Evening star., 1934-08-26

adverse weather conditions
Il such as drought, that it re-
ceives little attention during
the long Summer months following
blooming. Nevertheless, the plant!
bear watching for there are two pests
the iris borer and the iris soft rot
that frequently destroy iris. Too otter
the damage is not detected until the
plants turn brown and begin to die
In Farmers Bulletin No. 1895
"Insect Enemies of the Flower Gar.
den," by C. A. Weigel and w. Middle
ton, there Is a brief discussion of the
iris borer. The borer, which i:
usually pinkish in color, with brown
head and which may attain length
of 2 inches when full grown, attacks
the fleshy rootstocks and crown
Often, when detected, the insect has
devoured much of the interior tissues
and, as a result, the leaves dry and
wither. Winter burning of debris,
such as old leaves and adjacent weeds,
is said to be the most effective rem
edy, as this operation destroys the
overwintering eggs. During the Sum-
mer the plants should be occasionally
examined and borers, If present, de-
stroyed. Spraying of new foliage with
arsenate of lead, soap and nicotine
sulphate solution until at least the
middle Of May is recommended as a
supplementary measure.
Iris root rot often follows the
borer. This rot also attacks the
f1eshy rootstocks and also is usually
first detected by the dying of the
leaves, which are deprived of susie
nance and water. The rot is easily
recognized by its soft, mushy nature
and evil odor About the only thing
that can be done is to lift and sepa-
rate the diseased clumps, cut away
all infected parts and, after dipping
the remainder in a solution of bi-
chloride Of mercury or one of the pro-
prietary organic mercury compounds,
replant in freshly worked soil to
which has been added some lime and
fertilizer.
The weather lately has been rather
favorable to development of soft rots,
and home gardeners with valuable or
priced iris paintings should watch
them rather carefully for unfavorable
developments.
Crepe Myrtles.
SCARCELY hardy in this locality,
even in ordinary Winters, the
Grape myrtle naturally suffered very
severely during the extraordinary low
temperature of last February. Many
plants were killed to the soil line but,
surprisingly enough, other plants
came through almost unharmed.
There are three large Grape myrtle
bushes in dooryard in Takoma Park
that are now in full bloom and which
have bloomed regularly every year
for at least the past Is seasons. These
particular plants are in very exposed
situation without the least protection.
It Is altogether possible that there are
differences in Grape myrtle with re-
spect to low temperature resistance. At
least 1t Is true that within a few
hundred feet of these particular
plants others were killed back to the
ground. Fortunately, the Grape myrtle
has strong recuperative powers and
many plant that looked hopeless in
May Is again making strong growth.
DR.. Bailey, In his Standard Cyclo.
pedia of Horticulture" states that the
Grape myrtle is probably native of
China and, If So. it is rather pos
Sible to believe that there may be
differences In hardness in the native
habitat and that, If several importa-
tlons were made to the United States,
like variations may be expected in
this country. 1t would be fortunate
indeed II some plant breeder would
make q careful study of the Grape
myrtle with a view to isolating the
hardest strains and improving them
even further.
Midsummer shrubs are few at the
best and none surpasses the myrtle
In beauty and in freedom from
disease and insects, Bailey states
that seedlings will bloom the first
season and this makes possible rapid
selection of desirable colors,. which
range all the way from white through
the pinks and reds to magenta. Hard
pruning in early Spring is necessary
TO keep the plants in bounds and,
since the flowers are borne on the
extremities of current growths, there
Is no danger of removing the blooms
curing pruning, as is the case with
most OF our shrubs, such as the true
Alacs, the wiegela and deutzias.
Cover Crops.
IDLE areas in the garden NAV well
be devoted to soil-improyement
crops, such as crimson clover. rye.
wheat or oats. OF these four. the
clover is the most desirable for plant
ing at this season. 1t is a legume.
which means that 1t will be able to
utilize the nitrogen of the air. Fur
thermore,, this clover is almost an
ornamental with its attractive fol-
1age and beautiful crimson flowers in
early Spring. Rye and wheat also
live through Winter and make an
early growth in Spring but are obvi-
ouSly not as beneficial as the clover,
which adds all that these cereals do
and some nitrogen besides
The cover crop plants, if turned
under in early Spring while yet succu-
lent, decay rapidly and do not inter-
fere with the annual flowers or vege-
tables that follow However, if rye
or wheat are allowed to reach the
strawy stage, they may harm the sue
ceeding crop. Decaying plants tend
to improve the texture of both stiff
AAoyo aAld IA6Ib oallQo, dIlu, dS LIl6
plant refuse rapidly becomes humus is
used directly by subsequent plants as
food.
When seeding these plants in very
poor soils it pays we'll to fertilize With
some complete plant food, because,
without this stimulation, the resulting
growth on poor soils will be meager
With fertilizer and cover crops the
home gardener may not only improve
his soil but greatly remove the dis
advantage of not having stable ma
nure for, withal the superiority of
stable manure over commercial fer
tilizer lies in the decaying vegetable
matter and not in actual mineral
nutrients.
Spraying.
a THOUGH the Summer is slowly
passing the need of spraying in
the home garden has by no means
lesSened. Rose black spot continues
as menace from the moment the
leaves annear in SnrinO until frnet c