By II. F. Tompson In The Market Grower’s Journal

The spraying of vegetable crops, excepting Potatoes, is not a common practice in New England. The purpose of spraying either vegetables or fruits is usually two-fold, the control of insect pests and fungous diseases. At the present time it is everyday knowledge among fruit growers that both insects and diseases can be controlled by spraying with a combination of materials, the one an insecticide designed to kill either by stomach poison or contact; the other to protect by coating the plant with a substance which prevents the growth of the organism causing disease.

Spraying is not a universal prevention for our troubles with insects and disease. It is not pleasing that we should have to spray. In so far as we can, we should control the growth and health of our plants by good feeding and proper care.

It is no more sensible, however, to allow^r insects and disease to destroy crops and remove profits when a remedy is at hand than it is to fail to call the doctor and to give the proper care and medicine when one of the family is sick with scarlet fever.

During the past few seasons losses from insect pests and plant diseases have become severe. Some market gardeners have stopped growing certain crops because all profit was destroyed by insect or disease injury.

In most instances, insects and disease can be controlled. And this can be done at a cost which makes their control a matter of good business. Spraying either with an insecticide or fungicide or both combined is usually necessary to bring about this control.

As every good farmer knows, there is plowing and plowing, and hoeing and hoeing. In one ease the results are poor, in the other good. If possible, this is more true with spraying and especially true with spraying vegetable crops for disease control. Thoroughness is all essential. The right mixture, applied at the right times, with the right equipment, with sufficient pressure and applied thoroughly will control Celery blight, melon blight, Cucumber blight. Tomato blight, kill Potato bugs. Tomato worms. Asparagus beetle larvae, lessen the damage from the striped Cucumber beetle, and many other insects.

THE SPRAY PUJIP

There are many kinds of sprayers on the market from the hand spray pump and barrel costing about $15, with the necessary equipment, to the big power sprayer costing several hundred. I have been insistent in recommending the use of a small power outfit for one principal reason; the capacity of such an equipment, if properly made, to deliver a steady pressure of between 175 and 200 pounds. It is necessary to have this high pressure to get a uniformly fine spray which will enable the user to cover the crop to be sprayed.

Ideal spraying results in the complete covering of the foliage with an even coat of solution on both surfaces of the leaves. The nearer we approach this ideal, the nearer we get to perfect results. To go through the motions of spraying without results means a loss of labor and money in materials and gives the impression that it is useless to spray. Both arc wrong. Therefore, an equipment which will aid in eliminating these losses is worth while. Futhermore. while the cost of a small power sprayer will average $150 with equipment, it may easily result in a saving double or triple that amount in a single season, will enable the user more efficiently and rapidly to do the necessary spraying with less labor, and lessen the difficulty of the work.

The pump should be capable of delivering enough liquid to supply four nozzles of the “Friend” type and maintain pressure. Its capacity rating should not be less than four gallons per minute. It should be easy to pack and drain. Direct coupling with the engine is best.

The engine should have sufficient power to maintain the desired pressure working at average load. Any one knowing anything about gasoline engines is able to judge of this by seeing the machine in operation.

There may be some question whether it is better to buy rubber or canvas hose. The latter is cheaper to buy. and as long lived when properly cleaned and stored after use. It is lighter to handle. The right size is three-eighths inch.

For spraying vegetable crops the use of Lq-inch gas pipe for the spray rod is very satisfactory and a length of four feet is convenient. There should be an angle shut off between the hose and rod. A brass Y will be the most suitable connection between rod and nozzles.

The ideal nozzle will deliver a very fine spray which will coat the foliage without drenching. The following kinds of nozzles will give satisfaction: “Friend,” ” Mistry, ” “Vermorel. ” The finess of the spray is partly regulated by the size of the opening in the disc of the nozzle. This opening should not be over one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, and preferably somewhat less.

SPRAYING MATERIALS

Insect sprays—Of the poisons for chewing insects, none is safer to use and more satisfactory than arsenate of lead. The paste form is most commonly found in the market, and is used at the rate of from two to three pounds to 50 gallons of water.

Of the contact poisons, some nicotine solution is most useful for market gardeners to use against plant liee. An addition of sufficient fish oil, soap to this mixture to make suds will increase its efficiency.

Bordeaux mixture is the most suitable spray for use against plant diseases. It is made by dissolving four pounds of copper sulphate crystals in 25 gallons of water, slaking six pounds of good lump lime, and stirring it into 25 gallons of water; and then combining the two by pouring them simultaneously into a third barrel. The resulting mixture will be robin’s egg blue in color, and contain four pounds of copper sulphate, six pounds of lime, and 5Q gallons of water. Tf the tank to be used holds 100 gallons, double the above quantities.

What is called a stock solution may be made by dissolving copper sulphate in one barrel in the proportion of one pound to one gallon of water; and by slaking lime in another barrel in the same proportion. As much as 20 to 30 pounds of each material can be placed in each barrel. These barrels should be kept covered to prevent evaporation and maintain the right proportion of one pound to one gallon of copper sulphate in one case and lime in the other. Made in this way, these stock solutions will keep indefinitely. When Bordeaux is to be made, three more barrels are needed. Into one is placed four gallons of the stock solution of copper sulphate, after the stock solution has been thoroughly stirred. This in turn is diluted to make 25 gallons. The lime solution is handled similarly in another barrel, six gallons being used instead of four as for the copper sulphate. The two are then combined by pouring each diluted solution into a third barrel at the same time. In this way the work of dissolving copper sulphate and slaking lime preceding each spraying, is not necessary.

There are many prepared materials on the market to take the place of home made Bordeaux, some of which seem satisfactory. In most instances arsenate of lead is combined with this to make a combination insecticide and fungicide. Under normal market conditions it is not economical to use the combined insecticide and fungicide where the fungicide alone is needed. However, at the present time, with copper sulphate costing three times its normal price, the use of such a material is advised where there is no danger from the use of the arsenate of lead. Every caution should be exercised in the use of any poison spray on vegetables which are used on the table without trimming, or where the edible portion is exposed in the field.

TIME TO SPRAY

Spraying is to prevent loss by insects and disease just as cultivation is to save soil moisture and prevent the growth of weeds. There must be prevention. The time of attack by insect pests is fairly well known. Careful observation will take note of the first intruders. Where poison sprays are to be used the plants should be sprayed shortly before the pest is due. Squash and Potato bugs often precede the crop and stand ready for the crop to come through the ground. Early spraying is essential. Where a contact spray is necessary, as for plant lice, the liee must be present before the spray will work. The application should be early before considerable damage is done.

For the fungous diseases thorough spraying before the attack is most important. A knowledge of the occurrence of the disease in the community is a very forceful warning of the need for immediate action.

METHOD OF APPLICATION

Water is simply the carrier of the poison and the copper compound, and has no other part to play. After the application is made, the water evaporates and leaves these compounds to do their work. If portions of a plant are left uncovered, there is chance for insects to feed and disease to start. The necessity for high pressure and a good nozzle has been emphasized. The combination results in a fine mist-like spray which spreads evenly, will cover foliage without drenching or waste of material, will make rapid spraying possible and pre-(Continued on pagre 127)

Owing to unavoidable conditionN j the regular cranberry notes for May , were received too late for publication. The pagre thia month in com- I posed of “pick-ups,”—F. Cranefield, Editor, Wisconsin Horticulture.

Flooding Best Way to Fight Cranberry Pest, Says Department.

An abundant water supply, permitting flooding and reflooding at proper times, is the best remedy for insect injury in cranberry bogs, and when the sites of new bogs are to be chosen this should always be borne in mind. On cranberry land where the water supply is insufficient, spraying, sanding, and other measures will have to be used.

These are statements in Farmers’ Bulletin 860, “Cranberry-Insect Problems and Suggestions for Solving Them,” by H. B. Scanmell, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Cranberry bogs, usually are flooded from December or January until April or May and are reflowed one or more times in the spring to eradicate insects. Occasionally a bog is flooded in the fall, immediately after picking, for a period of one or two weeks, a practice which aids materially in controlling the pests.

HELPS INSECT CONTROL

Insect problems may be disposed of with little difficulty where the bogs are constructed properly and ample provision is made for flooding and reflooding. Many bogs, however, have been laid without supplying adequate flooding facilities and hence the control of insects has become a serious problem for some growers. New insecticides are coming to the front and these may be of value in helping to control cranberry insects, but the bulletin says that too much stress can not be laid upon careful provision for a water supply when plans are being made for the development of cranberry land.

The cranberry has many insect enemies, but some of them are of importance only on dry bogs. The foliage is attacked by three species of “fireworms,” the tipworm, spanworms, army worm and fall army worm and the cranberry flea-beetle; the fruit is eaten by the fruitworm, blossom worm, cranberry katydid, grasshoppers, and crickets; the vine is attacked by the girdler toadbug, vinehopper, spittle insect, a mealybug, and the Putnam and oyster-shell scales; and the roots are destroyed by the rootworm and white grubs.

The Department of Agriculture bulletin gives brief descriptions of these pests their life histories and the means found most effective in each case in preventing their ravages and for destroying them.

How to Sweeten Cranberries

Cranberries may be served without emptying your sugar bowl.

Because of the acid content of cranberries, sweeteners such as sorghum, cane or corn sirup may be used even more successfully than with other fruits. Cranberries may be combined with other fruits which are sweet, such as apples, figs, and raisins, either to extend or modify the cranberry flavor or to add sweetness to it.

Cranberries are a valuable food because of the iron and acid they contain. Many like the acid flavor while others acquire a taste for it. The recipes suggested use sugar savers.

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberries, 1 quart

Raisins or figs or cocoanut, 1 cup

Water, 3 cups

Sorghum or cane sirup, cup

Inspect and wash cranberries. Prepare raisins, cut in small pieces and add to cranberries and other ingredients, and cook until tender.

Cranberry Jelly

Cranberries, 2 quarts

Water, 1 quart

Light sirup, 1 to l¹,g cups

Cook cranberries in the water 20 minutes. Put through a sieve. This amount should make about 1 quart of juice and pulp. Add sweetening and cook about 10 minutes, or until it will give a jelly. Turn into molds.

Cranberry-Apple Jelly

Apple juice, 1 pint

Cranberry juice, 1 pint

Sugar, % cup

Sorghum or sirup, l^:ij cups

Prepare apple juice as for apple jelly. Add prepared cranberry juice and boil 5 minutes. Add sweetening; boil until it gives the jelly test. Turn into glasses. A large proportion of cranberry may be used if desired.

Quarantine Proclaimed Against Common Barberry.

The Secretary of Agriculture has proclaimed a quarantine, effective May 1. prohibiting the shipment of certain species of barberry and Mahonia into the States of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio. North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota. Montana, Wisconsin. Michigan, Wyoming and Colorado from the rest of the United States. Investigations of the Department of Agriculture established the fact, some time ago, that the common barberry and related Mahonia plants harbor the black stem rust which causes very severe injury to wheat, oats, barley, rye and many cultivated and wild grasses. A hearing was held some weeks ago at the Department of Agriculture ami the quarantine now proclaimed is the result.

The official quarantine, however, does little more than to recognize and make effective the practical and voluntary quarantine entered into by the great majority of nurserymen and other persons interested. An extensive campaign for the eradication of the common barberry and other rust-harboring species has been under way in the northern wheat area for the past year. The dangerous plants have been very largely eradicated from the States named in the quarantine. More than 2,000 nurserymen have signed pledges that their firms will not ship barberry plants into the areas where the effort at extermination is being made.

I n the rest of the United States, the black stem rust disease is less important and there is less or no need for the destruction of susceptible plants. It was found necessary, therefore, to prohibit the States in which these plants are not being destroyed from shipping them to the protected states.

No restriction is placed on the movement of Japanese barberry and Japanese Mahonia, the most valuable and most commonly planted of the barberries and Ma-honias.

Lawn Making.

The best time for lawn making is early spring but May is not too late. Several columns would be required for an adequate discussion of this subject but only a few brief hints can be given. Deep tillage is important, don’t scratch the surface, sow grass seed and expect an enduring turf. The surface to be seeded should be spaded to the depth of at least ten inches and a greater depth is desirable, without of course, turning the subsoil on the surface. Grading is important as when the lawn is finished the grade cannot be changed. June grass, known also as Kentucky blue grass is best for Wisconsin conditions with a little white clover for variety. Use plenty of seed, at the rate of 60 to 75 pounds, or more to the acre and rake it in. Oats, or better, perennial rye grass may be used with the June grass to furnish a “nurse crop.” Prof. Aust says:   “I prefer the annual or

perennial rye grass for this purpose as this makes a better lawn than oats and the perennial rye will hold over for two or three years, thus giving the blue-grass a good opportunity to become established. ’ ’

Watering a newly made lawn will do more harm than good unless thoroughly done. If the soil was properly prepared watering will scarcely be necessary.

Garden Contests.

Prof. James G. Moore, Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, is remarkably well informed on all matters concerning this and similar subjects as well as other matters horticultural.

Bulletin No. 32, Garden Contests and Garden Exhibits by Prof. Moore, discusses the two chief ways of judging gardens, types of gardens, score cards and other points of interest. Every garden chairman should have a copy of this bulletin. Apply to Prof. Moore or this office.

Hardy Trees, Shrubs and Flowers.

Prof. F. A. Aust of the College of Agriculture is the author of a 12-page illustrated circular which is an excellent though brief treatise on planting home grounds and the classification of planting material as to size, color, hardiness, etc. Distributed by the College of Agriculture.

The commercial tobacco preparations will keep in check the green and black aphis found on chrysanthemums at this time of the year. Tobacco tea is easily made by soaking tobacco stems in water until the liquid is the color of strong tea. Spray this over the plants as often as insects are found on them. It is, of course, desirable to spray the plants with clean w'ater 15 or 20 hours after using- the tobacco water.

If you want bird neighbors, put up bird houses and bird baths and plant a few shrubs which carry fruits that birds like, such as the Juneberry. red elder, and wild cherry.

Spring Management of Bees.

EARLY INSPECTION.

Spring management is one of the greatest problems in beekeeping. The task is to so manage the colonies that the largest possible forces of worker bees are available at the beginning of the period when, in your locality, the most important honey plants begin to yield nectar. Efficient spring management remedies any mistakes made since the previous honey flow, and prepares to get each colony of bees to maximum strength for the yield of nectar. There are really only two seasons for the beekeeper. One is during the preparation for the honey flow—from the end of honey production one year to the beginning of the honey flow the next year—and second, during the period of the honey flow itself.

After bees are set out of the cellar, or when wintered out doors, each hive should be examined at the earliest time the weather permits. Colonies should be examined at once for three necessities:  1. Ade

quate stores, 2. A laying queen. 3. Sufficient room for the queen to lay eggs.

EXITING qt’EENLESS COLONIES.

Where no queen is found in a hive in the spring, the queenless colony should be united at once with a colony having a queen. This should also be done where the queen appears to be failing. It does not pay to pamper a weak colony. at any time. Only strong col

charge of apiary inspection work in Wisconsin. For the names of inspectors in other states, write the United States Bee Culture Laboratory, Chevy Chase, D. C.)

Sugar syrup may be given in a feeder placed as near a cluster of bees as possible. For this a France feeder is ideal when placed inside an empty super above the bees. If the weather is cold, lay several thicknesses of newspaper between the empty super and the brood chamber. Tear a small round hole in the newspaper over which to set the feeder. This keeps the heat below. Sugar syrup is made of one part clean water and two parts pure, granulated cane sugar. Impure feed causes dysentery among bees. Do not feed heated syrup. The amount of feed needed to rear a frame of brood is unknown. Bees may have to be fed frequently if short of stores until nectar is available from natural sources.

PROVIDING ADEQI'ATE ROOM.

If a strong colony is opened early in the spring, and all frames are found to be full of brood and honey, more room will be needed at once, to prevent swarming. Add another hive body of clean drawn combs containing but little honey. This will allow the queen adequate room for egg laying, and give the bees space to store the first honey gathered in the field.

These manipulations bring one up to the beginning of the first im portant honey flow in late spring. I’ut on supers at the beginning of the honey flow, as needed. If von are producing comb honey, a queen excluder may be placed above all the brood, even if the queen is laying in more than one brood chamber. With extracted honey producers. the queen excluder may not be necessary, but is frequently used.

SWARMS ARE UNDESIRABLE.

With adequate room provided for the queen and ample space for the storage of surplus honey available at all times, swarming should be reduced to a minimum. To allow the bees to swarm is to divide the strength of the colony. The greater the number of bees in each hive, kept undivided, the greater the amount of honey that may be expected from each colony, if the season is not a failure. It is the number of strong colonies of bees at the beginning of the honey flow and not the total number of colonies you own which determines your prospects for a good crop of honey.

Everbearing Strawberries

M. S. Kellogg in Wisconsin Agriculturist

Our experience in growing ever-bearing strawberries has been a success and a failure both. We have been on both sides of the fence and some of the time we have been on the fence, but I think that this fruit that has come to us now has a permanently fixed place in our horticultural life.

That has been demonstrated by something over fifteen years experiment. so they are beyond the experimental stage now. The pedigree, as you might term it, or the blood lines of that particular class of fruit have been fixed firm enough and strong enough so that they reproduce themselves with very little variation.

Our success has been in connection with other of our fruit growing operations. Some years ago when weather conditions were favorable, these strawberries have been marketed at a price that would be almost unbelievable if we did not have a fancy hotel or restaurant trade.

We got as high as 45 cents a quart for some of our everbearing strawberries, and if weather conditions are anywhere near favorable, at 20 cents a quart or 10 cents a pint, as a retail proposition, they are a money making crop.

They will yield if they have been properly cared for and given proper cultivation. They will yield approximately as much during the fall months as -the June bearing varieties will yield during the regular strawberry season. Some varieties will do much better on certain soils than others.

Progressive is the better plant maker. The berries are not quite as large as the Superb and are comparatively of better quality for a fancy trade, requiring berries of extra quality. The Superb will produce better berries, larger size and will bring comparatively more money on the market than the Progressive.

We have practiced, where we have been attempting to grow the berries as a fall crop to disbud the plants until about the 1st or 15th of July, according to the season, and when you want your berries to begin to mature, if you allow everbearers to go their own gait, they will give you a crop of berries in June, at the same time the other berries will ripen, practically. in our ease they will ripen around five days earlier than the standard varieties.

Following this they would take two to five weeks rest, then the new blossoms appear. and it will take three to four weeks from the appearance of the first fruit buds until the berries begin to ripen. If you disbud them early in the season, you will get your berries when you want them to come and continue till freezing time.

I remember one experiment ten to twelve years ago when we were testing out fifteen to eighteen varieties of these everbearing, and we have tried everything. We are looking for something a little better than we have. We have tried an experiment letting these berries bear into the summer on an experimental block.

The rows were probably 12 rods long and there were fourteen to fifteen rows in that block, part of them Dunlaps and other June bearing varieties, part of them the everbearers and actual records of the berries produced by the different varieties, comparing the productivenes of the everbearers with the Dunlap and other standard varieties, they produced in June from 45 to 80 per cent as much fruit as the standard sort.

Is farm life worth while? Not if it is one continual round of drudgery. 365 days in the year, without conveniences or any playtime. Nor, for that matter, is life carried on that way anywhere of much value. Conveniences, a garden, flowers, playtime, and some time given to neighbors.

(Jo right after the common barberry in your neighborhood. Take it out now and plant some other shrub. Japanese or Thunberg barberry is safe to leave. Tn fact it is a much finer plant and does no harm.

PLANT A TREE IN FRANCE

To the Members of the State Horticultural Society:

On behalf of the National Horticultural Society of France and the fruit growers of_f France whose homes, trees and vines were destroyed by a ruthless and savage enemy: On behalf of our two million soldier sons now in France who well know what the French have suffered: in memory of our brave boys who gave all they had that we might be spared such horrors I ask your consideration of the following appeal. I ask only for one tree. Will you plant it?

Fr ederic Or a n efiei ,d.

The appeal of the National Horticultural Society of France, printed in the April number of this paper has brought many generous responses. Every letter has been acknowledged and further recognition will be given later. The subscription will close June 1st and all who wish to contribute should act soon. The campaign to date has been wonderful in some respects and disappointing in others. Some of the letters sent with the subscriptions and marked personal have given me more satisfaction and happiness than would a million dollar personal gift. My pride in being an American has been intensified—if that were possible.

The disappointing feature is the lack of small contributions and that quite likely is due to the framing of the first appeal. To those who have contributed the larger sums the writer tried to express his pleasure but if five hundred members more will each plant just one tree in France, if no more, the list on June 1st would be one of the grandest pages in the history of our society. If one thousand of our sixteen hundred should each send 75 cents there could be no finer record. Big or little, all will be appreciated. It may be that our gifts will not serve to plant the trees this season but do not doubt that every cent will be eventually applied to that purpose. We have all bought bonds and thrift stamps, contributed to every drive until we are just plain tired and quite broke but it seems to me this is an appeal that we can’t pass by. The fruit growers and lovers of fruits and flowers of France are calling to us across the seas. Will we respond ? Just one tree if no more. No doubt you mean to do this but have neglected it. There will be not more than twenty days after you read this in which to contribute. A part of the appeal which appeared in the April number is reprinted here.

AN APPEAL

The horticulturists of France, through their national Society, have appealed to the horticulturists of Wisconsin for help. Shall we fail them? As citizens of Wisconsin and the Nation we have responded liberally to every appeal for help from stricken Belgium and France but here is a chance to help the growers of fruits and flowers who are in deep adversity.

Within a few weeks our fruit trees will be loaded with bloom and then with ripened fruit. There will be no apple blossoms in Northern France this year, only withered branches and the stumps of trees. Soon the lilac and the syringa will brighten our lawns with their clusters of fragrant flowers but no flowers will bloom about the heaps of ruins that were once the homes of happy people who loved fruits and flowers even as we do. Will you help them?

Whatever we give will be expended as we indicate so let us ‘‘Plant a Tree in France.” Seventy-five cents will plant a tree. Hou* many will you plant? Send your contributions to Secretary Cranefield. Madison. Wis., who will forward them to the National Horticultural society of France.

THE HIDEOUS RETREAT

The Huns were retreating sullenly from the Aisne. French refugees were flocking wistfully back to what were once their homes. French soldiers, on leave from the front, were trudging forward on fearful pilgrimages through charred roads and pulverized villages to see what was left of their farms.

The Boche has done hideous things. Only those who have anxiously watched their own things grow can fully understand. The Hun had cut down everything he could see. even the lilac bushes —only what was in the ground, alive, they could not kill—aceord-

Control of the Oyster Shell Scale.

By Charles L. Fluke, Assistant Entomologist, College of Agriculture.

The Oyster Shell Scale is the most common scale insect occurring on apple trees in Wisconsin and is the subject of frequent inquiry by farmers. It is readily distinguished from other scales attacking apples by its rather peculiar shape, resembling a small oyster shell, and by its color, which is very much like the dark brown of the bark of apple trees; the latter fact making it particularly difficult to detect if only a few scales are present.

The Oyster Shell Scale seldom kills a tree; however, in severe infestations complete limbs and twigs are often killed which stunts and retards the growth and development of the plant infested to such an extent that the resultant tree is a hindrance rather than an asset to the orchard. ing to a vivid report in Collier’s Weekly.

One soldier was amazed to find his grape-vines standing. They were budding. He reached tenderly for one of the rough brown stems. It stirred oddly. The sweat broke out on his forehead. For twelve years he had patiently cultivated these vines. He took hold of the lower stem. It had been severed from the root with a fine vineyard saw, and its sap was oozing from the stump. For three years he had fought the Hun in the trenches. But he had never known that there were people in the world who could do this cold, calculated harm to a grape-vine.— From Fourth Liberty Loan Poster, 1918.

The scales attack a wide range of plants including apple, maple, poplar, willow, plum, cherry, grape and many other economic plants.

The winter is passed as tiny whitish glistening eggs under the female scales formed during the preceding summer. These eggs begin hatching the latter part of May or early June and the young scales soon seek suitable places in bark, leaves or fruit to insert their fine thread-like beaks. By fall the female scales are mature and egglaying takes place, the adult dying soon after.

HOW TO CONTROL THE OYSTER SHELL SCALE.

Lime Sulfur is the standard spray for this and other scales on apple trees. It should be used at the rate of one gallon of lime sulfur to twelve gallons of water, and should be applied in the spring as the buds are swelling and before any foliage appears. The spray must actually come in contact with the scales to control them, therefore a thorough application is necessary.

If the dormant spray is not applied summer sprays for the codling moth to which has been added lime sulfur, one gallon to forty gallons of water will help in a large measure to keep the oyster shell scale in cheek. Orchards in which the summer sprays are regularly applied seldom need a special winter spray for this particular scale, however, the most efficient control is the dormant application and should not be regularly neglected.

Harden-off plants before setting them out by giving them more air and less water than they have been used to.

Cultivate around all shrubs and herbaceous plants now. Get the grass away from the roots so that moisture can get in about the plants.

Roses in Minnesota.

To have a really fine rose garden one must have at least a thorough working knowledge of the habits and requirements of roses. Soil, location and varieties, how to plant, prune, etc., are all important.

Do not select a spot near trees or shrubs; have your bed or garden at least as far away as the height of the trees, as the roots spread as far as the branches, taking all the fertility from the ground.

Sun is necessary, but it need not shine on the beds all day. If you have any choice, place your beds where the morning sun is slow to come, as the roses will then hold the dew and their freshness much longer.

By the way, always pick roses as early in the morning as you can, while the dew is on them.

The ideal soil is clay loam, a sticky kind of dirt that will let the water through. This soil will grow good roses but not the best.

Do you want better roses? Add old cow manure and leaf mold, and mix well at least two weeks before planting, leaving the surface of the bed two inches lower than the gound to hold the rain. If you would have the very best roses, you must work, and this is what you must do: If your soil is not naturally well drained, dig out your bed or trench to a depth of two and a half or three feet. Fill in the first six inches with coarse stone or broken brick and finer stones on top. The next six inches must be well rotted cow manure, on top of the stones, and then the top soil. When the land is well drained, begin with digging a trench two or three feet deep, and then fill in with six inches of manure, and then top soil.

When the soil is loamy add yellow elay (it gives the roses a deeper color), to make the ground more solid and hold the moisture; also add to this kind of soil old cow manure, leaf mold and a little bone meal; the latter will be in good condition for the roots to absorb in from thirty to sixty days, just when they are in full bloom. Mix all together and pulverize.

Have you only a sandy place? Dig it out and fill the hole with a combination of clay, loam, leaf mold and old cow manure in equal parts. Thoroughly mix and make fine with the rake. Do this, too, when your beds are old.

The soil around roses should be changed every five or six years. The bushes may be taken up early in the spring and the dirt changed. They really should be dug in the fall and buried, all but the tips. The bed should then be made new and allowed to freeze all winter, in this way killing many of the bugs.

fare should be taken in selecting stock to have the graft not more than three inches from the roots, as this gives less chance for suckci’s. Suckers have seven leaves on each stem, and the wood is reddish and thorny.

When planting, spread out the roots as much as possible, put the fine dirt over them and press in firmly with the foot. The graft should be about three inches below the surface of the ground.

Hybrid perpet uals should be planted two or three feet apart, according to the space you have. Hybrid teas one a half or two feet apart. When your bed is all p'anted. add one-half cup of air-s'aked lime to each plant and rake in well. Then prune, leaving the bushes not over two feet high, with about one inch of stem above the last bud. When all is finished, cover the whole surface with about six inches of old cow manure and water well if the ground is not already wet.

Soot, wood ashes, nitrate of soda and a very little muriate of potash, are all good fertilizers for roses, but it would take lots of space to tell about them. If you do try to use them, do so with discretion.

The most important thing of all is a thorough preparation of the soil. If you do this well in the beginning two-thirds of the work is over.

For a small garden, the best twelve varieties for me have been :

Hybrid Perpetuals—Mrs. John Laing, soft pink; Frau Karl Drusehki, large white; General Jack, red; Mad. Gabriel Luizet. silver pink; Marshall P. Wilder, cherry red; Clio, white .sometimes tinted pink; Prince Camile De Rohan, dark velvet red.

Hybrid Teas—Killarney, a fine clear pink; Mad. Caroline Tcstout. salmon pink; Kaizerine Augusta Victoria, creamy white; Gross an Teplitz, velvety crimson; climbing: Dorothy Perkins, clusters of light pink.

Madame Plantier is a hardy white June rose, very prolific and should be in every garden. There are so many beauties, it is hard to choose.

The Hybrid Perpetuals are the most hardy, but do not bloom every month. The Hybrid Teas do. but need more care as to covering for the winter.

The Coehet roses are all teas, but are worth having even if one has to replace them every year.

I hate to talk about bugs and things, yet must just a little. The first thing in the spring, before the leaves come out at all. spray the bushes with arsenate of lead one and a half ounces to five gallons of water, and then again when there 

are a few leaves. If this does not kill all the bugs, try it again when the buds are coming. The arsenate of lead will stick to the leaves all summer and does not discolor them, so you have a permanent poison— but as the leaves grow out, of course, you will have to add more.

Powdered sulphur, dusted on the damp leaves, is good for mildew. Some tobacco solution or soap suds is good to kill aphis.

White hellebore dusted on damp leaves kills many enemies of the rose, but the rain washes it oft'.

The green worms and rose bugs will have to be hand-picked into a pan of kerosene. Very early in the morning you will see most of them at work.

But you will not have all of these troubles. This is just to show you what to do, if you have one or two of them.

Covering for the winter:—I have had the best success, burying roses in the ground, leaving the tips out. Many people bend them over and cover with leaves or straw, and over this place tar paper or boards. They must be kept dry and have a little ventilation. It is not the cold that kills them but the thawing and freezing. All of the Rugosa roses are hardy and should be in every garden. There are a number of improved varieties that are double.—Mrs. H. B. Tillotson in Minnesota Horticulturist.

Black Ilills and white spruce make good evergreen windbreaks for the farm. They can be planted up to June 1.

Cabbage Injured by Striped Flea Beetles.

L. G. Gentner.

In some parts of the state these tiny striped flea beetles eause very serious injury to cabbage seedlings in the seed bed. Sometimes from 25% to 65% of the seedlings are either killed or made unfit for transplanting, and it becomes necessary to ship in plants.

Control Measures.—Flea beetles are not readily controlled by poisons but may be kept off the plants by thoroughly spraying these with Bordeaux mixture which is made up as follows:

4 ounces bluestone, 4 ounces quicklime, 12 quarts water. Dissolve the bluestone in a wooden or earthenware vessel, using hot water, and then add water to make 6 quarts. Slake the lime by adding water a little at a time. When slaked make up to 6 quarts. Pour the two solutions together through a strainer while stirring and the spray is then ready to apply. Sometimes a combination of Bordeaux mixture and lead arsenate is used.

At times the flea beetles attack the seedlings as soon as they begin to push through the soil. In such eases sprays seem to be of little value and the only thing that can be recommended where this occurs year after year is to grow the seedlings under a cheesecloth screen to keep out the insects and remove this as soon as the beetles begin to disappear so as to harden up the plants.

Destroy Plant Lice.

Plant liee are small soft-bodied insects that occur in masses on the tender shoots of plants and on the under sides of leaves often curling these badly. They have tiny beaks which they insert into the plant tissues and with which they suck the vital juices, often dwarfing and stunting the plants or killing them entirely.

Plant liee may appear on the plants early in the season and continue to multiply rapidly through the summer.

Poisons will not kill plant lice. One must use a contact spray which actually touches them. The standard treatment is a 40% nicotine sulfate at the rate of % pint to 50 gallons of water to which two pounds,of soap, dissolved first in a gallon of water, have been added. For small amounts use one teaspoonful nicotine sulfate and an inch cube of soap to each gallon of water.

Important.—It is best to spray before the leaves curl badly. The spray must actually touch the insects in order to be effective, and should therefore be forced well into the curls and up under the leaves. A nozzle placed at an angle to the rod is the best. Any plant liee skipped by the spray continue to multiply. It may be necessary to make a second application. One may also steep one pound of tobacco leaves or stems in four gallons of water for an hour and apply this, or one may use fish oil or laundry soap at the rate of one pound to 8 gallons of water.

L. G. Gentner.

Control the Currant Worms.

What the Insect Looks Like.— Wherever currants and gooseberries are grown they are troubled with one of our most common garden pests, the imported currant worm. The adult of this insect is a saw-fly. not a true fly but a form having four wings. The female is

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black with a conspicuous yellow abdomen while the male is much smaller with a darker body.

With the first real warm days of spring the adults emerge from their winter cocoons and as soon as the first leaves expand, whitish eggs are laid end for end in rows along the main veins on the underside of the leaves, principally those nearest the base of the plants. The eggs soon hatch and the destructive work of the worms begins. The larvae are conspicuously marked with black spots and are well enough known by gardeners to need no description. The life cycle is repeated in the summer making two broods a year.

How to Control the Currant Worm.—The larvae are very easily destroyed by applying a spray of arsenate of lead 1 to l'A pounds in 50 gallons of water (5 or 6 level teaspoonsful to a gallon). If the bushes need to be sprayed when the fruit is nearly mature, fresh hellebore should be used at the rate of 4 ounces to 2 or 3 gallons of water. The application should be made as soon as the young worms make their appearance.

Charles L. Fluke.

Control Measures for the Cabbage Worm.

The cabbage worm conies from yellowish to orange yellow colored eggs laid by the common white cabbage butterfly. It annually causes serious injury to cabbage and cauliflower. This pest may readily be controlled by the use of arsenicals. The best results are obtained by observing the following points.

• 1. Spray the plants when the worms first hatch. Don’t wait until the plants are badly injured.

• 2. Repeat the spray, if necessary, to cover new leaf growth and to kill the worms hatching from eggs laid later in the season. The eggs for the second generation are usually laid about the early part of July and for the third generation about the early part of August.

• 3. Use a “sticker” such as laundry soap in liquid sprays to make them stick and spread better on the smooth, waxy cabbage leaves.

• 4. Apply the spray in the form of a fine mist so that the foliage is thoroughly coated.

• 5. Keep spray material well agitated so that it will not settle to the bottom of the tank.

• 6. Pour spray material into tank through a strainer to prevent clogging the nozzle. A curd-like precipitate often forms when soap is dissolved in hard water.

ARSENICAL SPRAYS.

Calcium arsenate, lead arsenate and paris green all give satisfactory control. They should be used at the rate of one pound of the powder to fifty gallons of water in which one or more pounds of common yellow laundry soap has been dissolved. When using hard water, more soap is required as the hard water causes the soap to curdle. Soft water should be used where available.

The sprays may also be dusted on the plants early in the morning when these are wet with dew. When so used, they may be diluted with from 5 to 10 parts by weight of lime.

A hand sprayer costing from 75c. to $1.50 is sufficient for the small garden, while for an acre or more one should use some type of knapsack or compressed air sprayer, costing from six to ten dollars. For still larger acreages, it is best to use a four-row traction sprayer such as is used for potatoes.

For dusting small plots one may use a cheesecloth sack or a tin can with holes punched in the bottom. On larger plots, one should get some type of dust gun.

L. G. Gentner.

Plan to Fight the Cutworm.

L. G. Gentner.

Cut worms are ugly dark-colored worms which cause serious losses annually to such crops as corn, potatoes, melons, cucumbers, cabbage, peas, etc. Prevent these losses.

Injury.—Cutworms feed at night, cutting off young plants close to the ground and feeding on the foliage and tender parts of older plants. During the day time one cannot usually see them on the plants for they will be hiding in the soil near the bases of the plants. Grass lands and lands grown up to weeds last year are likely to contain many cutworms.

What to do.—The ground should be thoroughly worked in the spring and kept free from weeds. Then just before the crops come up or before the plants arc set out one should broadcast poison bran ntash over the ground at the rate of four or five pounds per acre. This had best be done in late afternoon or early evening so that it will not dry out before the cutworms feed on it. The poison bran mash may also be used in the fields after the crops are up, as the cutworms will feed on it in preference to the plants and will be poisoned.

A small number of plants may be protected by placing tin cans, with tops and bottoms cut out, over the plants, pressing them well into the soil. Stiff paper collars may also be used.

Poison bran mash. Thoroughly mix one pound of paris green or white arsenic, or two pounds of lead arsenate with 25 pounds of bran. Dilute two quarts of low grade molasses with two or three gallons of water and add the juice and rind of six finely chopped lemons or one ounce lemon extract. Stir this into the bran adding more water if necessary to form a crumbly mash.

Pioneer Horticulturists of Omro Die on the Same Day.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph I). Treleven, pioneer residents of Omro, died on Monday, Feb. 24, at the family residence. Mrs. Treleven had been ailing for many months and was final’y relieved from her sufferings at 1:30 A. M. Mr. Treleven who was stricken with paralysis on Friday morning, Feb. 21, followed his wife in but a few hours, his demise occurring at 11:30 A. M. of the same morning. Joseph D. Treleven was born January 3, 1838, in Cornwall, England. Elizabeth A. Tanner was born at Oakfield, Wis.. July 31, 1845. They were married July 5. 1865. and located on a farm near Omro, where they have resided up to the time of their death. Both being people of unusual business ability, they held many positions of honor and trust throughout the county, and were highly esteemed by the community.

They were life members of the State Horticultural Society. In their passing they are almost the last of the generation of sturdy

SPRAYING FOR THE MARKET GAKDE'NEK

By H. F. Thompson

(Continued from page 115)

vent the washing and dripping that occurs when a coarse spray is used or too long application practiced.

The apparatus and its use > should be directed to cover foliage as evenly and completely as possible. There is a tendency on the part of inexperienced men to spray foliage until it drips in order to cover it thoroughly. There should be as little of this spray material lost from the foliage as is possible and still have the spraying thoroughly done.

It is not good practice to hold the spray nozzle closer than within 12 inches of the crop to be sprayed, except where it is necessary to spray under the foliage. Then it may be advisable to so arrange rods and nozzles that a spray is thrown up from close to the ground.

will probably be better to use a long hose and locate the spraying outfit advantageously. For melons and Cucumbers a wide row should be left every 50 feet. The vines can be laid along the row in this case, and the spray rig driven through the field, one man spraying on either side to the distance of 25 feet. For Celery the rows can be so spaced that the wheels of the spray rig can straddle two rows with the horse walking between and such a spacing made every 50 feet.

For a gardener having several years’ experience in growing three or four acres of Celery, would Chinese Cabbage prove to be a good crop? We have very good Celery and Cabbage soil under overhead irrigation. We have thought that something of this sort might fit in nicely following Onion sets and permit us to crop the same piece twice. —H. B., Ohio.

There will be no serious difficulty in growing Chinese Cabbage. There are two rather distinct types of this plant being grown in this country. One called I’e-Tsai is a taller, more slender growing form with a somewhat less compact heading habit, while Wong Bok is of a shorter and much stockier heading habit. The latter type seems to be preferred.

One of the secrets of success in growing Chinese Cabbage is that of not starting it too early. The seed should not be sown until about the middle of .July, and may either be sown in the field in rows 28 to 30 inches apart, or transplanted from the seed bed. The plants should stand about 15 inches apart in the row.

The Chinese Cabbage thrives Treating all seed potatoes for scab before planting is a cheap insurance. They, of course, must be planted on new land or land free from scab.

Early cabbage requires a warm rich soil. Late cabbage will do well on much cooler soil if it is rich.

Don't put good seed in poorly prepared ground. Much of the season’s cultivation ean be more easily done before any seed goes into the soil.