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FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

OF MISSOURI

MEETINGS AT

Peirce City, June 6, 7, 8 and Princeton, December 5, 6, 7, 1899

L. A. GOODMAN, Secretary

WESTPORT, MISSOURI

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS
1900

Pe:

W eS
V. HR
/ Gor

Missouri STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

To His excellency, LON V. STEPHENS, Governor:
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 1899, is respectfully submitted.
L. A. GOODMAN, Secretary,
Westport, Mo.

City of Jefferson, December 12, 1899.
To the Commissioners of Public Printing:

I require for the use of my office Four Thousand copies of Missouri State Horticultural]
Society Report for 1899—Two Thousand to be bound in cloth and Two Thousand to be
bound in paper—which I desire as per accompanying sample. Respectfully,

L. A. GOODMAN, Secretary,

Westport, Mo.
Approved :

A. A. LESUEUR, Secretary of State.
J. M. SEIBERT, State Auditor.
I. L. PITTS, State Treasurer.

OFFICERS For THE YEAR 1899 anp 1900.

COveLnor iO Nie Ve SE PEUHUIN Siac «crete < @ «scene Ex-Officio Member of Executive Committee
iN, TRS 7 IN ELOU ES B64 aha 24 QeYSHiG (23 ALFA tee REPENORBICN OLEIELGO © .> ChONCTCNCRCRCRE ROO RIT CA gC a een ren ee Oregon
ACE ELON Eee en Val COmPTESTOOM 1. ca tererc- so aver eines oherield elieiio seh release ae areerey $8 Syarieeacu a See Columbia
SOOM MIT BR i SeCOnd: Vice-President: cshe cis) «+ -cncge otis ain aie Glass eie loists mintelaa ee Bluffton
imeem Gr (OO) MEAN eS GCrE FAI ai 2): rs ceruay averse abaetls osha ssteidis, svdeuecarersiedies ele wud ete teus Westport
RON IETIG SS ON Ee AS UPO LCL tr Rawemn a icin (assists cots aya Were veie\- arian eis eter avelnalte’ © lorconemculohens ARs aust auis Lebanon

List oF HonorARY LIFE MEMBERS.

Ree SSH meresident stare WialVeLSib ya sr ciccetere iver one) olev.ene fel oidve tiie veh ccsue ive e tales ove Columbia
HON. A. A. LESUEUR, Secretary of State............ Diovatora Neves) erekeseheter er ccees Jefferson City
Te (Gp CIB EGN ISH oS. GiSiEibo DIOIRGISIOS GIBES, Gd orci Sc Shi Gi an Aa ee eet ree ee Reet sins pital (iV
AVIS Smet Ie ce VEG VENI DID len cstre tea trveste kowrswres eh eh a oars. so Clee ice: Sraun: ors eleuaral er, e Paver rit oyahe ca (softs Kirkwood
MEA PEA TELUS SS IVEAUN ER te evaporite oie mle cercue eines, wncslodt co euens evel e Titcke cue ede oare etek afawe tems diatalle terete Napa, Cal.
BUD T some Fp VU CO) IN pee tet cic cg etre tro cs auc hae Po efons Garak sich ti eile ce ehakskoPer.s, « voweuopthenatove tae crete South Haven, Mich.
ACCA V AMV IER CUES HVLC UVT Me curves eu ses et cusrensr< te eye APohsvancue Sie a/ey arin %, or one 5. &Tolaheupiabane: eyes MoBbegapelennls Kirkwood
LESS, IS Tu CIE ORGS (Ge ee et AS oP OA ee ch A St. Louis
SUAIMICNBUL) INU EILADI Sy 6 eeler Sates ites tin CCE Roe Van emer a RP Ah ee Ee es EIS ONE Bluffton
ESERO) Han Vinee Gr ee SCE) EGIN ah cre create. 5 Sic: shots cache: Dye Die, Shoreaehs, orm le tedteen ee tarens, oiwia b etaeseustere St. Louis
TETRROUISE, JB}, MUS “JBOSS 8 LAT rapa aecsene mnrorcOls ch cneiabtcat toe Soar OnCech BREE co omCnR CCG) GRORPRAIE eNOS aie C Independence
ERE wes Ce AUD OIWWEALY. re sie Accrerce daub siete ays bce gone athe OF ay scel sts ecbetroran tnd he Washington, D. C.
RSE ONINIEREACH) MU ETOAVER INA HN airibensacen ae St suiet cies She Meter ate oh boca: GS sacs whe ZR alegetenel «scahegehouehayeee St Joseph
EAR OBEe Eee bern vVeAWN) IOBIMUAIN GS. Sales thle oe aiels 0s cvesiepe sea eves Sioteiene © rersie segs Parksley, Va.
ESE OR eee Dene SEL TIN ISO ING chets,.<.ci 0:3 a 0/5) ct lleva cele wo cydue tal slisuss «apes, oy acveneleusplerets Fayetteville, Ark.

List oF Lir—E MEMBERS.

MAU mV Remo LG aNGMD ET. jet sveices.cch cv.siey sues s eici'ay she '-1/- 6 AMD 00 aiolemeteheneueten oliehe cioneasKone Fox Creek
isl, (CIUAVGKERDINIDE Yoke! sensi Yta a ome ae ee Un OLIO eG Oo GOREN oo aco Oo po eo rob oc Kansas City
di (EL BAYAN) Acs 6 oc IS A end GSI AIDE oa on cOeEEINS.<\c HODES cro CradchEND Oo RGDO.OoK Harlem
ii, AS UCOOINUASI . 6a @npone o5 CRO DO OOM Me CHRG CD 6 Commi he. c OURO CCA CA ADC Westport
1D), AVE TORO IDV? 95 5 3 2 Rot On SOU oO Incr nicnn IE enon OS SERMOEND SO C Oodap co oo Soobam ces Fulton
RRP AMES CODES IN| Ss DoD Pe aero sare carn os Sys, arcs wulelhs ness; &lediah wlio (nea MeME CVE! ©: ohevabepo eles fotepemceatni ete ial\6 Columbia
(STEPS TSHONRIO1E os GEA tb 6 6 CEES Dene OniCieinctr ers > Stic OM iaSs hace 6 b cou Good tcua of Seneca
(CO. TE cAI odo CARRIED cio ab. 0 Oa ECC eine > > AOE coohcoo aooum mC St. Louis
Veen EC em DD ERODUININS ING «| Sgeua ti = ressesnan eye cine laraslchainan’a: ‘osc oh Eh stansre (oul geemese Oe hse alate Sefate sucks tapers: «avons Altenburg
IESHrmm VUemen VUSEULC DD NUH) Eesti vot << sacstgqes orca: se oyicpeus:ueuss ue alae yapaitalionsy bye Auman set oen'o) Mie eNO Rade hones] 6 Iredericktown

GET EON VARS ER BAINES. velo. Die, EL@.GUALIN cence: « o Suey eres o-a)soyfensienet tens) © clin ia-e terelniehatle) «hel site Kansas City

STANDING COMMITTEES.

Orchards.
D. A. ROBNETT, Columbia. W. E. LILLY, Chillicothe. J. E. MAY, Wilson.

Vineyards.
JACOB ROMMEL, Morrison. J. F. WILCOX, St. Joseph. J.T. SNODGRASS, West Plains.

Small Fruits.

G. W. HOPKINS, Springfield. G. A. STONE, Richmond. HENRY SCHNELL, Glasgow.

Stone Fruits.
Ww. A. GARDNER, Olden. J. P. CANADAY, Bogard. ARTHUR PATTERSON, Kirksville.

Vegetables.
C. M. WILLIAMS, Marceline. J. P. SINNOCK, Moberly. J. K. SAUNDERS, Peirce City.

Flowers.

MRS. G. E. DUGAN, Sedalia. C. I. ROBORDS, Butler. N. O. BOOTH, Columbia

Ornamentals.

PROF. H. C. IRISH, St. Louis. R. E. BAILEY, Fulton. H. S. WAYMAN, Alvord
Entomology.
MISS M. E. MURTFELDT, Kirkwood. PROF. J. M. STEDMAN, Columbia.
Botany.

B. F. BUSH, Independence. GEO. R. RAUPP, Monett. T. B. CHANDLER, Farmington.

Nomenclature.

J. C. EVANS, Harlem. W. G. GANO, Parkville. K. B. WILKERSON, Mexico.

New Fruits.
SAMUEL MILLER, Bluffton. R. J. BAGBY, New Haven. A. H. GILKESON, Warrensburg.

Ornithology.
0. WIDMAN, Old Orchard. C. W. MURTFELDT, Kirkwood. C. HOWARD, Willow Springs.

Injurious Fungi.
PROF. J. C. WHITTEN, Columbia. DR. HERMAN VON SCHRENK, St. Louis.

Packing and Marketing Fruits.
F. H. SPEAKMAN, Neosho. H. E. MOSLEY, Olden. HENRY ADKINS, Sarcoxie.

Transportation.

G. T. TIPPIN, Nichols. Cc. C. BELL, Boonville. M. BUTTERFIELD, Lee’s Summit.

Horticultural Education.

Chairman, G. B. LAMM, Sedalia. L. A. GOODMAN, Westport.
PROF. J. C. WHITTEN, Columbia.
MRS. G. E. DUGAN, Sedalia, MISS M. E. MURTFELDT, Kirkwood.

PROF. WM. TRELEASE, St. Louis. PROF. J. R. KIRK, Kirksville.

MISsOURT SEATE HORTICULTURAL
SOCIETY.

Organized Fanuary 5, 1859, at Fefferson City.

INCORPORATION AND REORGANIZATION OF THE HORTICULTURAL
SOCIETY BY AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN 1893.

The following law was passed by the Legislature incorporating
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. Life membership, $10.
L. A. GoopMAN, Secretary.

ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The Missouri 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.

The Missouri Horticultural Society shall be composed of such persons as take an in-
terest 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 Horticultural 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 as it relates
to transactions with the State, shall be conducted 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 statement 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 the 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 appropriation made for that purpose by
the General Assembly, such annual report not to contain more than 400 pages. The Sec-
retary of the Society shall receive a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum as full com-
pensation for his services; all other officers shall serve without compensation, except that
they may receive their actual expenses in attending meetings of the Board.

(=P)

State Horticultural Society.

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I. This association shall be known as the Missouri State Horticultural
Society. Its object shall be the promotion of horticulture in all its branches.

Arr. II. 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 annually. Pro-
vided, however, that no person shall be allowed to vote on a question of a change of the
constitution or the election of officers of this Society until after he has been a member
for a period of one year preceding the time of election, except in case of a life member.

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 President, Vice-President, Sec-
ond Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot at each regular
annual meeting, and whose term of office shall be for one. year, beginning on the first day
of June following their election. The President, Vice-President and Treasurer shall be
eligible to but one successive re-election.

Arr. IV. The elective officers of this Society shall constitute an Hxecutive Commit-
tee, at any meeting of which a majority of the members shall have power to transact busi-
ness. The other duties of the officers shall be such as usually pertain to the same officers
in similar organizations.

Art. V. The regular meetings of this Society shall be held annually on the first Tues-
days in December and June, except when otherwise ordered by the Executive 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 President 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, Vine-
yards, Stone Fruits, Small Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, Ornamentals, Entomology, Orni-
thology, Botany, Nomenclature, New Fruits, Injurious Fungi, Packing and Marketing Fruit
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.

HOW TO ORGANIZE .A HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY; ALSO
THE CONSTITUTION FOR A LOCAL ORGANIZATION.

Anyone much interested on this subject of Horticulture can orgar
ize a society if he will speak to five or six different persons who are
known to be prominent in this matter. Tell them that there ought t:
be a society in your county, and as it is such a good fruit country, ask
them if they do not want to help organize one. You will hardly meet a
refusal, but will be met with the remark “that they do not believe there
is interest enough in your county to keep one up.” Never mind this,
but make an appointment to meet in some office in town on some Satur-
day. If you can get five to come together, organize and elect officers.
Make the meetings regular each month and on the same Saturday. Some
lawyer will let you have the use of his room to hold the meetings. Have
the meeting in the best town in the county even if you have to go some
distance to meet there. Talk this up until the next meeting, and let
each one promise to bring another. Do not expect to have everyone
belong, for they will not. Hold six winter meetings (November to
April) in the city or village, and at the March or April meeting, select
the places to hold the six summer meetings (May to October) at the
homes of the members. Make this a picnic dinner, meeting about 10
o'clock, and after the dinner, hold the meeting and discussion; offer a
few premiums for fruits and flowers, and have a general good time. Do
not be afraid of a dollar or two, but use as much judgment in this matter
as you would in any business of your own, and you will succeed. Talk
to your neighbors about it if they are interested in fruit growing, if not,
choose those who are so interested. They will not be much help to you
if they are not fruit growers. Make out a program for the year,
choosing one or two for an essay at each meeting. When the reports
of the standing committees are made, have it done in writing, and have
a report at every meeting. You can not expect to have everything
work in complete order at first, and do not get discouraged if you find
trouble at the start. Take your wives with you and have a good social
time also. If I can be of use to you at any time, I will come and visit
you if it is possible for me to get away. I will try and bring someone
with me also to help along the good work.

L. A. GOODMAN,
State Secretary.

8 State Horticultural Society.

CONSTITUTION.

Article I. This association shall be known as
tural Society.

Hortiecul-

Art. II. All persons interested in the subject of Horticulture may
become members of this Society by signing the Constitution and paying
annually to the treasurer the sum of one dollar: And provided further,
that any person paying at one time the sum of ten dollars to the treas-
urer, may become a life member,and thereafter exempt from annual
dues: Provided, further, that all ladies may become members by sign-
ing the Constitution without the payment of one dollar.

Art. I1I.—Section 1. The officers of this Society shall consist of
a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and executive committee,
consisting of five, of which the president and vice-president shall be
ex-officio members.

Sec. 2. The president shall exercise a general superintendence of
the affairs of the Society; preside at all meetings of the Society; appoint
all committees unless otherwise provided; draw all orders on the treas-
urer as directed by the Society; call special meetings of the Society or
executive committee when deemed necessary; he shall be ex-officio pres-
ident of the executive committee.

See. 3. The vice-president shall assist the president, and in his
absence perform his duties, and be ex-officio a member of the executive
committee.

Sec. 4. The treasurer shall receive all moneys belonging to the
Society; shall keep a just and true account of the same, from what source
received, and pay out the same upon the order of the president, counter-
signed by the secretary. At the meeting of the Society on the
Saturday in December in each year (or oftener, if required by the exec-
utive committee), he shall make a full and complete report cf all receipts
and disbursements, and at the expiration of his term of office, turn over
all books, papers, and all money or other property belonging to the
Society, to successor in office. The treasurer, before entering on the
discharge of the duties of his office, shall enter into a bond with sufficient
security, to be approved by the president of the Society for its use, in the

State Horticultural Society. a

sum of , conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties

required of him in this section.

Sec. 5 The secretary shall keep a full and complete minute of
each meeting of the Society, and the proceedings of the executive com-
mittee. He shall receive and safely keep all books, periodicals, station-
ery, seeds, fruits and other like property of the Society subject to its
order; shall correspond as may be necessary with all persons or societies
as the welfare of the Society may demand. He shall report all the pro-
ceedings of the executive committee to the Society at its first meeting
thereafter. He shall countersign all orders drawn upon the treasurer
by the president under the direction of the Society, and have the care and
custody of the seal of the Society.

Sec. 6. The executive committee shall assist and advise the officers
in the discharge of their duties; prepare all premium lists; make all neces-
sary arrangements for holding and conducting any and all such fairs as
the Society may determine to hold, and such exhibitions of fruit as the
Society may determine to make, and exercise a general supervision over
the same, and generally to provide for the arrangements and business
of the Society.

Art. IV. The officers of this Society shall be elected by ballot
from among its members for the term of one year. The annual election
shall be held at the regular meeting of the Society on the Saturday
in December, where the general business of the Society shali be trans-
acted. Vacancies may be filled at any regular meeting of the Society.

Art. V. The regular meeting of this Society shall be held on the
Saturday of each month, at 1 o’clock p. m., at such places as the
Society may select, at

Provided, that the meetings in the
months of May, June, July, August, September and October of each
year may, by a vote of the Society, be held at the residence of any of the
members outside of the city.

Art. VI. Executive committee may provide: First, for the pay-
ment of premiums to members of the Society for the best display of
fruit, flowers or vegetables made at any regular meeting of the Society;
second, for essays on any subject of interest to the Society, and arrange-
ment of programme for the year; and third, for determining the places

10 State Horticultural Society.

for each meeting of the Society for the months of May to October,
inclusive.

Art. VII. Five members of the Society shall constitute a quorum
at any meeting, and three members of the executive committee shall be
authorized to transact business at any meeting of the committee duly
called. Special meetings of the Society or executive committee may be
held by order of the president or any three of the committee
on one week’s notice to all members of the Society or board (as the case
may be), given personally, or through the postoffice. Adjourned meet-
ings may be held from time to time, as the Society may determine.

Art. VIII. The funds of this Society shall not be apportioned to
any purpose without a vote of a majority of the members present at any
regular meeting of the Society.

Art. IX. This Society shall have the following standing com-
mittees, which shall be appointed by the president at the January meet-
ing in each year: Small fruits, stone fruits, orchards, vineyards, veg-
etables, flowers, ornamentals, entomology, botany, to each of which
shall be referred all matters relating to those particular subjects. Each
of said committees shall consist of one to three members.

Art. X. This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote
of all the members of the Society at any regular meeting: Provided,
that notice of the intended amendment shall have been given at least
one month prior to any action taken thereon.

Art. XI. The meetings of this Society shall be governed by the
parliamentary rules usual for deliberative bodies.

State Horticultural Society. 11

LIST OF COUNTY SOCIETIES.

Adair County Horticultural Society—
R. M. Brasher, Pres’t, Kirksville.
A. Patterson, Sec’y, Kirksville.

Atchison County Horticultural Society—
Cc. N. Coe, Pres’t, Tarkio.
R. Lynn, Sec’y, Tarkio.

Audrain County Horticultural Society—
M. B. Guthrie, Pres’t, Mexico.
K. B. Wilkerson, Vice-Pres’t, Mexico.
R. A. Ramsey, Sec’y, Mexico.
W. G. Hutton, Ass’t Sec’y, Mexico.
Wm. Eagan, Ass’t Sec’y, Mexico.
W. M. Pearson, Treas.. Mexico.

Barry County Horticultural Society
W. W. Hitt, Pres’t, Exeter.
G. G. James, Sec’y, Hailey.
J. C. Crane, Treas., Exeter.

Barton County Horticultural Society—
C. Fink, Pres’t, Lamar.
B. D. Hayes, Sec’y, Lamar.

Bates County Horticultural Society—
Cc. I. Robords, Pres’t, Butler.
J. B. Speer, Sec’y, Butler.

Birch Tree Fruit Growers’ Ass’n, Shannon
County—
Jas. Kirkendal, Pres’t, Birch Tree.
F. Anderson, Sec’y, Birch Tree.

Bismarck Fruit Growers’ Association—
Cc. J. Tullock, Pres’t, Bismarck.
M. H. Dowling, Sec’y, Bismarck.

Boone County Horticultural Society—
D. A. Robnett, Pres’t, Columbia.
Jos. Baumgartner, Sec’y, Columbia.
G. W. Burroughs, Treas., Columbia.

Buchanan County Horticultural Society—
J. H. Karnes, Pres’t, St. Joseph.
F. McCoun, Sec’y, St. Joseph.

Butler County Horticultural Society—
D. C. Kitteridge, Pres’t, Poplar Bluff.
BE. R. Lentz, Sec’y, Poplar Bluff.

Butterfield Local—Barry County—
E. B. Utter, Pres’t, Butterfield.
J. E. Utter, See’y, Butterfield.

Benton County, Ark., Horticultural Society—
Cc. J. Eld, Pres’t, Bentonville.
J. C. Rucker, Vice-Pres’t, Bentonville.
I. B. Lawton, See’y, Bentonville.
N. B. Cotton, Treas., Bentonville.

Callaway County Horticultural Society—
k. T. Murphy, Pres’t, New Bloomfield.
R. E. Bailey, Sec’y, Fulton.

Camden County Horticultural Society—
J. W. Burhans, Pres’t, Stoutland.
J. C. Evans, Sec’y, Stoutland.

Central Missouri
tion—
David Edwards, Pres’t, Boonville.
F. J. Boller, 1st Vice-Pres’t, Boonville.
Mrs. John Durr, 2d Vice-Pres’t, Boonville.
Cc. C. Bell, Sec’y, Boonville.
W. A. Smiley, Treas.. Boonville.

Horticultural Associa.

Christian County Horticultural Society—
M. King, Pres’t, Billings.
R. €. Hendricks, Sec’y, Billings.

Clay County Horticultural Society—
I. M. Williams, Pres’t, Barry.
Oliver Chedister, Sec’y, Linden.

Cole County Horticultural Society—
J. B. Brooks, Pres't, Jefferson City.
T. M. Barker, Vice-Pres’t, Centertown.
A. J. Davis, See’y, Jefferson City.
¥. M. Brown, Treas., Jefferson City.

Conway Horticultural
County—

W. H. Getty, Pres't, Conway.

R. O. Hardy, Sec’y, Conway.

Society, Laclede

Gentry County Horticultural Society
W. A. Garrett, Pres’t, Albany.
G. EH. Adams, Sec’y, Darlington.
Wm. David, Treas., Albany.

Goodman Horticultural Society, McDonald
County—
H. C. Blanchard, Pres’t, Goodman.
E. H. Gurney, Seec’y, Goodman.

Green County Horticultural Society—
W. T. Zink, Pres’t, Springfield.
A. W. Howell, Vice-Pres’t, Springfield.
Miss Emma Park, Sec’y, Springfield.
H. H. Park, Treas., Springfield.

Ifenry County Horticultural Society—
M. L. Bonham, Pres’t, Clinton.
H. C. Green, Vice-Pres’t, Clinton.
J. M. Pretzinger, Sec’y, Clinton.
H. &. Burris, Treas., Clinton.

Holt County Horticultural Society—
N. F. Murray, Pres’t, Oregon.
J. N. Menifee, Vice-Pres’t, Oregon.
H. P. Blanchard, Sec’yand Treas., Oregon

Jasper County Horticultural Society—
F. A. Hubbard, Pres’t, Carthage.
Th. Betebenner, Vice-Pres’t, Carthage.
Z. T. Russell Seec’y, Carthage.

12 State Horticultural Society.

COUNTY SOCIETIES—Continued.

Koshkonong Horticultural Society, Oregon
County—
T. M. Culver, Pres’t, Koshkonong.
C. M. Alderson, Sec’y, Koshkonong.
H. C. Huxley, Treas., Thayer.

Laclede County Horticultural Society—
A. Nelson, Pres’t, Lebanon.
Cc. L. Palmer, Sec’y, Lebanon.
D. R. Diffenderffer, Treas., Lebanon.

Lafayette County Horticultural Society—
H. Turlenius, Pres’t, Alma.
G. H. Robius, Sec’y, Mayview.

Lawrence County Horticultural Society—
W. T. Seward, Pres’t, Marionville.
B. Logan, Sec’y, Marionville.
J. B. Logan, Treas., Marionville.

Lincoln County Horticultural Society—
A. H. Kercheval, Pres’t, Elsberry.
B. C. Benedict, See’y, Moscow Mills.

Linn County Horticultural Society—
A. P. Swan, Pres’t, Marceline.
H. D. Porter, Vice-Pres’t, Marceline.
Hiram Long, Sec’y, Marceline.
I. W. Porter, Treas., Marceline.

Livingston Horticultural Society—
G. A. Smith, Pres’t, Chillicothe.
J. T. Jackson, See’y, Chillicothe.

Madison County Horticultural Society—
A. A. Blumer, Pres’t, Fredericktown.
H. M. Whitner, Sec’y, Fredericktown.

Meramec Horticultural Ass’n, Crawford
County—
E. R. Bowen, Pres’t, Steelville.
Peter Lovengood, Vice-Pres’t, Steelville.
Jos. Marsh, See’y, Steelville.
Kk. D. Norval, Ass’t Sec’y, Steelville.
Chas. Lay, Treas., Steelville.

Mercer County Horticultural Society—
J. F. Stanley, Pres’t, Cainesville.
H. 8S. Wayman, Sec’y, Alvord.

Miller County Horticultural Society—
John Vetter, Pres’t, Eldon.
E. M. Sumptain, Vice-Pres’t, Spring Gar-
den.
N. J. Shepherd, Sec’y, Eldon.
J. R. Helfrich, Treas., Eldon.

Missouri-Arkansas Horticultural Society—

D. S. Helvern, Pres’t, Mammoth Springs,
Ark.

P. B. P. Hynson, Sec’y, Mammoth Springs,
Ark.

Missouri Valley Horticultural Society—
Homer Reed, Pres’t, Kansas City.
Clarence Holsinger, Vice-Pres’t,

City.
C. A. Chandler, Sec’y, Argentine, Kan.
G. F. Espenlaub, Treas., Rosedale, Kan.

Kansas

Monett Local—Barry County—
R. D. Creed, Pres’t, Monett.
Geo. Raupp, Sec’y, Monett.

Montgomery County Horticultural Society—
F. K. Gutman, Pres’t, Hugo.
Cc. Hausser, Sec’y, Hugo.

Mound City Horticultural Society—
D. B. Browning, Pres’t, Mound City.
J. M. Hasness, Sec’y, Mound City.

Neosho Fruit Growers and Shippers Associa-
tion (Newton County)—
T. P. Price, Pres’t, Neosho.
R. P. Liles, Vice-Pres’t,Neosho.
F. H. Speakman, Sec’y, Neosho.
Scott Ferris, Treas., Neosho.

Norwood Horticultural Society—
J. W. Hollenbeck, Pres’t, Norwood.
W. S. Calhoun, Sec’y, Norwood.

Pettis County Fruit and Dairy Club—
Ed. Brown, Pres’t, Sedalia.
G. B. Lamm, Sec’y, Sedalia.
J. H. Monsees, Treas., Beaman.

Phelps County Horticultural Society—
Robert Merriwether, Pres’t, Rolla.
Albert Newman, Sec’y, Rolla.

Peirce City Fruit Growers’ Association, Law-
rence County—
J. K. Saunders, Pres’t, Peirce City.
J. G. Morris, Vice-Pres’t, Peirce City.
R. H. Edwards, Sec’y, Peirce City.
Geo. Raupp, Treas., Peirce City.

Polk County Horticultural and Agricultural
Association—
G. W. Williams, Pres’t, Humansville.
Cc. M. Briggs, Sec’y, Humansville.
A. H. Schofield, Treas., Humansvyille.

Polk County (Ark.) Horticultural Society—
A. W. St. John, Pres’t, Mena, Ark.
D. H. Hopkins, Vice-Pres’t, Dallas, Ark.
F. S. Foster, Sec’y, Mena, Ark.
G. S. Graham, Treas., Dallas, Ark.

Pulaski County Horticultural Society—
A. W. Rausch. Sec’y, Richland.

State Horticultural Society.

COUNTY SOCIETIES—Continued.

Randolph County Horticultural Society— j
B. R. Boucher, Pres’t, Cairo.
G. N. Ratliff, Vice-Pres’t, Moberly.
J. W. Dorsey, Treas., Moberly.
C. W. Halliburton, Sec’y, Moberly.

Ray County Horticultural Society—
A. Maitland, Pres’t, Richmond.
G. A. Stone, Vice-Pres’t, Richmond.
R. Williams, Sec’y, Richmond.

Republic Horticultural Society, Greene
County—
W. O. Wade, Pres’t, Republic.
W. H. Goodwin, Vice-Pres’t, Republic.
T. B. Wallace, Sec’y and Treas., Republic.

Ripley County Horticultural Society—
J. G. Hancock, Pres’t, Doniphan.
S. S. Hancock, Sec’y, Doniphan.

St. Francois Horticultural Society—
Rk. C. Tucker, Pres’t, Farmington.
W. F. Hoey, Sec’y, Farmington.

St. Louis County Horticultural Society—
Henry Wallis, Pres’t, Wellston.
H. C. Irish, Sec’y, St. Louis.
Chas. Kern, Treas., Ascalon.

Saline County Horticultural Society—
J. T. Stewart, Pres’t, Blackburn.
Thos. Adams, Sec’y, Marshall.

Sarcoxie Gandy Fruit Growers’ Ass’n—
J. M. Davidson, Pres’t, Sarcoxie.
John Carnahan, Sec’y, Sarcoxie.
W. T. Burkholder, Cor. Sec’y, Sarcoxie.

-Sarcoxie Horticultural Association—
J. C. Reynolds, Pres’t, Sarcoxie.
John Johnson, Vice-Pres’t, Sarcoxie.
J. B. Wild, See’y, Sarcoxie.
H. B. Boyd, Treas., Sarcoxie.
J. W. Haggard, Manager, Sarcoxie.

Seligman Local—Barry County—
G. W. Roler, Pres’t, Seligman.

H. M. Foster, Sec’y, Seligman.

Shannon County Horticultural Society—
Jos. Holt, See’y, Monteir.

South Mo. Fruit Growers’
County—
Geo. Comley, Pres’t, Willow Springs.
J. Lovewell, Sec’y, Willow Springs.

Ass’n, Howell

South Mo. Hort. Ass’n, Howell County—
D. J. Nichols, Pres’t, West Plains.
J. W. Hitt, Vice-Pres’t, West Plains.
J. T. Snodgrass, Sec’y and Treas., West
‘Plains:

Tri-County Horticultural Society—
J. H. Holloway, Pres’t, Richland.
S. Kellar, See’y, Richland.

Union Horticultural Society—
E. S. Link, Pres’t, Jefferson City.
D. A. Robnett, Vice-Pres’t, Columbia.
A. J. Davis, Sec’y, Jefferson City.

Vernon County Fruit Growers’ Association—
J. D. Bowman, Pres’t, Nevada.
J. Kennedy, Vice-Pres’t, Nevada.
W. H. Litson, Jr., Sec’y, Nevada.
W. B. Smith, Treas., Nevada.

Washburn Local—Barry County—
H. J. Wood, Pres’t, Washburn.
G. K. Hurd, Vice-Pres’t, Washburn.
J. D. Berryhill, See’y, Washburn.
J. J. Hickman, Treas., Washburn.

Wayne County Horticultural Society—
W. C. Mulherin, Pres’t, Chaona.
John Ware, Sec’y, Wappapello.
Jacob Fry, Treas., Wappapello.

Wright County Horticultural Society—
G. S. Killan, Pres’t, Mt. Grove.
B. S. Snyder, Vice-Pres’t, Mt. Grove.
Mrs. A. Z. Moore, Sec’y, Mt. Grove.
Mrs. C. Brooker, Treas., Mt. Grove.

14 State Horticultural Society.

SUMMER MeEeTING.
At Peirce City, Fune 6, 7, 8, 1899.

The Summer meeting of the Missouri State Horticultural Society was
held at Peirce City on the above days, and it was one of the best Grand
Old Missouri has ever had. ‘The sessions were held in the opera house.

On the evening of the sixth, President N. F. Murray called the
meeting to order. Horticulture and music are kindred professions and
it was fitting that music should be first on the program. This was well
rendered by Kreyer’s orchestra. The opening prayer was delivered by
Rev. J. E. Pershing.

The address of welcome was delivered by Joseph French, who in
eloquent words opened the doors of Peirce City to the visitors and handed
over the keys. The hospitality of her citizens is known beyond the
State lines, and visitors felt all that Mr. French said.—The Southwest.

RESPONSE OF WELCOME.

“Tn response to the eloquent address of welcome by one of your
worthy citizens, I, as the representative of the Missouri State Horticul-
tural Society, desire to most heartily thank the officers and members of
the Southwest Fruit Growers’ Co-operative Union, not only for the
invitation to hold our June meeting in your thrifty little city, but also
for the interest you have taken in securing from the various railways
the lowest rate we have ever had to one of our meetings, and to the good
people of Peirce City we extend our thanks for your hospitality in throw-
ing open your doors to the free entertainment of all who desire to accept.
And again we thank not only the Co-operative Union but all the various
committees and the citizens who have in any way contributed in making
the necessary arrangements for our comfort and pleasure during our
sojourn with you.

“Our society years ago adopted the missionary plan of holding meet-
ings in different parts of the state with a desire and hope that we might

Summer Meeting. 15

in this way awaken the people to a more lively interest in horticulture.
And we are happy to say that in this we have not been disappointed.
For proof of our success we call your attention to the proud position
Missouri occupies as a fruit producing State. In quantity of fruit she
is certainly third and destined in the near future to rank first. In size,
color and quality she towers high above all others. In all the contests
at the great expositions she has always carried off the highest prize.
When it comes to the queen of all fruits, the luscious strawberry, your
own highly favored section ranks first, not only in size, color and quality
but also in quantity; as I am credibly informed no other section of Mis-
souri, or of the world, ships so many ear and train loads of strawberries
as the section represented by your association.

“We meet with you to talk over and discuss the various topics
pertaining to horticulture, to review the past, to speak of the present
and to plan for the future. In the past we have made commendable
progress and done much to develop the fruit industry of the State. At
_ present we are in the deep, dark valley of disappointment. Never before
in the history of the country has there been such a destruction of our fruit
trees as was caused by the great Arctic wave that rolled over the entire
fruit belt of the United States (save the Pacific coast) sweeping away
our bright prospects and blasting our cherished hopes. Millions of
young nursery trees have been killed, root and top. Tens of thousands
of apple, pear, peach and other orchard trees have been entirely killed
and many more are badly damaged. All the trees left growing in the nur-
series will hardly be sufficient to replant those that have been killed in
the orchards, and I doubt if five years of hard work will repair
the damage and bring our orchards up to what they were prior to the
cold wave of destruction.

“Many fruit growers have been led to say, like Jacob of old, ‘All
these things are against me.’ And yet, with faith and trust in an over-
ruling Providence and perseverance on our part, our disaster may all be
turned to our future good. In the great cold wave many of our enemies
went down; insects have been checked, weak varieties extinguished, to
be replaced by those that are more hardy, and the old hobby horse—the
ery of over-production—killed and buried so deep that we need not fear
its resurrection for the next twenty years. A weary and disparing trav-

16 State Horticultural Society.

eler who found a single flower blooming in the wild desert over which he
was passing cried out, ‘I will not give up but struggle on, for God is
here.’ So, my horticultural friends, we need not give up for God is
here—not a single flower, but in thousands of them, shedding their fra-
grance for our pleasure. And with all our losses let us remember that
we have much left, for which we should be truly grateful. Let us take
courage and push boldly forward in our work, remembering that if we
are true and faithful to our trust then our present weary march through
the deep valley with its overhanging clouds will only add enchanting
beauty to the glorious view we shall have from the mountain top of ‘suc-
cess and final victory in the future.”

Song.—Peirce City Male Quartette.

Recitation.— Miss Mona Coppock.

CULTIVATION OF FLOWERS.

Mrs. E. L. Parker, Peirce City, Mo.

I believe the cultivation of flowers was allotted to me. As for
myself, I have no excuse to make; by the time I am through the trouble
will be plain enough. But I feel sure the Horticultural Society here
was not aware this would be my first effort in this line, since a girl of
ten, when I wrote an essay on flowers. It commenced about like this,
“There are many kinds of flowers,” I have since learned there is a great
deal in the cultivation to have any success with them. I am glad they
have given me as much latitude as a Southwest Missouri preacher, if not
from Genesis to Revelation. I can take from asters to zinnias and branch
off on bulbs as a side issue.

But to begin. If you are really in earnest about raising some fine
floral specimens, the best time to start is in the fall. Select some corner
where you can have all the leaves and clippings from the yard wheeled,
add any and everything that will decay; rotten chips and dirt from the
woodpile, sand, a little ashes, the more soapsuds the better, all the coffee
and tea grounds you can get, with a layer of earth every once and a
while and when well rotted work it all over. By the time your seeds

Summer Meeting. ILE

need planting you will have loose, rich material for them to germinate
in; it will need lots of water of course, but will never crust over the top
or harden.

If you prepare your boxes or old pans right, nearly every seed will
grow that has a live germ in it.

I have the best success with boxes about the size layer raisins come
in, but like them a little shorter as they are more convenient to water.
1 bore two holes with a bit that is about the size of a lead pencil (if the
holes are too large the water rushes in too fast) one or two inches from
the bottom on each side and two or three in the bottom. Now go to
the prepared heap for earth, fill them full, press that down well, sift
through a piece of wire screen or old colander earth to refill it, press
lightly and evenly this time, sow the seeds in rows to be able to distin-
guish the young plants from weeds, cover evenly as possible with sifted
dirt, press down with a piece of pasteboard, place the box in a tub with
enough tepid water in it to reach nearly to the top of the boxes, let them
stay till moist all over the top; take out and place them so they can have
good drainage. Put in (there I will have to let the secret out) your
brooder if you have a combined incubator and brooder, if not make a
bottomless box to fit the top of incubator with lid reaching across the
top; be sure to fix it so air can get in. Let them stay till you can see
their necks or shoots just ready to push through the earth, then take
the box to a warm window every day, putting them back at night. If
you have no incubator, a stovepipe shelf or back part of cook stove after
the fire begins to die down is a great help in starting early plants.
Always water by placing them in the water till the young plants are well
above ground, and whatever artificial heat you give, be sure it is
bottom heat. When the plants are up nicely I commence cultivating
them by using a table fork and giving shower baths with a fine sprinkler
or the hand, but still keep up a tub bath as often as necessary. I prefer
to start most plants in boxes as they are so much easier protected from
beating rains and too strong sunshine. Of course artificial heat is only
needed for the early plants and those of us that can’t have greenhouse
have to tax our ingenuity to reach the much coveted end. I think if we
have our own housework to do we had better try to select a few kinds

H—2

18 State Horticultural Society.

and do our best by them, though I always find it impossible to stick to
that bit of advice. The few things I always try to have plenty of are
nasturtiums, sweet-peas and pansies. I start a few nasturtiums in a
little box, a cigar box does nicely; put them in thick as they are so easily
transplanted and can be set out of doors as soon as frost is a thing of the
past; but for the ‘main crop,” I plant about the first of April, in the gar-
den in good rich soil and cultivate just as beans. I read an article the
other day that advised planting them in poor soil as the trouble with
them they went too much to foliage. Don’t you believe it. It is a fact
if the soil is poor the foliage will be also, and so will the flowers. I buy
an ounce of seed, plant two or three inches apart, that will make a long
row. When they have grown to about four leaves, 1 commence taking
up every other one to give to my friends. By the time they have been
gone uver once those left begin to crowd, so I vo the rounds again. When
they are thin enough I wait till they are in bloom, then in giving cut
flowers away I advise changing the water every day or two and they will
grow and bloom beautifully for weeks on the dining table by putting in
the window between times where they can get the sun; and if you tire of
them set them out in the ground.

I suppose you think, ‘““‘Why do you get so many seed if you don’t
need the half?’ Well, it is a satisfaction to give to your friends and
then there are some you pity because they say they have no luck, when
they should have said pluck.

The last of March or first of April I sow my sweet peas. Dmill
them along the furrow, not just stick one along every two or three inches,
but thick, like garden peas, in good soil, out in full sunshine. I have
better success with the rows running north and south. I think it is
because the earth gets more air and sun. Have the rows far enough
apart so they can be cultivated with a plow. You can in that way just
revel in the sweet scented beauties, with a great deal less work than to
have a few sickly things in a mound where they do not belong. I have
a theory and intend to put it in practice this year at least. That is after
they are all turned nicely up the wires, I will give them a good hoeing,
plenty of water, then lay six inch boards along each side of the vines
leaving space between of only a few inches for the vines and to pour
water. There is so much tramping to admire and cut the flowers, the

Summer Meeting. 19

ground gets packed so hard and then we unconsciously let the toes of
our shoes bruise the vines. Of course the width of the boards is imma-
terial.

And pansies, I must say a word about them as they are a joy and
beauty forever. I have told how I raise my plants; by the time they
are large enough to set out, I have my bed ready for them spaded down
deep of course. It must be like most all the rest of the flower garden,
rich. I make my bed wide enough to hold five rows one foot apart so I
ean reach half way across from each side, and on a level with the rest of
the ground, with a frame of boards (mine are fence boards) about two or
three inches higher than the earth, so sash or any covering can be placed
over them when freezing weather comes, and they will bloom most of
the time through the winter.

When ready to set out I give the plants a good soaking and with a
table fork—which I find to be one of the most useful tools for cultivating
small plants—lift the plant and place in the little hollow prepared for it,
fill the dirt in till the cavity is about half full, go over with water, finish
filling with earth. In setting eighty plants this spring at one time in this
way not one ced or wilted. A cut worm got five, but I got the worm.

The erying need of most flowers seems to be water. Unless we are
having frequent showers, I water my pansy beds every evening. Not just
a little with a sprinkler, but take the nose off the can and pour it along
the rows each way so it will reach the roots. By keeping the blooms cut
and giving plenty of water, from a bed of fifty plants I cut over six hun-
dred pansies in one day and could cut from two to four hundred any day
for weeks, all nice blooms, none smaller than a twenty-five cent piece.
And for those that lve beyond the city waterworks as I do, would advise
when they start that compost heap in the fall, to lay in a supply of
sorghum molasses, for what small boy won’t give a pansy bed or sweet pea
rows a good soaking for a section of ginger bread for themselves and a
bunch of blooms for their Sunday school teacher.

I have one pansy bed on the north end of the house that requires
_ but very little more water than the rains give it.

I would like to ask one question, that is, where to set my chrysan-
themum that has budded to bloom, this June 6% I never had one in
bloom till fall before and don’t know whether to put it in partial shade

20 State Horticultural Society.

or noonday sun. I also have a tuberose ready to burst into bloom. I
thought it best to have them in the hall to-night, as when the ground was
covered with snow and sleet this spring, I told a gentleman I had cab-
bage plants up two leaves above the ground (had only sown the seed
forty-eight hours before.) He looked at me and said, “I thought the
fishing parties were all out of town.”

After hearing the paper read Secretary Goodman highly compli-
mented the paper and said there were more good practical facts in it than
any he ever heard read before the society on this subject. He wished
to add cosmos to the list of flowers usually grown. It is a late bloomer,
great bunches of flowers can be cut after most of flowers have got
through blooming. Plant in rows same as sweet peas and plow them.

Vocal Solo.—Miss Bessie Saunders.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN AND WHAT IT IS
DOING FOR HORTICULTURE.

By H. C. Irish, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo.

The founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Mr. Henry Shaw,
having amassed a comparatively large fortune, decided, when at the age
of thirty-five to retire from active business and devote the rest of his life
to the pleasures of a garden. He had come into possession of several
hundred acres of land situated at that time about four miles from St.
Louis. Upon this estate he built a home and began a plan of improving
and beautifying a few acres for his own satisfaction and pleasure. As
the grounds developed and grew in attractiveness the public began to
take so much interest in the place that about 1858, Mr. Shaw concluded
to convert them into a scientific institution. Accordingly for their fur-
ther development he followed a plan with this in view and very mater-
ially increased the variety of plants and arranged them not only in an |
artistic manner, but in such a way that the plants themselves could be
most effectually exhibited. About the same time he secured from the
State Legislature an act enabling him to place the Garden, either during

Summer Meeting. 21

his lifetime or by will under the management of a board of trustees.
From this time the garden made a systematic and steady advancement
under the personal supervision of the founder to the time of his death
in 1889.

About 1866, Mr. Shaw created the idea of establishing a park adja-
cent to the garden, and accordingly deeded to the city, on condition that
a certain sum of money should be given annually for its improvement
and maintenance, a tract of about 285 acres, or what is now Tower
Grove Park. Again, about 1883, Mr. Shaw conceived the idea of
establishing a school of botany as a department of Washington Univer-
sity “which should stand in such relation with the largely endowed
Missouri Botanical Garden and Arboretum as would practically secure
their best uses for scientific study and investigation to the professors and
students of the said school of botany for all time to come.” ‘This idea
took definite shape some two years later when in accepting Mr. Shaw’s
proposal the trustees of Washington University established the Shaw
School of Botany and received from Mr. Shaw a deed of improved real
estate, the income from which is used to meet the expenses of the said
school.

Mr. Shaw left most of his estate, appraised at about a million and a
third dollars as an endowment of the garden, consisting mostly in real
estate. Some in the business portion of the city yields a large revenue
but most of it is situated in the vicinity of the garden and yields no
income. The trustees named in Mr. Shaw’s will consists of fifteen mem-
bers, ten of whom are designated by name, while the remaining five are
ex-officio members, namely: Mayor of St. Louis, the Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, the president of the Academy of Science,
the President of the Public School Board, and the Chancellor of Wash-
ington University of St. Louis. Vacancies are filled by the remaining
members, and all perform their duties without compensation.

The garden proper contains about forty-five acres divided into six-
teen for the more especially decorative portion, twenty for the arboretum,
six for the fruiticetum, and three for the vegetable garden. There are
approximately eighty acres of meadow land next to the garden which
it is hoped will be added to the present area, twenty acres to be planted
to a representative collection of North American plants hardy at St.

22 State Horticultural Society.

Louis, arranged in botanical sequence and with decorative effects the
balance to be afterward planted to a general flora of the world and
arranged in the same manner. The present arboretum contains a small
representation of hardy deciduous trees, also a collection of wild herba-
ceous plants grouped in families; a bog, ponds, and a rockery which are
occupied with plants suited to these varied conditions. The fruiticetum
contains a collection of our leading fruits most of which have been
planted during the last four years, these grounds having been under-
going a complete renovation during this period, hence only a few of the
tree fruits are now in bearing. At present there are about thirty-five
varieties of apples, twenty pears, twelve peaches, ten plums, eight
cherries, four quince, twenty-four grapes, ten blackberries, eight rasp-
berries, eight gooseberries, nine currants and fifty strawberries. Space
will not admit a large collection of tree fruits and there are only two or
three specimens of each variety, while there is a greater number of small
fruits and the collection is constantly being enlarged. Here are also
grown many vegetables, especially for experimental purposes. In the
vegetable garden proper is grown a general collection of culinary vege-
tables sufficient to keep a large family in constant supply the entire sea-
son. Here are also forcing houses which give a constant supply of
vegetables during the winter months and two grape houses in which two
of the leading European varieties of grapes not hardy here, are grown.
The main part of the garden is laid out for the most part in a formal
manner bounded by high stone walls and marked by many geometrical
walks along which are arranged groups of plants for study and decorat-
ive effects. Many of the tender exotic plants from the greenhouses are
distributed over this area during the summer season. A space is given
to what is called “Grandmother’s Garden,” or a collection of many of
the hardy old fashioned plants; in another part is situated a number of
ponds in which many rare water plants are grown, and several rockeries
on which quite a large collection of alpine plants are arranged. There
are seventeen plant houses exclusive of the vegetable forcing houses,
having approximately 17,000 square feet of glass together with a large
number of frames and hotbeds. Two of the houses are devoted mostly
to palms, two to economics, two to orchids, one to ferns and cyeads, one

Summer Meeting. 23

to cacti and the others to miscellaneous collections. An inventory
taken last year showed more than 8,000 varieties and species of plants
growing at the garden in 1898.

The library contains about 33,000 books and pamphlets of which
probably more than 3,000 belong to the more purely horticultural part.
All are card catalogued as well as systematically arranged on the shelves.
In addition there are more than 240,000 index cards referring to the
printed literature on a great variety of horticultural and botanical sub-
jects. The herbarium contains about 300,000 sheets of dried plants.

The course of instruction for garden pupils covers a period of four
years and provides, in the first place for six scholarship students who are
granted a cash allowance of $200 each for the first year, $250 the second
year and $300 for each succeeding year; and further provision is made
for the admission of students, either young men or young women, to the
regular course upon the payment to the garden of a tuition fee of $25-
per year, said students being entitled to the same privileges and certifi-
cates as the scholarship students. One of the six scholarship positions
is filled by the nominee of the Missouri State Horticultural Society, one
by the St. Louis Florists’ Club and the remaining four by competitive
examination. All candidates must be young men between the ages of
fourteen and twenty years, of good character and possessing at least a
good elementary English education and whenever the number of appli-
cants exceeds the number of scholarships to be awarded the candidates
‘are examined in some of the higher branches, English literature, alge-
bra, German, the elements of botany, zoology and physiology. The
prescribed course of study requires of each student from nine to ten
hours manual work each day, according to the season, for the first year
and during the last three years five hours per day in general gardening
operations. ‘The student is periodically transferred from one depart-
ment to another and to more responsible tasks according to merit. They
thus become familiar with all branches of the work. The balance of
their time or one half day during three years is given to theoretical
instruction—lectures, courses of reading, field observations, ete., all of
which is practically tested so far as possible in the field, laboratories, or
greenhouses. The course covers 924 exercises for each student di-
vided among the different branches as follows: floriculture 96, vegetable

24 State Horticultural Society.

gardening 48, fruit culture 96, forestry 36, landscape gardening 36,
surveying and drainage 72, bookkeeping 48, economic entomology 60,
general botany 96, botany of decorative plants 60, botany of hardy
woody plants 36, botany of fruits 24, botany of vegetables 12, botany
of weeds 12, economic mycology 24, vegetable physiology 48, geograph-
ical botany 12, special thesis work 12. The general botany, economic
mycology, and vegetable physiology are regular courses offered at the
school of botany, tuition free for Garden pupils, the other branches being
taught at the garden. In the floricultural work is given the methods
of greenhouse construction, heating, and ventilating, the propagation,
care, and culture of the various decorative plants; vegetable gardening
comprises the special care and culture of the various culinary vegetables
and fruit culture the nursery and orchard management of all fruit plants;
forestry covers the various methods of propagating forest trees, the uses
for which each is especially adapted, the planting and management of
forests in general and their effects on climate; landscape includes the
construction of roads and walks, the methods of planting, grading,
arrangement of plants, and a study of the principles involved; surveying
and drainage are given to the extent of enabling the student to lay out
roads and walks and locate objects in a given area together with leveling,
the principles and practice of tile drainage and the use of engineering
instruments; bookkeeping to the extent of enabling one to keep a syste-
matic, intelligent, and accurate acgount of a moderately large business
_ establishment; entomology to the extent of enabling a student to classify
insects, familiarizing him with the habits and life history of the more
important economic groups and to apply remedies and _ preventatives;
economic mycology embraces the classification and life history of fungi,
algae and lichens, but especial reference is given to fungus diseases
and the application of preventatives and remedies; vegetable physiology
embraces a study of the functions of plant organs, the roots, stems, leaves,
conduction of sap, respiration, ete. Special theses work comprises an
exhaustive study of some selected subject which the student may be
especially desirous of investigating.

Nineteen pupils have been admitted to the scholarship course since
its inauguration in 1890, six of which are now pursuing their studies.
Six of the others left before completing the course, two leaving to accept

Summer Meeting. 25

positions. One of them has since finished the work and with the remain-
ing seven has been granted a certificate of graduation. All graduates
either accepted positions at some horticultural work or continued their
studies in other institutions, three entering as gardeners or florists at as
many different colleges, one continued his studies at the Arnold Arbore-
tum near Boston and later at the famous Kew Gardens near London,
and is now employed by one of the leading landscape firms in the United
States. Two were called to metropolitan park service and one as private
gardener to a citizen of St. Louis, while one continues work as a garden
employee. ‘Iwo have since chosen other lines of work, thus leaving six
who are now in responsible positions carrying on efficient work in horti-
cultural lines. Four students have been admitted to the course on the
tuition plan, three of them afterwards entering as scholarship students,
one being a young lady and not entitled to the scholarship grants.

The course is arranged primarily for the purpose of training young
men to become practical gardeners rather than professional scientists.
It.is not possible, however, for a student in the allotted time of four
years to become a specialist in any line and at the same time familiar
with all branches. The aim is to teach a student the principles and
actual practice of budding, grafting, propagating or other garden opera-
tions with as large a variety of the most important plauts as possible,
rather than to enable him to become especially proficient in any one
branch.

In addition to the opportunities for Garden pupils any horticulturist
or botanist or anyone interested in any phase of horticulture or botany
may, at any time have free use of the facilities the Garden has for
advanced study. Many have taken advantage of these opportunities and
have there given more or less time to original research and experimental
work.

To further encourage horticultural work Mr. Shaw provided for the
awarding of premiums at flower shows to the amount of $500.00 per
year. These premiums are awarded at the annual Chrysanthemum Ex-
hibition of the St. Louis Florists’ Club. Annual banquets are given to
invited florists, nurserymen, and market gardeners, that they may become
better acquainted as well as discuss topics of common interest. Pro-
vision is also made for the preaching of an annual floral sermon “‘on the

26 State Horticultural Society. —

wisdom and goodness of God as shown in the growth of fruits, flowers,
and other products of the vegetable kingdom.” An annual volume is
published which contains a general report of the Garden operations to-
gether with a few scientific and other papers and is sent to various educa-
tional institutions and scientific organizations in all parts of the world.
A large number of papers have been written for other publications by
employees of the Garden and others based chiefly on work done by aid
of the facilities of the Garden.

Having thus outlined the work of the Garden, its equipment, and
the results attained, it is only necessary in conclusion to refer to another
feature which is no less important, namely, the visiting public. From
actual count of visitors passing through the gates each day during the
last few months it is estimated that from 80,000 to 100,000 people visit:
the place each year. Surely the work is appreciated and the influence
far reaching.

SECOND SESSION—Wednesday, June 7.
STRAWBERRIES.

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 in the morning by Presi-
dent Murray. Prayer was offered by Rev. W. N. Porter. The presi-
dent appointed the following committees:

COMMITTEES.

FRUITS :—

J.C. Evans,

J. T. Stinson,

F. H. Speakman.
FLOWERS :—

J. C. Whitten,

J. M. Irvine,

Mrs. KE. L. Parker.

°

Summer Meeting. ot

FINANCE:—
J. T. Snodgrass,
G. T. Tippin,
Rh. J. Bagby.
OBITUARY :—
C. I. Robords,
J. H. Monsees,
J. Hensley.

FINAL RESOLUTIONS :—

Levi Chubbuck,
Frank Atwood,
W. H. Barnes.

CANNED GOODS :—

G. A. Atwood,
Mrs. A. Nelson,
Miss A. Murtfeldt.

Among the visitors present were: Col. W. G. Vincenheller, ex-
Commissioner of Agriculture and for several years president of the
Arkansas State Horticultural Society, who came up from Fayetteville,
also Prof. J. T. Stinson, the able gentleman in charge of the Horticul-
tural Department of the Arkansas Experiment Station. From Benton-
ville, the apple center, came Judge I. B. Lawton, secretary of the Benton
County Horticultural Society; Maj. Geo. Bill, a veteran of the Mexican
war, and a veteran fruit grower; and C. J. Eld, president of the Benton
county society. From Mammoth Spring were D. 8. Helvern, his wife
and sister. Mr. Wm. H. Barnes, secretary of the Kansas Horticultural
Society, was with us again, and Mr. Fowler, of Waterloo, Iowa.

VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES FOR MARKET.
By W. F. Rausch, Monett, Mo.

The question of varieties must be settled by each berry growing
locality, since one variety may be the best in one place and no value

28 State Horticultural Society.

in another. For this southwestern Missouri the following are about as
good as any or the best we have: Warfield is in the lead, but Bubach has
made more money the past season and done better than anything else on
the place. Warfield and Bubach are the best imperfect bloomers we
have and we can not well do without them.

Now, I wish to say that Tennessee Prolific and Clyde planted with
Warfield will perfectly fertilize them. Phillips’ Seedling is a splendid
pollenizer for Bubach and will pick right with them. Ali the above are
large to very large and will go on any market and hold their own.

For late, Gandy and Aroma are the market berries. Gandy is
better known than Aroma, but the Aroma is the better of the two. It
is a fancy berry, none prettier, very large, much more productive than
Gandy and ripens about a day or two earlier.

The berries I mention in this list are the most profitable ones I have
had the pleasure of testing, and I believe they do well over a wide
range of country.

Mr. L. A. Goodman, Westport:

Dear Sir.—Yours received requesting my paper on strawberries.
There has been so much said and written on the strawberry, I think it
useless for me to write or say anything. Should I have to write or say
a word it will be on the same lines I have been advocating ever since the
summer meeting at Springfield, 1887, that is, fewer acres and thinner
or fewer vines, higher cultivation, best varieties, and only large, perfect
berries. Respectfully,

G. G. JAMES,
Exeter, Mo.

QUALITY IN PREFERENCE TO QUANTITY.

By Geo. Raupp, Monett, Mo.

Mr. President :—

In presenting the subject “Quality in Preference to Quantity,” I
do not wish to be understood that I object to quantity provided quality
is observed. In all our speculations and business enterprises, the princi-
pal object is the profit there is in it. If you can satisfy the buyer or

Summer Meeting. 29

consumer with your products for highest prices with least labor and
expense, you have gained the object. To obtain best results in profits,
economy is essential with the producer as well as with the buyer or con-
sumer, for the enormous waste resulting from neglect of quality is a
loss to both.

It is generally cheaper in the long run to pay full value for a first
class article, than to pay half price for inferior trash you can not use to
advantage.

In addition to supply and demand, the value of every article of
commodity in the commercial world is rated in accordance with its
quality; even gold is rated higher than silver in the political world.
(Excuse me if I hinted politics in a horticultural meeting.)

There is a limit to quantity but there is no limit to quality. Notice
reports and quotations from commission men on strawberries the present
season. The other day, fifty car loads at Chicago in one day! Some of
them did not pay freight and refrigeration while fancy berries were
wanted and sold at $2.00 per crate. I want to relate a circumstance that
occurred here jat Peirce City about twenty-five years ago. I was sitting
in front of Mr. Smith’s grocery store one day talking with him, when a
man drove up and said: “Smith, let me sell you some peaches.” Smith
looked at the peaches and said: “T don’t want them.” The man offered
them at 10 cents per bushel, rather than to haul them back home. Smith
declined to buy them at any price. About twenty minutes later, another
man drove up and said: “Smith, let me sell you some peaches.” Smith
looked at them and asked: “‘What do you want for them?’ “A dollar a
bushel,” was the answer. “All right, ll take them,” said Smith. Well,
you can imagine the difference between the peaches. The first lot
was a wagon load of little, hard seedlings, shook from the trees. The
second lot contained about five bushels of as fine peaches as I ever saw.
Big as the other fellow’s (small) pumpkins.

This transaction was significant to me regarding quality and quan-
tity. Last year, I sold all my grapes at 25 cents per 8 pound baskei
from about an acre and did not have enough to supply the demand, while
at the same time I saw grapes in big boxes, tubs, slop buckets (where
they belonged) selling at one cent per pound and they were dear at that.

30 State Horticultural Society.

Is it not a fact that some farmers and horticulturists (7%) still
persist in shaking apples off and what they can’t shake off, knock off
with a pole, to take to market ?

Is it not true that a great many have thought the more plants in
the row the more berries ?

The same mistake is made in letting trees overbear with a hope of
getting quantity. I made the same mistake with a few grape vines I
let overbear. The grapes wilted, couldn’t mature, were worthless and
the vines got awfully sick and are sick yet. But I want to hit still a
little closer in support of my proposition that quality is of first consid-
eration. Berry growers all over the country are now agitating and dis-
cussing the question of limitation of acreage in order to reduce quantity
and produce better quality.

Four years ago, strawberry patches in this section (except Sarcoxie)
were few and small. The season was favorable. Some growers blowed
their horn of having made at the rate of one thousand dollars per acre.
Strawberry fever set in. A great many planted strawberries that knew
nothing about the business, except perhaps what they learned from
catalogues by men who wanted to sell plants. Some reasoned(?): That
beats corn. IT’ll just put out sixty acres of strawberries and make
$60,000.

Van Buren, Ark., boasted of 3,000 acres of strawberries. Rumor
has it that the large acreage “busted” some of the growers. Some
people have too much land anyway.

It is rather a risky move for any one to invest all his savings and a
year’s labor in a specialty, a product perhaps little understood, under
a fever of producing larger quantities regardless of quality, a thing, most
perishable, that won’t wait on you forty-eight hours until it goes back to
water—only changing form. Anything you can store away and
keep in good condition (hold its quality) until the market suits
you, is much safer, especially in large quantities. The appearance or
looks, such as size, color, firmness, ripeness, etc., is of more importance
than certain flavors. Tastes differ. I have seen people using sugar
on salad. The popular taste adapts itself to something pretty and lots
of it. Ben Davis is a good example on this point. Where a mistake has
been made in planting undesirable varieties, for instance, quality good

Summer Meeting. 31

enough but unproductive, or productive but unsalable, or other draw-
backs to make them unprofitable, the only remedy I can suggest is to
either cut down and replant or resort to grafting. As a general rule,
the kind best adapted to your soil and climate is the most profitable
quality.

Permit me to call your attention to the report of the Monett Hor-
ticultural Association on returns of last year: The association inspected

and graded.
BRETTON EA. Miami Giye uttet sie sists ss «sh otavest. far ats, o 3 oe $1.26 1-6
Reape wen (la) COMO. af. cee! ot fo ses os le wate 1.03 1-4
Paeae (ae, pre OMMMAON f'e oe(> |. ss cles + «2 «be a 54
SETS NG NGC as VR TAA a ga 1.08 1-3

These figures are per crate net from the commission merchant after
deducting freight, refrigeration and commission. We calculate about
fifty cents expense for crate material, picking and other incidentals.
Deduct that amount from A grade, leaves 76 1-6 cents per crate. De-
duct same amount from C grade and you have 4 cents per crate for your
fun of growing them. According to these figures it would take nineteen
car loads of common to equal one car of fancy. No; I have got that
wrong. It takes twenty cents per crate to grow them ready for picking.
You are short sixteen cents, and the more you’d ship of this quality, the
more you'd be “out.”

It took as much labor, it cost the same freight and refrigeration on
these C grade berries as on the A grade, besides the A grade would have
brought more than they did had we saved our sixteen cents.

Allow me to say in conclusion that if those about to engage in the
business of horticulture will qualify themselves by aid of such meetings
as this, by aid of horticultural schools, by aid of such journals as the
Southwest and by aid of home associations, prepare for the work and
gain a proper knowledge of the requirements to success, then we will

have plenty of best quality.

DISCUSSION ON THE VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES SUITED FOR MARKET.
©. I. Robords, Butler, Mo.—Who has tested the Bismarck and

Clyde for market ?

oo State Horticultural Society.

Mr. Fisher, Peirce City——From one acre of Clyde I picked fine,
large berries, but the dry weather burned the plants so that there was no
foliage and the berries blistered. They bloomed full but rain interfered
with fertilization and the fruit was not a good color. However, the
variety is a good shipper and it ripens about the 22d of May.

J. K. Saunders, Peirce City—This year we had an excess of rain at
the time of blooming, so this was not a fair trial. The Gandy is a late
bloomer. Most all have a blighted end caused by imperfect fertilization,
and thousands never started in development.

G. T. Tippin, Nichols.—Bismarck has had considerable attention
paid to it and is one of the best. Clyde is poor at some points, good at
others, and there is a good deal of soil on which it will not do well, though
it is largely a question of season. I have known 125 crates to be picked
from one acre. Warfield is good. Aroma is better than Gandy and it is
more profitable because it is a better yielder. Prolific does remarkably
well and is a good shipper. Crescent is well known and good. The
best four are, Warfield, Aroma, Clyde, and Bismarck. Bubach is not
a shipper. Michel’s Early I would not have. Crescent takes care of
itself; if you thin out the plant rows they do well. Clyde is fair in
flavor and should be picked early or else it will get too soft. Brandywine
is not entitled to be in the list of commercial varieties. The earliest of
these are Clyde and Warfield coming about the same time, Aroma late,
and Bismarck between. Gandy is good but does not become fully
developed. There is nothing in Lovett for the south. Clyde does best
on black and damp prairie soil, without gravel. The first berries of
Clyde are good but they do not hold out. Bismarck heads the list for
us.

J. T. Snodgrass, West Plains.—This spring I planted fifty acres
with six varieties. Excelsior for early, with Crescent and Clyde to fer-
tilize that; Bismarck and Warfield together in blocks, and Aroma for
late.

Saunders.—Philips’ Seedling is large and fine but was killed at
blooming time, the matured ones were good, however, and of dark, rich
color. My list is Warfield, Fountain, Lovett, Splendid, Clyde and
Woolverton. Haverland has been grown some here. With proper fer-

Summer Meeting. 00

tilization and cultivation it is prolific through the season. From two
and a half acres a grower picked 702 crates this season of Splendid.
Lovett and Warfield, one row of Warfield with one of Splendid and
Lovett on each side. They fertilized well and berries grown were better
than Warfields. Difference in soil makes a great difference in fruit.
Get a berry adapted to the soil.

N. EF. Murray.—Michel’s is of no value at Oregon, Holt county,
Missouri.

J. C. Evans.—At Olden we tried Michel’s two or three times but
with no success.

R. H. Edwards, Peirce City—Warfield and Crescent are best for
carrying. <A car load of Clyde and Bismarck not nearly so good at
market, but Michel’s as good as on the ground, and it is earliest in this
country—ahead of Excelsior.

D. 8. Halvern, Arkansas.—I am a friend of Michel’s Early. I
made $485.00 off four acres, not on rich land, in fact the poorer the
better. It is a lazy man’s berry, when planted on hills and valleys;
indeed the vines grow too thick in the valleys. But it is the finest berry
found on the rocky hills. It bears 60 to 75 crates per acre, sells at
$3.00 a crate, though it runs down later to $1.50. The variety was
originated at Judsonia, Ark. Murray’s Early, said by the nurseryman
to be just as early as Michel’s and four times as prolific, proved to be a
miserable failure. Westlawn and Imperial Westbrooke are prolific,
with good color and are good shippers. They come wth the Crescent
and grow double at first but afterward nice sized berries load the vines.
The market broke at Kansas City and four days after we stopped picking
we found dead ripe and firm berries on Westbrooke vine. One evening
we sent seven crates to Peoria, and one in the morning and all went
through in good condition, sold at $1.75 per crate and netted $1,16.
Westlawn ship well, has dark foliage and an even dark color, bears 100
erates to the acre and holds size through the season. We sold one lot
of four crates at the depot for $1.15. Even after it has been ripe for
several days it carries well, while Michel’s Early will not. Bubach is

as good as any we have.

H—3

34 State Horticultural Society.

Henry Gugel, Mt. Grove, Mo.—Clyde went ahead of them all this
year. From five rows 100 yards long at the second picking we got
seventeen crates; at third, got twenty-two crates. Twelve berries filled a
box too full to pack. It ships well if properly handled. This is picked,
early, when pink. Twenty-one crates were picked Monday evening
shipped Tuesday evening to Birmingham, went through all right and
sold Thursday morning at $2.00 per crate. We can ship them to New
Orleans in good condition, and consider Clyde one of the best large and
prolific varieties. Bubach ranks next. Westlawn grown for three
years in matted rows in field gives nice berries.

Levi Chubbuck, St. Louis.—Differences in experience with grow-
ers is effected by different soils. Is it possible for science to determine
the soil suitable and prepare it chemically to make soil adaptable to
various fruits and varieties ?

Prof. Stinson, Fayetteville, Ark.—Best method for testing is actual
trial; some need rich ground, some do not.

Prof. Irish, Mo. Bot. Garden.—Chemical analysis will not deter-
mine value for varieties. The only way is to actually test. Each must
try for himself as result may be opposite.

Prof. Whitten, Columbia.—I agree with the professors on the value
of analysis test, but often much can be told, as for instance what straw-
berries contain, also the food needed, viz., nitrogen, potash and phos-
phates; but the amount of difference between soils and varieties is too
fine for the chemist. It is best to try on your own ground. Nitrogen
is for the plant, phosphate for the fruit, but test must be made for
varieties. Soil may show potash and yet not in a form that the straw-
berry can get hold of, and this the chemist can not tell. Food elements
must be soluble and set free from others. Some times these points can
be ascertained but not exactly enough for varieties.

L. A. Goodman.—Some specimens of soil from the Ozarks were
sent to Prof. Schweitzer but analysis could not determine the best. The
complications are realized when we find that on some old field where
corn nor cow peas will grow, peach and apple trees will make 1a good
growth.

H. S. Wayman, Mercer county.—This year is our first crop and we

are just beginning to pick. Our varieties are Warfield, Bissel, Bran-

Summer Meeting. 9)
dywine, Lovett and later Princeton Chief, which is a heavy bloomer.
We mulched well and expect fine results.

Miss Park, Springfield—We have had two pickings from Gandy
but it does not do as well as Bubach or Parker Earle. This latter is
a good shipper and canner. ‘The Warfield is good for home use but
not productive. Gandy needs richer soil than our clay.

.d. M. Irvine, St. Joseph.—Aroma was originated by Griesa. It
looks the same from end to end of the season, is one of the best. Hav-
erland grown in hedge rows is very fine but not in matted ones. Aroma
does finely on loose soil. Clyde is too large for shipping in boxes.

I. B. Lawton, Arkansas——A. good word should be spoken for
Michel’s Early; it does good work on the rocky soil of Arkansas.

Col. Vincenheller, Arkansas.—In this day something better that
the first is required, so Arkansas originated Michel’s Early. It is a
great market berry, but too productive. It has a rich flavor and aroma,
and blooms continually. Crescent has made more money than any
other in Arkansas. It is hardy, productive, showy, of moderate quality,
a good shipper and not a lazy man’s berry.

Tippin.—Bubach is not a shipper but is profitable for local market
or twenty-four hour shipments. Michel’s is not good under ice, while
others will carry for sixty or seventy hours. It is better to have but a
third of your crop in Michel’s.

Edwards.—Michel’s will ship under ice but is not productive in this
section.

Helvern, Ark.—We shipped Michel’s in car lots, were two days

in loading the tail end of the picking, so berries were only medium but
shipped well to Denver and St. Paul. Nine crates shipped to St. Paul
laid over on track for a day and yet netted $1.50 per crate.

Tippin.—Michel’s brings fancy prices because it is early, but it is
not considered a carrying berry and could be of better quality.

Helvern.—I helped ship the first sixteen-quart crate from Judso-
nia, Ark. It brought $5.60. The name is Mishel.

Irvine.—It may be either Michael or Mishel.

Goodman.—Miss Louise Murtfeldt, of Kirkwood, Mo., has a seed-
ling whose crop has now all been gathered, the habit is vigorous, the
berry is firm, with sweet delicate flavor and is rose-colored.

36 State Horticultural Society.

J. H. Monsees, Beaman.—I have experimented for many years in
seedlings and have two worthy ones. No. 1 is a staminate from Jewell on
one side, other unknown. It is large and productive, of excellent flavor.
The first pickings are large and rough, but afterwards better. I have
grown it for four or five years and find it stands drouth well. No. 2 is
a pistillate from the Crescent, the form is better than No. 1, fruit more
acid, and growth less rank; it ripens about with the Crescent. ;

J.C.Whitten--The Experiment Station is growing various seedlings
and men over the state are testing them. In the case of hand pollenated
parentage there is no natural selection of pollen so the berry is not
perfect. We have three or four promising seedlings, 180 varieties now
fruiting and about sixty good commercial ones. This year we began
a new method of crossing so as to know the parent and yet give free
pollenation. Crescent and Capt. Jack were grown under a frame and
forced into bloom a month before others, then we put in the bees so
there was a natural selection of pollen and the plants grown from the
resulting seeds we shall try. Next year we want to take Crescent with
Sharpless to find if there is a difference in affinity between varieties.
This combination has given 80 per cent good seedling while another
gave only one in a thousand. A systematic following of this plan may
show certain crosses give better results and indicate affinity of types.
Reports last year show results variable with three or four varieties. Pedi-
gree in plants is not thoroughly understood. Selection is the salvation
of horticulture in giving varieties; improvement is chiefly due to
selection. This society has always manifested its interest and patience
with our experiments. Strawberry breeding is limited to a cross between -
two varieties; for this gives us from four to five thousand seeds and that
many plants and varieties to keep track of. We keep the per cent that are
free from rust and blight, the per cent having runners and those that do
not, the relative hardiness, productiveness and quality—all this is re-
corded and it means an immense amount of work. Four or five thousand
varieties to taste will make you sick for three weeks. The amount of
work is enormous, the note-making is tedious and there must be con-
stant weeding out; so that results are slow, but they are sure.

Goodman.—We are glad of the experiments, and failures are as
valuable in teaching, as success. I believe in selection and think we

Summer Meeting. ot

blunder in our failure to follow it out. Pedigree means breeding a plant
from certain known parentage.

Levi Chubbuck, St. Louis——Does pedigree mean simply the known
part of the hfe? Has not every seedling a pedigree ?

L. E. Clements.—One thing has as much pedigree as any other,
but it is not always known.

W. H. Barnes, Topeka, Kan.—Pedigree usually means a record of
ancestry.

Murray.—Advertised pedigrees means nothing; the whole is not
known.

STRAWBERRIES:—THE DEMAND; THE SUPPLY.
By G. A. Atwood, Springfield, Mo.

The strawberry season of 1899 is closing as this State Horticultural
meeting opens. Many growers are saying that the supply has been far
in excess of the demand. Those who have lost the money paid for
erates, for picking, who paid large sums for cultivation, or, who per-
formed that work themselves at the cost of many backaches, whose
berries only sold for enough to pay freight and refrigeration, insist that
the supply has been in excess of the demand.

Some of the unfortunate strawberry culturists will not agree with
this paper. For no class of workers have we more sympathy than for
the men who are making a specialty of growing this best of all fruits,
and our earnest purpose in presenting these pages is to give facts and
opinions that will help, in some measure, to improve the conditions that
surround thousands of berry growers in this section which is specially
adapted to the production of strawberries.

It is pertinent to remember here, in considering this question, that
north Arkansas and Missouri are inseperable. The measure of success
made in Missouri is largely regulated by the record made of the earlier
crop in our sister state. In 1897 Missouri led Arkansas in amount of
berry production, but this year twice as many berries were grown in

38 State Horticultural Society.

Arkansas as we have produced and prices, therefore, were largely regu-
lated by our neighbors who were first on the market. It some times
happens that there is an over supply in one district and a shortage in
another; some times one market is overloaded and another is empty.
Because of these accidents shall we decide that the supply is larger
than the demand? Because one or two towns grow more berries than
can be conveniently handled, and losses result, shall the cry of a surplua
be allowed to hinder the development of our important interest 4

There was an oversupply in the Van Buren district of berries that
were damaged by rains but there have been none too many fancy and
grade A berries, and not a car load of such berries has failed to pay a
profit.

Before further considering the problem of supply and demand, in
justice to the situation an account should be made of the influence
exerted by the two tremendous storms that visited the Van Buren
section the fifth and sixth days of the shipping season. Had no damage
been done by the storms every car load shipped from Van Buren would”
have returned a profit to the growers. As it was the berries that were
picked immediately after the rains, the finest of the crop but for their
water-soaked condition, arrived in market soft and did not pay cost of
shipping. Good prices were received for the car load shipped before
the storms. We were in Van Buren the nights of these calamitous
downpours, and it really seemed, as the rain came in torrents, as the
hail was shot from nature’s rapid-firing guns automatically by electricity
that filled the midnight sky with the blaze of noonday, that every berry
and plant would be driven into the ground. Tt was an anxious time for
the owners of the 8,000 acres of berries that were so mercilessly pelted
and for the friends of these enterprising, hard working men who de-
pended upon their crop to pay last year’s deficits. The berries did not
appear to have suffered nearly so badly as was feared. A number of
car loads were loaded and shipped the two days succeeding the storms,
but the berries did not pay charges. They were water-soaked and they
“fell down” on the way. Fully fifty car loads were shipped from Van
Buren the third or fourth day after these storms that swept over the
Boston mountains. The depression caused by putting so many soft
berries on the market affected prices the remainder of the season. Thus

Summer Meeting. 39

there was an over supply of damaged berries. Had our Van Buren
friends picked the water-soaked berries and canned them, or made them
into pure berry juice, or lacking a factory had they dumped the berries
into the Arkansas river, the final results would have been better. The
later shipments paid satisfactory prices.

Supply and demand should be considered in another light. It is
a mistake to have so large acreage as Van Buren, Salisaw and Sarcoxie
have cultivated for two or three years. It is difficult to get enough
pickers and many that are secured are undesirable help. When 10,000
pickers are required at one point, many characterless persons
swarm to these centers, thus restraining many worthy home people from
earning money, because they do not think it safe to work in company
with an army of strange men, women and children. If the 4,000 acres
at Van Buren, if the 1,500 acres at Sarcoxie were divided between six or
eight towns, the picking would be done largely by home people, by the
worthy poor who would welcome berry picking time as an annual festi-
val-oceasion. They would observe the rules of picking, would grade
the berries as they picked them, thus reducing the cost of marketing.
They would take a personal interest in the success of the growers. Van
Buren growers paid two cents a quart for picking—forty-eight cents a
erate. The ruling price in south Missouri is from one cent to one and a
quarter cents a quart. Sarcoxie pays one and one-half cents. Forty-
eight cents for picking is positively beyond reason and never would have
been paid but for the fear that the unreliable army of strangers would
desert or strike at a critical time.

There is still another very important point to consider in this dis-
cussion—that of over-sized plantations. It is a mistake to plant the
whole farm to strawberries. At Fayetteville three gentlemen, practical
growers, have a farm of 290 acres in strawberries. At Salisaw on one
farm there are 350 acres in berries. The owner of this farm leased
portions of the place to neighbors. At Van Buren there are berry farms
of 275, 185, 125, 75, 60 and many of 50 acres. If there were no fields
larger than ten acres and the present acreage was thus distributed the
profits would be ten times as much as has been realized this year, be-
cause the berries would grade higher. One third of the berries shipped

40 State Horticultural Society.

this season were under size, they sold at no profit, many of them at a
loss, and so the best grades had to pay freight on the inferior fruit. It
was resolved at the splendid meeting of berry growers who met in this
hall February 7 and 8, not to ship any of the small stock, but many
growers repeated the mistakes of past seasons and shipped unsalable
berries to compete with their own better grades. Associations should
make out statements showing the amounts received for each grade
shipped this year. If this is done next year there will be no sacrifice of
fancy and A grades to pay for freight on B and zero grades. Yes,
indeed, there is over-production of small berries but not of large ones.

Praise is due to the men who in the beginning of the berry industry
in this southwest country, backed their faith in the business with their
money, who helped to make up an acreage large enough to permit car
load shipments, but now, where there is an over-acreage the same public
spirit that influenced these business men to help build up a new industry
will influence them to decrease their acreage in berries and to plant
tomatoes, cantaloupes, vegetables, peaches, etc. Not so many berry
growers will buy hay for their horses after this, since they begin to
realize that grass is as profitable a farm crop as can be grown.

The more we investigate supply and demand the greater the sub-
ject seems, and the firmer the position we have taken. We can prove
by witnesses now in this convention that there is not over-production,
for they have not lost on a single crate and they have cleared from $100
to $250 an acre this year. ‘True these are exceptional cases, but these
men do this every year. If they can make $200. from one acre others
can do it by growing as fine berries.

To conclude this paper without refering to co-operation and its in-
fluence upon supply and demand would be like leaving the keystone
out of the arch, for this grand principle is the key to success in berry
growing. With thorough organization the problem of distribution will
be solved. With organization we can secure justice from transportation
companies, we can get cheaper refrigeration. During the last five
weeks the berry growers have paid refrigerator car companies $50,000,
and they have paid besides this upwards of $70,000 for freight. At the
rate berries have sold this year it would take 200 car loads of berries to pay

Summer Meeting. 4]

these companies. Only through organization can growers secure satis-
factory rates. ‘There is power in organization. A committee armed
with the delegated authority of 10,000 fruit growers can meet with the
officials of transportation companies on an equality, they would be re-
ceived with courtesy and depart with an. agreement to their reasonable
demands in their pockets. This year we have had good service. The
influence of the Peirce City and other meetings of cooperation societies
has had no little influence with the railroad and refrigerator car com-
panies. but we did not get the reductions we hoped for. Next yeur
these companies will not transport and ice so many cars; growers are
concluding to ship only as many cars as will at least pay charges, auc
unless rates are considerably reduced the berry interest will be perma-
nently curtailed. Growers want the railroads to do a profitable business,
but this year they have paid thousands of dollars for transportation of
berries for which they received nothing—not even getting cost of crates
or packing back.

Sometime, if the berry interest is cultivated our railroads will own
enough refrigerator cars to convey our fruit and then we shall only
have to pay for the ice we use, as is the case in []linois.

The importance of shipping only the two best grades of berries has
been, presented. What is to be done with the small berries? The
thing is, not to grow small ones. Have strong, young plants, give them
thorough cultivation and there will be no small berries. Should ther«
be a lot of small berries, work them up into unadulterated strawberry
juice.

New York has just passed a law making it a criminal offense to sell
any adulterated or:chemically made fruit juices. Only the pure juice
of berries or other fruit is now used in the preparation of soda water,
etc. Call for strawberry extract in New York, and if you are served
with the usual colored chemically made mixture that never was near a
strawberry, the owner of the fountain has committed a criminal offense
and is subject to a heavy fine. Make the small berries, if there are any,
into preserves, as has been done at Republic this season, or into pure
fruit juice.

Finally, we claim that there are not too many berry growers, but
there are too large plantations. If there were no fields of over ten acres

42 State Horticultural Society.

and not over 1,000 acres at one shipping station, if the plants shall be
well cultivated, there will not be too large a supply for the demand,
provided our organizations are maintained and the spirit of harmony
and confidence prevails. If the railroads and express companies will
co-operate with us genuinely, we can send out 2,000 car loads—cerating
only fancy and A berries and the supply will not exceed the demand. If
present conditions are to continue then there is over-production and there
will be until growers have been further punished.

DISCUSSION ON DISTRIBUTION.

Evans.—Over-production should be qualified, it never has been
west of the Mississippi, but we do need better distribution. A hundred
towns in Missouri have gone hungry for strawberries this year while
thousands sold in Kansas City for fifty cents a erate.

Chubbuck.—I indorse Mr. Evans; the larger towns and smaller
ones, too, were not supplied with berries; while St. Louis market was
flooded and we bought too cheaply.

Henry Wallis-Wellston.—One great fault is with the commission
man, he wishes much profit and allows none to the grower. St. Louis
men will not ship to the smaller places.

Irvine.—The commission man at St. Joseph received berries in
good shape and sent them at $1.75 a crate to Nebraska, but the Nebraska
man returned only fifty cents a crate because he had soft berries at
that before. There are two trains a day from St. Joseph to Kansas
City, but one express company will not transfer to the other which has
more trams, prefering to send way round by Omaha just to get more
express.

Barnes.—We are to blame because we over crowd the companies.
I have seen thirty cars come into Topeka in one day. One day ten
cars of produce stood on the track, the stuff was sent on commission.
The best rule is to buy it, pay for it and resell, we get more by sending to
small towns. We need to telegraph, mail is not fast enough to find
prices at a market. We should not crowd into the great centers, nor
hide from our neighbors what we are doing.

Summer Meeting. 43

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON SMALL FRUITS.

M. L. Bonham, Clinton, Mo.

This winter has been a test for hardiness in small fruits, and
although we hardly expect a repetition in this climate of thirty degrees
and more below zero, yet other things being equal, the hardiness of a
variety ought to have a prominent consideration. The raspberry, black-
berry, grape and in fact most fruits have suffered this past winter. I
find that young thrifty plants and trees have withstood the cold better
than those that have been weakened by age, disease or bad treatment
Young, healthy, well cared for plants will withstand extremes in cold or
drouth, or disease, while a poor, weak one would be killed by either
cause. There is a maximum in all plant life, an up grade and a down
erade. It is useless to try to bring out a patch of small fruit that has
degenerated or that has absorbed the necessary food. The best plan is
to renew by growing on fresh ground, destroying the old plat and
planting to something else. The strawberry will generally be most
profitable if not grown more than two years on the same ground. The
raspberry will generally do well for four or five years on the same
ground before it deteriorates. The blackberry about the same. The
grape will do a little longer without changing, but to be successful with
small fruits, you should never reset on the same ground, the same sorts
of fruits, unless by rotation. Resetting an old orchard, especially of
apples, is always attended with failure. Sorts differ so much in different
localities that it is difficult to make an intelligent selection only by ex-
perience, but we, to be successful, should profit by others’ experience;
it is safer nine times out of ten to select old and well tried sorts than
to try new ones, even if they are puffed up, for the bubble will burst and
you will be none the richer, but wiser. Such experience is a dear
schoolmaster. The strawberries that do best for me are Michel’s (if
grown in hills), Cumberland, Triumph, Bubach, Beeder, Jessie, Gandy.
There are a few very promising new sorts that it would pay to test in
your locality, the Wm. Belt, Glen Mary, Clyde, Nick Omer, and perhaps
others. The raspberry has few sorts. I would recommend Palmer,
Kansas, Onandaga, Gregg, for black or tip sorts; of the red sorts, the

a4 State Horticultural Society.

Turner, Phoenix, Loudon, Miller are good and hardy here. Of the black-
berries I must give a preference to the Snyder; Erie, Kittatiny and Early
Harvest are good. There are other sorts that are good in some places,
but the above do best with me. Of the grape the Moore’s Early is a
great acquisition, being large, early and hardy, before the Concord. We
have the Woodruff Red, this sort I consider the finest of the hardy
sorts that do well here, although it sometimes suffers here by a drouth
in August; the Jewell is a hardy early sort and very good. We also have
the Campbell’s Early, that is highly recommended and certainly very
promising and worthy of trial. Elvira is a very hardy and prolific sort, but
not of the best quality. Ives’ Seedling and Wyoming Red are good
and free from disease, but are rather small. There is a new dewberry
that I forgot to mention in place with the blackberry. It originated
in Texas and is called Mayes, or Austin Improved; it is larger and more
prolific than Lucretia. The dewberries are fine for the table and always
sell well, as they are large, showy and early. I will mention only
a few of the diseases and insects of small fruits. Spraying
with Bordeaux mixture is a remedy as all know for fungus
diseases, such as grape rot, authracnose on the raspberry and
blackberry, etc. There is an insect that has almost destroyed my grapes
for a few years that is called the grape leaf roller; is produces sev-
eral generations in a year and if not checked will soon destroy the fruit
and even the vine, as it destroys the leaves so as to stop all growth of
vines and fruit. By going over the vineyard and destroying the worm
in the leaf as soon as discovered, will keep them in check; also rake up
and burn all leaves and rubbish in the fall will help get rid of them.
The rust in the blackberry can be kept out usually by going over
them two or three times in the spring with a spade and cutting out, root
and branch, all that shows the signs of rust. The strawberry is kept
healthy and free from disease and injurious insects by not growing on the
same ground too long and by mowing vines off after the fruit is done and
taking a rake or fork and drawing most of the leaves or mulch between
the rows (of course the rows run north and south) and on a dry day set
fire to them when the wind is right to carry fire straight between the rows.
Most of small fruits are best with a level cultivation on well drained,
rolling land, but not hilly enough to wash. All small fruits want

Summer Meeting. 45
g

plenty of moisture, but no standing water. The dewberry likes a hill-
side or ridges like a large sweet potato ridge. Small fruits all require
thorough and continual cultivation if it can be done without injury to
the fruit. With this I will close, knowing that most of this will be stale
to many of you, yet if you get an idea or two that will profit you, I will
feel I am repaid for my effort.

THIRD SESSION—Wednesday Afternoon.

DISCUSSION ON RASPBERRIES.

C. I. Robords, Butler.—Cuthbert and Turner are too tender. Mil-
ler’s Red went through the winter sound to the top and is fruiting The
Kansas is the best black for general planting, Palmer is the best early
and Mammoth Cluster is fair. Schaeffer Colossal is hardy and good
but has larger plant and fruit.

Evans.—All varieties on my old plantation were badly damaged
this year, the new ones all except Evans, this is sound and promises
a big crop. It bears twice as many to the acre as any other, Palmer is
next and Kansas next. Gregg and Hopkins are gone. Thwack stood
the best of the reds. Lawton was killed, but I never found much good in
it. It is pretty when green and a fine grower, but yields no profit.
Thwack brings more dollars. The Evans is a seedling of the Hopkins,
but is more upright. |

H. C. Fitch, Seligman.—lI have discarded all except Kansas and
Progress. Gregg is liable to winter-kill. Hopkins is one of the best
and gave good results for ten years and was a success until this year when
it was about killed out by the cold, added to the dry weather of 1897.
It bears from sixty to seventy crates per acre, while Kansas and Progress
bear ninety to ninety-five per acre. Schaeffer, neither black nor red,
though large, brings only seventy-five cents per crate, while others bring
$1 or $1.50.

C. J. Eld, Bentonville, Ark.—TI have discarded all raspberries be-
cause they winter-kill.

46 State Horticultural Society.

J.B. Lawton, Ark.—It is worst with the Schaeffer, which grows tall,
this year’s sprouts bear and then die. Kansas has the best qualities, Tur-
ner is fair, Golden Queen is good but it went to the ground last year.
Kansas has the best qualities.

H. B. Wayman.—Our district is unanimous for Kansas, it does not
winter-kill. The blight comes into young growth so that it dies, but
only here and there.

F. E. Atwood, Carroll county.—We have used Souhegan for early
with Hopkins and Gregg for late, all somewhat winter-killed; also the
Early Ohio; authracnose, looking like grasshopper bites, injured the
crop of canes, but it has not yet appeared this year.

H. ©. Irish.—A erack in the bark first appearing and then enlarg-
ing, is found in many varieties, authracnose starts here easily and
spreads.

D. S. Helvern.—Golden Queen we think one of the best. Hopkins,
Kansas and Souhegan are grown, but vines killed quite badly. The
promise for next year is good. Drouth not cold kills Hopkins. Tur-
ner sells for ten cents a quart and for $6 a crate in Nebraska. Other
money-makers are Early Harvest, Pink-berry (purple) and dewberries.
For these latter fertilize the rows well, planted five feet apart and four
feet wide, on a bed of rock; it is necessary to pick the berries and trim
the vines. [Berries are one and one-fourth inches long. Rocks keep
the ground moist.

N. F. Murray.—Kansas, Hopkins, Gregg, Conrath, Babbitt and
Evans do well until the cold comes. Conrath and Hopkins were killed
to the ground. The best is the Kansas, except the Evans. Gregg on
the same ground and with the same care as Hopkins was not hurt at all.
We cut off the top of the young growth, but they keep through better
when the tips are left on underground without cutting off. These netted
$62 per acre.

Helvern.—When they first ripen, go through and cut off the tops
for two feet, the laterals grow later, and the berries will ripen quickly

and even.

Summer Meeting. 47

DISCUSSION ON BLACKBERRIES.

arly Harvest was killed to the ground this year.

Evans.—On some places hardly a sprout has started, on others near
by not even a tip is hurt.

Snodgrass.—Snyder and Taylor are splendid. One-third of Har-
vest were killed.

Irvine.—Two fields of Snyder now promise a 100 per cent crop.
The land is clean and on a north slope. ‘Two parts are cultivated, one
is in clover, the latter promises well.

Lawton.—A block of Harvest were killed and those coming up are
rusted to an unusual degree. Snyder is all right.

Murray.—Of eight acres of Snyder on new ground, part is in clover,
part clean where the vines are killed in places. Where timber was near
they are not hurt; where there was no protection one-third are killed.
We will have a third of a crop. On the low land in an old plantation the
vines are killed to the ground.

T. W. Wade, Republic.—Snyder stood the test best all Peet
all others were badly killed.

Fitch.—Two varieties, Ancient Brittan and Snyder were badly
rusted, we cut them down, cultivated and in two years were struck again.
Snyder is all right. To get rid of rust the plants should be plowed out.

Goodman.—It is cheapest to get md of it, but spraying early with
Bordeaux mixture will nearly prevent it. We cut off the canes hurt by
the winter and they came up again and did quite well. Taylor is later
and comes second, after Early Harvest. Taylor is a luscious berry and
fine, but small unless pruned heavily. The plants should be topped
when three feet high, by pinching, the growth then goes to the canes.
Next spring prune later to from six to ten inches and you will get all the
Snyder the bushes can hold. Prune Taylor back to twelve inches.

48 State Horticultural Society.

A BRIEF ARTICLE ON THE LUCRETIA DEWBERRY.

By Frank H. Wild, Sarcoxie, Mo.

The dewberry is one of the fruits that has come to stay and will in
time supersede all extra early varieties of blackberries, such as Early
Harvest, Early King, Maxwell and others, from the fact that it ripens
part of its crop before any of the early kinds of blackberries commence
and continues through the season of early blackberries. It also has the
advantage of larger size and can be picked for the same price as straw-
berries, which fruit they follow.

They should be allowed to trail on the ground, as is their nature,
or on rocks, as we have found in our experience that when tied to a
stake they do not set fruit as well as when left trailing on the ground or
over straw or hay mulch.

While the past season was not favorable, plants suffered severely
from the February freeze with a result of only about one-tenth crop,
while our Early Harvest blackberry failed entirely, this short crop
should not discourage the planting of dewberries any more than that of
a failure of a crop of wheat, oats or corn.

There is in this section about 125 acres of Thiet dewberry com-
ing on for the following year’s crop and should we have a favorable
season there should be a sufficient number of crates picked every other
day to load a refrigerator car if the railroad companies do not insist on
too large an amount of minimum weight.

Planting should be done in the fall and a light covering of mulch
to prevent their being thrown out by frost. If planted in spring it should
be done as early as possible as the root growth starts very early. Plant
in rows four feet apart and six feet from plant to plant in row, or 1815
plants per acre. This distance should bring the plants to meet if kept in
line of row if good cultivation is given and season favorable, and a full
crop may be expected the following season. A mulch of straw or other
like substance should be given by lifting the vines lightly and placing
mulch beneath so that the berries will be kept clean.

A good crop of 75 to 100 crates can be expected if season is favor-
able, and if season is early $3 to $3.50 per crate of twenty-four quarts

Summer Meeting. 49

should be the price in large markets, dropping to $2.50 and $2 as the
season advances. When lower than $2 they may be canned and also
made into all uses that the blackberry is put to, and are by many preferred
to blackberries.

DISCUSSION ON DEWBERRY.

F. H. Speakman, Neosho.—The dewberry has grown well, with me,
for two years. After the first crop when the canes are larger, the borer
works at about a foot below the surface. The drouth of 1897 did some
injury. From thirty-five acres of one-year plants I had a good crop.
Some were killed by the cold, but some growth can be spared and no
pruning is then needed. Old ones are not in good condition. The fruit
is a large, very dark and shining blackberry. It ships well under ice;
the Lucretia is said to be the only one tested. Plant five feet each way
in winter and early March; cultivate both ways as long as you do not
hurt the vines, then train in rows and cultivate one way, cut back to
eighteen inches in the spring.

CULTIVATION AND BEST VARIETIES OF GRAPES.

Hy. Wallis, Wellston, Mo.

In giving my experience, obtained during the last ten years, on this
topic I wish it to be understood that I am speaking only in regard to
extensive field culture and not for the amateur, growing some grape-
vines in his garden more for pleasure than for profit.

Whenever the fruit grower attempts to plant a vineyard of several
acres it is of the utmost importance: First, to select the proper soil,
properly located on the top or slope of elevated land. I scorn the idea
to plant a vineyard on low, level lands, and I think the best soil for a
vineyard must have a somewhat clayey, brownish subsoil and a south-

H—4

d0 State Horticultural Society.

eastern or eastern slope. The rows should be planted north and south;
distance, 6x7, 7x8 or 8x9 feet according to selected varieties and natural
fertility of the soil.

Second, to perform the greatest amount of labor in the vineyard
in the shortest possible time (performed by well experienced hands only)
with the least physical exertion, is a necessity to make viticulture a sue-
cess instead of a failure, as it is with so many; therefore, time and labor-
saving methods in the cultivation of the vineyard must be applied even
more than in the cultivation of any other fruit, because time and labor
saving or wasting means dollars and cents, the final object in view
for all fruit growers dependent upon the returns obtained from the soil.

Third, only a few, the best known varieties, the best adapted to
your particular soil and locality, those being the most profitable in the
market, should be extensively planted, and only a few plants of the new
untried varieties should be tried as an experiment, leaving this job to
noted horticulturists and the experimental stations of the land.

Horticultural papers and practical vineyardists have given such a
vast amount of instruction on cultivation that I have little to add to their
good advises, only will say: Keep your vineyard clean of weeds. Plant
two-year-old strong vines or very strong one-year vines only. Cut your
vines back to three eyes the second year, letting only one, or, if the vine
is very strong, not more than two shoots grow. Shorten these the third
year to five or six eyes, not above two feet in length, just so they can be
tied to the lowest wire about two feet from the ground. Let them fruit
very moderately, from three to five pounds to the plant, pinching off the
surplus buds. This is essential to establish a good, strong, healthy vine-
yard, to be profitable for twenty years to come. Give your vineyard
every two or three years a liberal supply of good manure in return for
the crops drawn from it, no matter how naturally fertile the soil may be,
and do not forget annually to spray with the proper remedies to combat
fungoid diseases and insect pests. Second, not claiming that my method
of trimming and cultivating the vineyard is the best possible, still I shall
pursue the plan outlined here, until I have learned better, easier and
more profitable methods.

On account of the high value of land in St. Louis county, from $300
to $500 per acre, I have stocked my vineyard to the utmost capacity and

Summer Meeting. 51

planted my vines 6x7 feet, i. e., distance in the rows six feet and the rows
seven feet apart, but to-day I know that 7x8 feet would have been bet-
ter. The posts are eighteen feet apart, three vines between them, and
three number 12 galvanized wires stretched to them, two feet, three and
a half feet and five feet from the ground. In future I shall use no wire
finer than number 10. Never would I tie the vines in a bunch to single
posts. I believe the grapes feel uncomfortable, like a lady laced too
tightly. Beg your pardon. Personally I have no objection that the
dear ladies are beautiful and dress to be beautiful, but health should
never be sacrificed to obtain beauty, real or imaginary.

Prof. Munson’s method of two parallel wires on arms extending
from the post I do not believe to be very practical and economical in an
extensive vineyard. The strictly horizontal two-arm system has its
drawbacks. Often you will be compelled to use bearing vines which
should otherwise be discarded; besides, the young shoots require too
much time for tying up.

The simplest, most natural and most practical method for trimming
is, to my belief, the fan-shape on two arms starting about one foot from
the ground, giving us more liberty in selecting the best bearing vines,
four or five, with about thirty eyes in all, besides leaving a short spur of
two eyes on each arm to produce fine bearing vines for the next year.

Apropos! do you have the best, most practical and serviceable prun-
ing-shear to be gotten for the money? It is the cheapest in the course
of time for the great amount of labor it will perform in a skillful hand.
Mine are imported from Germany, a precious tool found at last, and I
have discarded all of American fabric, being only imitations having some
flaw or fault.

How do I cultivate my vineyard? Surely, in trying to do the best
work in the simplest manner. After the trimming of vines is finished
and tied securely with willows to the wires in April or early May the
rows are plowed off with an eight-inch one-horse plow, leaving a narrow |
ridge only seven to eight inches wide between the hills, which is hoed
and raked out by hand with a common potato-hoe. After a week the
ground between the rows is either cultivated with a one-horse cultivator
or harrowed with a V-shaped stump harrow, doing the most effective
work, and a strong horse is able to perform it.

oo State Horticultural Society.

About the middle of May we go through the whole vineyard, pinch-
ing off all shoots above the second wire but allowing the lower ones to
grow as they please in order to produce the bearing vines for the next
year. Generally I leave but two bunches of fruit on each shoot, rarely
three, and the pinching is done mostly one eye above the upper bunch,
which should be done by hand only and in proper time, as long as the
tips are crisp and break easily. If this work is delayed the shoots harden
soon, then the pinching is so severe on your fingers that you will be com-
pelled to use a knife or shear, which should be avoided, as the contact
of steel with the sap of the tender shoots seems to act on them as a poison,
checking the growth too severely, according to information received
from the well known vineyardist, Mr. Riehl, near Alton, Il. My own
observations lead me to believe that this is true and not merely imagina-
tion.

While the vineyard is blooming all work in it ceases until the fruit
has fairly set and the grapes are well developed. Then in June the
mellow, loose ground is plowed on, i. e., towards the vines. If necessary
the soil will again be stirred up:shallow in July with the cultivator, and
I am through with cultivating for this year’s crop. Late in fall, about
November, the plow will throw two furrows towards the hills, leaving
the soil in a rough condition that Jack Frost may more easily perform
his subtle work in breaking up the elements of the soil to nourish the
vines during the summer season.

The pinching off or breaking out of the secondary sprouts or suckers
starting from the axes of the leaves on the bearing shoots (called “gaizen”
in German) I have discarded long ago for several reasons. The gain on
fruit (if a gain really is the result) does not repay for the immense
amount of labor involved. The grape will ripen in the shade of its
leaves, and the many sunburned grapes which I have seen in my own
and many other vineyards stripped of their foliage induced me to let
nature take care of itself. Scientists tell us that these secondary sprouts
or “gaizen” assist to develop the character of the fruit to perfection and
their full growth quite necessary to give aroma and bouquet to the wine
made therefrom. In France lately experiments have been made to draw
this extract directly from the leaves, and by adding it to the grape juice
is greatly improving the quality of the wine. The long, tender shoots

Summer Meeting. a 53

between the first and second wire are carefully tied up as time permits.
From the last days of July to the latter part of October some fifty var-
leties are sampled in succession and many friends, birds, wasps and bees
share in our enjoyment of God’s bounteous gifts.

BEST VARIETIES.

This is a very ticklish question to answer, and as every mother
believes her children are the best and prettiest, so I have also a choice
of my own, but I do not have the least objection that other vineyardists
will make a different selection. Tastes are different and no law will
regulate them. The really best varieties indeed are of rare occurence
and lately I have come to the conclusion that my friend Mr. Riehl from
Illinois is about correct in saying that among our 500 varieties of grapes
are hardly ten good ones worthy of general cultivation. I can not vouch
that this great vineyardist really made this assertion, as I obtained it not
directly but only from a friend. Nevertheless, when I recall last year’s
visit of Mr. Riehl, scanning with an eagle eye my vineyard, containing
some fifty varieties, with word and looks condemning most of them, I
must say that I felt a little sore inwardly, but it set me a-thinking;
guided me to more severe judgment, and after the severest winter-killing
of grapes during February, 1899, I have adopted the same opinion.
What varieties can be classed among the best grapes? Only those
deserving extensive field culture by the thousands of vines; those having
a great commercial value; those producing a fine wine, at least 100 per
cent better than the poor wine made of the Concord; those which accom-
modate themselves to the widest range of climate and the greatest diver-
sity of soils; those being the healthiest, most vigorous, disease-resisting,
most productive and of the highest quality; those bearing neglect, unfa-
vorable weather and rough treatment better than their pet sisters only
suitable for the experimenter, the amateur and private gardener, where
extra care only will induce them to do their best and be worth the place
where they stand; finally, those which are of ironclad hardiness, able
to stand from twenty-five to thirty degrees below zero without injury to
buds or vines. In regard to color it must be black, because in the markets

b4 State Horticultural Society.

of the land the demand for them stands as ten to one (at least five to one)
in preference to red or white varieties.

Last year I had the pleasure of visiting the experimental vineyard
of my friend Sylvester Johnson near Indianapolis, Indiana, veteran hor-
ticulturist and an authority on grapes, where I saw fruiting (and sampled
most of them) some 120 varieties of the choicest grapes, including many
of Prof. Munson’s new creations, but I would hardly plant ten of them
extensively, while I will try soon at least fifty of them on my experi-
mental grounds.

The best grape of the land to-day, not having its superior, is the
grand Hicks—the Queen of Grapes and the new Concord of the 20th
century. It is destined to take the rank and position throughout the
land which the old Concord held for the last half century. My friends,
allow me to say that I do not make this statement as the originator and
introducer of it having an axe to grind, but simply speak as a practical
vineyardist who has tested it most severely for ten years before offering
and recommending it to the public, for the last five years searching in
vain for a better grape. It has all good qualities combined and no faults
either as a table, market or wine grape, the grape conquering the land
on its real merits alone, being the grape for the millions for the next fifty
years to come, as the old Concord was for the time past. All doubting
Thomases are kindly invited, for their own profit and benefit, to plant the
Hicks and very soon they will be convinced that I have spoken only the
truth.

Worden, Brighton and Moore’s Early belong to the class of best
grapes for many years to come, but the Concord must take a back seat.
According to my judgment it is to-day only a second class grape, no
matter who thinks contrary. Norton’s Virginia is an excellent wine
grape, but was not hardy enough this year. Others of that class I have
not tested enough to judge on. St. Louis, a new seedling of the Con-
cord, tried near St. Louis for twenty years, is superior to the parent in
vigor, health, productiveness and quality. Campbell’s Early, if not
classed among the short list of best grapes, will at least hold its foremost
position among our good grapes, even if the last severe winter proved
that it is not of ironclad hardiness, perhaps on account of having foreign
blood (Black Hamburg) in its veins. The noble, large McPike suffered

Summer Meeting. y9)

for the same reason, still I hope it will hold its place among our best
grapes.

Pigs’ feet and oysters! Who likes them says: “Ah! They are
just delicious.” But he who does not will not swallow them. This
remark I made a few weeks ago when J was reading the transactions of
the State Horticultural Society of Illinois from 1898, and to my aston-
ishment found the noble Campbell’s Early by some experimenters classed
among the grapes of poor quality. (Perhaps Champion, Ives and Pock-
_lington are the standard of high quality with them. I don’t know.)
Having eaten this splendid grape myself I take the liberty to tell these
judges that they either have a poor taste, their palate not being in condi-
tion to judge the quality of grapes properly, or the soil of that portion of
Illinois must be so poorly adapted to viticulture that this grand grape
degenerated with lightning speed. Many persons are color-blind, others
can not distinguish sounds or tones to appreciate good music, also the
nerves of taste act queerly in some persons. To do justice to the origi-
nator and introducer of Campbell’s Early, who spent thousands of dollars
and immense amount of labor in its introduction, I ask only one question:
Are these testimonials obtained from all parts of the Union a fraud, or
were those hundreds of horticulturists who classed it among the best
grapes of highest quality, hypnotized to make the statements against
their will ?

My favorites or red grapes are Goethe (Rogers’ No. 1) and Wood-
ruff, the latter much hardier than the first, which froze down to the
ground last February, but I shall replant it. Niagara is the only one
among the white grapes which I found profitable for extensive culture
for market purposes. The beautiful Diamond does not do well with me.

For the garden and pleasure the following rank among the best:
Black—Cottage, Wilder, Eaton and Mills; red—Diana, Lutie, Salem:
and Brilliant; white—Green Mountain, Diamond, Opal and Lady Wash-
ington.

Finally, I must condemn the continued practice of many fruit,
growers to plant vinegar-berry vines, commonly called grapes of poor
type and quality, like Champion, Ives, Hartford, Janesville, Pocklington
and many others. The real damage done by them to the viticulture of

the land ean not be over-estimated.

DO State Horticultural Society.

In the Ruralist for January, 1898, I found a valuable article on
“Profits of Grape Growing” from the editor, R. L. Gulick at Gluckheim,
Maryland, giving the results of his experiments with 130 varieties of
grapes during a period of nine years, very interesting to progressive
vineyardists. His final conclusion is: “As far as tested all varieties
of grapes are superior from home grown vines.” It may be that they
become acclimated and there is a constant improvement where cuttings
are taken from vines which are most productive or produce finer fruit
than others of the same variety. My friend, Mr. Hundhausen, from
Herman, Missouri, told me last year: ‘Our Norton’s Virginia has here
improved wonderfully the last twenty-five years. It is at present nearly
double the size it was then.”

But the car runs off the track by touching the pedigree question,
now discussed in many agricultural papers. I believe the name “pedi-
gree” is itself the main stumbling block, but I do not wish to tackle a
hornet’s nest and I had better quit in time.

The most complete information about the grapes of our land will be
found in the Bushberg Manual of Grapes, which precious volume ougbt
to be in the hands of every practical vineyardist.

Let us all strive toward perfection, especially in viticulture and
horticulture in general, that our children may profit from our toil and
bless the noble work of their ancestors.

DISCUSSION ON GRAPES.

Snodgrass.—I like Moore’s Early, it brmgs the most money. It is
the best table grape. Training by stake is more economical than by
trellis and with us hoeing is not profitable, our hills are too rocky. Goethe
is the best red. Pocklington and Niagara are best white. For red wine
grapes Norton and Cynthiana; for white, Cunningham and Herbemont
are best. Herbemont is somewhat delicate, froze to ground last winter,
but this year have grown twelve or fourteen feet. Cynthiana stood
well in the winter, but is too easily injured by spraying. Goethe will
be a half crop this year.

~Nelson.— Worden and Moore’s Early are the best. Norton is nice.

Niagara and Empire are recommended for white: I saw the Hicks in

Summer Meeting. OF

Omaha last fall. It is a fine grape and will stand thirty degrees of
cold. Moore’s and Worden are good table and market varieties.

Wallis—The Hicks ripens a week before the Concord and with the
Worden, it is equal to these, only more vigorous. The under side of the
leaf is white. |

Whitten.—Moore’s is the early grape. Janesville, Hartford and
Mary Ann come early, but none are good enough for market. Some
color before Moore’s but they are not ripe as soon. Green Mountain is
the best white, of fine quality, early, not so large as Niagara. By sack-
ing in the bud it is found capable of self-pollenation, and sets just as fine
bunches, with fine flavor and delicate skin; it is improved more than
others by sacking. It is like the delicate hot-house forced varieties, and
cures into raisins. The fruit holds onto the vines longer if sacked early.
Niagara and Diamond are also good white grapes. The Wells is large,
fine grape with musky flavor, color is bronze green and it produces enor-
mously. Vines of Aminia planted six years ago have fruited for six
years; it is one of the best. The berry is dark red, translucent
and large. The plants are vigorous and productive, not so
hardy nor vigorous as either Moore’s or Goethe. This grape
is a splendid table variety and brings eight cents per pound. It
should not be neglected but kept thin so as not to overbear for after-
wards it can not recover its vigor and it loses its sprightly, delicate
flavor. Norton’s is better than Catawba. The Ozark is remarkable,
pruned to three canes it bore ninety-three pounds of fruit. The canes
are vigorous, out-stripping others in wood-growth. It has the largest
bunch of any of the Aestivalis. It keeps like Norton’s, has good texture
and ships well because it is not too juicy. The Hicks is certainly one of
the hardiest, the fruit is good and deserves particular notice. Campbell’s
Early grows nicely, has fine quality and is the coming early grape.
McPike is a magnificent big grape. Columbian Imperial is the larg-
est, coming very late, ripening after frost. First crop is good, after-
wards not so much so, as grape rots and causes vines to lose vigor.
Moore’s ripens ten days before Concord, seven after Green Mountain,
the first grape about August 13.

Snodgrass.—Moore’s in south Missouri ripens in July and first of
August. i

58 State Horticultural Society.

Goodman.—Kansas City wants early grapes, therefore plant
Moore’s Early and you can have it on the market ten days before Con-
cord. Campbell’s ripens the last of July and is worth a trial. There is
money in the early varieties.

Whitten.—Early ‘Ohio, productive and early next to Moore’s, it
can be eaten earlier but is not good flavor. It has a large bunch and
ripens evenly.

Snodgrass.—With us it does not ripen regularly, but has green
berries on the bunch with the ripe ones.

DISCUSSION ON INSECTS.

Member.—Curculio in a Ben Davis orchard seems to cut a semi-
circular sting on the apples and check their growth.

Miss Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo.—The apple curculio does make the
semi-circle but the plum curculio stings apples. Apples drop from other
causes.

Lamm.—A little borer in the plum tree limbs is liable to kill my
orchard. |

Miss Murtfeldt.—This is the bark beetle and the remedy is to cut
and burn. Cultivation does not help.

Evans.— What shall we do for insects on our rose leaves ? c

Miss Murtfeldt.—The insect is the rose slug and hellebore in pow-
der is good, or as a tea sprayed at night, made of one ounce to two and a
half gallons of water.

Robnett, Columbia.—What of Liggett’s Champion Dry Powder
to use instead of Bordeaux. I use lime for those fellows on the plums.

Miss Murtfeldt.—Bordeaux is for fungus diseases.

Evans.—Will a light trap catch the codling moth and will it catch
our friendly insects ?

Miss Murtfeldt—The light-trap will not do away with codling
moths to any extent but will catch other enemies, though not many
friends, as but few fly at night.

T. W. Wade of Republic gave many valuable points relating to the
canning industry. He claims that southwest Missouri is the center of

Summer Meeting. 59

a great canned goods industry, if properly encouraged. No place in the
world can produce a finer quality of tomatoes. This industry will give
employment to many hundreds of people.

The industry can be made one of the greatest in the state, but has
been badly neglected. Missouri can put up goods from five to ten cents
cheaper on the dozen than other states owing to producing goods cheaper.
Tomatoes in Missouri at $5 per ton yields good pay per acre. When
building factories go to a practical canning man and one you know.
With a few more factoriesin the state they could keep a can factory run-
ning the year round. One crate of raspberries will put up about two
dozen three-pound cans; strawberries one dozen to the crate. Cost from
sixty-five to seventy-five cents per dozen including everything, f. o. b.
The factory process can make a really better product than at home, as
the cans are sealed before cooking anid so retain their special flavor. We
use only the best white sugar. Think we can find a way to retain color
in strawberries by using some harmless coloring to bring juice up to
same color of fruit—From Western Fruit Grower.

DISCUSSION ON CANNING.

Goodman.—How many two-pound cans do you put up from a crate
of berries ?

Wade.—Raspberries and blackberries will make three dozen, straw-
berries, two dozen.

Goodman.—It seems to me it might pay to establish a grade of fine
preserves for family use.

Wade.—We make a good syrup so avoid the usual tasteless watery
goods and the flavor is retained by sealing before cooking.

Snodgrass.—Canning factories could have a reputation and big
trade if people felt they were getting pure materials.

Wade.—We use the best white sugar. The color of our berries will
hold for a year.

Atwood.—The Republic factory ships two grades of berries and this
way of using small berries makes the business a help to the growers.

Goodman.—Can you put up fruit in glass jars

60 State Horticultural Society.

Wade.—This is not practical. We use a fifteen per cent syrup and
this is better than most canners use.

Irvine.—If we could get as fine goods as are sent out from Curtiss
Bros., of Rochester, N. Y., it would be a fine thing for Missouri.

Goodman.—Fifteen per cent is not half heavy enough syrup. Fruit
put up in flint glass jars with a rich syrup is what is wanted in the cities.

Wade.—Such would be handled entirely differently and under a
special label and price.

HOW I GROW THE PEACH.

W. F. Benson, Willow Springs, Mo.

That I shall be able to offer any new thought or suggest any new
method relative to the growth of the queen of stone fruits I have not the
egotism to imagine; but when I remember that since the day Eve nestled
the firstborn of mankind to her bosom there has always been a beginner
in the lessons of life, one who has the A B C of knowledge to acquire,
I do not hesitate to offer for the study of the infantile membership of the
great family of Missouri fruit growers my method of growing the best
fruit the Creator has deemed it wise to give us—the peach.

I consider successful peach growing easier than any other branch
of horticulture. A suitable location is the first requisite. In deter-
mining this two factors, climate and accessibility to market are so abso-
lutely essential it is hardly possible to say which should be first. We
can not make the climate, and—well, the same remark applies to the
market. An unfortunate condition at present is, that in general these
two prime essentials are so far apart. The best markets are our great
cities. New Jersey and Maryland orchardists find practically a home
market in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and the smaller cities of the
Atlantic coast for all they can produce, and Michigan’s rapidly contract-
ing peach district is in close touch with Chicago, the best fruit market
west of the Appalachian range. Georgia, Missouri and Arkansas are
struggling with the disadvantages of long distance markets and burden-

Summer Meeting. 61

some transportation charges. ‘To offset these we have an earlier crop,
freedom from the deadly yellow and rosette, earlier bearing orchards and
cheaper lands. We have here in South Missouri a climate not excelled,
and rarely equaled for the production of the peach, and our acreage with
that of our sister state, Arkansas, is sufficient to grow them for the whole
of North America. When our transportation companies come to see
that lower rates will give them more profit, ten acres will be grown where
one is growing now. We need not hesitate to engage in peach growing
to-day, and, all things considered, no better place can be found than the
Ozark plateau. A model location is one slightly above the general level
and not more rolling than is necessary for good water and air drainage.
A northern slope is best and, for a small orchard, should be chosen. But
for a commercial orchard we must plant all slopes. Never plant on a
hardpan. A porous subsoil is absolutely essential.

Having fixed my location we will prepare the ground. New land
is best. Burn the timber on the spot you wish to set your tree if possibie.
Plow deep, a little too deep is just right. S. W. Gilbert directed us to
* plow as nearly four feet as possible for strawberries, and the rule will be
equally good for peach trees. The value of land for peach orchard is in
inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the shipping sta-
tion. Lay off the land by running single furrows one way and cross these
with deep, wide dead furrows. The fertility of the soil and the probable
lifetime of the orchard should determine the distance. I prefer planting
farther apart east and west than north and south, as it gives better sun-
light. Eighteen to twenty feet by fourteen to sixteen is about right.
Wider spaces should be left at intervals for driveways.

The selection of trees and varieties is all important. Plant none
but first class trees. Never be tempted by low prices to buy any other.
A first class tree is not necessarily a large tree—rather one of medium
growth with plenty of sound roots. I prune the tops to a stub twenty to
twenty-four inches high, and cut the roots back to sound wood. I prefer
planting in February and March if the weather is good, and in the fall
rather than late in spring. Rub off any superfluous growth on the body
of the tree and let all top branches grow unless heavy side growth is
being made. In winter or early spring cut all branches back to three or

four buds.

62 State Horticultural Society.

During the second year’s growth keep the top as even as possible,
or a little heavy to southwest. Next winter or spring cut back again to
four or five buds. Good tillage should have been given and must be
continued, and if the growth is great clip the ends of all limbs as fast as
they make eighteen inches growth. This will bring out laterals and fit
the tree for making a full crop of fruit without carrying it on ends of
long branches, as so many of our four-year-old trees are allowed to do.
This is the year that our peach trees are oftenest spoiled. The growth
is great; the fruit buds are at the extremities of the branches and pruning
back as much as the making of a perfect tree requires will remove
nearly all blossom buds, and so we are to leave the branches and fit the
tree for dehorning in after years, a thing never necessary if each suc-
cessive season has its proper work done. It requires the same nerve to
rightly prune a peach tree during its first three years as to properly thin
its fruit when overloaded. The man who thinned his peaches sufficiently
the first time he tried it has not yet made himself known. The work
should be done before the pits begin to harden.

Leave the best fruit at distances of four to six inches. When your
tree is full and you have to take off three or four and leave one, it looks
like a destructive process, but it will pay. The vitality of the tree is taxed,
not in growing the large fruit, but in producing too many seeds, and
there is more profit in one bushel of extra choice fruit than in a wagon
load of culls.

There are numerous enemies of all kinds of fruit and the peach has
its full share; but thanks to the chance, or the intention, in the location
of “Grand Old Missouri,” she is escaping the most destructive of them.
Coming to this section over ten years ago from the very center of the
Michigan peach belt, I was naturally inquisitive as to the advantages for
peach growers here, and finding a man who seemed willing to answer,
I plied him with numerous queries and finally asked: “Do you have the
yellows here?’ He promptly and with evident satisfaction, replied:
“Yes, sir; great big, nice ones.” He would hardly believe I had referred
to a disease. I have not yet heard of a case of the yellows in our state.
and perhaps the long sought for cure, or prevention, may be found before
the worst enemy the peach grower has yet had to deal with comes to

Summer Meeting. 63

give us battle. If our people persist in buying trees of the eastern or
Michigan nursery man, sooner or later the yellows will be known here.
Bad as this year’s freeze has been, it is, compared with peach yellows,
as a zephyr to a cyclone. The borer, cureulio and rot are our worst
enemies and I am able to control only the first. The numerous pre-
ventives all peach growers are familiar with are more or less valuable,
but the only “dead certainty” is the knife.

I do not believe in trying to fatten two hogs on feed enough for one
only. I do not believe in trying to grow six stalks of corn in one hill,
and I do not believe in trying to grow an orchard on land that is at the
same time devoted to wheat, or oats, or corn, or potatoes. After the
second year, a peach orchard should be kept clear of all crops that tax
the soil. If wheat growing will pay better than peach growing, pull out
the trees, if not, keep out the wheat. I have never seen a crop of wheat
and a crop of corn grow together on the same land, and I have never
seen, and never expect to see, a sucessful peach grower who practiced
planting his orchard to grain. I plant corn the first and second seasons,
and nothing but fertilizing crops afterwards. TF ertilize the orchard, thin
the fruit, pack none but first quality, sell at your station or ship through
the Shippers’ Union, and peach growing will pay better than any other
top-of-the-ground industry on the Ozarks.

COMMERCIAL PEACH GROWING.

Wm. B. Hoag, Mt. Grove, now a student at the Agricultural College,
Columbia, Mo.

Little need be said on this subject in general to the successful
peach grower, but it is the beginner who contemplates planting a1
orchard that should by all means seek counsel of those who have had ex-
perience.

The question is often asked, “In what part of the United States can
peaches be grown most successfully?’ I answer, in south central and
southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. Of course peaches
can be grown for home use in every state and in almost every part of any

64 State Horticultural Society.

state, if care is taken to select the right kind of site, to plant varieties
adapted to the climate, and in the northern states, to give winter pro-
tection. Even along our northern border, peaches may be grown out of
doors, if the trees are dug under, tipped over and covered with some
material for protection during the long, severe winters. Some of the
finest peaches have been grown in this way, but such care and attention
can not profitably be given in a commercial orchard.

The climate is one of the first considerations in the selection of a
location, and we have in the United States a wide variety to select from.
It was formerly believed that the peach was a tropical tree and must
have a warm climate, but that theory is not well founded. The peach
is probably a native of China, and it succeeds best in the middle latitudes.
Care should be taken not to select a location much subject to severe win-
ters or late spring frosts, and also to avoid southern regions where the
winters are very mild, as in such regions, the buds are often forced into
bloom in late winter or early spring and are afterward killed by frost.
It is best to select a temperate climate which has sufficient rain fall
evenly distributed throughout the year. I should say thirty-six to fifty
inches of rain fall would be about the proper amount.

Peaches may be grown successfully on various kinds of soil if all
other conditions are favorable. Commercial orchards may be found
growing successfully in New England on stony and gravelly soils; in
Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, on fertile loams and on very light
pine sands; in Pennsylvania, on mountain soils derived from limestone
and sandstone; in South Carolina and Georgia, on light pine sands and on
stiff red clay lands derived from the local decomposition of granites; in
Michigan, on pine sands, even on the beach where the sand is so light
that it is blown about by the winds; in New York, on quite a variety of
clays, gravels and sand, composing the old lake bottom of Lake Ontario,
and in Kansas on the deep, black prairie soils. In general, however, the
peach reaches its highest perfection on light, warm, well drained, sandy
or loamy land with a clay subsoil. Muck soil, heavy clays, that hoid
water, and all wet, frosty lands are always to be avoided.

The shipping distance and mode of shipment to the best markets
is a matter of great importance. There are thousands of acres of land in

Summer Meeting. 65

the United States, well adapted to peach growing, which it would be
folly to plant now, owing to lack of transportation.

As some states are better adapted to peach growing than others, and
some sections of a state better adapted than other sections, so we find
some fields on the fruit farm better adapted to the peach than other
fields. The higher lands should be selected rather than the lower, and
generally a hillside with a northern exposure is better than one with a
southern exposure, as the northern exposure will retard the blooming
period, so that the orchard escapes a late spring frost, while the reverse
is true of a southern exposure, the difference being some times as much
as one to two weeks.

Having found a location and site, the next thing is the preparation
for planting. The ground should be plowed and cultivated as carefully
as for any grain crop. It should be cross-marked and the holes dug for
the trees about twenty feet apart each way, except on poor, thin soil,
where they can be planted eighteen feet apart. If different varieties
are planted, a map of the orchard showing the location of, the different
varieties should be made for future use. ‘The ground, holes, and every-
thing connected with the planting should be ready when the trees are
received, so there will be no delay and consequent drying of the roots
before planting. If it is necessary to plant on low, wet land, it should
be plowed in twenty-foot lands for several years, throwing the furrows
toward the centre of each land, and the trees finally planted on these
ridges.

The selection of trees is a matter of great importance. Large trees
are not always the best. The trunks should be well grown, straight and
smooth, and the roots abundant though not too long, and as little injured
as possible. The roots should not be pruned very close except to remove
all broken or bruised portions, and should not be twisted or cramped in
the holes. The trees should be planted just a little deeper than they
were in the nursery, as the loose dirt around them will settle about an
inch. The holes should be filled with fine mellow earth, well tramped
down.

Peach trees generally do better on peach roots, but if the situation
is low and the soil holds much water, then plum roots may be substituted

H—5

66 State Horticultural Society.

in which case the trees should be planted fifteen feet apart each way, or
even twelve by fifteen feet. Trees should be selected which are free
from fungi and injurious insects. Orchards planted with trees infested
by borers, scale insects, or root aphis, are sure to give trouble. It is
best to avoid trees growing in regions infested with ‘“‘peach yellows” or
“peach rosette.” It is better to pay twice the value for a healthy tree
than to accept a diseased one as a gift.

The proper selection of varieties is a matter of no little importance.
There are no varieties that will succeed in all localities and for all pur-
poses, so we must select certain varieties that are adapted to our par-
ticular locality and to our purpose. Some good varieties are apt to be
winter killed or caught in bloom by the late spring frosts, if planted
too far north; some are light bearers, and most of our early varieties as
Arkansas Traveler, Alexander, and Amsden, are very susceptible
to mildew and brown rot. Some will not bear long shipment, while
our best shippers, such as Elberta, are very inferior in flavor. If we
wish to select for commercial purposes, we should try to combine as
many good points as possible. We must select hardy, productive trees,
bearing fruit of large and even size with fine color and good flavor, and
firm enough to stand long shipment. In general it is best to plant the
old and well-tried varieties. For south Missouri I consider the Elberta
the best market peach, with several other good varieties closely follow:
ing.

The orchard, after planting, should be cultivated as thoroughly as
any other farm crop. Some cultivated crop, as corn or tomatoes, should
be grown between the trees for the first two or three vears, and this
should be well fertilized if the soil is not very strong. Small grain crops
should never be grown in the orchard, and after the trees come into bear-
ing, no crop should be grown between them except clover or cow peas
as a fertilizer. Cultivation should cease after the last of July so as to
give the new growth plenty of time to ripen and harden for the coming
winter, as much disease and damage is caused by the wood being about
half matured when caught by the severe freezes of winter. Deep plow-
ing should always be avoided, as the feeding roots are always near the

surface and more damage is done by the plow in tearing them up, than

Summer Meeting. 67

the benefit they receive from the cultivation. The peach tree is sensi-
tive to clean cultivation and will yield no profit if left standing in the
sod and neglected.

When the trees are planted they should be cut back somewhat and
headed about eighteen inches from the ground., They should be pruned
with respect to the main center leader so as to form a-well rounded head.
If several main branches are allowed to grow out from nearly the same
point on the trunk, when the tree is loaded with fruit, the giving way of
any of these branches is very apt to involve all the rest and cause the
entire tree to split down, hence the main branches should be started at
different heights. After the trees have come into bearing, the tops
should be shortened annually by cutting off from one-half to two-thirds
of the previous year’s growth. Cut out all the dead wood, and keep the
tree full nearly to the main trunk of small bearing twigs. Trees should
never be headed four or five feet high as that exposes their trunks to
the hot, burning sun and much damage is done.

Unless the soil is very strong it will be found necessary to give some
attention to fertilizing. Generally there is no objection to the use of
barn-yard manure, but when this can not be had we must depend upon
clover, cow peas or commercial fertilizers. In the latter we should
use principally potash salts, and phosphates rather than nitrogenous
fertilizers. Too much nitrogen causes the tree to make an excessive
growth of wood and foliage at the expense of the fruit. Fifty to one
hundred pounds per acre of nitrate of soda or its equivalent in dried
blood or sulphate of ammonia will furnish sufficient nitrogen where it
is needed at all, while from four hundred to five hundred pounds of
nitrate of potash, sulphate of potash or kainit can be used to advantage,
if it is not placed too close to the trunks of the trees. Potash and phos-
phates should be put on in the fall and plowed down, but nitrogenous
fertilizers should always be applied in the spring. Unleached hard-
wood ashes are always beneficial to the orchard. The peach grower
who has never fertilized his orchard, would be surprised at the difference
in quantity and quality of fruit which will result from careful fertilizing

Careful fertilizing will result in fine crops and good prices.

68 Stale Horticultural Society.

FOURTH SESSION—Wednesday, 8:30 P. M.

After the call to order, the program opened with music by the
Kreyer orchestra. The first paper was:

*

DECIDUOUS TREES FOR STREET AND LAWN.

By James M. Irvine, St. Joseph, Mo.

In view of the mistakes made by tree planters in all of our counties
and in all of our cities, the foregoing subject would seem to be a very
practical one. In the beginning of this paper the writer wishes to
acknowledge the receipt of suggestions from Professor J. C. Whitten,
Professor H. C. Irish, and from William Pape, general superintendent of
parks, St. Louis, as to the behavior of trees under their observation.

Trees for shade along the streets and on the lawn are necessary for
the comfort of man. In this state, where we have not the severe climate
of other sections to contend with, there can be no excuse for the lack
of shade. But just here we would warn the prospective planter against
too many trees around his residence. A few trees so arranged as to
provide sufficient shade, and at the same time admit the sunshine around
the house, are sufficient. The grass will be more abundant, the house
and lawn will present a better appearance, and the trees, each having an
opportunity to develop, will be much more perfect in form.

The number of varieties suitable for lawn planting is very large,
for many trees do well on a grassy lawn which will not live planted at
the edge of the brick pavement along our city streets. All of our native
forest trees will of course grow on the lawn, and where properly cared.
for, present an attractive appearance. ‘The maples, hard and soft, the
different ash trees, elms, the poplars, locusts, catalpas, tulip tree, black
walnut, horse chestnut, sweet chestnut, the boxelder, beech, the different
species of birch—all these and many more do well on the lawn, and are
recommended. If we were asked to express a preference for any oni
tree, it would be, for north Missouri, at least, the hard maple. ‘This tree
is very hardy, remarkably free from insect pests, withstands windstorms

_ very well, and is in every way desirable. Personally, we greatly admire

Summer Meeting. 69

the hard maple, not the least of its attractions being the rich tints of the
leaves in autumn. And just here we would call attention to different
varieties of hard maple. On one lawn we recently noticed at least three
trees of entirely different habits of growth, and yet each was a hard
maple. On one tree the branches extended almost horizontally and the
general shape of the tree was very much like that of a pineapple, tapering
beautifully to the top. The other trees were entirely different, the
limbs being more upright in their growth. The first tree was a much
more rapid grower than the others. As the hard maple grows slowly, we
would plant soft maples also, the latter to be cut out when the trees of
slower growth will afford sufficient shade. If nut trees on the lawn are
desired, we would plant chestnut, and if fruit trees would plant the pear.

When we consider tree planting along the streets we are confronted
with many hindrances. Those trees which need a great quantity of
moisture and a rich soil are at once dismissed. The hard maple will also
do well along the street, and it is extensively planted. Soft maple and
boxelders largely outnumber it, however, because of their more rapid
growth, though both are losing favor, because of the popular belief that
they are breeding places for the loathsome worms which at times cover,
the pavement beneath them. The elm is perhaps the best tree for street
planting. In the east it has been attacked by insects, and has succumbed
to their ravages in many places. If given opportunity to develop and
make a vigorous growth, however, the elm will be more able to resist
disease and insects, and for this reason the trees should not be crowded.
In many places the streets are so narrow that the elm can not be recom-
mended. Mr. Pape, of St. Louis, also calls attention to another diff-
culty with the elm, which is that the downy surface of the leaves retains
cust, smoke and soot and are not easily cleansed by rains, and it also
sheds its leaves early in autumn. We have seen an avenue of catalpa
trees along the street which presented a beautiful appearance. For
rapid-growing trees, to be cut out when more desirable trees are of
sufficient size, the cottonwood can be used.

Tn some cities there has been created the office of tree planter, whose
business it is to plant and care for shade trees along the streets, the cost
thereof to be taxed against the abutting property. While it may seem
somewhat arbitrary for the city government to say one shall plant trees

70 State Horticultural Society.

whether he wishes to or not, when it is remembered how necessary a
uniformity of planting is for best effects, the wisdom of the law is ap-
parent. This is necessary, too, for the proper pruning of trees, and the
plan does away with the butchery of trees (principally of the soft
maple) so often noticed along our city streets. It is to be hoped that in
cities where such an office is found experiments will be made to determine
the effect upon different trees of gas and water pipes, asphalt pavement,
electric lights and electric wires, for all these must be contended with in
the city, and each has an injurious effect.

Along country highways trees should be planted more generally.
For this purpose we would recommend nut trees. The chestnut can be
grown in many places, as can also the pecan. In almost every section
the black walnut succeeds, and a line of such trees along the roadside
will become a valuable possession in time. In a county north of this the
writer remembers a farm along one entire side of which was a row of
magnificent black walnut trees. The trees were then bearing and added
a snug sum to the owner’s income, besides adding greatly to the appear-
ance of the place. The fence along the road was formed of wire,
fastened to these trees, thus the latter were doing double duty. Tree
planting along the roadside is much practiced in European countries,
and should become more popular in this country.

In all planting of this description the planter works largely for a
future generation, but this fact should not deter him. What a monu-
ment to his memory is a magnificent, well-shaped elm or some such tree.
Let us, then, plant these trees and plant them well. J

Evans.—Every word of this paper has my hearty indorsement. In
this town I admire the liberal planting of trees, but the people need
courage to cut some out.

Chubbuck.—W hat is the best tree to plant in our cities where there
is so much soft coal smoke ¢

Goodman.—The only one is syeamore. Smoke kills all others, and
also the evergreens. It would be well if the semi-anthracite coal could
be burned instead of so much soft coal.

Music by the Peirce City Male Quartette.

Summer Meeting. 71

SEEDS AND GREENHOUSE FLOWERS FOR THE YARD.

By C. I. Robords, Butler. Mo.

I have a friend whose presence is sunshine because his tastes, his
sympathies and his disposition are congenial. I had an acquaintance
whose presence was wintry, because he was guilty of the cruel sentiment
that he would rather cultivate a whole field of onions than waste his
time on such things as flowers. There is a time and place for all proper
things. No one denies the healthfulness of all useful vegetables. One
who will not supply his own family with wholesome articles of diet is
worse than an infidel. I endorse the independence of those who so con-
sider the preservation of their health, as to do as they please in the supply
and preparation of their family diet.

But in the cultivation and enjoyment of beautiful flowers on our
own premises there is remuneration from the time of the opening of the
first seed leaf to the fading of the last flower, and even beyond this, for
the joyous memory of a pleasant friend never perishes. Whatever
tends to the enjoyment of nature’s gifts conduces to health and long
life. When one adorns his premises he becomes a public benefactor.
Planting is not for self alone. Have you not observed when approach-
ing the vicinity of a nursery or greenhouse how the influence of these
institutions has extended a marked improvement over the surrounding
neighborhood? Much of all missionary work is done by example.

Pecuniarily, flowers are profitable. An attractive home is a salable
property. If, by some great disaster, the flowers of the world were to
be suddenly swept from the face of the earth brides and bridegrooms
would appear as mourners, mourners at funeral oceasions would be in
sack-cloth and ashes, and nations would go into fasting and prayer.

Because of early associations I love the flowers of childhood. The
zinnias and single petunias, the giant single hollyhocks, the bold sun-
flowers, morning glories and evening primroses are beautiful, but alas!
“out of fashion.”” The hybrids and importations, the wonderful novel-
ties of the present time fully convince us that Solomon in all his glory

“was not arrayed like one of these.”

12 State Horticultural Society.

It is customary and proper to bestow flowers as a mark of apprecia-
tion, but do not wait until your friends are dead before you awake to
the value of their friendship. If they do well tell them so. As some
one has said, “I believe in a little more taffy and less epitaphy !”

Practically, I advise planting beds of all kinds of continuous bloom-
ing plants. JI am not expected to advise as to arrangement of plants
nor as to styles of beds. Flowers of the same variety are pretty when
massed in solid colors in same bed, or in mixed collections. Do not plant
too closely, for this injures the plants and spoils the effect. T>plips,
hyacinths and crocus and all hardy bulbs must be planted in the fall.
Some one remarks, ““Who does not know that?’ but there is not a spring
season that some one does not call for fall bulbs or ask for bulbs in bloom
to be furnished them from the open ground.

Prepare a bed by deep spading; plant the bulbs about two inches
below the surface and cover with a mulch of fallen leaves. To prevent
the mulch of leaves from being removed I place over all a cover of coarse
sacking or burlap pegged down at the sides. Remove the burlap in
early spring. Plant pansy seed in the house in flat or shallow boxes,
covering seed lightly with fine soil. Sow first seed as early as first of
September, transplant into cold frames as soon as plants show second lea!
and give protection in coldest winter weather. Verbena seed should
also be sown in boxes and transplanted into beds in open ground as soon
as heavy frosts are over in spring. Feverfew and phlox may be trans-
planted outside before frosts are over in spring. Tea roses endure con-
siderable cold weather and should be bedded out early; geraniums and
the dazzling scarlet salvia, as soon as all danger of frost is past, giving
some protection in cool nights. Cannas have been so much improved
that they deserve a prominent place in every collection. These are most
effective when grown in clumps or masses. The hibiscus is a great
flower, but like all of its class, too soon blows out. Plant passion vines,
hardy clematis, moon flowers for covering porches and screens; sweet
peas for trellises, lantanas and nasturtiums for variety of color and con-
tinuous bloom; ferns for shady nooks, petunias for midsummer flowers,
asters and cosmos for unfailing fall bloom, and for the close of the season
and the beginning of winter, the flower of all flowers, unending in variety

Summer Meeting. ; 73

of color and form, unrivaled in beauty and size, the matchles., mag-
nificent, glorious chrysanthemum.

Oh! that each year of our lives could be as beautifully filled with
the harmonies of nature, and that we might leave for those who remem-
ber us, as sweet impressions as these, our friends of the year.

Music by the Kreyer Orchestra.

Recitation by Miss Grace Flower.

Original poem by Major Geo. Bill, of Bentonville, Ark., “Paradise
Lost and Regained.” The poem was heartily applauded.

Sailor’s Song.—J. E. Hablitt.

Music.—The Quartette.

MAKING LAWNS.

By C. Glover, Ham’s Prairie, Mo.

Lawns, like many other good and desirable improvements, have
been slow in coming. But as the country advances in civilization and
refinement, the aesthetic principle which is inherent in man, will grow
in like proportion, and exert its refining influence over the masses, and
pleasure grounds instead of being the exception, will become more gen-
eral and eventually lead to a higher intellectual life. The Romans,
when not engaged in conquest, utilized what love they had for the
beautiful in landscape gardening and making laws. But in both ancient
and modern times these were chiefly confined to large and populous
cities and around the residences of the great wealthy who lorded over the
common herd.

The Roman style of gardening consisted mainly in geometric forms
making avenues, parterres, mounds, artificial lakes, cascades, close clipped
hedges, ete., all of which were too artificial and have long since been
abandoned for one more in harmony with nature. The true artist of
to-day hies himself away to the wild woods, where all looks flowery, wild
and sweet, and studies the groups and clusters of the grand old vine-clad
trees of the forest, and from them he draws his inspiration. I would not

14 State Horticultural Society.

discard the other style entirely, for a certain portion is requisite to pro-
duce that variety of scenery which attracts and pleases the eye. I would
locate the lawn, like the garden, on a southern slope, so as to be fully
exposed to the rays of the sun, for it exerts a wonderful influence in
giving darker hues to the leaves and painting the flowers with deeper
tints. I preter the parallelogram to any other form, unless some pecu-
harity of surroundings otherwise determines. But after the location
has already been decided on, then all weeds, briars and brambles should
be thoroughly eradicated and the surface broken and seeded to blue-
grass, which serves to bind and hold the soil. It also retains its freshness
more certainly than any other grass. If by chance or otherwise any
forest trees, such as oaks, elms, sugar maples, cedars or weeping willows
should be growing on the location, so much the better, for by nursing,
pruning and shaping they may be made a valuable addition to the lawn
without incurring any additional expense.

Some lawn makers are opposed to enclosures, but it seems to me
that there should be a line drawn somewhere. It should, however, be
as light and inconspicuous as possible, so as not to obscure or mar the
beauty of the space enclosed. Nothing that is uncouth in appearance,
such as rocks, stumps, dead and dying branches, should be tolerated on
the lawn.

Much has been written and said in favor of certain kinds of flowers,
shrubs and trees for ornamental purposes, but where there is such an,
endless variety to select from, and such a material difference in tastes,
locality and climate, I consider it would be almost unpardonable pre-
sumption to recommend particular kinds, save such as grow wild in the
locality where the lawn is located.

By all means plant a lawn, for it is difficult to conceive of anything
that will insure a greater degree of domestic tranquility than a neat,
well-kept lawn. It educates, civilizes, refines and purifies, and lifts our
thoughts above the corroding cares of this life to things eternal and that

far-away home where flowers never fade.

=]
or

Summer Meeting.

_THE ETHICAL AND PRACTICAL VALUE OF FLOWERS.
By Mrs. G. E. Dugan, Sedalia, Mo.

“So fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive ;—
Would that the little flowers were born to live
Conscious of half the pleasure they give;
That to this mountain daisy’s self were known,
The beauty of its star-shaped shadow thrown
On the smooth surface of this naked stone.”
—Wordsworth.

Nature, the great mistress of all art, harmoniously blends the eth-
ical with the practical, the crude with the aesthetic, the useful with the
beautiful and there is never any clashing of colors, no mistake in tone,
the foreground and background unite perfectly to give the wished for
effect. We are told that nothing was ever made in vain’ A wise
incomprehensible purpose controls all existence. Both animal and vege-
table life must bow to the supreme law, for He who made the world wil]
guide it, to its ultimate destiny. If this essay gives greater prominence
to the ethical and the aesthetic than to the practical side of the question,
remember that the ethical comes first, as flowers precede fruit, therefore
in the province of nature these are the first consideration.

“There is to me i

A daintiness about these early flowers

That touches me like poetry.

They blow out

With such a simple loveliness among

The common herbs of the pastures, and they breathe

Their lives so unobtrusively, like hearts
Whose beatings are too gentle for the world.”

You do not mean to say that flowers have a moral value do you?
They have an aesthetic value I will grant, but what can a flower do for
morality? These words were written by a friend who had seen the tit!
selected for this paper, and it took considerable argument to convince
her that these bright) messengers coming so sweetly heralded by the
singing of birds, and the humming of bees in the balmy springtime, are
actual moral influences, uplifting and making happier, and better the
souls of such of earth’s children as are not so sadly impregnated by sordid

ideas as to be impervious to their gentle teachings.

76 State Horticultural Society.

If flowers have no ethical worth, why have flower missions been
established in all the principal cities of this country? And why do the
refined and noble women of the W. C. T. U. spend their time and money
to take floral offerings to the crime-burdened men and women in our
penitentiaries? I have known the gift of a pot of pmk geranium to
make better the condition of a whole row of tenement houses. The
sick woman to whom the plant was given insisted on having her room
made clean because the lovely flower looked so out of place there amid
the gloom and dirt, and her neighbors tidied up their homes because
they looked so slovenly by contrast with hers. Then some thoughtful
soul distributed along this row a few packets of nasturtium seeds, ard
the small grassless spots of soil were spaded up and the seeds carefully
planted and cultivated. Thus this entire dingy row was metamorphosed
by a plant, and a few seeds, until it grew to be a sweet, clean and whole-
some place.

If you doubt this, try the experiment some time. Go into the
slums of any city carrying with you a bright plant in bloom, present it
to the most slovenly woman you happen to see. In a week or two go
back and you will find that the slattern has washed both her face and
her window panes, and she will greet you with a glad smile and show
you proudly that her geranium has a new cluster of buds almost ready
to burst into flower. If you had given this woman a tract, she would
have thrown it in your face. Had you attempted to preach a sermon to
her she might have thrown boiling water over you, but the unobtrusive
moral influence of a little flower is irresistible. Therefore do I affirm
that the ethical value is the highest and truest value found in the floral
world, for this is the value given it by the august power that created
loveliness.

One Easter day a mission worker brought into a slum Sunday schosl
a snow white Bermuda lily. The children had never seen anything so
beautiful near the reach of their small fingers. One little girl with
much soiled hands, put forth a tiny finger to touch one of the fragrant
petals, but a shocked expression passed over her face as she observed the
contrast between her grimy hands and the pure petals of the lily. Very
hurriedly she withdrew her hand and left the room. Soon returning
she again put forth her finger and just as quickly drew it back—it was

Summer Meeting. C7

not yet clean enough. Once more the child left the room, and came
back with another layer of dirt removed, but it was not until the third
exit and return that she felt convinced that her hands were pure enough
to touch that flower. One dainty finger was timidly extended until it
merely touched a white petal, and the little one was satisfied. Here was
a lesson in cleanliness taught without words. It was purity calling for
its own, and the soul of the child understood the demand of the flower,
and gave a pure response.
“Innocent child, and snow white flower ;
Well are ye paired in your opening hour;
Thus should the pure and the lovely meet.

Stainless with stainless, and sweet with sweet.”
—Willis.

A young man recently staggered into a saloon in a western city.
He had been on a debauch for hours, his money was gone, he had nothing
left to give for the drink he craved, but on the lapel of his coat was a
cluster of fragrant white lilies of the valley. The bar tender noticed
them and said, “I will give you a glass of whiskey for that bouquet.”
The young man started quickly, looked down at the flowers, then burst-
ing into tears, sobbed, “My God; Nellie, have I come to this,” and
rushed away from the place. I regret that the story ends here, for I
am sure that we should rejoice to know that the pure, fragrant life of
those lovely blossoms had won back a soul to purity and peace.

“A rose,” once said Henry Ward Beecher, “is the sweetest thing
God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.” But did He forget?
Who can declare just what soul force is? The rose lives, its life is a
portion of all life, a part of the mysterious soul of the universe. Lowell
declares that

“Every clod feels a stire of might.
An instinct within it that reaches, and towers,
And groping above it—blindly, for light
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.”
—Bryant.

I comprehend this thought and fully appreciate its mysterious sig-
nificance. Flowers have a mission to perform, a service to render. They
teach purity, and love for the beautiful, besides. Do they not fore-

78 State Horticultural Society.

shadow the glory of the resurrection? A tiny petunia seed is put into
the ground. How very small it is. One can scarcely see it unless his
vision is perfect, but it springs into life, develops strength and beauty,
and finally it is covered with exquisite flowers, dainty in coloring and
exhaling a sweet, subtle fragrance. |

“A seed is not quickened except it die.” Shall not we hope to rise
from our graves as radiant and glorious as are the flowers of the field in
their transformation. Christ said to His disciples, “Ye are of imore
value than many sparrows,” and yet not one of these small creatures
falls to the ground unnoticed, and we are seriously bidden to cousider
the lihes of the field.

Offer to a child before it has been tainted by a knowledge of the
commercial spirit, a rose and a gold piece. Which will it choose? Un-
failingly will it take the flower. There is kinship between the inno.
cent child and the blossom. Every young, pure soul loves flowers, not
some special bloom, but all flowers. The small denizen of the gutter in
crowded cities radiates as much at sight of a beautiful blossom as does
the pink and white darlings of the country village or farm house. Each
new soul that appears on this planet is linked by some strange invisible
tie to the floral kingdom. We naturally love flowers, from “the deli-
cate forest flowers, with scented breath, and look so like a smile,” to the
great red Camelia shining in the gardens of opulence.

The greatest mystery of all the manifold mysteries is not death, it
is life. Life, life, everywhere, in the soil, above the soil, in the air,
vegetable, and animal life. Ralph Waldo Trine says, “All life is God.”
Should not we, then, be very careful what we say, and think concerning
this mystery ?

The ethical value of flowers is determined by all that is highest and
best in the nature of man. As we are all in some mysterious manner
akin to the flowers, does not a contemplation of their loveliness some-
times cause the most sordid soul to sigh to

“Leave the vain low strife,
That makes men mad;
The tug for wealth and power,

The passions and the cares that wither life.
And waste its little hour.”

Summer Meeting. (is,

and go out some where and find a place where mammon is less, and man
is infinitely more than he seems to be in this hurrying, crowding, unsat-
isfactory existence? The growing grass, the fresh, green foliage of the
trees and shrubs, above all, the multitudinous variety of beautiful
blossoms, have a moral value beyond the power of words to compute.
The practical also has its place, and its distinct valuation, but it appeals
more to the physical than to the moral part of man’s nature. The prac-
tical man does not care for the beauty of a flower as beauty merely but
regards it for the commercial value of its loveliness. A rose, to him, is
so much possible coin. An Easter lily means to his mind fifty cents or
one dollar’s worth of material comfort. Such flowers as he can not sell
he pulls up and destroys. He almost hates them because they have
failed to fulfill his sordid ambitions. The ethical man is like a child in
that simple spirit which makes him love all flowers. He revels in the
beauty and perfume of a clover field as joyously as he does in a conser-
vatory of the choicest exotics. He haunts the places where the wild
flowers riot, and joins in their revels. From the time the first violet and
spring beauty smile up from the sod until the last purple aster withers
on its stem, he is a companion of the field flowers. The difference be-
tween the ethical and the practical value of flowers is merely the differ-
ence between the spiritual and physical nature of man. The ethical
man, as I have said, loves all flowers; the practical man thinks of their
commercial value. Nor is it always the florist who does this. It is more
likely to be the chemist, the distiller of subtle perfumes, or the practical
student, of botany who is considering plants solely on account of their
medicinal worth. Whatever the practical object, there is always that
distance between them which exists between spirit and matter, a strong
difference, but a union which makes the one necessary to the other and
valueless to this world without the other.

It is the practical man who has discovered the grand possibilities of
floral development. The ethical man would have gone on worshiping
the rose in its modest, wild state, but would not have dreamed of a
Marechal Niel or an American Beauty, but when these glorious roses
were evolved it was the ethical man who most exulted over their loveli-
ness, and who was most willing to bankrupt himself to possess them.

The Vanderbilt dinner, where twenty thousand dollars was expended for

80 State Horticultural Society.

roses, is a matter of history, but the meanest tramp who meanders aim-
lessly across our continent has opportunities to enjoy a richer vision of
floral loveliness each recurring springtime, free of cost, if he but have the
ethical sense to appreciate it. When all the orchards are in bloom, when
apple, peach, pear and plum trees are covered with unnumbered mil-
lions of fragrant blossoms, what sight could be prettier? Where could
be found more delicious perfume ?

The beauty-loving soul could here enjoy an etherial feast besides
which the Vanderbilt dinner was nothing.

However, the farmer seldom sees in his blossom-laden trees their real
glory, but contents himself with picturing a magnificent yield of fruit,
and leaves to the chance aesthetic visitor the joy of the harvests portent.

Nature is too varied to be monotonous, too full of changes to be dull
to him who studies her manifold wonders. There is plenty of room in
this grand old world for the ethical, the practical, and the aesthetic.
Outwardly they may seem to clash, in reality they are perfect chords in
creation’s harmonious symphonies. I love flowers and have loved them
during all my conscious life. I have cultivated them in health and }
sickness. I have clung to and cared for them when the doctor bade me
throw them all away and there is ever within my soul the plea:

“Give me flowers—fragrant flowers.
Not alone for leisure hours:

Not alone to wear—and toss

Far away unheeding loss;

But to love, to kiss, caress,
Giving care and tenderness ;

In my sad and lonely hours
Give me flowers—fragrant flowers.”

‘Give me flowers while life is here,
Do not wait until the bier
Grimly holds my coffined form,
Let me know that hearts are warm,
With love enough to fill the hours
While here I stay—Oh give me flowers. j

Summer Meeting. 81

HE ORNAMENTATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS AND RURAL
HOMES.

By J. C. Whitten, Columbia, Mo.

\
\ The desirability of more general ornamental planting about our rural
5 i ro)

buildings needs hardly to be further advocated. So much has been said
and written upon this subject in recent years that the usual bareness about
the tome and school grounds in the country must have, ere this, claimed
the a\tention of every thoughtful person. That such plantings would
have great value is, I think, admitted by all. Anything which adds to
the attiactiveness of the home makes it a better place in which to rear the
children who must grow up there. The grateful shade of trees, the
beauty of shrubs, vines and flowers adds much to the attractiveness of a
place and tends to elevate the taste, inspire the minds, inculcate a love of
home amoag our people. Considered even from a standpoint of dollars
and cents these plantings add greatly to the money value of a place.
The snug, cosy well-planted home is worth more than the neglected one.
I have known a prominent buyer of apples to desire to drive straight by
an orchard where the home was going to neglect and where a snarling
dog yelped at the gate, despite the fact that the fruit crop there was a
good one. ‘The same buyer was attracted by a well-planted home, and
gladly paid the highest price for the apples grown there. The fruit
looked redder and better there and his feelings were more liberal toward
the owner. In every way a judicious amount of care of the home
grounds pays.

If it pays to ornament the home grounds, it is even wiser yet to
plant about the schools, where so much more of our time is spent, where
our education is secured and where our character is so largely molded.
The same principles that apply to the ornamentation of the home, apply
likewise to the improvement of the school grounds. For this reason if
I speak a word in regard to school plantings the same directions may
serve him who wishes to do a little gardening about his home.

The reason that most school grounds are bare is not due to the fact
that people do not like pretty plantings, but rather because most of us

H—6

82 State Horticultural Society.

have not found out how easily and how cheaply the work may be done
We think of landscape gardening as implying rare and expensive plant,
lawns which we must not step upon, constant clipping of flower beds aid
frequent working of mowers, rollers and rakes. As a matter of fart.
the planting best adapted to our school grounds is not that sort of thng
at all. It should be a simple grouping of our native trees, shrubs, vnes
and wild flowers such as school children love, and such as they nay
arrange by noting just how they grow in the fields and woods.

The first consideration should be not to obstruct the play grmund.
No healthy minded boy wants a bush growing in the way of his base ball
grounds, or a flower bed under his feet when he is playing leepfrog;
besides, these things would not thrive there if he did. Some gardeiers say
the most important thing in a well planted place is the green griss lawn.
In considering school grounds we will omit this factor. What healthy
boy would allow the grass to grow under his feet that way; or vho wants
him to anyhow? Let the ground be as bare as ball and bat and shinny
club usually cause it to be; we are not planting to restrict the boy’s
rights but to enlarge them.

The first thing we want, is to furnish some shade. What better
thing for this than our native trees? The elm, oak ani sugar maple,
are among the best for permanent shade. The soft maple, the boxelder
and the syeamore are rapid growers and should be planted among these
long lived sorts to afford some shade while they are grewing up and then
removed when the elms, oaks and sugar maples need the space.

These trees should not obstruct the play grounds, but should be set
in groups about the borders and especially at the corners. They should
be placed where shade is needed, not where they will be in the way.
Small trees or even seeds should be selected for planting. If trees are
dug in the woods, they should be no larger than may be carried home in
the hand. They may be planted in fall or spring, but never when they
are in leaf. As soon as they are dug a wet sack or something of the
sort should be wrapped about their roots to prevent their drying out
while they are being carried to the place of planting. As the roots are
necessarily cut away somewhat in taking the trees up, the side branches

above ground should be cut back to correspond with the reduced roots.

Summer Meeting. 83

Shrubs like our native dogwoods, St. John’s wort, burning bush,

wedbud, June berry, or any others that are pretty, may be planted

th

comers. Shrubs or bushes should be managed the same as trees in

een close enough together so that they will touch each other, under

» trees, in the angles of the building, at the gateway or in the fence

traisplanting.

\There is need of vines about almost every school building in the
land. They may be used to better advantage than any other plants.
The outbuildings, usually so unsightly, may become beautiful if heavily
covered with vines They should also be twined about the porches or
doorways. The bare fence should be mantled with them, especially on
either side of the gateway. The native five leaved ivy, or Virginia
creeper, may be used to cover the bare trunks of trees. In the case of
brick or stone buildings the wall may be covered with this same vine

The kind of vine to select depends upon the purpose it is to serve.
The wild grape, the moon seed, the bittersweet and the trumpet creeper
climb by twining around a support, and will not cling to a smooth wall,
with the exception of the latter, which is both a twiner and a dise
tendril climber. The five leaved ivy is also capable of clinging to a
smooth wall, and is one of the best vines with which to cover the wall of
a house or chimney. The morning glory, which may be grown from
seed, is also desirable for certain places. Our woods abound in vines
of various sorts that will suit almost any purpose in school grounds. Wild
flowers may be added to the planting from time to time. When flowers
are mentioned we are apt to think of formal flower beds that obstruct
the play grounds and need constant attention. As a matter of fact
these beds are not necessary and are often not desirable. The best place
for flowers is usually against the back fence, in the unused angles of the
buildings or under the trees and shrubs. A small space of ground
should be spaded, turning the sod under to kill the grass roots and work-
ing the surface fine to receive the flowers.

Our native wild wood flowers are best. The spring beauty
anemones, blood root, dog tooth violets, wake ribbons, spring lilies and
a host of such plants as grow from bulbs or thickened roots under ground
may be transplanted readily when they are in bloom. Care should

be taken to dig deep enough to get the bulb and roots. These may be

84 State Horticultural Society.

planted under the shade of trees or shrubs the same as they grow in ther
native woods. The phlox or Sweet William, the butterfly milkweed,
the wild asters, the columbine, the violets and many late bloomers may
be transplanted with much certainty of their living, at almost any time
of year. |

The best effect is obtained by planting the wild flowers in masses.
The taller ones may be set in the rear and the shorter ones in front, where
they will be seen. None where they grow in nature, and plant in shade
or sunlight, to correspond to the situation they were found in. The
same thing should be noted in regard to whether they like wet or dry
places, and whether they are found in a northern or southern exposure.
In fact imitate nature in arranging them, not only in respect tc location
but also in planting in masses.

I have particularly advocated the use of the wild flowers for two rea-
sons. J irst, they are among our prettiest plants, and second, they will
thrive wtihout much cultivation, which can not at all times be given in
school grounds. Now that school gardens are being advocated, there
is no objection to planting the cultivated flowers or even vegetables to
use in obtaining a better knowledge of plant life.

I believe our wild plants will prove the most satisfactory, however,
and that the study of the natural situation in which they occur, in order
to place them in similar surroundings is one of the best means of becom-
ing better acquainted with plant life. This very acquaintance, which
will be enlarged as the student learns to love plants better, will serve not
only to improve the tastes and the mind, but will enable the boy or girl
who follows it up to better manage the farm crops of the orchards and
gardens at home. I wonder how many of the pupils and teachers who
read this, will begin the coming spring to spend a part of their holidays
and evenings after school in starting a planting about the school grounds
cr the home.

Summer Meeting. 85

\ ; FIFTH SESSION—Thursday Morning.
Business meeting.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FLOWERS.

To the Officers and members of the Missouri State Horticultural Society:

Your committee on flowers and decorations would respectfully
report as follows:

We congratulate the committee on arrangements upon the beauti-
ful decorations of the hall, especially upon the collection of native férns,
tame grasses and flowers. ‘To this committee we would recommend the
award of the sum of $10, to be used as they see fit.

We would further recommend the award of the sum of $1 to each
of the following for the plants and flowers exhibited by them: Mrs.
E. L. Parker, Mrs. Wm. G. Rice, Mrs. L. L. Allen, Professor J. T.
Stinson, Mrs. A. M. Chandler, Mrs. Charles Hellweg, Mrs. J. F. Wicks,
Mrs. A. L. Gates, Mrs. J. A. Legrand. Mrs. L. A. Chapman.

Respectfully submitted,
J. C. WHITTEN,
J AMES M. IRVINE,

86 State Horticultural Society.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FRUITS.

Mrs. Neal Kelley, Peirce City—
Dishi Dy echouse\ cherry <7 S..d0.c% acs Scie. a0 0 ois. ore rcie, ote ele leceie rele ellstele ej sia+ 59 aa ea Se ee

R. H. George, Peirce City— ‘
Two boxes Brandywine strawberries...............-.---- Pe Oa bos ood SS a Goes ie sbaeeers

A. Nelson, Lebanon—
Oneibox Gandy; strawberries) :.. .--.--..- < Peis] sib. sys nies ojepes cS see ere oat tee o8l ap ORE eee

M. P. Glasford, Peirce City —
OneiboxiGandy, straw DerrieS |. 6 1.</<1= sieress.eter« cisarejens em 21212 21s 20 0i0is(al eiale ste aerate ela etavo tie nou neato eee
Mwolboxes) Kansas iraspberriesy <icq 2 score ~iocnigeayoloeiclone tele eeit) (els) (ainietal sietjaetaa Serial = eee
ikwouboxes HarlyaRichmond Cherries) <7... -ee) eis sacle cela eee eeion eee eee ieee
One box qune lod Mama or MepOnadGD Donoteuncc od COdeOCGnEOnS ees DacmoOcorse aang soc" veces.
Onelboxs Houghtonigooseberries) <:-csieeie- sare ee ctci | eieic/elols'©) eon eieiiiel oie ae ee ene
One box Red eDutchicurrants: 9 <c.s)c1<.s\< ese lefelsioieiteieeiea cere ele nee eee

E. L. Parker, Peirce City—
hhree boxes TASPHELrieS) q.f.5 sc, a= lelesieiefalas eyes sieteianeelsv oes & Aon sees telatcieteere « (eelaleletersctalavarels seed
mH Tee DOXES /CULTANES, -.--. 0.010 cveieie sees 21) wieveieseistelereiere stasis) | ede Aeletsiaeue ors/e. cis Ree eee

Fisher & Allen, Peirce City—
One'crate Wolverton straw berGiess. 2p. crete aul cles erersieis ores eros eid dol] ise eieenece iee

J. H. Monsees, Beaman—
itwo New. Seedling strawberries: <: 2! one! kite ait aeeeicelaee | Inaae dele iaeiele heen ete aeaie ey See

Conrad Hartzell, St. Joseph
Fourteen varieties plates old apples, one to five years, kept by Hartzell’s plan............ ...

D. S. Helvern, Mammoth Springs, Ark.—

@One!box: Hopkins raspberries), a2. es cnn eer sciatic eee ieee Eee |

Oneibox Early Harvester. tc 0 i ccccratettrnsternote reais aetts es Rena eke Od Rotate cite Deeb: (eee eters
One box Golden Queen. -.-....5.- Vials, elsiergheeisietoncls scree ve desire ere, Wleis(es? Gat a) an\eute 35 Amie
CO F«X-¥] yo. eal RN Got) Gaon he ac ocas SEreciCotO me Aeace Gasce ace aCanOnconepbenonodaecdcddanscm 300K:
OneiboxMorrelloicherny? Wisc aatoe seis ace eR eee ae eel cere sees eee
Oneibox Gandy. . 2.5 sie ocine: t cclas pee waco ck Moe eeiaaGeteee sleet aise aie. aetcetereierere tale eer ener

A. E. Carmady, Peirce City —

Three frames honey...... Ebi siclaysionle(siad aiciicjsre(e wSle) ceises share tuamiaebeleletersyic ccieisle emleihele =o lareca eels reper

C, W. Gillham, Peirce City——
PALES LraAMES HOMES ys he caisson a we eral aoe tose atalaral caso statis eteletnystey te eo eietsteraneta vote tedeter tate STO eee ane

John Ledd, Peirce Citv—
Hourboxes Gandy strawberries ncncieis cas) silicic s seuieisialneleisteeh last aicinte «ee teeters alae
4. R. Wayman, Princeton—
MOneyboxawilsons-...ccreess eet see BAe OOUURA Oona nnoetnavacdte ato oc OsaenuDanOasbeS
MneiPoxsovetty Ai32S2 58 Maactse eiaislalstay eee sahara visi eihe0) teletem eretepetsonelsis eis reise me eerie

O iTS | oYop al 310) 0) | 0) Came OSCE OnGCROMinaR ooo cya, Gawe or, Coodn aebormocodoonasSas sosacoer asf OOS
ne | DOXAWATAELG. iio. hs Soe Soar reeselo aioe cee terete ASU erste OB hereto ee Sian SVLESTOO OE ORC ener
One box Brandy wine 2)..02/., 3) one, Se peeron teh ssl teeny Oe oie efoos He seein aie oe er eee
One box Capt Jacks oc "ssnce eee eee Cen cies Bee) olaaiele tereee eee ee ne hee ereete tatters Mae tanks ;
OneiboxsBiseliny acc ceesen eee ace eae ENE ite CHEE Ore oan mn eats coos ass

A. Gates, Peirce City—
Fineihead: cabbage. 30. fs ttle irate teres Sie ai aPo ola lavas) Beep eievcl sie ale Stes echt eee ee
Early ODio Potatoes cayi5.c nce cioeeies ele ees eels eiesroiey= As, WBE SE sia Nicolaas ce orale oles te eae ee

R. F. George, Peirce City—
shw.o boxes: Gandy... ec ote el ee es A aebuesiclsicveccse 2 MRSS oS eo Siosis eoee oS eae
siwolboxes Early Richmondaasse.e2 a-Si eee oes tees (het EE ESS sie clote ee cee ee eee
©nebox Progress ras pDeLnyipe. sn) Loe eee meses SQOHAUE AIRES Se OOUONGN asc csesoss SoSe566
O©nesboxicurrants: | a A0 Case Gecensccereee scene com nscametes ce. oes cis gicsey! a/c. eee bole een tee

Wm. Bockins, Peirce City—
ROLALOES® 6b sss ites sareysioroe ne Siete 5/122 oTo RAE SOG EEE RISO a OTEims Nie MoT SPINS Orccctore tes Sa eC ene

J. A. LeGrand, Peirce City—
Potatpesnosccnijyesses)

ee a ene i een er ee ee

25

-50

25

-50

We also find specimens of strawberries on the stem exhibited by
H.R. Wayman. Varieties: Gandy, Dew, Princeton Chief, Shuckless,

Respectfully submitted,
J). C.HWANS,
J.T. STINSON,
F. H. SPEAKMAN.

Robinson and Marguerite.

Summer Meeting.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CANNED GOODS.

87

Mrs. Neal Kelley, Peirce City—
DSO ReIt ENAISCS Gog, Cad shee com doo ee RGEC E en DELO L Eee oir Cec rntart ane ocnOmee dec one an cbt nrioe

One quart each strawberry, Concord and white grape wine. ... ........... Lei eeindek oe AREA :

Mrs. E. Forsythe, Peirce City—

(C22 CUBES TAOS RY TENT Gan, poonSean CoRR DAE CO cMnaO od Df SAS SHAG Amer eaCe Deen oCEm DreT TES pa }

MO ER CUA OOSEDELGV aj AI, thai mecteen Gace slacin s wiser ss) a ialetele als eeaeslaveraye slo's che ie <cole altel ale desteteisiewe« Stalols

Mrs. E. L. Jerome, Peirce City—
MTTERONASS a Cll ye, « prstaevstars miei ctersterstar ate el ehsiois aed wix’ei avoid ss 8’ damm erates he's arcid Ses d, Wslatearrareere bla alatetan. ofl State .
MnerqUAntSErAWDELDYis s-ck 0 cee mee: aeavize + nec sastee Sates tcnpe teeny ke SE oa Pe ieee oe
Onewquart cherry... -....... Peers Jén0) Onocapebe.c.o0 tate. OHaW Sheen tcee kbed BED ear <a

Mrs. McReynolds, Peirce City—
One quart peaches..... ...... 2) GR CCNOUG ORCA BOROTIICONOCDOOO RC HO CAST COO IHOO nooMDe datas
Onequant tomato wickleens. pk secs scissile 6.2 see seer nee A me Cboe Fe oie career

Mrs. G. R. Armstrong, Peirce City—

OirerquanustrawDenuyajamler sone erento: seat ase bits ce carton. can cose: iio Sone & ia anenace

Mrs. G. V. Kline, Peirce City—
Grier ssiSbra WO ELGY aa Tlise eter Pace ecteieicccies: Lickel sere cvacanal ave uhtendarcrersia af ard eit earae ee
GitesCADISELAWDELEY ee erie easy Lectin ictare tice , : Tae Talon taehies 2s Oe EN ee
(ORE BECS CNPIG LIS TORIC he eae Ere ee ets AMIE RCE Cesena er te ee er yt rere ake Om

Mrs. R. F. George, Peirce City—

ONE uaE CES tha W.DELEI ES ere chicas )yelcciere aire cicle Toseeiclere as Maeve ie EGE orem meene clemis sot pie Berea at ae |
Oneig targcbertics withistemsrn erry ae seeis-iuse eee oleic 5 ee er iiee ST te arti |
SP HEICUATCHEERICS WSCEGIESS rant acee, re cicine crise ah erceicienceth aia te e oeie ete ates Gielal Seti tiaitninceeite

One quart strawberry jam............. SS ROC ACE Coa ot non rces ois Cor erien Stina ans Ge eer res s
One glass cherry preserves...... Where Pate vee perarat eters roletalte siaratevs flerersioveraisiaveveyal Aarsieeia-a sian Rloare Sibrerevelets
Mnewlass straw DEnnVePRESCLVESs ieic ciuiseai< ae ancien s. secivacsiotaes etisiaetegueteiieas, Bese

re ass Sena DeLana ellyitae a. .a be teaches wieideie: aires Gare ale, “Steleiaare wnissiee meray cering, istentisin iis SOC
ON PeSE LASS ICING EAT boy] € Miya sata Narateieletays (ads oistoeiarase.> alatersyobaere «fate «iaveraverm els ere ce) sia) Ree Ste mnas alanis eee eee

Mrs. Ray Taylor, Peirce City—
Ginerolass/straw benny elliyct, oceanic se uswieris ser aielewsere sme wate) eee cists ttaeets als ast Pe eae

Mrs. C. A. Fisher, Peirce City—

Onerquare rhubarDy ss. .-2- cesses << cise SOD Ae SLATE CCA AS POR Oe ate CDE Ana SEBS cation, cholate |

One quart cherries...... eps iel ects eso Cais ages Seteuneloiaic eratelaooetscad SOG Meer wisleeVatmeccent (stays isbela te saat awtole
@neiguartstraw berries 55 6 cshe soe ce eee soeeien sis a

Mrs. Gates, Peirce City—

MIM ex uA Ee DEACIPLESERV.ESIE i. cae tle oii rs heise clare stetnre ie ein Aenean aie nctae exe cae he ae eee

One quart peaches,jcanned!.......-..2..- Se Oe Sao OOM oerIS Boe OC SE OaS Oo Cec oEe ab Ane :

ROEM ALT QUIN CES FCAND CCR Se Mt eye ec alan Mertcrs nceratepete eis afaze aim stetele ain, 5.ce cette etek evegeteets ae eres
Wn erguaGt SWE PICKLES en Goticaniesee ao ssianeis, Guede sent wak Guus amine os Oelces ace plaa tae Shates
One pint strawberry preserves...... GaQbdoasOSs SSCA aseauaCEbnud Spe ooGongsrau ace .

WH epIUtsSLAW DEPLIES NCAUMEG Gr st iccieirrsictee) spcleless(araletee soto gicicfoelstes Se ccls Gon susleuvolelejelaieie- cree eee |

One pintehucklebennyata ste tee at sat hisses eek a eho tans tele ae terecrilote aaa Perea ier-tae

PO MERDINEI CHEERIOS somite ee cireniecio ae siete teie(ate sees aa) ee ewes al are Sees ehewe are ait eles nyslete ce cctel folete seis ayes
One pine DIACKDELKYs xis sieveisers es oe Se ey ss eiesiaisig ee os 05 nate aehte ela APR ota eee ee or eee
OTe IEES PIGEGULOMIATONDICK LES a= m sieeic ccfeie ejcrereyeseisitier Wis ai; otereye)) slatalSretaicne tealeler pslcmriaw ats(ainie/erslefo ois areca
Oneibottlemunfermented strawberiy Wine... ..1- 6.6 oe. c acess corp Buco b Sole Iocareal crogasicteceesiets
Oneibotilemntermented prapewihe. <:ns022 seins fe bois aoe sents Coe oeielellee see orc Moss soe
Oneibottle untermented ras PDEEEYAWIDG,, jer cjsvee <\elcjsrely Fe) =iste)) siniet oye siplefeic ele (oinialayafeNeleletopeiatal Perea leet

Mrs. Holloway, Peirce City—
(Ohi Ginieite Clavetec Wore Me ger Mtoe PCE Me LEC CAC ROR Moma oe aReMaLe tog COnnacer DARE as Daun oo oo cs. 5:
One quart gooseberry............ PT yeiee sePnet criave ciate wigie ate eid Meetetal) See bis ai dhabetets lal eteverevs ektteete fae

Miss L. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood—
iiworsam ple Seedling straw Denies. cscs cists oe co s,ooine Fisais tio: 5 a irisieaeh auntie) mushellh oni s.lsieer aisles acts

t

Mrs. Chambers, Peirce City—
OMe cuantypOneseny CAT OMALOES hcp 15) csp vate) oa sericea eseysizerdhel cielo aleucte aban or nieretnveh cheek ae a ere one
SO merquatt peaches me mee Pete Metee ea cme A An Sead oo sscine co meinen aisle Be EAC Been odo see
ONGC WEN aE ea panig aces ol Remerencdar Somcpeae ar tane sce reese GSH om aarpaere me Mens sea g
One quart gooseberries..... ......... Bh hatch heteviaeie © fiafah es ch ate Mie soiel teats “Means oeerpocattdl eit aim eres ies
MOedCIAtaEOMIALOCSe etree cea oki eles cora meet OA UE Coos. seciics Beh aceite ene YS Fatt
One quart ciicumber pickle. ../0- 0-4: se «cisterns vs [dws “etvePin Santer aa Meanie eee ammeter oe

MEK CUAT RUN LEE) PCATS ter ca'ctic se c.c) sarc tee leone coated Sina sv sta sattersioya horny! Seale clon Ginaletberemiteyas lars = eat

One pint watermelon preserves.......-....... iyagaahe Wisse (nec se earak Aveta en eee are irra tence Ot
MIMS Pit Sika WELL TALI e: Ma) ccd cate Re rieeierimekes nel ve tos ee nate arm le eiele meciomne ee ee fees

QUES (ET nres CHOE. TES ie cgeop pe abpen Gen be Deer noe cceeines ic lmepranbecr de pone bean re NE Reet os eecaese
SMe PINE AMSONsplUMILPLeESeLV.eES sea ear niece ne see «weleleiieic oe eee nee melee eee eiatswies

1.00

-10

40

1.50

88 State Horticultural Society.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CANNED GOODS—Continued.

Mrs. L. A. George, Peirce City—
OPS piET. week evs ¢ Ahoy aon Seo aes ROD ORONEDE Ono Os 52s0snodopbaadebae oS Soro skSacnGongan.. 25:
Onejquart'straw berry jam. 220526 ass “e seie 21d Sicko erated la state) sieis iol ele eat aeadet ol aievels Cree teietetetae release
OMEN MALE MTOMALOES jereroie| a=) stars nlare ale! ole a o0. olan sale) sn ote ete ta ee BS) el 2) =) ena ee eet
OMS Girerderdttlrydooes sanboansndny GanemnaOOD des” Good Cc CO ISDOB DES DDUR OOS 35555 4aGsadso pobeoueE .50

Mrs. French, Peirce City—
OMA ies eh doin reecscodoosee Ecasednonsa 555600 Lapanonpcedaboneaanecacs i zordseacoze 22 ¢
OM GrMiECH TG Ianoess Mae eda paeemscoocom eae, Goo s0cb a GoAonOsDOnOMa co sotsancdded. abosLseg te5:
One quart gooseberries................--- BRAS ONO LCE COT ORO inc) OC Se OD Sonera: 25

Mrs. J. E. Coppock, Peirce City—
@ne-olassirasppereyjellyicesi- .c eo ese «mae ase ee rete SEM Aa IAaaOGAA Coase» BPO ro eee
Onelvlass orape jelly iia. clccisissc sciccys eee Cee ote cee ois a ln sle'eieials slous a nel ete sol eee eee
Onerelass!Straw bert yod LLY sorter sieve orev ctortoe PWM ee Letetetetoton dole iclpl act a\s/=,> © che e Bebe ore felt osepetenetets ete elem
Oneyelass blackberny,-elliy:s sevcw tees «oie are e osseyaiey eteeaiete felon aroeie tarts, Seles en) oe ole! =f ate) ee eee
Oneelass plum jelly.2s2s2) = eee ee SSIS a. b0 CO. DORE ROGUE CREE Er Gr USAR SOE GOS COnSS sap. - 15

Mrs. L. L. Allen, Peirce City—
Oneiquartie cosebDerries en eect cee nioce a emir em Cerin sce <0) oelaisiers (eiein/ata ater mere rE 15

Mrs. Eckert—
MWOS CANS GDEACHES yaeristete'e/olarslar=laipte et ete ve Falese lees re eteve ale ee Ok sree nie stolons co lele sieve sie mien alee atte re
ONnevcangzCHeErnies enc sacic ce eee poe Cee eee ee ote acle Gleiehs leteretey eee ee ibe Soe -45

Respectfully submitted,
W. A. IRVINE,
Mrs. A. NELSON,
Miss A. MURTFELDT.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE.ON OBITUARY.

To Officers and Members of Missouri State Horticultural Society:

Since our last meeting two members of this society have passed from
this life into the life of the great hereafter.

Henry Speer of Bates county was deeply interested in horticul-
tural work. He never neglected an opportunity to advance its interest
either in the local work of his own county or at meetings of state
societies. He was for ten years the secretary of the Bates County
Horticultural Society. He gave much time and personal attention to
the collection of fruits for exhibitions to advance the merits of his own
county and state.

L. Geiger of Boonville lived out more than his alloted three score
years and ten. He gave much of his active life to horticultural pursuits,
more especially im grape culture. Ever ready to disseminate his

Summer Meeting. 89

knowledge and experience to his local society, and at state meetings his
presence and practical talks were inspiring and assisted very much in
encouraging our workers to go forward in our noble calling.

Resolved, that in the loss of these two brothers, this society has
been deprived of two useful members and the state of two valuable
citizens.

Resolved, that this society deeply sympathizes with their bereaved
families and that the secretary furnish them with a copy of these resolu-
tions, and that a copy be spread upon the records of this association.

J. HENSLEY, Springfield, Mo.
J. H. MONSEES,
C. I. ROBORDS,
Committee.

COUNTY ,FRUIT REPORTS.

J. Hensley, Greene County.—Strawberry harvest is now over.
There are no peaches and few trees left. Wild goose plum is fair, others
have but little fruit. Cherries have dropped; Early Richmond having
one-half and Morello one-third of crop. Large apple orchards show
Ingram in excellent condition. Maiden Blush and Huntsman fair.
Ben Davis is peculiar, some trees have no apples, some a few, some a
fair showing. The general estimate is for a quarter of a crop. In the
old orchard trees are dying; in the brag orchards great care and cultiva-
tion was given, yet the trees are dying. Cherries are blighting, espe-
cially the tops. Of pears we have a few of Keiffer, more than was sup-
posed two weeks ago. In some yards Bartlett and Duchess are found
comparatively full.

W. A. Irvine, Greene County.—Ben Davis will not have a tenth
of a crop, and if there is twenty-five per cent all round we shall do well.,
Dyehouse cherries are full and Richmond fair. The Hazeltine orchard
out of Springfield is dying because of drouth. The trees were breaking
with fruit at the time, so the result was bad; three-fourths of the apples
should have been removed.

90 State Horticultural Society.

M. Butterfield, Jackson County.—Ben Davis on twelve and fifteen
year old trees will have a fair crop; younger ones only about a sixth.
Gano is about the same. Jackson county will have about a sixth of a
full crop.

I. B. Lawton, Benton County, Ark.—There will be no peaches, but
our trees are not hurt. Pears will be fair crop. Strawberries immense,
raspberries will be short because of the winter.

C. J. Eld, Benton County, Ark.—Some parts will have a full
crop of Ben Davis, some not nearly that. Ingrams are full of nice
fruit. Ben Davis apples are poor. Western part of the county have a
very good report, the eastern much less.
bloom gave fine promise,

Wm. H. Barnes, Topeka, Kan.
but less since. Report for western Kansas is that apples are falling.
Jonathan is a failure. Apples now promise twenty-five per cent of a
crop of winter varieties, but we hope for unusually good quality. Spray-
ing seems to be unnecessary this spring. Pear report is good. Cherries,
medium; strawberries, good, but prices low, still growers are planting
extensively.

EK. B. Utter, Barry
full. Wiainesap is fair, Missouri Pippin is very full, Ben Davis has

Harly fruit is full. Fall trees are

enough, Limbertwig is full. The general report is twenty-five per cent
of a winter crop.

J. C. Evans.—My actual observation is that the apple crop of Mis
souri will not be over twenty-five per cent. The early varieties have
more than the winter ones.

J. M. Irvine, Buchanan County.—There was not a full blossoming,
but they set well and the general promise for the first of June is fifty
per cent. Missouri Pippin comes first, Winesap, second, Ben Davis i
short; others will not have a tenth of a crop.

N. F. Murray, Holt, County.—Strawberry crop is good; raspberry,
ten per cent; ee are few, also plums, and I have counted six peaches.
Apples average twenty-five per cent with Winesap short. Ben Davis
heaviest, but not over twenty-five per cent.

D. 8. Helvern, Benton County, Ark.—Plums will be twenty-five
per cent. Old Ben Davis about forty; raspberries, twenty-five; black-

Summer Meeting. oh

berry, seventy-five; pears, twenty-five. Black Twig and Minkler not
more than ten; grapes will be full.

Levi Chubbuck, St. Louis.—Peach reports are for a small crop; one
orchard has one-third of the trees which promise a half crop.

F. E. Atwood, Carroll County.— Winter apples will give us a third.
of a crop; pears are fair, cherries a fourth of a crop. Peaches, black-
berries and raspberries, none; strawberries will be plentiful.

Mrs. A. Z. Moore, Cedar Gap.—Southwest Wright county will
have fifty per cent of an apple crop. Southeast, full sixty per cent Small
orchards through the lower part are full. Texas county reports sixty
per cent from her small orchards. There are no Ben Davis, no pears,
no peaches and no cherries. Grapes will give us half a crop.

H. 8S. Wayman, Mercer County.—Apple prospect is for twenty-five
per cent. Willowtwig is the best at sixty per cent. Strawberries are
full, hardy small fruits are fair. Pears, plums and cherries will be
about half.

G. A. Atwood for Webster County.
sand apple trees have one-half crop of Ben Davis.

Four hundred and fifty thou-

A. Nelson.—Fruit growers from Webster county report a fourth of
a crop of winter apples. Reliable information from seventy-five miles
is for not over twenty-five per cent; if the scab comes it will be less.

Sarcoxie.—This week will end Sarcoxie’s berry harvest. There have
been reports published that our berry crop was a complete failure and
prices so ruinous that our growers would quit the business, but such
reports are purely fake and will not stand investigation. It is true that
the heavy rainfall during the time the plants were in blossom cut the crop
short of what had been expected and injured the quality of the berries, but
when anyone says the growers are ruined, it is not true. Weare informed
that the returns so far received by the Horticultural Association show
$1.06 per crate for the combined grades, A., Bb. and X. Berries have
been selling for better prices during the past week and $2 was the quota-
tion for good berries on Monday, so there should be no reason for the
net average being below $1 per crate for this season. The Horticultural
Association has shipped about ninety-five cars and the Gandy growers
about thirty-two cars to date and the total shipment will no doubt reach

130 car loads, exclusive of the express shipments for this season.

92 State Horticultural Society.

Taking 130 cars for an estimate of this season’s crop, $1.06 per crate
net would mean an approximate profit of forty-six cents per crate for the
grower. Counting 100 crates to the acre at forty-six cents, would mean
$46 per acre. Who can make that much per acre growing wheat and
corn? <A profit of forty-six cents per crate would mean a profit of
$35,880 to the growers and $28,080 to the pickers, much of which has
been left with our merchants and other business men. Does that look
ruinous? It beats last year’s crop by about fifty per cent. Considering
the crop and its condition, the berry growers of Sarcoxie can consider
themselves fortunate; for they have realized, in many instances far more
than their berries were actually worth. Less berries and better ones
should be their motto for the future.

SECRETARY’S REPORT.

Members and friends of Horticulture:

I thought on my trip down here from Kansas City it could hardly
be possible to have a more beautiful country than the rolling prairies,
the little wooded copse and the strips of timber along the streams and
around the springs. I looked farther and beautiful fields of meadow,
of wheat, of corn, of oats, and of pasture filled with thousands of cattle,
of horses, of mules, of hogs, of sheep, and it seemed as if this great west
could feed the world. I then, in imagination, looked into the many
happy homes surrounded with neither poverty nor wealth, but with
plenty, plenty of work to keep men busy, plenty of beauty to make men
happy, plenty to eat, to wear, to enjoy, plenty of time to be called his
own, and I thought if it were only possible for these men to appreciate
the position they occupy, their freedom from care and worry like the
city merchant, or manufacturer, or trader, or railroad man, or even the
lawyers and doctors, that if any people in all this great west should be
happy and enlightened, and progressive and patriotic, these were the
people. Methought myself a king before whom all this grandure of
hills and valleys, prairie and timber, houses and lands, fields and flocks,
gardens and orchards, were spread out to enjoy. I saw beyond all this

Summer Meeting. 93

all the cities of the plain, all the railroads, all the trains we saw in pass-
ing, all the great mines of coal and lead and zine, all the thousands at
work that I might enjoy this wonderful beauty and I thought myself a
king with freedom to go and come as I pleased, to visit this city and that
country to call upon whomsoever I wished to do my bidding as we rolled
along over these beautiful lands which God has prepared for man’s hab-
itation. Again I looked and all the beauty of the firmament above us,
all the beauty of the sky and cloud, of sunlight and sunshine, all for
me to enjoy and I thought myself a king.

And not only myself but every other man on this broad land of ours
is a king likewise, a king for whom all these things are made, a king
capable of enjoying all these gifts of God if he will; and I thought how
happy this nation of kings and queens should be with all these things
at this eall. Surely America should be, and ought to be, a great nation
when all are kings.

Did it ever occur to you that all the best things of this world, as
well as the world to come, are free for all of us. The air we breath, the
water we drink, the rain and dew and sunshine and storm, the beauties
of the field and landscape, the glory of the heavens above us, and the
’ grandure of the earth beneath us. The happiness of home and friends,
the love of our neighbors, things that are free to all who will take them,
like the gift of God, of eternal life to everyone who is willing to accept.
All these great gifts and beauties are ours if we will only make them
ours. And so I thought if I could only write what I saw and know and
understood I would let others know as well, but I could not. 1

A DAY OF JUNE.

I could write such a beautiful poem
About this summer day,
If my pen could catch the beauty
On every leaf and spray,
And the music all about me
Of brook and breeze and birds—
But the greatest poet living
Can not put them into words.

So I may not write down the poem
As it came from the hand of God

In the wonderful wordless language
He writes on sky and sod,

94 State Horticultural Society.

In words that we tell our thoughts in,
That will make you feel and see
The beautiful, beautiful poem
This day has been to me.

If I might, you would hear all through it
The melody of the breeze,

Like a fine and far-off echo

Of the ocean harmonies :

You would hear the song of the robins
Aswing in the apple tree,

And the voices of running waters
In their search for the great gray sea.

You would breathe the fragrance of clover
In the words of every line,

And incense out of the censers
Of hillside larch and pine;

You would see through the words the roses,
With, deep in their hearts of gold,

The sweets of a thousand summers—
But words are so weak, so cold!

If I only could write the color
Of the lilac’s tossing plumes,
And make you feel, in a sentence,
The spell of its sweet perfumes ;
If my pen could paint the glory
Of the blue and tender sky
And the peace that crowns the mountains,
My poem would never die!
—Hben BE. Rexford in American Garden.

THE OUTLOOK.

Since last we met at Columbia, we have seen what destruction has
been caused to many of our fruit and nursery plantations by one of the
icy blasts of winter. _ This severe cold coming after the great drouth of
1897, and the superabundant growth of 1898. soft and immature, fol-
lowed by a warm and moist fall, has caused greater damage and destrue-
tion to our fruit interests than have all other causes together for many
years. At this time we see that the end is not yet, and fear that many
of our trees will yet die from its effects.

The great bugaboo of too many trees and over-production will help
to settle itself as to our orchards. It would seem that we are passing

through a series of extremes of hot and cold, and wet and dry; may it

Summer Meeting. 95

soon speed the day when normal times and seasons shall once more have
their sway.

The obstacles we overcome help to make men of us, and perhaps it
may be that these series of reverses will be the opening of some
new thought and new work and new experiments in regard
to hardiness and productiveness among our fruit plantations. It
has been a series of surprises to most of us, how it has damaged
the apple in many places much more than the peach. How it is that the
peach has not been killed in the root, while many apples have been
entirely lost. I wonder when I see the results if it be possible, nay,
even if it is not probable, that this winter killing comes from the indis-
criminate use of apple seed and seedlings.

In our meeting at Trenton and again at many another meeting, I
called particular attention to this matter of the indiscriminate use of all
kinds of apple seed for our seedlings. I mention this now because many
of our apple trees are dying at the root as a result of the freeze while
the top seems to be only shghtly injured.

Can we find the cause of this showing plainly? I believe we can.
To-day we see that many of our trees have only live roots coming from
above the graft. The root below the graft has decayed, rotted off many
times, and the top roots from the tree itself seem still sound. This holds
true, it matters not if it be grafted on piece-root, long-root, whole-root
cr short-root. This length of root used in grafting has nothing to do
with the life of the tree, but the kind of seed used, the kind of root
used, have all to do with the life of the tree.

The whole trouble comes, in my honest opinion, in the kind of seed
used. Our seed has come from all kinds of apples, the very poorest and
most immature in our orchards, those used for cider and vinegar, and
these seed can not produce good stocks to graft upon. What is more, the
French seed is worse for us to use, for they save poorer fruit even than
do we Americans, and their trees are not as hardy here in America.

The caution uttered time and again in my report to you I wish to
much more emphasize at this time and now only call your attention to
the careful selection of the seed. Perfect apples of hardy varieties,
from sound trees, carefully selected, will give us the foundation to work

upon. We used to save perfect specimens of certain varieties, and then

96 State Horticultural Society.

plant only the best seed from these specimens. These seedlings had
then to stand in the nursery row for three years before grafting. Many
of these seedlings were by this time discarded as unfit for grafting, and
only the very best were then used. Can you not see that such a plan
would insure a good, hardy, healthy root and likely give a good tree. If
this icy blast of last February teaches us this lesson it will be a blessing
in the end to the fruit growers.

The School of Horticulture at Columbia has kept on its way and is
doing a grand, good work for the intelligent solution of the fruit industry
of Missouri. I want here to again give the hearty indorsement, as this
society has often done, to this school for the young people of our land.
The Agricultural College has put into motion one of the greatest helpers
to the farmer, in these schools it has established; it teaches the young
men and women how to think for themselves.

If I can only impress upon every member of this society the advan-
tages of this school and that it fully meets the requirements of the
farmer, I am sure you would one and all make yourselves a committee
urging our young people to go there.

COMMITTEE ON HORTICULTURE.

Another step in this direction is the work of this committee on Hor-
ticulture. At the meeting of the executive committee on May 2, it was
decided that this committee be called together here to discuss this matter
and if possible to outline some plan for the best presentation of the sub-
ject to our teachers and schools. The subject is being discussed all over
our land and now it is no more “shall it be done,” but ‘‘how shall it be
done?” This meeting will be the place for a full discussion and we
hope to see some outline discussed, referred to the State Teachers’ Asso-
ciation and then fully formulated at least in time for our winter meet-
ing. It is not necessary for me to discuss here now the advantages or the
necessity of this work, for we have passed by that stage, but we do want

Summer Meeting. OF

to know how best to do it and we do not want to make any blunder in
this matter.

Our medals are at last in our hands. Only the other day were they
_ secured from Jefferson City and taken to Kansas City, there to be en-
eraved and are now ready for distribution. I have them here and shall
send them from this meeting to the proper owners. ‘The delay has been
caused because our commissioner thought best to have them on exhibi-
tion at Jefferson City while the legislature was in session. ‘The wonder-
ful awards gained by Missouri at Omaha are beginning already to bear
fruit in the hundreds of people daily looking for homes among us. I
think that these exhibitions bring our state into prominence and are the
means of bringing more people to our state than most people realize.

This brings to our notice at this time other opportunities in this
same direction. At Detroit in 1900, Buffalo, 1901, St. Louis, 1903, we
must again make this same effort to let the people see what we are doing
and can do. The St. Louis Exposition also are to-day asking us to make
the display in their building this fall. It means lots of work and ldts-ef
time spent if we do so. Wy

Our report has been published and sent out somewhat earlier than
usual and has been well received. Never a day passes but that we have
to mail a number of them, and often calls are made for back years’ reports
or a file of them as far back as we can supply.

We are glad that we have so many efficient workers and willing
helpers in all we have to do and that this work is growing in such a
remarkable way. These reports show to the outside world that we are
alive and at work and know what to do.

The appropriation for the next two years will be the same as the
last, thanks to the timely visit of some of our workers just at the right
time. Our legislature in its cutting off expense accounts sought to cur-
tail our printing bill, but when the matter was explained to the appropri-
ation committee they at once restored the original amount so that we
may have our usual 4,000 copies at least.

The transportation problem is an ever present one before us, and
the proper distribution of our fruits must be finally determined before we

Hi

98 State Horticultural Society.

can profitably have the large plantations of strawberries so numerous
as they are at present. This matter of over-production will adjust itself
when these others are settled properly. There is no doubt but that
there were too many berries on the market in some of our markets at one
time this year to pay the grower anything. Sixty car loads from one
point in one day will soon fill every market in the west to overflowing.
In this great rush for the business by these commission men we find so
“many unprincipled men who lie so easily and so well, that they get the
cars often when they know their houses can not handle them, and at the
same time there are hundreds of small towns where there are none.
Six cars secured by the solicitors of one house in Minneapolis in one day
was a Slaughter of the prices, it could be nothing else. Car loads are
all right but if the grower gets nothing, the business soon stops. Ship-
ments to our smaller towns must be made to help us out of this trouble.
If the express companies will take upon themselves this question of
distribution and good markets and good dealers, then they will not only
help the grower out of their trouble but make money for themselves.
The companies have all the agents and means at their disposal for its
solution and they must take hold of it in earnest. This, and the other
fact that all these goods should be sold at the point of shipment, which
should be put into practice, will soon settle this serious question. It is
much better, in case of a glut, to sell crates of berries for twenty-five
cents per crate at the station, than it is to sell in Omaha or Minneapolis or
Detroit, is it not? But this question will come up in its proper place,
for presentation and discussion, and J trust we will take hold of it and

help to settle it.

THE NURSERY MENS’ ASSOCIATION.

The Nursery Mens’ Association meets in Chicago next week and,
in this serious time with our nursery trees, we should have some of oux
members attend. The trouble and damage to our nurseries should be
well known for we will all be wanting trees for the next few years, if ever.
It will take three years’ planting and replanting to replace all the trees
that are dead and will yet die from the effects of the severe cold.

Summer Meeting. 3)

The American Pomological Society holds its meeting in September
in Philadelphia, when half rates can be had to the sessions. It has
always been our plan to send some one to these meetings and to make a
display at that time. We have won many a medal for our society and
for her members at these displays and we must still continue to do so.
even if it means much work.

And now, dear friends, meeting here in this beautiful city where
comfort and plenty surround you, where the land produces the best of
all products and fruits, we have had the pleasure of each others’ advice,
and experience and association, and in the hall so beautifully decorated
by skillful hands we feel as if we were of one family and one household.
We have outlined only a very small part of the work that is before us
and of experiments to carry out, so that you may know a little of the
results this society 1s seeking to accomplish. ‘The one great secret of our
success as a society has been and ever will be the united action and
assistance every member of this society has been willing to give to all the
work which has come before it. May it ever be our motto.

L. A. GoopMAN, Sec.

REPORT OF TREASURER A. NELSON.
Fune §. 1899.

Amount Received.
1898.
WECM CORE Alan CEVOMMHANRGR fan). = siete te ol Aatars Jo lolstabare «tortie Vorerelopalelers oh. lwiesis S Meaicctohs be oarete $ 250 85
1899. |
Jan. CashifromiStatevAuditonaste acne eae wet ee eae eee te Rene aoe $1,150 31
March Refundifrom buds Gclks,eiacniclecitiee ene eee ate oon meee tyes iste 33 00
June Membership mics Goodman casa. caseesseecce ss hicen ceeeicn ee mee eee oer 23 00
June im ViembershipeAcwNelSonine. otc cet srnce secese| An vic hence ee omer cetera as 8 00
ede G
Amount Paid Out.
Jan. 16) W.G. Gano, Deiegate to Nebraska State Society.............. seeeeeeee $ 1910
33 a ‘Van Deman, ID Goisfetciond Cyn WEAN aRenscoe Gosccectce = cicac 19 20
| WiarrantuNanalirt, cess aeneicacesenire nee wutcee ees Ss ron SnogcDUUOoOd $ 38 30
|
Jan. 31) P. O. Bill $30.18; Express, $3.40.......... Dea t lejsigisteciemiaty Aainotaa cas ap teerare $ 33 58
Salary Oh SeCketany Or lanuanyeccayen apace e donci inate mieten 66 66
ae of Typewriter. . 20 00
| L. A. Goodman’s trip to Jefferson City and hote!. Mavaysiaiidie(otoraveter Le eters cachet 10 55
| Warrant. NOn4a1 Ou 5.'\. see Manette Aas ck! ees Loe sheclee antinaceem teas $ 130 79

100

Feb. 28
March 18
March 29
April 24
April 29
May 2
May 29
June 3
June 9
June 9
June 9
June 9
June 9

State Horticultural Society.

REPORT OF TREASURER—Continued.

Express, $0100, $4.65: Dray $1-30) $1:15) esac eee ee eee sence ee eerieee $ 12 65
Scotiorad erints bls CatdSie tees aii ar eo See caer 5 75)
Salary of Secretary for Mebruarny (ee eres sees late ole icles eetnaeorere 66 66)
Salany Of Mypewriters ../. 20 cycler miele elelevs leh =item Payorelletsiainlelb)sJ els sielsist a aelsholel=s 20 00)
Warrant No: 4191), vege eine abeetate tenen tae i oelaet eteeeeee |$ 105 06
Be ©® Bill}i$24.297 EE xpresseihl lowes. aoe merece letra sia te ieiave lave favors ce. ateraune -|% 25 44}
Scotford Print, 1500 circulars, $5; ink and stationery, $2.20............... 7 20)
Salary of Secretary for Marches. -cn0 ee acer ee BAS CON? aoa ee 66 66
Salary of Ty péwritenenmencey ccc oceeraeeciyeeiine eats erate et ee eee ee 20 00
WiarrantsNom4a20rrdtec soe a) cece tier siete oae or BAIS a taka Onan $ 119 30
1b 4 Sas MPP AC OH DOR eROGe {aaa nade Mocca TaaiiaLcentasenanmpanasouscondosd $ 1 30)
Trip of J. C. Evans and L. A. Goodman to Jefferson City; and hotel.. ... 15 10)
WrarramtJNios AQT iy S55 assrarejeysie.ctstete.|alsyatiessforelats ip jeversqsyoicrerovsts olopenetersaabeyeveyale $% 16 40
BW stephens: ssbinding 1000 RepOntse aceiisale seletersetisl- enters eles $ 150 00
500 labels, $2; freight to Jeff City, $4.20.... .......... 6 20
1MOOMwrappers, Sos) WOKING OLD eee ae wees einai ersteiciel= 18 00
EEXPrESSiONINEPOL{S)s. saleby asjasies jas eae stones Son) Aloo DHOL OEDODOOET 125 84
Wrarsram tNOr 422 its crys sc-c0 cies) leielsvereiousayer= ptekslersiercieaenela oretelerye No0DneoOdOs $ 300 04
Freight on Reports, $10.80, $11.68; P. O. Bill, $72.26....... .........-.08. $ 94 74
Salanysol Secreta hyatoneAprilerrr serene ee entities i are eee 66 66
Salanyotelkypewatter sen seks niece cele tee enteritis atte sedate ile tes karte 20 00
Hudson & Kimberly, Printing and Etchings... .....................-..--- 8 60
IWiatranteNosdeaaastctrcs.c isis «sorte WP ORY As, asc. oe ee hehe ae Guan $ 190 00
Expense Niybi, Murray. toi meeting Ex-s@omep «pee isles teers els ieiel= <r $ 6 05
ExpensesA. Nelson toimeeting Ex, (Comins. aise teleee elaeei wets lainteleie = ors 18 40
Wrarrant INO 24s sly. : as c%etcpesie sistein slater eer ain ads itera ieee eee ebsiets lee $) 24045
PAO Bill $24:59> Scotford, 2,000 programs plontore: .oe oi) cota 4 |i POON oe
Salaryviotiwecnetany aor Mayinces acenicea. meet ee eae entre ote eerste ree 66 66
Salary of diy pewter. Ses Le XPLESS, - DOU y-1elenetei ete mieetete evel eel ialel tale lora ee iielale 20 55
Wiarrant NOP 42a crates ate sis > cla beled ace osetia oeteoe cats ievelerner- renee ote $ 125 5d
PO SIBAe eis tere ca cians wore aie hats eid ape thes Worerscarei eh icvavepstonatlsle elelaters otcrete/-tai eretererays $ 50 10
WiarrantiINoyAzbrticrctciatsscicies cis over) Se raisiele Adan Ren pUnhoOU bob eeS, BROS DS $ 5010
Gab Lamm: Drip tOmemersol) Cityerteriascnisiscetceiciee cleus cust crtaiststele $ 6 40
Ge By Eanim.—Eripito Kansas Give saan aoe cetclo oi Sele ee siiies 6 15
Printing bill pees postageah lacs Oserscr eertetertetetatsreaee ete) -feretetshetatatevaleverevelersteteta 36 80
Warrant No. 427..... Sav pe sine auch ei oravsiatatoreve elleteveners bid cra abe OiSte eisks oe talent ~ 1g 49 35
Premiums at summer meeting... ene eee nena POCO! oe taal tcl at died)
Expenses Nii baMutraystmimersmeetingn ns rie) aietnie erate teeter ree 15 50
Expenses: AS vRODMEED, SUMMer me ehIT Oe mrt atest irate ctelalersietetel 15 00
Expenses); Misses) Murtteldt, summet, meeting entree elie terials 22 00
Bxpenses We), StevenS. Summers a erin On ereteelatieleicteteeye\crelsieleieieiieieteisvarel= ; 2 50
Warrant No. 428 eiwtece se ucpece eee ace mes reieceesmaneeerern eee ataersiste $y 102420
EXxXpensesiG.) b> anim) |SUMMErA Mee lila er ern mirleiee ae lnermiaitieeeiiesistslelelste $ 4 50
Expenses A” Nelson Summernmee tin peer er clelee cise tel ee eee 8 00
Expenses: Ji. C. Hvans, Summer meetinoroas.) crc caer ceenins acres sia 5 00
Expenses L. A. Goodman, summer meeting................ Shieh Autassti eyes 14 50
Hotel Bills:atjune meeting apes cette tee cece coi eee te tce inlets cetera eiae 35 25
Warrant: Now429es o5, escecteaet oe et cela iaaie sc ke recevalqieretovemmetsieiectersiei msec $— GT 25
J. (G. Evans, expense toyPeirce) Gitysins Mebruanyire > | aessees cence $ 1295
J; (@. Evans: expense tojetterson City nnrApril acs eieeenieee ce as eiinie 2 50
AY Nelson,stampsiand|itelesramsayeeem eee cece cece eee tac 317
WarrantiNo <430 ns a ate et acts Ans coe eee an eee ane ‘ § 16 92
IMs EPMA Iho eNu ola aics ledomigio=s (C0) Bhaoonncass Boocdeca sucohest sa. $ 114 50
Warrant No. ‘4305 x2 <2 Sea tse new oes arelce «aie eroceto mast. ete repe imran eres $ 114 50
$1,450 21
TOtaLIRECEIPts..... cei ose oddone aed Ar eel eine co ie Ge RS eee $ 1,465 16
otal/Paidi OUtcineny sae eree eeeneee eee sai Remadtie tee ee eee | 1,450 21
| oe
Balance on hand) ..4 3. sess) sk casas meade es eieiemitctole els Re eerie ie emilee S$) Ss

A. NEwson, Treasurer.

Summer Meeting.

MEMBERSHIP BY L. A. GOODMAN.

101

Dee: BE TSBIS). |) (Cin Nie, OG EFeeanee 6 or aa arcongdsaaasdoeecc lnkollis WIG. Gas saeoseEeeueo bone .{$ 1 00
ec. 29° hes pag oo JAMISON AHS Cee ee eee he Sleddla Mowe hy awassantnasash cesar anianeee 1 00
Te 4, 1899 | Wey, ENS 18) lien ite eniniae choc COO e SM oEENCICNe Fredericktown, Mo. ......... 1 00
Jan. 11 ARSED I GilKESON eg pienteaste nneiieSe1 ss = 32 {OV aaeNSDUT EH, paseo a Aeye coo Meeleleraiseereors 1 00
Jan. 16 ONES ooRICey ces Seep niee tics saeek MC @lavenreves oR pe actor ceeboe foe anenidtos ne 1 00
Feb. 23 | Ferd Fleischer Gasconadey MO scan Heteae vaterae seis ol sens eels 2 00
Feb. 23 ESP SHalsey.), (eee rer ccc. Spe GSepiMO Ras shied wren ae nee ee | 100
March 2 | H. T. Williams. OzarkAwArlg gg Scan tetas battheoasiaatee a 1 00
March 4 j-AS Ba Gombs:..... 2-5 Ft. Scott, [Cai ane i AG a ARES 32 3 00
March 8 | C. J. Trowbridge.. Kansas City. ae j 1 00
March 10 W. G. Swing...... Chicago .. > 1 00
March 14 [eviews lolly etree fear .| Trenton’... 2. F 1 00
March 30 C. W. Oppinlander Richview, 1 Tague eR ee GP ce ER | 1 00
April 3 Ea leaicarch ..| Savannah, Mo. 1 00
April 7 IDE Wie SoU eeamGochoos J sscanaeous ged Sieh cs aoc adipodas.08od a0. BUbC0> Grane nO HOO 1 00
April 21 NEW) = SteVeNS:jcoreeeeeba aaa ccc + Carthag ein: astetnoseeer Wess | 1 00
May 6 | Th. Brownlee.......-............-... Willow Springs. . .. oe 1 00
May 22 MN REAW nites, « eer Ne et oes Soh 18 7 INaptoniee nin ee nee eee £3) 1 00
May 26 WeAG UA S PICKER Male ete te was -te)<otoh ara eae Maryiuillete. saenndeecie eee eee Everall 1 00
May 31 ) Wimsiey Parmenter: 7 2! 522) 22. .As).. Hamiltons: jcacosaae hs ne ooets deta areiaes | 1 00
|e

June 2 Seen. CPR ER MET oa a Me weiner ese ince Bee Vaal Pains 4.6 ESS weed eoepiaas aeeee is 23 00

|
LIST OF MEMBERS PAYING ANNUAL DUES TO A. NELSON.
Peirce City, June 8, 1899.

feo lawton sbentonvilles Ark: . S.csec.cs coma tases tartan cis oeh cldank avloeblelen sldiscgiijleld Senge Sy aed
PE GCOSDITREntOnVINLE ATK Aon shane cere dearswie sien Sacisale caste cleleanlel cote auras Swoecloe eae Sesh 1 00
3—Hy. Wallis, Wellston, Mo .......... SH. SR COS SOR naS Aa ASC MOON Der) JOC CmAnEe a Oe LacdaS anc 1 00
4—H. = Wictvinan we rincetGnei Mowe mee ccr setec em ch cists attests ceieiate ato tine? talers ara Norevalniorey ate are 1 00
WILE ENSs Canthagce. MO ea. esas eecirtieeie ce chev aide clelne Scleiitisie Senate sasiae Societies eetaade a= 1 00
6—F. H. Speakman, hae sito: 4a) Cue See See Re ee eMC ECTS MM AMEE TL EC TRIES TMS e he ae 1 00
7—S. Kauffman, Thayer, Mo.. SEG OO OCEEE SEE RnORIGO EEE PIs Oma DED Seicacorc meense He naeaosboadan 1 00
s—J..T. Stinson, Fayetteville, Ark.. BOC OSEe CO TET COMER LR OaT te meron One pee boe 1 00
|s 8 00

We your committe on finance have examined the report and ac-
counts of your treasurer, A. Nelson, and find all correct, receipted bills
accompanying each and every voucher.

Peirce City, Mo.,

JOHN T’. SNODGRASS,

Rus
GEO.
June 9, 1899.

BAGLY,
ts DEPPrn.

Committee.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS

By W. J. Stevens, Carthage, Mo.

CHANGE OF NAME.

The committee believe that instead of discussing the subject or horti-

culture, their statements and recommendations should be designated

102 State Horticultural Society.

“Aericulture in Schools.” We believe that it would be narrow to con-
fine ourselves to a discussion of horticulture alone. The great subject
is agriculture, of which horticulture is a part. We should take the
broad view and endeavor to carry into the schools the teaching of the
underlying principles of agriculture.

CONSERVATISM RECOMMENDED.

The committee believe that it will take many years to bring about
the systematic instruction in agriculture which they would like to see.
They realize that among the great difficulties in the way of its early
introduction into the elementary schools are the deep seated prejudice

against what is termed “book farming,”

and the lack of teachers pre-
pared to give even the elementary instruction here recommended. They
believe, however, that a beginning should be made. In suggestions given
as to methods of instruction, the attempt has been made to outline a
method which may be followed as a whole or in part. Any part of the
instruction suggested, if given in the proper manner, will tend to make
the pupil more observant and intelligent. It will better fit him to
understand and appreciate the vocation of agriculture which in the high-

est degree determines our national prosperity.
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS.

Persons who have taken a course of study by the laboratory method,
in biology, botany, physics, or chemistry in any good high school
should be able to give part of the instruction here recommended. If
they have studied several of these sciences in a high school, or if they
nave studied them in any of the state normal schools, in a good college
or university their preparation will be better. The short course in agricul-
ture and horticulture offered during the winter, or the special summer
course in agriculture and horticulture offered at the Missouri State
University is the best special preparation that a teacher may make in a
limited time. Those who have had no laboratory work in any of the
sciences will hardly make a suecess in teaching elements of agriculture
as hereafter recommended.

Summer Meeting. 103

AVAILABLE PUBLICATIONS.

Numerous books have been published giving suggestions in nature
study, observations of plants and animals. ‘These will give valuable
suggestions to an enthusiastic teacher. It would be a mistake for a
teacher to follow any one of these books except as the suggestions given
apply to the local environment.

The experiment station of the Missouri State University from time
to time issues bulletins giving the results of experiments, and the method
of conducting these experiments. The Department of Agriculture of
the national government has already issued nearly one hundred valuable
‘“Farmer’s Bulletins” and issues several numbers every year. These
together with the Experiment Station Records, sent out by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, give the latest discoveries, the latest scientific infor-
mation, and the reports of progress made in every department of agri-
culture. Any one may obtain these publications at a trifling cost. Many
of them are sent free to applicants. Every intelligent farmer should
procure and carefully read the publications treating of subjects in which
he is specially interested. Every teacher will be better able to teach
geography and the elements of agriculture after having read any of these
publications.

Children in the rural schools should acquire the knowledge indis-
pensable for reading these publications, or any book on modern agricul-
ture, or for attending with profit farmers’ institutes and meetings of
horticultural societies. As useful aids in pursuing the general subject
of agriculture may be mentioned: King’s “The Soil,” and “Goff’s
Principles of Plant Culture.” To the student of horticulture the fol-
lowing books by L. H. Bailey, may be found useful: “The Nursery
Book,” “Fruit Growing,” ‘Plant Breeding.”

OBJECTS.

The study of the underlying principles of agriculture should in-
spire pupils with the love of country life and the desire not to change it
for city of town life. It should inculcate the truth that the agricultural
profession—the most independent of all professions—is more remunera-
tive than many others for industrious, intelligent and well instructed
followers. It should inculeate in the minds of pupils an appreciation of

104 State Horticultural Society.

truth in its broadest sense; an appreciation of exact observation, an
exact expression of truths observed and a correct analysis of these truths.
While a boy may be able to distinguish between a pear tree and an apple
tree he can not name the distinguishing characters upon which he bases
this knowledge. While he may be able to select a beef animal from a
dairy animal he can not tell in what particular points they differ, so as
to impart this knowledge to another.

TIME REQUIRED.

It is recommended that the study of agriculture be not added to the
already crowded courses of study in the public schools. It is suggested
that a part of the time usually given to geography be devoted to the
elements of agriculture. A quite general belief prevails that much of
the so-called “geography” could be left out of our schools with little loss
to the children. Instead of memorizing facts about distant lands, which
are of such little interest that the child tries to remember them only
until the examinations have been passed, one fifth of the time, or one
lesson per week could be given to observation and experimental work in
agriculture. This would be an absolute gain to the interest in the geog-
raphy text-book during the remaining four days. Other subjects may
be studied correlatively to aid in preparing children for their future life.
Teachers in rural schools should adapt general education to the daily
needs of the local population, giving the reading matter, language, and
aritlmetic a touch of agricultural knowledge. Pastoral poetry, occupa-
tions or rural life, problems in the form of simple accounts and referring
to the cost of commodities bought and sold in the neighborhood, and the
mixtures and proportions of food for stock, may be valuable aids in les-
sons on agriculture.

METHOD.

Elementary instruction in agriculture should be addressed to the
intelligence and observation powers of the children rather than to their
memory. The study of plants and flowers should not be confined to
books, but should take in nature herself. It must not drift into a mere
literary study, or it will quickly fall into disrepute. Instruction should
be based upon the observation of daily facts in country life and on simple

Summer Meeting. 105

experiments, applying material resources at hand, and designed to prove
the scientific fundamental ideas of the most important agricultural
operations. Children should learn the reason for these operations, with
on explanation of the accompanying phenomena.

In no ease should a list of precepts, definitions, or agricultural
recipes be committed to memory. By the experimental method they
should learn the conditions essential for the growth of garden vegeta-
- bles, the reasons for habitual work in common farming, and the principal
hygienic rules for the care of man and animals.

The teacher would pursue a wrong course in the instruction in agri-
culture, should he only require the children to study and recite from a
text-book. Instruction, to be of value, must be by observation and by
simple experiment. Only by placing phenomena before them for ob-
servation can children be taught to observe and fix in their minds the

fundamental ideas upon which modern agricultural science rests.

COURSE OF STUDY.

For children up to the age of nine or ten years, object lessons, con-
tinued on the plan practiced in kindergartens, special attention being
given to objects from the garden, domestic animals and insects and birds
most numerous in the locality.

With older children it is impossible to understand even the simplest
phenomena in agriculture without some definite understanding of the
three states of matter and the properties of each. A child that does not
know air as a material substance, and knows some of its properties can
not understand the functions of nutrition and respiration. Experiments
showing the displacement of water by air, collecting and measuring
gases, preparing oxygen, showing that air contains oxygen can be made
at slight expense.

In the fall and winter, animals may be studied. The striking facts
in the histories of domestic animals, the varieties of dogs, horses and
other domestic animals are of interest.

Comparison of dogs and eats, horses and mules, hens and ducks may
be made. The habits of domestic fowls, of migratory birds, the meta-
morphosis of frogs, the silk worm, bees, all these are subjects full of
interest. °

106 State Horticultural Society.

Man as an animal, ruling all the others and yet dependent upon
other animals and plants, is next to be studied. The description of the
body, and the functions of nutrition and respiration should claim atten-
tion.

In early spring the attention of the children may be directed to the
phenomena of germination and the starting of the stem, the growth of
the root and root hairs. Later, flowers should be examined and the
names of each of the four whorls learned. A few of the families of
plants in the neighborhood may be observed, and their names and charac-
teristics studied.

After these elementary steps have been taken, pupils are able to
make simple experiments with soils.

The object up to this point has been to train them to observe and to
familarize them with the technical terms that are in common use.

They will be prepared to learn by intelligent experiment the value
ef the four great essentials of soil—humus, nitrogen, phosporic acid
and potash. Limestone may be converted into quicklime in the stove.
The action of water on quicklime, properties of slacklime, lime water,
the reconstruction of limestone from limewater and the carbon dioxide
exhaled from the lungs—all these give him ideas of chemical changes.

The mechanical separation of soil into humus, sand, and clay show-
the physical constitution of soil in a manner easily remembered.

The examinations of different soils in the field and by the road-side.
learning that plants, like animals, require nourishment and testing the
value of manures when applied to plants growing in poor soils, are next
in order.

A knowledge of insects injurious to vegetation together with the
best methods of destroying them may be obtained partly by observation
and partly from books. Birds that are friends to farmer, gardener, or
horticulturist, and that aid him in his warfare against injurious insects,
the wisdom of taking legal means to prevent the wanton destruction of
his feathered friends, are subjects about which every citizen should be
informed.

As long as that beautiful, sweet songster—the insect-eating meadow
lark is legally one of the game birds of Missouri, we must acknowledga

« “7° Oo hee . . .
our inability to distinguish our enemies from our friends.

Sumn.er Meeting. 107

If the course of experiment and observation here suggested be kept
ap during the school days of the children in rural schools, they will be
able to read with interest the reports of work done at the experiment
stations, and will learn to apply what in these reports is valuable for
agriculture in their own locality.

Intelligence will contribute to pleasure and profit in the profession
of agriculture, and agriculturists will contribute even more largely than
heretofore to the ranks of intelligent and enlightened American men
and women.

W. J. STEVENS, Chairman.
R. B. D. SImonson,
J. C: WHITTEN,

Committee.

REPORT OF CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE ON HORTI-
CULTURAL EDUCATION.

GB: ama,

I do not care what name you give this subject, just so it is taught.
There is not one dissenting voice to such teaching. Answering our list
of questions some of the best have been sent in by our mothers. Would
urge the importance of not making too vast a work of it, but bring it
down to simply actual needs. Our children will fairly luxuriate in such
work if given the opportunity. One of the most interesting things pos-
sible to a parent are children who are taught these things and who can
talk intelligently and with sympathy and understanding in these matters.
Our Teachers’ Association now in session at Sedalia are talking on hor-
ticulture and how they can best teach the rudiments. No great high
education is needed to teach many simple things along this line. Higher
study is necessary for more advanced teaching of course.
Prof. Whitten.—It is well to take up such subjects in order to bring
boys into close relation with nature. The country is the best place to be

educated in, if one is taught right. Nature study brings the mind into

108 State Horticultural Society.

a spiritual relation to life giving a proper view and greater enjoyment
of life. There is a better understanding of the condition of growth
with the increased ability to understand and enjoy nature. The subject
is new and we hardly know the best plan for introducing it. There is,
however, enough knowledge now to make a beginning and then increase
this. The courses in the university will show a teacher how to make a
child understand plants and animals.

ENTOMOLOGY AND HORTICULTURE.

Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo.

It is in the field of horticulture especially that economic or applied
entomology has achieved its most signal triumphs. ‘Trees, shrubs and
berry plants afford a defined if not very limited area within and upon
which to work. Moreover, most of the insect species depredating upon
them are comparatively large size, or appear in colonies, or in other ways
yeveal their exact location so that a remedy or preventive can be effect-
ively applied. Again, the fruit products are so valuable, proportion-
ately, that it has been found worth while to incur the expense of the
chemicals, apparatus and labor necessary for warding off or destroying
their enemies.

In the case of field crops this has only in rare instances been found
practicable. However valuable our grains, it would not pay to spray
with Paris green or kerosene emulsion for chinch bug, Hessian fly or
grasshoppers. They can only be, to a certain extent, controlled by rotation
of crops, by the persistent use of the plow and roller and by other inten-
sive cultivation. In addition to this, birds, many small animals, preda-
ceous or parasitic insects and fungus diseases can be fostered and will
render good service, and upon these the farmer must rely for the most
part. In horticulture, however, as can readily be understood, direct
and specific remedies are perfectly practicable. But even here to obtain
the most satisfactory results, with least expense of matrials, labor and
wear of machinery, some knowledge of the life histories and habits of

the more prominent pests is indispensable. This is the main object of

Summer Meeting. 109

he study and investigation of this branch of the animal kingdom as
now pursued at agricultural colleges and experiment stations as well as
by many individual entomologists.

Through such observations we learn that it is not worth while to
waste effort to capture or poison certain sorts of winged forms, when the
species can be so much more easily destroyed by wholesale in the egg or
larva state. This applies to the parent forms of most caterpillars, slugs,
leaf-feeding beetles, ete. On the other hand in the case of borers and
some others, it is against the winged or perfect forms that our efforts at
extermination must be mainly directed. ‘The three entirely distinct
forms under which many of the most destructive insects exist, make a
considerable knowledge of their transformations also a requisite to vic-
torious warfare against them. ‘Their structure, too, must be recognized
to enable the fruit grower to apply the proper remedy. It is almost
useless to spray with arsenical poisons for such insects as obtain their
nourishment by suction, by means of a beak, while for many of the biting
species, kerosene emulsion as well as not a few other patented insecticides
appear to be merely an additional flavoring to the leaves and buds upon

which they feast. Some insects can best be fought at one season and
some at another. Sometimes they are to be met in open battle, when in
the act of spoliation, and in other cases effort is wasted in this way, when
the pests can be so much more easily overcome by what may be compared
to an ambusceade.

For these reasons it is important that the up-to-date horticulturist
should make himself familiar, not only with the caterpillars, worms and
erubs that he finds feeding in the orchard and garden, but also with the
butterflies, moths, beetles and flies into which they transform, and also
with some of the most important of the cannibal and parasitic insects
that are always his best friends, and, in the case of some injurious forms,
his main reliance for the preservation of his crops from destruction.
These include the large, handsome ground beetles, the tiger beetles,
the mantis, or “devil’s horse,” the lace wing flies and a few other can-
nibal beetles and bugs. Almost every one knows the value of the pretty
little lady-bug beetles, as exterminators of plant lice, scale insects and
other small pests, but some orchardists seem still to be unfamiliar with
their appearance and usefulness. Not long ago I received from one of

110 State Horticultural Society.

my correspondents a half ounce bottle literally packed with specimens
of the handsome little, rose-red, black dotted species of lady-bugs that
are so common everywhere, ‘which,’ as the accompanying letter in-
formed me, “together with their young ones were destroying the leaves
and young growth of some of his fruit trees.” The supposed ‘“‘young
ones” being a very destructive species of plant louse upon which the
beetles had congregated for the purpose of feeding and breeding upon
them. The idea that an otherwise intelligent horticulturist should have
thus ruthlessly slaughtered so many of his best friends was little short of
sickening.

But, do all these points seem to require more close observation and
study than the practical fruit grower has time for? Let him not be dis-
couraged. He can acquire a sufficient knowledge of the most important
orchard and garden pests to combat them intelligently and protect the
insects that prey upon them without laborious study, by keeping his eyes
upon and reading his agricultural and horticultural papers. Among the
half million or so of described insects he requires to know but compara-
tively few species, but these he needs to know well, as well as how and
avhen and what to apply in the way of remedies and preventive meas-
ures. Some few general directions can be given for the treatment of
injurious insects in orchards and gardens that are the result of intelligent
experiment and have been proved by years of trial to be entirely dependa-
ble. Among these rules are: That all scale insects (bark lice), espe-
cially the dreaded San Jose species, are most safely and economically
iveated during the winter months. while the trees are leafless and in a
state of comparative rest. The most effective applications
are whale-oil or fish-oil soap, one and a half or two pounds of soap to a
gallon of water, or kerosene emulsion reduced by only five or six times its
bulk of water. These must be applied to every branch and twig as well
as to the trunk, and will penetrate the scales and destroy the eggs that
are wintering under them. A much reduced kerosene emulsion applied
in June will destroy the young of the oyster-shell bark louse and some
other species that are active at that time.

Spraying with Paris green in water—one pound of the green to 200
gallons of water—will in great measure save the apples from the codling
moth, or apple worm. At least two sprayings should be given in spring

Summer Meetin:. 1B

and early summer before the fruit turns down. These treatments wil]
also protect the tree from the canker worm and other leaf eating pests.

For the plum or peach curculio no application that has yet been
tried has given much satisfaction. Clean culture, the careful gathering
and destroying of the fallen fruit, trapping very early in the spring by
means of cobs, pieces of bark, chips and the like, placed around the base
of the tree and the jarring process are, as yet, the only reliable means
of keeping this great enemy of the stone fruits in check.

All false caterpillars or slug worms which gnaw off the green tissue
cr perforate the leaves of roses, currant bushes and strawberry plants
are quickly killed by a tea made by steeping an ounce of white hellebore
in three gallons of water and applying in a fine spray. ‘This is most
effective when put on late in the afternoon or in the evening.

The leaf folder and large caterpillars that attack grape vines can be
removed by hand picking with comparatively little labor. The tiny

as they are often incorrectly called, which are

leaf-hoppers or “‘thrips,’
so injurious to the foliage, can be killed by spraying with rather weak
kerosene emulsion or with pyrethrum powder in water at the rate of one
ounce of the former to three gallons of the latter. These insects are
greatly attracted to lights at night and myriads may be destroyed by
kindling bonfires or torches at various locations in the vineyard.

For most other insect pests some especial treatment is required of
which the limits of this paper will not admit of description, but which
may be obtained from all professional entomologists and from many
works now on the market on the subject of the insects injurious to fruits
and garden products.

A yery complete and inexpensive little handbook on “Insecticides
and Spraying” has recently been brought to my notice, which I would
recommend to all fruit growers. The price is only twenty cents and it
may be had from the author, Prof. H. E. Weed, Mont Vista Fruit Farm,
Griffin, Ga.

112 State Horticultural Society.

HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION.
By Mrs. Geo. E. Dugan, Sedalia, Mo.

“Princes and lords may flourish or may fade:

A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold yeomanry, their country’s pride.
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.”

Ours is a chimerical age as regards education. A knowledge of
living things and of life-sustaining principles are looked upon as useless.
An attempt to gain really practical information subjects the student to
ridicule. Is it not better to know how to make fruit trees thrive and
yield a bountiful supply of health-giving food, than it is to recite Cicero
in the original or conjugate Greek verbs while starving to death ?

The noble arts of agriculture and horticulture, the only steadfast
foundation of national prosperity, are sneered at by the little people who
throng the colleges; those who know a great deal concerning certain
text books, and next to nothing about how to earn a living.

“Horticulture in the schools!” shrieks the pedagogue. “I shall
oppose it, it is nonsense to introduce a study of this nature; to do so will
disarrange our entire program. It will also consume valuable time
which ought to be given to psychical research, or to the study of the
ancient languages.”

“Agriculture and horticulture can be learned by instinct, men
naturally know how to farm! Why should a boy be required to waste
his time on these things ?”

Thus they argue, and thus more and more are the youths of our land
turned away, and taught to despise the fundamental principles of all
education.

The earth is a wide and deep laboratory of complex agents, which
must be studied and mastered before either soil cultivation or horticul-
ture work can fully succeed. The good farmer in this age should be a
well taught man in the arts of agriculture and horticulture. Principles
may be learned by reading and study, therefore if we are to continue
the race of agriculturists, we must no longer seek to degrade, but rather

to dignify the occupation of soil culture.

Summer Meeting. 113

The farmer’s son may seem to be akin to the clod he cultivates, to
the superficial-eyed, the city youth, but that boy from the fields is
studying life. He feels its sharp contrast, he notes that his occupation is
despised, and himself looked down upon, and he says with a firm deter-
mination of keeping his word, “I will not be a farmer!” As soon as he
is of legal age he abandons the old farm, under its haphazard manage-
ment, and goes into the city, and drives a dray, or measures calico, ac-
cording as his appearance is good or his ability favorable. Were the
principles of agriculture and horticulture taught in the common schools.
all this would be changed. Respect for the avocation would bring forth
high-minded, gentle, manly farmers, not here and there one, as now, but
the masses would be of the above type.

Then, too, the ranks of the agriculturists would not be thinning
until the great problem of the rural district is,‘*How canwekeep our boys
on the farm?” The farms would soon begin to be crowded, and the new
cry would be, “‘How can we keep the city clerks behind the counter ?”

When edueation shall accomplish this purpose and the husbandman
is a recognized king among men, because of his scientific agricultural
and horticultural edueation, then shall we see in rural life the social
problem solved.

Instead of the present feeling of degradation, there will be a digni-
fied pride in the only avocation given to man by his Creator.

When years shall have completed an honorable agricultural career,
we shall say with the poet:

“A sparkling eye beneath a wrinkled front
The veteran shows, and gracing a gray beard
With youthful smiles, descends toward the grave,
Sprightly, and old almost without decay.”

L. A. Goodman.—How is this to be done now? We ean not lay
down fixed rules to settle it. How to grow fruit, distinguish varieties and
trees, to cultivate and make money at it, can not he put into books.
Books are not the proper form nor means of knowledge. The way is to
take the pupils out to the garden, show them how to plant, sow seeds, graft
and cultivate; moreover, for this the teacher must be properly informed
about growing plants and varieties. Memory is not the way. In
connection with teaching we must formulate some plan for directing the

H—8

114 State Horticultural Society.

instructor. If we go to the fields, to nature herself, we get enthusiastic
and interested at once, not cramming from books but developing the
brain naturally. It is better to know how, by experience, to use the
brain than to have it jam full of facts. Little leaflets from Prof. L. H.
Bailey of Cornell on seed-growing and twigs awaken the curiosity as to
a year’s growth and the size and shape of leaf buds as distinguished from
fruit buds. Experimental lessons are best, books will fail of our pur-
pose to interest the young in nature and destroy the refreshing effects.
“Tt is not the question to say it should be done, but how shall it be
done. No book or series of questions can be laid down as altogether best.
Questions come up every way and can not go down in books. My mother
took me out and taught me practical work and made me a horticulturist
and this is the way we want to teach it. Much depends on the teachers
and they must know how. We want to teach the child to know about
growing plants. How to think properly. If we can form any directing
plan, with the Teachers’ Association committee work, it is the way we can
best get at it. One time we thought it a good plan to give a list of fruits
to plant, but now we think best to let each think for himself. books
won’t do. Take children to the fields and teach them there. I deplore
cramming a great lot of book knowledge on this subject, when the
scholar is interested at once by actual work. Direct the minds into the
right way. Rather teach them how to use head and brain than simply
eram the head with book learning. I would not have a book at all, but
have some directing line of some kind, so teachers may know how to go
ahead. Take a boy to an apple tree and show him how much grew last
year and he is interested at once. Same with seeds, he wants to know
how at once. A few years ago I thought we needed a book, but now
fear that we can not do the best work that way, and we might thus set
the voung puvils against these things, instead of interesting them in
nature study. :
Dr. Hensley.—The trouble is teachers have little knowledge to go
about teaching. It would be good to have a summer school at colleges
and so give opportunity to teach intelligently without a book, what they
liaxc learned. They can not get it from books, they need practical

methods.
J. C. Evans.—Will this plan reach the masses of farmers ?

G. B. Lamm.—It could be taught in the teachers’ institutes.

Summer Meeting. 115

J. Hensley.—Make it practically compulsory, it should be used in
every school. The teachers should be informed for immediate sur-
roundings.

Prof. Whitten—This year we have in our university course for
teachers many of our best workers from among the country schools. If
a few teachers become interested then a nature course can be made part
of the institute work. No revolution is sudden in educational lines, but
always gradual.

L. Chubbuck.—Many years ago the present state superintendent of
_ schools threw off as impracticable any plan for introducing nature study,
it would have no success in schools, he said. At the next trial he said
there was no time; and at the next he took an interest, until now he
promises to help spread the movement. I join in commending Prof.
Stevens’ report, and indorse unreservedly what he says. All we need
to do is to unite under Prof. Stevens.

J. Hensley made a motion that the committee on Horticultural
Edueation with the one from the Teachers’ Association be instructed to
go on and prepare a plan and recommend such to the society at its next
meeting. The motion was carried.

Upon call of the chairman of the committee on Horticultural
Education, G. B. Lamm of Sedalia, a meeting was held in the parlors
of the hotel, the matter of publishing a book was thoroughly discussed in
all its bearings, and it was finally agreed upon by the committee that
such a work should have the best of experts in every department. This
being a time of specialists, a specialist should prepare each different
department to make it authorative and of any practical value. Such a
work would be more than any one man should undertake, and it should
contain so much information in all lines of work, practical growing and
cultivation, insects, fungus diseases, botany, chemistry, geology, ete.,
that it seemed to the committee unadvisable to attempt the preparation
of such a work at this time.

L. A. Goopman, Sec’y.

116 State Horticultural Society.

SIXTH SESSION—Thursday Afternoon.

BEST PLAN IN DISTRIBUTIONS OF SMALL FRUITS.

By G. T. Tippin, Nichols, Mo.

Mr. President:

In attempting to prepare a paper to be presented to the society
to-day upon the topic assigned me, I assure you that I have realized in
part, the importance of the subject in hand, and fully realized my inca-
pability to present it as fully as it should be. One year ago we pre-
sented a paper at the West Plains meeting somewhat along the same line.
At that time, with one season’s experience in co-operation for the dis-
tribution of fruits, we felt very much encouraged, and that we knew con-
siderable about it. Since that time we have passed through another
season, been in close touch with all the berry districts of south Missouri
and Arkansas, witnessed the operation of three different systems of dis-
tribution conducted by the organized associations, in the different dis-
tricts. We now feel that we know but little about it, and that but few
have yet fully realized the importance of this matter. More important
than the knowing how to plant, to grow, to harvest and pack, is know-
“ng the best method of distribution, and carrying it into suecessful opera-
tion. Failing in this destroys the possibility of any profit upon all labor
and expense necessary to put our products into the finished package.
Feeling that as yet we would not be able to suggest a perfect plan of
distribution, we hope that by a review of the work along these lines,
calling your attention to the good points as well as the weak ones, the
different agencies that enter into the distribution of our large and small
fruit crops that have a tendency to destroy the very object of our efforts,
suggesting what we think would be best, and the discussions that may
follow, we will be able to make a great advancement in this direction
before another year. One of two things are inevitable. A more syste-
matic and business way of disposing of our perishable products or quit
the business. No business will long continue that does not yield some
profit to those who are chiefly engaged in its pursuits. Taking this
view of the question the producer at once becomes the most interested

Summer Meeting. 1G igs

party, and we shall endeavor to present our ideas of the best plans for
distributing small fruits from his standpoimt alone. In doing so, we
feel quite sure of bringing upon ourselves the criticism of some whose
interests in the distribution and sale of our products are only entitled
to a secondary consideration. Accepting the fact, however, that unless
the business of production is so managed in all its phases as to insure a
profit to the producer, we believe that the criticisms from these sources
will not be given more consideration than they are entitled to by the
erower, and we will be justified in undergoing the same, if by it some
good may come out of it. In the Van Buren district an effort was made
to organize all the associations into a distributive union, managed by a
-entral committee composed of one member of each association belonging
tothe union. Their plan of distribution being as follows: The number of
the best markets were selected each day according to the number of
ears to be shipped. The number of the cars placed on slips of paper,
put in one box, the names of the cities on slips in another box. A slip
was drawn from car number box, a slip from box containing cities to be
used that day, the car number and the name of the city thus drawn, fixed
the destination of that car. Had all the associations gone into it and
the plan been honestly carried out no doubt but that it would have
accomplished great good. But for lack of confidence in its objects and
management they were not able to control only a little over one-half
the car load output, besides the express shipments, consequently accom-
plished nothing. A co-operation in any district that does not control
almost the entire output can do but little good. North of the mountains
to the Missouri line the associations undertook a different plan. Each
association to have choice of market by turn. ‘The first to-day would
have last choice to-morrow, which was not satisfactory, as it so happened
that some of the associations had an advantage in choice of markets for
several days over others, when prices were better at beginning of shipping
season; and several other points, shipping outside of this arrangement, at
the same time and to the same markets selected by these associates. In
Missouri but little attention was paid to distribution this season, owing to
the fact that some of the associations withdrew, some of the larger ones
did not belong, and principally owing to short crop, and little danger

of glutting any markets. However, if we lad had as large a yield ac-

118 State Horticultural Society.

cording to acreage as in 1897, we would have been in bad shape. No
doubt you would ask by this time why these co-operative movements do
not succeed. I will answer as best I can. First, for want of confidence
of the grower in the management of his local association, and his ever
readiness to listen to the advice of a representative of some interest that
will receive a hundred cents on the dollar whether the berries are prop-
erly distributed and sold or not. Second, the want of confidence of one
association in another, putting themselves in a position to become the
victims of advice, schemes and plans suggested by those whose only
interest is hidden in a selfish motiye. It is too bad that this condition
exists, and while there are a few instances where the confidence of the
shipper in the management of his association and of one association in
another has been abused, yet in almost every instance the cause of the
wrong done had its origin with the representative of an outside interest.
This condition will continue until we incorporate better business prin-
ciples into the handling of our products, and we are frank to say that
we will not accomplish anything in distribution until such time as we
will be able to form a closer and better business relation with those
who handle our products. By doing this we will be able to eliminate
to a large degree the unscrupulous representative of any interest, whose
only care is that he, or those he represents, may get their share of the
proceeds of our product, apparently unconscious of the fact that if we
make nothing out of our business we will be forced to quit and in that
event they will get nothing at all. So long as the consignment of our
perishable fruits are governed in part by the same influences that they
have been in the past all efforts and plans of distribution will fail. You
ask, what is the solution? I would answer, that the most gratifying of
all to the weary husbandman is selling on the track. This would solve
the question of distribution. But not being able to do this as yet, we
suggest that which we think the next best thing. Before doing so,
however, we will suggest some changes that will have to be made along
our line of work before we can hope for much profit in growing small
fruits in a commercial way. Instead of packing our fruit in a slip-shod
way we should pack it under a brand, should not make more than two
grades, and both those good. Each association should seek to build

up a trade on its own brand of goods. Take our first step in distribution

Summer Meeting. in

by abandoning old berry fields, and the idea of farming berries in large
acreage like corn; distribute our small berries at home to the canning
factory, or on the dump pile; reorganize our associations under
more rigid rules, barring anyone who would not pack stock that you
could guarantee under your biand. Hawing done this, we are in a
position to form such contracts for the handling of our small fruits as
will help us in distribution and selling at home as well.

The theory of either plan of distribution referred to is good, but
the plan of the southwest co-operative union we think the best, as it
leaves the businesss of each association in its own hands. Yet in case
of a large shipment it would fail in part unless the central office should
have the power to divert cars when too many were enroute for one
market. To exercise this power would open the way for dissatisfaction
in all instances where such diverted car should happen to not do as well
as the association shipping it expected.. The representative of the
market from which car is diverted is too often ready to take advantage
of-such dissatisfaction, seeks to encourage it, hoping thereby to be able
to secure more business for himself. Recognizing all the distributing
elements ever present, how easy it is for the shipper to be deceived into
making consignments on misrepresentation of markets and conditions.

We believe the best plan for handling our crop would be for each
shipper or association to make its own arrangement. They should make
careful estimate of their probable output as early in the season as pos-
sible, select the number of markets to be used according to the daily
supply you will have. If you will have but one car daily, select one
market. If five cars daily, select five markets. Make a business con-
tract with some commission firm whom you know to be reliable. Enter
into a mutual agreement with such firm to furnish him his needed supply
daily regularly, they agreeing to handle your product exclusively as
long as you can supply them. By doing this, and packing your products
under a brand, the selling agent can build up a trade for you that is per-
manent, and one that he can afford, too; he will take care of it by
treating the shipper right. This will do away with the irregularity of
supply under the present system which is so often disastrous. In mar-
keting perishable products one car daily in a market may be all
right, while to put the three in one day, and none for the other two would

120 State Horticultural Socvety.

be a heavy loss. Having observed these conditions closely for three
years at both ends of the line, in the absence of our not yet being able
to sell all our products on track, we believe this the best course to pursue.
And would state here that Mr. Hale, of Connecticut, one of the largest
peach growers in the world, packs his peaches under a brand, handles
them on this plan, bills out his ten to fifteen cars daily in a few minutes,
sits down, has a pleasant chat with the boys for an hour or so, goes home
early, retires to his quite rest, makes money, while his neighbors who
handle their business like we berry growers, are hounded from office to
packing shed, from shed to shipping station by an army of people who
have the best markets in the world. With over taxed brain, tired body,
confused to the utmost, fifteen minutes before the train is to leave that
hauls his stuff he makes his consignments and, like the panting hare in
the heated chase in seeking its only refuge, goes into a hole oftentimes
never to recover from it, “financiaily.”” What applies to distribution in
car lots will apply to express shipments. This brings us to the consid-
eration of another factor which enters very materially into successful
distribution outside of refrigerator car shipments, and that is the express
business. We used to on the farm, when I was a boy, have a mule that
was the meanest mule I ever saw. He would break over any fence,
invade any premises, it mattered not how private, and was never satis-
fied with his share of the feed, but to keep him steady at work and feed
him by himself he was the best and most useful mule on the farm. It
is about the same with the express companies. The only way to keep
them from knocking down the fences around our arrangements is to hitch
them up systematically and work them, which I think we can do suc-
cessfully if we can only find an antidote for his appetite. But that
appetite, oh,my! Itis awful. Yet they say that they do not consume
much more than other carriers we are using. This is true. Yet it is
poor apology when the others are charging exorbitant rates. One way
we can get even with them if they won’t divide, and that is to quit the
business and they won’t get any thing out of the small fruit business.
Pardon this digression. The express companies can be used to great
advantage in distribution by using them in a systematic way. Hundreds
of small cities and towns can be supplied with berries direct, that as yet

have not had any berries to speak of during our shipping season. The

Summer Meeting. 121

associations should make their arrangements with the 1oute agents in
time, so that with their assistance in distributing, different lines of road
or sections of the country could be supphed from the different shipping
points, always bearing in mind to arrange your loading so as to avoid
transfers if possible. The idea being to get your berries to the market
as direct as possible. By reaching all the points that can be reached by
local express in this way that will take all the way from one crate to
three hundred per day, we can distribute lots of our sma!l fruits to
good advantage, which will largely prevent glutting the larger markets.

In conclusion allow me to suggest that the growers, the transpor-
tation companies, and the selling agents, or commission firms, who sell
our products get closer together, adopt more practical business methods,
and where we have been able to sell many packages and a number of
cars this season on track, we will be able to sell many more next year.

Respectfully,
G20 een:

DISCUSSION ON DISTRIBUTION.

J. Hensley.
posed of at home and the rest sold on the track, distribution would be
provided for; but when there is a car load on the track and no one to buy,

The conclusion is that if the inferior fruit were dis-

what then? It is said the express, railroad and commission companies
are all robbers, but I do not feel so. When eight and ten shipments of
berries are consigned at once and they have to be sold at a loss, the com-
mission men are not to blame. The way is to consume and can at home,
sell on the track and ship to large markets to be sold at auction. Have
an agent at the market to say when to throw the car onto the market
and sell to the highest bidder. Find out what towns can use the fruits
and arrange with the express companies to take them there and send
as many as will be consumed. Not one in ten has a good meal of straw-
berries, even this year.

D. MeNallie, Sarcoxie.—My experience has been that we are in the
hands of the railroad and commission men and must submit. There is
room for advancement, but that has not been devised. We could dispense

122 State Horticultural Society.

with the luxury of the solicitors. They make trouble and low prices,
want stuff regardless of what the market can use. Every association
ought to notify its commission house that it will not consign if they keep
a solicitor out.

Mr. Fowler, Waterloo, lowa.—Growers should know what they are
to receive when they sell. One trouble is that the shippers send other
cars when the commission man could give a good price for one. Our
house goes where the fruit is grown and buys and pays for it. This is
the way solicitors should do, for by owning the cars they take more in-
terest in them. ‘The growers need the solicitor to sell to, not consign.

Evans.—The time has come for proper distribution. Much fruit
is lost which had better be dumped than sent to market and express paid
for it extra. Say to your solicitor, “pay for the car and the wheels will
turn, but not before.” The commission man can beat us at distribution.
There are not too many strawberries, but too many sent to one market
because the solicitor wanted to scoop the other fellow.

A paper was read on “Relation of Transportation to the Growers
of Small Fruits,” by Maj. A. McKinney, of Pierce City, Mo.

DISCUSSION ON TRANSPORTATION.

Irvine.—Can part of the car be sold en route ?

McKinney.—Some transportation companies permit this selling
along the line but it is not general at all.

Helvern.—We billed a crate to Minnesota but could sell it anywhere
we wanted to.

McKinney.—Will the company switch the car?

Helvern.—We started a car and had time to unload fifty or sixty
crates at stations on the way.

Evans.—You have to put your large crops of fruit in refrigerating
cars and can not expect to stop and take it out. If you ship a small
amount, the law allows you to unload any part any where and this is prac-
ticable with small crops.

Summer Meeting. 123

Helvern.—First class berries never overstock the markets, but too
many poor ones are shipped and we do not realize anything on one-half
of our crops because they are poor. I never put in a poor berry and
never lose on my sales, but net fifty-two cents clear of everything. Take
care of inferior fruit by canning and so save money.

H. Adkins, Sarcoxie.-—Our association sells on the track and all
other points agree not to consign but to sell on track.

Tippin.—Auction is impracticable, as strawberries are too perish-
able. Selling on the track will do with smaller crops. We should prac-
tice more system ourselves and thus do away with solicitors. Many will
not buy when others consign to the same point. The part you can not
sell should be cared for at home.

Atwood.—There ought to be a meeting of the north Arkansas and
south Missouri growers to talk these matters over.

Adkins.—Berry growers need to meet and formulate plans to keep

up with the commission, railroad and refrigerating men.

WINTER INJURY TO FRUITS.

By G. W. Hopkins, Springfield, Mo.

If we had had an ordinary season last fall and the trees had grown
late in the fall then we would not have had any live trees. The winter
began October 17th and we can not yet tell how extensive the injury is.
A hot, dry season will kill many trees. Every peach tree has its wood
discolored to the snow-line but all right below. Some have cut their
trees to the snow-line, some have cut the tops back severely, others not
at all. The medium plan has been the golden one. The young trees
eut back just ordinarily made a good growth. ‘The six-year-olds I cut
off five to six feet and the limbs have grown finely. Some trees were
hurt also by the drouth and may never recover. Some six-year-olds
not cut back at all have put out their leaves but they look as though
they would die. I would not cut so severely again as I did this time,

124 State Horticultural Society.

and thus get the leaves out earlier. The bark bursted on some trees,
yet the cambium layer appears sound, although the wood is discolored.

Keiffer pears were injured in the February freeze, some even so the
wood was black, but I left them alone; they grew finely and there is no
trace of the discoloration now, but have fine specimen trees in prospect.
Some thought that on the frozen trees blight would appear more, but
notso. Keiffer looks fine.

Cherries bloomed well but the fruit is dropping and trees look as
though they were dying all around.

Japan plums are hurt but Wild Goose and others not so much.

The injury to apples was started in the drouth of 1897. Older trees
made a fine growth, and foliage is as green as at any time. The younger
ones show the injury in a sickly, yellow appearance. Where the roots
and trees were not cared for, there the trees are invariably hurt the

*vorst.

The wood of the Kansas and Progress raspberries is uninjured to the
tips. The vines were well mulched with crab grass which grew up and
stayed all winter. The canes were fine when I went in to trim them.
The Hopkins is reported good and where covered show little injury.

The Snyder and Taylor blackberries will have a good crop and were
apparently unhurt. The Early Harvest promises a good crop though
it has a tender bud.

Red respberries were killed to the ground but there are some good
returns now reported.

Goodman.—If seven and eight-year-old apple «nd three or four-
year-old peach trees are now uncut would you prune them 4

Hopkins.—Never at this time, the leaves are needed and loss of
them would kill the trees.

Evans.—Why are the old ones hurt more 4

Hopkins.—I do not know. The young ones are not so; the two-
year-olds are the same way. Old trees were on the decline and had had
less care.

Evans.—The old bark is stiff and does not contract and expand
readily, so is erupted from the wood without bursting and the air gets in
so that it never adheres again and dies. Young bark is pliable and does
not split.

Summer Meeting. 125

Hopkins.—On six-year peach trees the bark split and curied. yet the
leaves put out well.

Hensley.—W ould you cut the injured part now ?

Hopkins.—Yes; but not dehorn.

Goodman.—Where the tips are dead will it not be good to cut off
four or six feet down to the sound wood ?

Hopkins.—If you do not cut off too much leaf surface and enough
is left to avoid harm.

Helvern.—Mt. Rose, Crawford Early and Elberta limbs broke with
fruit one year and I sawed off these and even others about July first
but they made a pretty growth and were not hurt by frost.

Evans.—No; the cold will not hurt those cut off, but the trees now
dying at the tips will be dead in August.

Hopkins.—Elberta, the tenderest in bud, but hardiest in wood, of
all, started finely.

Murray.—In Holt county, there seems to be a peculiar condition.
The apples are killed at the root and peaches are not hurt. This is true in
the nursery as well. Thousands put out well but are now dying. Young
pears are three-fifths killed. Peaches are killed in the top, but not
badly injured in the body. I advise cutting off half way down so the
body will support the new top, and next year we will get fruit. In
north Missouri the ground froze first under the snow, then froze four
feet deep and lasted from February until April: In consequence we
will have good prices for some years; better varieties will be produced
and overproduction is buried.

Geo. Bill, Arkansas.—In Wisconsin one winter the ground froze
to a depth of seven feet, and the sunshine, dry wind and warmth created
sap action, but the roots did not act, so the trees were lost. Native
cherries were killed in the same way this year in Arkansas and the nur-
series also.

Irvine.—Forty per cent of the Ben Davis trees were wrapped with
wooden veneer wrappers and the bark on those trees is turning black
almost clear around, the unwrapped trees are not so. Of 3,500 trees in
wooden wrappers many were lost by excluding the sun and air; they

also wore by rubbing the bark and proved a harbor for all kinds of

126 State Horticultural Society.

enemies. We are now using wire wrappers and the loss by borers is ten
per cent less. |

Goodman.—TI have used during the last five years over 150,000
tree wrappers, wooden veneer, one-twelfth inch thick, ten inches wide,
eighteen or twenty inches long. ‘The wooden wrappers | always put on
the trees as soon as planted. I have found them the cheapest and best
protection, taking all things into consideration. The pores of the wood
give enough air to cause a healthy growth of the bark and do not retard
the growth in caliper of the trees. The shade that these wooden wrap-
pers give the bodies of the trees, gives enough better growth to pay tor
putting them on. Besides this they protect from the rabbits the single
trees and almost an entire protection from borers. As for the injury by
mice, I have lost so few of them that it is hardly worth mentioning, but
one thing I am always careful to do and that is to clear all weeds and
trash away from the trees for at least two feet. The other trouble
mentioned, the bark of the trees turning black, I have not had oceur on
one tree in one thousand. I consider them so valuable that I always use
them but I keep the trees clean of weeds and trash. They do not
exclude the air or sunshine enough to even make the bark tender, but
they do keep the bark bright and healthy.

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORM APPLE PACKAGES.
By John T. Snodgrass, West Plains.

I hope this brief paper will lead to a general discussion, for it is
certainly a subject of sufficient importance to all interested in the grow-
ing and handling of the peer of all fruits—the apple. Friends, you will
excuse me if I depart a little from my subject and state that the apple
should be picked when ripe, not green, or allowed to hang until over ripe.
Pick and sort carefully and pack only the perfect fruit. Some who have
large commercial orchards may pack at once in the orchard but I prefer
putting them in slatted crates holding a bushel each, or in open barrels;
haul to warehouse and there store or pack as we wish. Now as to pack-
ages I lould say three kinds. Why not pack to please the consumer, for

Summer Meeting. 127

the nearer we get to the consumer better prices we get. I would specially
recommend the shallow two-layer box for summer, fall and fancy winter
apples; then the bushel box for our next grade summer apples. Would
not use barrels for summer or fall packing. Our winter apples carry
better and keep longer. These I would pack largely in bushel boxes.
These boxes are eleven inches wide, eleven inches deep and nineteen and
one-half inches long. They can be had of any box manufacturer.
Anderson Tully Co., Memphis, Tenn., quotes them seven cents each in
car lots, knocked down. Three of these boxes costing a little less than
our regular three bushel apple barrels.

As before stated, I would pack our fancy varieties in the shallow
two-layer box, wrap each apple. The balance in bushel boxes and stand-
ard three bushel barrels. Put nothing but first-class fruit on the mar-
ket; build evaperators and use inferior stock at home. Why pay freight,
commissions, etc., when you can get more out of it as evaporated fruit.

If we use the barrel, see that it is the standard three bushel, six
hoop, made well. I get the regular stock in knock down and have my
own coopers make them. Nail your hoops on well and use head-liners,
for the commission man has good reason to complain when he comes to
open a barrel of apples where they have used from twelve to thirty
nails to fasten in heads. Had they used liners three or four nails in
hoops is enough and three nails in each liner, which can be taken off
very easily.

Face your barrels carefully with two layers of average apples. Be
careful and not put all small apples on face end, then sort carefully from
sorting table. ~ I use table made from two by four scantling covered with
heavy duck, allowing an apron of some four feet over ends. Pour your
apples from your crates out upon this table; the packer having faced his
barrel, places it at either end of table and brings the apron up over the
barrel. As the apples are sorted into this apron it is let down into the
barrel preventing them from bruising, gently shake the barrel at least
twice while filling, round it up well above the chime of barrel, put on
your lever press and force the head into place, fasten it, and your
barrel of apples is ready for market ruined before it leaves your door,
for you all know it is impossible to pack a barrel of apples tight enough
to carry fifty miles without bruising more or less every apple in the

128 State Horticultural Society.

barrel. That is why I dislike the barrel and recommend the bushel
box. You can gently press the lid of the box into place without bruising
the apples and they can be packed in car to good advantage and the con-
sumer will buy a bushel box of apples instead of a peck or half bushel
when he knows the fruit is not bruised. They can be handled just as
quickly as barrels and I hope the day is not far off when we will adopt
the bushel box as the apple package.

I thought it might be well to get an expression from the commission
merchants, retail dealers and consumers, so I wrote many of my personal
friends north, east, and south, asking what style package they preferred
and will read you the replies as far as received. Two of the leading
firms of Minneapolis differ as to the package, one advocates the standard
three bushel barrel, the other firm without doubt handles more of the
far west fruit (California and Oregon) than any house in the northwest;
they say let it be the bushel box, a neater package to handle and less
opportunity for fraud in packing. ‘The large fancy grocery house of
Cincinnati, “The Josepli R. Peeble’s Sons Co.” say they prefer the bushel
box. John Wannamaker, of Philadelphia. says the bushel box, and the
letter which I read from a consumer certainly merits our consideration
for it is the consumer we should try to please. Put up all our fruit in
as neat and tempting packages as possible.

DISCUSSION ON UNIFORM PACKAGES.

Nelson.—Anything that brings three to eight cents extra to the
producer is worth working for, and the ten or thirty cents on a barrel
besides. Good barrels are scarce now. We must have boxes for suc-
cessful package for our best apples.

G. T. Tippin presented the resolution which follows and it was
adopted:

In view of the increasing demand for apples packed in bushel boxes,
both for domestic and export trade; of the greater convenience of this
package for retail use; of the less liability of damaging fruit when pack-
ing and handling; of the better shape of the package for cold storage than

Summer Meeting. 129

the barrel; the use of the box for packing apples is therefore recom-
mended by the Missouri State Horticultural Society.
Evans.—This is a good step in a great reform. I favor a box for
all apples fit to go to market, and sending the rest somewhere else.
Tippin.—Such a reform will be adopted rapidly as the consumer
reasons that little apples will not be put in the middle of a box as they

are in the bulge of a barrel.

SHEEP RAISING AND ORCHARDING.
By I. B. Lawton, Bentonville, Ark.

In recommending a sheep flock to the horticulturist there is a
strained relationship that calls for the sheep to rise and explain. Sheep
do excellent work in an old, well established orchard. They gather up
wormy fruit as well as hogs, clean up weeds better, and know just how
high the branches should be from the ground. They are neat and
orderly in their ways, distribute manure just right and leave a neat,
well-kept fence row. Of course, if it is a young or cultivated orchard,
sheep are not “in it,’ but that also applies to other stock. They have a
bad tendency, or some individual animals have, to peel the bark of young
trees. Really, the sheep is not much of a horticulturist, but is an all
round good fellow to have around.

It is a well-established fact that there are off years in the fruit
business—years when untimely frosts sear our hopes, when insects and
fungi come like a thief at night—years when over-production or under-
consumption saps the finances out of the business. Then sheep culture
comes in. Each one brings about a dollar’s worth of wool in May.
Early lambs and fat wethers sell at four or five dollars each in June or
later. If the fleece pays for a year’s food and care, which in most cases
it will do, the sale of the sheep is profit, and a right good profit, too.

Not many orchardists plant all their land to orchards, and the
average farmer does not find it profitable to plant more than one-fourth

H—9

130 State Horticultural Society.

of his farm to fruit. Some lands and some localities are adapted to the
profitable growth of grain, but more is adapted to the grazing of sheep
and cattle. I do not speak of grain farms and stock ranches, nor of the
orchards that cover hundreds of acres. The owners of these are speci-
alists, and I hope make both ends meet and lap a little; but some years
there is need of a connecting link, even with them. I speak more
especially to the farmer who has 160 acres or less, and makes fruit a
leading business. It goes without saying that he keeps a team and two
or three cows, and considerable pasture land. At long intervals, even
the apple orchard grows weary, and it is better to plow and prepare other
fields for fruit, and pasture what was the old orchard.

We are not all prepared to follow intensive farming, and I know of
no better way to rest a long cultivated field than to seed it to a variety of
grasses, and when well established let the sheep have it.

I do not mean to lose sight of horticulture. Our Ozark hills and
plains are especially adapted to fruit, but as I stated before, there are
years when the horticulturist gets but little income from his orchard.
A small flock of sheep does not require much outlay of work or build-
ings. The care required is mostly in the season when the orchards need
the least work and pasture they take is partly weeds and bushes that
should be fed off anyway.

I intimated that a good sheep would pay for his keeping with wool
and the increase and sales were profit. This is true to a certain extent
but because money is made by keeping twenty or thirty sheep, it does
not follow that the flock can be doubled or quadrupled with the same
profit per head. It is better to keep below the happy medium than to
rise too far above it.

While sheep are not great feeders, they suffer from a starvation diet
as badly as anybody. They need a dry shelter for winter and during
severe storms, but they do not need very tight stables. Any one who
takes an interest in sheep and uses good common sense can learn to care
for sheep well. Like other stock, if they are comfortable they thrive
well, and if they are uncomfortable from cold, hunger, or other mis-
treatment, they do not thrive well. With proper care, in a hilly or
well drained country, sheep are almost exempt from disease.

Summer Meeting. fa

Dogs are the greatest dread of the sheep owner. A man that has
a good farm, large orchard and other sources of income does not keep
many dogs, but if he has only a large family of children who must get
their fruit from the neighbors’ orchard, he keeps several dogs who prowl
around at night and sooner or later learn to kill sheep. My greatest
success with fruit treeshas come from a custom of burying half of a dog on
one side of a fruit tree and the other half on the other side. Thus
directly and indirectly, I find sheep are a great benefit to a horticulturist,

Beyond this fact it is not necessary to go. The different breeds of
sheep, and the details of their management, are not what I wish to
impress, but that sheep bring in a steady income that is always con-
' venient and, if fruit fails us, is a necessity.

SEVENTH SESSION.—Thursday Evening.

Music by Kreyer Orchestra.

HEALTHFUL HOMES.
. By Mrs. J. R. Milner, Springfield, Mo.
THE FIVE FOOD PRINCIPLES—THEIR RELATION TO HEALTHFUL HOMES:

Atkinson in his Science of Nutrition says, “I find the most hopeless
poverty among American people to be the poverty of ideas. They
seem to be born with one, and, by living, to acquire just one more—the
first to make money, and the last to get rid of it. Asa result of it their
lives are seldom rich unless their pocket-books are inordinately so. The
great charity of the day is to be that of teaching people with small
income how to spend it wisely, a charity which depends upon the efforts
of individual women, who are studying this subject and applying the
fruits of their study in individual homes.”

132 State Horticultural Society.

This seems vastly encouraging to those of us who find the begin-
nings of economics so difficult. The way to results so long, bristling
with difficult chemical symbols, or barred with words which are new,
and to the casual reader unintelligible.

If we might but let down these bars, rake out some of the thorns,
smooth the pathway, making it so very plain that “he who runs might
read” should we not aid a good cause ?

The health of our bodies and the economy we would like to teach,
demand intelligent action; we can not enter this study with hope for
improving our own homes, or those about us, without knowledge of chem-
ical laws; we must know how it is food builds up, how active exercise
tears down; how food heats the body, how heat is spent, the kinds of
food that generate heat, the ones that repair waste, and those that
store away fat. We must know the laws which govern supply and
demand. We must make the acquaintance of food elements in order
to select the most nutritious; we must know their kind, their differing
proportions, their comparative cost, since our poor economy im purchas-
ing is largely ignorance and still further because our erroneous habits
of eating for, lo! these many years, spring from the same cause, habits
which have become so fixed we can never expect to eradicate them until
we begin at foundation principles to manage the educating process, so
that it will filter through the upper stratum of society, and reach the
masses of the very poor. The problem is how to manage that this
result may be achieved. It is in furtherance of this filtering process
that many golden words have here been strained of their symbols, their
terrorizing technicalities, and put in simple form. The facts are none
of them new; we are indebted for some, to a compilation made by a mem-
ber of the Mothers’ Club in Kansas City, to Atkinson, Helen Campbell
and others. Bishop Foster says, “If we eare for men’s souls most effect-
“Half the struggle of life
is a struggle for food,” says Atkinson, while Sir lenry Thompson seems

oT

ively, we must care for their bodies also.’

to “point this moral and tell a tale’ when he says “I have come to the
conclusion that more than half the disease which embitters the middle
and later part of life is due to avoidable errors in diet and that more
mischief in the form of actual disease, and of impaired vigor, and of

shortened life acerues to civilized men in England and throughout

Summer Meeting. 13

central Europe, from erroneous habits of eating than from habitual use
of alcoholic drink, considerable as I know that evil to be.”

Observation and experience can not but impress the fact that some-
thing is vitally wrong. Waves of influenza and la grippe sweep at inter-
vals over our country from some supposably malarious vicinage, or
because of some unusual exposure; epidemics come yearly it will be
found on examination, to the lame and the lazy, the illfed, careless
livers, the gourmands, and gluttons, but leaving intact and in touch with
the world, the hygienically disposed portion of the community. Obser-
vation and experience, therefore of scientists leads them to make every
effort to correct these errors that the physical health standard may be
raised, that the moral health may be improved since morality must have
good physical conditions as a basis. Until very recently, dating back
to the revival of domestic science study, little attention even by the
intelligent people has been paid to these things, while the lower classes,
influenced wholly by the dictates of the palate have been held in check
only by the emptiness of their pocket-books, displaying their ignorance
by spending their slender income upon incongruous and innutritious
materials, feasting upon some extravagant dainty one day, and having
a veritable famine of nutritious foods the rest of the week. The result
of course, is a pallid, pinched look upon the face of the innocent little
ones, a constant succession of colds, fevers and intestinal troubles pro-
ducing mortality that is appalling. An entirely wrong impression
among this class of people prevails; if the word of economy be so much
as mentioned, they retort that it is impossible for any one to be more
economical than they are—not realizing that it is an economy depending
upon a proper balance of food elements necessary for right body building,
which is meat, and that no economy can exist if ignorance underlies it,
since it must result in waste of material and some form of disease. Dr.
Schrodt says, “I have long ceased to doubt that, apart from the effect of
wounds, the chances of health or disease are in our own hands. If
people only half knew the facets pointing that way, they would be
ashamed to be sick or have sick children.”

It is to an investigation of these facts we urge all of you mothers.
The first principles may seem a little dry, but some dry bones are nec-

154 State Horticultural Society.

essary upon which to build the flesh and blood of the body, and besides
if the truth be known they are dry only in appearance—every bone in
the human body has its blood and nutrition bearing tissues, so do the
dry bones of terms in chemical study contained concealed all the nutri-
tion of the ages. It is for us to go a little below the surface and bring
this light. Our knowledge may not be great of proteids and carbo-
hydrates, but we have come to know certain things by the old fashioned
names farinaceous and starchy foods, saccharin or sugars, fats, etc., and
we are now to apply new names to the old compounds, that we may the
better trace their scientific relations and uses.

First then let us see for what purpose the body needs food, that we
may understand the better how to supply the demand. There may be
some who if asked why we eat would reply “‘to live,” but to go deeper,
one may ask “upon what does living depend?” and find that we are at
one step beyond our depth—for it seems to depend upon ever varying
conditions. Of one thing, however we are sure, it depends upon a uni-
form necessary degree of heat. Winter or summer the temperature of
the human body must be sustained at ninety-eight degrees or we die. It
may, and often does, for weeks and months run higher than this, but it
must not be lowered. The tissues may decay, the body waste to a skele-
ton and life be maintained, but there comes a point, when if the heat-
producing element be not supplied, the fuel within exhausts itself and
life ceases. Fire dies in the stove from the lack of fuel, and the process,
called chemically, combustion, must cease. Body combustion is not
different from the combustion in our stoves, except that the union of
elements takes place in the body individually in cells while oxygen and
carbonaceous material in the stove is a concentrated union producing
visible light and more or less intense heat.

Here then is our first necessity—heat producing fuel food. When

we build fires we open our drafts, giving abundance of oxygen, a process
which is equally necessary to the body. The one point which parents,
nurses, even doctors are apt to forget—inquiry is made if baby took his
food in full measure, but to inquire if baby took the fresh oxygenated
air which is necessary for the food’s combustion would be what—foolish,
unnecessary. Does it go without saying that this oxygen is every where

present and of course baby has it? By no means, for the atmosphere

Summer Meeting. 135

of far too many homes has had the oxygen consumed by red hot stoves,
made heavy with the carbolic acid gas of smoky lamps, or of still worse
smoky fathers, not to speak of the combination of impure breath coming
from the whole family. If we could look at it under a microscope we
should see it full of wiggling body exhalations, yet mothers and nurses
taboo opened windows—drafts are so dangerous! Put then first, most
important of all that feeds the baby—or the grown up body as well—
oxygen in full unstinted measure. Never be without a full stream flow-
ing from some source, for the good God has made it free to all creatures.
The amount we should take is more by weight than all the other food
elements combined. Next to oxygen in importance we place water, for
it makes up from two-thirds to three-fourths of our bodies. This large
per cent must be supplied from some source. Since many elements used
for food are compounded of water we obtain much in this way—besides
we have a natural craving which would lead us to seek it, but as a matter
of fact modern scientists assert that we do not drink enough, nor for that
matter the right stuff, so much of our drink being mixed with mineral
and organic impurities. Besides air and water we must put into this
wonderful chemical laboratory of the body as heat producers, nitro-
genous and carbonaceous foods, for there is work to be done—energy
generated. As Mrs. Richards says, “The power to do mechanical work
comes from the consumption of fuel, the burning of woods, coal or gas;
and this potential energy of fuel is often expressed in units of heat or
calories, a calorie being nearly the amount of heat required to raise two
quarts of water one degree Fahrenheit. The animal body also requires
its fuel, namely food, in order to do other work, its thinking, its talking
or even its worrying. The animal body is more than a machine. It
requires fuel to enable it not only to work but also to live, even without
working.” We can not go directly to nature for this force power, that
is, we can not obtain the elements, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon,
sulphur, sodium, etc., as such, for these mineral elements in a state of
nature are wholly useless as food; even nitrogen which forms about
four-fifths of the air we breath, can not come to us through the lungs,
as oxygen does, but must be taken from foods which contain it. We
can not as the plant does take food at first hand, for air, water and soil
fill its needs; we must take the products manufactured by plant life as

136 State Iorticultural Society.

do all the animal tribes. But the great Creator has made. as admirable
provision for our needs as if we could go to the storehouse and obtain
them at first hand—only unlike the grass and the lily of the field which
toil not neither do they spin—we must expend force and energy—we
must toil to‘give our bodies food. Probably nature’s economy is herein
right, though mankind have since Eve ate the apple been quarreling
with the fate which has so decreed. The cereals have proven to be
nature’s second hand storehouse, combining more nearly all the elements
needed by the body, and in more nearly the right proportions than any
other available food product. Of all grain foods wheat is the best, as
it seems to contain all the five food principles. The most healthful food
will always be that best adapted to the wants of the user and there must
be a certain amount of individuality, and in choosing combinations which
give proper quantities of the several food principles one must be guided
not only by the amount of each principle, but its digestibility when so
compounded, also its palatableness. To secure appetizing results it is
quite as important as to have nutritious elements, for the best of food
would otherwise go begging on our tables. Mrs. Weeks says, “Flavors,
savoriness, are all aid to digestion, but this means something very dif-
ferent from our American fashion of black pepper over every thing.”
The use of sweet herbs is regarded as a foreign fashion, and the American
who says: “Give me good plain cooking, has his portion of dyspepsia im
large part because of the lack of intelligence of these things; for the
plainest, simplest food by their use is made enjoyable.” There is a
very seeming possibility that excessive use of condiments would bring
more injury and dyspepsia than lack cf them, however we will not quar-
rel over this now, being more interested in knowing what rule is to
govern us in our choice of proper kind and quantity of food material.
German chemists have experimented so carefully—we are told that they
have accounted for every partical of food passing through the body of

man and have constructed dietaries for use among the lower people, their

soldiers being fed so many grains of carbohydrates—so much of protein
and so much of fats. Mrs. Rorer says in Household News, “We have
in the vegetable kingdom ripe peas, beans, lentils, rich in nitrogen and

consequently good muscle making food. One gets double the amount

Summer Meeting. 137

in such food as beans, as in beef, but it is well to note that the analysis
of food is one thing, the amount we are able to digest is quite another.”
Hence comes in a decidedly new consideration— our food may be quite
rightly proportioned and cooked—for some stomachs-—yonder red faced,
hardy plow boy or the hod-carrier with his tale of bricks, will carry off his
full measure of fat beef and potatoes, roast pork and beans, all sorts of
fried dishes and rich desserts of pudding and pie, sleeping soundly and
going heartily to work the next day while the pale faced student who
attempts the same thing would probably break down in a month with
nervous indigestion. So the element of quantity as well as quality must
be studied and adaptability to individual needs more than either. This,
however, need not prevent our settling the grand foundation principles
which are the same in all cases. There should be definite amount of
nitrogenous food, of carbonaceous food and of fats, and if the vegetarian
makes up his dietary from cereals, legumes, fruits and nuts instead of
including animal products, proving the while by practical demonstration,
as they are doing abundantly, that healthy, hearty bodies can be made of
this form of protein and carbohydrate who shall dare aftirm any definite
sine qua non?

The common names for the food principles are by chemical writers
changed to protein for nitrogenous or flesh and muscle making foods,
hydrocarbons instead of carbonaceous foods, or fats, in other words heat
producers. Lastly, the carbohydrates (sugar, starch and gums), which
are the foods for energy or work. These are all found in both animal
and vegetable kingdom, as if the Creator had made provision for the
varying tastes of his children. Atwater, in his writings, gives a most
interesting description of how the chemical amounts of food elements in
giving dietaries are determined. Nitrogen, the most important element,
we can not obtain from the air although it forms four-fifths of its com-
position, we get it from the proteids, and the albuminoids, and numerous
as the protein compounds are the proportion of nitrogen is nearly the
same in all, and may, therefore, be taken as a measure of comparison.
As Atwater says: “The science of nutrition as it is taught to-day, has
this marked peculiarity, it is a matter of definite quantities of income and
expenditure based upon a kind of chemical book-keeping the accuracy of

its teaching is, in a certain sense proportional to the accuracy to which

138 State Horticultural Socvety.

the accounts are kept.” As a matter of fact, the two sides of our equa-

tion, supply and demand, are likely to show many inequalities. How

many cooks, how many mistresses who provide any plan that their

daily rations shall be made up of food elements properly balanced,

selected and put together with relation to their digestibility? How

many ever put the price of elements and nutrition side by side and pur-

chase accordingly? In some respects as our writers will say we have not

gone so far astray, for the standard dietary is meat of some kind and one

or two vegetables. While beef and potatoes, mutton and rice, lamb and

green peas, duck and fruit sauce are common, and yet perfectly proper

unions. Nor would it be difficult to prove how our brawny New Eng-
land forefathers came by their tough, sinewy bodies. Codfish (richest of all
articles in protein) potatoes (pure carbohydrate) pork and beans, rich in

fat, are notably muscle making foods. An equally good philosophy

exists in the Irishman’s use of skimmed milk with his potatoes, or the

Schotchman’s fondness for oat-meal, haddock and herring. Yet if we
heed the teachings of our vegetarian friends, we shall find in many parts

of the world, equally strong enduring bodies fed solely upon vegetables
and those in much smaller quantities that the American is accustomed
to take. So our conclusions resolve themselves into this: A healthy
home means on the part of some one a knowledge of the laws governing
food and its principles, its quantity as well as quality. A knowledge of

sanitary ventilation, of drainage and surrounding conditions, but first,

last and most important, food and pure air supply of the best—and best

prepared. How many mothers are ready to give sometime to this study ¢

It is more important for our farmers’ wives than city women for they are

giving us the brawn and brain of the country. Mrs. Milner will be glad

to communicate with any who are inquiring how even farmers’ wives

can begin the study of healthy homes.

Atwater, in a late paper entitled, “Investigations Needed as to the
Chemistry and Economy of Foods,” says: “The coming fad is domestic
science; indeed, it is not coming, but has already arrived, and the danger
is, that it may go as a fad, and leave no permanently useful impression.

There is less danger of this since our clubs and societies are making the

Summer Meeting. 139

pursuit of health the corner stone of their new creed. ‘AII that a man
hath will he give for his life.’ Mortality among all classes, particularly
young children is becoming so alarming that a spirit of investigation is
abroad in the land. Club women ever on the alert have caught and
pinned to their printed programs investigations new only in name,
for as one of them says, some of us began the study years ago because it
seemed the only untried pathway left to good health, and finding the
pursuit has led to the desired goal, why should we not persuade our
friends that they also come into the kingdom. The Springfield Econo-
mie Club from which this paper comes, has not taken up a fad, but has
purpose back of its early efforts which means better health, more happi-
ness and added years for those who enter it. As this club is one of the
few wholly devoted to domestic science and health study and based upon
an original plan, we give briefly its history.

It was organized in September, 1898, federated at the time of the
Annual Federation of Missouri Clubs, as a band of eight neighborhood
circles, independent in leadership, yet united in a common plan and pur-
pose, holding a monthly central union meeting. The plan combines
the club with the social settlement. It is proving eminently successful
showing to-day ten circles and very nearly 150 members. Its study
has been given largely to the subjects in home life which touch most
closely upon health. Its “Year Book” has been placed in the hands of
Mr. Atwood, giving to those present who care to investigate their topics
and constitution and it has introduced the use of whole wheat bread into
scores of homes and millions who did not consider it worth while to manu-
facture whole wheat before are putting in machinery and offering new
brands of whole wheat products to consumers. One of these has been
named after this club.

140 State Horticultural Society.

BUSINESS METHODS IN HORTICULTURE.
By Z. T. Russell, Carthage, Mo.

I have been expecting to attend the meeting at Pierce City and to
prepare a paper to read as per printed program, but on account of sick-
ness in my family and pressure of work, I am compelled to give up the
idea, but will send you a few lines, however, outlining in a very crude
way the ideas which I would have liked very much to have been able to
present to the meeting in a more complete and systematic manner.

There is one method that is very generally adopted and well carried
out by berry growers, and to this portion of horticulturists I will con-
fine what I have to say at present, that is different and without good rea-
son therefor. I think, from the methods adopted by other classes of
business men in other lines of business try in various ways to hinder
others from engaging in the same line of business as themselves and
hamper them in all the ways they can. They form great trusts for the
purpose of controlling prices and shutting out competition; they limit
the number of apprentices that one may have in some lines of business
and in other and various ways make it difficult for others to enter com-
petition with them.

But how is it with the berry men? They spend their time and their
money in holding meetings to which they invite their neighbors and all
others whom they can induce to attend. They then read papers ana
tell about their business and try to persuade all their neighbors to go to
raising berries. Isn’t that so? We all know it is. Is it business? IL
think not.

What would be thought of men in other lines of business who would
do as we have done? Who ever heard of dry goods men, grocers, hard-
ware men, railroad men, bankers, butchers, lawyers, doctors, or editors
holding a meeting and laboring with tongue and pen with a view of
inducing others to embark in the same business as themselves. Who,
of all these, would spend his time and his money trying to get some one
to enter into competition with him and to start up in the same business on
the next corner? Not one. Who, of all the above, would spend his time and
his money to instruct all who will read or listen in all the details of his bus-

Summer Meeting. 141

iness free of charge? Do they do that? Not much. Then if others do not
do this, why should the berry men? Other classes of men keep their
business to themselves, then why should the berry men be so often brag-
ging about their business and the great profits to be derived from its pur-
suit? I believe that nearly all of those who have been extensively in the
berry business in the southwest for some years must admit and know
that there is no longer any large profits to be made at it and that we have
long since reached the point where boasting and all efforts to increase
the acreage of strawberries should be dropped. There is profit in grow-
ing berries up to a certain point. If the amount thrown upon the mar-
ket goes beyond this point then prices decrease in proportion to increase
in amount of berries beyond this point and this continues until all profit
is wiped out. Nor does it stop here, but continues right on, if the amount
of berries is sufficient, until there is nothing at all left for the grower—
except loss, disappointment, despair and ruin. Hadn’t we better stop
and think a little about what we are doing and why? What are we in
this business for anvhow? Judging by what we see and hear in the
horticultural papers and at horticultural meetings on the one hand and
-what we read in commercial reports and metropolitan daily papers on the
other hand many of us are in the business that we may boast and gain the
applause of men. And verily we have our reward.

The idea seems to prevail with some that we should induce others
to raise berries and that we should instruct them and aid them all we can
from motives of philanthropy or helpfulness, and those who hold this
view usually become vain and imagine themselves great men, but the
time has gone by, in my opinion, when a man should be persuaded to
enter the business of commercial berry growing any more than he should
be persuaded to adopt the profession of a blacksmith or a carpenter. In
short, the time has come for us to leave off our foolish sentimentality
and to look upon our profession as a. business and to treat it in all respects
as a business—just as other business men look upon their business.

Now, who is interested in having vast amounts of berries produced ¢
Why everybody else more than the berry men—the railroads, the express
men, the commission men, the dealers, the consumers, and the editors and
publishers. Why do they want more berries? The editor and publisher

wants more because it takes more people to raise them and of course they

142 State Horticultural Society.

all have to read horticultural papers. It is a matter of business with him.
People who consume berries and produce none want them as cheapas ther
can be had. It is a matter of business with them. Commission men anJ
dealers as a rule, are not benefited much by having too many berries and
hence they often warn us against extreme over-production. What inter-
est have railroad and express men. Is it from a spirit of helpfulness
toward the growers on their part? Not to any alarming extent that I
know of. They charge just the same for poor berries that they do for
good ones, just the same for berries that sell for fifty cents per crate as
for those which sell for $5. Then in what direction does their interest
hie? Why, plainly the more berries raised the more money for them.
It is simply a matter of business with them and they can well afford to
adopt a liberal policy toward editors, and all others who have influence,
and who will use that influence toward inducing others to raise more
berries.

Now what is to the berry grower’s interest? First, raise much less
berries and much better ones; second, look upon our calling as a business
by which we are to gain a living and possibly to lay up a little for a
rainy day, just as the people of all other callings do, and stop our foolish
boastings and imaginings on account of the supposed Good Samaritan
features of our business, and third, to give less comfort and aid to all
such as by sophistry and flattery would induce us to increase our acreage
to such an extent that the yrower himself is the only one concerned who
is absolutely left without a profit.

Z. T. RUSSELL.

Music.

Forester’s Horn.—Quartette.

Summer Meeting. 145

SOME THOUGHTS ON HORTICULTURE.
F. H. Speakman, Neosho, Mo.

When asked by our secretary some time ago to prepare a paper for
this meeting, it was my itention to take some fruit as the subject of my
remarks, and in looking over the program I find the raspberry has been
given tome. But I am not going to tell you how to grow raspberries,
or what varieties to plant. ‘To be plain about it, I do not know. ‘The
more experience I have the more cautious I am getting to be in recom-
mending any fruit or treatment for it.

I have cultivated thoroughly and seen others neglect their straw-
berry plants. I have even gone further and predicted failure for them
on account of it, only to find that the failure came nearer being realized
by myself than by them. I have been laughed at, at the time, for mak-
ing statements concerning the condition of peach trees after the extreme
cold of last February. I say, at the time, for now it is my turn to laugh
in this case, but for quite a while it did not look as though my turn was
coming.

Never so much as now, after the opening of another fruit season,
has the fact that all rules in horticulture have their exceptions been
so forcibly brought to my notice. With this thought in mind the remarks
that will follow will not be confined to the outlining of any work in this
broad field of ours, but rather to pointing out, if I may, some of the many
influences which have their bearing upon the growing and marketing
of the fruits of the garden and the field, and the causes which produce
results either satisfactory or unsatisfactory to the fruit grower.

In the outset, I will say that I do not wish to leave the impression
in anyone’s mind that I would advise drifting, or working without a well
devised purpose and definite aim. We must read, study, think, yes, and
even anticipate. Many rules are good, but the exceptions to them would
sometimes seem to prove their value. All this only shows the import-
ance of developing the capacity (as it were) to properly digest the food
that is continually furnished to our minds, or, in other words, grasp and
weigh any new situation or condition produced by one or more of the
many causes that may exist.

144 State Horticultural Society.

Not only does the weather, which is the subject of so many comments
and remarks by all, and which so uncomplainingly bears the blame for a
large number of the failures of the tiller of the soil, have its effect con-
tinually registering itself upon our plants, trees and their fruits and also
upon the insects and fungi which prey upon them, but in this complex
system of living of ours, other conditions as well exist which, while not
affecting directly the production, do not affect the marketing, which
really is the greatest problem now presenting itself for our solution.

In planting, even after years of experience, we may well be at a
loss to know what to say when asked, even by a neighbor, what varieties
of fruit to set out. What a slight difference in the condition of the soil
chemically, or in its fertility, or in the moisture it holds, may do for a
plant or tree is hard to calculate, particularly where weather conditions
have such a wide range as in Missouri, and in fact in the greatest part of
the world where fruits are produced.

In our continual efforts to find something better than what we are
growing we must give those new fruits which are ever being introduced
and which we believe would do well in our locality a trial. This of
course 1s the work of the experiment station, but we must all be experi-
menters to some extent at least if we would know what is best suited to
our soil and conditions. Having done a little work of this kind myself
I can now say that it is truly surprising what grand fruits a very high
price for the plants or trees or the method of their propagation may some-
times develop. Of course nearly all of these new things will prove of
no value to us, having either degenerated so rapidly after being sent out
by the introducer or propagator that they have become worthless by the
time they should bear fruit for the planter, or to take a more charitable
view, have journeyed so far from the favorable influences and conditions
surrounding the place of their birth as to become as stated. Particularly
are these things to be noticed in the strawberry, while the tree fruits are
much more to be depended upon.

Notwithstanding the disappointments that must of necessity attend
this work if it is carried on in a small way, it may result in much good and
is a source of a great deal of satisfaction to the one doing it—satisfaction
not only in occasionally finding a good thing, but in being able to know

of those that are worthless as well.

Summer Meeting. 145

As I stated in the beginning of my remarks, the marketing is the
hardest problem to solve in fruit growing, except where one is situated so
as to use nearby points to advantage, which of course greatly simplifies the
matter. But many of us are not located so as to do this, to any extent
at least, and must depend upon shipping in one way or another, and here
is where many complications are to be met. It is not enough now that
we understand the business at our end of the line, but that at the other
is equally important. The selection of good houses to handle our pro-
duets in the markets that are naturally ours; to protect these houses by
supplying them with a certain amount of fruit or vegetables, as the case
may be, and to require their protection as well, is necessary, in my opin-
ion, for satisfactory results. But even these things, good as they are,
will not, by any means, always give us success, for other houses in the
same markets will of course make the arrangements that suit them best
and that they can make. And so if harvest is large prices must of neces-
sity be low, particularly when quickly perishable products arrive in bad
condition through the fault or misfortune of the railroad, refrigerator or
express company, either in delay or bad service, or, as sometimes happens,
through the ignorance of the grower himself in either packing, cooling or
loading his product.

J will not enter further into the problems of either transportation,
refrigeration or distribution and will leave other matters bearing upon
the subject of horticulture untouched. However, in conclusion, I wish
to say something that I feel to be a verity, namely, that all of us, every-
body—even including the railroads, express and commission people—
should busy ourselves in overcoming the selfishness by which we are
bound and which stands so much in the way of a proper adjustment of
things on earth. Surely no one should more fully recognize the import-

ance of this than the fruit grower, whose life of close contact and com-

munion with nature in her various workings—always seeking to give
expression to the perfect—should lead him to see plainly the work given

to each one of us to do.

Musie by Kreyer Orelrestra.
Recitation by Miss Persis Barber.
Song.—Dreamland. Quartette.
H—10

146 State Horticultural Society.

FRUITS FOR THE FARMER.
By J. A. Kennedy, Ravanna, Mo.

The subject of “Fruits for the Farmer” being assigned me for
a paper to be read at the next meeting of the society suggests to me that
in order to meet the wants of the present time to the best advantage, I
ought to give my attention to the selection of a farm orchard. Farming
and fruit raising are separate occupations. The farmer needs an orchard
only for family use, sufficient to supply the household demands, and he
wants them so selected as to have fruit as near the year round as possible,
from the earliest ripening to the latest keeper. He wants the hardiest
and the surest and in connection with this he wants as good a quality as
is attainable with good yield and sure bearing. The qualities to be con-
sidered are for eating, cooking and drying. One hundred trees would
be a large orchard for family use and probably more than would get
proper attention from a man whose business is raising grain and stock,
the source to which he looks for the wherewith to meet the immortal tax,
and his other necessary obligations. If a man attends closely and
strictly to his farm, he is apt to neglect his orchard. He is most sure to
slight one or the other, and it is very apt to be the other.

Drawing from the knowledge of my limited experience, I would
plant for a farm or family orchard in this county about the following
varieties and numbers of each in an orchard of one hundred trees: Com-
mencing with the earliest bearers, I have found it would be the Red
Astrachan. It has good cooking qualities and is a fine large apple, but is
no keeper, and it isa shy bearer. I would plant from three to four trees,
followed by about two each of the Red June, Sweet June, Duchess, Sum-
mer Pearmain and Cole’s Quince, the latter for its special good cooking
qualities, which commences as soon as it attains to any considerable size,
the Pearmain for its good eating qualities. The Cole’s Quince is also a
good bearer. For variety and beauty as well as good bearing and gen-
eral use a couple of Shenango Strawberry might find a place. These I
would succeed by about the following number of fall apples in regular
order as follows: Two Autumn Swaar, two Maiden Blush, four Lowell,

Summer Meeting. 147
four Porter, two Alexander,two Wealthy, four Famuse, and two each of
Transcendent and Whitney Crabs. The Lowell and Porter, are fine
large apples, excellent bearers, stick well to the tree and are unexcelled
for drying purposes. The Alexander makes a fine show and is a good
cooker. The Wealthy is a very desirable eating apple. The Famuse
is a prolific bearer and, with proper care will last for eating purpose until
Christmas. or winter and good keepers I would make about the fol-
lowing selection: Ten each, Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Willow Twig,
with about six each of Dominie and Vandevere Pippin. These are all
hardy, sure bearers, commence bearing young, and yield well. The
Vandevere might be said to be a little shy as a bearer, but its fine size and
most excellent cooking qualities and also for drying, makes it worthy
a place in a family orchard, for Mercer county. Stewed Vandevere
makes the very best sauce for table use, try it and you will have no use for
apple butter while the Vandevere holds out. The Dominie comes next
in order in this line. The Winesap and the Janeton, one of the leading
apples of the county, are on the wane. Of late years they have not been
a success. A quarter of a century ago they ranked first in the county,
as an all purpose apple. They were sure bearers and good keepers, but
for the last few years they have not done well. Yet I would not hesitate
to plant a few of each in an orchard of one hundred trees, they may come
all right as the seasons change. The Jonathan is the apple for winter
eating, succeeding the Famuse, the Ben Davis and the Willow Twig
are good bearers and excel as keepers. They stand head in all points
except quality, in this respect they fall far below all others, but when all
others are gone they fill a good place and are always in demand. The
Ben Davis is the all-purpose apple.

The cherry is a desirable fruit for family use during its season, and
for canning for future use. I would plant from four to six Early May
for first use, with two or three English Morello to succeed them. They
are both sure bearers almost any season. Four or five Wild Goose
plums might be added for variety, but plums and pears have not proved
profitable for me. They are very good when you get them, but too much
a prey to insects and blight to be profitable. Neither is there any advan-
tage in giving much space to peach trees. A strawberry bed should be
on every farm. I have found the Crescent one that succeeds well and

148 State Horticultural Society.

‘is profitable. The raspberry is a luxury that no farmer should deny
himself. J would plant 100 improved black cap. They are always on
hand with the season, and are excellent for canning. <A blackberry patch
should find space on every farm. While the Snyder is not quite as large
as some other varieties, it is the best in quality and always there. No
winter has ever frozen the tip of a cane for me; all others that I have
tried have been injured or killed by severe winters, but the Snyder never
fails. It is the all-purpose blackberry. By all means have a good patch
of Snyder. Give a place also to gooseberries and currants. For setting
trees, have the ground well prepared with plow and subsoil, set either fall
or spring, or both. Go to the nursery and select your trees with care.
Two or three year old trees are the best age for transplanting. Pay no
attention to ignorant and irresponsible ‘‘tree dealers,” representing them-
selves as agents for some nursery. The county has lost thousands of
dollars by listening to these agents. If there is no home nursery within
a day’s drive of you, make out your bill and send it to some responsible
nurseryman. He will take pleasure in filing your order and shipping
them to you in good condition. Set your apple trees with care, about
twenty feet apart; cultivate the young trees well, and look after the
borers. Protect against rabbits and do not pasture your cows in a young
orchard and when your trees reach the proper age you will be rewarded

for all your labor and care.

Vocal Solo.—He Has Plowed His Last Furrow. S. E. Bruff.

HOW TO KEEP THE BOYS ON THE FARM.

By J..C. Evans, Harlem, Mo.

It would seem to all who read and talk that this subject would some-
time become threadbare, yet until we have discovered a remedy we must
continue to write about it, talk about it and discuss it, although when

some of the brightest minds in the country have exhausted their ability

Summer Meeting. 149

and failed there is little encouragement for the members of a horticul-
tural society to undertake the solution of it. I sometimes think that one
reason a remedy has not been found is because, as a rule, the best writers
and thinkers are of a calling other than farmers and are not sufficiently
interested in the welfare of the farmer’s boy to undertake the solution
of the question. It is a fact that until recently the educators in all our
institutions of learning, save in part the agricultural colleges, have given
very little thought to the farmer’s boy or his special interests. But they
are to be blamed only in part for the laws (at least in Missouri) and the
rules and regulations of all the higher institutions of tearning practically
bar the farmer’s boy from obtaining the education that would cause him
to love the farm and remain on it. ;

It is a fact that a majority of the farmer’s boys at the age of sixteen
or seventeen, when they have got the little that they can get in their
small country school, and that in adirectionfrom, rather than to, the farm,
are inclined to go away, some to the cities, some to the railroads and some
become professional tramps. I have in mind one who left the farm at
not quite sixteen and brags that he tramped 2,500 miles without a cent of
money or a change of clothing. Had he been properly trained at home
and received the right kind of an education in his school he would not be
so inclined and there would yet be some hope of making of him a useful
man, but I fear he has gone too far now and that it is too late to make
anything of him.

It is gratifying to write that the question of elementary agriculture
in the district school is now being so thoughtfully agitated all over the
country and that many of our foremost educators are indorsing it and
some of the states have already adopted it. The district school is strictly
the farmer’s, it is his high school, his college, his university. A large
majority of farmer’s boys can not hope to get anything more in the way
of an education than they get in their district school. After agriculture
is introduced and boys have finished in the district school and acquired
a taste for such an education many of them will go to some agricultural
college and acquire that degree of educated intelligence that will cause
him to appreciate, love and enjoy the farm and enable him to run the
farm with a greater degree of pleasure and profit. This little taste of
agriculture and horticulture in the common schools will be like the ava-

150 State Horticultural Society.

lanche on the mountain side, only the boy who tramped 2,500 miles
might have gone to the top instead of the bottom. Then let us hasten
the time when agriculture and horticulture will be taught in all the dis-
trict schools in all the states.

There is a growing demand for a better education, one that will give
to the boy special thought and inquiry, and this can be acquired only in
the public schools. This will give a new impetus to the demand for that
more thorough and practical education, which can only be acquired at a
first class agricultural college. An eminent wit once said the school is
a big thing and the chief business of life is to educate children. Let us
be thankful that there is a growing realization that this was a truth. We
should be proud of the fact that this society has a standing committee on
education and that they are actively and earnestly working to this end.
Let us hope that their work and the combined efforts of so many who
are taking a lively interest in the matter will ere long solve the problem.
Let us with pleasure look forward to the near future when farmer boys
and girls will be educated to the farm instead of away from it.

WHAT TODO WITH THE SURPLUS Ror
By Mrs. W. B. Chambers, Republic, Mo.

Some irreverent person has said that when Eve ate the forbidden
fruit in the Garden of Eden, she was merely tasting different varieties of
apples, hoping sometime to own a fruit farm in Southwest Missouri.

Be that as it may, since that time there has been more or less interest
in fruit growing.

“What to Do With the Surplus Fruit on the Farm” is a subject of
such magnitude and so many possibilities that I do not feel competent to
handle it. A great variety is included in canning, preserving, pick-
ling, ete.

Canned fruit is a great improvement on preserving, being much
more economical and requiring less time. Canned fruit can be prepared

in various ways, using sugar or not, as best suits the kind of fruit you are

Summer Meeting. 151

using. Fruit for canning should be carefully selected, using only the
perfect fruit, free from bruises and not too ripe, cooking only long enough
to thoroughly heat the fruit and sealing boiling hot in air-tight glass jars.

Another way, is to preserve the fruit, but, unlike the canned fruit,
may be made of that which is too ripe for shipping. In this we use from
one-half to an equal quantity of sugar, cooking carefully until the syrup
jellies. Such preserves can be kept for several years.

All small, imperfect berries, peaches, etc., can be made into deli-
cious marmalades and jams, and when put up in neat, attractive shape are
in good demand. A slight covering of paraffin prevents mold.

Another way to use the imperfect fruit is to make it into jelly, using
equal parts of fruit juice and sugar, and putting into jelly tumblers with
close-fitting tin tops.

Still another source of revenue for the fruit grower’s wife is in
making good pickles. The principal pickles of this country are made of
cucumbers, but an agreeable variety may be made of different green
vegetables, like green beans, cauliflower, small onions, green tomatoes
and young melons. Cucumbers for pickles should be gathered every
day, taking great care to have them of uniform size and appearance. Pre-
pare a jar of strong brine, and every morning wash the cucumbers as
they are gathered and put into the brine, keeping them well under with a
heavy weight. When you have the desired quantity soak them twenty-
four hours in fresh water and add spiced vinegar, hot. Keep in glass
jars or bottles corked tight. Apples, cherries, small pears can be utilized
by drying, and if carefully done make a pleasant change for the family
and find a ready sale.

Not long ago, while taking an order from a hotel proprietor, he asked
if I could dry sweet corn, saying he much preferred it to canned corn.
Many housekeepers prefer to buy home-canned tomatoes in glass to
using the factory-canned in tin. A lady acquaintance of mine, suddenly
thrown on her own resources for a living, was appalled to find, on taking
an invoice of her talents, that she only knew one way to make money.
and that was making excellent jams and preserves, and from a sample
sent to a large hotel, now makes them in large quantities. Another lady
in a distant state furnishes a large grocery house in Chicago with choice
home-made pickles.

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State Horticultural Society.

Still another source of income is in making pure wines. Grapes,
currants and blackberries all make fine wine with very little trouble or
expense. <A very nice wine is made of rhubarb and is preferred by some
to wine made of fruit, and it is easily made.

Last, but not least, comes the old-fashioned apple butter, and while
it certainly requires the patience of Job it does not need the wisdom of
Solomon. Pure cider vinegar is always a salable article and can be made
of the unsalable apples and if not sold will be in demand another season
for the above mentioned pickles.

Recitation by Miss Jessie Clement.

FINAL RESOLUTIONS.

e
Mr. President and Members of the Missouri State Horticultural Society:

We, your committee on final resolutions, beg leave to report the
following:

Resolved, That for the great success of this meeting the society
hereby tenders its thanks to the citizens of Peirce City for the hospitality
with which the society has been welcomed to their homes; to the local
horticulturists for their efforts to awaken interest in the meeting; to the
committee on decoration for the beautiful manner in which the hall
was decorated; to the Kreyer orchestra and the Peirce City quartette for
the fine music rendered; to the elocutionists for recitations given; to all
who have aided the society in making the meeting a success by presenting
papers; to the hotels and railroads for special rates, and to all who have
by their presence and assistance aided in making the 1899 summer meet-
ing one of the best ever held in Missouri. Your committee beg to
acknowledge the society’s obligations,

LEVI CHUBBUCK,
F. EK. ATwoop,
WiuuiaM H. BaRnNgEs.

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GATHERING Apples, W. T. FLouRNoy, MARIONVILLE, Mo.

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Summer Meeting. 153

LAST WORDS.

Wm. H. Barnes.—It is a pleasure for me to meet with the Missouri
Society and I shall make it a point to be with you at two meetings a year.
The meeting has been a happy one and we have learned many new
things. There are no lines in horticulture of state, or religion, or poli-
tics, we desire to teach people to live better and eat better. All women
are horticulturists for they all love flowers. If you like to eat apples or
watermelons, you are a horticulturist. We work for the good of human-
ity everywhere.

G. A. Atwood.—I emphasize heartily the resolution appreciating
the hospitality of Peirce City. This is a most enterprising public spirited
town, and we are proud of her in southwest Missouri.

Pres. Murray.—Time for adjournment has arrived. I desire to
express my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the way the people of Peirce
City have entertained us, for the music and drives around your pretty
city. This has been a grand, good meeting and I hope good will come
from our convening with you and that you will keep up this work and I
hope we may meet again.

On motion, the president declared the meeting adjourned.

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WINTER MEETING AT PRINCETON.

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WiInTER MEETING AT PRINCETON.

FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING.
Held at Princeton, Mo., December 5, 6 and 7, 1899.

The Missouri State Horticultural Society held its forty-second
annual meeting at Princeton, December 5, 6, and 7. The meeting was
a good one, although not as largely attended as have been some of its
predecessors. The people of Princeton did all possible to have the
visitors feel at home. The display of apples was very good, considering
the season, and the fruit was taken in charge by Secretary Goodman,
to be sent to the Paris exposition next year. The society resolved to
put forth every effort to have a good display at Paris, and also at
Buffalo, N. Y., in 1891.

All the old officers were reelected, and the constitution was
amended making the offices of president, vice-president and treasurer
for one year, with a limit of two successive terms for any person in
either of these oftices.

St. Joseph, Mexico, Springfield, Farmington, Chillicothe, Macon,
Kirksville and Lebanon asked for the next winter meeting of the
society and the question of place for the next summer and winter
meeting was left to the executive committee, with a provision that
railroad rates should not exceed one fare for the round trip.

Messrs. Callaway and Baxter, of Lllinois; Stinson, of Arkansas,
Holsinger, of Kansas, and Emerson, of Nebraska, were delegates from
other states.

The meeting was called to order Tuesday evening, all the officers
being present except Treasurer Nelson and Second Vice-President

Samuel Miller. Many of the delegates arrived on the night train.

157

158 State Horticultural Society.

FIRST SESSION—At 8 P. M., Tuesday, December 5, 1899.

The meeting was called to order by President Murray and Rev.
C. W. Coons delivered the opening prayer.

The K. of P. Cornet Band varied the program with good musie
during the evening.

The welcome was presented by Hon. Martin Read.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Owing to some indisposition on the part of the mayor of our
little city, I am requested to give you an address of welcome. Pioneers
in any country, business or calling are usually the truest, bravest and
best of their kind. The pioneers who settled America were the
strongest, bravest and best that ever lived in America. Horticulture
is represented here to-night by its pioneers. Horticulture is probably
the most improved branch of agriculture. These gentlemen and ladies
are engaged in the pursuit of Horticulture, and you may say they have
done it for profit. Yes, and for more than profit; not only for profit,
but for the purpose of developing it, and the resources with which
nature has endowed our great country. They have stuck to it, with
or without profit. You can honor them as they have honored you.
We give them cordial and kindly greeting. These people are here to
enlighten you. You can be profited by hearing them. In behalf of
the people we extend to you, Mr. President, and all the members,
the hospitality of the city. We are glad to have you here, and
extend to you every courtesy, a hearty welcome, and a cordial greeting.

RESPONSE BY PRESIDENT N. F. MURRAY.

I return our heartfelt thanks for the kindly greeting you have
given us. We thank the Mercer County Horticultural Society for its
kind invitation to hold our forty-second annual meeting in your city.
Only two years ago I was here to organize the Mercer County Horti-
cultural Society. That work has been a grand success. The display
at your county fair, at this meeting, and these fruits show that it pays
to have a horticultural society in your midst. Our state society has

Winter Meeting. 159

always been controlled by the missionary spirit. We hold our meetings
over different parts of the state to awaken an interest in horticulture
in the parts of the state which we visit. We have been very successful
in this work, as there are now over fifty county and local horticultural
societies in the state. While our work seems slow, it must be remem-
bered that we have had to work under many difficulties, and different
conditions. If we will look back and take a careful review of the
progress in horticulture in recent years, we have every reason in the
world to feel proud of our success. We have numerous medals to show
that Missouri fruits have always carried off the highest prizes at all
the great fairs and exhibitions. This could not have been done without
organization. We are soon, if we are not now, to be recognized as the
greatest horticultural state in the union. West of the Mississippi we
have twenty states and four territories, with twenty million people.
This vast territory has been developed from a wilderness into a fertile
land. As the country grows older conditions change. It requires
30,000 acres of land to support a savage; 10,000 for a cattleman;
1,000 for a wheat grower; 160 acres for a mixed farmer; while ten
acres will support a fruit grower and his family.

We meet this time under unfavorable circumstances; we have
had dry years, wet years and cold years. This has been very discour-
aging to the fruit grower. But we must not give up. It is said that
Henry Ward Beecher, after a storm gave thanks. When asked why
he did this, he gave as his reason, “We shall now have better weather.”
So many trees were killed by the past cold winter that I doubt if there
are enough trees in all the nurseries in the country to replace them.
The demand for fine fruit is constantly growing. I believe this is a
good time to go forward, to plant more trees and to care for them better.
We are now down in the valley of adversity, but we are going up higher.
I believe it will pay to enlarge, replant, and take better care of the
orchard. In 1800 there were only two nurseries in the country; in
1850 there were thirty-two; in 1895 there were more than
4,000. Our markets are growing; especially in the export

160 State Horticultural Society.

trade. Over one million barrels of apples were sent to Europe in the
past month or November. The prospect for high prices is very sat-
isfactory. In the summer I predicted that apples would be worth from
$2.50 to $3.00 per barrel this fall. Yesterday I found them selling in
St. Joseph at $2.75 to $3.25 for No. 1 Ben Davis; $4.00. for New York
Baldwins, and $5.00 for home grown Jonathan and Grimes. At these
prices they should be very profitable. I also found the Missouri per-
simmon in the market at fifteen cents per quart. If nuts can be grown
in Italy, shipped across the ocean and sold in the United States for ten
cents per pound, at a profit, we should certainly be able to grow them at
a profit in this country, and surely none need fear the overproduction
of first-class fruit; but we must have better culture and better care.
We must foster and care for our feathered songsters. The horde of
insects which prey upon our fruit must be overcome. We must handle
our fruit carefully and put it in nice packages. We must be right at
the front along these lines. We must try to excel if we want the Euro-
pean market. We must try to make a good exhibit at the Paris Expo-
sition next year. Our worthy secretary, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Gano, My.
Evans, and others, have some seventy barrels of apples now in cold
storage at Kansas City for this purpose. We want to capture the
French market. Now we do not send many apples to Paris, most of
our exports go to England and Germany. We also want to make a
show of our fruits at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New
York, in 1901. In 1903, at St. Louis we must make the best exhibit
the world has ever seen, at the celebration of the Louisiana purchase.
So you see there is a great deal of work before us, in the near future, in
the way of letting the world know of our wonderful resources and pos-
sibilities in the production of fine fruits.

I want to say that there is a great deal to be learned in horticulture.
Some of us have been working at it for a life time; still we do not feel
that we have learned much. We think we are just beginning to see the
light. We find that in fruit growing one succeeds where another fails,
and why? One knows how; the other does not. Let us communicate
to each other our knowledge and experience. We have good horticul-

tural literature. Let us spread it over the land. Let us adorn and

Winter Meeting. 161

beautify our parks and home grounds. Nothing cultivates, refines, and
ennobles so much as the pursuit of horticulture. A worn and weary
traveler in a desert was about to give up in despair, but seeing a
flower growing at his feet he took courage and said, “I will not give up,
God is here.” So, as horticulturists, God is with us, and we will not
lose courage. He is with us in the trees, the flowers, and the beautiful
fruits. We live in a state naturally adapted to fruit growing and we
have many things to help us and light the way. Among these is the
horticultural department of our State University at Columbia. Will
we support that department, or will we let it perish? We send
only about two score students from all the great State of Missouri. I
am sure it is worthy of support. Encourage some of the young men
and women to go there and take the short course in horticulture.

I notice in traveling over the state that the farmers’ orchards are
going down. The vast majority of farmers know but very little of
modern horticulture. For that reason we should have young men from
-every county taking that course. They would go home and reinvig-
orate the fruit growing interest of the whole community in which they
lived. We do not need to go wild and plant all our land in strawberries,
as some have done; though these in a small way pay well. We should
know of the great pleasure and benefit of growing enough of the high
quality apples for our own families. Let every fruit grower have all
the luscious fruits fresh from his own garden, strawberries, raspberries,
blackberries, grapes and peaches, and so on, to the latest keeping apples,
till strawberries come again.

Ladies and gentlemen: I want to call your attention to the im-
portance of organization. We are living in a great age, and many of
the greatest things of the age are possible only through organization.
Wherever the fruit growers are organized and work together they get
many concessions from dealers, shippers and railroads. If we are to
make a success we must be organized into societies.

We have a vast amount of wild lands which we want settled and
improved.’ There is no better country for the fruit grower than Mis-
souri. I feel quite sure there are golden opportunities awaiting men

H—l11

162 State Horticultural Society.

ot small means in developing our cheap lands in the business of horti-
culture.

We have reason to be proud of our present attainments, but let us
not rest contented ; let us march onward and upward to better things.

The first paper on the program was by Vice-President Robnett.

AFTER CULTIVATION, GATHERING AND MARKETING.

By D. A. Robnett, Columbia, Mo.

This subject is one on which I have had so short experience that
my paper must be short.

However, even in my short experience, I have learned that after
cultivation, gathering and marketing, comes satisfaction and joy, or
disappointment and regrets. It is safe to say that all depends upon
how well the head-lines have been done.

Those who are successful in raising an orchard to bearing-age and
gather a large crop are compelled to divide their success with many.
For, how could we have had success without such wide awake men as
our president, secretary, Messrs. Evans, Miller, Vandeman and others
known to many of us. Many of our orchards would, long ago, have
been deserted if they had not encouraged and helped us over the dark
places. The satisfaction and joy that comes in the way of money for
our first few crops, is nothing to compare with the pleasure we have
in our future hopes. Destroy our faith in the future and our happi-
ness ends.

There has not been a blooming season when I would have sold my
prospects for twice what I realized at gathering time.

There is much pleasure in looking upon an orchard which has
had the same care and thought that is given to a race horse or to a herd
of fine Durham cattle. We can not help feeling proud when told by
so many that we have a fine orchard. It works just like telling the
lover of a fine horse that he has a fine one.

Winter Meeting. 163

It is also a source of pleasure to know that we are giving employ-

ment to more people than if our land were in grass. Then think how
; many dear little children will be made happy by the red Ben Davis
apples grown in an orchard of 100 acres.

Now comes glory, for, if we have the best commercial orchard in
our county and care for it as we should, we are known by every man
in the county and looked upon as a public benefactor.

Another grand thing comes to us all after cultivation, gathering
and marketing—sober men and boys. I have been a member of this
society for eleven years and have attended nearly every meeting, and I
have yet the first member to see intoxicated. In fact, it is a rare thing
to so much as smell whiskey. Now, can as much be said of our sister
societies? I fear not.

Another joy comes in having all kinds of fruits, especially winter
apples, for our families.

T have merely mentioned the money part, but must not pass it by,
for without it somewhere along the way a commercial orchard would be
a grand failure. Satisfactory returns come often enough to encourage
us to go on. I am sure if we can figure out as good a profit in the
apple crop in the past five years as in the wheat and corn we can hope
for better in the next five years.

I set an apple orchard in the fall of 1888. The fall of 1895 I
sold fruit to amount of $600.00; the fall of 1896, sold $1,800.00 worth ;
the fall of 1897, sold $3,000.00 worth; the fall of 1898, sold $500.00
worth of peaches and pears and my apples failed entirely. The fall
of 1899, sold $1,200.00 worth of apples, and I would be ashamed to
tell this audience what I expect to get for my crop in 1900.

Aften dinner comes a nice dessert, so after cultivaiton, gathering
and marketing come—the good things of the orchard.

164 State Horticultural Society.
Master Philip McDonald recited the selection which follows:

PLEASURES OF THE BLACKBERRY.

Formerly the blackberry was regarded as merely a bramble in this
country. It is still quite generally so regarded. When a man gets to
thinking it is not a bramble, all he has to do is to go waltz around in a
healthy patch, with nothing on him but a cotton shirt and a pair of
tow trousers, and he will come out restored to the faith of his fathers.
The greatest enemy the blackberry has, is boys. Five boys, from town,
can eat more green blackberries in a day than would ripen in a week.
For many years the great desideratum has been a hardy berry that could
resist the premature onslaught of boys from town. It is a great desid-
eratum still. The Schneider, a variety that was invented by an lowa
horticulturist, is the nearest approach to it. It is bred from a perfectly
gree persimmon, crossed with a dogwood tree and propagated with a
hybrid of wormwood bush, and wild crab apple. It is not a perfect
defense, but there are very few boys who care to eat more than a
quart of them. Nobody else, however, can go past the field where the
Schneider is growing, without being attacked by Asiatic cholera, and
this tends to weaken the partial success this hardy berry has achieved.
Then there is a bug—lI do not know the name of it—that crawls over the
berries now than then. When you eat a berry that has geen glorified by
a visit from this bug, you lie down in the briars and pray heaven to
take you home in just about three seconds. And if you live, you can
wake up in the night, along in the middle of next winter, and shudder
as vou taste the old taste of that berry.

When your blackberries grow too thickly, you will want to thin
them out. To this end you must kill some of them. This can be
done by digging a well where the plant stands; then turn the farm
upside down, and let it dry out thoroughly for a couple of years, then
turn it over, upside down, and start a brickyard on the back of it. This
will kill off some of the plants. There may be some shorter and
cheaper method of killing blackberry vines than this, but I never heard

of it, and it isn’t likely that there is any.

Winter Meeting. 165

If you want to devote about forty acres of ground to the cultivation
of blackberries, plant about three healthy vines in some corner of the
field about the middle of April. Then about the first of May, the man
who owns the farm on the other side of the road, will bring civil action
against you, and try to collect damages for destruction of his two fields
of wheat by a raid of blackberry vines.

It is not known just at what season of the year blackberries ripen.
The blackberry has never been known to ripen. If the hucksters and
boys should all die in June, it is probable that the berries would ripen
sometime in July or August. But they never had a chance to see what
they could do at ripening.

The blackberry is so named because it is blue, in order to distin-

guish it from the blueberry which is black—Burlington Hawk Eye.

THE SIX BEST FLOWERS FROM SEED.
By Mrs. G. E. Dugan, Sedalia, Mo.

The theme assigned for this essay, will permit but one form of
treatment, and the writer must of necessity convey to her audience
merely her individual taste in the matter of floral selection.

As there are “many men of many minds,” my choice of flowers
may not meet and satisfy a general public demand.

To give personal preferences, with reasons therefor, will be the
simplest task possible, but I shall not expect every one who hears this
paper to concur in my individual views. My particular fancy runs
to sweet peas, pansies, petunias, asters, nasturtiums, and poppies, in
the order named. But it is hard to make a decided choice of these few
with so many other desirable ones left off the list urging their claims.
Nothing will take the place of scarlet salvia, cosmos, snap dragon,
salpiglossis, and numerous other good annuals, but when it comes to
limiting the list to six, those mentioned first are my choice.

I place sweet peas at the head of the list, because of their general
usefulness, as an all-purpose flower. The sweet pea combines profusion
of blossom with the sweetest fragrance, and daintiest coloring. There
is nothing prettier for corsage bouquets, and they make very fine hand

166 State Horticultural Society.

bouquets with the addition of a suitable ribbon, and no flower that grows
is superior for table or parlor decoration. The colors may be com-
bined effectively, or simply massed in one preferred hue. They are
always, and everywhere a graceful and popular annual. Their culture
is not difficult if three arbitrary rules are observed: First, deep plant-
ing in rich mellow soil; second, early planting, as soon as the frost is out
of the ground; third, a suitable wire trellis for them to cling to.

In this climate sweet peas should always be in the ground early
in March. If it is not possible to get them in the open ground so early,
they do well started in boxes and transplanted. Put them in a trench
five inches deep, cover with two inches of fine light soil, mixed with
leached wood ashes. As the sprouts appear bring the remaining three
inches of surplus soil close to their slender green bodies. Cultivate
the soil same as for garden peas, hoeing them when needful to keep down
aggressive weeds, and grass. When the hot summer days come a light
mulching of straw or leaves is useful to help hold the moisture and to
keep the sun from burning them at the roots. Water freely and eut
all the blooms every day until you get tired of the blossoms. This
course of treatment will insure flowers until autumn comes.

Pansies are such spirited, saucy little flowers that every one loves
them. They are the spoiled darlings of the floral world. When they
lift up their bright little faces for admiration you smile down at them,
no matter how world-worn or weary you may happen to feel.

A flat bouquet of pansies half hidden among dainty fern leaves is
one of the prettiest forms of table decoration imaginable. They are
pretty to wear also, but droop very soon unless they are placed in water.
Pansies can boast the prestige of more sonnets than all other blossoms
combined, except roses and lilies, and these are not annuals. To ecul-
tivate pansies, sow early in shallow boxes of earth in the house, or in a
cold frame; if in the house, transplant twice to prevent spindling —the
last time to the open ground. Soil for pansies should be deep rich loam,
and the plants should be set quite close together, no more than two
inches of space should be allowed between them. They require plenty
of water; under the right conditions nothing can excel them in profusion
of bloom. Like sweet peas, they must be gathered freely or they will
go to seed and lie down. To have good pansies is some trouble, but they

Winter Meeting. Ver

are amply worth the effort. After the transplanting period they only
require the weeds kept down. This must be done by the hand-pulling
process. Cut worms and green aphis are the enemies of this flower.
The first must be hunted for, and destroyed; the last may be treated
in various ways. Spraying with a week solution of paris green is a
good method to get rid of them. No more than a table spoonful of
the powder should be used to a gallon of water. ‘Slug Shot,” a com-
mercial preparation, will kill aphis, but it makes the plants and blos-
soms look dusty and disagreeable for several days after an application,
for it must be used when the plants are wet, and it adheres tenaciously.

Petunias give a greater wealth and variety of color throughout the
entire summer and autumn for less work and care than any other
flower in the catalogue.

Merely sow petunia seed in any common light garden soil, just
where you wish them to remain, and thy will grow sturdily and bloom
profusely until Jack Frost comes in real earnest to cut them down.
Petunias are always attractive, and they have a delicious perfume which
they seem to delight in wafting out on the evening air. A petunia
bed in my garden last fall gave us more pleasure than all the other
autumn flowers. The only care they need is to keep the weeds away
from them. They do not require an especial amount of moisture and
will bloom almost equally well in sun or shade.

Nasturtiums are regal things, so clean of foliage, profuse of flower,
and so easy to cultivate. Persons who do not like them call them
“vegetables,” and one disagreeable man I happen to know, calls them
“nasty stertions,” but I love them, always grow them, and would not
exclude them from the choicest garden. They come with such a riot of
color, fullness of life, and brightness of foliage, that I welcome them
gladly, as I do the sunshine. Put the seed in the ground early—
almost anywhere except among other plants. Each seed will make a
fine, strong vine, or bush, according to variety, and will give cut flowers
for the table all summer and fall. I plant the Tom Thumb kind;
they bear as many blossoms and are more generally satisfactory than
the climbing varieties.

These flowers will thrive in any kind of soil, and require very
little care. Give them nooks and corners to themselves, or plant them

168 State Horticultural Society.

along borders, far enough from other plants to prevent crowding, for

nasturtiums are rather selfish and aggressive—like some people— who
are better if kept at a respectful distance.

Asters are of easy culture also. I find the best way is to plant
the seed early in boxes or cold frames and transplant to the open ground
as soon as danger from frost is past. Let-the soil be light, rich and
well prepared. Set the plants ten inches apart each way. I consider
this flower almost equal to the best chrysanthemums. They have a
great variety of rich colors, shading up from dark purple to the faintest
lavender, and from deep rich blue to pure snowy white, from crimson
to the faintest rose; in all these lovely gradations each plant remains
true to itself, and is a miniature tree bearing dozens of fine feathery
blossoms. They require very rich soil and a sunny situation, and to
be kept free from the ever encroaching weed family. This is about all,
except perhaps, to stir the earth about their roots occasionally. It
pays to cultivate asters. No flower can surpass it in beauty or
profusion of blossom. ‘To my taste the aster is a veritable queen in
the realm of Flora.

And now come the poppies, great flaunting, long stemmed, graceful
silken robed things! They are among the wanton creatures of the
floral world, but, ah! how beautiful they are!

A hedge of poppies is unlike anything else in the kingdom of
flowers. They seem to woo you, to sway toward you, to lift bright,
witching faces up to meet your glances, till you think of Cleopatra,
Aspatia, Helen of Troy, and a score of other women famed for their
beauty. Your thoughts come to you in verse, and you say

A scarlet poppy swaying on its slender stem,
A cup shaped poppy with a cap of gold,
Casts swift, bold glances at all passers,
Then flaunts silken skirts and cries behold! behold!

You feel a virtuous thrill in the presence of these wierd, shining
creatures, and try to admonish them thus:

Ah! poppy with thy bright disturbing eye,
Fair poppy with thy soul destroying breath,

Flaunt not thy beauty which so soon must die,
Frail poppy think of midnight and of death,

Winter Meeting. 169

Sow poppies the same as petunias. [or their wealth of color,
give them sunshine and air, then let them grow to gladden the waste

places of the earth.

I write of flowers, and see their sunny faces
In all the lands where’er my feet have strayed.
In gardens fair, and in forlorn waste places;
In sunshine clear and in the softened shade.
I see them where chill mountain snows are falling
And where the Oriental sun beams bright,
I see them—aye—and seem to hear them calling:

’

“From Eden came we, just to give the world delight.’

Mrs. Martin Read sang with a sweet and sympathetic voice the
song “Hazel Drew,” while the accompaniment was played by her
young son.

The program closed with a paper on ‘*Forestry for Missouri,” by
D. C. Burson, of Kansas City.

SECOND SESSION— 9 A. M., Wednesday, December 6.

After the meeting was called to order by the president, Rey. L. R.
M. Beeson offered prayer for the day.

The secretary read a telegram of greetings from the Minnesota
State Meeting in session at Minneapolis and a message was sent in
return greeting the fruit growers of the north.

The names of visiting delegates were read and the following
gentlemen stood for introduction and recognition: Mr. L. H. Cal-
laway, of Bethel, Ill., delegate from the Illinois State Horticultural
Society; Major Frank Holsinger, Rosedale, Kansas, who represented
the Kansas society ; E. J. Baxter, of Nauvoo, Ill.; Prof. R. A. Emerson,
ot Lincoln, Nebraska, Agricultural College; and Prof. J. T. Stinson,
of the Arkansas College, at Fayetteville, Ark.

The following committees were appointed:

‘ON FRUITS :—
F. Holsinger, of Kansas.
E. J. Baxter, of Illinois.

J. T. Stinson, of Arkansas.

170 State Horticultural Society.

ON FINANCE :—
J. C. Evans.
Kk. B. Wilkerson.
W. G. Gano.

ON NEW FRUITS :—
Prof. J. C. Whitten.
Prof. R. A. Emerson, of Nebraska.
L. H. Callaway, of [linois.

ON OBITUARY :—
A. H. Gilkeson.
J. T. Snodgrass.
i. R.. Peyton:

ON FINAL RESOLUTIONS :—
J. M. Irvine.
J. P. Canaday.
N. O. Booth.

The subject of “Orchards” was taken up in papers and discus-

sions.

THE APPLE.—GROWING, PRUNING, DIGGING AND
HANDLING.

By J. P. Sinnock, Moberly, Mo.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The subject assigned to me is one that I have been interested in
for twenty-five years, and have been making the best practical use of
it under the circumstances. Sometimes we get discouraged after such
winters as we had last winter, but God, the great ruler, who knoweth all
things, knows best.

GROWING.

The apple seed is planted and cultivated one summer, dug in the
late fall, packed away in the cellar ready for grafting; then we go to

the scion orchard, cut this summer’s growth, tie them up in bundles,

Winter Meeting. Liat

label each variety, pack away in the cellar in sawdust. We are then
ready for grafting, which is fine work for the nurseryman during the
cold weather. Our grafts are made and packed away in boxes with
sawdust to callous, and by spring are all knit together and buds swollen
ready to push out. The land must be good and well drained, not too
rolling, that will grow a good No. 1 crop of corn. Plow it deep late in
the fall and rebreak it in the spring as soon as it will do to work. Pul-
verize it fine and you are ready for planting grafts. Mark off the
ground with a line in rows three feet, eight inches wide, plant with
steel dibbles eight inches apart in row, making each plant firm in the
ground, put stake to each kind, marking plainly the name of each
variety. The cultivation must now begin, which is the main thing in
the nursery business. As soon as our planting is completed we start
the Planet Jr. Cultivator. Stirring the ground shallow every few days,
and allowing no young weeds to start, and as soon as the rows begin to
show a few weeds, we throw the dirt away with a small diamond plow,
leaving a three to four inch strip which we work out by hand. being
careful not to loosen a single plant. You must also run the diamond
plow very shallow. In a short time the cultivator must go over again
and level the ground. Keep the cultivator going, and when ever the
rows need working, use the small diamond and the hand work, or if
you find it too hard on the hand use hoes, being careful at all times
not to loosen the young plants. Continue the cultivation up to the
middle or last of August, then hill them up with the disc cultivator for
the winter. The next spring stir the ground deep as soon as it will
do and if cloddy, run over it every few days until you get it thoroughly
pulverized. When ready to hoe throw away the dirt with the small
plow and hoe, leveling off in a few days with the cultivator, the work
must be continued and not a weed allowed to grow. Keep the culti-
vator going and do not allow the growth to stop until you are ready, say
the last of August. This will bring you trees in October, ready for
market.

PRUNING.

The first season there is but little pruning done, until late in the

fall or early the next spring. Trim each young tree to a straight

ie State Horticultural Society.

whip, cutting back the very small ones to the ground and let them take
another start. When the young sprouts and limbs come out and get
about one inch long you put on a leather glove and rub each tree about
two feet high; you can trim a good many thousand a day in this way,
and it leaves them nice and smooth. If at any time you find anything
to come off the body, break or rub it off while young and tender.
Sucker the little ones you cut off at the ground to one sprout and you
will find it will make a fine tree by fall, much better than if you had
not cut it off. This is about all the pruning that is needed, if done at
the proper time, and they will look like you had put a coat of varnish
on them.

DIGGING.

There are but few dug at one-year-old, which should always be
dug with a spade. When two-year-old trees are to be dug for early fall
orders, you must first strip off all the leaves, but later in the fall after
the leaves have been well frozen you could leave them on, but I would
prefer having them off. The tree plow i® the proper tool to dig them
with if you are going to clean the ground. But if only part of the
trees are ready to dig, you will find it best to use the spade, otherwise
those that are left to run over until spring or a third season will not do

so well.

HANDLING.

Handle them carefully after digging. Haul them to the packing
ground, heel in well and do not let them be exposed to the sun. Dry
or cold wind is also bad on the young roots, and when ready to ship to
the customer, pack well so that the roots will not dry.

GROWING, HANDLING AND PRUNING APPLE TREES.

E. L. Mason, Trenton, Mo.

The proper age of the apple tree for planting in the orchard, is a
question that has been thoroughly discussed by members of this society

at previous meetings, so I can not hope to add anything of special

Winter Meeting. 173

interest on this subject. Perhaps it is safe to say that the men who
have had the most experience in growing orchards, would favor a strong,
well-rooted, two-year-old tree, for the reason that they are more easily
planted, more easily pruned into the desired shape, and seem to have
more vitality, consequently grow more readily, and more of them live.
Besides thy seem to come into bearing as soon as older trees planted at
the same time. In other words, the two-year-old tree receives far
less shock when removed from the nursery row, because the roots have
not reached out so far, and are mostly removed with the tree, thereby
giving a larger per cent of root than older trees would have unless
special pain is taken in digging the older trees. Three, and. even
four-year-old trees, with a fine root system, when moved only a short
distance, by wagon, give very good results. I would add, however,
that great care should be used about exposure of the roots. Every
root and fiber ought to be just as fresh and full of life when planted in

the orchard as it was in the nursery row.
PRUNING.

When we prune the young trees for planting in the
orchard, several important things must be taken into consideration.
The top must balance nicely with the root system. We must determine
the height of head best suited to the trees of different forms of growth,
and the best form to give the top to make it strong and shapely.
Varieties differ widely in their growth, some make a strong upright
growth, others grow regular but more spreading, while still another
class takes a decided drooping form. It is evident that the same height
of head is not suited alike to the different forms of growth. A Clayton
apple tree certainly ought to be headed lower that a Ben Davis tree, and
a Ben Davis tree snould have a lower head than some variety of a
more drooping nature. So in heading the young tree, the height of
head should be governed by its habit of growth. In forming the top
we must take into consideration the requirements of a well formed
top. First, we want a tree with a strong center leader, and we will
try to give it an advantage of growth over the limbs so that it ean con-

tinue its upward course for other purposes. Four or five limbs will

174 State Horticultural Society.

be required to carry the load without too great strain. The limbs
must come from the trunk on its various sides, at proper distances,
with no two of them coming from the trunk directly opposite each
other as such a growth tends to weaken the tree, besides there is danger
of water collecting in the crotches and freezing, thereby causing a
split. By allowing the leader to continue other limbs can be grown
which would give a greater surface for fruit bearing, a larger capacity
for carrying the load and make the danger of splitting crotches much
less. While varieties of irregular habits can not easily be extended be-
yond a certain leader and lower limbs, kinds of more regular and upright
growth can be successfully grown on the two story plan. I have now
given a partial description of the foundation for a well-formed top, but
to dispose of the difficulties that will be encountered in bringing out the
desired result is quite another thing. Young trees are not always pro-
vided with a center leader, and do not always have limbs just where you
want them, but they should be grown with a center leader and properly
branched for limbs. When such trees can not be procured a good sub-
stitute is a strong two-year-old tree in the whip form. There may be
those who are opposed to pruning but certainly the young tree should
have a well formed top. Nature does not always have its own way in the
growth of a young tree, for it has many enemies to contend with.
Worms and insects often destroy the buds of the young twig and change
its course, making the young tree ill shaped, so to get the tree into more
shapely proportions we have to resort to pruning. While much has
been said about giving the tree a longer life by budding or grafting on
whole roots, the well formed top which is of equal importance, has re-
ceived much less attention. It is evident whether it be a whole root or
a piece root, that the tree should have a good root system, but if the
top is formed with forks, and has but three or four limbs, it certainly
is In avery poorcondition to carry a load and resist the fury of the storms
that play such havoe with our orchards. Besides when we plant the
young tree, its roots are buried out of sight, but the tree with its well
formed top will stand in after years as a monument to the skill and eare-
ful training of the orchardist.

~
or

Winter Meeting. ]

PREPARATION, LAYING OUT, DISTANCE, PLANTING AND
VARIETIES OF APPLES.

By J. P. Canaday, Bogard, Mo.

Why, in arranging the program, our worthy secretary should as-
sign to me this subject, I do not know, for there are many members here
much better qualified to write upon this subject. However if I am able
to present a few ideas and bring out a discussion, it may be more profit-
able than to have only the ideas and plans of one man.

The method of preparing land for planting should vary according
to the condition of the land to begin with, but whatever the condition
of the land to begin with may be, never plant an orchard until your
ground is carefully prepared. Many people will take great pains to pre-
pare a field in which they intend to sow wheat or for the planting of
corn or potatoes, then go and plant their orchard in a tough timothy
sod or in fresh cleared, unbroken land, then wonder why it is that they
can not succeed in growing an orchard like some of their neighbors.

A field intended to be planted to wheat is often plowed a month or
two in advance, then plowed again just before seeding time, and thor-
oughly worked down with harrow and roller; this forms an ideal seed
bed in which the seed readily takes root, even in a season of severe
drouth. De we ever see land prepared in this way for the planting of
apple trees? No, not often. The reason is that the majority of the
people have less experience in the matter of tree planting and have not
learned the necessity of careful preparation of the soil.

Much of the loss incurred in planting trees is owing to the fact
that the land has been poorly prepared, or as is sometimes the case, no
preparation at all. Often nothing is done toward preparing the land
until the trees are on the ground ready to plant. Then the land is
poorly prepared and left with numerous .air spaces which cause the
ground to dry out rapidly, leaving the trees to perish. specially is
this the case when an attempt is made to plant an orchard on sod land.
the same spring that it is plowed. The sod should be plowed under in
the spring and planted to corn or potatoes, which will leave the soil in
fine condition for planting of the orchard in the fall or the next spring.

176 State Horticultural Society.

This applies to timothy, bluegrass, or any tough sod. Clover does not
form a tough sod and may be readily put in fine condition for the plant-
ing of trees.

In short, I would say for spring planting, give your ground an ideal
preparation as for corn. For fall planting, prepare as for wheat.
Such land is in good condition to plant to apple trees.

Some say land should be subsoiled. In some soils it may perhaps
be necessary, but in our Carroll county soil a good, deep ploughing with
a common turning plow is all that is necessary.

When you have your land prepared as above mentioned the next
thing to do is to lay it out for planting.

There are almost as many different ways to do this as there are
men planting orchards, and I have never used exactly the same plan
twice. For planting small orchard of say 50 to 100 trees, it matters
but little what plan is used, the entire plat may be staked off with
small stakes and use the board with slot in center and hole in each end;
it may be planted by the use of a common check row wire, or with one
row of stakes around outside, the trees may be sighted and put in line.

But for commercial orchards it is necessary that we use the best,
the cheapest and the quickest plan. After using several different plans
here is one that I consider the best:

Take a double moldboard plow, or in other words, a corn lister
with the drilling attachment off, hitch two horses to this plow and run
straight furrows across your field the distance apart you want your
trees. When you have this done, turn and lay off the other way driving
crosswise of the furrows already made. You now have the Jand laid
off and the holes almost dug. The next thing in order to distribute the
the trees over the field. I have the trees tied ten in a bundle. Take
the trees to the field and drive the wagon between the first and second
furrows, heel in two bunches in the first cross furrow and in every
tenth cross furrow, then drive between the third and fourth furrows
and do likewise, and so on until you have distributed all the trees. This
I consider the most convenient and best plan of distribution, as you never
have more than ten trees out of the ground at one time during the pro-
cess of planting, and when one bunch is used another is right at your

hand. This plan of distribution is intended for six men to follow and

Winter Meeting. LG7

plant, but any number may be used. For the most convenience have
the men work three in a crew. One man goes ahead and prepares a
place for the tree by cleaning out the furrows where they intersect.
If the laying off has been properly done this will be deep enough, but if
necessary dig a little deeper. The other two follow with the trees, one
will prepare the tree for planting by pruning off all bruised and broken
roots, and shortening in any that may have been left too long. I prefer
the roots not longer than six or eight inches.

When the trees are ready to plant one of the men holds it in posi-
tion and packs the dirt about the roots while the other shovels in the
loose dirt. When the planting is finished the tree should be about
an inch deeper than it stood in the nursery; this is deep enough.

Some planters advocate leaning the trees toward the southwest. I
tried this once but it does not suit me; the result was a number of rain-
bow bodied trees; they not only straightened up, but passed on over to
the northeast. This, of course, was caused by the southwest wind
which the leaning is intended to counteract. I find that the trees hold
their position better by leaving them stand straight.

When you have the trees all planted in this manner take a common -
turning plow and throw one furrow from each side toward the row of
trees; the after cultivation will fill up these furrows and leave your
field as level as though no furrows had been plowed. The distance
apart to plant trees should vary according to the nature of the soil, the
varieties to be planted and the intention of the planter.

I consider thirty feet apart oftener right than wrong. Some few
varieties may be planted closer with good results, while some of the
wide spreading varieties may need more room.

In the near future I intend to plant ten acres of apple orchard. I
will plant them 15 or 16 feet apart each way. This orchard will all
be Missouri Pippin. I could not recommend this plan to others, as
this is only an experiment with me. The Missouri Pippin is rather an
upright grower, and bears heavy crops while young, and I am of the
opinion that such an orchard will make more money the first 15 or 16
years than the same amount of ground planted in any other way, as we

H—12

178 State Horticultural Society.

get about four times as many trees as when planted 30 to 32 feet apart.
When they begin to crowd I am quite sure that I will have the nerve
to cut out one half or three fourths as may be required. But I expect
this orchard to have paid handsome profits before this is necessary, as
the young trees of this variety are the ones that bear the best specimens.

As to the age a tree should be when planted, opinions differ and
probably always will. A majority favor using two-year-old trees, yet
many commercial orchardists are using one-year-old trees, while many
who plant in a small way use them three, four and even five years old.
It is hardly necessary to say that these are too old for the best results.

The main difference of opinion is between the one and the two-year-
old trees. As for myself I prefer the two-year-olds; one-year-olds with
us are usually too small; during the first summer’s growth the wind
sways them about too much, and many of them make crooked trees,
while two-year-olds are more stocky and able to hold their own. In
planting two-year-old trees, if they are fresh dug and in good condition,
I never cut them back, provided the tops have been properly formed in
the nursery.

I would prefer cuting all of the limbs off and forming a new top
rather than cutting one-half or three-fourths off of each limb as some
planters do.

Which is the best season for planting, fall or spring? is another
question upon which there is a great difference of opinion. I believe
that difference is mainly caused by difference in locality, yet you will
find men in exactly the same locality, one of whom would not plant a
tree in the fall, while the other would not plant in the spring. With
us either season is all right, provided the condition of the soil will per-
mit the work being done at the proper time. It is frequently the case
that the ground is too wet in the spring to properly plant trees until after
they have started to grow; for this reason I prefer fall planting. If
the trees are planted in the fall they should have a mound of earth
about four inches high drawn up around each tree; this protects the
tree from freezing and holds it in position and keeps water from set-
tling around it.

As to the varieties to plant, this depends greatly upon the locality
and the intention ofthe planter. An orchard planted for home use

Winter Meeting. V9

should be of many varieties. My selection for such an orchard would
be, Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Red June, Early Strawberry,
Rambo, Snow, Maiden Blush, Northern Spy, Rome Beauty, Roman
Stem, Smith’s Cider, Jonathan, Huntsman, Winesap, Missouri Pip-
pin, Grimes Golden, Minkler, York Imperial, Gano and Ben Davis.
The number of each variety can be governed according to the needs of
the planter. These varieties are mostly old, well tested and in general
use. The selection of the varieties for a commercial orchard is quite
a different thing; if you make a mistake here it would perhaps prove
more fatal than in any other part of the business.

There are two essential qualities that your varieties must have to
be profitable. They must be good bearers and saleable. To be saleable
they must be of good size and have good keeping qualities.

As for my own experience with varieties it is limited. I have al-
ways been afraid to plant much of anything except Ben Davis for fear
I would make a mistake, and as yet can’t see that I have gone far wrong.
Although there are some other varieties that I would plant to-day were
I planting an orchard, yet I am not sure that they would be more
profitable than the old reliable.

Ben Davis, Gano, Missouri Pippin and York Imperial I think
would be my list for ‘a commercial orchard. Jonathan is a fine apple
and for people in the northern part of the state it may be profitable, but
with us in Carroll county it is too early; it won’t make money for me.
The Winesap has been planted some, but I have never seen a profitable
orchard of them. There are many other varieties that I see recom-
mended but have had no experience with them, so I will let those that
have, recommend them. The Ben Davis has been and is to-day a
money maker.

The Missouri Pippin is a young bearer and has on that account
proven very profitable. I would only use it for close planting as men-
tioned heretofore in this paper, for the old trees are not profitable any-
way, so crowd them up, make it bear itself to death and get it out of the
way.

The York Imperial has so many friends and I see it reeommended
so much that I would surely have to try a few of them. I believe it is
here to stay.

180 State Horticultural Society.

PREPARATION OF LAND, LAYING OUT, PLANTING AND
VARIETIES.

By J. H. Karnes, St. Joseph, Mo.; Oakdale Fruit Farm.
Mr. President:

There seems to be so much work laid out for me in the above sub-
jects that it will be almost impossible for me to do justice to them in a
paper that must necessarily be brief.

“The last. shall be first,” saith the Scriptures. Therefore I will
reverse the positions of the parts of my subject and try, first, to dis-
cover what varieties to plant (that evidently being the most impor-
tant part of fruit growing at present) and then proceed with the opera-
tions pertaining to planting.

To plant or not to plant, or rather what shall I plant for profit in a
family or commercial orchard, is a question beyond the ken of ordinary
intelligence not gifted with prophecy to determine.

A short, retrospective view of apple growing in northwest Mis-
souri will abundantly prove the above assertion and show conclusively
that the question, “What varieties shall I plant?” is as far from a satis-
factory answer to-day as it was ten or even twenty years ago.

The mistakes our fathers and ancestors made were in planting too
many varieties. Thirty or more years ago the maximum number of
trees of one variety in a family orchard (there were no commercial
orchards in those days) was twelve. More frequently fewer than
twelve of one kind were planted. In those times you could find from
thirty to fifty varieties of grafted apples; also a number of seedlings
in almost every orchard. Every orchard plat was a genuine experi-
ment station; superior in many respects to our government sta-
tions of to-day, and as numerous as were the homes in the land of those
times.

Trees were indeed planted in virgin soil. Many varieties suc-
ceeded well for a time and developed whole erops of fruit that were the
very “pink of perfection” in all the essential points—size, color and
even quality.

Winter Meeting. 18]

The planter said: “Lo, I have found the desired varieties to
plant.”

Truly those very mistakes and experiments of former times should
have discovered to the present generation the very objects they have
been so long seeking.

Surely, after experimenting so largely with so many varieties, the
planters of to-day should have no trouble to determine what varieties to’
plant.

However the “lamp of experience” in apple growing has proven no
criterion for the future and each grower must be, emphatically, “‘the
architect of his own fortune.” Finding out for himself the varieties
best suited to his particular kind of soil or location.

Can we not count easily upon the fingers of one hand the very few
varieties that have withstood the changing climatic conditions, the
ravages of insect pests and the blighting influences of the prevailing
fungus diseases ?

This paper must necessarily be too brief to make note of the varie-
ties which succeeded well for a time but are now substantially things
of the past.

I will discuss only those varieties that have survived the “wreck of
the past” and some newer ones that are claiming the attention of growers
more recently. Of the “survivors” of the past the Janeton still has some
standing in the commercial orchard in some localities, and a few trees
should be planted in every orchard for family use. Grimes Golden
Pippin has been a favorite for more than thirty years and is more pop-
ular to-day than ever before.

The tree is vigorous and hardy in most localities, an upright
grower, bears early and every year, sheds its fruit to some extent, yet not
so much as Jonathan. Undoubtedly the best eating apple in its season
that ever grew. I would plant liberally of Grimes Golden Pippin.

Maiden Blush is another instance of the‘‘survival of the fittest,” and
is still profitable to plant to some extent. The trees do better after
they get some age on them—say ten or twelve years.

You must bear in mind, however, that light or yellow skinned

apples will not stand as low a temperature in cold storage as the red

182 State Horticultural Society.

varieties. If kept too cold the skin turns dark and gives them the
appearance of decay. Winesap was formerly a favorite, especially
where planted in rich soil and well cared for, but of late years it has
been both small and very scabby. I do not recommend planting it.

But no other apple ever introduced on the American continent has
sustained its reputation, both as to health of tree and perfection of
fruit. like the profitable Ben Davis, but often much abused by some.
It is the leading commercial apple almost from ocean to
ocean, and from the Gulf almost to the Lakes. It is preeminently the
king of the apple family, for all purposes in which an apple may be
used. I can give no stronger indorsement than the following clippings

from an eastern fruit journal:
“THE BEN DAVIS APPLE.

“The tree is a good one, bears early, annually and prolifically. The
apple is beautiful in shape, size and color. It is preeminently a good
shipper and long keeper. for culinary purposes it has no superior in
the appearance, palatableness or utility of the finished product. Cooked
or uncooked it is, in its season, agreeable and healthful. In qualities
of solid merit for all purposes to which mankind applies it, except for
cider and the hypercritical taste at dessert, it is superior to all other
apples. This renders it the favorite in commerce and gives it the
world’s verdict.

“A few hundred people have for many years debated its quality
as a mere table fruit. Seventy millions of Americans and perhaps all
apple using people elsewhere, either not knowing of the discussion or
caring nothing about it, buy and use this apple when they can get it.

“The Ben Davis apple, like Grant’s generalship, is often criticised
but always triumphant. It is a development that meets a need as
nothing else of its kind has done. It has pleased the world’s eye. It
has convinced the world’s judgment. It is beautiful, useful and en-
during. Its deficiencies can not contend against its merits. It is not
to be judged by the palate alone. It suffers in quality only in com-
parison with a very few other varieties inferior to it in all other re-

spects. | Applying to it the test of quality alone a comparatively few

Winter Meeting. 183

men—experts of overtrained taste—have pronounced against it. But
it sells for the highest price in the spring. The world’s judgment is
against them. But, they say, this is when all other apples have per-
ished. This statement, true only to the extent that this apple outlasts
all others, brings into prominence one of its chief merits—namely, its
fitness to survive its rivals. Anything that entirely succeeds is unas-
sailable by fact or logic.”

“Why so -much opposition to the Ben Davis? It seems
silly continually to talk against our own interests. Europeans like the
Ben Davis apples; they want them, and they pay for them. Why not
let them have them and hold our peace? The tree is hardy and an
early and abundant bearer; the apples are in demand at a good price,
and they reach their destination in good condition. If Europeans
want them, let us furnish them and consider ourselves fortunate that we
have a good market for something so easily produced. The claim that
the Ben Davis is not hardy is without foundation, for it stands the
climate of Maine equal to a native, and in a few years, will be the lead-
ing market apple in the state, if it is not already. Anything that finds
a ready market at a good price can hardly be called worthless.”

Of course I would plant Ben Davis, but with it I would plant a
liberal per cent of Gano to give to the fruit the appearance of higher
coloring. The habits of Gano, tree and fruit, are identical with Ben
Davis. Some say it is not quite so prolific as Ben Davis. We must
also plant some Jonathan, for in it we get both color and quality par
excellence. But when we are looking for barrels the Jonathan gen-
erally disappoints us.

York Imperial has recently been given a good indorsement over a
wide territory in Bulletin No. 8, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and
more recently by Mr. S. H. Linton from northwest Missouri, as being
an ideal apple for many localities. But no other apple seems so tender
or was seriously injured in northwest Missouri by the rigors of last
winter as York Imperial. . In one orchard of 100 York Imperial, set
ten years, 91 trees were entirely killed. I can give other examples

184 State Horticultural Society.

equally as discouraging. York Imperial also blights badly in many
places. I would not plant it in northwest Missouri.

Mammoth Black Twig seems to be a vigorous growing tree. But
from all reports that I have from it, it comes into bearing late and is
Jacking in productiveness.

We have not tested Ingram in. northwest Missouri, but it is
well indorsed and recommended by the best growers in the central and
southern parts of the state.

Many other varieties are claiming superior qualities over our old
ones, but they have not been sufficiently tested to determine merits.
I would advise planters to use discretion and not allow their valor to
lead them too far in planting new varieties.

For summer varieties none have given more satisfaction to me
than Duchess of Oldenburg and Wealthy. Both are excellent cooking
apples and when well matured and mellow are fine for eating. The
trees are vigorous and healthy, and bear early and often.

To recapitulate I would plant in a commercial orchard in north-
west Missouri as follows: Summer varieties, Duchess of Oldenburg,
ad Wealthy and some Maiden Blush; Late Fall or Early Winter,
Jonathan, Grimes Golden Pippin; Winter, Ben Davis, Gano and try
some Ingram.

Since we have determined what varieties to plant, we will proceed
with the preparation of the land and laying out and planting. I be-
lieve in planting trees on good soil if you have it. If not, make it good
by fertilizing. I also prefer to plant in the spring, but if practicable
prepare your ground in the fall by plowing as deep as possible. IL
would not break again in the spring, but pulverize well with a harrow.
If ground is free from obstructions—stumps and stones—planting can
be greatly facilitated by using a large ister plow to open up the rows
going north and south with lister, making rows 32 feet apart from east
to west. Then take some small plow and cross your lister furrows,
making the distance from south to north 20 feet. This allows 68 trees
per acre.

You have your trees, place some wet straw in the bottom of wagon

bed, shorten the roots of your trees (leave the tops alone), also “puddle”

Winter Meeting. 185

roots well, place them in the wagon and throw a wet carpet or blanket
over the trees so as to exclude the wind and sun. “Firm” the dirt well
about the roots, and when done planting take a common breaking plow
and throw one furrow to the tree from each side, making the furrows lap
well, but not too high on the body of trees. You may prune the tops
the second year. Head low, “dress and keep” and you may reasonably
expect, in due time, fruit time and harvest.

SETTING AND CARE OF TREES.

By G. E. Adams, Darlington, Mo.

The spring being backward I did not have time to break my
ground, so prepared for receiving my trees by staking off for each row
both ways enough to use the plow for a marker. When the trees came
I cared for them as instructed by the nursery, then I began on my
ground by going once with the field plow crossways to indicate the
place for the trees, then I began the other way and listed out for the row
by going three or four times for each row, putting the plow deeper
every time. This will be deep enough for one-year-old trees;
if two-year-olds may have to dig a little deeper to receive the roots.
When I got a row listed I planted the trees before the dirt got dry by
sumply taking a bunch of trees, and at each cross I placed a tree and
drew the dirt around it with my hands. After setting several rows I
take a spade and finish filling around my trees, tramping firmly,
making a slight mound around the trees. After the trees are thus set
I take my plow and fill up the ditch which makes a good drain for ex-
cess water and also holds the moisture better by being broken up.

My trees were one-year-olds and my trimming was done by cutting
off all limbs and topping them back. The season being dry and eutting
the growth of the trees short, I rubbed and trimmed most all of the
buds off again. I have a fair to good growth upon all my trees and
only lost one in 336. I set the apple trees 28 feet apart and put peach
trees between the trees in the rows, trimming same as the apple trees,
but not in the summer. I have a fine growth upon the peaches and the

186 State Horticultural Society.

loss was only eight out of 225. My plan is to crop the ground lightly
with corn two years and then give the ground entirely to trees, culti-
vate the row and sow the center space to clover.

As this is my first orchard setting I can not say what the future
will be but I am going to follow along the line laid out by the State
Horticultural Society’s workers.

DISCUSSION ON ORCHARDS.

J. J. Kiser.—I have a suggestion to offer in regard to distributing
trees for planting. I puddle and pack in damp straw or hay, right in
a wagon, drive along the rows as we plant and take out only one tree at
a time, plant in the fresh soil while it is still dripping wet. I would
not lean trees to the southwest, for if this is done strong limbs are apt
to grow on the northeast side of the tree and pull it over in that direc-
tion. Straight up is best. J take two-year trees which were cut back
at one year, thus making a strong growth of thrifty young wood. I
favor spring planting, but would dig the trees in the fall, heel in root
and branch and in the spring they are ready to grow right along. I
have two little maps here to show how I would make the rows. Ona
hillside I would run tke rows right around the hill. Keep rows as level
as possible so that the soil would not wash when cultivated. I think
on level ground that hexagonal planting has advantages over square
planting, as it gives sixteen per cent more trees at the same distance.
For temporary trees to be removed when they begin to crowd I would
use Missouri Pippin.

L. H. Callaway, of Ilinois——Have you any difficulty about leaf
curl on Missouri Pippin? Some Illinois growers have discarded it for
that reason.

Prof. J. C. Whitten—I have not seen any fungus which causes
leaf curl on this or other varieties of apple.

R. E. Bailey, Callaway Co.—It is the aphis. The Missouri Pip-
pin seems more subject to this insect than other varieties in my orchard.

E. J. Baxter.—Is the York Imperial hardy in our ordinary win-
ters ?

Winter Meeting. ibis f)

J. E. May, Adair Co.—York Imperial stood as well as any.

M. Butterfield, Jackson Co.—I think York Imperial as hardy
as any.

A. H. Gilkeson, Johnson Co.—Do not the trees in the Bayles
orchard in Jackson county show great damage from last winter’s cold?
In passing by the trees seem sickly.

Mr. Butterfield—That is no proof of the weakness of the York
Imperial. There are only 250 trees of that variety in the orchard and
they do not show from the road.

N. F. Murray.—Our customers complain of the blight on York
Imperial, and some of them are digging them up and throwing them
away on that account.

J. H. Karnes, Buchanan Co.—I had only a dozen trees of the York.
Nine of these were entirely destroyed and the others hurt by the past
winter. One of my neighbors had 50 trees of York. Over 40 of these
were killed. Another friend, out of one hundred trees set nine years,
lost 91. In one other locality I know of the York being badly damaged.
In the vicinity of St. Joseph York blights worse than any variety except
Jonathan and Yellow Transparent. The latter blights almost as bad
as the pear.

H. M. Hulen, Boone Co.—I have five hundred York Imperial and
am not losing any. They don’t blight half as bad as Missouri Pippin.

J. T. Snodgrass, Howell Co.—After a winter of thirty degrees
below zero we had a fine crop of York Imperial, and no blight.

E. J. Baxter.—How would the Ingram do for a filler in a Ben
Davis orchard ?

L. A. Goodman.—It would live longer than the Ben Davis. It
does not bear as young as the Ben Davis, but grows as large, more up-
right, rather slow grower like the Janeton. Its great value is in its
late blooming, after all other apples, except the Janeton. It resembles
the Janeton but is more handsome and better colored. It escapes early
frosts at blooming time.

C. Hartzell.—In the papers read, allusions were made to the man-
ner of plowing. I take it from observation that plowing the ground is
the great thing. There is a very great reason why we should plow the
ground before we plant the trees. It can not be well done afterwards.

188 State Horticultural Socvety.

J. C. Evans.—There seems to be some question of the hardiness
of the York Imperial. I think it depends very much upon where it
stood and how it was affected by the drouth of 1897.

N. F. Murray.—The Missouri Pippin blights badly in north
Missouri.

Member.—How would the peach do for a filler among apples ?

E. J. Baxter.—It is bad policy to plant peach trees among apple
trees.

J.C. Evans.—I do not think any. practical man ever tries that a
second time.

Mr. Gilkeson.—Our Grimes trees could not stand last winter. In
1884 I lost many Grimes.

K. B. Wilkerson, Audrain Co.—We have one orchard of 65 acres,
trees planted from three to five years. Ninety per cent of the trees
safely passed the winter. Of the York in this orchard 68 per cent sur-
vived. Of the Gano only 20 per cent. Another orchard of fifty acres
of several varieties went through all right. I think the difference is
eaused by location, cultivation and whether the trees grow early or
late. Where we plowed deep before planting the trees have done bet-
ter. One orchard of sixty-five acres was cultivated too late. The trees
grew the third time and suffered badly. When is the proper time to
quit cultivating? If a drouth comes on you must work late. I think
location, season and condition of the orchard should be taken into ac-
count in deciding how soon to stop cultivation.

G. T. Tippin, Greene Co.—The hardiness of orchards depends
especially upon their condition. I do not think you will find the York
more tender than anything else.

Some things read and said seem to make the impression that you
can grow an orchard on any kind of land. This is a mistake. Good
and profitable orchards can be grown only on good and suitable land.
Do not plant over hard pan. Do not plant much on gravelly soils.
Plant only on your heaviest, richest soils. As to varieties, in south
Missouri Ben Davis is king, with York and Ingram for next choice.
Ingram is one of the best trees, hardy and long lived. I take it that

in the nursery we have a pretty good place to make an estimate of the

Winter Meeting. 189

comparative hardiness of varieties, for all are treated alike. In our
grounds the York stood as well as any tree we have. I do not think
the York is a tender tree. As to the ages to plant, in the southern part
of the state we rather favor one year trees. I emphasize the statement
about pruning the roots of young trees when planting them in the
orchard. Nursery men should prune the roots heavily. We usually
get two-year trees with roots twelve to fifteen inches long. Cut them
back to six or eight inches. When you plant trees with long roots they
will start only small fibrous roots and will not send new and strong
roots down deep into the soil, like it would do if you cut off the roots.
This is not a theory but was learned by experience. Trees, to do well,
must have roots deep into the soil.

H. R. Wayman, Mercer Co.—The Grimes has been successful
here for thirty years.

Maj. Holsinger.—I planted York Imperial twenty-nine years
ago and at various times since. The trees are the best I have to-day.
It originated in Pennsylvania, near where I originated. I felt like in
planting it there would be at least two good things in this western
country. In ’73 the thermometer went as low as last winter. Two-
year Yorks pulled through. Other kinds perished.

I am glad to see Mr. Tippin and others coming around to my
position in regard to the roots of trees. I don’t care whether a tree
has any roots. If it has roots I cut them to one inch instead of six or
eight. When you cut the top you cut the lungs of the tree and it has
nothing to live on. Another good point in the paper is plant your best
lands. Poor land will not do.

K. B. Wilkerson.—I am interested in the York and am glad to
hear that it is generally doing well.

Every year I am cutting the roots of my trees a little closer. A
few years ago I got some Black Twig apple trees from Kansas. Their
roots were so poor that I threw away many of them, but for the lack of
something better I planted twenty-five or thirty of them. The first
year they grew fairly well, and the second year they shot away up,
some growing four feet or more. We had Red Astrachan killed in nur-
sery while York suffered but little. This part of the nursery had two
hundred loads of manure to the acre.

190 State Horticultural Society.

N. O. Booth, of the Experiment Station at Columbia, gave briefly
the result of their experiments in planting trees with roots of different
lengths, showing that extremely long or short roots were not as good
as medium.

Question :—How late would you cultivate a nursery ?

N. F. Murray.—We cultivated till the last of August and lost
75,000 two-year apple trees and 80,000 one-year-olds by the extreme
cold of last winter. These were on a north slope. On south slope they
came through all right.

L. A. Goodman.—I am fully satisfied that the hardiness of trees
depends more upon the subsoil than upon the soil and cultivation to-
_gether. Cutting all the roots off, as recommended by some, will not
do in this country.

CULTIVATION, CROPS)" TOOLS; AND PRUNING

By H. W. Jenkins, Boonville, Mo.

The orchard has been planted and well planted. The question
that now presents itself to the owner is, “What shall I now do with it ?”
Leave it alone to the tender mercies of a pitiless climate and to the mer-
cilessrabbitand borer and let these trees which are things of life eke out
a miserable existence for a short time, believing in the “survival of the
fittest !’’ (and the fittest won’t bother you long under such treatment)
and then give the nurseryman a blessing for selling trees that did not
have a “tap root” and a Canadian-oak-iron-clad constitution! Or
shall I take care of them the same or better than any other crop I plant
by good cultivation ?

I answer there is but one alternative, either cultivate and do it
well or else waste all your time and money previously expended in the
planting. There is no half-way business about it. To meet with suc-
cess you must cultivate often—at least every ten days (condition of soil
permitting) from May to September. Cultivate shallow and deep, keep
the ground level, never allow the soil to bake and become hard around the
newly planted tree. By the way, many Missouri farmers injure their

Winter Meeting. ESE

corn crop by cultivating too deep and at the last cultivation make sweet
potato ridges out of the corn row, instead of leaving it level so it will
retain the moisture and stand drouth.

The motto of every tree planter and corn grower should be, cultivate
shallow, level and often.

Cultivate crops in orchards the first three years. I consider corn
and potatoes or any crop requiring cultivation the best to plant. Never
sow any small grain unless you leave a strip next the tree row that can
be cultivated by plowing or hoeing.

BEST TOOLS.

In this day and age of improved machinery every orchardist
should provide himself with good tools to work with. So far as the
writer’s knowledge extends the Planet Jr. horse cultivator with its
various shaped shovels is the best cultivator for general cultivation
among young trees. be sure to get a set of wing shovels or sweeps for
use in shallow, level cultivation; also provide a short single tree, sixteen
inches is about the right length. Another good tool is a good bright,
sharp hoe. Sharpened from the inside the same as an adz or mattock.

“The man with the hoe” is all right among newly planted trees if
he uses it. A sharp, fine-tooth saw and a good hawk-bill knife are
also necessities.

PRUNING FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD YEARS.

This part of growing an orchard is an important one, especially
the first year, as that is the time to correctly shape the future tree.
The old saying is true: “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.”
After the tree has been planted shorten in the branches at least one half,
leaving the central shoot much the longest. Cut off side branches till
top is evenly balanced, if top is formed all on one side cut back to a whip
and let new top form. If head is wanted at 20, 24 or 30 inches keep all
sprouts rubbed off below. Prune the second year with the view of
shaping the future tree. The third year prune only such limbs as_ cross
each other, or that grow irregular so as to spoil the symmetry of the
tree. Beyond this the writer does not believe in much pruning. Re-

192 State Horticultural Society.

member the more you prune unnecessarily the more you will have to
prune.

CULTIVATION, CROPS, TOOLS AND PRUNING.

By Arthur Patterson, Kirksville, Mo.

In the cultivation of a commercial orchard for the first three years
we have the most essential work in producing the trees which will
bear the crops of apples later on. It is almost absolutely necessary that
we cultivate during this time in order to produce a thrifty growth of
wood and to give the trees a good start. The reason why we should
cultivate at this time is for the same reason we cultivate any other
field or garden crop. Years ago it was thought that keeping down weeds
constituted the whole of cultivation; such is not the case now; cultiva-
tion now means conserving moisture, liberating plant food and keeping
down weeds. The easiest manner of conserving moisture is in culti-
vating by breaking up into as fine particles as possible, which is best
done by a small and many-toothed harrow of any size or shape, one or
two horses, any old thing—yjust so it does this work. This is not accom-
plished by a few workings of the soil but by many.

While I have never used the plan, I suppose the best possible way
of cultivating a young orchard for the good of the trees is to cultivate
it without any growing crop between, but I have always used corn
which I thing has its advantages also, by shading the trees more or less
during the hot, dry months of August and September, while abstracting
perhaps not very much nutriment from the trees.

Now, the distance the trees are planted apart has something to do
with the cultivation of a young orchard. I say plant them either 16 or
30 feet square. Each has its advantages. The closer planted, in that
the same amount of labor expended for cultivation, answers for four
times the number of trees as there are four times the number of trees to
the acre. True such an orchard does not last long, but it is the fruit

from the young trees that the buyers want, as it is generally larger

Winter Meeting. 193

nicer, and will keep longer and sell better. By planting the trees 30
feet apart the crops grown between the trees can be cultivated better and
will produce better, thereby lessening the expense of growing the
orchard, which is considerable for a commercial orchard of any size.
Planted in this way, the land occupied by the trees will hardly be
missed from the farm. The trees will also last longer.

As to tools we have used in the cultivation of a young orchard a
breaking plow, a good adjustable iron-tooth harrow, an 8 shovel, two-
horse cultivator and a Planet Jr. five-tooth, one-horse cultivator is
enough for anybody; using the one-horse cultivator for the tree rows.
Another important item is to plant the corn so it can be cultivated both
ways, thereby lessening the amount of hand labor in hoeing, ete. I
have always thought that trees planted in squares were more easily
cultivated than those planted in diamond shaped spaces.

Now as to the pruning. I have always pruned heavily on plant-
ing, then the head should be formed by allowing only the best limbs to
remain and only those that are growing exactly where you want the
head to form. This is best done, that is to require the least labor
and to give the least shock to the tree, while the wood is yet soft and no
more than a sprout. I think the heads should be formed not more
than 24 to 3 feet from the ground. We must always remember that
there is such a thing as over-pruning which gives a shock to the tree and
stunts its growth and also that there is such a thing as under-pruning
which will in later years give the tree a bushy appéarance, allowing no
sunlight into the interior and hardly any circulation of air through it.
The safest plan is to strike the happy medium and prune just enough
which will also induce fruiting to a certain extent.

With all this hue and ery of selection of varieties, of planting, cul-
tivating, pruning, spraying and the endless amount of labor required
for years to grow and produce an apple orchard, and with all the good
literature and papers written by able men who are experienced orchard-
ists, it is one thing to read all this and to listen to all this, but it is
quite another to select the proper soil which has the natural fertility, to
select the location which has the proper frost and water drainage, to

H—13

194 State Horticultural Society.

select the proper varieties which the buyers will want ten years from
now, to give the proper attention in the way of pruning, cultivating,
spraying, etc., and to produce an orchard that will be pleasing to the
eye, give intense satisfaction to the owner for all the labor and money
he hasexpended on it and that will pay his mortgages and swell his bank
account.

GATHERING AND MARKETING OF THE APPLE CROP.
By A. Nelson, Lebanon, Mo.

The year now closing will prove, on the whole, to be a
most disastrous year to the general fruit interests of the country. The
first main cause was the under estimate of the fruit crop for 1899. The
buyers, or many of them, started out with the idea there were no apples,
which was in part true so far as our state was concerned. I believe
the estimate I put on the crop in our part of the state was over instead
of under. I never put it at over 30 per cent of a full crop and now the
crop is marketed it turns out less than 25 per cent of a crop, and about
90 per cent of what was packed should have gone to evaporators, can-
ning factories and the cider mill. Results have already shown to this
society that this is only too true. What can we as a society do to cor-
rect this evil, and an evil which if encouraged will bring disastrous
results to the great fruit interests of Missouri? Let us look back for a
moment upon the results of this kind of packing to our friends, the
strawberry growers. Many of those hard working men thought the
market would take anything in the shape of berries, and no doubt
some went as far as some of our apple growers and pulled up vines and
ul and filled the boxes as the apple men put in culls and No. 2 stock
which they thought were plenty good. We all know the disastrous
result from such packing, and what is true of our berry friends is more
than true with the apple growers; any apple as large as a persimmon
must go in a barrel and at full price. With the facts as above stated;
much of the fruit that has been packed to glut our markets and break
down the prices of fair to good fruit, should have been consumed on the

Winter Meeting. 195

farm as stock feed or worked up as first stated. Anyone that has noticed
the condition of the market in St. Louis could easily see that thousands
of dollars each day were being lost by some one; the average cost price
of apples from along our line (and we pack at fourteen different points)
laid down in St. Louis cost from $1.80 to $2.25 per barrel. We all know
now and we knew it then that somebody was being hurt and hurt bad.
Tt is a well known fact that thousands upon thousands of barrels of
apples were sold on St. Louis market at 75 cents and up to, in some
cases, fancy prices. But where is the remedy and what will our soci-
ety say and do to prevent a repetition and forestall such disastrous re-
sults? Some may say I sold my fruit for good prices and I worked off
culls and No. 2’s. Yes, that is true in many cases and no doubt these
men would have felt good for the time being if they had filled
the barrels with small limbs and roots from the trees as long as they
could get them. The strawberry men are taking the correct course to
avoid a repetition of what happened to their trade last spring, and it is
not too much to hope that from the experience of the apple year now
drawing to a close and out of the disaster that has overtaken so many,
ways and means may be devised to correct the abuses that have crept
into the trade. I speak from the standpoint of a grower as well as a
buyer, packer and shipper; I have had forty years or more experience
in the apple trade and never but once have I experienced such a year as
the one now closing. But there is one fact that must not be lost sight
of, when buyers go in the market bucking against a supposed short
crop nine times out of ten it will go against them. But I will leave
this subject to the consideration of the society, hoping something may
grow out of these crude and hastily prepared suggestions.

Friends and fellow workers:

I regret much my inability to meet with you, as this should be
one of the most profitable and interesting meetings ever held by our
society. First the Paris, France, exposition next year, while our ex-
hibit will not be a large one, yet I have every reason to believe it will
be a fine one while it lasts; after this comes the Pan-American exposi-
tion at Buffalo, New York, in 1901, and it is not too early to commence
preparing for it. At that exposition, as the boys say, we will have a hot

196 State Horticultural Society.

contest as we will be brought face to face with the best orchard pro
ducts of the country. New York state is almost without a rival, while
Michigan, Canada, Pennsylvania and the New England states will all
be arrayed against us to pluck the laurels we have so often won at such
contests. The question is will the fruit interests of Missouri be held to
the front in this contest as she has done in the past? I for gne say
“Yes,” we will win at the Pan-American exposition or pull up by the
roots our Ben Davis apple trees.

I refer you one and all to the letter in the hands of Mr. Goodman,
to show you I am in earnest. While York state is the land of my birth
J will do all in my power to join hands with you in winning from her at
that contest. This matter needs our earnest thought and attention at
this meeting and I hope for one that action will be taken and commit-
tees appointed at this meeting to bring this matter before our people,
not only the fruit growers, but the governor of the state and our law
makers. It costs money to make such exhibits and it should not be
left to a few to do all the work and then foot the bills. These are mat-
ters of state pride and the entire state should aid us and not a few in-
dividuals in a matter of such great importance to not only the fruit
men, but to all the interests of the state that tends to put Missouri to
the front where she is entitled to be placed. In closing this hastily and
poorly prepared paper I want to reiterate and impress this one fact
upon the fruit growers, no matter whether it be strawberries, peaches,
or apples, there is always a demand, and I believe ever will be, for
choice fruits of all kinds and at paying prices, and no one year has
more fully demonstrated this than the year 1899, now drawing to a close.

Yours truly,
A. Nrtson.

DISCUSSION ON ORCHARDS.

L. A. Goodman.—First cultivation and then pruning should be
thoroughly discussed.

N. F. Murray.—Cultivation seems to have had more to do with the
killing of our trees than anything else. We cultivated till the last of
August. The trees kept growing till late and were killed by the ex-
treme cold.

Maj. Holsinger.—At one time I believed in thorough cultivation,
but now I don’t know whether it is best. Judge Wellhouse, the apple
king of Kansas, has stopped cultivating, though J still believe that on
the whole it is better to cultivate thoroughly and vigorously. I have

Winter Meeting. 197

two German neighbors who have grown more apples than any two men
Iknow. They do not cultivate. Last fall they had a magnificent crop
of fine fruit. One of them said he had eight successive crops without
cultivation. They had clover in their orchards, mowed it and left it
under the trees. I live only three fourths of a mile away from them;
yet when we left one orchard without cultivation the result was disas-
trous. “You pay your money, you take your choice.” I don’t know
anything about it, and I don’t know anybody who does.

J. F. Wilcox, of Buchanan county recommended little cultivation,
use disc harrow for cultivation, sow in clover, cultivate every second
spring. He keeps his orchard in good condition in this way.

Mr. Callaway, of Ilinois.—I would like to know what you people
think of sowing oats late in the season, about the last of August.

Mr. Gilkeson.—I have no experience. Kellogg, of Michigan, rec-
ommends it for a covering during winter.

J. J. Kiser.—I sowed oats this fall. I believe the theory is right.

N. F. Murray.—I believe in it as theory, and regret that we don’t
sow them. Mr. Bagby sowed one half of a block of 800,000 peach
buds in oats in August. In the oats the buds were badly killed. Where
there were no oats they were all right.

L. A. Goodman.—TI think rye is the best thing you can put in the
orchard. The next spring you have a nice coat to turn under. It is
one of the best things to protect the orchard during the winter. So
far my experience is very favorable. We sow sometimes as late as
November. It made quite a nice growth even so late. You can turn
it under or cut it very early and let it lay. Plowing in October seemed
to do no harm; the trees did not start a new growth.

INJURY BY DROUTH.—CAN WE HELP THE TREES?

By J. E. May, Wilson.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
When our worthy secretary wrote me he had assigned me the
above subject and requested me to prepare a paper for this meeting, my
first thought was to write him that I could not, for be it known I

198 State Horticultural Society.

am a far better hand with the hoe and cultivator that the pen. But
upon further thought I concluded to try, for I always desire to do my
part. Friends, if I fail to show that trees are injured by drouth 1
beg you not to criticise too harshly but to remember I have only had
five years’ experience in orcharding, except to set out a few trees occa-
sionally and then generally leaving them to take care of themselves, as
far too many are doing. I have learned many valuable lessons in my
orchard and by observation in the past five years, among them being
the one that trees are often injured by drouth, but in almost every case
it was by the owners neglecting them. I don’t suppose there is a person
within the sound of my voice but what will agree with me that a great
many trees are injured by drouth, and if I may say something to make
the carelees open their eyes to their own interests and encourage them
to take better care of their young and old orchards, then I shall feel that
this paper has not been an entire failure. Many times we see fine
young trees set out in the spring (and far too often set in the fall, which
should never be done in northeast Missouri), sometimes in ground
well prepared, but. oftener not prepared at all; for I have seen trees set
in a meadow sod and the man might just as well put his money in the
fire and saved the labor of setting them out. One man just a short
distance from Adair county set forty acres in just such ground two
years ago and of course lost the most of his trees, besides a good deal of
labor. A great many times the man that prepares his ground well
and vows he will take good care of his trees, forgets all about them when
the rush of farm work comes on and don’t think of them again until
after the crop is gathered, when, perhaps by chance, he remembers he
set an orchard in the spring and goes to see how well it has grown, when
lo! and behold, a large per cent are dead, and the balance a poor, sickly
lot which it will take years of careful nursing to make good trees
of. What was the trouble? Injury by drouth, caused by neglect. I
will venture to say he declares orcharding a failure and were the man
near, that sold him the trees he would not hear anything complimentary
of himself.

To my mind the orcharding is not a failure, but the man is,so far as
growing an orchard is concerned. You can come just as near growing
a crop of corn by planting it and trusting to providence to do the rest

Winter Meeting. 199

as to plant an orchard and expect fruit from it without giving it proper
attention. ‘This is no pen picture, but one that can be verified by a
ride of only a few miles through the country. I had occasion to ride
some twenty miles through our county (Adair) during the month of
October, and, as is my usual custom, took particular notice of orchards
along the way and, my word for it, there were very few but what showed
great neglect, and had we not had a very wet season, would no doubt
show the effects of drouth. Some were young orchards planted a year
or two ago, others were five or six years old, and some were old veterans
that were fast going to decay and needed to be removed that they might
not offer a breeding place for injurious insects and that the owner
might use the land for other purposes. Some had planted the ground
to corn and given the corn fair cultivation but forgot to cultivate the
trees, and you could hardly see them for the weeds; the owner never
thought to cut them down so that they might not seed
the ground for another crop. Don’t you suppose it hurt those
trees with that great crop of rag weed, Spanish needle, etc., sapping
the very life out of them and taking the nourishment the trees needed ?
I do, and the foliage showed it very plain and seemed to be asking for
better treatment. It is a shame for a man to plant trees and give them
such treatment for, be it known, with just treatment they are his best
friends. It is strange to me why men will cultivate their other crops
and neglect their orchards when the orchard will pay many times the
best. One of my neighbors sold nearly $600 worth of Ben Davis
apples from three-fourths of an acre orchard in the past five seasons, this
vear getting $135 for the fruit. Can you do as well raising corn or
wheat ?

Can we help the trees? JI answer yes, and the time to begin to
help them is before planting by having the ground in the best possible
condition. Use care in setting and then cultivate thoroughly so as to
send the roots deep into the ground that they may not suffer when
drouth comes, which is sooner or later. Cultivation should begin early
in the spring and be kept up until about August, when it may cease
provided the season is a reasonably wet one, otherwise it will be well
to cultivate later. One who has never tried it will be surprised how

200 State Horticultural Society.

long the ground will remain moist where it is cultivated shallow and
often. Let us learn to love our trees as our friends which they are,
and then we will take better care of them, and in a few years they will
pay us many times for all work bestowed upon them. And how much
more homelike it makes a home where there is a well-kept orchard.
We think if more would attend these meetings and take some good hor-
ticultural paper there would not be so many neglected orchards all over
north Missouri and they would not show so plainly “injury by drouth.”

DRESS AND KEEP THE ORCHARD.

By Conrad Hartzell, St. Joseph, Mo.

Cleansing the orchard implies that there are orchards and that
cleansing is necessary—beginning perhaps with the first work pre-
paratory to producing the orchard, then cleansing the land and prepar-
ing to plant the trees, belongs to the cleansing which includes first
plowing the land—not simply making holes in which to plant trees.
Cleansing the orchard fully, means to dress and keep after tree planting.
Pruning, is dressing. Preventing insect devastation, is keeping. Both
are man’s work; both are possibie and within man’s “possibilities.”
Yes, cheap labor is recommended to begin with. Domestic animals
and poultry; sheep lead in cheap labor, because of the very many bene-
fits derived from keeping sheep in the orchard; and hog labor is also
cheap ; insect destruction is very necessary and is quite possible. Poul-
try keeping in the orchard is a great help in cleansing the orchard, but
preferable to all other known helps is manual labor properly directed.
It may prove cheapest of all in the end—labor by intelligent men in
the destruction of insects in the orchard is included in the items of
dressing and keeping. When in winter quarters insects are easily and
readily destroyed by man. Spraying is so very modest, and although
very much hke hard work, spraying seems like playing and it makes the
winged insects laugh. Weed-growing in the orchard should be entirely
prohibited. Sheep kept in the orchard in sufficient number is a sure
way of cleaning out all the weeds. Clover is a valuable orchard grass

, Winter Meeting. 201

for cleansing and enriching the land. Old and neglected trees, not too
near dead, can be soon brought into bearing and profitable fruiting by
cleaning the trees and working around the base of the trees. Moving
the earth vigorously and applying salt, lime and wood ashes, remove
all the old rough bark from the tree, particularly at the surface of the
ground, where may be found piles of insects in their winter quarters
and then and there it is easy to destroy them. The insect pest generally
in the orchards in the United States is now demanding of the horti-
culturist most serious and immediate attention as is well known every
where. The orchards are overrun with destructive insects. Some very
erroneous opinions are extant doing some injury, namely, that the
insects in the orchard are a necessity for the good of the orchard, and
that no work by man can be done in the orchard that can benefit the
orchard, and very much has been said in favor of planting shrubs
instead of planting trees, but common sense says different.

Man has been plodding along in the same old way with too little
progression—too conservative entirely, except perhaps in travel. Man
goeth; yes, he goeth. Just look and think. Examine the locomotive,
not yet one hundred years old, see how it goes whizzing by, and some
times through the orchard, and think about the most necessary and
most useful tool of the orchardist—that tool so necessary that even the
locomotive could not exist or be needed but for the plow—the

‘arth mover, so conservative that even now in old Egypt their best plow

is a forked stick just like they used 3,000 years ago—too conservative
except for orchard work in the United States, in Missouri, A. D., 1899.
It is time spraying has been commenced. Very little earnest, progres-

sive earth moving has yet been done, but let us hope in the morning

twilight now so near—yes, the morning light of the twentieth century
is upon us—that man will take a mighty step forward. Woman will
come to man’s help as never before. Darkness and ignorance must be
relegated to rear seats, especially in orchard, field and garden work.
Will great progress be achieved because man will occupy higher grounds
in higher callings.

Higher aims, higher motives, higher plans must be employed by
progressive horticulturists. Better fruit is the leading object and more

202 State Horticultural Society.

money next. One sure means is in reach by starting right. Starting
right is of the greatest necessity. Yes, a right start is the only sure
way to success.

“Dress and keep” was the complete list of instructions given to man
and will not fail when followed by the orchardist. Man is lke a tree
—planted by rivers of water—as in Missouri. God planted the first
orchard—then called a garden. God put the man in it to dress and
keep it.

Cleanse the orchard and make it fruitful. Dress means fix up and
make beautiful as well as useful. Keep, is a favorite word full of
meaning to-day. Yes, keep the trees healthy and clean; do that which
is necessary in the orchard for success. Use thought and action at the
proper season and in time. Let nothing prevent, but keep the motto

ever in memory—do not forget to dress and keep.

A valuable help in cleansing the orchard is the birds, and man
should provide shelter for his feathered friends and by the same pro-
vision otherwise protect the orchard, namely, by growing evergreen
hedges, say on section lines, for birds to winter in—and in the Ozarks
1 uild walls of rock and plant trees for the birds to dwell in safely.

Orchards of trees are much easier kept clean than are orchards
of shrubs, and the fruit grown on trees is far superior to that grown
on shrubs, and well shaped trees are much longer lived than dwarfy,
uncouth shrubs.

The most prolific source of insect production is the prevailing
habit of growing culls too near the ground. Nature’s laws must be
obeyed or dire calamity comes. Good, perfect fruit is desired and is
only obtained by properly directing man’s efforts and following nature.
Salt properly and sufficiently used on orchard land is sure prevention to
tree and twig blight. Wood ashes, lime and leaf mold are all very
valuable for young trees, not only for cleansing the orchard, but also
giving healthy growth and prolific crops of fruit on all trees of bearing
age. It should be remembered by all interested in fruit production
that clean orchards produce the best fruit. Dressing and keeping
clean is a vital matter. ;

Winter Meeting. 203

Mr. Murray spoke of a home made cultivator with slanting steel
teeth for pulverizing the ground. He finds the dise harrow one of the
best tools for orchard cultivation. He used this harrow last spring
on ground covered with a heavy growth of cow peas, and succeeded in
making the surface a fine dust mulch.

THE MORE COMMON APPLE INSECTS.

By Prof. J. M. Stedman, Agricultural College, Columbia, Mo.

I trust our secretary does not intend for me to tell you about all the
insects that are known to injure, in one way or another, the apple, for
it would require a whole day to go into details in regard to their habits,
life history and methods of suppressing them. I shall,
therefore, mention only the more common ones that I know trouble you
who live in this locality. But, before giving specific cases, allow me
to make a few general remarks for the benefit of all.

As most of us are aware, our common arsenical poisons—Paris

green, London purple, ete.—are very apt to be adulterated, and as a
result of this we frequently reap no benefits from our spraying,
although our part of the work is done properly. This has led many
stations to experiment with different substitutes for the above poisons,
and as a result the Michigan station has hit upon what appears to be
a perfect substitute. I have been experimenting with it during the
past season, with the result that I believe it can be used as a perfect
substitute for Paris green or London purple, and has the following ad-
vantages: It is absolutely pure and contains a known definite amount
of arsenic, is not so liable to injure the foliage and remains suspended
in the water much better, thus saving the trouble of being so particular
in regard to constant stirring while spraying.

Arsenate of Soda.—The new substitute is called arsenate of soda,
and will be made by you individually as follows: To two gallons of
water add two pounds of powdered white arsenic and eight pounds of
sal soda. JBoil this until all is dissolved, which will take at least fifteen

minutes of boilimg—perhaps longer. Add water to make up the two

204 State Horticultural Society.

gallons as soon as it is boiled enough, otherwise when it cools some of
the chemicals will crystallize out. Place this concentrated solution in
a jug and label “Poison,” etc. When you desire to use it, remember
that two quarts of this liquid is equal to one pound of Paris green,
therefore, take two quarts of the arsenate of soda and add it to the
proper amount of water, which will vary according to the insect and
plant, and add to all eight pounds of freshly slacked lime, and thoroughly
mix.

The life, histories and habits of the different species of insects
infesting your apple trees are interesting, and, in many cases, you should
know them in order to intelligently apply the remedies; as I have
given them before to this society, and as the time is limited, I shall
simply name the different species and give you the remedy.

The wooly aphis on the roots can be killed and kept away by the
liberal application each spring of tobacco dust about the base of the
tree and roots, by first removing the earth for three inches in depth,
filling in the tobacco and covering it over with the earth again.

The aphis or plant louse on the leaves may be readily killed by
two applications of kerosene emulsion ; or, if you have the raw kerosene
and water mixing spray pump, which can now be purchased, you can
use this less troublesome method with success. Begin spraying as soon
as the lice appear and before they curl up the leaves.

The oyster-shell bark louse and the scurfy bark louse can
both be killed by two or three thorough sprayings with kerosene emul-
sion, or the kerosene and water method, as given for plant lice.

The flat and the round-headed apple tree borers can be kept
out of an orchard only by the use of all three of the following methods:
Keep the wooden wrappers on the young trees, they tend to lessen
borer attacks; every year go through the orchard the last of August or
fore part of September and by means of a sharp knife dig out all borers;
every spring apply a wash of some kind to the trunks and large limbs,
removing the wooden wrappers long enough to put this wash on.
There are a great many good washes, but for the benefit of those who
may desire to know one, I give the following, which I have found to be
as good as any wash made and it is very cheap: Dissolve as much

Winter Meeting. 205

common washing soda as possible in six gallons of water, then add one
gallon of ordinary soft soap and one pint of crude carbolic acid and
thoroughly dissolve; slack a quantity of lime in four gallons of water so
that when it is added to the above, the whole will make a thick white-
wash; add this to the above and mix thoroughly, and finally add one-
half pound of Paris green or one-fourth pound of powdered white
arsenic and mix thoroughly. Apply by means of a whitewash brush.

The leaf crumpler can be picked off a few young trees by hand
during the winter, but if they be in large trees and a large orchard it
is better to spray with the arsenite soon after the tree begins to leaf
out, using one pound of Paris green or two quarts of arsenate of soda
in one hundred and fifty gallons of water.

The leaf folder can be killed by the above method also, but should
be watched so as to begin spraying just as soon as the larvae hatch and
before they curl up the leaves.

The canker worm is easily killed by the above method, and
spraying should begin as soon as the larvae appear, otherwise they may
defoliate the trees in a few days.

The web-worms and tent caterpillars are better destroyed by
means of a torch applied in the late evening when the larvae are all
collected in their nest.

The New York weevil and the imbricated snout beetle can be
killed, but not successfully by spraying with the arsenite.

The twig pruners, girdlers and borers can not be prevented,
but may be lessened by gathering and burning the fallen twigs.

The climbing cut-worms may be prevented from getting up the
trees by tying cotton wool about the trunks.

The codling moth can be largely controlled by spraying with the
arsenates using one pound of Paris green or two quarts of arsenate of
soda (plus lime in all cases) in one hundred and seventy-five gallons
of water. The first spray should be applied about one week after the
flowers (petals) fall and then every eight days for four sprayings. If
it rains at any time during this, repeat the spraying and do not count it.

206 State Horticultural Society.
DISCUSSION OF INSECTS.

N. F. Murray.—Does poultry in the orchard hold down the
insects 4

Prof. Steadman.—They will tend to keep down the codling moth,
leaf crumpler and insects of that kind, but not aphis and such sucking
insects.

L. A. Goodman.—For two years the leaf crumpler has been very

bad in Bates county.

DISEASES OF THE APPLE.

By Prof. J. C. Whitten, Columbia.

Among the diseases of the apple we will mention the scab and the
skin blotch. These can be kept down by careful spraying with Bor-
deaux mixture. We find that four pounds of copper sulphate and
four pounds of lime in fifty gallons of water seems to do as well as
stronger mixtures. Spray first, before the buds start; second, when the
buds are swelling; third, just before the flowers open; fourth, just
after the blossoms fall; and sometimes it might be well to spray again
about two weeks after the petals fall. At the station we found that we
could save ninety-five per cent of some Janetons from scab; and the
second year we had ninety-seven per cent free. Experiments in spray-
ing year after year show that you can almost entirely do away with
the scab and skin blotch. Bitter rot is more troublesome, and as it does
not prevail in the vicinity of the station we have not had as good chance
to experiment with it. In our experiments we were able to reduce it,
but were not able to hold it in check as we would like. We could
lessen it about one-half.

Root rot.—Of this I think I had better not say anything. One
reason is, because I don’t know anything about it. We have more of
it in the southern part of the state than in the northern. We have
tried different experiments with lime, salt, ashes and copper, and
intend to keep on working with it, in the hope of gaining valuable

experience.

Winter Meeting. 207

Root gall.—I do not know what causes root gall and I have never
seen any body who does know what causes it. We have tried many
experiments with no decisive results. I have never seen this root gall
in sufficient quantity to kill the trees, though we had some of it in
a little nursery at the station.

DISCUSSION OF APPLE DISEASES.

’ Kx. B. Wilkerson.—In the nursery we found more root gall in the
richer ground, where it was heavily manured, 200 loads to the acre.
The second year the tree begins to die. Some said the wax used in
grafting was the cause of it. I think the bunches of fine roots found
on the trees just under the surface of the ground are from the same
cause as the root gall. A tuft of roots may be caused by woolly aphis.

L. A. Goodman.—What does it cost to spray ?

Prof. Whitten.—We have kept no account of the cost. We make
so many changes in the spray, keep careful records and in many ways
make the cost more in time, care and labor than would be necessary in
a commercial orchard. I don’t know the cost of commercial spraying.
It varies greatly, costing some men four times as much as others.

Mr. Wilcox.—The difference in the amount of material applied,
in the size of the trees, and in the size of the orchard and the lay of
the land, make it difficult to count the cost per acre or tree.

J. C. Evans.—Why do so many Grimes Golden die at the collar ?

Prof. Whitten.—I find trees of the Grimes dying from root rot.

J. C. Evans.—What I speak of is different from root rot. It
begins above the ground. Root rot begins below the ground.

J. T. Snodgrass, Howell county.—In our part of the state the root
rot is the worst thing we have.

Mr. Gilkeson, Johnson county.—There is a good deal of it in my
section.

Prof. Whitten—There is very little of it around Columbia. To
prevent trees from dying give good cultivation. I believe trees would
not die from drouth if properly cared for.

208 State Horticultural Society.

THIRD SESSION.—Wednesday Afternoon.

The meeting was called to order by the president.

First there was given a song, “The Old Ox Team,” by the Male
Quartette.

THE CHARACTER OF SOILS, LOCATION AND VARIETIES
FOR THE CHERRY ORCHARD.

By J. J. Kiser, Stanberry, Mo.

Our worthy secretary has assigned the above topic to me and
requests a paper thereon. Left to my own judgment, he should have
assigned the subject to better, at least more experienced hands; but if
this paper will call out that much better part, the consideration and
discussion by the society, with the statements of the ripe experience of
its members which our efficient secretary so ably jots down, it may not
have been written in vain.

The character of the soil in northwest Missouri, for which alone
I can speak, is pre-eminently a fruit soil; our subsoil—a deep stratum
of from twenty to forty feet of porous joint clay—can only be equaled
if excelled by that formation known as the Missouri river bluff or
Loess formation. This joint clay is in reality a soil in which if
brought to sunlight and properly aerated, will grow the finest plants.
The writer has seen clover and bluegrass growing luxuriantly in road
cuts where every trace of surface soil was washed or worked out, and
has successfully and without manure raised flowers on a mound of
earth that had been brought up twenty-eight feet. Add to and over
this a layer of from six inches to six feet of vegetable decomposition,
mixed with drift soils and sand, for ages forming a loam in which is
every element of plant structure and it would be hard to find a spot in
northwest Missouri not adapted to the growth of trees adapted to our
climate. Of course one might find some places too low for proper air
or surface drainage or naturally inclined to be wet, springy or spouty.
The cherry tree will not live with its feet in standing water, neither

Winter Meeting. 209

ought anything but a willow be planted in such a place. My best
growing and bearing trees are on the north side of the top of a small
elevation, hardly to be called a hill, though trees are doing well on the
south side of the same. Trees set near an artificial pond so that the
high water mark is on a level with the roots of trees, are dead or stunted ;
while plum trees in the same situation show very little if any damage.
The largest and finest specimens of cherry trees the writer ever saw
were planted along the upper sides of cuts in roadways and along
terraces on mountain and hillsides in Switzerland—trees over two feet
in diameter that looked as though they might be a century old.

Varieties.—I approach this part of my subject with some degree
of hesitation. Differences of soil, climate and even the markets may
modify the choice of varieties. One of my earliest recollections is a
large cherry tree that stood near the homestead in the old “fatherland.”
How well I remember watching the first burst of bloom in the spring,
the development of the fruit, even the counting of the specimens that
some day I might reach, the seemingly slow growth, and then, one
morning the red tinge on a few of them—how slowly they ripened.
Yes, I will confess to putting some of them into my mouth without
picking them from the tree—I believe I can taste them yet, and when
they did get ripe, great big, lusciously sweet, they were such as I never
expect to see again, for they will not grow in this climate. When I
tasted my first cherries this side the Atlantic I thought, oh! how is it
possible to like such sour things ?

When in Kansas City a few years ago, I bought a box of Cali-
fornia sweets (?); small affairs they were, but I took them in haste to
get once more a realization of my youthful memory. I tried one, two;
in surprise I looked at the rest. They all looked alike. Tried another;
found that all three tasted alike and in disgust I consigned the whole
lot to the gutter.

But let no one understand that I don’t like cherries, even such as
we grow in abundance in northwest Missouri. In getting my allegiance
Americanized I have also got my cherry taste adjusted and to-day I
vote the American cherry a grand success. Fully ripe, they are good to

H—14

210 State Horticultural Society.

eat; mixed with sweet apples, or any kind for that matter, and sweet-
ened to taste, they make the best pie on earth.

For a market cherry I would place the English Morello at the top
of the list. True it went to wholesale destruction last winter, but are
we going to quit planting all the kinds of fruit that were injured by
that outlandish performance the weather clerk put on the program
last winter? I think we will discharge him and the next one may take
due notice and govern himself accordingly. Last winter has been
called by some a test winter, but I don’t understand it so. It is not to
be expected that so many adverse circumstances and conditions will get
up another such a combination in the next century.

The next best and very best for home and near-by market is Early
Richmond. It must be used soon after picking. A neighbor told me
that in canning they had mixed them with one-half strawberries to the
great improvement of both, the combination keeping well when they had
had trouble in keeping strawberries; that it gives a body and substance
to that watery fruit that makes it much better. A few years ago I
could not sell Early Richmond in my market. Nothing would do but
English Morello. Yet to-day people have learned that the Early Rich-
mond is much the better cherry and the demand has increased beyond
the supply. .

Montmorency Ordinaire, Suda Hardy and Ostheimer have gone
to the happy hunting grounds along with English Morello and some
semi-sweets. True they are not all dead, but all more or less damaged,
being late they growed too late and were not matured to withstand the
shock. Dyehouse wintered well and bore a small crop; it does not
bear as young as Early Richmond, may dao better later. I can see very
little difference in fruit, though the trees grow more stocky. Wragg
has stood the weather finely; it is small, sour, bitter and puckery, even
sugar fails to make it eatable; not adapted to my situation and I shall
grub it out. It is the true Wragg, as I got it from the Wragg nursery.

However, the best variety that has ever come under my observation
in this country is one tree that stands in the yard of S. Chamberlain
in the city of Stanberry, Mo. For years it has yielded its full crops of
large cherries, pleasing to the eye and good to the taste, milder yet

Winter Meeting. 211

than Early Richmond and more than twice as large with smaller pit.
It stood last winter without damage and bore a full crop this year.
Mr. Jones, cashier Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank, and I are having it
propagated for our own planting. We have none for sale. This
cherry will be watched and I predict that it has a future. I hope to be
able next summer, with Mr. Chamberlain’s courtesy, to send seme

specimens to the officers of this society.

PRUNING, PLANTING, CULTIVATION, GATHERING AND
MARKETING OF THE CHERRY.

By W. H. Skinner, Bethany, Mo.

The subject assigned me for this sketch might well be divided into
five separate papers, each of which, when it had fully and carefully
considered its subjects, would be too long to present at a meeting of this
kind, without becoming wearisome. I shall, therefore, but briefly
outline the various work on the cherry tree, from the time it reaches
the premises of the orchardist until its matured fruit is placed in the
hands of the consumer, and in the beginning will say that my experi-
ence in planting cherries has not been as satisfactory as in planting
other kinds of trees for my losses in planting my cherry orchard
of 450 trees has been more than double what I have lost in
planting over 2,000 other orchard trees. But this I attribute largely
to the condition of the trees when received. I believe that if I could
get cherry trees that were dug, and immediately shipped, instead of
being cellared over winter, there would be less failure to grow, as of
the cherry trees of my own propagation dug and immediately planted
T have had ne loss.

I shall somewhat transpose the text and touch first on planting,
as my experience with cherries is that there should be but little if*any
pruning at time of planting.

Cherries should be planted in this part of the country only in the
spring, as our cold dry winter winds have a tendency to extract the
moisture from the tree, and the roots being short, with but little

212 State Horticultural Society.

surface to absorb moisture, the tree is very liable to die back partly, if
not entirely, during the winter. They should, however, be planted in
the spring as early as possible; that is as early as the ground is in fit
condition to plow, and if possible before the buds begin to swell. They
may be planted even after the buds begin to burst, but I have noticed
that the earliest planted trees are more liable to live and make the best
growth.

The cherry will grow on almost any kind of soil except a very wet
one, but does best in a good sandy clay loam with a gravelly subsoil.
This seems to furnish the necessary drainage and sustenance to produce
the hardiest tree and best fruit. Before planting the ground should be
deeply and thoroughly plowed and pulverized. The roots of the trees
where cut or broken in digging should be smoothly cut and the hole in
which the trees are planted should be large enough to admit the roots
without bending; if it were possible to plow that deep, the hole
should not be deeper than the ground is plowed, although I believe that
cherries should be planted deeper than apples or pears. The roots
should be puddled in soft mud before setting the tree in its place; the
tree should be planted deep enough so that the bud or graft is at least
two inches below the top of the soil when the hole is filled. The hole
should Le filled around the tree w.th fine mellow earth, carefully packed
and tramped around the roots until thev are well covered, and the earth
should then be piled a little above the top of the surrounding soil to
allow for settling, but the top two or three inches should not be packed.
Greater care is required in planting the cherry than any other variety
of fruit I have ever tried. é

As stated above, I prefer to do but little if any pruning of cherry
trees at time of planting; in fact, I prefer to plant small trees that need
no pruning. In March of the next year after planting the trees should
he gone over and pruned to shape the head; clip in the ends of the long
showts, keep the heads round, in the case of trees that grow like the
Richmond, or conical with trees of more upright growth, and if the
branches have not started thick enough to make a good head, cut back
heavy enough to make them thicker, the aim being to shape the head as

Winter Meeting. 213

near as possible to the shape of some well grown tree of the same va-
riety. The following March when the trees are two years planted they
should again be gone over and pruned with the same end in view; that is
to make a well shaped head, cutting out cross limbs, heading back a too
rampant growing branches ; and where branch crooks or grows in a wrong
direction it can usually be remedied, if taken in time, by cutting back
to a bud that will start and carry its growth in the right direction.
The third year the same treatment should be given, after which but
little pruning will be needed, except to remove dead limbs, but these
should not and with proper treatment will not be abundant for many
years. In pruning the cherry, like all other trees, no fixed rule can be
made that will apply to all, as no two trees are exactly alike; but the
cherry being one of the most perverse of all fruit trees it is best for
the pruner to have a well grown, full sized specimen of the variety he is
pruning in his mind; this gives him the natural shape of the tree and
he should so train his young sprout as to cause it to assume its natural
shape and at the same time make a well formed tree of its kind.

One of our modern horticulturalists has said that the shape of the
tree makes little difference with its bearing qualities and that each
grower may form his own ideal shape of tree, and prune accordingly ;
but in pruning the cherry I would suggest that the pruner should have
many ideals, as it is much more easy to make an ideal to fit a particular
tree than it is to make all cherry trees grow to fit a particular ideal.
No man should undertake to prune and shape the head of a young tree
until he has studied the bud arrangement and growing characteristics
of the family of trees he is about to prune, as the shaping of the top
depends materially on the position of the upper head left after the
branch is clipped; and in shaping the heads of young trees particular at-
tention should be given that the cut is made so as to leave the upper
bud in a position to start the new branch off in the right direction.

After the cherry orchard is planted the next thing is cultivation,
and this should begin immediately and should be by a thorough going
over with a smoothing harrow or some other shallow working tool so as
to loosen.the ground which has become more or less hardened by tramp-

ing while the planting was being done; again pulverizing two or three

214 State Horticultural Society.

inches of the top soil, thus making a dust mulch to retain the moisture;
this cultivation should continue during the summer sufficient to keep
the dust mulch and keep down the weeds. The number of times it will
need this cultivation will depend somewhat on the season and the perse-
verance of the weeds.. The cultivation the second and following sea-
sons should be the same as the first, except that the first cultivation
should be with a tool going deeper than a smoothing harrow, such as a
cultivator or spring tooth harrow; about the fourth year the orchard
should be sown to clover and left to grow during the fifth year, mowing
it two or three times and leaving the clover on the ground to keep up
the humus; and this will also have a tendency to check growth and
bring the trees into bearing. About the last of May or perhaps earlier
of the sixth year the clover should be turned under by a shallow plowing
after which the cultivation should be kept up with the harrow.
Included with the cultivation and pruning of the cherry orchard
should also be considered its care, and whether you class it with the
cultivation or with the care, makes little difference; but the careful
spraying of the cherry is one of the requisites that can not and must
not be overlooked to secure success and keep healthy trees. The leaf
spot and powdery mildew are the great enemies of the cherry in this
country, and without being in some way prevented are likely to wake
up the orchardist some fine spring morning to a knowledge that his
cherry trees are all dead. The great loss of cherry trees throughout the
northwest last winter, I am satisfied, was more from these diseases
than from the extreme cold of February, 1899. By the middle of
August, 1898, many of the bearing cherry trees had lost all their leaves
from these diseases. The warm damp weather of September started
a new growth, many trees put out new leaves and some were in bloom,
the sap was up, they were in full growth when the snow and hard freeze
came on October 17 and 18, and were killed then. If these trees had
been thoroughly sprayed with the 50 gallon formula Bordeaux mixture
when the blossoms fell off and again as soon as the fruit was gathered,
the leaves would have held on until killed by frost, the trees would not
have been growing in October and would not have been injured by the

cold. I did not lose a single sour cherry tree last winter.

Winter Meeting. 219

And now we come to the time of most interest to the cherry
grower—the gathering and marketing, in which, especially the latter, I
have had but little experience, as my orchard is just beginning to bear.
But as I have given some thought and attention to this part of it, and
have read everything on the subject I could find so as to know what to
do when I get a crop, I will give an outline of my gleanings from
others.

The cherry should not be gathered until fully ripe and then only
when it is dry, as, if it is eathered when wet or even damp from rain or
dew, it will quickly spoil. Jn all cases the fruit should be carefully
handled, and the stem should be left attached to the fruit as the re-
moval of the stem from the fruit will break the skin, allow the juice
to run out and quickly injure the fruit. All defective berries should
be thrown out as they will injure the sale of the remaining fruit, and
at this time it pays to pack only the best fruit and to put it up in a
manner that will be attractive, as there is about as much in the pack-
ing of the fruit toward selling it as in the fruit itself, perhaps more.
Cherries should be packed in small shallow boxes or baskets which in
no case should hold over one gallon, and handled so that they will not
bruise or mash. As to the marketing of cherries away from home, all
the questions of freight charges, commissions, and commission men, and
of markets applicable to other fruits apply to cherries. I have given
this but little thought for the reason that our home market has never
been half supplied with cherries and I believe that it will be many
years before I shall have to go away from home to find a market for
my cherries.

WILL IT PAY TO PLANT CHERRIES BN MISSOURI?

By G. W. Hopkins, Springfield, Mo.

With the record of the past few years of fruit failures in Mis-
souri staring me in the face, and the unknown possibilities of the
future before me, it is with some degree of reluctance that I shall at-
tempt to say what fruit will pay. The cherry has as yet been planted

216 State Horticultural Society.

in south Missouri only in a small way. Most every one in starting a
1ew place will set out a few trees, but orchards exclusively of cherries
are few and far between. There seems to be only two varieties that
are worth planting in this locality—the Early Richmond and English
Morello. The Montmorency, it is said, does well, but only a few have
ever fruited it.

The sweet cherries are not worth planting here, as they are very
tender in the bud, and possibly one year in ten they may not be killed.
If they are not killed in the winter or early spring, when they begin to
ripen, the rains will crack the fruit and the birds destroy the crop.
The curculio, the same that stings the peach, is very destructive here
to the cherry.

There is no question but cherries will pay well in south Missouri
if there was any certainty of a crop. The Early Richmond comes in be-
fore strawberries are gone and we have the whole southern country for
a market. Three years ago I shipped Early Richmond to Memphis,
some of which sold as high as $3.50 per crate.

Of course there is big money in this, but I have not sold a cherry
since. Now there may be some sheltered places in south Missouri
where the climatic changes are not so sudden, that cherries may be
grown with profit. To those living in such favored places I would say
plant cherries. But after thirteen years of experience and observa-
tion in the vicinity of Springfield, I would say it would be rather haz-
ardous to plant orchards of cherries for commercial purposes unless we

could have assurance that the climate and seasons would change for the
better.

DISCUSSION,

Maj. Holsinger.—I have several thousand cherries in bearing and
have made more money from the cherry than from any other fruit.
I favor the Montmoreney and if I had to forego any kind it would not
be the Wrage. I think the Wragg is better than the Early Richmond.

For four kinds I would take Early Richmond, Montmoreney, English

Winter Meeting. 217

Morello and Wragg. These four make fruit through the season.
The Wragg I have were propagated in Alabama, but is the same as the
Towa Wrage. My cherry trees planted in 1876 have paid well. We
are burning them this winter for firewood. The first acre of
these cherry trees I planted made $500 per acre each year it was in
bearing. If the others will last as long and pay as well I will be well
pleased. Some of our cherry trees die in full leaf. I don’t under-
stand the cause.

L. A. Goodman.—Of all the fruit I have grown at Westport the
cherry has paid me best. Ten or twelve dollars per tree per year is not
an uncommon yield. They should be planted in the proper soil and
given the best cultivation for four years; after that time the tougher
the grass sod the better. Not for sixteen years has the grass been
broken. The roots are sensitive to being broken. When they are
cut they begin to decay. The soil must be dry and not underlaid with
hardpan.

Question :—What is the best stock for the cherry ?

The discussion showed the Mahaleb to be the stock in common use.

Mr. Callaway, of Illinois, said the common Morello was the best.

Mr. Kiser saved his cherries by planting plenty of Russian Mul-
berries for the birds; they much preferred the sweet little berries to
the sour cherries. His loss from birds was nothing in his cherry
orchard.

Question :—Is clover a good crop for a cherry orchard four years
old? And would you let it stand or cultivate alternate years ?

L. A. Goodman.—Clover is good. I would never cultivate after
four years.

J. M. Irvine, of Buchanan Co.—At the last meeting of our county
horticultural society we discussed the cherry. It was said to be the
most profitable fruit. Some are growing Dyehouse instead: of Early
Richmond. It is sometimes earlier and always as early as the Rich-
mond. Montmorency, English Morello and Wragg are also grown.

Maj. Holsinger.—My Dyehouse has not come into bearing.

J. E. May.—Is there any difference between the Large Montmor-
eney and Montmorency Ordinaire ?

Maj. Holsinger.—None whatever.

218 State Horticultural Society.

Mr. Baxter said cherry trees on Mazzard stocks sometimes did
better than those on Mahaleb stocks.

Mr. Butterfield—The Mazzard sprouts.

Mr. Baxter.—I said the Morello is the best stock for the cherry.
This question was discussed very thoroughly in Illinois by Dr. Hull
and others years ago.

Miss Park, Greene Co.—We are not all discouraged as badly as
Mr. Hopkins in the vicinity of Springfield. I know one man who
will plant a ten acre cherry orchard next spring.

INSECTS ON THE CHERRY.

Prof. J. M. Stedman.

There are not so many insects which prey upon the cherry as upon
the apple. The New York weevil and the imbricated snout beetle feed
on the young and tender bark and foliage and sometimes upon the buds
before they open in the spring. We know little of the life history of
tlese insects and must fight them upon the tree itself. At a time when
the treesareleaved out it is difficult to reach the twigs which are covered
with the leaves, but it can be held somewhat in check by spraying with
the arsenate of lead.

Tent caterpillars of both species work on cherry trees, and can be
fought as spoken of in the apple. The fall web worm can be twisted out
with a forked stick if you take it in time. The cherry borer is found
only in a few localities. It is not general in the state. It is difficult
to fight in a very successful way. Use the same wash that I recom-
mended for apple borers.

Cherry leaves are eaten by a number of lepidopterous insects.
Spray with arsenate of lead in preference to Paris green, London
purple, arsenate of lime or soda.

To make arsenate of lead use 11 ounces of acetate of lead and four
ounces of white arsenic, to seventy-five or fifty gallons of water.
This formula is for any biting insects on the cherry. The leaf crum-
pler will damage the cherry more than the apple. The canker worm
also feeds upon the cherry. Give all of them the arsenate of lead.

Winter Meeting. 219

The cureulio is difficult to fight; much more so than in the case of
the plum. It makes the wormy cherries. These do not drop from the
tree like the plum, but hang on and ripen with the good cherries. It is
often difficult to distinguish them from the good ones, till you eat them.
Cherry trees are usually too large to jar successfully. Spraying does
not pay, rarely reaching fifty per cent of them. Birds can keep these
insects in check.

Maj. Holsinger.—Have you any trouble with the peach borer in
the cherry? We have had to worm our cherry trees this year as well
as our peach trees.

Prof. Stedman.—Use the same remedies as for apple borers.

N. F. Murray.—We have cherry trees where the puoltry has con-
tinual access. The cherries are almost entirely perfect. I think this
is the practical way to control these insects.

Question :—Our cherry trees are dying of some fungus disease
which commences at the root, then extends up the trunk eight or ten
inches. On examination I have found between the bark and sap a
fungus growth which is about one-twelfth of an inch thick. At first it
is white, but afterward changes to a brownish yellow. Can it be
caused from the stock upon which the bud is made? If so what stock
is best to use? Is there any known remedy for the disease? If some-
thing is not done soon to check it, we shall have to abandon cherry
planting in Callaway county. J. H. Marton,

Fulton, Mo.

J. C. Whitten.—The brown rot in cherries is the same as that in
plums and peaches. ‘This has not been very serious since I have been in
the state. It is difficult to fight it by spraying. Bordeaux mixture
turns the foliage yellow. If you could destroy the rotten fruits or re-
move them from the orchard it would lessen the brown rot for the next
season. I can not say what is the disease that Mr. Marion refers to in
his letter, though I think it may be the same as the apple root rot.

220 State Horticultural Society.
PLUM ORCHARDS.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR WIDER PLANTING,

By S. H. Linton, Marceline, Mo.

That we may better understand the various varieties now in nursery
catalogue it is proper to give the origin, order and group of plums as
laid down by scientific authority. The Domestica or European types
(Prunus domestica) native to western Asia, including all of the old
time plums, Green Gege, Bradshaw, Yellow Egg, Damsons, Reine
Cloud. The Chicasaw types (Prunus Augustifolia, or Prunus
Chicosa) belongs to the southern states (on a line with southern Dela-
ware southward), are such varieties as Newman, Caddo Chief and Lone
Star. The American type (Prunus Americana) is composed of the
common wild plums of the more northern part of the United States,
and including the territory from Michigan west to the Rocky
Mountains thence south to the Gulf. The Wild Goose or Hortulana
types (Prunus Hortulana) from the group of Wild Goose, Wayland,
Moreman, Golden Beauty and Miner. ‘No doubt hybrids of the native
and Pacific coast plum.” The Sand plum (Prunus Watsoni), native
to Kansas and adjoining states. This type is but little known or cared
for by horticulturists. The Beach plum (Prunus Maritima), native
to the north and eastern Atlantic coast. Having but little value in
fruit, but the trees are beautiful as an ornament. The Pacific Coast
plum (Prunus subcordata) is a natural product of the forests of Oregon
and California, but little known in domestication except in the indi-
vidual of the Sissin type. Within the last decade has come the intro-
duction of the Japanese type (Prunus Triflora), “probably native of
China,” says Prof. Bailey. During the brief stay the Japanese plum
has made many warm horticultural friends and generally adapted itself
to the climate and soil in the United States in all territory south of the
north line of Missouri, and will undoubtedly be of great value, and a
grand acquisition to the already large group of fine plums. By careful
breeding some choice varieties of the Japanese type can and will be pro-
duced that will withstand the severe winters of the more northern

Winter Meeting. 221

states. Prof. L. H. Bailey says: “I am still convinced that the
Japanese plum has come to stay.” Here in Missouri we can add to
this by saying that we are truly glad that they have come. With the
addition of the Japanese plum the season is extended from June to
the first and middle of September, and in some seasons even into Octo-
ber. Thus far we have covered in detail the various groups of the
plum. Much we desire to delineate the characteristics of some of the
leading valuable varieties that should be more extensively grown for
family and market use, but space and time under the occasion forbids
our doing so. Plant food supply and the proper food ration is of vital
importance and may not be generally understood. The plum being
prolific in fruit is necessarily a gross feeder and must have abundance
of food combining the proper ration. The three elements in proper
ratio which give both wood and fruit growth is, nitrogen two per cent,
available phosphoric acid seven per cent, potash nine per cent. This
fertilizer should be applied in quantities of 500 to 1,000 pounds per
acre annually. The fundamental laws of systematic or scientific horti-
culture is based on proper food ration. The best soil for plums is a
heavy clay underlaid with a gravelly subsoil capable of conserving
moisture. The color of the top soil has but little consideration in
selecting a proper location for planting. More depending upon the
proper chemical analysis of the soil, combining with complete drainage.
Hillsides, points and ridges, with other advantages being favorable,
make good locations for plum orchards, such locations are numerous in
this state. We as citizens of this great state of Missouri know no limit
or scarcely any bounds to the cultivation of the better and more profit-
able varieties of plums. “Of all the important fruits, the common
plum has the smallest American literature,” says Prof. Bailey. This
is as much as to say that the culture of the plum, of all fruits, is most
neglected, and what is true in this case in the eastern states is also a
fact in Missouri. Then the fruit growers of Missouri should wheel in
line with their best and most direct financial interests and plant more
good plums which make a quick return in profit, and greatly assist in
bridging over the expenseof planting and ggrowing other fruits that take
longer to produce a crop. Progressive horticulture, toned with ex-
perience, polished by science, the products reaped with the golden

222 State Horticultural Society.

sickle of success, stored in the broad, liberal minds of the intelligent
grower, the joy and pleasure divided with the family and subdivided
with friends and acquaintances is the theme sought for. As we have
often said, in our talks and writings before the public, “of the more
than 44,450,000 acres in Missouri, three-fourths to four fifths of this
vast area is, by nature, adapted to growing fruit. The undulation of
the surface, some places quite abrupt, the main part more gently roll-
ing, forming hills and ravines, draining the soil of water, the condensed
air falls into the ravines and is carried down by under currents to the
branches and creeks, from thence to the great river systems of the state,
which rushes these currents on to the Gulf to cool the sun-parched
shores and purify the air of the yellow fever microbes of the far south.
These natural conditions not only developed in part the unsurpassed
fruit resources, but greatly assists the healthfulness of our beautiful
country. In truth and in fact there is no serious disappointments in
fruit growing in Missouri, to them who have the sunshine of horticulture
in their soul. The practical horticulturalist is ever prepared to find a
whole sermon, an hour’s study in every tree, shrub and plant, and if
perchance his labors are not rewarded in dollars and cents by a fruit
product of the orchard or garden, he is able to attribute the cause and
proceed at once to continue the lesson in nature study, reading Divine
revelations from each leaf, blade and stem.

PLUM, VARIETIES—DISCUSSION.

Mr. Baxter of Ilinois.—I lost 300 trees last winter. I want to
know what to replace with.

J. H. Karnes, Buchanan Co.—My experience is with the native
plums. Eastern and Japan are not profitable. Wild Goose is always
profitable. I have the Wolf, Miner, Mariana, Potawatamie, Marion
and Newman. Wild Goose has paid best. Wolf is a freestone, it rots.
Mariana is most worthless, except Potawatamie. I can not market the
latter at all; too small. The Abundance died this last season. I have
Bradshaw, Lombard, Lincoln and other European kinds. None of

Winter Meeting. 223

them are good. Arkansas Lombard is not very good. Blue Damson
is one of the best of the Europeans. I have no experience with the
Gold. Mr. Fleming gives it a good recommendation. Burbank is no
good. Wickson stood the winter, not fruited. My blue damsons are
all on own roots.

Prof. Whitten.—We have about 150 varieties of plums at the
station, American, European and Japan. No European is worth grow-
ing in this state. The Shropshire damson and the Lombard rots. The
best plums for us are the American. I would name Forest Rose, Miner,
Wild Goose, Wolf and Wyant. The latter, fruited only one year, is
large and of good quality. Wayland is a good late kind, splendid
keeper. Golden Beauty is yellow, small, good keeper. World Beater
makes good jelly and jam.

Abundance and Burbank are the best Japs for Missouri. They
rot, but not so bad as the Europeans.

J. J. Kiser.—I have 25 or 30 varieties of plums. I would name
Forest Rose, Poole’s Pride, Wild Goose, Potawatamie and Robinson. I
sell Wild Goose for $2 per bushel. The Abundance is very fine; as
good as the cherries in the old country. My Abundance are practically
all dead. Burbank half alive. Gold, one hundred trees, all dead. I
am going to plant again. J am not discouraged. I never expect to see
such another winter as last. I would name Wild Goose, Potawatamie
and Robinson to make money.

Mr. Murray.—Do you find anybody foolish enough to buy Pota-
watamie the second time? (No answer. )

Question :—Are you going to plant the Gold again ?

Mr. Kiser.—I have that under consideration.

Mr. Baxter——I have 100 Burbank. They did not winter kill.

Abundance not so hardy. Shropshire damson half killed. Other Eu-
ropeans half killed. Wild Goose is the only native variety I grow.
It gives a good crop almost every year. I have sprayed nine years for
the curculio and rot; succeeded some years; last year lost.
Mr. Irvine.—Mr. Fleming will plant Abundance upon clean, high
ground, remove all rotten plums as soon as possible, thus hoping to es-
cape the rot. He has made money on blue damsons planted on high
land. He planted 1,000 Gold trees this year.

224 State Horticultural Society.

A member.—I have some success with the Japs.

Mr. May, Adair Co.—Abundance winter killed last winter. They
bear young and rot. I have one tree of the Gold four years old. This
year it bore two fruits, the size of Wild Goose.

PEACH ORCHARDS.

N. F. Murray.—I hope the past winter did not freeze all the peach
interest out of this audience. Our trees are not nearly as bad as we
thought. I would just as soon plant peaches for profit in North Mis-
souri as an apple orchard. I grew them successfully thirty years ago
and I believe it can be done again.

W. G. Gano.—I don’t think we are discouraged on the peach ques-
tions around Kansas City. We used a little common sense and did not
saw our peach trees off at the ground. We shortened in a little more
severely than in ordinary years. Very few of our trees are dead. The
growth was very fine, and they entered the winter in much better con-
dition than a year ago.

L. A. Goodman.—Since last spring I have received several very
scorching letters for the instructions I sent out. The word “dehorn”
seems to have misled many. They cut their trees too short, some left
only a few inches of the large branches and others cut off at the ground.
We took off all the wood three years old on the old _ trees,
and all one-year wood on the young trees. Those who pruned rightly
are well pleased. In an orchard of 30,000 I did not lose any trees to
speak of.

J. J. Kiser.—I received the secretary’s instructions to dehorn. I
cut the trees back and they made a growth of three to six feet. I believe
I can give you a pointer. In the late fall, after most of the leaves of
the peach have fallen, you will sometimes find a tuft or bunch of green
leaves upon the ends of twigs; cut that off. It contains green sap which
tends to weaken the tree. They will be healthier and hardier without

these green leaves and twigs. I have fruit buds upon the peach for
next year.

Winter Meeting. 225

T. B. Chandler, St. Francois Co.—We are not discouraged. I
live 89 miles south of St. Louis. We had quite a little sprinkling of
peaches this year. Some trees were injured. Those who got too late a
growth injured their trees. We have fine prospects for peaches next
year.
J. C. Evans.—I believe a tree can be dehorned and still live. I
have observed many trees. In every case where the trees were cut early
immediately after the hard freeze in February, no matter whether cut
much or little, they died. While those cut later as growth was starting
came out all right.

J. T. Snodgrass.—I dehorned 22,000 peach trees within three
inches of the ground. Not over ten per cent of them grew, and very few
of these above the bud. I cut them early. Won’t do it again.

Mr. Baxter.—I have a peach orchard of 500 trees, set in ’94, sub-
soiled and cultivated well ever since. Not one hundred of these trees
are alive to-day. All the living ones are Elberta. In another orchard,
of the same age, of 350 trees all are dead. These were well cultivated.
Another orchard of 300 trees, set the same spring, not cultivated for the
last two years, strawberries in the rows, are all living.

Mr. Gilkeson.—I had 1,500 peach trees; they are nearly all dead;
not more than twenty-five per cent living.

APPLE TREE ROOT ROT.

By Prof. H. von Schrenck, St. Louis.

He thought it would prove impracticable, if not impossible to suc-
cessfully use fungacides in the soil to prevent root rot. In some parts
of Europe they burn the soil, from which deceased trees or vines have
been taken, to kill the injurious fungi.

Mr. Goodman said that trees affected with the rot which had been
treated with blue stone seemed to look better.

Prof. von Schrenck feared that chemicals sufficiently strong to kill

the fungus in the soil would also kill the tree. He thought that if
H—15

226 State Horticultural Society.

trees could be made to root from the scion, that we might find varieties
not subject to root rot, and that we could grow other varieties upon
these immune varieties by top grafting.

J. J. Kiser spoke of a horticulturalist who tried to graft our com-
mon kinds of apples upon the wild crab, but it proved impracticable.

L. A. Goodman.—We can get. trees to root from the scion by using a
very short root and a long scion. I think it is best to have all trees
upon their own roots as soon as possible. A nurseryman can tell when
a tree is upon its own roots by the form of the roots. After two years
the scion gives its characteristic root growth even to a seedling.

Prof. von Schrenck.—It might prove profitable to trench around
infected areas to prevent the spread of the root rot. It is a discour-
aging task to try to get the root rot out of the ground. Thousands of
dollars have been spent by European governments in fighting similar
fungi in vineyards.

I am anxious to get as much material as possible for the study of
this rot, and will send P. O. franks to those who will send me specimens.

Brother Goodman :

Dear Sir:—In your request to me to write something about stone
fruit, you made a sad mistake. I do not know near as much about any
kind of fruit growing as I thought I did when I began the business six
years ago. At that time I set out about 2,400 fruit trees, most all
apple. I did, however, set out 200 peach, and 200 plum. The
peach, because I was in a tight place and wanted something
that would come on quick. Like the boy after the ground
squirrel “J had to have it,” and by scattering manure and ashes under
the peach trees and working it into the soil with a double-shovel and
small mule, I got peaches to my heart’s content. One lady looked at
the baskets of peaches then at me and said: ‘‘You do not look as if you
had sense enough to grow such peaches.” That’s the way I thought
about it too; but then the trees were altogether too full and I kept
picking off all that did not suit me while they were growing; but they
paid for the labor and if I never see another peach on those trees we are
even. I have some six or eight varieties, but the Elberta are all that
paid any money. Some were set out on land that was so rocky that it
was impossible to cultivate, so I dug around them some for a year or
two but never saw a good peach from them. One year, not thinking
I knew enough to spray, I hired a professional sprayer; he knocked off

Winter Meeting. 227

both little peaches and leaves from ten Elberta trees and I knocked off
his wages. So I have quit professional sprayers. We had a heavy
hail storm which knocked off a good many plums, but did not hurt
our peach crop in the least. Blue damson and Forest Gem and Wild
Goose had enough on them, and bid fair for the next crop. Apples
were beaten up altogether too much by the hail to suit me, but they may
outgrow that somewhat. Should like very much to attend the meeting
but work is crowding here and have about eaten up last year’s peach
and apple crop. With best wishes to all. Respectfully,

J. P. Cowprn. ,

Mt. Grove.

FOURTH SESSION.—Wednesday Night.
The program opened with a song by the male quartette.
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF STREET TREES.

By H. C. Irish, Missouri Botanical Garden.

A general study of the condition of street trees in many of our
larger cities reveals the deplorable fact that a very large per cent of
both the newly planted trees and the older ones are rapidly going to
decay as a result of careless planting, neglect, improper pruning, un-
necessary mutilation, vandalism and the attacks of injurious
insects and fungus diseases. In St. Louis the cyclone of
1896 wrought havoc with many trees in some sections of
the city, many of which were damaged beyond reparation
either by being killed outright or so badly injured that they
could not long survive. Many others which might have been saved
by proper care were allowed to die from neglect. Others were killed
by too much pruning, which was a shock equal to, or perhaps greater,
than the cyclone itself. Added to these other agencies which more or
less tend to check a healthy development such as mechanical and chem-
ical impurities of the air, an unsuitable soil, and a confined root area
and it sometimes seems marvelous that so many trees live as long as they
do. The development of large park systems is rapidly increasing and

many streets possess beautiful avenues of trees showing the possibili-

228 State Horticultural Society.

ties of growing these plants in such unfavorable situations with proper
attention. Probably fewer mistakes are made in the selection of varie-
ties and the work of planting the young trees than the other necessary
and constant attention which is subsequently required. However it
seems desirable to call attention to a few kinds which are among the
best and which were reported to Coleman’s Rural World a few weeks
since.

The list of trees known to be well suited for street planting in St.
Louis is very limited. The qualities essential for a good street tree
are that they must be able to endure the smoky or otherwise impure at-
mosphere of the city, grow in poor soil, and not be sensitive to neglect
or abuse by improper pruning or careless mutilation. Furthermore
people are usually anxious for immediate effect and therefore want
a rapid growing tree as well as one prominent for good looks and free
from the attacks of insects or fungus pests. There is probably no tree
that fulfills all of these requirements, but the one which seems to pos-
sess the greater number of good qualities for St. Louis is the American
sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). It grows rapidly, is easily trans-
planted, and can probably stand more severe pruning than any other
tree. This is the most commonly planted sort in the older and more
thickly settled portion of our city.

The silver maple (Acer dasycarpum) is also very common, even
more generally planted than the sycamore in many parts of the city.
It grows quite rapidly, is very decorative when in leaf, and is quite
long lived. This tree is more sensitive to gases and smoke than the
sycamore and will not stand as severe pruning. Its dense mass .of
foliage with the silvery color on the under side of the leaves is very
effective.

The cottonwood, or Carolina poplar (Populus monilifera) is oc-
casionally planted. It is one of the most rapid growing sorts we have
and where immediate effect is the most important item this is very de-
sirable. It soon forms a large, handsome tree, but is comparatively
short lived, and the branches are easily broken by high winds. When
possible only the staminate specimens should be selected, as the blossoms
of the pistilate ones are constantly falling to the ground during the
flowering season.

Winter Meeting. 229

The tulip (Liriodendron tulipifera) is another quick growing, very
handsome tree sometimes seen on our streets. With age an abundance
of flowers are borne which resemble tulips. The trees are difficult to
transplant except when very young, and they have the objectionable
habit of beginning to drop their leaves early in summer. .

The white or American elm (Ulmus Americana) is very poplar
in many cities, especially in the east, but rarely seen here. It has
many commendable qualities, long life, moderately rapid growth and
wonderful beauty of form. It is objectionable, however, on account
of various species of caterpillars which often defoliate the tree, and be-
sides its irregularity in growth makes it difficult to secure a uniform
avenue of trees.

Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a very slow growing sort,
but one of the most desirable for street purposes. It becomes a medium
sized to large tree, with a rounded or somewhat tapering form and very
symmetrical in habit. The autumn foliage effects are especially beau-
tiful when the leaves turn from their glossy green to a purplish crimson.
It is entirely free from injurious insects and fungous diseases.

~The sugar or hard maple (Acer saccharinum) is another very slow
growing tree, but otherwise a very good one for stree planting. It
does not give the beautiful autumn foliage effects of the sweet gum,
but possesses the other good qualities of the latter. The wood is strong
and the branches are not easily broken by winds.

’ Other species may be preferable for special purposes. These are
among the best. There are objections to all of them. Some of these
objections may be overcome by a little care. The caterpillars may be
kept from the elms; the silver maple, sycamore and poplar may be
timely pruned and will not then be as easily broken by the winds. It
is important that some system be inaugurated for the planting and care
of street trees as well as the proper selection of varieties, otherwise all
varieties will either fail or give very unsatisfactory results, while with
proper care the number of successful kinds may be greatly increased.

It seems important to call attention to some of the mistakes that
have been observed.

In the newer portions of the cities it is sometimes necessary to
change a grade where fine specimens of trees are growing. Too often

230 State Horticultural Society.

are the trees sacrificed where they might be saved. Very large speci-
mens, especially the elms, are often successfully moved long distances,
but of course at great expense. They might be lowered, however, with
very little expense while the grade was being cut away, and even moved
a short distance either one way or the other. Late summer or winter
is perhaps the best season. ‘The tree should be firmly braced by run-
ning ropes from the top out in three directions. The grade beyond the
roots should be cut to the required level, after which the tree can be
undermined and lowered without disturbing or exposing any more
roots than necessary and will be surrounded with surface soil in which
growth will continue without having received much of a check. When
the grade is to be raised about a tree the soil is often banked close up
about the trunk. This practice is dangerous to the tree where the grade
is raised a foot or more. The trees may live a few years but those
roots which should be near the surface are too deeply covered to do their
work long. A better plan is to curb or place a box around the base with
the bottom spreading many feet and the top narrowing close around
the trunk even with the surface of proposed grade. This seems to be
as safely practiced as attempting to raise an old, well established
tree and is very much less expensive.

One of the supposed enemies to the growth of street trees is the
laying of granitoid sidewalks and macadam or asphalt pavements so
close around the trunk. There are many trees, however, in such places
that have made a healthy growth for years and still show no signs of
injury by such treatment. It is claimed by some that pavements may be
a blessing in that they prevent the escape of moisture which rises from
lower strata of soil and thus keep the roots constantly moist. How-
ever in many kinds of soil the moisture and nourishment may soon be-
come exhausted making it necessary to adopt some means of irrigating.
It is also important that the ground be well drained, but as roadbeds
must likewise be thoroughly drained there is comparatively little danger
from this source. With a few feet of exposed soil about the base of
the tree sufficient water can be applied to penetrate to the most distant
roots and the system of drains will be sufficient to carry away any sur-
plus, thus avoiding stagnant soil in which most plants will not long
survive. Another method of supplying moisture which has been prac-

Winter Meeting. 231

ticed to some extent and with apparent perfect success is to place a few
vertical drain pipes about the tree with the upper end just above or even
with the walk and covered with an iron grate. These should con-
nect with horizontal drains below. The moisture is not only more
evenly distributed in this way but the soil is better aerated. With the
soil in such a condition as to secure perfectly healthy root action half the
battle in growing street trees is won, for a tree with healthy root action
can endure much ill treatment from above. However if the topeis
neglected and allowed to continually become diseased and otherwise
mutilated the roots will accordingly suffer regardless of the kind of soil
in which they are planted. Due attention must therefore be given
the top.

As previously stated many trees have died from lack of pruning
while others have been killed either by excessive or otherwise improper
methods of pruning. Some trees are thus ruined before they leave the
nursery, but more are injured after they have been moved to the street
as unskillful and unintelligent labor is more frequently employed there
than in the nursery. In fact, as a rule, but few intelligent, skillful
and conscientious laborers seem to be employed for the work. Many
possess one or perhaps two of the elements but lack the third, while all
are essential to properly do the work. One mistake is in waiting too
long before doing any pruning. The plants becoming overgrown as it
were, with many branches that reach so far up and out as to be easily
broken by winds, or if pruning is begun before the wind does its work
it will be found necessary to cut larger branches and remove so much
top that the trees will be more or less weakened by the shock. Pruning
should be done often and a little at a time. Again in removing side
branches the cuts are not made close to nor even with the main branches.
A portion of the branch is left which soon-begins to decay and this in
time soon spreads over the entire tree. Cuts of this character should be
made parallel with the branch and close to it and the wound thus made
immediately covered with grafting wax, paint or perhaps best of all
coal tar to keep out insect enemies or germs of fungous diseases until a
new growth covers these parts. Careless workers often badly split the
wood near the cut but this can mostly be avoided by first sawing part

232 State Horticultural Society.

way from beneath, finishing the operation from the upper side of the
branch.

The street trees suffer much from many careless and thoughtless
pedestrians. Hostlers tie their horses to them, boys whittle the bark
and drive nails into their trunks. Some protection is afforded by
wrapping a galvanized wire screen of small mesh about the trunk. This
screen should be fastened to the tree and not to an independent stake to
prevent the wire itself injuring the trunk. Insects and fungi require
constant watchfulness. Space will not permit their treatment here.
All wounds made by them or from other sources should be carefully
scraped and coated with paint or coal tar.

To overcome the many difficulties and successfully grow fine ave-
nues of shade trees requires the combined efforts of individual and
community. In many of the eastern cities various organizations have
been formed to encourage the planting and proper care of street trees.
Their labors have been abundantly rewarded. The system which has:
been in vogue in Washington is often mentioned as being one of the
most successful in operation. The whole work is placed in the hands
of a commission composed of two public spirited citizens who under-
stand the work and act without compensation. ‘The commission em-
ploys a superintendent who gives all of his time and attention and has
immediate charge of the entire work. The necessary expenses are ap-
propriated by the city. The plants are grown in their own nursery, and .
are thus cared for from beginning to end by some competent labor.
Brooklyn has “The Tree Planting and Fountain Society,” the object
of which is the promotion of planting and protection of trees, the erec-
tion of drinking fountains and to otherwise render the city of Brooklyn
attractive. It is entirely an organization of private citizens.

Dr. Herman von Schrenck, Washington University, spoke of park
and street trees and the public spirit in favor of such trees, which has
been so cultivated in some of the eastern cities that even the small boys
consider themselves the special guardians of the trees. In Brooklyn
every man is a special policeman with authority to watch and

Winter Meeting. 233

protect the trees in front of his own premises. A majority
of our people do not realize with how ,little work and
care they might beautify their grounds and_ streets. by
planting trees. Trees are our best friends. They conduce
to the physical, intellectual and moral welfare of the people. It only
needs one or two persons who strongly feel the need and importance of
such things. In Boston they have a club whose business it is to look
after such things. They have so educated public sentiment that the
small boys are the best policemen to look after the welfare of the street
trees. I have seen a small boy make a truck man remove his horse
which he hitched to a tree.

Music by male quartette.

Recitation by Master Martie Read.

NECESSARY PRIDE.

By Lulu Wayman, Alvord, Mo.

As nature conforms in a greater or lesser degree to man’s ideas,
when directed by his head and hands and is transformed and perfected
on certain lines to meet the requirements of a progressive age, it is
equally true that human nature is directed and governed by the plaudits
ad criticisms of his fellow man. The love of approval is scarcely
pride in the noblest sense of the word, but doing right because it is
right, and being never weary in well doing are the essentials in grand
character-building.

Perhaps no one word which it became Mr. Webster’s dut¥ to
chronicle in his vocabulary has a greater diversity of definitions and
more shades of meaning than this word “Pride.” In one sense it is
conceit, vanity, arrogance, and like qualities fostered by a distorted
idea of what is true life and living, but there is a sense of the word that
is inspiring and is a prime factor in all great and noble achieving.

True self esteem or necessary pride in strict fidelity to duty makes
heroes; nor are great heroes of mushrooms grown, for by the time their
deeds of valor have been heralded over the continent their biographies

234 State Horticultural Society.

are out and we find, as in the life of Dewey, they have always been
great and noble.

“Lives of great men all remind us” that in a large degree their in-
spiration toward greater attainments has ever been an inate pride in
doing well all that they found worth doing. This world is more than
half full I think of Adam Bedes, who “wouldn’t give a penny for a
man as “ud drive a nail in slack because he didn’t git extra pay for it.”
This sentiment of the immortalized Mr. Bede holds as a principle in
every calling. When we see and reap benefits from a higher civilization
and can mark each succeeding year with scores of helpful scientific dis-
coveries and improved methods we know that many have labored well
and patiently, whether there was extra pay in it for them or not, usu-
ally not.

Speaking of progress and pride reminds me of Missouri! I have
heard citizens of other states criticize us for using that word “proud”
so much. They call it a colloquialism of the native out there, but I
think it a very necessary word, one that our state has a greater use for
than many a sister state for it has been “to the stars” through more
difficulties than Kansas land ever heard of. These whiteoak ridges.
Those stony hills, have covered Missouri all over with glory in a horti-
cultural way and has made the state world-renowned as the land of the
“Big Red Apple.” So let it be with necessary pride that we appreci-
ate not only the opportunities of this meeting but the benefits for years
the field of horticulture has derived from the zealous and efficient work
of veterans in the cause like Evans, Goodman and Murray and others
who have taken an essential pride in the fact that this work was well
worth doing and have done a great work well.

Song by the male quartette.

ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESSFUL ORCHARDING.
By Prof. J. T. Stanley, Cainesville, Mo.

The chief obstruction to progress in the horticultural and agri-
cultural pursuits is the belief so prevalent that no knowledge is of any
great serviceable value except that which comes through individual ex-

Winter Meeting. 235

perience. Scientific farming is yet so unpopular with the masses
that there is little hope of immediate improvement in methods such
as would bring about the higher results sought.

There is no other industry that has so persistently ignored the ad-
vance of science in its application to the principles underlying its pro-
gress, and yet there is no industry that has been more favored through
scientificresearch. Everyother industry seeks to know what research has
revealed and is ever prompt to seize the advantages offered. J‘arming
alone is still consulting the Delphic oracles and seems wedded to the
traditions of the past. With a very large per cent, it has become a
part of a fixed creed that little, if any, serviceable value can be acquired
through any source other than that of individual experience. By them
the book farmer is regarded as a visionary fellow, and he who would
advise as a necessary part of his farmer’s equipment, a knowledge of
chemistry and biology in so far as such knowledge relates to health,
growth and fruitage, is looked upon as one misguided and the feeling for
him is that of pity or contempt.

If experience were the gateway to success, most men would be suc-
cessful. The world is full of men of experience but unfortunately
most of them have little else to show. Many there are who have battled
with life through more than half a century without taking a single
fortress; at any rate they have captured nothing but themselves. Fail-
ure is plainly written all over them, yet they undertake to advise others,
feeling they have a right to do so because they are men of experience,
and since their weather-beaten aspect shows clearly enough they have
been in the storm, and since their counsel bears the mark of experience
it is eagerly sought.

We observe that all men desire to employ attorneys, physicians and
artisans who are schooled in the principles of their respective profes-
sions. In all the trades and professions skill is taken at its full value,
until we come to farming, while here we find the prejudice to scien-
tific farming so deep seated that even a hearing has been denied, and
through the perverseness of the tillers of the soil will still be denied for
some time to come. Farmers as a rule reject the truths revealed

through research and experiment as the foolish dreams of city farmers

236 State Horticultural Society.

and hug to themselves the follies and traditions of the fathers. They
look withsuspicion upon the counsel of our experimental station because
the men conducting matters there have been known to speak of the
chemistry of soils and the phenomena of plant life. That much sci-
entific nonsense has been written we are aware, mere stuff it is, but all
truth yet brought to light has been dug out from under just such stuff
and not infrequently we get hold of error for a time, but the fact still
stands that if we would reap an hundred fold we must interrogate nature
and act upon her suggestions.

We have put the horticulturist and agriculturist together so far
because it suited us best to do so. It is not our purpose to lampoon the
farmer and fruit grower, but we would like to shampoon some of them if
we only knew a decoction that would cut away dandruff and moss, in-
duce a heavy sweat followed by much depletion and exhaustion. There
might then be some chance for them. Verily we say they must be born
again. We speak plainly; being farmers and fruit growers ourselves,
we feel that such statements from us will be received with less prejudice
than if they came from higher authority.

We say then that the first essential to successful orcharding is a hor-
ticultural education, and no man has a reason to expect the highest re-
ward for his labor without it. Experience is of no serviceable value
unless it has a basis of intelligence on which to rest. The teacher who
would by experiment illustrate atmospheric pressure has his trouble in |
vain, unless he has the pupil so taught that the experiment answers
some question underlying natural phenomena. The pupil observes a
strange behavior of matter under manipulation, but has gained no truth
to guide him in the solution of future problems. We say, too, that no
experience in horticulture is of any positive value unless it rests upon
information through which it answers some question affecting plant
life. Some question of the economy of nature relative to health, growth
or fruitage, unless there has been previous preparation the observer is
practically untaught, yet such observations are often called experience.

Jefferson was right when he said: ““He who would rely upon his ex-
perience to guide him should always remember he has a fool for a
teacher.” That is all there is in experience when it stands upon itself.
Very little standing on nothing. It reminds me of the two black snakes

Winter Meeting. | 237

that had a difficulty and each snake concluded to swallow the other.
Beginning at the tails the swallowing went on until each had completely
swallowed the other and there was no snake at all, nothing there but the
two swallows. Question:—What had become of the snakes?
Reduced to a mathematical formula the question stands: No snake plus
no snake, minus two swallows equal two snakes; no knowledge plus ob-
servations that mean nothing equal experience plus two snakes.

Some years ago we saw a definition of experience that seems to fit
the case. It was given in connection with the career of a Kansas poli-
tician. You know they have an experience down there, allof them, Mary
Ellen included. Long may she wave. The definition was this: Ex-
perience is what a man experiences while experiencing his experience.
That sounds at first like idle jingle, but turn it over two or three times
and look at it and you will see that it is all there is in experience unless
you put something under it to start out with.

We contend then that the first essential to successful orcharding is a
knowledge of nature’s methods in the economy of plant life and of the
conditions favorable to health, growth and fruitage, that we may assist
nature by operating upon conditions when they are found to be at fault.
The state undertakes to supply the needed information in go far as it
is possible through that medium. We look to the Horticultural Society
and the state experiment station as the most available and satisfactory
sources of information. But again we hear the cry of book farmer,
It comes from a respectable class of men, and it comes from Major
Gasbag and his lieutenants, armed with ax and saw and a bucket of
red paint. With hides inflated with egotism and experience they lead
the van and many there be that follow. In their campaign against
nature they have conquered on many a field and can do it again. These
men of experience would compel a tree to grow to their notion regard-
less of its innate laws. If it looks sickly under treatment the dose
was too light and they give it the kill or cure treatment. I would
rather have one hundred George Washingtons with their little hatchets
in my orchard than a band of these experienced horticulturists. No
truce with nature is tolerated for theirs is the work of extermination

and no prisoners are taken. The statistics show that only one tree in

238 State Horticultural Society.

ten planted is brought to successful fruitage; that tenth one must have
been a wonderful tree. It was surely overlooked in the care of the
orchard.

These tree surgeons differ somewhat in methods and you are per-
plexed to know which to follow. Thinking that in a multitude of
council there is wisdom you listen to all, and between them and the tree
vender from down east with his cull trees, new varieties worth a dollar
each, you are honeyfugled on this hand and honeyfugled on that and
in a few years you conclude that apple growing don’t pay.

Mr. Reid.—‘‘May I ask a question?”

Certainly.

What do you mean by honeyfugling a man?

I am glad you asked the question. It is always a pleasure to give
information when we find an honest seeker. To honeyfugle a man is
just the same as to hornswabble him; just the same in the horticul-
tural sense—the two words are exact synonyms.

Mr. R.—“May I ask another question?”

You may.

What do you mean by hornswabbling ?

Sir, I am glad to give further information. It gives me a chance
to make myself fully understood. To honeyfugle or hornswabble a
man is just the same as to bollywhack him; just the same. We trust
this information will do good.

Another thing we have learned is that it does not pay to set any
but a first-class tree. And we have learned, too, that it is next to
impossible to get them from foreign nurseries. If men were as good
judges of nursery stock as they are of cattle, it would ruin the tree
vender’s business utterly. I have seen many lots of apple trees shipped
in and I have never seen but one lot that I considered first-class. Nor
can you always get desirable trees from home nurseries, but you may
do much better. The nursery and not the orchard is the place to make
a tree. If a sickly, stunted, illy grown tree be planted its appearance
may be improved, but it can never be made to pay for the use of the
ground it occupies.

I regard the selection of trees of the utmost importance. Yet it
seems to be an easy matter to sell and deliver the meanest kind of stock.

Winter Meeting. 239

Men who are shrewd enough in other matters seem to know little of
what a tree should be at time of setting. I have seen orders delivered
in which there was not ten per cent worth setting. It is the practice
cf many nurseries to sell their good trees to good customers who are
good judges, and through their agents all over the country work off
their inferior stock. Many trees are sickly, stunted and lousy, but
there seems to be a general belief that a tree will come out. This is an
error most fatal to successful orchard growing. A poor calf is of
some value, considerable value these days, but a poor tree is of no value
whatever. Of all the swindles I know anything about the nursery
may be, and some times is, the greatest.

It is not our purpose to make war on nurseries and tree dealers, for
there are many honorable men among them doing a legitimate busi-
ness, but in view of the fact that it is a question of but little time until
we shall have imported into our state, through foreign nurseries, every
form of pest known to the fruit industry, including San Jose scale, we
believe it our duty to protest. We indorse the action taken by our state
to quarantine against cattle affected with tuburculosis and see no reason
why like measures should not be applied to protect us against pests
destructive to the fruit industry. The introduction of tuburculosis
would entail temporary loss, but the introduction of San Jose seale to
any considerable extent would mean utter ruin to the most promising
industry of our state. In this matter safety lies only in the most rigid
adherence to protective measures. But to return.

In the selection of trees it should be borne in mind that the plant,
like the animal, has its organs of prehension, circulation, digestion and:
respiration and that any serious disorder of the vital organs may be
readily detected and is sufficient reason for ditching the trees so affected.
The greatest care should be exercised at this point, and the want of such
care is responsible for much disappointment.

After the trees have been selected, comes the planting, and this
indeed is an important matter, but we must pass it with only a few
observations on spacing and pruning at time of setting. Our reason
for speaking of the spacing of trees is because of a wide-spread error
held by many now in much favor, and since it is given out as advice

by men of experience it is causing many to do an unwise thing.

240 State Horticultural Society.

We believe under ordinary conditions the most satisfactory dis-
tance is twenty-six to twenty-seven feet each way. A planting much
in favor at this time is twenty feet apart north and south and thirty
feet east and west. The reasons given for this spacing are that it gives
the trees a better morning and evening sun, while each tree protects
by shading the body of the one just north of it during the heated
portion of the day. . Both these supposed facts are mistaken. On
June 21, when the sun has reached summer solstice, its northern de-
clination is twenty-three and one-half degrees, our latitude is thirty-
nine and one-half degrees, a difference of sixteen degrees. So that at
noon on that date the angle made by the oblique rays of the sun with
a perpendicular at our latitude is sixteen degrees, and the shawod cast
by a tree is sixteen-fortieths the height of the tree. A tree then
eighteen feet high would cast a shadow sixteen forty-fifths of eighteen
feet, or six and four-fifths feet. A tree then must be fifty-four feet high
for its noon shadow to reach the base of a tree twenty feet away. But
you say, the heated season comes later, when noon shadows are
longer. Very well; we will take another date. On August 5th (that’s
hot enough) the sun’s declination is eleven and one-half degrees north
and its rays strike us at an angle of twenty-eight degrees on that date
at noon. <A tree then casts a shadow twenty-eight forty-fifths of its
height. A tree eighteen feet high would throw a ‘shadow eleven and
one-fifth feet, but the tree to be protected is twenty feet away. So
there is nothing in the noon shade theory. This is a problem of trigo-
nemetry, but these figures are close, the error being against us. But
how about the morning and evening sun. You are aware there are but
two days in the year when the sun rises in the east and sets in the
west, namely March 21 and September 21, when the sun is at the vernal
and autumnal equinoxes, and we are not much interested where it
rises on these dates. From March 21 to September 21 it rises north
of east and sets north of west. The morning shade then falls to the
southwest and the evening to the southeast and trees get the sun what-
ever the spacing. At 8:30, June 21, the sun is in the east and shadows
fall to the west; the sun’s rays then strike us at an angle of forty-five
degrees and a tree will cast a shadow equal in length to the height of

ihe tree. A tree must be twenty-seven feet high for its shadow to reach

Winter Meeting. 241

the base of a tree twenty-seven fet away and then it rapidly shortens
and shifts to the north. In view of these facts it is a matter of surprise
that men of experience in orchard growing should advise planting
twenty by thirty feet and assign the reasons above mentioned for so
doing.

But what are the advantages in equal spacing both ways? It is
obvious that in planting twenty by thirty there will be much interlacing
of roots, and heavy demands made upon a portion of the soil
while in the centers between the rows the wide way comparatively
little feeding is done while the orchard is young; whereas
with equal spacing the whole soil is available alike for the use of the
trees. But a more important reason for equal spacing is found in the
advantages of cultivation and care. The spacing we have suggested

(twenty-six to twenty-seven feet), while it gives the number of trees
per acre desired, is the most convenient. It is agreed that the orchard
should be planted from three to five years in some tillable crop, as corn
or potatoes. In the distances here given each tree space is exactly seven
corn spaces. This enables us to mark out the ground one way with a
three runner marker, going twice in each tree space, and plant with a
two-horse planter, going three times to the space. The seventh row of
corn standing exactly in the the tree row. You may plow the corn
both ways, plowing six rows with ordinary cultivators, while the corn
in the tree row may be worked out with a single horse. The cultiva-
tion of an orchard is a grievous task at the best and may be made much
more so by an injudicious spacing of the trees. A mistake here will
be repented many times in the years that follow. The proper number
of trees to the acre, rightly distributed, the greatese possible conven-
lence in culture and care, with all the advantages of sun and air that
it is possible to secure, is what we claim for this spacing.

One other matter and we are through. In connection with setting
the orchard comes the pruning. Very little should be done afterwards.
but it is important that it should be done and properly done at the time
of planting.

It is well known that the leaves are the lungs of the plant, that
here the interchange of gases takes place, the plant exhaling oxygen and

H—16

242 State Horticultural Society.

taking on carbon. It is also known that the leaves are the stomachs of
the plant, that all food taken up by the roots is carried here to be di-
gested and prepared for use. Here also the surplus water of the sap
is eliminated, and here the function of the root is the prehension of food
and here the food supply is governed by the root supply. This being
true the relation of the root and foliage is most important. If
the tree has abundant root and scant foliage, digestion is incomplete,
the plant fails to secure sufficient carbon from the air and retains too
much water. This forced feeding causes the tree to send out nu-
merous branches to insrease the foliage, an effort of nature to correct
the evil. It may become exceedingly brushy, but on the other hand if
the tree has abundant foliage and light root, it has too much lung and
stomach for the food received. The sap is now deprived of sufficient
water and is too much thickened to be appropriated by the plant. The
foliage becomes glazed, turns yellow, and it is evident plant starvation
is pending. Now, if we are only mindful of the relation of root and
foliage in the economy of plant life, either of the above difficulties
may be remedied readily enough. When you observe forces feeding
root pruning will correct it and hold in check brushy growth. If you
see signs of starvation a clip of branches will lessen the demands of the
tree to the capacity of the root supply. To make application of this
principle in planting the branches should be clipped to correspond with
the root clip caused by digging the tree. This can be properly done
only when the functions of the root and foliage are understood and
considered. In setting, when we find a tree has abundant root, we
clip the branches but little. If the root be meager we give a heavy
clip of branches.

After the orchard has been planted two or three years, if ‘well
rooted trees be set in good ground, you will find on some trees many
limbs standing on the body and larger branches near the body. Some
of these grow crosswise through the top and promise to become bad
rubbers. What is to be done? You are aware that this unwanted
growth is due to great vigor of root and forced feeding. You are also
aware that if you remove these rubbers you clip a top already insufficient
and run the risk of aggravating the forced feeding to the extent that

Winter Meeting. 243

you may start a number of branches for each one taken off. It is
evident that you should remove only the more serious offenders. A
little deep plowing to break a few roots and hold up the forced feeding
would be profitable for such a tree. So far as attempting to reform
an ill shaped tree by heavy pruning, it would better not be done, unless
disorder from insufficient root vigor is apparent. It will only make
a bad matter worse. This abnormal condition of root and branch does
not exist unless there has been some interference with the normal de
velopment of the plant. This interference may come through causes
over which we have no control, but more commonly from injudicious
use of the knife. We believe that quack surgery is the worst pest
known to the fruit industry.

Recitation by Miss Cora Brantley.
Song.—Male Quartette.

SOME NEW ARKANSAS SEEDLING APPLES.

By Prof. J. T. Stinson, Fayetteville, Ark.

I have for several years been interested in the new seedling apples
of northern Arkansas. Our country seems noted for originating new
apples. There are several reasons for this. The soil and the climate
are very favorable. In the early settlement of the country many seed-
ling orchards were planted ; as there were no nurseries then, and it was
far from transportation lines by which to ship trees from older sections
of the country. I have found and worked over one hundred new
apples. The valuable ones ‘you might count on your fingers, perhaps
of one hand. The parentage of most of them is Ben Davis, Winesap,
or Limbertwig. Among those of Ben Davis origin we found one called
White Ben Davis. This was found in several orchards, with trees
and fruit the same. When one man finds a good kind in his orchard .
his neighbors will get scions and graft them into their own orchards.

So we often find the same new kind in several orchards.

244 State Horticultural Society.

I have here, for your inspection, a collection of fourteen varieties.
I will be glad to tell you anything that I know of these apples; but it
will take too much time to give the history and description of them all
in detail. Their value for other sections is unknown, as they have not
been tested outside of the locality of their origin. Some nurserymen
are selling and recommending them for all sections of the country.

We hope to have them fairly tested in other states, and thus learn
something of their value for general growing. Extensive planting of
new varieties for profit is a mistake anywhere. [Even in the land of
their origin we find one variety grown only in a limited area. Some of
them have many names. We have tried to have them known by their
proper names and to get nurserymen to so designate them. We regret
that some of them are selling these apples under new names of their
own giving.

We grow these new varieties for the purpose of sending them out
for trial, to test them in the nursery, and for our own planting. The
question of the adaptability of these varieties is one in which most of
you are interested.

Take the variety known as the Mammoth Black Twig, or Arkansas
as we call it. It has, I believe, been sold and planted quite largely in
Missouri and other states. Yet it is not known how it will succeed.
So far as our experience goes it is a shy bearer for general commercial
planting.

Arkansas Black has no value as a commercial apple. It is a shy
bearer, and scabs worse than anything else we have.

Givens we consider one of the best of the collection and recom-
mend it for general trial.

Collins (Champion or Collins Red) we think next in value to the
Givens.

Oliver (Senator) has attracted much attention. It is of fine
quality, a little later that the Jonathan, but too early for us. If it
proves hardy and productive further north it may be very valuable.

Evans is sweet and a good keeper.

Beach (Apple of Commerce, Richardson Red) is another one which
we hope will prove of good value.

Winter Meeting. 245

Black Ben Davis, Etris and Arkansas Belle are from Washington
Co., Ark. If you want trees you will be perfectly satisfied by buying
Gano trees. They are practically.the same.

Vocal Solo.—Mrs. Arthur Anderson.

TWELVE HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS.

By Prof. N. O. Booth, Agricultural College, Columbia, Mo.

The term hardy herbaceous plants includes all those hardy plants
of the temperate regions which die back to the ground once a year.

The twelve plants which I have selected to speak about to-day are
ornamental perennials exclusively.

The cultivation of hardy herbaceous ornamentals which were so
prominent in all the old gardens seems to have been rather neglected
of late years. The reasons for this neglect are numerous. The mul-
tiplication of greenhouses and the improvement of greenhouse cut flow-
ers, supplying the market the whole year round, has crowded out the old
flower garden as a place to secure choice blossoms; the use of bedding
plants with their brilliant foliage has superseded them for yards and
public grounds.

In part at least this has been the fault of the style and nature of
the older ornamental plantings. In most old gardens the collections of
perennials consisted of everything and anything planted in much the
same manner in which they were selected, the whole effect being curious
rather than beautiful. And this in a great degree is probably the
cause of their decline in popular favor. However, the hardy ornamen-
tal perennial can ill be spared from either garden or yard and to-day
there seems to be a reaction in favor of these neglected plants.

The advantages of hardy perennials as yard decorators are such
as recommend them particularly to those people who have but little
time to devote to flowers and who wish to secure the maximum amount

of bloom with the minimum amount of attention and work. Concisel-:

246 State Horticultural Society.

stated the advantages of perennials are these: First, they are
easily and cheaply procured; second, once secured they last a long
‘time; third, they require but little cultivation. Starting early in
spring with a root system already formed, to draw upon, they can keep
abreast, if not in advance of the weeds, and hence require but little
intervention to save them from these horticultural outlaws. Fourth,
they are easily propagated by methods requiring no expert training.

The list of hardy herbaceous ornamentals which I present to you
to-day could be duplicated many times over without exhausting the
number of really desirable sorts for yard and garden cultivation. The
native perennials of our woods and prairies are almost unknown in our
gardens, although many possess great beauty and could undoubtedly be
improved by selection.

The first plant which I shall call your attention to is that old-time
favorite the Carnation or Pink. This flower is too well known to
require any description—not the greenhouse form. It is one of the very
few herbaceous plants which retains its leaves through the winter.
The Carnation will grow in a great variety of soils, but it blooms best
in a soil not too rich. It may be propagated by layers, cuttings or
divisions, the easiest and most satisfactory where only a limited num-
ber are required being divisions. This should be done in the fall, as
should all transplanting—the Carnation resenting disturbance in the
spring. This plant is both desirable as a cut flower and as an outside
decoration. The Carnation should be planted either singly or in rows
where it will soon mat and form a clump as large as is desirable for
good growth. The named varieties of the Carnation are not quite
true from seed, but the seedlings nearly always possess merit and this
method of propagation is very interesting. (Dianthus barbatus—
Sweet William). (D. Phunarius—old Pink). (D. Caryophyllus—
‘Carnation, Clover Pink, Picotee, Grenadine, etc.)

The next plant on the list is the Phlox. There are a great many
species of this genus which are perennials, ranging from four inches to
four feet in height, with red, violet or white summer and fall blossoms.
The subulata type are low growing kinds, soon covering the ground—

these are commonly known as Moss Pinks. The Phlox will grow best

Winter Meeling. 247

in a rather heavy soil. They are best propagated by division of the
crowns in early spring, or by root-cuttings made at the same time. The
Phlox, like the Carnation, makes a fine cut flower although hardly as
sttractive, and certainly not as popular as the latter.

The third flower on my list is the Peony. This is one of the most
popular of the ornamental perennials, both on account of its gorgeous
red, white and purple flowers and its dark, rich foliage. The Peony is
a strong feeder and should not be planted too close to other plants, for
one or the other will suffer. The herbaceous Peony will do well in
almost any location if the ground be kept rich. The Peony is not the
eut flower that either of the preceeding is; its chief beauty lying in the
blooming plant. It is best propagated by division in early spring. It
ean be well utilized as clumps in beds or borders furnishing a green
background for lower growing plants. ,

The fourth plant to be considered is the Daisy (Bellis). This
httle plant, with its blooms from April to August, makes one of the
prettiest of borders for a flower bed. The Daisy will stand crowding
and will grow in almost any soil. In fact our native sorts show
altogether too great a readiness to adapt themselves to varied condi-
tions. Propagate by division after flowering is over. The cultivated
Daisy is not quite hardy here, requiring a slight mulch through the
winter.

The next plant on my list is theeAster. These plants, with their
blue, white or purple fall flowers are a distinct addition to any garden.
They are of easy culture, one to four feet high, and, like the Daisy, will
stand crowding. Propagate by division in spring or fall.

We now come to one of the oldest inhabitants of our gardens, and
where it succeeds well, one of the finest summer flowers—the Hollyhock.
The colors of the Hollyhock are quite various: white, pink, red, yellow,
and black red. The Hollyhock may be propagated by division of the
erown after flowering or by cuttings later is probably the best. The
Hollyhock is one of the most permanent bloomers, being very slow to
fade.

The seventh flower on the list is the Iris or Flag (TI. Ibericus, I
Germanicus and others). The Flag needs no description, its blade-

248 State Horticultural Society.

like leaves and its blue, yellow, purple, or white flowers are familiar to
all. (May and June flowers.) There are two classes of the Inis,
the division being based on the root formation; these are the bulbous
and the rhizomatous. The most simple method of propagating the
bulbous group is by offsets and the rhizomatous by division. The
Iris will grow in a variety of soils but seems to do best in a light, rich
loam. They will stand full exposure to the sun and should not be
moved oftener than positively necessary. Bulbous Ivises are most
effective when massed.

The next flower to be considered is the Lily. A much longer paper
than this could be written on the different species and varieties of
Lilies without being of sufficient length to commence to do the subject
justice. A great many species of the Lily are hardy in this section
and are a very desirable addition to the ornamental gorunds. The
soil favorable to Lilies varies so much with different species that it is
impossible to give any definite rules. However, most, if not all, Lilies
will stand plenty of fertilizer, giving best results both in number and
quality of blooms in a rich soil. The Lily is a bulbous plant and is
propagated by offsets from the bulbs. The Lily prefers partial shade
and protection from the wind. Divide or replant in autumn after the
leaves have ripened off. Plant from four to six inches deep and mulch
in the fall, the mulch serving the double purpose of protector in
winter and a conservor of moisture during the growing season. The
bulbs should not be left exposed to the air longer than is positively nec-
essary, as they soon dry out, and are materially injured if not de-
stroyed.

The next flower on our list is the hardy Chrysanthemum (C.
Sinense) (var. Pompon). This is the small floral plant of the old
gardens which is covered with blossoms in the fall. A rich soil will
increase the number and size of these blooms. None of the Chrysan-
themums are quite hardy and will require the protection of four or
five inches of straw or litter through the winter. For propa-
gating, divide the stool in early spring. During the growing season the
Chrysanthemum requires a large quantity of water, although it will
not stand a sour or waterlogged soil. Good loam, heavy rather than

hieht, is desirable and it can’t be too rich.

Winter Meeting. 249

The Narcissus is the tenth flower considered. The numerous and
very beautiful species of Narcissus are amongst our most popular spring
flowers. A rather deep and somewhat stiff soil is preferred by these
plants, but they are very tolerant of soil and location. If partially
shaded by trees the blooms will retain their freshness for a longer
period. These plants will stand massing and may be naturalized in
the grass and will grow readily by the side of ponds and other water
courses. They are propagated by offsets which should be removed and
plants lifted if desired in August. The Narcissus, like the Lily, should
be mulched in the fall,

The last two flowers on my list are natives of Missouri and the west
generally. The first of these is the Evening Primrose (Oenothera Mis-
souriensis). This plant grows all over the western states, particularly
on the prairies. One of the finest floral effects I ever saw was pro-
duced by these flowers. It consisted of a ribbon of yellow stretching
diagonally across a field indicating the course of an old abandoned road.
The gorgeous yellow of the blossoms was toned down somewhat by the
fading twilight, producing an indeseribably beautiful landscape.
Needless to say this floral exhibit was not appreciated by the owner of
the field. These plants show best massed and are utterly useless as cut
flowers. Propagate by seed or division in early spring. The Prim-
rose prefers a rather light soil and will stand drouth and exposure to
full sunlight. It blooms in July and August.

The last flower on my list is our common Spiderwort (Trades-
cantia Virginica). This plant with its dark blue blossoms is partieu-
larly desirable amongst the grass, where the contrast between the blue
of the flowers and the green of the grass is very pleasing. The Spider-
wort will grow in almost any soil or situation, but is especially well
adapted to damp places.

This completes the list, and now before closing, I will say a few
words about the planting and cultivation of this type of plants. First,
in regard to the places to plant; flowerbeds should not be indulged in
unless you have the time and inclination to look after them. A neg-
lected, untended flower bed looks worse than no bed at all. Plant in
the fence corners and the shrubbery borders where nothing else is

250 State Horticultural Society.

growing and the decoration thus added is that much pure gain. In
planting carefully consider the general effect rather than the beauty of
the individual plant. Mass those plants which will stand massing.
Plant the lower, less conspicuous plants, in front with the more showy
forms behind. Select your plants so so to have so far as possible a
continuation of blooms throughout the season. If after a few years any
of the plants show signs of declining vigor the chances are they have
exhausted the ground around them and they should be raised, divided,
if necessary, and replanted with new soil thrown around them. To
the lover of flowers none will give so much satisfaction as these hardy
herbaceous perennials.

FIFTH SESSION—10:00 A. M., Thursday, December 7.

After the call to erder, the session was opened with prayer by the
Rev. Mr. Gilliam.

The secretary read letters from U. 8S. Pomologist G. B. Brackett,

regarding Missouri’s display at Paris.

Wasuineton, D. C., December 2, 1899.
Mr. L. A. Goodman, Secretary Missouri State Horticultural Society,
Westport, Mo.
Dear Mr. Goodman:

Referring to yours of the 20th ulto. we are much pleased to learn
of your success in securing apples for exhibition at Paris. While
there are still some difficulties to overcome, we consider that the pros-
pects for a successful exhibit in this line are excellent. The present
plan is to transport the fruit in refrigeration from New York in Feb-
ruary or March to Southampton, and transfer it from there by steamer
to Havre where it will be placed in storage. From Havre it will be
taken to Paris in small lots at frequent intervals as needed to keep
up a continuous display as long as the fruit lasts, and it is believed
that a sufficient quantity of durable fruit is in sight to maintain a full
exhibit until midsummer, and to have apples of the year 1899 on ex-
hibition in considerable quantity throughout the whole period of the
exposition.

There are at present about 300 barrels of selected fruit in sight.
There will of course be a considerable shrinkage when the fruit is re-

Winter Meeting. 251

packed, as there is very general complaint that apples are not keeping
as well as usual in consequence of the extreme heat in the past three
months.

We feel sure that Missouri will show up well in this exhibit, and
your society has our sincere thanks for the activity manifested in this
work. It is our belief that their efforts will be reimbursed to Missouri
fruit growers through the increase of foreign demand for their pro-
duets in future.

T have already addressed a letter to you, suggesting that the society
sendaphotograph of its membership if possible in addition to the exhibit
in horticulture. All photographs should reach us by December 15th,
if possible; in any event not later than December 31st.

Yours very truly,
G. B. Brackett,
Pomologist and Expert in Horticulture.

Washington, D. C., December 2, 1899.
Mr. L. A. Goodman, Secretary Missouri State Horticultural Society,

Westport, Mo.:

My Dear Sir.—In:addition to the exhibits of American apples of
the crop of 1899, now in storage for shipment to Paris, it is expected
that opportunity will be offered for the exhibition of more perishable
fruits of the crop of 1900 as they mature. The details of this feautre
of horticultural exhibit are not yet decided but it may be outlined in a
general way as follows:

Exhibits of choice fruits that are likely to endure transportation to
Paris, offered by individuals or societies, will be transported and in-
stalled free of charge under such restrictions as to quantity, time of ship-
met, etc., as may be found necessary.

Arrangements are contemplated by which shipments can be for-
warded from New York in refrigeration, at intervals of ten days or
two weeks after the middle of July, on a schedule which will be an-
nounced later.

If the fruit requires refrigerationfromshipping point to New York,
that will have to be looked after by the shipper, unless a car load should
be offered from a single shipping district at one time. In such eases
the commission will probably be willing to assume the entire cost.

As the making of a successful exhibit inthis line depends largely
upon the thoroughness of the preliminary arrangements it is important
that those horticultural societies which contemplate showing their
products should select their committees early and decide upon what
fruits to exhibit. They should also determine as early as possible the

202 State Horticultural Society.

probable quantity and the approximate date when it will be ready for
shipment so that the necessary arrangements for ocean transportation
can be made.

In the case of winter apples and pears of the crop of 1900, of which
it is expected that the exhibits will be large after September 1, if the
crop is good, shipments can probably be arranged for from New York,
by any of the regular steamers, as refrigeration will not be required.

If your socitey is interested in having your state represented, as
above indicated, I would suggest that action be taken at your annual
meeting with that end in view.

Your exhibits can in that case be arranged for in ample time and
the necessary arrangements for their transportation and installation be
completed. The general plan as outlined in circular 8, will be followed,
though it is subject to such modification as occasion may require.

Trusting that your society may have a pleasant and profitable
session at its coming annual meeting, I remain,

Yours very truly,
G. B. Bracxert,
Pomologist and Expert in Horticulture.

PARLS EXP OSEELON,

Secretary Goodman.—We now have something over eighty-five
barrels of apples in cold storage in Kansas City for exhibit at the
Paris exposition next year. These will be added to from the best on
exhibition here now. The Armour Packing Company charge us noth-
ing for keeping these apples.

J. T. Snodgrass.—Are apples too ripe now to put in cold storage ?

Secretary Goodman.—I think not. It would seem that apples ex-
hibited and handled several times would not keep. We have often
kept them for the summer meeting and sometimes for another year.
After an apple gets ripe and the skin contracts is is safe to keep it, even
if it is ripe. The critical point is past now and this ripe fruit seen on
on the toble here will keep all right, and I think we can hold them
ready for the exhibit next spring.

Winter Meeting. 253

REPORTS ‘OF COUNTY SOCIETIES.
RANDOLPH COUNTY.

On December 17, 1898, ‘“‘a few of the faithful’ met at court house
in Moberly, Missouri, and organized the Randolph county Horticultural
Society and elected the following officers: B. R. Boucher, president ;
G. N. Ratliff, vice-president; J. W. Dorsey, treasurer; J. P. Sinnock,
Geo. Gutkunst, and W. A. Rollins, executive committee; C. W. Halli-
burton, secretary.

Constitution recommended by State Secretary Goodman for county
societies was adopted. The society meets first Saturday of each month.
At the first meeting there were twenty-five persons enrolled
their names as members, and the list has steadily grown
and now contains about fifty members. We have not
failed in the past year to hold our regular monthly meet-
ings and have had a good attendance. We have, we are confident,
awakened new interest in fruit culture in this county. We have en-
couraged those who were already engaged in fruit culture and at the
same time have been the means of many others planting that never be-
fore planted a tree; and I am confident there has been more trees set
out in this county the past two years than there were the past ten years
prior to 1898. And right here it would be well to return thanks to the
state society for holding their winter meeting here in 1897, for that
gave us an “eye,opener” and put us to studying.

The society made a fine exhibit at the Moberly street fair in Sep-
tember last. We had the largest booth on the street, fifty-four feet
long and containing four hundred and eighty plates of fruit, besides
many potted plants and evergreens. There were over two hundred entries.
The society offered a very liberal premium list. All fruits furnished
for exhibit were donated to the society and were auctioned off and
brought a sum sufficient to pay all premium lists and all other small
expenses which were incurred. The apple crop was about twenty-five
per cent of a full crop and sold from $1.25 to $1.50 per eleven peck
barrels for No. 1 and No. 2, and 90 cents per eleven peck barrels
for culls. Peaches an entire failure.

254 State Horticultural Society.

Pears, very light crop, principally Keiffer; grapes, full crop but
badly damaged by black rot.

Strawberries, one-half crop; sold from $1.20 to $2.00 per crate.
Raspberries, light crop; sold from $2.25 to $2.75 per crate. Blackber-
ries, light crop. Many vines killed past winter.

Eleven peck barrels were mentioned in this report, but the dis-
cussion showed that the barrels in use in the state are three bushel
barrels, and that the Randolph county was probably in error in stating
that the smaller barrel was used in his county.

Prof. H. C. Irish reported for the St. Louis county society. They
have recently organized with fourteen charter members and a good
outlook for increasing membership.

J. J. Kiser said he believed that Gentry county kept up its society,
but as he lived in the extreme edge of the county he did not attend its
meetings.

T. B. Chandler said that St. Francois county had a new society of
forty-four members. Great interest is shown, though they have as yet
no large commercial orchards.

G. T. Tippin gave a favorable report from the Greene county so-
ciety. They have fifty members, with as much interest as at any time in
the past.

Mr. G. W. Hopkins, so long secretary, has retired for a season’s
rest and Miss Emma Park holds that office.

Buchanan county was reported by Mr. Irvine of the ‘Western
Fruit Grower” to be in a thriving condition. They tried to hold their
monthly meetings the past summer. The first time it rained and they
had no meeting. The next time it rained and the next, and the next.
So the summer was past and no meeting held, but later they had a good
meeting.

Mercer county was organized by President Murray two years ago,
and continues to prosper and do good work. The society made ar-
rangements with the county fair association to let the horticultural
society have full charge of the fruit and vegetable exhibits. The
families of members of the society having season tickets to the fair. The
exhibits were good and the arrangement was so satisfactory that they will
begin earlier next year. It was suggested that other societies might try

Winter Meeting. 259

this plan. The Mercer county society expressed their appreciation of the
state society holding its annual meeting at Princeton on their invitation.

Audrain county society was reported by Mr. Peyton as being
alive yet, but not as active as they could wish. He thought that it
would be well for the state society to come to Mexico next year, and
that this would arouse them to work.

Adair county society was reported by J. E. May. He reported a:
lack of interest.

Boone county society was reported by D. A. Robnett as not showing
much interest, though there are many persons in the county who are
much interested in fruit growing. They had over one hundred members
at one time, but had had no meeting for two years.

Livingston county society was reported to be in very good working
condition with twenty active members. Several car loads of apples
were shipped from the county this season. The strawberry crop was
good ; other fruits light crop.

Missouri Valley society was represented by J. C. Evans. It holds
its summer meetings at the residences of the members, and the winter
meetings at the club rooms of the Coates House hotel in Kansas City,
the third Saturday in each month at 10 a.m. They have a good, large
membership. He did not know the number. They are not a county
society, but the members are from different counties in Missouri and
Kansas.

Maj. Holsinger modestly claimed that the Missouri Valley society
was the parent of the Missouri state society and also of the Kansas
state society. The two state societies were languishing, more dead than
alive, until several members of the Valley society went to their annual
meetings and revived it.

Lincoln county reported sixteen members in their society, twelve
of whom have paid their dues for 1900.

Officers: A. H. Kercheval, president, Ellsberry; B. C. Benedict,
secretary and treasurer, Moscow Mills.

But few papers have been read, discussions predominate. We
have had no display of fruits, ete., but hope to be able to make a small

display next year.

256 State Horticultural Society.

The orchard interest is on the increase and many orchards will be
planted in the near future.

Hott, Cray Country, Missouri, July 30, 1899.
L. A. Goodman:

Dear Sir:—I do not think there is more than five per cent of a
crop of winter apples in ten miles of this point; not enough to eut any
figure in the market. Ben Davis is ahead, with Winesap and Mis-
souri Pippin next. all apples a little better. Trees not hurt on good
well drained land—not hurt by last winter’s cold. On land not well
drained, badly killed, and more so where not well air drained. No
peaches, pears or cherries; but few plums.

Hardy grapes, good; strawberries half a crop; blackberries about
the same. Raspberries but few. All kinds of fruit trees making fine
growth. I find that from apple trees that have been well
cultivated the apples are not falling near so bad as from
trees not cultivated; neither is the codling moth near so bad.
While there is quite a lot of yellow-necked caterpillars
where my trees are not cultivated, there are none where well cultivated.
I give good and thorough cultivation, clean up all trash under trees,
burn or plow under early in spring, hoe up surface under trees. I
think such treatment for a number of years will beat spraying as fol-
lowed by most people. There has been but little spraying done in this
locality and that has not been very satisfactory. I think I will be with
you at Princeton this winter if health permits.

I am fraternally yours,
G. T. Opor.

Guascow, Howarp County, Mo., July 23, 1899.
Mr. L. A. Goodman, Westport, Mo.:

Dear Sir:—I have just come in from a tour among my apple
trees and I send you by mail a sample of three Winesaps and three
Ben Davis. The bulk of my fruit is just like this with scarcely a per-
fect apple among 600 twelve-year-old trees. All bloomed full except
Huntsman. Some trees of Ben Davis have a fair crop, but all knotty
and scabby, but most of the scab is on the Winesap and Roman Beauty.
Now what causes the black spot on the Ben Davis? Is this not the work
of the plum gouger? This has been a hard year on my few strawberries,
owing mostly to the hail storm about beginning of ripening and too much

Winter Meeting. 207

rain. My blackberry crop from two and a half acres was about thirty
cases, and a neighbor whom I sold the plants, all Snyder, got over one
hundred cases from three-fourths of an acre. Mine were badly winter
killed and can’t explain why. My 250 to 300 pear I have deserted en-
tirely. Everything blighted more or less. Bartlett, Seickel, Kieffer,
Duchess and Garber. It is really discouraging and it seems as if fungus
and other diseases and insects are going to overcome us. I did not do
any spraying this year and doubt if it would have done any good, owing
to so much rain. [ven the onion I will have to stop growing on ac-
count of the onion thrip. They come about July 1 and stay till fall.
I make quite a little out of the winter onions early in spring to sell
with lettuce but the thrip just sucks them to death. I have tried Paris
green and kerosene emulsion and am now trying Pyrethrum powder.
Verily the way of the horticulturist is not strewn with roses.

I notice my peach trees I headed back when young growth began to
show are far ahead of the early cut back, lost some of the latter.

H. ScHNELL.

JEFFERSON County,
Scheve, Mo.
L.A. Goodman, Esq., Westport, Mo.:

Dear Sir:—The horticultural reports have been received from your
office. J am very thankful for these favors, as I am interested in the
work the advancement of which your society is so earnestly and suc-
cessfully advocating. I hope to be a member of your society before
asking further favors from it. I regret that our county is so indiffer-
ent to the interests of horticulture. We are admirably situated here
for fruit growing and certainly share in the reputation of southeast
Missouri for the production of fine fruits. I have been raised on this
farm; my father settled here in 1846 and planted his first orchard in
1850, some of the trees of which are yet bearing. I can truthfully
say that no farm in this vicinity ever produced more value per acre one
year with another than our orchards. Of recent years I have made
fruit my specialty, and during the past three years from an apple orch-
ard of 300 trees set out in 1887 have marketed good crops and have
proved to my neighbors that even a small orchard is indispensable
if we are to keep even, financially. My peaches have done
well the past two years and at this time are in good condition.
My produee is all hauled to St. Louis on wagon. I do my own selling.
Apples usually to packers, peaches usually in a small or retail way; in
1895 I hauled 34 wagon loads of apples, selling at prices ranging from
274 cents per bushel inSeptember to $1.20 in February, ‘96; this latter

H—17

258 State Horticultural Society.

for choice fruit by retail. The past year has been the worst from a
financial standpoint of view that we have yet experienced. Pork,
wool, horses and many other products have been low priced; the wheat
crop was very nearly a failure and owing to previous dullness cattle. .
aud sheep had been neglected and become scarce; for these reasons the
farmer who made fruit one of his side issues can not fail to appreciate
its great value. I think I shall make an attempt to get the fruit growers
of our county together and form a society. I hear men talk of plant-
ing trees who formerly ridiculed the business. I have an early apple
here that is about to become obsolete. I think it is worthy of some
attention. I have sent some scions of it to Messrs. Weber & Sons of
St. Louis county who have promised to propagate it; it ripens earlier
than the Early Harvest, is smaller but cooks well, and before the
southern fruit began coming to our market was very profitable. Mr.
M. Keuhne, a fruit dealer of South Broadway, St. Louis, has handled
all of ours for 35 years. He urges me to keep it. With best wishes, -
I remain, Yours, Hitc.,
Yours, Ete.,
Joun GrATLEY.

Brandsville, Howell county, Mo., August 3, 1899.
L. A. Goodman:

Dear Sir.—We have a small orchard, about 250 bearing trees,
mostly Maiden’s Blush and Ben Davis. Eighty per cent of the trees
of all kinds are heavily loaded and until last Friday bid fair to make
90 or 95 per cent of a crop.

In the fore part of last week my neighbor, Dr. W. A. Pease,
(Christy P. O.) consulted me about filling out your blank report on
postal card. At that time I thought five per cent would cover dry knot
or scabby apples. To-day one-half of our apples are about the color of
ripe walnuts just fallen from the tree in the fall and I believe they will
all rot as they did the past two years, which I attributed to drouth and
heat. This year our drouth came early and lasted six weeks. Dur-
ing its existence the apples grew very little, but remained sound. The
drouth was broken July 20 and it rained for three or four days and
the apples started growing very fast and now seem to be one-half larger
than when the rain fell. Other orchards are in same condition. To
what to you attribute this condition? TI should have said that during
the drouth we had no excessive heat, but the temperature was pleasant,
now it is very hot. Very truly yours,

R. W. Quane.

bo
Ou
wo)

Winter Meeting.

Barine, Knox Country, December 13, 1899.
Hon. L. A. Goodman:

Dear Sir.—I hope you had a good and interesting meeting at
Princeton. Such meetings are very beneficial, not only to the town,
and its surrounding population, but to all lovers and practical workers
in all the different branches of horticulture. It must be a great deal
of satisfaction to you and other members of our state horticultural so-
ciety to have created enthusiasm and extended knowledge to all lovers
of and workers in horticulture, and to keep alive the interest therein, as
also to new beginners to steer clear of the serious mistakes made in the
past, in setting out the wrong sorts for our soil and climate, and the
usual slipshod ways in transplanting, all of which is no excuse now
when the knowledge of our veterans is available. I am sorry that I
have not got any apples to send you for exhibition purposes. I had
_ about a half a crop of winter apples, mostly Ben Davis. They were only
medium size and about the fore part of September we had a wind storm
that blew fully one half off the trees, bruising the most of them. Over
one-half of my grapes were destroyed by the black rot. We had a fair
crop of pears, mostly Kieffer. We had a partial crop of plums, Wild
Goose and Golden Beauty. I cut down all but two of my Marianna
plum trees, one of them near the hen house, which tree bore fifteen gal-
lons of nice plums, the only tree that ever did any good out of a dozen
I had on my farm, the others always began rotting about the time the
fruit began to color. I believe near a hen house is the place for plum
trees. My Japan plum trees suffered greatly last winter, but we must
try, try again, as their fruit is fine; besides we may not have just
another such a winter in a generation. Our pear trees nearly all
blighted, more or less, Keiffer as well as others. The first time blight
struck my trees was a year ago, and this season about twice as bad as
last year. J pruned and shortened back all affected limbs and the
trees seem to have recovered, but some have some unnatural new sprouts
which I will cut back to healthy wood, and I intend to spray my trees
before growth begin with lime and sulphur as I see that recommended.
Apples generally are not keeping well, over one-fourth were wormy and
a large per cent had small holes gnawed in them before they were grown
which work caused many to rot; some also have the bitter rot. My
trees have made a good new growth, so perhaps next year we may have
a good crop of fruit again. My trees show no sign of hurt from the
last severe winter, with the exception of a few red Astrachan trees
which had split but which I gave a thick coat of paint, and have nicely
ealloused over this summer and made fair growth and bore a crop of
fruit. We had a long dry spell this fall but trees held their leaves
until frost. It has been too dry for planting strawberries, but my
patch has done well as I took extra care of it. With me the Clyde has
proved the most promising of all new sorts I have tried recently. Lu-

260 State Horticultural Society.

cretia dewberries were killed to the ground last winter. By the way, a
neighbor had a fine crop of grapes, no rot. He had them trellised about
seven feet high. He believes that to be a security from rot. We had
rain, hail, and snow on the eleventh inst. Have plenty of water now.
I close with best wishes to you for a happy new year.
Truly yours,
Peter Daiine,

GENTRY COUNTY.

It is with regret that I write you after the meeting at Princeton.
Not that I would have said anything new or given any new advice, but
telling the old story over again something new is being brought out by
some one every year.

It was my intention when I got your program this year to attend,
as each one should take a personal interest as far as possible to develop
their own interest, but business was such that I could not leave. Then
I thought I would write and say what we were doing here, but neg-
lected it until too late.

The fruit business seems to be on the decline, generally speaking,
on account of the severe trials and short crops we have received for two
years. But a few of us are still trying to hold up the banner until a
reaction will take place.

The prospect is not great for planting this spring, but some will
reset where trees froze and died last winter and summer.

On account of the drouth last summer the raspberries failed to give
us many sprouts, but the canes seem to be in good shape for the spring.
The same with other berries, except strawberries, which failed to put out
many runners so a short crop is the sure result.

Respectfully,
G. E. Apams,
Darlington, Mo.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW FRUITS.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :— 5
Your committee on new fruits begs leave to report as follows:
Among the new fruits exhibited may be mentioned fourteen varie-

ties of the Arkansas seedlings shown by Prof. J. T. Stinson, of Fayette-

ville, Ark. Of these, ten are,comparatively little known in cultivation.

Winter Meeting. 261

Black Ben Davis, Etris and Arkansas Belle are so much like Gano that
the committee are not able to distinguish between them and the latter
well known sort. We believe that Givens, Collins, Evans and Beach
are worthy of trial to determine their commercial value, and that the
others may be at least of interest in home and amateur plantings.

Nixonite, exhibited by Mr. M. Butterfield, Farmington, Mo., is a
new sort that seems to us to have merit. It is large, resembling Hunts-
man in size and color, of good, sprightly flavor and firm texture. It is
said to have been grown from seed which was brought from North
Carolina fifty or sixty years ago, and planted at Hopewell, Mo., by
Mr. Nixon.

Burk, shown by Mr. J. T. Snodgrass, West Plains, Mo., is a large,
fine looking seedling, pale red over green or yellow ground and may be
a valuable sort.

A new seedling exhibited by Mr. Nelson closely resembles Ben
Davis in appearance, but if it is a better keeper, as described, it may
have commercial merit.

Several other seedlings of less promise were shown.
Committee on new fruits:
L. H. Catiaway, Ill.
R. A. Emerson, Neb.
J.C. Warrren, Chairman, Mo.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMENCLATURE.

At a meeting of fruit growers held at Salem, Mo., in December,
1898, the matter of the identity of certain varieties of apples was dis-
cussed at length, and failing to reach a satisfactory conclusion, a com-
mittee was appointed with instructions to make further investigation
and report at some future meeting of this society. As a member of
that committee and as a member of your committee on nomenclature, it
is fit perhaps that a report be made at this time.

Your committee find near West Plains, in Howell county, a large
light yellow apple which is known to be a seedling of that locality. It
is called Thomas. It has been little disseminated.

262 State Horticultural Society.

Your committee find in the neighborhood of Salem, in Dent county,
an apple similar in all respects, only that the trees are large and evi-
dently as old or older than Thomas. We would feel justified in pro-
nouncing it the same.

In the neighborhood of Lebanon, in Laclede county, Mr. Nelson
has called attention to one very similar, but the committee do not hesi-
tate to call it Robinson Pippin.

In Texas county another one of the same class is found that your

committee are of the opinion is Shannon or old Ohio Pippin.
J. C. Evans.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FRUIT.

We, your committee would beg to report the following:

Hartzell Ce, St JOes cara saciacben decal ewlone cee isin obs eco aGioleet be cio see ee eee eee $5 00
Robnett):D: Al. Columbia) 222.255 asst oases a acges a1 gare Sent eaee) | ae teen Ce ee 10 00
Rippin GCL... Sprain Shela. 2 oA ora eye erasers eye thst ce aistois bo 2 chakeray islets cejotelorsic bts eye sree ic ace Oe nee 2 50
Nelson, A=. Thebanom: Ss isis easthevce cece oe oe cee ble ake Cie On eae ieee DEE Ree aoe en eee ee ee -| 10 00
Snodgrass; Jin 1s, WestsPlainsi., o2. bic tevausere one ire pitieie te eres AIP arco naoae aiare hee inte om YOR See ee | 12 00
Buttertield. Mey harminotonta. et eae ecco aco eit me oes meee ieee er tt ha e's .| 20 00
GanowG We iRarkvaillege voces cocmcaroe arent eee oO Oe oe eno coe Oe eee nee | 400
Wiyvimani El. (Ros SPrinCeronlscc:seh cls foun sons nina tee 8 Se eevoa es we Grae acetals Ree ie oe cae ee ee 12 00
Mayes pene WitlSG OY cscs acs.crs os ciatsysiace Satioate earn lafometere semen cocoate oe eG Sime Sein byensva oteneosate eT EM
TeintonyS: EH; Marceline.) 4. ss ncecosire see wae tee jeterantiel tel) renee Se ee conocer 3 00
Summernyvaillen©. 1B... VOpSy sce cree sisrasiceste, ea gemeete acersene rave isis res erwin ts orate niet tee oped ee aie eee ee 1 00
Clodfeldter, Modena........... PB MRorcer en stone anon ie "shah, a Bee ge ea Ce 1 00
McDonald, Philip, Princeton. .............. ; A, Usk Seen ek nen tee eee 50
Davis; A... Je@mersOneGity.. foils seem owe) aisiate a8 tae oem aciotemie Sem ew ee sec ame ee are ene ee | 1 00:
Callaway Co.—J. H. Marion, Fulton.............. Pte ee ae or sen eas. con) GLb

$94 00

Your committee find two plates of persimmons that are worthy
of mention, also ten plates of Ben Davis shown by Prof. J. F. Stanley,
of Cainesville. We also find on the table a fine contribution of Cali-
fornia fruit prepared by a process. unknown to your committee.
The collection of apples are quite phenomenal in a season like the past.
We supposed there was little or no fruit in the state, but the collection
here shown is to us remarkable. The apples are fine, of high color and
it would be hard to beat the show here made.

We wish also to make commendatory mention of fourteen new
seedlings exhibited by Prof. J. T. Stinson, from the Arkansas Experi-

ment Station.

Winter Meeting. 263

Missouri has maintained her character as a great fruit state, being
able to make such a showing in an off year.
Very respectfully,
Frank Horstneer, Rosedale, Kan.
Emit J. Baxter, Nauvoo, II.
Joun T. Stinson, Fayetteville, Ark.

Prof. J. T. Stinson, of the Arkansas Experiment Station, Fayette-
ville, was nominated and unanimously elected a honorary member of
the Missouri State Horticultural Society.

J. T. Stinson.—I thank you for this honor. I do not deserve it,
but I never received anything for which I was more thankful.

REPORT ON SMALL FRUITS.
By G. W. Hopkins, Springfield, Mo.
STRAWBERRIES.

I have been growing strawberries for twenty-eight years, but the
past season is the worst I have ever experienced. After the fruiting
season was over there was but little rain during the rest of the summer.
Only occasional showers and even these were local and often confined to
a small area of territory.

Those who went to work as soon as the berries were gone, cleaned
out the old patches and kept up a continuous cultivation have a fair
prospect for berries. Some cut down their patches to a very narrow
width in the rows. The drouth prevented the formation of many new
runners, consequently the berries will have to be grown on the old plants,
which all berry growers know is not so good.

Many growers failed to work out their vines until the ground
became so hard they could not, and they remained that way during the
entire season. Of course these patches will be comparatively worthless
and might as well be ploughed up. The vines set in the spring have
made but a few runners, and they of feeble growth, and had it not been

264 State Horticultural Society.

for the timely fall rains they mostly would have perished. Many
plowed up their old patches and are depending entirely on their spring
setting for a crop.

I do not believe that in Greene county, that even the best prospects
can possibly make more than one-half crop of berries. There are many
patches that will not make more than one-fourth crop, and some that
will not be worth picking.

The raspberry, where properly taken care of, is generally in good
condition. The canes have made a fine growth, but there are scarcely
any tips. Since the destruction of the older varieties by anthracnose
there have been but few raspberries planted in this locality. There have
not been enough raspberries raised in Greene county the past two years
to supply the home market in Springfield.

All varieties of blackberries are in good shape. There has not beem
an unusual growth of wood, but sufficient for a good crop.

Gooseberries and currants are only grown here in a small way,
mostly in gardens, and cut no figure in the general fruit productions of
the country. So far as my observation has extended they are in good

condition.

REPORT ON COLLECTING FRUIT FOR THE PARIS
EXPOSITION.

By W. G. Gano, Parkville.

To the Missouri State Horticultural Society :—

Having been appointed by the executive board of this society to
solicit, encourage and assist the fruit growers of the state to get together
an exhibit of fruit for the state at the Paris Exposition for 1900, I
submit the following brief notes:

By the generosity of the Frisco and Memphis railroad lines, which
furnished me free transportation, my work was taken up in southern
Missouri along those two railroad lines. Leaving Kansas City September
25th, I went to Salem, Dent county, over the Frisco line. At this point
I found quite a lively competition in the apple traffic. There being
some four different firms buying and shipping apples, and it was esti-
mated there would be from forty to sixty cars shipped from this point.

Winter Meeting. 265

It was very interesting and astoninshing to me to find, not only at this
point, but at all stations along the two lines of railroad, the long dis-
tances that men would haul their fruit to market. It was no uncommon
thing to find fruit most any day that had been hauled twenty-five,
thirty, and some times as far as forty miles, and delivered in fine con-
dition. In other cases, where men had but a short distance to haul
their fruit and every opportunity was favorable for them to obtain the
best market price, they brought their fruit to market in a worthless
condition, owing to a lack of a little horticultural education in handling.
I have seen fine, large Willowtwigs that had been shaken from the
trees on to the hard, stony ground and then hauled carefully to market
on a spring wagon. I have also seen fine Yorks carefully hand picked
in half-bushel baskets and then poured into two-bushel sacks, letting the
apples drop the full length of sack, then settled down and handled as
so much corn, and taken to market expecting the fruit dealer to buy
them, and when the fruit is refused or they do not receive the price
they expected, they then put the blame of the careless and rough hand-
ling to their wife, or poor little children.

This has been one of the years that the commercial orchardist or
fruit grower was not in it, for in all points visited, the large orchards
had searcely any apples and the greater portion of the fruit marketed
this vear came from orchards of less than a thousand trees ; consequently
the apple buyer was forced to look to the small orchards for his supply
of fruit.

Surely the lessons learned this year by the fruit dealer has been
very dear to him and his disappointments very bitter; owing to the
imperfect condition of fruit, the many worthless varieties, the rough
handling before being received, and the long continued hot weather
during the handling season, all of which has been very much against his
success,

Aften ten days of hard work at Salem, having to visit very many
orchards, in some of which I scarcely could find a perfect specimen, I
procured ten barrels of fruit. Judge Woodside furnished one barrel
of York and Ingram; O. S. Roush one barrel of Ingram and Ben
Davis; P. Weller one barrel of Ben Davis and Ingram. The other

seven barrels were bought from different individuals, each having their

266 State Horticultural Society.

card, giving name, address, quantity and variety attached with fruit.

From Salem I returned to Springfield and then west to the
bordering counties, but did not find the fruit as good as in Dent county.

At Purdy, Barry county, some had been shipped out in bulk to
evaporators at other points, but none had been barreled and shipped
as commercial fruit, owing to the imperfect condition. At this point
I procured one barrel of Ingram from T. H. Robberson.

I then worked back to Lawrence county. At Marionville I found
the finest fruit in all my trip. This was in an orchard of W. T.
Flournoy of some 600 trees of Ben Davis, Huntsman, Ingram and
Winesap, which were all exceptionally fine. This orchard is about
twelve years from planting, and this the fifth crop, picking about three
barrels per tree, of very choice, perfect fruit, and were sold at $2.00
per berrel measure, the purchaser furnishing the barrels and doing his
own packing. On October 15th, when I was at this orchard, it was then
unpicked owing to the vigorous growth and heavy foliage, which was
then still retained. While all other orchards visited had then dropped
theirfoliage while this orchard was unpicked on account of fruit lacking
proper color. This orchard has had the most thorough cultivation, not
only for this year, but every year, and sprayed six times each season for
five years. Mr. Flournoy has also 140 acres of young orchard which is
in fine condition, very much superior to anything I saw, and I was very
favorably impressed with his mode of orchard treatment. His Rome.
Beauty trees were in splendid condition from all appearance, while
this variety was in a very sickly and dying condition in all other
orchards that I visited, being injured by the winter and by the severe
drouth of the summer more than any other variety. In orchards ad-
joining Mr. Flournoy’s the same condition existed as in other localities,
a sickly, declining condition, while his had made a very vigorous,
healthy growth, and trees still retaining their foliage. This condition
can only be attributed to his culture and care of his orchards. Mr.
Flournoy furnished three barrels for the exhibit—one barrel of Ben
Davis, one barrel of Winesap, one barrel of Ingram—all of which were
very fine.

I was very sorry after visiting other points that I had not re
mained here longer and purchased more for the exhibit, but being

Winter Meeting. 267

anxious to visit other localities, I went to West Plains, Howell county,
over the Memphis line. At this point I found some good fruit from
young orchards, but in the older orchards the bitter rot had swept the
fruit, not only at West Plains, but had been very destructive in the
extreme southern portion of the state, appearing to be more destructive
on the southern slope of the Ozark range, and the fruit buyer had turned
his back on the sections where this dreaded disease, the bitter rot, pre-
vailed to such an extent. Also the root rot causing the trees to die out
at an alarming extent, which is very discouraging indeed to the fruit
growers, as there are more and larger commercial orchards in this
locality than any other in the state, but like other localities visited,
the commercial orchards of any large extent were very unprofitable.

Here is certainly a very important field for our experiment sta-
tions to do some very vigorous and important work, which should be
taken up immediately. As I remarked at the farmers’ institute meet-
ing at Mountain Grove, which was: If these two great calamities, the
bitter rot of our fruit, the root rot of our trees, can be exterminated or
prevented or even lessened it means hundreds of thousands of dollars
to the state of Missouri. In south Missouri I think those two diseases
are to be dreaded more than all other diseases or hindrances combined,
for with these the fruit grower is at sea without rudder or sail.

At West Plains I procured thirty-five barrels, principally Ben
Davis. Mr. A. J. Gardener, of the Gardener Fruit Farm, furnished
two barrels, one of York and one of Clayton, which were fine. G. L.
Sessen one box of Mammoth Black Twig; Theodore Boss one box of

varieties. The remainder were purchased and credit cards attached.
| At Mountain Grove, Wright county, I procured one-half peck of
Ben Davis from W. J. Bailey, as the crop had been about all shipped
out before arriving there. There had been nearly forty cars shipped
from this point.

At Seymour, Webster county, I procured three barrels—one
barrel of varieties from Webster County Horticultural Society; one
box of Ben Davis from W. J. Nelson and two barrels purchased.

All this fruit, each specimen, was double wrapped, first in tissue
paper then in a hard parchment paper which was furnished by the

268 State Horticultural Society.

agricultural department at Washington, together with cards which were
put with each individual’s fruit, giving the catalogue number and
package number and variety and quantity furnished, by giving
name, postoffice, county, and state, which was placed with each indi-
vidual’s fruit that was collected. This fruit was carefully packed in
barrels, and when filled, before heading, each barrel was cushioned to
prevent bruising in heading and shipped immediately to Armour’s cold
storage in Kansas City, which is being held by them until wanted to
export, free of charge.

The state has already collected for this exhibit about seventy-five
barrels, which is all held in cold storage by Armour Packing Co.

Tn conclusion, the varieties of apples which appear to have behaved
best in all localities visited were York, Clayton and Ingram. The va-
riety that appeared to be injured the worst by the winter and drouth
this summer was Rome Beauty. I was out on this work six weeks,

arriving back in Kansas City the sixth day of November.

STATEMENT OF MONEYS RECEIVED AND EXPENDED

BY J. F. DAVIDSON, TREASURER HORTICULTURAL COMMITTEE OF MISSOURI

COMMISSIONERS OF OMAHA EXPOSITION.

Received May 26, 1898, cash from\state|COMmMISSIOMn were cembiaec meee ie er meee $2,205 78 |
G.iA. Atwood collectionss..ecse ase eae coats 271 00

$2,476 78

Disbursements:
‘Tables, shelving; decoration And! Signs iu. vec i cieie|s eciecis tec cele io aes /
Express, freight, drayage and delivery..... .. ..... .. .-....
Fruit packages, gathering, etc........-... ......- Bo isis. oo Re ITE eT ete
A. T. Nelson, superintendent, and extra help.. cet iweaeee
Gara Atwood, PLeSident. (555-0. ssa coeses | sak cine canon Be Sateiate
Stationery, telegrams and (:POStage neuer ea tee ina. cek ce eee eee soe
IN Fe MUEray cots scan atete sceeielemycsyecha Savane ree aversveae Gate timers atave aol ane eters cee
J. C. Evans and John PAV ANS eo evans Cad eee seer ck, ie a te
7A. Goodman) secretanyanct soccer meee : Sse Wer ie te oan oe
EAC NEISOD 2a. spss cean tin: bata coe mice mectes
J.E. Davidson, TREASUTEKE aii osee erect ie orate oe eee, EO ete nee I tec eee f
WiardcATWOOd".),, Mon viat nectar careers cic eee cie reas aeIee
s Cy. Whitten’ :2.c.74. sk ee een ner) ha val bes aes hantoclesincoe oRwtiet

Mota s. 3. ee scheke antes we. pete cee Giclee ave oeae wise ais. fere s niasionclominetete aie $2,476 78

Winter Meeting.

269

J. F. DAVIDSON IN ACCOUNT WITH HORTICULTURAL COMMITTE OF MISSOURI |
COMMISSIONERS OMAHA EXPOSITION.

May 26,1898, To checks, F. M. Marshall, treasurer
Oct. 11, 1898, To checks, G. A. Atwood, ‘collections

32,205 78 |
=| 271 00 oye 2,476.78

ee Boucher Contra, Payee. Amount. Remarks,
1 2 GAL TAt Woodsen eee ie store 5s $ 155 00 | For tables and shelving.......:....... .-.-
2 1 G. A. Atwood... .. : 96:00") 1G \batrels'ofvappleseeres aac.
3 By | Babb: Sryencct-pemercacr- 18036") (Preiohtionyjanrsion truite.. ci wees es -ee see
4 82 G. A. Atwood 05007) “ExpresstetGsro- am eeweescteeeree
5 Soil PAs aN eISOREr es peinecetes = SOMO Salary; tor June eerie ance \ ise hee
6 84 AS De Nelsons tccaeee ta cica 80100) |e Salany torialliyo c= cstotetccreeeveeies neta ae
7 85 GHA RAEWOOG: sc. siccelp es ewes: 70300) ‘Expressiandiiexpenses 4-2 ncessee see nee te
8 86 | A. T. Nelson 80 00 | Salary for August........ .. eet aiasyen ee
9 ale eAn AtWOOGI a sos 2 tals deel: =. 150) 00) | Express, freight and) fruit....21-.<.-.+..2-0
10 SOR MAR seNelson pera cee caatec. 80100) |"Salary;foriSeptemberss.. cease eteteseeas.
TI RSS 90) "GaAs Atwoode sy. ..06 2 1... ACO OOF | Exhibit andlexpenses. nasser oe ace eeeineee
12 91 INeseraliuraiye os. cee) lteter ahs TUCO Ras co} aa no cne Sr aceie ce RA Ant be: RIneMCOncad
13 4 Gs As Atwood!:.9 2.225: Belt Expense account, fruit and money..... ...
14 13. | Consolidated Express Co.) UG B10 EX PRESS ao At oass/elcioaicure os cetan doen thls Seen
15 IZ American Diss Gel; Co... . ; WL 79) | Express. . Dv Cache
16 14 | State Horticultural Society... 323 70 | Advanced for. printing and fruit...) ecoue
17 SwivsanduskyG&iCo.ts) teas) 454. 36:25 |b barrelsiapples. Saecenac. 4. ee tee ce cies
18 10 eee ONOGSTASS! See meni seenies S725 sibarrelsiappless ccs ce sss eee chic aco c
19 7 AVNelsoniye Petast scence se HsfOOk | eaidaysiat Omahate: semcecnmecenieceenieer
20 OMe Mendes avidSOnim. reese oiiase 36 60 | 7 days at Omaha and fare.................
21 AGA AL WOO. na-nisec as ae eels: LO} 00), |REicnor angNo sds yooh. Breer eee
22 L5leNVard! © Atwoodees. 2..sce.< 52700) |. 2bldaysiae Omahareoe- cena sence cies
23_ 92 FISSG USE oo cucs teres eaten. s 15 00 | Fruit..
247 Gia Are D sINGISON Pere aces. ae ee 123 35 | 1 month, 3 ‘days services and money
| pdvancedy. cues) cic Mee oe a
25 17 | J.C. Evans & Son 90 00 | 19 days services, J. C. Evans; 21 days serv-
ices, John Evans cin ae
26 1) || Us Co NWA Ne ooeadcods vceae 26 30 | Railroad fare and Sida, 3.88. sa. -<re bees
27 21 IMIR ESISSH as srnieets, Calsieio 20.2 elisor | wRentionnl200 platess nese. s2- eet esate
28 22 L. A. Goodman.. .. Sar 80 90 | 26 days, cash and EXpeEnsesse. seen eee
29 18 | American Dis. Tel. Co.. 64 00 Express Se lt eT A EE OC A Gotan dois
1814 11 IPI TA MEN a sccm c te Eom oO DOe DOO} barrel trite s.c.os Soaps eee eta
30 O50 eek DavidSOnecer a s-eeee 25 50 | Railroad fare and expenses at Omaha......
31 94 | The Express Transfer Co.... OtSOi || MEXPHESS. \eqicwier. tol wiae le. seeieiere ae eee Sab bae
32 Potale Ne Es MUG RAYS es a celeee ch ieee 16510) SE nit bought. e eecsc tesa eeaeecre
33 Hee | Wie TOLtONnes.s 8 camera : 6°00) Wharrel’apples0) 7 makee seems tee tenes
35 OG) eG. At VAtwood!s cnc) aes 20ND0n| ME pPEUSES | POSta De eLCjae eo earlamieeereerai=
36 RUM Ree rAcRinehanbaccrec) |) sates AY 501 |PRDOLOS ae tee eeceiscaaie ioosdoo phone sac s
37 97 Heat. Sterrettuas. ds: cits 1S 00" Gash turned backin coma ieee aae eee
38 Slob) |) Vigil Be Shctedetten Ran 5 gaaooaden a0 25) 00) Gashi turned backwses os. taesee ein cere eee
39 99 Teh OAVAASONssere tend eee 9 68 | Expenses to Kansas City and Springfield
to make final settlement..............--
Ota lvaesarie cc sectieria Nesahoncs

It seems
you at Columbia.

SECRETARY’S REPORT.

as if it could not have been a year since I last reported to

At that time the outlook seemed bright and it was

hoped that the series of disastrous vears had come to an end and better

times were coming.

In February all these hopes and plans and pros-

pects were frozen by the Arctic winter and we have been more or less

270 State Horticultural Society.

crippled as a result. Some trees have had their fingers and toes frosted,
others their lLmbs frozen, others their faces injured and still others
have been unable to walk since, while a few have been frozen to death.

An uncommon series of disastrous years surely we have had to
encounter, have we not? ‘This wave of depression and discouragement
we feel sure has reached its lowest limit and the wave will surely rise to
the crest once more like the general business and affairs of the country
have done.

The prospects for an apple crop, so bright in June, were blasted
before the summer was past. The drouth of 1897, the extreme wet of
1898, the Arctic freeze of February, 1899, the superabundance of the
insect crop and the fungus diseases, all conspired to destroy the apple
crop, and succeeded beyond our most humble expectations.

Many of our orchards are in a precarious condition as a result of all
these distressing circumstances and unless they have extraordinary care
or extreme good fortune, I fear we shall see them dying for the next few
years. In the southern part of the state the three great foes of the
apple grower are the woolly aphis, the root rot and the root knot, at the
roots of the trees; and the three foes to the fruit are black rot, apple
scab, and codling moth; while the worst enemies to the tree and
branches are the leaf roller, the skeletonizer, and the twig blight—nine
big enemies to fight and fight continually or failure will be our portion.

The injury by the winter freeze has been the worst for thirty years.
Many thousands of trees were killed, other thousands so badly injured
that they will never recover or at best linger for a few years. Peach
and pear trees that were not too badly injured and were properly pruned
back have made a fine growth. The instructions given last spring to
prune back severely, perhaps were misconstrued by many in the use of
the term “dehorn.” This dehorning as understood, by all who have
practiced it during the last ten or fifteen years, means to cut back all
of one or two, or at most three years’ growth, and good results will
always follow.

Many have made the fatal blunder of cutting trees to the ground.
Many others have made the next, almost as fatal, mistake by cutting back
into five or six or ten year wood, leaving practically stump of tree with

branches only one or two feet long. While this severe pruning will

Winter Meeting. atl

not prove death to the trees if they are in a healthy condition, yet it
will prove their death if trees are as badly injured as last winter, and
herein was the great mistake made.

The work of the society, since last we met at Peirce City, has been
in the line of assistance to all our apple growers in giving them infor-
mation about the apple crop and helping to secure buyers in the many
localities of our state. Buyers have been plenty, evaporators have been
at work the whole of the season. Prices have ranged from thirty cents
to seventy-five cents per bushel for the apples alone, that would grade
No. 1 or No. 2, while the culls scld from ten cents to thirty cents per
bushel to the evaporators. These prices were certainly far beyond the
value of apples in the condition they were at gathering time. Buyers
certainly overreached themselves in the prices on the quality of the
fruit on the market. The growers, once again, have had by far the
best of the bargain in the apple crop this year. It is to be hoped that
the result will not prove as disastrous to the buyers as it now seems, for
it would be a misfortune to every fruit grower to have the apple buyers
lose money on their purchases, for we will be sure to feel the results
next year. The following clipping taken from a trade paper shows

the serious loss they have sustained :
THE LOSS ON APPLES.

From the Fruitman’s Guide.

“Not in the last ten years has the apple situation been so compli-
cated nor the loss so heavy. From South Water street comes the wail
that the Chicago commission men are $200,000 “in the hole” on apples;
around Washington street the rumor is going around and gaining
volume at every revolution that the apple men here are $250,000 on
the wrong side of the ledger, and it is alleged that the three weeks of
exceptionally hot weather in October which “cooked” many consign-
ments so badly that even cold storage could not save them from decay
has cost the apple men of the United States over $1,000,000. Be this
as it may—for a million dollars is a big sum—it is certain that the
apple situation is a “parlous” one, and no turn is to be hoped for until
the long deferred cold weather comes and comes in the shape of a hard

272 State Horticultural Society.

frost, which will freeze everything solid. And there can be no man-
ner of doubt, unfortunately, but what the big men in the apple deal will
see a lot more of their good money go playing ducks and drakes after
the bad before the tide begins to turn and they start to make up on their
losses. It is not too much to say that the majority of the apple men
will have reason to bless their lucky stars if at the end of the season
they are able to say, “We have worked for nothing, but it might have
been worse.” It certainly is bad enough to get but your labor for your
pains, but it is certainly worse to have both labor and loss too. As for
those farmers who, in hopes of a brace in the market, are holding out
for higher prices, they are playing with fire and are more than apt to
get badly burned. The fruit is rotting freely and it is a far ery to a
healthy and high-priced movement of good stock from first hands.”

Another part of cur work was taken up after the consultation of
the executive committee by mail, and the solicitation of the U. S. Pom-
ologist, G. B. Brackett, and the western commissioner, H. M. Dunlap,
of Savoy, IL, and that was the collection of some apples for the Paris
Exposition. By action of the executive committee W. G. Gano, of
Parkville, was chosen to travel over the state to collect and pack apples
for this exposition. He started on this trip September 25th and
finished his work November 5th, just six weeks in the orchards. First,
the arrangements were made with the Armour Packing Co. cold
storage to take these apples and hold them free of charge until called
for by the United States commission. This they have kindly done and
they deserve a word of commendation for their liberality. Next was
to get the railoroads to give our worker transportation over their lines
for this purpose. This was done by the St. Louis and San Francisco
and the Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis railroads. The greater
part of the apples came from southern Missouri and even among their
best orchards it was hard to find just such fruit as we wanted. This
report has been made more fully by Mr. Gano himself.

The study of the tree diseases and the insect pest have had close
attention this year by many of our fruit growers, and our teachers at
the experiment station.

A series of experiments were begun by Prof. Whitten on the root
rot in south Missouri with the use of blue vitrol, lime and salt in many

Winter Meeting. 273

varying combinations and amounts, singly, alone, one and two, and
one, two and three. Practical applications will help to solve the ques-
tion some time. The United States department has put another
specialist to the study of this fungus, H. von Schrenk, of Washington
University, St. Louis. He has been with me down in the Ozarks to
collect material for this purpose and it is to be hoped that some good
results may be obtained.

I wish again to call your attention to the Pan-American Exposi-
tion at Buffalo in 1901 and the necessity for this society to take hold of
some plan for further opening a market for our fruits. I believe that
there is no one thing which has effected such rapid development of our
fruit interests and the bringing of such grand, good markets to our very
doors as has just this one thing of fruit shows at these great expositions.
Missouri will have to do her part in them all.

Again, in 1903 at St. Louis will be the great Western Exposition
and here again we will have to take our work fully in hand. Missouri
must not be behind her sisters in this either. But she will be looked
upon as leader in this one at least.

OUR REPORT.

Since our last meeting the report for 1898 has been sent out and,
like its predecessors, it has made a name for itself. To-day calls come
from far and near, home and abroad fruit growers, and prospective
ones, the new settler and those wanting to come to Missouri. You are
the ones who make these reports so valuable by your knowledge, your
experience, your theories, your papers, your discussions. It is because
we have such goodly number of men who are practical in their work and
know how to tell it to others so that they may profit by it. You have
made this report chock full of suggestions, ideas, practical applications,
new plans, and experiences and every one who reads it ean not help
but find something to his advantage and assistance.

The Shaw School of Botany is taking up the matter of diseases,
and is becoming interested in the fruits of our state. We are glad
indeed to welcome her to the open field of investigation and sincerely
hope that the unlimited means at her command will be ysed to help

H—18

274 State Horticultural Society.

solve some of these most serious questions of the day. The young man,
Earnest Field, appointed to a scholarship there last spring, left the
position, and one suggested by Prof. Irish was nominated to the
position, and received the appointment. is name is Robt. Meyer.

The School of Horticulture at our University is still before us for
encouragement and help. Although the students are few, yet it is doing
much for the young men who are concerned in the investigation, devel-
opment and practical application of this science to the interests of
horticulture in all parts of our domain. This school has engaged the
attention of many of our teachers in the public schools and in this way
the interests are spreading rapidly. We can already count by the
hundreds the teachers who are taking up this in their school work.

This School of Horticulture should have the hearty support of
every person who wants to see our state prosper in its every advantage.
The young men of the state can make no mistake in taking any one of
the course outlined at Columbia.

Our sister state societies are always, and we hope always will be,
coworkers in this common cause of the upbuilding of horticulture. We
gladly reciprocate and fraternize with them all, and find this means of
securing information and facts one of the best we have. We always
gladly welcome comers from all our societies and find them of great
assistance in the discussion of all the important features of horticulture.
Together the state societies of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and
Missouri should be a power wielding for good of the horticulturists.

The meeting of the American Pomological Society at Philadel-
phia last September was a notable gathering of nearly all the fruit
growing states of the union. Among all these state organizations we
were glad to find that Missouri was among those at the top. The ad-
vantages of Missouri, the energy of her fruit men, the wonderful devel-
opment of the orcharding of the west, were acknowledged by very many
at this meeting. Many valuable papers and addresses were presented and
many practical ideas were given. One, especially, by Mr. Hale, of
Georgia, concerning his large peach orchards in that state. It seems
that the injury to their peach trees was as severe as the worst of ours.
In many cases the bark was bursted, and just what to do, was their

Winter Meeting. 279

question. His experience was a notable one. He pruned the trees
back much more severely than usual and then gave them a top dressing
of fertilizer. He then gave them very thorough cultivation and as a
result secured a very good growth indeed, even where one-half of the
tree was dead.

A more extended report of the meeting will be embodied in our
next annual in a separate article, and Mr. J. C. Evans will also make
a report for you.

The new experiment station and its work is a topic that demands
our careful attention and consideration. The location is made at Mt.
Grove. ‘The trustees are appointed and are beginning their work and
it is for this society to assist in every way the proper direction of the
experiments in a practical line and help solve the difficult questions
daily presenting themselves. The man to take this work should be one
experienced in the Ozark region, a scientist capable of doing
all the investigation necessary and yet practical enough to apply it to
use,

INDIVIDUALITY OF OUR TREES.

As in each person so is there individuality in our trees. You, all
of you, have noticed this in some special tree or trees in our orchards
and why should we not make use of just this in every day work, and in
all of our propagation of trees. Something can be done in selection
of these individual trees, can there not? For one reason and another
either of better selection or better surroundings, or better feeding, or
better cultivation, or better location, or better soil, or better subsoil,
some individual trees have far outreached their neighbors in hardi-
ness, in vigor, in productiveness, and these qualities can be propagated,
ean they not? If so, why then not use this fact in each succeeding
generation of trees. If this should be continued for forty years, having
in mind this individual ideal tree, can you tell me what the result will
be?

““Canst thou prophesy, little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?”
But I must not follow this further and only bring to mind this impor-
tant feature of selection and individuality.

Ne
~)
for)

State Horticultural Society.
IMPROVEMENT BY SEEDLINGS.

This breeding of our trees is one thing still more important than
selection because it is the foundation of things. Selection of only the
best seed from the very best fruit in color, size, and shape, and the most
perfect apples taken from the best, and most hardy and productive and
most vigorous trees would give us a foundation to work upon, would it
not? Let this be followed for a term of forty years and can you doubt
what the result will be? Follow this by grafting from the trees out-
lined a moment ago and still greater will be the results. The farther
step, the deeper foundation, the real fact of breeding for these new
apples, would give us still the hardest step in this important develop-
ment. But I can only call attention to these facts.

Continuing our work along the same lines as we have been
doing, results will be sure in the future as in the past. All it wants,
dear friends, is unity of action, unity in thought, unity in sentiment,
unity in purpose and the results will take care of us and the state
interests. Respectfully,

L. A. Goopman, Secretary.

Winter Meeting.

REPORT OF TREASURER A. NELSON.

December 8, 1899.

bo
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alancevonkuandiaticlosejon \UMeMMeCtine tn. Las cactieetallatiesy aleciecietcimismesinte acterateloya)> ls 14 95
Received tron state AUuditOn UUIMErCOeArcteclos css) celbsk else) olesaletde oialercicteyereis;cuelelele eis) 899 89
RECEIVER TLOm) State Alidifonrs SEPLCMIDEK UO\ 2205/0 cece erase loll e/ejelaia «1 2tai=lalblaielciet eleleloi his!) !> 814 39
Received trom) state Atiditon, DECEMDER To. ccccce © se aes sem vous, aeasicine slo sists 587 02
Membership by WA. Goodmans aacniescaes.ce ccs, sath eenis-ce sp havrade seus, eke dasaaaiec.s 8 00
Membership by A. Nelson...... 2S S06 cin ROO O Ute ear sec Ri [eee yutaleveierate eioynieretelete 2 wisps 23 00
$ 2,347 25
AMOUNT PAID OUT
sts, Bel), eyo tess Beouenon, aachacos OUnTIE eee Omen AC ca ccc crc Semone wa coenacats edaionaferaternauetll 1 60
Ee Mec tia sierieeieieie sce oe: MIM Cae eo eee 6 00
Salary secretary, June, $66.66, typew riter SONOS ee eee: ose eae 86 66
Pair ayen YORI Sst “Aran nocsaddacodecons Seaceiees < 11 00
WWrartant Non soem. sce ccherpcttaned acs aeiews.s ines $ 105 26
il COMME: KPLESStreeaetccektlatane sel sctemacccy mGieereiye Getchifa sae actos aiureld srvaerytes onl 3 5 40
Glothi$2 00% photos: F200F ce iseec sve reel g ce cceione cmon ear onatere wee ce 4 00
ROStall (eairdS tasers As saynaih tog os psScteaeey Be ase eRe MONS cota meets 6 50
PEO Bile eb rerca tateaa macsecnk c oe ean stages Aer ct mon es Wann cal 13 00
Engraving 48 medals.. : Patehersielegs a ca na tee clases knee reeenemiiete ats 27 00
| 100 mailing tubes for diplomas . Ste Ane SOCEM OOO DOR Uae oa ROCCO oon 2 00
Rees OPES ILE Pease pees sree oeteerclaee. Pees hase cle Be Reese eee et aie Wels beei clots 14 23
| Salary of secretary for July $66.66, typewriter $20.00. .................. 86 66
EAA teN ONEA33 ere Ger PIN aztits Pratas, MOR heh ee Nei dehy Shae ie aL $ 158 79
Sept. 16 | Express 96c, $1.06, 40c....... Eafe ete eter eee Sic ee ae miele brstaats Bite $ 2 42
Rrintin ea Croprreportte, sinc eer eemiec cies eseone ens seosaies, Seauasaacee 4 00
IpauelmedalSiandmenpravin see. aeccaite secre tances en eciene core eteee 17 50
1 OF Lyi ioneee ae dng broncec oneenbacoodsdDodasns She cere Nem ee eh eae 30 53
| Salary of secretary, August, $66.66, typewriter $20. ON sae oes 86 66
WAtrantuNo. 404eccrvcm cece seman ee) «eiciouionaicie ale sae ee se oueinetae to oe $ 14111
Sept. 30 | N. F. Murray, trip to DeKalb, Mo....... 0... cceeccceceecee eeeseees i$ 6 %5
Neva Mintra yeti Dit OM brinCetOn)eaceasenas = Mleysee acs selma aia ts ee 9 80
1 C. Evans, trip to Princeton and Platte City. . ote ee 13 39
. C. Evans, trip to American Pomological Society, Philadelphia. Paes 63 85
WWiairrantpNo gaan re er. (te artes sence research eel cea ieayP atae oie Avueeetaners $ 93 79
Sept wAU Milena) AB Ulep areca tase cnet sacar hone Saavals Tal dee yA be site coe due el eon ale 21 09
L. A. Goodman, trip to American Pomological Society, Philadelphia. . 64 35
Express $1.21, Scotford, printing, $4.25, $7.50, $3.50. ........... 22.2... 16 46
Salary of secretary, September, $66.66, typewriter $20.00.... .........--. 86 66
Warrant oN 02148 Gite cutacietere cies he Siatd screwte oe cn wtamceuar tke eueree ea Se ake $ 188 56
Oct. 24 | D. A. Robnett, trip to Omaha and 5 days.. che Leve aplelesehecjolste aipveeyn hareis(e] | Ge LO OU.
DA: Robnett, trip to Jefferson City, 3 days.. Bak ie Vora ate Hratciots duals eiarere a serene 8 75
Express 65c, $1. SOR9GG) BoC ny aDC, DUC OOCO0Cs es sc ce. ness ae Send waeieercere 5 36
Telegrams to Gano, Oct. 4, 41c; ote 3 HAR Der ome aL ae tortie Nem Ber tree 2
Telegram to Nelson Oct. 23... : BEAR Ato Coconino Er ator 41
WiAtLATTNONS Stes ecTca ee oR RG Ges anita cae qos Seon inaen eee $ 25 34
Oct. 24 Bee Ord Printing tf so s6.ces. erate $ 5 90
FO) ls) tices cspricc: bse nc csi DOC NOr OCU na reEetiaats Taira Ooien ungarce 23 58
Wola Nay, Wilson, Mo., Applesifior Parisi] / Merce ucouln ce ae eater 7 08
Salary of secretary, October, $66.66, typewriter $20°00,...2.:.005 seacee-, 86 66
MWESg eben store bichanee apadoces ono nE AoC CAC AGIOS anSt eAtnin. faecloooass $ 123 22
Oct. 30] G. A. Stone, Richmond, Mo., 3 barrels apples at $5.00............... . .. $ 1500
WiarrantcN On sg0 a ncijgembyser ai veK ocd Une cise seinatxisnemt neteel sees sia\s/alee $ ©6615 00
Nov. 6 | W.G. Gano, expenses of W. G. Gano for collecting apples for Paris
Exposition, September 25, to November 8; as per Dill eesrsectaenaye BRACE AGA $ 161 75
6 weeks wages.. bey Gren On are Pe EPC CORD oh ae 60 00 |
Warrant No. 440. Sis, Biyeca tyahatgtcte rs apapate rayaity a's vse7s,el ste) os 5) Wen (eis steve tepetar aOR aera POS: F280

State Horticultural Society.

AMOUNT PAID OUT—Continued.

Novy.

‘Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

+!

~

~

BOP eile. Sepa ema r ee eis ii Stes SM Bae SPE deve $ 17 54
Express $1. 35, $1. 00, $2.65.. wae cies tices retary eS HOOP OM Se oce briny 5 00
Scotforde4 000K programs cac.nco acc sclleen ek see niele cette ee eee 25 00
Salary of secretary, November, $66.66, typewriter, $20.00......... ...... 86 66
WranrantiNoaaiincr nije leiciste |. ojos)-\2 ole) sorteteleiae Paya re 2/2 car wes cle, Meuse ee $ 134 20
I XPLresSiatyPriNCGlODN 5, sails cci tine sis) Meee eisierorcllata vols tarpon se meaeioete $ 7 50
DONS Ga Rae Ape ONC OMDOaa emote: Ono 65 sho G0) MATOO SEB aAS Ao Coat 1 06
Paper and pencils, CLO ais Tricia eisivig. olalelere oP OPO Te oleren actioe Seu ee ere ete 2 05
Ave Nelsonwexpense account, -- 1-1.) n eee Pesce, Soeur eee 4 65
Expenses delegates tONPTiNCetON’ ey .oaci ee RC ee CRE i aclerros mee Reins 34 80
Warranty NOs 442. si cricereis.cco sist oa aievetaistece one hel eecmaieiercic.csnioteum srr Ae RaST NES $ 5006
Premiums: at, PrinGetonss. cyt eran stesnis selects csientereten ai eis ley ore le areineeieiae ge $ 96 50
Hotel bill of delegates, Princeton........ Sreleeneytejarexely, i Scnrniai@ cjaceuel nae abe foermtetak 23 25
Reis Bailey, stenographer: /c.-\ aan eee oe erates rene wig hieereinnee eerste 39 55
Wiarrant Nox 463-7..2 5 oase-ttate-tfotatera ie opener ere recenstiis ste eloratticlcler sie ainiay eceemeiet riage $ 159 30
N. F. Murray, expenses at winter meeting ee ee arash alsiareis dus op Seo $ 8 50
DPD, A. Robnett; expensesiat winter meeting) sp-s.-...s6---. -= 2 joacccae 15 30
L. A. Goodman and assistant, expenses at winter meeting............... 16 00
AV Nelsonmexpensesjatewintermeelinometrntaeme racine cares seamen : 22 90
i CaE vans expensesat winterme ccin oat mien int cs teiiersieisiateiarieises 7 50
WarrantiINos44ac. Sane yy ors a ee te aes Beas nets eI coco cee eae $ 70 20
A. Nelson, 23 barrels apples for Paris Exposition...................+...- $ 115 00
Wiairnan toNOnA aber crc sete eo tere site nicaitteleisy “ehsiemere eee trcbacea «alse Aaters $ 115 00
IEXPLeSS errs dm feewice Meiencier : $ 3 92
1 barrel apples PAPE I CR ad eee Meee, HUA ee Ro bec fa aes Nae 4 00
Armour & Co., freight on 80 barrels apples in storage.................... 57 14
500 wooden plates SRE Hoe Fore Ce OTe pana cors. Hodace chemi oottcad ao: 2 00
1210), LEI Goins compasses Be sec! Wadh nabs arab iopou ah Seba ee cere ne OL: 20 39
Salary of secretary for December tac. eae: eee eee ene 66 66
Salanysofitypewniter ce s-ci yee cides tiers lee eel Aeisiclelcin emails ome 20 00
WrarrantyNos: 446i oy. 2 csc vcfere cise, vata sl wieleiectc ayaye es fucets rele cletne ster ete berabe seeteva ate peretees : mee Ue
Expenses L. A. Goodman to Kansas State Meeting, Topeka, Kan., Dec.
OOO ail Dirac vats tse rarerele cies shepeierele at metencmeea eek Ui neonate ie eee alts 8 00
Expenses R. J. Bagby to Illinois State meeting, Springfield, Ill., Dec.
QTAQON DATs sce aisio octsil nea tie oievete sh nie elefainss alec ottat aeons RsSTerciete aieceree eee Clonee 10 60
Expenses A. T. Nelson to meet H. M. Dunlap, commissioner to Paris, bill 13 65
Warrant NO44ii aie eoocebatecite. done soacijcciom stucehoten reece $ 322%
$ 1,807 94
Motal TECCLVEA Mi + joleereaielersisisre\ ers.micieleca leetocyadia viseis) «mere eek Mees .- | $2,316 25
Total paid out....... Re ARTA SHROUD oo oy San orna ae onibued 1,807 94

Balance on hand

$ 508 31

Your committee on finance have carefully examined the accounts

of the treasurer and find them correct as reported.
J. C. Evans.
W. G. Gano.

K. B. WiixeErson.

Winter Meeting. 279

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

The present officers were re-elected by ballot with an almost unani-
mous vote.

President—N. F. Murray.

First Vice-President—D. A. Robnett.

Second Vice-President—Sam’] Miller.

Treasurer—A. Nelson.

Secretary—L. A. Goodman.

President Murray, being called for, said:

Mcumbers or the society :—I desire to sincerely thank you for the
honor you confer upon me by again electing me president of the Mis-
souri State Horticultural Society. It shows the trust you repose in
me, especially so at this time while we are preparing for the Paris Ex-
position. J thank you again, and promise that I will always do what
I can to promote the welfare of the state of Missouri, and the whole
state without regard to section.

There is one thing which I desire to mention. We have a number
of men in the society capable of making good officers. I think it
would be well to amend the constitution so as to limit the time we may
hold office. Some other states have such a limit and say it works well.
I suggest that we make such provision in regard to our officers except
the secretary and second vice-president. If we do this no officer can
feel hurt when he is retired from oftice after holding it as long as the
constitution permits.

G. T. Tippin offered a resolution embodying the suggestion
made by President Murray.

The resolution was for a change in Art. ILI of the constitution lim-
iting the time for holding office by the president, first vice-president
and treasurer to a maximum of two successive years. On motion the
resolution was referred to a committee to report at the afternoon ses-
sion. The president appointed G. T. Tippin, W. G. Gano and J. C.
Whitten.

280 State Horticultural Society.

PLACE OF MEETING.

Buchanan county asked for the next annual meeting to be held at
St. Joseph. Messrs. Karnes, Wilcox, Irvine and Hartzell argued the
cause.

Springfield was named by Mr. Tippin, who brought a warm and
earnest invitation from that locality.

Mexico, by K. B. Wilkerson, asked for the next winter meeting.
They have been asking for the meeting for several years.

Farmington was put in nomination by T. B. Chandler and M.
Butterfield for summer or winter meeting.

West Plains, by J. T. Snodgrass, asked for the next summer
meeting.

Kirksville, by J. EK. May, put in a claim for the next summer or
winter meeting.
~ Macon City extended an invitation for a meeting next winter.

Chillicothe asked for either summer or winter meeting.

I like the idea of a summer meeting here. The hotels and the
public could, I am quite sure, take care of those in attendance very
nicely, and think that rates from the railroad company can be assured
and secured. We have no large hall but for a summer meeting we can
overcome this matter. If it can be arranged to hold the summer meet-
ing here we shall spare no effort to the end that we may have a good
meeting in every sense. I will write at once to ask that we may assure
you half-rate on the Missouri Pacific. Will take up the matter with the
general Mo. Pacific freight agent, as he is just now interested in en-
couraging and promoting the planting of commercial orchards. I shall
ask for half-rate, one fare for the round trip, and believe it will be
granted. Will write you again soon. With best regards,

R. J. Baepy.
New Haven.

Mexico, Mo., November 25, 1899.
Mr. L. A. Goodman, Westport, Mo. :
Dear sir:—I have tried several different parties to see if I eould
get some more apples to send vou, but have been unable to do so as the
apples are not of good quality and not many in a place. Of course I

PickiInc PEACHES, O1DEN FRuit Co., OLpEN, Mo.

Winter Meeting. 281

could get them by buying them, but do not feel able to do that. IL
wish I had more to send you but can not help my situation. I wish
you would please send me a copy of last horticultural report. I am
yours, and still want the winter meeting.

W. M. Pearson.

Lesanon Mo., November 25, 1899.
L. A. Goodman, Secretary, Princeton, Mo.:

Dear Sir:—Remember if I am not able to be at winter meeting
for reasons set forth, that Lebanon wants the next winter meeting.
Free homes for all visitors; $1.00 rate at best hotels; one fare for round
trip when you strike Frisco at any of her points; and a banquet that
all members and officers can set with their feet under the same table.
The people of Lebanon know and appreciate the benefit derived from
a state meeting, and I assure all of a hearty welcome who come.

A. NeEtson.

WHAT A PRACTICAL ORCHARDIST HAS TO SAY ABOUT
THE ADVANTAGES OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AS
A FRUIT GROWING SECTION.

M. Butterfield, proprietor of a nursery at Lee’s Summit, Mo., and
one of the largest fruit growers of the west, was at the Laclede hotel
yesterday. Mr. Butterfield has set out about 80,000 trees on the con-
tract plan within the last few years, principally in western Missouri
and Kansas, and is now engaged in making some experiments with fruit
raising in the southeastern part of the state. “‘I have made arrange-

“and

ments to start an experimental farm near Farmington,” said he,
some interesting results are anticipated. I will put out sixty varie-
ties of apples, sixty varieties of peaches, strawberries, and, in fact, all
the leading varieties of smal] fruits, for experimental purposes. The
country looks like a fine fruit region, but there is not at present a
single commercial orchard in that section, so far as I have been able to
learn. The soil is superior, and contains the exact quantity of iron
which has been long recognized as giving the finest flavor and color.
Horticulturists know that a good wheat country will almost always

produce fine fruit.

282 State Horticultural Society.

“They also recognize in certain native timber growths the adapta-
bility of the soil for fruit growing. A soil which produces black wal-
nut, sugar tree, wild cherry, pawpaw, red and white oak, hickory and
elm, is marked out by nature for fruit raising. Then, instead of hay-

ing to haul iron filings miles and miles to put around their trees, as the
-orchardists of other sections have had to do, the fruit growers there will
find the exact elements already existent in the soil. I have been en-
gaged for three weeks past in collecting specimens from the old orchard
in that neighborhood, which I will display at the coming meeting of
the State Horticultural Society at Princeton. I expect to open the
eyes of some of the fruit men, too, for this region at the east end of the
Ozark range has been almost neglected by fruit growers. In my opinion
it will produce almost any kind of fruit, but for pears and strawberries
the conditions are almost ideal. They fell me that strawberries from
that section have already a reputation on the St. Louis market because
of their fine color and flavor, but nobody has gone into the fruit raising
business on an extensive scale, for reasons that can scarcely be com-
prehended by the experienced fruit grower.”

W. G. Gano moved that the location of the next summer and win-
ter meetings be referred to the executive committee. Carried.

N. F. Murray said that railroads were beginning to see the ad-
vantage of having more fruit planted along their lines, and he thought
we should have more consideration when we asked for reduced rates.
Some of the railroads now offer half rates when the meeting is held on
their lines.

Maj. Holsinger gave the society an earnest invitation to attend the
meeting of the Kansas society at Topeka during the holidays.

To the Members of the Missouri State Horticultural Society, Kansas

City, Missouri:

Gentlemen:—Swift and Company desire to submit to you a few
facts in connection with fertilizers.

In the last few years we have developed a trade on our packing
house fertilizers in Missouri and eastern Kansas of approximately two
thousand tons per year. Probably three-fourths if this amount is ap-

Winter Meeting. 283

plied to fall wheat, the fertilizer used for this cereal being a pure raw
bone meal.

In the state of Louisiana, in the sugar districts exclusively, where
the land was once very rich, in the last few years we have developed a
trade which now amounts to approximately eight thousand tons per
year, which is shipped between September 1 and May 1; and our busi-
ness so far this year in that state promises to be greater than any pre-
vious year.

In California, which is relatively a new field with us (having been
in that market only about two years), our business this season has al-
ready exceeded the total business of last season. ‘The California sea-
son for using fertilizers is from about October 1 to May 1.

We attribute our success to two facts, one being that before enter-
ing a new field, the manager of our fertilizer department makes a per-
sonal investigation of that territory as to soil, climatic conditions and
the peculiarities of the different crops to be grown, which enables us
to put up a properly balanced formula, that is a formula containing the
proper percentages of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash best adapted
to the different crops and to that peculiar soil.

The other fact is that there is no fertilizer made that is equal, as a
crop producer, to a fertilizer made from pure animal matter. This fact
is being realized more every year by the users. We have demonstrated
to the satisfaction of our numerous customers that a given formula
made from packing house animal matter is a better crop producer than
the same formula made from chemicals, such as acidulated phosphate
rock, nitrate of soda, ete. ‘The reason of this is that humus is necessary
in soil to get best results, and humus is produced only from decaying
animal and vegetable matter. Therefore, animal fertilizers not only
supply the growing crop with the necessary nitrogen, phosphoric acid
and potash, but they put your lands in fine mechanical condition by
this process of producing humus. You probably all know that a land
running high in humus is lighter, more porous, and in much better me-
chanical condition than a soil which is lacking in humus.

Animal matter fertilizers act in your soil very similar to barnyard
manure. The latter, however, when you take into consideration the
cost of hauling, spreading, ete., is not nearly as economical a fertilizer

284 State Horticultural Society.

as that which we offer you. The average analysis of barnyard manure
shows:

One-half of one per cent nitrogen; one-third of one per cent phos-
phoric acid; one-half of one per cent potash.

' This is equivalent to 26.6 pounds of plant food per ton of 2,000
pounds, whereas the average fertilizer that we offer you contains about
486 pounds of plant food, being the combined amount of nitrogen, phos-
phorie acid and potash which they contain.

It might be interesting to you to know from what ingredients a
given formula can be made. The principal sources of nitrogen, phos-
phorie acid and potash are as follows:

Blood, bones, meat scraps, hoofs, horns, fish scrap, kainit, nitrate
of soda, cotton seed meal, castor pomace, phosphate rock, sulphate of
potash, muriate of potash, potash salts, ete.

We think that you will agree with us that blood, bones and meat
scraps are the most natural fertilizers, and it is from these ingredients
that our fertilizers, in which we want to interest you, are made.

Now a word as to a fertilizer for fruits: We have heretofore rather
neglected our nearby fruit growers, and have devoted our efforts to
other kinds of crops, excepting in the case of California, so can give you
no practical illustrations as to benefits to be derived from our fertilizers
in our local states; but you may be interested in some remarks regard-
ing what the writer found on his visit to California.

A great deal of the soil in California, as most of you are aware, is
decomposed rock in the foot hills, although there is considerable adobe
land used for fruit culture. The writer was very much surprised to
find so much poor quality of fruit. This refers particularly to the cit-
rus fruit regions. Their oranges and lemons were small, and when there
was any size to them, a great deal of the fruit was coarse and thick-
skinned. They were also troubled a great deal with dropping of their
fruit.

The ranchmen in California we found very much interested in the
matter of fertilizing, and they knew as a class, very little about the sub-
ject, and were very grateful to have the writer give them the benefit of
our knowledge. We found they had been using as a fertilizer (where
fertilizing was done) barnyard manure, sheep manure, acid phosphate

Winter Meeting. 289

and nitrate qf soda. While the barnyard manure and sheep manure
were both good fertilizers for them to use, they did not contain sufficient
phosphoric acid. The result was where this kind of fertilizing had been
done, while having a good wood growth, their fruit was very coarse.
Where acid phosphate and nitrate of soda had been used, the quality of
fruit was considerably improved. But they were troubled a good deal
from dropping of fruit. The reason of this, we believe, was that the
acid phosphate and nitrate of soda (being very quick acting fertilizers
and more of a stimulant than a feed) gave the trees a sudden improve-
ment, but that the sustenance from this kind of fertilization was ex-
hausted before the next application; hence the sudden weakening of the
vitality of the tree, and the dropping followed.

In California, as most of you probably know, the tree is working
practically twelve months in the year. When the writer was tliere,
there were orange blossoms, tiny oranges and ripe oranges on the same
tree.

After a thorough investigation we concluded that what the Cali-
fornia fruit growers required for a tree that was working practically all
the year around was a steady feed, and not a quick acting fertilizer, such
as they were getting from an acidulated article; and we have since con-
vinced a large number of the California ranchmen that a packing house
animal fertilizer, unacidulated (that is, not treated with sulphuric acid)
is the very best fertilizer for them to use because it furnishes a steady
sustenance to the trees, and that one application is not exhausted when
the other application is made. They usually make two applications a
year; and this continuous food keeps the trees in a healthy condition,
and has reduced the dropping of fruit materially.

The experience we have had with our California brands in that
state has demonstrated to the entire satisfaction of our customers that
the proportion of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash for the different
soils as directed by us have brought about best results. .

Our formulas are based on the assumption that a tree has been re-
ceiving the proper proportions of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash,
but our agents are all thoroughly posted by us as to how to remedy any
apparent deficiency in wood growth, leaf, or quality and size of fruit;
and where there is an apparent deficiency of either of these three parts,

286 State Horticultural Society.

we make up special formulas accordingly. To give you one illustration
of our remedying apparent defects, will say that we prescribed a fer-
tilizer for Mr. George T. Frost, of Porterville and Exeter, California,
who said that he had one orchard in which the leaves, as soon as the
cool weather set in, turned a mottled color, which he considered was an
unhealthy sign. We put up a fertilizer for this, which, besides the
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, contained five per cent sulphate
of iron, and we have a letter from Mr. Frost, dated November 21, 1899, .
from which we quote the following:

“T applied your fertilizer in February and March. The groves
are showing the benefit now. I say ‘now’ for the reason that, as I told
you, some parts of the grove, on light soil, would show mottled or yel-
low leaves as soon as the cold weather sets in. ‘This bas been the case
for the past three years, and at this writing it is hard to find any of this
trouble through the groves on this soil. I have nothing to credit the
improvement to excepting the fertilizer applied during February and
March.”

We have several good letters from our California customers regard-
ing their experience which we will publish in the near future in a pam-
phlet, and shall be glad to send your association some of these pamphlets
when printed.

Now, we do not ask you, or any class of farmers to take our word
for all these things. But we would ask you to give this matter of fer-
tilization your close consideration; and we hope that this paper will be
the means of getting you sufficiently interested to make at least some
small experiments for your next crop. As our fertilizers are not “‘stim-_
ulants,” they should be applied along in the winter to get best re-
sults. The quantity we recommend for fruit trees is one-half pound per
tree for each year of age, that is, on a ten-year-old tree use five pounds.

The best way to apply it is with a fertilizer drill, and drill it into
the soil from eight to twelve inches deep—not close to the trunk of the
tree, but fully two feet from the tree. The roots will find the fertilizer
even though not put very near to the roots.

For small fruits we recommend about 400 pounds per acre. Of
course our formulas are for small fruits, such as strawberries, black-

Winter Meeting. 287

berries, grapes, etc., would be quite different to a formula for apples,
pears, ete.

Now, as regards your being able to get our fertilizers as cheaply as
possible: We would like to make an arrangement with the members
of your horticultural svciety, to whom we will agree to furnish our fer-
tilizers at wholesale prices, that is, at same price as we would charge our
distributing agents. This will enable you to obtain your fertilizers at
first cost.

We feel sure that if you would make some experiments the com-
ing season, you would be very pleased and surprised at results and that
it would be the means of considerable business between us, to our mu-
tual benefit.

We thank you for this opportunity of putting this matter before
you. Yours respectfully,

Swirrt & Company,

Per F. Rayfield.

CRYSTALIZED OR GLACE FRUITS.

By Mrs. H. B. Monteith, Lakeport, Cal.

The art of crystalizing or preserving the fresh fruits in their nat-
ural form, flavor and color is yet in tts infancy in this country and there-
fore offers an extensive and lucrative field of labor, especially suited to
ladies. To make these most dainty confections, perfect in their nat-
uralness, requires a dainty touch with a very fine perception of the dis-
tinction between good, bad and indifferent fruits, both in the fresh and
finished state. There has always been an air of the most profound
mystery and secrecy about crystalizing fruits. Manufacturers have
most jealously concealed their methods from the public. While on
a visit to Los Angeles a year ago, my attention was drawn to the fine
display of erystalized or glace fruits there shown.

Every one concedes the deliciousness and wholesomeness of crys-
talized fruits, but hitherto the cost, the time required for their prepara-
tion and, perhaps the ‘“fussiness” of the operation have tended to dis-

288 State Horticultural Society.

courage their use in the home and largely prevented their manufacture
upon a commercial scale. These obstacles need no longer stand in the
way of a general enjoyment or the manufacture of these delicacies, as

they may now be produced equal in quality to the French article and © |

possibly at one-third the cost of the latter, and in a very greatly les-
sened time.

For all this coast there are less than five crystalizing firms to supply
the demand; no wonder the price of the fruit is high and in reach of
only the moneyed few.

I was told the time required to crystalize fruit was from six to eight
weeks from the time the fruit was fresh until finished for the trade.
This fact would seem to be a great drawback to many who would like
to engage in the business, and so it was to me at that time, yet I felt
satisfied it was a paying business. After several years of investigation
and experimenting, and any number of failures, I claim to have found
out an entirely new process of making the crystalized or glace fruits
without the aid of coloring matter or chemicals of any kind; conse-
quently all fruit by my process has its natural flavor, form and color.
More than that, I have done away with the old-time stickiness, produc-
ing a dry, crystalized fruit that may be eaten from the hand with kid
gloves without soiling. I can also give you the fruit ready for the trade
in from five to ten days, at a profit of one hundred per cent. All kinds
of fruit may be erystalized, also berries, and some vegetables. Farmers
and fruit growers may add this business to their fruit drying with little
expense and with a very great deal more profit.

The glace strawberry is a novelty for which you will pay seventy-
five cents per pound. This fruit alone would open up a new industry
of great value because of no competition on it, and one that has never
yet been on the market. Glace peaches, while not new to the public, are
scarce and expensive, selling from fifty cents to seventy-five cents per
pound, and from all reports and hearsay, I would claim Missouri the
banner state for peaches and strawberries. Time and space will not
permit me to go further into the details of this interesting and profitable
business, but I should be pleased and willing to answer any and all ques-
tions referred to me in my distant home.

Winter Meeting. 289

SIXTH SESSION—Thursday Afternoon.

The committee appointed to consider the change in the constitu-
tion was called for and reported in favor of annual elections, and allow-
ing the three officers to serve only two successive terms. The resolu-
tion was unanimously carried.

Following is the report:

Amendment to Article III of the Constitution of the Missouri
State Horticultural Society:

The officers of this society shall consist of a president, vice-presi-
dent, second vice-president, secretary and treasurer, who shall be elected
by ballot at each regular annual meeting, and whose term of office shall
be for one year, beginning on the first day of June, following their elec-
tion. ‘The president, first vice-president and treasurer shall be eligible
to but one successive re-election.

Gro. T. Trppry, Chairman.
J.C. Wuirren, Secretary.
W. G. Gano.

Secretary Goodman read the following:

Question.—W ouid you spray a young orchard, five years planted,
which has never borne a crop of fruit?

Prof. J. M. Stedman.—It depends upon whether he has anything
to spray for. If there are no insects on the trees next spring, do not
spray. I would never spray unless I had something to spray for. It
depends upon conditions which are to be developed next spring.

Question.—If the trees promise a crop of fruit next year would
you spray ?

Prof. Stedman.—Yes; about one week after the blossoms have
fallen. The flowers, especially the stigma, may be injured by spraying
at blooming time. Never spray while the tree is in bloom.

Prof. Whitten.—! would not spray for scab or other fungous dis-
ease unless I had reason for doing so. It might be advisable to spray a
young orchard for scab or other disease if it was situated near an old

H—19

290 State Horticultural Society.

orchard that was infected. I would watch closely and spray when ne-
cessity for it came.

Question.—How long would you consider it safe to grow blackber-
ries in an orchard ?

N. F. Murray.—lI have in my eight acres of orchard Snyder black-
berries for three years. These berries protect the trees. I have never
grown an orchard that looked better. The berries pay from $35 to $60
per acre. How long this will continue I don’t know.

J. H. Karnes.
has paid every year. I don’t think the berries have injured the trees —

I have the two grown together for nine years. It

in any way whatever. The trees, by partial shade, have helped the
berries. It is safe for eight or nine years. The same is true of the
raspberry.

Question.—How far from the trees are the berry bushes?

Mr. Murray.—Mine are eight and one-half feet from the trees.

Mr. Karnes.—There is no injury from having them close, though
they will be more difficult to get out; but a healthy, vigorous apple tree
will easily get the better of the berry bushes.

Prof. Whitten.—The land in the orchard will be better for having
the blackberries in it for ten years.

J. C. Evans.—The great trouble is to get them out when done with
them.

Mr. Callaway.—Will an apple orchard be injured by raspberries
or blackberries ?

Maj. Holsinger.—Not by the blackberry or black raspberry upon
good soil. To get rid of them is more of a bugbear than anything else.
Cut them off, plow them up and they are gone. The best orchard I
have was grown with blackberries between. It paid well; was on rich
land. The rust comes along in five to seven years and cleans them up.
There is no preventive. If it was not for the rust this whole country
would be one great wild blackberry patch. Even the Snyder is rusting.

I would not plant red raspberries in an orchard. Trees among
blackberries in my orchard are fifty per cent larger than those among
red raspberries. The trees never do recover from the injury caused by
red raspberries. I see no objection to blackberries in a young orchard.

Winter Meeting. 291

Mr. Wilcox.—We have both together. You will have no difficulty

in getting rid of the berries under the trees.
: Richmond, Mo., Dec. 5, 1899.
L. A. Goodman, Secretary State Horticultural Society, Princeton, Mo.:

Dear Sir.—I submit the inclosed questions for your “Question
Box” at horticultural meeting. Hoping to have them answered for my
own information and no doubt many other amateur fruit growers will
be enlightened thereby. Yours truly,

Guo. A. STONE.

Question.—Apple fruit buds are said to be developed in October
and November. How are they to be certainly distinguished from leaf
buds?

Answer. The round, large plump buds on spurs are usually fruit
buds, but you cannot always be sure without examination with a glass.

Question.— What varieties of apple trees are long lived and what
are short lived? Please name a few leading winter varieties with
average life of same.

Answer.—Stark, McAfee, Northern ‘Spy, Trenton’s Early, The
Northern Spy is the longest, probably.

Prof. Emerson, of Lincoln, Nebraska, being called upon, said: I
am very glad to meet with you and hear your papers and discussions.
There is much to interest a Nebraskan, though conditions are different.
Northwest Missouri and southeast Nebraska are similar. The greater
part of Nebraska is a more or less undulating plain. There are hills in
the southeast part, and now I know where they come from. Your
secretary asked me to say something about what we are doing in our
state, but as I went there only last summer I don’t like to tell what we
are doing. I would like to have you come to our winter meeting the
ninth and tenth of January, at Lincoln. All of our horticultural so-
ciety meetings are held at the university. The university is fortunate
in this respect. All the agricultural societies meet at Lincoln.

J. J. Kiser, Stanberry, said:—Prof. Whitten casually made the
statement that honeydew was the exudation of aphides. I woul
like, with all respect to his learning and _ position, to enter
a protest. I have kept bees for twenty-seven years as my
principal business; have watched carefully the conditions when bees
gather it, and find invariably that it is developed at a time of a very low

292 State Horticultural Society.

barometric pressure. When we take into consideration that
there is an atmospheric pressure of about fourteen pounds |
to every square inch of surface, or twenty-eight pounds to
every square inch of leaf, and when we are also told that
men, climbing our highest mountains, bleed at nose, eyes and
ears caused by the lack of external pressure, what is more natural than
that during a very low atmospheric pressure there should be rupture of
cell structure in our tender plants, leaves or twigs, that the sap should
ooze out and be evaporated on the surface of the leaves and form a feed-
ing ground for the aphides, which with their system of propogation—
metagenesis and parthenogenesis multiply so rapidly, being an effect
and not the cause of honeydew and kindred phenomena such as blight.
What condition could be imagined more favorable to the development
of blight than a tender fruit twig or leaf, its cell structure ruptured by
the above named causes and conditions? A blight spore comes flying
through the air, finds a lodgment in a microscopic crevice full of sap,
a perfect condition to grow in, gets its root system established and rap-
idly pushes its destructive growth along until the whole tree is ruined.

Three conditions may exist during these low barometric periods:
1st. Certain varieties of trees and plants may be able to stand the lack
of pressure without rupture. 2nd. They may be ruptured and there
be no blight spores, or 3rd. They may be ruptured and a spore, or
hundreds of them, may find a suitable lodgment to start whole planta-
tions of mycellia and destroy the tree or plant.

Now for the practical feature of this theory, if there is even a
mere possibility of its"being true, it should be investigated, and with all
due respect, I submit it for the investigation of scientists, who, with
infinitely better facilities and opportunities may demonstrate the truth
or falsity of it, and if true how much easier it will be to head off mucn
of the damage now sustained by fruit growers by immediately spraying

trees during low barometric periods before the spores find a permanent

foothold.

Winter Meeting. 298

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND ITS RESOURCES.—POSSI-
BILITIES OF FRUIT GROWING.

Perhaps no section of country has been more thoroughly misrep-
resented or more generally misunderstood than southeast Missouri.

The word is scattered generally all over our state and many other
places besides, that southeast Missouri is a dismal swamp; when the
truth is that only ten counties in the extreme southeast portion have any
wet or so-called swamp land at all. The reason I call them “‘so-called
swamp lands” is because only seven of them have any wet or so-called
swamps, while they present only about one-fourth of their entire area
as subject to overflow, and much of this is of a wet nature and not caused
by overflow. These iow lands are all beg drained by large ditches,
being digged by steam machinery under the Missouri ditch law, which is
an exact copy of the Ind. ditch law, which reclaimed so much of the wet
lands of that state, and made it the finest agricultural and fruit land in
all the state of Indiana.

~Several drainage enterprises are now under headway costing all
the way from $50,000 to $100,000 each, and when these ditches are all
complete, which will be in the near future, these rich, level bottom lands
will be the finest agricultural, stock and fruit lands in the world; and
their fertility will simply be inexhaustable, while the value of these
lands will be realized only by men of the keenest perceptions.

Please hear what a civil engineer has to say on the so-called swamp
lands, after having been there and did much surveying for the ditches
bemg dug: “Of actual swamps, but a few thousand acres can be found
in southeast Missouri. The area subject to occasional overflow has been
reduced half within a few years by mill men cleaning the river of ‘rafts’
and when an inexpensive system of ditching is introduced it will all be
tillable. It is as easily drained as were the prairies of [linois and In-
diana.

In every instance where the clearings have been extended across
the slashes the water has disappeared and the land has become safely
tillable.

The bottom lands are loose and easy of cultivation and can often

be plowed every month in the year.

294 State Horticultural Society.

It should be noted here that the lakes marked on the maps are over
half missing when you travel across their locations. Indeed they never
had an existence and hundreds of thousands of acres so marked were
not only never overflowed, but were in fact beautiful prairies altogether
above the highest floods. The name swamps was attached to these
lands by reason of an act of congress passed September 28, 1850, do-
nating to the several states all swamp and overflowed lands lying within
their boundaries, in trust that the states would severally drain and re-
claim them, and after paying the expenses of reclamation convert the
remaining proceeds of the sales into the school fund. The cupidity of
the states resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres of the best bottom
lands, and in fact of thousands of acres of hill lands being certified and
transferred tothe state of Missouri as swamp and overflowed which were
always safe from overflow.

The beautiful prairies of Dunklin county, which are now a suc-
cession of the handsomest farms in Missouri, were classed as swamp and
overflowed. When the timber is removed, it will be found that there
are not 40,000 acres of actual swamp land in southeast Missouri, and
that all of this can be drained at small expense. It need not be stated
that the name ‘swamp land’ has operated greatly to the injury of south-
cast Missouri, causing many to avoid it who would have become citizens
had they known the real facts. A personal examination will soon sat-
isfy the most skeptical. Reading is believing, but seeing is knowing.”

As an eye-opener to the prejudices I will submit the statistics of
the exports of wheat and flour from four counties that lie right on the
Mississippi river, compiled from the state labor commissioner’s report
for 1898: Cape Girardeau county shipped, wheat, 129,000 bushels;
flour, 26,162,948 pounds. Scott county shipped, wheat, 211,000 bush-
els; flour, 12,699,000 pounds. Mississippi county shipped, whea<,
415,000 bushels. New Madrid county shipped, wheat, 423,000
bushels. And all these millions grown in a swamp? All false! When
the facts are known as they really exist, homeseekers will realize what
they have lost by not being informed truthfully.

The timber is as fine as can be found in any part of the
state, consisting of cypress, gum, walnut hickory, white oak and black
oak of the finest quality, ash poplar, linden, hackberry, wild cherry,

Winter Meeting. 295

butternut, mulberry, dogwood, sugar tree, elm, pawpaw, etc., while one
of our counties shipped out 70,652,000 feet of lumber. In many in-
stances when a man buys a home of 100 acres of land he can sell enough
timber off of it to more than pay the purchase price. We have the
finest building stone in the world scattered in immense quanties over our
section of the state as well as fine prospective marble. The immense
quarries of limestone are numerous, while granite is being quarried and
shipped out by the car loads to different states for building and for
tombstones. Grindstone quarries are plentiful, too. Our copper mine
sold in Ste. Genevieve county last week for $100,000, and the silver
mines of Madison county are attracting capital thitherward, while our
lead mines are second only to that of the Joplin district. The great
number of people of different mining towns furnish us with the best
home market for all farm and fruit products west of the
Mississippi river. Irish potatoes are being shipped into these
mining towns now (last week in November) by the car
load and scores of people make a good living by peddling
farm and fruit products into these towns each week. New lead
mines are being found every week and last week 3,000 acres of land was
sold in Madison county for mineral purposes. Thousands of acres of
raw land with the finest of timber and granite can be bought in this, Ste.
Francois county, for from $2.00 per acre up, and where farmers have
settled on these lands and set out fruit trees they are as fine, thrifty and
fruitful as can be found anywhere in the state.

Our railroad facilities are not behind those of any other part of the
state, and we are within three hours of St. Louis and nine hours of
Chicago, consequently we have the cheapest transportation rates possi-
ble to the great city markets; and besides our great railroad facilities we
have the great Mississippi river with the cheapest freight rates in the
world, to St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, and thence to the ports of
the world. Our schools are wideawake and on a level with those of any
other part of the state. We have a college or seminary in almost every
county seat, besides the great Normal at Cape Girardeau.. In our own
“Athens of Southeast Missouri,” Farmington, with her 2,500 popula-
tion, we have two colleges and one seminary, besides two private schools
and one of the best public schools in the state. Our church privileges

296 State Horticultural Society.

are unsurpassed, all the denominations being well represented, and Sun-
day schools within the reach of all. Taxes are as low as can be, con-
sidering the immense amount of money expended annually on our
schools, rock roads and other improvements. The streams of water are
numerous and as clear as crystal, indicating the greatest purity.

Our red soils are the finest in the state, yielding abundantly of all
the grains, fruits and vegetables. Wheat, with proper preparation of
land, good seed, ete., will yield from 10, 20, 30 and 40 bushels per acre,
and corn all the way from 25 to 100 bushels per acre, and Irish potatoes
from 100 to 300 bushels per acre.

Stock raising is one of the most important branches of industry
now. Horses, cattle, mules, sheep, hogs and poultry are grown and
marketed in immense numbers, and the finest watermelons in the world
are grown and shipped out of southeast Missouri by the car and train
loads to all the large cities in the United States, east to Chicago, Cleve-
land, New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Boston, and west to Kansas
City, Omaha and Denver.

But why enumerate the many advantages of our great southeast
section when we only wish to speak of them as a side issue, when com-
pared to the fruit growing possibilities? As compared with other parts
of the state, apples grown in southeast Missouri are equal, and in many
instances superior, to those grown in any other part of the state. In
1889 I went to the great St. Louis fair and exposition and took with me
one dozen Ben Davis apples grown in my own orchard and to my great
surprise, there was only one lonely specimen of the apple kind there
that was equal to the ones I carried with me, and not a single apple at
either place that was equal to mine.

The apple grows to the greatest perfection in our part of the state,
and takes on the highest color and finest quality. There is no land in
the whole United States that can show apple trees any older and still
producing annual crops of good apples. Ste. Genevieve is the oldest
town im Missouri, being settled in 1755, and old orchards are still there
in and near the old French town that have been set out so long that no
one now living ean give the date of their planting.

Within one mile of Ulam, Missouri, there is an old orchard still
vigorous and fairly productive that was set out in 1845. I am very

Winter Meeting. 297

sure that these statements are correct and they show that the climate
of southeast Missouri is peculiarly adapted to the apple and its longey-
ity; and the rainfall in southeastern Missouri is much greater than it is
in all western and southwestern Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma,
etc.

Upon turning to the map of the United States showing the
distribution of rainfall, we find that southeast Missouri has an annual
rainfall of 40 to 50 inches, while all the western, northwestern and
southwestern part of the state has only 30 to 40 inches, showing ten
inches rainfall annually in our favor, while central Kansas, Nebraska,
and Oklahoma have only 20 inches. Then when we examine the phys-
ical map of Missouri we find that the highest land in our state is in
Wright county, where it reaches an elevation of 1,700 feet above the
level of the ocean and the next highest is in my own, St. Francois, and
Tron counties, where it is 1,600 feet, or only 100 feet lower than the
now noted fruit region of southwestern Missouri. This fact of our
great altitude connected with the high average rainfall, make our claim
doubly strong for southeast Missouri as a fruit section.

The peculiar red soils of our section produces the finest apples in
the world, having an abundance of iron in it which gives the fruit that
high color and rich flavor that are not found in fruit grown in ony other
part of the state, or in any other state.

Why fruit growing has not been more fully developed in southeast
Missouri can only be aecounted for in any other way than that our part
of thestatehas been misrepresented as a swamp instead of as an ideal place
to have a home and plant an orchard. As to varieties of apples, Ben
Davis, Wine Sap, Gano and all other leading varieties grow to perfec-
tion here and we have kept Ben Davis in our own cellar till in June
when our strawberries were nearly gone.

Peaches do equally as well as apples and I am well acquainted with
two farms near that have never failed to produce a few peaches annu-
ally. Even this year there were quite a number of peaches on these two
farms.

I have never seen peaches at any fair that were finer than we grow
nere. All the leading varieties do well here, and the famous Elberta

298 State Horticultural Society.

erows so large and red that I am afraid to tell you how large it grows
for fear you would accuse me of misrepresentation.

I have two seedling clings that are large and fine. We have named
them Anna and Ethel after our two little daughters. |

Our merchants arc always asking in the fruit season: “How is
your fruit? Will you have any peaches that are fine? If so, we want
to handle them for you, ete.”

And strawberries! Well, we grow them. I have grown them as
large as common apples and sold $56 worth from one-tenth of an acre,
besides what we ate.

Visitors from Ohio and New York have said they never saw finer
ones than they found in our grounds. Neighbors have grown them
equally as large. As to varieties, we have never found anything to
equal the old Crescent and Bubach, fertilized with the Jesse. Our only
trouble is we get too many runners on the Crescent and too few on the
Bubach and Jesse.

I am quite sure that I have grown as fine grapes on my own farm
as ever grew in Ohio, New York, or any other place noted for grape
growing east of the great Father of Waters. One man near Farming-
ton this year grew in his garden one ton, two hundred and twenty-two
pounds of grapes which he sold at four cents per pound which brought
him $88.88 just from his few vines in his garden. Others have done
equally well or better and the growth of the vines is enormous.

In my own vineyard for family use I have nineteen varieties of
the nest table grapes, but in the field vineyard, set last spring, I
have only two varieties, viz.: the Concord and the Moore’s Karly. I
am testing Campbell’s Early and other newly introduced varieties
alongside the old standards and hope to be able to give
some interesting veports some day in the near future. Atl
the leading varieties do well here and grow large crops
annually. In 1897 we gathered our last bunches of grapes on
November 10, and they were still in perfect condition in the bags. I
hope that all grape growers will remember that the celebrated Bushberg
vineyards and nurseries are in southeast Missouri, and all the grapes
that do well anywhere in north temperate America are grown and tested

Winter Meeting. 299

there and reported in the Bushberg grape manual which is recognized
as the best authority on American grapes.

Pears, plums and cherries do well here and are perfectly at home
in our climate. The Keiffer pear grows to its greatest perfection here
and I am glad to say that I have yet to see a Keiffer pear tree blight
in our section. They keep with us till Christmas and are the finest pear
for canning in the world, having just enough toughness about it to pre-
vent it from falling to pieces while cooking.

Blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants do well and
sell for good prices, although the demand has never been supplied.
Will say that if anyone wants land in the fruit paradise of Missouri
he can get it at prices that will astonish those not informed. But
desire to say that I have none to sell Yours sincerely,

T. B. CHanpier,
Farmington, Mo.,
Sec. St. Francois Co. Hort. Society.

THE KEIFFER AND GARBER.

By ht. J. Bagby, New Haven, Mo.

The Keiffer is now being more largely planted than all other sorts
combined for commercial purposes. It has been before the public for
years and has proven very profitable as a commercial sort. It blights
some, but mostly at the twigs and will quickly recover from a severe
pruning. My opinion is that this sort ought always to be grown on
French stocks rather than Japanese. Our experience has been that
trees are more likely to blight if grown on the Japan stock. Much of
the soil in the eastern and southeastern part of the state is adapted to
the growth of the Keiffer. In Jefferson, and counties adjoining, the
favorable conditions of the soil and climate are especially noticeable.
Trees are healthy and fruit almost perfect.

The fruit matures late enough to ship anywhere and its high color
and size will sell it on any market at a good price. The Keiffer has
come to stay, and deservedly so.

I regret to say the Garber has been disappointing in many respects.

300 State Horticultural Society.

It is a good grower, somewhat less liable to blight, when young, but
does not come into bearing as young as the Keiffer, not so productive,
fruit of no better quality, and ripens earlier.

From the fact that the Garber does not blight so easily when young
it has been regarded by some as practically “blight proof,” but as the
trees grow older, it has been my experience and observation that loss
from blight is very considerable. For commercial planting, it has no
advantage over the Keiffer, and in my opinion, has many disadvantages.

There is probably no tree in any greater demand that the Keiffer
for commercial planting. This demand exists from Maine to Cali-
fornia, and it is now recognized in Michigan and New York, as well as
in Missouri and Illinois, as the pear for profit. In a commercial orchard

I would plant some Garber, but many more Keiffer.

NURSERY TREES—ARE THEY ADVISABLE?

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Having been requested by the secretary for a paper on the pear,
in response I will not attempt to instruct the experienced horticultural-
ist, but may be of some benefit to the amateur fruit grower and bring
out a discussion on the subject that will prove to be a benefit to all.

Yes, I think nursery grown trees are advisable for the reason that
they are freer from disease and insects. Any nurseryman, to be success-
ful in the propagation and growth of trees and plants, must be thor-
ough in his work, i. e., start with sound seed and healthy stock, and then
follow with thorough cultivation. It is an admitted fact that in young
trees and plants as it is in animal life if kept in a thrifty condition by
good care and attention they are less subject to the attacks of disease
and insects.

Take for example the apple tree borer. It is never seen, or at
least I have never seen one in well cultivated nursery trees; so it is with
other insects and diseases. The healthy vigorous trees are more able
to resist the disease and insects.

These are the reasons for which I believe nursery grown trees to
be advisable. ,

As to varieties, I have had very little experience with the pear.
But will say that in my travels over this part of the state I have found

Winter Meeting. 301

more Keiffer and Duchess pears than all other kinds and have noticed

the same trees of these varieties bear year after year.
W. iH. Lirson, Jr.,

Nevada, Mo.
INSECTS OF THE PEAR.

Prof. Stedman.—The pear is liable to be attacked by most of the
insects that prey upon the apple. It is also attacked by the twig girdler
from the forest which deposits its eggs in the small limbs, goes down
the twig further and there girdles it. These twigs drop to the ground.
Gather them and burn right away before the young hatch out. The
twig borer is troublesome in the southern part of the state. They trim
the tree. Another insect, the pruner also, eats the twigs from the in-
side so they break and drop off. Gather and burn. Borers and codling
moth are the same as those of the apple and should be fought in the
same way as I gave for the apple. The gouger attacks the pear and is
difficult to combat. It is a large curculio which eats holes in the pear
while young. The leaves are subject to the attack of a great manv
insects. Spray with the arsenical compound if they eat portions away.

If theyare sucking insects spray with tobacco water or kerosene emulsion.
DISEASES OF THE PEAR.

Prof. Whitten—There is one principle disease of the pear
in this state of which some of you have heard in the past. If we could
get rid of it the business of pear growing would be so profitable that
it would soon be unprofitable. At the present time it prevents over-
production. It is the pear blight. If we could control it pear growing
would be easy. Scab attacks the pear as the apple. Use the same
treatment; it yields quite readily to Bordeaux mixture. If there is
any other disease you have noticed in your pear orchard I shall be very
glad to discuss it with you.

Maj. Holsinger.—There is one thing worse than all those that have
been named: that is thirty-two degrees below zero.

Mr. Wilcox.—Would spraying be of any benefit ?

Prof. Whitten.—Some diseases may, I think, be kept in check by

winter spraying. The pear requires spraying in the summer to keep

302 State Horticultural Society.

the foliage healthy. A whitewash spray will prevent peach leaf curl,
and prevent to some extent the swelling of the buds on warm sunny
days in winter. Whether it can be made of practical benefit I can not
say, though I have letters from growers in other states saying it has
been profitable.

Maj. Holsinger.—-I have several thousand pear trees and I find
them so badly damaged by the cold of last winter that they are break-
ing off at the bud. ‘This is true of all trees ten years old or less. Those
cut down have made a new growth of six to seven feet, but they are
very easily broken off. What shall we do with them ?

Prof. Whitten.When a man don’t know he had better confess
his ignorance. This is what I am trying to learn. If it were not for
the blight, I would recommend judicious cutting back. Young trees
were so injured by the past winter that the only sound wood is a thin
shell of this year’s growth. The new wood fs not strong enough to
support the tree.

C. Hartzell.—tI want to ask my friend across the line whether he
took the advice of that Carthage man seven years ago and used calomel
on his trees? There is a very fine pear tree at White Cloud, Kansas,
which has borne more than one car load of pears and is still all right.
Salt the ground for pear blight.

Maj. Holsinger.—I know a tree in Kansas that was planted in
1830. It is two and a half feet in diameter and still in good health.
From my early planted trees I have gathered fifteen or sixteen crops
and they are still in good condition. The winter did not hurt the older
trees like the young ones. The past winter did more damage than the
blight and every other disease that ever struck this country.

I do not believe there is a sound and healthy tree in this country.
The inside will decay and the tree snap off. Every variety, even the
Early Harvest, is in the same condition. So far as salt is concerned, I
am reminded of our friend Slocum who, for years, claimed that
he had found a preventive of blight in salt. He mentioned it time
and again. After so long a time we noticed that he stopped saying any-
thing about his remedy. Upon inquiry we found he had salted his
trees to death.

Winter Meeting. 305

Prof. Whitten.—I think the young trees with a thin shell of sound
wood on the outside will come out all right if they don’t break off before
they get strong enough to withstand the storms. I am trying the plan
of cutting some of them back. I don’t know whether they will do well
or not. If the trees have made a good growth this year I would treat
them just as if nothing had happened.

THE GRAPE.
By Samuel Miller, Bluffton, Mo.

As this subject has been assigned me, I will commence with its
history as far back as we can trace it.

It was cultivated before the deluge. Whether Noah took rooted
vines or cuttings with him, when he entered the ark, does not matter;
but the first thing he planted when he came out of it was a vineyard.
This certainly gives the grape a prominent character among the pro-
ductions of the earth. That it is one of the best and most wholesome
fruits is also admitted. When Noah’s vines bore fruit he made wine
and got drunk; this is what countless thousands have done since then
and will most likely continue to do so to the end of time.

From that first vineyard of sacred history to this time the grape has
held a prominent place among the good fruits of the world. Its range
of latitude is almost as great as that of any other fruit except the straw-
berry. It grows in swamps and on high mountains, in a great variety
of soils, yielding many varieties, from the little insignificant summer
grapes of our Missouri islands and bottoms to the magnificant Muscats,
Hamburgs, Moroccos and Syrian. The latter has grown bunches that
weighed 28 pounds. A traveler once stated that he came across grapes
in Afghanistan with bunches half a yard in length and with berries as
large as small walnuts.

In the early part of this century the grape received in this country
but little attention and the attempt to grow Viniferas were fail-
ures. The fox grape (Labrusca) in the east and the fort grape were
about the only ones that survived, and even these, to my
personal knowledge failed some years from rot and mildew. Some
years the first named all rotted, and the latter I have seen when the

304 State Horticultural Society.

bunches looked as if they had been made wet and then rolled in flour,
they were so white with mildew.

Now, where are we? Here in Missouri we can grow good grapes,
and we have boasted about it in times past, notwithstanding there are
car loads imported into our state yearly from Ohio and New York.
This should not be so, as we can grow our own grapes. Of course the
early ones are soon gone, but we have late ones; such as Goethe, Wood-
ruff Red, Norton, Cynthiana, Kentucky, Ozark and Hermann, that can
be kept late if properly cared for.

There is no occasion for me to dwell on the subject of cultivation
in this paper, for every journal gives instructions in this line, or on
propagation of vines, ag this topic is also freely discussed. That some
varieties grow readily from cuttings while others can not be grown suc-
cessfully, in that way each one will learn by experience. Varieties
differ in their habits and there is no definite rule to be laid down for
all varieties.

Of the newer varieties introduced within the last few years, I will
mention Campbell’s Early, of Concord parentage, bunch and _ berry
large, black, quality superior to Concord and ten days earlier. This
should be in every collection and can now be bought for fifty cents a
strong vine. I paid $2.50 when getting my first vine. Then we have
the McPike, a most noble grape, a seedling of the Worden, just like *t.
(but more so) larger and better. Hicks, a grape brought out by Henry
Wallis, of Western St. Louis county. This grape is destined to make
its mark. The bunch and berry are above the medium, black, quality
as a table grape the best, and it makes a claret wine hard to beat. The
Kentucky is another of recent introduction, of the Norton type, but
larger in bunch and berry, a pleasant table grape and will no doubt
make a good red wine. Just here let me say that the Norton and Cyn-
thiana are considered by most folks as only wine grapes, but I deem
them excellent for eating and prefer the latter when it is ripe to the
Concord.

Among the older varieties I would name the following for a small
collection for the amateur:

For white—Green Mountain, Moore’s Diamond and Pocklington.

Red—Brighton, Catawba, Woodruff Red, Goethe.

Winter Meeting. 305

Black—FEarly Victor, Worden, Defiance and Norton.

If people only knew it and would carry out their knowledge in a
practical way every man owning a house could have grapes enough to
eat and not occupy land available for ordinary plants. Plant against
the walls of the house and train up under the eaves and there will be
neither rot nor mildew to injure them.

The danger from swallowing grape seeds is greatly exaggerated,
in my opinion; but at the same time, a grape fit to eat should have the
the seeds rejected. It is true that some varieties are sweet between the
skin and pulp, the latter swallowed whole, which if bursted will be
somewhat acid inside, but that is not my way of eating grapes.

I pity the man who has land and no grapes; yet at the same time
I will say that he is neglecting a duty that he owes to himself, his
family and the public in general.

In concluding this paper, I must not forget to give an account
of the latest great acquisition. It is an everbearing grape, one that
has on the vine ripe fruit, green bunches, grapes no larger
than bird shot and blossoms all at the same time. There is ripe fruit
from July until frost, which they did not get at Belton, Texas this
season, until November. The bunches are large, sometimes weighing
three pounds, berry large and the quality No. 1. I have had two op-
portunities to taste this grape and see this grape in different stages of
development, therefore write from experience. I have a vine of it,
that has made 20 feet of wood this season. This may indicate what
this vine will do here next season. It is of the Vinifera class and will
have to be protected in winter. J. R. Allen, Belton, Texas, is the
originator of this new grape. To save trouble I will state that IT have
no vines or wood of it for sale.

H—20

306 State Horticultural Society.

PLANTING AND TRAINING VINEYARD.

By T. A. Peffer, Independence, Mo.

To the Missouri State. Horticultural Society:

When I received word from the worthy secretary that he wanted
me to prepare a paper for the society, I felt thunder struck, although
I never heard of anyone being struck by thunder. Pardon my ina-
bility to express my feelings. Knowing myself as I do, never having
prepared a paper on any subject I finally come to the conclusion that
the worthy secretary was losing his mind and thinking it might only
be temporary, I wrote him to give the subject to some one who could
handle it as it should be handled. But what was my surprise when I
found out his case was hopeless and still insisted that I was the man
he wanted on that subject. After thinking the matter over I decided
the best thing I could do was to do as he requested. Now you will
have to accept this paper for what it is worth, and should it prove
worthless, you know whom to blame for cheating you. In presenting
this paper to you for consideration I am not going to tell you how long
ago and where the first grapes grew, and the first man that ate them,
for I never saw the place, the grapes nor the man, but simply tell you
what I would do had I the means so to do in planting, cultivating,
pruning, packing and marketing grapes. In the first place select the
highest ground on the farm, but avoid a steep hillside, but if compelled
to plant there, mulch instead of cultivating. The ground should be
drained naturally or artificially and be moderately rich. Prepare the
ground by plowing and subsoiling to the depth of fourteen to eighteen
inches. Make the ground in as good shape as you would a strawberry
bed. Then mark the ground off ten by ten feet if plenty of land, if
not mark rows eight feet apart and ten feet apart in the row, running
rows north and south. Always procure vines from a nursery that
makes the propagation of the grape vine a specialty. Such nurseries
grade their vines No. 1 and No. 2, and get the No. 1 every time; if they
be one, or two years old. J have purchased vines from a great many
nurseries, having dealt with one firm in New York for nearly thirty
years, sometimes buying in quantity and at other times only a few, and

Winter Meeting. 307

never received a spurious sort or a poor vine. The man that makes
ihe grapevine a specialty will put the vines at your door in better shape
if he is a thousand miles or more away than the home nursery unless
he is a specialist. On receipt of vines from nursery untie the buadles,
dampen vines, spread them thinly and cover with ground so they will
be in good shape when ready to plant. Having the ground ready, dig
the holes deep enough so that when roots are spread out fan shaped
at an angle of forty-five degrees, they will not be cramped, making
the hole so the north side slopes to the south. I now commence to
concentrate forces by shortening the roots of vines to within eight or
ten inches and cutting top off to three buds. Having thus prepared
the vines I put a few in a bucket of water and commence to plant by
placing a vine with roots spread out fan shaped on the inclined plane
of the hole. Cover the roots with about two or three inches of rich,
loose ground and tramp thoroughly, then fill balance of hole without
tramping. Thus the upper soil acts as a mulch. Vines planted in this
manner the roots all run south, giving a chance to stick down a stake
at the north side of the hole without touching any roots. Please allow
me to stop right here and relate what I heard once at a State Horti-
cultural Society. A young professor of an agricultural college was at-
tempting to teach us how to grow grapes. If my memory serves me
right, he said he did not stake the vines the first year, pinched no later-
als but let the vine have its own course with the exception of cultiva-
tion; that he did not want them to commence bearing young. He then
asked the venerable president of the society if he were not correct in
his views. I first thought, young professor you have more theories
stored up in your head than you ever had practice in the vineyard.
But when that honorable old veteran nodded his head, I felt dumb-
founded and wondered where I had been all my life, and what I had
done. But after going home and thinking over my past experience
of nearly thirty years, planting vines every year since and never hav-
ing any vines damaged by bearing too young, and the many premiums
T had taken at state and county fairs and always taking the reward of
merit as to quality and size of clusters, I made up my mind these two
gentlemen had more yet to learn about grapes as well as myself. Now

back to my subject. After the vines have grown a few inches I again

308 State Horticultural Society.-

concentrate forces by breaking off all shoots but the strongest one and
tie this up to a stake as soon as long enough to tie, and tie two or three
times during the season. Check laterals after they have made one leat
by pinching end off just beyond this leaf. Prune this young vine any
time after the frost has cut the leaves up to the first of next February.
At the height of eighteen inches, if the vine has made a growth as
thick as a lead pencil, cut it off at that poimt and any that have not
made as strong a growth cut back to three buds the same as when
planted. Second year’s pruning consists in removing all shoots except
one strong one near the top of the eighteen inch vine. Pinch no lat-
erals this year but keep the vine tied up to the stake during the season.
The third year we are ready for the trellis. Use good sound white
oak posts. End posts ought to be eight feet long and put in the ground
with a post hole digger in a slanting position so that the top of the
post will lean outward about a foot from perpendicular, and if a clay
soil, will need no braces. In case braces are needed use No. 9 wire,
running down from top of post outward and anchored in the ground
with a rock. The other posts should be seven and one-half feet long
and put two feet in the ground twenty feet apart. Use No. 12 gal-
vanized wire. Place first wire three feet from ground, the other wire
near the top of post. These are all the wires necessary to grow grapes
by the Kniffen system, which is the best way to grow grapes. The
small stakes can now be used for firewood. The vines this year, which
is the third, should be cut long enough to reach the top wire providing
the vines are as large as a pencil at that height. Always bear in mind
to prune with reference to the strength of vine, leaving the most buds
to the strongest vine, and never allow a vine to overbear; an overloaded
vine does not produce good bearing wood that year for the next year’s
fruiting. All laterals should be cut off close to main cane with the
exception of four, which are left near the wires for the purpose of
running a bearing arm in opposite directions on each wire and these
should be cut according to their strength, say one or two buds. The
grovnd shoots and nearly always the shoots below the lower wire should
be broken off each year early in the season. I do no summer pruning
from this time on except to occasionally check a too rampant growth.

The fourth year your vine will be large enough to bear a full crop.

Winter Meeting. 309

The four bearing arms this year and the years following should be cut
back to seven or nine buds and all laterals cut away, leaving nothing to
bear grapes except these four arms. For you to expect a novice to prune
exactly as I do would be absurd. I should want him in the vineyard
with my pruning knife in his hand and cut the canes I dictate. I
usually cultivate the vineyard with an Acme harrow and a double-
shovel plow, never going very deep and keeping it about as clean as
corn. Since commencing this paper it seems to me it would be a good
plan to sow oats the last cultivation for a green carpet to set your bas-
kets of grapes on while picking, and to serve as a ground covering dur-
ing the winter. In regard to picking: Never commence to pick when
they first color, as they taste then a little like the Champion which
breaks down the grape trade, but let them hang till ripe to create a
demand instead of glutting a market. Cut with a pair of scissors and
remove all imperfect grapes from the cluster and pick the finest clus-
ters first, handling carefully to retain the bloom and put your brand
on each package of fancy grapes and use five and ten pound Climax
baskets or some faney package. If for a home market always heap
up the basket, it looks so much better and never put the best on top
and the poorest in the bottom, thus gain a reputation for producing the
best fruit on the market. Handle what few are left, that are not
faney with almost the same care you do the choice grapes, but do not
brand them. As to varieties I do not feel like advising. If I was
only going to plant one variety of black it would be the Worden. If
only one variety of red it would be the Brighton. If only one variety
of white it would be the Niagara. But I must confess that I feel like
pounding the Champion over the head every time an opportunity per-
mits: We used to have some weak, narrow-minded horticulturists
who recommended that variety. But I think they have all left civil-
ization and gone to the Phillipines to grow up with the country. IL
once heard a horticulturist (who thinks he is quite high on the lad-
der) say at a horticultural meeting that he did not like the Champion
himself but grew it because it brought him the dollars. This man
loves the almighty dollar better than he does his fellow man. The
principle to live and let live is a good one, but the man who kills his
friend and neighbor by selling him Champion grapes does not possess

d10 State Horticultural Society.

this principle to any marked degree. The Champion has a much
younger brother, the Karly Ohio, who is dangerously ill; before his
illness he said to his elder brother, ““Champion, let me help you in this
grand and glorious scheme that I may become famous as well as you.
Let us dress up in our Sunday best and go out on the market bright
and early and completely disgust the grape eating public and not let
them know there ever were any grapes like Green Mountain, Goethe,
Brighton and many others, and teach them to buy foreign fruits and
nuts.” But the elder brother says, ““my dear brother Ohio your stat-
ure is not as large as mine nor is your dress as elegant, otherwise you
are pretty well qualified. But I do not think I would be honored in
your company, besides I have almost accomplished the desired end
and you better go home and keep quiet; I am the Champion.” The
consequence of this elder brother’s rebuke was that the Early Ohio
took seriously ill and all doctors of any repute say he never will recover.

The true and progressive horticulturist is always seeking for
something better, something he likes, something everybody likes, some-
thing that will create a demand and not glut the market like the Cham-
pion grape. The introduction of this grape was a curse to the grape
growers of this country.

PLANTING, CULTIVATING, TRELLISING, PACKING AND
MARKETING OF GRAPES.

By C. F. Ruegsegger, St. Joseph, Mo.

1. Location and preparing ground. Grapes, like other fruits,
prefer certain exposure and will reward the grower for selecting the
most suitable exposure. Most varieties will do best on high land where
late frosts are not as apt to damage them. Grapes will grow on most
any soil. A south, scutheast or east slope is preferable. Before
planting the ground should be well plowed, and fertilized :f
necessary. Planting can be done by digging holes about ten by
twelve inches square, or running a plow deep as possible. I prefer
planting after a plow for it gives one a chance to spread the roots full

length. Great care should be taken to get rows straight, for they will

Winter Meeting. oll

be much easier worked for so many years to come more than paying
for little extra time spent in getting them just so.

2. Space. There is considerable difference in ideas, and should
be governed by the way of trimming and care, one can give his vine-
yard. As a matter of course a vineyard planted close will wear out
the ground sooner than one planted farther. If the growers can and
will fertilize his vineyard he will realize more per acre than by plant-
ing more distant. The time required to apply manure will not be
any greater than the extra time required to cultivate the same amount
of grapevines on a larger piece of land.

To draw a line on distance of planting, I would call four by seven
feet close and seven by eight feet far. Six by seven feet is a good
medium distance to plant with an occasional wider row to drive through,
if same is desirable.

3. Planting. In most cases a strong one-year-old plant is pref-
erable to a two-year-old or older. Trim plant shoots off except one
and leave two or three eyes, as the best sprouts will grow from the
crown of original cutting. Spread roots well, roots may be shortened
a little just before planting. Get mellow topsoil to the roots, and
tramp very light. A convenient number of plants should be carried
along in a bucket of water, taking out one at a time, this will cause
ground to stick to roots no watering required. It is well to set a small
stick with each plant thus marking the row.

4. Cultivation. The first two years great care must be taken
not to cover the young plants for they are very easy smothered or
broken with a lump of dirt. After vines are older and stronger cul-
tivating must be so done as to save hand labor. By covering the first
crop of weeds with a turning or worn twelve-inch plow, next crop of
weeds can be destroyed with cultivator or plowing away from row.
The ridge left in the row must then be scraped down with the hoe. In
this way grapes can be very cheaply cultivated. Great care should
be taken not to go too deep on account of destroying too many roots.
Some growers recommend clover in their vineyards. I have tried it
but noticed my vines getting weaker and so I plowed clover up the sec-
ond year.

312 State Horticultural Society.

5. Trellis. Posts and wire seem to be the most practical way of
training grapes on in this section. From four to five vines between
posts. Two wires are suflicient, distance from ground to first wire 26
inches from first to second wire 19 inches. No. 10 to 13 galvanized
wire is the most practical, the heaviest wire being more expensive at
the start, but cheaper in the long run.

6. Training and pruning. The first year after planting the
young vines can be allowed to lay on the ground at will. With the
first pruning we will start to train the vine. If the one stem system
is desired leave the strongest cane about eighteen inches long, cutting
all other sprouts off. Posts and one wire ought to be put in to support
the second year’s growth. Leave the three end sprouts grow so as to
give you one cane for the top wire and two arms for the bottom wire.
As practically all the wood for the third year is bearing wood, eare
must be taken not to let them overbear, do not expect more than a half
crop. At the third pruning leave two canes on lower and two canes
on upper wire, leaving six to eight eyes on a cane. In order to main-
tain that shape of vine it would be necessary to renew it, that is to
leave a stub or spur back of each cane. <A stub has three or four eyes
and will bring the wood back to the old stock. ‘After a vineyard is in
such a form trimming is very easy, cutting off the branch or cane of
the year before close to stub. Leave last sprout on the stub as cane
for bearing and cut another stub nearer the stock. The nature of the
growth in grapes will give you chance to prune year after year in this
style with very few exceptions.

Another way of pruning is to trim back to two or three eyes.
Let two sprouts grow the second year cut them long enough to reach
the lower wire and let them bear the third summer. After that year
add one or two canes which will give the vine a fan shape. The vine
can be renewed same as the other with stubs at the lower wire. I pre-
fer to have no foliage nearer the ground than eighteen inches, thus
giving the wind a good chance to cireulate which will keep the vines
and fruit much healthier. Summer trimming is not very advisable
here on account of hot midsummer causing fruit to be scalded if not

sufficiently protected by foliage. I believe in heading or pinching off

yoy

Winter Meeting. Suis

the shoot in spring just as soon as bunches are visible, leaving one leaf
atter last bunch. This will throw all the sap in the bunches and de-
velop better bloom.

laf

(.
for our grapes, more care should be taken not to pick green and in-

Packing and marketing. In order to establish a good market

ferior bunches. ‘This practice will in course of time be a disadvantage

to growers in general. It is advisable to go over the vineyard soon as

part of the grapes are ripe and give the balance plenty time to mature.
DISCUSSION ON THE GRAPE.

Mr. Karnes.—What is known of Campbell’s Early grape ?

Mr. Baxter, Nauvoo [llinois.—I¢ is not hardy in such a winter as
the past. It did not stand any better than Moore’s Early, which were
three-fourths killed, but the fruit is very nice. It is not as large as
Moore’s Early, but of better quality. The cold weather killed my
vines.

J. C. Evans.—At the meeting of the American Pomological So-
ciety in Philadelphia last September there was the finest show of grapes
I ever looked at. Campbell’s Early was the best grape in the collec-
tion, all things considered.

Maj. Holsinger.—There are a great many fruits which do well on
the eastern coast which are of no value here. Is the Campbell suft-
ciently early to be worth planting here? Two of my friends who have
tried it say it has no quality for profit over Moore’s Early. I fear it
will prove to be like the Early Ohio, not profitable. Some one said
that Campbell’s lived in Colorado last winter and made a splendid
growth this year.

A Member.—The Hicks lived through the winter and made a
good growth this year. I have not fruited it.

Maj. Holsinger.—My Hicks killed to the ground.

L. A. Goodman.—Last winter is not a fair test of a grape’s hardi-
ness. Campbell’s Early is at least worthy of a fair test by all grape
growers. It is early, a good keeper and a good shipper. At Phila-
delphia it was one of the very best.

Mr. Murray.—Has the McPike been fruited in Missouri? (No
answer. )

314 State Horticultural Society.

Mr. Irvine.—What is the best late red, late black and late’ white
grape ?

L. A. Goodman.—Goethe is the best late red grape.

Maj. Holsinger.—My Goethe were killed to the ground. Wyom-
ing Red came off with flying colors. It is one of the best reds. The
Goethe is rather a white grape, even if it were hardy. The Concord came
through all right.

EK. J. Baxter—Wyoming is very inferior in quality, neither
is it late. Vergennes is a good late red grape. Worden is not as
hardy as the Goethe. I would say Vergennes for red and Concord
for black.

Mr. Callaway, of Lllinois—The Hosford is the largest black grape
I have. It ripens with the Concord and is of similar flavor. It passed
the winter safely.

J. T. Snodgrass.—I have the Hosford from Kellogg of Michigan.
It wintered very well. I do not like it. It is irregular in ripening,
not of good flavor, a little later than the Concord. For a black grape
give me the Concord.

Mr. Wilcox.—What of the Colerain?

Mr. Murray.—It is good, hardy, small, not a commercial grape;
good for the family.

Mr. Baxter.—Moore’s Diamond is hardy, prolific, of good qual-
ity and does well. There is no great demand for white grapes in the
market. I lke Niagara better than anything else in the white grape
line.

Mr. Butterfield —I would like to speak a good word for our fruit
papers, the Western Fruit Grower and the South West. They are
valuable to all horticulturists, especially new ones.

Mr. Murray.—We want to build up our western horticultural lit-
erature. Many of the eastern papers are all right at home, but very
often misleading here.

SPRAY PUMPS.
Prof. Whitten showed a Gould’s barrel spray pump which the
manufacturer had sent prepaid to the meeting for the purpose. He
said it was a good pump, but not the only good pump.

Winter Meeting. 315

The Dewey nozzle was recommended by Mr. Baxter and others
as the best nozzle he had used. Mr. Murray said that the Eclipse was
the only pump he had ever used, that a fifteen year old boy could use
all day with two lines of hose.

DRY SPRAYING.

J. J. Kiser showed a dust blower which he claimed to be far better
for fighting insects than water solutions. He mixed the Paris green
or other insecticide with dry slacked lime. The machine worked with
a bellows.

Prof. Stedman said the machine was a good one for the price, but
he preferred the Leggett powder gun which worked with a rotary fan.
He thought that on the whole the water sprays would be more efficient
than the dust sprays, and thought that dry lime would not neutralize
the corrosive property of Paris green. Dry lime and powdered copper
sulphate would not make Bordeaux mixture.

L. A. Goodman and others spoke of the great labor of spraying
with water mixtures, and hoped the scientists would devise ways of
using insecticides and fungicides in fine powder. In some of our
large orchards it is hard to get water and haul it over the hills on which
some orchards are planted.

Prof. Stedman said that at the station they had found dry lime
alone to be a good thing to dust on the trees. It drives away a great
many insects. Dry Bordeaux mixture must be first made in water and
then the water be evaporated and the mixture powdered. It is made
by one firm and offered for sale. He cautioned those who used poisons
in dry powder to be careful in handling them and not to breathe the
dust.

316 State Horticultural Society.

SEVENTH SESSION.—Thursday Evening.
At the opening of the meeting, J. F. Wilcox, of St. Joseph pre-

sented the resolution printed below and it was heartily indorsed.

RESOLUTION ON PROTECTION OF BIRDS.

Whereas, the wanton destruction of insect destroying birds has
become so extensive and general as to menace the fruit growing in-
terest of Missouri, therefore;

Resolved, ihat it is the sense of the Missouri State Horticultural
Society that we are seriously in need of a statutory law that will protect
them from this wanton destruction.

DISCUSSION.

L. A. Goodman.—If thereare some friends of the fruit grower better
than others they are the birds. The absolute destruction of so many
pretty birds is deplorable. I am sorry that our present law places the
meadow lark among the game birds and allows it to be shot. It is an
outrage upon our civilization to call this a game bird. Its crop will be
found full of insects. It is one of the best destroyers of our insect pests.
How many times have you and I been angry at the men and boys who
pass over our lands and kill the birds. I call your attention to one
loealitv in which the birds have the same protection as the trees.
Every one of the birds are among our best friends. If we allow them
to be killed we will have lots of trouble with our insect enemies. ;

J.C. Evans.—I sympathize with any resolution looking to the
protection of the birds. We are spending thousands of dollars in
fighting insects which would not be necessary if we had the birds. I
know of no way to protect them except through the legislature, and
that is a long road. No matter what bill you introduce you will al-
ways find men there to fight it. If you do start anything of this kind
you must follow it up and take it in charge when the law is passed.

Maj. Holsinger.—TI think the ladies are largely responsible for the
killing of the birds. Look at these hats! If we are to succeed in
preventing the killing of the birds we must keep the ladies from wear-
ing them on their hats. It is not very consistent to pass a resolution

Winter Meeting. 317

for the protection of the birds while so many are killed to be worn on
the ladies’ hats.

Rey. Gilliam made the motion on the part of the citizens of
Princeton, that they are in full accord with the resolution adopted.

The motion was heartily approved.

ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. By W. T. Flournoy, Marionville,
Missouri.

Mr. Goodman:
Sometime about the last of October, I received a letter from you,
asking me to write an article for the Princeton meeting, on “Winter

» A week later I received

Kalling of Orchards, Their Care, ete., ete.
another letter, adding “Orchard Management; “Benefits of Spray-
ing, ete.” I can only relate some of the things that I have observed
during my short experience as an orchardist. I do not think there is
a rule that will work in all places alike, further than to keep trees
healthy at all times, and by all means, do not neglect to give them the
best possible advantage after a severe damage has taken place, like
the freeze of last February. In order to counteract the damage done
in last winter’s freeze, First. We commenced to spray in the usual
way, except the use of sulphur in the mixture.

Second. Between the first and second spraying, we whitewashed
the trees, with a preparation of lime, sulphur and salt, to keep borers
and other insects from attacking the trees during spring and summer,
while they were weak from the hard freeze. I used sulphur, because,
in my experience I had found it good, which is contrary to the ex-
perience of some of our state experimenters. Whether I am right or
not can be determined by the examination of other orchards in this
vicinity, not so treated.

Third. I cultivated until midsummer, about August Ist. Part
of the time I have not done all work as thoroughly as I believed it
needed, and afterwards I felt like I had made a bad mistake by not so
doing.

We have always pruned a great deal, but not just for the sake of
cutting the trees. We thought we were doing it in a good cause,

therefore, when the trees were weakened by the freeze, we did not add

318 State Horticultural Society.

to their weakness by additional cutting. The trees had been pruned
heavily in December, 1897, and January, 1898, enough to let them
rest awhile. The last treatment is somewhat contrary to the teachings
of a few horticulturists who have said, “cut back frozen trees.”

With peach trees, I practice cutting back slightly when they
freeze and have had success, but my peach growing is very limited.

With one or two varieties of apples the damage was great, but the
trees living November 1st, were green with foliage and I have no
fears but what they, as well as other varieties in my orchards will stand
another freeze as well, or better, than other orchards of same varieties
in my vicinity.

Soon after the freeze last winter, I feared that I had lost all the
crop for this year, wit heavy loss and damage to trees, but this fall I
find that I had an average of one fourth crop, good fruit on all ages of
trees, with very little damage to trees. The damage to the crop varied
on trees of different ages. The crop was damaged less on the older
trees, and the damage to trees was, also, less on the older ones.

My orchards are not entirely free from borers, for in looking for
the effects of our treatment, I have found three or four during the
summer and fall. I have only found them in a few of the trees that
had damaged places cn them of two or three years standing, where
there was rotten wood, but in no sound tree have I found a single borer,
except trees not washed with the sulphur and lime.

I commenced to work in the spring on the theory that borers and
other insects attack more readily. trees that have been damaged by
winter freezes than those not so damaged, therefore, are more apt
to do harm the summer following a damaging freeze than one follow-
ing a mild, even winter. A tree might die after being perforated by
borers, when the real cause of borers was the damaged condition of the
otherwise healthy tree by the hard freeze of the preceding winter. I
think it possible that the tree, having its inner layers of bark damaged
by a freeze may give off an odor during the spring and summer fol-
lowing that attracts the insect which lays the egg that afterwards
hatches out a borer. Spraying is necessary to combat the evils follow-
ing a hard freeze, as a tree can not be healthy without a good, strong,
undamaged foliage. I will say further, in regard to the use of sul-

Winter Meeting. 319

phur, that I commenced the use of it on my orchards the second fall
after I planted my first orchard, by mixing it with beef’s blood procured
at slaughter houses. The blood was rubbed on the trees in September
and January, to keep rabbits from gnawing them. The sulphur was
put in then, because it was a convenient time, and the blood made it
adhere to the trees. I was not troubled, at all, by borers while that
treatment was followed, which was about five years, as | remember.
By that time the trees had grown too large ‘to be injured by rabbits.

During the next three or four years, between the time I quit the
use of blood and sulphur and the time I commenced to spray, I was
troubled very much by borers in some localities in the orchards. After
spraying was commenced, I had but little more trouble with borers, so
little that I rarely looked for them and when I did, I seldom found
any.

Later I have been led to believe that borers will rarely attack a
tree if it is kept in a healthy growing condition. The coat of white
lime on the tree, I believe, in a great measure, keeps insects away.

My neighbors whom I have persuaded to try the blood and sul-
phur report no damage from borers or rabbits after using it.

In experimenting with the mixing of lime and sulphur we found
that we got a little better combination of the two, by putting a barrel
of lime in the slaking box, adding enough water to slake, and just as
the bubbling ceased and the heat was greatest, we added a half bushel
of the flour of sulphur after rubbing it through a seive. It is easier to
mix while the solution is yet thick. After mixing thoroughly, we put
in water enough to make, in all, one hundred and sixty gallons, then
put it into the spray tank, and applied to the trees with the pump,
the gage showing a pressure of forty to sixty pounds. We use the
“Boss Nozzle,” and for this purpose, use the round orifice. Some-
times I added twenty-five or thirty pounds of salt to this mixture, and
again I did not, for I felt like it was useless.

This is the only year in which I have used the sulphur and lime
combination, in place of lime alone, in making Bordeaux mixture and
used it for the first spraying only, which was just before the blossoms
opened. We find that spraying with Bordeaux, with sulphur added, is
very hard on some of the men who use it, while it does not hurt others

320 State Horticultural Society.

It is hard on teams, also. Care should be taken, as it is worse than
lime alone on the skin. I will use it only in years in which I have
had severe injury to the trees. We sprayed second time just as the
last of the bloom was ready to fall, but was yet hanging on the trees.
Our solution was twelve pounds of bluestone; eighteen pounds of lime;
one pound of Paris green to one hundred and sixty gallons of water.
I have used more bluestone, but found it too much in former years.
1 spray once or twice more, depending upon the amount of rains we
have, and the appearance of the foliage and fruit. Men have asked
me to let them know when I was going to spray for they wanted to be
present. I tell them it is almost impossible, for we will commence
spraying, possibly, at times within fifteen or twenty-five minutes after
we see it is necessary. We use a spraying machine, that I think, is
somewhat like the kind used on the Olden Fruit Farm. It is built on
an ordinary farm: wagon, to which we work four horses, abreast. The
front wheels are small, which enables us to turn short. We spray
thoroughly from one to three thousand trees daily. After all spraying
is over, we harrow the ground with springtooth harrows, or if it is too
dry or weedy, we use ordinary two-horse cultivators in the oldest
orchards, while in the younger ones, we break the ground with turn-
ing plows. The tree roots are not to be torn up in the young orchards
by deeper plowing, as they would be in older ones. Later we may
keep the ground loose with “weeders,” for some time, but if the ground
gets too hard to do good work with them, we put the harrow back to
work again. We keep this up until the first of August. We plow
close to the trees with double-shovel plows, keeping the trees pruned,
so that a small horse or mule can walk within two to four feet of the
tree trunk. The plow is fastened to a chain and let back from the
singletree three or three and a half feet.

There is one orchard in my vicinity that is not cultivated that
bears a good crop nearly every year, of better than average fruit; that
is not sprayed; it matures its fruit with fine color two weeks ahead of
my orchards, as do all other orchards similarly treated. When
orchardists can retain dense, healthy foliage on their trees until frost
bites it, causing the foliage to fall, and at the same time causing the
fruit to color then can they furnish the packers with firm, well flavored,

Winter Meeting. 321

erisp, first class fruit, on and after the fifteenth of October, in this
latitude; fruit that matures too early will not last long through mod-
erately warm weather, such as we had in October this year, to reach the
storage houses, and we hear the ery later from commission men on Water
street, Chicago, and elsewhere, that their fruit is rotting.

It has occurred to me that old settlers planted their orchards
altogether in new fresh lands for the good reason that they had no
worn out land, therefore, their trees were more apt to get a healthy
start and made longer lived trees.

I have seen more cases of root-rot in wet, clammy, worn out land,
where the wind had a fair chance to shake them about when the ground
was wet, causing a crust to brake hard around each root when the ground
dried out, similar to a coat of plaster of Paris, which helped to kill the
tree in the poverty stricken soil. In such soils the cow pea assisted in
a mechanical way, as well as otherwise, to restore such soils to a normal
condition for tree growth. I drill the cow peas, in each orchard, after
the first of June, after I find out there will be none, or a very light
crop-on such orchard. The peas are cultivated as long as we can get
through them, first with weeders, afterward with cultivators. From
June 15th, to July 1st, we thin the fruit if our crop is too full, by
taking off all small and damaged fruit; thin out all clusters to one
apple, and places where fruit is too thick, to five or six inches apart.

I have seen very little damage occur to apples after July 1st,
unless by hail or grass-hoppers. I have found it best to fertilize the
trees with manure during the first five or six years, afterwards with
cow peas.

When a tree dies from any cause, I reset the next spring and by
continued cultivation, the tree grows as thrifty as if in a cultivated
orchard of its own age. If the tree was set out in sod, in an older
orchard no doubt its growth would be unsatisfactory and the tree would
probably die. I find that hard-pan patches cause trees to die, and it is
uncertain whether trees reset on such ground will live or not. It is
rather hard to get trees to grow in wet places, but after being started

two or three years, they do as well, or better, than trees set in more
H—21

322 State Horticultural Society.

favorable places. ‘Trees grow larger and look nicer in red lands, but I
like the whitish, yellowish and black clay soils best for they appear to
grow nicer fruit, and the fruit does not mature so early in the fall. I
think the trees bear better in such soils.

I have one orchard that was set out first in 1885. We sowed the
land in oats and clover the same year. The orchard consisted of five
hundred Ben Davis, two hundred and fifty-six Winesaps and Hunts-
man, seven hundred and fifty-six trees, in all. We cut the crop of
clover in 1886. In the spring of 1887, we plowed the land for corn
and reset five hundred of the trees that had died. We continued to
cultivate the orchard and reset each sprmg. In 1892 we sold $50.50,
worth of wormy, scabby apples. In 1895 we got a spraying machine
and commenced to use it the best we knew how. My crop in the fall was
much better than I expected. I received something over $650 for the
crop and it was sold very cheap, for I had had no experience in selling
fruit. In the bad year of 1896, I raised seven hundred barrels and
sold for $850, and estimated that I had cleared $650, after paying all
expenses of raising, spraying and handling. In 1897, this orchard set
very full of fruit and had to be thinned a great deal. We cultivated
some, but not enough. The crop sold for $2,000 on the trees, which
was about equal to $1.50 per barrel. In 1898, we had only a light
crop and most of it was blown off during a storm in July. In 1899,
Three hundred and sixty Ben Davis trees, in this orchard, bore seven
hundred and thirty barrels of apples, five hundred and ninety of which
were hand-picked. My loss in sorting and packing of hand-picked
fruit, was about one barrel in sixty. The hand-picked fruit sold at
$1.85 per barrel, while the best of the wind-falls brought $1.25 per
barrel. The evaporator stock sold at about sixty-nine cents per barrel.
Adding the balance of the sales of Huntsman and Winesap, we re-
ceived, in all, for the year, on the seven hundred and fifty-six places
for trees $1,500. The total sales from this orchard for five years,
beginning with 1895 and including 1899, was a little over $5,000,
and the cost has been about $600, for all cultivating, spraying and
pruning during the time. This orchard of 756 trees is the oldest one
of my several orchards. J mention it particularly, because it being

the oldest one, has given me most experience. The trees in this

Winter Meeting. 323

orchard are set twenty-five feet each way, and this winter we are going
to pull out each alternate row diagonally, thereby leaving the trees
a little over thirty-four feet apart, each way, which I consider full
close for trees of their size and age. The balance of my orchards are
set at greater distances, for we had learned by experience that twenty-
five feet was entirely too close. It seems to me the best thing to d»
is to follow the directions of our State Experiment Stations, and suc-
cessful fruit growers study local conditions, and different soils; for dif-
ferent orchards may require slight variations in treatment.

I would prefer healthy trees to withstand any kind of reverse, to
stunted ones. I would rather have a thrifty orchard, after it
had been killed by a hard winter, to a stunted one after it had lived
through it. It is easier now, for us to see that it is cheaper to raise
good apples than poor ones, even at same price per barrel, as the yield
is so much greater, with the better treatment required to grow good
ones. However, the good apples always command a_ better price.
Time was when the United States Weather Bureau did not give satis-
factory forecasts, but now they are much better. It would be much
to our advantage, if we could get the forecast each day, for we can ill
afford to start on a days campaign in the orchards, without taking the

weather forecasts into consideration.

ORNAMENTAL TREES AND PLANTS.—By H: R. Wayman,
Alvord, Missouri.

It would be useless for me to discuss this subject before this in-
telligent audience, except to point out a few things gleaned in the past
thirty years by propagating and handling nursery stock in a small way.
But little can be done in the way of adornment with trees and
plants in a closely built city. The limited space of ground will not allow
the full effect of landscape gardening as compared to the country seat
of from five to fifty acres.

The impatience of our people as a rule will not permit of begin-
ning at the foundation for the most perfect, beautiful and lasting im-
provement of this kind; a man builds a fine house close to the highway,

orders from the nursery or the river bottom the largest shade and ever-

J24 State Horticultural Society.

green trees he can procure to set in his front yard (he don’t plant any-
thing on the back yard), he thinks he must have something to make a
show and it certainly does make a show of very poor judgment; orna-
mental trees should make nearly all their growth on the grounds where
they are to remain, many shade trees should be started from the seed
on the grounds; evergreens can not be successfully grown here from
seed, but can safely be transplanted from the nursery row, if not too
large. For ornamental hedges, I prefer American Arborvitae. It can be
pruned to any size or shape. The Scotch, Austrain and White Pine,
Red Cedar and American Arborvitae make the most effective and lasting
wind break and shelter belts for stock. Weeping Elm, Catalpa, Sugar-
tree and Transcendent Crab are among the many very. desirable trees
for shade. Mountain Ash, Weeping Willow, Irish and Trailing Juniper,
Norway Spruce, Balsam Fir and Weeping Birch are some of the leading
trees to adorn the lawn and grounds. Peonas, Phlox, Yucas or Bed
Plant, are hardy perennials. Lilac, Spirea, Japan Quince, Snow Ball
should be represented, but plant very sparingly of anything of de-
ciduous and brushy nature. Do not neglect the climbing plants. Wisteria,
Clematis, Virginia Creeper, Honeysuckle and often a grape vine or
two will give a very natural and graceful effect. Grounds thought-
fully marked out, judiciously planted, thoroughly cared for, will be
beautiful and can be made with little cost in cash, but require considera-
ble patience, some labor and a thoughful mind.

“Strength may wield the ponderous spade—
May turn the clod and wheel the compost home—
But elegance, chief grace the garden shows

And most attractive is the fair result of thought
The creature of a polished mind.

Vocal Solo.—Mrs. Arthur Anderson.

WHY OUR TREES ARE SHORT LIVED.—Prof. J. C. Whitten,
Columbia, Missouri.

A consideration of short lived trees falls under two heads; trees
that belong to short lived families or varieties, and those that are so
treated, as individuals that they can not live long. I had a friend in
Iowa, his father lived to be ninety years old, though he used tobacco
excessively all his life. His great age was traceable to the fact that he

/

Winter Meeting. O20

belonged to a long lived family; not to the fact that he used tobacco.
I know another man in Illinois, who comes of a family of consumptives.
Realizing his danger from this malady, he has all his life taken morn-
ing walks and regular exercise in the open air. He still lives, at the
age of nearly ninety. His continued good health is due to his sys-
tematic habits of life, the regular care he has given his body. These
cases illustrate the two standpoints from which we may consider the
longevity of our trees.

It has been claimed that our apple trees in the west are short
lived. I am not prepared to dispute this statement. Their short life
may be no doubt partly due to the fact that we are in a new country,
and have not yet had time to adapt our trees to longevity in this climate
by originating and acclimatizing varieties. We are depending mainly
upon varieties originated elsewhere. Those sorts which are the longest
lived under other climatic conditions might not be long lived here,
just as our commercial varieties, so large and productive here are not
large and productive in some other orchard regions. In a trip to
southeast Missouri this summer I saw some apple trees that were
seventy years old and as large and productive as any I have ever seen.
This indicates that some varieties are long lived in Missouri.

The demand for early bearing varieties has been greater than the
demand for long lived ones. With the hurry for wealth, and constant
rapid change which characterizes our western conditions, men plant
Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Jonathan, which come into profitable
bearing at from three to five years, without stopping to inquire whether
some other, later maturing sort might be in its period of most profitable
fruiting after these early bearing sorts are dead and gone. It is quite
probable that there are in existence many sorts that would outlive the
varieties commonly planted here, and it is possible that some of these
varieties would be commercially profitable if we cared to wait ten or
twenty years for them to come into their best fruiting period. On
the Experiment Station grounds there are numerous varieties that have
grown for ten to twenty years without giving any evidence of fruitful-
ness. Every year we are surprised by some of these sorts suddenly
beginning to bear and I shall not be amazed if many of them prove to
produce to a good old age.

326 State Horticultural Society.

While admitting that our orchards are short lived, records have
not yet been presented to convince me that seventy Ben Davis apple
trees planted twenty-five by twenty-five feet apart on an acre of Mis-
souri land will not produce during their lifetime of thirty or thirty-
five years as much fruit as will twenty-seven trees of Baldwin or Spy
planted forty by forty feet apart on an acre of eastern land during
their longer lifetime of fifty years.

If the fruit from a Missouri orchard during a single year will sell
for more than the whole farm is worth (as I have known to oceur in
hundreds of cases) without seriously weakening the trees, I do not
know that long lived trees are essential to our prosperity. The
growers of fat live stock find it more profitable to force a very rapid
growth on their animals and market them at a younger age than
formerly. I believe we have gained a similar point of profit by grow-
ing our early bearing, heavy producing apple trees, that accomplish
their life work of productiveness in a shorter time and then give way
to another set of young, vigorous trees of manageable size. Compact,
low headed, early bearing, prolific western trees, set thickly on the
ground certainly favor our getting the largest amount of fruit in the
shortest period of time, and they are also much more easily managed.

The best treatment to give the individual tree in order to secure
productiveness and longevity is, in my opinion, of more importance
than a consideration of long lived varieties. If there is any one point
in this regard that should be especially mentioned it is the need of
continual, uniform care of the trees. Give the trees uniform treat-
ment every year, whether they are carrying a full crop of fruit or not.
The neglected orchard that is suddenly plowed in midsummer may be
injured as much as it is helped by the operation. To neglect to prune
until the trees are overgrown with sprouts, and then to thin these out
excessively may do more harm than no pruning. To neglect cultivation
because there is only a light crop, and allow the trees to struggle along
to recover from previous heavy bearing is unwise.

If the Missouri orchardist will plant on fairly well drained land,
cultivate his trees as he would his corn, occasionally plow in a crop of
cow peas (or other winter cover crop) between the rows, prune just
enough to keep his trees symmetrical, keep off rabbits and borers with

Winter Meeting. ool

wrappers, spray intelligently for leaf insects and fungi, when necessary,
and keep his trees from overbearing by thinning the fruit, he can
produce apples that will many times repay him for all this attention.
Much of the ery of short life of our trees is due to neglect of the above

essentials.
Vocal Solo.—Mrs. Martin Read.

RESOLUTIONS.

To the Officers and Members of the Society:
Your committee on final resolutions beg to report as follows:

Resolved, That the Missouri State Horticultural Society greatly
appreciates the efforts of the members of the Mercer county Horti-
cultural Society and the people of Princeton generally to entertain this
meeting. To the various persons who have furnished music and literary
numbers, our thanks are due, especially to the K. of P. band, the ladies
who contributed songs and recitations and the male quartette for their
selections.

Resolved, That we are under obligations to the press of this and
other cities for their courtesy during the meeting and throughout the
past year.

Resolved, That this society thank the executive committee of this
organization and ratify their action in collecting fruits for the Paris
Exposition. The entire State should assist in this work of advertising
the resources of the State. We also commend the efforts now being
made to arouse an interest in the exhibits desired to be made at Buffalo
in 1901 and St. Louis in 1903.

Resolved, That we appreciate the work of the Department of Ag-
riculture in investigating the subject of root-rot in this section, and that
we urge the members to assist the department in this work.

N. O. Boorn,

R. A. Emerson,

James M, Irvine.
Committee.

RESOLUTION ON PURE FOOD—ADOPTED.
Whereas the Missouri State Horticultural Society believes that
every purchaser, when he pays his money for an article, is entitled to
know what he is getting, and
Whereas the practice of false branding and adulterating of foods
and drugs is becoming alarmingly prevalent, and

328 State Horticultural Society.

Whereas there is a body known as the National Pure Food and
Drug Congress, composed of delegates from the various national and
local organizations, from all parts of the United States, who are in-
terested in the production and consumption of food and drug products;
therefore,

Resolved, That the Missouri State Horticultural Society does
most heartily indorse this movement for the prevention of the adultera-
tion and misbranding of foods and drugs, and that they respectfully
urge upon the Honorable Senators and Representatives of the State of
Missouri, in the Congress of the United States, that they use their best
efforts to secure of the Pure Food Bill, which is indorsed by the Na-
tional Pure Food and Drug Congress, and is known as the Brosius bill.

Resolved, further, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the
Senators, Cockrell and Vest, and to the various members of Congress
in the State; to the Hon. Joseph Blackburn, Columbus, Ohio, Presi-
dent of the National Pure Food and Drug Congress, and to Emerson
Taylor Abbott, Vice-president for the State of Missouri, and that said
Abbott be requested to express to the members of the Pure Food and
Drug Congress, at its next meeting, the heartfelt sympathy and good
will of this society.

RESOLUTIONS APPRECIATIVE OF THE SOCIETY’S WORK.

Whereas, The meeting of the Missouri State Horticultural So-
ciety, just closed in our city, has awakened a lively interest in the
method and management of fruit growing heietofore so little under-
stood by us: With a just appreciation of their unselfish, painstaking,
earnest, intelligent devotion to the highest development of that most
important branch of human industry, horticulture.

Therefore, in behalf of the Hortcultural Society of Mercer
County, and the citizens of Princeton:

Resolved, That we have been encouraged by their example,
elevated by their suave social manners, educated by their teaching,
made more generous by their unselfishness, and more ambitious for the
future by their accomplishments:

And that in the parting we extend them our thanks for their visit,
our highest good wishes for their future, expressing the hope that they
will again visit us at the earliest time consistent with their duties,

-and a fair distribution of their favors to other parts of our Grand
Commonwealth.

Resolved, that these resolutions be furnished the secretary of the

State Horticultural Society for such use as they may deem proper.

This resolution was heartily adopted by the large audience
present.

BLACKBERRY PLANTATION OF THE OZARK ORCHARD Co., GoopMAN, Mo.

APPLE ORCHARD OF THE OZARK ORCHARD Co., Goopman, Mo. Trees 4 Years Old.

ee
‘S

Winter Meeling. -

FAREWELL WORDS.

Pres. Murray.—We are now come to the last word. We feel
flattered by the resolution you have just passed. We certainly thank
you for the manner in which you have received, met with, and enter-
tained us, and for the music of the band, the quartette, and the ladies.
We shall go away feeling this to be one of the most pleasant meetings
we have ever held. I congratulate you upon the progress you have
made since I organized your county society here two years ago. It
will pay you to keep up your society. I hope after this meeting, ladies
and gentlemen, that you will feel a greater interest in beautifying your
homes and caring for your orchards and fruit gardens. If you do this
we will feel that our meeting here has not been in vain. We trust to
have the pleasure of meeting with you again. I will close by calling
upon others for a few words.

L. A. Goodman.—It certainly has been a very favorable meeting
for the society and those interested. J heard one man say that he had
received ten times the cost of his coming to this meeting. You will find
the horticulturist the most liberal man you ever met, glad to tell others
what he has learned himself. I have enjoyed this meeting. I am
glad I came. We go with the feeling of having had a pleasant and
profitable time with a pleasant people.

J. C. Evans.—I move we now adjourn sine die.

On motion the society adjourned, and marched to the banquet
hall escorted by the Knights of Pythias band, and many of the citizens
of Princeton. At the hall the entertainment consisted of music and
short addresses by citizens and society men, followed by refreshments
of cake, nuts, fruits, and fresh cider.

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.

RECIPROCITY.

By L. A Goodman, Westport, Mo.

Reciprocity for a horticulturist to write upon! What has this to
do with fruit growing? Surely no politics are wanted and none shall be
given, only such as treats directly with the fruit man and his trees, his
care of them, and the reciprocity of nature to her children and of the
Missouri and Kansas fruit growers to each other in mutual exchange of
their knowledge.

When we come to examine the word closely we do not fail to find
it one of the greatest factors and powers in our civilization. No part
or parcel of the gerat business transactions could or would take place
unless each observed the main principles of “Reciprocity.” No farmer
could sow his seed if the earth and nature did not reciprocate for the
tilling of her soil. No horticulturist would plant a tree, bush, or vine
was he not sure that Dame Nature would reciprocate.

No home can be a happy one unless there is reciprocity in the
hearts of its members, nor a successful one unless this principle actuates
father, mother, brothers and sisters to earn and care for what is earned
and spend it for the advantage of all.

In our social life, what would it be were not our friends recipro-
cating every day with their favors, their demands, their troubles, their
joys, and their visits?

How soon, think you, would one of you give favors, assistance,
social visits, if your neighbor never responded or returned them, or
appreciated your favors. Reciprocity runs all through our every day
life and we can not get rid of it if we would.

Doo

Cs
Co
re

State Horticultural Society.

In business, how still more is this reciprocity of interest made
manifest. Not the simple and vulgar idea, “you tickle me and I will
tickle you,” but the greater and more important principle of “no one

man can succeed by himself alone;”’

reciprocity must come from all
with whom he deals and then the best of success comes to that business;
that of satisfaction in its success.

In our states it must be the ruling factor. No state can say, I
have no need of thee,-but favors granted by one are returned by another
and thus even the state lines are simply imaginary lines. Let but one
state refuse to reciprocate and see how soon the others will let her alone
and how soon affairs would become badly entangled.

“There is no freedom without law” and the best pleasures and suc-
cesses of every person and every state even comes to those who recip-
rocate in like favors. Empires, kingdoms, principalities, republics, all
nations know full well the import and principal of reciprocity in all
their dealings with each other; how the best use of this principle will
make both parties richer, better, happier, and hence it becomes the
great aim of nations to use it to their best advantage and to the upbuild-
ing of their country.

From individuals, cities, states, nations, even to nature in’ all her
moods we find a response to favors shown her. Even the winds and
waters and storms will reciprocate when properly handled and harnessed
and we find them doing our work and giving us assistance when we use
them aright.

Going one step higher, we find reciprocity a civilizer, an improver,
a developer, a feature that will improve every person and community
and people which makes use of it. It makes us regard the views and
opinions and rights of others and that is the best civilizer or our people.
It is an educator in that it causes us to respect others, and where we
begin to think of others and study them and give them our ideas we are
sure to have them reciprocate and return to us in kind. This, then, is
an educator in the highest sense of the term.

Reciprocity is a money maker and that usually, for all parties con-
cerned, because each gets that which he wants and gets rid of that which
he does not want. Thus far with each other we can use it every day.

It becomes then a eculturist because it cultivates each one of us in mind

Miscellaneous Papers. 300

and body, in every day life, in business, in the home, socially and finanei-
ally. Again it follows its best influences until it becomes a religion. Our
hearts and minds and souls are led by this same great principle. Even
God himself hath promised that “he that honoreth Me I will honor,” “he
that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” There is no one great
department of thought, or work, or study or feature of life where reci-
procity will so quickly and so truly be known as in religion. God says
“Test Me and try Me and see if I am not God.”

The horticulturist above all others believes in reciprocity and applies
its principles practically to every one of his dealings with nature, first
with his trees and plants, and next with his fellow man. No class of
business men, and certainly no class of professional men are so free with
their trade secrets or their successful experiences as are the fruit growers.
No sooner does a man make a success of or in one department of his work
or with one of his fruits, than at once he tells it to his fellow man and in
return gets other information he is seeking.

But the horticulturist also gives practical proof of the value of re-
ciprocity in his every day dealings with his trees, vines and plants. First
in the nursery how the little seedlings, and grafts and plants and trees,
reciprocate for every care and attention, in cultivation, in hoeing, in
training, that the husbandman gives his live plants.

How often we forget that all these trees and plants are alive, live
beings, live trees, that they can feel and see, and love care and attention
just as much as can any animal in our service. Did it ever oceur to you
how appreciative are our domestic animals to our care? Well, just so are
our trees and plants; they are just as sensitive to care or neglect, to
to attention or carelessness, to love or abuse as our animals, and they
show it just as quickly. How they will reciprocate for every care
given them. Ask or examine the plants of the florist and they
will answer you. Go to the orchard and ask those trees how they will
reciprocate if you will give them care and attention and training and see
how soon they will answer you in their appearance, in their growth, in
their vigor, in their fruitfulness. I believe that there are times when
our plants will pay for every care, and for all the work bestowed upon
them in their young life, by the return of fruits in their season.

396 State Horticultural Society.

In many ways might I outline how reciprocity works to the ad-
vantage of the horticulturist. Instances, State Agricultural Colleges, how
they are working out the science of horticulture, how the fruit growers
are aiding them in their work and how freely these facts and ideas are
exchanged. The Experiment Stations, what a wonderful fund of infor-
mation they are exchanging with each other day by day, and not only
with each other, but with all the world. How gladly nature also responds
to all their work if done according to her laws.

You never get a response nor a fact from any of these, that to make
a tree hardy, graft the apple on the sycamore, the pear on oak, the peach
on the willow, the plum on the hackberry, or the cherry on maple. You
will not get the tree strawberry nor the evergreen raspberry, which gives
a crop for six months of the year, every month a crop. Nor the thornless
blackberry as large as plums, more hardy and productive than the Snyder.

Our colleges and stations, our fruit growers, and even dame nature
will not reciprocate for any favors in any such manner as this. But she
will reciprocate gladly if you atempt, according to her laws, to breed a
hardy fruit or improve one by careful selection.

The depart of agriculture and the weather service. How gladly
they will respond for any favors. For the fruit grower a great advantge
not one-half appreciated or made use of. Only send in your reports
regularly and see how quickly they will respond. Call for the weather
report and your town may have them each morning, and know what the
day will be. Over and over, day by day, week by week, month by month
these scraps or items of information are being collected from our United
States Station, our colleges, our Experiment Stations, our fruit growers
and given out with a free hand to all, not only who help, but to all the
land.

Did you ever go through an orchard where every tree and branch
and twig and leaf seemed to plead to you for love, or cultivation, or dress-
ing or, perhaps, even a washing, such as a dirty bov sometimes gets?
Did you ever see an orchard which was skinned and scarred and bruised on
body and branch by the careless husbandman, and did it not occur to you
that some of the bark should be taken off the man’s legs and less off the
trees. Surely such trees will riciprocate in the returns that they give for
sure care. The old saying is still true “whatsoever a man soweth, that will

Miscellaneous Papers. Bol

he also reap.” I wish to drop a hint just here. Is it not possible that this
spraying of our trees does not do more good because of its cleansing prop-
erties than any other advantage gained. Does not the tree delight in
being washed with some cleansing wash like lime and soap and lye, and
sulphur and carbolic acid, and coal oil and Paris green and blue vitrol
just as much as you and I do to wash our hands when they are soiled.
I wish to quote to you the prayer which the poet has put into the branches
of the trees.

THE FRUIT TREES’ PRAYER.

“‘O Master, we appeal to you;

For many years we thrived and grew
Upon the food dame Nature gave,

But, this exhausted, now we crave

The aid that you alone can give—

The food, without which, none can live.
Too long you've starved us in your greed,
You've cropped our ground, nor given heed
To Nature's fixed eternal laws;

That ends result from equal cause,

That constant cropping must exhaust
The food stored up at endless cost;

The grass, with myriad mouths, devours
The food which justly should be ours.
Root out, destroy this thieving foe!

In these terse, emphatic words:
Plant evergreens to shield your herds,
Your orchards and your homes from cold,
These beauteous trees outweigh your gold;
Enhance your pleasures every year,
And when the close of life draws near,
Your children’s gratitude will fill
Your hearts with the prophetic ‘Peace, good will.’ ”’
A. M. N.—From Western Rurad.

Missouri and other state interests are in many ways the same; what
I know I will tell you, what you know you will tell me. Individually we
are always and altogether reciprocating daily in what we do and what
we say. The experience of our fruit men is made the common property
of those interested on both sides of the line. Shall we cultivate? Shall
we prune? Shall we use cow peas? Shall we sow to clover? Shall we
spray? Shall we thin? These and many others have to be answered over
and over again, and as one answers them by his own experience, another
reciprocates by testifying to his own views whether they be the same or

different. Community interests, how they dove tail into one another,
H—22

ooo State Horticultural Society.

until it would seem next to impossible to do anything without influenc-
ing every one else by these same deeds and they are responded to by the
actions of the community. In fact is not this reciprocity of ideas on the
part of the fruit growers of Kansas and Missouri the powerful lever which
moves this great cause forward ?

I have outlined to you how closely all the affairs of the fruit grower
are connected with the proper soil, subsoil, location, varieties care and
cultivation of our fruit trees, and how truly they will reciprocate for all
this, and now wish to call your attention to the other phase of this topic,
of how easily and quickly all the insect life, the fungus disease, will
reciprocate if you will but do them the favor of letting them alone.”
The insects will destroy, the fungi will blast, if we will but assist them
by neglect. Their success, their development, their propagation, their
power, depends upon reciprocity and that reciprocity is to be simply
“hands off.”

How quickly all the good things of earth respond to every favor
shown, every work done, every assistance rendered, every improvement
made while all the bad things of earth come if we only lie idle, only let
them alone, only neglect to care for them.

Reciprocity comes more fully and more strongly and more truly
when we go to the very foundation of things. Only one example. Sup-
pose we take for the foundation of our apple orchard, the most perfect
plumpest, soundest seed from the hardiest, best colored and best matured
specimens of apples, taken from the healthiest, most vigorous, most pro-
ductive trees. Suppose then that we take only the very best of these
after letting them stand three winters and summers. Then let them
be grafted and scions taken from the choicest trees producing the most
fruit, highly colored and of best quality; what, think you would be the
result after years of this continual selection both of seed and scion.

Tree planting of all kinds, how they return to us in a thousand ways,
in shade, in beauty, in cool atmosphere, in homelike surroundings, in
money value even, for all the care and attention and time and money
spent on them. Plant them around the home, along the highways, in the
fields and they will reciprocate for every attention and every care be-
stowed upon them.

Miscellaneous Papers. dod

“Canst thou prophesy, little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?”’

SET OUT TREES.

Set out trees! adorn the homestead.
Make it pleasant all around,

Let the elms, and oaks and maptes,
With the evergreens abound;

Let the home be so attractive
That the boy that is to-day,

When he shall arrive at manhood
And in foreign lands will stray,

May turn with longing heart and loving
To his home these hills among,

Thinking how the trees are thriving
Which he helped to plant when young.

Set out trees! ves, plant an orchard,
Dear, good farmer do you know
Of the wealth there is in fruit trees,

For the labor you bestow?

Set out trees! upon the common,
Ashes, linden, poplars, birch:
Set them out around the schoolhouse,
Plant them thick about the church,
Have the children’s play-ground shaded,
And the public walks as well,
And the joys from these.arising
Coming ages glad will tell.
These shall live, and grow, and gladden,
While we moulder ’neath their leaves,—
Let us then improve the present,
Leave behind us priceless trees.
—Mrs. Annte G. Marshall.

I call your attention to one more topic which shows how many
friends we have who gladly reciprocate for the protection given them.

Our Birds. If there is any topic which the horticulturist should
discuss at every meeting, on hill top or in valley, from every nook and
corner of our land, from our school houses, our homes, yea, even our
churches, it is the one great call, protect our birds. The almost universal
destruction of bird life about our towns, the continual shooting of our
feathered friends, the robbing of the nests, the collection of eggs, have
so lessened them in number that we are being over-run with insect life.
I only wish to read to you what our greatest American poet says to us all.

,

340 State Horticultural Society.

OUR BIRDS—LET US PROTECT THEM, THEY ARE OUR BEST FRIENDS.

Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams,
As in an idiot’s brain remembered words
Hang empty ’mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
Make up for the lost music, when your teams
Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
The feathered gleaners follow to your door?

What! would you rather see the incessant stir
Of insects in the windrows of the hay,
And hear the locust and the grasshopper
Their melancholy hurdy-gurdies play?
Is this more pleasant to you than the whir
Of meadow-lark, and her sweet roundelay,
Or twitter of little field-fares, as you take
Your nooning in the shade of bush and brake?

—Longfellow.

I can not omit the bees from those who reciprocate with us. They

take the honey from our flowers, but the return a thousand-fold for the

honey taken, by fertilizing our fruits and giving us good fruits, sound
fruits, perfect fruits, and fruits in greater abundance.

Listen then to the conclusion of the whole matter. If any people in

all the world should believe in reciprocity, preach it, practice it, teach it,

sing it, demand it, vote for it, pray for it, they are the fruit growers of

Kansas and Missouri.

APPLE ORCHARDS.

BREVITIES.

“COLORADO BEN.”

Ben Davis was a handsome youth, but dry as any chip,

For Nature gave him gaudy clothes, but let the flavor slip;

And underneath his brilliant coat, he wore a pumpkin heart,

A painted turnip, dry as bran, he went into the mart—

A hypocrite—a Pharisee—a fraud in royal guise.

Without a single drop of juice—a liar of great size.

And those who bit his bloodless flesh were prompt with gibe and curse,
They came with solid chunks of prose—the poets threw their verse.
Ben Davis heard their stinging words, they rankled in his mind,

Apple Orchards. 341

They cut him to his mealy heart; they forced him on to find
Some place where better quality might grow beneath his vest;
He followed Greeley’s old advice, and took himself ‘tout West.”
On Colorado’s sunny plains, where clouds are seldom seen,
Beside an irrigating ditch, he donned his coat of green.

The blood grew redder in his cheek, and, in the warm sunshine
Of mountain air, his flesh absorbed the flavor of the vine.

Ben Davis! Colorado Ben—apologies are due

From one who has, in former days, hurled ragged verse at you!
Wise hogs would hardly eat you for the second time back East,
But westward ho! With Baldwin you are reckoned at the least,

”

You “grew up with the country” where are mellow fruits—and men.
Now go up head! Good luck, old boy. Oh, Colorado Ben!

T am glad that ‘‘Ben” is making a good reputation ‘“‘out west.” We,
in Missouri have long since found that “Ben” is a good apple when grown
on our hills, and it has long been known that ‘Missouri Ben Davis”
are good to grow, good to keep, good to sell, are good to eat, good to cook,
good to evaporate.

L. A. Goopmay, See.

THE NEW APPLE BASIS.

The National Shippers’ Association has adopted as a standard barrel
the standard flour barrel, which is 17 1-8 inches diameter of head, 28 1-2
inches length of stave, and bulge not less than 65 inches outside measure-
ment. Also a weight basis of 150 pounds.

The grade No. 1 has been divided into two classes, A and B. Class
A apples must be not Jess than 2 1-2 inches in diameter and shall include
Ben Davis, Willow Twig, Baldwin, Greening and kindred varieties in
size. Class B must be not less than 2 1-4 inches in diameter, and shall
include Romanite, Russett, Winesap, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin and
kindred varieties. All No. 1 grade shall at time of packing be practically
free from action of worms or defacement of surface or breaking of skin;
shall be hand picked from the tree and of bright and normal color and
shapely form.

Note.—This is the size of the apple barrel established by law for the state of Missouri,—|SeEc,
APPLE EATERS’ LEAGUE.

I find so many places where good apples are never served that it

occurs to me that apple growers ought to organize an Apple Eaters’

342 State Horticultural Society.

League. Let’s pledge ourselves to call for apples in some form when-
ever we eat a meal at a public table. Organize our friends, and see if we
can’t get millions of people to keep calling for apples! Demand them
either raw, baked, or in sauce, pudding or pie. If the proprietor doesn’t
serve them, tell him he is a back number—“or words to that effect.”” Make
the heaviest run on raw apples, for that will encourage the use of the best
varieties. Just make yourself an agent for the advancement of American
apples—F rom Rural New Yorker.

SHAPING OF ORCHARD TREES.

1. There is considerable difference of opinion among good orchard-
ists as to high or low heading of trees, says H. E. Van Deman, in “Rural
New World.” The mest favor low heads, especially for the western
states. While many good orchards are headed four and more feet high in
Pennsylvania and farther east, there are many very good ones that are
not so. The general tendency among the best fruit growers is towards
lower heads in all sections. No rule can be laid down as to any specific
height at which to head all varieties of any one species, much less a com-
mon rule for all species, because there are such different styles of growth.
I like an apple tree to start its head from two to three feet from the
ground, and to send out its branches one after another on all sides of a
central stem as far up as they may be induced to do so. This divides the
strain caused by future crops. A Northern Spy tree, which is of upright
habit, should not be allowed to begin to branch as high as a Winesap or a

thode Island Greening, which are of spreading habit. It may be nec-

essary, im many cases, to head in some of the lowest branches, as their
tips are bent to or nearly to the ground in future years. But this is much
better than to have the tree too high.

The main reason given by most of those who contend for high
heads is that they may plough right up to the trunks. This I do not
wish to do after the first few years, for there is no benefit in doing it.
The feeding roots are not there, and the brace roots should not be dis-
turbed. No weeds of consequence can grow under the shade of a well-
branched tree. A wide cultivator will reach well under the limbs any-

Apple Orcharas. 343

way. The advantages are greater difficulty in gathering the fruit from
high trees than from low ones; greater distance of shade cast by them,
and more purchase by the wind. One must use good judgment in plant-
ing the different classes and varieties of fruit trees. He must know
his tree, what is its habit, therefore, its possible future. Pear
trees should be headed lower than apple trees, because they
generally have a more upright habit. Two feet is not far from
right to begin their branching. Peach trees should be - still

lower—about twenty inches is an approved height. Plums vary
greatly in style of tree. The Abundance and nearly all of the J apan
class are very upright, while the Burbank is very drooping. The other
classes of plums vary somewhat, too, but the native kinds are usually
spreading and the European upright. From twenty inches to three feet
is about the range for length of trunks, to be judged according to the
necessities. Cherries are very much the same as plums, the sour kinds
being of a spreading habit. Quince trees of all varieties that I know are
prone to bend towards the ground, and need to be headed about two feet
high, and then frequently pruned from below to keep the lower branches

off the ground.—Colman’s Rural World.
>

> 2h APP ERORCHARD:

“Tf we leave nature alone she will plant weeds and grass to pump
the soil. A timothy sod that will give two tons of hay per acre will
pump out of the soil curing the season five inches of water—equal to
more than 4,000 barrels of water per acre. This may be more water than
falls during August and September when the apple crop is most in need
of moisture. To replace this amount of water would require the time of
a man and a team a full month, even though the haul was only one-
fourth mile. To save moisture is one of the most important problems
of orcharding at present. We can not afford to divide the supply of food
and moisture with either weeds or grass. The trees need it all, and
must have it for the best results. We know that cultivation saves

moisture. A mulch on the surface of the soil prevents the wind and sun

v44 State Horticultural Society.

drying the soil. It has been shown by experiment that soil left undistur-
bed in the spring lost in a single week the equivalent of a good soaking
rain more than cultivated soil alongside. The loss of 1,500 barrels of
water per acre in a single week is an incident not to be counted upon in
successful orchard culture, when so simple a remedy as harrowing is at
hand. Less than a half a day’s work of man and team will prevent much
of the loss, but if the same man were set to work hauling water he could
not put it on, in a drying time, as fast as the sun and wind would take it
off. For practical irrigation a harrow beats a sprinkling cart ten to one.
One other Iesson the orchardist, as well as the gardener and farmer, needs
to learn, and that is that a mere sprinkle of rain, and even a heavy dew,

|

may dry the soil.”—From National Stockman and Farmer.

WoL) AN APPEE ORCHARD: PAY:

Editor “Rural world:” We find this question asked by Mr. A. J.
Kinnard, of Carroll Co., Mo., in the “Rural World” of March-9. I
wish to say that the question may be fairly answered both in the affirmative
and in the negative. My observation has proven to me that some orch-
ards pay well, extra well, better than anything else on the farm, while
others do not pay, and the money spent for the trees and time spent on
them is just so much money and labor thrown away.

Whether an orchard will pay or not depends upon the intelligence
of the planter. In order to make certain that it will pay, one must be
intelligent enough to select a suitable location, as to soil and distance from
railroad; to prepare the land before planting, to plant varieties that can
be depended on for a commercial orchard, to know where to buy from a
reliable firm at a fair price, to plant properly, and to cultivate and care
for the trees in a careful business like manner. If one who contemplates
planting an orchard wants to make sure that it will pay well, and does
not possess this information, he had better make the getting of it his first
move. He may do so in part by carefully reading such papers as the
“Rural World” and others devoted to this interest, joing our Horticul-
tural Society and attending its meetings. Or, still better, if he can do it,

take the short course in horticulture at Columbia, which is offered to all

Apple Orchards. 349

freely without money and without price. Not one single student who
has attended and taken this course can be found who will not testify that
what he learned is worth from five to ten times what it cost him.

T know of a few men in Missouri who are called upon through the mail
for such an amount of information on horticulture that if they would
charge for their work as do lawyers, they would soon grow rich. Why
should the successful fruit grower who knows how to make an orchard
pay, one who has given forty years of his life to the study of horticulture,
be expected crowd the very cream of all he has learned into a letter to
some stranger for the mere asking, and that often without a stamp to pay
postage ?

We horticulturists, the writer among the rest, are often blamed for
giving the rosy side of horticulture and always telling of the orchards
that pay and saying nothing of the many that do not pay. Now, in this
I propose to speak of some orchards that do not pay and of some kinds
that never can be made to pay.

One man that we are acquainted with bought 1,000 apple trees in
1890 for Ben Davis, planted and cultivated for four years, when they
bore a little fruit, and to his surprise and mortification he found that he
had 500 Whitney crab and 500 of a mixture of sweet and worthless
varieties, but not one Ben Davis in the lot. This was the one fatal mis-
take. The location, land, planting, cultivation and all else were all that
were needed to insure success. It was impossible to make this orchard
pay. It was grubbed out and replanted with Ben Davis from a home
nursery and responsible parties. It was a mistake that he did not do this
in the first place. Then, again, all men before they plant 1,000 apple
trees should be able to tell a Ben Davis from a crab apple tree by its
appearance.

Another orchard of sixty acres in Holt Co., Mo., planted about thirty
years ago, on fine land, and reasonably well cared for, never paid as well
as corn would have done. Why? ‘The trees came from the east. The
varieties were the Domine, Northern Spy, Baldwin and many others all
unsuited to the west for a commercial orchard. In fact, there are many
similar orchards, but fortunately they are smaller.

I have noticed a number of orchards in south Missouri where the oak
grubs are growing up thick all over them. These will never pay.

346 State Horticultural Society.

I was called upon to visit an orchard of 1,000 trees planted a few
years ago in Holt county. The trees were bought from a traveling man
who sold them for hardy, budded, ironclad, Simon pure stock at the
low price of $240 for the 1,000 trees. The buyer, poor fellow, never
knew whether he was cheated in the varieties, for they all died before
fruiting, in spite of their ironclad proclivities. This orchard never paid!

I know of many other orchards that have been planted with good
trees and good varieties that were left to make their way among rabbits,
borers, mules, calves and other stock, also weeds and grass that have

never paid and never will.
N. F. Murray.
Oregon, Mo.

MY GRANDFATHER'S ORCHARD.

My grandfather’s orchard! Ah, would I could see it

As when in my childhood I climbed its dear trees,

And tasted its treasures so fragrant and luscious,

And fitted each fancy to certainly please.

In springtime its branches with flowers were laden,

And promised each palate exactly to suit,

When old Time had wrought, with his wonderful magic,
The strange transformation from flower to fruit.

The yellow June Eatings, so mellow and juicy,

The Redstreaks, so pungently acid, for pies,

Seek-No-Furthers, and Russets, and Pearmains, and Greenings,
Spice Sweetings and Spies, I in memory prize,

Each name calls up visions, both pleasant and tender,

Of scenes that have forever passed from my sight,

Of fair summer days and long evenings of winter,

Of tasks done by day, and of frolics by night.

In autumn we gathered the apples with gladness,

And stored them in boxes and barrels away.

We buried our teeth in their fresh juicy crispness;

And thought the fruit harvest was nothing but play.
Dear trees! That they loved us we never could doubt it:
They ministered both to our fancies and needs.

Their beauty rejoiced us; we ate of their apples,

Our fortunes we told with the parings and seeds.

Hesperide’s gardens could not have been fairer,

Nor sweeter to taste their famed apples of gold;

Fond love grants a charm to whatever it touches,
That safe from Time’s withering touch doth enfold.
So grows in my heart my loved grandfather’s orchard,
With blossoms and fruits ever fragrant and gay,
While birds in the branches are caroling sweetly,

And beneath them are children forever at play.

—Ladies’ Home Jourual.

Apple Orchards. 347

ALL ABOUT APPLES.

The oldest, the largest, the richest, the best,
Whether grown in the East, or grown in the West,
For cider or jelly, sauce, puddings or pies,

The big red apples, the yellow cheeked apples,

Are the King of all fruits which the market supplies.

ORCHARDING AS A BUSINESS.

Written for Poultry, Fruit and Garden.

Orcharding is a word that has not been known in its full meaning until
of late years, and especially so in the west. Not many years since if you
had told a person that you were going into the work of “‘orcharding” he
would hardly have known what you meant. To-day we have hundreds
of men who are “‘orcharding” in the truest and fullest sense of the word.
Years ago a person would have been thought wild who would plant an
orchard of 100 acres. To-day we find them by the hundreds over our
western country and many another who is planting 300 acres, 400 acres,
or perhaps even 1,000 acres. Now we are no more astonished when we
hear of some one planting two or three or more hundred acres of apple
or peach orchards. ‘The man now seems to go into it as a sort of business
just as any other business man goes into his business.

This matter of “orcharding” has also become a favorite and sure plan
for the investment of a few hundred or thousand dollars for safe keeping
and sure returns.

No person can make a mistake in purchasing the cheap lands in
Missouri all along our creeks, streams or rivers, where they are now mostly
covered with a forest growth. Take these lands and chop, clear, burn
off the brush or timber and plant to orchard trees. No person need fear
that the cheap lands of Missouri will ever be any less in price than at this
very time. Careful selection of some of these lands for future orchards
and prepared in the proper manner for orchard growing will bring their
owners two, three, five times the money spent on them if it be done in a
legitimate manner and planted with the proper varieties. These cheap
lands will be worth in a few years threefold the purchase price, and if
planted in orchards will pay a wonderfully big per cent on the invest-
ment.

348 State Horticultural Society.

“Orcharding” means in its broadest sense the growing of apple
orchards, pear orchards, peach, plum or cherry orchards in such quantities
as to make it a business for the person who understakes it. The orchard-
ist should be a grower of all these fruits, so that he can supply his ecus-
tomers with what they want and when they want it. He will have a
sufficient quantity of apples so that he can supply a firm with a lot of
apples every week during the winter, and, if possible, far into spring.

Apple orcharding means then the growing of large quantities of
apples for the wholesale buyer, or the dealer, or the grocer, or the family,
or all combined. He wants then, first, a proper location, suitable soil,
the right climate in order to attempt the growing of apples in a com-
mercial way. In some vicinities you find the elevation above the sea 1,000
to 1,500 feet, and the correct location, where there are plenty of valleys
to draw off the cold air and protect the fruit from destruction by late
frost in spring or severe cold winter.

Here you will find the suitable soil that gives the best of color, the
choicest in quality, the finest of texture and the greatest in quality of
any of our apples, of any place in all this broad land of ours. Missouri
offers untold advantages to the one who will go up and possess them.
Here you will find the most desirable climate for the production of these
fruits in abundance, perfection and beauty.

The elevation, the location, the soil, the climate, then, are what we
want, and if this soil of Missouri, that is so rich in all tree growth material,
in the iron that colors the fruit, in the potash that makes the wood, then
we need not fear to so locate, so plant, so cultivate and so gather of these
beautiful and pure and good fruits, that it will gladden the heart and
give health, and dollars will line the pockets of the apple grower.

What we will do individually may be to follow somewhat the plan
that we havealways followed inall our business, a steady, earnest, continual
at it. ‘To-day we find one thing succeeds best, to-morruw another; this
year one variety or one class of fruits may be our success, another year
we may find that the same fruit or vegetable would prove a failure; to-
day proves one fact, to-morrow disproves it. Seven years ago I advised
a friend to plant out forty acres of apples and ten acres of peaches; last
year if his trees had all been peach, he said he should have made enough
to pay for the entire place. One year I had such a bountiful crop of

Apple Orchards. 349

pears and secured such good prices that I wished all my trees were pear
trees. But a few years later the pear trees all blighted, and perhaps next
year my friend may have no peaches.

What we must do is to plod along with the best knowledge we can
obtain each year, and profit by it, do the best we can, every duty and
every work thoroughly and the will to do will make the success a sure one.

In spite of the wonderful success of special crops at certain times it
is not wise to go too largely into any one thing exclusively, because if a
failure comes it will be our all that fails. Better have the will to do a
little of all things that can be done well and without conflict. All kinds
of small fruits that succeed well and will give employment the whole
year round seems to be the safest and sure one to success. If you have
the will to do you need not fail.

I wonder when this subject comes to me, what we will do, if we are
as slow to learn of this change of times, and seasons, and customs, and
business, as were the people here at the close of the war. I wonder if
we begin to understand that we must adapt ourselves to this new order
of things, and do twice the amount of work for one-half the pay. I# not,
then we fail to realize the questions, and times, and demands that are
staring us in the face.

When I located at Westport, over twenty-five years ago, there came
to my grounds every day an old gentleman (riding upon his little pony),
of the times, and customs, and manners, and business of before the war.
He looked on in disgust at my planting berries, and vines, and trees, and
evergreens, and his continual advice to me was that “‘you will never make
a cent out of all this work and nonsense. I have been here forty years
cutting down just such things as you are planting. Go and raise hogs
and mules, and cattle and corn.” He never came to realize, to the day of
his death, that it was a new era of things, that the old times had passed
away, never more to return. He died mourning the good old times, and
was continually repeating that town, and country, and people were going
to destruction as fast as possible..

So, I think, when we hear the complaints and fault-finding, and
recurrence to old times, and old prices, and old profits, and old successes,
if we are not as blind to the changes of our times at the close of the war

in many parts of our state.

390 State Horticultural Society.

What we will do is to take these questions, and times, and seasons,
and changes, and go at them with the same vim that we did ten, fifteen,
twenty or thirty-five years ago. What will we do? Ask the young man
of twenty or twenty-five years. He never grieves over old times, but
with all his energy, and earnestness, and enthusiasm, he works with con-

sciousness of nothing but success.
L. A. Goopman.

Westport, Mo.

A STREAM IN AN APPLE ORCHARD.—IS IT A BENEFID?

Editors Country Gentleman:

I am going to present what may be called a study in fruit raising
that ought to draw out other notes on the subject, from which it is quite
possible a great amount of information on this peculiar condition of things
will be derived. My old home in Otsego county is not the fruit growing
district that western New York is. The winters are too cold, and the
season is not so long. I think the soil is well enough adapted to the
growth of fruit trees, but the cold winter and slow summer prevent the
proper ripening of the wood, and so thestand of the most hardy and vigorous
sorts is not always what it should be. I recall an attempt to raise peach
trees, which succeeded well as far as growth was concerned, but cold
weather found the leaves on the trees just as green and vigorous as they
had been in midsummer. Of course the winter froze the trees to death.

About forty years ago, a neighbor planted a row of apple trees in a
very peculiar position. A small stream ran through a field a few feet
from the road fence, which was a stone wall. The strip of land between
the water and the fence was not worth plowing, and so apple trees were
set on it. To keep the small boy and the traveling public from temp-
tation, the Northern Spy was selected. This variety is a very shy bearer
in that district, and the success of the venture is all the more apparent on
that account.

A late visit to the old home finds this same row of apple trees the
wonder, fairly, of the neighborhood. On the same farm is what was at

one time a very productive orchard, but I am told that it does not now

Apple Orchards. dol

Legin to bear with the one row of trees, protected on the north by the wall
and fed from the south by the stream. These trees bear a crop practically
every year and of the finest fruit. They are never cultivated and never
fertilized. So far as appears they enjoy no special advantage except
such as is derived from the running water into which some of the roots of
each tree must grow. It is true that the stream runs close to the farm
barn, and may obtain some of the juices of the yard, but it certainly does
not get enough to color the water. From what appears, there seems to be
an almost complete change of climate produced on that narrow strip of
land by the fence and the stream, or more likely, the stream almost alone.

I have not read any expert advocacy of this sort of culture of apple
trees. We have been given to suppose that rich, deep, but comparatively
dry soil was the best for fruit trees of all sorts. In the case before us I
am convinced that the presence of the stream, being, as it is, slightly
below the level of the little ridge on which the trees stand, insures good
drainage as well as constant irrigation, and that the roots of the trees are
some how trained to act in a double capacity, some of them reaching out
for the water and others for what must be had from the dry soil.

If this supposition is correct, and the chance success can be repeated,
we ought to see in all parts of the country our small streams lined with
double rows of fruit trees. I am not at all sure that, in level districts,
especially with clay soil to hold the water, the experiment could be ex-
pected to succeed, for the conditions noted are very different from any-
thing of that sort. The soil is essentially gravelly, with no clay, and the
descent is sufficient to produce a swift current. It is also quite likely
that the water runs fast enough to insure a bed coutaining more or less
stone, as such is the rule in that section. This stone is to the south of the
row of trees, and ought to warm and quicken the soil considerably.

JOHN CHAMBERLAIN.
Erie county, N. Y.

NATIONAL APPLE GROWERS’ MEETING.

“Methods of Field Work” was introduced by L. K. Sutton. Under
this head a variety of subjects were discussed, special attention being
given to proper lines to pick and pack. Mr. Beckwith thought that most

302 State Horticultural Society.

people made the mistake of picking too soon. He also said that two
pickings of a tree is preferable, the outside of a tree being first picked
and leaving time for the inside fruit to color, this being particularly true
of the Ben Davis. Mr. Hendrickson agreed with this opinion and added
that apples should not be left to sweat under the trees but should be
barreled and put into cold storage as soon as possible. ‘The subject of
too early picking had not been considered by many of the members and
nearly every member had some question to ask or some valuable experi-
ence to give. Mr. Cummings, of Portland, Me., introduced the follow-
ing resolution:

“Resolved:—That the National Apple Shippers’ Association, in con-
vention assembled, hereby respectfully request the receivers of American
and Canadian apples in the city of Liverpool, Eng., to adopt an invariable
rule of allowing no rejections from apples once catalogued and sold in
the auction room, and the secretary of this association is hereby directed

to mail a copy of this resolution to each receiver of sail goods in said city
at an early date.”

In support of this resolution Mr. Cummings related his experience
in witnessing auction sales in Liverpool. Mr. Forster, of New York, and
Mr. Peterson and Mr. Shuttleworth also discussed the resolution, the last
named being of the opinion that rejections are few. Mr. Fred Pritchard,
of Liverpool, was called upon and thanked Mr. Cummings for the trib-
ute he paid to the integrity of the Liverpool brokers. He stated the
difficulties in the way of correcting the abuses complained of. He drew
a comparison between the broker of to-day and the time when he first
entered the business. He said that the buyers in England now dictate
terms to receivers and brokers somewhat as the members of this
association dictate terms to farmers. He did not see how the passage
of the resolution could help matters. He thought no apple shipper’s
education was complete without a visit to England.

Mr. Pritchard moved as a matter of courtesy that a copy of the reso-
lution be sent to the secretary of the Fruit Buyers’ Association of Liver-
pool, and stated that its object was to drive the disreputable houses out
of business and had the support of a large part of the trade of Chicago.—
Report from Fruit Trade Journal.

Apple Orchards. 300

PLANTING BETWEEN TREES.

When one is planting a new apple orchard, we think he can scarcely
do better than to plant the spaces between the trees with the bush fruits,
raspberries, blackberries and currents, as the cultivation given these fruits
will also be such as is best adapted to apple trees, and we would say to
pear trees also.

The manuring given the small fruits to keep them thrifty and pro-
ductive will not be too much for the best growth of the trees, and will
not make too rank a growth of wood, as might be the case if root crops
were put in and heavily manured, while the plants will not rob the tree
roots of moisture or keep the ground between the rows too much shaded
and too cool, as would a grain crop.

A number of good crops of these berries could be taken before it
would be necessary to remove them, or before the trees would get in
bearing and occupy the whole land. In fact, we have seen them after
the trees were quite large, and when a part of them were much shaded
by the trees, and the owner liked it because, as he said, it prolonged the
season of bearing for the small fruits, those in the shade being made
nearly two weeks later by their position. They were kept well manured,
enough being put on for them and for the trees, and the grass and weeds
were kept down.—Am. Cultivator.

HISTORY OF THE YORK IMPERIAL.

During forty years of fruit culture I have become familiar with the
characteristics of many varieties of fruits, and of no one has there been a
greater diversity of opinion than the apple generally known as the York
Imperial. This variety originated in the neighborhood of York, Pa.,
and was introduced by Jonathan Jessop early in the nineteenth century.

Mr. Jessop was born in North Carolina in 1711, being the son of
Thomas Jessop and Ann Matthews, Quakers.

He established the first nursery in York county and was the first
fruit grower to recognize the value of the York Imperial. This was a
chance seedling on the farm of a Mr. Johnson, and for several years after

H—23

304 State Horticultural Society.

the tree came into bearing the fruit, from its unattractive appearance in
the fall, was not gathered. Mr. Johnson was an invalid and spent most
of his time during the day sitting at a window watching the country
people as they passed to and fro on their trips to York.

He had noticed the school boys of York visit this particular apple
tree in the spring for several years, kick away the leaves, fill their pockets
with apples, returning weekly until late in the spring. On one occasion he
sent a farm hand to secure some of the apples and to his surprise Mr.
Johnson found them to be of a bright red color and of good quality—
when other late-keeping varieties of his orchard had been wilted and
insipid.

Calling Mr. Jessop in as he pased on his way to his nursery, Mr.
Johnson presented him with some of the specimens that had lain on the
ground all winter. Mr. Jessop, impressed with the good keeping quali-
ties of this variety, propagated it under the name of Johnson’s Fine Win-
ter. The merits of this variety not being generally known, Mr. Jessop
propagated many trees for which he had no sale and when they became
too large for nursery stock he pulled them up and threw them in a ravine
near the Baltimore and York turnpike. The farmers who _at-
tended the York market, on returning home filled their wagons with
these trees and planted them on their lands. Mr. Jessop being informed
of this fact by a farmer whose lands adjoined the nursery, replied: ‘Well,
if they will not buy trees to plant I am glad that they will take those for
nothing.” By this means York county led the way in propagating this
variety, which» has been worth thousands and thousands of dollars annu-
ally.

A basket of this variety of apples having been sent to A. J. Down-
ing, America’s most noted pomologist, by Mr. Jessop, their receipt was
acknowledged by a letter from Mr. Downing in which he said: “It is
the Imperial of late keepers, and as it originated near York, I would sug-
gest York Imperial as an appropriate name.” Johnson’s Fine Winter
and York Imperial are one and the same variety. After Mr. Jessop’s
death the nursery was taken charge of by his son, Edward. Mr. Edward
Jessop had in his possession the letter from A. J. Downing from which
the above extract was obtained by the writer of this article. In 1863
after a lengthy search I located the stump of the original tree in a corner

Pears. oop

of a worm fence, all the trees of the adjacent orchard having been cut
down and the stumps removed.

In the next article I shall fairly discuss the merits and weak points
of this variety, and I kope to be able to reconcile the different opinions
that have appeared in your valuable paper from time to time concerning

the value of this variety.
S. B. Herces.
York county, Pa. .

PEARS. |

ORCHARD LANDS OF LONG AGO.

The orchard land of long ago!

O, drowsy winds, awake and blow
The snowy blossoms back to me
And all the buds that used to be!
Blow back again the grassy ways,
Of truant feet, and lift the haze
That trail their tresses in the seas
Of grain that float and overflow
The orchard lands of long ago.

Blow back the melody that slips

In lazy laughter from the lips

That marvel much that any kiss

Is sweeter than the apple is.

Blow back the twitter of the birds;

The lisp, the thrills and the words

Of merriment that found the shine

Of summer time a glorious wine

That drenched the leaves that loved it so,
In orchard lands of long ago.

O, memory, alight and sing

Where rosy -bellied pippins cling

And golden russets glint and gleam

As in the old Arabian dream—

The fruits of that enchanted tree

The glad Aladdin robbed for me!

And drowsy winds, awake and fan

My blood as when it overran

A heart ripe as the apples grow,

In orchard lands of long ago!
—James Whitcomés Riley.

306 State Horticultural Society.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE PEAR BLIGHT.

Pear blight microbes are found in abundance in diseased tissue, can
be cultivated, and. the disease reproduced in healthy trees. They can
not be killed by cold, but die at a temperature of very hot water.. The
host plants are the pear, apple, crab, quince, sarvis berry, ete. The
microbes move en masse from one cell to another, breaking down the
cellular walls, passing in millions through and between. In blossom
blight the microbes appear in the nectar and penetrate the nectaries,
multiply and go down the stem. Bees visit the blossoms and carry the
microbes from flower 1o flower. The disease spreads with great rapidity,
only the brief time of blooming cuts this short.

Spreading through the fruit spurs, these are killed to the bough.
The virus when it appears outside can be carried only by sepcial means

birds and man. Even after blossoming, there is possibility of infection
of the green tips. The disease may also start in tender growing bark.
In artificial infection in the field it was never spread except where punct-
ures existed. When started in tender twigs, it spreads downward till it
meets cells too firm to be affected. From the fruit spurs it will spread
up and down, girdling the branch. If the woody cylinder is unin-
jured, the branch may live a year or more; but hot, thunderous weather
causes the microbes to overflow into the cylinder and the branch collapses
suddenly. The microbes die if they can not spread.

If any of them live till fall, they may live over till sap runs in spring
and spread rampantly. The hold-over blight will spread upward and the
mummy virus run down, ready to spread the infection. The blight varies
according to the tree. Some varieties are easily attacked while others
are more or less immune.

Treat the disease always as infectious. Watch every evidence and
destroy at once. With fruit spurs low down and sprouts on the trunk,
the blight gets quickly into the center of the tree. We must train and
prune our trees differently. To fight the disease, the vase form of top is
better than the pyramidal. Po produce the former, grow three shoots on
the stem, cut back and grow two on each of these, cut back and
grow two more and so on. ‘This produces a low head broad

at the top, + with fruit spurs above and smooth limbs below.

Pears. Bol

This prevents the rapid spread of the disease and aids in cutting it out
when it gets a foothold. The pyramidal form may also be modified to
carry out this plan. Prevention is better than fighting —W. B. Wait,
in Denver Field and Farm Fruit Growers’ Journal.

GROWING QUINCES.

Quinces do not, as a rule, do well everywhere; but there are very
few places where they will not fruit. They occupy but little room and
their fruit is always in demand. It is especially fine when canned.

The peculiar flavor of the fruit is strong enough to flavor many times
its own weight of other fruit preserves when used for that purpose.

The quince and the asparagus plant enjoy the peculiarity of being
able to assimilate more salt than any other two members of the vegetable
family thus far brought under cultivation. If manure from the pig sty
is used about quince trees they seem to do very well, but one of the best
fertilizers that I have seen is common salt, about one quart for each tree,
worked well into‘the soil. They need fertilizing every year. They
should also be pruned.—Ira Graber, in Farm, Field and Fireside.

PRUNING QUINCE TREES.

I have a one-year-old Meech quince orchard. I did not trim it when
I set it out last spring. The trees have sent out long, spindling branches.
How shall I trim it and when? Shall I cut it back pretty well so as to
insure shapely trees, or must I only thin out and remove dead branches ?
I want to do the best thing for the future welfare of my orchard.—A.
A. T., Glendola, N. J.

The long straggling branches of the quince trees should be headed
back to such distance as will insure moderately compact heads to the
trees. About March or April will be a suitable time to do the work.
The quince does not make a tall, stately tree, but is more bush-like than
most fruit trees, and is, in many cases, difficult to train into satisfactory
form. Quince curculios are so abundant in many sections, that it is
necessary to jar the trees as plum trees are jarred, in order to catch them,

398 State Horticultural Society.

and it is usually very profitable treatment.. The little knotty depres-
sions on the fruit are largely the work of these insects. In case jarring
is done, the trees must be trained with bodies tall enough, and with suf-
ficient room under the branches to spread the catcher.—H. E. Van
Deman, in R. N. Yorker.

STONE FRUITS.

PEACH CROP GLEANINGS FROM JU. S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE.

The blizzard of February, 1899, and the intense cold weather ac-
companying it have played havoc with the peach industry throughout the
country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is receiving reports from
all sections, and the consensus of opinion is that there will be no luscious
p2aches next summer. Where growers get off with only the loss of their
crop they consider themselves lucky. Mr. Hale says that practically
every peach tree in Connecticut is killed, with the exception of one
variety, Hill’s Chili, which has suffered little injury, even to the fruit
buds. It, however, is a poor peach, being rather dry, and is not used
ror eating purposes when other varieties are to be had.

It is not the impression, however, of the pomologists of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture that the Geogria peach trees are dead, as reports
from Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky indicate that while every peach
bud has been killed, the trees are not generally fatally injured.

The fruit industry of northern Michigan received a terrible blow.
Not only the peach trees, but in many cases the hardier apple trees, suc-
cumbed. The mercury stood below zero for two weeks, and the ground
was frozen four feet deep. Never has such destruction swept the lake
region since the great freeze of 1874-75, when every peach tree was
killed. A trustworthy grower near Ludington, Mich., reports to the

Stone Fruits. 359

Department that all his Ben Davis, Baldwin, Early Harvest and Sweet
Apples, some of them trees twenty years of age, have been killed.
Northern Spies proved more hardy and are alive, though their fruit is
killed. |

Apparent relief in a small way comes to lovers of peaches from a
few sections, one in northern Pennsylvania and in the Niagara region of
New York, where the thermometer registered only about ten degrees
below zero, and where it is believed that peach buds have not been greatly
injured, but unfortunately these sections do not contain any great number
of peach trees, though around Niagara there are a good many plums,
cherries and pears.—F rom Fruit Trade Journal.

PEACH TREES.

Regarding the best treatment of autumn budded peach trees that
have had their wood frozen half way to the ground by the severe winter,
I would follow the plan last suggested of cutting away the injured wood
now, and then treating the trees in the ordinary manner, by cutting back
to within one or two inches of the bud as soon as growth begins. I would,
however, prefer not to transplant the trees until they shall have made one
season’s growth where they now stand. It is a fact amply demonstrated
that to leave injured wood on a tree will weaken the growth of the unin-
jured parts. If the injured wood is cut away before growth begins,
however, the remaining parts will make vigorous growth, since the root
system retains its normal vigor and has a reduced top to supply with sap.
A vigorous root system will also stimulate growth in a part of the injured
wood if it is not actually dead. If the injured wood is left on, the
energy of the root system will be spread over too large an area, in at-
tempting to revivify the whole weakened top and consequently all parts
of the tree will suffer. I think a great many are exaggerating the injury
done our peach trees during the past winter. Some are even grubbing
out trees that might be saved. If properly cut back, most of the peach
trees of the state may not only be saved, but will be all the better in two
years for the renewal process that will result from the severe winter
pruning. Peach trees that are injured and have not been pruned should

360 State Horticultural Society.

be cut back now. Injured nursery stock, properly cut back just after
the freeze and planted in our forcing house for experiment, has already
made six or eight inches of new growth to each branch.—J. C. Whitten,
in Rural World; Horticulturist, Mo. Exp. Station.

SETTING OUT PEACH TREES.

After the ground is put in the proper shape to receive the trees I

take a two-horse plow and set a stake at the opposite end, where the row
is to be; next, measure from where I started in for the next row; have a
good steady team and plow straight to the first stake; then measure off the
next row to come back on and keep on so until you get each row marked
with one furrow.

When this is done plow another furrow, throwing it the opposite
from the first. This will make quite a ditch, or dead furrow, as we
often call them. Then take what we call a winged shovel plow and a
large steady horse and trace each furrow. This will make a place deep
enough and wide enough for the trees. Next, mark it crosswise by draw-
ing a chain across the furrows. This will make a mark sufficiently
plain to designate where the tree is to be set.

The field being prepared, take a few trees in your arm at a time—
not many, as the wind and sun will dry them out too much—and have a
man to assist you. Step up to the cross in the furrow and let the assistant
hoe enough dirt in the ditch at the cross to make it the right depth to set
the tree, and while he is making this preparation you keep your shears
in hand and prepare the tree, by cutting off all but a few limbs. Cut
the limbs that remain from one-half to two-thirds off and cut the roots
off quite short. Then set them in the prepared bed, and hoe enough
dirt on them to cover the roots, shaking the tree up and down so as to
sift dirt between the roots. Tramp the dirt as solid as you can and hoe
a small hill of dirt on the solid dirt around the tree and leave that loose.

When all the trees are thus treated straddle each row with a double
tender with large shovels on and throw the ditch full. The planting is
then complete for small trees. If the trees are too large for double
tender, take a shovel plow and one horse.

Stone Fruits. 361

I wish to say in regard to peach trees, cut tle roots very short and
all the limbs or branches off close to the tree, and the top off so it will be
only a stub from fourteen to twenty inches high.

By so doing you can make a nice low top, but when the shoots begin
to start you must keep close watch of them and cut off all that starts,
except where you want a branch, and take pains that you do not start two
branches from the same height, or it will make a forked tree and be easily
split.—A. Schultz, of Indiana, in Farm, Field and Fireside.

EXPERIENCE WITH FROZEN PEACH TREES.

After the hard freeze of last February we examined our trees care-
fully to ascertain the extent of damage and to make up our minds as to
the proper treatmertt. After a thorough examination of the trunks and
branches we concluded that there was enough life and vitality left for them
to recuperate if properly headed in and thinned out. So we cut back
and thinned out all such limbs as the trees could spare without destroying
their form, thus reducing the evaporation that would occur later on.

The results are handsome tops with healthy, vigorous growth that
has every prospect of setting a good supply of fruit buds for the next
season’s crop. This is as we expected, but there was a time during the
efforts of the trees to survive that we were about ready to go back on our
own judgment. This critical period was when the first foliage had
exhausted the food stored the previous season, and owing to the enfeebled
condition of the tree the root growth could not come to the support of the
first leaves in time to save them. This was when they looked to be dying.
The leaves turned yellow and came off in showers, and we almost lost
confidence in our judgment as to frozen peach trees and how to treat
them. It does not require much effort to make us see the mistakes of
ethers, but to have to acknowledge the error of our own ideas is quite a
different thing.

In conclusion will say that we are well pleased with our trees and
hope there are many others who have orchards that are showing up as

362 State Horticultural Society.

well. The orchard referred to belongs to H. A. Aldrich, of Neoga, Ill.
Hoping the Ozark people and country are prospering, I will close.—
A. C. Skinner, of Neoga, Ill., in the Southwest.

THE PEACH ORCHARD.

The peach orchard, by J. M. Russell, developed the fact that in
twelve years they had raised eight crops. In the last twelve years the
crop has never been destroyed by weather subsequent to Jaunary 15.
That is, if the fruit buds safely reached the middle of January, they had
always raised a larger or smaller crop. For commercial orcharding Mr.
Russell prefers high land, and if desirable to have windbreaks, advised
to plant more rows of peach trees to act as such. Best varieties are:
Alexander, Early Rivers, Hale’s Early, Russell’s No. 1, Coolridge Fa-
vorite, Champion, Crosby, Hill’s Chili, Wager and Wright. He is
experimenting with Triumph, and hopes it will do well. He has not yet
tried Bokhara No. 8, but hears good reports of it. In discussing the
reasons why forty acres of six-year-old peach orchard gave no fruit and
an older orchard five miles south set a heavy crop, the thought was
brought out that heavy October rain prevented the ripening of wood and
fruit buds, rendering them susceptible to succeeding cold. Where Oc-
tober rainfall was light or absent peach trees ripened perfectly and set a
full crop. Peach wood and fruit buds should be perfectly ripened in
the fall of the year— Orange Judd Farmer.

MORRILL ON PEACH CULTURE.

Roland Morrill describes his method of growing peaches in his suc-
cessful orchards at Benton Harbor, Mich., as follows:

He cultivates the peach tree by pushing it ahead as rapidly as pos-
sible, fertilizing none until the bearing years have been reached. The
ground beneath the trees is cultivated by plow, harrow or weeder, as
often as from thirty-five to fifty times a season, the weeds are kept clear
and there is abundant opportunity for moisture. The consequence is

Stone Fruits. 363

that the tree matures within three years to be be from ten to twelve feet
high with a body five to six inches through and about twenty inches in
height at the trunk. The peaches from these trees can be picked easily,
most of them from the ground, and Mr. Morrill quoted one instance
where a ten-acre séction of trees eight years old, had netted him $11,000.
His illustrations showed the most vigorous pruning, and he said that after
the first three years he cut and trimmed out nearly two-thirds of the
growth of wood. Fertilization for the crop was of wood ashes and
ground bone, with a good surplus of ashes.—Fruit Growers’ Journal.

Ex-President J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Conn., is quoted as
saying of peach trees: “Medium sized trees, three or four feet high, are
best to plant, and they should be trees one year old. In fact, no nursery
ever delivered a two-year-old tree, though it is claimed that they do.”

CHERRIES.

Prof. F. A. Waugh gave some notes on cherries, gleaned from the
work of the experiment station and from trees sent out by the station.
He said that from the distribution of a miscellaneous lot of fruits, largely
of Russian varieties, much the larger part of the favorable reports re-
ceived were from the cherries. There were two reasons for this, both
significant. First, the Russian cherries are generally the best of the Rus-
sian fruits; and second, cherries as a class are better able to stand the
neglect of common farm-yard treatment than other fruits. Notes were
given on a large number of varieties, among which the following were
favorably mentioned: Morello, Montmorency, Brusseler, Braun, Bessa-
rabian, Schatten Amarelle and Wragg, the latter being possibly a syno-
nym of Morello. Others present had good success with Early Richmond,
Dyehouse and Olivet.—Country Gentleman’s report of Vermont Society.

364 State Horticultural Society.

SPROUTING CHERRY PITS.

Please let me know the best way to sprout plum, cherry and peach
_ pits. Jam in the nursery business on a small scale, and although I have
always put my seeds in beds in fall, have had trouble to get them to burst
in the spring.—H. M. K., Newville, Pa.

Our correspondent’s trouble rises perhaps from not having the seeds
moist enough in the seed-bed. If a seed-bed is too dry and not covered
by snow, so that the seeds simply freeze dry, the results are not likely to
he good. We advise stratifying the seeds in this case—that is, the pits
may be mixed with soil and put into a convenient box wherein they are
buried, box and all, in some situation where they will keep moist through
the winter and where they will freeze well. In the spring they can be
sifted out of the earth and planted, usually with success. The writer,
who generally handles a few such seeds, prefers to go over them by hand
in the spring and crack with a light hammer any pits which are net
sufficiently opened. This always gives the desired result.—Country

Gentleman.

SATSUMA PLUM.

Mr. Hale writes us interestingly as to the Satsuma plum. He says:

“The criticisms that have been made by many in relation to the
Satsuma plum not fruiting freely, have seemed to apply to young trees,
for we are all learning that, as the trees of this variety grow older, they
are inclined to become very productive, in some cases so much so as to
surpass nearly all others. It is a wonderful plum in its keeping and
shipping qualities, and nothing can compare with it for canning pur-
poses. I predict that, within a few years, Satsuma will-take a much
higher place in the opinion of orchardists that at the present time. Red
Negate or Red June, as they are one and the same, is also beginning to be
appreciated. It is almost as large and handsome as the Abundance, and
so much earlier as to prove very profitable in market, although of only
fair quality. The still newer Red May is fully as large and a week or
ten days earlier; while I have not eaten the fruit of it as grown in the

Stone Fruits. 3695

north, it is of fairly good quality as produced in the south. It is said to
be a seedling of the Abundance, which it somewhat resembles, although
far earlier—Rural New Yorker.

COMMERCIAL VALUE OF JAPAN PLUMS.—HARDINESS
COMPARED WITH PEACHES.

They Stand the Cold.—I am growing these plums in orchards quite
extensively in Connecticut and in Georgia, and am convinced that many
of the varieties have points of merit that will make them permanently
valuable orchard fruits in these two sections, but in the central Atlantic
states, say from south Philadelphia to South Carolina, they bloom
so early that they are often lable to be caught by spring
frosts. At the north they will stand a great deal more freezing
than peaches. I think it is safe to plant them anywhere where the mer-
cury does not go much below twenty-five degrees below zero. In my
orchards in Connecticut at this time, peach buds, even on the most hardy
varieties, are all killed, and while the plum buds are hurt somewhat, there
are more than enough left for abundant crops; probably very severe
thinning will have to be resorted to to secure full size fruit.

In the South.—In Georgia, the middle of February, after weeks of
warm weather, many of the plums coming out in bloom and peach trees
just showing the pink, peach buds entirely killed and trees badly injured,
yet enough buds were left alive on some of the varieties of Japan plums
so that there will be quite a little crop of fruit. or two or three years,
varieties like Red June, Abundance and Burbank have been shipped to
the northern markets from Georgia, and sold on an average twenty-five
per cent higher than peaches, with an increasing demand each year for
the fruit. In New England, they have been marketed for the last three
years to a considerable extent, have sold fifty per cent higher than peaches
in the same markets, and the demand has always been ahead of the
supply. They have thick, tough skins, and are not seriously injured by
the curculio. Trees will thrive on very light, thin soil, or on that quite
heavy and moist. The quality of the fruit is good, and they can be kept

366. State Horticultural Society.

in the market from one to two weeks after being picked from the tree, in
fair eating condition.

The Best Sorts—Red June, Abundance and Burbank are the most
satisfactory of the well-tested varieties. Satsuma needs more maturity
of tree before coming into full bearing, for while the first three named
will fruit freely two or three years after planting, Satsuma requires
about five. Of the newer sorts, Wickson is the largest and most attractive
in appearance, while the Hale is best in quality of all the Japans; but
these two varieties and the Satsuma are extra early bloomers, and on this
account, more liable to be caught by late frosts in spring than some of
the others. Of other well-tested sorts, Willard and Berckmans should
be rejected as far too poor in quality to be worthy of propagation. Ogon
and Normand, both yellow varieties, are vigorous and productive trees,
but not very high in quality. Chabot, sometimes known as ‘Yellow
Japan,” “Chase,” ete., is a late ripening plum of fine appearance and good
quality. The Gold is a small, weak-growing tree, with fruit somewhat
like the Ogon, only not so good in quality.

Many new varieties are being tested; probably some of them will
prove of greater value than those we already have, and an orchardist will
not go astray in planting the best ones here mentioned. Every one who
owns a family fruit garden in the central northern states makes a big
mistake if he does not have a good number of these trees on his grounds,
for the best of the Japan plums can be grown almost as cheaply and
abundantly as the most common apples.—From Rural New Yorker.

Grapes. 367

GRAPES.

GRAPE BULLETIN.

The following is a summary of the results of these studies:

1. The following varieties ripened in 1898, ahead of Moore’s Early,
Early Ohio, Champion, Green Mountain, Moyer, Hartford, Jewel, Ives,
Janesville, New Haven, Aminia and Brighton.

2. Among the best very early varieties for commercial planting,
judging from our own experience and the experience of practical grow-
ers, are: Green Mountain, Campbell’s Early, Jewel, New Haven, Aminia,
Brighton, Moore’s Early and Norfolk.

3. The grapes having the largest berry are: Columbian Imperial,
McPike, Eaton, Salem and Moore’s Early.

4. The Ozark is the most vigorous and productive variety we have
tested.

5. Among the most promising comparatively new, or little known
varieties are: America, Aminia, Brilliant, Campbell’s Early, Green
Mountain, Hicks, McPike, New Haven, Norfolk, Ozark, Rochester and
Rommel.

6. In our opinion more attention might profitably be given to the
growing and working up a demand for fine table grapes, especially the
earlier varieties. The demand for grapes of the best quality increases
as the consumers become acquainted with their merits, and acquire a taste
for them.

7. It pays to sack fine table grapes of most varieties, as it adds to
their appearance, and keeping qualities, thus increasing their value and
insuring ready sale at good prices. Those that are capable of self-fertili-
zation should be sacked while in blossom or before; those incapable of
self-fertilization should be sacked as soon as the fruit has set.

8. Those varieties which have descended from our native Aesti-
valis grape, or from the closely related Post Oak grape, are more healthy,

368 State Horticultural Society.

vigorous and drouth resisting and hold their fruit longer than other classes
of grapes in this section. They are also more prolific if we count simply
the number of berries set regardless of size. In some varieties of this
class, the berries attain very large size without diminishing the number
of berries in the cluster. Ozark is an example.

9. Varieties of the Labrusca class have the largest and handsomest
fruit, and produce most in quality, though not in number of grapes.
They sometimes suffer from the heat of summer.

10. The hybrid varieties between the American and European
grapes average highest in quality, though they lack the vigor, health and
drouth resisting capacity of our native grapes.

11. About sixty per cent of the varieties tested are capable of
perfect self-fertilization, that is, they will set fruit without the aid of
pollen from other varieties. The remaining forty per cent are not fruitful
unless pollenized by other sorts, and should be planted adjacent to strong
pollen-bearing sorts that flower at the same time.

The varieties most largely grown for profit in this state by those
who depend upon shipping to supply the ordinary demand are: Moore’s
Early, Worden and Concord. These standard sorts have been found to
succeed well on the station grounds.

The best table grapes combining fine quality with at least a fair
vigor and productiveness are: Green Mountain, New Haven, Aminia,
Brighton, Moore’s Early, Norfolk, Massasoit, Ideal, Diamond, Barry,
Rommel, Woodruff Red (finer in appearance than in quality), Lindley,
Challenge, Norton, Rochester, Jefferson, Agawam, Poughkeepsie Red,
Brilliant and Berckmans ripen in the order named.

Sacking grapes just after the fruit is fairly set, when grapes are
about as large as pin heads, improves the quality of some varieties, pro-
tects the fruit from rot and insects and makes the skin of the berry more
tender. Self-fertile varieties may be sacked before the bloom opens, and
the Green Mountain improved wonderfully in quality when so treated.
Although an early variety, where the Green Mountain was sacked before
the bloom opened the fruit remained on clusters till late in September.

In Aminia, Brighton, Lindley, Brilliant, Goethe and many other
sorts, we have varieties that are certainly as good as the California pro-
duct, picked green and shipped half way across the continent.

Grapes. 369

The present rapid introduction of new varieties, adapted to special
purposes, extends the grape season over a longer period, and adapts the
grape to a greater number of special purposes. The improvement in the
quality of cartain kinds renders the grape a more desirable dessert fruit.
These facts increase the possibilities of a much larger consumption of the
grape than now exists.

Some men make money by growing superior varieties and labeling
them “Concord.” The name suits the people; the improvement in quality
suits them better. Once they buy such grapes they become anxious to
secure this brand of “Concords” even at an advanced price.

Why not grow more of the best grapes; label them true to name;
educate the consumers to an honest appreciation of the merits of each
variety, as well as to the special purpose for which it is adapted, and thus
increase the demand for a larger grape product? There are people in
any market who want to buy good grapes, once they become acquainted
with them. Goethe has sold here for eight cents per pound, to the few
people who know its quality, when ordinary grapes were a drug in the

market at two cents a pound.

J.C. Wuirren.
Horticulturist State Agricultural College.

THE VINEYARD.

From the Planting to the Trellis.

Editor “Rural World:” In planting the grape vine, the variety
governs the distance apart for the vines. I will speak of the Worden and
Concord, two of the best well-known black grapes I know of. I plant
them in rows eight feet apart, and twelve feet apart in the rows.

The preparation of the soil should be deep, and thorough. Set the
rooted vines down to the last bud. Prune them back to about four buds
on the canes made while they were being rooted. If the soil is rich, and

H—24

3710 State Horticultural Society.

a rank growth of vine is expected the first year, let only two canes grow;
if soil is poor, and a feeble growth expected let only one cane grow.
Supply each vine with a stake seven feet tall. As soon as the vine starts
climbing tie it to the stake, rubbing off all side shoots or laterals, tie up
and prune after. Keep the vine climbing straight up the pole and allow
no growth wasted in surplus laterals. Cultivation should commence early
and be thorough. A single section of a fifty-tooth steel frame harrow,
using one horse, is a very convenient and suitable outfit with which to
keep the surface in good condition and surplus vegetation im check. Some
hoeing may have to be done to destroy such strong-rooted weeds that the
harrow will not tear up. Some weeding in the hill will also be necessary.

About the middle of June, if you like, plant the ground to cow peas,
the Whippoorwill being my favorite, on account of its bunchy habit of
growth. Keep the harrow going just the same, at least once a week
through the rows both ways. ‘There is a short period of time, all pea-
growers know, that will not do to harrow them, and this is from the time
they first come up until the third leaf appears. When the vines get too
rank for the harrow it is time to stop cultivation. When the peas ripen
they can be hand picked and saved for seed. The vines can be left on
the ground and serve a splendid purpose as mulch to prevent the winter
rains from robbing the surface soil of the fertility brought there by the
peas and the thorough cultivation.

The grape vines can go into winter just as they are. I had rather
prune as soon in the early part of winter as practicable; say as soon as the
wood is fully ripe. This pruning is simply cutting the canes back to
within two feet of the ground.

The Second Season.—Whether a trellis should be put up now or let
the vines run on the stakes depends on the richness of the soil and the
growth the vines are likely to make. Be that as it may, they will only
yield from about ten to thirty bunches of grapes near the ground. If
left on the stakes, cultivation can be more thorough, as we can go both
ways again.

I favor the stake plan for this year, letting from four to six canes
grow, pruning and tying up as before. Rag strings will serve for tying;
they are soft and do not cut the canes. ‘The curl of the vines will soon
catch and help support them. J have Concord vines now at this stage,

Small Fruits. Sill

the year’s growth measuring twenty feet. Think of what a wire trellis
they will cover; twelve feet apart is none too far. I will use three No.
11 smooth wires, the top one eight feet from the ground, the bottom one
two feet. This leaves me seventy-two square feet of trellis for each vine,
besides the twenty-four inches below the first wire, which is often used
by the vines that yield grapes. A vine like this will produce the third
year from twenty-five to fifty pounds of grapes, at five cents per pound.
In the former estimate my three hundred vines would yield me $375
and in the latter $750. The land they occupy is much less than an acre.

E. W. Guer,

Farmington, Mo.

SMALL FRUITS.

IMPROVING STRAWBERRIES BY SELECTION.

TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT POSSIBLE?

We often have questions from our fruit-growing readers who ask
whether it is possible to improve varieties of strawberries by selection.
Most strawberry growers seem to select their plants for setting, from
matted rows, picking out vigorous plants only, of course knowing little
about their pedigree. Some growers appear to think that the superiority
of certain plants is due chiefly to their environment, that is, the culture
and care which they have received. Our own observation seems to show
that no plant or berry can be induced to continue to improve after it has
reached ideal treatment, that is, after it receives just the food and mois-
ture and other conditions that it needs. Then it seems to be at its best,
and no amount of selection can improve it. Unless you give these best
plants the best of care, they will deteriorate, and other plants taken from
them will not be equal to them, unless they are equally well cared for.
In other words, with the strawberry and most other fruits, is it not more
a question of care and feeding than of pedigree?

302 State Horticultural Society.

Largely by Care and Feeding.—It is very difficult to answer the
questions contained in your inquiry concerning the improvement of straw-
berries by means of selection. Two things are concerned in the problem:
First, variation; second, selection, to perpetuate those varieties. Varia-
tions are induced by the environments in which the plants are grown;
that is, good cultivation, poor cultivation, rich soil, poor soil, tend to make
the plants different. As a matter of practice, we desire only those dif-
ferences or variations which have been produced by good soil and good
treatment. When these variations once appear, by selecting young
plants from the old plants which please us most, we perpetuate that par-
ticular variation. I should say, therefore, in answer to your question,
that strawberries are improved both by causing them to vary in the
desired directions, and then by selecting the variations which arise. In
my opinion, the variations are induced very largely by the care and feed-

ing which the plants receive.

Pror, L. H. Barney,
Cornell University.

Strawberry Bud Variation Sight.—Bud variations have been shown
to be common with certain plants, and to be often quite marked. This
is true of apples, peaches and plums. With such fruits, improvement by
bud selection is altogether feasible. I do not mean to recommend this
means of originating new varieties in general; but it is well worth atten-
tion in keeping standard varieties up to standard. With the strawberry,
bud variation is very slight, I suspect; at any rate, I never noted any
special cases of it. In this connection, I was struck by a remark made
by Mr. W. T. Macoun before the recent meeting of the Quebec Pomo-
ogical Society. He said that, among a large number of strawberries in
the variety test at the Central (Canada) Experiment Farm, last year, the

old Wilson’s Albany ranked first.
F. A. Wau,

Vermont.

M. Crawford’s Opinion.—My opinion is that far too much has beea
claimed for selection. It is one of those theories than can neither be
proved nor disproved. On all such questions, men are likely to have
very positive opinions. In looking for evidence in support of either side,

a

Small Fruits. ato

one is very likely to see just what he wants to see. The man who
believes that a horse chestnut carried in his pocket keeps off the rheu-
matism, or that a horseshoe over the door keeps off spooks, can not be
convinced to the contrary; so the man who knows that selection is the
great thing in strawberry culture, especially if he has plants for sale,
can never be moved. These positive people have lots of followers, be-
cause the majority of people like to have some one to do their thinking,
and so, truth has to be pushed aside for a time. I am not prepared
to say that there is nothing in selection. The man who is thrifty, and
selects well-known plants and nice, shapely potatoes, usually comes out
ahead but these improved (?) varieties are very dependent on good cul-
ture. There should be a great difference in favor of plants that have
been improved ( ?) for years by selection, but we do not see it. I do not
believe it exists. I would suggest that the editor of “The R. N-Y.
obtain some of these improved ( ?) plants and an equal number of the same
variety from another grower who sells good, common, every-day plants,
grow them side by side and report results.
M. Crawrorp,

Ohio.

A Wisconsin Experiment.—The common practice of taking plants
for setting from vigorous matted rows would not tend to develop strains
of strawberries. This could be accomplished only by setting individual
plants at considerable distances from each other, and permitting each one
to form a family of runners. By comparing these families, we would be
able to detect any differences in vigor or in other characteristics, and by
selecting the family that comes nearest to our ideal, and planting the indi-
vidual plants of this in other beds for further selection, we might, for all
that has been proved to the contrary, develop a superior strain of any of
our cultivated varieties. Prof. Bailey’s theory that each bud is a distinct
variety certainly offers encouragement for this line of work.

BYE: State Horticultural Society.

DRY WEATHER BERRIES.

Nearly every variety of strawberry has a natural preference for soil
of a certain character. For light, sandy soils, Beder Wood, Bubach,
Cumberland, Haverland and Michel have done best. Varieties best
adated to heavier soils are Brandywine, Clyde, Glen Mary, Leader,
Lovett, Marshall, Parker Earle, William Belt. Crescent and Sharpless
are without a decided preference for any particular soil. In the fields
of many commercial growers, the following varieties have stood up
bravely during continued dry weather; Beder Wood, Bubach, Crescent,
Gandy, Meek, Marshall, Michel, William Belt. Those which are usually
poor dry-weather varities are Brandywine, Clyde, Glen Mary, Greenville,
Sharpless. It must not be taken that these varieties will behave thus on
your soil and under your culture. This grouping but indicates, in a gen-
eral way, what their rocord has been the country over.

Of the two varieties, Bubach and Marshall, I should say that for the
former, a naturally dry soil, a level gravelly loam would be better.
Although Marshall has withstood drouth admirably in some places,
notably at the Arkansas Experiment Station, it needs a deep, rich and
rather heavy soil to bring out its superb qualities. Bubach has little
to recommend it in the way of color and firmness, but excels in product-
iveness. Michel and Bubach have been for years the standard combina-
tion in Tompkins county, N. Y.,-and it has seemed to me that our com-
mercial growers might find it profitable to introduce new blood into
their strawberry patches. Some of the more progressive are now testing
such varieties as Clyde, Glen Mary and William Belt. I would suggest
a consideration of these before planting the old reliable somewhat inferior
Bubach.—Rural New Yorker.

COST OF GROWING STRAWBERRIES.

Editor “Rural World:” Replying to your request in connection
with a statement I made about the prices I had sold strawberries for in
the west the past three years, would say that with the information I have

from the leading markets of the west, the prices ranged from seventy-five

Small Fruits. B15)

cents to $1.25 per crate, gross sales, the average being about $1 per
crate.

I stated in the letter referred to, that strawberries could not be
grown for less than $1.50 per crate gross. So I figure it out that not a
grower west of the Mississippi river has made any clear money on straw-
berries the past three years, excepting possibly on the mall patches grown
for local markets and sold by the producer direct to consumer.

Beginning with the preparation of the soil, the purchase of plants,
planting, cultivation and mulching the berry patch for winter protection,
it will cost the grower from $50 to $55 per acre to grow strawberries.
The average product of the large commercial berry grower is about two
hundred crates per acre. More men grow less than two hundred crates.

There are exceptional seasons, like those of 1891 and 1897, where
the product was over two hundred crates per acre, but during the interval
between the good seasons the berry crops run from a third to a half and
two-thirds of a crop. Last year there was only half crop, but owing to
the largely increased acreage in two or three localities, where from forty
to seventy cars are shipped daily, prices have not advanced, even in
seasons when there were half crops of berries.

So I will stand by my statement, that $1.50 per crate is the price
that should be maintained from year to year if a berry grower would
make an even race with ordinary grain and stock farming.

Now, to be fully understood, I may repeat that at the price of $1
a day for labor, preparing one acre of soil for the plants, the cost of eight
thousand plants, setting plants, cultivation and three tons old hay or
straw at $3.50 per ton for winter protection and plants at $2.50 per one
thousand it foots up over $50 per acre. So my estimate of the expenses
of crates, boxes, picking and hauling to the railway station is $1 per crate’
to get a crate of berries laid down in express or refrigerator car. Then
if the berry growers’ returns are $1.50 per crate clear of transportation
and commission, and the yield is two hundred crates per acre, this makes
a profit of $100 per acre.

Now, if the berry growers will cut down their acreage within the
bounds of reason ‘and the demands of the market, remuneration for labor

376 State Horticultural Society.

will follow, but if growers continue increasing their planting as in the
past three years in Missouri and Arkansas, great disappointment and loss
will follow.
B. F. Sarg,
Douglas Co., Kan.

HOW TO USE NITRATE OF SODA.

H. T. A., New Jersey.—I would like to ask just how to apply sul-
phate of potash and nitrate of soda to strawberry plants. Some say that
it will injure the plants if applied directly to them, and that it should
be put between the rows. It seems as though the latter course leaves the
fertilizer too far away from the plants.

Answer.—In our work with fertilizers and nitrate of soda for the
strawberry, always applied broadcast, we have never had any injurious
results. The first was applied early in the season, and the nitrate at
blossoming time, when its action is to favor fruit development rather than
leaf growth. Our conclusions were that it is inadvisable to apply nitrate
of soda in connection with a fertilizer already rich in nitrogen. With
low-grade materials, its addition is beneficial to the crop. ‘The sulphate
of ammonia has always given negative results except in the presence of
lime. Do not apply when the foliage is wet. With a dry foliage or just
preceding a rain, no injury should result. Applying before a rain insures
its rapid passage into the soil, hence it is quickly available where other-
wise it might lie on the surface for days, and with a little moisture, as
dew, cause injury to the plants.

A. T. Jorpan,

New Jersey Experiment Station.

WATER AS A PROTECTION AGAINST FROSTS.

Last year there was a hard frost when the strawberries were in
blossom and the plants were badly frozen just before daylight. I began
to sprinkle them with the hose and before the sun was shining upon
them I had drawn nearly all the frost out of the plants. They did not

Small Fruits. aiet

escape some injury but think the water did much to save the crop. I
think injury from frosts can be prevented in this way, but one should wet
the plants and the ground thoroughly on a night preceding a frost, and
then begin to sprinkle them soon after midnight, and continue the work
until morning. For irrigating two acres, sixty rods of one and one-half
inch iron pipe is laid on the surface of the ground and taken up in the
fall. The tank is twelve feet long, six feet high and six feet wide, and is
elevated on a high bank so that I get fifteen to twenty feet fall to the
water used in the pipes. The cost of the plant was about $100.

W. H. Jenxrns,

Delaware county, N. Y.

BIG STRAWBERRIES.

Editor “The Southwest:” Mr. A. T. Goldsborough, of Wesley
Heights, Washington, D. C., this year produced and exhibited some straw-
berries remarkable for size. The largest berry weighed four ounces and
was ten and one-half inches in circumference. The total weight of six
of these berriers, which filled a quart box, was eighteen and two-fifths
ounces. Some idea as to the size of them can be formed when it is
known that a one-ounce berry is rarely seen in market. These would
look like tomatoes. They were of a handsome bright crimson color with
dark flesh. The weight is attested by the acting pomologist of the
United States Department of Agriculture.

Being curious to know the process of producing berries so large,
and having a pen-acquaintance with Mr. Goldsborough I asked him to
tell me how he accomplished this remarkable success, and with what
variety of plant. I give here a portion of his reply:

“T might say, pull off all fruits but four or five, but the time of thin-
ning and which buds to remove, are essential to success.”

Again: “T thin cut the crowns; when four I leave two; but which

must I leave—the outer, or the inner, and how must they be cut out?
In other lines it is just as difficult to give a set rule.
“T use no artificial fertilizers for anything, and think them an

unmitigated curse to the farmer and horticulturist. But plants must be

318 State Horticultural Society.

stimulated to get abnormal fruits, and how and when to apply rich earth
and liquid manure would require a book, and then some essential would
surely be left to the reader’s judgment.

“Shade is another most important consideration. Too much would
rot and mildew the fruit. Too much sun would ripen it too soon, for it
must be held back as long as possible. Probably the best thing to tell
you is to begin now. Pick strong layers, cut them away when they have
roots about half an inch long, leave about one inch of old runner-string
attached. Keep hem growing till the ground freezes. Put them in pre-
pared (%) soil where they are to fruit in September. Keep surface
mulched from now on, but do not cover plants till the weather turns to the
freezing point. Even then the covering should be removed in warm
spells. Iam sure that strawberry plants grow all through winter, if soil

is not frozen. Let the variety be such as will stand rich feeding in the ©

spring without increasing foliage. A good cow under high feeding re-
sponds with milk; she can’t heip it. A bad one gets fat. It is so with
hens; one gives eggs, another fattens. Put lime on Bubachs and get fine
fruit; put it on Bedar Wood or Crescent and get only foliage.
E. H. Grasitt,
Springfield, Mo.

.

BLACKCAP RASPBERRIES.

Writen for “The Southwest:”

Methods of Propagation.—We know of but two, namely, by grow-
ing from seed and by tipping the end of the new growth. It is only
desirable to grow from seed when new verieties are wanted with a hope of
improvement. In growing by this method it is very important to select
the very best plants obtainable of the two varieties you desire to cross.
In selecting them remember that plants have individuality. No two
are alike. In all berry plantations of any given variety a few will
excel in growth of plant, in hardiness, size and quality of fruit. With
all these points in mind go into your berry plantation when fruit begins
to ripen, make your selections, mark the hills, make tips, select the
strongest of these, plant them in the spring in rich garden soil, give

Small Fruits. 379

them extra care, cultivate and prune with an eye to perfection. When
in bloom cross the flowers of the two varieties, save seed from finest
berries and plant in rich soil, and from the seedlings produced select the
plants that most nearly satisfy your ideal. ‘Then continue on through
succeeding generations till you obtain the variety you desire.

Second method.—Propagation by tips is the one in common practice
from which our market is supplied with plants. In following this
method secure your plants from a vigorous plantation of pure stock that
has received proper care, cultivation and pruning, from some responsible
party who knows how to grow, pack and handle good plants. The roots
of raspberry tips are so young and tender that a few minutes exposure to
the sun, wind or frost will ruin them, or, if improperly packed they will
in a short time spoil from heating. For this reason buy as near home as
possible, plant in spring on well drained, friable land sufficiently rich to
erow eighty bushels of corn per acre, bring it up by well rotted manure
thoroughly worked in by frequent plowing and _ harrowing.
Land rolling enough to drain and not steep enough to
wash is preferable. Prepare land before planting by deep plowing and
thoroughly pulverize with harrow. Mark out rows with one-horse plow
three or four inches deep, seven feet apart, and set plants three feet apart
‘in row (2,074 plants per acre.) Keep plants in bucket covered with
water and set with garden dibble so the crown of plant will not be more
than two inches deep, and the roots as much deeper as they are long, or
nearly so, and press the soil so firmly to the plant. Cultivate frequently
and shallow, keep surface very fine. Remember that every day your
land remains with a crust you lose fifty per cent of the growth.

Pinch out the top bud the first year when canes are fifteen inches
high, the second and succeeding years at two feet. This will cause them
to throw out numerous laterals for tipping, if it be desirable to make all
the plants possible regardless of obtaining fruit, then pinch out the
terminal bud of each lateral at twelve or fifteen inches, this will cause a
second multiplication of laterals and very much increase the number of
plants. Layering may be done at any time from the middle of July on
through August. In putting down the tips bury the end of each young
growth three to five inches deep, if the season is dry five inches, if wet

380 State Horticultural Society.

three will do. Put them in as nearly straight as posible, in regular order
a few inches apart and press the earth firmly down.

If all these directions are carried out carefully you may make from
twenty-five to two hundred plants to the hill, owing to age of plantation
and variety, some multiplying much faster than others. The chief ob-
ject of the propagator should be to grow good, strong plants of pure
stock that will be worth $15 per thousand (and cheap at that) rather than
to cater to the demand for cheap plants at $5 per thousand, that are too
dear at any price. We have bought them at from $25 down to $5 per
thousand, and the cheapest by far we ever got were those that cost us $25
per thousand. Why? Because they were strong, vigorous plants and
perfectly pure. All grew off finely, fruited abundantly and made us
money. At present the trade is so demoralized by the sale of low priced,
mean, sickly plants of an endless mixture of varieties that it is almost im-
possible to buy a thousand good, strong, healthy plants free from mixture
of any given variety, even from the most honest and reliable nurserymen.

N. F. Murray,
Oregon, Mo.

SUCCESSFUL CULTURE OF GOOSEBERRIES.

Gooseberries do best on a clay soil which has been made rich by a
liberal application of well-rotted manure. The soil on the timber bluff
lands along the Des Moines river are just right, but even our rich land
is not fertile enough to produce heavy crops. - I find that few fertilizers
surpass barnyard manure. I have also used as a mulch well-rotted straw,
wood and coal ashes, leaves, vines and anything that could be gathered up.

After selecting the location I prepare my land by plowing and pul-
verizing thoroughly. I then mark out rows six feet apart, using great
care to have them perfectly straight. With two horses and a large plow
I furrow out and set my plants six feet apart in the furrow. The plants
can then be cultivated each way. To some this distance may seem great,
but I find from experience that it is much the best, as there is plenty of
room for cultivation and the application of fertilizers. The space be-
tween the bushes can be utilized for growing beans, cucumbers, musk-

melons, dwarf tomatces and the like, as the vines remain green a long

a

Small Frutts. 381

_time, thus affording shade and protection to the soil during the summer.
I preter to plant in spring as soon as the soil is dry enough to work
well, especially if the plants have been taken up the previous fall and
heeled in over winter. Select hardy, vigorous bushes and take great care
in setting. It is of the greatest care and importance to get a full stand,
for plants that are put in later are at a great disadvantage and seldom do
well. Properly prune both roots and tops before planting, lay the roots
out straight in the furrow and cover with a fine, rich soil. With me
cultivation is the easiest part. With a planet Jr or with a section of my
steel harrow I can do the work to perfection at small cost. After the
fruit is harvested and the vine crop, if any, is out of the way, I plow the
longest way of the field with a diamond plow, throwing the soil to the
bushes. In early spring I cultivate the other way and harrow, which
levels the ground and prepares it for the small crops. The sooner this
plowing is done after the fruit is off, the better.

As to varieties, I have found the Downing by far the best and most
profitable for home use and commercial purposes. The plant is perfectly
hardy and withstands cur dryest summers, is a sure cropper, producing
fruit of fine appearance and good quality. It is also less troubled by
insect pests than any other kind.—Orange Judd Farmer.

EF. 8. W arre,
Towa.

FALL PLANTING OF SMALL FRUITS.

Editor “Rural World:” Answering a question by a “Rural World”
reader as to the relative merits of fall or spring planting, it depends en-
tirely on various conditions such as the relative amount of time a planter
has for the work during the fall or spring, the probable weather condi-
tions during these seasons and the intervening winter, together with the
character of the plants themselves. As a rule there is more time to do
the work in the fall besides the spring season is usually so short that
plants often start into active growth before the ground is in workable
condition. In latitudes where the winters are long and the ground
freezes early and deeply autumn planting is not as successfully practiced

382 State Horticultural Society.

as in places where these conditions are more moderate, unless the plants
are thoroughly mulched at the time of transplanting. Autumn set plants
should be able to make some root growth, before the ground freezes very
much, in order to supply the comparatively small amount of moisture
which evaporates through the twigs during the winter. Without this
root growth plants will more or less exhaust themselves by the evapora-
tion and be more likely to winter kill. Plants dug in the fall and held
in or stored in cellars or otherwise protected during the winter lose but
little by evaporation and by spring will be in much better condition than if
planted in the open. If, however, the plants become well established by
root growth before the extreme winter season it is nearly always best to do
the work at that time, otherwise it is better deferred until spring.

Experiments are now in progress at the Missouri Botanical Garden
to find out, so far as possible, the behavior of small fruits and various
other plant when transplanted at different seasons of the year. So far
as my experience and observation go strawberries taken up from one
bed and reset in another without being out of the ground more than a
few hours do best when moved in September or October; not later than
November 1. If the plants are to come from a distance, however, early
spring is far preferable. Blackcap raspberries are safer planted in spring
unless carefully mulched with coarse litter at the time of transplanting
in the fall. The other common small fruits, red raspberries, black-
berries, currants and gooseberries seem to pass the winter in good con-
dition even when planted as late as December 1 and make a better growth
the following season than if planted in the spring. It is a safer plan,
however, to do the work the latter part of October or first of November.
—Prof. H. C. Irish, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo.

WHEN TO CUT BACK SMALL FRUITS.

J. B. F., Scipio, N. Y.—I am trying to grow small fruits for home
use, and don’t know just when is the proper time to cut back the new
growth on berry bushes, or to what extent they should be cut back to
produce the best results on next year’s crop. I would, also, like to know
something about summer pruning of grape vines.

Small Fruits. 383

Answered by H. E. Van Deman.

There is no defininte date at which it is best to head back the young
eanes of blackberries and raspberries; but the state of growth should
determine the time to do the work. When the young growing canes are
about three feet high, about three or four inches of the tip of each should
be clipped off. It will be necessary to go over the rows several times,
at intervals of about a week, for the canes will keep growing, and reach
the proper height in about a month. The checking of the upward
growth will cause numerous laterals, which are just what are needed.
They should not be headed back until early the next spring.

Summer pruning grape vines is rarely beneficial. If they were
properly pruned previously, when in the dormant stage, they will need
very little or no pruning until the next fall, winter or spring. The plan
that some viticulturists follow, of heading back grape shoots in the
growing season, has been found by many of our best grape growers to be
a detriment, if done severely, and of little service in any degree. One
of the first things I learned to do on the big fruit farm where I spent
several years learning practical pomology, was how to head back the
bearing shoots when about two joints beyond the last bunch of grape
flowers, and then later, to pinch back the laterals, and if we had time,
the sub-laterals likewise. But such work is now generally considered
useless in a practical way. The old idea was to throw the growth into
the clusters of fruit, and so it does to some extent. But there is often
too much intervention with nature’s process of development, and the
grapes are not bettered by it. It is, also, costly to do it carefully and
thoroughly, and this is an item worth considering, in commercial vine-
yarding; but the amateur may count it a pleasant pastime, as it really is
to him, if not busy with other work. All that I would now advise to do
in the way of summer pruning grape vines, after over thirty years’ expe-
rience and observation, is to rub or break out needless shoots early in the
growing season, especially those along the main stem of the vine, or near
the ground, and where barren shoots come out near the bearing ones,
and to head back a few of the very rampant branches, after more than
half their growth is made. It should be done more as a matter of con-
venience than with an expectation of bettering the fruitage.

The Pruning Book, by L. H. Bailey, is the best as well as the newest
guide to correct pruning. Price $1.50, postpaid, of the R. N.-Y.

384 State Horticultural Society.

CULTIVATION:

ORCHARD MANURING.

By E. P. Powell, New York.

So much mischief can be done by applying manures of the wrong
kind in orchards that I doubt if we do not lose more by manuring than by
neglecting to manure. Fruit trees do not require at any time barnyard
manures, or their equivalent. What they require is a supply of inor-
ganic food. You ean do no better for apple trees than to supply them
with coal ashes in which there is a liberal admixture of wood ashes. The
coal ashes loosen the soil; the wood ashes furnish the fertilizer. If you
can get a supply of old mortar you have just the thing you need. A
mixture of lime and salt, when so mixed as to leave no free salt, is excel-
lent for all fruit trees. All such manures should be applied as top
dressing. A peach or plum orchard needs nothing better than swamp
muck or earth from the woods with a slight addition of phosphate and
potash.

If barnyard manure is applied at any time, it should be thoroughly
decomposed and applied as a top-dressing. Such manure, if placed
about the roots, when planting a pear or apple tree, will kill it. Grapes
of course want phosphates and potash. They will also respond to a free
«pplication of liquid manures during their periods of rest, both in winter
and in midsummer. All the tall growing berries, of the bramble sort,
will use a large amount of organic manure. But be careful about dress-
ing vour raspberries with rank undecomposed barnyard manure. The
probability is at any time you will develop a fungoid disease that you ean
not easily master. If you use barnyard manure in raspberries it should
be thoroughly comminuted with the soil as a compost. In fact, I prefer
to compost all manure before it is placed on my gardens. Equally
important as the manure is the mulching of our fruit trees and bushes
of all sorts.

Orange Judd Farmer.

Cultivation. 385

CATCH CROPS.

A good succession of catch crops to sow between the regular crops
is as cesential to good farming as the selection of the main crops. It is
often the neglect of these that makes farming so hapzard and uncertain.
On oid lands the catch crops are particularly important in keeping up the
fertility st the oil to a proper standard. ‘There are plenty of farmers
who rarely give much attention to catch crops, but it is due to careless-
ness 1.0re than to any well cons'dered conclusion drawn from experience.

The more catch crops that we can sandwich in between the regular
crops in the course of the summer, the better will the condition of the
soil be another season. These crops add to the soil the green fertilizing
material that most lands need, and the more exhausting a crop is to the
soil the more essential is it that the green plants should be plowed under
every season. By paying proper attention to the catch crops we reduce
our manure bill, and save work at other seasons of the year. It is really
hike killing two birds with one stone.

~The leguminous crops are the best for catch crops on most soils, es-
pecially where clover will not make a good stand. Beginning early in
the season, that is about the middle of May, when the corn is planted,
the soja ‘beans make an excellent catch crop. Lither the dwarf or
medium variety will do for this purpose. They should be sown first of
all the catch crops, because they will thrive when the ground is too cold
and wet for most of our other catch crops. Cow peas are excellent for
sowing the latter part of May when the ground is warm. At this season
of the year, and when used for a catch crop, the cow peas are useful not
only in the south but in the northern states.

Canada field peas or crimson clover should be used for a catch crop
during July and August. Both plants furnish plenty of green for the
soil. In Canada rape is often sown in preference to either, and if the
weather is good a large crop of green food will be supplied for fall use.
Buckwheat is another good July catch crop that can be used on some soils
to great advantage. Rye is the best late fall crop, and it can be sown any
time from September to October. By preparing the ground in time for

H—25 ;

386 State Horticultural Society.

these catch crops a perfect succession of them can be had at all seasons.
As a rule, the leguminous plants are preferable to the others as catch

crops. Most of the above belong to this class—W. E. Farmer, of New
Hampshire, in Am. Cultivator.

THINNING FRUIT.

The practicability of thinning fruit and its feasibility from a com-
mercial standpoint, have been pretty well demonstrated in the last few
years. In western New York it has generally proved profitable where-
ever tried. Mr. John Craig reports, in the publications of the (Cana-
dian) central experimental farm, some results in thinning peaches and
plums which corroborates the notes given from Mr. Beach and others.
He concludes that, when a large crop of fruit is set, thinning peaches is
highly remunerative for the following reasons: (1) It increases the
weight of the yield. (2) It largely increases the size of the fruit. (3)
It reduces the number of matured seeds, thereby considerably lessening
the drain of the vitality of the tree. (4) It renders the crop less liable
to rot. Thinning plums likewise proved altogether worth while.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ON THE FREEZE OF 1898-9.

A careful canvass of the whole field, with the assistance of the lead-
ing fruit growers of the state, leads to the following conclusions:

(1) That the lack of a protecting blanket of snow coupled with
unusually low temperatures was the chief cause of the great loss of
nursery stock and orchard trees.

(2) That inasmuch as trees on north slopes suffered more than
trees on south aspects, and in proportion to the surface protection pres-
ent, the intensity of frost bore a definite relation to the amount of injury
inflicted.

(3) That conclusive data are wanting to show that more injury
resulted on untiled orchard lands than on those supplied with tile drains.

(4) That orchard and nursery trees suffered most on exposed dry
knolls with northern aspects than elsewhere.

Cultivation. 387

(5) That the character of winter surface cover, in other words,
desirable cover crops, is a question of paramount importance in northern
Mississippi Valley States.

(6) That the matter of congenial and hardy stocks for plums, apples
and cherries is a subject worthy the earnest attention of experiment
station workers and nurserymen in the northwest.—American Garden-

ing.

IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS BY SELECTION.

In the year book of the Department of Agriculture for 1898, H. J.
Webber has an article on “The Improvement of Plants by Selection.”

Regarding the possibilities of persistent and methodical selection,
Mr. Webber says:

“Formerly the proportion of lint in cotton to the seed, by weight,
was about 1 to 5. Now it is frequently 1 to 3. Mr. W. A. Clark, a
grower who bred towards a long fiber, has succeeded in increasing the
length 25 to 80 per cent and sells his finest grades form selected plants
at 50 to 60 cents per pound, while the ordinary product is quoted at 15
to 30 cents. This long fiber is used for adulterating silk and for other
special purposes. In a similar manner another grower bred towards a
heavier yield.

“The method of selecting is interesting. The progeny of a single
carefully selected individual is cultivated in a plot by itself. The best
plant is chosen for the next year. The seed from the plot sows about five
acres, and this then furnishes the seed for the general crop the fourth
year. but, since each year the finest plant is chosen from the five
hundred for seeding the five acres, there is a constant tendency towards
the ideal.”

Again Mr. Webber says: ‘In selecting seed it is important that
not merely the seed or fruit but the entire individual should be taken
into consideration. Henri de Vilmorin says: ‘I tried an experiment with
seeds of chrysanthemum carinatum gathered on double, single, and semi-
double deads, all growing on one plant, and found no difference whatever
in the proportion of single and double-flowered plants.’ If one were
selecting seeds it would be better to choose from a plant which bore uni-

388 State Horticultural Society.

formly large fruit than to choose from one extra large fruit when the
remainder on that plant were small. For this reason corn should be
selected in the field from vigorous plants. Some individuals show a
stronger tendency to revert to inferior ancestors. It is best to discon-
tinue selecting from such plants and choose from another having the
same desirable characters but showing less tendency to revert.”—West-

ern Fruit Grower.

INDIVIDUALITY OF TREES.

Prof. G. Harold Powell spoke on the underlying principles of va-
ritey improvement, saying in part:

No two plants in existence are exactly alike; each has its own indi-
viduality; even the branches on the same tree are not alike, or the buds
on the same branch. ‘The variable individual is the key to progress; the
tree as a whole has a strong individuality; but the buds vary among
themselves just as the trees in a nursery row, as no two have developed
in exactly the same conditions. When we approach the problem of
variety improvement we must know more of the secret of variety-making.
In attempting the improvement of varieties, we must discover the habits
of individuals—we must have a preconceived idea of the type we are
striving for. Great changes have been made by selecting seed of speci-
mens of given type in radishes, corn, tomatoes and other varieties of
plants. Nature’s object in crossing is to infuse new life into the speci-
mens, and the plant-breeder may expect great results from his labors, in
bringing out new and stronger varieties of plants and vegetables. Nature
d..es not produce erratic forms here and there and expect them to crowd
ot every other form. But there is a great variation, even in the buds
of every variety. The buds that show the greatest variation in form and
habit are the ones of greatest interest and importance to the horticultur-
ist, many fruits showing a decided defference in type of the same variety.
In vegetabes this is must marked in the potato family. Cases may be
cited of apples on the same tree varying in type and color; a Roman
Beauty apple tree of Ohio, bore apples much larger and had more
spreading branches than usual. In like manner a Ben Davis, of Indiana,

Cultivation: 389

had one limb bearing apples of much lighter color, and having the
appearance of a separate variety. ‘The quality in many cases varies quite
a= much on the same tree as the other characteristics. The plant-breeder
will therefore not plant bushels of seeed and throw away hundreds of
seedlings before he geis a given type, but will rather watch the habit of
given varieties of fruit trees, selecting given branches of a given type,
and propagating from these up to his ideal.—N. J. Society; Country Gen-

tleman.

ARE PEDIGREED PLANTS BETTER?

Editor Rural World:

In the spring of 1897 I got a dozen each of four standard varieties
of strawberry plants, from one of the so-called “pedigree” plant growers
who claim they have bred up certain old varieties and that their plants
are so much superior to others. I wanted to see if there was really any-
thing in them. The plants arrived in due time and the four dozen cost
me nearly what I would have sold 200 at, and my plants would have
been, on an average, twice as large—they were as sorry a lot as I ever
bought. I throw away hundreds of better plants than one-half of these
were. Still they were “pedigree” plants and sound, and I gave them a
trial alongside of some of my own growing that I have had on the place
or in my hands for ten or fifteen years, with the result that one-half of
the “pedigree” plants failed to grow or died, after a feeble start, and
those that grew did as well as any. When fruiting time came there was
not an iota’s difference that I could see. Of course, 1898 was a poor
strawberry season, but the pedigree plants that should have proved their
superiority failed to show it. Now I want to say this, the pedigree plant
business is all right and may help to sell plants, but when we have a
good berry crop we have good berries all along the row. In 1897 every
variety in the place was loaded with perfect fruit, and if there were any
detoriated plants in these rows they could not have been detected by
the expert pedigree plant sellers. I have had Bubach, Crescent, Jessie,
Capt. Jack and other varieties for ten to fifteen years, and when we have
a crop year we have berries on all the plants in the matted row. When

390 State Horticultural Society.

we have a poor year we find the same results on the entire row. If there
really was anything in this pedigree plant fad we would find, perhaps,
several feet of well fruited, then a few feet badly fruited plants, and so
on, but in my twenty years of berry growing, I find when part of a row
is good it is all good, and vice versa. Of course, some years some variety
fails while others succeed. 3

I-don’t want to be understood as advocating the planting of small,
scrubby plants taken from old beds, but if young, healthy plants are
selected from one-year-old beds, they will not detoriate and one can do
his own preeding up by proper fertilization and cultivation.

Just one word more about our expert pedigree growers: ‘They tell
us that ‘“‘a plant that is weakened by letting it produce fruit is not fit to
grow plants from.” Then, on the other hand, they say that they “grow
their plants only from those that produce the finest and largest berries,
and thereby improve the variety by weeding out all the detoriated ones.”
My detoriated idea is that as long as one gets large, strong, well-rooted
plants, they are not detoriated and need no breeding up, only as I have
stated by proper fertilization and the best of cultivation.—H. Schnell,
Howard county, Missouri.

Fungi. 09]

BITTER ROT IN APPLES.

Editor Rural World:

What is the cause of bitter rot in apples? What will prevent it?
I have 3,000 apple trees, mostly Ben Davis, some of them fourteen years
John Sanders, Washington

old, and bitter rot spoiled most of the apples.
County, Ark.

Referring the foregoing to Prof. J. C. Whitten, of the Missouri
Experiment Station, he replies as follows:

Editor Rural World:

Bitter rot is caused by a fungus, or minute parasitic plant, which
grows and feeds upon the apple. At the Experiment Station we have
been able to reduce the bitter rot one-half by spraying with Bordeaux
mixture. This consists of six pounds of blue vitriol, six pounds lime
and fifty gallons of water. Spray just before the buds open in spring,
just before the flowers open, just as the last petals fall, and once or twice
more, at intervals of ten or twelve days. Some have obtained good re-
sults by spraying twice just before the apples begin to ripen. If the di-
seased fruit is destroyed by hogs in the orchard or by gathering and
removing the rotten apples, there is less liability of the disease spreading
J. C. Whitten, Horticulturist, Missouri Agricultural

College, Columbia, Missouri.

in the orchard.

THE APPLE CANKER.

Last February Mr. M. B. Waite, of the United States Department
of Agriculture, communicated an article to one of our exchanges calling
attention to an important disease of apple trees which he called canker.
He noted its occurrence in western New York, in Pennsylvania, on the

392 Slate Horticultural Society.

eastern shore of Maryland, and in the James River county of Virginia.

Since the publication of Mr. Waite’s note there have appeared two
brief but important reports on this apple canker. These are both by Mr.
W. Paddock, of the New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, and
are published in the numbers of Science for October 28 and December
9, respectively. Mr. Paddock began experiments with this disease last
spring, it having been called to the attention of the horticultural force at
Geneva by orchardists in western New York, who have suffered severely
from its ravages.

Mr. Paddock gives the following symptoms of the trouble: ‘“This
disease attacks the bark of the larger limbs, where all stages of develop-
ment may be seen, from small sunken areas to the large cankers of many
inches’ extent. In aggravated cases a portion of the wood is laid bare.
The bark becomes swollen and rough in all directions from the wound,
so that the diseased limbs become quite conspicuous. These wounds
produce an effect similar to girdling, and where many limbs are attacked

the effect on a tree is disastrous.”

Unless one looks closely, the general
appearance of the disease is something like what is commonly known as
“body blight.” The bark on the limbs or even on the trunk becomes
black, and sometimes finally falls away. What seems to be the same
disease, sometimes attacks trees near the ground and girdles them there.
A limited number of observations seem to show this manifestation rather
more common on Kings. Spitzenberg, which is known to be an un-
healthy tree, is probably sometimes or often killed in the same way. Mr.
Waite found the disease in western New York particularly severe on
Twenty-Ounce, while in the south Early Harvest was worse affected.
Further investigation will doubtless show that other varieties are specially
susceptible, while certain ones enjoy relative immunity.

Mr. Waite reported that he had found a common fungus, Schizophyl-
lum commune, on the dead trees, and thought that perhaps it was the
cause of the disease. Mr. Paddock’s subsequent experiments have
reached a different conclusion, however. He finds that the apple canker
is caused by a well-known fungus, Spaeropsis malorum. This is the
same fungus which has long been recognized as the cause of black-rot on
the apple fruit (not scab). Further experiments have shown that the
same fungus produces canker upon pear and quince. In his note Mr.

Fungi. O93

Waite suggested the wisdom of spraying to control this disease, and also
the propriety of top grafting tender varieties on the trunks of immune
sorts.

Thus far Mr. Paddock has not ventured any practical application of
his discoveries; but it 1s plain that they are likely to be of considerable
consequence to fruit-growers. The apple canker appears to be doing a
deplorable amount of damage, even though in many cases it was hardly
suspected. This damage can apparently be diminished by spraying in-
telligently directed against it. Many orchardists have already noted that
careful spraying helps the health of their trees; and now they may per-
haps soon be given a new motive and a new reason for spraying, with new
directions for meeting a new enemy. These preliminary notes on apple
canker seems to us to be of unusual importance.—From Country Gentle-
man.

CEDAR APPLE FUNGUS.

Professor J. C. Whitten, Columbia, Mo.

Dear Sir:—lI was called to Conway, in the western part of this
county, to examine an orchard in which were found the diseased twigs
which I enclose to you. What is the disease and what the prevention?
It looks as if the trees would be seriously damaged, if not destroyed, if a
remedy is not applied. These twigs came from an old York state variety,
the Twenty ounce apple. A Rome Beauty and these two Twenty ounce
apple trees are in the same condition. Have your report of the disease or
trouble published in the ‘‘Rural World.”—A. Nelson, Laclede Co., Mo.

Editor “Rural World:” Specimens of apple leaves have just been
received that are very badly infested with a peculiar disease. The upper
surfaces of the leaves are badly discolored by orange colored blotches
one-eighth to one-half inch in diameter. These blotches sometimes be-
come almost scarlet and the leaf seems to be entirely dead in the vicinity
of each blotch. The under side of each blotch looks seurfy and produces
small warty horns one-sixteenth of an inch long, closely clustered to-
gether.

394 State Horticultural Society.

This is the apple leaf rust or cedar apple fungus (Roestelea pirata)
which, if abundant, may be very destructive to the apple leaves. It is
one form of the same fungus which causes the cedar apples, or cedar ball,
on the red cedar. This fungus having two forms to complete its life
history, is very interesting. The spores shed from the form causing the
rust on the apple (or sometimes on the wild haw) are shed in great num-
bers. Instead of germinating again on the apple leaf they find their way
to a cedar tree and there germinate, causing the cedar apple. The cedar
apple in turn sheds its crop of spores in May or early June, and these
spores find their way back to the apple, where they again form the leaf
rust. Tf all the cedar trees in the vicinity of the orchard are destroyed,
or if the cedar apples are picked and destroyed in winter, the leaf rust
will not persist for many seasons on the apple. It is probable, however,
that the apple rust form has the power to reappear for a time without
alternating, by means of spores on the cedar tree. Spraying the apple
trees with Bordeaux mixture, the same as for apple scab, is said to check
the leaf rust. We have not tried this remedy at the Experiment Station,
as the rust has not appeared in the station orchard.—J. C. Whitten,
Horticulturist Mo. Exp. Station. Columbia, Mo.

ENTOMOLOGY.

SPRAYING OF ORCHARDS.

Richview, []., Sept. 19.—Many fruit-growers in this section of Illi-
nois have been spraying their orchards, with a view of killing insects,
says a ““Globe-Democrat”’ correspondent. J. W. Stanton, president of
the Southern [linois Horticultural Society, says that the past season had
given strange results in spraying. ‘In many instances,” he declared,
“spraying seems to do no good. I do not know why there were so many
unsatisfactory experiences, but this does not lessen the fact that bugs and
fungi should be killed. That spraying pays is as well demonstrated as

i=

Entomology. O99

it is that the apple worms, caterpillars and-blight are injurious. From
experience and observation this season, I am convinced that the most
thorough spraying with proper material for one year, will not always
bring satisfactory results, but I have ample proof that spraying properly
each year will bring satisfactory results. After the injury is once
checked we have learned the importance of proper spraying and at the
proper time; otherwise, it is safe to predict unsatisfactory results, and
the conclusion that spraying does not pay. I have visited orchards this
season which have been sprayed for the past three years, and found a
large per cent of No. 1 apples, while orchards adjoining of the same age
not sprayed were a light crop and poor quality. Cultivation of the
orchard is also proving an important question, which in some sections of
southern Illinois may explain the fact that there is no crop this season.
Too often orchardists attempt to grow red-top and apples on the same
ground. [I find this practice in the counties having the largest orchard
interests in southern Illinois. They have very few apples this season.
In my opinion the time has come when the successful orchardists must
spray every year, must master the reasons and principles and apply them
as circumstances demand.—Colman’s Rural World.

We would advise cur readers to save the following formulas in some
way, as they will perhaps come in handy during the coming season, and
no doubt be referred to from time time to time in this department:

Bordeaux Mixture.—Copper sulphate six pounds; quicklime, four
pounds; water, forty gallons. Dissolve the copper sulphate by putting
it in a bag of coarse cloth and hanging this in a vessel holding at least
four gallons, so that it is just covered by the water. Use an earthen or
wooden vessel. Slake the lime in an equal amount of water. Then mix
the two and add enough water to make forty gallons. It is then ready
for immediate use. For rots, molds, wildews, and all fungous diseases.

Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate.—Copper carbonate, one ounce; am-
monia, enough to dissolve the copper; water, nine gallons. The copper
carbonate is best dissolved in large bottles, where it will keep indefinitely,

396 State Horticultural Society.

and it should be diluted with water as required. For same purpose as

Bordeaux.

Copper Sulphate Solution.—Copper sulphate, one pound; water,
fifteen gallons. Dissolve the copper sulphate in the water, when it is
ready for use. This should never be applied to foliage, but must be
used before the buds break. For peaches and nectarines use twenty-five
gallons of water. or fungous diseases.

Paris green, one pound; water, two hundred and fifty

Paris Green.
gallons. If this mixture is to be used upon peach trees, one pound quick-
lime should be added. Repeated applications will injure most foliage,
unless lime is added. Paris green and Bordeaux can be applied together
with perfect safety. The action of neither is weakened, and the Paris
green loses all caustic properties. For insects which chew.

London Purple.—This is used in the same proportion as Paris green,
but as it is more caustic it should be applied with the lime, or with the
Bordeaux mixture. Do not use it on peach or plum trees. For insects

which chew.

Hellebore.—Fresh white hellebore, one ounce; water, three gallons.
Apply when thoroughly mixed. For insects which chew.

Kerosene Emulsion.—Hard soap, one half pound; boiling water, one
gallon; kerosene, two gallons. Dissolve the soap in the water, add the
kerosene, and churn with a pump for five to ten minutes. Dilute ten to
fifteen times before applying. For insects which suck, cabbage worms,
and all insects which have soft bodies.—Cornell University.

FROM PROF. STEDMAN.

The subject of spraying for insects in an orchard may be briefly
stated as follows: In the first place be sure you know whether you are
dealing with a biting (eating) insect or with a sucking insect. Upon this
point depends the remedy, and right here is where hundreds of good
horticulturists make a mistake. It is useless to apply a poison spray for a

Entomology. 397

sucking insect, and is almost always useless to apply the remedies for
sucking insects against the biting.

Having determined the insect to be a biting (eating) one, you should
use some form of arsenical poison. For all but peach and plum trees the
best substance is Paris green (be sure and get pure material). For
insects that require only one or two sprayings, like the canker worm,
use one pound of Paris green, three pounds of fresh lime and one hun-
dred and fifty gallons of water. For insects that require many continu-
ous sprayings, like the codling moth, use one pound of Paris green, three
pounds of fresh lime and one hundred and seventy-five gallons of water.
Never make this spray weaker or stronger for codling moth, since more
water than the above will reduce the poison so that you will not kill the
proper amount of insects, and if there be less water used the repeated
sprayings are apt to injure the foliage; therefore, use exactly the above
proportion. In all cases be sure and keep the Paris green mixture con-
stantly stirred while spraying, since Paris green does not dissolve in water.
Always spray thoroughly. Always repeat a spraying if it rains within a
few days after spraying.

Where one wishes to spray peach or plum trees, or when one wishes
to apply a strong arsenical spray, the following should always be used:
Powder and dissolve in a bucket of water four ounces of arsenate of soda -
ane eleven ounces of acetate of lead, and after it is all dissolved let it
stand over night, and then add it to water—from twenty-five gallons to
one hundred gallons, according to strength desired—and then add two
gallons of glucose and thoroughly dissolve and mix. ‘This is known as
the arsenate of lead spray, and will not injure any trees no matter how
strong it may be used, and is death to all biting insects.

Having determined the insect to be a sucking one, you should apply
nine times out of ten, what is known as kerosene emulsion, which is made
as follows: Dissolve one-half pound of hard soap in one gallon of boil-
ing soft water, then add two gallons of kerosene (coal-oil) and churn the
mixture for ten minutes by means of a force pump—pump the liquid
back into itself, using a solid-stream nozzle—by which time you will
have a thick, creamy emulsion which will be about one-third larger in
bulk than you started with; then add nineteen gallons of water to the
above and stir thoroughly. Apply this to the plants by means of a

398 State Horticultural Society.

spray pump, and since it kills only by contact, it is necessary to touch
each insect in order to kill it and hence the work must be done thoroughly.
Tt will not kill insects that may come along after the spraying is done as
will the arsenical spray. Aphis, or plant lice, are easily killed by this
spray, but are also killed by a spray of tobacco teas Of course the spray-
ing should be done before they curl the leaves up.

Paris green and lime may be added to this kerosene emulsion and
thereby combine the spray for both biting and sucking insects. This is
done by simply regarding the kerosene emulsion as so much water.

~ When one is spraying with Bordeaux mixture for fungus diseases
the Paris green may also be added as though the Bordeaux mixture were
water, and again save the trouble of two sprayings.—Dr. J. M. Stedman,
Entomologist, A. & M. College. Columbia, Mo.

HOW INSECTS SPEND THE WINTER.
THEY DODGE JACK FROST AND TURN OUT READY FOR BUSINESS.

Where are They?’—Where are the insects which harassed the
farmer, fruit-grower, gardener or house-wife last summer? Doubtless
some of us would dismiss this question with the notion that the insects
are killed off by the rigors of winter, perhaps to be reincarnated, by
spontaneous generation ‘or otherwise, in the spring. It is true that many
insects do succumb to zero weather, yet mother nature always sees to it
that even such insignificant (to many) creatures as the insects make
ample provisions for getting through the winter in some form, even
among “Greenland’s icy mountains.” Doubtless no kind or species -ef
insect was ever exterminated from the earth in historical times because

of inability to withstand winter weather.

~~

Frozen Insects—One may ask. Can insects survive freezing?
There are several records by careful observers of spiders, grubs and eater-
pillars being found frozen stiff in northern latitudes, so that they would
break like icicles; and yet when these were thawed out gradually they
would “come to life,” as it were, and be all right. It is very essential

that there be a gradual thawing out, hence insects suffer greater mortality

Entomology. og99

during a winter in which there are frequent sudden and extreme changes
of temperature. i

In the case of some insects, at least, they will withstand very low
temperature without freezing. With the thermometer registering several
degrees below zero, I have pricked the thin shells of the little black eggs
of the common green apple aphis, which are laid in the fall on the bark
of the apple tree, where they are exposed to all the rigors of winter.
From every egg I thus pricked the juicy contents ran out as freely as on
a warm day in November. These facts show that it is possible for insects
to withstand the severe cold of winter or to hibernate.

Sound Asleep.—Generally speaking, insects do not feed during the
winter; they truly hibernate. Of course, this statement applies only in
cold wintry latitudes and to outdoor insects. We will discuss the indoor
insects shortly. :

There are, as many understand, four different stages in the life-
cycle of many insects. First, the egg stage, which is the starting point
in the life of all insects; second, the caterpillar, grub, or maggot stage;
third, a quiescent pupa stage, when the insect makes itself over from a
caterpillar, grub, or maggot, into a butterfly, a beetle, or a fly; fourth, the
adult insect. Hibernation among insects may occur in any one or more
of these four stages. Usually an insect passes each winter in a certain
stage, but some go into hibernation in two of these stages.

Indoor Insects.—Every housewife is glad when the frosts of autumn
put an end to the house-fly warfare. As the house-fly’s favorite breed-
ing place is horse manure, which does not afford a congenial feeding
ground in winter, the pest is obliged to hibernate. Sharp eyes may find
some of the flies snugly tucked away in the cracks and crannies of our
houses and barns. Usually several of these wintering individuals will be
thawed out whenever a spare bedroom, public hall, or church is warmed.
When the whole house has to be warmed for the children’s home-coming
for the holidays, some of last summer’s house-flies will, doubtless, wake
up from their winter’s nap in a window crevice and take a nibble at the
Christmas turkey. A few pestiferous mosquitoes may also be on hand,
as they hibernate in similar situations.

400 State Horticultural Society.

Mosquitoes breed in standing water, like rain barrels, water-tanks,
pools, etc., hence Jack Frost forces the adult mosquitoes to hibernate,
unless they can find a tank or cistern of water in a warm attic, cellar,
or elsewhere, where they might continue to breed during the winter.
Clothes moths keep on breeding in ordinary closets and warm storerooms;
a temperature of forty degrees F. will prevent the moths working, hence
valuable furs, etc., are now often placed in cold storage during the
summer. The insects which infest stored grains and seeds usually breed
much slower during the winter, and may cease to feed if stored in quite
cold places.

Outdoor Insects, however, rarely if ever, eat during the winter.
The Apple and the Forest tent-caterpillars were very numerous and
destructive in 1898 in many parts of the country, yet how few of those
who suffered from their ravages have a thought or a care as to how or
where these pests are wintering. In the case of each of these insects,
the caterpillars transformed into millers or moths late in the summer,
and these moths laid a large mass of eggs around the smaller branches of
the trees upon which their progeny are to feed in 1899. These tent-
caterpillars, then, are now hibernating as little baby caterpillars, all ready
to burst through the egg shell, and begin eating the opening buds in the
spring. Encourage the children to look for the curious varnished egg-
masses of these tent-caterpillars this winter. Cut off every twig bearing
one, and after the children have had a good look at the eggs and the litle
furry caterpillars in them with a pocket lens or microscope, then, and not

until then, burn the egg masses.

Some Apple Pests.—In 1898, at least four thousand acres of apple
orchards in western New York were stripped of foliage by canker worms;
at least five different kinds of canker worms were engaged in this de-
structive work. In the ease of three of the kinds, the moths emerged
from the ground during November and December, crawled up the trees,
laid their quotas of eggs on the bark, and then died, leaving it to the
eggs to carry the species through the winter. In the case of the other
two kinds, however, they are now asleep as little brown pupae in the soil
under the trees; they will awake as months during the first warm days in
March or April, and crawl up the trees, lay their eggs, and then die.

Entomology. 401

About $3,000,000 worth of “‘wormy” apples and pears are grown in
New York state every year. How many know where the codling moth
or apple worm, which causes this great loss, spent the holidays this
winter? The same worms or caterpillars that made the fruit ‘““wormy”
last fall, are now in hibernation; thus, in the case of this common insect
pest, the winter is passed as a caterpillar. Where? Soon after the
worm leaves an apple, it spins about itself a tight, rather dense cocoon of
silk, within which it hibernates. If the worm does not get full-grown
and leave the fruit until after it is barreled or put in storage, its cocoon
or winter home will be made in the most convenient crack or cranny in
barrel or storeroom. If the worms escape from the fruit while the latter
is on the tree or on the ground beneath, then most of them find their
way to the trunk of the tree, under the loose bark of which they spin their
winter home. Thus many of the same worms which infested apples and
pears in 1898, are now to be found on the trunks of the trees snugly
tucked away in a silken home of their own construction. I doubt
whether they are frozen in these tight, warm homes; but many of them
do not escape the sharp eyes and bills of the birds which spend the winter

with us; there are many “ups and downs” in an insect’s life.

Plum Cureulio; Pear Psyllan—Another inveterate enemy of the
fruit-grower is the Plum cureulio. The curculios which stung the fruit
last spring, all died before July, but from their eggs were developed
grubs, which went into the ground, and there transformed through pupae,
Plum curculios or beetles. These curculios emerged from the ground
in July and August, fed for a time on the plum or other foliage, and
then in September or later sought a sheltered spot where they might spend
the holidays and the rest of the winter in a quiet sleep, undisturbed by
prowling enemies. Plum growers have noticed that they catch more
curculios in the spring on those plum trees nearest a patch of woodland
or a hedgerow of some sort; this is because such places offer ideal hiber-
nating quarters for the cureulios. Thus this insect passes the winter in
the adult stage, and the cureulios which will sting the fruits in 1899,
were born in July or August, 1898, and have withstood the attacks

of Jack Frost during one winter.
H—26

402 State Horticultural Society.

Papa and mamma pear psyllas are now hibernating in the crevices
of the bark on the pear trees. Mother nature is depending upon these
to start the broods of young nymphs or baby psyllas which will suck out
the life of many pears, and even of some whole trees, in 1899, The above
instances are only a few of the many among our well-known insect foes,
which might be cited to illustrate the varied and interesting methods
pursued by these little creatures to get through that portion of the year
when almost everything is in the clutches of Jack Frost. Insects have
no Christmas or New Year to look forward to during this cold period,
and there is no Santa Claus to arouse curiosity and wonderment in their
sleepy little brains—M. V. Slingerland. Rural New Yorker.

BISULPHATE OF CARBON AND TREE-ROOT LICE.

At a recent meeting of the Ohio State Horticultural Society, Prof.
Webster stated that he had experimented with bisulphate of carbon to
exterminate lice on the roots of trees. Invariably when he applied suffi-
cient bisulphate of carbon to kill the lice the tree also died. The pro-
fessor remarked that the ants burrow down along the trunks of the trees,
then follow the larger roots until they arrive at the soft and tender root-
lets and there deposit the lice.

In regard to fumigation Prof. Webster remarked: “I would rather
have a certificate of fumigation of nursery stock than one of inspection.”
The professor exhibited a model house for fumigation. He cautioned
the audience to be very careful on account of the deadly invisible gas
employed. The hydrocyanic gas used is formed by dropping potassium
syanide into sulphuric acid and water. The moment these two ingredi-
ents come in contact they form an invisible deadly vapor. The model
house that the professor exhibited was so constructed that the danger from
mixing was avoided.—Prairie Farmer.

Entomology. 403

FUMIGATION.

State Entomologist W. G. Johnson in his report referred to the
fumigation of nursery stock, and stated that thirty-four fumigation houses
are now in operation, and others being constructed. The provision of the
law making it compulsory was inserted by the nurserymen themselves,
and the increased sales resulting from it have shown its advisability. In
the forty-six nurseries of the state there are over 4,000,000 standing fruit
trees and 30,000,000 small fruit plants. The new bud mite which has
been so destructive to peach nursery trees was described and specimens
of its work exhibited. The San Jose scale was reported under control
in the nurseries, and occurring in one hundred and forty-one localities
throughout the orchards of the state. A new insect, probably of the
genus Dactylopius, has been found injuring the roots of the Kieffer pear
quite seriously.

State’ Pathologist C. O. Townsend reported that during the season
some three hundred orchards, aggregating over 500,000 trees had been
inspected for yellows, and all infested trees had been or were being
removed. The peach rot has been very destructive the present season,
causing a loss of about one-fourth of the crop. Peach-leaf curl, pear
blight and apple scab were reported as doing considerable damage. The
fact is that Maryland growers have not properly appreciated their friend
the spray pump, and fungous diseases have in many cases gained the
upper hand.—Maryland Hort. Soc.—Country Gentleman.

WINTER SPRAYING FOR PEAR INSECTS.

Two of the most common and injurious insect pests of the pear tree
may be largely controlled by a proper spraying while the trees are
dormant during the winter.

PEAR-LEAF BLISTER MITE.

One of these is the pear-leaf blister mite. The reddish blister which
appear on the leaves in spring and later on turn brown and become thick

and eorky, do not seem to be a serious injury to the tree, other than in

404 State Horticultural Society.

causing the foliage to drop much more quickly than usual in the fall.
But when the disease is abundant, the foliage will often drop in mid-
summer, especially upon young trees or those in the nursery. It is upon
these that the injury is most apparent, preventing a good growth and,
when occurring year after year, quite seriously stunting the tree. It
must always be remembered that a tree’s leaves are as necessary to its
growth as are the lungs to a person, and the moment it is deprived of
them, just that soon growth must cease.

The blisters are caused by a very small mite, invisible to the unaided
eye, somewhat nearly related to the common red spider. It lays its eggs
within the blister and upon hatching the young mites first enlarge their
home cavity and then migrate to other portions of the leaf or preferably
to the more tender leaves of the new growth, where they form other
blisters. Thus the blisters, or galls, are rapidly multiplied during the
summer. As the leaves commence to drop, the mites leave them and
hide under the scales of the fruit buds, where they remain over winter.
It is at this time that they may be successfully attacked by spraying the
trees with strong kerosene emulsion or a mechanical mixture of kerosene
and water as made by the “kerosene attachments” of the newer pumps.
Careful experiments made by Prof. M. V. Slingerland at Cornell Univer-
sity have shown that kerosene emulsion diluted with from five to seven
parts of water will be entirely effectual against this pest. This would be
equivalent to from fifteen per cent to twenty per cent of the kerosene
and water mixture. Trees should be sprayed from all sides, using special

care on the terminal buds.

LADY-BIRD BEETLES VS. THE SAN JOSE SCALE.

The value of common Lady-bird beetles as destroyers of injurious

plant lice and scale insects is not appreciated as it should be, for very
frequently they are killed by persons who think them injurious.

Besides the little orange or red beetles, spotted with black, which |
are ordinarily known as “Lady-bird” or “Lady-bugs,” there are a number
of forms included in this family of beetles, the Coccinnellidae, which
are colored exactly opposite to the others, being of a brilliant black,

Entomology. 405

marked with yellow or red. Most of these latter forms feed on scale
insects, while those with the black spots live mostly upon plant lice.

Never has the true worth of these insects been better shown than
by the persistent way in which they have met the invasion of the San
Jose scale. Fora time it seemed as if the fruit-grower was to be obliged
to do battle with this pest singlehanded, but old Mother Nature always
comes to his assistance in such eases after a time, and this instance was no
exception. Hardly had the San Jose scale commenced to get a start in
the east before it was attacked both by internal parasites and the pre-
daceous Lady-bird beetles. Of the latte, but two species are commonly
found on scale infested trees in the east.

The most conspicuous of these is the Twice-stabbed Lady-bird,
Chilocorus bivulnerus, which receives its name from the two blood-red
spots on its wing covers. ‘This is not usually as numerous as the species
next mentioned, but is much larger and will thus consume more scales.
In one orchard which J recently examined, where three thousand trees
had been removed on account of scale, a block of several hundred five-
year peach trees, which eighteen months ago were badly infested with the
San Jose scale, is now practically free from it and it is with difficulty
that a scale is found. This has been almose entirely due to the good
work done by the Twice-stabbed Lady-birds, which have been very
numerous in the orchard and were found in it this year very early in
the spring, before most other insects had left their winter quarters. This
species is widely distributed and is common in almost every orchard.

Even more efficient are the little black beetles, known as Pentilia
misella. They are but a sixteenth of an inch in length and are not found
in all parts of this state, at least they have not been noted in all of our
scale infested orchards, though widely distributed throughout the east,
but when they do occur they soon become exceedingly numerous. Both
larvae and adults of this and the last species feed upon the scales, the
beetles seeming to prefer the adult female scales. Where the scale has
been reduced by spraying these little beetles are very useful in extermina-
ting those scales remaining; for when the scales were numerous the beetles
also became plentiful, but were not destroyed to any extent by the
spraying, so that a large number of them are waiting to pounce upon the

surviving scales. In such instances I have several times found trees in

406 State Horticultural Society.

which the leaves were fairly covered with these beetles and their larvae.
Even in midwinter these beetles are found feeding upon the scales in this
latitude.

It will hardly be wise to leave the subjugation of such a pest as the
San Jose scale to its natural enemies, however efficient they may be in
reducing it. _ No pains should be spared to rid the orchard of it either by
spraying or washing the trees, or by fumigation, but it is worthy of note
that like all of our injurious insects it has its natural enemies which very
often are themselves sufficient to keep it in check and should always be
protected and spread in every way possible-—E. Dwight Sanderson, Md.,
Am. Gardening.

TO DESTROY CHINCH BUGS.
W. A. IRVINE TELLS HOW THE DREADED ENEMY CAN BE DESTROYED.

With the outlay of a little money and labor the chinch bugs that
invade fields of corn and wheat can be annihilated. These bugs have
destroyed millions of dollars worth of grain. Volumes of advice have
been printed by practical and scientific men on how to kill the enemy.
For the benefit of the people we give the practical experience of one of
our fruit growers:

W. A. Irvine, of Springfield, who has a young orchard of sixty acres,
has forty acres in corn; on each side of this corn field was a wheat field.
From these fields an army of chinch bugs invaded Mr. Irvine’s corn.
Five rows had been destroyed before the owner realized the danger to his
crop. He mixed sour milk and kerosene oil in equal parts, putting the
milk in a tub, turning the oil into the milk slowly and stirring thoroughly
until he had a perfect emulsion. He had his workman sprinkle all the
corn on which there were bugs, using an ordinary water hand sprinkler.
The bugs were killed by millions. ‘To make sure work he went over the
corn asecond time. The field is rid of the bugs. He saved $160 by the
expenditure of $1.60. The bugs had only got to the fifth row in the field

on the side they were strongest.

Ornamental. , 40%

Chinch bugs move by columns, they don’t light over a whole field at
once, hence the emulsion can be applied with a sprinkling pot. The corn
was not injured at all by the application.

Now, this is a simply remedy. It is a sure one, costs but a triflle.
We believe it will pay to spray fields of wheat or any crop that is being
injured by chinch bugs. Of course where a large field is covered with
bugs the hand sprinkler will be too small, but the vigilant farmer will
not let an invading host move from row to row if he ean help it.

How many will try the above remedy? It is preferable to scattering
diseased bugs—it is quickly done.

It would be a good plan, says Mr. Irvine, to burn the leaves in the
spring in the woods that border on fields that have been infested with
bugs, as millions of them winter there.—Southwest.

ORNAMENTALS.

ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE.

As a rule we do not place sufficient value upon the purely orna-
mental side of farm life. Country property would be greatly im-
proved if farmers would consider the looks of the house, gardens and
fields a little, and indirectly they would gain thereby. A farming
country that is pleasing to the eye always attracts more people to the
region, and the near-by market for produce is thus built up. Railroad
companies appreciate the value of this by offering prizes frequently for
the prettiest farm on the line of their route, which can be viewed from
the car windows. They also pay considerable in prizes for the best
erounds around their depots. Manufacturers likewise are trying to make
their factories attrractive by cultivating trees, flowers and shrubbery on

the grounds. Altogether many of our most successful business men

408" State Horticultural Society.

attach more importance to the value of ornamental gardening and horti-
culture than the average farmer.

Ornamental horticulture need not be a waste, either. It is possible
to combine with it profitable work that more than pays for the outlay of
time, money and labor. Thus in some places there is a demand for cut
flowers, so that the farmer who raises plenty of fine specimens in the front
garden can sell them at a fair price. But flowers are not the only orna-
ments. Many of our fruit trees present pretty sights at all seasons of the
year. What is handsomer than a garden of fruit trees in the blossom
season, or again when the fruits are ripening? Such a sight is admired
by anybody. Even vines lend attraction to the place.

The taste in arranging these fruit trees will decide the value of the
ornamentation. If one has an eye for the beautiful he will cover up ugly
spots in the landscape, and arrange his trees so as to intensify any par-
ticular bright place. 1 costs no more to do this than to plant the trees
and vines in a haphazard way. The house and barns can be changed
materially by training a few vines, flowers and shrubbery around them,
It may not be possible to find a money market for the fruits thus raised,
but they will supply.the table with something that is always desirable,
and that is not always the case on every farm.—James Ridgway, Wis-

consin, Am. Cultivator.

AN AUTHOR’S FLORAL INFATUATION.

In “Gloria Mundi,” the late Harold Frederick’s late novel, which
appeared soon after his death, there occurs the following curious auto-
biographical confession as to the writer’s cultivation of flowers: ‘‘I wish
T had the courage to give it up altogether. It murders my work. I
spend sometimes whole hours in my greenhouse when I ought to be doing
other things. The worst of it is that I realize perfectly the criminal
waste of time

andstilll persist in it. There is something quite mysterious
about plants—especially if you have grown them yourself. You can go
and stand among them by the hour, and look from one to another, with
your mind entirely closed to thoughts of any description. IT used to as-__

sume that this mental rest had a recuperative value, but as I get older I

Ornamental. 409 |

suspect that it is a kind of lethargy instead—a mere blankness that can
grow upon one. I find myself, for example, going incessantly to see cer-
tain pans of my own hybridized seedlings, and staring aimlessly at them
till I get quite empty-headed. Now, I am too busy a man to be able to

afford that.”

In answer to the question, How can the Farmer or Fruit-Grower
keep a large Lawn in Condition with the least outlay of Time and
Money ?—L. B. Pierce would first divest the lawn of stone piles, rose
bushes and suckering shrubs; also of misplaced flower beds. Group such
shrubs as may be desirable upon the outskirts of the lawn and place wild-
flower borders and those designed to hold flowers, other than bedding
plants, away from the house and walks. Limit the flower beds in size,
placing geraniums and coleus close to the dwelling, as these can be kept
neatly with a little trouble, while the others will not require close atten-
tion and had better be on the outskirts. If the lawn is quite large and
needs additional ornament, use cannas and Japanese grasses, which re-
quire very little care.

If the lawn requires smoothing up, draw rich soil from plowed fields
in late autumn and fill depressions, making all smooth in the early spring.
Grass will grow through two inches of filling, and if more is needed, do
it in succeeding autumns. This advice is especially applicable to old
dooryards with large trees, where plowing and reseeding is difficult or next
to impossible. It takes a good deal of soil sometimes, but, if done when
other work is not pressing, costs comparatively little. Having got the
jawn smooth and free from obstructions in large open areas, get a good
lawn-mower and a can of lubricating oil. It will next be in order to
hypnotize or bulldose some member of the family until he or she had
rather mow lawn than eat dinner. If the hired man smokes, a free use of
stogies and “two-fers” will bribe him into extra hours with the lawn-.
mower, and sometimes seven cents’ worth of cigars will produce more
than a dollar’s worth of labor. As each heart knows its own bitterness,
so each family will in time settle upon the individual who shall become
a lawn-mower slave, and happy it is if the slave has so much enthusiasm
as to be unmindful of the bondage.—Before Ohio State Society, Country
Gentleman.

410 State Horticultural Society.

OUT-DOOR ART.

Prof. W. J. Beal, Lansing, Mich., read a paper upon “Out-door Art
in School and College Grounds,” and advised the use of trees and shrub-
bery to embellish the grounds, but laid particular stress upon collections
of weeds, grasses, and the native trees and shrubs. The “wild garden”
at the Michigan Agricultural College contains most of the plants found
in that section, and is useful and attractive both to students and visitors.
The authorities of the Michigan State University and the two Normal
schools have been so pleased with the idea that they have established
similar gardens and it is expected, as their students go out into the state
as teachers in the public schools, that, here and there, similar, but of
course, smaller gardens will be started: in the grounds of the district
schools.

Prof. W. W. Tracy, of Detroit, had for his topic “Interesting Chil-
dren in our Highways and Public Grounds.” He believes that the love
of beauty is inborn and that it is a crime not to give it a chance to de-
velop. Many children gather armfuls of flowers but it is more often from
a commercial spirit as they hope to sell them, than for a love of the
flowers themselves. Much can be done by giving children a bit of land in
which to grow such plants as they wish, and if they can be induced to
aid in beautifying some waste place, they can hardly fail to take an
interest in the work.

Mr. Olmsted confirmed the last statement by relating the experience
in Cambridge, Mass., where there are school gardens in many of the
grounds, and the teachers have interested the pupils in the triangles and
squares in the vicinity, and they are not only careful themselves to avoid
injuring the lawn and shrubbery, but they warn others from doing so.—
Am. Park. and Out-door Art Ass’n, American Gardening.

ORNAMENTAL STOCK.

There have been added lately to the literature relating to trees and
plants for ornamental purposes several important works. One of these
is the annual report of the Tree Planting and Fountain Society of Brook-

Ornamental. 411

ivn, N. Y. The work of this society is like that of the New York Tree
Planting Society to which reference was made in the December issue of
this journal. The report is a volume of one hundred and thirty-two pages
replete with information to tax-payers regarding the desirability of trees
in city streets together with details concerning varieties, the planting,
and general care of such trees. A. A. Low is president, Paul Leicester
Ford vice-president, and Lewis Colling secretary of the Brooklyn society.
The secretary states that as the result of the society’s efforts the people
have given more attention to arboriculture, and nurserymen are preparing
better stock, not only in quality, but also in kinds, to meet the demand for
better trees.

The report is of especial interest to nurserymen in that it outlines
subjects to be observed or avoided. It is suggested that trees for city
streets should possess endurance as to foliage, toughness to withstand high
winds, slender, upright habit of growth, elasticity, cleanliness, longevity,
a medium leafing period, a natural form suited to certain requirements,
moderate shade, recuperative power, small leaves.

~ Aside from the immense advantage of the work of such a society to
a community, it is of direct benefit to the nursery trade. Its high plane
creates a demand for the best the nurseryman can produce. The Brook-
lyn Tree Planting Society, organized in 1882 has attained a national
reputation. Its influence has been shown in the organization of similar

societies elsewhere.—National Nurseryman.

The Curse of Treelessness—Any one who has traveled through the
comparatively treeless countries around the Mediterranean, such as Spain,
Cicily, Greece, northern Africa, and large portions of Italy, must fer-
vently pray that our own country may be preserved from so dismal a fate.
It is not the loss of the forests only that is to be dreaded, but the loss of
agricultural regions now fertile and populous, which may be desolated by
the floods that rush down from bare hills and mountains, bringing with
them vast quantities of sand and gravel to be spread over the lowlands.
Traveling a few years ego through Tunisie, I came suddenly upon a fine
Roman bridge of stone over a wide, bare, dry river-bed. It stood some
thirty feet above the bed of the river, and had once served the needs of a

412 State Horticultural Society.

prosperous population. Marveling at the height of the bridge above the
ground, I asked the French station-master if the river ever rose to the
arches which carried the roadway of the bridge. His answer testified to
the flooding capacity oi the river and to the strength of the bridge. He
said: ‘I have been here four years, and three times I have seen the
river running over the parapets of that bridge.” That country was one
of the richest granaries of the Roman empire. It now yields a scanty
support for a sparse and semi-barbarous population. ‘The whole region
round about is treeless. The care of the national forests is a provision
for future generations, for the permanence over vast areas of our country
of the great industries of agriculture and mining upon which the pros-
perity of the country ultimately depends. A good forest administration
would soon support itself; but it should be organized in the interests of
the whole country, no matter what it cost—C. W. Elot in Atlantic.

CATALPA AND MAPLE TREES.

B. V. J., Suffolk county, N. Y.—Is the Catalpa as desirable for a
shade tree as the maple? Does it grow as quickly? Which is the best
kind of maple, and most used in this part of the country ?

Answer.—The Catalpa will, probably, grow faster than any of the
maples. Whether it 's as desirable or not for a shade tree, is a matter of
taste. Its flowers are borne in conspiciuous racemes, while the maples
have no conspicuous flowers. The leaves of the Catalpa are so large im
well-grown specimens as to give the tree a tropical appearance. We
would choose the Hardy Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa). Among the maples,
we would choose for a shade the Norway, although the Sugar maple is
somewhat faster growing. If purple leaves are valued, Schwerdler’s or
Reitenbach’s should be chosen. The young leaves are beautifully tinted.
—Rural New Yorker.

Ornamental. 413

TREE PLANTING IN OUR CITIES.

Now that the city seems to have taken up the planting
of trees, attention is called to the fact that the protection of
those already planted is‘a subject of fully as much importance as the
planting. How many true lovers of trees have had their hearts made sad
by the ruthless destruction of some of our beautiful trees and the serious
injury of many others. I wish to call your attention to a few of these
cases. Only the other day I saw a crowd of telephone men cutting off
various branches and tops of trees. And why, forsooth? Because they
interfered with their putting up additional wires. ‘These trees were dis-
figured, distorted out of shape, and injured so that they will have to be
either pruned back to an even head or be left unsightly for some years to
come. I took occasion to stop them just as I would were I to see a man
abusing his team. It hurt me just as much, this damage to trees, as
would the other, and I had just the same right to interfere. I wish every
one in our city knew of the decision made lately in Bucks Co., Pa.,
wherein Dr. John Marshall sued the American Telephone Co. for the
destruction of fifty trees, and obtained a judgment for $737.41 and a fine
of $50 each against the men who committed the vandalism.

The city itself is responsible itself for this wanton injury and de-
struction of our beautiful trees. Another instance is as follows: “While
some graders were at work on a street, I saw them cutting down a beauti-
ful maple tree that had been planted twenty-five years, was eighteen
inches in diameter and had a spread of branches of over forty feet. This
tree was less than one foot above grade, stood inside of the curb, and
within enghteen inches of where it would have been planted if planted
after the grading had been done. Is it any wonder that true lovers of
trees shudder at such sacrilege? That tree was worth $200 to the prop-
erty on which it stood.”

Another instance. While some graders were taking out the sub-
grade from one of our streets where a lot of young elms had just been
planted on the newly opened street, they made of their horses walk on
the inside of the curb as they were plowing, and as the doubletrees came
to each tree, they tore the bark from them, some one foot, some two feet,

414 State H orticultural Society.

and some three feet, and from one to two inches wide. <A protest from
the owners of these lots and the trees just planted called forth jeers of
derision. I know people who would rather the city should kill, or allow
to be killed by ordinance, the best horse or cow they owned than to have
such trees destroyed. .

I call attention to these three cases, not that it can be possible to
replace the trees, but that we may learn to take care of what we do plant
hereafter, and above all, save every tree that can possibly be saved, if it
be anywhere near the place a tree should be. In many of our cities they
have saved a beautiful tree a hundred years old, even if it stood in the
middle of a street. Let us then guard carefully and faithfully every
tree that will be of use to us, and a thing of beauty in the future.

The beautifying of our city in the planting of trees is a matter we
should always delight in and help to foster. Not only for the street do
I plead, but we should have vacant property, where held in any body,
planted in beautiful trees, evergreens and shrubs. It takes years for
them to grow, but a man with means can build his house in one year.
Lots so beautified will pay the owner dollars for cents expended.

Before leaving this subject which is so near my heart, I should like
to give a few thoughts from my own experience here of thirty years in
the manner of digging, handling, planting, caring for trees, and the best
varieties to plant.

The Trees.—The best trees are those nursery grown. If they have
been transplanted once or twice, so much the better. These trees should
be dug carefully, so as to get plenty of good fibrous roots, for without
good roots one can not get good growth. A tree should have a spread of
root of one foot across for every inch of diameter at the crown, that is a
tree three inches in diameter should have roots three feet across.

Handling the trees after being dug is sometimes done as if they were
a load of poles or rails. ‘Too many forget that the tree is alive, just as
much as you or I, and if the roots are exposed to the least frost or per-
mitted to lie in the sun, they are either dead or so badly injured that they
will show a very feeble growth or not grow at all. Just as well expect a
fish to live out of water as a tree to live out of the ground unless well
protected and the roots, body and branches kept moist. More than one-

Ornamental. 415

half the shade trees die because of not being properly handled. Not
one tree in fifty should die if properly dug. We never lose more than

this in our large orchard planting. We discard every tree that is doubt-
ful. But I think I have seen plantings of street trees where not one in

fifty lived.

Planting should be well and carefully done. Dig good large holes,
use plenty of good top soil (no manure), put around and among the roots,
and above all pack down well so that every root is in contact with good
firm soil. A failure to do this often results in a failure to grow or to
live during the summer if the tree even starts to grow. Care must be
exercised and judgment used in not handling the soil when it is too wet
or sticky. It should crumble nicely.

Mulching is a great help in holding the moisture about the tree, and
it always pays to use it during the first two years after planting.

Water.—If the ground is in proper condition, no water need be used,
but if too dry, then it is best to use one pailful of water when planting.
Wrapping or shading the bodies of the street trees for the first year is
indispensable. Those long, naked trunks need something to break the

force of the July sun in order that the trees may make the proper growth.

Varieties Undoubtedly the tree for use is the elm. It is long
lived, hardy, and a beauty at all times of the year and at all ages. Next
comes the ash leaved maple or box elder. It is more hardy than the
soft maple and nearly as rapid a grower. Next in order comes the white
ash. It is hardy, medium growth, making a close compact shade. I
can not omit the soft maple because of its rapid grgowth and quick shade.
If properly trained it will not break or split except in extreme cases.
The linden or bass wood is a good one. The tulip or poplar is a beautiful
tree also. Use the catalpa where flowers are wanted. I want also to eall
atention to the sycamore, because of its resistance to the smoke of our
cities. Properly trained it makes a beautiful tree and it will stand more
smoke and thrive better than any other tree we have. Not all people
understand that the scragey appearance of our trees and shrubs is due to
the coal smoke, and if man were fastened like the trees are, to one posi-
tion, he would soon die also. It is because he ean move that he lives.
If we want beautiful trees we must discard the use of soft coal in our

416 State Horticultural Society.

houses, especially so if it be a closely settled locality. But the most beauti-
ful, most hardy, longest lived tree we have is the sugar maple. Where
shade is wanted quickly, plant some of the others, but alternate them
with the sugar maple, and then cut the others out as soon as they begin
to crowd. I enter my most earnest and emphatic plea for the greater
planting of the sugar maple, and twenty-five years from now others will
bless those who planted. Let us plant for the present, but let us not
forget the future.

One ofter item in this beautifying of our streets. Let us plant on
each street all the trees of one variety, so that the beauty of the street
may not be marred by bad breaks or gaps along it. Or plant two varie-
ties alternately, as the elm and maple, or the ash and box elder, the sugar
maple and catalpa, or the linden or tulip and one of the others, and then
cut out as soon as they begin to interfere. Do not allow tree butchers
to prune your trees. Pruning they need perhaps, but better call it train-
ing. Do not prune them too severely. Use moderation, and do not go
to either extreme. .

One of the other points that too many lose sight of, is the fact that
trees are just as beautiful while they are small as when they are large.
Do not try to plant too large trees. A young, thrifty three or four-year-
old tree looks much better for years to come than the bare pole so many
plant because they have the caliber; and these young trees will make
better trees and be fully as large in seven or eight years as are the large
unsightly poles seen everywhere.

Love trees while they are growing; love to see them grow; love to
care for them, see beauty in every tree, branch, twig and leaf, and you
may be sure the trees will repay you for all your care.—L. A. Goodman,
Westport, Mo.; Rural World.

Ornamental. ty

THE SUNFLOWER’S STORY.

You say I am only a sunflower,
With petals as yellow as gold;
But if you will isten a minute
A bit of a taie I’ll unfold.

"Twas way, way back in the springtime
That a fairy shut up in a pod

Burst off her little brown jacket
And left it down under the sod.

“T can’t be contented,’’ she answered—
When some one asked her to stay—

‘““’Tis so dark and cold ’neath the damp earth mold;
Above there is shining the day.

“Tis only a shert transition
From a bud of promise rare

To the glorious full-grown blossom
That revels in sun and air;

“‘And soon as many as twenty—
Ot beauties such as I—

Were turning to catch the sunshine,
With our faces toward the sky.”’

For this was the lesson that she taught us—
This fairy mother of ours—

To be always seeking for sunshine
Despite the clouds and showers.

And so she pushed upward and upward—
A thing most easily done

When our heart is right in the purpose,
And our soul is wooed by the sun.

* But by and by through her being
And strange, new impulse thrilled,
And she paused in happy silence
While the birds ’mong her branches trilled.

Then murmured in blissful accents:
“I’m promised bud and bloom;
*Tis well I made the effort
Else the pod had been my tomb.”
—Velma Caldwell Melvitle, in How to Grow Flowers.

THE MOCK ORANGE.

In the beginning of June—sometimes the latter part of May—and
for nearly two weeks afterward, one of the most attractive flowering
shrubs is the mock orange. It has a profusion of large, pure white
flowers, the fragrance of which resembles that of the orange blossoms;

H—27

418 State Horticultural Society.

hence the common name. Botanically it is known as ‘“Philadelphus,”
the species most commonly grown being “P. coronarius.” Formerly the
term “Syringa” was sometimes applied to this shrub, but is now wholly
confined to the lilacs.

The flowers are always produced on the last year’s wood, and
prunning is best deferred until the bloom is over. Judicious pruning is
necessary in order to maintain good form, as the little trees are inclined to
be irregular.

Cuttings made in the fall, or early in spring, take root readily and in
a few years attain flowering size.

Another species, Gordon’s “P. Gordonianus,”’ blooms in July, and on
this account is desirable, but its flowers lack fragrance.—National Stock-
man and Farmer.

BEES.

WINTERING BEES IN MISSOURL

Editor “Rural World:” <A certain writer on bee culture of this
state claims that bees will not freeze in the latitude of Missouri, provided
they have plenty of stores in reach above the cluster. Now, I live in
northwest Missouri, and do not wish to bump up against some one supe-
rior to myself, but I must say that taking it one year after another I do
not believe the above is absolutely correct. I base my opinion of such
on my experience and the experience of others.

I believe that in my locality there are only two methods of wintering
bees successfully. The first method is accomplished by using the double
walled chaff hive or by having outside winter cases, large enough to slip
over the single-walled hives, and leave room for packing. The second
method is reached by placing the bees in an underground repository.
Remember, I say underground repository, not an out of ground re-
pository.

Bees. 419

I once knew a farmer beekeeper who built a bee-house that was air
tight. However, he only used it one year, for the simple reason that he
placed all the bees in the house and as a natural consequence, they
smothered. This same man has bought more bees and spent more money
on them than any person I know, and yet can’t supply his own family in
honey the year round. But, returning to the subject, | make this ex-
planatory assertion: I know there are winters when bees will do all right
if left alone. Yet, if the beekeeper wishes to be on the safe side, and
make beekeeping a success, it is well for him to follow one of the above
methods either in part or in full.

Whatever method the skillful apiarist may choose, he must bear in
mind that there are four principal essentials to successful wintering.
They are as follows: First, a sufficient amount of wholesome food above
the cluster; second, there should be a strong force of young bees; third,
proper temperature; fourth, ventilation.

Columns might be written on the above conditions, but I will just
say that thirty-five or forty pounds are what a strong colony requires to
keep it over till the next honey flow, while a weak one requires much less.
More honey is consumed during the brood rearing the spring than in the
winter. Five or ten pounds would carry them through the winter till
spring.

The bees that are reared in the fall are the ones that live through the
winter and build up the colony in the spring. Temperature has as much
to do with the amount of honey consumed as well as their vitality. Most
apiarists that winter their bees in cellars try to maintain an average tem-
perature of fifty-two degrees.

With regard to ventilation, beekeepers are not universally agreed.
Some believe in top ventilation, while others believe in bottom ventila-
tion. All agree, however, that plenty of ventilation is necessary. All

preparation for wintering should be finished by the last of November.—
Ambrose L. Riley, Andrew Co., Mo.

420 State Horticultural Society.

KEEPING HONEY.

The driest and warmest place in the house should be chosen for
storing sections of comb honey in, says the “British Bee Journal.” <A
kitchen cupboard close to the fire forms an ideal storing place, and if the
sections are protected from dust, insects, mice, etc., by careful wrapping,
the honey in them wiil keep liquid for over twelve months. In some
seasons, however, honey in sections will granulate in spite of every care.
Personally we have many times had sections in the best of condition after
twelve or eighteen months’ storing.—Colman’s Rural World.

WHOLESOME HONEY.

Physicians say that honey is more wholesome than sugar, as it has no
injurious effects upon either stomach or kidneys and is more rapidly as-

similated into the system. They also say that it would be well, to sub- °

stitute it for butter, particularly for children, and this would be economy
as well, for the pound of honey would go as far as the pound of butter,
and afford more actuzl nourishment to the body. We say go as far,
because if children are given all they care to eat of it with their bread at
each meal, they will not eat as much of it as one might expect them to
who saw them indulge when it was given them only at long intervals and
as a luxury. Under these conditions, most of children and many older
people would eat as much at the one meal as they would at three meals, if
it was always before them.

The pound of extracted honey costs much less than the pound of
comb honey, and there is neither bother nor waste, as with the comh
honey. One can buy it at the grocers in sealed tin cans direct from the
apiary, and be very confident of obtaining pure honey without adultera-
tion with sugar, syrup or glucose, if there is no beekeeper near by to
furnish it. With the small glass jars or bottles in which it is sometimes
sold we have less confidence in its purity, as by using fifty or even twenty-
five per cent of a dark-colored and strong-flavored honey, the very cheap-
est sort, the glucose or syrup can be given an odor and flavor very like the

i te

Bees. 421

genuine article, and yet not the same. An expert quickly would detect
the adulteration.

A bit of broken comb to be seen through the glass is no proof of pure
honey; in fact, it is rather more likely to indicate that it is not pure, as
the careful beekeeper who extracts his honey will be likely to strain it,
and no comb will be found in his product. The presence of sugar, or
granulated honey, as it really is, many think indicates the presence of
sugar in it, or that the bees have been sugar fed, but it is probably an
indication of purity, and keeping under proper conditions for all honey
will granulate in a dry, warm place. As regards keeping we copy from a
recent bulletin:

“The average housekeeper will not put honey in the cellar for safe-
keeping—the worst place possible. Honey readily extracts moisture, and
in the cellars extracted honey will become thin, and in time may sour;
and with the comb honey the case is still worse, for the appearance as well
as the quality is changed. The beautiful white surface becomes watery
and darkened, drops of water ooze through the cappings, and weep over
the surface. Instead of keeping honey in a place moist and cool, keep it
dry and warm, even hot. It will not hurt to be in a temperature of even
hundred degrees, and where salt will keep dry is a good place for honey.”

WINTERING BEES.

A German apiarian says that bees can be successfully wintered on
sugar, but they will not do as well the next season as they would if win-
tered on good honey, which is the most natural and best food for bees.
We do not know how many experiments he has made to prove this state-
ment, but we should require many tests to convince us that this was in-
variably true. It may be so, but we think if they have enough of either
honey or sugar under the same conditions, there will be but little differ-
ence in their working ability in the spring.

Mr. Doolittle in Bee Gleanings says if he was working to produce
extracted honey only he would select the darker Italian, or those produced
from queens from an imported mother, and taking no care as to whether

the drones were from Italian, black or hybrid stock. If he wanted comb

422 State Horticultural Society.

honey only he would have a good queen of the golden variety, and would
not care whether they mated with black or hybrid stock, as his experience
has shown that such crossbred workers have proved the very best for
comb honey. The drones should be only distantly related to the queens.
Use queens closely related to Italian stock for extracted honey, but when
white-capped comb honey is wanted choose the golden Italian queens,
and the hybrids from them are in no way inferior to Italians from im-
ported stock in honey-gathering qualities—Am. Cultivator.

A PLEA FOR BIRDS.

Who does not appreciate the songs of the birds, especially on an
early spring morning when all nature is awakening from its long sleep ?
How joyfully we greet the first robin, and later, when warm weather
comes how pleasant it is to go into the woods and groves and listen to the
music that gushes forth from the throats of many happy songsters, and see
them flit about in the sober hues of the robin, or the brilliant coloring
of the oriole, and yet a great many people do not think the birds useful
to us, and cruelly and heartlessly kill them.

Besides the pleasures derived from their songs and beautiful plum-
age they are, asa class, very useful toman. Take the robin, for example.
Many people kill the robin whenever they get a chance, on the plea that he
eats their fruit. He does eat fruit, but still he kills many noxious insects,
and I heard a gentleman say that he would share a cherry with a robin, for
anybody is selfish who will not give him a little fruit for his work of say-
ing it all.

The brown thrush and cat bird also eat fruit but the bugs and worms
which they catch pay for their fruit. |

Swallows, martins, blue birds and wrens are almost entirely insect-
ivorous and are of untold benefit to the farmer.

Almost anybody is ready to kill a hawk or an owl whenever he sees
one, on account of his liking for domestic fowls. These birds eat very
few fowls compared with the number of injurious insects which they eat.
They also catch many field mice that otherwise would be the means of
destroying much grain.

Birds. 423

The woodpecker is said by some to spoil apples and to make holes in
fruit trees for the purpose of getting to the tender wood beneath. Only
one species do this, but all woodpeckers dig out insects, which, if they
remained, in time would kill the tree, being beneath the bark so that only
certain birds can reach them. ‘The bee martin is thought by some to eat
bees, but upon examining the crops of a number of these not one bee was
found.

In Prussia a few years ago there was a bounty given for killing birds.
Many were killed, and, as a result, at the end of two years the crops
were utterly desroyed by insects. After all the benefits the birds are to
us to think of so many being killed annually as there are is enough to
make one shudder. Many are killed for sport, while others are used for
food or to adorn ladies’ hats and dresses. It is a most cruel and heartless
custom for women to wear birds, by whose death our land is being gradu-
ally thinned of its beautiful songsters, who are our best friends. One
should be kind to the birds, instead of being the cause of their death for
the sake of vanity.—Grace Cade, in Homestead.

TOVPRODEC TD LE, BER DS:

A. H. GILLESON, SR., INTRODUCES A NOVEL SCHEME INTO THE
SCHOOLS.

A. H. Gilkeson, Sr., of this city is an enthusiastic and valuable
member of the State Horticultural Society. He was present at the last
meeting of the society when a strong resolution was placed favoring the
protection of the birds.

In conversation with a “Star” reporter this morning Mr. Gilkeson
spoke of the vaule of the birds especially in fruit raising. For illustra-
tion he said that several years ago he presented to the students of the
Normal and Public Schools some fine apples, small in size but of a rare
variety. The apples that year were excellent in quality but this year
they are very poor on account of a kind of worm. Had there been suffi-
cient number of birds to have destroyed the insect the fruit would have
been perfect again.

424 State Horticultural Society.

Mr. Gilkeson has broached the subject to Pres. Howe of the Normal
and before school is dismissed for the holidays the subject will be pre-
sented to the Normal students. The latter will be asked to visit some
school and attempt to interest the children in the protection of the birds.
If the children can be taught the value of the bird there will be no
trouble about the preservation of them.

The matter will be further carried out by being introduced into our
city schools in the near future. The scheme is one worthy of encourage-
ment from all points of view and it is to be hoped that it will become a
part of our educational system. Longfellow has fitly expressed their use

in the stanza, beginning:
**You call them thieves and pillagers, but know,
They are the winged warders of your farms.”

—Warrensburg Standard.

IMPROVED CHESTNUY CULTURE.
IS THERE ANY PROFIT IN IT?

What is the present outlook for growing improved varietieswf chest-
nuts? Is it practicable to graft large forest trees to improved varieties ?

So far as our observations have extended, we do not note any in-
creased interest in improved chestnut culture this season. We are slow
in advising the clearing of timber land and grafting sprouts, especially if
there is any chestnut timber near. There will be too many wormy nuts.
This is one of the most serious drawbacks, and unless some way of getting
ahead of the weevils is discovered, I doubt if the industry can be made to
pay. In orchards away from the native chestnut, the weevils are not so
plentiful. The trouble here is that it requires time and money to get an
orchard into profitable fruiting. On the whole, we must say we are not
so sanguine as we once were. We find, too, that the season for the sale
of chestnuts is much shorter than that of other nuts, on account of the
difficulty of keeping them in prime condition. Perhaps if this were
better understood, their season of sale could be lengthened.

You do not say how large your trees are. If they are scattered
over the place, and not over six or eight inches in diameter, the best way
would be to cut off all the branches, where they are from one to one and

Nuts. 495

one-half inch thick, and graft each over. ‘his requires considerable
time, but one could get large bearing trees in a year or two. [f it is on
a piece of timber land it would have to be cleared, and the sprouts grafted.
We would not advise grafting sprouts, unless they are on land that is
comparatively level, and free from rocks. The labor of mowing the
underbrush, and gathering the nuts is too great on rough land. That is

our experience, whatever others have discovered. E. M. Engle & Son.

There is, undoubtedly, a rapidly increasing interest in chestnut
culture, and it is going to increase until there are a great number of
extensive orchards in the country, and until thousands of bushels of nuts
are marketed yearly. Grafting on small stocks about the same size as
the scion, and doing the work close to the ground, seems to be best. Still,
by cutting back older trees, and getting new vigorous shoots, there is no
reason why chestnut trees can not be top-worked, the same as the old
apple tree. My son climed to the top of a big chestnut two years ago,
and put in a single scion with the cleft graft, and last fall he brought into
the office quite triumphantly a handsome lot of burrs that came from that
scion, which clearly proves that the thing can be done all right.—J. H.
Hale, “Rural New Yorker.”

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power,
Let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall,
Who plows a field or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree is more than all;
For he who blesses, most is blest,
And God and man will own his worth
Who seeks to leave as his bequest,
An added beauty to the earth.

426 State Horticultural Society.

FORES PRY:

THE YOSEMITE PARK.

Acting Superintendent Wilcox, of the Yosemite National Park, in
iis annual report, recommends that the government buy out the owners
of patented lands within the park limits to remove one great source of
trouble and destruction.

Other recommendations are the fixing of penalties for violation of
the park regulations; obtaining authority from the state of California to
establish a camp for troops within the Yosemite Valley for patrol pur-
poses, a permanent camp to be constructed at Wawona; a systematic
burning of fallen and dead timber, to prevent forest fires; and some de-
cisive action to prevent diverting the waters flowing into the park. The
report says the deer within this government reserve are fairly plentiful
and tame; bear, quail, squirrels and trout are numerous, and mountain

lions and lynx are in evidence.

THE PROPOSED NATIONAL PARK OF THE SOUTH.

Little by little the feeling for forest preservation is gaining ground.
It is the south now.

The work in behalf of forestry preservation that has been under-
taken in the west and the north has given rise to the idea of a similar
movement in the south, where the work of denuding the forests is in such
rapid progress as to threaten their utter destruction in a short time unless
something is done to stop it. The despoiling of the trees would make
the land comparatively valueless.

Congress, when it meets next week, will be asked to look with favor
upon the request of the people of the south for the establishment of a
national park in the southern Alleghenies, probably in the Blue Ridge

Forestry. 427

or some portion of western north Carolina. There is no national park ex-
cept military parks in the south. All that will be asked of congress at
present is the appointment of a commission to examine into the propriety
and feasibility of preserving the forest regions near the border.—Am-
erican Gerdening.

CULTIVATION.

“WHEN THE GREEN GITS BACK IN THE TREES.”’

In the spring, when the green gits back in the trees,
And the sun comes out and stays,

And your boots pull on with a good, tight squeeze,
And you think of your barefoot days;

When you ort to work and you want to not,
And youand yer wife agrees

It’s time to spade up the garden lot—
When the green gits back in the trees—
Well, work is the least of my idees
When the green, you know, gits back in the trees.

When the green gits back in the trees, and bees
Is a-buzzin’ aroun’ again,
In that kind a lazy ‘‘go-as-you-please’’
Old gait they hum roun’ in;
When the ground’s all bald where the hayrick stood,
And the crick’s riz, and the breeze
Coaxes the bloom in the old dogwood,
And the green gits back in the trees—
I like, as I say, in sich scenes as these,
The time when the green gits back in the trees,

When the whole tail-feathers o’ winter time
Is pulled out and gone,
And the sap it thaws and begins to climb,
And the sweat it starts out on
A feller’s forrerd, a-gittin’ down
At the old spring on his knees—
I kind o’ like, jus’ a-loaferin’ roun’
When the green gits back in the trees—
Jes’ a-potterin’ roun’ as I—do—please—
When the green, you know, gits back in the trees.
—James Whitcomb Riley.

428 | State Horticultural Society.

THE NURSERY CONVENTION.
PROTECTING NURSERY STOCK.

“What is the most practical kind of hedge for farm purposes, and
what for parks and cemeteries?’”’—was a question which drew out some
discussion, some favoring the osage orange for farm purposes; but Mr.
Albaugh sat down on the whole matter by stating that after an extended
experience with some four miles of osage hedge, he had come to the con-
clusion that the only practical farm hedge is a barbed-wire fence.

The question, “Is it desirable to form a national combination of
capital in the nursery business?’ was one that rather staggered the mem-
bers of the convention. One gentleman, who confessed to having an
eye on the secretary-treasurership, though it might be desirable, but
ventured no further suggestions.

Prof. E. S. Goff, of the State University, Madison, Wis., read a
paper on “Root-Kalling of Nursery Trees.” The speaker referred to
the damage that had been done during the past winter in the northwest,
where, over a’tract covering several thousand square miles, one, two and
three-year-old fruit trees were more or less root-killed, and proceeded to
draw lessons therefrom. He said, in part:

“The wide-spread destruction of roots brings home very forcibly a fact
that has been too often overlooked—that in the breeding of hardy fruit
trees, we have two distinct problems in hand, 1. e., to produce a hardy top
and a hardy root to support it. Neither is safe without the other. We
have been trusting to nature to protect the roots by snow, but the past
winter is a most effectual reminder that this protection is not to be de-
pended on. ‘The roots of the crab-apple are hardier than those of the
common apple. Had apple stocks been generally grown on crab seed-
lings instead of common apple seedlings, the damage from root killing
would probably have been greatly reduced. In like manner, we should
experiment with the sand cherry and the wild red cherry as stocks for
the cherry, and we should confine the plum to Americana stocks. All
means should be used to cause snow to remain on the ground of the nur-
sery during the winter. If half of the snow that actually fell up to
February the past winter in southern Wisconsin could have been retained,

Nurserymen's Convention. 429

it would probably have been enough to save our nurseries. Planting
fruit stocks on north slopes that are traversed east and west by frequent
evergreen windbreaks, would go far toward accomplishing this end. A
cover crop on the ground would still further encourage the snow to re-
main. The superior hardiness of the raspberry as compared with the
blackberry has been strikingly brought out in a multitude of cases.
Many have reported almost total destruction of the blackberry, while
the raspberry was comparatively little injured. The Loudon raspberry
among reds and the Older among blacks have established their claims for
remarkable hardiness.

Should root-injured trees be sold? This is a practical question, and
one which seems to admit of an easy answer. The injury generally pro-
ceeds from the tips of the roots backward. If only the fibrous roots are
killed, the trees may be transplanted with as much safety as if no injury
had occurred, for the fibrous roots are mostly sacrificed in transplanting
by our present systems. I do not know that it is much worse to have the
smaller roots frozen off, than to have them cut off with the spade or
digging machine.—Country Gentleman’s Report of Nurserymen’s Con-
vention.

A paper was read by C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, I[a., on ‘“‘Injury to
Nursery Stock Last Winter, and How it Happened,” in which he com-
bated the commonly accepted explanation of severe dry freezing in Feb-
ruary. Mr. Watrous had consulted the records of the U. S. Weather
Bureau, from which he ascertained that the weather for November, 1898,
had been drier than usual up to November 21st, at which time there was
an unusual precipitation of rain, turning later to sleet and snow. The
explanation advanced by Mr. Watrous of the injury sustained is that the
lack of rain and frost in November before the 21st left the foliage upon
trees and plants of all kinds so that their roots were thirsty. The drench-
ing rain of the 21st enabled them to gorge their cells with water. The
soil to the average depth of 8 to 10 inches was thoroughly watersoaked
also, and was suddenly frozen in that condition. The greatest damage
to the roots was done to the plastic part between the wood and the bark,
known as the cambium layer, where the cells are large and full of life.

450 State Horticultural Society.

They filled themselves completely, and when the sudden freeze came,
their walls were ruptured as the shell of eggs are under similar cireum-
stances. Some cherry trees on Mazzard stocks were examined early in
April, and the roots were found black, as if they had been dead a long
time. They were not dry, but wet, and the soil about them was wet.

THE NURSERYMAN AND THE ENTOMOLOGIST.

With the removal of the native forests and the introduction of cul-
tivated trees, the equilibrium of natme was disturbed and new problems
set for the horticulturist, so that the offices of the economic entomologist
were soon required. Entomology has endeavored to keep pace with
horticulture. From the widely diversified labors of the single person
appointed by the commissioner of patents in 1854 to collect statistics and
other information on seeds, fruits and insects for the Bureau of Agri-
culture, the national entomological work has grown until it requires the
undivided time and attention of an entomologist, four assistants, three
investigators with five assistants, and an artist, all working under the
division of entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Nearly every state and county horticultural society in the United States
has an entomologist as one of its staff officers.

It is not infrequently supposed that insects as a class are injurious.
Many indeed are ignorant of the fact that insects fill a vast important part
in the economy of nature. In his endeavors to reduce the numbers of
an injurious insect, the nurseryman has valuable co-workers of two kinds
within the insect tribe. First may be named the parasites which lay
their eggs upon the eggs or developing forms of injurious insects, the
eggs of the parasites hatching and devouring the pernicious forms. — Cita-
tions of the sudden disappearance of the maple worm and the army worm
as the practical result of the labors of parasitic insects might easily be
given.

The horticulturist in reality, however, pays a good price for the
beneficial work done by these parasites. Before he can realize any bene-
fits from these parasitic insects, he must have sustained a loss somewhat
proportionate to the valuable work subsequently done by them. The

i ik

Fruit Buds. 451

case is somewhat different with the predaceous insects—those that devour
other forms as they are being developed. Their benefits are more direct.
They attack the enemy while it is engaged in active hostilities. The
most noted case—one as yet without parallel in the co-operation of preda-
ceous insects working with the fruit growers in destroying the injurious
forms—is the vedalia lady-bird beetle (Novius cardinalis). This im-
portant lady bird beetle, by its rapid multiplication and voracious appe-
tite, has completely removed the destructive scale in the orange groves
of California, and saved millions of dollars to the:state. It was sent to
South Africa, where it did equally good work upon the fluted scales of
that country, and later in Egypt and Portugal did good service.
Alongside of the destroyers of injurious forms can be placed as
friends of the horticulturist those insects which bring about the proper
fertilization of the fruit tree and vegetable blossom. Chief among these
pollenizers may be considered the honey bee. In the future, fruit grow-
ers are likely to be generally regarded as more indebted to beekeepers
that the latter are to the fruit growers, for the amount of honey the bees
secure from fruit blossoms comes far short of equaling in value that part
of the fruit crop which many accurate observations and experiments
indicate is due to the complete cross-fertilization of the blossoms by bees.
While this warefare has been going on in the United States, we have bees
advancing, until we are producing more and better fruits than any other
country in the world.—Prof. 8. J. Hunter, University of Kansas, before

Nurserymen’s Convention.

ERUIT BUDS:

Prof. W. R. Lazenby, of Columbus, O., presented a paper on ‘“The
Origin and Development of Buds on Fruit Trees.” Fruit buds are of
three kinds—(1) leaf buds from which new shoots are developed; (2)
flower-buds, which consist of undeveloped flowers, and (3) mixed buds
from which both shoots and flowers may come. It will be seen that leaf
buds are concerned in the growth of the plant on which they are borne,
while flower buds result in the development of new individuals. Fruit

buds may be divided into two groups—(1) buds formed the same year
/ QO 4 s [Y/

452 State Horticultural Society.

they open, and (2) those developed the previous year. They may be
either lateral or terminal, the lateral buds being most common on peach
and nectarine, while those of the apple, pear and plum are usually ter-
minal.

The flower buds toward the end of the branches of peach trees
seldom develop. All of the buds at a node on peach trees may be flower

buds, but when three are present the center one isa leaf bud. Although

the flower buds do not as a rule open until a year after they form, in
some instances they open in the fall of the same year, and during warm
periods in the winter they enlarge so as to be one-eighth of an inch long
by February 1. Many varieties produce about the same number of buds,
and there seems to be a definite relation between the number of the two
kinds of buds, the leaf buds usually constituting from 35 to 46 per cent
of all the buds on a tree.

During the growing season there is little difference between the
flower and leaf buds of the apple. Asa rule, those on the new shoots
are leaf buds, while the fruit buds are in short fruit spurs. The leaf
buds of plums are generally smaller and more pointed, and the flower
buds are in spurs. As a rule, the leaf buds are closely appressed, while
the oval flower buds stand out from the branches. On some sorts the
buds are in threes at the base of the shoots and are solitary towards the
tips. In the pear there are six to nine flowers in a bud, and there is little
difference between fruit and flower buds. The form of the leaf buds in
different varieties is more constant than is the form of the fruit, and one
familiar with their appearance can rely upon the buds to determine the
varieties. Cherry trees develop their buds one year and open them the
next. They are usually three to eight in a fruit spur, with a leaf bud
at the tip. Grape buds are borne on wood of the same year’s growth and
are on the first few nodes opposite leaves. When a tendril occurs oppo-
site a leaf, no fruit buds will be found further along on the cane. » Leaf
buds may be changed to flower buds and flower buds to leaf buds at any
period of their gorwth. The development of flower buds can often be
brought about by summer pruning and other operations that check the
growth of the trees.—Country Gentleman’s report of Am. Pom. Society.

Soil. 435

HOW ROCK BECOMES SOIL.

The “hardheads” at Hope Farm, presumably break down eventu-
ally to supply potash and other elements to the plants living near the
dying rocks. Those of us who have been reared on the glacial drift
know that stony farms are fertile, though not always popular. Where
one can observe plants growing on rock-bottom it is learned that soil is
being formed—trees are the vigorous sappers and miners of the plant
kingdom. Their roots push along rock fissures, and by their insistent
growing, make the opening yet wider. Where trees were growing close
to the edge of a little precipice made by a joint plane in the shale rock
at Ithaca, N. Y., roots were observed along the seams, having apparently
come through six feet of solid rock from the trees of which they are a
part.

It is plain that these trees get roothold below the surface soil, and
it is hkely that they draw food and moisture from the rock, which is for
, them a substantial hardpan subsoil. In moist climates a very thin layer
of detritus is sufficient to serve as soil. I have noticed a little patch of
moss and grasses growing upon the flat outcropping of the shale. Upon
stripping it up—it made resistance—it was seen to be a felted turf an
inch in thickness. The under surface was white with fine roots, blind
fingers groping for crannies in the rock and finding every one. The
place on the rock was seen to be a little depressed and quite damp. Per-
haps the depression gave the first-comers their chance, but the colony in
possession had widened and deepened the place, for several fragments
of the shale were found to have been fetched away, when the turf was
lifted. The roots had pried these off with the help of frost, heat and
moisture, then grown around them. Even this thin soil is growing; the

old adage is reversed. The moss gathers the rock.—Howard B. Cannon.
H—28
ad

454 State Horticultural Society.

LIQUID AIR FOR REFRIGERATOR SERVICE.

The Fay Fruit Company, of Los Angeles, has made arrangements
witn Charles E. Tripler to use his process and appliances for the manu-
facture and employment of liquid air. The particular end in view is
to equp the refrigerator cars of the company so that liquid air can take
the place of ice. Since the company ships east yearly over 2,000 car
loads of citrus fruit, vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, and the great bulk
of its shipments must be made in refrigerated cars, this one phase of the
matter is highly important. The plant which will be installed for
liquefying air will also supply magic substance for use in every other
conceivable way. IF. B. Fay and his associates of the Fay Fruit Com-
pany are believed to have “got in on the ground floor” of a very impor-
tant enterprise whose consequences will be far-reaching.

Mr. Tripler has broken a record and demonstrated the possibility of
using liquid air for refrigerating cars in which perishable goods are
shipped by sending liquid air from New York to Chicago—a distance of
1,000 miles. Liquid air can be made nowadays at an expense of from
ten to twenty cents a gallon. A three-gallon receptacle in an ordinary
cold-storage room will last a week and do the work of a ton of ice, the
air costing, however, not more than 60 cents.

Mr. Tripler’s devices make it possible to regulate the temperature
produced by liquid air. The inside of the refrigerator cars equipped
with his appliances can be kept automatically at an equable temperature.
It will probably be necessary to fill the liquid air reservoirs at two or
three points on the journey across the continent, just as it is necessary
to fill the ice tanks under the present system, so this will necessitate the
construction of factories at some such points as Las Vegas and Kansas
City.

The superiority of liquid air refrigeration is based on many reasons.
For one thing, it will reduce greatly freight on fruits. Five tons are now
necessary for each car. This occupies about one-sixth of the ear space.
The liquid air refrigerating apparatus will, it is said, take up very little
room, and weigh but a trifle in comparison, although 50 gallons are used

at a time. Consequently each ear can carry much more fruit than

Cold Storage. 435

heretofore, and the waste of hauling a sixth-carload of mere cooling
material will be obviated.

Ice refrigeration means the filling of the car with moisture. Liquid
air melts into perfectly dry atmosphere. It produces the same circula-
tion of air that takes place in an ice-refrigerated car, but instead of vapor
dry air will henceforth circulate-—Los Angeles Times.

COLD STORAGE.

1. Cold storage, if properly conducted, is practicable and profitable
for the fruit grower.

2. Where fruit is grown for home use, or the local market, home
cold storage is advisable.

3. City cold storage is preferable for large quantities of fruit that
are to be placed on the open market.

4. or small fruits, grapes, plums, peaches, in fact, all juicy sum-
mer fruits, cold storage is applicable only in holding them for a few days
or weeks to carry them over a glut in the market.

5. Pears and apples may be safely held in cold storage for several
months if properly treated.

6. For good results in keeping fruit of any kind, it must be rather
under ripe, and perfectly sound when placed in storage.

7. The utmost care is essential in picking, packing and shipping,
in order that the fruit may arrive at the warehouse in sound condition.

8. Cold storage demands fruit of the highest quality and necessi-
tates especial care in the selection of stock and in the treatment of the
orchard. Pruning, thinning and spraying are essential processes.—Con-
clusions of Kansas State Agr. College.

456 State Horticultural Society.

ORNAMENTING SCHOOL GROUNDS.
SOME CLIPPINGS FROM THE BANQUET AT SHAW’S GARDEN.

By Prof. J. C. Whitten, of the State University.

Fellow Horticulturists and Gentlemen:

It is with a good deal of pleasure that I am permitted to mingle with
you this evening to partake of these good things which have been given to
us, and to listen to the speakers who have preceded me, who have said
many, things that are instructive and beneficial to us. In considering,
this matter of the ornamentation of local school grounds and local church
grounds, as has been suggested, it seems to me that there is ample room
for all that I may say. I suppose it is not necessary for me to present
to the minds of any of you here present interested as you are in horti-
culture, the great desirability of making the grounds of our local schools
and churches more attractive. They should be made places of attract-
iveness to the younger as well as to the older people, whose lives are more
or less interlocked with the associations that cluster around these old
school houses and these old churches, which we see scattered about, not
only over the state of Missouri, but over all the states as far as-I know.
Nearly every one of them is devoid, almost, of beauty. I do not think,
as I say, that it is necessary for me to present any arguments to show the
desirability of that thing, but a few thoughts have come to my mind
with regard to the best method of accomplishing that work. One of the
things that appeals to me almost irresistibly is this: that the very work
of Henry Shaw, whose memory we revere, has furnished us with one of
the most admirable examples from which to obtain a knowledge of just
how to do these things, and I refer to the garden itself. I suppose a
great many of you visit the garden and see the magnificent plants, and
the vines trained over rocks and partictilarly the arboretum and the
library, and you see the improvements there, and, perhaps, the whole
thing impresses you as being a spontaneous and true example for rural
school, and rural church buildings. And having, as the chairman has
said, had some personal experience of the life there, and study of the
work there at that garden, I can speak somewhat from experience, when
J say that that of all the places I know it is the best place from which

Ornamenting Our School Yards. 437

we can get even a suggestion for so small a matter as a wooden country
school house. While you have magnificent plantings on a large scale,
if you go to the details of these plantings you will find examples of
plantings where a little rustic summer-house, perhaps, has been so man-
tled with our own native vines and so shaded with our own native trees
that grow in the woods about all these rural churches and school houses,
that you will see they can be easily duplicated from our fields and
orchards. You will find by looking over these grounds, and by taking
up these details that we can get almost any example that we want for the
beautification of rural buildings of that sort. It seems to me that in-
‘stead of the bareness of taste surrounding them, if they take advantage of
what nature has so bountifully provided in our fields and woods that
grow so successfully here, the farmers have the amplest means of assem-
bling native plants and trees which can be placed in the borders and in the
rear of his premises so that they would not only give shade but would
materially add to the beauty and comfort of his home. The Virginia
creeper mantling the gateways, Wisteria covering the porches, or ivy
draping the doorways of dwellings, school houses and churches, would
lend a coziness to all those places that would be of immense value to the
boys and girls who get so much of their life training there. That life
training means so much to us that I can not help saying this evening that
the strongest influences of our lives almost comes from these places where
we got our training. While I dislike to dwell on and particularize these
things, I can not refrain from saying that the very examples found there
and the arrangement of the garden, and all that, may furnish to rural
communities the things that they need to make an arboretum for them-
selves, by gathering together the wild flowers and plants that grow all
over the state. The same work that is required to gather them up and
plant them, may enable the farmer to acquire much knowledge concern-
ing the plants and flowers and shade trees that beautify his place, and
a householder could not be better employed than in doing just that thing.
It will make those who do it more observant and careful in their ar-
rangement of the growing things in the fields and woods, and on their
farms. With the knowledge gained by coming in contact with these
growing things, they gradually obtain a better and better acquaintance
with them, and, consequently, learn how best to surround their farms

438 State Horticultural Society.

and buildings with them and to ornament their whole environment.
Such efforts bring forth the best results. And I want to say further,
that I believe that examples of that kind will result in better agricultural
methods in the state, and it seems to me no more laudable thought could
be brought into the meeting this evening than the discussion of the ques-
tion of how to plant your grounds to make them more beautiful. I will
not intrude upon your patience any longer. I thank you for this oppor-

tunity of being here to meet with you. (Applause.)

Toastmaster Trelease: One of the brightest books on rural life that
it has ever been my privilege to read, and one that gives all the surround-
ings of country life, without having any blanks, was published a little
over a year ago by one of our Missouri citizens. Its author has been
induced to come here this evening, and he may possibly have come under
the impression that he would not be called on to speak. If so he is sadly
mistaken. I am sure that everyone here will take great pleasure in lis-
tening to what the gentleman I refer to has to say on the subject under
discussion. I take pleasure in calling on Mr. James Newton Baskett,
of Mexico, Mo. (Applause.)

Mr. Baskett, replying in part: Mr. Toastmaster and gentlemen:
It seems to me that I ought to devote myself for a few minutes to my
friend who has called me up (laughter) for the position he has put me
in, for he gave me no intimation whatever of the character of the diseus-
sion that is going on. I will forego that and launch at once into the
thought which has been so prettily put before you by Professor Whitten,
and see what I can do with it from my standpoint. I want to say that I
am thoroughly in sympathy with the thought which has been put forth
by our toastmaster and so ably discussed by Professor Whitten that there
should be in some form instilled into the minds of our country people
deeper aesthetic appreciation of the means of ornamenting their homes,
their school houses and their churches directly out of the things that are
around them. It has been a part of the study of my life to try to im-
press upon rural folk, and especially upon the farmer, it has been a part

of my writing and the talking I have done to impress upon the people

Ornamenting Our School Yards. 459

an appreciation of the things that are under their eyes and familiar to
them in their daily walks.

I believe it is a misfortune that these things are too common. It is
a misfortune that they see them, and the only fact that they seem to learn
when they see a vine is that it does not poison them when it has five
leaves, but it does poison them when it has three. They look at it from
that standpoint. They look at these things from a utilitarian standpoint.

I stand before you to-night utterly discouraged as to finding out any
method whatever of impressmg upon these people with their environ-
ment, the beauty of the things around them.

I stand here self-confessed that whilst I was in the midst of these
things they did not impress me. In some way I had another standpoint
from which | viewed them, from that which I viewed them under other
conditions.

To appreciate them properly I had to be deprived of them and |
had to get a sort of scientific interest in them. Therefore, I would say
thatit ought to be ground into them for years and impressed upon their
minds while they are in an impressionable condition. I am not a teacher.
I have a few pupils in the country, though I have never taught a day in
my life. In the country when one of the boys follows me around I
stoop sometimes and call his attention to something that he has cut off
or pulled up or mowed down. I find in a great many of the details that
he knows more about it than I do, but I find many little things to talk
to him about that he has never thought of. I claim that some of these
things might be taught in our public schools. I may say that a boy
ought to be taught in the public schools how to make a good graft and
how to arrange any kind of shrubbery, and I think it will do him more
good, for instance, than to know the ramifications of the Connecticut
river. (Laughter.)

Do you know away back east when they did not know that there
were any other rivers cut west, they had on their maps in the geogra-
phies the elaborate ramifications of the Connecticut river. (Renewed
laughter.) I know as a boy that I got terribly tangled up over that
river, but I found out after awhile that there were two or three other
rivers in this country besides that one. (More laughter).

440 State Horticultural Society.

Some time since a young lady with whom I am acquainted invited
me to call at her house to see some drawings she had made, as she was go-
ing to teach drawing lessons. When I called she showed me what she called
her best work arranged downstairs. She had her china and best work there.
When I had viewed those she told me she had some sketches upstairs that
she did not put on exhibition. She produced them and I looked them
over and found sketches of leaves and flowers, beautifully, beautifully
done, with the very large and deep perspective, which showed that she
had learned the are of seeing. My friend, Prof. Woodward, said a
while ago he would like very much for me to go out in the woods with
him some fine morning and take a look at the things in sight. Dr. Ham-
ilton W. Mabrie said to me: “If you can come around some day, send
me word and give me the treat of a day in the woods with you.” Prof.
Trelease said: “I wish you would go with me to the St. Francis region
and study botany.” I went out with Prof. S. M. Tracy, on his invita-
tion that if I would go botanizing with him he would go bird hunting
with me. When we went out I was looking up for the birds and did
not see much of Tracy, while he was digging in the ground and didn’t
see much of me (laughter), and we were both disappointed, and it was
only when we got home and Mrs. Tracy brought out some good refresh-
ments that we came together at all on that day. (Renewed laughter.)

I tell you, you are not going to teach this generation to run vines
over their churches and porches and gate posts, about their homes. You
may train the children so that in the course of a generation hence they
may do that. The ultimate condition of success lies in your training the
boy from the beginning until you create in his heart an enthusiasm and
interest which will gradually cause him to see it from a practical stand-
point of nature culture. You must begin in the public school and in the
home. I heartily thank you for your attention. (Applause.)

Toastmaster Trelease next called upon Prof. W. J. Stevens, whom
he said was not present at the banquet last year, but who was familiar
with the subject under discussion and the author of an interesting pam-
phlet in this direction.

Mr. Stevens said: Mr. Chairman, members of the board of direc-

Ornamenting Our School Yards. 441

tors and fellow-guests at the annual Shaw banquet: The first and most
important requisite for the improvement of the school grounds in any
community is the presence in that community of at least one person,
either the teacher or a patron of the school, who is really interested in
the improvement of the grounds. Until there is a desire for more artistic
grounds existing in the minds of those who are directly interested and
who must make the improvements, it is useless for sthers to plan or
attempt to execute such improvements. If, on the other hand, there is a
single determined individual in the community who is thoroughly
familiar with the principles of landscape gardening as applied to small
yards, such an individual may be the means of transforming the bare,
harsh, cheerless, immodest school grounds into a picture which will give
pleasure to the pupils and to every passer-by. Such an individual should
have good ideals and should be able to give good reasons for the correct-
ness of these ideals. He should go to work systematically as would the
inventor or propagator of a new variety of plant. He should have
clearly in mind the end to be accomplished, and avail himself of every
favorable opportunity to convey his ideals to others whose influence and
assistance he must have. Talks with the men, women and children
of the community, which shall set forth set forth clearly and without
ostentation, the fundamental principles in the beautiful arrangement of
trees and shrubbery in yards, will result in the growth of a sentiment in
favor of better surroundings for the schools. If, in addition to this,
there is offered any opportunity of implanting these ideals in the minds
of the people, at public meetings, or if the attention of the women’s
clubs can be drawn to the subject, the desired result will be more rapidly
gained.

If the teacher can be interested to the extent of believing that better
surroundings are desirable and possible, systematic instruction may be
given in the schools. Here, as elsewhere, the first requisite for proper
instruction is knowledge of the subject. The teacher must have had
the proper instruction himself. The summer course in agriculture and
horticulture offered at the Missouri State U niversity gives an opportunity
for such instruction. The Bureau of Nature Study of Cornell University
will give valuable assistance. The experience and practices of the

44¥ State Horticultural Society.

National Cash Register Company, of Dayton, Ohio, will show what has
been done by systematic effort and will give him many valuable hints.
His duty is to give such instruction to the children that they shall have
right ideals. This may be done by blackboard drawings, by showing
pictures of grounds properly planted, and by directing their attention
to private grounds that show evidences of proper design.

The improvement of the school grounds will come very slowly, even
with all the effort that may be put forth, until there are higher ideals
and more interest is taken in the arrangement of the yards at the homes.
If the home yards are mutilated by the miscellaneous planting of shrubs,
trees and flowers haphazard about the premises so as actually to destroy
that best setting for the home picture—the green lawn—it will be a dif-
ficult matter to make artistic improvements in the school yards. On the
other hand, let the children be taught how to arrange the flowers, shrub-
bery and trees in the home plat so that the home shall be indeed a picture,
and the improvement of the school grounds will come as a natural
sequence.

The objection to adding instruction of this kind to the already
crowded curriculum may be met by suggesting that the time be taken
from the time now given to the study of the text book in geography.
The ability to make the home surroundings beautiful at even less cost
than is now incurred in the haphazard, inartistic attempts, is of greater
disciplinary, practical and cultural value than the ability to tell the loca-
tion of Timbuctoo, Jaalam Point or Calumpit.

If women’s clubs will lend their assistance to the movement for
more beautiful surroundings, a great impetus will be given to the efforst
being made to beautify the school and home grounds. To illustrate
specifically, I mention what one woman’s club has done in Carthage this
fall. Prizes were offered for the school rooms having a window most
artistically decorated with plants. The conditions were as follows:

1. All plants must be grown in the school building from cuttings,
seeds, dormant bulbs or tubers.

2. The work must be done by the pupils as far as possible, and not
by the teacher. Her work should be directive only.

9

3. The expenses must be borne by the pupils of the room.

Ornamenting Our School Yards. 443

‘

4. An accurate account must be taken of all money spent in the
purchase of boxes, pots, seeds, bulbs or cuttings.

5. It will be admissible to use rooted plants that may be obtained
from the woods or growing wild, but no rooted plants may be taken
from gardens or hothouses .

6. In deciding which rooms are entitled to prizes, account will be
made of the selection, growth and vigor of plants taking into considera-
tion the sun exposure; economy of expenditure compared with re-
sults; artistic arrangement; per cent of pupils in the room who prepare
good papers upon the theme “Our Window Garden.”

These window gardens have created a great interest in plants and the
result of the experiences they have had will give pupils better ability to
take part in the home contest that begins next spring. In this home
contest, four prizes are distributed to those pupils of the schools who
shall have the best and most artistic flower gardens on the home lot on
an area not to exceed fifty square feet, the flowers to be annuals of the
variety designated by the committee. Four prizes are also to be given
to the pupils who shall have the most artistic vine plantings of annuals
on house, porch, posts, fences or outbuildings. Pamphlets giving full
instructions are furnished to each contestant and the teachers assist
pupils in whatever way they are able to give assistance. Hach con-
testant in this, as well as in the window contest, writes a complete history
of his experiences.

Aside from these methods of bringing about improvement in school
grounds, much may be done to make Arbor Day of permanent value.
The results of years of plantings on Arbor Day have not been greatly
to improve the appearance of the school grounds. In some cases trees
and shrubs have been planted scattered through the grounds in such a
way that if they were not destroyed by the pupils playing about them
they became unpopular on account of restricting the play area. In
other cases a considerable part of the grounds has been set apart for the
nursery style of planting, with the result that “Keep off the grass” notices
are in evidence, and yet no landscape contributing to the pleasure of
pupils has been secured. Special efforts should be made to have Arbor
Day plantings consist of hardy shrubs and trees set in such a way that
they will not interfere with the play grounds, but shall serve either to

i4i4 State Horticultural Socvety.

enclose the grounds or to furnish a screen for the outbuildings or other
unsightly objects; or the planting of such hardy vines as may cover the
fences or climb the buildings if they are of brick.

The change of school grounds from the persent depressing and de-
grading condition will not be brought about suddenly, but faith in the
ultimate result on the part of those who realize the necessity for a change
and are willing to give their energies to gring about such a change, will
ultimately secure the improvement desired.—Colman’s Rural World.

BUSINESS SAGACITY.

The farmer’s business sagacity is certainly on the rise after years of
ups and downs which bring experience as the hardest kind of a teacher.
It used to be, when the lands of Michigan were first laid open for the
farming industry, that the farmers would go in for just one particular
kind of fruit, say peaches or apples, or pears, and make a specialty of
that kind. If the winter was too hard for the trees, whole crops would
be spoiled during the cold weather, and the farmer would find that he
had lost many dollars, if, indeed, he was not completely ruined in a
financial way.

But the farmers are learning every year, and one of the things they
have learned is not to put their faith in one thing any more; one kind of
fruit. ;

They are coming more and more into the way of setting several
kinds of fruit trees and making arrangements for raising several kinds of
berries, so that, if one or more of the crops fail, they will have something
to fall back on. Every new farmer who has settled anywhere around
Grand Rapids in the last year or two has prepared for a varied crop of
fruit when summer comes.—F ruit Trade Journal.

Marketing. 445

SELL OR CONSIGN ?

Editor the Southwest:

The production of choice fruit of all kinds is no longer a question
of doubt, but the satisfactory disposition of it is, so far as profit is con-
cerned, as was developed by the meeting of fruit growers last winter,
and also by the State Horticultural Society, in Peirce City, Mo. The
inquiry is not how much fruit to grow, but how to sell it and get reason-
able pay for it. On that hinges the law of profit or loss.

When any business undertakes to produce, whether a crop of berries
or other fruit, or any product of a factory, the proprietor assumes the
risk of production, but it seldom occurs that he also assumes the expense
of sending it to market and consigning it to unknown men to sell and
accepting the pay that is remitted as the reward of his toil. Such double
risk must have a small expense in its business and large profit to enable
one to keep on.

The truth is, produce should not be sold in that way. Never in one
instance go into a business to consign your product for your remuneration
and profit. It does not come sure enough to make you feel comfortable.
The tendency of the commission trade is to lower prices. The com-
mission men solicit more goods than they can sell to advantage, and
down go the prices.

Sell the product of your labor for cash in hand in your town de-
livered in good condition; then ends your responsibility and worry.

I do not wish to discourage growing berries, or any other product,
but I do wish to oppose doing this at a loss to the grower, and I do not
see how any other thing can result than loss when goods are consigned
as is part of the fruit crop and other goods of the farmer.

Col. Evans was right when he advised people not to let a car wheel
move till the contents were paid for. It is the only rational way of doing
business.

It will be better for the farmer when he can sell all his product on
his farm and exterminate the commission man’s style of business.—A.
H. Griesa, Lawrence, Kansas.

446 State Horticultural Society.

GET ACQUAINTED WITH THE CONSUMER.

Every grower of fine fruit should aim to get acquainted in a busi-
ness way with his customers. I have a friend who grows superb berries,
and in every box he puts a ticket giving his name and the variety of fruit,
and in the largest type he says, “Price always five cents above the market
price.” With berries selling at eight or ten cents ordinarily, he gets
five cents more, and that means a big profit. Can he sell them? Cer-
tainly. He sells more than any other grower in the county, and gets his
price. Then, too, his berries are so fine and large he gets them picked
for one-half cent lass a quart than others, and he makes it pay both ways.

In the fruit growing of the future there must be a cutting down of
the acreage of the majority of the growers. They must grow larger and
better fruit, of greater beauty and higher quality, and the grower who
gets the closest in touch with the consumer will get the highest price.
Another thing will be the production on a tremendous scale by a few
growers, by companies, with certain lines of fruits, in certain localities
suited to them. The small growers might do better by co-operation,
perhaps, as to methods of packing and selling and transportation, and it
will bring more money to pay some specialist to place your products on

the market in more desirable shape-—J. H. Hale—Colman’s Rural
World.

Now that the apple season has opened, the merchants find that the
grower has lost none of his cunning in the preparation of his fruit for
market. Every day, on Washington street we see barrels of apples
opened which present a tempting array of fine large, uniform, handsome
fruit on top; but when the purchaser digs down into the barrel, four or
five layers, what a difference there is in the quality. Windfalls, small,
rough and wormy apples fill the center of the barrel. For the honor of
the fruit grower, we are glad to say that this is not always
the case and that there are some shippers who have pride
enough in their reputation to deal honestly in the matter of
packing of their fruit. Would it not be a good idea for the commission

Marketing. 447

merchants to formulate some plan whereby persistent shippers of dis-
honestly packed goods could have their marks branded so that every pur-
chaser would know just what to expect when buying one of these lots?
A few drastic lessons of that kind would probably result in better packing.
Another source of annoyance to the merchant is the short barrel, but that
is believed to be only a temporary trouble and one that will soon be

remedied.—Fruit Trade Journal.

HIGH-COLORED FRUIT.

Not only is high-colored fruit more attractive, but experience proves
that its quality is also far better than that which has a poorer appearance.
In many varieties of fruit not merely the market demand for it, but its
eatableness, depends on its colorimg. This varies much with seasons,
soil, fertilizers, and general care of the tree. Some of these, especially
the fertilization, are mainly within control of the grower. He can decide
what shall be the character of his apples, at least as regards color. In
the first place, an open growth of top is necessary, so as to let sunlight
get to the foliage in the centre of the tree. It is not necessary that sun-
light shall fall on the fruit itself. It is the leaf and the sunlight on it
that does the coloring. But more than this is needed. If the tree is not
well supplied with potash fertilizers its foliage will be defective and
unable to do its appointed work.

When the fruit alls off before its seeds form, it is a plain indication
that nature has protested against being required to perfect it with insuff-
cient material. It is harder than the Egyptian bondage of the people of
Israel, when they were required to make bricks without straw. If such
trees had been fertilized with potash and phosphate months before, so
that winter and spring rains would carry the mineral where the roots can
get it, the foliage of the trees would be kept healthy, and if properly
thinned, so as to let in sunlight, much more fruit could be perfected.
Nature, however, almost always tries to do more than it can do well.
Thinning the fruit, if done early enough, is a great help, not only to mak-

ing the fruit larger, but in giving it a higher color.

448 State Horticultural Society.

It should be the aim of the orchardist to put his land, so far as he can
in the condition it was when first cleared. He need not supply at once the
extraordinary amount of potash and phosphate that came from burning
the clearings of the original forest. But he should each year fertilize
his orchard with enough of these minerals to perfect the crop that they
will bear the coming season. No time should be lost in dong this, so
that winter rains and snows may carry this fertility into the soil. There is
no danger in an orchard that any kind of fertility will be lost through
leaching away. Millions of roots are ready to grasp it, and each has at
its tip end, where it feeds, carbonic acid gas enough to make available
what it needs. If more mineral fertilizers were used on all fruit trees,
leaf blight and other fungous diseases would disappear. With healthy
foliage, and the judicious thinning of fruit in the years when it sets too
much, some fruit buds would be produced even in the bearing years, and
a moderate crop would be produced the following seasons. Many a man
who has been disappointed in finding he could not sell his overabundant
apple crop for enough to pay the cost of gathering, has found the fol-
lowing season that if he had entirely sacrificed this large crop, a much
smaller crop the next year would have given him larger profits than his
orchard has ever afforded.wAmerican Cultivator.

SOMETHING You SHOULD KNow.

MISSOURI
FOR
FRUIT.

A FEW ITEMS OF INFORMATION ABOUT
THE FRUIT INTERESTS OF THE STATE
ALONG THE LINES OF OUR RAILROADS.

WITH MAPS.

L. A. Goopman, SECRETARY.

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Something You Should Know.

MISSOURI FOR FRUIT.

Occupying the position of advantage and of special adaptability for
fruit-growing, proximity to the markets, and the best of railroad facilities,
Missouri offers to the seeker after locations for raising fruit, more good
fruit land than any other state of the Union, more variety of soil, and
elevation adapted to fruit-culture, more of the loess land, the best lands
in the world, more of the hills of the Ozarks, more of the river bluffs,
more of the table lands along the water courses, and all, all of them, the
very best of fruit lands, waiting for the settler to come and occupy,
waiting for the orchardist to come and plant, waiting for the husbandman
to come and develop what nature has so bountifuly prepared for his use.

We have thought best to present to the seekers after homes a map
of the railroads of the state, a list of the counties through which they
run, and a short description of the advantages offered, along the lines of
each, to the fruit-grower, to the settler, or to the large commercial
planter.

We wish also to thus notify the buyers of fruits, that along the lines
of these roads are hundreds of thousands of acres of apple orchards many
thousands of peach trees, and many hundred acres of small fruits of all
kinds, and they can be reached from any of the markets of all this land.
Buyers can find here in Missouri all the berries they want, car loads of
the best peaches in the world, and thousands of car loads of the most
beautiful, best sellmg apples of our country along the lines of these
different railroads. Study these maps and these short descriptions, and
then act on this information.

L. A. GOODMAN,

Secretary.

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THE MISsOURIVPACIFIC.

Beginning at St. Louis the road runs westerly along the south bank
of the Missouri river over hills and vales, river bluffs and bottoms, across
erecks and rivers through the counties of St. Louis, Franklin, Gasconade,
Osage and Cole, until it reaches Moniteau county. All of these hill
lands are peculiarly adapted to fruit-growing, and they await the hand
of the orchardist to awaken the slumbering powers that lie dormant in
their bosoms. In Moniteau. county the beautiful, grand, rich, noble
prairies of which the state is so justly noted, here begin. Then all
through Cooper, Morgan, Pettis, Johnson, Lafayette, Saline and Jack-
son, counties we find these prairies interspersed with small groves or strips
of timber along all the streams and in all the valleys. All of these
wooded hills are made of a clay shale which are rich in tree growth and
valuable for all kinds of horticultural products, small fruits, orchards,
and vineyards.

Along the southwestern border of the state this road runs through
the counties of Cass, Bates, Vernon, Barton and Jasper. No better soil
is there in all the world than some of these grand prairies of western
Missouri. Here also the hills and timbered lands are so well fitted for
orchard growth thatthe wonder is why they are not covered with orchards.
In Jasper county are the best zinc and lead mines in the world and the
land above them is the best of fruit land also. Coal also is abundant
under many of these best orchard or grass lands.

THE ST. LOUIS AND IRON MOUNTAIN.

Also beginning at St. Louis. This road runs south, through the
counties of Jefferson, Washington, Iron, Madison, Wayne, Butler, Bol
linger, Cape Girardeau, Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, and Stoddard,
giving a great variety of soils, subsoils, forests, prairies, and rich bottom
lands. The first few counties covering the Ozark range are, by nature,
prepared for the best of tree growth, the greatest of products, and the
finest of quality, in all our fruits.

Here you will also find those peculiarities of location and
elevation that invariably give the best results to the fruit grower. Again,
no where in the west can you find such mines of iron and lead and stone
and granite beneath the surface. The lower lands of the Mississippi river
bottom are the best of all those noted river bottom lands, while here and
there rise hills for the profitable growing of all fruits if they are only
utilized. These fruit lends can now be had cheaply, but will be worth
many times their value in a few years.

453

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THE ST. LOUIS AND SAN FRANCISCO.

Beginning at St. Louis it follows the line of the Ozark range, bridg-
ing numberless creeks, streams and rivers all the way across the state in a
south westerly direction; passing through the counties of Franklin, Crow-
ford, Dent, Phelps, Pulaski, Laclede, Webster, Green, Christian, Law-
rence, Barry, Newton, Jasper, Polk, Cedar, Hickory, Henry, Johnson,
Cass and Jackson.

With the exception the last four counties the road is almost whollv
within the Ozark mountains. These mountains, or rather hills, for in
many places you can not recognize any mountains at all, only large
table lands; on the mountains are the lands that in every way are suited
to the making of the horticulturist’s home, for the growth of all kinds
of small fruits, peaches and apples. These red lands of the Ozarks are
the home of fruits, and it is only necessary for us to find the proper
porous subsoil and good top soil, when we can then plant with assurance
of suecess. These lands are now very cheap, and when the black jack
forest or the pine timber has been removed we can then profitably
convert them into orchards, that will pay many times the value of the
timber taken, and continue to pay well for years to come. Thousands
of acres are ready for the orchardist. to develop.

Here you will find the soil that gives the highest color, the choicest
quality, the finest of texture and the greatest quantity in apples, of any
place in all this broad land of ours. Missouri offers untold advantages
to the one who will go up and possess them. Here you will find the
most desirable climate for the production of these fruits in abundance,
perfection and beauty.

The elevation, the location, the soil, the climate, then, are what
we want, and this soil of Missouri is so rich in all tree growth material
in the iron that colors the fruit, in the potash that makes the wood, that
we need not fear to so locate, so plant, so cultivate and so gather of
these beautiful and pure and good fruits, that it will gladden the heart

and give health, and dollars to line the pockets of the apple grower.

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THE KANSAS CITY, FT. SCOTT AND
MEMPHIS.

Begins at Kansas City and passes through the rich, and valuable

prairie lands of Jackson, Cass, Bates and Henry counties These prairies

are crossed by many creeks and small rivers, along the bluffs and banks
of which are small strips of timber lands which are underlaid with a
porous or gravelly subsoil, each of which is well adapted to the produc-
tion of all our western fruits, apples and peaches. The small fruits
‘are especially profitable in all these counties and have a good outlet to

the markets.

This railroad runs on southeast through St. Clair, Polk, Greene,
Webster, Wright, Texas, Howell, Oregon, Shannon, Carter, Dade,
Barton, Vernon, and Jasper counties. All of these counties
are more or less in, and on, the Ozark mountains, “The
Land of the Big Red Apple.” These lands are all more
or less adequate to berry, peach and apple growing. While
all the land is not equally valuable yet if care be taken with the proper
location and the red porous subsoil that will let the rains through
during the wet season, and hold the moisture during thé dry season, no
one need fear for profitable returns from his orchards.

These are the very lands suitable for tree growth, and for the de
velopment of good, sound, well-colored, juicy and perfect fruit. They
contain all the elements needed, as, a rich surface soil; porous subsoil,
containing fragments of disintegrated lime rock, iron and marl; a need-
ful elevation, and by that natural drainage to promote a healthy tree
growth. Our hills are rich from the foot to top in building materials,
fuels and precious metals. And why are these hilly lands of cur state
so highly favored for the growth of fruit? They are located in a state
blessed with a temperate clime. These hills afford a heelthy location
for man and beast, and for vegetation. The swift currents running
alongside carry off with them the cold blast and prevent Jack Frost from
doing damage in early fall and late spring.

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THE BURLINGTON RAILROADS.
THE HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH.

Beginning at Kansas City and running north and east through the
wonderful, rich counties of Clay, Clinton, Caldwell, Livingston, Linn,
_ Sullivan, Putnam, Chariton, Carroll, Macon, Shelby, Monroe and Ma-
rion, we have some of the most valuable as well as productive lands of
the state. All along are marvelous prairies, beautiful timber, grand
water courses, rich soils, well adapted to orchard planting, and all kinds
of farming and stock raismg. Many of these bluffs and hills are of
the loess formation, the most valuable of all our fruit lands. The sub-
soil under all these loess lands is of the same material and so porous that
the extreme wet or extreme drouth does not prevent the proper growth

and development of all orchard fruits.

HE sl. LOUIS & KEOKUK ELUNE. |

Following the west bank of the Mississippi river to the Lowa line,
touches the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Ralls,
Marion, Lewis, and Clark, and these river bluffs are all of them specially
valuable for the horticulturist, in the growing of orchards and small
fruits. These timber lines seem to have been prepared by nature and
the growth of the timber for the fruit grower’s special purpose. Many
of these lands close to the very best markets, are still very cheap and
they will all make good homes if the man will but plow, plant and care
for the trees.

esl s Clhiy,* sl. JOSEPH & COUNCIL BLUFFS, LINE:

Beginning at Kansas City passes along the east bank of the river
through the counties of Clay, Platte, Buchanan, Andrew, Holt, Atchison,
DeKalb, Gentry and = Harrison. All these lands along the
Missouri river bluffs are of the loess formation, and are among the
best of all the fruit lands in this western country, if not in the world.
This soil is the same, in many places, down to the depth of five, ten or
twenty feet and so porous that wet nor drouth seem to affect the
growth of our fruits. The elevation, the proximity to the large streams
of water, and the broken character gives excellent air drainage
so that the certainty of a crop of fruit is almost assured. Many of
these lands can be had for $10 to $20 per acre.

459

THE KANSAS CITY, PITTSBURG & GULF.

This road, with its branches, passes through more degrees of latitude
than any other road of the state. Beginning at Kansas City it goes
through some of the most fertile of our rich prairie counties, touches
the richest coal, lead and zine fields in the world, goes up and over to the
southern slope of the Ozark mountains, and crosses the most beautiful
streams and by the clearest springs of pure water, until it leaves the
state close to its western line. It runs through the counties of Jackson,
Cass, Bates, Vernon, Barton, Jasper, Newton, and McDonald. While
there are thousands of rich prairie farms along it, yet we find also other
thousands of choice fruit locations awaiting only their development.
Lands on the Ozark mountains are still to be had cheaply, $5 to $15 per
acre, and these lands will make homes and orchards for hundreds of
men before many years. Along this line is the largest orchard in the
United States, owned by the Ozark Orchard Co., of Kansas City, and
embracing 2,300 acres—33,000 peach and 133,000 apple trees, all from
one to five years old.

These Ozark hills are full of minerals, but the best money to be had
out of them will be for the fruits they will produce. Although lying
about latitude 37 degrees, yet the altitude of 1,500 feet gives a climate
cool enough for the best maturing of the apple; and the soil has iron
and lime enough to give the best color to our fruits, as well as the best
quality. The pears and peaches are so far ahead of the California
fruits that one has only to taste to be satisfied. The peculiar location
of this country, its elevation, freedom from heavy winds, abundance of
rainfall, protection by the highest peaks and pine timber, peculiar red
lands (always fruit lands), the many streams and springs, nearness to
market, quick communication, low price of land, growth of timber, all
prove to me that this is one of the most favored parts for fruit growing.

461

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THE MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS ROAD.

Running as it does from the southwest part of the state and crossing

it diagonally to the northeast part, passes through a great variety of soils

and climate and we thus find all kinds of soils and locations where apples,

peaches, grapes, and all the berries can be grown profitably. Entering
the state in Vernon county, with a branch reaching Kansas City, the

La : .
ad passes through Bates, St. Clair, Henry, Pettis, Cooper, Howard,

Randolph, Monroe, Ralls, and Marion counties. Then a branch follows

the north side of the Missouri river through Boone, Callaway, Mont-

gomery, Warren, St. Charles, and St. Louis counties. Here you find

hillsides and ridges that are simply waiting for some one to plant the
orchards, which he will only have to care for and cultivate well to make
them valuable mines for the future. Much of the loess formation is
along the bluffs also.

No person can make a mistake in purchasing the cheap lands in
Missouri all along our creeks, streams or rivers, where they are now
mostly covered with a forest growth. Take these lands and zhop, clear,
burn off the brush or timber and plant to orchard trees. No person
need fear that the cheap lands of Missouri will ever be any less in price
than at this very time. Careful selection of some of these lands for
future orchards and prepared in the proper manner for orchard growing
will bring their owners two, three, five times the money spent on them
if it be done in a legitimate manner and planted with the proper varie-
ties. These cheap lands will be worth in a few years threefold the pur-
chase price, and if planted in orchards will pay a wonderfully big per

cent on the investment.

465

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THE WABASH RAILROAD.

Beginning at. Kansas City, passes through some of the richest river
bottoms and the grandest prairies of the state, productive in everything
that goes to make a country valuable. Horses, cattle, mules, sheep,
hogs, grains and grasses as well as fruits on the hills are all grown in
quantities. These counties are rich, well settled and yet only a very
small portion of it is in productive orcharding. For good openings to
the fruit grower these counties offer the lands adapted for the purpose
and many good markets for the use of the products by the large cities,
towns and villages where there is not fruit enough grown to supply the
home demand. ‘These counties are Jackson, Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chan-
ton, Livingston, Daviess, Randolph, Boone, Audrain, Montgomery, War-
ren. St. Charles, St. Louis, Macon, Adair, Schuyler. To give the ad-
vantages of each would be too much for this outline and we only wish to
add that you will find thousands of locations for profitable fruit growing
along this line, and suitable soil, the right climate for the growing of
apples ina commercial way. There are plenty of valleys to draw off the
cold air and protect the fruit from destruction by late frost in spring or

severe cold of winter.

There may be hills in our state—which are not fit for fruit tree
growth, nor fit for any agricultural or horticultural purposes whatever,
but what I say and what I know is that the Missouri hills bordering on
the running waters of the rivers and their tributaries are the kind of hills
for tree growth and the natural field for the orchardist. They afford
a high, dry, healthy location for the home of the husbandman and his

family, and for the production of good, sound and perfect fruit, may it

be in small fruit or in tree fruit.

467

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THE CHICAGO & ALTON ROAD. *

Runs through part of the “garden spot of the west.” The counties
of Jackson, Lafayette, Saline, Howard, Randolph, Audrain, Boone, Cal-
laway, Pike, and St. Louis give a line of counties which will be found
hard to even equal in all this land of ours. All along and across the
many streams of these counties you will find the peculiar formation, the
character of soil, the proper subsoil, the position and adaptability of
the lands to orchard growing if but care and good judgment are used in
the situation and the varieties used. The timber lands along the streams
are just such as are wanted for the best development of the fruits of our
state. Along the road also, you will find some of the best smaller cities
and villages of the state and they have never yet been supplied with
enough good fruit to fill their markets.

Orcharding is a great big question. It is a word that has not been
known in its full meaning until of late years, and especially so in the
west. Not many years since if you had told a person that you were
going into the work of “Orcharding” he would hardly have known what
you meant. ‘To-day we have hundreds of men who are “Orcharding”’
in the truest and fullest sense of the word. Years ago a person would
have been thought wild who would plant an orchard of 100 acres. To
day we find them by the hundreds over our western country and many
another who is planting 300 acres, 400 acres, or perhaps even 1,000
acres. Now we are no more astonished when we hear of some one
planting two or three or more hundred acres of apple or peach orchards.
The man now seems to go into it Just as any other business man goes

into his business.

469

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THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE
ROAD.

Runs northeast through the state; starting at Kansas City, through
Jackson county and crossing the Missouri river at Sibley, where overhang
the river those great Missouri river bluffs, rich in all kinds of tree growth
material, and hence in orchard growth as well. Then crossing Ray,
Carroll, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Adair, Knox, Scotland and Clark coun-
ties, it also passes through thousands of acres of good fruit lands. Many
of these lands are more valuable for the production of some of the
northern fruits than is the southern part of the state and there is needed
only study to know the suitableness of the soil and subsoil for certain
fruits, like the cherry, that persons to make much money in growing
them. This northeast corner is also specially adapted to the growth of
certain apples like the Jonathan and Grimes Golden, and money is to be

“made in growing them.

From a few thousand of barrels of apples the production has grown
and grown until now we see that Missouri often stands first in the quan-
tity, quality and value of her apple crop. The development has been
a gradual and uniform one, that has made the state known all over the
country as the “Fruit State of the West.” Pears, cherries, plums,
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes—who shall number the
bushels, or crates, or boxes of all these fruits that have been put on the
market, to say nothing of the quantity used at home? In 1897 the
apple crop was worth $12,000,000, the peach crop $3,500,000, pears,
cherries, plums and grapes $1,500,000, and the berries $2,500,000
more, making the value of our fruit crop worth $20,000,000.

If any gold mines or silver mines, or lead or zine mines, or coal
mines should have such a yearly return, the world would go crazy over
the speculation. And yet right here, quietly and surely, the returns
come to us and nothing more is said. I could give you hundreds of in-
stances where the fruit crop paid more than the farm was worth—
sometimes $60, $80, $100, $150 or even $200 per acre.

471

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SHE CHICAGO, a ISLAND & PACIFIC

Runs through the counties of Jackson, Platte, Buchanan, Clinton,
DeKalb, Daviess, Grundy, and Mercer, and crossing the richest prairie
and timber lands of west Missouri and the numerous branches in the
Missouri and Grand river valleys, provides many opportunities to the
orchard grower for profitable investment. While there are many loca-
tions where grass lands and stock raising are more fitting to the localities
than is fruit growing, yet the high lands along the rivers and streams
are, many of them, underlaid with a good subsoil suitable for orcharding
and good openings are ready for you if you choose to take them.

If you want an orchard plant one-half Ben Davis, including Gano.
In the north half of the state Jonathan will come in second, and Wine-
sap, which includes Mammoth Black Twig, an improved Winesap,
should come in third. Next would come York Imperial. In this
northwest corner of the state an orchardist can and has cleared $100
per acre from his orchard.

Plum culture in the northwest has been built on our native species,
and this industry may reach that permanent success already attained in
grape growing. That it has grown ina few years to such magnitude with-
out any special efforts seems marvelous, and clearly indicates the intrin-
sic value of our native plum.

The counties on this road offer every element necessary for the
suecess of the fruit industry. The fertile hills and rich bottoms are
eminently fit for fruit growing; atmospheric and water drainage are
excellent, rain and sunshine (so important in ripening) are well bal-
anced. The apple crop seldom fails, pears ean be raised and shipped with
profit, blackberries are luxuriant, all small fruits grow readily and the
strawberry beds are generous in giving returns. And facilities for rail-

road transportation to profitable markets are complete.

473

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THE CHICAGO, MIEWAUKEE & ST. PAUL
ROAD.

Beginning at Kansas City, opens a way through Clay, Ray, Cald-
well, Carroll, Livingston, Grundy, Sullivan, and Putnam counties. It
crosses what is known as the Grand River Valley, and its many tribu-
taries, thus giving a vast number of the most desirable locations on the
hills along the little streams and yet having plenty of low lands and water
courses to carry off the cold air. The road passes through some of the
oldest settled portion of the state and many of these old southern farms
are better adapted to fruit growing than to the stock farms for which they
are used.

WOKK GE THE SOCIETY.

Our work is first one of development, of advertising our possibil-
ities, of securing he best localities for orchards, and of finding out the
adaptability of different fruits to different locations, soils, and climates.
Second, one of concentration of our effort to do well and scientifically
what should be done, to properly care for what we have undertaken, and
» improve varieties and methods. Third, one of instruction, that is try-
ing to have the right thing done in planting, in cultivation, in fighting
disease and insects, in pruning, and finally in packing, marketing and
trasportation. The good accomplished is, first, by showing that we are
a live people and a live Society in developing our resources; second, by
proving to outsiders that Missouri is a great fruit producing country ;
third, it creates an interest among our own people in these fine fruits;
fourth, it helps to increase an appetite for fruit instead of meats among
our city people; fifth, it educates the people as to varieties, produc
tiveness, hardiness and keeping qualities; sixth, offers the buyers an
opportunity to compare varieties grown in different sections and locate
them; seventh, gives the counties an increased prominence,
people soon begin to inquire where it is, and what kind of people
live there and what lands are worth, the kind of soil, the waters, the
prairies, the timber, products, and soon are going there to examine
them for themselves—One tells two, two tell four, four tell eight, and
already they are coming to Missouri to settle.

L. A. GOODMAN,
Secretary.
479

INDEX.

A
PAGE
Address of welcome, Jos. French. . 14
Address of welcome, Hon. Martin
Tier: 2/6 hg ed RE Pe Retin a ie eget 158

After cultivation, gathering and
marketing, D. A. Robnett...... 162
Agriculture in schools, W. J. Ste-
vens ...
Apple Basis, ihe new. We eee 341

Apple Canker: «(eee oe 391
Apple crop, gathering and market-
Thao elaNey, Jay INIIROM Wes 6 mag a8 onc 194
Apple, diseases of the, Prof. J. C.
INARI NS CU eae recy NOR Ae ear are 206
Apple eaters league Se Ses Ss 341

Apple growers’ meeting, national. 351
Apple orowing, pruning, ete di. B:

SIMNMOCKPeyes Vase Meta kte ute oe 170
Applenorchard jiv.5 th. een oo
Apple orchard, a stream in an... 350
Apple orchards pay, will, N. F.

IVER AN A EY ae merch ice esr tea 344
Apple packages, impor tance of uni-

Worst, 5 Ab WSOC) 3 55 2 sae 126
Apples PESOS, See ase chee 400
FADO PLess peLOSSynOM te oi. 0s arbre ere 271
Apples, planting, varieties, ete.,

di ES ORANGE aoe nooo Ve omese 175
Apples, preparation of land, laying

Ollb- .eb@rade El. WWarnesee ncn yet 180
Apples, some New Ark. seedling,

Teioyig de Al, Tianastoils Joo ake os - 243
Apple tree root rot, Prof. H. von

Schrenckr eure see Phe cede 225
Apple trees, growing, , handling, ete.,

1D Ie Mason TN ee keane 0. vb c 172
Apple varieties ...........- 179, 180

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R.R. 471

Bees
Bees, winteri ing i in n Mo., A. L. Riley 418

Bees, wintering .... ....-.--.-- 421
Ben Davis Be ae ayo, 6: Cio SIRO 182
Birds, a plea for, Grace Cade.... 422
Birds stom protect ues ieee tt 423
Birds, discussion on ........... 316
Birds, resolution on protection of 316
Bitter) rotmim apples... ...-..-. - 391
Blackberries, discussion on.. .... 47
Blackberries in the orchard..... 290

Bordeaux Mixture BP RE Ras pf 395
Business methods in horticulture,

Ze La wRussell ee ee eee 140
Business savacucy oy en leer 444
Burlington railroads 3. err 459

C
) (Camninge diScussione en air 59
Canning, surplus fruit, Mrs. W.

By Chambers vito ciel. 150
Catch crops, W. HE. Farmer...... 385
Cherries, Prof. W. A. Waugh..... 363
Cherries in Mo., will it pay to

plantaiGas Wie eoplansmp tee 215
Cherry orchard, best soil, location,

varieties, etce., J. J. Kiser..... 208
Cherry pits sprouting. eo wae 364

Cherry, pruning, planting, market-
ing; We Hes Skanners: © secre 211
Chestnut culture, improved, J. H.

Halleet2c ee. ase Ore ae 424
Chinch bugs, to destroy a sess ee 406
Cold storage GAS ater e eae ae 435

Committee on agriculture in schools,
report of, W. J. Stevens...... 101
Committee on Horticultural educa-

tion. meeting OL Same eee 115
Committee on horticulture, secreta-

Ty, S LepoOnt, ances tee reraee 96
Committee, report of flower .... 85
Cummittee, report of fruit ...... 86, 262
Committee, report of obituary. ... 88

| Committee, report on canned

woodS,...25:\ 2.7. See nase = ee 87
Committees appointed Bee We ssa diate 26, 169
Committees, standing .... ...... 4
Constitution = vee eee 6
Constitution amended . Diy. 279, 289
@onstitutions model Gea- ee seer eer
Consumer, get acquainted with

ey die lek IBEW, Sse sa5 fn od Soe 446
Copper corbonate .... ......-.- 395
Copper sulphate .... ......+... 396

County fruit reports ............ 89

County societies, list ..........- 11
County society reports ........-- 253
Cultivapiona: (4.4 384
Cultivation, crops, pruning, etc.,

AR Patterson. scl csmice kre 192
Cultivation, crops, tools. ete., H.

VV. Jenkins: men sek ere rae 190

C=. a ee

Chicago and Alton road.........

Index.

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific , 473
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 475
D

Dewberry, a brief article on the

sinrenetias He Hl. Wild) jis cse- =. 48
Discussion on apple diseases..... 207
Discussion on apples, varieties.. 187
Discussion on blackberries....... 47
Discussion on canning .......... 59
Discussion on cherries .......... 216
Discussion on dewberries ....... 49
Discussion on distribution ...... 121
Discussion on grapes ...........! 6, 313
Discussion on horticultural educa-

tion BEN Se ieheh at ay Mee aie, 5.3 113
Discussion on imsects).... :..... 58
Discussion on orchards ........ 186, 196
Discussion om peaches :.5....)... 224
DISENSSIiONVON PeaES! 4. ee - 302
IDISGussiom on plums) ie. se ee 222
Discussion on raspberries ...... 45
Discussion on strawberries ...... 31
Discussion on transportation .... 122
Discussion on Uniform packages. 128
Discussion on winter injury..... 124
IDS GAGES Sonkgiohnee Beet cae ence 391
Diseases of apple, Prof. Whitten... 206
Diseases of cherry, Prof. Whitten. 219
Diseases of pear, Prof. Whitten. 301
Distribution of small fruits, best

jolene thay (CRON, Uy yo esse eee 116
Distribution of strawberries ..... 42

H
PTO MOO Oye tet ie fake es8 <a 394
Entomology and horticulture, Mary

E. Murtfeldt Sie PRE BNe kan tee fio: bara 108

Entomologist, nurseryman and 430
iH

Hane well yOLdS sc 2 as ereteres cs: 329

Fertilizer, nitrate of soda, Prof.

JN ADRS ICLAOIE Gk See ee eee oP ae 376
Fertilizers, Swift & Co.......... 282
Floral infatuation, An author’s.. 408
Flowers, cultivation of, Mrs. E. L.

Parker BL Seto ties es te 16
Flowers for the yard, seeds and

greenhouse, C. I. Robords ...... 71
Flowers, the ethical and practical

value of, Mrs. G. E. Dugan.... 75
Flowers, the Six Best from Seed,

Wibtzs (Cin 134 Dba: bs eee eee 165
INGEST: cc 5 6. (ee ee eee oe 426
Freeze, general conclusions on.... 386
Fruit buds, Prof. W. R. Lazenby. 431
Hoi, miebecolored, ..-.0..:.%-- 447
Fruits. erystalized or glace, Mrs.

EG mm VLOmbenbie e650. aere tas « 287
Fruits for the farmer, J. A. Ken-

ima Aes doe ao eee eee 146

Kansas City, F

Fruit, what to do with surplus,

Mrs We bo Chamberdea. 2 >
[PLEMENT So Go wedoadaconeu de
[QUA Fa ee Mi eae me meh fc cle Ae ee
Fungus, cedar apple, Prof.Whitten

G
Gathering and marketing the ap-
ple- crops, A: Nelson) 295-84,25
Gooseberries, successful culture of,
ae Si Wihhtey yes Boke ae
Grape bulletin, Prof. Whitten....
Grape, the Sam’! Miller
Grapes Si
Grapes, cultivation and best vari-
eties, Henry Wallis
Grapes, cultivating, trellising, mar-
keting, etc., C. F. Ruegsegger.
Grapes, discussion on

H
Healthful homes, Mrs. J. R. Mill-
TOT Pech sess 8 chk ee
IE KEGULKSIS) Sian amie OR Mee ERC pr orate J Sick
Heleborecy es 0 or). eee

Honey-dew, J. J. Kiser
Honey, keeping ..
Honey, wholesome

Horticultural education, Mrs.
13 ID WKN 4s oe

Horticultural education, report of
committee on, G. B. Lamm.

Horticulture, some thoughts on, F,
H. Speakman

| How rock becomes soil, H. B. Can-

non .

How to keep ‘the boys on the farm,

J. C. Evans

Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R...
u

Injury by. drouth, can we help the

trees, J. EH. May
“Tnsecticides and spraying”

Insects, apple, Prof. J. M. Sted-
HL Shey tO) cree eee hee een
Insects, discussion REE ie Save 58
Insects of the pear, Prof. Sted-
TOON Aes or Oh atone anc, a ee

Insects of the cherry, Prof. Sted-
man ..
pass spend the winter how, M.
Slingerland ..
aes for places of meetings
K

Kerosene emulsion

Kerosene formula .. .
Us Seott and Mem-

phis R. R.

| Kansas City, St. Joseph and Coun-

ceil Bluffs

' Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf.

306,

459
461

478

Index.

L Nursery stock, winter injury to,
Lady- -Bird beetles versus San Jose C. L. Watrous Syst wy. kn BoBC IGNS WAC Tic < 429
SCalen aa af agg, hickege pregensega 404 | Nursery trees, root killing of,
GATES ONG S #Os coer tala ee ee 153 Protichet Se (Golan eee 428
NAW MGANG. OL dync esa. ache ene ¢ 409 Oo
Lawns, making, C. Glover....... 73 Officers; election) Of = 55-4 ane 279
Laying out orchards .......... LVG\ Officers, Vist, > 2B SRL eee 3
Letters, G. B: Brackett, U. S. Po- _._| Omaha Exposition, report of treas-
es ber a, Oe ae urer of Mo. Com., J. F. David-
J. £. VOWGIN ....2..-- 22 son BSS Sotidiid cadres hoe ee eee 268
me i eae ST BER elo agi a, Orchard, dress and keep the, Con-
x. INEISOM 2 202s ee ee 2 rad Hartzell v.70 ents eee ee 200
Liquid air for refrigerator service 434) Orchard manuring, E. P. Powell.. 384
ondon Purple ~. = 3. 25).005 ce 396 Orcharding as a business, L. A.
M Gooduitamn—. > SP: ) oe oe 347
NManurine 334 | Orcharding, essentials of success-
MEG ke ee 5 ful, J. el. Stanley; 2 os. tee 234
= See i? SERN er rae Orchard management, W. T. Flour-
Members; honorary +) 7..945->=- 3 = 317
os HID ss ne ose ae ae. z Orchards, discussion on ....:.... 186
Miscellaneous papers .... ....... 333 eee pee
: : : rchards, setting and care of trees,
Mo. Botanical Garden, Prof. H. C. GE. Ad 5 185
LSS, eas Sea ee Oa cele: 20 Semana tigi Satoh ae Pee 2
Mee uOrausecshrahs 417 Orchard trees, shaping of........ 342
Mi 5 f © rate L i Goad ; Organize a Hort. Society, how to. 7
emete ae 449-451 Ornamental horticulture, James
SEAS Sa ae i te ae = Rideewayryrs ..= ce eee 407
Missouri Pacific [aids melee ease 453 Onis : J
z fee amentals ys. 2" ey NF ee sa 407
Missouri, Kansas and Texas.... 465 OF Pe alsaiants 410
Missouri State Hort. Society, work eden sae Aie om mio er em°¥ < .
. f fae 12 475 Ornamental trees .. .......... 68, 227
Bae Nat Re Meee TPS “| Ornamental trees and plants, H. R.
Maps Wayman ...2) Biot gh see 323
NMISSOuURIMEACIICy. npc ici criaee 452 | Ornamental plants a MAAS. see 245
St. Louis and San Francisco.... 454) Ornamentation of rural school and
St. Louis and Iron Mountain.... 452 and homes, Prof. J. C. Whitten 81
K. C., Ft. Scott and Memphis... 456 | Ornamenting school grounds, Prof.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.. 470 Whitten ye. rss eee 436
[siprlineeAKON ING Shoe codooocer 458 | Ornamenting school grounds, James
K. C., Pittsl d Gulf 460| Newton Baskett .- 438
. C., Pittsburg an {iF iagede a ee won Baskett. 25 *se-ae snr
Omaha, K. C. and Eastern, and St. Ornamenting school grounds, Prof.
MGOUIS) | Spee notegesinpdra me scuete e nirese 462 Wis Jc ISGEVENS 6, Seem roer ome 440
Missouri, Kansas and Texas..... 4642) Out-door art. /-o 3.06 sa ees ee 410
Wabasbev.sgec imei eae ieite 466 | Outlook, secretary’s report ..... 94
Chicago and Alton .............- 468 | Omaha, Kansas City and Eastern
Sant a Rout 470 TR 184 463
BuMieh KEN IMO Ne esse du moncooy Ee ARS 3) howd St otec eka :
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. 472 P
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul. 474 .
+ Packing ‘apples... 2) ac-5: sane 446
N Pan-American Exposition .. Soo0 Ob
Nasturtimmis rele tote sees VGifa| MBANSTES) py es. eddie eens ete 19, 166
National Park of the ‘south, pro- Paris Reposition, denon aa es
DOSEG!s eet: se RON tener 426 ing fruit for the +. Gano.. 26
Necessary pride, Miss Lulu Way- Paris Exposition .. . .250, aL ee
TULA Meant ote chat) asker etens reais estate 239;|| GeaibicGTeenhiany aes 3f
New fruits, ‘report of committee on 260} Peach crop gleanings, U. S. Bul- a
Nomenclature, report of commit- heGini apis Sawasdee iio eee 358
EEPROM alec.) ta) s x.cwersuate «eee Rae a 261 | Peach culture, Roland oy 362
Nursery convention .. .......... 428} Peach growing, commercial m.
Nurseryman and Entomologist, Bee NHLOa Sts acct ustyac. See eee 63
IPE Otieauns:pyEMUIIGEY : oo reccaet.c or eteeee 430 | Peach, how T grow the, W. F. Ben-
Nurserymen’s Association, secreta- SON: / wheel Geer at ene celetohdcie eee 60
PVCS LOPOMU ets j21s ios ote /oeters over (a 98 | Peach orchard, J. M. Russell.... 362

Beache Greesy at. 5 isp hese eiet ete 359
Peach trees, experience with frozen 361
Reach! trees, frozen 32.....%..-.. 224
Peach trees, setting out......... 360 |
Peach trees, size, J. H. Hale...... 363
Eeareplight, M. B. Wait )....... 356
Rear leat blister mite. ... 05)... 403
Pear, nursery trees, W. H. Litson,

GIES th hl 5 Bae eee cite ie ocr aa 300
Pear, Garber and Keiffer, R. J.

LoS ee ne sa 299
pecitemteS VLG) fe cueys | se crete ere 3s 401
IPTG Sto, Aen SC CEPTS Ne ARR Te eee 355
HS OUMTAS Myo cers. care, Sete alc oicinieleelss 167
Planting between trees .......... 353
flaming Orchards: } 2). -ae6 DL ViGs Als
Plants, are pedigreed better, H.

SIG MTSE? Sia a: Geto ke Liceites ice 389
Plants, improvement by selection,

AT IM VWEDDER kysive sci a eetec 387
Plants, twelve hardy Herbaceous,

INGE OMB OOUI El: ha cc. crac eebsveyee ers 245
limi @umCulio! Se) = h4.- sisters ees 401
Plum orchards, opportunities for

wider planting, S. H. Linton.. 220
Pinimessacsuma. vd Els Elale.....’. 364
Plums, commercial value of Japan 365
Plum, varieties, discussion ...... 222
Poems—A Day in June, Eben E.

1ae>-are7 go ee icias Geen clones 93
All About Apples ...... 347
Colorado) Bente.) .5 2.24. 340
My Grandfather’s Orch-
DROME re chek sor, oe 346
Orehard Lands of Long
Ago, James Whitcomb Ri-
ley SP thea RRO cinta. 6 BEE 355
Our Birds, H. W. Lone fel-
G6 ba Se. oo Obes one 340
Set Out Trees, Mrs. An-
mienGeWianshally ee... ae: 339
‘The Fruit Tree’s Prayer,
AMM ING vac aoe) che cuet sy oasis 337
The Sunflower’s Story.
Velma C. Melville ...... 417
When the Green Gits Back
in the Trees, J. W. Riley. 427
IPTpDOMEEE BS 2 Ga eae oicaeE nc Onaetere 168
Preparation for orchard ....170, 172,175
Q
Quality in preference to quantity,

CEOMmPNAID DN aces esac ec) “fies cia 28
Oiince orowine- ..46-5+.2- 357
Quince trees, pruning ........... 357

R
Random thoughts on small fruits,

Migy 1Wp Letoh elleich eels eee S oak HG eo 43
Raspberries, Blackeap, N. F. Mur-

TE REA CIS OEE ES MEEERE Oo Sry aT 378
Raspberries, discussion on ....... 45
Reciprocity, L. A. Goodman..... 333

Index.

479
Recitation, “Pleasures of the Black-

berry,” Philip McDonald ..... 164
Refrigerator service, Liquid Air

LOTS vat geet Ph ceovenete Ogee eseise vial artis 434
Report of secretary ............ 92, 269
ReporteOhmtbreasunrete ee tc 99, 277
Report, Ou annual ey). ye. ee se 273
Resolutions finale eee ene 152; 327
Resolutions on pure food ........ 327
Resolutions on Society’s work ... 328
Root rot of apple, Prof. von

Sebrenckgiyas os Crise paeleinererte: as 225

Ss
Samidose Scalers sacs eters = 404
Sell or consign, A. H. Griesa..... 445
Shaw banqueti ji a. 4 cree er 436
Sheep raising and orcharding, I. B.

Waiwitonhs 15 525" sxteie sateraeyrte ee: 129
Smallstruits: 7 ssh eee 371
Small fruits, best plan in distribu-

tien, of, GT. Tippin <2). asaee, 116
Small fruits, fall planting of, H.

GHSITIsh@ yh e.cr, 6 75: ls ard Sees 381
Small fruits, Random thoughts on,

Mei Bonhamerc eee 43
Small fruits, report on, G. W.

d alloy ooh skeen Neice Reraihens ato Ce oce 263
Small fruits, when to cut back, H.

135) Web Asien, soagnebacoo gee 382
Southeast Mo. as a fruit growing

section, M. Butterfield ........ 281
Southeast Mo. and its resources,

ie Chanidlleniesmey terior eter 293
Sprays tommiulas veers ee aie 395
SPLAVANOY 2S corte ee vcheiee ue Sie ae 317, 396
Spraying, discussion on .. ...... 289
SHpLavginoy Cinviees eye acs austen eesti 315
SOMAnaer Moye TNE) GS oogaccc acc 396
Spravinovon orchardssrrrse este 396
SOME? OWL oe aide aa eas GOSS an 314
Stocksfon) cherries; cscs 217
Stone fruits, J. P. Cowdin....... 226
StOMe MM UtS) a, in seeels dh rcpenci eres 358
Strawberries, Big, E. H. Grabill.. 377
Strawberries, cost of growing, B.

DSSS To Gage) atarcontohe verchaneueyetotencds 374
Strawberries, ‘discussion on distri

bution of 42) oeeiass oss ree 42
Strawberries, discussion on varie-

13 RB OIE te IEDR Ge Oho 31
Strawberries, Dry Weather 374
Strawberries improved by selection,

IPgonig Ue lal, dame os cgoaeboc oc 372
Strawberries, quality in prefer-

ence to quantity, Geo. Raupp.. 28
Strawberries, the demand; the sup-

ply; Gs Al Atiiwoods jraseievers <0 37
Strawberries, varieties for market,

Vics GEREN S GLY arcane eaetny etal ts -5)/a) eae 27
Strawberry, pedigreed plants, H.

Schnell esa sevtets tore 389
Simmer Meevlna aa we s.6 oss ees 14, 153

480

Sweet Peas ..
Samual Meiee Mindy chee sebn Are sion tie
St. Louis and San Francisco......
St. Louis and Omaha Branch....
St. Louis and Iron Mountain.....
St. Louis and Keokuk Line......

Mich aherh s124 Mit) | pana eon cc
Tools .. 19
Transportation, discussion on ....
Treelessness, the curse of, C. W.
THO 35 (Rae Grin ictioce aoc
Tree planting in our cities, L. A.
(Croalsitnd ged somes asa ooue os 6
iiineemnrOOlelICe: =. = >5-)- 95-bit aes
Trees are short lived, why our,
TPreGiny WAMU ya ao Cone coon 5Se
Trees, care and management of
sineet.., HeeC. lnishtanere nice
Trees, Catalpa and Maple........
Trees for street and lawn, decidu-
Cie dn Bebe sien sn co dos moot
Trees, individuality of, Prof. G.
leo well vio Aas eerie:
Trees, individuality of our, L. A.
Goodman ..

Uniform packages, discussion on.

Index.
18,165 United States Bulletins.......... 103
471
455 V
463 | Varieties of apples ............ 179, 184
453 | Varieties of cherries .......... 209, 216
459 | Varieties of plums .............. 220:
Varieties of strawberries .........38, 43
seg | Vineyard, HE. W. Geer... <2 sae 371
93,203 | Vineyard, planting and training,
122 T. A.cPefier 3.50". bch. eee 306
Visitors at summer meeting...... 27
41] | Visitors at winter meeting. . 169
413 Aue
402 | Water as a protection against
: frosts, W.. He Jenkins] =) o.-eee 376
324 | Welcome response, Pres. Murray. .14, 158
Windbreaks * a2"). i.e ee eee 429
227 | Winter injury to fruits, G. W.
412 Hopkins .).'.)/..2 7h Gee 123
Wintersmeeting: acs) yee 157, 329
68 | Wrappers, wooden veneer ........ 125
WabasheR. oR. e)2. 5. 467
388
275 | York Panperial 7 Joon 45> pene 183
York Imperial, history of........ 353
128°)" Yosemites Ranks) cere 426

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