gue OA cee rh a Thad pM aulust tania OR Nee eae Sa NY wen eat “Hecate ues are ras Aen pC TN * - Lees Tae, OCs yates ones ; an " NA SE P= ae ae Am, . Ex a Erg AN, Saige ae Apa A Sige tN RN Oy ae GE A a eer ae -" of al ‘ -* Sra SS SRR SUNN RNS Salt Te eR ST ree NT er ne errs SAAS SSN EY IS OR megs re eerie EME SUI cy aneatlhloemnigernens el 88 LIBRARY OF SAee7\ I NEN YORK BOTANICAL CARDEAG 5 | y | ; ~ = > Septemb 1399) ANY. W: Gibson: love43 Gi ps) a: e — \|@ ‘ AG 4 z4/ oo Gijol p wee ee = —— rank tera Sri s oe.) nto, Po as f w! , : ie Rat ae oe ay ie + oy 7 & if one ¢ " ra ya Veo ay ’ ; (| a ae ' 3 aa 4 ‘ae - ie > 4 ‘ 7+) Baie TOTS: iural Socieiaai Re Be MOR MignOURT ee ~~ : . - Bee Poca 3 4 ede apn West &. 9,9) 01 5 36TH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE preaie Horticultural Society OF MiSsOuR! 1893. NEW Lye Sf on YORK ee B OF Ny Al gy A yee VARDEN MEETINGS AT CoLuMBIA, JUNE 6, 7, 8, AND FULTON, Dec. OW Zn oar kOose L- A: GOODMAN, Secretary, Westport, Mo. JEFFERSON CITY, MO.: ‘TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 1894. ‘ er, 4 Win fe " . Oia i x | HOO? Eee ay ae ink | rs EEO S SNe LN 5 nD i ‘ie ‘A ey r ie PLY t , esti gh 4¢6 « ; ; Mery fa. R l. . a di eA Re t Ler tye Pes, ee J e we ke ak ae et a7 “Se an io ed ‘VEPVRREL CG) C) i - oJ . aa eallagmes RE Seer JUDGE SAMUEL MILLER, BLUFFTON, MO MISSOURI STA! E HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. To His Excellency, Witttam J. STONE: This report of our society work, of the meetings held, of the moneys expended, and of the local societies and counties reporting for the year 1893, is respectfully submitted. L. A. GoopMman, Secretary, Westport, Mo. City oF JEFFERSON, January 31, 1894. To the Commissioners of Public Printing: I require for the use of ny office 3500 copies of Missouri Horticultural Report— 2000 bound in cloth and 1500 in paper—which | desire printed as per accompanying sample. Respectfully, L, A. GoopMan, Secretary, Westport, Mo. Approved : A. A. LesuxurR, Secretary of State. J. M. SerBert, State Auditor. Lon V. STEPHENS, State Treasurer. 4 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 1894. PRESIDENT, J. C. EVANS, North Kansas City. VICE-PRESIDENT, N. F. MURRAY, Oregon. SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT, SAMUEL MILLER, Bluffion. f£ECRETARY, L. A. GOODMAN, Westport. TREASURER, A. NELSON, Lebanon. LIST OF HONORARY MEMBERS. Hons A. As TiBSUBUR 8%, oc.5 sieceroteicseiete oie \o/ale/)4/s10\ st 1e]opetareiatstal sternite iea areievareie sere Jefferson City MISS (ME Mis) MOR TERED Ti jaajeieit oye oiete toavein spayoforsielseleteve oie oufeiselele lars Kirkwood, Mo....... GROBRG EW HUSSMAN (cto oleeic Gctentoreles Gitalctor nitoken tlere oloieisioieloletalaisieters he Napa, /Cal\..ccaceeeer AVS LGYION ote eie'ois ais Sicaieinneve ote eroste ste cradeotete otste etesererelatemee oe miewsiernye South Haven, Mich.. CEOW .: MUR TERED Ts «:\0:0's:c.c/eeqs oeselotele to eietevotsiseiere iano a(clemre nis cle aloes Kirkwood, Mo....... ETON IN «ied: | COLMAN io. 0c6 oy erayonstovore tab eteyseere eh cle wielers eke evel leas el sraliorercveve St. Louis, Mo....... SAG ET MEST TOR ao roses; or oo: one ave buvevetatete ete sinlohs feet rol tia ojelovercie eietale yc Bluffton; Mos...c-uee ELE R MAN: eV ARG ER iie's te:c ie! cat avetore elo dlevetepeiaveceid atefotetotetaintate s winetevoicie eereleine Neosho, Mo......... Profs MG AG:. Rate ieee vis slow wero disiovoleine ao ke Ce eaceeeicta ote letectetenedor ye St. Louis, Mos..ceee LIST OF LIFE MEMBEKS. Vyas ito ae COG MIG eA so ooed co podd noc aonOuncUOnDOSOOCdL Fox. Creekovsecu cere EES OrAG CHIT SiS i i ccgactoeretateriatel steteieleistarsie(a aia. atels eieteaiel)5\61¢ Kansas sCityecinest clei eu IVANS is «ie 4 a1 sles sists share log ctataneiate/sie rere rerstokajslais.sie:6 6 oldiefaielss North Kansas City, Mo. HijeteAs 6 GOODMAN soins: sicyercieteicle cu tstelevaieleieic (clots sveisictereial stere's ens piche/ereis Westport, Mo.......... IDS Nib Bharti icoonGootiacsods aonb GY OOGo, DQGor BODE OGEIDaOOr Fulton, Mo....... soerns DDE RALSROBNETT. & sraecaste cote levclen eine icici iors ralelsleiocatinvele! Sslomere eels este Jolumbia, Mo eer eee reese STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. STANDING COMMITTEES. Orchards. J. A. DurKes, Weston; Henry Speer, Butler; H. W. JENKINS, Boonville. Vineyards. H. Jarger, Neosho; Jacos Rommet, Morrison; C. Teusyer, Lexington. Small Fruits. G. W. Hopkins, Springfield; J. N. MenIrnn, Oregon; Henry SCHNELL, Glasgow. Stone Fruits. S. W. Girsert, Thayer; Z. T. RusseLu, Carthage; H. D. McKay, Olden. Vegetables. Prof. J. C. WuitTEN, St. Louis; C. M: Witttams, Marceline; A. J. Davis, Jefferson City. Flowers. E. H. Micuet, St. Louis; Mrs. G. E. Ducan, Sedalia; C. I. Roparps, Butler. Ornamentals. F. A. Houpparp, Carthage; F. McCown, St. Joseph; R. E. Baitey, Fulton. Entomology. Miss M. E. Murtrevtpt, Kirkwood; J. L. SNop@rass, West Plains; G. F. LuckuARpDT, Oregon Botany. Prof. G. C. BrRoApuEAD, Columbia; B. F. Busu, Independence; J. KirncuGcraseEr, Springfield. Nomenclature. W.G. GANno, Parkville; E. L. Pornarp, Olden; A. AmBrosz, Nevada. New Fruits. J. B. Witp, Sarcoxie; A. H. GiuKkeson, Warrensburg; J. F. Witcox, St. Joseph. Ornithology. Prof. L. T. Kirk, Sedalia; C. W. Murtreipt, Kirkwood; C. Howarp, Willow Springs. Injurious Fungi. Prof. C. A. Kerrer, Columbia; Prof. W. TRELEASE, St. Louis. Packing and Marketing Fruits. E. T. Hotuister, St Louis; C. C. Bett, Boonville; C. THorp, Weston. Transportation. J.M. Rice, Sarcoxie; C. C. BELL, Boonville; L. A. GoopMAN, Westport. ou 6 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. INCORPORATION AND REORGANIZATION Of the Horticultural Society by an act of the General Assembly in 1893. The following law was passed by the last Legislature incorporat- ing the State Horticultural Society. The Executive Committee met soon after the passage of this act and accepted its provisions, and at the semi-annual meeting of the Society at Columbia June 6-7-8, 1893, the act was adopted as part of the constitution of the Society. MEMBERSHIP. Under the new constitution the law requires the payment of $1 per year for membership fee. We hope that we shall have a good long list of members under our new plan for business. The plan under which we have been working, of giving each local society the privilege of paying their fee into their local society, thus making them a member of the State Society, cannot now avail. Each person must become a mem- ber of the State Society and keep up his membership each year. We should like to see a good number of life members also; it is very desirable. LL. A. GOODMAN, Sec’y. ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. The Missouri State Horticultural Society is hereby instituted and created a body corporate, to be named and styled as above, and shall have perpetual suc- ceasion, power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in all courts, and to make and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure. The Missouri State Horticultural Society shall be composed of such persons as take an interest in the advancement of horticulture in this State, who shall apply for membership and pay into the Society treasury the sum of one dollar per year, or ten dollars for a life membership, the basis for organization to be the Missouri State Horicultural Society, as now known and existing, and whose expenses have been borne and annual reports paid for by appropriations from the State treasury. The business of the Society. so far it relates to transactions with the State, shall be conducted by an executive board, to be composed of the President, Vice-Presi- dent, Second Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at an annual meeting of the Society ; the Governor of the State shall be ex officio a member of the Board—all other business of the Society to be conducted as its by-laws may direct. All appropriations made by the State for the aid of the Society shall be expended by means of requisitions to be made by order of the Board on the State Auditor, signed by the President and Secretary and attested with the seal; andthe Treasurer shall annually publish a detailed statement of the expen- ditures of the Board, covering al] moneys received by it. The Public Printer shall annually, under the direction of the Board, print such number of reports of the proceedings of the Board, Society and anxiliary societies as may in the judgment STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ad of the State Printing Commission be justified by the appropriation made for that purpose by the General Assembly, such annual report not to contain more than four hundred pages. The Secretary of the Society shall receive a salary of eight hun- dred dollars per annum as full compensation for his services; all other officers shall selve without compensation, except that they may receive their actual expenses in attending meetings of the Board. 8 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. CONSTITUTION OF THE MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Articie I. This association shall be known as the Missouri State Horticul- tural Society. Its object shall be the promotion of horticulture in all its branches. Art. If. Any person may become a member of this society upon the payment of one dollar, and membership shall continue upon the payment of one dollar annu= ally. The payment of ten dollars at any one time shall constitute a person a life member, and honorary members may be elected at any regular meeting of the society. And any lady may become a member by giving her name to the secretary. ArT, III. The officers of this society shall consist of a president, vice-presi- dent, second vice-president, a secretary and a treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at each regular annual meeting, and whose terms of office shall begin on the first day of June following their election. Art. IV. The elective officers of this society shall constitute an executive committee, at any meeting of which a majority of the members shall have power to transact business. The other duties of the officers shall be such as usually per- tain to the same officers of similar organizations. Art. V. The regular meetings of this society shall be held annually on the first [Tuesday in December and June, except when otherwise ordered by the exe- cutive committee. Special meetings of the society may be called by the executive committee, and meetings of the committee by the president and secretary. ArT. VI. As soon after each regular annual meeting as possible, the presi- dent shall appoint the following standing committees, and they shall be required to give a report in writing, under their respective heads, at the annual and semi- annual meetings of the society, of what transpires during the year of interest to- the society : Orchards, Vineyards, Stone Fruits, Small Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers Ornamentals, Entomology, Ornithology, Botany, Nomenclature, New Fruits, In- * jurious Fungi, Packing and Marketing Yruit, and Transportation. ArT. VII. The treasurer shall give a bond in twice the sum he is expected to handle, executed in trust to the president of this society ( forfeiture to be made to the society ), with two or more sureties, qualifying before a notary public, of their qualifications as bondsmen, as is provided by the statute concerning securities. ArT. VIII. This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting. STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. LIST OF COUNTY SOCIETIES. Adair County Horticultural Society— R M. Brasher, Pres’t, Kirksville. A. Patterson, Sec’y, Kirksville. Atchison County Horticultural Society— C. W. Coe, Pres’t, Tarkio. R. Lynn, Sec’y, Tarkio. Barry County Horticultural Soclety— H. C. Fitch, Pres’t, Seligman. G. G@ James, Se:’y, Exeter. Bates County Horticultural Society— C.1. Robards, Pres’t, Butler. Henry Speer, Sec’y, Butler. Barton County Horticultural Society— C. H. Fink, Pres’t, Lamar. D. B. Hayes, Sec’y, Lamar. Boone County Horticaltural Society— D. A. Robnett, Pres’t, Columbia. Thos. L. Beaztey, Sec’y, Columbia. Buchanan County Horticultural Society— D. A. Turner, Pres’t, St. Joseph. F. McCoun, Sec’y, St. Joseph. Butler County Horticultural Society— D.C. Kitteridge, Pres’t, Poplar Bluff. E.R. Lentz, Sec’y, Poplar Biuff. Crawford County Horticultural Society— Conrad Martin, Pres’t, Cuba. W.S. McKinney, Sec’y, Cuba. Camden County Horticultural Society— J. W. Burhans, Pres’t, Stoutland. J.D. Reagan, Sec’y, Stoutland. Central Missouri Horticultural Society— H. W. Jenkins, Pres’t, Boonville. C. C. Bell, See’y, Boonville. Callaway County Horticultural Society— R. T. Murphy, Pres’t, New Bloomfield. R. E. Bailey, Sec’y, Fulton. Conway Horticultural Society— W.H Getty, Pres’t, Conway. R. O. Hardy, Rec. Sec’y, Conway. Cole County Horticultura! Soclety— T. M. Barker, Pres’t, Jefferson City. A.J. Davis, Sec’y, Jefferson City. Greene County Horticultural Society— H. H. Parks, Pres’t, Springfield. G. W. Hopkins, Sec’y, Springfield. Republic Horticultural Society— T. W. Wade, Pres’t, Republic. R. C. Villes, Sec’y, Republic. Henry County Horticultural Society— M.L Bonham, Pres’t, Clinton. J.M. Pretzinger, Sec’y, Clinton. Holt County Horticultural Society— N. F. Murray, Pres’t, Oregon. S. Blanchard, See’y, Oregon. Howell County Horticultural Society— W. F. Benson, Pres’t, Willow Springs. C. Howard, Sec’y, Willow Springs. Jasper County Horticultural Society— S. S. Riley, Pres’t, Carthage. Z. T. Russell, Sec’y, Carthage. Sarcoxie Horticultural Society— J.H. Foster, Pres’t, Sarcoxie. H. Adking, Sec’y, Sarcoxie. Lafayette County Horticultural Society— Dr W.A. Gordon, Pres’t, Lexington. C. Tuebner, Sec’y, Lexington. Laclede County Horticultural Society— A. Nelson, Pres’t, Lebanon E. B. Kellerman, Sec’y, Lebanon. Lawrence County Horticultural Society— J. B. Logan, Pres’t, Marionville. B. Logan, Sec y, Marionville Linn County Horticultural Society— Ralph Smith, Pres’t, Brookfield. J. Gamble, Sec’y, Brookfield. Livingston County Horticultural Society— J. A. Love, Pres’t, Chillicothe. W. E. Lilly, Sec’y, Chillicothe. Mound City Horticultural Society— D. B. Browning, Pres’t, Mound City. J. M. Hasness, Sec’y, Mound City. Mercer County Horticultural Society— H. R. Wayman, Pres’t, Princeton. J. A. Kennedy, Sec’y, Ravenna. Madison County Horticultural Society— A.A. Blumer, Pres’t, Fredericktown. H. M. Whitener, Sec’y, Fredericktown. Montgomery County Horticultural Society— F. Gutman, Pres’t, Hugo. C. Hausser, Sec’y, Hugo. Missouri- Arkansas Horticultural Society— C. Barnard, Pres’t, Thayer. P.P.B. Hynson,Sec’y, Mammoth Springs, Ark Miller County Horticultural Society— Rev. John Vetter, Sec’y, Eldon. Pettis County Horticultural Society— G. B. Lamm, Pres’t, Sedalia. L T. Kirk, Sec’y, LaMonte. Polk County Horticultural Society— G. W. Williams, Pres’t, Humansyville. J. L. Strader, Sec’y, Humansville. Phelps County Horticultural Society— Robert Merriwether, Pres’t, Rolla. Ww. W. Southgate, Sec’y, Rolla. St. Francois County Horticultural Society— W.F. Hoey, Pres’t, Farmington. T. B. Chandler, Sec’y, Farmington. 10 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. COUNTY SOCIETIES—Continued. Tri-county Horticultural Society— J. H. Holloway, Pres’t, Richland. S Kellar, Sec’y, Richland. Ripley County Horticultural Society— J.G. Hancock, Pres’t, Doniphan. T. W. Mabrey, Sec’y, Doniphan. South Missouri Horticultural Society— H. D. McKay, Pres’t, Olden. J.T. Snodgrass, Sec’y, West Plains. Saline County Horticultural Society— J.T. Stewart, Pres’t, Blackburn. Thos. Adams, Sec’y, Marshall. Vernon County Horticultural Society— A. Ambrose, Pres’t, Nevada. » See’y, Nevada. Missouri Valley Horticultural Society— J.C. Evans, Pres’t, Harlem, Mo. A. Chandler, Sec’y, Argentine, Kas. SUMMER MEETING. HELD AT COLUMBIA. MO.;,JUNE6:7;8: The Society returned to its old grounds after a lapse of 12 years, and found quite a difference in the delegation present now and at that time. In spite of the very, very busy time to the fruit-grower, a large number of the fruit men of the State were present, and a very success- ful meeting was held. At no place where the Society has held its meetings was a more unbounded hospitality manifested. All the members were taken pos- session of and taken to the homes of the generous people of Columbia. Here, at the seat of learning for the State, where are located the University, the Agricultural College and the Experiment Station, was certainly a good place to meet. The long, cold rains of spring, their frosts, and the weeds incident thereto, were the causes of very many of our members being compelled to remain athome. The berry crop, just ripening, and the busy season it brings, kept away many. Nevertheless, a goodly number of the best men of the State were there to take part in the work, the papers and the discussions. The place of meeting, Music hall, was beautifally decorated, and large tables were filled with plants and fruits from the Agricultural College grounds. The Society was called to order by the Vice-President, N. Fk. Mur- Tay. ‘A piano solo was given by Miss Letitia Todd, and after the open- ing prayer, he introduced Dr. W. Pope Yeaman, who delivered the opening address : Mr. President and Gentlemen of The Missouri Horticultural Society : To me is deputed more than the duty~—the pleasure of welcoming you in be- half of the Boone County Horticultural Society, to the hospitality of Columbia and Boone county. This is more than the regulation conventionality. It is in spirit a hearty welcome, a cordial greeting. Our people have an open hand and a warm heart for all persons and all organizations looking to the happiness of man, the im- 12 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. provement of social conditions — the general welfare. It is no more than simple justice to credit the State Horticultural Society of Missouri with all these high aims in its comprehensive enterprise and beneficence. We welcome you because you represent and foster an interest inseparable from the most ancient and honorable of human vocations—agriculture. Horticul- ture, particularly in our great West, is practically a department of agriculture. It might be wellif we were educated to the point of making horticulture a specialty. No doubt the State Horticultural Society and the Agricultural Experi- ment Station have given and will continue to give this subject due consideration. The present conditions of agriculture and the prospects for the agricuturist seem to suggest the necessity for some modifications, if not revolution, in western farm methods. Wehave for years been hoping against hope. looking for some turn in affairs that might bring to the farmer a fair recompense for his investment. of money and labor. A greater diversity of pursuit may bea necessity. It is no more than a natural inquiry of horticulture: how far can it be brought to the relief of agriculture? Do our soil and climatic conditions and our relation to the great markets encourage the appropriation of large areas of land to fruit-growing ? It seems appropriate to this occasion to recall the attention of horticulturists tothe rapidly growing tendency of population to our towns and cities. The increase of urban population and the growing demand for vegetable and fruit diet must in- troduce the horticulturists to the front ranks of the producers of the world’s su: - tenation. The day for the compact and efficient organization of the different departments of production has come and now is. I donot know how better the interest of pro- duction can be advanced and protected than by mutual instruction and fraternal co-operation. We welcome you because Columbia people are especially interested in every well-devised means for the development and perfection of the higher phases of human life. I indulge in no unwarrantable spirit of local pride when I claim for ~ this community an unusual public spirit and disinterested magnanimity in educa- tional enterprises and institutions. An intelligent apprehension of horticulture, from a scientific as well as a social and utilitarian point of view, recognizes in it an educational force. The study of botanical biology in connection with entomology leads the mind up to an intelligent appreciation of its wonderful and beautiful law by which the varied economy of nature is ruled. Noone can understand the fructifying forces of soil constituents, climatic conditions and cultivation of fruit-bearing vegetation,. withont an appreciable development of the faculties of mind and soul. Education means more than the traditional school instruction and .conventional scholastic methods. Man needs the cultivation, expansion and refinement of all the vast capabilities, all the marvelous powers, of his complex being. He must be lifted up: to an intelligent co-operation with the unity of law that pervades the realm of the natural and the spiritual. He must be able to enter into sympathy with the har- ‘monious blending of the useful and the beautiful. He who sees nothing but pennies in the blushing pyru3s, nothing but nickels in the tempting nectarine, nothing but cents in the sweet-scented plum bloom, and only greenbacks in the generous clusters of grapes, can see no excellency in human virtue and no meritin magnanimity. He who sees nocharms in the lotus, no loveliness in the Mareschal Niel, no smiles in the hyancith, cannot be charmed by the graces and perfectness of human life. SUMMER MEETING. 13 You, gentlemen, in your high calling are invaluable coadjutors of the schools and the universities. You contribute to the love of the beautiful and aid in direct association of that divine sentiment with actual conditions of real life. We welcome you then asco-laborers in the great work of individual improve- ment and social amelioration. We welcome you to the seat of your own great State institution, the State University ; you are welcome to the State Agricultural and Horticultural farms, to the Agricultural Experiment station, and to our several prosperous colleges not of State patronage. We welcome you to our homes. We welcome you fo all that is in sight, and for the unseen you are welcome to wonder and inquiry. Mr. President, you and your Society are welcome—twice welcome. President Evans responded. He contrasted the present meeting with one held a number of years ago in Columbia, when only a half- dozen persons were present. He thought that the Society and Columbia had both grown since that time. He spoke of Missouri’s horticultural exhibit at the World’s Fair, and said it ranked with the best. Miss Jessie Matthews sang delightfully Dudley Buck’s “ Storm and Sunshine.” Miss Carrie Kerr was accompanist. The thrilling story of “ Lasca” was told in a splendid recitation by Miss Estelle Watson. Dr. George D. Parinton spoke of “ Botany as a Study and Teacher.” Botany, he thought, was a great study and wonderful teacher. It develops the power of observation. The child should early begin its study. Some children in kindergartens know more about natural science than many college-graduates. Education without botany is one-sided. Botany should be taught in elementary and primary schools. The study develops a knowledge of nature much to be desired. It contributes to the breadth of knowledge. Botany touches all sciences. Its study develops a spirit of inquiry and a vast field of useful know- ledge. Botany teaches us the value of the esthetic and the value of the practical. It cultivates reverence for nature and nature’s God. Dr. Purinton’s address was a convincing argument for the study of botany and vegetable biology. CULTIVATION OF FLOWERS. MRS. H. B. LONSDALE. COLUMBIA. Searcely any subject deemed worthy of discussion is more trite than the “Cultivation of Flowers,’’ and to presume to offer you any original thoughts there- upon would be assumption indeed; with a flower department in almost every paper, even inthat wonderful and widely circulated ‘‘Republic,’’ where the con- densed wisdom of all the theorsts and experimentalists is offered free, there is little need of added words on how to cultivate flowers; but ofttimes we hear the 14 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. assertion that itis not worth while to’ try to have flowers without unlimited means, that they are ‘‘so much trouble” and ‘‘do not pay,” ete. “God might have made the earth bring forth enough for great and small, the oak tree, and the cedar tree, and not a flower at all.” That he did not so organize vegetation proves that a better way was His. and that the dainty blossoms and the magnificent floral beauties have a mission in the world besides that of propagation, and that the wondrous coloring which bedecks the carpet of the earth was with a purpose woven there. But neither the veriest utilitarian nor the shrewdest philanthropist has any objection to flowers in their native growth, nor stops to wonder why they live; they cost nothing, and time is too precious to waste in any argument or apprecia- tion; and when wealth makes splendid floral displays, and science and art are taxed to produce the most marvelous and entrancing collections, when language is too meager to describe the bewildering glories, scant disapproval comes. even from those who would not so expend their means. This is but a legitimate method of expending large incomes, a commendable decoration ‘an unselfish picture for one’s gazing friends, a cultivating and refining influences for the vulgar passer-by. But, should some one ‘of moderate means wish to adorn her home with flowers, an adverse feeling is forthwith expressed, and sharp criticism wonders that any one with limited funds will fritter away the precious stuff on useless flowers. Perhaps this censure falls from friendly lips, and the sensitive soul is. wounded and reproached, and forbears to obtain the coveted plants, and ’tis counted a victory won by common sense; but is it not toodearly bought ? Have flowers no mission but to gratify the taste of the rich, or please the eye of the chance observer ? Truly these decorations of a Master’s hand are wisely adapted toeven a higher purpose than simply charming and satisfying the innate love of beauty ever exist- ing, though sometimes latent, in every heart. Let those Whose object is a gorgeous display of color or a limitless wealth of odorous sweetness, open their purses and speak their behest, the results are won- drous and enchanting; but to the genuine flower or plant lover these qualities of color and fragrance are but incidental features in study of development. Surely every woman should be encouraged to grow a few plants, if but for the “fresh air’ treatment it involves, for the busiest woman soon learns that the vi- tiated air will not suffice for her plants, and though she is indifferent for her own sake, for theirs the life-giying breath of heaven is admitted, even in cold weather. and before Jack Frost is fairly out of sight in spring, the plants are relegated to the open air, and in ministering to them comes added vigor. + But some thoughtful man, who fears lest a button be forgotten, or a favorite dish be neglected, says, ‘To the weary woman these plants are but an added care , leave them for those who have leisure and help.”’ ‘T'rue, they are a care ; so is the little child, but more fondly twine the affections around it for this reason. The care, and growth responding to the care, is solace to a weary soul, bringing a change of thought, an ever increasing interest in improvement and development, a constant outlook for results to come, that help one to forget the burdens that harass and disturb the every-day life of the average woman. The many and unavoidable failures and accidents that worry and perplex are wisely ignored or forgotten, when the watchful eye is surprised by some thrifty shoots, or some new form of zxstivation, or some unexpected coloring in the longed for bloom. SUMMER MEETING. 15 Anda gentle ministration in the hour of sorrow comes from the treasured plants, be they many or few, the friends of years or the brilliant annuals respond- ing s0 promptly to nature’s caressing beams and showers. Every leaf is a re- minder of Him whose wondrous power has formed and fashioned it,and in its unfolding is betokened the coming forth with vigor of the renewed life, renewed and strengthened by divine power. Each flower of varied hue speaks of the skillful fashioner who transplants our loved ones to bloom on eternity’s shore, and to all comes the lesson of dependence and trust in a higher power; for guard and nourish as one may, no hand-book can insure perfect success, no dissertation account for frequent failures. For it is no less true of the vegetable than the spiritual kingdom, that Paul may plant and Apollos water, only God can give the increase. Nor need one be a botanist, in order to derive pleasure and profit from the care of plants. While the knowledge of their properties and peculiarities may deepen the interest for many, the tired housewife or the toil-worn seamstress can joyfully inhale the fragrance of the sweet violet, or lovingly admire the gorgeous geranium, without caring whether they be exogens or endogens. ButI fancy some utilitarian may gay, who has time to waste on flowers when there are so many duties to absorb it all? But the fragments of time will suffice; the moments that would otherwise be spent bewailing a hard lot, or uncongenial tasks, are bet- ter employed in ministering to these uncomplaining friends; and the words of gossip or criticism are unspoken while the curiosity expends itself in examina- tion and comparison of floral treasures. There may be blundering along this line as in any field of divertisement, or ofjabor ; sometimes the spirit of greed is indulged unduly, and a longing for every new variety of plant, if gratified, even without expense, by obtaining slips and exchanging seeds, brings about an “‘“embarrassment of riches”’ that neutralizes its own benefits ; and what was pleasure and profit becomes a burden and a bore, just as with a very large circle of acquaintances we would know but little concerning most of them, nor be greatly attached to any of them. With all the accumulated wisdom that is formulated in directions for the culture of flowers, the beginner need not broadly err, but there is danger of overdoing the work, and permitting the few plants that are to be a solace and a comfort tobe the recipients of somany attentions that they languish, dissatisfied, as an over-indulged child. As with the children so it is with our favorite flowers, they are often best aided by a little ‘judicious letting alone.”’ God’s world is grand and beautiful, and wheresoever we bring ourselves in communion with nature, and subject ourselvesto her silent influences, we are strengthened and ennobled; and if we may not wander far amid scenes of grand- eur, nor view with rapture the wonderful results of man’s efforts in;the floral field, nor even tread our own richly decked * ‘banks and braes,’”? we may gather to our- selves a few favorites, and watching the ever-changing growth and reproduction, find strengthened faith in the loving care of Him who even ‘clothes the lilies of the field.”’ THE FLOWER GARDEN. MRS. W. H. BASS, COLUMBIA, Your worthy President has asked me to read on this occasion something on floriculture, and I reluctantiy consented to do so. I have never, in all my life, tried to let my thoughts run down my pencil point on this my favorite subject, or indeed on any other subject, intended for the public ear. Should you ask me when my love for flowers began, I could not tell you, for I really believe it was my 16 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. most valuable inheritance, certainly the one that has afferded me most real pleas- ure. I know, too, that it has grown on me until it almost amounts to a passion. Yet when [ attempted to write something that would be of practical use to you, I found myself in the dilemma that every school-boy has passed through when attempting his first essay, namely: I wrote down this great truth and starter, ‘* There are a great many kinds of flowers,” and then stopped short, experiencing, as the boy did, that the truth was too big for me and I had exhausted myself. But for truth we should always be thankful, and for this one [ thank God daily. Lit- erally, he has planted them every where, from down in the tropics where the mag- nolias and jasmines rear their proud heads up into His sunlight, offering a thanks- giving of perfume and of beauty, even to the mountain tops in eternal snow, where the adventurous traveler finds the modest forget-me-nots and eidel weis keeping their little blue eyes on God in silent prayer. Everywhere, everywhere, that His creatures go you find them to comfort and cheer. The cultivation of flowers is one of the most seductive of p'easures, and here I refer to the manual labor connected with theirgrowth. I do not believe that any one can derive the same pleasure who simply knows them to wear them after they have been purchased from the florist, as that one who plants, waters and prunes until flower- time comes ; and then with what a satisfaction is worn the rose resting on a cushion of smilax or citronella, all grown by herown hand. Can any corsage bouquet, be it ever so costly, be so fragrant and beautiful as that one composed of flowers, every detail of growth, leaf, branch and bud you intimately know, watch- ing the opening sepals to see if the delicate petals beneath are pink or blue, even as a young mother watches the opening of baby’s eyelids to see if eyes of blue or eyes of brown are concealed beneath. The pleasure of propagating flowers in the various ways, from seeds, from layers, etc., is greater even than the cuitivation of plants that some one else has induced to take to themselves separate individual lives. This I consider of high educative value, for I believe a child gets more true growth from simply raising one rose or begonia to bloom from cutting or seed than they would from the study of a dozen pages in geography or arithmetic. You may call this high treason if you like, but you let children rear and tend something into life and you soften and gentle them; you bring them into touch with nature, and through nature you lead them upto God. For I am convinced no human can be wholly bad who has left in his make-up love for a flower. There is hardly a home so poor that cannot claim its pot of flowers. The spirit of the Master seems to be inthem. A quotation, if you please: ‘* The hum- bler the home, the more pleasure they seem to take in growing. Nowhere have I ever seen such wealth of red and gold as in the hollyhocks, sunflowers and asters that grow on either side of the path that leads to the laborer’s door.’”? Or where does the morning-glory so luxuriate as over his lowly thatched porch? Wherever you find their yards filled with flowers, you find them sober, industrious and God- fearing. Could we engage in a nobler mission than in the giving of a few plants and seeds to our poorer neighbors, thereby enabling .them to take their few thoughts out of self and of the pinching poverty that surrounds them? Ideally, sowing seeds of kindness for the harvest by and by. This leads me to speak of the highest pleasure my flowers afford me—that of dividing with others. They are like good deeds, they grow by giving, and nothing makes finer roses than by plucking off those that are fuil blown and giving to oth- ers. They have that rich quality that Shakspeare attributes to mercy. They SUMMER MEETING. LT bless her that gives and her that takes. Above all, they teach me unselfishness and generosity. But I find so many lessons and so much of pleasure that I cannot begin to tell all. WEDNESDAY, June 7, 9 a. m. The Society convened in the hall at 9 a. m., and at once proceeded ~ to take up that all-important subject, “ Orchards.” The first paper was by D. A. Robnett, of Columbia. ORCHARD-GROWING IN CENTRAL MISSOURI. The subject given me is one on which [I might have been able to give you very correct figures, had our worthy Secretary notified me five years ago that he would call on me, some time in the future, for a paper on this subject. Having never kept any account of expenses, I will have to estimate the cost from memory. The value of land in Central Missouri ranges from $5 to $50 peracre. Nearly all persons interested in horticulture agree that timber or hilly land is best for orchards. It seems that nature has especially endowed this portion of our land for fruit culture. Hence, we do not want the highest priced prairie land, but we must choose for our orchards, lands that are best applied to growing trees, and those that are well drained. _ Such Jands can be bought for from $5 to $20 per acre, owing to location and im- provements. However, [ would not make the price of land my first consideration, but would consider shipping facilities and adaptability of land as more important features. 3 The soil of Central Missouri, with its verdant hills and fertile valleys, seems peculiarly adapted to fruit-growing. There are many advantages in this portion of o uState to offer to those wishing to engage in fruit-growing. There are thousands of acres of the very finest orchard lands on earth in Cen- tral Missouri. The lands on the north side of the Missouri river between Bluffton and Glasgow are especially fine for orchards. This land can be bought at from $5 to $20 per acre, and all this land is within five miles, or lesz, of railroad depot, and the same distance from Missouri river. The cost of preparing land depends largely upon lands chosen. He who selects land with much undergrowth makes for himself much labor and expense, for no man gets pay for clearing land. I had rather take a river bluff farm, one worn out by cultivation, and put it in orchard, than devote the labor required to clear and keep down sprouts, to hauling much manure and plowing under clover. No man can cultivate trees in newly cleared land without much labor and great expense. Therefore we will not attempt to estimate the cost of orchards on such land. 4 My first orchard was on clover land, plowed in October with four heavy horses to riding plow, so as to keep it in the ground, plowed as deep as possible. We then took two-horse plow and laid land off both ways 25><25 feet. This land was now ready for trees at cost of $1.25 per acre. The cost of preparing land for another orchard on thin land was greater. We first sowed land to oats in the spring, then July 1st plowed oats under four inches, and again, October Ist, plowed land eight inches with riding plow, and followed H R—2 18 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. trench-plowing with two horses to shovel plow, not throwing subsoil out, but simply making drainage. This orchard was laid off with check-row wire with wire-marks on it every twenty-five feet, thus giving me perfect rows and making the work so much easier and nicer than laying land off with plow. This last preparation was much more expensive than the first, but I am sure that the crop of oats and three plowings have been of great value to the orchard. So vou see there are expensive ways of setting an orchard. Still, | think all money spent in this way will return a large per cent. As to the cost of planting, there may be wide difference of opinion arising from two principal points, namely, amount paid for trees and number of trees set to an acre. Our preference for trees is a two-year-old tree with low head and without fork. Such trees can usually be bought from a good reliable nurseryman in large quantities at low rates, say six cents each, but from tree peddlers you may pay even fabulous prices. Now our experience has been to set 70 trees per acre at six cents, making a cost of $4.20 per acre; cost of digging holes and setting 70 trees $1; cost of pro- teciting trees from borer and rabbits for five years with wire gauze is about two cents per tree, or $1.40 per acre—this making a total cost of $7.85 per acre for planting orchard on above land. First three years plant to cora or any hoed crop—planting only between rows one way, leaving four feet on either side of trees, in order to continue cultivation, and keep the ground loose around trees until August Ist, when all cultivation must cease. The crop thus raised will pay for above cultivation, but your trees require constant care to keep them well set, for they will become loose in the ground in wet weather. They must also be hoed two or three times each year, and the wire to protect from borer must be put down in May and raised again in Au- gust. Your trees will also need some pruning to shape them well. This last work will cost about $2 per acre each year for three years. After this give your orchard one year of thorough cultivation by breaking in spring, then continue cultivation with cut-away harrow and hoe until August lst. This will cost about $6 per acre. The fifth spring put landin fine shape and sow to clover between rows, leaving four feet on either side of trees and cuitivate with plow and hoe, making a cost of $5 per acre. Next season allow clover to take over the space between rows and hoe only around just under the trees. Keep trees from becoming loose in the ground and continue to shape trees by light pruning. This last year’s work will add another cost of $2 per acre. Now ail these years you should be hauling all the wood ashes you can get within 10 miles of your orchard. Spent lime at 25 cents a load has been used with good results. Now, footing up the costs aimed to be set forth in this paper. you will find: a") ac) @ iss) “i et > > o is} e || o : Hinds COBuUnNe ADOUE .25 o.'-! cas ceri ees veto $28 00 | Sowing to clover and care fifth year..... 5 00 Planting and protecting with wire. ..... 7 85 || Hoeing and care sixth year .............. 2 00 ——— Care ($2 per year first three years) ...... 6 00 || You will find a total cost of.............. $54 85 Thorough cultivation fourth year........ | 6 00 Ne Se eee eee eee ee eee a ee a ee ee SUMMER MEETING. 19 Of course this amount does not include hauling ashes, manure, draining or replanting. These expenses may be great or small, as one may choose. With me replanting has been a nominal expense. QOutof one planting of a hundred Garber and Kiefer pears [ lost not one and a very small per cent of all other trees planted. A real horticulturist, one who loves his trees, will spare neither time, pains nor money, to make success. If we love our trees we will nurse them and feed them, and patiently wait for the time to reap our abundant reward. IN NORTH MISSOURI. N. F. MURRAY, OREGON. We have in north Missouri three distinct classes of land. First, beginning at the rivers, we have rich bottom land from one to 10 miles wide, back of this we have a range of bluff and hill Jand from one to five miles wide; and back of this rich, rolling and level prairie. 7 Orchards are grown successfully on all three of these subdivisions by select- ing the most favorable spots, and might be extended over almost all of North Mis- souri by artificial drainage and thorough preparation. But in order to present this subject intelligently, we find it necessary to speak of these three sections sep- arately. : First, the bottom lands will range in price from $10 to $50 per acre, the low priced bottom lands being wet and subject to overflow. ‘These are unfit for orchards. The higher and better class will cost, on an average, about $40 per acre, and would need no preparation except to plow, harrow and check 30 feet each way. This would be worth $2. Fifty 3-year-old trees would cost $5, the planting $1, total for one acre, $48; and for 40 acres $1950. The cost of care and cultivation from and after planting depends on how much you give them. But we will counton giving them good care, which will include protection from rabbits and borers. Replanting the few that may fail to grow or get destroyed, pruning and keeping the ground well cultivated and clean of weeds can all be done and well done from the income of corn and vegetables grown in the orchard for the first five years—this land being very rich and never failing to pro- duce heavy crops of corn and potatoes, which may and should be grown in the young orchard. It is safe to say that the income from such crops will cover all cost of good care and cultivation. The rental value of such land would be $4 per acre, which, in five years, would be $20 per acre. Add this to the first cost and we have an orchard beginning to bear at a cost of $68 per acre. But the tax has not been counted, and the interest on money received from rent. So we will add $7 an acre, and say that the orchard at the end of five years has cost the owner for land, preparation, planting, care and culture, all of $75 an acre, or $3000 for 40 acres containing 2000 trees, which, at $3 each, the lowest value put on such trees by com- petent judges, will make $6000, and you can’t buy such orchards for this money, as the owner puts a much higher value on them. The cost of land, preparation, cost of trees, cultivatlon, value of crops and result on the best rolling prairie land would be about the same. The bluff and hillrange along the river and smaller streams of North Missouri constitute the best and cheapest orchard land in this part of the State, and we be- lieve they are unexcelled by any other country, and only equaled by a few similar and highly favored spots on the globe. All orchards must have drainage, either natural or artificial,and the more perfect the drainage the better it will be for the health of the trees and the quality of the fruit, and if to land drainage we can add air drainage, so much the better. 20 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. And this we can only have on bluffs and hills with deep hollows and ravines for cold air and frost to settle in, the warm air rising during the night, and protecting the fruit on the higher land. Here some have been led into the error of thinking that altitude was all that was needed. Not so, for on the great plateaus of the world we often find immense tracts of land so nearly of the same level as not to- afford sufficient drainage for the surplus water, and in all such places we find but. little variation of temperature arising from difference in elevation, hence the high appreciation in general of bluff and hill land and land adjacent to rivers and large bodies of water where fruit is grown for orchards, as it often saves them from kill- ing frosts by fog. The cost of the bluff and hill land in North Missouri ranges from $10 to $30 per acre, owing to lay of land, locality and improvement. That at $10 would be the field unimproved, of which there is only a small amount, and from the most of which the timber has been cut once, but on most of which there isa second growth sufficient in value of cord-wood to pay for clearing the land. The average cost of such land when prepared for planting would be $15 per acre. The average cost of improved farms in this range is $25 per acre, all ready for planting except plowing. Not one acre of this will ever need artificial drainage, for the reason that it not only has the surface drainage, but most of them are underlaid with beds of mar) varying from 50 to 100 feet deep, and of equal fertility from the surface to the bot- tom of the formation. These marl beds are perforated with orifices from the surface to the bottom, connecting with each other, and, in the language of Prof. Swallow, constitute the most thorough system of drainage imaginable. This formation is exceedingly light and mellow, and is full of ailfthe elements required to sustain vegetable life. It is very friable, and there is probably no soil in existence that under the plow becomes more loose and mellow, yet, from its superior natural un- der-drainage, it can be worked after a week’s rain with but a few hours of sunshine. This formation is of inexhaustible fertility, and would makea good fertilizer for orchard land in Eastern states that cost from $50 to $200 per acre, and from $20 to $50 more for tile drainage. Wehave been thus minute in our description of this formation, in order to show the great saving in cost of preparation and fertilizing, and also in cost of cultivation. All these lands can be cultivated with one-half the team power of Eastern lands. By way of proof and comparison, we have run a turning plow in this land ten inches deep, with a small team of mules, plowing two acres a day; and we have seen on the fine wheat and orchard lands of the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, four large stout horses running a turning plow six inches deep, and a gang of hands ~ following with mauls breaking the clods. In most all of the Hastern states the land is heavy clay, liable to bake hard, in some spots quite stony, in others wet and spouty. Having been born and raised in northwestern Virginia, and being engaged in the nursery and orchard work from boyhood till [ was 30 years of age—in which time I traveled over a number of the Eastern states selling nursery stock—I had a grand opportunity to kiow what it cost to prepare the land and grow an orchard in that soil. And now, after 24 years spent in the nursery and orchard growing in North Missouri, I am prepared to say that I can prepare the land, plant and culti- vate 40 acres of orchard here with the labor and expense that 10 acres would require there. On these bluff lands apple trees should be planted 25 feet apart each way, and on bottom and rich prairie lands 30 feet each way. This will make 50: trees to the acre on bottom and prairie lands and 70 on the bluffs. On the bluffs the trees will not grow so large, will bear earlier and heavier and wili color their SUMMER MEETING. DAL fruit better than in the other sections. The cost of cultivation and value of crops would not vary a great dealif the right crops are grown and properly managed. The blufts are fine for small fruits and vegetables and unexcelled for red clover. We have netted $150 per acre from a crop of celery grown in a young orchard. On this formation a friend netted $80 per acre from potatoes grown in his young orchard, while others, after cutting a crop of clover hay, cut the second crop for seed from some of these lands, which suld and gave a return of $20 per acre. The bluffs and river hills of North Missouri are high, healthy and beautiful. and stand drouth remarkably well, and the main lines of railroad follow the rivers, running along near the foot of the bluffs, which afford good shipping facilities, thereby add- _ ing value to small fruit and vegetables grown in the orchard and very much reduc- ing the cost of care and cultivation. We feel perfectly safe, from our own experience, that if these lands are planted in apple orchards and cultivated in small fruits, vegetables and red clover, they will pay for all the care and cultivation of the same, and return a good ‘interest on the investment after the first year, leaving ail the increase in vaiue of orchard from growth of trees a net gain to the owner, which, at the endof five years, counting the trees to be worth $3 each, the lowest value ever put on such orchard by competent judges in North Missouri, and we have $210 per acre. Now we will deduct for cost of land $25 per acre, for trees $7, plowing and checking $2, plant- ing $2, protecting from rabbits $2, for incidental expenses $2; total per acre $40, and for forty acres $1600, on which we have 2800 fine trees in bearing, which, at the low value of $3 each, makes $8400, a net profit over cost of $6800. But count the cost of land, planting, care and cultivation of the orchard in North “Missouri 25 per cent more than is estimated in this paper, and deduct the same from the real yalue of the orchard at the end of five years, and it will be found that no other investment will return such large profits on capital invested. Carry the orchard forward ten years till it is fifteen years old, and the result will show a much greater gain for the second and third periods of five years than the first. We know many orchards in North Missouri that have netted $100 to $400 per acre in a single year. This beats grain and stock growing, it beats merchan- dising, it beats banking, it beats gold and silver mining, either with or without free coinage ; it beats gambling in stocks2on the board of trade, and for young men it will beat sowing wild oats, and yield a more satisfactory harvest. Why, then, do not more engage in orchard growing? Simply because; Young America is too impatient to wait a few years for the trees to grow into bearing. ‘The spirit of the age ig for investments that will give a quick return. But the quick return, in my mind, has been overworked. If it were possible to show up North Missouri in all her grandeur and glory, the great advantages of her geographical position in the center of the great union of states, and her grand system of magnificent railroads running out into all parts of the civilized world, giving us a market for all our immense products at our homes ; her beautiful river3'and small lakes teeming with fish, numerous mineral springs of health-restoring and life-giving properties, her broad, rich and inex- haustible bottoms, the beautiful and picturesque bluffs of peculiar and unexcelled fertility, her high, rolling, beautiful, productive prairies, the care aud pleasure of cultivating these fine, soft, mellow lands, free from stone and clods, and which need no under-drainage, her immense‘crops of grain and vast herds of fat stock, her wonderful fruits, unexcelled in color and quality ; and, above all this, look at her intelligent, industrious, law-abiding citizens, her schools, colleges and churches, thrifty towns and great cities, the wonder and admiration of the world for their 22 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. rapid growth, energy and wealth—cities that have sprung into existence as by magic, where the whir and buzz of industry never cease, and where commerce ever rolls her golden tide along to enrich the hardy sons of toil. Let all this be known and spread abroad in the world for North Missouri, and then add all that may be truthfally said ofSouth Missouri, with her untold millions. of undeveloped mineral wealth and her millions of acres of fertilz land, the virgin soil of which has never been turned by the plow of the husbandman to kiss the sun of heaven. ‘l’hen speak in words of praise of the grand central portion of this great State, an empire within itself. And last but not least, speak in words of loudest praise of our State University now being rebuilt and enlarged in the beau- tiful city of Columbia, where not hundreds but thousands seeking an education may be accommodated, and where the sons of the poor‘and humble of our great State will be made welcome, and in conclusion may [ not ask that the people of Columbia and the State University unite their efforts with the State Horticultural Society, to make these great and grand truths concerning our great State more fully and forcibly known to the world through the great Columbian Exposition now being held at Chicago. Let us not forget that this is our golden opportunity, and if we embrace it and do our duty to our State and our fellow-men, with an eye single to God’s honor and glory, then we may rest assured of a golden and bounteous harvest that will be gathered in time and eternity. HONEY AND HORTICULTURE. W. H. SEWELL, CARTHAGE. Bees and honey are mentioned frequently by the oldest writers, both in sacred and profane history, hence it is probable that considerable has been known of bees and their habits, as also the value of honey as human food, from very ancient times. But it is quite probable that of the art of bee-keeping in artificial hives, even of the rudest form, nothing was known until comparatively modern times. Our domestic hive bee is supposed to be a native of southern Kurope, and must have been diffused over northern Europe and Great Britain ata very early date. It found its way to America among the early settlers, but the exact date of its advent. is not known. In its increase it kept pace with the settlements, until it has now spread over the whole continent and become wild, and many people at the present . day do not know but they are natives of the country. Fora ‘long (time after bees. were managed in large apiaries all over Europe, Britain and even in America, the greatest ignorance and superstition prevailed among the masses as to rational methods of management. They were housed in log gums and straw hives of one apartment only. and the method of obtaining the stores was by robbing by moon- light, or the brimstone pit. The honey was dark and badly mixed with bee-bread,. if not with bees of all ages, and had to be strained in order to be endurable. Until the commencement of the present century almost nothing was practically known of the nature, habits, design and offices of the different members of the colony or the ends they severally subserve in the economy of the hive, or the mysterious methods of their reproduction. But with the adoption of the movable comb hive ‘by Langstroth and others about 40 or at most 50 years ago, and many other im- proved methods of management that followed close inits wake, chief among which were artificial swarming and the rotary honey extractor, bee-keeping received a new impetus, and has now grown to gigantic proportions in many parts of the country, and is fuily abreast with the improvements of the times in all respects and is likely to hold its position in the future. SUMMER MEETING. 23 But it is not my object to write a history of apiarian science. As the bee is so closely connected with horticulture by its usefulness in pollenizing the flowers, and aa the fruit-grower, by virtue of his occupation, is a great producer of honey in his fruit- flowers (for honey is a vegetable production and not manufactured by the bees as some have supposed ), hence it seems but natural that he should wish to utilize this wasting ambrosial nectar, by keeping at least a few stands of bees, and deriving both pleasure and profit from the investment, besides adding another of nature’s luxuries to his table. There is nothing more attractive to theeye or tempting to the appetite than a virgin comb of beautiful, fragrant white-clover honey for a party lunch or a picnic dinner, especially when we think of it in con- nection with a slice of flaky bread, spread with golden Jersey butter, and enjoyed with a glass of cold rich milk. Hence it is plain that the poet had an eye to busi- ness when he wrote: ‘* Oh for the life of a farmer’s wife, With bread so light And honey white, And milk so pure and good ’’ Bees occupy but little room in proportion to their importance, and require no great deal of attention except in the swarming season, nor much outlay of capital, and are not taxable in most of the states. No one should attempt to keep even a few stands of bees in this day of ad vanc- ing science wlthout first reading some one or more of our good, thorough books on bee-keeping (of which there are many), such as L.L Langstroth, or something more recent if there are no late editions of his book something that treats the subject thoroughly, not some pamphlet telling how to manage somebody’s patent ‘‘ moth- proof” hive, with which the country is unfortunately flooded. More thorough, practical information can be learned from good books and papers in a few weeks of attentive reading and by experience or conferring with one’s neighbors in many years, vastly cheaper and more systematically. Such books and papers will give the information necessary to settle a thousand and one questions daily presenting themselves for solution in the routine of thorough intelligent management and if the precepts are faithfully adhered to, the bee-keeper will speedily become inde- pendent of his books and master of his business. A few stands of bees can be kept with comparative advantage by any fruit- grower in almost any locality, as the necessary care may be given in the odd moments of leisure without being missed ; besides, the pleasure of studying such a branch of natural history is considerable, even if it did not pay financially. Many successful fruit-growers in favorable iocalities for bee pasturage have become ex- perts as aparians on a considerable scale, giving good care to both branches, and reaping a double reward from their orchards and fields. But if one expects to engage in bee-keeping on a very large scale for commercial purposes, he should not connect it with horticulture, but give it his entire atten- tion, and should be favorably located as to bee pasturage, market, and last but not least, should be in a good climate, for climate hag much to do with both the quan- tity and quality of honey. The colder the climate the thicker the honey and the better the flavor, but the more temperate climates produce the largest quantities of honey of medium quality. Extreme wet or extreme dry weather is unfavorable, asin the former cause much of the nectar is washed out of the flowers, and in the latter vegetation is shriveled up and flowering ceases, and in very not weather there is but little honey produced in the flowers, even with fair growth of vegeta- tion. 24 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOOIETY. In a country like California or Arizona, where the weather is usually dry but not excessively hot, and the bee pasturage (mostly alfalfa) not only very abund- ant, but kept constantly in vigorous condition by irrigation, as there is but little rain to wash the nectar out of the flowers, the flow of honey is extremely regular all the season, from early spring to late fall, and the aggregate yield is remarkably large. These countries for honey production have justly earned the enviable repu- tation of being as good as any, if not the greatest in the world. While this honey is all right in appearance, being about as white as any, it is not so rich in flavor nor so thick as that of some other localities. ‘he richest honey with which I am familiar is made from the flowers of a weed called Spanish-needle, and is of a deep golden color, and go thick that it can scarcely be made to flow, and so rich that but few people can eat more thana very small amount without clogging the stomach. All the clovers are rich in honey of excellent quality and mild flavor. The flowers of the basswood tree are also rich in honey, as also those of buckwheat, but while the yield of the latter is large the quality is about the poorest known. About all the fruit flowers are hich in honey of a good quality, but they are not numerous enough to cut much of a figure as compared with the clovers for large apiaries, as the latter are so much more abundant, except perhaps in some rare localities. The yield of honey in any country is very much affected by the method of mansgement—whether the honey is sold in the combs just as it was stored in the surplus honey-boxes (known as comb honey), or whether the honey is removed from the combs as fast as the cells are sealed over by the bees, as then it is in con- dition tokeep. This is done by rotating the combs (after the caps are removed from the cells) in a machine called an extractor. It is then stored in se)f-sealing glass jars, and sold as ‘‘extracted honey ”’ . The former brings a much better price, as the quality is better and the honey thicker and more apt to keep. The latter is more liable to sour, as many bee-keepers, in their zeal to get the honey, extract it before all the cells are sealed, leaving it more watery. Sometimes such honey is adulterated. For these reasons, and perhaps others, the extracted article is not so popular and brings less. Yet, there is still quite a margin in favor of extracting, as the quantity stored by a given number of hives is so much greater than that of comb honey. This is because the wax of which the combs are made is evolved from honey in a very peculiar way in scales on the outside of the abdomen of the bee, somewhat analogous to%he formation of tallow on the inside of the ox; and it has been ascertained by experiment that it takes about twenty pounds of honey to make one pound of new empty combs (one pound of wax). This would be quite a large bulk of combs, as they are very light. When developing wax, the bees are gorged to surfeiting and remain quiet in the warmest part of the hive; so it not only requires a large consumption of honey, but requires a large force of workers to keep up the required heat and produce the wax and build the combs, that could otherwise be employed in collecting honey. Hence, it is very plain that when empty combs are furnished to the bees as fast as they can fill them, they not only save the honey that it takes to build them, but they are able to furnish a much larger force in the honey-tields. Napoleon said. ‘“‘ The secret of success in war is in having heavy battalions in the right place at the right time.’ If this is true in warfare, it is equally so in the honey harvest. Bees can never be induced to build combs any faster than they can gather honey to fill them. So when honey is very abundant, much precious time is lost if there are no combs ready until! they can be built, and as these seasons are frequently short, the best opportunity is generally gone before much is accom- plisbed. Where a stock of empty combs is kept on hand by the apiarian and fur- SUMMER MEETING. 25 nished in abundance as fast as they can be filled, the amount of honey that can be stored in a given time by a strong colony is astonishing. One strong colony will store more honey than many weak ones. The great trouble about extracting honey is that it takes considerable time and skill, and is difficult to manage successfully except on a large scale. The same may be said of the multiplication of bees by division or artificial swarming. Hence, the small bee-keeper, and especially the amateur, had better depend on natural swarming for his increase in stock and on the system of comb-honey, for his profits, stored in top boxes either with or without movable frames, as by so doing he will be far less likely to make’ serious mistakes, and the returns will be surer and more satisfactory, if the quantity is not so great as it might be made in the hands of an expert. Yet it will not be amiss for the small bee-keeper to try his hand cau- tiously at dividing his bees after he has read up pretty well and begins to feel some- what at home with his bees, as he will thus verify many things that he has read, and fix them in his mind in such a way as they will never be forgotten. This is especially important if he is young, and has aspirations to work on a larger scale, for this will test his ability, energy and pluck, for it takes pluck to manage bees successfully on a large scale by the latest improved methods. He must also bea close observer, quick to perceive, prompt to act, thorough in his methods, but with enough deliberation to secure prudence. Indeed all these qualities are essential in hhandling bees, whether they are many or few. Bee-keeping and horticulture are SO intimately connected and so similar in their requisites, that any one who is ¢ca- pable of making a thorough success of one would be likely to sneceed with the Other. A PLHA FOR OUR NATIVE PLANTS. PROF. G. C. BROADHEAD, COLUMBIA. With the expansion of the area of civilization, so does the area of cultivated land increase; and in corresponding ratio do we gradually lose sight of many com- mon indigenous plants. Their place may, in part, be supplied by other cultivated plants, but in the groves, in the pastures, they are being replaced by grass or by noxious weeds. As the buffalo, the deer, the pigeon, the prairie chicken, have nearly disap- peared on account of their reckless slaughter by the ruthless hunter, we find their place occupied by the ox, the sheep and the barn-yard fowl; so our wild flowers have been supplanted by the dog-fennel, the burdock, the iron-weed, and so also has the English sparrow driven off our native birds. In other, but a different and more humane way, by man’s industry have our native plants been destroyed, and in their stead are seen fields of waving grain, corn-fields, grassy pastures, the orchard and the vineyard. Upon the destruction of one type arise the flora and the fruit of another type. . Some of our native plants have entirely disappeared. Many of the most beautiful are now rarely to be seen, and then only within the railroad limit of 100 feet. In the hilly woodland region the flora has not materially changed, although many plants which formerly cheered us can now no longer be seen. But the prairies are shorn of their beauty, never more toappear. Thirty and forty years ago—aye, twenty years ago—our prairies were the chief charm of the western country. On the upland the Andropogon waved its plumes at 4 to 6 feet high, and on lower ground the Spartina reared its head 8 feet high. ‘The purple Liatris, the red Echinacea, the Coreopsis, the Silphium and many others with their varied colors bedecked the grassy plains. The beautiful Gentiana puberesia could 26 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. occasionally be found as the latest autumn bloomer upon the prairies. Now it is no longer to be found. In swamps, the rich-colored Cardinal Lobelia could be occasionally found ; in such places it may yet exist, but l have not seen it during recent years. The Netumbeun luteum once 80 common is now rare, chiefly owing to the ravages of the hog. Our Cowslip ( Dodecatheon ), some species of Phlox, the Mebrunthiuns, the Physostigia and many other plants I have not seen for many years. Farther south in Missouri and Kentucky early travelers speak of extensive cane-breaks, now only found toward the Gulf. What have we in their stead? About 1870, the Solanum rostratium invaded Missouri from its home in Kansas and gained ahold. It now abounds as far east. as St. Louis. Wo also have from the Sunflower State its characteristic tall sunflower intro- duced into Missouri about 25 years ago from the West. It came to us just before the advent of the Solanum above named. In 1969 [ tirst saw it in the southwestern partof Cass. It now abounds at many places in Missouri. [ might especially state that it seems at home on the Wakenda praries, Carroll county. So do changes take place. Our plants disappear, others are introduced. Some trees have even be- come so acclimated that many persons do not know that they are not indigenous. The Catalpa, the Ailanthus, the Locust, and even certain pines, have been incorpo- rated in a published list of the trees of Kansas, as if they were indigenous, when they are not. : The Catalpa isanative of Southeast Missouri and southwardly the Black Locust, of Kentucky. ‘Their seeds were brought here by early settlers, and the trees are now found nearly everywhere. Soof many garden plants. We should plant and cultivate our handsome wild flowers and they will return to us in blossoms to please. I now have about eight species of our wild ferns growing in my yard; pro- bably only as many more are found wildin our State. But suppose.we read the record of past ages, we find enclosed in the coal shales of one county of Missouri over 40 species of ferns, many of them very beautiful. In this wav is preserved the record of past ages. Man did not destroy them. They grew and flourished under peculiarly favorable conditions. They grew to a luxuriance now nowhere to be found, except within the tropics. By their evidence wonderfully preserved, we know that our climate was once different. Our fossil plants relate to us a remarkable and an interesting as well as valuable history as it is recorded in the strata as leaves within a book, each stratum a record within itself of the wonderful carboniferous age. They are preserved not only in their beauty of form and structure, but as instructive records of past ages, and as an index of the riches of the age. But to draw a parallel: Will our present living plants as they die be so preserved? We believe not. The conditions of their life are not such as to perpetuate their form. They have grown; they have bloomed; they have died and crumbled to dust, and still continue todo so. Many we may not again see. But we should not allow this destruction to continue. You, who know of and where to find them, collect the seed, plant and grow them in your gardens or upon your lawns. Preserve our native plants. Do this and you will have performed a deed that future generations will thank you for. SUMMER MEETING. 27 The following committees were appointed: To visit the Horticultural grounds— S. Miller, A. Chandler, J. H. Monsees. On Fruits and Flowers— W.E. Lilly, G. L. Tippin, A. Halley. On Obituary— L. Chubbuck, Samuel Miller, J. E. Marion. On Finance— N. F. Murray, A. Chandler, G. B. Lamm. On Final Resolutions— A. J. Blake, A. Nelson. WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2 p. m. The report on Seedling Strawberries was given by Prof. C. A. Keffer on about 4000 seedlings. From the report made it is safe to say that no results are obtainable, any more so than if each was a chance seedling. The matter was discussed quite extensively by the Secretary and Prof. Keffer as to how these should be carried out. Noresults could be deduced from these seedlings, and now, what was wanted was to breed seedlings and not select them. The Society seemed much disappointed over the way the experiment had been begun, and the results. The report of the committee to examine the plantation reported as follows: 7 In examining there we agree so closely with Prof. Keffer’s report on the record kept, that we prefer him to make his detailed report as to size, quality, hardiness, productiveness, firmness. The following were selected as the best, and the berries brought in to show for themselves. S. MILLER, J. H. Monsezs, A, CHANDLER. The afternoon was spent in visiting the grounds of the Experiment Station, examining the large lot of seedling strawberries, the grapes, the raspberries and blackberries and the orchard as well as the grounds themselves. A grand lunch was given under the shade of the trees to every one present. The good people of Columbia took a special pride in this part of the program, and very many of her best citizens were there to do honor to the Society. A report of what was found on the Hort. grounds would not be out of place, and is expected from Prof. Keffer. Enough to say that, aside from the large collection of straw- berries, the grounds of every fruit-grower in the Society would be a better lesson than the horticultural grounds. 28 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOOIETY. If the Board of Curators will not give the Hort. ‘department something to work with, we cannot expect anything. Whenever we can see $6000 or $8000 set aside out of the $33,000 for the horticul- tural department, then we will see something done. As it is, nothing is being accomplished in the line of experiment or instruction to our fruit-growers. A drive was taken about the city of Columbia, and ont to the large orchard of D. A. Robnett, where over ‘120 acres were planted to the standard varieties of commercial apples. One of the most pleasing sights of the day was this beautiful young orchard, four and five years old. One of these days friend Robnett will have all he wants to attend to in gathering his fruit. : Jonathan, Winesap, Willow Twig, Ben Davis, Gano, are the varie- ties mostly planted. SEEDLING STRAWBERRIES. Three years ago an experiment in the production of new varieties of the strawberry was begun at the Missouri Experiment Station, by my predecessor, Professor J. W. Clark. The seeds of selected fruits of Crescent, Warfield No 2, Lady Rusk, Bubach No. 5 and Gandy were planted, and when I took charge of the Horticultural department in January, 1892, a large number of the seedlings were being grown in seed-boxes and in pots in the green-house, while a plantation of about an acre had already been set with them. The experiment had proceeded so far that it would have been inadvisable to have modified it, hence an effort was made to carry it to completion as originally outlined. ‘The potted plants were set in the garden, and the plantation already growing gave its first crop of fruit the summer of 92 Specimens of some of these seedlings were exhibited at the meet- ing of this Society at Chillicothe, in June of that year. A wide range, in size, season, color, quantity and quality was observable in the fruits of seedlings of the Same variety, and this great diversity invited the closest study. All our improve- ments in cultivated fruits are largely the results of selection, and this experiment has been an excellent illustration of the tendency of seedlings to vary from the parent type, and the importance of selection as an element in plant improvement. The best of all kinds were marked, each of the plants was permitted to make a few runners, and the plantation was given good culture for a second year’s crop. Last season the date of blooming, the character of the bloom and the fruiting sea- son of all the plants were noted, and those which seemed equal to or better than their parents were carefully marked. Your Society met at Columbia during the season, and your Chairman kindly appointed a committee to examine the seedlings. ‘the committee carefully ex- amined the plantation and gave me the benefit of their judment in testing, espe- cially such plants as [ had previously selected as best. It is a pleasure to report to you that the committee in the main corroborated the judgments already recorded, my placing in the matter of quality being somewhat lower, as a rule, than theirs. After the fruiting season had passed, runners were allowed to grow, and twelve plants from each selected specimen were potted. When these were well sorted, they were set in a new plantation. Owing to the extraordinary drouth of SUMMER MEETING. 29 the past summer, this new plantation has not made as good growth, and it cannot be expected to give even a fair crop the coming year. It may therefore be neces- sary to prolong the experiment another season before definite rosults can be announced. ; Of course, each seedling must be considered a possible new variety. From the number grown in Professor Clark’s plantation, the following selections were made: Of 814 Warfield No. 2 seedlings, 48 have been saved, and 12 plants of each of these are now ready for fruiting the coming season. Of 882 Lady Rusk seedlings, 72 were saved as above. Of 2044 Crescent seedlings, 104 were saved. Of 394 Bubach No. 5 seedlings, 20 were saved. Of 166 Gandy seedlings, one was saved. These selections were made as the result of two years’ study, and it is known that in some cases they are not better than their parents, but all are considered better in some important particular than what might be called an average berry. Twelve plants of each of these 245 selected seedlings should fruit the coming season. The increased number of plants of each kind, with the greatly lessened number of kinds, will make possible more careful study, and will doubtless result in discarding a great many of the seedlings under test. C. A. KEFFER. Columbia, Mo., January 26, 1894. WEDNESDAY, June 7, 8 p. m. The evening program was opened with a fine number in music by Miss KE. Hack. It was beautifully rendered and elicited much applause. Then followed an address by Dr. Paul Schweitzer, on ‘‘ Soil Absorb- tion,” which will be found among “‘ Miscellaneous Papers.” At the close of his address a number of questions were asked as to the value of ashes and the quantity per acre. Answer, 35 cents per 100 pounds, $7 per ton, and 500 pounds to J000 pounds per acre. After a beautiful song by Miss Tuttle, the following paper was read: A PLEA FOR A HAND-BOOK OF HORTICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE. LaDIES AND GENTLEMEN—I come before this meeting presenting a paperon a subject which I feel is not only of special interest to the members of this Society, but also to every farmer and every thoughtful citizen of our State. It is of in- tesest because it invites thought along our line of investigation. While we are trying to clear the rubbish out of our own pathway in fruit-growing, nothing would be more considerate in us than to leave the path over which we have trod and over which untold thousands of others must come, as smooth as we possibly can. Our boys and girls and the untaught and inexperienced who shall come after us must know what we know before they are prepared to advance farther in the horticultural art than we have advanced. Now the question [ wish to ask this Society is this: ‘‘ Do you think that we have done what we could to help the one wishing to come our way to find the path that leads to success?”’ It seems to me that there is nothing trustworthy, or at hand, or definite and applicable to fruit- growing in Missouri which a youthful or an uninformed mind can get possession 30 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. of and which embodies in an inviting manner the experience of the practical fruit- growers of our State. The idea of getting up a “ Hand-book of Horticultural Knowledge,” or in other words a ‘*‘Guide to the Study of Fruit-growing in Missouri,’’ is of more than passing interest, because of the great tide of public attention that is now being turned to the production of fruit in this State. As our towns grow larger the home market demands more fruit. There seems to be plenty of reliable informa-— tion to be drawn from, but it needs classification, illustration, arrangement and simplification. There are scores of practical fruit-growers who will gladly con- tribute of their experience, but it must be collected and embodied. Many there are who will contribute of their scientific knowledge on just such points as our youth will be delighted in, but no one sclicits. These facts and this knowledge put in shape that the undisciplined mind can grasp, are what we wish to accom- plish when we suggest that a hand-book of horticultural knowledge be gotten up for the boys and girls of Missouri. I may be wrong, but I feel that a systematic presentation of this subject is demanded by the one great question that is now stirring from center to circum- ference the great mass of toiling people, viz.: ‘‘What occupation can we follow that will make us an independent and honor- able living ?” If we ask for better wages from large corporations, we are turned out upon the streets by the hundreds without anything to do or any place to go. Great banks and corporations are failing all over the United States, and thou- sands of innocent people find themselves with nothing but their hands and brains to help them. A very sober thought takes possession of people bereft of home and money. They begin to think and study the situation. The whole body of pro- ducers are beginning to believe that they must pursue their subject exactly as other students pursiie theirs. But I claim that the horticulturist has no text-book—no guide to his study, as Other students have guides to their studies. His occupation is no exception. He can experiment, but that is too expensive. How foolish a druggist would be without carefal study and previous training, to choose a location, select a stock of goods and try to write prescriptions and carry on a business. So a horticulturist will find a knowledge of his subject just as important and necessary. I have made and seen other men make these sad mistakes, and I know whereof I speak. What we want is some timely, careful training along our line of business and we will avoid expensive blunders. Newspaper clippings won't do. They contain many facts that are not helpful on the practical side of this subject ; these I would not care to have embodied in the proposed hand-book. The theories and the fanciful, they need not be considered. We want to study helpful facts proven by experience to be helpfal. We believe that this Society will rally to the dethronement of wrong state- ments and allow yourselves to stand between the people and 10,000 expensive blunders that rising generations will make in the future, without a knowledge to guide them and help to save. We cannot afford to leave this work to the nurserymen, who have trees and vines and flowers to sell; we cannot leave it to the real estate men, who have lands on the market; but, if we are true men and women, we will take a hand in pre- senting the facts just as they are and just as others will find them when they try to raise fruit in the fature on Missouri soil. SUMMER MEETING. ii! Let us put our knowledge in such a shape that a bright mind will catch up with it quickly and go on to greater achievements. If this is within our power to give, then to withhold is to commit an error ; to neglect it is to shirk responsibility ; to treat it lightly is to retard progress; to go ahead is to win a victory for our- selves, lighten the burden for rising generations and crown our children with success. As far as we have gone, our outline toa ‘“‘Guide to the Study of Fruit-grow- ing in Missouri’ is as follows: 1. Kinds or classes of fruits grown in Missouri. 2. Definition of terms used in fruit-growing. 3. Classes of insects that influence for good or evil the growth of fruit-trees and fruits. 4. Diseases of fruits and trees. 5. Kinds of birds injurious or beneficial to the horticulturist. 6. Remedies for pests and diseases. 7. The uses of fruits as food. 8. Foreign and tropical fruits used in Missouri. 9. How to bast utilize ail fruits so they will be marketable. 10. Hardy flowers and shrubs for country homes. 11. What works on horticulture should be read ? 12. How best to handle, pack and market fruits. Our spare time for past six months has been occupied in collecting and com- piling helpful information on the subjects just read in your hearing. We have gathered them from the most reliable sources, and asked assistance from every party we thought would be interested and with whom we were acquainted. Our task is only begun, but the matter is assuming a satisfactory form. Over 50 different parties have contributed tothe proposed Guide, or stated when they would have their assigned part ready. We have taken pains to ask all contributions to be put in the form of questions and answers. We do this because this method isso well adapted for use in schools, clubs and classes, as well as in the home circle. Under this form much or little of the book can be read as opportunity for study is afforded. The questions and an- swers will follow the subject to which they are related. The Pettis County Horticultural Society has been very liberal with its funds and influence, and we hope the State Society and every county society will be im- pressed with the importance of this matter. You might give usa committee on borticultural education to help us, and let the chairman of that committee act as a corresponding secretary until one could be elected. Our Corresponding Secretary, Van B. Wisker, of Sedalia, Mo., is doing good work for us, and has received much valuable information from abroad. E. G. Goff,of Wisconsin; L. R. Taft, Michigan, our own Judge Samuel Miller, Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, C. C. Bell, Prof. Wm. Tre- lease, Secretary L. A. Goodman, Prof. W. J. Green, of Ohio Experiment station, and A. B. Smith, of Lawrence, Kansas, have written us very encouraging‘ letters, as well as answered questions assigned them. All those assisting us can have credit for what they do, and have honorable mention of their work. We ask that a bookof this character be published Zat the lowest possible cost and given out at a very small margin of profit. Gero. B. Lamm, Sedalia. The following committee was appointed on Horticultural Educa- tion: G.B. Lamm, L. A. Goodman, Mrs. G. E. Dugan, Prof. Geo. D. 32 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Purinton, Van B. Wisker, and were expected to follow out the line of thought now taken up by the society in preparing a hand-book on Horticultural Knowledge. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON OBITUARY. Whereas, Providence has taken from our ranks, since the last meeting of this. Society, one of its members, Mr. Fred. Lionberger, your Committee on Obituary beg leave to bear testimony to this body of the loss the Missouri State Horticul- tural Society and the horticultural interests of the State have sustained. Mr. Lionberger was a man of merit, unassuming disposition, but an enthusi- astic horticulturist, always ready todo his full share of the labor, to him one of love, necessary to the development of this industry. His honesty of character, sterling worth, extended information and rare intelligence endeared him to the members of his society. We miss his presence for many meetings to come; there- fore be it Resolved, That a page of the next annual report of the State Horticultural Society be devoted to memory of our departed friend, and that a copy of this pre- amble and resolution be transmitted to his family. SAMUEL MILLER, J. H. Marion, Lrvi CHUBBUCK. Adopted by rising vote. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FRUITS. We, your committee, in passing on the exhibit of fruits and flowers, beg leave to make the following report: We find a beautiful collection of roses contributed by Prof. Keffer, from the horticultural grounds; also, a fine collection of plants—beautifully arranged—on the tables and about the rostrum, which are contributed by the ladies of Columbia, designed to beautify the hall and make pleasant our reception among them, and we assure them that in no way have they failed in their object. We also find a fine collection of apples of one, two and three years old, exhibited by Mr. Hartzell, of St. Joseph, Missouri, which have been kept by his plan of preserving fruit, and are in excellent condition, and we recommend that the Society award Mr. Hartzell a premium of $5 for best collection of apples; also, a collection of some 50 differ- ent sorts of seedling strawberries from the Experimental grounds, a full report of which will be presented by a special committee. Mr. F.. Schmidt, of Sedalia, exhibits a choice box Bubach No 5, and we recom- mend a premium of 50 cents for same. Mr. G. P. Pepper exhibits a nice box of strawberries unnamed. Box of Monarch strawberries by Mr. W. H. Garth, Columbia. We recommend a premium of 50 cents. Collection of strawberries exhibited by Henry Schnell of Glasgow, among which are some very fine specimens, including Shuster’s Gem, Bubach No.5, Eureka, Windsor Chief, which deserve special notice: the committee recommend that a premium of three dollars be awarded to Mr. Schnell for his collection of the following varieties : Downing, Crescent, Windsor Chief, Huntsman, Michel’s Karle, Eureka, Crawford, Saunders’, Farnsworth, Jessie, Lovett’s Early, Gen. Putnam, Leader, Shuster’s Gem, Parker Early, Cumberland, Hoard, Sharpless, Haverland, Lady SUMMER MEETING. 30 Rusk, Bubach No. 5, Warfield No.2, Bubach, Great Pacific, Tippecanoe, Boston Eelipse, Beder Wood, Capt. Jack. The committee recommend a premium of one dollar be awarded Mr. A. P. Berkehile for collection of strawberries. The committee recommend a premium of fifty cents be awarded Mr. S. W. Gilbert of Thayer, Mo., for one box of Hopkins’ raspberries. Mr. Gilbert also sends a collection of twigs of apple and peach thickly set with fruit, and at this state of the fruit the condition seems to be good—the twig of Family Favorite being very thickly set with fruit. Gro. L. Tippin, W. E. LILty, L. W. HaypeEn. THURSDAY, June 8, 9a. m. Society was called to order and the business matters of the: Society were taken up. The report of the Secretary of the State Horticultural Society was read, as follows: When, 12 years ago, at the meeting of this Society, held in the Agricultural building, | was chosen President, little did I think that I should be so closely con- nected with the horticultural interests of the State, or that I would see such a widespread influence and such good results from the feeling there awakened and the work accomplished. Since then our work has been growing and spreading until we find thousands interested in it as a means of livelihood, and thousands of others just as much interested in it as a source of pleasure and education, as well as of love for the beautiful. The wonderful growth of horticulture in this western country may be traced by hundreds and thousands from their own experience and knowledge. It is not beyond the recollection of the youngest fruit-grower here when a few boxes of berries, a few bushels of peaches, a few hundreds of fruit trees, a few plants from the green-houses, would supply all our demands. ‘Today there lives in this western country the man who was express messenger on the train which carried the first shipment of five cratee of strawberries to the Chicago market. Not very many years ago I took to the Kansas City market a few crates of berries, and the market and grocerymen did not know what they should do with them. Our growth has not been a rapid, but a sound one, and we are glad to see and know that this influence has done much for the State, and that it is spreading over our beautiful land. Ours has been a missionary work, and the results, money for the homes of the learners. I could point you to hundreds who today have fine young orckards growing that received their first inspiration from some member of this Society, or from our meetings or reports thereof. THE FRUIT SEASON. The almost complete failure of our apple crop this season has led many to think that we can no longer grow the apple profitably in our western country. But these climatic influences are not continuous and will not long remain, and the work must not be allowed to flag because thereof. When a horse is lame, he needs attention; when a cow is injured, she gets good care; when a person is sick, he H—3 43 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. must have proper treatment ; so when our trees seem sick and barren, they must not be neglected. The proper care and attention must be more systematically given to our orchards when they show the need of it by their foliage or their lack of fruit. When we learn that trees can feel and suffer, we will more fully under- stand their needs. THE SOCIETY A GROWING ONE. The Society keeps growing and the local societies are increasing, notably the last one here in Columbia, with over 100 members. It is the influence of the societies and these workers that helps to make our State known throughout the country. Today we stand second to none in our influence, power and organization. This is shown by the reputation we have among the other State societies, by the growth of our planting each succeeding year, the demand for our reports, the information we distribute, the new fruits we bring into notice, and the opening up of new orchards all over the State. INCORPORATION. Our appropriation, as you all know, was granted as usual. Three or four visits were made to Jefferson City, and after consultation with the Governor, Secretary of State and State Auditor, it was deemed best, even late in the session, to intro- duce a bill incorporating our Society. A consultation was had with our Vice-Presi- dent, the Chairmen of the Committee on Agriculture in the House and Senate, and a bill was introduced. With it was introduced a bill reorganizing the Board of Agriculture. This bill passed, and our incorporation was made by the act We have now to adopt a set of by-laws and we then proceed as usual. It seems to me that these should be adopted at this time. By this law our membership is confined to those who pay their dollar per year or hold life membership. I suppose we will have no authority to change this clause, as it is embodied in the act incorporating the Society. The act itself gives us a constitution, and our old constitution will be our by-laws as soon as adopted. I wish to pay the compliments of this Society to the Secretary of State for his enthusiastic espousal of our cause. To him belongs the honor of saving the life of the Society and of its incorporation. He has long been a member of our Society, since its meeting at Lexington in fact, and has always felt a deep interest in our work, and every member can give allegiance to the Secretary of State. We shall always feel thankful for his valuable help in our time of need. PRINTING THE REPORTS The work on the last year’s report was completed December 15, and the State printers could have begun the work soon after the first of January, had it not been that it seemed to be necessary to incorporate our Society. Our Society had to be reorganized and a bill prepared the last moment to get through the Assembly, so that I could not obtain the order from the Printing Com- mission until March 30, because the bill had not become a law. It would be of much more benefit to the members could we get the report printed at once at the close of the year and not be compelled to wait so long for it. House bill No. 717 (Secs. 10, 11 and 12), incorporating the Society and provid- ing for it, provides as follows: Sec. 10. The Missouri State Horticultural Society is hereby instituted and created a body corporate, to be named and styled as above, and shall have perpetual succession, power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in all courts, and to make and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure. SUMMER MEETING. 35 Sec 11. The Missouri State Horticultural Society shall be composed of such persons as take an interest in the advancement of horticulture in this State who shall apply for membership and pay into the society treasury the sum of one dol- lar per year, or ten dollars for a life membership, the basis for organization to be the Missouri State Horticultural Society, as now known and existing, and whose expenses have been borne and annuai reports paid for by appropriations from the state treasury. The business of the Society, so far as it relates to transactions with the State, shall be couducted by an executive board to be composed of the president, vice-president, second vice-president, secretary and treasurer, who Shall be elected by ballot at an annual meeting of the Society ; the Governor of the State shall be ex officio a member of the board—all other business of the Society to be conducted as its by-laws may direct. All appropriations made by the State for the aid of the Society shall be expended by means of requisitions to be made by order of the board on the State Auditor, signed by the president and secretary and attested with the seal; and the treasurer shall annually publish a detailed state- ment of the expenditures of the board, covering all moneys received by it. The public printer shall annually, under the direction of the board, print such number of reports of the proceedings of the board, society and auxiliary societies as may in the judgment of the state printing commission be justified by the appropria- tion made for that purpose by the General Assembly, such annual report not to con- tain more than four hundred pages. The secretary of the Society shall receive a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum as full compensation for his services; all other officers shall serve without compensation, except that they may receive their actual expenses in attending meetings of the board. _ Sec. 12. The title of the act of 1891 alluded to in this act being defective, and the repealing clause therein alluded to having been omitted in the body of the act, and there being a necessity more clearly to provide for the Missouri State Horticultural Society, create an emergency within the meaning of the constitution ; therefore, this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. EXHIBIT AT CHICAGO. No one knows the worry and trouble about our exhibit at Chicago, except the President and myself. After two sets of plans had been agreed upon, they were rejected by the authorities in Chicago, and I was by telegram summoned to St. Louis only a little over a month before the opening of the fair to propose another vlan for the display. This was done, and now we have in Chicago, after infinite delay and disappointment, one of the very best plans for display on the grounds, and one of the very best displays there. About twelve hundred jars, large and small, were filled last fall and summer with every variety of the fruits of our State, and are now on exhibition. A plan of the display is hereby submitted, and a cut taken from the picture of the fruits as they appear from a photograph. Besides these twelve hundred jars of fruits we have in Chicago one hundred and fifty barrels of apples in cold storage for use on our tables. We will have these fine specimens on the tables until after apples begin to come again. These are all cleaned off every day, the rotten ones taken away and others put in their places. Noone who has not undertaken such a work can begin to realize how much care and attention it takes to keep up such a collection. Our tables and fix- tures are pure white and gold, and very nicely adapted to the display of both jars and fresh fruits, but in order to keep thisin good shape and clean, calls for con- Stant care and attention. About eight or ten barrels of apples are taken out each week or so, and an entire change is made in our fruits on the tables. Thus far we 36 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. have to say gladly that no State, not even Illinois, with an appropriation of $25,000 for horticulture, can compare in variety, quality or quantity of choice fruits on the tables. KEEPING UP THE DISPLAY. Our success in the future with this display depends upon this Society as it has in the past, and Iam sorry that we have not a greater number in attendance, that a little enthusiasm might be awakened in the collection and forwarding of the fruits this summer to keep up this display. But say you, ‘‘we have nothing and will have nothing that will be worthy of exhibiting on the tables of such a show as the one in Chicago.”’ You know the story of the clerk in the store when his master asked him if he could sell goods, and made answer, ‘‘yes, sir, I can sell goods to any one who wants to buy.” ‘‘But,’’ said the master, ‘‘it is not those who want to buy and will buy that I want a clerk to sell goods to, but it is those who do not want to buy that I want you to reach.’’ Also, you know the story of the owner of the mill who questioned the miller who applied for a situation, ‘‘can you make good flour? ’’ ‘* Yes, sir, if I have good wheat I can make as good flour as any one.’”’ ‘‘But any one can do that,”’ replied the owner. ‘‘I want some one who can make good flour out of poor wheat.’’ You see the application. We want some extra specimens of fruits this sum- mer, and you answer that you could get them if the fruits were only good, but they are 80 poor. Any one could get good specimens when orchards are full of them, but we want good specimens when orchards are not full of even poor specimens. They can be found in the State, and it is to be your work to find them and send them to Chicago to the Missouri Exhibit, Horticultural building, Jackson park. Now then, if the thousand correspondents and members of this Society will each spend one day only in collecting these fruits, what a work will be done. ALL MUST HELP. If you collect only a bushel of fruit each, see what we will have to use. If you have to go a long distance to find them, go and get.them ; if you know or hear of any good orchards and cannot go, write me at once so I can go or send some one after them. ‘his is our golden opportunity, and no member or fruit-grower in the State can afford to fail of his duty for maintaining the honor of his State. On you depends the success of this effort Directions and shipping tags will be fur- nished to all, and I have had occasion to make arrangements with the State Board of Agriculture to publish thia call in an edition of 50,000 copies, which will go broadcast all over our State. On you, individually, will rest the responsibility of our success. THE CAUSE OF FAILURES. I cannot forbear to mention the suecess of fruit-growing and on what it depends. Ourorchard failures, what causes them? The cold storms of one year ago blasted the prospect of afine crop in a few days, and ‘not only destroyed the crop, but badly injured the trees, so that they did not recover in time to form fruit-buds for this year’s crop, for our fruit-buds are formed in June, and, that time past, our crop is gone for the next year. Kven where the injury was not great and the bloom still formed in abundance, the exact repetition of the cold storm at the most critical time has again destroyed the crop more or less; in some places very badly, worse than last year, indeed; in others not so badly. The years ’92 and ’93 will be long remembered by the fruit-growers as very disastrous ones, but proper care, the use of ashes, lime, salt, ground bone, and in some instances green or barnyard manure, will bring out our younger trees in good SUMMER MEETING. 387 shape; but many old orchards are past their time, and may as well be taken out and new ones planted. I have this to say beyond chance of refutation: If the business be properly followed year after year, you cannot find any other that will pay you better, to say nothing of the increased value these orchards give to your farms and to the community in general. OUR SOCIETY’S FUTURE. About the success of our Society, a subject near and dear to my heart, I wish to say something. I speak the truth with pride when I[ say that at Chicago, where 26 State societies are represented, and where we find the best informed horticul- turists of the Jand, I was glad to hear the compliment paid our Society as being the best in the country, and Missouri as making greater strides in horticultural progress than any other state in the Union. I[f there has been anything that I have been working for the last ten years, since I took the position I now occupy, harder than any other, it isto place this Society second to none in this great country. Hence, when these compliments were given the State, [ am sure you will not blame your Secretary if the President and he took a sort of pride and satisfaction in them. Our growth has not been rapid, but has been on a good basis, and I look forward with pride to the future as full of hope, life and activity, and successes as well as failures. 1 wish that we had our usual delegation of over a hundred mem- bers present, at least to have seen Columbia, and to have given the people here a better idea of our strength and our work; but a busy season, rains and storms have so hindred our work that it has been almost impossible for fruitmen to leave their work, so that what we seem here is not what we are at home. : L. A, Goopman, Secretary, Westport, Mo. 38 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. REPORT OF A. NELSON, TREASURER. 1892 Dec. 14... Dec. 14.... Mary 323). April 15.... April 17.... April 18... EXPENDITURES. .| P. O. bill $10.92; express 70c; ribbon $4,95......... Program (printing) $22.70; plates $4.95 ........... P.O bill $15.06; expenses of L. A. Goodman to Co- lumbia, $17. Bonet JAMIE Arne S00 Ao aaa SalaryvofSecretanytor NOV. 2).)sccsis om1el-lae oe wera et Warrant No. 201...... ee imiees LENE AR ceheene Premiums atyColumbialesocsee-coeceeerios fee eiciice Taplets and EO: Columbia .2. suas cuees cen eee aes WiarrantyNosi20 254. 5 mstece set savers rete Spiele’ Expenses J. C. Evans at Columbia.................. a N. F. Murray Sins OD Pe eee ae anes ae Samuel Miller ea WTA CTA At tare ee A. Nelson Sor See HEA SCnia 2....| Ferd. E. Arn for bird collection : Warrant NOt 9G.“ cocwcesis scsi cctitee eset Warrant No, 204 se Beare asee ene ee ...| P. O. bill $8.74; Carthage press $2.50........... ... Express $1.20; paper and twine $4.60.............. Expenses to Jeff. City, $13.55; salary Secretary for December; BEG. GOs ic ishctoscrere cf totere wicpew ovis eretaroleinve’ eve Warrant No; 20be se. cties en deans ccleler. oo teeters Carthage papers $2; P. O. January, $13.73.......... H. ae (delegate), "$8. 80; salary Secretary for Jan. $66 sO eee erm ene eee sees et eenoas teases eeere soeeer WiarrantoNiOs, 206. scons csnsteeiter ieee crete niece Express $7.55; P. O. bill $10.22; type- writing $2.50. Railroad fare and expenses to Chicago sre jsistsisibereis see Salary of Secretary for February................0.. Warrant) Noa207sneecisacoe Calee cistiieem cee eee Expenses A. Nelson to Carthage: \feioriour INI, 230s oogounnendeccdcD ou GoosaSonS- Mar. ah railroad and hotel at Jeff. Olty ras scties oie April 1 Veil ei. eect oe Ree REL) BUS OO UC ode are Melegrams $1.50: express Bl 70. cae. ce cece cee P. O. bill $23.80; salary Secretary for Mar., $66.66.. Warrant INO; DUO es recretsnacie eco slererer sie eleiniare roteerayats .| April 10, R. R. and hotel to Carthage, L. A. Goodman April 15, R. R. and hotel Jeff. City, L. A.Goodman. Telegrams $2.60; express $1.15.................06-. P. O. bill $16.30; salary secretary for April, $66.66. Wittig nine 2b ss sho onooasogaded docs nonca: Miss M. E. Murtfeldt, etomologist : Warrant INO Malo Ne acme cc eteiaiciere onteloile cic lowis seoeeees eect eees eee e ewes sete eee see eens se ee wees re $143 29 98 80 125 35 97 25 91 19 118 03 13 20 122 81 113 76 50 00 SUMMER MEETING. 39 May 25....) R. R. and hotel to St. Louis, J. C. Evans....... $19 50 R. R. and hotel to Jeff. City, J. C. Kvans....... 16 55 P VVisur-T Th GRIND Lad torch taro oie bra mortierenn or sccywiad aietent reser om ail iareerree: $36 05 R. R. and hotel N. F. Murray to Kansas City: NWYETAM EG NOs le Be Ses OSI eed a charel| erotavelorbae 9 20 R. R. and hotel to Kansas City, A. Nelson: WiSETANTPNG! 2G ecto cncseee es Sepia tiers caer stsctetes 21 70 Miss M. E. Murtfeldt: WiArThanceNOevilGr ss sinc soc cece ballets os, bes clecie.slieteosnee 50 00 Mo tallies vrtowvetes ceisteunds shai dae eis ied 1,138 48 1892 RECEIPTS eer es Gere sel ANCE VON) MAIN sie, so5, 6 siela’e Greve Ge ici e-avclele olcielereinielsi end os lerete 686 61 14....| Membership fees from Seeretary.................... 24 00 Neeaetety PEO MMN EG VAG A DATIKG.(s ctectete rca aetcler cst Rrsre Rise Uevelneld eee 36 19 Ore |P Membership TOS. cince cess hive css sees slebs ven ls ele 21 00 1893 PANO Drath from state Treasurer... a2... cid. cis eee 5 oslo cee 416 39 Mo tals. cts soca sae steelen gene ete Palseaiee c oallaeeeoae 1,134 19 ES TRIN CO PID T Srna carn he eel& lcteiass! ehst'e & aueTayenislanctoreis tetovenel| (ctectenateren 4 29 Mr. Chairman— Your Committee on Finance beg to report that we have care- fully examined the Treasurer’s report, and find it correct in every particular. Adopted. N. F. Murray, Gro. B. Lam, A. CHANDLER. 40 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. REPORT ON SMALL FRUITS. BY ARTHUR PATTERSON, KIRKSVILLE, MO. It ig practically impossible for me to attend the meeting in person, on account of the rush of work at home, having been delayed by the excessive rain-fall for several weeks past. I always enjoy the coming together of horticulturists and to hear the experience, the successes and failures of others that would otherwise, perhaps, require several years to find out. However much disappointed I am by not being with you in person, you can rest assured that [am with you in heart and mind, and the best that I ean do is to send in a meager report on the small fruit in our section. Our main crop of the small fruits is the blackberry, of which we use the Sny- der altogether; having been quite successful with this variety, we have been slow to change to any other. ‘They arein very fine condition at time of writing, coming out in the spring perfectly sound to the tip. They are now white with blossom, and promise a full crop, and in fact they have never yet missed a single year in bearinga fullcrop. ‘Thenew growth is topped at about three and a half feet, which compels it to throw out laterals or branches from the main stem, and these are cut off at about twelve to sixteen inches from the main stalk the next spring before the growth commences. The fruit is borne on these branches, and they help to form a miniature tree by which the product of the plant is about doubled, It is important to top the new growth as soon after it attains the height of three and ahalf feet as possible, in order to give the laterals time to form and mature sufficiently to withstand the following winter. It is also important to give thorough cultivation throughout the growing season. Should a continued drouth set in, the blackberries should be cultivated once a week, which will give a full crop of,nice berries in spite of the drouth. All our bearing blackberries are in a 15-year old orchard where the trees are only 26 feet apart; hence they are pretty well shaded, but as they have borne some enor- mous crops, it is to be supposed that they do well inthe shade ; at any rate, we nearly always have better and larger berries than neighbors whose berries are in the open. We are using three varieties of black raspberries, namely : Ohio, M. Cluter and Gregg, which have a succession of ripening giving greater ease in disposing of the crop. All these varieties passed the winter weil and promise a fair crop of fruit. The Shaffer’s Colossal is by far the largest raspberry and is enormously pro- ductive. It winter-kills some every year but the dead partis cut out in the spring, and a full crop is the usual outcome. It is not, however, a good shipping berry, | as it is too soft, and it is not admired by some for canning purposes because of its breaking up on being cooked. It is relished by all for dessert to be eaten fresh. The strawberries promise only a fair crop. Formerly the Crescent held the leading place on our farm, but it is very unsatisfactory on account of the berries being so small at the close of the season. In planting one-half acre last spring we used the Bubach instead of the Crescent, using the Cumberland and Louise to fertilize with. A neighbor plants the Louise quite extensively, but they winter- killed quite badly last winter. Cherries were mostly sound to the tip, except those planted on low or rather wet ground, which winter-killed badly. The same trees looked all right last fall, bunt many are dead this spring. I think [ am safe in saying that it is absolutely SUMMER MEETING. 41 useless to plant cherries on low. wet soil. All varieties blossomed out very full, but two freezes fixed them and now we have about one-fourth of a crop left. Have sprayed a few with London purple for the curculio as an experiment. All varieties of plums blossomed out nicely and the fruit set out very finely. I sprayed them with London purple for the curculio, but found that [ was too late, as the curculio had already worked on the Wolf quite badly. The Wild Goose, however, were not so far advanced, and [ think by judicious spraying I can save quite a crop of them. Apples are almost a complete failure, except Willow Twig and a few others, but taken as a whole we have a good prospect for a fair crop in the small fruit line. GuLascow, Mo., June 6, 1893. Mr. L. A. GoopMan: Dear Secretary—I send by express today one case containing 31 varieties of strawberries. Last week we had the promise of at least three-fourths of a crop, but the continued rains up to Monday morning cut them short, so one-half crop is about all we will have now. I am sorry I cannot send a better showing. If I could have selected them June 8, could have sent much better specimens. Most of the varieties are over their best. (sandy, as you will see, is very fine, and are the first we picked. We have plenty Grimes’ and Burr’s, but they do not grow any in size. I may be dow, to see you all the last evening of the meeting if [can. Hope you will have a good time. Respectfully, H. SCHNELL. REPORT ON SMALL FRUITS. S. MILLER, BLUFFTON. The prospect here is about the poorest that we have had for years. Straw- berries, most varieties are now ripening, and when compared with other seasons, make a poor show. Between late frosts, hail-storms and too much rain, they had a poor chance. Of the older varieties, the popular varieties are holding their own, and the new ones have not had a fair chance to show their merits, but they will be given, 1s they all had an equal chance. Beder Wood and Parker Earle stand at the head of the list of tried ones. Extra Earlya failure. Evergreen so few berries that I cannot give it praise. Columbian may be valuable. Sucker, Jr., an improvement on its parent. Beal, from California, shows pretty well. Columbus, avery promis- ing berry, good size, very productive, good in quality, and the finest berry I ever handled. Gen. Putnam got caught by the late frost, and bas but few berries. Princess promises wonderful well; not yet ripe. Edith not yet ripe, but an enor- mous large handsome shaped berry. Bell, the largest size, productive and fine. Charlie not yet ripe. Tennessee Prolific just in blossom. Trimbellin bloom; plant vigorous and healthy. Greenville came too late to havea show, Swindle promises to be a valuable late one, and no swindJe about it. Regina, another valuable late one. Crawford’s L. D.is one of the most showy things in the lot. If present indi- cations are carried out, it will be valuable. This year is but a poor chance of giving an account of themselves. Ina new bed some thirty varieties have been set out and all carefully cultivated, which may give us a chance to judge them next year. Raspberries promised well until blooming, when the wet weather destroyed them, and now the prospect is not so flattering. Blackterries shared the same fate. Cherries—A pretty fair crop, but the curculio has been at work, and there will be lots of wormy ones by the time they are ripe. The May Bigareau are all gone. The birds take them before ripe. 42 \e STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Grapes—These look promising at this time, and if we can keep off the rot, will have a fair crop. The half hardy ones passed through the winter safe, and although the late frosts cut some of the early buds, and the hail knocked off many more, there is stilla good showing. I intend experimenting on some of those vines that have fewest bunches, so as to get a second crop. I think it can be done with- out injuring the vines for the crop next season. Plums—I almost forget these ; in fact, there are scarcely enough left to deserve a notice. The trees bloomed well and some set their fruit, but nearly all fell off. The few left won’t pay to spray, nor would it help much when it rains almost every day. Taking these things into account, it is rather discouraging to the fruit-grower> but we must hope for a better crop next year. At the close of the session the Dean of the Agricultural college presented a strong plea for the Society to make its home at Columbia. and hold its summer meetings there. Every inducement was offered in the way of rooms, any thing that the Society needed. The Society took no action on the matter and left it for the winter meeting to dis- Cuss. Strong invitations were presented from Trenton for the winter meeting, signed by the mayor, council and hundred of its citizens. Also one from Fulton asking for the winter meeting. By motion the matter was left with the executive committee as usual, and the Society adjourned after a most pleasant and successful meeting. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. “ OT Sel ie : aps hata a aia N eee £ fee ibe: Had e eey fg o') eet atk ‘ Ah Deh ee ity ie» etal te See shies sie® om mlm tia didi, testi ie tn ei ei mgt ean dd ge OO Va, MA Aly NET Raa ae ls le Naa dVs SCIYOM AHL LV LIGIHXS A1ddV A rice 1. “ ae ve aes rs pes sie ~ as h f Seg a ee Eee Me é SUMMER MEETING. 45 Notes From the Field. BY B. T. GALLOWAY, WASHINGTON, D. C. Sterility of Pear and Apple Flowers as a factor influencing fruitfulness. In the course of some investigations of pear blight carried on by . the Department of Agriculture, it was shown that when insects were excluded from the flowers many varieties of both pears and apples failed to set fruit. This discovery led to experiments which seemed to clearly prove that most of our well-known varieties of pears and apples are practically self-sterile; in other words, to obtain a good crop of Bartlett pears, for example, it is necessary for the flowers to receive pollen from some other variety. A Bartlett pear flower fertil- ized with its own pollen, if it develops into a fruit at all, will be so dif- ferent from the typical form as to be scarcely recognizable. The evidence at hand seems to clearly indicate that pollen from most of the well-known varieties will fertilize the Bartlett flower and produce typical Bartlett fruits. On the other hand, Bartlett pollen is thor- oughly capable of fertilizing other varieties, sach as Anjou, Winter Neelis, etc., the result being in every case the production of typical fruits of the kinds in question. These statements are not based on a few scattered experiments; on the contrary they are made after hundreds of tests, extending over a period of nearly three years. The whole of the evidence at hand resulting from this work may be briefly summarized as follows: (1) The majority of the cultivated varieties of pears and apples require cross-fertilization in order to bring about successful fruitage. By cross-fertilization is meant the transfer of pollen from a different horticultural variety, and not from a different individual of the same variety. (2) Bees and other insects perform the work of cross-fertilizing. (3) The weather at the time of flowering has an important influ- ence on the visits of bees and other insects, and through these upon the setting of the fruit. Horticulturists will see ata glance the practical application of the foregoing principles. No single variety known to be partially or wholly self-sterile should be planted in large blocks without introduc- ing others known to be good fertilizers. Unquestionably the failure of many orchards to fruit can be traced to this cause, and the remedy in such cases is to introduce, either by top-grafting, budding or planting, varieties known to be active fertilizers. Of course, judgment must be 46 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. used in the selection of pollenating varieties, otherwise there may be discrepancies in the time of blooming, which will render them value- less so far as the object in view is concerned. PEACH YELLOWS AND ROSETTE. Missouri is fast coming to the front as a peach-growing State, and for this reason the greatest care should be exercised in the matter of keeping out this crop’s two worst enemies, namely, yellows and rosette. The former disease to a certainty extends as far west as Central Ken- tucky, and itis probably only a question of time when it will cross the Mississippi, if it has not already done so. Rosette, which is even more virulent than yellows, already occurs in parts of Kansas, but as yet it has attracted very little attention. This disease is causing the most serious trouble in Georgia, where it attacks both peaches and plums, killing the trees usually inabout five months. Rosette in many respects resembles yellows, the principal difference being an absence in the case of the former of premature fruit, and a much more tufted growth. No remedy for either yellows or rosette is known, but by proper precautions it is believed that regions now free from the diseases may be kept so. Briefly the precautionary measures we should recommend are as follows: 1. Procure no nursery stock from regions in which yellows exists. 2. Import no pits, buds or grafts from such regions. 3. Buy only from responsible nurserymen who have grown their own stock and cut ‘heir buds from healthy trees. 4, Destroy the first cases of yellows or rosette on sight, and continue the fight along this line. For five years the United States Department of Agriculture has been experimenting with fertilizers to determine whether yellows could be prevented or cured by the addition to the soil of various fertilizers. “Potash, soda, magnesia, phosphoric acid, wood ashes, lime, nitrogen and other plant foods have been used repeatedly, separately and together, often in large quantities, and frequently on as many as 50 or 75 trees, healthy and diseased. Some of the diseased trees improved in appearance and probably lived longer than they would otherwise, but none of them recovered. Neither was it possible to keep healthy trees in a state of health.” These experiments, therefore, carried on under widely different conditions and in the heart of the great peach region of Maryland and Delaware, seem to clearly indicate that yellows cannot be prevented or cured by the application of any of the usual forms of plant food. SUMMER MEETING. 47 Our Insect Pests. ‘ Mr. L. A. GOODMAN, Secretary Horticultural Society : I had made my plans for attending the meeting at Columbia, and am keenly disappointed not to be able to go, but alarming illness in my family for the last two weeks has not only prevented my attendance, but has incapacitated me from completing an essay intended for the evening program. In the name of the Committee on Entomology, I would report tha; the present season has brought to the fore some fruit-tree destroyers not heretofore catalogued among our serious enemies. Among these is the Buffalo tree-hopper ,Ceresa bubalus). This is a small, green, jumping insect, shaped, when in the perfect state, like an elongate beechnut, and is about one-half the size of the latter. It may be found on most fruit-trees and on many deciduous shade-trees, but its most injurious effects are seen ontheapple. I had twigs sent to me this spring from a dozen different localities in the State, including the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western divisions, bearing either the two or three inch-long rows of its fresh punctures, or having the bark scarred and blistered with the punctures of two or three successive years. These punctures are made by the female in placing her eggs, and greatly injure the vigor of the twig, evenif they do not cause its death. When the eggs hatch, the small, soft, green, bug-like larve cause the leaves to turn yellow from the effects of the pricks of their myriad, tiny beaks in pumping out the sap. I am making some especial studies on the habits of this insect, and hope to be able to give a more complete account of it, and of the best remedies for it, ina succeeding report. Another apple-tree pest not yet known to me was sent some weeks ago by Mr. Gilbert, of Thayer, who found it working under the bark of some young trees of Missouri Pippin. It caused the bark to shrink and harden in spots as large as a half dollar, and if very numerous would undoubtedly seriously injure the tree. The borer is a whitish, smooth sub-cylindrical lepidopterous larva, about a half inch in length by one-tenth inch in diameter. The head is broad and brown, and the jaws usually strong. It appears to be the young of some Tortricid moth, which I cannot place until it emerges. Mr. Gilbert sent two of these larve, but unfortunately for me, though it should be good news to apple-growers, one of these was parasited. The other has not yet completed its transformations. A third insect which bids fair to prove very troublesome is the Twig-blight beetle (Scolytus rugulosus), a very small bark beetle which 48 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. bores the buds and into the twigs of several varieties of fruit trees, but is most numerous and destructive on cherries and plums. This species has been sent to me by several correspondents and has already caused much loss in some of the cherry orchards of St. Louis county. The beetle is nearly cylindrical, blunt at both ends, of a dark brown color and only one-tenth of an inch long. It bores the buds and twigs in its perfect as well as its larve state, causing first a copious exuda- tion of sap and later the shriveling of the twig. Of course no fruit matures on trees suffering from a bad attack. The treatment of this insect is a difficult matter. A much diluted kerosene emulsion has been recommended as a spray, and it has been found that soap washes and soda will also keep it in a measure from the twigs. Itis an imported pest, and has been reported from almost every section of the country. I shall report further in regard to these insects, and hope to find some efficient remedy for each. Please invite the members of the Society to send me specimens of the insects which are found on their fruit trees or on any other trees and plants that may be suffering. Ask them to inclose these specimens in tin or wooden boxes, in which it is not necessary to punch air-holes, togetber with some of the wood, leaves or fruitiupon which they appear to be working. I shall be glad to determine these species, and to help the senders to aremedy, if it is within my knowledge. Wishing you and the Society a most interesting and enjoyable session, I am Yours sincerely, Kirkwood, Mo. Mary HE. MURTFELDT. Plum-Tree Piant-Louse. Editor ‘‘Rural World’’—There is an insect working upon trees of the Wild Goose plum, which colonizes in groups on the leaves, feeding upon the sap. It is also found upon the fruit stems. What is the name of this insect, and what remedy is there for it ? Your respectfully, N. WB Pleasant View, Ill. P The specimens inclosed were those of the plum-tree plant-louse (Aphis prunifolii). The best remedy for this or other plant-lice is kerosene emulsion, for which the formula has been given repeatedly in the “Rural World,” diluted with about 20 parts of water, and applied in the form of a spray. Another very good remedy is tobacco tea, made by pouring two gallons of hot water on a pound of tobacco, or tobacco stems and applying with a syringe. The trouble is that the aphis causes the curling or twisting of the leaves which protects it in SUMMER MEETING. 49 a measure from contact with insecticides. Like all other aphids it has a number of natural enemies, such as lady-bird beetles and syrphus fly and lace-wing fly larvee, which in the course of the seasons almost, but never quite, exterminate it. But these seldom come to the aid of the fruit-grower in time to save his crops. Mary E. MURTFELDT. Entomology as a Career. The Study of Insects is Becoming a Very Important Business. Economic entomology is that branch of the science which, looking beyond the mere collection and classification of insects, has to do with the control of those which injuriously affect agricultural products. Its importance is shown by the fact that its bibliography fills a volume of 450 pages, while the Association of Economic Entomologists numbers some 60 active members. That the achievements of its students or professors are remarkable is shown by the statement made in a recent address by the Dominion Entomologist of Canada, that a saving of $400,000 worth of agricultural products was made in North Dakota and Minnesota during 1891 by the adoption of certain measures recom- mended to farmers by official entomologists. Entomology as a hobby is now widely pursued by young people, and no department of natural history is more attractive, says the *“ Youth’s Companion.” But the biologic study of insects, though of the first importance to the economic entomologist, is to him only the first step. The life history of a given pest known, he aims to devise some means to control it. Some of the achievements in this line are, in a general way, well known. The Colorado potato beetle is practically under the thumb of Paris green. The codling moth, whose larva infests our apples, is readily controlled by spraying the trees with the same poison at the proper season. So with many other pests of the farmer and fruit-grower. But as Prof. Riley estimates that one-tenth of our agricultural pro- ducts is annually ruined by insects, it is evident that plenty of work remains to be done in this direction. The total annual loss from insects in the United States is placed by the best entomological authorities at about $380,000,000. As the entomologists of the various state agricultural experiment stations and of the National Department of Agriculture pursue their investigations further, this enormous loss will be greatly reduced. H R—4 50 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. When their labors become better known and appreciated, their opportunities for work, as well as the means at their disposal, will be increased. Many more hands and brains will be needed to do the work, and young men and women trained in entomology will be called for as assistants. Most of the states have now established agricultural experiment stations, and at the majority of these an entomologist is busily at work on his specialty. Some of the agricultural colleges: give courses in economic entomology, and as the farmers learn to better appreciate its money value to them, they will devote more and more time to its study. The implements needed for the collection and study of insects are few and inexpensive. For young persons whose happiness lies in out- door life and the study of nature, no department of natural science offers a more inviting and promising field than applied entomology.— Colman’s Rural World. The Romance of Roses. BY &. B. HERRICK. [The following was taken from The Cosmopolitan as being worthy of place.—Sxc’y ] A traveler, passing through Persia, so the story goes, chanced to take into his hand a lump of clay. To his surprise, it exhaled a deli- cate perfume. “Thou art but a poor lump of clay,” said he, “yet how sweet thou art. Whence comes this delicious fragrance?” The clay replied, “I have been dwelling with the rose.” The earliest records of the human race come laden with allusions to the rose. Itis found in the mythologies and folk-lore of all peoples: it mingles with their religious rites, it erowns their fetes, it teaches and comforts through its symbolism, it plays an important role in their half mythical history. The oldest records of the past now existing in the form of written language are the Hindoo myths. Vishnu, one of these tells us, the Lord of the world, the God of life, one of the Trinity of “bright Aryan gods,” discovered his wife, Pagoda Siri, in the heart of arose. The Persian Ghebers say that when Nimrod commanded and their infant prophet Abraham was cast into the fire, the glowing bed of coals was turned instantly into a bed of roses, “whereon the child sweetly slumbered.” The poetical fancies of the Greek mythologies shadowing forth the processes of nature give to the rose alover. Zephyr, the son of the dawn and the companion of spring, discovers the rose in bud; he caresses it with his wing, he breathes upon it with his sweet breath, SUMMER MEETING. ou till it uncloses to his wooing. Since that day the rose will only open in response to the sweet caresses of her wayward lover. Jami, the Persian poet, following the same fancy, sings of the loves of the nightingale and the rose—the bulbul and the gul. “The night- ingales warbled their enchanting notes, and rent the thin veils of the rosebud and the rose.” In another place he says: ‘“ You may place a hundred handfuls of fragrant herbs and flowers before the nightin- gale, yet he wishes not, in his constant heart, for more than the breath of his beloved rose.” The same poet, who seems never weary of heaping his delicate fancies upon the rose, says: ‘The rose appeared in Gulistan when the flowers demanded a new sovereign, because their drowsy Lotus queen would sleep at night. At first the maiden queen was white, but the nightingale, in the ardor of his love, pressed his breast against the encircling thorns and covered her delicate petals with his flowing blood.” Attar, a well-named poet of the rose, tells us in his “ Book of Nightingales ” that all the birds appeared before Solomon to make a charge against the nightingale for disturbing their slumbers by his warblings. Upon full examination of the criminal it appeared that the disturbing song was the uncontrollable expression on the part of the nightingale of his impassioned and distracting love for the rose. Sol- omon, whom a fellow-feeling must have made wondrous kind, inquired no further, but freely acquitted the culprit. The rose, which by common consent of all nations was born white and thornless, has gathered around her numberless graceful and fanci- ful stories to account for her color and her thorns. Boitard, in his **Monograph on the Rose,” tells us that Moses said, “ Before the Fall roses were without thorns,” but he does not add where he found this statement of Moses. The ancients considered the color of the rose a question of suffi- cient importance to make it the subject of a poetical contest. Theo- phrastus and Bion, 300 B. C., each pleads for his own version of the story. Venus, fearing for her lover Adonis the vengeance of Mars, hid him in a thicket of roses. While the enamored queen of joy Flies to protect her lovely boy, On whom the jealous war god rushes, She treads upon a thorned rose, And while the wound with crimson flows, The snowy flow’ret feels her blood and blushes— Is Moore’s translation of a Latin epigram embodying the fable. Bion, in his famous idyl on the death of Adonis, says of Venus weeping over her wounded and dying lover: 52 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Both tears and drops of blood were turned to flowers. From these ia crimeon beauty sprang the rose, Cerulean bright anemones from those. Thorns are accounted for in an equally fanciful way. Cupid, stooping to kiss a new-blown dewy rose, was stung by a bee asleep in its heart. To please the petulant boy, Venus strung his bow with captive bees, and planted along the stem of the rose the stings torn from them. Sappho, in one of the few fragments that remain to us of her epi- grains, elegiacs and nine books of lyrical poems, sings the praises of the rose in an ode which has suffered translation at the hands of several poets: If Jove should give the happy bowers A queen for all their world of flowers, The rose would be the choice of Jove, And blush the queen of every grove. Sweetest child of weeping morning, Gem, the breast of earth adorning, Kve of flow’rets! glow of lawns! Bud of Beauty, nursed by dawns : Soft the soul of love it breathes, Cy pria’s brow with magic wreathes, And to the Zephyr’s warm caresses Diffuses all her verdant tresses, Till, glowing with the wanton play, It blu: hes a diviner ray.’’ Anacreon, very nearly the contemporary of Sappho, 600 B. c., is fairly redolent with roses. One ode after another demands tribute of the rose to help the soft imagery of his verse, apart from those de- voted specially to her praise.* The proverbial expression attributed to Aristophanes, “ You have spoken in roses,” shows something of the feeling which the beauty- loving Greeks felt toward the flower. Hippocrates, the god of silence, carries as his symbol a rose given to him by Cupid. From the idea of secrecy or reserve that associates itself with roses came the old custom recorded by the Greeks. When the people of the North, they say, wished to preserve the most pro- found secrecy in regard to what was said between themselves at their feasts, a freshly gathered rose was hung from the ceiling above the upper end of the table. It was considered not only dishonorable but. a crime to reveal that which had been said “ sub rosa.” Roses were dedicated to Venus as the symbol of beauty, to Cupid as the symbol of love, to Aurora, the rosy-fingered, to signify her office of opening the portals of day, to youth and springtime. In the *The forty-fourth and fifty-fifth odes, as translated by Moore. SUMMER MEETING. 53 exuberance of their love and loyalty, she meant to the Greeks all things bright, and fresh, and fragrant. A dainty story appropos of the rose is told by Boitard and Des- longchamp, the two French writers who have laboriously culled from classic and Eastern lore the myths, legends and stories concerning the rose, and who have been ruthlessly rifled of their store of sweets by most of the writers who have succeeded them, with little acknow- Jedgment and less thanks. There was in Amadan, Persia, an academy whose statutes enjoined much thinking, little writing, and the least possible speech. Into this select society only a limited number of members were admitted. A famous Oriental doctor—Zeb by name— desired to become a member. Upon learning of a vacancy in the academy he made haste to come from his home to obtain his election. In the mean time the academy. like others since, had given away the membership to the most powerful applicant, not waiting to weigh the merits of the candidates. The learned doctor came too late, the last vacancy had been filled. The president of the assembly, covered with shame at having to refuse admission to a member who would cast such luster upon the body, was at a loss what tosay. He therefore clothed his refusal in allegory, the polite way of saying disagreeable things in those days. A cup of water was brought in, filled to its brim, so that a single drop would cause it to overflow. The petitioner understood, and quietly turned to withdraw. A rose-leaf at his feet gave him an inspiration; he picked it up and placed it so gently on the water that not a drop was spilled. At this the assembly applauded, and the in- genious doctor was received by general acclamation among the silent academicians. Vast rose gardens were planted on the hills near Athens, which sup- plied the flower markets of the day. Andin the Greco-Roman colonies of Paestum and Sybaris the culture must have been carried to a very high degree of perfection. Ovid tells us that they were made to bloom twice a year by means of hot water, which—from testimony gathered from the literature of the day—must have been carried in pipes, much as is done in our hot-houses today. Pliny writes, about the date of the Christian era, “It is a flower known to all nations, equally with wine, myrtle and oil.” When the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra went to Cilicia to meet Mare Antony, she celebrated their meeting by daily feasts. During the first three days the richest tapestry and hangings, vessels of gold and silver, adornments of precious stones, all that the wealth and luxury and refinement of the world could supply, were lavished upon the enter- tainments. On the fourth day, as the crown and culmination of it all, o4 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. she gave to him a feast of roses. The floors of the rooms and halls were covered to the depth of 18 inches with freshly blown roses, held in place by a strong but delicate net stretched above them so that her guests might walk over them. Nero, not many years later, gave a feast where $100,000 was spent in roses alone. When the use of these flowers first came into vogue, the Romans. were obliged to send to Egypt for them in the winter time. The ad- vance in rose-culture is clearly shown by an incident in the days of Domitian, the last of the Cesars,and Nero’s immediate successor. The Egyptians proposed making a magnificent donation of roses to the Emperor, but the Romans laughed them to scorn. ‘In every street,” says Martial, with reference to the proposed gift, “ the odor of spring is breathed, and garlands of freshly gathered flowers are hanging. Send us corn, O, Egyptians! and we will send you roses.” Latinus Pacatus, reproaching the Romans for their luxury, said they were not satisfied till they had reversed the seasons, having roses in winter wherewith to crown their cups of wine, and ice in summer to cool it. Martial says: “The moment for soliciting a favor is when the patron is entirely given over to the pleasures of the table and roses.” As the stern conquerors and law-makers of tbe earth fell from their high estate, and their martial valor was quenched in luxury, their passion for the use of roses grew; they crowned the statues of their _gods and heroes with them, they scattered the petals through their temples. At feasts the floors and couches were fragrant with fresh blossoms, the vessels from which they drank, and the heads of the guests, were wreathed with them, and the petals were thrown into the cups from which they drank the vaunted Falernian wine. On the oc¢a- sion of certain water parties given at Baiz, the whole lake of Lucina was covered with roses, which parted before the moving boats and closed after them as they passed. Lucius Verus reached a luxury in the use of the rose never sur- passed before or after his time. He slept upon a couch covered with cushions made of a fine, thin net, and filled with freshly gathered rose- ‘leaves. The extreme fastidiousness of the young Smindyrides, the Sybarite, whose sleep was disturbed by a crumpled rose-leaf, has passed into a familiar proverb. So enormous a demand created, of course, its commensurate sup- ply, and acres upon acres of ground were devoted to their cultivation. The sale of flowers has always been intrusted to the most beautiful women. Some of the Roman poets have immortalized the names of these charming rose-venders. It is altogether probable that Flora, or Chloris, the goddess of flowers, was one of the earlier and more charm- SUMMER MEETING. 55 ing of the flower-girls who had been apotheosized by some admiring poet. Gallants among the young Romans were in the habit of present- ing roses to the belles of the day, and mea rosa was a term of endear- ment used by the Roman lover to his betrothed. In the third century, when Heliogabalus, the beautiful long-haired priest of the sun, was called from serving the altars of Baal in Pheeni- cia to the wearing of the imperial purple, his extravagances left behind all those of his predecessors and drained the resources of the empire. His gorgeous dresses, golden ornaments and precious jewels were thrown aside after a single wearing. His floors were scattered with gold dust and covered with roses. His porticoes and couches and beds were strewn with them. Through the four years of his mad career the pathway that led to his violent death wag literally strewn with TOses. Symbolism is one of the earliest tendencies of national life. -All the objects and processes of nature have some hidden significance and are associated with the faith, the joy, the sorrow of every-day life. The rose has always associated itself with the sweeter humanities of life. Though it blossoms through mythology, folk-lore, history and litera- ture, it is as a wholesome, earth-born flower, not associated as the lotus has-been with superstitious rites and transcendental analogies; not with crowned ambition, like the laurel and the bay; not as a symbol of funereal woe, as the yew and the cypress. Here and there a story or - legend brings it in touch with sorrow, with superstitious fear, with evil; but even then it rather symbolizes the clinging hope that will accompany the deepest human misery itself. Tulips and orchids have lent them- selves to speculation, and been bought and sold in mad emulation with as little sentiment as if they had been mere stocks and bonds. But until the present day the rose has shaken herself free from all contami- nations of such associations whenever they have chanced to come near her. In spite of the prices that special fashionable roses have brought of late, nothing seems to be able to vulgarize the rose, or spoil the sweet graciousness that belongs to her. She still stoops to the hum- blest home, and no life is so poor or barren that she is not ready to sweeten and illuminate by her presence. She stunds today as she did among the Greeks and Romans: the queen of love and beauty; the type of full, sweet human life, of jocund youth and happiness. After the Christian era and the Church had been fully established, a great effort was made by the fathers to suppress the use of flowers, both in religious ceremonials and for personal adornment, as having been so closely associated with pagan rites. Tertullan wrote a book against the use of garlands, and Clement of Alexandria argued that 56 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. the secular use of roses was unbecoming a Christian. “ Kings should not be crowned with roses, since Christ had worn a crown of thorns.” But the love of flowers was too strong for ecclesiastical denunciation, even when that was at high-water mark, and Christian and Pagan alike continued to use them in worship, at feasts, and in private life. In the village of Salency, not many miles from Paris, a curious fete was inaugurated in the year 480, which has survived until the pre- sent century. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, instituted the ceremony of publicly crowning with roses the most modest and virtuous maiden in the village. The young girl was to be named for this honor by public acclaim. To support the necessary expenses of the festival, the bishop set apart a portion of his domain, which part was called the Manor of the Roses. The first young girl selected by the community was the Bishop’s own sister. During the reign of Louis XIII, the king was in the vicinity at the time of the yearly ceremony, and desired to grace it with his presence. Being ill, he could not himself attend, but he sent his blue ribbon and a ring, saying: “This has long been the prize of honor, it shall now become the reward of virtue.” Since that time each year La Rosiere has received the ring. In 1773 this festival was the occasion of a very serious legal pro- cess. A new lord having purchased Salency attempted to take away the time-honored right of the inhabitants, by himself naming three candidates for the rose. He assumed this right with the estates, and attempted to suppress the ceremonies and reduce the expense. The inhabitants made complaint to the Court of Chancery, which at once decided in favor of the people and set aside the pretensions of the new-comer. But, tenacious of his supposed rights, the owner insti- tuted a civil suit before the parliament of Paris. This august assembly gave a decree confirming the people in all their rights and ancient cus- toms. The contumacious lord, for his pains, only received an order to pay all the expenses incident upon the festival out of his own pocket. The oldest rosebush in the world is at Hildersheim. It was planted more than a thousand years ago by Charlemagne, in commemoration of a visit made him by the ambassador of the Caliph Haroun-al-Ras- chid, of “Arabian Nights” fame. A few years afterward, when Louis the Pious, the son of Charlemagne, was hunting in the neighborhood, mass was said in the open air. On returning to his home the officiat- ing priest found that the holy image was missing. Returning to the spot where mass had been said, he discovered the missing image in the branches of a wild-rose tree. As it miraculously evaded his grasp, he went back to Louis and his suite and told them of the wonder. They all rushed to the spot and fell.on their knees before the miracu- SUMMER MEETING. 57 lous bush. A cathedral was built above it, its roots being enclosed in a sort of coffin-shaped vault, under the middle altar of the crypt. This crypt was built in the year 818, and with the rose-tree it survived a fire which destroyed all the rest of the cathedral in 1146. The roots are over 1000 years old. The rose plant was, when described a few years ago, still living, and blooming profusely, and was 26 feet high, covering 32 feet of wall, though the stem was only two inches in diameter. A curious custom in the Italian city of Treviso is recorded. A mimic castle hung with rich carpets and silk was erected and “manned” by the maidens of the city. Their weapons of defense consisted of roses, rose-water and other equally delicate missiles. The fortress was attacked by a bevy of young men, armed with like odoriferous projectiles. The German emperor, Barbarossa, in the middle of the twelfth century, made one of the attacking party, and declared himself delighted with the sport. Elizabeth of Hungary, the heroine of Kingsley’s “ Saints’ Trag- edy,” has a legend told of her which is a little doubtful, as a tribute to her truthfulness and conjugal loyalty. She was a very gentle and tender saint, devoting herself to the care of the poor. She was wont to take Jong and toilsome journeys on foot, carrying them aid and relief. This was evidently against the wishes of her husband, for it is related that as she was one day going by stealth with her favorite maid on one of these errands of mercy, she met her liege lord as she was climbing up a steep road, bending under the load of provisivns con- cealed under her cloak. He demanded peremptorily her errand. Some of the writers say that she answered “ Roses;” others that her hus- band, not waiting for a reply, threw open her mantle. Instead of what he expected, he found she was laden down with a lapful of the most exquisite red and white roses. The blessed angels, who have in Cath- olic legends a decided preference for charity over the other virtues, had spared her a conjugal rebuke by miraculously changing her clan- destine charities into roses. The “ Romaunt of the Rose,” the delight of Philip the Fair, is the longest and most important of the works of the Trouveres of France. It was begun by Guillaume de Lorris, who died in 1260, and finished by Jean de Meun some 50 years later. It was written in verse, and in the allegorical form affected in that day. ‘The story is of a lover who becomes violently enamored of a rose whose reflection he sees in a well (they did not fall in love in those days, but became enamored). He sighs, he is restless, he becomes agitated, he seeks to possess himself of the coveted treasure, he encounters all the alle- 58 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. gorical virtues, dangers, temptations and alarms, under the guise of minutely dressed ladies and gentlemen; he finally obtains the long- sought flower, but, alas! the treasure is no sooner his than its charm vanishes, he cares no longer for its beauty and the fragrance it exhales. He neglects it in disgust, and finally abandons it. And then comes the inevitable moral! That portion by De Lorris is full of sweet imagery and poetical thought, but when the witty and versatile Jean de Meun takes up the tale, “the allegory becomes a satire, and the aroma of poetry dies out of it with the fragrance of the forgottenrose.” All this. requires 22,000 verses for the telling. It makes one “envy the secular leisure of Methuselah,” as Lowell says in another connection. This “ Romaunt of the Rose” had peculiar charms for Chaucer, the poet of spring, who finds his way naturally to the roses wherever he may be. He made a translation of that part by De Lorris, and about one-sixth of De Meun’s conclusion, condensing it from 22,000 to 7700 verses. The eglantere of Chaucer, ‘that gave so passing a deli- cious smell,” is the single sweet-briar rose of England; with the later poets this flower becomes the eglantine. In the German “ Book of Heroes” there is a story of arose gar- den at Worms surrounded by a single silken thread. The Princess Chrymhilde promised to each knight who should successfully defend it, and slay an attacking giant. a chaplet of roses and a Kiss. Hilde- brandt, one of the knights, took the roses, but declined the kiss. Another, a monk, not only took the kiss, but sued for one apiece for all the members of his fraternity. To this the Princess consented, but only after the valiant monk had “fulfilled his tale” of giants, one for each kiss. Indeed, the lyric poets from Anacreon to the present day have reveled in roses. and the subject has become no more threadbare with much handling than is the love they symbolize. In 1366 Pope Urban V, wishing to bestow upon Jeanne, queen of Sicily, a particular mark of his favor, instituted the ceremony of the benediction of the rose. A golden rose was made; it was in the form of a rose to intimate how fragile and evanescent is this human life, and constructed of the indestructible and incorruptible metal to indicate the immortality of the soul—so say the soothsayers of the time. The rose was solemnly blessed in the sacristy, with incense and holy water, with balm and musk. The Pope went afterward to his chapel, carrying in his left hand the golden rose which had been pre- sented to him by a cardinal deacon, while with his right hand he gave the accustomed benedictions to the faithful. When the chapel was reached he handed the rose to the cardinal again, who in his turn handed it to a subordinate to be placed upon the altar. Mass was SUMMER MEETING. 59 then celebrated by a cardinal priest, assisted by the bishop of the holy college, arrayed in a rose-colored chasuble. A decree was made by Urban V that his blessing of the golden rose should be repeated every year. After the benediction the Pope made a present of the blessed rose to some church or sovereign to which he wished to show special favor. If the recipient was not present, which was usually the case, the rose was sent to him by the hand of a cardinal or officer of the pontifical court. According to some authorities this was done on Good Friday, to others on Mid-Lent Sunday, which is called Rose Sunday. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there are some curious records, which are a little hard to interpret, in regard to the value at which roses were held. Sir William Clopton granted to Thomas Smith a piece of land in Hampstede, “for the annual payment of a rose—at the Nativity of John Baptist—to Sir William and his heirs, in lieu of all services. Dated at Hampstede on Sunday next before the Feast of All Saints, 1402.” Again, “in 1576 Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, granted to Christopher Hatton of a certain valuable property, for twenty-one years, tenant covenants to pay on Midsummer’s day one red rose for the gate-house and garden, reserving to himself and his successors free access through the gate for walking in the garden, and gathering twenty bushels of roses yearly.” The only explanation of this, in view of the last and italicized clause, is that the transfer was for some unknown consideration, and the rose paid as nominal rent, as is often done nowadays, to meet some requirement of the law. And yet the fact that vassals in those days were required to contribute sometimes a bushel of roses to their liege lord yearly, for the manu- facture of rose-water, looks as if they might have some recognized commercial value. About this same time roses, in France, could only be grown by royal permission. Marquis de Chesnel tells in his “ History of the Rose” that one of the old customs of the provinces in nobie families was that a father who had both sons and daughters gave his property to his sons, and to his daughters, as a marriage portion, a wreath of roses. A very remarkable fact of history shows the estimation in which roses were held in the early ages. Until the days of Richelieu there existed in France a very singular custom, the origin of which is lostin the dimness of early history. The peers of France, the dukes, and even the kings and queens of Navarre, all who owned the French sovereign as suzerain, were obliged to present roses to the parliament of Paris in April, Mayand June. Some one of the peers was appointed to perform the ceremony, evidently in the presence of the others. The noble 60 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. called to the position of honor scattered roses, violets and fragrant plants through all the chambers of Parliament; and, before the audi- ence, the president, councillors, and even the lower functionaries, met at a splendid breakfast. As the rose scatterer went through each chamber, before him was borne a great silver bowl] fall of as many bouquets as there were officers present, and above his head, carried high over his armorial bearings, was an equal number of wreaths. He was given audience in the great chamber, where he assisted with the entire Parliament at mass. During the ceremony, the audience time excepted, there was a con- cert of hautboys; the players of these instruments afterward serenaded the presidents before their dinner hour arrived. “The presentation of roses was for all those of the peers who had the right to attend the Parliament of Paris.” During the reign of Francis I, there arose a dispute between the Due de Montpensier and the Duc de Nevers upon the right of scatter- ing the roses. Parliament gave precedence to the Due de Montpensier, as being prince of the blood, although the Due de Nevers was the more ancient peer. This fact throws some light upon the ground on which the rose scatterer was chosen, and the dignity of his office. Among the princes of the blood who took part in this ceremony, acknowledging vassalage, were the Dues de Vendome, de Beaumont, de Angouleme and many others. Even Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, vassal in right of his title as Duc de Vendome, submitted himself to it. Henry IV, while he was still King of Navarre, was ab- solved from the necessity of performing this act of fealty to the reign- ing King of France by the procareur-general; but he required it of his subdjects all the same when he was elevated to the French throne. This singular ceremony was kept up till some time in the seventeenth century. At this time the Parliament of Paris had aregularly appointed officer of the court, “ Rosier de la Cour” by title—a sort of lord high keeper of the royal roses. It is curious that the rose has seemed to establish herself inde- pendently among all nations as the symbol of love and joy and inno- cence, and no less curious that here and there, where there is an excep- tional use or symbol, they are the exact opposite of the rule. In 1284, while the Christian synod was in session at Nismes, each Jew of the city was required to wear a rose upon his breast, as a mark of dishon- orable distinction. And at one time, in Germany, a crown of roses was worn as a punishment for immorality—this last, perhaps, in contradis- tinction to our Lord’s crown of thorns. SUMMER MEETING. 6L The Feast of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, the first Sunday in October, was instituted in commemoration of the successes of the Christian arms against the forces of Solyman the Magnificent, espe- cially of the battle of Lepanto. Though all Europe was thrilled by the great naval victory, it has come down to us mainly as associated with the most picturesque figure of that age, the unhappy Don John, of Austria, and its greatest literary light, Cervantes. It was by this bat- tle that the great Spanish romancist lost a hand, and the world, per- haps, gained a “ Don Quixote.” The Feast of the Rosary was named from the Virgin Mary, the “mystical rose” of the Catholic church. The name has been transferred to the chaplet of beads, by which, without the necessary interruption to devotion which counting would create, the sayer of the one hundred and fifty prayers can keep record of their number: ten Ave Marias, and after each ten a Pater Noster, marked in the rosary by a large bead. Roses have been borne onthe escutcheons of certain noble houses from the remotest time. They were bestowed upon Roman generals as marks of honor, and so descended in the family coat-of-arms. Luther adopted the rose as his device and had it engraved upon his signet. The Free Masons, evidently from its associations with secrecy, also use it. The best-known use of the rose in this way is as the national em- blem of England, perhaps from the union of the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York. When royal honors were being shifted back and forth between Henry VI, of the house of Lancaster, and Edward IV, Duke of York, the two roses, the insignia of the rival claimants to the throne, came prominently to the fore, and gave the name to the wars of that miser- able, confused portion of England’s history. The origin of the red rose of Lancaster lies far back in history; the white rose of York was chosen in contradistinction to the insignia of the rival house. In the reign of Edward I, of England, his son, the Count of Eg- mont, had taken as vassal to the French King the title of Count Cham- pagne. His predecessor in this title was the celebrated Thibaut, whose name was 80 closely associated with that of Blanche of Castile, the mother of Louis IX. The feeling was so strong against him after the death of Louis VIII, that he was forced by public opinion to go on acrusade. From the East he brought back the rose of Damascus on his shield as insignia; the rose itself was brought back from Syria by one of the preux chevaliers of that time, and domesticated in Europe. When the English prince came back from service under the French 62 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. king, he had assumed Thibaut’s rose with his title and other posses- sions, and from him it descended to the house of Lancaster, of which he was head. At the baptism of the poet Ronsard in 1524, alarge vessel of rose- water was prepared for the purpose, a8 was sometimes done in those days. On the way to the church, by some accident, the nurse let the baby fall, and as the good angels would have it, he fell upon a heap of roses. At the same moment, by another accident, the attendant who was carrying the basin of rose-water spilled it upon him. This, his biographer seems to think, accounted for his later success as a poet. The Academy of Floral Games, at Toulouse, gave as a prize each year a golden eglantine for the best poem composed upon a given subject. The first prize was received by this same poet. Ronsard. Instead of a rose they gave him, as being more worthy of his merits, a silver image of Minerva. Mary, Queen of Scots, however, made up the deficiency, if there was any, for we find her sending the poet a rose of silver valued at 500 pounds. When Henry of Navarre, then Prince of Bearn, was a boy of 14, his cousin, Charles the Ninth, came to pay him a visit at Neva. The days were spent in sports which both cousins loved, and festivals of various kinds. Charles was devoted to archery and considered him- self facile princeps in the art. A contest of skill was arranged, and the two young princes with their retainers met at the appointed time. An orange, which had been selected as the target, was set up. On the first trial Henry was successful and carried off the orange. According to the rules of the sport, the victor in the first trial was entitled to the first shot on the second. He stepped forward, bow in hand, to take his shot, when he heard himself sharply ordered back by the angry and mortified king. The boy obeyed, but turned his aim upon his monarch’s heart. The redoubtable Charles hastily sheltered himself behind his largest courtier, calling out to his followers to “ take away that danger- ous little cousin.” : The following day, peace having been restored, Charles found an excuse for absenting himself from the shooting match. The Duke of Guise, who was present and seemed to fear his youthful ‘antagonist, as much as his royal master did, tried to avoid the contest by breaking open and throwing away the orange which was to serve as target; no other being found, the contest of skill promised to end there. The young prince, nothing daunted, determined not to be entirely cheated of his sport, plucked a rose from the dress of a pretty young villager standing by, and fastened it up, calling upon his unwilling rival to shoot. The Duke of Guise, deprived of his last resource in the way SUMMER MEETING. 63 of a subterfuge, shot and missed. Henry stepped coolly forward, drew his bow, and the rose fell, pierched through the heart with his arrow ; picking it up he handed it, with the arrow sticking through it, to the blushing girl from whom he had taken it. In more modern times roses have been much used in religious festivals, not merely with other flowers and plants. For instance, at the Fete-Dieu rose petals are scattered in the air, blending with the smoke of the swinging censers. Our excessive use of flowers at funerals is the outgrowth of their occasional use, in the case of chil- dren and young girls, in a more or less remote past. There is a custom, in the valley of the Engadine in Switzerland, when a man is accused of a crime, and is able, on the same day, to justify himself from the charge, he is at once liberated, met and presented with a white rose, by a young and beautiful girl, the blossom being called the rose of innocence. Not more than a century ago a society of literary men was formed in Paris, who called themselves Societe des Rosati. They assembled in a place called “Eden, or the thicket of Roses.” In order to become a member, it was requisite not only to be a joyous and convivial spirit, but also to have sung of the rose. The name “rose” comes directly from the Latin, and through the Latin from the Greek. In its first form it is supposed to have been derived from the color red. In its different forms it has given its name to many lands. Syria or Suristan is thought to be derived from the name of a beautiful and delicate species of rose, the Suri, which grows in that country. QGulistan comes from the Persian name, Gul, rose; and Rhodes, the island made so famous by the valiant defense against the Turks by the Knights of St. John, means the land or the place of roses. The rose has popularly been supposed to be indigenous to Oriental ecuntries. “ Born in the Hast,it has been diffused like the sunlight all _over the whole world.” sop told the gardener of his master Xan- thus, that “the earth is a step-mother to those plants incorporated into her soil, but a mother to those which are her own free product.” Where the wild-rose flourishes, there all other roses will grow. And the wild-rose, in spite of so much prating to the contrary, seems to be indigenous to all the world, in the temperate zones, except Australia and South America. These countries are among the youngest conti- nents of our earth geologically, and the Rosacev are the latest comers in time. It had not become rose time with them when man came. The Rosacez include, besides roses, most of the hardy fruit-trees and plants, the apple, peach, pear, plum, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, as well as many ornamental shrubs. 64 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The genus Rosa, Darwin says,is a notoriously difficult one. From time immemorial roses have been artificially or naturally crossed, till it is almost impossible to name species and varieties. As an illustra- tion of the rapidity with which new varieties are formed, a case is cited where some wild Scotch roses were transplanted into a garden. At the end of 20 years, by selection, but with no fresh kinds, 26 well- marked varieties were found, and within 50 years 300 varieties had come from the same species, of various sizes and all colors, yellow, white, pink, crimson and variegated. It is a well-known fact in evolu- tion, that after great changes have been produced by crossing and recrossing, there is a tendency both in the animal and vegetable world to a reversion to the original type. In this way, when the origin of certain forms, now common, has been lost in the obscurity of the past, it is often made clear by such a case of atavism. New varieties are made in several ways—by crossing, by bud variation, and by grafting buds—these last being very rare. Crossing is simply effected by plac- ing the polien of one variety across the stigma of another. The seed which is the result of this process bears a resemblance, more or less marked, to both parent forms. Bud variation is when, from some un- known cause, on a single branch some new form will arise, which may be retained by careful cultivation. Graft hybridization occurs in rare cases where, just at the point of juncture between the grafted branch and the stalk, a shoot arises which partakes of the character of both stalk and graft. The moss-rose is undoubtedly a case of bud variation from the old- fashioned Provence rose. Moss-rose trees have been known to bear perfect Provence roses with no sign of moss upon them, and Provence rose-trees to bear mogs-roses in the same way. Such bud variations when very singular are called sports ; the white rose called the Bride, for instance, is a sport from the Catherine Mermet. D’Orbessau, in his “ Essay on the Rose,” states that he saw blue roses growing wild, | near Turin; other writers profess to have seen and grown blue roses. But these were probably purple, a color often confounded with blue by people whose calling has never trained them to discrimination in color. A law has been discovered in vegetable physiology in regard to color, which is, that varieties of the same species do not exist in all the three colors, yellow, blue and scarlet. Occasionally, by manipulation or accident, such a sport occurs, or is approximated; but the variety is not stable, is not a well-established variety that can be propagated. This law is not a bad thing to keep in mind in buying rare plants. Haj, a Moorish floriculturist of the middle ages, states that his people knew how to delay the blooming of roses, to keep them in the * SUMMER MEETING. 65 bud, and gives an elaborate recipe for producing blue roses, by putting a brilliant blue pigment under the pellicle that covers the roots, bind- ing up the wound in oil, and then watering with indigo water. The extremely double roses of our day have been made by con- stant culture, enriching the roots, and supplying artificial conditions favorable to growth. The stamens are—many of them—by these pro- cesses converted into petals. Sometimes by examining the heart of double roses a petal will be found half stamen, only half converted. The rose played a very important part in the pharmacopceia of the past. Oil of roses, conserves of roses, preparations from the leaves and from rose-galls were used as specifics for headaches, nerve troubles, tumors, indigestions, and even hydrophobia—from which comes the name dog-rose. One author, Hermann, says that this flower will cure all known maladies, and “all the pharmacopeia should limit itself to the rose.” They were used in embalming the dead as well as toward the preservation of the living. Rose-water is spoken of by ancient writers, but it is not the same thing which we call by that name, for until alembics were introduced in the eighth century distillation was unknown. in 1128, when Saladin reconquered Jerusalem, he would not enter the mosque of the temple, which the Christians had in the mean time been using for worship, till it had been thoroughly purified by washing it with rose-water. This required 500 camel loads of the fragrant liquid. The same thing was done when St. Sophia was taken from the Christians, before it could be made fit for Moslem worship. The rose-water of modern finger bowls has its prototype in past usage, for in an account of expenditures for a dinner held at the uni- versity of Oxford in 1570, the item is introduced, “for rose-water to wash afore dinnere and after dinnere, iijs ixd.”’ A bottle of rose-water was Sent as a New Year’s gift to Bloody Mary in 1556, showing it to be rare at that time in England; and in fact we know that roses were not common in England before the seventeenth century. The best-known product of roses today is perhaps the attar, of which we now have so many fair imitations at very low prices. ° It has always been considered of great value, at times the pure attar being worth eight times its weight in gold. Many authors have believed that this perfume was known to the ancients. They have indeed quoted Homer to show that it was known in his day, especially that passage in the “ Iliad” which says that Venus preserved the body of Hector, after his death, by covering it with “the divine oil of roses.” If this were a legitimate conclusion from the text, other authors would cer- tainly have mentioned its existence, especially Pliny, who minutely H—5d 66 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. described the perfumes of his day, which was about the time of the Christian era. Until the sixteenth century we have no authentic mention of attar. The story of its origin is told in the history of the Mogul empire. The Sultana Nourmahal, the Light of the Harem, during a feast which she gave to the Grand Mogul Jehanguir, caused a canal to be filled with rose-water, where they bathed inits perfumed water, and floated about over its surface. After some days a curious substance was observed on the surface. Upon examination it proved to be the essence of the roses, which the heat of the sun had caused to gather on the top of the rose-water, and the delicious fragrance induced them to turn this accidental discovery to account. Since that day roses have been cultivated in Persia, in India and in Turkey for the manufacture of the essence. The garden of Gulistan is five days’ camel ride from end to end, and in Ghazipur and Roumelia hundreds upon hundreds of acres are planted with roses. There is an attar sold at a low price made in Europe. The French mode of pre- paration is that merely of boiling the petals of the damask rose in lard; this takes up the perfume, which is then extracted. The attar of commerce is not always extracted from the rose itself, but some- times from the foliage leaves of the rose geranium. While in different parts of the east great quantities of roses are grown for their essential oil, the province of Roumelia is perhaps the most important center for the industry. On the lofty plain bounded on the north by the Balkan Mountains, are planted the great rose gardens, where the finest attar in the world is made. Kasanlik, the center of the district, means in the Turkish tongue place of boilers. The roses are planted by the farmers of this district on sloping ground facing the sun, and where the soil is sandy. Laying down a rose garden may be done in the spring or fall, the ground being cleared of weeds. Young rose shoots are torn from the old plants, so as to carry with them a part of the roots. These are laid almost horizontally in trenches five feet apart. In six months or so the shoots appear, and are earthed up, andin almost a year the plants stand like young hedges, about a foot high. Itis not till the end of the third year that the. blossoming is of any importance. At the end of the fifth the plants are in full bearing, and they continue blooming for fifteen years longer. It does not do to enrich the soil too heavily, as it injures the quality of the essential oil quite as much as it improves the quantity. Hoar frost, fog and dampness are very injurious; in 1870 all the roses in. this district were killed. SUMMER MEETING. 67 In May, when the gardens are a sheet of bloom, the harvest begins. The roses are of several kinds, but all single, or nearly so—pale pink or white, and very much like our wild roses. Early in the morning the pickers begin, while the dew is on the flowers. The petals are taken from the stalks, and at once put into great copper alembics, capable of holding about 240 pounds of water. Into each of these alembics, with their downward-pointing nozzles, are put 180 pounds of water, and 25 pounds of rose-leaves. This is then distilled till the turbid rose-water amounts to 25 pounds. The boilers are emptied, cleansed and the pro- cess is repeated. The turbid fluid is again distilled, and then allowed to remain at rest. On the surface of this double-distilled rose-water the precious essential oi] rises like a greenish or yellowish scum. This is skimmed off by means of a conical spoon, with a small hole in the bottom to allow the water to run away. The appliances are all very rude, and there must necessarily be much waste in a material so pre- cious. According to estimates made at Kasanlik, it takes about 4000 pounds of roses to make one pound of oil. And from 4000 to 6000 pounds of roses are the largest crops raised upon an (English) acre of land. The price for the pure attar is about #4 per ounce. ~Most of our most beautiful and successful roses come from Eng- land, where the prices asked for new roses are moderate—$2.50 retail and about $1 apiece by wholesale, for a plant, being the usual price; while the French roses, about 50 new varieties of which come from a single establishment each year, average double that amount. Out of these 50, 49, perhaps, prove of little worth and are cast aside. This may be due to the unsuitableness of our climate, if they are used as bedders, or to the variety not being prolific, or to its being unfitted for early forcing, if for hot-houses. One of the foremost rose culturists in the country telis me that he invested $1500 in the much vaunted and beautiful rose, Her Majesty the Queen. He bought 1000 plants at about $1 a plant when the retail price was $2.50, and his money was sunk, lost! The rose proved suitable neither as a hot-house nor as an out-door rose, and probably would not do so north of the parallel of Charlston, S. C. And yet the blossoms of this rose sold once for $5 each, when he held probably the monopoly of it. Roses have for several reasons never attained the prices reached by tulips and orchids. They are not the luxuries of the rich so much .as the heritage of the race. Great sums of money have been spent upon roses, and lost; but it was by the addition of smaller sums that the aggregate became large. A single plant rarely brings over $3; but a large sale of any variety proving a failure will, of course, be a 68 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. serious loss, even at ordinary rates. Risks are constantly being takem by florists, with the necessary consequences. The big stories in the newspapers are usually without any foundation in truth. The reason why no rose ever brings such a price a8 many an orchid does is, that the propagation of orchids is slow and doubtful, while a. rose may be multiplied almost indefinitely, and that quickly. No one would be so foolish as to pay $2500 for a rose (as was done lately for -an orchid ), when the next year the market might be flooded with the Same variety. Rose plants are high priced while they are new; and the flowers are expensive in the season of the year when they are rare; but even at the highest they are of small commercial value when compared with orchids. There are among modern roses such magnificent developments from the crossing of different varieties that it is difficult to select speci- mens. The ancestors of our present varieties are mainly the China,, the Damask, the Bengal and the Persian rose, combined with the wild roses of England and France, Sometimes the parentage is clear, and at others it is impenetrably obscure. But the blood of all the roses of history is running in the veins of our modern beauties, and we need not look too curiously into its source. Our Country Villages—Their Make-up and Outlook. [Extracts from a paper read by Mr. George B. Lamm, at Georgetown, Mo., Dec. 4, 1892, on invitation from the Library Association and Epworth League. | Ladies and Gentlemen—There are in the State of Missouri about 1100 country villages. Of these, perhaps two-fifths have railroads,. which bring more or less activity and growth to them, while the other three-fifths remain quite the same year after year. You know that whatever of character and culture the farming commuities possess is given to them largely by these little towns. Without any further description of them, you can readily understand the influence of these towns, and can see their relation to the outside world. Anything that can be done for their benefit is that much done toward bettering the condition of the whole people. They are the little centers from which should radiate the intelligence, the enterprise and the growth of our people. Help them and you help everybody; harm them and everybody is injured. Is it a matter then of no little, consequence that they should look up? If we take a map of Missouri and notice the little dots and their names, and remember that they stand for the living, moving mass of SUMMER MEETING. 69 our people, over two and a half million in number, our subject grows very large indeed. Its influence may be legion for weal or for woe. Oar two common and well-known methods of gaining information can be successfully applied to the investigation of our subject, viz: First, that of observation; second, that of study. Whatever method we may pursue, if we would advance we must be familiar with our conditions and surroundings, and then draw conclusions of what our future possibilities may be. Let us proceed, first, to notice the method of gaining ‘knowledge BY OBSERVATION. It happens frequently as we jog along on our weary way through life that we accidentally meet with objects of interest, hear a stirring song, or read a pen picture that gives us new ideas, or makes more practical those which we already have. To illustrate, the art of gaining ideas by observation I point you to people from our states who take trips across the American desert, or into the Rocky mountains, or even to the Pacific coast. Here they come in contact, without much exertion on their part, with a world they had never met with before, and have had opened up to them in the space of a few days scenery and characters both strange and real. This affords them new pleasure and new impulses and new ideas gleaned in new fields of observation, and thus serves the purpose of aiding them to separate the fanciful and imaginary in their own minds from things as they really are. The traveler has opportunity to observe the rude customs of the uneducated and uncultured man in the person of the western Indian. Then he can grasp better the idea of the onward march of the ages that lie between them and the cultured and intelligent races that have improved their opportunities. STUDY AND THOUGHT. As arule men gather the major portion of their best ideas by con- tinued and persistent research in the world of books, gleaning from the motives and acts and thoughts of other men, and then, by the art ‘of experience and practice, set them beautifully in the characters they bear. This was the method employed by our forefathers. They looked at their own condition and then out to what it might be in the future. They were convinced of existing wrongs, of relics of cruel and hate- ful monarchies hanging over them, and as men of strong convictions, 70 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. they said these things must not be. They saw that they were getting into a position to allow history to repeat itself, and they refused to go further along a backward track. What grand declarations of princi- ples they gave us which stand like sacred monuments of marble through the changing scezes of a century. They were gotten by study and reason and comparison. I like this method best, because, to think, is akin to inspiration. To stop, to think, to compare our conditions with that of others, and be convinced that we must help ourselves and lay the foundation for our own gran- deur in the coming ages, this means progress. Your community is very much similar to one in which I was raised and in which I have since lived for years, and I am familiar with your advantages and disadvantages. I am in sympathy with every movement that tends to elevate and give tone and character and influence to society in our little country towns, for I well know that they are wanting in many things that will endear our surroundings to us, awaken our ambitions and satisfy the growing demand that progressiveness in the arts and sciences is: making upon us. I come now to consider the factors that enter into the make-up of our country villages and will try to suggest how they can be led into mutual helpfulness one to the other by paying more attention, through careful thought, to plans and methods in order to reach greater results. : FACTOR, THE FIRST. One factor, which enters largely into the make-up of the society of our villages all over this vast country of ours, is the retired farmer. Their number in different villages over the country is in ratio to the fertility of the soil and market advantages. They are men who need rest from care and business; men who have fought hard battles of the formation period, endured privation, disdained lux- ury, cut off from educational advantages, worthy, honest, true men who have built themselves comfortable cottages in the village and turned over the farm to John, or Mary, or to the stranger to till. Our own state and other states are full of objects which teach to. the eye of the observer the times as they are, and the possible de- mands that shall be made upon us in the future. To see the progress of the outer world is to have new ideas and new thoughts and a better understanding of the present motives and ambitions that will urge our children to seek position and wealth and influence. The fathers and mothers who are acquainted with the outside world, and who know whereof they speak, have greater influence with SUMMER MEETING. (ih their children and are in less danger of misguiding them and being disappointed. Thousands of our retired farmers, abundantly able, see so little of this grand country. It may be a question of importance to ask our multiplied societies of reform, ‘What can you do toward helping the retired farmers to take their outings with profit to all concerned, and with such expense as is suited to their ineans?” Would it be out of the way to suggest, in our State, the St. Louis and Kansas City Expositions and the State Horticultural, Dairy and Poultry Associations as places where acquaint- ance with the most progressive minds can be made and the best ideas of our growth acquired? The Columbian Exposition will be one of great importance. If they will attend these places, on returning home they will lend more cheerfully their encouragement and approval, and perhaps give of their substance toward enterprises essential to the needed growth and development of the resources which a people may possess. Because they have seen what others do and how they do it, what others think and why, then they are willing to allow matters at home to be conducted in a more progressive, modern and intelligent way. This is necessary to the growth of society in any town. FACTOR THE SECOND. I will now speak of the children. To speak of them is to touch a subject of profound interest to every true American father and mother. To speak of them is to speak of the pride of the nation and the hope of the future. To them will be handed down the glory or the shame of our republic. If from among the children of the far- mers and mechanics and laboring classes of our villages there will not be raised up such as will be in sympathy, and will know how to plead the cause of the poor, speak honorably of labor, and give dignity to that class of mankind that numbers four-fifths of all the people on the globe, what will be the condition of future generations? Therefore, I bespeak for them, especially in the country villages, high schools and academies and far better educational advantages. Our scbhool-rooms are too barren of libraries, and organs, and singing books. Our teach- ers educated to the use of these things do not know how to get along successfully without them. I have not been in a Sunday-school room for 10 years that did not have an organ. Why not have them in our day schools ? But our neighborhood has founded a library, and our children are delighted with it. This is necessary, for they must go where we have never been; they must do what we have never done; they must have the thoughts and experience of the world to guide them. 72 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. There will be a complexity of national affairs; there will be dis- turbing social elements ; there will be powerful religious disturbances, of which we have never dreamed. We would not, I know, have our chil- dren led unarmed into these contests for liberty, truth and right. Especially can libraries be introduced successfully into our village schools under the guidance of our teachers. I congratulate you here in this respect. Never grow weary; never give up. Some sow, others reap. Ambitious people find a way or make one out of these desponding places. God pity the village or the neighborhood where there is no true soul to advocate the cause of the children or open up for them a better way. Our best advantages are poor enough. Let them have everything along the line of education that it is possible for us to give. When we do the best we know how, we will be rewarded by young men and women coming to the front who will battle for American insti- tutions with all their grandeur and worth. FACTOR THE THIRD. T shall now ask for opportunities for growth of thought among the business men—the men occupied in merchandise, the trades and pro- fessions, and also the young farmers. They are the strength and vital force of the country vitlage. Upon their shoulders rests the success of every enterprise of any consequence. Every force for the advance- ment of the town should be ready to serve their wishes. If their plans fail, alas for the result. They are usually orderly and courageous, and have positive but conservative beliefs. It appears to me that the most fruitful sources of intellectual strength and pleasure to them are the best political, scientific, reli- gious and literary journals and magazines of our country and Europe. The town that will support a reading-room where our best journals can be read or gotten to read, is opening up the way to the best thought for them. To ask this is to ask little enough, and no one of them may be able to have these advantages without the aid of all. The business men and farmers have not time or disposition to study books; but a stream of intellectual light is being flashed weekly and monthly all over this country by these magazines and journals, and it is just suited to the wants of our business men and farmers. Read- ing-rooms of this nature are very scarce, however, but wherever they are they meet a want, and supply a demand to know concerning the discussions of the living, vital questions of the day,and business men want to know of these things. This knowledge from experts enables them to plan for the good of all, and this is a sacred duty which they have to perform. SUMMER MEETING. 73 FACTOR THE LAST. While there are many minor factors whose interests are largely identical,and which are not susceptible of classification, such as the disappointed, the unsuccessful, the disabled and the aged, who can be guided into greater intellectual activity by each or all of the previously mentioned agents, yet I will trust this department of work to the ten- der and untiring efforts of the noble women of our country towns. Woman’s work is of such influence and go closely woven into every fabric of our social, moral and intellectual advancement, that she can not be considered otherwise than a factor of unsurpassed importance. Those little helpful societies that go into the every-day homes and hearts of mankind as the agents of sunshine and hope and love, these are to be fostered by her. Without the aid of these institutions, guided by the loving hand of our wives and daughters, many of the good results attributed to man’s energies would be a failure. The writing schools, the singing classes, the literary societies, the reading circles, the church institutions, the kindergartens, the cook- ing schools, and many others of different names, are the quiet influ- ences which are blessed by her presence and help. Woman’s influence in these home attractions and enjoyments is the greatest cause of success. Nothing but reasonable excuse should be given by any woman for not taking part in all those educational and refining forces. These are fields wherein she can cultivate her power, and in turn lend all her culture and cheer. The moment she ceases to do so society feels the shock, and the longer she continues to neglect them the more degraded society becomes, until at last, it is hopelessly ‘involved in corruption and sin. Considering the forces which have worked against woman occupy- ing her true sphere, and freeing herself from the chains with which the dark ages have bound her, I claim that no heroic efforts have ever surpassed hers. Unwritten though they may be, yet the world today is being charmed by her ideas of the right and of the true. I plead for a renewal of her efforts to vitalize and crystalize the society of our country villages. Weave in every fabric of our age the charm and purity and loveliness of noble womanhood. Hold up the hands of our business men in honorable enterprise of whatever nature, and add your courage and culture as forces to mould the lives of men. Your reward will be more sure than the harvest after seed-time. 74 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. THE OUTLOOK. There can be nothing cheery about the outlook of our country villages unless everybody gets awake and keeps awake. To do this you must use every possible means within your power to work intelli- gently and systematically; keep all classes ‘and factors interested in their sphere ; let no one be idle and then no one will retrograde; stamp the word progress on every enterprise ; do not complain about society, but begin to dod something for the community in which you live, and the product of your labors will be a living monument to your success. Our villages are here to stay, let us make the best of them. Their society can be purer than that of the city, and the atmosphere more wholesome to the breath. The boys are not thrown into corrupt crowds, and the expenses of foolish fashion avoided. Progressive villages make grand nurseries’ for childhood, good homes for those who are weary and need rest, cheap places of abode for the poor, and their good influences may be made to reach into the country for miles away. This is what is meant by C aristian civilization, and to accomplish it we must have faith in righteousness, liberty and home. Bees and Fruit-growing. At the January meeting of the Jasper County Horticultural Society at the city hall in Carthage, the following paper on the ‘ Influence of the Bee on Fruit- growing’? was read by W. W.Sewall, and at the request of the Society we produce it in these columns as a matter of interest to all the bee-keepers and fruit-growers : The term bee is a common name applied to a very large family of honey-loving or honey-bearing insects, amounting in all parts of the world to many species. Like many other useful members of the insect creation, wonderful habits of life and mysterious methods of repro- duction, as well as the wide influence they exert, and important bearing they sustain to reproduction in the vegetable kingdom, it is at best but. poorly understood by the masses, and is frequently, by the thoughtless, maligned and blamed as an enemy of the fruit-grower. It is neither the object of this paper to enumerate nor describe the numerous different species of solitary and social bees, nor my present intention to set forth the wonderful endowments of the com- mon hive-bee by describing its power of flight, its wonderful ability to SUMMER MEETING. 15 find its way home by instinct from long distances, its superior gifts of sight, hearing, feeling, etc. Nor yet to describe its apparent perfect knowledge of mathematical economy, both in form, and in quantity of material, as displayed in the construction of itscombs. Nor toenlarge upon its loyalty and bravery, shown in the defense of its home and stores. Nor yet the wonderful mysterious, facts that have been dis- covered in their methods of reproduction, which surpass many other insects. These things and many other peculiarities, interesting as they might be made to the student of nature, it is not my present object to discuss; but to inquire more patticularly as to its relations to the science of horticulture, both as a factor in fecundation and also in the destruction of tender fruits. One of the most interesting subjects of philosophical inquiry is that of insect pollenation of plants. Naturalists have long been aware of the fact that pistillate flowers, whether growing on the same plant with the staminate, or on different plants, owe their pollenation mostly to the agency of bees, which carry the pollen from the staminate to the pistillate flowers. Nearly all such plants have flowers which secrete a nectar attractive to bees, and this has been regarded as one of the numerous evidences of the agency of a desiguing Providence; but still stronger evidence, if possible, is furnished by the fertilization of many perfect flowers by the agency of bees. It has generally been thought that flowers bearing stamens and pistils were always self-fertilizing, but this is not the case with many kinds. There is a provision by which many plants are prevented from in-and-in breeding, the parts of the flowers being so arranged that it is impossible for the pollen to come in contact with the stigma without the agency of bees or other insects in search of honey. This is a case in which there is conclu- sive evidence that provision has been made not only with the evident design of preventing self-fertilization, but also with the design of attracting the bees, which are made the agent of sure fecundation, in- stead of leaving it to the agency of the hap-hazard winds, which, at best, could only be depended on, if at all, when the stamens and pistils were favorably located. Again, for the purpose of more perfectly insuring cross-fertiliza- tion in many other perfect flowers, the stamens precede the female organs in development, and shed their pollen before impregnation can take place, leaving the pollenation to be accomplished by the agency of bees, which bring the pollen from other flowers not so forward in development. But, besides all this, it is a well-known fact that when bees are gathering honey and pollen (for they gather both at the same time ), they almost invariably work consecutively upon a single variety 76 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. of flowers—a wonderful provision of the Creator—for by so doing they are sure to carry the pollen just where it is wanted, without mix- ing any other kind. This is evidence that they were designed by the Creator for this especial work of fertilizing the flowers. Another fact about as wonderful is that the plants, precisely at the time when they are in need of pollen, should hold out to the bees their myriads of beautifully colored fairy cups, each containing a tempt- ing morsel of richly perfumed nectar. This looks like a shrewdly arranged advertisement on the part of the plants to swap honey to the bees for pollen—written in three different languages, those best understood by the bees, viz. beauty, fragrance and sweetness, appeal- ing with success to their keen sense of sight, smell and taste. It is also a well-known fact that all our clovers (which are our best honey-yielding plants the world over) are almost completely dependent on bees for their pollenation, and that the common red clover, although it blooms at a time when the domestic hive bee is very abundant, cannot be fertilized by it because the nectar cups of the clover are too deep to be reached by its short proboscis, and there- fore it has to depend on the bumble-bee for pollenation; but as these bees do not winter over (except the queens), and therefore do not become numerous until late in the season, therefore the first crop of red clover is very imperfectly pollenated and is seldom used for seed, but by the time the second crop is in bloom bumble-bees are very numerous, hence the second crop is well fertilized and is always pre- ferred for seed. It is also a noteworthy fact, illustrating the importance of bees to fruit-growing, that very early in the spring when most fruit flowers open, the hive bee is comparatively very numerous, as most of the workers of the previous autumn are wintered over, and thousands more are hatched out from 30 to 60 days in advance of the earliest flowers, while many other kinds of bees and honey-loving insec‘s are extremely scarce, as they have to be reared in the spring from eggs that have been either wintered over or deposited in the spring. For these reasons, and many others too numerous to allude to in this paper, it is not hard to understand and appreciate the importance of so potent a factor as the bee in the economy of plant reproduction. Other things being as they are, if it were not for the intervention of the bee, very many of our fruit-bearing plants, vines, shrubs and trees would be rendered worthless, or at best unprofitable, if, indeed, they did not become altogether extinct, and horticulture would be shorn of half its glory. SUMMER MEETING. 17 But, says the objector, so far you have only spoken of the virtues of your bees; how about their destroying our tender peaches, grapes, etc.? I answer, from my. own experience and observation and the writings of our closest students of nature, our domestic hive bee does not injure perfectly sound and whole fruit of any kind, no matter how ripe, tender or luscious. But stop, says the objector, I have myself seen them by the thousand on my tender grapes and peaches in dry, hot weather. Admit it, I have seen the same; but when you examine closely you will find that they are working exclusively on fruit that has either cracked open, been bitten or is decaying. Itis almost an impos- sibility for the common hive bee to break the skin of fruit; they are not built for that purpose ; their mandibles are made for working warm wax in comb-building, and are comparatively as smooth and round at the ends as the human fingers without nails, and as incapable of tear- ing. As an evidence of this, they are not capable of splitting or tear- ing open the nectar cups of red clover or any flower too deep for them to reach the nectar. When honey is scarce, bees will collect any saccharine matter that comes within their reach, such as maple and sorghum sap, or the juice of ripe fruit, if the skin is broken, but they never meddle with whole or unbroken fruit; but when nectar is plenty in the flowers, they seldom take notice of anything but honey. When a citizen of [llinois, the writer had an apiary of over a hun- dred stands of bees, and during a hot dry summer when the flowers were yielding no honey, a neighbor, who had a few dozen grape-vines in bearing, complained that my bees were destroying all his grapes, and when told that bees did not injure sound fruit he was incredulous, and said he would prefer to believe his own eyes, and invited me over to see for myself. On our arrival we found his grape-vines swarming with bees, but in all cases they were sucking about wounded grapes, cut by birds, etc., cracked open or rotting; but argument was of no avail, he would have it that my bees were aggressors. Sol told him I would put my bees to a very severe test, by placing a few bunches of his ripest and sweetest but sound grapes at the entrance of my most populous colonies, which we accordingly did; and although they remained there about a week, nota grape was injured in any way, although the bloom was all worn off by the bees climbing over them, and the grapes considerably withered by the heat of the sun. Bees are like all other living things: when pressed with hunger they will eat anything accessible that will satisfy their wants, whether it is legitimate food or not. 73 -STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. They were never intended for scavengers, like flies, nor to sip their food from sweets in bulk, as in such cases they always plunge in and are drowned. I want it understood that Iam not defending all kinds of bees against these charges, but the domestic hive bee only; for nearly if not all the many kinds of solitary bees are provided with powerful cutting mandibles, with which they excavate cavities for their nests in various substances, and also cut up the material of which they con- struct their nests and cells. The same is true of all the numerous wasp and hornet families. Hence nearly all these varieties of insects are capable of cutting the skin of fruit, and actually do perform, with birds, terrapins, ete., most of the initiative work of destruction for which domestic bees get the credit, because they are found in bad company, utilizing the wasting juices. I think it quite probable that when honey is scarce, even our hive- bees do sometimes destroy fruit that is only partially injured by being slightly cracked, or cut by birds, wasps, etc., that might otherwise be merchantable; but these cases are rather rare, and the damage is but small when it does occur. Yet I admit they are considerably in the way of gathering fruit at such times, and very annoying to pickers, and cause some inconve- nience. Suppose we reverse the telescope and view this subject the other way: what about the souring juices of fruit being injurious to bees? Has anyone a better right to establish a vineyard or set up a cider-mill in the vicinity of an apiary, and thus breed disorder among the bees, than the bee-keeper would have to establish his apiary in the midst of fruit-growers, even if bees do occasion some loss and inconvenience ? Is it not possible that there is ground for complaint on both sides? When the mutual benefits are considered, would it not be well for both parties to learn to bear and forbear in a neighborly spirit ? The bee was made for man’s assistant and co-laborer, especially so if he is engaged in fruit-growing, as in the garden of Eden, and to be an example of industry, honesty, loyalty and bravery. The bee seldom violates the God-given instincts unless its appetite is either tempted or perverted by the neglect or bad management of man, its intended master, keeper and friend. SUMMER MEETING. 79 The Exposition. The grandest show the earth ever saw is at last blest with fine weather, increasing crowds and the prospect of a happy issue out of its troubles. AJ] that now remains to be done is for the managers to get down to somewhere within 45° of the people, adapt themselves to their conditions and circumstances, assign the big-head, as the bank managers do, to others; only do it before the crash comes, that failure and bankruptcy may be averted. It is quite true that everything in this country partakes of the largeness of its area and the freedom of its atmosphere, but this only makes asinine bossism on the part of those who are for the moment clothed with temporary largeness and brief authority all the more odious. Forty years of experiment have taught those addicted to shows of this sort many things unthought of and unknown when the first of its kind was conceived by royalty and brought forth in Hyde Park, Lon- don, where the entire space covered was less than 20 acres, and all the world flocked to it. Here we have hundreds of acres, and the entire Exposition partaking of the same magnitude except the great crowds from all over the earth in attendance, and yet the experience of those years and the various similar exhibits which have been held on the continent of Europe, of Australasia and America have not been with- out their effect on the minds of the people of the world. Though they have not brought universal peace, international brotherhood and the millennium, they have brought the world, in a measure, in contact, have distributed sentiments of human equality and equal rights, measured the quality of governments and determined their stability by their goodness, and shown that worth was not measured by rank or name or historic pedigree. But it is in the greatness of the innumerable branches of human industry that one naturally expects the great Exposition to excel all its predecessors, and the visitor will in nowise be disappointed as as he passes over the grounds and through the departmental and other buildings, for it meets him at every turn and at nearly every step. Here the people of every state, and measurably so of every country, have gathered their best, and exhibit it in quantity as well as in quality to tell the story better than in language or pictures, in poetry or prose, and in such fashion that he who runs may read, be his mother tongue what it may or his nativity what it will. 80 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Should the visitor seek information as to where on this vast con- tinent he can find the best climate and soil for the finest fruits, he will naturally visit the Horticultural building. He will find it large—the main building 998 250 feet, with 8 green-houses 100 24 feet, built of iron, covered with glass, of beautiful architectural design, the interior having “ magnificent distances,” and the whole noble, lofty, light and airy, an elegant palace for the finest and best of nature’s most beautiful and most luscious of products. He willramble through these lengthy aisles first cursorily, noting only what is on exhibition. By that time he will wish to examine critically, to see thoroughly, and compare judi- ciously. He will have noted the signs arching the several exhibits and seen many well-known names—names of states thousands of miles apart, as varied in their climate as in their topography; the products of the antipodes, of Europe, of South America and of many of the islands of the ocean. He finally reaches that wing of the great struc- ture limited to fruits, to find Florida exhibiting the pine-apple, cocoanut, orange, lemon and (other citrus fruits; and California showing the same, with the addition of dried, canned and otherwise preserved prunes, oranges, grapes, in almost unlimited quantities. He will find _also magnificent fruits from other Pacific states, and then, wending his way, will find them from Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and all the way east to the New York and New fngland Coast. Which has the finest show of fruits? the reader asks; and mod- esty prompts the answer, let the committee of final awards determine. But then he wishes to have our judgment and the reasons therefor, and we give it cheerfully, and as honestly as heartily. If he stop under the telling sign, Missouri, and make a thorough and exhaustive examination, he will find there a very large and very fine display of apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, all kinds of berries, cabbage, squash, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, carrots, canta- loupes, egg-plant, sweet corn and other products of this glorious State, this magnificent soil and incomparable climate ; he will find the exhibit the largest in the building, the fruit of the finest and most luscious, adapted to use the year round, and to transportation to all the mar- kets of the world. These are all preserved in glass jars, in fluid, and though the natural color is not wholly preserved the form and size are, and the color too, in a measure. They convey to the beholder a clear and comprehensive idea of the fruit and vegetable products of the State, and afford the visitor an opportunity of comparing them in size and apparent quality with the exhibits from other states and territo- SUMMER MEETING. 81 ries; and we can assure the reader that the comparison will, in the estimation of all honest and impartial critics, be in favor of Missouri. Major J. C. Evans, President of the Missouri State Horticultural Society, who with Mr. Goodman, the energetic Secretary of the same, and other able and progressive citizens, prepared the fruits, etc., for exhibition, is in charge. He assured us that he had sufficient fruit preserved to sustain the show until the new fruits are ready, and enough apples in cold storage to keep 500 plates supplied daily with fresh supplies as needed. This display of fruit meets our expectations. It is a fair repre- sentation of what can be done in the way of commercial orchardlng in the State. It explains how and why it is, that in successful years these products alone yield the growers twenty ‘nillions of dollars, why the State is so rapidly being settled by the experienced fruit-growers of the North and Hast, and finally, why Missouri is to become by its unexcelled soil and mild climate the great orchard of America. There is room in this thought to dwell, were our space unlimited, for very few even of our best read citizens have any comprehensive or adequate idea of the magnitude of its possibilities. There is reason for the possession of the largest peach orchard in the world; reason for the largest fruit farm in this or any other country, and, too, why commercial orcharding is so rapidly becoming one of the leading ’ industries of the State. For fresh fruits for daily use for shipment to the large centers of distribution, and others for trans-shipment abroad, no State has exhibited finer qualities of fruit, or a higher ap- preciation of the crop, as one worthy of the keenest skill and best judgment to insure success and ample returns. When a man can in successful years secure a higher price for his product than his land would bring in the market, he comes pretty near being in a profita- ble business. Measurably this is in soil, climate and shipping facili- ties, but that other all important factor, the men for the work, must have equal consideration. To the men at the head of the State Hor- ticultural Society, the State and the world owe a debt which time and history only can pay; and when our agriculture, stock-raising and dairy industries shall have the same skilled and experienced manage- ment in the hands of similar men of good judgment, then will all the rural industries of the State compare with it, and Missouri claim and maintain the proudest piace in American industrial progress and enter- prise.—Colman’s Rural World. H R—6 32. STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Gardening as a Profession. BY SAMUEL MILLER. While at Columbia, a lady wished to introduce her nephew to me, saying that he had gone through a regular collegiate education, studied law, commenced practice, became disgusted with it, and I don’t won- der, and was now going into horticulture. This, to me, was a marvel, and when I was introduced to him, said that if I could in any way assist him he could draw upon me freely. The time is coming when this branch of industry will be much more extensively followed than now. Our people are fast becoming a vegetable and fruit-eating people, and less dependent on animal food. A visit to Henry Schnell, at Glasgow, shows what can be done in this line, and a description of his place may interest many readers and induce others, near to little inland towns, to engage in the business. Six years ago he bought 40 or 50 acres of land two miles east of Glasgow, and at once commenced operations, having previously ear- ried on “trucking” a little nearer town, and thus had some experience and a fair start. He has on his new place the following: 600 apple | trees of the leading varieties, five years planted ; 250 pear trees, same - age; 200 peach trees, from one to five years planted; 50 cherry trees, five years planted; 100 apricots, same age, some Russians among them ; and in strawberries four acres, raspberries three, blackberries one, cur- rants, gooseberries and grapes half acre, asparagus one acre, a good- sized green-house, and 4000 feet of sash for hot-beds and cold frames. This season he bedded 70 bushels of sweet potatoes, and when I was there they were pretty closely pulled, and with lots of orders on hand to be filled yet. His strawberry crop was perhaps more than half picked, and yet, if they got a good rain soon, there might be 60 to 100 bushels of fruit to pick. He employs about a dozen bands regularly and pays them good wages, so that all moves along smoothly. I would lay a wager ( were I a betting man) that in all his cultivated grounds, acres of cabbage, young asparagus beds, onions, beans, ete., there could not a barrow full of weeds be found. He has two teams on the go most of the time, and sends his fruit, as well as vegetables, all over the country. His name is enough to guarantee anything he sends out to be true to name. I got strawberry SUMMER MEETING. 83 plants from a dozen different parties the past spring, but none equal to those I got from him. He sent me fifteen plants of pansies in the sea- son, and just now they are as fine a lot as Tever saw. They far sur- passed anything on his place when I was there. This shows what a man can do and what opportunities there are for horticulturists here and there. Of course it would not need many such to supply the wants of the community, but there is a chance for any man to make a good living and a little money near any town of a few thousand inhabitants. Any town, where the people are up to the times, will use $50 worth of strawberries for every 1000 inhabitants, and some towns double that quantity. The reader will pardon me for exulting in this man’s success, when I tell them that when he was but a boy he got his first les- sons and inclinations to horticulture from me. He told me whilst there, that one stroll through my grounds was when the first impres- sion struck him, and but for that he would likely now be a merchant, as he was then a store-boy. One thing is certain: as a rule, the horticulturist lives a little better than the average of men, as they always have plenty of fruit and vegetables to eat. He uses 400 to 500 loads of manure annually, and his grounds show it. His soil is an excellent one naturally. Orchard Cultivation. This might be appropriately called tree cultivation. On this sub- ject men differ widely, as their published ideas indicate, but the proper or best methods of cultivating trees and plants isascience. Nature marks the best ways of tree culture by their roots, limbs, fruit, and all the circumstances attending the growth and fruit bearing of trees. The roots are the first consideration to tree life, because they draw up and supply sap life for the top growth of buds, leaves, limbs, blos- soms and ‘fruit. Then a supply of a large amount of roots is abso- lutely necessary to produce a good, healthy and full-bearing tree, with its limbs, buds, blossoms and ripened fruit. It is an absurdity to suppose that a tree can produce a full crop of sound fruit after its horizontal roots have been cut away by deep plowing or spading, or when large limbs have been cut away from the sides of the trunk by a sudden pruning; because, when those roots 84 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. are cut off, a sufficiency of sap cannot rise into the top, and when large limbs are cut the tree is shocked, and its nature changed, and gene- rally a decay in the center of the roots and body follows such harsh and unnatural methods of cultivation and pruning. Any person of common observation can soon satisfy himself of the natural correctness of these undeniable facts. Hundreds of or- chards have been retarded and ruined by such plowing and pruning. The time to plow or dig deeply for the orchard is before planting, and at a distance from the ends of the running horizontal roots, and nature lightens and moistens the soil by freezing and rains sufficiently to the rapid growth and well-being of the trees, and light top hoeings or scalp plowings, merely to kill weeds, are sufficient from the hands of man. The long, broad and branching horizontal roots are nearest to the top of the earth, and are moistened by rains, and they draw the food substance into the body of the tree, while the tap and radical roots penetrate deeply into the earth, in order to hold the tree upright above ground, mainly. It is the sap that is drawn into the tree by the horizontal roots, mainly, that supply the annual growth, buds, blos- soms, flowers, leaves, fruit, wood and bark. Whenever these roots are cut the tree declines, and when large limbs are cut, the tree sends out a multitude of water sprouts.— HENRY HURD, in “Cincinnati Gazette.” Pick and Pack Honestly. The amount of fruit that is sent to market by wagon, train or boat every season that is unfit for market is something enormous. Why is it that farmers or fruit-growers, who appear to have enough sense in many other matters, will persist in trying to sell to their customers, fruit that they know is not fit for sale, and packages that they know they have packed with the best berries on top, while the bottom of said package, whatever kind it may be, basket, bag or barrel, is filled with poor, miserable, small and wormy stuff, and entirely unfit for food? Farmers and fruit-growers, if you have been doing this, stop. at once. To those who are free from the vice, we say, don’t com- mence—you can’t do itand make money. Pick and pack your fruit. honestly and fairly, if you want to succeed in the end. If you get a good customer, don’t try to cheat him by giving him an inferior article for a good one; if you do, he is lost to you. SUMMER MEETING. 85 If you send altogether to commission men, the buyers know your rand or package in a day or two, and if you are caught with false packages you will be the one too lose, for they will buy your fruit at about half price on account of the previous bad packing. Remember that the trade once dropped because of bad packing and poor fruit is hard to regain, if it ever can be. Send your good fruit sorted by itself, and if you send poor fruit, don’t top out your package with good fruit ; you will rue it if you do. If you don’t do the packing yourself, watch the man who does. He will not be likely to pack right if not watched and instructed. The idea is just this: If you ever intend to succeed in frnit culture, you must strive to grow the best fruit possible, and pick at the proper time; pack and consign right good fruit, and you need have no fear of the consequence. The buyers are in the market among the sellers every day, and it only takes a few days to find out what kind of fruit the grower is sending, and the buyer is there to buy it on its merits.—“ Green’s Fruit-Grower.” Does Fruit-Growing Pay ? What a question! Yet it is sometimes asked seriously. It seems to be on a par with another droll inquiry, is life worth living? It all depends, don’t you see. The life of a spendthrift or a scoundrel is not worth much; nor is the life of an ill-managed orchard, mismanaged by an ignorant jackanapes, very much better. Fruit-growing bears a great resemblance to most other avocations. Who was the painter who replied to the question of a tyro, “how he mixed his colors?” “With brains, sir.” In our wanderings up and down the planet we are apt to come across all sorts of plantations, which are provocative of laughter, or tears, or—no, we won't. But let us consider. First,in order to grow good fruit—which is the only kind that will pay—you must follow up the necessary conditions ; you must keep the land in a high state of fertility, which can only be effected by regular manuring: that is, by top-dressing with the best fertilizers at least once a year. Of course we include in this the ab- sence of weeds, or any kind of growth, upon the land which is cropped with fruit-bearing trees. If the trees do not pay, away with them: if they will, give them a fair chance. Fruit is every year becoming more plentiful, and the increased consumption keeps pace with the supply. If this condition forbids just profits to the individual in fruit culture, it improves the chances 86 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. for the many, and makes for the best interest of agriculture at large. It is better that many should acquire a competence than that one should make fortune, and it is one of the kindest influences of Provi- dence, that the most wholesome and delicious of human food is within the reach of the most humble and impoverished of mankind. As our population increases, the orchard, the garden and the dairy will more and more take the place of the grain-field. There is no fear that we shall want bread, and there is no fear that we shall have too. much fruit. The Le Conte Pear and the Blight. Writing to the ‘‘ Florists’ Exchange,’ J. H. Hale says: Ten or more years ago, when the Le Conte pear first came into popular favor and was extensively advertised through the South, the one claim above all others urged in its favor was that it was entirely blight-proof—the disease never having been seen on any trees of this. variety, while other varieties, even in like situations, had suffered severely. For this reason many nurserymen used the Le Conte stocks, which can be readily grown from cuttings in the South for the propa- gation of other varieties upon them. Some four or five years ago in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida, the writer saw trees of this variety suffering seriously from the blight, and later it was seen to a limited degree in the orchards further north; and now comes a report from nearly all sections of the country where the Le Conte is growing -or,other varieties grafted upon it, that this destructive disease is doing greater damage to this variety than all others combined.