The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-02

l wrote IN personal letter direc-
tons for the black spot in roses. bu,
since writing this l have seen the
results OF some station experiments
that showed that for the black spot
and tor the mildew on roses the bcs t
spraying material is formalin. You
can get this at any drug store OF the
40 per cent solution. - tablespoonful
in two-gallon watering pot makes
ii strong enough Spray with a hand
sprayer or atomizer. You can get
these made of tn at hardware stores
for 30 cents. These hand sprayers are
very handy for small work, and l
use one in my garden. OF course. the
spraying will not restore the spotted
leaves nor the mildewed ones, but
Will cause others TO come out healthy.
Growing GIndIoIus.
You said that you would include in
your letters the women and the flow
err garden. Now ! come to ask about
the Gladiolus. Two or three years ago
bought some mixed bulbs Of gladio-
lus. They were very beautiful and
have Increased wonderfully, as l SOW
the little offsets every year But now
| / have no variety, FOR they seem to
have run out into one color entirely
| Can YOU explain how this is and how
| the commercial growers keep them in
| VARIETY" Yes. this is easily explained
4 /
! from varieties of named Eladiolus. and,
OF course. your first bloom comes In
/ varied colors. But then some OF these
I varieties make more little offsets than
! others and some, while making offsets,
! make those that do not Ecrminatc
I we'll Then YOU go on 10 Increase your
! bulbs by sowing the little sets. and tho
/ kinds that make plenty of good ger
minating sets, soon predominatc, and
Is 1nn
mixed. but has run into the dominant
| color.
! The only way to keep a mixture good
\ is to separate each variety to itself. and
4 grow them as though they were named
/ sorts, and then also you can SOW seed
/ and get new colors after two seasons
! growth. hut the best way, and the
] way do, is to get the named varieties
/ and keep them separately. | have 4
large number of varieties of tho Glad
| iolus and 7 find that some of them
make great many offsets and are
J easily Increased. while others make
very few sets, and some that mako
/ good many sets terminate very
! scantily Hence YOU will find that GER
! tain of the named varieties are always
! held at high prices. while others are
/ cheap. Fortunately some OF the very
! best are among those that increase
! rapidly. The fine Gladiolus. known as
/ America, is one OF these Niagara also
/ Increases rapidly. while the pure yellow
/ sulphur King increases slowly. Blue
Jay. the finest blue Gladiolus increases
| fairly we'll, while the White Blanche
| hardly makes any offsets that will
! grow And these differences viii be
/ found running through all the named
| varieties. The immense lowered Pri
| ceps is n rapid increasing variety. and
! il is we'll TO know the habits of the
/ Varieties in getting the bulbs. why
B
nate freely while the sets from others
/ will hardly grow AT all, is one OF the
mysteries OF plant life.
/ Crimson Clover RcsecdtnR.
II have q piece OF crimson clover
! that 7 did not turn under, hut let it
die on the land. Now I find good
| stand OF Young clover coming from this
seed Will this go through and make
a winter cover on the land l rather
| fear that starting so early the clover
, may run to bloom in the hot weather.
and that. of course viii finish ii. 1t
Will be interesting, II not necessary
to use the land. 10 let II stand and see
what the result will be. Crimson
clover can seldom he relied upon 10 re
seed tho land. and in your early sec
ton is ripcned early and in favorable
weather has terminated Bur, starting
SO early, / rather suspect that il will
have the same result that would come
from spring sowing Of the seed. 1t
Will bloom in the summer and die.
Uiusic Slug Meal In u Fertilizer.
Can use Basic Stag meal or Thomas
phosphate, as some call it, in a com
! pletc fertilizer miXture?" | have re
! piled n few DAYS ago TO a similar qucs-
ton in regard 10 mixing Basic Stag
! and tankaGc. In making complete
| fertilizer mixture or one containing
due percentage of nitrogen. in form OF
| nitrate and organic matter like cotton
/ seed meal and tankage or dried fish, |
/ would rather fear that Basic Stag in
! such n mixture would cause some loss
/ OF ammonia If the mixture is let stanG.
/ long enough To absorb moisture If the
/ mixture is made as wanted. and is used
AT once, DO not think that there would
/ he much loss if any. from the lime in
/ the Basic Stag
Commercial FERTILIZERS Essential.
| i am reading your contributions Ia
/ The Times. dispatch with a good deal
! OF care But YOU seem 10 he opposed
10 tho use OF fertilizers How shall we
DO without them" do not think thai
have ever written a word showing
that | am opposed 10 the use OF com
mcrcial fertilizers have opposed the
Wasteful and injudicious use of them
the entire dependence on these fcrtii-
i%crs for tho production of every crop
/ a farmer grows instead Of using them
in Il more liberal and economic way
too. for tho Improvement of the soil
iliNc opposed farmers Tor using
rails their land does not need il they
farm right have stated. and wish TO
repeat, that in all grain farms and cot
ton farms the farmer who farms Alright
and grows plenty of lecume forage
and feeds II TO stock. and saves and
uses the manure properly. viii never
need 10 buy AN ounce OF ammonia or
nitrogen in fertilizer. l have tried
10 SHOW that, on our red hills. there is a
vast abundance OF potash in the soil
mat can b" made available to plants
by accommodating organic decay in the
SOL and an occasional lining. and thus
on many soils the good farmer will he
narrowed down 10 the one plant food
that ne must buy. the phosphoric acid
ana by farming we'll as | have said he
can Duy much more of this for the same
money ne has been spending for food
materials that he need not have bought
but can get free In greater abundance
than ne can afford 10 buy them. Thou
sands Of farmers will buy low grade
49, fertilizer and use about 200
pounds n acre, and that 900 pounds