The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-29

worst enemies, and thus make his In
dustry more profitable, both to himself
and to the consumer.
'Truck farming which is carried on
In very extensive manner on the At
lantio coast, Is also receiving the at
tention of this division, and the dis
eases of the various truck crops, such
! as Watermelons, nntskmelons, cucum-
bers, tomatoes, cabbages, ETC., have
been studied during the past few years
A bacterial disease Of cabbage which
Is wide spread, has been studied es-
pecially this year, land it Is our earnest
hope that by the coming season, this
division will be able to put into the
hands of truck farmers a bulletin on
the subject OF. this disease, and Its
treat, which will enable them to aVolo
1t. The same thing Is true or severe
disease Of the watermelon in the South.
1.-THE department has recently issued
bulletin on the subject of diseases OF
the Burmuda lily, which is known more
commonly as the Easter lily. rms
plant represents in the neighborhood
of ten million dollars to greenhouse
men. The bulbs are all imported from
Burmuda. The department has deter
mined that the diseases have their
main origin in the manner In Wh1cn
they are cultivated in Burmuda, ana
for this reason the health or the MY
can only be controlled by careful at
tention to the culture and the care Oh
the bulb. AS soon as a suitable place
can be found in which to grow the
bulbs, an attempt will be made to in
troduce their culture in the United
States, and in this way 1t is hopeo
that the disease of the lily will be over
come and exterminated.
1.-THE division is in close touch with
the horticulturalists and farmers
nfru
Of correspondence is not only able to
give them interesting data in regard to
the diseases of many of their crops, but
also facts in regard to the methods
of culture best suited to the growing
of plants able to resist the attacks or
disease, thus enabling them to plant
the best varieties Of products, anu
making their crops more valuable.
Prof. NJ. B. Waite, an assistant in the
division of vegetable physiology and
pathology, who is at the present time
engaged in the investigation and study
of the various diseases or the frult
trees of this country, in conversation
today, had the following to say of that
division:
1--WE have an elaborate orchard ex-
pertinent station out in Maryland only
few miles from. Washington, where
we are endeaVoring to find out just
what fertilizers, and what ingredients
in the fertilizers, are best adapted to
the production. of healthful pear trees
These experiments are carried on not
only with chemical fertilizers, but in
clude green manure, crimson clover anu
COW peas. They also include stable ma
nuring and hufeluS obtained from leaf
mold or weed trash. These experiments
have now been carried on for year,
and it is planned to continue them for
ter years longer, so that the trees will
be grown and brought into bearing I'M
der definite lines of treatment.
1.-The greater portion of the most serl-
Gus diseases of the pear and peach
trees, mainly through the efforts of this
division within the last ten years, have
been brought under control. That is to
say that some method of treating the
diseases either by spraying or cultural
methods, or by p un.ng out the diseased
parts has been discovered. We have
some line of treatment that can be ap-
piled at reasonable expense, for near
ly all of these diseases, and If any
body has the money on hand, he can
grow these trees reasonably free from
disease.
"It should be noted that the division
of vegetable physiology and pathology
for several years past. has been max
ing large number of experiments in
the study of pear blight; the disease
which is so destructive to the pear,
peach ounce and other fruit trees.
This disease 5has baen- Investigated by
two previous Investigators, but the
blights life history was not worked out
until recently by member of this di-
vision. The remedy is a very simple
one, and purely an old one; that is,
III cutting out the diseased parts of the
tree. But the successful application of
the remedy by cutting out the blight,
depends on thoroughly understanding
the method of procedure of the disease.
The desease is aparasitic one, owing to
the existence of a minute microbe
which developes in the bark and kills
the tissues as far as it extends. The
sources of contagion in the orchards. or
the points from which the microbe
starts in the spring and spreads from
tree to tree, were not fully understood.
The germs were supposed to live in the
soil, or in marshes and in some way
got started in the tree, such as being
blown by the wind. After careful in
vestigation, however, it was found that
the disease holds over in certain
branches of the trees where perfectly
harmless cases of the blight appeared
the fall before. Thus it appears that
the harmless blight of the fall before
is the source of the infection for the
following year.
1.-The intelligent cutting out of these
cases Of old blight enables us to ex-
terminte the microbe from the orchard,
and the determination of the microbe
must necessarily prevent the possibility
of blight. The disease is largely gov
erned by the condition of the soil and
moisture; and this may greatly infiu-
ence the spreading of the disease. But
no matter how favorable the condi ions
may be for the blight, if there are no
microbes there can be no blight. So
this is another victory of science over
one of the worst Of all plant diseases.
Another severe plant disease is peach
yellows. The yelloWs of the peach
have long been one Of the greatest bug
bears to peach growers. This has been
very carefully and very thoroughly in
vestigated for several years, but is still
an open question because the remedy
for peach yellows has not yet been
found However, it is confidently be-
lieved that the mystery surrounding
peach yellows, will by degrees be
worked out; and it may be given as one
Of the most important lines of work OF
this division for the coming year.
Persons who like chrysanthemums
will be interested to know that in the
green houses of this division are the
two largest plants of this variety in
Washington, and very probably in the
entire United States. The two plants
in question are of the same size and
color, being five feet in height, and
eight feet three inches across. The
plants are both growing in tWelve-inch
pots, and were grown by the division
for experiments. They are of the silver
cloud variety, and have attracted a
great deal of attention among flower
lovers in Washington, even now when
the city is abloom with chrysanthe-
NUNS.