Evening star., 1934-07-22

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pruning oi frui plants it de-
A slrshle. fceing that TOO much
foliage IL detrimental 50 the
fruit with his thought tn mind
they rut awsy sonc Of the new growth
Of grapevines snd thin out the heads
of their Young. vigorous fruit trees
The principle is wrong because u Is
the leaves that manufacture the
food for the ncpd af the tree
Some years age an experiment vas
carried out with the Concord grape
o. the Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion at Geneva in which different
amounts ~ the foliage was removed
A. harvest sugar determinations were
made on The fruit and In every case
pruning reduced sugar percentage In
direct ratio To the amount Of leaves
removed In the Concord grape. At
least. Summer pruning was proved
undesirable Grapes do not need
direct sunlight exposure 10 ripen
satisfactorily. IN experiments con-
Quoted by the Department of Agri-
culture .he number of leaves per
apple has been numerically restricted
and where the number Of leaves was
below a certain quantity about 30.
the apples vere low in sugar and
quality Pruning should be done In
the Winter when reserves have
moved back into the tree. The only
cutting that need be done on fruit
plants IN Summer is TO cut of broken
and dying tuigs
Grass Disease.
NNIEsTovER and Enlow in Farm
w crs Bulletin No 1877 Planting
and Care Of Lawns. tell us
that the most serious diseases Of turf
grasses are those known as large and
small brown patch These attack the
bent grasses. the fescues. redtop and
ryegrass. For control, the authors
suggest the use Of 2 ounces of
oalomel and / ounce Of corrosive
sublimate mixed with sand or soil
for each 1000 square feet Of lawn.
After application the soil should be
thoroughly watered.
One of the most serious difficult
ties In maintaining q nice blue grass
lawn through the Summer is the tend
ency of this grand species to go
dormant in the heat and drought of
midsummer. The home gardener has
n tendency to cut the blue grass too
short in June. with the result that
the lawns look pretty bare at this
time and crab grass, midsummer
species, gets a foothold. Prof. En-
lows suggestion that the blue grass
be left 3 or inches tall during
the resting period of midsummer is
well worth trying. With all said and
done. blue grass Is the lawn grass
supreme for this vicinity.
The HemerocalIis.
THE day lily or hemerocallis may
not be known to every one as
such but few are the boys
and girls OF rural or even suburban
origin who would not know this fiow-
er under some name Most every
place in the country. large or small,
has its bed of day lilies, more often
the orange variety. In many places
the plant has actually become an es-
cape and naturahzed itself.
Within the last few years several
plant breeders have worked on the
hemerocallis genus, and from their
efforts have come wealth of new
varieties that would seem to promise
TO make the day lily one of our most
important flowers.
One garden writer states that day
lilies may be had from May until late
August a full three months. There
are seven species, all of which are in
cultivation. but 1t is the hybrids that
are attracting marked attention and
bringing new popularity to this group
In named varieties there are yellow
hammer. gem. Mikado, J. A. Craw-
ford, Ajax, goldeni, lemona, gypsy,
George Yield, hyperion, Margaret
Perry, gold standard, gold imperial,
Ochroleuca, Anna Betscher and. lat
est of all to bloom, Mrs. w. H.
Wyman. Truly, here is a family of
new plants that has grown up almost
over night. as 1t we're, and which
deserves investigation by the home
gardener.
Cactus Culture.
IAN ARTICLE from the Missouri
~ Botanical Garden at ST. Louis
suggests that II is not advisable
TO plant house cactus plants directly
in the open ground in Summer be
cause of the danger of -innring the
root system when time comes to dig
the plants in Autumn 1t is sug-
Rested that the pot be buried in the
soil with the rims covered with gravel
10 conceal them from view, This eX-
posure OF cact plants to full sun
shine and rainfall is said to be very
beneficial. The daily watering of
4. cactus plants in the Summer is con-
ceded OF no harm and indeed helpful
July and August is the ideal growing
period for the cactus and the outdoor
growing period is said to act as a
tonic 10 the plants and assist them in
getting over the difficult Winter
months.
Iris Rhizome Rot.
THE rather moist Spring has IA
vored the development of one
serious trouble Of the iris name
. ", rhizome or soft rot. Examination
of the plants Will readily reveal the
disease If present. for il is character
: iStically evil smelling and of a soft,
! mushy nature Plant pathologists tell
: us that infection takes place almost
entirely through wounds of various
+ sorts and that the iris borer insect is
q very important factor in introducing
: the disease into otherwise healthy It's
i sues.
; Control. always the major interest
I. 10 the busy home gardener, consists
in lifting the clumps. separating them