedlings come true to seed or nearly so. This gives us several hundred varieties equal to Beta, and some of them are quite an improvement in size and quality over the parent and practically as hardy as the wild grape. Many of these are worthy of propagation where hardiness is the main object. Very few of the hybrid grape seedlings have fruited, but indications are that in a few years we will have grapes equal in size and quality to any of our commercial varieties.

Experiments are being carried on in a small way with pears, roses and nuts. Our native hazelnuts can be improved by selection and crossing with the filberts. The same is true with the Rosa Rugosa and our native roses.

In breeding strawberries we probably have had better success than with any other fruit we have attempted to improve. The breeding work was done in the greenhouse during winter and early spring and seed planted as soon as berries were ripe. The plants were transplanted to flats and later planted out in the field, where they remained until fruiting, when the selections were made. We have fruited approximately 60,000 seedlings. These have been weeded out so there are about 400 left, and these will be cut down to a few of the best varieties. At present we have one everbearing and one June-bearing variety which have proven to be very productive, of good size, good quality and good plantmakers. These plants have been sent out as premiums to members of the State Horticultural Society for the last two years and will be distributed the same way next spring.

In raspberries we have several varieties which are promising. King x Loudan, No. 4, is a variety that has been sent out as premium the last three years. This variety is amongst the hardiest, the berries are dark red, very large and the most productive of all the varieties growing on the place. This has also been sent out as premium through the Horticultural Society.

In plums we probably have had the best success. Some of the first breeding work was with Burbank x (crossed with) Wolf and Abundance x Wolf. We have twenty-eight seedlings of Burbank x Wolf and forty-five Abundance x Wolf which have fruited several years. We have varying degrees of hardiness in these seedlings. Most of them have withstood our winters at the fruit farm without injury, as well as in most of the southern half of the state.

Among the Abundance x Wolf hybrids eight of the seedlings are only partly hardy, while of the Burbank x Wolf only one or two have shown themselves to be particularly weak in this respect.

Type of fruit. In general the Burbank type of fruit is dominant. The flesh of these hybrids runs quite uniformly yellow, varying in degrees, however, from a deep yellow to a yellowish green. Some of them have a yellow skin with a blush or a streak of red, while others are a deep red even before ripe. The fruit in size varies from both smaller and larger than the parents. Firmness characterises most of the hybrids. We are also getting good shipping quality, and in Burbank x Wolf No. 12 we have a plum measuring one and three-quarters inches and more in diameter and a perfect freestone. This plum will be used extensively in further plant-breeding.

In shape of tree the two hybrids differ materially. The Burbank x Wolf hybrids make spreading trees more or less, while the Abundance x Wolf grows more upright and does not need quite as much room.

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TENT CATERPILLAR.--As soon as small nests are detected, they should be destroyed. When in convenient reach, the nests may be torn out with a brush, with gloved hand, or otherwise, and the larvae crushed on the ground, care being taken to destroy any caterpillars which have remained on the tree.

The use of a torch to burn out the nests will be found convenient when they occur in the higher parts of the trees. In using the torch great care is necessary that no important injury be done to the tree; it should not be used in burning out nests except in the smaller branches and twigs, the killing of which would be of no special importance. Nests in the larger limbs should be destroyed by hand, as the use of the torch may kill the bark, resulting in permanent injury.

Tent caterpillars are readily destroyed by arsenicals sprayed on the foliage of trees infested by them. Any of the arsenical insecticides may be used, as Paris green, Scheele's green, arsenate of lead, etc. The first two are used at the rate of one-half pound to 50 gallons of water. The milk of lime made from 2 to 3 pounds of stone lime should be added to neutralize any caustic effect of the arsenical on the foliage. Arsenate of lead is used at the rate of 2 pounds to each 50 gallons of water.

On stone fruits, such as cherry, peach, and plum, arsenicals are likely to cause injury to foliage and must be used with caution if at all. On such trees the arsenate of lead is preferable, as it is less injurious to foliage, and on all trees sticks much better. In spraying for the tent caterpillar only, applications should be made while the caterpillars are yet small, as they then succumb more quickly to poisons than when more nearly full grown, and prompt treatment stops further defoliation of the trees.--U. S. Dept. Agri.

Color Combinations in the Garden.

MISS ELIZABETH STARR, 2224 FREMONT SO., MINNEAPOLIS.

English books on gardening set forth two principal methods of making a garden: first, to have each part perfect for a short time each year and then let it melt into the background for the rest of the season; second, to have every part of the garden showing some flowers all through the summer.

These two methods suggest the impressionistic and miniature schools of painting. With the first method it is possible to get great masses of color and brilliant effects to be viewed at a distance, but it requires a great deal of space, with a perennial garden at least, for unfortunately most of our perennials are in their greatest glory for only a few weeks at a time. The second method fills more nearly the needs of the small garden, where the vistas are short and the individual plant is under close inspection. The greatest difficulty is this, that the amateur cannot resist the lure of a great variety of plants, and unless a vigorous thinning out is faithfully practiced and the habit of growth, the period of blooming, the height and color of each individual is carefully studied, the effect of the whole is very apt to be mussy and distracting to the eye, whereas the ideal garden is soothing in effect.

I have only been studying the problem for the last five or six years, so that I am still decidedly an amateur, but I have kept a faithful record of the time of flowering of each variety I have grown in my garden and have discovered that the time of blooming does not vary more than five days for each plant no matter whether the season be wet or dry. With this record at hand I can arrange each part of my garden with a view to the succession of bloom throughout the summer. I can place plants with clashing colors side by side with the calm assurance that they will not clash because their periods of blooming do not overlap. In this way I can completely change the color of certain parts of my garden during the summer if I so desire.

In studying combinations for the garden we must take into consideration the harmony and contrast of color, texture, form, height and the succession of bloom. We must also see that plants requiring the same soil and the same care are put together. In my garden I use both annuals and perennials but am limited in choice to those plants that are perfectly hardy, that will stand infinite neglect, drought, much wind, a stiff soil, that do not require especial protection in the winter, that will be in bloom all summer long and be beautiful. This, as I have found, is a rather difficult task.

There is a great diversity of opinion as to how to set out plants. Some say, "Give each plant plenty of room; let it expand as much as it will." Others say, "Each six inches of ground should have its plant; set them so closely that no dirt will show between; in this way each individual plant will be finer than when set out singly and the leaves will form a shade for the ground." I have used the latter method, for, since we have no means of watering, the conservation of moisture is an important item. The chief objection is that there is a constant danger of overcrowding, and it requires a frequent resetting of plants as they increase in size from year to year.

I have a border on the north side of my garden that is six feet wide and about seventy feet long. It is my aim to keep this in bloom all through the summer long. There is a background of purple and white lilacs and cut-leaf spirea. The first thing that comes in the spring is poet's narcissus, then groups of Darwin tulips; both of these are naturalized and remain in the ground from year to year. Next comes the perennial blue flax, a half dozen plants set at intervals down the border, that every morning from mid-April until August are a mass of blue. Clumps of May-flowering iris and then June-flowering iris and four large peony plants make the border bright until the latter part of June, when alternating groups of field daisies and pink and red sweet williams are in full bloom at one end of the border, and summer-flowering cosmos holds sway at the other end, while the flax, bachelor's buttons and daisies fill the center with blue and white. By the middle of July the calendulas, coreopsis and annual larkspur make a vivid display where the narcissus was before. These four make a very good combination, for if the bed is well made and the narcissus planted deep, the coreopsis and larkspur seed themselves, and with the exception of a deep raking in the late fall the bed needs no attention except thinning out for three years, and it is in bloom for at least four months of the season.

In this border I have at last found a place for the magenta phlox that usually fights with the whole garden. I put it in front of a single row of pink and white cosmos, flank it on one side with pink and white verbenas, on the other with mixed scabiosas and in front of all a single row of Shasta daisies. This combination pleases the family as well as the phlox.

On the south side of the garden, against a low buckthorn hedge is a narrower border of sky-blue belladonna, delphinium, buttercups and achillea, with an edging of Chinese pinks. I had thought the complementary colors of the delphinium and buttercups would set each other off, but it is a very poor combination, for the foliage is so much alike that there is no contrast there, and when the plants are not in bloom it is almost impossible to tell which is which so as to take out the buttercups, whose yellow is too bright. Shasta daisies set off the delphiniums to perfection with the wonderful purity of their white and yellow and pleasing contrast of form, foliage and height. With Emperor narcissus bulbs set between the plants, there are flowers in the border the whole season.

Another very poor combination that is in my garden, much to my sorrow, is hemerocallis and siberica iris. They started out about three feet from each other, but the hemerocallis spreads so quickly that now they form a mass that is almost impossible to break apart. Another mistake I made was to put Shasta daisies and field daisies near together. It is unfair to the smaller daisies, for although they are fully two inches in diameter, yet they appear dwarfed beside the giants.

There is one point in my garden that is vivid throughout the summer. First comes the orange lilium elegans, then scarlet lychnis and later, tiger lilies. Another bit is gorgeous from the first of August until frost; it is made up of blue and white campanula pyramidalis, that grow quite five feet high, and Mrs. Francis King gladioli.

An important thing to think of is the line of vision from each point of vantage of the house--the endwise view of a multicolored bed of fairy columbines against a light green willow from the sewing room window, from the library the blue of a Juniata iris swaying four feet up in the air in front of a sweet briar, from the front porch pale yellow Flavescens iris through a mist of purple sweet rockets.

The garden is in its glory during the iris season. At a conservative estimate we have about twenty-five hundred of them in our little garden, ranging through all the colors of the rainbow and blooming from April until late June. They may easily make such an increase that it is baffling to cope with, but they are so beautiful and so amenable to the experimenting of an amateur that we feel as though we couldn't get enough of them. Last summer a wonderful effect was achieved by putting dark blue and mahogany-colored pansies beside Jacquesiana and Othello iris, this repeating the color and texture in different plants.

We leave the garden through a wooden arch. Climbing over one side of this is a Thousandschon rose, and on the other side a Dr. Van Fleet grows rank. A wild clematis is planted beside each rose and fills the top of the arch. I am rather dubious about the combination, for I fear the clematis may grow so heavy that it will choke out the roses, but this summer at least it was beautiful, and another summer will come to try other combinations.

Truck Crop and Garden Insects.

AN EXERCISE LED BY PROF. WM. MOORE, ENTOMOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY FARM, ST. PAUL.

There is one insect that probably all those who are in the market garden business are very much interested in, and that is the cabbage maggot. As you all know, in the spring of the year, after cabbages are put out, frequently you will find the cabbages slowly dying, one dying one day and two or three the next day, and so on until sometimes fifty per cent or more of the cabbages die. At first it is not exactly apparent what is killing the cabbages, but when one is pulled up it will be noticed that a little maggot is working in the root of the cabbage. This insect is commonly known as the cabbage maggot.

For a number of years work has been carried on with the cabbage maggot, and all sorts of treatments have been tried, many without any great success. The unfortunate part is that usually the market gardener don't take much thought of this maggot until it is actually doing the injury, and at that time they are mighty difficult to handle.

There have been several different treatments advised, one of which is fresh hellebore, about two ounces steeped in a quart of boiling water and then diluted to a gallon and poured upon the base of the plant. It will destroy the maggots, but hellebore is very expensive and, as probably most of you know, there isn't a great amount of profit in cabbage; so any treatment will have to be a cheap treatment, or you will use up your profit.

During the last two years I have been working along a line which is entirely different from the treatment of the maggot, and that is based upon the fact that the fly which lays the egg which produces the maggot in the cabbage comes out early in the spring and flies about the field for probably a week or ten days or two weeks before it lays its eggs, and during that period it eats any sweet material which happens to be on hand. With this as a basis we thought we might be able to poison the flies and thus prevent injury from the maggots, and we have tried several different spray mixtures along that line. One mixture which we use is a mixture which is normally used against the fruit flies which are oftentimes injurious to fruit, particularly in the east and in tropical countries. This contains three ounces of arsenate of lead, two and half pounds of brown sugar and four gallons of water. The idea is to spray this in the field, spraying it on the plants as soon as the plants are put out in the field. We have more or less definite dates for the appearance of the flies in the field and for their disappearance again. But, as you know, the season varies, and the result is somewhat uncertain. So probably the best method is to base it upon the time you plant out your cabbage. In the early seasons you will plant your cabbages early, and in the late seasons later. So plant out your cabbage and then spray them every week until the 10th of May.

You should spray them, not to cover the leaves with the poison, but merely sufficient so that there are a few drops of this poisoned material on the leaves so that the flies can eat it. Flies will come there and feed upon this mixture and die.

It is rather peculiar that we started work here about the same time on the cabbage maggot that they started work on the onion maggot along similar lines in Wisconsin. I don't think that either knew that the other was working towards that end. They used a different mixture, one-fifth ounce of sodium arsenite, one-half pint of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water. This was sprayed over the onions and was very successful in controlling the onion maggot.

I tried their mixture this last year. They published some of their results last year, so it gave me an opportunity to watch their mixture in comparison with the lead arsenate. They claimed the lead arsenate did not act as quickly as the sodium arsenite. That is true, but when you have a ten-day period to kill the fly it don't make much difference whether it dies in ten hours or twenty-four. The flies are not doing any injury. If you take the lead arsenate and sugar and water and put it in a jar, the arsenate always sinks to the bottom, and if you were to test it that way, the fly would feed on the top and you might not get a quick result. But if you spray it on, the lead arsenate will kill as quickly as the sodium arsenite.

There is an objection to the use of arsenite in that sodium arsenite is a soluble poison and will burn the leaves of the cabbage. Of course, that is not particularly serious as those are the first leaves the cabbages have and the cabbage soon gets over any slight injury, but many truck gardeners probably would object to that. In the onion you have a different shaped leaf, and the injury is not so apparent. Last summer I found that New Orleans molasses would give you a little bit better result than the sugar, and it is cheaper. The objection to the New Orleans molasses is the sticky nature of the material in handling.

I might mention in regard to opening cans of New Orleans molasses. If you never opened one and try this treatment, be careful about opening the can. The lid is pushed down tight and under warm conditions, or if the molasses has been in a warm room there is a certain amount of fermentation and gas under pressure, and if you pry it open quickly you find the lid flies up in the air and you will probably be smeared over with molasses.

I employed my spray, that is, one ounce of lead arsenate, one-half pint of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water last season. The check plots had cabbages attacked by the maggots, probably 10 or 15 per cent of the plants dying from the attack. Last year was a very good season, that is, many of the plants seriously attacked put out roots again, and those were able to grow again in the sprayed plots. The infestation of the sprayed plots was probably about 30 to 40 per cent. of the plants, but they only contained probably one maggot each, which is very slight and not sufficient to do any damage.

There is one market gardener whose cabbage patch we sprayed, I think, only a part of two rows, and we thought we would leave the rest of his patch as a control. Apparently the amount of material we put on there was sufficient to attract the flies from the whole field. Not a single cabbage died, and he was pleased with the result of the spray.

Mr. Miller: What do you do for root aphis?

Mr. Moore: Root aphis can very easily be controlled with tobacco extract. It is put upon the root of any plant that is affected, a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. There are a number of different tobacco extracts on the market. Some of them contain 15 per cent. of nicotine, some contain 20, some 25 and some 40, and I think there is one brand that contains 45 per cent. You will find that the brands that contain the most nicotine are the most expensive, but in proportion you use less material. Thus 20 per cent. tobacco extract would take two tablespoonfuls to the gallon, while 40 per cent. would take only one. It is the nicotine which is the working portion of it.

Mr. Miller: Then you can use the black leaf forty?

Mr. Moore: It is very good, it is 40 per cent. nicotine. There is another product put out by the same company, a black leaf, only 15 or 20 per cent. This is cheaper, but you have to use more of it. If anything probably the more expensive would be the cheaper in the long run.

Mr. Wintersteen: The maggots that attack the radishes and turnips are the same as the cabbage maggot?

Mr. Moore: Yes, sir.

Mr. Wintersteen: Why is it I have no trouble with the cabbages, and yet I can raise no radishes or turnips in the same ground?

Mr. Moore: The radishes and turnips are attacked and the cabbages are not?

Mr. Wintersteen: Yes, sir.

Mr. Moore: Which do you raise, early cabbages?

Mr. Wintersteen: Yes, sir.

Mr. Moore: What variety do you raise?

Mr. Wintersteen: The Wakefield, generally.

Mr. Moore: Some varieties of cabbages are not nearly so severely attacked as others. I think of the two that they would prefer radishes probably. Growing them side by side you find they infest the radishes. That was my experience last year. I grew the first generation of cabbages, and the second generation I took over into the radishes because I wanted to treat them there.

Mr. Rasmussen: Did you say the same fly attacks the onion and the cabbage?

Mr. Moore: The onion has two different flies, one which is black in color, with light colored bands across the wings, and that one passes the winter as a larva in the old onions left in the field. It is an injurious practice to leave old onions there to breed these maggots. If they were taken out and destroyed you could do away with that one. The cabbage fly is different. When you use the spray it would probably be all right to use the sodium arsenite for the onion and the lead arsenate for the cabbage. The type of leaf is entirely different, and on the cabbage you are apt to burn them with the sodium arsenite while the lead arsenate will give you practically the same result.

Mr. Goudy: The cabbage butterfly, does that come from the same maggot?

Mr. Moore: No; this maggot is on the root, the cabbage butterfly lays its eggs on the leaf. You get the cabbage worm from the cabbage butterfly.

Mr. Goudy: What do you do for that?

Mr. Moore: Paris green is used to a great extent, but many people have a horror of using Paris green. Last year, I think it was, I was called up on the phone by some one and I advised him to use Paris green. He said that he was afraid it might poison everybody. I explained to him there was no danger from it, as you know the cabbage leaves grow from the inside, not from the outside, and the spray would be on the outside leaves. Besides that, we usually spray early for the cabbage worm while the heads come on later.

Mr. Goudy: Did you ever try capsicum, sprinkling that on the heads?

Mr. Moore: No, sir.

Mr. Goudy: I saved my cabbages one year by using that.

Mr. Moore: Some people claim salt is good. One of the students mentioned it to me. One applied it by putting a spoonful around over the head, another dissolved a tablespoonful in about ten quarts of water and sprayed it on. Salt is rather injurious to vegetation as a rule. Of course, they only put it on the leaves, and the cabbage is a hardy plant. Air slaked lime is also good, but would have to be applied several times. With the arsenate you apply it once and kill all the brood.

Mr. Ludlow: We took them all off of mine one year by using boiling hot water.

Mr. Moore: Yes, sir; water is very good. The objection is, on a large scale it is not feasible.

Mr. Miller: Slug shot is very good.

Mr. Moore: Yes, sir; it doesn't contain very much poison, but it is sufficient to kill the cabbage worm.

Mr. Cadoo: I used just simply wood ashes.

Mr. Moore: The cabbage worm is one that is very easy to handle.

A Member: I have always used salt. I think it makes a more firm and solid head, that is my theory, I don't know whether I am right or not. I have been doing that for years.

Mr. Moore: I don't know. I never heard of the treatment with salt until two or three days ago when several students mentioned that they used salt. Some people won't use Paris green. There was one case a man said his wife wouldn't let him do it even if she knew it wasn't poison; she didn't like the idea of Paris green on cabbage.

Mr. Ingersoll: Is there anything you can suggest to control the yellows in asters?

Mr. Moore: The yellows in asters has been a problem which has been very amusing there at the farm. A man sends in an aster to the entomological department, we examine it and can't find anything that belongs to our department, and we send it to the plant pathological department, and they send it back to us. Last year we made a point in every case of yellows in asters to send some one to investigate and find out what was going on to produce it. In some cases it seemed to be a fungous disease. One case I know turned out to be a fungous disease, the very next one was due to plant lice on the roots of the asters. In that case I don't think you get quite the distinct yellows of the asters, but rather the plants wilt and become weak and finally die. That can very easily be controlled with tobacco extract, pouring it upon the buds of the plants. We do not know definitely about the yellows. We think it is more or less of a physiological disease of the plant, not due to an insect. This last year we have not found any what we would call the true yellows. There is an insect that produces similar trouble on other plants, a plant bug, which is hard to secure because it flies away. That is the reason we have been sending out to see exactly what is going on in the field, and we didn't see any evidence of their work this year. Another thing, it seems to be a year in which the asters did fairly well, and there was very little yellows.

Mr. Ingersoll: You think that irregular watering might make any difference or very solid rooting?

Mr. Moore: It might do something of the sort. The most we heard of the yellows was the year before last, and we were held up at the time with other work and could not investigate properly. Any one here that has yellows in asters next year, we would be very glad to hear from him and send some one out to find the cause. It wouldn't surprise me that it was something in the treatment of the aster.

Mr. Cadoo: Do angleworms hurt house plants?

Mr. Moore: Not as a rule. They do eat a small amount of vegetation, but ordinarily in a house plant, if you have, say, a worm in a pot, I think it is rather beneficial than injurious, because it keeps the soil stirred up.

Mr. Rasmussen: What is the spray for the cabbage and onion maggot?

Mr. Moore: Unfortunately I am a very poor person to remember figures, and I carry this around with me. One spray is three ounces of lead arsenate, two and a half pounds of brown sugar to four gallons of water, but we found that probably a little better spray was to use the New Orleans molasses instead of the sugar and the formula is: One ounce of lead arsenate, one-half pint of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water. The spray that was used for the onion maggot and was devised over in Wisconsin is: One-fifth ounce of sodium arsenite, one-half pint of New Orleans molasses and one gallon of water.

Mr. Rasmussen: The Wisconsin spray is what I used to spray my place several years, and I was wondering if it was the same.

Mr. Moore: It was peculiar that they started to work on the onion maggot in Wisconsin at the same time we started on the cabbage maggot here.

Mr. Rasmussen: We have controlled the onion maggots almost entirely, but the cabbage maggots are very difficult.

Mr. Moore: In our control plots it controlled it very well. Our plants were infested only with a few maggots, but not sufficient to do any injury.

The Wealthy Apple.

F. H. BALLOU.

(THE OPINION OF AN OHIO APPLE GROWER--FROM A BULLETIN ISSUED BY OHIO STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.)

The value of a variety of apple commercially usually decides its place in the estimation of growers. Naturally the later maturing, longer keeping or winter varieties are generally accorded this preference. Orchardists in the southern part of Ohio doubtless would elect Rome Beauty queen of money makers, were the question put to a vote. Apple producers of northern Ohio or western New York would as surely vote for Baldwin. But what variety would you--Mr. Lover-of-apples-and-apple products--vote for and plant if but a single variety and space for but a single tree were available? After twenty years observation and enjoyment of apple precocity, apple dependability and all-around apple excellence throughout a long season, the writer continues annually to cast his ballot for Wealthy.

True the Wealthy has its faults--so have all the other varieties of apples of individual choice--and so have we--the growers; but for early fruitage, prolificacy, excellence for culinary use, extended period of usefulness, richness and delicacy of flavor when ripened in a cool cellar and good keeping qualities when under proper conditions it is placed in cold storage, there are few if any varieties other than this that combine so many splendid and desirable characteristics. From mid-July to mid-September of the present year we have been using Wealthy for culinary purposes with steadily increasing enjoyment as their quality has gradually become finer and finer. At this writing, September 18, we have in the cellar attractively colored, well ripened, pink-and-white-fleshed Wealthy delightful for dessert use; and there are yet Wealthy--firm and crisp--on the trees for later autumn use if kept in the cellar, or early winter and holiday use if placed in cold storage.

If we could have but one apple tree that tree would be a Wealthy. This statement is made with full knowledge and appreciation of the many other excellent varieties of various seasons, including Grimes, Jonathan, Stayman and Delicious.

Law Fixes Standards for Containers for Fruits, Berries and Vegetables in Interstate Commerce.

(TAKEN FROM "WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE," THE ORGAN OF WIS. STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.)

Standards for Climax baskets for grapes, other fruits and vegetables, and other types of baskets and containers used for small fruits, berries, and vegetables in interstate commerce, are fixed by an act approved by the President August 31, 1916. The law will become effective November 1, 1917.

The effect of the act will be to require the use of the standards in manufacturing, sale, or shipment for all interstate commerce, whether the containers are filled or unfilled. A large part of the traffic in fruits and vegetables in this country enters interstate commerce. The law relates only to the containers and will not affect local regulations in regard to heaped measure or other method of filling. A special exemption from the operations of the law is made for all containers manufactured, sold, or shipped, when intended for export to foreign countries, and when such containers accord with the specifications of the foreign purchasers, or comply with the laws of the country to which the shipment is destined.

Standards of three capacities are fixed for Climax baskets--2, 4 and 12 quarts, dry measure. These containers, often known as "grape baskets," have relatively narrow, flat bottoms, rounded at each end, and thin sides flaring slightly from the perpendicular. The handle is hooped over at the middle from side to side. In addition to fixing the capacities of these standard baskets of this type, the law also prescribes their dimensions.

The other standards are for "baskets or other containers for small fruits, berries, and vegetables." They are to have capacities only of one-half pint, 1 pint, 1 quart, or multiples of 1 quart, dry measure. Such containers may be of any shape so long as their capacities accurately accord with the standard requirements.

The examination and test of containers to determine whether they comply with the provisions of the act are made duties of the department, and the Secretary of Agriculture is empowered to establish and promulgate rules and regulations allowing such reasonable tolerances and variations as may be found necessary.

Penalties are provided by the act for the manufacture for shipment, sale for shipment, or shipment in interstate commerce of Climax baskets, and containers for small fruits, berries, and vegetables, not in accord with the standards. It is provided, however:

That no dealer shall be prosecuted under the provisions of this act when he can establish a guaranty signed by the manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, or other party residing within the United States from whom such Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers, as defined in this act, were purchased, to the effect that said Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers are correct within the meaning of this act. Said guaranty, to afford protection, shall contain the name and address of the party or parties making the sale of Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers, to such dealer, and in such case said party or parties shall be amenable to the prosecutions, fines, and other penalties which would attach in due course to the dealer under the provisions of this act.--Department of Agriculture.

Golden Russet and Boston Stripe combined in the same fruit, as the result of a graft. Trees producing these apples bear only a few fruits of this combination; the rest of the crop belongs entirely to one or other of the two varieties concerned. The explanation of these chimeras is that the original buds of the scion failed to grow, after the graft was made, but an adventitious bud arose exactly at the juncture of stock and scion, and included cells derived from both. These cells grow side by side but remain quite distinct in the same stem, each kind of cell reproducing its own sort. From "Journal of Heredity," May, 1914. Published by the "American Genetic Association," Washington, D. C.]

The Rhubarb Plant.

LUDVIG MOSBAEK, ASKOV.