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REPORT 


OF  THE 


0 


ml 


IFOE,    THE    ■STE-A.E,    1884. 


BEING    A    REPORT   OF   THE    WORKINGS    OF   THE    SOCIETY     FOR    THE 

YEAR,    TOGETHER    WITH   THE   PAPERS    AND 

DISCUSSIONS   AT   THE 


» 


27tli  Annual  Meeting  held  at  St.  Joseph,  Dec  9,  10,  i1,  1884, 


ALSO,   A  REPORT   OF  THE 


Seml-Annnal  Meeting  held  at  Springfield,  June  10  and  11,  1884; 

COiJTAINING  ALSO, 

A    CONSTITUTION    FOR    THE    WORKING    OF   LOCAL   OR    COUNTY    HOR- 
TICULTURAL  SOCIETIES,    AND 


L,  A.  &00DM1N,  Secretary,  Westport,  Mo. 


JEFFERSON  CITY: 

TRIBUNE  CO.,   STATE    PRINTERS, 

1885. 


/US' 


Eiei^^^TJL., 


The  following  glaring  blunders  of  the  printer  cannot  be  passed 
over  without  correction: 

On  page  232,  under  head  "Mission  of  Flowers,"  the  author's 
name,  Mrs.  F.  Holsinger,  has  been  omitted. 

On  page  275,  under  head  "Secretary's  Budget,"  the  headings 
should  have  been  printed  in  numerical  order. 

The  essay  "What  Women  Have  Done  and  What  They  Can 
Do,"  on  pages  325-9,  by  Miss  Sackett,  of  Ohio,  (whose  name  is 
also  omitted),  and  also  the  paper  "Education  on  the  Farm,"  on 
page  329,  should  have  appeared  under  heading  "Entertaining 
and  Instructive,"  on  page  316,  rather  than  under  "Vegetables," 
as  they  now  appear. 

On  page  339,  under  heading  "Grapes,"  the  name  of  the  au- 
thor of  essay  "Grape  Notes  From  Texas,"  Mr.  T.  V.  Munson,  has 
been  omitted. 


V 


REPORT 


OF   THE 


III II  uUic  iioriKji 


II 


IFOR.    THE    ■^"E-Aul?,    1SS4- 


r  T3:?ARY 

Yor^K 

BOFANJCAL 
GARDEN 


BEINfi    A    RKPORT   OF   THE     WORKINGS     OF   THE    SOCIETY     FOR    THE 

YEAR,    TOGETHER    WITH    THE    PAPERS    AND 

DISCUSSIONS    AT   THE 

27th  Annual  Meeting  held  at  St.  Joseph,  Dec  9,  10,  11,  1884, 

ALSO,    A  RErORr    l)F   TBE 

Semi-Annual  Meeting  held  at  Springfield,  June  10  and  11,  1884; 

CONTAININfi    ALSO, 

A    CONSTITLTIOX    FOR    THE    WORKING    OF    LOCAL    OR    COL'XTY    HOR- 
TICULTURAL  SOCIETIES,    AND 


L,  A.GOODMAN,  Secretary,  Westport,] Mo, 


JEFFERSON  CITY: 

TRIBUNE  CO.,   STATE   PRINTERS, 

1884. 


Officers  for  the  Year  1884. 


President, 
Prof.  S.  M.  TRACY,  Columbia. 

Vice-President, 
A.  W.  St.  JOHN,  Carthage. 

Secretary, 
L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Westport. 

Treas^irer, 
J.  C.  EVANS,  Harlem. 


Officers  Elected  for  the  Year  1885. 


President, 
J.  C.  EVANS,  Harlem. 

Vice-President, 
E.  P.  HENRY,  Butler. 

Secretary, 
L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Westport. 

Treasurer, 
Z.  S.  RAGAN,  Independence. 


Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

To  His  Excellency,  John  S.  Marmaduhe,  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Missouri : 

Believing  that  our  report  should  be  under  the  control  of  the 
state  and  that  we  should  report  to  our  Governor,  as  do  our  other 
state  officers,  I  take  the  liberty  to  address  this  report  to  you. 

L.  A.   GOODMAX, 

Secretarv. 


LIBRARY 

List  of  Members.  BOTAmcAL 

GARDEN 


Prof.  S.  M.  Tracy Columbia. 

Prof.  J.   W.  Sanborn Columbia. 

J.   C.  Evans Harlem. 

E,  P.  Henry Butler. 

Henry  Speers Butler. 

L.  A.  Goodman Westport. 

Z.  S.  Rigan Independence. 

Jacob  Faith Montevallo. 

F.  H.  King Montevallo. 

C.  Thorp Weston. 

J.  P.  Richard Weston. 

E.  Listen Virgil  City. 

N.  F.  Murry Ehu  Grove. 

C.  H.  Fink"! Lamar. 

W.  H.  Thomas LaGrauge. 

F.  F.  Fine Sprhigfield. 

D.  S.  tiolmau Springfield. 

J.  W.  Fleeman  St.  Joseph. 

Hans.  Nielson " 

L.  Zaigler " 

W.  Haferlie •' 

G.  Segessemann Amazonia. 

J.  Zimmerman 

J.  N.  Menifee Oregon. 

T.  W.  Gaum Mary  ville. 

L.  M.  Sea Independence. 

L.  L.  Seller 

H.  M.  Hoffman Leavenworth.  Kas. 

Dan.  Carpenter Barry. 

G.  W.   Hopkins Kansas  City. 

E.  Taylor Edwardsville.  Kas. 

N,  P.  Sommer St.  Joseph. 

S.  K.  FaulkDpr Whiteville. 

Chris.    Schroeder Barry. 

J.  A.  Durkes Weston. 

Chas.  Patterson Kirksville. 

W,  O.  Patterson 

W,  O.  Munger St.  Joseph. 

J.  L.  McAleer " 

Hon.  Jos.  Grubb •• 

Chris.  Diegel " 

Dr.  A.  Goslin / Oregon. 

W.  G.  Gano Parkville. 

Gus.    Meissner Bush  burg. 

Isidor  Bush St.  Louis. 

Wm.  Ent Savannah. 

J.  B.  Wild i Sarcoxie. 

H.  W.  Wild 

H.  B.  Francis Mulberry. 

P.  Jackson Carthage. 

J.  C.  Bender St.  Joseph. 


6  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

W.    Wiedman St.  Joseph. 

Jacob  Madinger "        " 

H.  Keene " 

John  Hall,  Box  301 " 

H.  T.  Kelsey "        " 

Karl  Wiedman " 

S.  N.  Cox " 

J.  Kirschner " 

Gilbert  Blake " 

S.  H.  Graden Parkville. 

McKinley Connor's  Sta. ,  Kas. 

W.  S.  King Amazonia. 

H.  C.  Kirshbaum Tolona. 

F.  Lionberger New  Florence. 

A.  D.  Barnes •  Barry. 

J.  A.   Bayles Lee's  Summit. 

J.  Kirchgraber Springfield. 

E.  T.  Hynes West  Plains. 

John  Bebee Springfield. 

J.  C.  Gardner 

D.  T.  Bronaugh Barry. 

C.  E.  Kern Westport. 

James  Gamble Brookfield. 

E.  B.  Cooper Trenton. 

F.  Fleischer Gasconade  City. 

Geo.  S.  Allison Johnson  City. 

W.  C.  Freeman Brookline. 

Job    Newton Springfield. 

J.  W.  Roundtree 

H.  Scholton 

J.  B.  Lawson " 

W.  M.  Poge Lexington. 

A.  A.  Button Springfield. 

R.  F.  Kingsbury Estill. 

Thomas  Fargher La  Porte,  Ind. 

E.  C.  Robinson Portland,  Maine. 

G.  S.   Downend Sibley.  Iowa. 

F.  Schwettman Lincoln. 

C.  Teubner Columbia. 

Judge  S.  Miller Bluffton. 

C.  Gerber Wheatland. 

E.   Burrows Canton. 

Geo.  H.   Gill Kirkwood. 

Stone  Hill  Wine  Company Hermann. 

E.  T.    Hollister St.  Louis. 

P.  M.    Kiley " 

J.  H.  Lewis Blue  Springs. 

P.  B.  Dobozy West  Plains. 

J.  D.  Hawkins Paris. 

John  Laney Green  Ridge. 

Jesse  Hiatt Lockwood. 

Alfred  Johnson Pierce  City. 

A.  W.  McPherson Springfield. 

Rommel  &  Sobb Morrison. 

D.  M.  Dunl.ap  Fulton. 

R.  E.  Bailey 

M.  I.  Parker Carthage. 

J.  P.  Durand Prairie  City. 

E.  F.  Stephens Crete,  Nebraska, 

A.  W.  St.  John Carthage. 

G.  F.  Espenlaub Rosedale,  Kas, 

Frank  Holsinger '  •  " 


List  of  Members. 

J.  C.  Blair Kansas  City. 

Wm.  Kaufman 

W.  M.  Hopkins 

C.  B.  Warren 

J.  C.  Dickinson 

S.  W.  Salisbury 

S.  C.  Palmer 

H.  T.  Hovelman 

D.  F.  Emry Carthage. 

E.  R.  Morerord Schell  City. 

F.  Wellhouse Fairmount,  Kas. 

E.  J.  Holman Leavenworth,  Kas. 

P.  Underwood Lawrence,  Kas. 

C.  M.  Stark Louisiana. 

J.  B.  Schlichter Sterling,  Kas. 

J.  W.  Mclntyre Fulton. 

J.  H.  Monsese Beaman. 

H.  Bruihl Appleton  City. 

Green  Bros Macon  City. 

Hon.  John  J.  Cockrell Warrensburg. 

Phil.  Pfeiffer Sedalia. 

C.  G.  Comstock .^ Albany. 

J.  M.   Pretzinger Clinton. 

J.  K.  (jlassf ord Carthage. 

Jas.  Hanley Shelbina. 

A.  H.  Gilkerson Warrensburg. 

A.  Ingraham Nevada. 

H.  W.    Maxwell Carthage. 

H.  Shepley Nevada. 

Walter  Scott Montevallo. 

A.  Ambrose Nevada. 

F.  Griffith Carthage. 

L.  C.  Amsden Carthage. 

C.  A.  Emry 

D.  L.  Emry 

Z.  T.  Russell 

J.  W.  Baird 

Hon.  Ira  S.  Haseltine Dorchester. 

S.  I.  Haseltine 

W.  J.  Sieber Carthage. 

P.  Finn 

J.  Ames Carthage. 

J.  B.  Wild Sarcoxie. 

H.  W.  Wild 

Bennett  Hall Carthage. 

W.  C.  Downs 

Nicholas  Sibert "' 

Z.  Freeman Joplin. 

Kos   Elliott Oronogo. 

Sinnonk  &   Co Edina . 

J.  T.  Stewart .  • Blackburn. 

F.  A.  Hazen Dudenville. 

James  W.  Turner Brookfield. 

J.  K.  Cravens Kansas  City. 

R.  J.  Lewis Princeton. 

LADY  MEMBERS. 

Mrs.  Dr.  Galbraith Carthage. 

Mrs.  Geo.  Allison Johnson  Citj*. 

Mrs.  Lou  Marker Carthage. 

Mrs.  L.  A.  Goodman Westport. 

Mrs.  W.  G.  Gano Parkville. 


8  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Mrs.  Frank  Holsinger Rosedale,  Kas. 

Mrs.  G.  F.  Espenlaub 

Mrs.  C.  A.  Emry Carthage. 

Mrs.  J.  K.  Cravens Kansas  City. 

Mrs.  E.    J.  Lewis Westport. 

Miss  Mary  Murtfeldt Kirkwood. 

Miss  Mary  Evans Harlem. 

Mrs.  Wade  Burden Springiield. 

Mrs.  Mary  Thornhill New  Florence. 

Mrs.  S.  J.  Fargher LaPorte,  Ind. 

Mrs.  D.  S.  Holman Springfield. 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Goff 

Miss  Rosa  Holman " 

Miss  Lilly  Holman 

Mrs.  Dr.  A.  Goslin Oregon. 

Mrs.  N.  F.  Murry Elm  Grove. 

Mrs.  J.  N.  Menifee    Oregon. 

Mrs.  Z.  S.  Ragan Independence. 

Mrs  H.  B.  Francis Mulberry. 

Mrs.  C.  E.  Kern Westport. 

Mrs.  J.  W.  Roundtree Springfield. 

Mrs.  E.  P.  Henry Butler. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  Durand Prairie  City. 

LIST  OF  HONORARY  MEMBERS. 

Geo.  Hussman Napa,  Cal. 

Marshall  P.  Wilder Boston.  Mass. 

Charles  Downing Newburgh,  N.  Y. 

T.  T.  Lvon Grand  Haven,  Mich. 

C.  W.  Murtfeldt Kirkwood,  Mo. 

LIST  OF  LIFE  MEMBERS. 

[A  number  of  persons  are  life  members  of  our  Society,  but  their  names 
are  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  old  volumes  ;  and,  in  order  to  get  a  com- 
plete list  of  such  I  would  be  glad  if  any  one  who  is,  or  knows  of  one  who 
is.  a  life  member,  to  send  me  their  names.] 

•     L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Secretary. 


STANDING   COMMITTEES. 


Orchards, 

W.    G.    GANG,    Parkville;    CHAS.     PATTEESON,    Kirks- 

viLLE  ;  D.  S.  HOLMAN,  Springfield. 

Vineyards, 
GEO.  MEISSNEE,  Bushburg  ;  JACOB  EOMMEL,  Morrison, 

C.  TEUBNEE,  Columbia. 

Small  Fruits, 

S.    MILLEE,    Bluffton  ;     WM.    HOPKINS,    Kansas    City  ; 

JACOB  FAITH,  Montevallo. 

Stone  Fruits, 

D.    F.    EMEY,    Carthage;    E.    F.    HYNES,    AVest    Plains, 

JACOB  MADINGEE,  St.  Joseph. 

Vegetables, 

J.  W.  SANBOEN,    Columbia  ;    F.    H.    KING,    Montevallo  ; 

J.  N.  MENIFEE,    Forest  City. 

Flxnvers, 

EOBT.  S.  BEOWN,  Kansas  City  :    H.  MICHEL,  St.  Louis, 

MES.  WADE  BUEDEN,  Springfield. 

Ornamentals, 
Z.  S.  EAGAN,  Independence  ;   C.  W.  MUETFELDT,  Kirk- 
wood  ;   E.  E.  BAILEY,  Fulton. 

Entomology, 

DE.  A.  GOSLIN,    Oregon  ;   H.  SHEPLEY,    Nevada  ;    MISS 
M.  MUETFELDT,  Kirkwood. 

Botany, 
PEOF.  S.  M.  TEACY,  Columbia  ;  G.  C.  BEOADHEAD,  Pleas- 
ant Hill  ;   DAN  CAEPENTEE,  Barry. 

Nomenclature, 
T.  W.  GAUNT,  Maryville  ;  J.  B.  WILD,  Sarcoxie  ;    F.  F. 

FINE,  Springfield. 

New  Fruits, 
J.  C.  BLAIE,  Kansas  City  ;  A.  H.  GILKEESON,  Warrens- 
burg  ;   H.  T.  KELSEY,  St.  Joseph. 

Ornithology. 
CLAEK  lEWIN,    Oregon  ;  A.   W.  St.  JOHN,  Carthage  ;  W. 

H.  THOMAS,  LaGrange. 


CONSTITUTION 

OF   THE 


Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


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

Akt.  II.  Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  this  society 
upon  the  payment  of  one  dollar,  and  membership  shall  continue  on 
the  payment  of  one  dollar  annually.  The  payment  of  ten  dollars  at 
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  ta  member  by  giving  her  name  to  the 
Secretary. 

Aet.  III.  The  officers  of  this  society  shall  consist  of  a  Pres^i- 
dent,  Vice-President,  a  Secretary  and  a  Treasurer,  who  shall  be 
elected  by  ballot  at  each  regular  meeting,  and  whose  terms  of  office 
shall  begin  on  the  first  day  of  March  following  their  election. 

Aet.  IV.  The  elective  officers  of  the  society  shall  constitute 
an  Executive  Committee,  at  any  meeting  of  which  a  majority  of  the 
members  shall  have  power  to  transact  business.  The  other  duties 
of  the  officers  shall  be  such  as  usually  pertain  to  the  same  officers 
in  similar  organizations. 

Aet.  V.  The  regular  meetings  of  this  society,  shall  be  held 
annually  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  January,  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. 

Aet.  VI.  As  soon  after  each  regular  annual  meeting  as  possi- 
ble, the  President  shall  appoint  the  following  Standing  Committees  ; 
and  they  shall  be  required  to  give  a  report  in  writing,  under  thei<i" 
respective  heads,  at  the  annual  and  semi-annual  meetings  of  the 
society  of  what  transpires  during  the  year  of  interest  to  the  society  : 
Orchards,  Vineyards,  Stone  Fruits,  Small  Fruits,  Vegetables,  Flow- 
ers, Ornam.entals,  Entomology,  Ornithology,  Botany,  Nomencla- 
ture, New  Fruits. 

Aet.  VII.  This  constitution  may  be  amended  by  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  the  members  present  at  any  regular  meeting. 


How  TO  Organize  a  Horticultui[al  Society, 


ALSO   THE 


CONSTITUTION  FOR  A  LOCAL  ORGANIZATION. 


Any  one  much  interested  on  this  subject  of  Horticulture  can 
organize  a  society  if  he  will  speak  to  five  or  six  different  persons 
who  are  know^n  to  be  prominent  in  this  matter.  Tell  them  that 
there  ought  to  be  a  society  in  your  county,  and  as  it  is  such  a  good 
fruit  country,  ask  them  if  they  do  not  w^aut  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  Saturday.  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 
pic-nic  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  programme  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  cannot  expect 
to  have  everything  work   in   complete  order  at  first,  and  do  not  get 


12  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

discouraged  if  yoii  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  some  one  with  me  also  to  help  along 
the  good  work.  L.  A.  GOODMAN, 

State  Secretary. 


CONSTITUTION. 


Article.  I.     This  association  shall  be  known  as  the 

Horticultural  Society. 

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  treasurer,  may  become  a  life  member,  and  there- 
after exempt  from  annual  dues  :  Provided  further,  That  all  ladies 
may  become  members  by  signing  the  Constitution  without  the  pay- 
ment of  one  dollar. 

Art.  III.  Sec.  1.  The  oflficers  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  Treasurer  as  directed  by  the  society,  call  special  meetings  of 
society  or  Executive  Committee  when  deemed  necessary;  he  shall  be 
ex-officio  president  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Sec.  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,  countersigned  by  the  Secretary.      At  the  meeting  of  the 

society  on  the Saturday  in  December  in  each  year,  (or  oftener  if 

required  by  the  Executive  Committee)  he  shall  make  a  full  and 
complete  report  of  all  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office,  turn  over  all  books,  papers,  and  all 
money  or  other  property  belonging  to  the  society,  to  his  successor 


Constitution  fan  Local  Organization.  13 

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  sociiety  for  its  use,  in  the 

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  Execu- 
tive Committee.  He  shall  receive  and  safely  keep  all  books, 
periodicals,  stationery,  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  proceedings  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  necessary  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  pro- 
vide 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  shall  be  transacted.  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  :  (1st.)  For 
the  payment  of  premiums  to  members  of  the  society  for  the  best 
display  of  fruit,  fiowers  or  vegetables  made  at  any  regular  meeting 
of  the  society  :  -(2d.)  For  essays  on  any  subject  of  interest  to  the 
society,  and  arrangement  of  programme  for  the  year  ;  (3d.)  And 
for  determining  the  places  for  each  meeting  of  the  society  for  the 
months  of  May  to  October  inclusive. 


14  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Akt.  VII.  Five  members  of  the  society  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  at  any  meeting,  and  three  members  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee 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  post-office.  Adjourned  meetings,  may  be  held  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  society  may  determine. 

Art.  VII.  The  funds  of  this  society  shall  not  be  appropriated 
to  any  purpose,  without  a  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  members 
present  at  any  regular  meeting  of  the  society. 

Aet.  IX.  This  society  shall  have  the  following  standing  com- 
mittees, which  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  at  the  January 
meeting  in  each  year  :  Small  Fruits,  Stone  Fruits,  Orchards, 
Vineyards,  Vegetables*  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  intentioned  amendment  shall  have 
been  given  at  least  one  month  jjrior  to  any  action  taken  thereon. 

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

Art.  XII.     Order  of  business  : 

1.  Reading  minutes  of  last  meeting. 

2.  Report  of  Executive  Committee. 

3.  Report  of  Standing  Committees. 

4.  Essays,  or  subjects  for  discussion. 

5.  Discussion. 

6.  Old  business. 

7.  New  business. 

8.  Report  of  special  committees. 

9.  Adjournment. 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

TwentY~&YGi]tb  &iiii~iriiiual  Meeting 

OF  THE 

llSSOil  STATE  HiTICETiiL  SOCIETI, 

Held  at  Springfield,  Missouri,  June  10  and  U,  1884, 

Upon  InYitation  of  tbe  Sreene  Sounty  Horticultural  Society. 


The  society  met  at  the  liall  provided  for  the  society,  and  after 
spending  a  few  liours  in  arranging  plants  and  fruits  for  the  exhi- 
bition, the  President,  Prof.  S.  M.  Tracy,  called  the  society  to  order. 

Although  in  the  very  busiest  time  of  the  strawberry  grower,  yet 
a  good  attendance  was  noted,  and  everyone  seemed  enthused  with 
a  love  for  his  subject,  and  every  subject  was  well  discussed. 

Every  fruit  grower  that  can  possibly  do  so  should  make  it  a  point 
to  be  present,  not  only  to  receive  knowledge,  but  to  impart  knowl- 
edge. 

By  this  means  we  will  help  develop  our  State  and  let  it  be 
known  as  one  of  the  best  fruit  districts  of  America. 

After  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  the  Hon.  Mayor  Walker, 
of  the  city,  delivered  the  following  address  : 

MAYOR'S  ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Missouri  Horticultti- 
ral  Society : 

If  I  may  take  your  selection  of  Springfield  as  the  place  for  yonr 
present  meeting,  for  a  recognition  of  her  people  as  being  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  the  object  of  your  society,  I  claim  that  it  is  an  honor  of 
Avhich  she  should  feel  proud;  for  any  general  interest  manifested  in 
horticulture  is  an  evidence  of  culture  and  refinement.  It  is  one 
of  the  strongest  marks  of  civilization,  when  all  its  natural  divisions 
are  taken  as  a  whole.  Since  the  days  of  Kent,  Horticulture  has 
made  wonderful  advances.  But  he  led  the  way,  and  it  was  he  who 
saw  that  all  nature  was  a  garden.  The  great  principles  on  which 
he  worked  were  perspective,  light  and  shade.     He  realized  the  com- 


16  *  Missonri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

positions  of  the  great  masters  in  painting.  Its  divisions  are  many, 
and  each  of  these  departments  requires  to  be  separately  studied  be- 
fore it  can  be  managed  so  as  to  combine  utility  and  comfort  witli 
ornament  and  recreation. 

The  many  beautiful  lawns,  gardens,  nurseries  and  our  cemeteries 
bear  testimony  to  the  fact  of  the  love  of  Horticulture  that  has  taken 
deep  root  in  this  city. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  be  adepts  iu  the  art  as  yet;  but  neverthe- 
less we  have  made  considerable  progress  in  it.  This  taste  is 
infectious  and  is  fast  spreading,  both  in  town  and  country.  Your 
meeting  to-day  will  add  .renewed  interest  in  it,  and  the  discussion 
which  if  will  evoke  is  calculated  to  throw  much  light  on  all  matters 
appertaining  to  the  knowledge  of  it.  In  all  material  interests 
Springfield  has  kept  up  with  the  march  of  progi-ess ;  but  in  the 
matter  of  public  parks  our  gesthetics  are  somewhat  deficient,  but 
it  is  a  want  that  can  not  long  be  endured  by  a  population  such  as 
Springfield  now  contains. 

Congress  has  appropriated  a  large  sum  for  the  construction  of 
a  road  to  our  National  Cemetery,  some  four  miles  distant.  When 
this  beautiful  drive  is  completed  it  will  open  the  way  to  other  im- 
provements, and  public  parks  will  naturally  follow.  Horticulture 
will  then  expand  into  a  large  scale  in  Springfield;  and  with  its  cli- 
mate and  beauty  of  location,  we  hope  to  indulge  in  some  of  the 
charms  of  landscape  scenery.  Missouri  has  made  wonderful  pro- 
gress in  this  art.  I  visited  Tower  Grove'  Park  at  St.  Louis,  a  few 
days  ago  for  the  first  time,  and  I  was  amazed  to  find  a  driving  park 
that  rivals  anything  of  the  sort  that  I  have  seen  in  either  England 
or  France,  but  Shaw's  Garden  did  not  come  up  to  my  expectation; 
it  is  too  crowded  and  shows  signs  of  neglect.  Fruit  culture  in  this 
county  and  adjoining  counties,  is  advancing  rapidly  as  the  broad 
acres  under  apple  trees  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city  will  bear  testi- 
mony; and  as  fruit  culture  and  flower  culture  are  departments  that- 
will  more  immediately  engage  your  attention,  still  I  have  ventured 
to  dwell  on  Horticulture'  in  its  literal  sense,  far-reaching  as  it  is, 
and  I  trust  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  subject,  in  its  broad- 
est sense  will  receive  your  attention;  and  that  Missouri,  presenting 
as  she  does,  the  most  inviting  field  for  an  indulgence  in  all  that  is 
beautiful  in  the  art,  will  give  evidence  of  that  desire  which  her  peo- 
ple now  feel  to  excel  in  the  pj-oduction  of  fruits,  flowers  and  vega- 
tables,  to  cultivate  the  same  taste  for  surrounding  their  homes  with 
well  kept  lawns,  and  the  planting  of  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs 
which  lend  so  much  enchantment  to  home  life. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annual  Meeting.  '  17 

I  now  bid  you,  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the 
Society,  a  hearty  welcome  to  the  city  you  have  honored  with  your 
presence  to-day. 

President  Tracy  responded  to  the  address  of  the  Mayor  in  a 
brief  and  happy  manner;  thanking  the  Mayor  and  the  citizens  of 
Springfield,  in  behalf  of  the  State  Society,  for  their  very  cordial 
welcome. 

The  president  called  for  the  report  on  small  fruits.  Maj.  F. 
Holsinger  said  the  season  had  been  very  favorable  and  we  are  hav- 
ing a  tine  prospect  for  them  all,  except  blackberries,  in  spite  of  the 
extreme  cold  of  last  winter. 

The  trouble  now  is  to  dispose  of  the  crop  at  paying  prices. 
Strawberries  are  very  low  and  they  are  coming  in  faster  than  ever  ; 
thinks  we  must  find  some  small  towns  where  we  can  ship  our  sur- 
plus. 

Mr.  Johnson  thought  the  heavy  crop  and  low  prices  of  the 
strawberry  would  discourage  many  and  they  would  quit  the  busi- 
ness, and  those  who  continued  would  reap  the  benefit  in  another 
year  or  two. 

Raspberries.  Some  varieties  of  black  caps  were  rustmg  badly 
and  fear  was  expressed  tliat  they  would  go  as  the  blackberry.  Doo- 
little  and  Hopkins  seem  most  hardy. 

Blackberries.  Taylor  and  Snyder  are  the  only  ones  that  do 
well. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OX  STONE  FRUITS. 


Springfield,  June  10,  1884, 

Mr.  President  : — As  chairman  of  the  committee  on  stone 
fruits  I  beg  leave  to  make  the  following  report  :  The  peach  crop  so 
far  as  fruit  is  concerned  is  a  failure  throughout  the  state  and  many 
trees  damaged  or  killed  outright  by  the  past  winter.  Those 
varieties  damaged  most  so  far  as  we  can  learn  are  Chinese  Clings 
and  Columbia  ;  among  the  old  standard  varieties  and  those  suffering 
least  are  Old  Mixon  free  and  cling,  Honest  John  and  Early  York, 
and  among  the  newer  varieties,  Princess  of  Wales,  Family  Favorite, 
Arkansaw  Traveler  and  Piquets,  late,  are  unharmed.  Wheatland, 
Jennie  Northern  and  Early  Beauty  make  a  fine  showing. 

Of  plums  :  the  Wild  Goose  appears  to  be  the  favorite  with  the 
people  and  is  unharmed  by  the  winter  so  far  as  we  can  learn  and 
will  probably  be  50  per  cent,  of  a  full  crop  or  over. 


18  Missouri  State  Horticultwal  Society. 

Cherries  for  profit  have  been  cut  down  to  about  two  varieties. 
Early  Richmond  and  English  Morello,  the  latter  bearing  a  full  crop 
and  uninjured  by  the  cold  winter — the  former  some  damaged  but 
bearing  a  fair  crop  of  fruit. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

D.  F.  EMRY, 
Chairman  of  Committee. 

President  Laws,  of  the  State  University,  entering  the  room,  he 
was  called  upon  by  Prest.  Tracy  to  address  the  society. 


PREST.  LAWS'  ADDRESS. 


Fellow    Citizens    and    Members    of    the    Missouri  Horticultural 

Association  : 

I  have  been  present  at  several  previous  meetings  of  your  body, 
but  am  present  on  this  occasion  quite  unexpectedly.  I  am  on  my 
way  to  the  commencement  of  that  department  of  the  Missouri 
University  located  at  Rolla.  I  mean  the  mining  school.  The 
general  commencement  of  the  University  occurred  at  Columbia 
last  Thursday,  but  the  commencement  of  this  particular  depart- 
ment always  takes  place  a  week  later,  so  as  to  make  it  practicable 
for  any  one  to  attend  at  both  places.  Dr.  Morrison,  the  worthy 
president  of  Drury  College  of  Springfield,  placed  us  under  obliga- 
tions at  the  University  this  year  by  delivering  for  the  classes  of 
1884  their  Baccalaureate  discourse,  and  with  marked  satisfaction  to 
all  who  heard  it.  It  was  whilst  he  was  at  Columbia  as  my  guest, 
and  your  townsman.  Judge  J.  C.  Cravens,  the  vice-president  of  the 
Board  of  University  C^urators  was  attending  its  meeting,  that  I 
concluded,  on  their  kind  and  courteous  invitation,  to  come  by 
Springfield  and  sojourn  with  them  a  day.  This  is  my  day  of 
sojourn  here  and  on  learning  that  it  is  your  day  of  meeting  here,  I 
have  improved  the  opportunity  of  visiting  your  association  once 
more. 

It  certainly  must  be  gratifying  to  every  citizen  of  Missouri  to 
see  the  enterprise  of  your  organization.  By  thus  assembling  from 
time  to  time,  and  by  going  from  place  to  place,  you  educate  each 
other  in  your  chosen  line  of  work  and  you  also  educate  the  com- 
munity to  a  higher  appreciation  of  it.  It  is  for  this  benefit  to  the 
public  at  large,  no  doubt  that  your  meetings  are  peripatetic.  If 
the  man  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where  only  one  has 
grown,  for  the  food  of  beasts,  can  be  pronounced  a  benefactor,  much 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  19 

more  should  he  be  pronounced  a  benefactor  who  makes  two  straw- 
berries, or  two  apples,  or  two  flowers  grow,  where  only  one  had 
grown,  for  the  wholesome  gratification  of  man's  palate  and  sense  of 
the  beautiful.  The  Agricultural  College  Department  of  the  Mo. 
University  is  the  only  educational  institution  in  the  state  which  is 
organized  in  your  special  interest.  There,  and  there  alone,  by 
class-room  work,  with  its  museum  collection  and  varied  appliances, 
hot  houses  and  extensive  horticultural  grounds,  with  competent 
and  faithful  instructors  and  superiuteudents,  can  a  special  educa- 
tion in  this  vocation  beobtamed  in  this  state.  The  expert  professor 
in  charge  of  this  department  of  work  for  teaching  the  application 
of  the  sciences  in  this  specific  direction,  is  now  the  president  of  your 
society,  and  is  here  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans  to  look  after  the 
plant  department  of  that  great  exposition,  of  which  special  depart- 
ment he  has  been  put  in  charge.  The  horticultural  section  of  our 
agricultural  college  work  has  hitherto  co-operated  with  this  asso- 
ciation, and  I  hope  so  satisfactorily  that  the  co-operation  may  be 
perjjetuated  and  mutually  beneficial.  For  a  time  we  gave  attention 
to  the  commercial  feature  with  the  view  of  aiding  in  chasing  from 
our  state  the  swindling  tree  and  fruit  peddlers  by  co-operating  with 
honest  dealers  to  make  deliveries  correspond  with  name.  We  have 
withdrawn  within  the  past  two  years  from  the  aggressive  feature  of 
this  work,  leaving  it  to  private  dealers,  and  confined  our  attention 
to  the  educational  features  and  to  co-operation  with  this  society  in 
effecting  improvements,  only  supplying  our  surplus  by  natural 
growth,  and  of  best  quality  to  such  as  come  or  apply  for  it.  This 
will  probably  be  the  permanent  attitude  of  this  feature  of  our  work. 
In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  express  hope  that  our  General  As- 
sembly will  hereafter  step  abreast  with  other  States  and  show  an 
increased  aj^preciation  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  and  Board  of 
Agriculture.  Their  influence  tends  directly  to  the  development 
and  improvement  of  our  wonderful  natural  resources  in  those  di- 
rections, which  not  only  bring  financial  success  but  increase  com- 
fort and  happiness  to  all  our  homes.  What  we  pre-eminently  need 
in  Missouri  is  that  encouragement  should  be  given  to  everything 
that  increases  the  attractions  of  home  life  in  the  country.  This 
wonderfully  located  and  rapidly  improving  city  of  Springfield 
stands  in  the  midst  of  hn  ocean  of  agricultural  wealth  with  an 
outlying  prospect  of  unbounded  jn-osperity.  I  am.  told  that  the 
climate  and  the  soil  of  these  surrounding  regions  are  admirably 
adapted  to  the  successful  growth  of  fruits  which  minister  to  the 
pleasures  of  the  palate,  the  health  of  the  body  and  the  building  of 


20  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  muscles  and  brains  of  the  teeming  population  flowing  thither 
so  rapidly,  and  destined  to  accumulate  here  in  millions. 

Question  by  the  secretary  if  teaching  especially  adapted  to 
horticulturists  was  taught  in  the  college.  Thinks  that  the  whole 
agricultural  training  tends  to  help  the  horticulturists. 

Prof.  Tracy  says  that  the  young  men  are  not  confined  to  book 
knowledge,  but  they  receive  many  lectures  and  are  then  required  to 
put  it  into  practice.  Instructions  are  given  in  all  sorts  of  horticul- 
tural work  and  they  are  taught  to  apply  them.  All  their  class 
instruction  they  are  compelled  to  put  into  practice  in  the  orchard, 
nursery  or  the  greenhouses.  Planting,  budding,  grafting,  pruning, 
potting,  &c.,  &c. 


KEPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  ORNAMENTAL  TREES. 


BY   MAJ.   Z.   S.   RAGAN. 

Beautifying  home,  giving  character  to  our  places,  beautiful 
lawns  and  beds  is  as  much  man's  duty  as  to  grow  corn  or  apples. 
Recommends  planting  parks  in  all  our  cities.  A  square  now  and 
then  should  be  reserved  for  a  park.  Notes  one  error  in  planting 
and  that  is  in  planting  too  thickly,  especially  too  many  shrubs. 
One  well  cared  for  is  worth  a  dozen  crowded  together  and  gives 
better  satisfaction. 

Laying  out  a  lawn  or  grounds  we  want  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  growth  of  the  tree  and  put  the  right  tree  in  the  right 
place,  otherwise  it  becomes  an  object  of  disgust. 

Thinks  the  State  University  is  the  proper  place  to  educate  the 
young  men  in  landscape  gardening. 

Put  large  trees  in  the  back  yard  or  at  one  side  where  it  will  not 
interfere  with  the  view  from  the  house.  Plant  evergreens  in  clumps 
but  not  too  closely.  It  requires  care  and  study  to  plant  a  place 
well. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  NOMENCLATURE. 


Your  committee  on  nomenclature  have  noted  with  pleasure 
the  action  of  the  American  Pomological  Society  in  September  last, 
and  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society  in  January  last, 
looking  to  the  shortening  and  simplifying  of  the  names  of  the  fruits. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Anmial  Meeting.  31 

Also  that  leading  nursery  men  and  fruit  growers  in  some  parts  of 
the  country  have  by  their  acts  approved  such  course  and  your  com- 
mittee would   recommend  that  this  society  endorse  the  action  of 

both  societies. 

■    J.  C.  EVANS, 

F.  F.  FINE. 

'Report  adopted. 


HOME  SURROUNDINGS  AND  THEIR  INFLUENCE  UPON 

THE  FAMILY. 


PAPER  READ  BY  D.   F.    EMRY  OF  CARTHAGE. 

Mr.  President  and  Meinhers  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural 

Society : — 

We  read  in  the  old  book,  that  when  man  was  created, 
that  they  were  placed  in  a  garden  abounding  in  fruit,  with  orders 
to  dress  and  keep  it,  but  lost  the  title  to  their  estate  through 
disobedience  to  the  divine  law,  which  has  never  been  repealed  or 
modified,  and  is  as  imperative  in  its  demands  upon  us  to-day  as 
then  ;  and  if  we  do  not  "  dress  and  keep  "  our  gardens  and  make 
our  homes  attractive  to  ourselves  and  family,  we  will  have  to  suffer 
the  penalty  of  our  neglect. 

For  over  fifty  years  we  have  been  an  active  participant  in  this 
world's  doings,  nearly  half  of  that  time  we  have  been  employed  as 
land  surveyor  ;  which  brought  us  in  close  communion  with,  and 
gave  us  an  opportunity  to  study  the  inner  workings  of  the  family 
circle  to  an  extent  ejoyed  by  but  few  others,  for  weeks  and  months 
at  a  time  seldom  ever  sleeping  twice  under  the  same  roof  ;  always 
selecting  the  home  of  the  old  pioneer  as  our  stopping  place  when 
convenient-one  whom  we  knew  had  grown  up  with  the  country, 
and  experienced  all  the  various  vicissitudes  of  frontier  life  from  the 
primitive  cabin  to  the  stately  farm  mansion  ;  one  whose  acquain- 
tance and  friendsriip  we  had  enjoyed  for  years,  and  watched  their 
onward  progress,  and  noted  the  various  changes  produced  thereby  ; 
and  scarcely  ever  let  an  opportunity  pass,  but  at  some  time  during 
our  stay  we  would  ask  the  question  : 

At  what  time  in  your  life's  history  have  you  seen  and  enjoyed 
the  greatest  amount  of  comfort  and  happiness  ;  and  the  question 
would   nearly   always  be  answered  by  pointing   to  the  old   cabin, 


32  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

which  would  probably  be  yet  standing  in  the  back  grounds,  partly 
concealed  under  the  swinging  boughs  of  an  ancient  oak  or  elm. 
There  were  our  happiest  days  spent ;  when  we  owned  perhaps  20, 
40  or  80  acres  of  land  and  had  our  family  around  us.  . 

A  thousand  times  perhaps  in  our  life,  we  have  asked  ourself 
the  question  :  is  our  happiness  increased  or  diminished  through 
and  by  the  accumulation  of  property.  •  The  facts  that  present  them- 
selves to  the  mind  of  the  invesstigator  seem  to  justify  the  latter  con- 
clusion. Visit  the  homes  of  those  willing  slaves  to  a  cruel  task- 
master; ask  them  to  visit  you,  attend  our  Horticultural  meetings, 
or  other  places  of  pleasure  and  profit  to  their  overworked  system; 
and  the  answer  in  all  probability  will  be:  "Oh,  Ihaven^t  time;  have 
more  work  to  do  and  things  to  look  after  than  ten  men  could  do; 
my  boys  are  off  to  school  and  that  leaves  everything  for  me  to  look 
after;  and  the  kind  of  help  we  get  nowadays  can't  be  depended  upon, 
so  you  see  that  I  can't  leave;  but  look  here  friend,  before  you  go," 
pointing  ovel*  his  vast  domain  with  a  pride  that  brings  back  the 
rosy  hue  to  his  paled  cheek, — "the  old  woman  and  I  have  worked 
and  struggled  mighty  hard  to  get  throiigh  this  world;  but  we  have 
something  to  show  for  it  after  all;  but  now  you  see  we  don't  intend 
for  our  boys  and  girls  to  ever  go  through  what  we  have;  we  are  go- 
ing to  give  them  a  good  education  and  with  this  amount  of  prop- 
erty to  start  with,  we  think  they  will  be  able  to  make  their  mark  in 
this  world:"  "perhaps  so,"  passes  through  our  mind.  "Well  before 
leaving  we  would  like  to  look  through  your  garden  and  orchard; 
perhaps  you  have  something  new  and  interesting."  "Oh,  now, 
don't  say  garden  or  orchard  to  me,  I  have  so  many  other  things  to 
look  after  that  we  so  neglect  our  orchard  and  garden  that  we  are 
ashamed  for  anyone  to  see  them:" — We  leave  our  friend  in  the 
hands  of  his  chosen  idol,  fully  impressed  that  in  all  probability  he 
would  live  long  enough  to  see  his  cherished  hopes  blasted,  and  his 
hard  earned  property  in  a  fair  way  to  pass  into  the  doors  of  the  ac- 
cursed saloon  and  its  kindred  associations. 

Another  class  of  homes  we  will  review:  They  are  those  presided 
over  by  a  class  of  men  who  think  themselves  too  sharp  and  shrewd 
to  work  for  a  living.  These  generally  form  themselves  into  organ- 
izations or  rinffs  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  labor  or  the  pro- 
ducts of  labor;  giving  back  to  the  laborer  a  part  of  their  earnings 
and  appropriating  the  balance  of  the  proceeds  to  their  own  use, 
which  results  in  a  few  very  rich  men  who  endeavor  through  tlie  in- 
fluence of  their  money  to  shape  the  destiny  of  the  nation  to  suit 
themselves  on  one  side,  and  an  army  of  homeless  paupers   and   de-^ 


Proceedings  at  Senii-Annual  Meeting.  23 

pendent  families  on  the  other  hand.  These  conditions  are  met 
and  before  our  eyes  in  all  parts  of  our  common  country,  and  will 
have  to  be  endured  as  long  as  avarice  holds  control  of  our  nation 
and  the  people  bow  in  humble  submission  to  its  cruel  mandates. 
A  perfect  home  will  probably  never  be  found  upon  this  mundane 
sphere;  but  the  nighest  approach  to  one  will  be  found  where  the 
best  kept  kitchen,  garden  and  orchard  are  found  and  presided  over 
and  managed  by  the  family  themselves  so  far  as  possible.  Add  to 
these  other  essentials  and  luxuries  of  the  home  as  fast  as  circum- 
stances will  admit,  but  never  to  the  neglect  of  the  former. 

"Idleness  is  the  devil's  workshop,"  where  all  the  alluring  de- 
vices are  manufactured  to  draw  the  young  and  unguarded  away  from 
the  j)ath  of  duty  and  rectitude. 

Children  seek  amusements  and  will  have  them,  and  whenever 
we  allow  our  avarice  and  greed  for  gain  to  engross  our  attention  to 
the  neglect  of  providing  liome  attractions  and  amusements,  and 
they  have  to  go  elsewhere  to  find  them,  we  will  find  that  we  have 
neglected  a  great  and  important  duty  to  ourselves  and  family;  and 
may  be  called  upon  before  life  closes  to  witness  the  humiliating 
scene  of  seeing  our  property  squandered  to  pay  the  penalty  of  our 
neglect;  but  may  have  the  satisfaction  of  learning,  though  late, 
that  the  home  may  be  aided  and  embellished  with  money  when 
properly  used;  and  that  the  first  conditions  of  a  true  home  are 
priceless,  and  can  never  be  bought. 


CARE  OF  TENDER  ROSES  OVER  WINTER. 


BY  S.  L.   PH(EN"IX,    CHARLESTON". 

How  to  keep  tender  roses  over  winter  is  a  question  with  most 
rose  growers.  From  the  fact  that  so  few  are  successful,  I  have 
been  led  to  experiment  with  many  tender  sorts — Tea,  Bourbon  and 
others — to  satisfy  myself  whether  it  was  worth  the  trouble,  or  each 
spring  to  replace  with  young  plants.  To  state  the  case  in  another 
way,  we  buy  our  plants,  set  them  out  carefully,  cultivate,  and  feel 
amply  rewarded  as  bud  after  bud  unfolds,  always,  however,  tinged 
with  the  reflection  that  old  Jack  Frost  would  soon  check  their  career; 
alas,  in  most  cases  for  all  time.  Occasionally  a  few  survive,  why? 
that  is  the  secret. 


34  Missouri  State  Ho7'ticultural  Society. 

Without  going  into  the  ''If's  and  And's"  of  the  subject,  I  will 
say  that  repeated  trials  have  proven  that  Tea  and  all  tender  roses 
planted  as  follows  will  survive  the  usual  winters  of  middle  and  north 
Missouri  quite  so  well  as  the  majority  of  June  and  hardy  Hybrid 
Perpetuals  : 

In  selecting  a  location  for  a  rose  bed  choose  a  well  drained,  or 
naturally  dry  soil,  mark  out  the  size  of  bed  desired,  throw  out  on 
each  side  the  top  soil  fully  a  spade  deep,  then  another,  or  second 
spade  depth  thrown  out  and  hauled  away.  The  bed  may  now  be 
refilled  with  the  remaining  top  soil,  and  enough  mould  or  woods 
earth  thoroughly  mixed,  raising  it  six  inches  or  so  above  the  level. 
Allow  it  to  settle  for  a  day   or  so  and  your  bed  is  ready  to    plant. 

Always  select  good  strong  plants  for  setting  out ;  you  can  plant 
them  with  several  eyes  under  the  surface,  a  very  great  advantage  as 
you  will  find  ;  this  done  there  is  nothing  more,  beyond  ordinary  cul- 
ture except  to  marvel  at  the  growth  and  beauty  of  the  flowers. 

At  the  close  of  the  growing  season,  after  many  sharp  frosts — 
not  before — lay  in  and  over  the  plants  twiggy  brush  or  branches, 
over  these  and  the  plants,  long  straw,  stable  manure,  covering 
thoroughly;  rather  late  in  spring  remove  brush  and  most  of  the 
straw;  prune  and  cut  out  the  dead  wood  carefully;  fork  over  the  bed 
and  my  word  for  it  your  plants  will  sprout  up  with  such  vigor,  give 
such  an  abundant  wealth  of  growth,  healthy  foliage  and  bloom  that 
you  will  forever  after  plant  tender  roses  to  live  for  years  and  not  for  . 
a  season. 

QUESTIONS    FOK  DEBATE. 

Are  not  certain  varieties,  as  regards  growth,  quality  and  quan- 
tity of  bloom,  better  budded  on  Mannetti  than  on  their  own  roots? 
For  example:  Baronness  Rothschild,  Persian  Yellow,  White  Bath, 
Moss  and  others.  / 

The    above    essay  was  read   by   Mrs.   Burden   and  a   vote   of 
thanks  was  tendered  her. 
Discussion.  ' 

Prof.  Tracy — Tender  roses  are  so  much  more  desirable  we 
should  make  a  special  effort  to  keep  them. 

Goodman — Tender  roses,  except  Teas,  cut  back  in  the  fall  and 
covered  with  long  manure  I  find  is  a  sufficient  protection  and  they 
come  out  in  good  shape.  Do  not  like  tlie  Manetti  stock  for  bud- 
ding. Too  often,  if  not  closely  watched,  we  lose  our  bud.  On 
their  own  roots  most  of  the  varieties  will  do  well  out  doors.  The 
rose  bugs  are  our  greatest  enemy.  Would  select  the  hardiest 
varieties  and  best  bloomers,  good  colors. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annual  Meeting.  25 

Diirkes — Prefers  the  Manetti  stock  or  wild  rose.  Gets  better 
growth  and  more  bloom.  Protects  them  with  boxes  and  straw. 
Cuts  back  severely  to  get  good  bloom. 

Tracy — Would  plant  Tea  roses  every  year  just  as  we  do  bed- 
ding plants  and  if  you  cannot  take  care  of  them  let  them  die  like 
the  others  and  plant  again  next  spring.  Thinks  we  get  as  much 
enjoyment  from  them  as  any  other  thing  grown. 

Adjourned  until  8  p.  m. 


TUESDAY    EVENIXG. 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  MISSOURI 
HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY,  A.  W.  ST.  JOHX,  READ 
AT  THE  SOCIETY'S  SUMMER  MEETING  HELD  AT 
SPRINGFIELD,  MO.,  JUNE  lOTH  AND  IITH,  1884. 


Ladies  aud    Gentlemen,   and  Memiers  of  the  Missouri  Horticul- 
tural Society  : 

A  short  time  ago  the  worthy  secretary  of  this  society  notified 
me  that  I  would  be  expected  to  deliver  the  address  at  this  summer 
meeting. 

Having  devoted  many  years  of  my  life  to  horticultural  pur- 
suits, I  feel  that  I  should  perform  this  duty  with  some  degree  of 
pleasure,  but  having  recently  turned  my  attention  to  another 
vocation  I  fear  I  may  not  be  able  to  perform  it  with  much  profit  to 
the  members.  I  deem  the  pursuit  of  the  horticulturist  one  of  the 
noblest  of  occupations,  one  that  is  not  excelled  by  any  in  its  useful- 
ness or  benefits  to  humanity,  and  therefore  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  people  and  in  every  way  worthy  greater  atten- 
tion, protection  and  assistance  from  the  legislative  and  judicial 
branches  of  our  government. 

I  am  aware  that  to  many  this  statement  will  appear  to  be  over- 
drawn,  for  to  those  who  are  on  such  a  low  and  groveling  plane 
that  the  getting  of  money  is  their  greatest  aim  in  life,  it  is  almost 
useless  to  attempt  to  make  them  see  the  importance  or  usefulness 
of  any  vocation  that  can  not  be  wholly  measured  by  the  almighty 
dollar.  Knowing  that  those  here  assembled  are  not  of  that  class 
I  shall  not  present  any  dry  statistics,  or  long  array  of  figures  to 
prove  the  value  in  dollars  and  cents  of  horticultural  pursuits  to 
our  country,  but  will  briefiy  attempt  to  treat  the  subject  from  a 
higher,  nobler  standpoint. 


26  -  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Napoleon  I,  while  Emperor  of  France,  was  at  one  time  on  a 
tour  of  inspection  through  the  provinces,  and  stopping  at  a 
village,  a  number  of  yonng  people  of  both  sexes  presented  him 
and  tlie  Empress  Josephine,  some  with  cherries  and  some  with 
roses. 

"Here,"  remarked  the  Emperor,  "are  men  who  unite  flowers 
with  fruits — the  useful  with  the  agreeable.  They  deserve  to 
succeed." 

We  can  readily  imagine  that  it  was  near  this  season  of  the 
year  when  cherries  and  roses  were  at  the  height  of  beauty  and  per- 
fection, and  when  nature  dons  her  most  lovely  attire,  that  these 
horticulturists,  j^easants  who  loved  their  Emperor  and  Empress, 
brought  their  choicest  and  most  beautiful  productions,  honestly 
believing  that  these  simple  gifts  were  productive  of  more  real 
pleasure  than  would  have  been  title  deeds  to  furnished  houses  or 
other  costly  presents  bought  wfth  golden  dollars.  The  "useful 
with  the  agreeable,"  said  the  Emperor,  and  in  those  words  we  find 
the  basis  for  our  argument  in  defence  of  our  statement  of  the  im- 
portance of  horticultural  pursuits. 

The  useful.  Can  we  estimate  the  usefulness  of  fruits  by  the 
money  they  bring  ?  We  all  answer  no,  never.  In  the  first  place, 
before  the  fruit  is  grown  even,  with  what  agreeable  pleasure 
travelers  over  an  open  country  view  a  well  arranged  orchard,  grove 
of  forest  or  ornamental  trees,  or  eten  a  bed  of  choice  flowers  care- 
fully tended  by  the  house-wife  in  the  garden.  What  a  contrast 
between  glich  a  home  and  one  barren  of-  trees  and  flowers  ?  How 
much  easier  we  can  imagine  it  would  be  to  keeji  the  boys  at  home 
upon  the  farm  with  trees  and  flowers  planted  near,  tlian  upon  the 
farm  barren  of  everything  but — *•  hog  and  hominy." 

Then  when  the  fruit  ripens,  the  luscious  berries,  peaches,  pears 
and  apples  all  in  their  season,  can  the  pleasure  given  in  picking 
and  eating,  or  the  health-giving  properties  contained  therein,  be 
measured  by  dollars  and  cents  ? 

If,  as  claimed  by  many  physiologists,  man's  nature  is  largely 
formed  from  the  food  he  eats,  can  not  the  horticulturist  reasonably 
expect  that  his  vocation  will  tend  largely  to  make  men  more 
refined  and  noble  ;  in  fact,  as  fruit  becomes,  as  it  is  becoming,  a 
common  and  regular  article  of  diet,  that  there  will  be  fewer  men 
with — "bristles  on  their  back"  and  other  evidences  of  having 
partaken  largely  of  the  nature  of  the  hog. 

We  doubt  whether  there  is  any  avocation  in  life  that  is  so  wholly 
unselfish,   or  looks  forward  to  the  usefulness  and  pleasure  it  will 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annual  Meeting.  27 

coufer  upon  others^  as  that  of  horticulture.  The  youngest  and 
strongest  of  us  when  planting  an  orchard  do  not  know  that  we  will 
ever  be  permitted  to  rest  under  its  shade,  or  eat  the  fruit  thereof, 
and  how  often  do  we  see  the  aged  man,  with  tottering  steps  and 
trembling  hands,  which  tell  only  too  clearly  how  fast  he  is  nearing 
that  shining  shore  where  loved  ones  are  waiting  to  conduct  him  to 
his  future  homej  planting  trees  that  he  knows  only  those  who  follow 
after  can  enjoy.  This  fact  should  make  you  proud  of  your  chosen 
avocation.    •  i 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  at  this  time  to  advise  horticulturists 
not  to  tread  too  closely  in  the  beaten  paths  of  our  fathers,  even  in 
the  manner  of  treating  orchards,  varieties  to  plant,  etc.  We  should 
not  only  experiment,  but  observe  the  results  of  others'  experiments, 
and  endeavor  to  profit  thereby  ;  always,  however,  taking  new  and 
untried  varieties  and  methods,  with  due  caution,  for  our  experience 
has  taught  us  that  what  may  do  well  in  one  locality,  is  valueless  in 
another ;  also,  that  the  statements  of  interested  parties  regarding 
the  merits  of  new  varieties  and  new  methods  are  not  always  reliable. 
The  season  for  marketing  small  fruits  is  now  upon  us  and  other 
fruits  will  in  their  season  ripen  and  must  be  picked  and  sent  to  the 
mai'kets.  ISTapoleon  said  of  his  horticultural  friends,  "  They  de- 
serve to  succeed,"  and  I  say  the  same  of  you,  and  my  experience 
has  taught  me  that  one  of  the  great  elements  of  success  for  the 
fruit  grower,  is,  first,  to  properly  gather  his  fruit,  and  second, 
to  present  it  in  an  attractive  manner  to  the  purchaser.  No  greater 
mistake  can  be  made  tlmn  to  send  your  fruit  to  the  market  in  an 
unripe  state,  or  without  having  it  properly  assorted.  Never  try  to 
dispose  of  small  or  imperfect  specimens  of  any  kind  of  fruit,  by 
taking  it  to  the  market  mixed  with  the  large  and  ripe.  More  money 
can  be  realized  by  having  the  latter  selected  and  sold  by  itself,  than 
by  attempting  to  sell  all  together,  even  if  you  have  to  throw  the 
small  and  imperfect  specimens  away. 

While  I  would  advise  having  packages  of  fruit  uniform  in 
quality  and  size  all  the  way  through  as  being  not  only  the  most 
politic,  but  the  honest  way  of  dealing  ;  yet  I  cannot  pass  this  sub- 
ject without  a  word  of  condemnation  for  that  rather  flippant  way 
many  purchasers  have  of  charging  dishonesty  upon  fruit  growers, 
because  their  packages  of  fruit  often  have  the  best  specimens  ex- 
posed to  view.  I  attribute  this  more  to  the  sentiment  of  pride, 
and  a  desire  to  make  a  good  appearance,  than  to  any  sentiment 
bordering  on  dishonesty,  and  this  sentiment  predominates  to  a 
greater  extent  among  the  refined  and  intelligent,    tljan  among  any 


28  Missouri  State  Horticultwal  Society. 

other  class.  To  illustrate,  go  to  the  premises  of  that  person  whose 
highest  aspirations  are  his  pipe,  his  dog  and  gun,  and  you  will  find 
his  front  yard  no  neater  than  his  back  yard,  and  everything  he 
possesses  or  offers  for  sale,  presents  the  same  appearance ;  he  has 
not  enough  intelligent  pride  to  desire  to  make  a  good  show  even;  but, 
upon  the  other  hand,  go  to  the  premises  of  a  person  of  refinement, 
who  loves  his  books  and  his  music,  and,  no  matter  how  poor  in 
worldly  goods,  you  will  find  his  front  yard  looking  neater  than  the 
rear,  generally  ornamented  with  a  bed  of  pansies,  tulips  or  other 
flowers  to  attract  and  please  the  eye  of  the  passer-by.  Then  go  out 
upon  the  streets  of  this  beautiful  city,  take  a  look  at  the  costly 
residences,  and  you  will  observe  that  those  portions  exposed  to  view 
have  the  most  beautiful  ornamentation  and  architectural  designs, 
while  the  rear  portion,  though  just  as  substantial,  and  serviceable, 
are  not  made  as  attractive.  Consequently  when  I  see  a  fruit 
grower  making  his  packages  of  fruit  attractive  by  exposing  the  best 
specimens,  I  credit  him  with  having  a  share  of  that  sentiment, 
which  permeates  intelligent  society,  viz  :  To  make  a  good  ajjpear- 
ance  and  please  the  public,  instead  of  charging  him  with  a  desire 
to  deceive  and  defraud  as  is  so  often  done  by  those  who  possess  to 
a  greater  or  less  degree  the  same  characteristics.  I  would  not  feel 
that  I  had  done  my  whole  duty  without  referring  to  the  festive, 
"foreign" 

TREE  PEDDLER, 

who  haunts  the  rural  districts.     You  have  all  seen  him  with  his 

f 

jars  of  overgrown  specimens  of  fruit,  and  heard  him  tell  his  story 
about  his  ''double-hybrid,  ever-bearing,  blight-proof,  frost  and 
drouth  defying"  pear,  cherry  or  grape  that  he  will  sell  you  for  only 
13.00  per  tree. 

While  in  attendance  at  the  Missouri  Press  Association  Con- 
vention, recently  held  in  this  city,  I  listened  to  a  paper  in  which 
the  author  described  in  one  classic  word,  the  newspaper  advertising 
agent,  and  that  word  was  "cheek."  No  other  word  was  needed  to 
make  the  description  complete.  It  has  been  my  fortune  to  have 
some  experience  with  both,  and  to  fittingly  designate  the  majority 
of  tree-peddlers,  must  use  the  words, 

"  CHEEK  ENCASED   IK    BRASS." 

Of  course  I  would  not  include  in  this  description  those  agents  who 
represent  with  proper  authority,  responsible  and  reliable  nurseries. 
They  are  to  a  great  extent  a  necessity  and  convenience  to  the 
nurseryman  and  the  purchaser,  but  that  class  who  represent  nothing 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  39 

but  themselves,  void  of  reputation  or  respectability,  who  olfer  some 
unknown  specialty  at  ten  times  the  value  of  good  well-known 
articles.  The  sooner  horticulturists  expose  and  drive  them  from 
the  field,  the  better  for  all  concerned  in  the  production  of  either 
trees  or  ft-uits. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  see  so  many  present  evincing  an  interest 
in  the  discussions  of  this^^Summer  meeting,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
they  may  all  be  not  only'pleasantly,  but  profitably  entertained  and 
instructed. 
Discussioisr : 

Goodman — Has  nothing  to  say  against  the  honest  nurserymen, 
for  their  efforts  are  not  fully  appreciated,  but  there  are  men  through 
the  country  who  do  nothing  but  swindle  the  people.  There  is  a 
peculiar  love  for  fruit-growing  in  the  true  horticulturist,  that  does 
not  fade  out  but  grows  stronger  as  one  grows  older.  Hundreds  of 
examples  of  this  are  seen  all  over  our  country. 

Jlagan — In  answer  to  the  question  as  to  who  gets  rich  fruit 
farming,  he  would  like  to  ask  who  get  poor  ?  All  men  have  their 
ups  and  downs  and  their  trials  and  troubles.  I  set  one  year  1,400 
pear  trees,  and  now  the  blight  has  taken  them  all  ;  but  these 
reverses  did  not  discourage  me  and  I  must  plant  again.  Eiches 
are  not  all  in  money.  Pleasure  and  contentment  are  the  best  part 
of  riches. 

Holsinger — Things  are  getting  warm  ;  does  not  know  what  men 
call  riches.  A  beautiful  home  surrounded  with  beautiful  trees  and 
orchards  and  vines,  furnishing  his  table  in  abundance  with  the  best 
fruits  the  year  'round,  he  would  call  rich.  One  day  he  was  asked 
to  join  a  horticultural  society  at  Kansas  City,  and  from  that  day  he 
has  been  growing  fruits  and  making  money.  Can  point  to  a  half 
dozen  of  those  members  to-day  who  are  independent  if  not  rich. 
Would  have  the  whole  family  belong  to  these  societies  and  bring  the 
boys  and  girls  up  as  horticulturists.    ' 


ENTOMOLOGICAL  NOTES  FOR  THE  SPRING  OF  1884. 

BY  MAKY  E.   MURTFELDT,  KIRKWOOD,  ST.   LOUIS  COUNTY,  MO. 

My  observations  this  season  on  insects  destructive  to  fruits  in 
St.  Louis  county  consist  mainly  in  the  recognition  of  well  known 
species,  and  but  few  of  these  in  such  numbers  as  to  cause  appre- 
hension. 


30  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Ill  orchards  that  have  not  been  plowed  for  several  years  the 
spring  canker  worm  {Anisopteryx  vernata,  Peck)  has  been  quite 
destructive  to  the  foliage  of  the  apple,  but  the  dampness  of  the 
season  is  favorable  to  a  rapid  recovery.  In  a  notable  number  of 
instances  I  found  the  eggs  deposited  in  the  cases  in  which  the  leaf 
Grumpier  {Phycita  nehulo,  Walsh)  hibernates.  This  seems  to  have 
become  an  established  habit  of  the  canker  worm  moth  and  is  an 
intereating  instance  of  adaptation.  As  the  cases  of  the  leaf 
crumpler  are  easily  seen  on  the  twigs  before  the  leaves  and  blossoms 
appear,  it  is  evident  that  by  gathering  and  destroying  them  during 
March  and  April  the  numbers  of  the  canker  worm  may  be  greatly 
reduced  and  at  the  same  time  trees  will  be  saved  from  the  blighting 
work  of  the  smaller  insect  which  is  sometimes  almost  equally 
severe. 

I  have  had  my  attention  called  to  the  New  York  weevil  {Ithy  cerus 
7iovebor(Be)isis,  Forst)  which  has  done  extensive  damage  this  spring 
in  certain  young  orchards  and  nurseries.  This  is  the  largest  of  our 
snout  beetles,  measuring  nearly  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  length 
including  the  stout,  straight  proboscis.  The  color  is  light  gray 
ornamented  with  black  dots  and  markings.  In  its  perfect  state  it 
often  kills  the  young  twigs  of  apple  and  of  some  other  fruits  by 
gnawing  the  bark  in  sj)ots,  eating  out  the  buds  and  the  bases  of  the 
shoots  after  the  leaves  have  expanded.  As  it  is  nocturnal  in  its 
habits  it  can,  however,  but  rarely  be  caught  in  the  act.  The  only 
remedy  is  to  jar  it  from  the  tree  in  the  same  way  that  the  j)lum 
curculio  is  taken. 

The  only  insects  affecting  the  peach  in  this  locality  are  the 
borers — chiefly  the  flat  headed  borer  {chrysohothris  fe7norata  Fabr) 
which  works  higher  up  in  the  trunk  than  the  common  peach  borer 
{Aegeria  exitiosa,  Say).  The  sap  is  oozing  from  all  parts  of  the 
trunk  from  the  effects  of  this  insect. 

When  but  a  small  number  of  young  trees  are  set  out,  many 
planters  adopt  the  plan  of  loosely  wraj)ping  the  trunks  with  strips 
of  cloth  to  prevent  the  access  of  the  parent  beetle  to  the  bark.  The 
severity  of  the  past  winter  not  only  destroyed  the  fruit  crop,  but 
seems  to  have  imjDaired  the  vigor  of  the  trees. 

Of  plums  and  cherries  there  will  be  in  this  locality  about  half 
a  crop.  A  few  are  marked  with  the  punctures  of  the  curculio  and 
the  Morello  cherries  are  suffering  from  the  attacks  of  a  small 
lepidapterous  larva  from  which  I  have  not  yet  reared  the  moth. 
The  larva  is  of  a  translucent  smoky-brown  color  with  corneous 
head  and  collar.     It  works  into  the  flesh  and  around  the   slone  of 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Anmial  Meeting.  31 

the  cherry  just  as  the  latter  begins  to  swell,  producing  a  large  dis- 
colored spot  and  causing  it  to  fall,  which  this  fruit  seldom  does 
from  the  punctures  of  thecurculio.  Itma}^  prove  to  be  Grapliolitha 
prunivora,  Walsh,  but  at  present  I  do  not  recognize  it  as  that 
species.  Should  it  prove  seriously  injurious  its  numbers  can  be 
reduced  by  gathering  and  burning  the  fallen  fruit. 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  the  plum  or  peach  curculio  does 
not  attack  the  wild  goose  plum,  but  in  the  scarcity  of  other  stone 
fruits  this  year  I  find  the  fruit  of  this  variety  badly  affected  and 
considerable  of  it  already  fallen.  Were  it  not  for  the  adaptable 
appetite  of  this  insect  we  might  hope  that  the  failure  of  the  peach 
crop  in  this  locality  for  two  successive  years  and  the  scarcity  of 
other  stone  fruits  would  practically  exterminate  it,  but  if  stone  fruits 
should  utterly  fail  it  would  find  some  substitute  so  as  to  insure  the 
perpetuation  of  the  species.  I  once  reared  several  specimens  from 
gooseberries. 

The  new  growth  of  blackberries  and  raspberries  is  being  injured 
to  some  extent  by  the  common  stalk-borer  (  Gortyna  nitela^).  Its 
presence  is  easily  detected  by  the  shriveling  and  drooping  of  the 
stalk. 

This  very  polypliagus  moth  larva  is  becoming  more  and  more  of  a 
pest.  Last  year  I  found  it  in  Illinois,  doing  extensive  damage  in 
rhubarb  (pie  plant )  beds.  In  some  of  the  latter  fully  one-third  of 
the  leaf  stalks  were  bored  by  it.  The  only  practicable  remedy  is  to 
pull  out  and  crush  or  burn  the  infected  stalks.  Aphididce  have 
abounded  this  spring,  as  is  usually  the  case  during  wet  seasons,  and 
although  their  injuries  amount,  thus  far,  to  but  little  more  than  dis- 
figuration of  the  foliage  of  the  trees  and  plants  affected  yet  even 
this  is  very  annoying. 

A  large  species  which  gives  me  much  concern  has  appeared  in 
considerable  numbers  on  the  Balsam  Firs  in  Kirkwood.  Its  attacks 
are  limited  to  the  new  growth  on  which  it  causes  distortion  and 
dropping  of  the  needles.  The  young  lice  are  of  a  salmon  pink  color 
with  considerable  bluish  vfhite  floecule?ice.  The  nectaries  are  want- 
ing or  very  minute.  The  winged  forms  are  about  one-fifth  inch  in 
length,  of  a  drab  gray  color  powdered  with  white,  with  conspicuous 
brown  veining  and  costal  stripes  on  the  glossy  wings.  They  fly 
readily  on  the  least  disturbance,  so  that  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
collect  specimens  in  the  perfect  state.  I  have  tried  the  effect  of 
the  Pyrethrum  powder  upon  them  and  find  it  satisfactory,  but  it 
would  be  a  rather  costly  remedy  to  apply  to  a  large  number  of  large 
trees.     I  am  glad  to  report  that  the  Aphis  under  consideration  is 


32  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

preyed  upon  by  the  larvae  of  several  lady-birds  and  Syrphus  flies, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  may  be  kept  in  check  by  these  natural 
agencies. 

As  to  other  injurious  insects  my  memoranda  show  that  several 
species  of  cut  worms,  principally  Agrotis  inervinis  and  A  Suh- 
gothica,  were  very  abundant  in  April  and  early  in  May  and  cut  off 
a  large  proportion  of  the  early  beans,  peas  and  some  other  vegetables. 
On  the  other  hand  the  striped  Flea-beetle  and  the  grapevine  Flea- 
beetle  were  not  nearly  so  numerous  or  so  destructive  in  this  locality 
this  spring  as  they  were  last  year. 

Some  natural  cause  seems  also  to  have  been  in  operation  to 
reduce  the  numbers  of  the  European  cabbage  butterfly,  as  I  have 
but  rarely  seen  the  perfect  insect,  and,  thus  far,  have  not  found  a 
single  larvas  either  on  cabbage  or  cauliflower.  It  is  possible  that 
the  latter  broods  may  appear  in  greater  numbers,  but  in  the  mean- 
time the  plants  subject  to  attack  will  either  have  perfected  or  at 
least  have  gained  such  a  start  that  they  will  not  be  seriously 
injured.  The  most  approved  remedies  for  this  insect  are  Pyrethrum 
powder  and  hot  water.  The  latter  may  be  boiling  when  put  into 
the  watering  can  and  by  the  time  it  reaches  the  plants  will  have 
cooled  to  such  a  degree  as  not  to  injure  them  while  at  the  same 
time  all  kinds  of  worms  infesting  them  will  be  destroyed. 

The  above  paper  was  read  by  Miss  McPherson  and  a  vote  of 
thanks  was  tendered  her  for  the  able  manner  in  which  it  was  read. 

Discussion  : 

.  Holsinger,  as  to  the  caterpillar,  he  had  used  Pyrethrum  with 
very  marked  success.  The  expense  for  two  acres  of  cabbage  did 
not  exceed  four  dollars. 

Question. 

Does  the  flat  head  borer  work  on  the  peach  ? 

Goodman  says  they  work  on  any  unhealthy  tree. 

Meeting  adjourned  until  9  a,  m.  Wednesday. 

WEDNESDAY,  A.  M. 

After  calling  the  meeting  to  order  by  the  president,  the  first 
thing  taken  up  was  the  paper  on  "Southern  Mo.  as  a  fruit  growing- 
district,"  by  Maj.  Z.  S.  Eagan,  of  Independence. 

FRUIT  GROWING  IN  SOUTHERN  MO. 

The  subject  of  fruit  growing  in  Southern  Missouri  may  be  said 
to  be  still  in  its  infancy,    except  latitudinally  on  a  parallel    with 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Animial  Meetiny.  33 

Springfield  and  certain  favored  localities  that  enjoy  R.  R.  facilities. 
In  siich  localities  many  extensive  orchards  have  been  grown  to  give 
satisfactory  retnrns  in  a  commercial  way,  so  as  to  encourage  further 
planting  and  a  deeper  interest  in  the  science  of  horticulture. 

However,  there  is  a  large  area  of  Southern  Missouri  that  has 
almost,  up  to  the  present  time,  been  cut  off  from  any  great 
thoroughfares  or  railroad  facilities.  Thus  overlooked,  there  has 
never  been  inducement  to  grow  fruit,  except  in  a  limited  way,  for 
family  or  home  consumption.  '  The  first  and  perhaps  the  greatest 
evidence  of  this  section  of  country's  adaptability  for  growing  fruits 
successfully,  is  that  wild  fruits  abound  in  great  variety,  and  many 
of  them  of  superior  quality.  To- wit:  strawberries,  raspberries, 
blackberries,  dewberries,  gooseberries,  huckleberries,  persimmons, 
plums,  grapes,  etc.  Native  blackberries  and  grapes,  are  worthy 
of  especial  mention.  We  are  gi'eatly  indebted  to  our  late  and  es- 
teemed fellow  member  Fredrick  Muench  for  his  early  and  untiring- 
efforts  to  improve  our  native  grapes.  He,  after  having  his  Catawba 
and  Isabella  fail  from  mildew  and  rot,  turned  his  attention  to  the 
native  grapes  of  south  Missouri,  to  secure  healthy,  hardy  kinds  to 
supply  tlie  place  of  the  other  and  failing  kinds  then  in  cultivation. 

In  October,  1851,  he  traveled  on  horseback  several  hundred 
miles  to  hunt  for  wild  grapes;  returning  home  with  a  bundle  of  cut- 
tings an<l  scions  and  some  seeds,  and  commenced  cultivating  and 
experimenting,  and  in  a  few  years  was  in  jDossession  of  the  Cyn- 
thiana,.  which  far  excelled  his  S.  W.  Missoarians.  Before  his  death 
he  cultivated  the  Neosho,  a  vine  entirely  hardy,  reliable,  and  an 
abundant  bearer,  making  a  Madeira-like  wine  of  superior  excellence. 
Also  his  Far  West,  which  is  also  quite  hardy  and  prolific;  producing 
a  wine  not  equaled  by  any  on  the  globe.  Cuttings  of  these  and 
others  of  similar  origin,  have  been  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  country, 
California,  France,  &c.  The  demand  for  these  healthy  stocks  have 
been  largely  sought  after  to  supply  the  place  of  diseased  stock  by 
phyloxera  and  other  maladies  infesting  the  European  countries.  At 
the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society,  at  St.  Louis,  in  1881, 
there  were  1500  plates  of  grapes  on  exhibition,  which  contained  249 
varieties,  native  seedlings  and  hybrids  of  American  origin.  This  is 
evidence  of  the  good  results  of  the  labor  and  skill  of  devoted  Hor- 
ticulturalists,  and  should  stimulate  others  to  seek  out  new  and  su- 
perior blackberries  among  the  many  thousands  of  natives,  that  may 
take  the  place  of  old  varieties  that  are  now  giving  away  by  disease 
and  rust.  Other  native  fruits  may  claim" the  attention  of  the  prac- 
tical, observing  horticulturalist.     The  apple,   pear  and  quince  seem 


34  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

to  succeed  well  so  far  as  tried.  There  is  less  blight  with  the  pear^ 
here,  so  far  as  my  observation  extends  than  any  other  district  of 
country  that  I  have  visited.  It  may  be  said  with  propriety  that 
this  is  the  home  of  the  peach.  The  isothermal  line  extending  from 
east  to  west  including  the  great  peach  belt  of  this  Continent. 

In  an  address  read  before  the  State  Society  four  years  ago  at 
the  annual  meeting,  after  treating  of  the  fruitfulness  of  the  more 
northern  portions  of  the  State,  I  then  alluded  to  southern  Missouri 
in  the  following  rather  prophetic  br  visionary  way.  Yet  time  will 
reveal  the  true  story. 

"In  the  Ozark  Mountainous  ridges  with  deep  ravines  and  bold 
bluffs  and  gigantic  hills,  thus  affording  every  variety  of  soil  and 
aspect  for  successful  cultivation  of  fruits,  aside  from  the  great  tim- 
ber and  mineral  wealth  of  some  heretofore  neglected  districts, 
especially  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Ozark  mountains,  are  to 
be  found  some  of  the  finest  peach  lands  in  the  world;  lands  rivaling 
the  famous  Valley  of  Andalusia  in  the  quantity,  value  and  lus- 
cionsness  of  its  products. 

"These  lands,  too,  at  no  far  distant  day,  will  be  brought  into 
successful  fruit  culture  and  furnish  our  more  northern  markets 
with  fruits  in  advance  of  their  local  supplies.  Several  lines  of  rail- 
roads are  in  contemplation  and  course  of  construction,  that  will 
doubtless  afford  transportation  ere  commercial  orchards  can  be  grown 
to  successful  bearing." 

I  am  happy  to  say  since  the  penning  of  that  quotation  we  have 
in  successful  operation  the  Kansas  City,  Springfield  &  Memphis  E. 
R.,  passing  through  this  district  from  north  to  south,  together  with 
other  roads  and  their  branches,  extending  to  most  of  the  favorable 
districts  for  growing  fruits  for  shipment. 

Transportation  as  at  present  afforded,  only  awaits  the  efforts 
of  the  Horticulturalists  to  seek  out  and  develop  the  virtues  of  this 
long  cut  off  district  of  the  state,  so  long  deprived  of  commercial 
relations  with  the  outer  world. 

The  southern  slope  of  the  Ozark  Mountains,  are  protected 
on  the  north  by  these  mountains  from  the  severity  of  the  wintry 
blasts  from  the  north  and  northwest  winds,  and  by  a  succession  of 
mountain  ranges  in  Arkansas  on  the  southwest  from  the  hot  and 
blighting  winds  of  July  and  August.  In  addition  to  this  protec- 
tion from  extreme  climate  changes,  which  in  less  favored  localities 
often  destroy  the  fruit  buds,  beside  damaging  the  wood,  while  the 
more  favorable  locations  are  exempt  from  injury,  thereby  in- 
suring more  regular  or  certain  crops  of   fruit. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annual  Meeti^ig.  35 

Especially  on  the  ridges  or  table  lands  of  altitudes  of  150  to 
300  feet  above  the  level  of  the  valleys,  the  soil,  although  not  of 
the  richest  quality,  is  calculated  to  produce  a  good,  uniform, 
healthy  growth  of  wood,  which  matures  well  and  comes  early  into 
bearing.  The  best  fruit  lands  are  underlaid  by  a  deep,  porous,  red 
marl,  calculated  to  retain  moisture  and  giving  highly  colored  and 
well  flavored  fruit. 

This  portion  of  the  country  has  been  noted  for  the  superior 
quality  of  native  or  seedling  peaches,  such  as  Hyne^s,  Surprise  and 
endless  others  that  are  claimed  to  be  equal  to  our  finest  cultivated 
sorts. 

Here  is  a  field  for  horticultural  research,  one  too,  that  doubt- 
less may  add  valuable  acquisitions  to  our  cultivated  list  of  peaches. 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  OUE  SURPLUS  FRUITS. 


BY   A.    W.    m'PHERSON,    OF    SPRINGFIELD, 

Heretofore  this  has  been  a  very  important  question,  but  now, 
almost  everyone  who  is  the  owner  of  even  a  few  fruit  trees  is  able 
to  answer  the  question  intelligently.  Heretofore  that  which  pro- 
perly came  under  the  head  of  surplus  fruit,  was  generally  about 
equal  in  quantity  to  that  which  was  utilized,  and  a  very,  very  large 
proportion  of  the  annual  products  of  our  orchard  dropped  and 
rotted  on  the  ground,  and  in  that  case,  the  orchardist  was 
damaged  greatly  in  addition  to  the  loss  of  his  fruit  by  affording 
the  natural  means  for  the  propagation  of  various  insect  enemies. 
But  now,  the  answer  to  the  question,  what  will  we  do  with  our 
surplus  fruit  (since  the  introduction  of  evaporators  in  every  section 
of  our  country)  is  answered  in  a  single  sentence  !  Take  it  to  the 
evaporators. 

This  is  all  that  need  to  be  said,  as  it  is  evidently  the  best  thing 
that  can  be  done  with  our  surplus  fruit  of  every  kind,  excepting 
perhaps,  blackberries,  strawberries  and  grapes  ;  for  every  other 
variety  of  fruits  the  evaporator  can  pay  a  fair  price,  a  .price  that 
will  pay  very  well  for  production. 

One  single  suggestion  in  regard  to  preventing  a  very  common 
waste  of  fruit,  especially  applicable  to  our  summer  varieties,  many 
of  which  are  from  four  to  six  weeks  ripening  their  fruit.  Conse- 
quently  a  person  having  but  a  few  trees  can  hardly  ever  gather 


36  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

enough  at  once,  that  he  considers  ripe  enough  to  sell,  to  pay  him  to 
bother  with  marketing  them,  and  a  very  common  result  is,  that 
they  are  permitted  to  ripen,  drop,  and  go  to  waste. 

To  prevent  this  needless  waste,  and  consequent  proj^agation  of 
insects,  I  would  suggest,  that  very  soon  after  the  apples  begin  to 
ripen,  to  gather  the  entire  crop.  That  is,  all  that  have  matured 
their  normal  proportion,  leaving  out  the  little  faulty  specimens, 
which  by  the  way,  had  better  be  picked  at  the  same  time  and 
thrown  to  the  pigs,  or  where  they  would  be  consumed  by  some  of 
the  domestic  animals.  The  evaporator  man  don't  want  to  buy 
little  or  imperfect  apples.  He  wants  from  medium  to  large  joerfect 
sound  apples,  that  are  not  leginning  to  melloio. 

Firm,  solid,  acid  apples,  that  you  will  say  are  not  ripe,  make 
the  best  evaporated  fruit.  Did  you  never  notice  that  the  best 
dumplings,  and  apple  sauce  you  ever  have,  are  made  from  the  first 
apples  picked,  long  before  they  begin  to  ripen.  Then  by  following- 
these  simple  suggestions  you  will  have  no  surplus  fruit,  and  no  fruit 
wasted,  and  even  at  low  prices  you  will  realize  much  more  money 
from  the  orchard  than  heretofore. 

A.  W.   McPheesox. 

Discussion". 

Ragan — Believes  many  people  lose  largely  on  their  fruit  by 
carelessness.  The  demand  for  fruit  is  continually  increasing,  and 
the  evaporator  is  a  principal  factor  in  using  up  this  surplus  fruit. 
Evaporated  fruit  is  the  easiest  handled  and  shipped,  and  the 
quickest  way  to  take  care  of  it.  If  well  done  it  is  equal  to  green 
fruit  and  will  keep  any  where. 

Thinks  this  subject  demands  more  attention  and  the  evaporator 
men  should  attend  our  horticultural  meetings. 

Holsinger — Thinks  we  should  evaporate  our  small  fruits  when- 
ever the  prices  will  not  pay  to  sell. 

Mr.  Fink — Would  use  the  evaporator  all  the  time  and  use  all 
but  extra  specimens  of  apples. 

Holsinger — Believes  the  Ben  Davis  one  of  the  best. 

Ambrose — 8ays  although  we  hear  the  Ben  Davis  run  down  all 
the  time,  yet  the  nurseryman  cannot  get  enough  of  the  trees  to 
supply  his  customers. 

The  society  would  recommend  for  evaporating,  Jonathan  M. 
Blush,  Lowell,  and  Keswick  Codlin. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annucd  Meeting.  37 


SECEETARY'S  REPORT. 


June  10-11,  1884. 

Since  our  last  meeting  we  have  had  our  hands  full  with  the 
publication  of  our  report.  Until  a  person  tries  the  matter  of 
publishing  he  does  not  know  the  trouble  there  is  in  it. 

I  had  the  promise  of  the  printer  to  have  our  report  out  by 
March  1st,  and  in  spite  of  all  my  urging,  and  coaxing  and 
threatening  it  was  not  finished  until  near  June  1st.  Even  then 
some  of  the  work  had  to  be  left  incomi^lete. 

Some  of  the  proof  had  to  be  left  to  their  correction  and  the 
Avork  shows  the  mistake. 

On  one  page  I  find  three  or  four  mistakes  in  spelling.  The 
name  of  one  of  our  berries  "  Longfellow ''  is  made  two  words  of  and 
called  Lazy  Fellow.  Names  of  jjersons  are  spelled  wrong  in  many 
jslaces.  Many  of  these  mistakes  were  corrected  in  the  proof  and 
yet  appear  in  the  rei^ort.  A  great  number  of  these  names  were 
perfectly  familiar  to  me  and  were  corrected  accordingly,  but  yet 
appear. 

The  work  was  delayed  so  much  that  even  the  index  which  was 
nearly  comj)leted  (but  which  could  not  be  finished  until  the 
printing  was  done)  was  left  out  to  hurry  up  the  wovk. 

There  were  also  nearly  100  pages  of  matter  left  out  because  of 
the  time  and  expense  in  preparing  and  printing.  The  matter  was 
very  important,  consisting  of  original  essays  and  reports  which 
should  have  all  been  in  ;  the  condensed  report  of  the  Missouri 
Valley  Horticultural  Society,  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  our 
western  meetings,  a  few  extracts  from  the  essays,  and  reports,  as 
well  as  the  discussion,  but  it  was  found  impossible  to  get  the  report 
out  for  a  month  later  and  they  were  left  out. 

I  offer  these  statements  not  as  apologies  but  to  give  the  reasons 
for  the  mistakes  and  the  length  of  time  it  took.  I  am  perfectly 
aware  that  such  a  report  should  be  correct,  especially  with  the 
names  of  members  and  of  fruits. 

I  simply  offer  them  to  show  some  of  the  troubles  we  are  sub- 
ject to  in  our  work. 

With  reference  to  the  value  of  the  work  I  am  satisfied  and 
think  others  are  the  same,  as  I  have  received  commendations  from 
every  side,  and  I  suppose  they  overlook  the  mistakes  of  the  printer. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  reports  received  : 


38  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Colman's  Rural  World  offers  the  following  notes  : 
The  report  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society  for  1883 
is  published,  and  forms  a  very  neat,  well  bound  volume  of  350 
pages.  It  is,  without  question,  the  best  annual  report  ever  offered 
to  the  people  of  the  State,  and  reflects  the  highest  credit  on  the 
able  and  industrious  secretary,  Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman,  of  Westport, 
Mo.  The  regular  proceedings  of  the  society  are  well  arranged,  but 
they  form  only  a  part  of  the  volume.  In  addition  to  this  matter, 
which  is  highly  instructive,  embracing  as  it  does,  a  great  fund  of 
information  for  the  horticulturists  of  the  west  and  south,  as  well  as 
the  State  of  Missouri,  we  have  from  the  pen  of  the  secretary,,  who 
is  himself  an  experienced  and  practical  fruit  grower,  a  good  deal  of 
valuable  matter  that  will  be  read  with  interest  by  the  pomologists 
of  the  country. 

The  "  Secretary's  Budget "  is  replete  with  timely  and  useful 
information,  to  which  he  has  added  the  best  tlioughts  and  sayings 
of  the  leading  horticulturists  and  writers  of  the  country.  The 
subjects  take  a  wide  range,  embracing  orchards,  vineyards,  small 
fruits,  the  best  varieties,  the  care  and  attention  necessary,  how  to 
fight  the  insect  and  other  enemies  of  fruits.  The  flower  and  vege- 
table gardens  receive  proper  notice,  the  adornment  of  home  and 
a  host  of  kindred  subjects,  are  briefly  handled  by  the  ablest  au- 
thors. Every  man  engaged  in  fruit  growing  to  any  extent,  would 
find  much  bet^'een  the  covers  of  this  volume,  to  entertain  and 
instruct  him.  Membership,  it  appears,  is  only  a  dollar  a  year,  and 
each  member  is  entitled  to  a  copy — getting  a  book  which  is  really 
cheap  at  the  price,  in  addition  to  the  other  advantages  of  member- 
ship. 

Rural  Neu)  Yorher  reports  as  follows  : 

CATALOGUES,    ETC.,    RECEIVED. 

Eeport  of  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society  for  1883  :  L.  A. 
Goodman,  Secretary,  Westport,  Mo.  This  is  a  handsome  volume 
of  354  pages,"  containing  a  report  of  the  workings  of  the  Society 
during  the  last  year,  together  with  the  parsers  and  discussions  at 
the  annual  meeting,  held  at  Carthage,  Mo.,  December,  11,  12  and 
13,  1883  ;  also  the  Secretary's  '^  Budget"  of  190  pages,  filled  with 
the  best  sentiments  on  various  subjects  by  the  best  writers,  carefully 
culled  by  the  Secretary.  We  are  glad  Missouri,  with  her  thousands 
of  acres  of  the  best  fruit  lands  in  the  world,  is  doing  so  much  for 
horticulture  ;  yet,  when  we  realize  how  little  she  is  doing  in  pro- 
portion to  what  she  ought  to  do  to  show  her  peo]3le  how  much  more 
profit  there  is  in  one  acre  devoted  to  fruit,  if  well  cared  for,  than  in 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  39 

half  a  dozen  acres  used  for  growing  grain,  we  can  but  wish  the  law- 
makers of  that  great  state  would  give  a  thought  to  this  matter. 
With  a  proper  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  industry,  they  would 
be  much  more  liberal  in  their  treatment  of  the  horticultural  in- 
terests, and  then  Secretary  Goodman  would  be  able  to  employ  a 
stenographer,  and  so  give  us  much  fuller  reports  of  the  discussions 
at  the  annual  meetings.  These  are  really  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, and  yet  with  the  limited  means  at  command,  an  adequate 
report  of  them  can  hardly  be  attempted.  We  commend  this  volume 
to  the  careful  perusal  of  all  fruit  growers,  especially  those  of 
Missouri. 


T.  V.  Munson  of  Dennison,  Texas,  says  :  ''  Received  through 
your  kindness  a  copy  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society 
Report  for  1883,  and  thank  you  heartily  for  it.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
reports  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  examined." 

Many  other  kind  words  have  been  received,  and  I  am  glad  that 
it  is  looked  upon  with  favor. 

This  year's  plan  will  be  somewhat  the  same  only  we  expect  more 
original  matter  and  more  county  and  society  reports,  and  it  will  be 
my  endeavor  to  make  the  next  still  better  than  this  one  not  only  in 
matter  but  in  work. 

In  February,  I  sent  out  a  circular  or  rather  a  report  and 
advice  to  all  owning  peach  trees  to  cut  them  back,  wherever  they 
were  injured  by  the  winter.     Tills  report  or  advice  is  as  follows  : 

•  "1  have  received  many  letters  from  fruit  growers  in  different 
parts  of  the  State  asking  what  to  do  with  their  trees,  some  saying 
they  were  very  much  injured,  others  that  they  think  they  are  all 
dead. 

To  all  such,  and  in  fact  to  all  who  own  any  peach  trees,  I 
would  answer  : 

It  matters  not  if  the  w^ood  is  colored  badly  and  looks  dead. 
Get  you  a  good  pair  of  shears  and  a  saw  and  cut  off  the  tops  of  all 
the  j^each  trees. 

If  trees  are  five  or  six  years  old,  or  one  to  four  years  planted, 
cut  the  tops  off  with  shears.  On  the  younger  trees  cut  about 
two-thirds  the  past  year's  growth  ;  on  the  older  trees  cut  down  to 
the  two  or  even  the  three  years'  old  wood.  Make  the  tops  round 
and  shapely  and  you  will  find  that  they  will  recover  very  finely  this 
season  and  will  make  good,  comjoact  trees,  ready  to  produce  fruit 
next  year. 


40  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  peach  is  a  tree  that  will  recover  itself  and  make  a  rapid 
growth  if  well  pruned  back.  If  there  is  only  life  enough  left  for 
the  sap  to  start  up  the  tree  the  new  wood  will  form  over  the  old 
wood  and  they  will  look  as  healthy  as  new  trees. 

But  if  you  leave  the  whole  of  the  top,  the  chances  are  that  you 
will  never  have  a  good  tree,  even  if  it  should  live  at  all,  which  I 
very  much  question.  On  old  trees  take  a  good  saAv  and  cut  the 
tops  off  about  six,  eight,  or  ten  feet  from  the  ground  :  never  mind 
if  it  does  look  as  if  it  would  ruin  them,  it  is  the  only  salvation  for 
them,  A  peach  will  recover  if  it  has  only  a  short  distance  to  send 
the  sap  through  the  diseased  wood,  whereas  if  it  had  to  flow  to 
the  tips  of  the  trees  it  would  flow  so  slow  that  it  would  soon  be 
checked  by  drying  up. 

If  the  root  is  good  a  tree  will  recover  wonderfully,  but  if  the 
root  is  much  injured  it  had  better  be  cut  down. 

The  more  trees  are  injured  the  more  they  should  be  cut  back, 
is  the  sure  rule  to  follow.  If  you  would  examine  any  old.  peach 
tree  you  would  find  only  two  or  three  years  of  good,  sound  wood 
next  to  the  bark ;  this  shows  that  often  the  trees  have  been  com- 
j^elled  to  form  new  wood  over  diseased  wood,  and  if  you  can  get  a 
vigorous  start  early  in  the  spring,  it  matters  not  how  much  the  tree 
is  injured,  it  is  sure  to  recover.  The  time  to  do  this  cutting  is 
early  in  the  sj^ring  before  the  trees  start  their  growth,  and  as  soon 
as  freezing  is  over  with. 

In  fact  I  may  say  that  the  best  peach  growers  in  the  West  do 
this  pruning  every  two  years  at  the  farthest,  and  the  trees  always 
show  the  close,  compact  growth,  and  not  the  loose,  straggling 
growth  so  generally  seen.  If  you  once  adopt  this  plan  you  will 
always  follow  it." 

This  advice  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society  was 
copied  into  nearly  all  the  horticultural  papers  of  the  country,  and 
I  have  received  many  inquiries  about  it  and  commendations  for  it, 
and  some  strong  objections  to  it,  one  man  even  claiming  that  he 
had  tried  it  and  nearly  all  the  trees  cut  died,  and  those  not  cut 
lived.  All  peach  growers  west  know  better  than  that,  as  it  has 
been  tested  in  thousands  of  instances. 


Proceedings  at  Sevii-Aiinual  Meeting. 


41 


On  January  1st  I  ^ent  out  the  following  circular  : 


MISSOURI  STATE  HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 


SECRETARY'S  OFFICE,      } 
Westport,  Mo., January,  1884.    f 

Dear  Sir  :  Will  you  please  make  out  the  following  County  Report  as 

nearly  as  possible  and  return  to  me  by  February  1st.     It  will  be  some  work, 

but  I  hope  you  will  do  it  so  that  we  may  find  what  the  fruit  crop  of  the 

State  amounts  to.     Perhaps  it  may  be  impossible  to  give  the  exact  answers 

to  all,  but  do  the  best  you  are  able,  and  if  not  known  estimate  and  mark  it 

so.     Fill  up  what  you  can  for  your  county.     The  census  does  not  give  what, 

we  want.  Yours  Respectfully, 

L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Secretary. 

/ 


REPORT  OF COUNTY. 

Made  by , 

P.  O.  Address, Date 188 


FRUITS. 

Varieties  that 
succeed  best 

No.  Acres 
Bearing. 

Crop  1883. 
bu.,qts.,  lbs. 

Fruit  Pros. 

for  1884. 

Fruits  that 
succeed  best 

Apples 

, 

Pears 

Peaches. . .    . 

1 

Plumis 

Cherries  .... 

Strawberries 

Raspberries  . 

Blackberries. 

Grapes 

4:i  Missouri  iState  Horticultural  Society. 

On  March  1st,  I  sent  out  the  following  circular  : 

Secketary's  Office,  ) 

Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society,     \ 

Westport,  Mo,,  March  1st, ,-1884. 

Dear  Sir  :  Believing  that  we  can  further  the  best  interests  of 
our  State  Society,  and  through  it  the  best  interests  of  horticul- 
turists, by  an  increase  of  membership  in  every  part  of  the  State  ; 
and,  believing  that  the  horticulturists  of  our  State  toould  and 
do  take  enough  of  interest  in  our  State  Horticultural  Society  to 
become  members  if  the  matter  was  presented  to  them  ;  and  be- 
lieving also  that  we  could  better  advance  horticulture  if  there  were 
a  horticultural  society  in  almost  every  county  of  the  State,  we 
desire  to  make  the  following  propositions  to  the  horticulturists  of 
the  State  : 

If  you  organize  a  County  Horticultural  Society, "and  send  the 
State  secretary  a  list  of  officers  and  members,  with  the  monthly 
report  of  the  society  at  its  meetings,  tlieir  names  will  be  enrolled  as 
members  for  the  year  1884,  and  they  will  be  entitled  to  the  report 
of  the  State  Horticultural  Society  for  1883,  A  constitution  has 
been  formed  and  printed  (with  a  few  hints  on  organizing),  and  it 
will  be  sent  to  any  one  who  wishes  to  start  a  local  society. 

The  State  report  is  full  of  interest  and  information  to  every 
one  who  is  interested  in  horticulture,  and  some  of  the  essays  are 
worth  much  more  than  the  price  of  membership  to  every  one  who 
owns  an  orchard,  or  intends  to  plant  one.  None  of  these  essays  ai'e 
simply  theories,  but  they  are  all  based  upon  actual  experience. 
Matters  are  j)resented  to  the  fruit  grower  that  will  plainly  show 
him  what  to  plant,  and  how  to  care  for  fruit,  and  how  to  destroy 
the  insects.  These  facts,  if  known  in  time  and  followed,  will  save 
the  fruit  grower  hundreds  of  dollars. 

The  book  has  essays  and  reports  on  ''  Orchards,''  "Vineyards," 
"Peaches,"  "  Apples,"  "Small  Fruits,"  "'Ornamentals,"  "Flow- 
ers," "Insects,"  "Marketing,"  etc.;  "Reports  of  Counties;" 
"  Constitution  for  aXocal  Society  ;"  "  Secretary's  Budget  "  (being 
a  collection  of  the  best  items  and  facts  published  in  the  best  horti- 
cultural papers  in  the  United  States),  and  other  items   of  interest. 

These  are  some  of  the  items  that  will  be  of  value  to  you,  and 
now  we  want  your  name  as  a  member  and  your  influence  to  help 
organize  the  State  as  it  should  be.  We  have  a  wonderful  State, 
and  it  is  time  to  let  people  know  of  the  fact.  If  you  will  only 
help  we  can  have  one  of  the  best  organized  states  in  the  Union. 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  43 

We  can  grow  the  fruit,  and  have  grown  it,  and  now   we  want  the 
people  to  know  it. 

The  State  Society  is  ready  to  do  its  part  if  you  will  only  help 
us.  We  should  have  at  least  five  hundred  members,  and  they 
should  all  take  an  interest  in  this  matter. 

Our  State  Society  expects  to  make  an  exhibit  of  fruits  at -New 
Orleans  next  winter  at  the  great  exposition,  and  will  want  your 
help. 

We  expect  to  send  out  in  May  for  a  report  on  the  prospects  of 
the  fruit,  and  again  in  August,  and  on  receipt  of  these  reports  we 
will  send  a  circular  containing  the  results  of  these  inquiries.  It 
will  ffive  us  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  fruit  to  be  had. 

In  June  we  expect  also  to  have  a  summer  meeting,  and  wish  to 
see  a  good  delegation  there.  Every  member  of  the  State  Society  is 
entitled  to  the  state  report  and  all  crop  reports. 

I  hope  you  will  consider  this  matter  of  the  State  Society  of 
enough  interest  to  you  and  the  State  to  become  a  member,  and 
send  the  secretary  II  for  membership. 

Now  this  is  not  a  matter  to  be  put  off,  or  turned  aside  lightly, 
but  if  you  are  interested  in  fruit  growing,  and  interested  in  the 
success  of  our  State  Society  and  its  work,  you  should  use  as  mucli 
judgment  in  this  as  any  other  matter  of  business,  and  become  a 
member  and  stand  by  your  State  Society. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN,  State  Secretary. 

In  answer  to  this  I  received  the  names  of  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  members  and  some  of  them  are  the  old  members  of  the 
society  who  are  willing  to  come  back  if  we  will  do  anything. 

Of  course  we  will  do  something  and  this  meeting  will  be  one 
instance  of  showing  what  we  can  and  will  do. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society  met  at  Kansas 
City  last  January  22nd,  24th,  and  it  was  one  of  the  best  meetings 
if  not  the  very  best  ever  held  in  the  country.  Attending  that 
meeting  were  fruit  men  from  eighteen  different  states  and  some  of 
the  very  best  of  them.  The  meeting  was  characterized  throughout 
with  an  enthusiasm  seldom  seen,  and  the  discussions  were  of  that 
kind  that  showed  experience  and  knowledge.  I  speak  of  this  matter 
because  the  society  came  to  Kansas  City  upon  invitation  of  the 
Missouri  State  Society  and  it  is  one  of  the  steps  in  the  right 
direction. 

A  display  of  about  80  varieties  of  apples,  pears  and  quinces 
were    shown    and   they  were  the  admiration    of    all.      The  com- 


44  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

mittee  presented  a  report  on  tlie  fruit  that  conld  not  be  excelled, 
and  we  may  well  be  proud  of  the  display. 

A  box  of  the  finest  were  packed  and  sent  to  Chas.  Downing, 
that  veteran  fruit  grower  and  horticulturist,  and  elicited  the 
following : 

ISTewbukg,  Neav  Yokk. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  box  of  beautiful  specimens  you  have 
sent  me,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  shall  enjoy  the  privilege  of  ex- 
amining them  as  they  ripen.  I  scarcely  knew  some  of  them,  they 
seemed  so  large  and  handsome.  Surely  they  must  be  overgrown, 
and  the  apples  cannot  average  anything  like  those  sent.  But  I 
suppose  that  they  were  selected  for  show.     I  shall  report  on  them 

as  they  ripen. 

Chas.  Downing. 

In  answer  to  this  I  wrote  him  that  they  were  fine  of  course, 
but  we  could  show  hundreds  and  thousands  of  bushels  of  nearly 
the  same  size. 

Since  that  time  I  have  received  a  number  of  letters  from  him, 
calling  in  question  the  names  of  some  of  the  varieties,  and  criti- 
cizing some  others,  but  always  with  candor. 

The  new  variety  called  Gano,  which  was  named  by  tlie  Mis- 
souri Valley  Horticultural  Society,  delighted  him  very  much,  but 
he  was  unwilling  to  decide  whether  it  was  a  new  variety  or  an  old 
one  and  there  the  matter  stands. 

It  is  a  beautiful  apple  and  will  comjjare  well  witli  the  most 
handsome  of  apples.  It  was  found  by  W.  Gr.  Gano,  of  Parkville, 
Mo.,  and  by  liim  first  shown.  It  is  a  great  bearer  and  good  keeper 
and  sells  at  the  higliest  prices.  Our  society  should  take  this  matter 
in  hand  and  bring  out  some  new  varieties  and  this  is  one  of  them. 

This  whole  matter  could  be  controlled  by  our  society  and  given 
to  the  people  of  the  state  this  fall  free  of  charge  or  for  the  cost  of 
cutting  the  scions.  I  would  recommend  that  this  be  done  and  that 
this  society  pay  for  all  the  scions  and  distribute  them  ( a  few  in  a 
place )  so  that  there  will  be  no  one  to  make  a  run  on  them  or  a 
great  profit  on  the  trees. 

Let  the  scions  be  given  to  the  members  of  the  society  only  and 
it  will  help  our  membership. 

The  following  letter  was  received  from  Marshal  P.  Wilder  in 
answer  to  a  box  sent  him  also  : 

DoKCHESTEK,  January  31st,  1884. 

Thanks,  thanks,  my  dear  sir,  for  the  magnificent  present  of 
apples.     They  are  most  beautiful  specimens  and  are  now  on  ex- 


Proceedings  at  Serni- Annual  Meeting.  45 

hibition  at  Horticultural  Hall  (  Massachusetts  Society  ).  Many  of 
them  are  very  remarkable  for  size  and  beauty,  when  compared  with 
same  varieties  grown  here,  and  they  will  be  tested  and  reported  on 
by  our  fruit  committee.  What  a  wonderful  country  we  have  for 
fruit  culture.  No  nation  possesses  such  marvelous  privileges,  and 
no  other  has  made  such  progress  in  pomology,  and  your  good  So- 
ciety has  done  great  and  good  work  for  its  advancement.  Kow  let 
us  reform  its  nomenclature  of  fruits  and  make  it  sensible,  relevant 
and  convenient  and  an  example  for  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Maeshall  p.  Wildek, 

Thus  you  see  our  fruit  is  drawing  the  attention  of  the  people 
of  the  country  and  we  are  having  call  for  our  apples  when  the  east 
thought  we  could  not  grow  them. 

I  would  call  the  attention  of  this  Society  to  the  last  annual  re- 
port of  that  grand  society,  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural 
Society.  It  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  United  States  and  well  worthy 
perusal. 

They  cost  members  last  year  12.00,  but  I  have  a  number  in  my 
possession  that  will  be  sold  to  members  of  our  State  Society  for 
$1.00  each,  and  it  is  well  worthy  of  your  perusal. 

OUE    COUNTY   SOCIETIES. 

These  are  starting  up  slowly  but  I  hope  surely.  As  fast  as  they 
are  organized  I  want  "the  names  of  the  officers  and  members. 

Each  one  of  these  will  be  the  branches  of  our  State  Society,  and 
help  her  in  the  good  work.  I  wish  that  we  might  have  one  in  every 
county  of  our  state,  we  could  then  get  our  reports  and  statistics  in 
much  better  shape. 

We  now  have  the  Missouri  Valley  Horticultural  Society,  Kansas 
City,  embracing  the  counties  of  Jackson,  Clay,  Platte,  of  Missouri, 
and  Johnson  and  Wyandotte,  of  Kansas. 

Officers — J.  C.  Evans,  President ;  E.  Lindsey,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  G.  W.  Hopkins,  Secretary  ;  C  F.  Esisenlaub,  Treasurer. 
Number  of  members,  36. 

JasjDer  County  Horticultural  Society,  Carthage — M.  I.  Parker, 
President ;  A.  W.  St.  John,  Secretary. 

Holt  County  Horticultural  Society,  Oregon — N.  F.  Murry, 
President ;  J.  M.  Hasness,  Secretary. 

Vernon  County  Horticultural  Society,  Nevada — Judge  S.  Fuller 
President  ;  A.  Ambrose,  Secretary ;  D.  W.  Graves,  Treasurer. 


46  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Bates  County  Horticultural  Society,  Butler — J.  B.  Durand, 
President ;  Henry  SjDeers,  Secretary  ;  E.  P.  Henry,  Treasurer. 

Henry  County  Horticultural  Society,  Clinton — J.  M.  Pretz- 
inger,  Secretary. 

Greene  County  Horticultural  Society,  Springfield — M.  J. 
Roundtree,  President ;  D.  S.  Holman,  Secretary. 

Besides  these  I  have  the  promise  of  a  half  dozen  counties  to 
organize  this  summer  and  I  hope  this  will  be  done  and  the  matter 
kept  before  the  people  until  we  shall  see  fifty  before  the  people. 

This  could  be  done  more  quickly  and  easily  if  we  could  send  a 
man  to  help  them  in  their  organization,  and  I  think  it  would  be 
money  well  spent  to  do  so. 

OUR   FRUITS. 

The  past  winter  was  one  of  the  most  severe  and  we  expected  to 
see  many  trees  ruined. 

But  where  peach  have  been  cut  back  they  are  growing  finely, 
and  the  apple  and  pear  were  loaded  with  bloom  as  never  before, 
and  fruit  men  were  happy,  but  it  did  not  last  ;  soon  they  began  to 
drop  and  now  many  trees  are  barren  of  fruit. 

Now  it  is  necessary  to  examine  into  the  cause  of  this  and 
answer  some  of  the  questions  asking  the  reason.  I  believe  that  the 
reason  will  begin  with  the  dry  weather  last  August,  when  the  trees 
suffered  so  much  from  the  drouth.  The  leaves  and  fruit  spurs  then 
showed  that  many  of  the  trees,  especially  wmesap,  were  not  in  a 
healthy  condition,  and  some  of  the  leaves  began  to  turn  brown  and 
die.  Following  this  injury  came  the  severe  cold  and  that  certainly 
affected  them,  not  enough  to  kill  them  entirely,  but  enough  to 
cause  them  to  drop. 

This  spring  all  those  trees  that  we  examined^  at  the  base  of  the 
bud  showed  a  black  circle  as  of  winter-kill  were  found  to  drop  their 
fruit. 

I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  members  of  the  society  to 
another  matter  of  great  benefit.  The  use  of  pyrethrum  was  shown 
in  my  last  report  and  now  I  call  your  minds  to  that  of  tobacco.  It 
is  a  cure-all  for  and  a  great  friend  to  the  horticulturist.  Sprinkled 
in  solution  on  the  trees  it  will  kill  the  insects;  and  even  the  codling- 
month  will  leave  the  aj^jjle  alone  where  it  is  used.  The  old  stems 
put  around  the  trees  will  keep  the  borer  and  the  root  louse'  away. 
In  fact  the  use  of  tobacco  has  just  been  discovered  and  it  is  found 
to  be  worth  something  at  last.  If  all  the  tobacco  could  be  used  to 
destroy  insects  and  not  to  destroy  boys,  it  would  be  a  glorious  day 
for  the  fruit-grower. 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  47 

The  work  of  the  secretary  I  finfl  to  be  increasing  every  day. 
Xot  a  day  now  passes  but  that  letters  are  received  asking  what  to 
do  for  certain  insects,  how  to  put  up  fruit,  what  to  do  with 
specimens  of  our  small  fruits.  How  to  prune,  how  to  plant  small 
fruits  and  many  others.  I  find  my  time  closely  taken  with  the 
regular  work  and  the  irregular  work. 

I  have  written  over  1,000  letters  in  the  last  six  months,  nearly 
1,000  postal  cards,  sent  out  nearly  2,000  circulars  and  responded  to 
all  the  return  questions.  The  work  used  to  be  done  in  one  day  in 
a  week,  and  now  it  takes  three  or  four.  It  is  growing  and  will  be 
kept  growing  with  the  right  kind  of  work,  and  I  can  now  see  that 
the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  can  be  as  well  organized  as  any 
other  state.     It  only  wants  work. 

The  secretary's  salary  is  S200.00  per  year,  and  although  it  was 
-enough  when  there  was  not  much  work  to  do,  it  is  not  enough  now 
for  the  work  necessary  to  be  done.  The  work  on  the  book  cost  me 
that  much  in  time  alone. 

The  work  of  the  secretary  should  grow  more  and  more  and  will 
do  so  if  he  does  his  duty.  He  will  have  to  travel  more  and  see  the 
loqal  societies,  and  \\^\i  places  of  noted  fruit  growing  and  get 
acquainted  with  more  of  the  people. 

The  great  meeting  at  New  Orleans  needs  some  attention.  It 
is  the  intention  of  the  state  society  to  make  an  exhibit  there,  and  it 
will  also  take  work  and  time.  The  most  liberal  premiums  are 
offered  and  it  is  our  intention  to  take  some  of  them.  This  will  take 
the  closest  work  and  watching  all  over  the  state,  and  it  will  be 
necessary  for  evei*y  member  to  watch  closely  and  if  they  haye  any- 
thing extra  fine,  to  pack  it  well  in  small  boxes  and  send  to  the 
secretary  at  Kansas  City  for  cold  storage .  until  winter.  Arrange- 
ments will  be  made  to  have  all  the  fruit  kept  in  the  cold  storage, 
free  of  charge,  at  Kansas  City,  and  then  in  December  repacked 
and  shipped  to  New  Orleans. 

The  help  of  every  member  of  the  society  will  be  needed  in  this 
collecting  of  the  fruits. 

The  society  needs  a  library  of  all  the  standard  works  on  fruit 
growing  and  insects.  They  should  be  for  reference  and  instruction 
in  many  of  the  thousand  items  that  come  up  every  day  in  his  work. 
Many  of  these  would  probably  be  donated  to  the  society  and  others 
could  be  bought.  I  received  from  Chas.  Downing  the  standard 
fruit  work  of  America,  "  Downing's  Fruit  and  Fruit  Trees  of 
America,"  as  a  gift  to  the  society  and  we  need  many  others. 

I  find,  in  conclusion,  that  the  society  is  in  a  much  better  organ- 


48  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

ized  condition  than  one  year  'ago,  and  that  very  many  new  peojDle 
are  taking  hold  of  this  matter  and  becoming  interested.  I  send  a 
circular  and  notice  to  every  county  paper  in  the  state  every  time 
such  circular  is  sent  out.  It  brings  the  society  into  notice  and 
lielps  us  much.  The  report  was  also  sent  to  many  of  the  county 
papers  and  is  being  used  in  our  good  work. 

The  way  to  keep  up  the  interest  in  this  matter  is  to  talk  and 
talk  about  it  and  give  notice  to  every  prominent  feature  that  comes 
up.  Keep  it  before  the  j)eople  and  they  will  become  interested. 
Work  and  talk,  talk  and  work,  is  the  secret  of  our  success. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Secretary. 

A  committee  was  appointed  upon  a  vote  of  the  society  to  pass 
upon  the  secretary's  report. 

J.  C.  Evansj  W.  Gr.  Gano,  F.  F.  Fine  were  appointed  by  the 
president,  and  upon  motion  the  president  was  added. 

The  president  also  appointed  the  following  as  judges  on  the 
display  of  flowers:  Mrs.  Z.  S.  Eagan  ;  Mrs.  Serls  ;  Mrs.  0.  H. 
Goflf. 

The  president  also  appointed  the  judges  on  the  display  of 
fruits  :     M.  J.  Eoundtree  ;  J.  C* Evans;  A.  Ambrose. 

WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON. 

The  president  being  asked  to  give  a  report  on  what  was  to  be 
done  at  New  Orleans,  gave  a  history  of  the  beginning  and  how  it 
grew  to  a  World's  Fair  and  how  everybody  was  to  be  there  and 
bring  his  fruit. 

Missouri  should  do  her  duty  and  have  a  fine  show  of  fruits  also 
and  not  be  behind  other  states. 

The  display  of  fruits  will  be  the  grandest  ever  seen  in  the 
world. 

The  subject  of  small  fruits  was  taken  up,  and  first  was  a  puper 
read  by  F.  Holsinger,  from  Judge  Samuel  Miller,  of  Bluffton. 
L.    A.    Goodman,    Secretary  of  the  Missouri    State  Horticultural 

Society  : 

Your  circulars  and  letters  are  here,  and  as  it  will  be  unlikely 
that  I  can  attend  the  meeting  at  Springfield,  will  do  the  next  best 
thing  ;  and  give  you  a  report  on  small  fruits  so  far  as  ripening  this 
season,  as  you  request. 

I  could  make  no  display  of  berries  as  mine  will  all  be  past  their 
prime  except  a  few  varieties.  Cherries  too  few  to  count  on,  and  no 
raspberries  rijDe  yet. 


Proceeding!^  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  49 

There  will  be  no  use  in  going  into  any  long  description  of  the 
varieties  in  these  bnt  give  simply  the  leading  features  of  each  of 
the  new  ones. 

Albany — As  usual  almost  a  failure  under  favorable  circum- 
stances. 

Afrique — Xot  yet  ripe.  Productive.  Medium  size,  nearly 
black. 

Charles  Downing — Not  as  good  as  usual. 

Crescent — Always  fine  for  its  class,  but  not  a  favorite  with  me. 

Crystal  City — A  good  crop  of  excellent  berries  of  good  size 
and  quality,  and  one  week  the  earliest. 

Captain  Jack — Like  it.     Always  is  first-rate  every  way. 

Cumberland  Triumph. — Fine  as  usual,  but  not  a  big  crop. 

Cornelia  (Crawford^'s). — A  new  late  one  not  yet  ripe,  promising. 

Crawford's  No.  6 — No  fruit  on. 

Downer's  Prolific — Too  soft. 

Daniel  Boone — Very  promising.     Large,  productive  and  good. 

Daisy — This  again  promises  to  be  one  of  our  most  productive 
large  berries  and  certainly  will  become  a  market  berry. 

Fairy — A  white  berry  of  good  quality,  much  like  Lenning's 
white. 

Great  America — Splendid,  what  few  we  have. 

Grlendale — G-ood  as  usual,  but  its  big  ruffle  detracts  from  its 
ap]3earance  in  the  box. 

Hart's  Minnesota — A  si:)lendid  berry. 

Howell's  Prolific — A  failure  in  the  old  bed,  but  splendid  on 
plants  set  out  last  fall. 

Ida — Immensely  productive,  but  too  small  for  market. 

James  Vick — This  is  about  all  that  could  be  wished  except 
that  it  bears  too  much,  there  is  not  room  to  get  large. 

Jersey  Queen. — Of  all  the  strawberries  I  have  ever  cultivated 
in  forty  years,  none  ever  pleased  me  so  well  the  first  year's  bearing, 
as  this  royal,  glorious,  grand,  noble  berry.  Productive,  largest  size; 
firm  in  texture;  quality  first-rate,  and  one  of  the  latest.  Beautiful 
in  color,  like  the  Triumph  de  G-rand. 

Jumbo — No  fruit ;  is  to  be  the  latest. 

Lenning's  White — Good,  but  not  productive  enough. 

Ladies  Pine — This  berry  I  thought  extinct,  but  have  been  for- 
tunate enough  to  get  it  again;  and  say  just  now,  what  I  did  twenty- 
five  years  ago:  that  it  is  by  far  the  finest  flavored  strawberry  we  have; 
size,  small,  jjink  colored,  not  very  firm,  tolerably  productive,  not  a 
market  fruit,  but  should  be  in  every  man's  garden. 


50  Missouri  State  HorticuUtiral  Society. 

Manchester — Large  and  fine,  but  the  plants  can't  stand  our  hot, 
dry  summers  here. 

Mary  Stewart — Late,  good  but  too  soft  to  ship. 

Magnum  Bonum — Promising. 

Miller's  No.  18 — A  splendid  new  one,  Geo.  L.  Miller,  of  Jones 
Station,  Ohio,  is  the  originator. 

Miners  G-reat  Prolific — Large  and  fine  but  don't  color  early. 

Mrs.  Gai'field — Not  what  I  expected. 

McKensie — A  fair  sized  berry  of  excellent  quality  and  quite 
productive. 

Nigli's  Superb — Of  no  use  with  me,  if  I  have  it  true. 

Old  Iron  Clad — Almost  a  failure. 

Piper — About  tlie  same. 

Prince  of  Berries — Of  great  promise. 

Rosenliam  Seedling — Much  like  Cumberland  Triumph. 

Walter — A  new  one,  failure  in  the  old  bed  but  fine  where  set 
out  last  fall. 

The  failure  of  Old  Ironclad  and  Piper  I  attribute  to  their  flow- 
ering at  an  unfavorable  time  when  there  was  too  much  rain.  Another 
season  may  be  different;  occasionally  a  plant  of  each  gave  me 
splendid  berries,  which  are  large  and  of  good  quality.  Then  again 
Walter,  Howell's  Prolific  and  Hart's  Minnesota,  almost  failures 
in  the  beds  Avhere  they  grew  last  summer,  are  fine  as  plants  set  out 
last  fall. 

All  my  new  beds  were  set  out  after  the  first  of  October,  and 
such  a  crop  as  some  of  them  bear  this  season  would  astonish  those 
who  denounce  fall  planting.  I  have  picked  three  berries  at  one 
picking  from  a  single  plant  of  Jersey  Queen,  that  would  measure 
five  inches  in  circumference  each,  that  were  set  out  after  the  mid- 
dle of  October. 

Raspberries  promise  a  fair  crop. 

Gooseberries — The  Downing —  More  fruit  this  season  than  my 
plants  ever  bore  before. 

Grapes — Promise  better  than  we  expected  early  in  the  spring. 

How  I  would  like  to  be  with  you,  but  since  that  will  not 
happen  you  have  my  best  wish  for  a  pleasant  meeting. 

Yours  fraternally, 

SAMUEL  MILLER. 

Bluffton,  Mo.,  June  6,  1884. 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  _  51 

REPORT  OF  W.  M.  HOPKINS. 


Missoiiri  State  Horficnltural  Society  : 

At  the  request  of  your  secretary,  and  as  one  of  the  committee 
on  small  fruits,  I  submit  tlie  following  report : 

Black  Cap  Raspberries — Davidson,  Thornless  and  M  Cluster 
badly  injured  ;  at  least  one-half.  Hopkins  and  Greggwent  through 
the  winter  with  very  slight  injury,  if  any.  The  rust  has  again 
made  its  appearance  quite  extensively  on  the  old  Doolittle  and 
M  Cluster.  Hopkins  and  Gregg,  entirely  healthy.  This  question 
of  rust  is  becoming  quite  a  serious  matter.  1  know  of  no  remedy. 
I  think  the  red  varieties  all  more  or  less  injured.  Cuthbert  very 
badly.  Thwack  to  some  extent.  There  will  be  but  little  over  half  a 
crop  of  either  red  or  black  caj)s.  Blackberries,  Kittakinny,  all  about 
gone  with  rust.  Snyder  and  Taylor's  Prolific  went  through  with  but 
slight  injury,  and  promise  a  good  yield  of  berries.  Strawberries 
properly  mulched  came  out  of  winter  quarters  in  very  promising- 
condition  and  most  varieties  bloomed  profusely  and  set  a  very  fine 
crop  of  berries.  The  growth  of  foliage  seemed  rather  slow,  caused  as 
we  supposed  by  the  cool  backward  spring.  Up  to  about  the  middle  of 
May  I  thought  I  had  as  fine  a  prospect  for  a  full  crop  as  I  ever  had. 
About  that  time  my  Downing  and  Miner  showed  signs  of  disease. 
Foliage  ceased  to  grow  and  showed  a  rusty,  sickly  appearance,  the 
calyx  turning  to  a  brownish  purple  hue.  Reports  come  from  diif- 
erent  localities  around  Kansas  City,  that  the  Capt.  Jack  and  other 
varieties  are  more  or  less  affected  in  the  same  way.  I  have  had  an 
expert  botanist  to  examine  mine  and  submit  his  report.  The  crop 
will  be  about  three-fourths  in  this  vicinity.  The  healthiest  plants 
I  have  are  the  Phelps,  James  Vick,  Sharpless  and  Manchester.  I 
have  not  fruited  the  Yick  sufficiently  yet  to  form  an  opinion  but 
fear  the  berry  will  be  too  small ;  the  plant  is  all  that  can  be  desired. 
I  now  place  the  Manchester  at  head  of  the  list  of  all  the  new  va- 
rieties I  have  tested.  If  I  were  called  on  to  make  a  list  to  plant  and 
keep  in  hills  or  stools,  for  I  am  about  ready  to  confess  that  this  is  the 
best  way  to  raise  them,  I  would  say  (my  preference  being  in  the  order 
named),  Manchester,  Sharpless,  Phelps  and  Crescent.  I  fear  I 
shall  have  to  give  up  the  Downing.  It  seems  like  the  old  Wilson 
to  be  on  the  down  grade  and  will  soon  be  numbered  with  the  good 
old  berries  of  the  past. 

The  Crescent  is  undoubtedly  the  berry  for  the  farmer  ;  though 
inferior  in  quality  it  will  stand  more  neglect  than  any  other  berry. 


52  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

It  has  been  correctly  called  the  lazy  man's  berry.  I  have  a  neighbor 
who  raises  it  in  stools,  fertilizes  it  with  Bidwell.  Its  berries  are 
all  large.  It  is  very  productive  and  quite  profitable.  After  feasting 
on  a  dish  of  the  Manchester  for  dinner  I  pronounce  it  the  berry  for 
all  purposes.  It  possesses  nearly  all  the  requisite  points  of  the  ideal 
berry.  It  may  not  prove  firm  enough  for  shipping  long  distances, 
but  will  always  command  the  highest  price  for  a  near  or  home 
market.  W.  M.  HOPKINS. 

The  following  letter  was  received  : 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  June  10th,  1884. 
Me.  W.  M.  Hopkins  : 

Dear  Sir : — There  seems  to  be  a  variety  of  evils  that  afflict 
the  strawberry  plants  you  handed  me. 

1st.  The  roots  have  an  excess  of  woody  tissue  and  a  lack  of 
small  fibres. 

2nd.  The  foliage  seems  to  be  out  of  proportion  to  the  fruit- 
bearing  stems. 

3rd.  The  leaves  are  unhealthy,  which  comes  first  from  the 
poor  roots,  second  from  overwork,  third  and  most  important  from 
the  presence  of  a  fungus  which  clusters  around  the  base  of  many  of 
the  hairs  and  seems  to  occupy  a  large  proportion  of  the  surface,  so 
much  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  action  of  the  stomata  or  mouths, 
which  of  course  renders  respiration  incomplete  and  impoverishes 
the  sap. 

4th.  Premature  age  or  a  reverting  back  of  the  variety  seems 
very  probable. 

Without  knowing  the  condition  of  the  other  plants  in  the 
neighborhood,  it  would  seem  that  the  trouble  arises  fi-om  first 
advanced  age  of  the  plant,  which  accounts  for  the  condition  of  the 
roots  and  partly  for  the  condition  of  foliage. '  Second,  overwork, 
one  plant  having  24  berries  large  and  small  on  it  which  would 
weaken  the  vigor  of  anything  with  sexual  organs. 

You  know  best  if  the  ground  is  properly  enriched  for  this 
drain.  With  an  enlargement  of  50  diameters  the  fungus  looks  very 
much  like  the  one  that  destroyed  so  many  house  flies  last  year  in 
the  east.  You  can  frequently  see  them  on  the  posterior  part  of  the 
flies  and  its  great  use  is  to  kill  them  by  suffocation  by  sto^jping  the 
trachea  or  breathing  holes  in  their  body. 

If  you  will  bring  around  another  plant  I  will  try  a  magnifying 
power  of  500  diameters  on  the  fungus  and  see  if  I  can  locate  the 
species. 


Proceedings'  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  53 

The  berry  seemed  all  rights  if  uot  too  small  and  the  achenia 
were  in  good,  shape  for  green  fruit. 

Eespectfully  yours, 

L.  G.  SHEPAED. 

Holsinger  says  that  crescent  well  fertilized  jaroduced  twice  as 
many  berries  as  are  produced  by  any  other  variety  on  his  place. 

Thinks  Wilson  will  again  come  to  the  front.  It  is  the  best 
shipper  grown. 

Discards  Sharpless. 

Evans  thinl^s  that  no  two  persons'  experience  are  just  alike. 
One  variety  succeeds  best  with  one  and  another  with  another. 

Let  each  make  his  own  tests  and  hold  fast  that  which  he  finds 

best. 

Durkes  says  soils  should  alwaj^s  be  reported  upon  when  giving 
one's  experience,  else  the  experience  is  misleading. 

Gano  says  that  the  best  success  about  Kansas  City  was  had  by 
W.  M.  Hopkins  and  he  fertilized  his  berry  patches  with  dried 
blood  from  the  packing  houses. 

Tracy  says  send  diseased  plants  to  Parker  Earl  at  Cobdeu. 

For  three  years  the  Jersey  Queen  have  failed  with  him  while  a 
neighbor  has  had  wonderful  success.  ISTow  that  is  the  one  for  his 
neighbor  to  plant  but  not  for  him. 

Holsinger  has  used  the  dried  blood  and  where  Capt.  Jack  is 
used  as  a  fertilizer  he  has  no  rust. 

.No   rust   on   Chas.    Downing  on    high   location,  bluffs  about 
Kansas  City. 

Report  of  the  committee  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
secretary  was  adopted  as  follows  : 

REPORT    OF   COMMITTEE. 

Your  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  recommendation  of 
the  secretary  report  as  follows  : 

"VVe  recommend  that  the  distribution  of  the  Gano  apple  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  and  that  he  be  directed  to 
make  the  distribution  so  far  as  possible  through  the  officers  of  the 
local  horticultural  societies. 

We  also  recommend  that  the  executive  committee  be  directed 
to  proceed  at  once  to  organize  a  committee  for  making  an  exhibit  of 
fruits  at  New  Orleans  next  winter  and  that  they  be  fully  em- 
powered to  make  any  arrangements  which  they  may  deem  necessary 
for  this  exhibit.  J.  C.  Evans, 

W.  G.  Gano,    ,  f^         •4.4. 
F.  F.  Fine,      (^Committee. 

S.  M.  Tracy,  ^ 


54  Missou7'i  State  Horticultural,  Society. 

Upon  motion  the  society  voted  to  increase  the. salary  of  the 
secretary  to  five  hundred  dollars  per  year.  The  work  of  the 
secretary  is  continually  growing  and  he  is  compelled  to  give  uj) 
most  of  his  time   to  the  work   now,  and  every  year  will  find  more 

and  more  to  be  done. 

Rej^ort  of  the  committee  on  the  fruits  on  the  table  present 
their  report. 


EEPOET  OF  COMMITTEE  OJs  FRUIT. 

The  undersigned  committee  would  respectfully  submit  the 
following  awards  or  premiums  on  strawberries  : 

Best  collection,  ten  varieties,  15.00  ;  W.  C.  Freeman. 

Best  four  varieties  market,  $2.00  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by 
J.  C.  Dickinson. 

Best  four  varieties  table,  $2.00  ;  Jasper  County  Society. 

Box  largest,  11.00  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  W.  M.Hopkins. 
Kansas  Ciij. 

Box  shipped  100  miles,  $1.00  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  W. 
M.  Hopkins. 

Box  any  variety,  $1.00  ;  W.  C.  Freeman. 

Box  Capt.  Jack,  50  cents  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  L.  A. 
Goo'dman. 

Box  Crescent,  50  cents  ;  J.  E.  Alexander. 

Box  Cumberland,  50  cents  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  J.  C. 
Dickinson. 

Box  New  variety,  $1.00  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  "W. 
M.  Hopkins. 

Box  Windsor  Chief,  50  cents  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by 
J.  C.  Dickinson. 

Box  Chas.  Downing,  50  cents  ;  J.  E.  Alexander. 

Box  Wilson,  50  cents :  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  J.  C.  Dick- 
inson. 

Also,  the  following  awards  on  cherries  : 

Box  E.  Richmond,  50  cents  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  W. 
M.  Hopkins. 

Box  any  variety,  $1.00  ;  Missouri  Valley  Society,  by  L.  A. 
Goodman. 

In  making  the  foregoing  awards  we  beg  to  say  that  it  appeared 
almost  invidious  to  decide  between  entries  so   nearly   equal   and 


Proceedings  at  Semi- Annual  Meeting.  55 

worthy  in  all  respects ;  and  we  feel  it  due  to  parties  who  have  failed 
to  receive  premiums,  to  say  to  them  that  in  all  the  exhibitions  of 
strawberries  which  we  have  ever  seen,  the  entries  here  presented  are 
uniformly  the  best.  In  fact,  we  think  all  the  entries  creditable,  fully 
confirming  us  in  the  generally  received  idea  that  the  strawberry  is 
the  most  progressive,  and  therefore  susceptible  of  greater  improve- 
ment than  any  of  the  small  fruits. 

This  brief  report  would  be  very  incomplete  and  misleading,  if 
it  failed  to  mention  many  things  in  connection  with  the  department 
to  which  it  pertains,  relating  to  articles  placed  on  exhibition  for 
which  no  premiums  were  offered. 

Among  these,  we  would  especially  mention  a  collection  of  wild 
fruits,  specimen  rocks  and  three  different  varieties  of  soil,  presented 
by  Hon.  H.  P.  Stone,  late  of  Carthage,  Mo.,  but  noAV  a  resident 
of  Arkansas.  But  want  of  time  and  descriptive  power,  will  cause 
this  meager  report  to  fall  far  short  of  adequately  making  the  im- 
pression on  the  public  mind  which  would  convey  a  just  conception 
of  the  fruits  displayed.  And  only  those  persons  who  gave  the 
collection  a  jiersonal  inspection  can  have  a  full  realization  of  the 
marvelous  improvement  whicb  is  rapidly  going  on  in  relation  to 
this  qaeen  of  all  small  fruits,  the  strawberry. 

Of  apples  there  were  placed  on  exlijbition  sixteen  varieties — 
all  very  fine  in  appearance  and  well  kept.  Also,  specimens  of  an 
apple  from  Arkansas,  by  Kennan  ;  as  well  as  specimens  by  Mr. 
Henry  Scholton,  of  Greene  county,  Mo. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

M.  J.  ROUNDTREE,  Chairman, 
J.   C.  EVAXS, 
A.  AMBROSE. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  0^"  FLOWERS. 

Mr.  Kirchgraber,  of  Springfield,  had  on  exhibition  a  very  fine 
collection  of  greenhouse  plants,  including  some  unusually  fine  ferns 
and  coleus,  highly  colored  dracenas,  some  well-grown  begonias  and 
geraniums,  together  with  other  plants,  all  in  good  condition  and 
evidencing  careful  culture.  No  premium  is  offered  for  this 
exhibit,  but  we  recommend  for  it  a  special  premium  of  15.00. 
Given,  $5.00. 

Mr.  D.  S.  Holman,  of  Springfield,  exhibits  a  very  fine  col- 
lection of   roses  ;   Miss  McClure  shows  a  large  cactus,  very  full  of 


56  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

bloom  ;  Mr.  Quin  shows  fine  geraniums  ;  Mrs.  Demuth  a  dish  of 
flowers  ;  Mrs.  D.  S.  Holman  very  handsome  j)ansies,  which  deserve 
special  mention. 

Your  Committee  on  Flowers  reports  the  following  list  of 
premiums  awarded  : 

Best  pair  hand  bouquets,  Emma  Kirchgraber. 

Best  basket  flowers,  Mrs.  J.  Kirchgraber. 

Best  wreath,  Mrs.  W.  Burden. 

Best  bouquet  wild  flowers,  Mrs.  Z.  S.  Kagan. 

Best  bouquet  roses,  J.  Kirchgraber.     Signed  by  Committee. 

The  following  letters  were  read  : 

KiRKWooD,  Mo.,  June  lOth,  1884. 
L.  A.  CooDMAisr,  Sec'y. 

Your  circular  and  letter  came  in  due  course  of  mail,  and  con- 
tents noted.  Have  been  too  much  engaged  to  furnish  paper  on 
ornamental  planting,  for  the  summer  meeting  of  State  Horticultural 
Society ;  but  intend,  life  and  health  being  spared  me,  to  furnish  a 
paper  for  the  annual  meeting.  Do  not  know  whether  I  shall  be 
able  to  attend  in  person,  but  will  if  I  can.  Hope  you  will  have  a 
good  attendance  and  be  able  to  accomplish  some  good. 

I  will  direct  this  to  the  care  of  F.  F.  Fine,  to  whom,  with  the 
other  friends,  please  give  my  regards. 

Very  Respectfully, 

CHAS.  W.  MURTFELDT. 

Columbia,  Mo.,  June  7th,  1884. 

L.  A.  Goodman,  Sec'y  Mo.  State  Horticultural  Society,  Westport, 
Mo. 

Dear  Sir  :  I  find  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  make  a  report 
at  the  meeting  to  be  held  in  Springfield,  June  10th,  but  will  have 
a  report  prepared  for  the  regular  winter  meeting. 

Yours  Respectfully, 

B.  T.  GALLOWAY. 

Detroit,  Mich.,  Juiie  3rd,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman,  Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir :  Your  favor  of  the  3Gth,  forwarded  to  me  here, 
is  Just  at  hand.  I  should  be  glad  to  attend  the  meeting  of  your 
State  Society  at  Springfield,  but  my  many  engagements  will  render 
it  impossible  But  I  hope  your  society  will  take  definite  action  to- 
ward the  making  of  a  society  exhibit  in  the  Horticultural  Depart- 
ment of   the    World's   Exposition,    at   New  Orleans,  next  winter. 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annual  Meeting.  57 

There  is  no  state  that  can  make  a  finer  show  than  Missouri  ;  there 
is  no  society  in  the  country  from  which  we  shall  all  expect  more. 
Your  good  keejjing  late  summer  and  fall  apples,  pears  and  grapes 
•can  all  be  kept,  I  think,  until  January,  at  which  time  the  premiums 
will  be  awarded.  We  shall  not  insist  upon  the  exhibition  of  the 
varieties  being  kept  continuous.  Enough  should  be  sent  so  that 
two  or  three  renewals  ca^i  be  made  of  each  sort.  But  all  our  rules 
will  be  interpreted  in  the  interests  of  exhibitors,  so  far  as  possible, 
and  consistent  with  the  purpose  of  maintaining  a  grand  exhibition 
for  a  long  term.  AVe  shall  have  the  finest  show,  and  the  greatest 
horticultural  occasion  ever  known  in  the  world,  and  we  want  the 
fruit  and  plant  men  of  Missouri  to  participate  in  it  liberally. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

Parker   Earle. 

BusHBURG,  Jefferson^  Co.,  Mo.,  June  9,  1884. 
L,  A.  GooDMAX,  Esq.,  Sec'y.  Mo.  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Dear  Sir  : — Your  card  received  a  few  days  ago,  together  with 
your  very  interesting  report  for  the  year  1883,  for  which  please 
accept  my  thanks — ^was  the  first  information  which  I  had  of  my 
appointment  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  vineyards. 

The  time  intervening  before  the  date  of  your  meeting  was  too 
short  however  to  enable  me  to  do  anything  to  merit  the  honor  which 
your  Society  conferred  upon  me  by  such  appointment ;  or  even  to 
enable  me  to  place  myself  in  correspondence  witli  my  fellow  mem- 
bers of  said  committee,  and  under  these  circumstances  I  hope  your 
Society  will  kindly  excuse  my  short-comings  if  consequently  I  am 
unable  to  send  or  bring  the  report  on  vineyards,  which  you  had 
expected  from  me. 

I  must  also  express  to  you  my  sincere  regret  that  I  am  not  able 
to  be  with  you  at  your  meeting  to-morrow,  but  hope  you  will  have 
•a  well  attended  and  good  meeting. 

Regarding  the  state  of  our  vineyards  here,  I  would  say  that 
the  past  winter  has  been  a  very  trying  one,  especially  on  some  of 
the  new  varieties.  The  thermometer  at  one  time  in  January  went 
down  as  low  as  30  degrees  below  zero  ;  though  probably  it  was  not 
quite  so  low  as  this  in  the  higher  locations  of  our  vineyards. 

The  following  kinds  came  out  of  the  trial  unhurt,  or  damaged 
so  slightly  only  that  it  was  almost  inapjireciable  :  Champion,  Clin- 
ton, C!oncord,  Cottage,  Ellison,  Hartford,  Lady,  Martha,  Venango, 
Bacchus,  Brant,  Cambridge,  Canada,  Challenge,  Conqueror, 
Moores  Early,  Mason  Seedling,  Montefiore,  Pocklington,  Early 
Victor,  Neosho,  Northern  Muscadine,  Worden  Seedling. 


58  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  following  were  affected  slightly  biit  not  enough  to  do  any 
very  material  damage  :  Oynthiana,  IS  ortons.  Amber,  Etta,  Missouri 
Eiesling,  Noah,  Brighton. 

The  following  were  more  seriously  injured  by  the  cold,  and  lost 
about  50  per  cent,  on  an  average,  of  their  fruit  buds  :  Catawba, 
Diana,  Emmeian,  Herbert,  Isabella,  Lindley,  Goethe,  Wilder, 
Alvey,  Black  Defiance,  Beauty,  Jefferson,  Prentice. 

The  following  kinds  finally  were  either  frozen  down  completely 
or  had  all  their  principal  or  fruit  buds  injured  so  much  as  to  be 
almost  devoid  of  a  crop  :  Agawaii,  Black  Eagle,  Duchess,  Merri- 
mac,  Salem,  Croton,  Israella,  Othello. 

Hervemont,  Cunningham,  Kulander,  Louisiana,  Lenoir  and 
Triumph,  which  we  had  covered  with  earth  in  the  fall  came  out 
very  fine  and  uninjured  in  the  s|)ring. 

A  severe  hail  storm  which  we  had  last  month,  has  done 
much  injury  to  some  of  our  vines.  Li  our  young  vineyard  it  de- 
stroyed nearly  the  entire  crop. 

Altogether  the  spring  has  been  Very  backward,  and  our  vines 
have  been  fully  ten  days  to  two  weeks  later  to  come  into   bloom^ 
than  in    normal  season,    the   Aestivalis  varieties  not   being  in  full 
bloom  yet,  and  taken  all  through,  it  is  yet  too  early  to  form  any  cor- 
rect opinion  as  to  crop  estimates. 

In  our  grape  nurseries,  tliough  the  work  has  been  much  delayed 
by  the  excessive  wet  weather  in  April,  the  prospects  are  very  satis- 
factory ;  our  cuttings  had  all  been  secured  before  the  extreme  cold 
weather,  and  taken  all  through  our  stand  of  young  plants  from 
cuttings  is  a  very  good  one. 

Please  excuse  me  for  not  sending  you  the  report  requested  or 
expected  from  me.  With  my  best  wishes  for  your  meeting,  I  re- 
main. Very  Kespectfully  Yours, 

G.  e".  MEISSNEK. 

The  following  letter  was  receivedj.  from  Geo.  Hussman,  A'ine- 
yards,  Napa,  California,  Dec.  12,  1882. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  3Iissonri  State  Horticultural 

Society : 

As  you  have  honored  me  by  making  me  a  life  member  of  your 
association,  I  cannot  let  your  annual  meeting  go  by  without  send- 
ing you  friendly  greetings,  to  rejoice  Avitli  you  over  the  last  un- 
usually favorable  season  for  the  fruit  growers  in  Missouri,  which  I 
hope  has  strengthened  and  encouraged  all  who  follow  it ;  and  with 
a  short  report  of  our  fruit  and  wine  crop  here.  The  last  season 
has  been  a  very  unusual  one  in  California,  even  within  tlie  memorv 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Aiinual  Meeting.  59 

of  that  venerable  iudividual,  the  "oldest  inhabitant."  The  last 
winter  was  considered  unnsually  cold,  tliough  to  me,  used  to  our 
Missouri  winters,  it  seemed  odd  to  hear  people  complain  about  cold, 
Avhen  geraniums  and  roses  were  blooming  out  doors,  and  the  heav- 
iest ice  we  could  boast  of  was  hardly  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick. 
Spring  and  summer  were  also  unusually  cold  and  backward,  and  we 
had  quite  a  heavy  frost  in  the  low  lands  of  8onoma  and  Napa, 
seriously  damaging  the  crop  in  many  vineyards.  The  vineyards 
under  my  charge  were  fortunate  enough  to  escape,  and  all  those 
vineyards  which 'did  not  sutfer  from  it,  yielded  a  very  heavy  croj^. 
The  moral  to  be  drawn  from  this  is,  that  no  one  should  locate  his 
vineyards  or  orchard  in  locations  subject  to  such  frosts,  late  in 
spring  or  early  in  fall. 

Fruits  in  general  yielded  an  abundant  crop,  and  sold  at  rather 
low  figures,'  except  those  handled  with  the  most  care  and  of  the 
best  quality,  which  paid  their  shippers  very  well.  As  soon  as  all 
shippers  learn  to  send  only  the  best,  handle  the  most  carefully,  and 
abandon  the  evil  of  the  returned  package,  using  new  boxes,  and 
these  but  once,  they  can  not  help  but  make  mouQy,  with  the  easy 
and  sure  production  here.  Insect  pests  are  on  the  increase,  especially 
codling  moth,  and  the  different  scales,  red  spider  and  wooly  aphis, 
and  only  those  who  keep  their  orchards  clean  in  future,  can  be 
certain  of  fine  and  perfect  fruit.  The  curculio  has  not  as  yet  made 
his  appearance  here,  and  the  different  stone  fruits,  plums,  nectar- 
ines, almonds,  apricots  and  peaches,  are  wonderful  indeed,  in  quan- 
tity, quality  and  size.  We  have  the  most  remarkable  quince  in  the 
orchard  here  I  ever  saw.  I  measured  one  specimen,  twenty-four 
inches  in  circumference,  nine  inches  in  diameter  at  the  broadest 
point,  a  very  heavy  bearer,  apple  shaped,  smooth,  golden  yellow, 
rather  early,  good  flavor,  and  cooks  very  tender.  I  send  you  a  few 
cuttings  for  distribution  and  trial,  also  a  few  of  the  buds  of  the 
native  walnut,  just  from  the  tree.  The  kernel  is  larger  than  that 
of  our  Missouri  black  walnut,  not  so  strong  in  taste,  and  the  tree 
one  of  the  finest  shade  trees  I  ever  saw,  with  long  wavy  leaves,  and 
a  very  rapid  grower.  If  it  will  flourish  in  Missouri  it  will  be  a 
valuable  acquisition. 

The  vintage  was  later  than  last  year.  We  could  not  commence 
before  the  last  week  in  September,  and  did  not  finish  all  before  the 
first  of  this  month,  with  an  intermission  of  a  week,  however, 
between  first  and  second  crop  ;  for  our  vines  are  not  content  with 
producing  abundantly  the  first  time,  but  set  another  crop  of  small 
bunches    on  the  laterals,   which    ripen  late,  but   yet  make    a  fair 


.60  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

wine.  With  the  grape  harvest  came  heavy  rains,  doing  a  good  deal 
of  damage  to  those  vineyards  where  the  vines  had  been  trained  too 
low,  and  the  fruit  rested  in  masses  on  the  ground.  It  also  seriously 
interfered  with  raisin  making,  and  many  of  the  raisin  manu- 
facturers were  compelled  to  sell  to  the  wine  makers.  It  made  the 
picking  of  the  grapes  a  much  slower  process  than  usual,  as  the 
mouldy  berries  had  to  be  picked  out.  We  suffered  no  loss,  except 
in  the  longer  time  consumed  ;  and  the  young  wines,  though  not  so 
heavy  as  last  year,  have  had  a  splendid  fermentation,  are  already 
fit  for  the  wine  dealer,  and  are  very  pleasant  and  agreeable.  Our 
crop  was  37,000  gallons  from  about  50  acres,  against  :^0,000-  last 
year  ;  besides,  we  had  about  eight  acres  less  in  bearing,  this  year, 
which  were  destroyed  by  Phylloxera.  The  causes  of  the  double 
crop  I  think,  are  reasonable  pruning  and  training,  thorough,  con- 
tinuous cultivating,  and  the  free  use  of  fertilizers.  So  you  see  I 
have  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  my  first  season's  experience, 
especially  as  last  year's  croj)  of  wine,  made  by  me,  sold  at  the 
highest  price  obtained  by  anyone,  a  few  months  after  it  was  made. 
Prices  for  grapes  for  wine  purposes  were  rather  higher  than 
last  year,  being  $25  per  ton  for  Mission,  S32  to  135  for  Tinfandel, 
Reissling,  Chasselas,  and  other  fine  varieties.  Several  entire  cellar 
lots,  one  of  225,000  gallons,  have  already  been  sold  at  about  the  same 
prices  as  last  year. 

The  entire  production  of  Napa  county  is  2,643,800  gallons, 
against  2,016,000  gallons  last  year.  And  every  gallon  of  sound 
wine  finds  a  ready  buyer,  within  six  months  of  the  time  it  is  made, 
at  an  average  jDrice  to  the  dealer  of  25  to  30  cents. 

We  have  had  tlie  loveliest  weather  for  the  last  two  weeks  I  ever 
saw,  but  have  a  hard  battle  to  fight  with  the  weeds,  which  have 
been  started  into  luxuriant  growth  by  the  unusually  abundant  and 
early  rains.  We  are  very  busy  plowing  and  pruning  vineyards,  at 
least  two  months  ahead  of  the  usual  time.  Our  hills  are  covered 
Avith  green,  and  will  soon  be  one  vast  flower  garden,  the  loveliness 
of  which  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated  and  believed,  for  it 
beggars  all  description. 

I  send  you,  at  the  request  of  your  secretary,  a  few  samples  of 
last  year's  wine,  Tinfandel  and  German  Muscatel,  also  a  few  speci- 
mens of  ap]3les,  not  because  they  are  extra  fine,  but  because  they 
were  taken  from  the  orchard  to-day,  hanging  on  the  trees,  and  are 
fair  specimens  of  over  a  hundred  bushels,  yet  out  in  the  orchard* 
An  establishment  to  make  cider  and  vinegar  out  of  all  this  wasted 
fruit,  would  do  a  splendid  business   here,    as  good  cider  is  more 


Proceedings  at  Semi-Annnal  Jleetinc/.  61 

scarce,  and  sells  higher  than  wine,  and  good  vinegar  retails  at  40 

cents  per  gallon. 

Wishing   you  a  profitable  and  pleasant  meeting,  and   all  the 

success  you  may  desire,  I  remain 

Yours  fraternally, 

GEORGE  HUSMANN. 

After  a  kind  invitation  by  Maj.  Roundtree,  for  the  members  of 
the  State  Society  to  attend  a  strawberry  and  ice  cream  festival,  and 
a  response  by  the  President  to  the  invitation,  thanking  them  for 
their  kindness  and  their  many  favors,  the  society  adjourned. 

By  motion  of  W.  G,  Gano,  the  subject  of  the  blossom  blight 
on  the  apple  tree  was  taken  up.  Thinks  the  cause  of  all  the  fruit 
dropping  due  to  heavy  rains  at  blooming  time. 

Goodmanthinksthat  the  beginning  of  this  was  the  dry  weather 
of  last  fall  and  then  followed  the  cold  of  last  winter,  and  then  the 
cold  rains  of  last  spring,  and  that  all  combined  has  caused  the 
trouble.     The  winesaps  are  troubled  worst,  in  fact  very  badly. 

Ragan  sustains  Goodman  in  his  position  and  believes  the  trouble 
runs  back  to  last  summer. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  society  are  due  to  the  Kansas 
City,  Springfield  &  Memphis,  Missouri  Pacific,  Wabash,  and  Saint 
Louis  &  San  Francisco  Railroads  for  reduced  rates  over  their  lines  to 
members  and  friends  attending  the  summer  meeting  at  Springfield, 
on  the  10th  and  11th  of  June,  1884. 

Resolved,  Further  that  we  return  many  thanks  to  the  press,  for 
favorable  notice  in  the  several  papers. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  society  are  due  to  the  citi- 
zens of  the  city  of  Springfield,  for  their  generous  hospitality 
extended  to  the  members,  and  also  to  the  ladies  and  florists  for  the 
finely  decorated  hall  and  display  of  plants  and  beautiful  flowers. 
Also,  to  the  members  of  the  Greene  County  Horticultural  Society, 
for  their  unceasing  efforts  to  make  the  meeting  a  pleasant  one. 

The  pleasant  entertainment  of  the  evening,  the  social  time 
spent  together,  the  many  pleasant  words  spoken,  the  hearty  co-op- 
eration of  the  friends,  causes  us  to  remember  this  as  the  best 
meeting  held  for  years.  L.  A.  GOODMAN, 

Secretary. 


MEETING 

OF   THE 


IISSISSlPPimLEIHiTIClILIUEiLSOGim 


January  22-25,  1884. 


KOTES    BY   THE   SECKETAKT   OF    THE     MISSOUEI     STATE     HORTICUL- 

TUEAL    SOCIETY. 

Upon  invitation  of  the  president,  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society,  given  last  February  at 
New  Orleans,  the  Mississipj^i  Valley  Horticultural  Society  decided 
to  hold  its  fifth  annual  meeting  at  Kansas  City,  January  22nd,  25th, 
1884.      ■ 

Agreeable  to  this,  the  Missouri  State  Society  procured  a  hall, 
ornamented  it  with  a  fine  display  of  fruits  and  flowers  ready  for 
the  meeting. 

The  meeting  was  without  doubt  the  best  horticultural  meeting 
for  work  and  discussion  ever  held  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Delegates  were  here  from  eighteen  states  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  forty.  Among  these  were  some  of  the  most  promi- 
nent horticulturists  in  the  west  and  they  were  all  prej)ared  to  give 
us  something  of  interest  to  horticulture. 

The  officers  of  the  societv  are :  President,  Parker  Earle, 
Cobden,  Illinois;  vice-president,  E.  M.  Hudson,  New  Orleans, 
Louisiana ;  secretary,  W,  H.  Ragan,  LaFayette,  Indiana  ;  treasurer, 
J.  C.  Evans,  Harlem,  Missouri. 

For  four  davs  and  nights  the  meeting  was  one  continued 
success  ;  the  interest  never  flagged  until  the  close  and  the  members 
were  loath  to  part  and  leave  the  work  of  the  day. 

Some  of  the  most  important  subjects  of  the  day  were  presented 
and  some  extracts  will  be  given  in  the  following  pages,  also  some 
of  the  discussions  which  will  be  of  interest  to  us  in  Missouri. 
Parts  of  the  president's  address  are  of  immense  value  to  us  and 
they  are  also  given  for  our  benefit. 


Notes  hy  the  Secretary.  63 

Every  one  in  attendance  went  home  with  the  intention  of 
doing  more  and  better  work  in  the  futuVe. 

The  officers  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society  are 
happy  to  report  that  under  their  invitation  and  management  the 
most  interesting  and  most  valuable  meeting  of  horticulturists  ever 
convened  in  the  west  was  held.  We  have  the  words  of  the  officers 
of  that  association  that  they  were  more  than  delighted  with  the 
success  of  the  meeting. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Secy. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PRESIDENT  EARLE'S  ADDRESS. 

Ladies  ami  Gentlemen — Members  of  the  Mississippi    Valley  Horti- 
cultural Society  : 

I  am  most  happy  to  greet  you  at  this  fifth  annual  meeting  of 
our  society.  Four  times  before  this  have  we  convened  in  the  four 
greatest  cities  of  this  great  valley — in  St.  Louis,  in  Cincinnati',  in 
Chicago  and  in  New  Orleans.  And  now  we  salute  each  other  on 
the  banks  of  the  noble  Missouri,  where  but  a  generation  since  was 
the  border  land  of  civilization  ;  where  now  stands  this  most  won- 
derful young  city  of  the  world. 

Last  winter  we  were  received '  with  enthusiastic  hospitality  on 
the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  commercial  metropolis  of 
the  South,  and  held  a  memorable  meeting  in  that  quaint  and 
beautiful  city.  To-day  we  assemble  a  thousand  miles  distant  from 
that  city  of  orange  orchards  and  winter  gardens,  and  yet  a  thousand 
miles  this  side  the  limit  of  our  society's  territory,  to  meet  this 
heartiest  of  welcomes  from  the  citizens  and  horticulturists  of 
the  robust  and  energetic  metropolis  of  the  plains. 

BUSINESS  OF  HORTICULTUEE. 

The  business  of  horticulture,  aside  from  the  refining,  educa- 
tional influences  of  it,  produces  annual  values  within  this 
Mississijjpi  valley  amounting  to  perhaps,  a  ^100,000,000.  The 
commercial  importance  of  fruit  growing  and  gardening,  and  the 
other  horticultural  industries,  has  generally  been  much  under- 
estimated. Li  a  certain  county  of  Illinois  the  wheat  crop,  which 
was  the  important  staple,  failed  the  past  season.  To  help  meet 
expenses  the  farmers  gave  especial  attention  to  drying  their  surplus 
fruits.  The  result  was,  as  shown  from  the  books  of  the  merchants 
and  bankers  of  the  county,  that  the  total  income  from  dried  apples 


64  Missouri  State  Horticnltiirat  Society. 

was  greater  than  the  ordinary  proceeds  of  tlie  wheat  crop.  The 
statement  was  received  with  astonishment,  for  this  is  not  a  connty 
where  orcharding  had  received  much  attention  ;  but  the  fact  is  an 
interesting  iUustration  of  the  wealth  of  our  horticultural  resources, 
which  are  often  very  poorly  utilized.  There  are  many  districts 
where  the  money  received  from  the  orchards  and  gardens  exceeds 
the  profits  from  all  other  branches  of  agriculture. 

The  business  aspects  of  horticulture  are  worthy  of  very  serious 
attention,  and  the  societies  and  the  newspapers,  which  work  to 
promote  these  really  immense  and  rapidly  exj^anding  interests, 
should  receive  all  necessary  recognition  and  support.  It  is  a  lead- 
ing purpose  of  this  society  to  introduce  better  methods  in  this 
business  in  various  directions.  We  want  better  management  in 
field  and  orchard  ;  better  and  more  certain  crops  ;  better  facilities 
for  transportation ;  wider  markets.  And  w^e  want  to  promote  a 
greater  sympathy  and  spirit  of  co-oj)eration  between  all  the  various 
sections  competing  in  these  enterprises,  and  between  tlie  different 
agencies  necessary  to  make  this  business  a  commercial  and  financial 
success.  We  who  grow  fruit  should  cheerfully  recognize  the  fact 
that  there  are  other  men  who  are  as  essential  factors  to  the  suc- 
cessful issue  of  our  business  as  the  producers  themselves.  Can  the 
grower  of  peaches  or  strawberries  in  Mississipjii  or  Michigan,  in 
California  or  Delaware,  make  it  a  profitable  enterprise  without  the 
facilities  furnished  by  railroad  companies,  and  without  the  indis- 
pensable agency  of  the  fruit  merchant  or  commission  dealer  ?  You 
will  all  agree  with  me  that  without  these  three  factors  of  production, 
transportation  and  sale,  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  commercial 
fruit  growing  as  we  understand  it. 

TRANSPOETATION. 

As  most  of  our  fruits  now  go  to  market  in  railway  cars,  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  great  consequence  what  kind  of  cars  we  have 
to  use.  The  amount  of  horticultural  freight  has  now  become  so 
large  that  railway  companies  should  be  induced  to  build  cars 
specially  adapted  to  carry  this  valuable  produce  in  the  best  manner. 
I  know  that  certain  companies  have  shown  a  willingness  to  do  this. 
But  the  question  of  what  constitutes  a  good,  or  the  best  fruit  car, 
has  never  been  settled.  If  we  could  do  something  as  a  societv  to 
determine  this  question  it  would  be  a  help  to  growers  in  making 
their  claims  upon  railroad  companies  for  better  cars.  Fruits  of  a 
delicate  and  perishable  character  are  shiiDped  yearly  in  great 
quantity  and  with  entire  success  from  California  across  the  conti- 
nent.     It   will  be  Avell  for   us  to  inquire  into   the  precise  means 


Notes  hy  the  Secretary.  65 

which  have  made  this  possible.  The  tides  of  our  fruit  commerce 
in  this  valley  flow  north warth  and  southward  rather  than  along 
lines  of  latitude  ;  and  our  markets  should  in  many  cases,  and  for 
large  quantities,  be  found  a  thousand  miles  or  more  away  from  the 
place  of  production.  As  this  transportation  along  north  and  south 
lines  involves  rapid  changes  of  climate,  it  becomes  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  appliances  for  this  traffic  should  be  of  the  best 
possible  character.  That  rapid  transit  should  be  afforded  by  the 
important  through  lines,  and  that  beyond  and  outside  of  the 
facilities  offered  on  passenger  trains,  would  seem  essential  to  the 
profitable  expansion  of  this  business  to  meet  the  growing  demands 
of  our  markets. 

But  when  we  have  arranged  all  these  matters  of  markets  and 
packages,  of  handling  and  transportation  in  a  satisfactory  way 
according  to  the  best  business  principles,  shall  we  not  soon  find 
ourselves  lacking  in  the  quality  of  the  products  we  have  to  offer  to 
the  consumers  ?  I  fear  that  our  most  serious  difficulty  as  fruit 
growers  will  be  foi^nd  right  here.  We  have,  perhaps,  plenty  of 
varieties,  and  those  that  are  good  enough  for  our  markets,  when  we 
can  get  them  ;  but  the  difficulty  of  securing  good  and  regular 
crops  becomes  more  and  more  apparent  as  time  goes  on.  In  the 
process  of  horticultural  development,  our  accomplishments  in  the 
production  of  the  utmost  variety  of  fruits,  with  size  and  form  and 
color  and  flavor  to  please  every  eye  and  every  taste  at  all  seasons, 
has  far  outstripped  our  ability  to  protect  them  from  the  vicissitudes 
of  extreme  climates,  and  from  the  insects  and  diseases  which 
attack  them  in  all  climates.  We  enter  here  a  domain  of  too  much 
ignorance. 

The  peach  grower  of  Michigan  knows  varieties  as  delicious  and 
tempting  as  the  apples  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  he  knows  how 
to  grow  them  and  market  them,  and  make  great  profit  thereby ; 
but  he  finds  himself  defeated  by  the  rapid  spread  of  an  obscure 
disease  that  has  attacked  his  costly  and  valuable  property.  He 
cannot,  with  his  present  knowledge,  combat  the  dreaded  "yellows,'^ 
except  by  the  destruction  of  the  property  itself.  The  man  has  no 
choice  but  surrender.  For  this  serious  trouble  we  must  wait  for 
scientific  research  to  give  us  a  remedy.  The  strawberry  grower  of 
Southern  Illinois,  having  overcome  all  the  common  enemies  to  his 
crop,  and  carried  it  forward  to  within  a  week  or  two  of  profitable 
harvest,  suddenly  finds  his  promising  acres  in  complete  possession  of 
myriads  of  a  destructive  little  insect  too  insignificant  to  have  at- 
tracted his  attention.     The  strawberry   grower  is  powerless  before 


66  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

these  trifling  bugs:  his  crop  is  taken  and  he  has  plenty  of  time  to 
consider  how  little  he  is  master  of  his  own  field.  The  pear  grower 
in  any  and  all  of  these  states  knows  varieties  for  all  tastes  and  sea- 
sons, and  as  fascinating  as  the  cheek  of  beauty;  and  golden  profits 
beckon  him  to  plant  and  prune  and  cultivate  and  wait,  until  with- 
in the  very  portals  of  siiccess,  he  sees  that  mysterious  and  irresisti- 
ble pestilence  we  call  "blight"  sweeping  like  a  demon  of  destroy- 
ing vengeance  through  the  beautiful  orchard,  and  the  pear  grower 
is  as  powerless  as  the  other  unfortunates  when  he  meets  his  enemy. 
But  the  world  is  hungry  for  peaches,  and  for  strawberries,  and 
for  pears,  and  we  must  grow  them,  and  we  shall  grow  them  to  meet 
this  want.     These  difficulties  must  be  surmounted  or  avoided. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

Most  pomologists  have  long  appreciated  the  extreme  ill  taste 
and  absurdity  of  so  many  of  our  fruit  names.  So  far  as  it  is 
practicable  without  creating  confusion,  our  nomenclature  should  be 
simplified.  Many  of  the  established  names  can  be  reduced  without 
any  loss  of  significance  ;  others  cannot.  But  in  all  future  naming 
we  should  rigidly  discountenance  complex,  meaningless,  or  vulgar 
designations.  Another  careless  feature  in  nomenclature  will  be 
fully  illustrated  by  my  calling  your  attention  to  two  of  our  most 
*23romising  new  strawberries.  The  Mrs.  Garfield  is  a  staminate 
plant,  while  the  Daniel  Boone  is  a  pistillate  plant.  What  a  happy 
improvement  it  would  be  if  the  names  of  these  and  all  other 
varieties  which  bear  the  names  of  persons  should  correctly  suggest 
the  sex  of  the  variety.  I  commend  to  your  attention  the  proj)o- 
sitions  for  reform  in  this  matter  which  were  so  ably  presented  by 
President  Wilder  in  his  late  address  to  the  American  Pomological 
society,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  submitted. 

THE    APPLE   AND    INSECTS. 

The  great  fruit  crop  of  this  country  and  of  the  world  is  the 
apple.  It  can  be  grown  almost  everywhere.  It  is  the  fruit  of  the 
j)alace  and  of  the  cottage.  Everybody  wants  apples.  A  general 
destruction  of  apples  would  be  a  workVs  misfortune.  And  yet  a 
single  enemy  destroys  annually  three-fourths  or  more  of  the  apples 
produced.  These  millions  of  bushels  of  blessed  God-given  apples, 
which  should  make  millions  of  children  happy  and  healthy  ;  which 
should  load  every  table  on  the  continent  with  beautiful  fragrant 
food  ;  this  fruit  of  paradise  ;  this  fruit  of  all  civilized  jieoples,  is 
given  over  to  the  riot  and  destruction  of  loathsome  worms  !  But 
here  is  an  evil  that  we  understand.     Here  is  an  enemy  whose  ways 


Notes  hij  the  Secretary.  67 

are  known.  AVe  know  how  to  destroy  the  apple  moth  ;  but  most  of 
us  neglect  to  do  it.  Here  is  occasion  for  the  most  zealous  mis- 
sionar}'  work  of  horticultural  societies.  We  have  first  to  convert 
our  own  members,  and  then  to  save  the  rest  of  the  apple  growers. 
With  the  means  for  the  almost  total  extirpation  of  this  evil  within 
reach  of  every  orchardist,  I  do  hope  that  the  wasteful  and  sinful 
neglect  which  has  characterized  our  apple  management  will  not 
long  continue. 

I  alluded  to  that  disease  of  peach  trees  which  baffles  the  peach 
grower  wherever  it  prevails.  Luckily  it  does  not  afflict  all  sections 
of  our  country  ;  and  there  are  large  districts  of  peach  growing  ter- 
ritory where  nothing  hinders  the  growing  of  good  peach  crops  ex- 
cept that  supreme  laziness  of  men  which  permits  the  almost  uni- 
versal destruction  of  these  crops  by  that  omnipresent  foe,  the  alert 
and  versatile  curculio.  There  is  a  district  in  this  valley  as  large  as 
the  German  empire,  where  the  climate  and  soil  are  congenial  to 
peach  trees,  where  no  ^'yellows"  ever  invade,  where  crops 
could  be  had  half  of  the  year,  where  these  crops  would  bring 
greater  profits  than  any  other  line  of  horticultural  production, 
and  yet  the  peach  orchards  of  this  region  are  declining  in  amount 
year  by  year,  for  the  simple  and  only  reason  that  their  owners  don't 
like  to  catch  "bugs."'  Peaches  are  worth  ^4  or  15  a  busliel  in  the 
market,  and  careful  accounts  of  the  labor  of  thorough  curculio 
protection  show  that  it  costs  but  about  seven  cents  a  bushel  for  the 
crop  saved  and  marketed  ;  and  yet  the  majority  of  our  peach  orch- 
ard owners  fold  their  arms  in  dignity  and  say  that  if  they  "'can't 
grow  peaches  without  killing  bugs  they  won't  have  peaches'' — and 
they  don't.  True,  tliey  send  to  market  some  small  per  cent,  of  a 
cro]?  of  half  ripened,  gummy,  wormy,  rotting  peaches,  and  receive 
back  more  curses  than  dollars  therefor.  But  such  a  thing  as  a  full 
sized  crop  of  sound,  red  faced,  melting,  delicious,  wealth  bringing, 
beautiful  j^eaches,  these  men  have  never  beheld  ;  and  they  will  not 
until  somebody  can  persuade  them  of  a  fair  margin  of  profit  in  the 
transaction  of  bug  killing  on  the  basis  of  the  figures  I  have  given. 
It  is  a  painful  fact  that  peach  growing  throughout  most  of  this  fav- 
ored region  is  but  a  sad  mockery  of  a  noble  and  lucrative  avocation. 

The  apple  moth  and  the  curculio  are  the  two  most  destructive 
enemies  that  infest  the  orchard.  They  are  found  everywhere  in 
this  valley  where  fruit  trees  are  grown.  They  seem  to  have  been 
sent  us  from  Providence,  to  test  the  worthiness  of  man  to  have 
fruit.  They  are  both  perfectly,  or  sufficiently,  under  the  control 
of  good  orchard  management,  and  yet  they  are  allowed  to  lay  waste 


08  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  rich  inheritance  arouud  us,  and  to  threaten  the  extinction  of 
the  most  beautiful  products  of  the  land.  Xo thing  will  arouse  the 
majority  of  our  orchardists  from  their  slothful  attitude  to  these 
evils  but  the  brilliant  and  profitable  success  of  the  few  among  them 
who  can  see  this  question  in  its  proper  light,  and  who  have  the 
energy  to  combat  these  difficulties  single-handed  and  alone. 

There  are  no  more  destructive  agencies  in  the  orchard  than 
the  two  insects  I  have  alluded  to  ;  but  there  are  other  hindrances 
to  success  far  more  difficult  to  deal  with.  The  many  forms  of 
parasitic  fungi  which  attack  our  trees,  vines,  plants  and  fruits,  are 
the  .most  serious  of  these.  When  we  enter  the  wide  realm  of  the 
Ijlights,  the  rusts,  the  mildews,  and  the  rots,  we  are  in  a  strange 
and  obscure  world  whose  laws  and  causes  and  effects  we  few  of  us 
well  understand,  but  whose  varied  power  over  our  property  we  are 
made  painfully  aware  of.  That  stealthy  fungus  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Burrill,  in  our  last  volume,  under  the  title  of  "An  Orchard 
Scourge,"  is  quietly  establishing  itself  in  the  orchards  over  great 
areas  of  country.  And,  wherever  it  gains  a  foothold,  it  seems,  like 
original  sin,  to  have  "come  to  stay."  'I  cannot  but  believe  that 
the  researches  of  our  scientific  investigators  will  open  to  us  some 
deliverance  from  this  vegetable  pestilence.  If  not,  the  outlook  for 
apple  and  pear  growing  is  gloomy  enough  for  many  sections. 
Certain  it  is,  that  with  grape  rots  and  mildews  so  infesting 
the  vineyards  of  the  best  adapted  grape  lands  of  this  country, 
sound  grapes  are  an  exotic  luxury  upon  most  tables  ;  with  the 
numberless  fungi  and  corrupting  forces  which  are  continually  at- 
tacking the  plants  and  the  crops  which  we  grow,  there  is  need  of  a 
great  awakening  among  us  of  a  spirit  of  investigation,  and  the 
energetic  use  of  remedies,  until  we  find  out  how  to  make,  and  take 
the  necessary  measures  to  make  our  fruits  in  reality  what  they 
purport  to  be,  something  delicious  to  the  eye  and  delightful  to  the 
mouth,  instead  of  repulsive  travesties,  worm-eaten,  scabbed  and 
deformed. 


THE  HORTICULTUEAL  CONVENTION, 


There  was  an  ap]3reciative  attendance  upon  the  convention, 
both  morning,  afternoon  and  evening.  A  few  more  delegates  from 
a  distance  arrived,  but  the  additions  yesterday  were  mainly  from 
local  points.     At  the  morning  session  the  election  of  officers  for 


Xotes  by  tJu:  Secretary.  69 

the  ensuing  year  was  held  and  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
nomenclature  was  received.  During  the  day  several  interesting 
papers  were  read  and  considerable  discussion  provoked  thereby. 
Eeports  from  other  committees,  notably  the  committee  on  the 
Xew  Orleans  exhibition  was  received.  A  considerable  amount  of 
work  was  accomplished  as  will  be-  seen  from  the  very  full  report 
given  below. 

The  south  wall  of  the  hall  was  ornamented  before  the  opening 
of  the  session,  yesterday,  with  a  beautiful  floral  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased.  Dr.  John  A.  Warder,  of  Ohio,  who  had 
been  a  prominent  member  of  the  society  since  its  organization. 
The  floral  work  was  most  splendidly  executed,  and  attracted  con- 
siderable attention.     The  words  were  as  follows  : 


M.  Y.  H.  S- 

— IX — 
MEMORY  OF 

DR.  J.  A.  WARDER. 


MORNING  SESSION 


The  president,  after  calling  the  association  to  order,  read  a  let- 
ter dated  January  20th,  from  President  Wilder,  of  the  American 
Pomological  society,  as  follows  : 

To  Parker  Earle,  Esq,,  President  of  the  Mississippi    Valley  Hor- 
ticultural Society : — 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  take  a  deep  in  terest  in  everything  which 
has  for  its  objects  the  promotion  of  fruit  culture  in  our  own  and 
other  lands,  I  therefore  commend  most  heartily  the  International 
Exposition  in  New  Orleans,  thus  bringing  together  the  fruits  not  only 
of  our  own  but  other  nations,  and  what  is  better  still,  the  culti- 
vators who  produce  them.  Especially  would  I  welcome  the  po- 
mologists  of  foreign  nations  that  we  may  compare  fruits  and  the 
results  of  experience,  and  concert  measures  for  further  improve- 
ment of  them.     This  meeting  will  afford  opportunities  for  the  in- 


70  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

terchange  of  experience  not  often  offered  to  the  j^omologist,  and 
will  give  another  illustration  of  the  power  of  association,  that  great 
agent  which  propels  the  engine  of  modern  improvement,  and  to 
which  we  are  mainly  indebted  for  the  wonderful  progress  of  fruit 
culture  on  this  continent.  Under  this  influence  the  American 
Pomological  Society,  with  the  co-operation  of  kindred  societies,  has 
spread  its  organization  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  shores,  and 
now  furnishes  columns  in  its  catalogue  for  fruits  adapted  to  more 
than  fifty  states,  territories  and  districts  of  our  immense  domain. 
To  all  this  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society  has  contrib- 
uted largely.     God  bless  her. 

MAESHALL  P.   WILDER. 

INSECTS    AFFECTING   THE    STEAWBEKRY. 

Professor  S.  A.  Forbes,  state  entomologist  of  Illinois,  next  read 
an  interesting  paper  upon  "Insects  affecting  the  strawberry." 

In  beginning,  he  said  the  strawberry  is  undoubtedly  now  the 
most  jjopular  of  American  fruits,  eaten  by  more  people  than  any 
other,  except  the  apple.  Since  the  improvements  of  rapid  trans- 
portation of  perishable  fruits,  the  season  has  more  than  doubled  its 
length.  No  other  fruit  has  developed  so  rapidly,  and  in  Illinois  it 
is  a  more  important  crop  than  the  grape  ;  the  same  is  probably  true 
in  other  states. 

'^In  my  paper  at  New  Orleans,"  said  he,  "last  winter,  I  sum- 
marized as  well  as  I  was  able  what  was  known  as  the  insect  enemies 
of  this  crop,  but  to  the  rather  formidable  list  of  twenty-two  species 
then  reported  I  have  added  not  less  than  ten,  then  unknown. 
Fortunately,  with  these  exceptions,  the  new  insect  enemies  observed 
are  of  little  present  significance,  occurring  only  in  small  numbers 
and  in  limited  localities.  The  tarnished  plant  bug,  the  dusky 
plant  bug  and  the  new  root  worm  deserve  special  attention.  The 
minute  yellow  ant,  four  species  of  plant  lice,  with  enormotis  repro- 
ductive powers,  the  bark  lice,  scale  insects  of  the  soft  maple,  the 
flea  beetle,  and  the  myriapods,  or  thousand-legged  worms,  also  an 
unknown  fly  mentioned  by  Saunders  in  his  work  on  insects,  are  the 
minor  additions  that  come  under  my  observation. 

"  The  strawberry  root  worm  is  of  three  species  of  beetles  be- 
longing to  the  same  family,  all  inhabiting  the  same  territory  and 
all  attacking  the  same  part  of  the  plant.  In  the  slang  of  modern 
commerce  these  root  worms  have  'pooled  their  issues'  and  con- 
sented to  a  'division  of  the  profits.'  One  of  these  makes  the 
earliest   attack  upon  the  plant  working  upon  the  roots  as  early  as 


/  Notes  by  the  Secretary.  71 

the  first  of  May  and  finishing  in  June.  This  is  followed  by  the 
second  species  in  July  and  August,  and  finally  the  third  root  worm 
is  left  in  undisturbed  possession  the  balance  of  the  year.  By 
November  it  has  completed  its  work,  retires  into  a  subterranean  cell 
where  it  passes  the  winter  completing  its  changes  in  the  spring. 
The  difference  in  hibernation  is  peculiar  ;  the  first  species  wintering 
as  a  larva,  the  second  as  an  adult,  and  the  third  in  the  egg. 

''As  a  preventative  of  these  insects,"  said  the  speaker,  "1 
would  carefully  wash  the  roots  of  the  plant  and  dip  them  in  a  weak 
kerosene  emulsion.  The  tarnished  plant  bug  is  another  very 
destructive  insect,  which  'buttons'  the  berry  very  badly  by 
abstracting  the  sap  from  the  berry.  An  application  of  pyrethrum 
to  the  plant  was  found  an  effective  agent  in  getting  rid  of  the 
insect,  and  does  not  injure  the  plant. 

"  A  kerosene  emulsion  is  a  cheaper  remedy  and  nearly  as  effec- 
tive. Concerning  the  dusky  plant  bug,  it  has  been  hitherto 
regarded  as  injurious,  yet  its  habits  are  similar  to  the  tarnished 
j)lant  bug,  hence  for  practical  purposes  the  two  may  be  considered 
as  one.  If  we  review  the  thirty-five  insects  troublesome  to  straw- 
berries we  shall  find  that  only  eight  of  them  are  seriously  destruc- 
tive. The  leaf  roller  and  the  crown  borer  may  be  easily  managed 
by  plowing  and  burning  over  the  field  in  June." 

The  professor  was  awarded  a  special  vote  of  thanks  for  this 
valuable  paper. 

STKAWBERRY    CULTURE. 

Upon  the  subject  of  "  Strawberry  culture,"  Mr.  J.  H.  Hale, 
of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  submitted  an  instructive  paper.  ''To  pro- 
duce," said  he,  "  the  greatest  amount  of  berries  from  the  least  acre- 
age is  essential.  The  prepa^i'ation  includes  a  perfect  drainage,  man- 
uring should  be  applied,  but  commercial  manures  were  advocated 
as  preferable,  especially  for  strawberries,  producing  more  and  larger 
berries,  and  not  so  much  foliage.  He  believed  that  fruit  growers 
in  the  West  would  do  well  to  utilize  and  experiment  further  with 
the  manures.  We  can,  now,  with  cross  fertilization  produce  almost 
any  kind  or  style  of  berry  desired.  The  size,  color,  form  and 
quality  of  pistillate  varieties  can  be  formed  by  fertilizing  with  other 
sorts  by  planting  them  near. 

Professor  Burrill  of  Illinois,  opened  the  discussion. — I  hope 
Mr.  Hale  will  give  us  all  the  facts  at  command  in  reference  to 
cross-fertilization,  for  the  next  published  report  of  this  society, 
and  that  the  time  will  soon  come  when   the  strawberries  may   be 


7^  Missou7'i  State  Horticultural  Society. 

free  from  the  seeds,  similar  to  the  process  of  the  modification  of 
the  bananas,  freeing  them  from  the  seed. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  difficulties  and  objections 
to  cross-fertilization  were  cited,  but  it  was  generally  agreed  that  it 
w'ould  prove  advantageous  to  the  grower,  and  all  the  real  facts 
developed  from  experiments  of  cross-fertilization  with  the  various 
sorts  should  be  presented  and  diffused  among  fruit  growers 
generally. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

The  committee  on  '' JSTomenclature,"  consisting  of  Messrs.  Syl- 
vester Johnson,  T.  J.  Burrill,  L.  B.  Pierce,  J.  H.  Hale  and  J.   H. 

Masters,  announced  a  readiness  to  report  and  submitted  the  follow- 
ing report : 

Your  committee  on  nomenclature  beg  leave  to  report  that  we 
indorse  the  recommendation  made  by  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder, 
president  of  the  American  Pomological  Society,  as  well  as  those  of 
our  President  Earle,  looking  to  a  simplification  and  uniformity  of 
the  names  of  the  fruits  of  America,  and  recommend  the  following 
rules  to-w  it : 

First — Every  fruit  should  have  one,  and  but  one,  authorized 
name. 

Second — If  tenable,  this  name  should  be  the  earliest  one  pub- 
lished, as  hereinafter  provided. 

Third — Each  luime  should  consist  of  one  word,  and  for  all  new 
American  fruits  such  words  should  be  readily  pronounceable  in  the 
English  language. 

Fourth — No  name  should  be  considered  authorized  until  pub- 
lished in  some  reputable  and  generally  accessible  horticultural 
periodical,  accompanied  with  a  clear  and  full  description  of  the 
fruit.  Such  published  name  and  description  shall  be  sent  to  the 
secretary  of  the  American  Pomological  Society  and  to  the  secretary 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society. 

Fifth — In  case  of  doubt  as  to  tenability,  priority  or  authority  of 
publication,  appropriateness  as  a  good  English  word,  special  action 
by  the  above  named  societies,  or  by  a  state  horticultural  society, 
should  be  considered  valid  and  final. 

Sixth — No  variety  of  fruit  shall  be  named  by  a  society  which 
is  not  esteemed  practically  valuable  and  worthy  of  cultivation. 

This  report  to  be  considered  as  a  recommendation  to  the 
American  Pomological  Society. 

This  concluded  the  morning  session,  and  an  adjournment  was 
taken  until  two  o'clock. 


Notes  by  the  Secretary.  73 


AFTERNOON   SESSION. 

The  first  paper  of  the  afternoon  was  upon  ''  The  Educational 
Power  of  Horticulture/'  by  Mrs.  G.  A.  Try  on,  of  -Galesburg,  111. 
The  paper  began  with  an  account  of  the  failure  of  the  first  horti- 
culturists in  the  garden  of  Eden.  Then  it  noted  the  progress  of 
culture  and  the  advancement  made  by  man,  showing  that  hus- 
bandry was  the  basis  upon  which  all  the  unrivaled  prosperity  of 
the  present  age  had  been  built.  The  difference  in  culture  between 
different  latitudes  was  noted,  and  the  vast  difference  in  culture  in 
the  temperate  zone  between  the  small  farmers  with  divei-sified 
interests  and  horticultural  pursuits,  and  those  who  devote  their 
attention  to  raising  some  one  crop  on  a  large  scale.  Instances  in 
proof  of  the  point  in  question  were  furnished,  and  the  opinions  of 
noted  men  given  as  to  small  farming  and  as  to  the  safety  of  the 
country  being  dependent  upon  the  happy  cultured  homes  of  the 
horticulturist.  The  intimate  relation  between  horticulture  and 
floriculture  was  demonstrated,  and  the  peculiar  adaptability  of 
woman  to  the  work  noted.  Many  examples  were  given  to  show  the 
vast  difference  between  theoretical  and  practical  knowledge  in  the 
pursuit  of  horticulture.  The  paper  closed  with  a  grand  descrip- 
tion of  the  home  of  an  ideal  horticulturist,  and  its  effect  upon  the 
surrounding  community,  elaborating  upon  tlie  eminent  suitability 
of  the  Mississippi  valley  for  such  homes. 

The  reader  was  heartily  applauded,  and  upon  motion  of  Mr. 
N.  Ohmer,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  a  rising  vote  of  thanks  was  extended 
Mr?.  Tryon  for  her  valuable  paper,  which  had  been  so  well  read. 

Mr.  G.  Y.  Johnson,  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  then  offered  a  resolu- 
tion instructing  the  president  and  secretary  to  invite  horticulturists 
of  every  state  in  the  union  and  every  territory  and  province  in 
America  to  participate  in  the  meetings  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
Horticultural  Association. 

THE    BEST   FRUIT    PACKAGES. 

The  second  paper  of  the  afternoon  was  upon  "The  best  fruit 
packages ;"  by  E.  T.  Hollister,  of  St.  Louis. 

The  gentleman  in  his  paper  advocated  the  adoption  of  a 
uniform  style  and  size  of  packages.  The  most  important  article  to 
be  transported  is  the  apple,  which  can  best  be  carried  in  barrels. 
Pears  are  best  transported  in  the  California  fruit  boxes,  peaches  in 
the  peck  baskets,  and  strawberries  in  quart  boxes,  twenty-four  in  a 
case.   All  fruit  and  berry  packages  should  be  well  seasoned.   Plums, 


T4  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

apricots  and  tomatoes  and  the  like  slionld  always  go  to  market  in 
one-third  bnshel  boxes.  Tlie  best  kinds  of  boxes  for  grapes,  melons, 
etc.,  were  then  described.  Roberts'  patent  Avas  recommended 
especially  for  grapes. 

Capt.  E.  P.  Diehl,  of  Olathe.  Kas.,  thonght  the  association 
should  adopt  the  three  bushel  barrel  for  shipping  apples. 

Some  discussion  followed  as  to  the  Eoberts  basket  for  grapes  as 
to  where  it  was  manufactured,  where  it  could  be  obtained,  etc. 

Upon  motion  of  Mr.  T.  V.  Munson,  of  Texas,  a  vote  of  thanks 
was  extended  to  Mr.  Hollister  for  his  pajjer. 

CAREFUL    HANDLING    OF   FRUIT. 

The  next  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Williams,  of  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.,  upon  "'The  value  of  careful  packing  and  handling." 
The  gentleman  made  some  humorous  remarks  by  way  of  introduc- 
tion, as  he  was  a  commission  man.  His  paper  was  bristling  with 
wit  and  humor.  One-fourth  to  one-third  of  the  value  of  fruit, 
he  said,  was  added  to  it  after  it  had  left  the  tree.  The  ]3ractice  of 
using  old,  rough  and  irregular  packages  was  condemned.  Straw- 
berries should  never  be  picked  while  wet.  Over-ripe  fruit  should 
never  be  shipped.  Care  should  be  taken  in  changing  consignors. 
It  always  pays  best  to  ship  to  a  house  found  to  be  reliable.  Fruit 
should  never  be  hauled  to'the  cars  in  a  "jolt"  wagon.  Grapes  sell 
best  in  three  to  five  pound  boxes.  Peaches,  tomatoes,  etc..  in  one- 
third  bushel  boxes,  never  wet.  Apples  should  always  be  picked, 
never  shaken.  Fruit  should  never  be  poured  into  a  barrel,  all  va- 
rieties mixed.   Dishonest  packing  was  the  cause  of  great  annoyance. 

FRUIT  PACKAGES. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Hollister,  of  St.  Louis,  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  fruit  packages,  submitted  the  following  : 

Your  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  fruit 
packages  would  respectfully  report  : 

That  a  uniform  size  and  style  of  package  has  now  become  an 
almost  absolute  necessity,  and  after  consultation  with  parties  from  the 
various  sections  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  society,  would 
recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  sizes  and  shapes  as  the 
best  adapted  to  the  general  wants  of  the  modern  dealer. 

Barrel,  the  size  of  a  flour  barrel,  28  inch  stave,  17  5-8  inch 
head. 


Notes  by  the  Secretary.  To 

Bushel  box,  head  8x13  inches ;  slats  22  inches. 

Third  bushel,  head  5x8  inches,  slats  22  inches. 

Quart  box,  5x5  inches  wide,  2 1-2  inches  deep. 

Pint  box,  5x5  inches  wide,  1  5-16  inches  deep. 

Grrnpe  basket,  square  ten  pound  basket. 

While  your  committee  m  this  report  have  recommended  the 
adoption  of  the  Hallock,  or  square  quart  berry  box,  for  the  sake  of 
uniformity,  having  ascertained  that  a  great  majority  of  the  boxes 
in  use  are  of  that  variety,  we  find  the  Leslie,  or  long  box,  finds 
favor  in  a  great  many  markets,  and,  if  properly  made  up,  we  know 
of  no  objection  to  that  style  of  package,  except  the  inconvenience 
of  storing  boxes  of  different  sizes  and  shapes  in  the  cars  for  trans- 
portation. 

We  would  also  recommend  the  entire  abandonment  of  return 
packages. 

The  report  occasioned  considerable  discussion,  especially  as  to  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee  in  regard  to  the  adoption  of  the 
three  bushel  barrel  for  apples,  and  finally,  in  order  to  get  the  sense 
of  the  meeting  in  the  matter,  Col.  Colman  moved  to  strike  out  of 
the  report  all  reference  to  the  size  of  barrels.  The  motion  was 
voted  down.  The  original  motion  on  the  adoption  of  the  report 
was  then  put  and  carried. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Hollister  then  recommended  the  careful  marking  of 
fruit  packages,  tlie  use  of  two-slat  boxes  in  shipping  and  of  an 
evaporator  at  home. 

FEUIT   TRANSPORTATION. 

The  committee  on  fruit  transportation  offered  as  its  report  the 
following  suggestions  : 

First — The  necessity  of  railroad  companies  furnishing  suitable 
cars  both  for  summer  and  winter  transportation  of  fruits  and 
vegetables. 

Second — The  necessity  of  absence  of  delay  between  terminal 
points  and  prompt  delivery  to  consignees  on  arrival  at  destination. 

Third — The  necessity  of  careful  handling  and  prompt  delivery 
to  railroads  in  less  quantities  than  car  loads,  and  loaded  and  un- 
loaded by  them  ;  nursery  stock  as  well  as  fi'uits  and  vegetables 
included. 

The  president  of  the  meeting  next  read  a  paper  upon  "The 
Best  Methods  of  Fruit  Transportation,"  prepared  by  F.  A.  Thomas, 
of  Chicago,  111.  The  paper  recommended  the  appointment  of 
local  committees  near  railway  points,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  ask 
of  the  railroads  proper  accommodations.     The  roads  did  not  under- 


76  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

stand  the  needs  of  the  trade.  The  theory  of  the  writer  was  that 
fermentation  in  fruit  began  as  soon  as  the  sap  was  cut  off,  and  that 
hence  refrigerator  cars  were  not  the  thing.  Instead  of  refrigerators 
he  recommended  cars  thoroughly  and  j^i'operly  ventilated  and  goods 
so  piled  as  to  get  all  the  benefit  from  the  air.  Wire  screens,  double 
roofs,  alid  sliding  doors  would,  of  course,  be  needed.  The  express 
companies  were  much  harder  to  reform.  It  would  be  done,  how- 
ever, if  properly  taken  hold  of  by  the  society. 

Upon  motion  of  Col.  Colman  the  report  was  adopted,  and  the 
secretary  was  instructed  to  furnish  railroad  and  expressmen  with 
copies  of  the  report  and  the  paper  of  Mr.  Thomas. 

Upon  motion  the  report  upon  the  New  Orleans  exhibition,  and. 
the  resolution  in  regard  to  the  same  was  ordered  printed  in  circular 
form  to   send   to  congressmen, ,  after  which   an  adjournment   was 
taken  for  supper. 

EVENING  SESSION. 

The  evening  session  was  quite  well  attended.  It  was  called  to 
order  about  half  past  7  o'clock  and  Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman,  of  West- 
port,  first  entertained  and  interested  the  audience  with  the  following 
paper  on  the  market  fruits  of  Kansas  City. 

MARKET    FRUITS    OF    KANSAS    UITY. 

The  idea  of  this  subject,  I  suppose,  is  to  find  what  are  the  best 
fruits  for  the  market  of  the  West  in  comparison  with  those  of  the 
East ;  to  find  if  the  same  class  or  quality  of  fruits  have  as  good  a 
market  here  as  there.,  and  to  find  the  differences,  if  there  are  any, 
and  what  those  are. 

I  take  it  also  that  this  subject  does  not  limit  itself  to  simply 
Avhat  sell  the  best,  but  that  we  are  to  take  into  consideration  the 
hardiness  and  productiveness  of  all  these  fruits  as  well  as  just  the 
selling  qualities,  for  we  all  know  that  the  Yellow  Bell-flower,  for  in- 
stance, will  always  bring  high  prices,  but,  as  well  we  know,  that  it 
is  unprofitable.  We  will  then  take  our  best  fruits  in  the  reverse 
order  of  ripening  and  give  a  few  reasons  why  we  claim  them  as  our 
best  market  fruits.  Then  some  of  the  market  fruits  of  other  coun- 
tries, as  they  are  seen  in  every  large  city. 

I  take  it  that  a  market,  or  the  best  market  fruits  of  any  city, 
are  those  which  bring  the  most  money  ;  but  some  good  market  fruits 
will  be  noticed  besides  those  for  money  alone  ;  for  it  is  believed  by 
all  fruit  growers  that  the  time  will  come  when  quality  will  be  of 
very  prominent  consideration  in  our  market  fruits,  as  now  beauty 


Notes  hij  the  Secretary.  77 

and  size  is  the  most  prominent  feature.  How  long  it  will  be  before 
people's  tastes  will  be  educated  up  to  this  idea  it  is  impossible  to 
state,  many  believing  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  horticulturist  to 
grow  only  the  best  fruits  and  educate  the  masses  up  to  the  standard, 
while  others  think  we  should  supply  what  the  market  demands 
without  reference  to  any  of  our  concern  what  they  want. 

I  suppose  our  market  here  at  Kansas  City  is  rather  peculiar, 
not  for  a  Western  city,  but  would  be  in  comparison  with  an  Eastern 
city.  Here  we  have  buyers  coming  from  the  whole  Western 
country,  the  Southwestern  country,  Southern  country  and  the 
Northwestern  country. 

Last  fall,  before  we  gathered  our  apples,  I  received  numerous 
letters  from  Nebraska  and  Iowa  of  the  North,  from  Colorado  and 
the  mountains  of  the  West,  and  Kansas  and  Texas  of  the  Southwest, 
all  wishmg  to  know  where  they  could  get  good  large  red  apples. 
This  is  a  type  of  what  the  market  of  Kansas  City  is  expected  to  be. 
Many  of  these  parties  I  saw  later,  and  it  was  impossible  to  make 
them  believe  that  they  should  take  some  of  the  other  poorly  colored 
fruits  with  the  bright  colored  ones.  Yet  we  in  every  instance  found 
it  impossible  to  convince  them  that  a  Jannett,  a  White  Winter  Pear- 
main  or  Roman  Stem  (some  of  our  best  varieties  in  quality),  should 
be  taken  with  the  large  Ben  Davis  and  Willow  Twig,  Winesaps, 
Jonathans  and  Red  Streak. 

It  is  hard  to  convince  a  man  against  his  own  eyes  and  say  what 
we  may  we  must  pander  to  the  beauty  of  an  article  and  to  the  eye, 
if  we  want  a  market  fruit.  It  is  not  only  so  with  fruits,  but  you 
find  it  so  in  every  walk  of  life,  in  every  business,  in  every  trade. 
In  the  lumber  business  once  I  found  this  just  the  same  as  in 
our  markets  of  to-day.  Take  a  pile  of  good  lumber  and  have  it 
scattered  promiscuously  and  you  will  hardly  find  a  buyer ;  but  pile 
it  up  nicely  and  ten  chances  to  one  if  the  next  man  will  not  make 
his  purchase  from  it. 

Our  merchants  in  our  stores  know  this  matter  perfectly  and 
they  do  not  seek  to  educate  the  people  up  to  a  different  standard, 
but  use  this  hold  they  have  on  people  to  pander  to  the  eye.  So  you 
will  see  the  displays  everywhere  and  every  one  of  us  will  buy  from 
such  an  one,  before  the  one  who  tries  to  convince  us  against  our 
sight. 

But  one  says  we  must  keep  growing  better  and  more  sensible 
in  this  matter,  and  yet  this  very  horticulturist  will  have  his  apples 
in  bright,  new  barrels  with  planed  heads,  and  a  nice  stencil  mark 
on  it ;  he  will  have  his  berries  in  good  new  boxes,  clean  and  not 


78  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

stained  either  by  berries  or  mould  on  the  boxes  ;  and  why  is  it  ? 
simply  to  please  the  eye,  nothing  more,  nothing  less.  Send  your 
apples  to  market  in  old  salt  barrels,  and  then  in  bright  new  apple 
barrels  and  see  if  the  same  fruit  will  bring  the  same  prices  ;  pack 
one  with  three  layers  of  apples  at  the  head,  and  the  other  with  none 
and  see  if  you  will  get  the  same  prices  for  the  same  apples,  and 
yet  no  buyer  believes  that  the  whole  barrel  is  layered  like  the  top. 
What  is  it  for  ?  Simply  to  plea-se  and  attract  the  eye  ;  nothing- 
more. 

In  spite  of  all  we  may  say  against  a  fruit  as  to  its  poor  quality, 
etc.,  yet  we  cannot  preach  successfully  against  the  eye. 

Our  market  then  at  Kansas  City  demands  for  the  apple  a  good 
size,  bright  red  color  and  good  keeper.  The  apples  that  fill  this 
bill  are  the  Ben  Davis,  Winesap,  Willow  Twig  and  Rome  Beauty,  for 
the  winter  varieties,  and  Jonathan  and  Pa  Red  Streak  for  fall. 
These  are  the  market  apples,  because  they  are  hardy,  productive, 
and  good  color  and  good  size ;  because  they  sell  the  best  of  any 
others  and  sell  the  easiest ;  because  they  bear  well  and  full,  and 
because  they  bring  the  most  money  of  all  others. 

The  Ben  Davis  is  the  best  market  apple  for  Kansas  City  ;  pays 
the  most  money  per  bushel,  bears  the  most  and  sells  the  easiest, 
and  pays  the  best  per  acre  of  all  other  varieties. 

The  following  are  ten  reasons  why  it  is  the  best  market  ajjple  : 

First — It  is  a  good  grower  in  the  nursery. 

Second — It  makes  a  handsome  tree  in  the  orchard. 

Third — It  bears  young. 

Fourth — -It  bears  oftener  and  better  than  any  other. 

Fifth — The  apples  are  usually  large  and  fine. 

Sixth — They  always  sell. 

Seventh — They  cook  well  before  they  are  ripe. 

Eighth — They  cook  well  when  ripe. 

Xintli — They  are  the  best  for  drying  purposes. 

Tenth — There  is  more  money  in  them  than  in  any  other  var- 
iety. 

The  Willow,  and  Rome  Beauty  follow  it.  The  Jonathan  and  Red 
Streak  are  of  the  best  quality  also.  Only  one  exception  among 
apples  can  be  noted — the  Huntsman.  Taking  these  points  it  will 
not  be  hard  to  tell  the  market  fruits  of  Kansas  City. 

The  pear  must  have  some  of  these  choice  characteristics  to  be 
a  market  fruit  of  our  city.  The  Bartlett  fills  these  wants,  especially 
if  they  are  red  cheeked,  as  many  are  on  the  south  side.  The  Flem- 
ish Beauty  and  Howell  are  choice  for  this  market,  as  also  is  the 


Notes  by  the  Secretary.  79 

Bnerre  cl'Anjou  and  Sheldon.  The  market  of  our  cit}'  demands  a 
highly  colored,  large  size  and  beautiful  pear.  The  Bartlett  is  so 
■well  known  everywhere  that  it  is  hard  to  dispossess  it  of  its 
advantage.  A  finely  colored,  large  Californiau  will  sell  for  more 
than  our  best  pears,  although  deficient  in  flavor.  Size  and  beauty 
sell  it. 

The  peach  is  the  same  as  with  the  apple,  quality  has  very  little 
to  do  with  the  sale  unless  it  be  to  families  and  those  who  know 
the  variety  and  call  for  it.  If  you  do  not  think  so,  just  try  to  sell 
a  white  peach  which  has  a  clear  skin  without  a  particle  of  color  to  it; 
a,t  the  same  time  olfer  one  much  inferior  in  quality,  but  beautifully 
marked  and  colored,  and  you  will  soon  find  what  the  market 
demands. 

For  home  use,  and  among  those  who  will  believe  you  when  you 
tell  him  a  peach  is  of  excellent  quality,  you  can  easily  sell  some  of 
the  poorly  colored  peaches  ;  but  for  market  in  general,  and  where 
large  quantities  are  wanted  by  shippers,  you  cannot  teach  them. 

The  Amsden  peach  never  would  have  had  the  sale  it  did,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  bright  red  cheek.  Say  what  you  will,  Kansas 
City  would  never  have  bought  those  poor  flavored  peaches  had  it 
not  been  for  the  attraction  to  the  eye.  Try  a  bright  Crawford  Late 
peach  and  a  Ward's  Late,  or  even  a  Smock,  and  very  soon  our 
market  will  make  a  distinction. 

Ask  any  fruit  grower  and  he  will  tell  you  that  the  Smock  lacks 
color  to  sell  well  ;  that  the  Heath  Cling  would  and  does  bring  double 
price  when  you  select  those  specimens  that  have  a  beautiful  red 
cheek.  The  eye  must  be  pleased  as  well  as  the  palate.  The  market 
laeaches  and  the  ones  for  money  here,  are  Amsden,  E.  York,  Mt. 
Rose,  Crawford  E.,  Old  Mixon,  Crawford  Late,  Smock,  Salaway, 
Heath. 

The  jDlum,  apricot  and  nectarine  are  nothing  with  us  for  money 
except  the  Wild  Goose  and  Weaver  plum,  which  are  very  profitable 
and  in  good  demand. 

The  grape  would  seem  to  us  to  be  the  exception  to  the  rule,  if 
there  should  be  one,  for  it  seems  that  our  market  demands  a  white 
grape  and  one  without  color,  no  matter  if  it  is  poor.  A  white  or 
flesh  colored  grape  seems  to  attract  the  eye  more  than  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  purple  or  black  grapes,  and  yet  many  of  them 
are  very  poor  in  quality.  An  example  is  seen  in  those  poor,  taste- 
less California  white  grapes  that  are  seen  on  our  markets  every- 
where. How  they  do  sell,  and  yet  they  are  poorer  than  our  j)oorest, 
while  some  of  their  colored  ones  are  excellent.     Peo2:)le  are  turned 


80  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

about  in  this  matter,  and  us  a  general  thing  the  finest  colored 
grapes  are  the  best,  yet  the  market  demands  those  without  color  ; 
while  with  the  apple,  generally  the  finest  colored  are  the  230orest, 
and  those  without  color  the  best;  and  yet  the  market  demands  the 
opposite. 

The  raspberry,  red,  as  in  most  markets,  those  that  will  ship  the 
best,  will  sell  the  best,  and  the  same  with  the  black  cap.  A  bright 
solid  color  will  sell  the  best  if  they  are  firm  enough  to  shij)  five  or 
six  hundred  miles. 

The  Thwack,  a  very  poor  berry,  has  a  good  sale,  because  it 
will  carry  to  the  mountains  in  perfect  order.  At  home  for  private 
use  or  market  it  is  too  well  known  for  poor  quality  to  be  of  much 
demand.     Our  home  market  demands  something  better  for  its  use. 

The  blackberry,  nothing  but  the  Kittitiny.  The  strawberry 
wants  good  size,  fair  flavor  and  good  color  to  make  a  first-class 
market  fruit,  if  it  is  firm  enough  to  carry  a  fair  distance. 

The  Charles  Downing  is  a  fair  sample  of  what  we  want.  The 
Crescent  is  rather  soft,  but  yet  will  carry  some  distance,  if  picked 
when  firm. 

Our  market,  therefore,  demands  not  only  fruit  for  home  con- 
sumption, but  the  greater,  by  far,  demand  is  for  good  shipping 
fruit,  and  this  is  found  only  in  fruit  of  good  size,  good  bearei',  fair 
quality  only,  and  a  good  shipper.  These  are  the  demands  of  the 
Kansas  City  market. 

DISCUSSING   THE    QUESTION. 

The  paper  was  very  generally  discussed.  Mr.  F.  Holsinger  led 
ofE  as  follows  :  "\  would  beg  to  take  issue  with  the  gentleman  in 
regard  to  the  adaptability  of  the  finer  varieties  of  rasj)berries  over 
the  Thwack.  I  find,  in  my  experience,  that  Thwack  will  outsell 
the  Turner,  which  is  the  very  finest  of  red  varieties.  That  usually 
SI  to  $1.50  more  will  be  paid  by  the  people  of  the  Kansas  City 
market  for  this  indifferent  variety  over  the  best  sorts." 

President   Johnson,  of  Indiana,  said  the  paj)er  fitted  Indiana. 

Mr.  Z.  S.  Eagan,  of  Independence,  Mo.,  mentioned  the  Bell- 
flower  as  a  profitable  apple  to  grow. 

Dr.  Gregory,  of  Arkansas,  was  a  grape  grower  and  he  took 
exceptions  to  the  paper  as  to  white  grapes.  He  had  found  he  could 
only  get  about  S  cents  for  white  grapes  and  one-half  more  for  the 
Concord  and  other  colored  grapes. 

Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman  stated  that  the  fruit  growers  about  Kansas 
City  realized  twice  as  much  from  light,  as  dark  grapes. 


Notes  hy  the  Secretary.  .  81 

Dr.  Gregory  said  they  only  grew  extra  fine  grapes  in  Arkansas, 
such  as  was  used  in  making  S8.00  wine  for  congressmen. 

Mr.  Webb,  of  Kentucky,  inquired  if  the  Thwack  raspberry 
was  hardy  and  was  answered  by  Mr.  Goodman  that  it  was. 

Mr.  Williams,  of  Kansas,  asked  if  the  reader  of  the  paper 
meant  to  discard  the  Pippin. 

Mr.  Johnson,  of  Indiana,  moved  that  the  society  drop  the 
word  ''Favorite"  from  the  apple  known  as  the  ''Huntsman's  Favor- 
ite ;"  carried.  It  was  then  moved  to  drop  "Pippin"'  from  the  title 
"Missouri  Pippin,"  when  it  was  suggested  that  the  society  was  an- 
ticipating its  action  in  regard  to  nomenclature  and  the  discussion 
was  then  allowed  to  proceed. 

Mr.  Holsinger,  of  Kansas,  knew  a  man  who  got  ten  pounds  of 
dried  apples  out  of  a  bushel  of  the  Ben  Davis  variety.  He  recom- 
mended that  apple  for  planting  and  marketing. 

Mr.  Masters,  of  Nebraska  took  excejitions  to  the  paper  in  re- 
gard to  color.     He  handled  white  apples  most  successfully. 

Col.  Col  man  believed  the  Turner  raspberry  could  be  shipped 
successfully  if  picked  at  the  right  time.  The  red  raspberry,  the 
Thwack,  is  peculiarly  a  Missouri  institution.  He  eulogized  the 
Smith  Cider  apple. 

Mr.  Hale,  of  Connecticut,  said  he  believed  the  best  raspberry 
in  America  was  the  Cuthbert.  The  Gregg,  he  considered  the  best 
black  raspberry.  The  Souhegan  and  Tyler  ranked  second  as  a 
black  raspberry.     He  discarded  all  others. 

Mr.  Pierce,  of  Minnesota,  said  he  had  heard  more  scolding  at 
Minneai3olis  about  the  Ben  Davis  apples  from  Missouri  than  any 
other  in  the  market.  The  Missouri  Jeniton  was  the  most  highly 
spoken  of  in  Minnesota.     He  was  for  the  Cuthbert  raspberry. 

Mr.  Pierce,  of  Ohio,  said  the  Yellow  Bell-flower  and  Ehode 
Island  Greenings  were  nice  apples,  but  were  not  a  reliable  crop, 
Cleveland  markets  were  supplied  with  Ben  Davis  apples  from 
Indiana. 

Mr.  Eagan,  of  Indiana,  said  that  in  the  early  agitation  of  the 
Ben  Davis  apples  Dr.  Warder  had  said  before  a  meeting  that  the 
Ben  Davis  was  of  poor  quality,  but  recommended  its  planting  to  sell, 
and  upon  being  asked  who  would    buy,  tersely  remarked,  "fools." 

Professor  Burrill,  of  Illinois,  related  an  incident  where  some 
people  had  tasted  a  number  of  varieties  without  knowing  the  name, 
and  had  pronounced  the  Ben  Davis  the  best. 

President  Johnson,  of  Indiana,  said  he  had  attacked  the 
Thwack  raspberry  at  a  former  convention,   but  it  had  grown  in  his 


82  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

favor  ever  since,  and  he  now  considered  it  the  best  red  raspberry  he 
had. 

MaJ.  Holsinger,  of  Kansas,  said  the  fruit  growers  of  this 
vicinity  had  tried  the  Cuthbert  raspberry  to  their  sorrow, 

Mr.  Williams,  of  Indiana,  said  in  the  Southern  market  highly 
colored  apples  sold  best,  because  usually  used  for  eating  purposes, 
but  the  Northern  market  used  apples  principally  for  culinary  pur- 
poses and  took  the  light  ones. 

Mr.  Olimer,  of  Ohio,  arose  to  verify  the  latter  statement. 

Mr.  Hollister,  of  St,  Louis,  believed  the  demand  for  red  apples 
in  the  North  was  increasing.  The  secret  in  handling  raspberries, 
he  said,  was  to  pick  them  at  the  right  time. 

Mr.  Durand,  of  Missouri,  said  the  community  should  settle 
the  matter,  and  he  wanted  to  raise  the  apple  the  people  wanted,  not 
to  try  to  educate  them  to  his  idea. 

Mr.  Gibbs,  of  Minnesota,  said  the  reports  as  to  color  were 
always  thus  contradictory.  He  wished  the  members  would  watch 
this  matter  closely  after  they  go  home  this  year. 

President  Earle  attempted  to  close  the  discussion  by  a  few 
remarks  as  to  the  rather  mixed  discussion  which  had  been  going 
on. 

Maj.  Evans,  of  Harlem,  Mo.,  suggested  the  secretary  place 
the  discussion  under  the  head  of  "  family  talk." 

Mr.  T.  V.  Munson,  of  Texas,  said  high  flavored  apples  sold  in 
Texas  for  one-third  more  than  the  Ben  Davis.  Color  sold  the 
apples  there.  They  consumed  Northern  apples  almost  entirely, 
but  did  not  like  the  Ben  Davis.  It  was  too  much  like  a  pumpkin 
or  a  squash. 

Col.  Colman,  of  Missouri,  said  the  Ben  Davis  was  raised  in 
Missouri  because  there  was  more  money  in  it.  It  came  into  bear- 
ing early,  was  a  regular  bearer,  was  a  nice  color,  was  not  scabby 
and  was  a  good  shipper.  The  grower  could  make  double  the  money 
out  of  the  Ben  Davis  or  the  Smith  Cider  that  he  could  out  of  any 
other. 

Mr.  Crevasse  thought  the  proper  thing  to  do  was  to  plant  the 
apple  that  pays. 

Capt.  Diehl,  of  Olathe,  Kas.,  recommended  the  York  Imperial 
and  said  it  was  in  great  demand  to  grow  in  Kansas. 

Maj.  Holsinger,  of  Rosedale,  Kas.,  seconded  Capt.  Diehl's  re- 
marks as  to  the  value  of  the  York  Imperial,  especially  as  a  bearer. 

President  Johnson,  of  Indiana,  suggested  that  as  they  had  not 
their  families  with  them  and  could  not  stay  a  month,  the  conven- 
tion had  best  drop  the  discussion  and  proceed  to  other  business. 


Notes  by  the  Secretary. 


COMMITTEE  ON   EXHIBITS. 

Mr.  Oliver  Gibbs,  of  Minnesota,  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
exhibits,  submitted  the  following  report  in  behalf  of  the  committee, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Sylvester  Johnson  and  Geo.  P.  Peffer  : 

Tiie  undersigned  committee  on  exhibits  beg  leave  to  report 
that  they  find  on  our  tables  two  large  collections  of  apples  by  state 
horticultural  societies  —  one  from  Missouri  with  137  varieties,  and 
the  other  from  Nebraska  with  fifty-seven  varieties — both  being  very 
creditable  displays,  especially  in  the  larger  size,  good  condition  and 
fine  color  of  the  fruit.  Of  the  new  and  promising  varieties  in  the 
Missouri  list  there  are  the  Ingraham,  by  William  Griffith,  of  Car- 
thage; the  Gano,  by  W.  G.  Gano,  of  Parkville;  and  a  sweet  seedling 
by  J.  A.  Bayles,  of  Lee's  Summit.  In  the  Nebraska  list.  Otto  Red 
Streak  and  the  Barnard,  and  the  Wilder,  by  J.  H.  Masters, 
of  Nebraska  City. 

In  the  Missouri  collection  there  are  twenty-five  varieties  that 
have  lain  in  cold  storage  since  September  last,  whose  good  quality 
and  condition  at  this  time,  although  many  of  them  are  early  fall 
apples,  are  imjDortant  facts  as  showing  what  can  be  done  to  carry 
our  fruits  through  the  exposition  next  winter  at  New  Orleans  by 
the  cold  storage  facility  offered  there. 

J.  Staymen,  of  Leavenworth,  Kas.,  shows  a  handsome  red 
apple  said  to  be  a  seedling  of  the  MacAfee,  by  the  late  Dr.  Hows- 
ley,  of  Leavenworth.  Dr.  Staymen  also  has  a  seedling  of  his  own 
production  not  yet  named. 

We  find  a  few  plates  of  apples  from  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  in- 
cluding fine  specimens  of  the  Wealthy  from  both  states. 

The  decorations  of  the  hall  are  the  contributions  of  Robert  8. 
Brown,  of  Kansas  City,  and  we  i*ecommend  a  vote  of  thanks 
therefor. 

The  few  plates  of  Prentiss  grapes  are  exhibited  by  T.  S.  Hub- 
bard, of  Fredonia,  N,  Y. 

The  Plummer  Evaporating  Company,  of  Kansas  makes 
a  large  display  of  their  products,  to  which  we  invite  special  atten- 
tion, as  the  industry  they  encourage  is  an  important  factor  in  the 
problem  of  how  to  market  our  surplus  apples.  The  fine  sam- 
ples of  apj^le  cider  by  Wm.  Byers,  of  the  Steam  Cider  works  of 
Kansas  City,  are  also  worthy  of  notice  in  this  connection. 

We  discovered  this  afternoon  on  one  of  the  tables  by  H.  C. 
Garth,   of  Kansas   City,  a  collection   of  what  appear  to  be   some 


84  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

mammoth  tropical  or  citron  fruits,  but  is  upon  the  basis  of  dis- 
closures made  at  this  meeting,  the  wonderful  results  of 
crossing  and  hybridizing  in  fruits  and  vegetables.  These  things 
may  be  some  new  monstrosities  of  mixed  lemon  and  pumpkin 
parentage  so  we  forbear  to  commit  ourselves  upon  them. 

In  conclusion,  your  committee  recommend,  that  in  future  exhi- 
bitions of  this  society,  the  growers  of  new  fruits  produce  all  the 
evidence  obtainable  as  to  the  pedigree  of  the  varieties  they  show,  to 
the  end  that  we  may  add  to  our  knowledge  as  to  the  laws  that 
govern  varieties  and  improvements  in  pomology,  through  seedlmg 
production. 

Upon  motion  of  Mr.  Pierce,  of  Ohio,  complimentary  mention 
of  some  Niagara  grapes  on  exhibition,  which  had  been  overlooked 
by  the  committee  on  exhibits,  was  added  to  the  report. 


HOETICULTUEAL  EXHIBITS. 

Maj.  Z.  S.  Eagan,  of  Independence,  Mo.,  then  presented  the 
second  paper  of  the  evening  upon  the  subject  of  "Horticultural 
exhibitions;  how  to  conduct  them."  The  gentleman  stated  that 
he  had  prepared  a  paper  upon  the  subject  assigned  him,  but  had 
come  away  from  home  in  a  hurry  and  left  it.  He  had,  however, 
noted  down  some  pencilings  since  coming  to  the  convention,  which 
he  read,  and  in  which  he  made  such  suggestions  as  he  deemed 
proper  for  the  successful  management  of  horticultural  displays, 
maintaining  that  the  proper  ai*rangement  was  largely  a  matter  of 
taste.  He  treated  of  different  fruits,  as  to  the  relative  prominence 
which  should  be  given  to  size,  form,  color,  flavor,  firmness,  con- 
dition, productiveness,  hardiness.  The  essential  points  in  a 
premium  list  were  given. 

Discussion  of  Maj.  Eagan^s  paper  followed,  being  participated 
in  by  Messrs.  J.  H.  Masters,  of  Nebraska  ;  T.  V.  Munson,  of  Texas; 
L.  A.  Williams,  of  Iowa  ;  Geo.   P.  Peffer,  of  Wisconsin. 

OTHER    PAPERS. 

Secretary  Eagan  then  read  by  their  titles  the  following  papers 
which  he  had  received  from  writers  who  could  not  attend  the  con- 
vention, but  who  had  been  assigned  places  on  the  programme  : 

'^  Ornamental  Trees  and  Shrubs  of  Alabama,"  Dr.  Charles 
Mohr,  Mobile,  Ala. 


Notes  hy  the  Secretary.  85 

"  Recent  Discoveries  Concerning  Grape  Rot/'  Prof.  William 
Trelease,  Madison,  Wis. 

"  Selection  and  Arrangement  of  Trees  and  Shrubs  for  a 
Country  Place/'  Professor  W.  J.  Beal,  Lansing,  Mich. 

"The  New  Grapes,"  Geo.  W.   Campbell,  Delaware,  Ohio. 

"  Grapes  that  Succeed  in  Missouri  and  Kansas,"  Samuel  Miller, 
Bluffton,  Mo. 

The  secretary  further  stated  that  he  was  in  receipt  of  a  paper 
from  David  B.  Woodbury,  of  Maine,  on  the  subject  of  "  Cross 
Hybridization  in  Floriculture."  The  papers  were  then  all  ordered 
to  be  printed  in  the  official  report  of  the  proceedings. 


MEETING 


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OF   THE 


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I 


Decemkr  9,  10,  11,  1884, 


TUESDAY  AFTERNOON. 

Called  to  order  by  the  treasurer,  J.  C.  Evans.  He  stated  that 
in  the  absence  of  both  the  president  and  vice-president,  S.  M.  Tracy 
and  A.  W.  St.  John,  it  will  be  necessary  to  appoint  a  chairman 
for  the  meeting. 

By  motion  of  the  secretary,  C.  W.  Murtfeldt  was  nominated  as 
chairman  of  the  meeting  and  unanimously  chosen. 

In  a  few  appropriate  words  he  stated  that  it  was  a  surprise  and 
a  very  pleasant  surprise,  and  pleasure  to  him  to  act  in  such  cajDacity. 
As  chairman  of  the  meeting  one  year  ago  he  realized  that  it  needed 
close  attention  to  the  programme  to  get  through  with  it  as  arranged. 

After  singing  the  doxology  and  offering  an  earnest  prayer  for 
God's  blessings  on  our  meeting,  he  opened  the  session. 

He  called  for  the  first  subject  on  the  programme.  Eeport  of 
committee  on  orchards,  by  W.  G.  Gano,  Parkville;  D.  S.  Holman, 
Springfield;  and  Chas.  Patterson,  Kirksville. 


W.  G.  GANG'S  EEPOKT  ON  OECHARDS. 

The  experiences  of  horticulturists  in  most  of  the  fruit  districts 
of  Missouri  may  be  to  a  great  degree  so  nearly  alike  that  their 
reports  for  the  past  season  may  have  somewhat  of  sameness,  and 
possibly  may  appear  to  have  been  gotten  uj)  in  something  of  the 
same  style  that  it  is  said  the  Maine  shipbuilders  were  accustomed  to, 
in  constructing  the  large  numbers  of  ships  which  were  destined  for 
the  West  India  trade  ;  that  is,  put  up  by  the  mile  and  sawed  off  in 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  87 

lengths  to  suit.  Just  so  tliese  reports,  with  few  exceptions  ;  the 
same  general  summing  up  will  be  a  season  of  poor  results. 

As  for  my  report,  were  I  to  follow  my  own  individual  ex- 
periences and  that  of  my  immediate  locality,  I  would  be  tempted 
to  lay  before  your  secretary  a  blank,  as  most  fitly  representing  the 
condition  of  things  in  my  section.  -Yet  this  would  be  hardly  fair, 
however,  as  some  sections  have  not  suifered  as  badly  as  others. 
Therefore,  I  will  not  bore  you  with  a  very  long  lecture  as  I  have 
not  the  material  for  so  doing,  even  had  I  the  inclination.  A 
retrospect  of  the  last  twelve  months  presents  to  us  a  series  of  un- 
pleasant surprises  and  fai  hires.  The  past  year  gave  us  far  below 
an  average  of  all  tree  fruits,  it  being  the  odd  or  off  fruit  year. 

Under  favorable  climatic  conditions  a  large  crop  of  fruit  could 
not  be  exj)ected.  But  when  to  this  fact  is  added  an  unusually 
long  and  severe  winter,  the  results  were  for  some  orchards  an  almost 
total  failure,  and  for  others  a  small  crop  of  fruit.  Such  seasons 
however,  are  not  an  unmixed  evil  to  horticulturists,  for  they  teach 
us  very  many  useful  lessons. 

We  thought  our  orchards  were  going  into  winter  quarters  last 
fall  in  fine  condition;  the  summer's  growth  being  well  ripened  up  to 
withstand  the  severe  cold  winter  ;  and  they  were  to  all  appearances, 
but  our  trees  were  greatly  weakened  by  the  excessive  crop  of  last 
year,  and  the  cold  winter  following  a  season  of  unusual  productive- 
ness could  not  but  be  disastrous  to  all  orchard  trees.  And  not 
bearing  a  crop  this  )'ear  will  save  tens  of  thousands  of  fruit  trees 
from  ultimate  death.  However,  springtime  came  with  sunny  skies 
and  sweet  bird  music  with  their  wealth  of  flowers  ;  for  our  orchards 
bloomed  profusely,  one  solid  mass  of  flowers.  But  owing  to  the 
exhausted  condition  of  the  trees,  the  fruit  soon  began  to  fall  and  of 
the  greater  portion  of  varieties  of  apples  very  few  remained,  while 
on  some  varieties  where  the  tree  was  not  exhausted  the  fruit  ap- 
peared to  set  and  grow  very  well. 

But  here  comes  another  disappointment,  for  it  would  seem  that 
the  elements  had  vied  with  each  other  in  their  tremendous  efforts 
to  destroy  form  in  matter  :  especially  that  which  man  had  raised 
up  as  a  monument  to  his  genius  and  industry.  The  first  of  those 
destructive  hail  storms  came  on  tlie  seventeenth  day  of  May  and  if 
I  were  to  try  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  damage,  or  try  to  describe  the 
destruction  I  w^ould  be  censured  for  overdrawing,  or  misstating. 
But  the  hurricane  and  the  hail  in  their  resistless  fury  swept  away 
the  growing  grain,  uprooted  the  trees  in  the  orchards  and  crushed 
the  fruit,  the  leaf  and  tlie  tender  growth  of  the  tree,  and  did  great 


88  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

damage,  mutilating  the  tree  by  knockingvthe  bark  from  the 
limbs  and  body  of  fruit  trees ;  for  the  orchards  that  were  in  the 
path  of  those  storms  have  presented  a  very  pitiable  condition,  des- 
titute of  both  fruit  and  leaf,  and  from  a  distance  looked  as  if  fire 
had  run  through  the  trees. 

Then,  again,  many  of  our  varieties  were  affected  with  a  leaf 
blight  or  mildew  which  affected  the  fruit,  causing  the  fruit  to  be 
knotty  or  scabby,  and  has  caused  some  varieties  to  present  a  very 
unsightly  and  sickly  aj^pearauce  during  the  summer,  and  I  fear  in 
some  instances  has  affected  the  fruit  bud  for  the  coming  crop.  This 
leaf  blight  or  scabbing  of  fruit  was  generally  more  fatal  on  our 
bluff  land,  while  the  lower  or  damper  soils  were  less  affected  both 
in  leaf  and  fruit,  and  these  orchards  have  been  the  most  profitable. 
We  find  that  our  members  in  our  Missouri  Valley  Horticultural 
Society  who  have  their  orchards  located  on  the  river  bottom  or 
damp  soils,  ai-e  the  members  who  carry  off  the  bulk  of  our 
premiums  ;  their  fruit  being  the  largest,  smoothest  and  most  per- 
fect.    This  as  a  rule,  has  not  been  the  case  generally  heretofore. 

This  surely  teaches  us  a  lesson  worthy  of  our  consideration. 
Is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  those  orchards  located  on  our 
rich,  loamy  soils,  well  drained,  where  the  roots  can  dig  deep  into 
the  storehouse  of  nature,  and  find  the  ingredients  necessary  to 
mature  a  crop  of  fruit,  and  at  the  same  time  lay  up  in  fruit  bud 
and  vitality  necessary  to  develop)  and  mature  the  crop  for  the 
coming  year?  Or  would  it  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
orchards  located  on  our  bluff  land,  bearing  a  tremendous  crop  of 
fruit,  located  where  the  moisture  evaporates  rapidly  and  the  roots  are 
parched  by  the  heated  summer's  sun  ?  The  roots  can  not  penetrate 
the  hard  pernicious  clay  sub  soil,  and  consequently  are  cut  off'  from 
supplying  the  tree  with  the  nourishment  and  vitality  ;  exhausted, 
and  with  outstretched  arms,  the  tree  is  crying,  ''give,  give."  Could 
such  a  tree  be  profitable,  or  even  expected  to  be  in  a  healthy  condi- 
tion ?     Most  certainly  not. 

Hence  my  assertion,  again  that  by  our  orchards  not  bearing  a 
crop  of  fruit  this  year  it  will  save  tens  of  thousands  of  trees  from 
ultimate  death.  Then  surely  it  has  been  a  blessing  rather  than  a 
calamity. 

Now  Mr.  Chairman,  I  only  make  mention  of  things  as  they 
have  come  under  my  observation  in  my  locality,  no  data  being  at 
hand  from  other   sources  to  enable   me  to  compile  a  report  giving 


\ 

Annual  Meetiiig  at  St.  Joseph.  89 

the  exact  state  or  condition  of  tilings  in  other  portions  of  the  state, 

and  am  only  sawing  off  this  report  in  length  to  suit  my  own  I07 

cality. 

Respectfully  suhmitted, 

W.  G.  GANG, 

Parkville,  Mo. 


REPORT  OF  D.  S.  HOLMAN. 


Speingfield,  Mu.,  Dec.  1,  1884. 
Missouri  Hoeticultural  Society, 

Gentlemen : — As  required  by  your  Secretary,  and  requested  by 
the  Chairman  of  the  committee  on  orchards,  I  hereby  report  briefly 
from  Southwest  Missouri. 

Our  people  are  but  just  learning,  after  many  years  experience 
with  wheat,  corn  and  other  grains,  that  the  Ozark  Mountain  range 
of  rich,  and  in  many  portions  stony,  soil,  is  caj)able  of  yielding 
more  money  in  return  for  less  labor  on  the  same,  or  even  less  num- 
ber of  acres  planted  in  fruit  trees,  and  more  particularly 
apples.  Hence  in  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  many  have  planted 
more  or  less  of  their  lands  to  orchards.  This  has  been  done  largely 
by  a  few.  These  orchards  have  been  j^lanted  by  no  specific  rule — 
every  man  planting  where  he  thought  he  wanted  his  orchard — some 
planted  all-they  could  pay  for,  some  planted  more.  While  some 
have  planted  most  of  those  varieties  they  have  known  and  eaten 
with  most  pleasure  since  they  were  boys — others  have  planted  for 
profit  ;  that  which  they  thought  would  give  them  the  necessary 
money.  Some  have  thus  planted  wisely.  Some  even  of  this  last 
class  otherwisely. 

'  The  last  few  years  of  our  experience  and  observation  in  South- 
west Missouri  on  this  orchard  subject  has  taught  us  that  the  first, 
and  a  very  hurtful  error  in  planting,  has  been  the  want  of  careful 
sele'ction  of  a  suitable  situation  for  the  orchard,  with  soil  to  suit 
of  course,  suitable  altitude,  slope  or  exposure  and  general  surround- 
ings. The  result  of  this  has  cooled  the  ardor  of  many  of  the  most 
zealous  and  most  reckless  planters.  For  instance  a  very  worthy 
citizen,  who  knows  more  of  law  than  horticulture,  planted  635 
apple  trees  in  the  very  best  bottom  land  he  possessed,  pushed  them 
forward   rapidly   with  the   plow,  and   rejoiced  in   their   wonderful 


90  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

growth,  making  often  large  round  figures  on  the  early  probable 
annual  income  when  his  figures  were  beginning  to  need  enlarging 
to  fit  his  increasing  expectations. 

Then  came  that  fatal  frost  or  freeze  in  1880  and  his  low  lands 
got  cold  first  and  coldest  of  all,  and  bis  beautiful  large  trees,  in 
their  succulent,  unripe  state,  froze^  all,  and  froze  to  death  like  so 
many  summer  vegetables.  He  took  down  his  figures  which  seemed 
almost  ready  to  go  into  his  bank  account,  took  up  his  trees  and  quit 
the  fruit  business  in  disgust. 

This,  while  a  severe  case,  is  but  one  of  many — some  not  so  bad 
— none  could  be  worse.  While  nearly  ctll  orchards  on  similar  land 
were  killed  at  this  same  time — many  also  of  our  orchards  on  Mgh, 
nice  situations  suffered  terribly — and  this  was  much — and  then  less 
as  some  were  from  soil,  slope  or  late  cultivation  less  mature  than 
others  of  same  varieties.  Let  me  state  in  actual  figures  just  how  it 
was  :  1 

The  autumn  of  1880  was  one  of  those  warm  seasons  full  of 
unusual  moisture  that  caused  an  unusually  late  growth  in  our 
orchards  and  nurseries  in  Southwest  Missouri,  and  while  our  people 
were  all  rejoicing  in  this  nice  weather,  not  knowing  its  danger,  a 
most  sudden  wave  of  cold  came  dov/n  upon  us— sinking  the  tem- 
perature below  zero  on  the  16th  of  November  and  there  was  a  snow 
of  six  inches — on  the  17th  it  was  twenty  degrees  below  zero.  The 
market  gardeners  lost  their  vegetables  and  we  lost  our  trees.  Could 
anything  be  worse? 

The  orchards,  excepting  those  most  protected  by  surroundings 
and  those  most  neglected,  in  the  way  of  such  cultivation  as  to  cause 
late  growth,  were  just  about  fifty  per  cent,  killed  and  the  balance 
left  in  such  an  unsatisfactory  shape,  with  such  slow,  unusual 
symptoms  that  many  of  the  best  doctors  in  horticulture  shook  their 
heads  when  asked  to  feel  the  pulse  of  our  sick  orchards.  This 
stroke  of  paralysis  has  not  killed  all  the  trees  in  our  orchards,  nor 
paralyzed  our  efforts.  Nothwithstanding  our  fruit  is  not  fine,  so 
satisfactory  as  before  nor  our  crops  so  large  as  we  expected,  I  am 
glad  to  tell  3^ou  that  our  orchards,  as  they  are,  pay  their  owners. 
Car  loads  are  shipped  almost  daily  even  now  to  Memphis  and  other 
markets  at  paying  prices  and  the  demand  at  the  nurseries  for  trees, 
especially  Ben  Davis  for  orchard  planting  for  profit,  was  never  so 
large  before. 

Peach  orchards  are  also  being  largely,  or  numerously  planted 
for    shipping  and  evaporation.     The  cold  of  1880  killed  the  peach 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joaepli.  91 

orchards — but   one  hundred    per  cent,    more  are  now  planted  than 
before. 

Pears  have  disappointed  us  all  and  none  much  more  than  my 
friend  Fink,  at  Lamar,  who  to-day  would  have  a  grand  pear 
orchard  with  a  capacity  of  several  thousand  bushels,  but  for  the 
blight.     And  so  of  Scholton  and  the  rest. 

Gentlemen,  pardon  me  for  intruding  so  long  upon  your 
patience.  D.  S.  HOLMAN, 

One  of  Committee. 


REPORT  OF  CHAS.  PATTERSOInT,  KIRKSVILLE. 


Mr.  President,  and  Members  of  the  Missotiri  State   Horticultural 

Society. 

Finding  my  name  as  one  of  the  committee  on  orchards,  I  have 
tried  to  learn  what  was  expected  of  me  without  receiving  any  definite 
or  satisfactory  instructions,  which  I  will  assume  to  mean  that  I  may 
fill  the  position  as  my  own  pleasure  may  dictate.  From  the  usual 
proceedings,  and  the  secretary's  efforts,  I  would  infer  that  you  ex- 
pect a  report  on  the  productions  of  the   orchard  for   the  past  year. 

As  I  am  mostly  confined  at  home,  excepting  an  occasional 
jaunt  on  the  railroads,  I  have  had  but  very  few  opportunities  for 
personal  observation,  and  but  little  more  for  making  inquiries ; 
therefore  my  report  will  necessarily  be  made  up  from  general,  or 
rather  limited,  impressions  and  estimates. 

The  apple  crop  did  not  near  justify  the  early  promises,  which 
were  rather  unusually  favorable.  Much  complaint  was  soon  heard 
of  the  fruit  dropping  off,  and  it  seemed  to  keep  dropping  all  sum- 
mer, but  there  was  enough  left  in  numbers  to  have  yielded  a  fair 
crop  if  the  scab,  codling  moth,  etc.,  had  allowed  full  development 
and  maturity. 

The  scab  was  probably  the  most  serious  affliction  on  apples  this 
year.  It  was  first  observed  here  about  the  20th  of  June,  and  soon 
developed  an  appearance  of  almost  total  destruction  of  the  crop,  as 
very  few  unaffected  specimens  could  be  found,  which  in  fact  was 
verified  at  gathering  time.  A  small  proportion  seemed  to  have 
outgrown  the  disease,  and  were  large  and  fair  enough  specimens 
but  for  the  marred  and  deformed  effects  of  this  pest.  In  previous 
years  I  have  thought  certain  varieties,    especially  Janets,  were  more 


9;^  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

subject  to  the  disease,  but  this  year  there  seemed  to  be  but  little 
difference  ;  the  Ben  Davis  being  as  badly  affected  as  any.  There 
was  a  small  difference  in  favor  of  some  orchards,  which  yielded 
perceivably  more  specimens  of  perfect  fruit,  but  with  them  inclu- 
ded, the  buyers  avowed  there  could  not  be  enough  "fancy"  apples 
found  to  pay  for  sorting,  while  very  few  growers  found  more  than 
half  the  crop  marketable. 

I  do  not  remember  reading  of  any  cause,  prevention  or  cure 
for  this  disease,  which  is  a  matter  of  surprise  when  we  consider  the 
number  of  theories  advanced  on  the  mysterious  pear  blight. 
There  seemed  to  be  ground  this  year  for  jumping  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  atmosphere  carried  and  deposited  some  subtle  poison, 
other  than  extreme  heat  or  cold,  wet  or  drouth,  for  these  were 
prominently  normal  at  the  time. 

The  codling  moth  was  bad  enough,  perhaps  as  bad  as  usual, 
but  his  operations  were  not  as  prominently  perceivable  in  tlie  gen- 
eral destruction  by  the  scab. 

While  on  the  subject  of  the  codling  moth,  I  will  express  a  de- 
sire that  the  experience  of  all  the  members  in  spraying  the  trees 
with  Paris  Green  and  other  poisons  to  prevent  depredations  by  this 
enemy,  may  be  ventilated  as  fully  as  practicable.  I  am  aware  that 
many  prominent  orchardists  think  they  have  found  it  an  effectual 
protection,  but  I  cannot  see  the  philosophy  of  it,  and  fear  the  ap- 
parent exemption  may  have  been  owing  to  other  causes,  leaving  us 
subject  to  disappointment.  The  moth  abstracts  no  substance  from 
the  young  apple,  tlierefore  it  would  seem  to  be  safe  from  the  poison. 
It  seeks  the  shelter  of  the  calyx  for  depositing  its  little  egg,  which 
would  seem  to  be  under  sufficient  protection  there,  and  is  likely 
to  be  somewhat  imbedded  in  the  substance  of  the  apple,  so  that 
the  young  worm  can  safely  eat  its  way  inward,  however  coated  with 
poison  the  surface  may  be.  If  Paris  Green  repels  the  moth,  and 
drives  it  from  the  apple  and  the  tree,  it  seems  strange  that  a  cheaper 
kerosene  and  carbolic  acid   emulsion   should  not  be  more  effectual. 

Besides  these  causes  cutting  the  apple  crop  short,  there  were  a 
number  of  the  largest  and  heretofore  considered  the  best  orchards, 
that  were  almost  barren,  probably  from  want  of  pruning  and  culti- 
vation, as  I  tried  to  point  out  last  year.  Before  criticizing  this 
position  severely,  either  publicly  or  with  mental  reservations,  please 
consider  the  great  difference  there  may  be  in  your  soil  and  the  one 
I  am  writing  about.  This  may  reveal  itself  in  great  difference  of 
both  root  and  top  of  the  same  variety  of  young  trees.  Yours  may 
make  an  upright   growth  of  but  few   branches,  while   ours  make 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseijh.  93 

numerous  branches,  inclining  more  to  be  horizontal.  Your  soil 
may  grow  but  few  roots,  mostly  straight  downward,  while  ours 
makes  mostly  side  roots,  spreading  horizontally  with  the  surface. 
This  difference  may  be  fully  as  perceivable  on  older  trees,  which 
therefore  may  require  less  pruning  with  you  than  with  us.  And 
a  more  open  subsoil  than  ours,  where  the  water  can  filter  through 
more  rapidly,  and  carry  the  nutriment  it  finds  and  dissolves  near 
the  surface  further  down,  distributing  it  to  the  apple  roots  as  well 
as  to  the  surface  growth  of  grass  or  weeds,  may  not  need  as  much 
cultivation,  or  not  need  it  as  soon  as  ours.  But  wheu  I  hear  men 
advocating  no  pruning,  and  no  cultivation  after  a  certain  few  years, 
I  feel  almost  as  certain  of  disappointment  in  store  on  one  soil  as 
another,  with  only  a  little  difference  in  time.  There  is  no  place  on 
the  globe  where  j^otatoes  can  be  grown  as  good  without  cultivation 
as  they  can  with  it,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  apples  can  be 
grown  as  good  or  as  profitably  without  cultivation  as  with  it,  any- 
Avhere.  The  dead  and  dying  branches  they  talk  of  removing,  should 
always  have  been  removed  long  before  they  came  into  that  condi- 
tion. Their  presence  on  the  trees  is  the  strongest  possible  proof 
that  the  manager  either  did  not  understand  his  business,  or  neg- 
lected it,  and  then,  Adam-like,  tried  to  find  an  excuse  for  it. 

The  price-current  here  for  apples  was  3oc.  per  bushel,  and  was 
considered  quite  unsatisfactory  by  many,  perhaps  mostly  because 
they  have  frequently  brought  50c.,  and  we  expected  as  much,  or 
nearly  as  much,  this  year.  But  I  find  we  will  have  to  reconcile 
ourselves  to  considering  this  quite  satisfactory.  It  is  so  nearly 
equal  to  %%  per  barrel  in  St.  Louis,  that  a  man  is  scarcely  paid  for 
his  labor  and  risk,  and  by  the  time  a  consumer  pays  for  going 
through  one,  two,  or  three  hands  more,  he  is  entitled  to  our  sym- 
pathy. It  is  also  fully,  or  very  nearly,  equal  to  the  price  received 
by  growers  much  further  east,  as  in  Ohio  and  even  interior  New 
York,  where  culls  for  evaporating  and  cider  were  sold  for  7  to  15c. , 
which  we  have  not  learned  to  make  pay  for  the  labor  of  gathering 
and  hauling.  From  all  accounts  I  judge  that  40c.  has  been  about 
the  outside  price  jjaid  anywhere  for  shipj^ing  at  gathering  time,  and 
all  agree  that  the  returns  have  been  satisfactory  and  j^rofitable, 
compared  with  other  pi'oducts  of  the  soil. 

Of  Early  Eichmond  cherries  we  had  a  full  crop — all  that  the 
trees  were  cajaable  of  bearing.  There  are  not  half  enough  trees 
planted  to  furnish  the  country  what  would  be  used  if  produced, 
even  in  such  a  plentiful  year.  They  seem  to  be  as  reliable  for  a 
crop,  as  apples,   if  planted  on  ground  that  does  not  hold  stagnant 


94  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

water  in  a  wet  season.  In  such  places  they  will  die  sooner  or  later. 
There  have  probably  been  as  many  trees  of  other  varieties  planted, 
but  we  find  only  one  here  and  there,  yielding  a  small  quantity  of 
fruit  very  occa'sionally,  except  the  English  Morello,  which  seems  to 
do  nearly  as  well  as  the  Richmond.  Some  newer  kinds,  which  we 
hope  Avil]  divide  the  honors  with,  if  not  supersede  these,  have  not 
been  fruited  much  yet. 

Peaches  we  have  not  had  a  crop  of  for  three  years,  while 
previously  we  had  them  four  years  in  succession,  and  what  trees  are 
now  left,  after  three  test  winters,  naturally  short  lived  and  decayed,  can 
not  be  expected  to  yield  much  next  year,  even  if  we  should  have  no 
winter  at  all.  Hence  this  is  being  voted  "^  no  country  for  peaches," 
although  we  have  seen  them  pay  very  well ;  very  seldom  seen  any 
plantings  that  did  not  pay,  and  I  hope  yet  to  prove  personally  by 
1500  trees,  now  two  and  three  years  old,  that  they  do  pay. 

Of  pears  we  never  did  have  a  crop,  except  a  few  occasional  trees 
that  escaped  the  blight.  We  have  hopes  that  the  KeifPer  may  prove 
as  good  as  it  now  promises. 

Plums  are  hardly  worth  mention,  because  there  have  been  but 
few  planted  of  the  Wild  Goose  class.  Occasionally  a  Damson  bears 
very  fully. 

Grapes  were  j)robably  not  much  over  half  a  crop,  but  this  is 
nearly  that  much  better  than  some  places  I  hear  of  near  the  great 
rivers.     I  do  not  remember  a  nearer  failure  here. 

Strawberries  were  a  full  crop,  wherever  there  were  any  planted 
and  attended  to. 

Same  of  raspberries  and  blackberries.  We  are  just  beginning 
to  grow  something  over  half  what  this  town  would  consume,  while 
most  towns  around  us  have  hardly  discovered  their  wants  yet. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  think  this  country  well  adapted  to  fruit 
growing,  if  we  except  peaches.  But  I  do  not  expect  to  see  it  ad- 
vancing much  as  a  fruit  country,  because  we  have  not  the  men  cal- 
culated to  make  it  much  of  a  success.  I  cannot  call  to  mind  a 
single  man  in  my  acquaintance  who  makes  fruit  growing  on  any 
but  a  very  small  scale  an  exclusive  business.  The  few  who  have 
planted  what  might  be  termed  large  orchards,  in  connection  with 
farming,  are  not  putting  much  study  or  labor  on  them,  and  cannot 
be  expected  to  make  a  perfect  success  of  them.  Some  succeed 
poorly  enough  in  growing  corn,  but  if  they  knew  no  more  about 
that,  and  tried  as  little  to  find  out,  as  they  do  about  an  orchard,  we 
would  not  have  "hog  and  hominy."' 

While  considering  the  prospects  of  fruit  for  millions,   it  may 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  95 

not  be  amiss  to  take  into  account  the  modern  tendency  to  disseminate 
extensively  the  new  and  untried  varieties,  depreciating  and  under- 
valuing everything  that  is  well  known,  as  being  much  inferior  to 
the  later  productions,     I  have  seen  canvassing  outfits  with  upwards 
of  one  hundred  colored  plates,  every  one  of  new,  untried  varieties, 
without  claims  to  endorsement  here,  while  not  one  of  the  leading 
varieties  was  represented.     That  is  the  way  they  make  a  run  on 
these  things,  to  the  nearest  practicable  exclusion  of  the  old,  cheap, 
well  known  kinds,  thus  converting  the  whole  country  into  an  ex- 
perimental field — that  is,  if  the  old,  cheap,  well  known  kinds  are  not 
merely  ornamented  with  the  new,  high  sounding  labels,   which  in 
most  instances  would  be  quite  a  relief.     I  think  we  can  do  no  less  as 
a  society  than  to  enter  a  protest,  and  state  frankly  whether  there  is 
any  such  revolution  or  change  of  fashion  in  the  horticultural  world, 
as  this  would  imply.     As  a  most  emphatic  answer,  by  one  of  our 
best  authorities,  I  will  quote  T.  T,  Lyon,  president  of  the  Michigan 
State  Horticultural  Society.     He  says  :     "The  fact  is  patent  to  all, 
that  of  the  thousands  of  new  fruits  put  forward  as  valuable  im- 
provements, within  the  recollection  of  most  of  us,   and  skillfully 
used  to  transfer  large  sums  from  the  pockets  of  many,  for  the  benefit 
of  a  few,  more  than  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  have  turned 
out  absolutely  worthless," 

Eespectfully  submitted, 
KiRKSViLLE,  Mo.,  Dec,  8th,  1884.  CHAS.  PATTERSON, 

Discussioisr, 

Question  by  J,  A,  Bayles  :  Asked  if  the  Ben  Davis  was  killed 
in  the  cold  season  Mr,  Holman  speaks  of. 

Answer  :  They  were. 

Chairman  Murtfeldt  says  that  on  all  the  stands  in  St.  Louis  he 
finds  Ben  Davis  and  thinks  they  are  poor  eating.  We  ought  to 
have  something  better,  and  thinks  they  will  not  pay  to  raise  long. 

Bayles  asks  why  they  continue  to  sell  then  ? 


WHERE  SHALL  WE  PLANT    OUR   APPLE    ORCHARDS  ? 


BY    DAN    CARPENTER,    BARRY,    MO. 

The  subject  assigned  to  me  concerns  not  only  the  grower,  but 
the  dealer  and  consumer.  The  grower,  for  permanency  and  profit, 
the  dealer  for  regular  supply  to  his  trade  and  the  consumer  for 
economy  and  quality. 


96  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  question,  "Where  shall  we  plant?"  is  of  equal  interest 
with  "What  shall  we  plant."  In  fact  a  clear  understanding  of 
"  WJier'e  we  must,  or  shall  plant,"  will  quite  definitely  determine 
"  What  we  must  or  shall  plant." 

The  location  and  aspect,  should,  and  with  ex^jerience  and 
investigation  in  that  direction,  will  decide  what  (varieties)  we  must 
plant  to  make  not  only  apple,  but  all  fruit  growing  successful  and 
profitable. 

With  this  view  I  wish  the  subject  could  have  been  assigned  to 
one  of  larger  experience,  more  extended  observation,  and  more 
definite  knowledge. 

But  believing  every  member  should  try  to  do  the  work  assigned 
him,  imparting  as  well  as  receiving,  I  enter  ujjon  the  duty  without 
apology,  trusting  this  my  first  paper  before  your  intelligent  society 
of  earnest  and  vigilant  workers  will  be  criticised  with  that  "charity 
that  thinketh  no  evil." 

"  Where  shall  we  plant  our  apple  orchards?"  In  thoroughly 
and  deeply  pulverized,  cleanly  cultivated,  highly  enriched,  deep, 
vegetable  loam,  sandy  enough  to  be  easily  worked,  with  porous  sub- 
soil, leaf  mould  of  timber  land  being  jji-eferable  to  the  grassy  loam 
of  the  prairie,  as  afiiording  more  plant  food  for  the  growth  of  wood, 
as  well  as  the  necessary  food  for  the  growth  and  perfection  of  fruit. 

With  these  necessary  pre-requisites  the  location,  the  aspect, 
"where  to  plant "  is  to  be  considered. 

With  all  deference  to  horticultural  writers  of  eminence  and 
authority,  I  am  comjielled  by  experience,  oljservation,  j^ersonal 
knowledge  and  the  opinions  of  others,  like  myself  unknown  to  the 
horticultural  world,  to  differ  from  the  generally  received  opinions 
and  recommendations  of  writers,  most  of  whom  recommend  a 
southern,  southwestern  or  southeastern  slope.  I  would  j^lant  on  a 
northeastern,  eastern  or  northern  slope,  in  the  order  named,  with 
some  exceptions  when  varieties  are  considered. 

This  affords  material  shelter  from  the  prevailing  southwest  and 
southern  winds  which  cause  so  many  trees  to  incline  their  heads 
northeastwardly.  The  crest  of  the  elevation  receiving  the  fierce 
blasts  becomes  a  shield  to  the  young  trees  before  their  roots  have 
laid  their  strong  hold  upon  a  solid  foundation. 

Mr.  Quinn  in  his  "pear  culture  for  pleasure  and  profit"  says  : 
"  My  opinion,  founded  on  long  exiDcrience,  is  in  favor  of  a  north- 
eastern aspect  on  rising  ground;"  also,  "there  is  little  to  be 
feared  from  late  frosts  on  high  or  rising  ground."  He  further 
says,  "that  to  shelter  an  orchard  from  the  prevailing  wind,  is  often 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejih.  97 

more  important  even  than  the  aspect."  What  is  here  said  of  the 
pear  is  equally  trne  in  culture  of  the  apple  for  pleasure  and  profit ; 
terms  synonymous  with  most  men ;  a  good  profit  afEording  great 
pleasure. 

The  prevailing  southwest  winds  of  spring  and  summer  which 
incline  so  many  orchards  to  the  northeast  are  broken  of  their  force. 
Less  bearing  is  required  to  secure  erect  trunks. 

Trees  erect  are  less  affected  by  the  hot  rays  of  the  long  July 
and  August  afternoon  sun,  and  sun-scald  on  southwest  side  of  trees 
less  liable,  avoiding  the  happy  home  of  tlie  flat  head  borer,  which 
never  works  on  green  work. 

On  south  and  southwest  slopes,  unless  young  trees  are  strongly 
staked  for  several  years,  or  well  protected  by  natural  or  artificial 
wind  brakes  the  inclination  to  northeast  is  almost  certain,  exposing 
the  trunk  to  the  almost  perpendicular  rays  of  the  sun  from  three 
to  five  P.  M.  producing  sun-scald,  decay,  flat  head  borer  and  death. 

On  northeast  slopes  with  erect  trunks  the  sun's  rays  during 
these  hours  strike  the  trees  more  obliquely  and  with  less  power. 
My  experience  corroborates  these  statements  :  my  observation  in 
old  and  young  orchards  confirms  them  ;  the  testimony  of  a  number 
of  others  have  established  me  in  this  belief.  They  are  fully  sus- 
tained by  Mr.  Berry  in  his  "Fruit  Garden,"  and  while  Mr.  Down- 
ing recommends  in  strong  terms  a  southwestern  exposure,  he  makes 
exceptions  favoring  the  foregoing  views. 

On  the  northeast  there  is  a  more  gradual  warming  of  the  soil 
in  spring  time  and  slower  opening  of  bloom. 

As  in  all  deep,  narrow  valleys  a  cold,  damp  atmosphere  settles, 
producing  late  frost,  no  upple  should  be  planted  below  the  upper 
line  of  this  cold  cloud. 

But  all  cannot  have  these  desii'ed  conditions  :  Shall  they  not 
plant?  Don't  misunderstand  me  :  The  American  people  will 
plant  fruit  trees — from  a  one-fourth  acre  suburban  lot  to  a  thousand 
acre  commercial  orchard,  all  will  plant — no  matter  what  the  loca- 
tion. Fruit  the  people  must  and  will  have  ;  and  how  much  more 
delicious  is  that  grown  by  one's  own  labor  and  care. 

It  is  the  duty  of  this  Society  to  aid  all  it  can  by  experience. 
How  shall  it  be  done?  By  studying  to  learn  the  adaptahility  of 
varieties  to  given  localities.  When  this  has  been  done — when  as 
much  attention  has  been  given  to  determining  the  varieties  of  ap- 
ples adapted  to  a  given  condition  of  soil  and  location,  as  has  been 
given  to  the  propagation  and  sale  of  new  and  untried  varieties  :  or, 
as  has  been   given  to   determine    what  is   best  for   peaches,    pears. 


98  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

grapes,  etc.,  it  will  be  found  we  can  plant  some  varieties  anywhere 
where  there  is  soil  enough  to  grow  a  tree  ;  and  be  sure  of  eating  the 
fruit  of  our  own  labor. 

Of  course  no  one  will  plant  in  ponds,  muck -beds,    marshes  or 
wet  lands. 

If  this  be  correct,  it  is  important  to  know  what  varieties  will 
grow  successfully  on  the  location  and  soil  we  have.     All  varieties 
of  apples,  also  of  peaches,  pears,  and  other  fruits,  do  not  succeed 
equally  well  on  the  same  ground.     Some  do  best  on  dry  locations  ; 
some  on  moderately  dry,  and  some  on  moist ;  others  do  well   even 
on  damp  situations.     Some  do  best  on  high  land,   others  on  mod- 
erately  low  ;    some  at  the  hill-top,  some  near  it,   others  further 
down,  and  some  even  as  low   down  as   the  dividing   line   between 
damp  and  wet  land.      The  Ben  Davis  has  fine,  regularly  formed 
and   perfect   fruit    just   above   the    wet   line.      The    Geniton   on 
northern  and  eastern  slope,  between  moist  and  dry.     The  Baldwin 
on   the   two   extremes  of  damp   and  dry.      Northern  Spy  on  dry. 
Jonathan  on  top  and  southern  slope.     Lowell  fine  on  the  dry  belt. 
Benoni    on   southern   slope,  not  too  low  down.     Hubbardston  on 
level,  dry  and  even  poor  soil  is  liard   to  excel.      Dominie   on   high 
and  dry.       Orkley,    with  me,  a  failure  on  high  and  dry.     Colvert 
splendid  as  low  down  as  dampness.       Early  Harvest  near  top  and 
on  northern  slope ;  don't  want  southwest.     Willow  Twig  and  Eed 
Astracham   want  high   and    dry.      Y.  Bellflower  will  stand  quite 
moist ;   best  on  dry.       W.  W.  Pearmain  wants  a  horticultural  phy- 
sician, or  the  woodman's  ax  laid  at  its  root,   and  the   query,   "why 
cumbereth  it  the  ground?"  answered  with  the  command,  "cut  it 
down  !  "      Rambo  wants  strong,   clean   and  dry  elevated  position. 
Fall    Queen  avoids   moisture.   Maiden  Blush  will  stand  it.     Milam 
from   damp  to   dry.      White  (winter)  Pippin  on  a  dry   southern 
slope,    and    Newtown    Pippin   must    be   kept   off    of    dampness. 
These   are  not  named  as  being  the  best   situations,    but  to  show 
that  varieties  might  be  selected  to   suit  any  location,    and   that  a 
careful  examination  of  orchards  would  enable  us  to  determine  just 
what  varieties   to   plant   on   different  situations,  with  certainty  of 
fruit. 

I  have  in  my  mind  several  old  orchards  planted  over  fifty  years, 
especially  one  on  a  narrow  ridge  from  northwest  to  southeast  ; 
rising,  perhaps,  thirty  feet  in  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  from 
northeast,  and  descending  about  one-half  as  much  to  southwest.  I 
have  looked  at  this  orchard  for  thirty  years,  from  my  office  window, 
beholding  and  enjoying  its  delicious  fruit.     Scarcely  a  tree  is  missing 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  99 

■on  the  northeast  side  to  the  top,  while  nearly  every  one  is  gone 
from  the  top,  which  is  only  wide  enough  for  one  or  two  rows.  The 
southwest  was  re-set  in  1859.  Scarcely  a  sound  tree  remains  and 
the  larger  portion  are  split  by  the  winds,  scorched  by  the  sun,  and 
are  giving  way  for  a  third  planting. 

All  high  lands  have  not  a  dry,  porous  subsoil ;  nor  are  all  low 
lands  necessarily  too  wet  for  some  varieties  of  apples. 

Never  plant  on  '^  new  ground,"  nor  on  land  cultivated  less 
than  three  years — ten  would  be  better.  If  we  investigate  the  nature 
and  condition  of  soil  and  location,  study  the  varieties,  and  location 
of  same  in  orchards,  we  shall  find  apples  adapted  to  any  location 
where  a  tree  will  grow.  The  query  shall  thus  be  changed  from 
'•  loliere  shall  we  plant?"  to  '^ what  varieties  may  be  planted  on  a 
given  soil  and  location,  with  assurance  of  fruit  ?  " 

Trusting  these  suggestions  may  stimulate  the  more  experienced 
and  intelligent  to  a  careful  investigation  and  observation  of  facts 
necessary  to  a  knowledge  of  what  varieties  may  be  planted  on  hill- 
top, hillside  and  valley  ;  on  the  various  inclinations  of  rolling  land, 
and  on  the  levels  of  bottoms  and  upland,  I  submit  this  my  first 
paper  to  the  criticism  of  my  better  informed  brethren, 

Bakkt,  Clay  Coujsttt,  Mo.,  Dec.  Gth,  1884. 

Next  followed  a  paper  on 

HOW  TO  KEEP  OUR  ORCHARDS  HEALTHY. 


BY    N.   F.   iIURRY%  OF    ELM    GROVE. 

This  is  a  very  important  question  :  and  one  not  only  affecting 
the  interests  of  the  orchardist,  but  also  the  commercial  interests  of 
our  whole  country  as  well  as  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  fruit- 
hungry  millions  who  wait  for  the  rich,  luscious,  and  life-giving 
fruits  of  our  orchards. 

In  order  to  speak  intelligently  on  this  subject  we  must  first 
seek  to  find  out,  as  far  as  possible,  the  causes  of  the  unhealthy  con- 
dition and  premature  decay  of  our  western  orchards  before  we 
attempt  to  prescribe  remedies. 

That  our  orchards  in  general  are  in  a  deplorable  condition  no 
one  will  deny.  We  look  up  and  down  the  blufE  lands  along  our 
rivers,  and  out  over  our  broad,  rich  prairies,  for  healthy  orchards, 
but  look  in  vain.     In   place  of  finding  the  rich,  bright,  green  and 


100  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

glossy  leaves,  the  sign  of  health  and  vigor,  we  see  a  scant  and 
sickly  foliage  in  which  the  keen  eye  of  the  experienced  horticnl- 
turist  will  read  starvation,  premature  decay,  and  death  for  miles 
around  him. 

It  might  be  well  for  us  here  to  inquire 

HOW    LONG 

Ave  may  expect  our  orchards  to  last — find  out  if  we  can  how  long- 
each  species  and  vai'iety  of  our  standard  fruits  is  likely  to  live 
under  favorable  conditions  and  fair  treatment,,  in  order  that  we 
may  know  what  to  expect. 

We  will  first  speak  of  the  apple,  the  standard  and  king  of  all 
fruits.  Mr.  Knight,  of  England,  famous  in  horticulture,  has 
placed  the  duration  of  the  apple  tree,  when  worked  and  grown  on 
a  healthy  seedling  stock,  at  two  hundred  years  ;  and  sj)eaks  of 
trees  on  record  as  being  over  one  thousand  years  old,  and  still  in 
healthy,  fruiting  condition. 

S.  W.  Cole,  of  Massachusetts,  in  his  book  published  in  1850, 
tells  of  apple  trees  twelve  feet  in  circumference  ;  and  claims  that 
the  apple  tree,  in  a  wild  state,  with  moderate,  regular  growth, 
would  live  one  hundred  years,  or  more,  and  states  that  he  had  fruit 
from  a  tree  in  Plymouth  two  hundred  years  old.  Mr.  Cole  also 
says  that  under  high  culture,  they  often  fail  at  one-half  that  age. 
I  have  myself  seen  trees  of  the  Eoxbury  Ensset  that  were  planted 
near  Marietta,  Ohio,  by  the  celebrated  Israel  Putnam,  in  179G,  that 
were  seventy  years  old,  still  healthy  and  bearing  well.  The 
original  Grimes  Golden  Pippin  tree,  in  Brook  county.  West 
Virginia,  was  reported  some  years  ago  to  he  eighty  years  of  age  and 
still  in  good  health. 

From  my  own  experience  and  observation  in  the  Ohio  Eiver 
Valley,  I  feel  safe  in  placing  the  average  life  of  apple  orchards  there 
at  sixty  years.  As  we  come  westward  we  find  it  much  shorter. 
Some  writer  claims  the  average  age  in  Illinois  to  be  twenty  years, 
and  in  Missouri  twenty-five  years. 

From  our  experience  of  sixteen  years  in  Northwest  Missouri,  I 
would  not  feel  safe  in  placing  the  average  above  thirty-five  years. 

In  tracing  the  cause  we  fail  to  find  it  in  any  one  of  the  numerous 
theories  advanced,  nor  do  we  find  it  to  our  satisfaction  in  the 
geographical  position  ,of  the  country,  nor  in  the  climate,  nor  yet  in 
the  soil.  I  believe  there  is  much  truth,  and  some  of  error  in  most 
that  has  been  written  on  this  subject ;  and  while  we  hail  with  joy 
each  ray  of  light,  and  excuse  the  mistakes  of  our  worthy  brothers, 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  101 

we  confess  that  we  are  fallible  and   liable  to  err  and  beg  largely  for 
A-our  cliarit}'  as  we  hasten  on  to  seek  new  light. 

I  believe  that  one  great  cause  underlying  this  question  is  that 
in  our  mad  rush  and  greed  to 

MULTIPLY   TREES, 

to  satisfy  the  demand  for  cheaj)  nursery  trees,  we  departed  from  one 
of  the  great  and  grand  laws  of  nature  that  should  never  have 
been  violated,  wheu  in  place  of  making  one  root  for  each  graft, 
from  each  seedling,  grafting  at  the  collar,  we  went  to  cutting  them 
into  small  roots,  often  making  from  two  to  five  or  even  a  dozen 
roots  from  each  stock. 

This  practice  may  suit  the  nurseryman  who  feels  that  he  must 
grow  cheap  trees,  so  he  can  comjDcte  with  others  who  follow  the 
same  practice.  The  public  have  no  right  to  complain  so  long  as 
they  are  unwilling  to  pay  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  cents  for  their 
trees,  but  in  my  opinion  such  stock  will  never  make  the  large, 
healthy,  lasting  trees  that  once  flourished  in  our  country,  and  that 
were  started  before  this  pernicious  style  was  introduced. 

That  this  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  short  duration  of 
our  apple  orchards  we  learn  from  our  own  experience  and  from  the 
fact  that  it  has  been  almost  rfniversally  practiced,  east  and  west  for 
nearly  fifty  years,  and  that  we  hear  our  own  lamentations  re- 
echoed by  our  eastern  brethren,  victims  of  the  same  mistake. 

I  believe 

AIsrOTHEE    CAUSE 

of  the  short  duration  of  our  orchards  to  be  the  forced  overgrowth 
Iseginning  with  the  nui'seryman. 

On  his  extra  rich  and  nicely  prepared  soil  he  is  anxious  to  grow 
trees  as  large  as  possible  so  they  can  be  sold  at  two  or  three  years 
old.  Many  such  trees  perish  in  the  hands  of  the  planter  during 
the  first  few  years,  from  the  same  reason  that  highly  fed  cattle  from 
the  stalls  fail  to  thrive  and  fatten  when  turned  out  on  the  ransre,  or 
into  the  hands  of  careless  stock  feeders.  Now  I  think  that  in  order 
to  have  our  orchards  healthy,  we  must,  as  far  as  may  be,  go  back 
to  first  principles,  and  pay  more  attention  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

We  must  renounce  both  the  forced  overgroivth  and  the  starva- 
tion systems. 

We  must  start  wath  seed  carefully  selected  from  healthy  trees — 
grow  them  one  year,  then  graft  just  above  the  collar,  and  grow  our 
nursery  trees. 


102  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

ON  UPLAND 

of  average  richness — give  them  fair  cultivation  and  proper  train- 
ing— transjalant  into  our  orchards  at  two  or  three  years  old,  setting 
but  slightly  deeper  than  they  grew  in  the  nursery.  Continue  to 
cultivate,  prune  and  care  for  them  each  year — keep  them  clear  of 
borers  and  other  insects.  Beware  of  the  cutting  and  slashing 
process  called  pruning.  This  has  been  practiced  to  such  an  extent 
in  Northwest  Missouri  that  very  many  orchards  have  been  literally 
ruined. 

I  do  not  object  to  judicious  annual  pruning.  This  will  be 
needed  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  owing  to  quality,  lay  of  land, 
and  habit  of  varieties  ;  but  to  neglect  the  orchard  for  years  until 
the  trees  become  a  mass  of  brush  and  then  go  to  work  and  cut 
one-fourth  to  one-half  the  top,  as  we  have  so  often  seen,  is  rwm. 

The  cutting  away  of  large  limbs  from  old  bearing  trees,  to 
induce  new  growth  and  thriftiness,  and  at  the  same  time  neglect  to 
cultivate  or  mulch,  is  foolishness.  Better  first  feed  and  nourish 
the  tree,  and  increase  the  flow  of  sap,  as  the  wise  physician  would 
advise  nourishment  for  a  starved  and  emaciated  patient,  rather 
than  blood  letting.  Then  if  the  cutting  of  large  limbs  cannot  be 
avoided,  cut  or  saw  them  smoothly,  at  tlie  right  place  and  the 
proper  angle,  and  immediately  paint  the  wound  with  a  good  thick 
coat — using  the  best  paint.  Paint  again  in  a  day  or  too ;  and  after 
that  once  in  one  or  two  years  until  the  cut  is  healed  over. 

Joining  my  place  is  an  orchard  that  was  planted  just  thirty 
years  ago.  The  present  owner  found  it,  in  the  spring  of  1881,  a 
first-class  specimen  product  of  mistakes  and  neglect  running  back 
to  the  day  it  was  planted. 

He  found  it  necessary  to  cut  away  one-third  of  the  wood  from 
the  tops.  I  carefully  examined  that  orchard  a  few  days  ago,  and 
was  surprised  to  see  the  good  effect  of  painting.  I  examined  where 
large  limbs,  some  of  them  six  inches  in  diameter,  luid  been  removed 
in  March  and  April,  1881,  and  found  the  wood  perfectly  sound, 
and  healing  over  nicely.  And  I  failed  to  find  the  black  streaks, 
below  the  cuts,  that  we  always  find  to  follow  such  cutting,  unless 
painted,  and  which  will  sooner  or  later,  kill  the  trees. 

BE    CAREFUL 

You  don't  bank  up  the  earth  around  the  trees.  I  have  known 
a  number  of  fine  trees  entirely  killed  by  the  earth  being  heaped  up 
around  them  from  one  to  two  feet.  They  will  sicken  and  die  out 
in  a  few  years.     The  nature  of  our  soil  in  Holt  county  is  such  that 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Jose^jJi.  103 ' 

if  left  in  ridges  or  mounds  about  the  trees,  without  frequent  stirring 
or  mulching  it  will  become  so  hard  and  close  as  to  prove  a  com- 
plete watershed.  ' 

ANOTHER   GREAT   CAUSE 

of  our  orchards  becoming  exhausted  and  dying  so  early  is  leaving 
them  in  a  neglected  condition  after  they  come  into  bearing. 

This  is  often  done  from  an  erroneous  impression  that  they  are 
now  raised,  and  able  to  make  their  way  without  further  assistance. 

This  reminds  us  of  the  man  who  worked  his  corn  before  he 
planted  it  by  giving  the  land  extra  preparation — planted,  and  in 
the  fall  had  a  little  very  small  fodder  and  a  superabundance  of 
first-class  weeds.  So  with  our  orchards  where  left  at  bearing  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  We  first  find  a  check  of  growth  and  the 
formation  of  an  immense  amount  of  fruit  buds ;  and  if  the  season 
is  favorable  the  result  may  be  one  extra  fine  crop,  Avith  but  little  if 
any  injury  to  the  trees. 

This  leads  some  into  the  mistake  of  non-cultivation.  Often 
we  hear  men  say  "^my  orchard  never  bore  much  till  I  quit  cultiva- 
tion." 

I  admit  that  on  all  our  very  rich  soils,  where  the  trees  seem  to 
be  growing  too  fast,  and  not  bearing  well,  a  temjDorary  stoppage,  or 
a  check  of  cultivation,  is  a  good  plan  ;  but  look  out  after  you  have 
got  your  first  heavy  crop.  If  you  fail  to  either  cultivate  or  mulch, 
you  will  have  over-fruitfulness. 

The  trees  will  be  unable  to  grow  and  to  mature  their  vast 
crops,  and  will  become  exhausted  and  sickly,  and  if  left  in  that 
condition,  will  die  in  a  few  years.  In  such  cases  we  must  seek  a 
remedy  either  in  renewing  the  cultivation,  or  in  mulching.  Some 
advise  thinning  the  fruit.  This  may  do  in  theqry,  or  to  practice 
in  a  small  way,  but  in  general  it  is  not  practicable. 

I  have  an  orchard  planted  fourteen  years  ago  on  rather  thin 
upland,  that  was  cultivated  in  corn  the  first  four  years,  and  then 
cultivated  the  orchard  without  any  crops  for  five  years  ;  then  seeded 
it  down  with  clover,  and  quit  cultivating  it  for  three  years.  And 
for  the  last  two  years  I  have  cultivated  strips  between  the  rows, 
leaving  strips  along  the  rows  in  clover  to  prevent  washing  ;  have 
mulched  and  manured  some  but  not  heavy.  The  result  is  as  fol- 
lows :  At  five  years  a  beautiful  orchard  beginning  to  bear — trees 
yielded  from  a  peck  up  to  four  bushels  each.  And  continued 
growing  and  increasing  in  the  yield  of  fruit  up  to  one  year  after 
sowing   in   clover.     Since  that  time  the  growth  has  become  weaker 


104  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

and  less  each  year,  fruit  abundant  but  under  size.  This  year's  crop 
the  poorest  of  all.  I  am  satisfied  I  have  lost  forty  per  cent,  by  the 
clover  and  non-cultivation  process.  I  now  have  it  fall  plowed  and 
intend  to  work  it  thoroughly,  giving  it  some  lime  and  ashes.  In 
cultivating,  I  find  small  mules  the  best  team,  and  use  the  short  top 
hame  ;  a  short  double  and  single  tree,  made  for  the  purpose,  and  a 
device  at  the  end  of  the  plow  beam  that  can  be  set  so  as  to  throw 
the  double-tree  as  far  as  it  will  bear  from  the  tree  row  in  finishing 
up.     In  this  way  I  get  quite  close  without  injury  to  the  trees. 

I  once  knew  a  friend  to  seed  his  fine  young  orchard  in  grass. 
This  soon  checked  the  growth  and  induced  fruitfulness  ;  but  in  a 
few  years  he  found  his  fruit  so  small  and  inferior  that  he  concluded 
to  plow  and  cultivate.  The  next  year  he  was  rewarded  with  alarge 
crop  of  fine  fruit.  Not  being  satisfied  to  let  w^ell  enough  alone, 
he  covered  his  orchard  three  inches  deep  with  barn-yard  manure, 
and  still  cultivated — one  more  fine  crop,  and  the  next  winter  one- 
half  of  his  trees  were  entirely  killed.  Now  I  believe  the  orchard 
would  have  been  all  right  with  the  cultivation  and  without  the 
manure,  or  with  the  mulch  without  cultivation  ;  but  both  together 
was  too  much. 

Our  orchards  can  only  be  kept  in  proper  condition  by  constant 
care  and  watching,  much  the  same  as  the  intelligent  farmer  gives 
to  his  herds.  We  must  see  to  it  that  our  trees  are  neither  over-fed 
nor  starved — that  they  neither  die  from  too  much  water  or  from 
drouth, 

I  feel  confident  that  almost  all  our  upland  orchards  in  Missouri 
suffer  very  much  during  the  summer  months,  especially  in  July 
and  August,  from  a  lack  of  moisture. 

If  Ave  could  in  some  way  retain  the  annual  rainfall  belonging 
to  each  tree,  we  w©uld  see  a  great  improvement  in  the  health  of 
our  o-rchards. 

We  can  see  evidence  of  this  in  the  flourishing  condition  of 
trees  in  the  little  valleys  where  they  get  more  than  their  share  of 
the  rainfall. 

A  recent  writer  attributes  the  present  barren  and  unhealthy 
condition  of  the  orchards  on  the  rolling  lands  of  Illinois  to  a  lack 
of  water — too  much  of  tlie  rain  is  lost.  Another  repoi'ts  good 
success  in  growing  pears  in  wet  land,  almost  a  slough.  We  find 
King  David  has  made  a  note  on  our  side  of  this  question,  when  he 
compares  the  righteous  man  to  a  '^tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season.  His  leaf  also 
shall   not  wither."      Now,  if  we  would  keep  our  orchards  healthy. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Jose^jh.  105 

we  must  prevent  the  leaves  from  withering  ;  and  it  must  be  done 
largely  through  the  agency  of  water.  Our  most  successful  straw- 
berry growers  call  on  us  to  give  our  strawberry  beds  water,  water, 
and  a  little  more  luater.  I  believe  the  same  advice  followed  up 
witli  our  orchards  would  increase  the  health  of  our  trees  to  a  won- 
derful degree.  In  order  to  secure  this  supply  of  water,  much  may 
be  done  by  fall  plowing,  by  summer  cultivation,  and  by  mulching. 

Care  should  always  be  taken  to  level  away  the  mounds  or  water- 
she(Js  we  so  often  see  around  trees.  From  what  I  have  said  of 
water  for  trees.  I  hope  no  one  will  suppose  me  to  be  opposed  to 
under-draining. 

Healthy  orchards  will  only  stand  on  ground  naturally  or 
otherwise  under-drained. 

What  we  object  to  is  the  loss  by 

SUEFACE    DRAINING 

of  so  much  of  our  summer  rains  that  we  so  much  need  on  all  up- 
lands in  the  latter  part  of  summer,  when  the  trees  are  burdened 
with  fruit  and  literally  famishing  for  water. 

I  also  recommend  a  liberal  use  of  wood  ashes,  or  of  lime.  In 
all  of  the  Eastern  States,  and  the  older  settled  portions  of  the 
Western  States,  where  fruit  trees  have  attained  the  largest  size  and 
greatest  age,  the  land  was  originally  heavily  timbered.  Much  of 
the  timber  was  burned  on  the  ground  in  clearing  ;  thus  leaving  a 
supply  of  this  most  excellent  fertilizer  for  A'ears  to  come. 

We  know  that  our  western  lands,  especially  our  prairies,  are 
wholly  destitute  of  Avood  ashes,  and  have  over  a  large  sliareof  their 
area  little  or  no  lime. 

Analysis  of  the  apple  (fi'uit)  and  also  of  the  wood  of  the  tree 
shows  a  large  percentage  of    lime  and  of  alkali. 

My  experience  in  the  use  of  wood  ashes,  applied  Sparingly  to 
about  forty  bearing  trees,  resulted  in  quite  an  improvement  in  the 
health,  vigor  and  fruitfulness  of  the  trees.  A  very  liberal  supply 
of  ashes,  for  the  last  three  years,  to  one  Lowell  apple  tree,  now 
sixteen  years  old,  has  changed  its  condition  from  a  blighted,  sickly, 
almost  barren  tree,"  to  that  of  perfect  health,  rich,  glossy  and 
abundant  foliage,  with  heavy  crops  of  extra  fine  fruit.  ^ 

What  I  have  said  in  regard  to  apple  orchards  will  in  general 
hold  good  in  the  treatment  of  other  kinds  of  fruit  trees.  Cai'e 
should  be  taken  not  to  cultivate  too  late  in  the  season,  for  fear 
of  keeping  up  such  a  flow  of  sap  and  rapid  growth,  as  to  prevent 
the  young  wood  from  maturing,and  so  leave  it  more  liable  to  winter- 


106  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

kill.  All  cultivation  should  be  done  by  the  first  to  the  middle  of 
July,  except  the  fall  plowing,  which  should  be  done  quite  late.  If 
done  early  it  may  start  the  sap  and  induce  winter-killing,  and 
especially  with  peach  trees,  which,  in  the  west,  suffer  more  damage 
from  hard  winters  than  from  all  other  enemies  or  causes.  The  last 
two  winters  were  so  extremely  cold  as  to  leave  all  our  peach  orchards 
more  or  less  damaged — some  almost  dead.  In  such  cases  I  can  give 
no  better  advice  than  to  cut  out  all  dead  wood,  to  shorten  back  the 
living  branches,  cultivate  thoroughly,  apply  lime  or  ashes,  and  your 
trees  will  renew  surprisingly  and  may  last  for  years. 

Except  winter  damage  to  peach  trees,  in  our  part  of  Missouri, 
we  find  all  other  conditions  most  favorable.  With  no  borers  in  the 
roots,  and  no  yellows,  we  find  the  peach  tree  stumps  in  northwest 
Missouri,  lasting  from  twenty  to  forty  years.  Having  been  several 
times  badly  injured  by  the  severe  winters,  or  broken  by  the  weight 
of  ice  or  of  their  fruit,  still  they  keep  renewing,  and  bearing  the 
finest  of  fruit. 

In  a  review  and  study  of  this  important  question,  we  find 
much  that  would  be  beneficial  to  the  health  of  our  orchards  if 
written  and  followed  out  in  detail ;  yet  it  would  be  out  of  place, 
and  impossible  to  bring  it  all  within  the  scope  of  an  essay. 

Quite  a  volume  might  be  written,  studied,  and  practiced  to  our 
advantage  on  how  to  keep  our  orchards  healthy. 

In  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  human  family,  and  the 
diseases  of  our  domestic  animals,  we  have  physicians  diligently 
plying  their  vocation  all  over  our  country.  Why  not  have  them  in 
horticulture — that  we  may  know,  as  much  as  possible  of  the  causes, 
and  cures  of  the  various  maladies,  that  leave  so  much  doubt  and 
darkness  to  retard  the  triumphant  march  of  the  fruit  grower. 

Discussion  : 

^.  Listoii :  objects  to  cutting  down  W.  W.  Pearmain.  His 
orchard  is  on  high,  dry,  ground.  They  are  in  fine  condition. 
Objects  also  to  this  teaching  of  not  using  pieces  of  roots  for 
grafts. 

J.  A.  Dufkes.  Likes  W.  W.  Pearmain.  In  Platte  he  has  the 
variety  in  good  health  and  would  not  cut  them  down. 

Z.  S.  Ragan.  40  years  ago,  heard  some  say  discard  the  R.  I. 
Grreening.  And  yet  it  could  not  be,  because  it  succeeds  in  so  many 
places. 

We  should  learn  a  lesson,  that  in  certain  localities  one  apple 
will  succeed,  and  in  another  location  another  will  succeed.  Or- 
chards in  certain  locations   were    injured  in  the   year  1880,  and  in 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  107 

other  locations  they  were  not  injured  at  all.  Here  is  the  place  to 
learn. 

N.  F.  Murry,  Does  not  censure  any  one  for  using  pieces  of 
roots  for  grafting,  for  he  has  used  them  himself.  But  believes  the 
whole  business  is  wrong,  and  tends  to  shorten  life.  Hopes  to  see 
this  plan  changed,  and  all  nurserymen  use  whole  roots  in  grafting. 
Believes  it  the  only  correct  way. 

L.  A.  Goodman.  Trees  must  form  a  tap  root ;  all  the  nuts 
we  grow,  and  most  apple  trees  will  form  a  tap  root  just  as  quickly 
if  grafted  in  a  piece  of  root  three  inches,  as  on  a  piece  six  or  eight 
or  ten  inches  long. 

F.  Holsinger,  Rosedale,  Kan  : — We  are  living  in  a  new  country 
and  we  have  no  trees  hundreds  of  years  old. 

Believe  that  a  piece  two  inches  in  length  just  as  good  as  a  foot, 
and  we  cannot  follow  the  old  plan  of  budding   on  single  seedlings. 

C.  H.  Finh,  Lamar  : — Can  go  into  any  orchard  and  tell  where 
the  roots  are  from  the  growth  of  the  top.  A  spreading  tree  has 
spreading  roots,  and  an  upright  tree  has  straight  tap  roots. 

He  has  experimented  with  all  sorts  of  cuts,  crown  grafts,  mid- 
dle cuts,  tips,  &c.,  and  finds  no  difference  in  the  growth. 

The  next  paper  was — 


WHAT  SEEMS  TO  BE  THE  TEOUBLE  WITH  OUR  APPLE 
TREES  AND.  HOW  SHALL  WE  REMEDY  IT  ? 


BY    H.    SCHOLTOX,     SPEINGFIELD. 
MlSSOUEI    HOKTICULTURAL    SOCIETY. 

Gentlemen  :  Though  a  new  member  of  your  body,  I  should 
esteem  it  a  pleasure  and  an  honor  to  perform  any  duty  you  might 
assign  me — but  in  this  case  you  have  given  me  a  most  difficult  duty 
indeed.  I  can  readily  see  that  our  apple  trees  are  sick,  but  to 
diagnose  and  prescribe,  requires  a  better  doctor.  I  will  however,  as 
an  opinion,  state  that,  after  much  thought  npon  the  matter.the  un- 
satisfactory condition  of  our  trees  is  mainly  the  result  of  injury 
they  received  by  the  severe  frost  of  1880,  which  came  in  November 
when  our  trees  were,  in  this  region,  in  a  very  unripe  condition,  as 
wholly  unprepared  for  such  a  rigorous  attack  as  a  man  without  a 
coat.  Many  thousand  trees  were  killed  outright — thousands  more 
seemed  crippled — are  unsatisfactory  in  the  character  of  their  fruit. 


108  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Very  few  varieties  have  escaped  entirely  ;  and  while  some  are  less 
injured  and  do  better  than  others,  the  exceptions  seem  much  in 
favor  of  special  situations  and  their  surroundings. 

While  I  have  attributed  the  main  trouble  to  the  cause  given 
above,  I  think  the  character  and  quantity  of  our  fruit  this  year  has 
been  very  much  influenced  by  the  cold,  unfavorable  spring. 

As  to  cure,  we  think  we  may  find,  in  the  next  similar  attack, in 
immediate  pruning  and  prompt,  thorough  cultivation  to  hasten  the 
growth  of  new  and  vigorous  wood. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  sorry  that  1  cannot  satisfactorily  answer 
either  of  your  difficult  questions.  And,  hoping  that  the  "  apple 
trees  "  in  other  portions  of  the  state  are  in  better  condition,  and 
while  I  cannot  this  time  be  with  you  and  enjoy  your  session  and 
greetings,  I  really  wish  for  you  a  profitable,  and  enjoyable  meeting. 

Very  truly,  HENRY  SCHOLTON". 

Speifgfield,  Mo.,  December  1,  1884. 

The  next  paper  was  by  C.  Thorp  on 

WHAT    SIX  VARIETIES  OF  APPLES    MUST   W^E  PLANT 
FOR  COMMERCIAL  PURPOSES  ? 


This  is  a  question  in  which  there  are  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
fruit  growers  of  our  state.  The  majority  of  our  farmers  are  not 
well  posted  on  this  subject,  and  instead  of  consulting  some  one 
who  is  posted,  they  listen  to  the  nice  stories  of  unprincipled  tree 
peddlers  and  nurserymen,  who  do  not  want  to  sell  any  of  the  well 
tried  standard  varieties  of  fruit,  but  something  new  for  which  they 
charge  exorbitant  prices.  Of  late  they  are  selling  Russian  apple 
trees,  peach  trees  budded  into  the  Canada  hawthorn,  and  pears 
entirely  free  from  blight,  on  French  stock,  and  only  two  years  ago, 
agents  for  a  nursery  not  a  hundred  miles  distant,  were  selling 
budded  trees  at  double  the  price  of  good  standard  grafted  trees, 
and  lots  of  farmers  would  buy  them  instead  of  going  to,  or  order- 
ing from,  a  good  reliable  nurseryman.  But  the  American  people 
are  fond  of  being  humbugged,  and  squander  thousands  annually  on 
humbugs.  A  young  man  of  our  town  last  year  bought  three 
hundred  dollars  worth  of  fruit  trees  that  will  never  be  worth  the 
ground  they  occupy,  when,  if  he  had  purchased  the  proper  kinds, 
would  have  been  worth  thousands  of  dollars  in  a  few  years. 

W^hat  I  have  said  does  not  apply  to  the  majority  of  our  home 
nurserymen,  as  we  have  a  great  many  reliable  nurserymen  all  over 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  109 

the  state.  I  want  to  get  our  orchardists  to  plant  trees  that  will  be 
of  some  value  to  them.  You  will  go  into  but  few  orchards  in  the 
state  but  what  you  will  find  more  than  half  the  trees  worthless. 

According  to  my  judgment  the  six  best  varieties  to  plant  for 
profit  are  Maiden's  Blush  for  late  summer  and  early  fall,  Jonathan 
and  Smith's  Cider  for  late  fall  and  early  winter,  and  Ben  Davis, 
Willow  Twig  and  Janett  for  winter.  I  would  plant  the  larger 
part  Ben.  Davis,  Jonathan,  Maiden's  Blush  and  Willow  Twig.  Of 
the  earliest  varieties,  I  do  not  know  of  any  variety  very  profitable, 
although  we  had  better  plant  some  Early  Harvest ;  the  Duchess 
of  Oldenberg  is  a  splendid  apple,  but  I  do  not  know  enough  about 
it  to  recommend  it.  The  Early  Pennock  is  also  a  fine  apple  but 
doubt  its  being  profitable.  The  Clyde  Beauty  is  about  as  profitable 
as  any  early  fall  apple  we  have  in  our  vicinity,  as  it  is  a  good  bearer 
and  the  fruit  is  generally  very  large  and  showy,  and  although 
poor  eating  brings  the  toj)  market  price. 

The  Ben  Davis,  although  not  a  good  eating  apple,  is  a  fine 
cooker,  and  yields  more  dollars  and  cents,  I  think,  tban  any  other 
variety  in  this  vicinity,  on  account  of  its  being  an  early  and  almost 
constant  bearer  of  fine  showy  fruit,  and  generally  brings  about  the 
top  market  price,  and  is  also  a  very  good  keej^er,  when  it  does  not 
mature  too  early.  It  has  been  said  ever  since  its  introduction  that 
its  poor  quality  would  soon  make  it  unpopular,  and  I  admit  that  it  is 
not  as  popular  as  a  few  years  back,  but  they  will  sell  at  good  prices. 
I  have  sold  them  to  the  Italian  stand  men  of  Denver  and  they 
would  say  "  I  no  like  a  Ben  Davis  ;  he  too  dry,"  but  after  trying 
something  else  would  drop  back  on  the  Ben  Davis. 

I  know  of  one  orchard,  all  Ben  Davis,  in  the  Missouri  bottom, 
that  bore  a  good  crop  of  fine  fruit  last  year,  and  this  year  the 
owner,  Mr.  William  Reece,  of  latan,  told  me  it  would  bring  him 
more  than  two  hundred  dollars  per  acre  ;  which  is  pretty  good  for 
this  season  of  low  prices. 

Although  the  Jonathan  has  not  been  planted  very  long  in  our 
vicinity,  it  so  far,  has  proven  to  be  a  tolerably  early  and  prolific 
bearer,  and  so  far  of  good  and  showy  qualities.  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  another  apple  in  the  world  that  can  compete  with  it  ;  and  for 
stands  in  large  cities  it  generally  brings  from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar 
per  barrel  more  than  any  other  variety  of  fine  fruit,  and  therefore 
I  recommend  them  as  one  of  the  best  for  heavy  planting,  as  there 
is  no  danger  of  getting  overstocked  with  them  any  season,  as  the 
demand  is  too  heavy  for  that  class  of  fruit. 

I  do  not  believe  the  Willow   Twig  is  planted  as  extensively   as 


110  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

it  should  be  in  this  section.  There  is  only  one  orchard  in  our 
vicinity  that  has  many  "Willow  Twig  in  it  ;  and  they  are  paying 
well,  and  bearing  about  as  well  as  the  Ben  Davis  and  bring  as  good 
price.  There  is  a  little  better  demand  on  account  of  scarcity,  and 
are  a  little  better  keeper  than  most  of  our  large  apples. 

The  Maiden's  Blush  is  our  best  late  summer  apple  for  exten- 
sive planting,  and  nothing  except  the  blush  of  a  modest  maiden 
could  compare  with  them  for  beauty.  They  are  good  bearers,  and 
splendid  for  any  purpose  and  bring  way  above  top  quotations  for 
other  varieties  in  the  fancy  markets. 

With  us  the  Smith's  Cider  bears  early  and  are  prolific,  fine 
fruit,  and  good  quality  when  the  tree  is  young,  but  frequently 
small  when  the  tree  gets  old,  and  not  very  good  keeper. 

Well,  I  do  not  know  how  we  are  to  give  up  the  old  Janett  al- 
together, as  we  frequently  have  them  when  we  have  no  others. 
We  have  nothing  to  replace  it  for  the  spring  trade.  Where  they 
bear  while  young  the  fruit  is  fine  and  sells  well,  but  when  the 
trees  are  old,  if  full,  the  fruit  is  too  small.  I  think  they  will  still 
do  to  plant  in  a  small  way,  but  require  rich  soil  and  high  cultiva- 
tion. 

Fruit  growers  of  the  State,  let  me  entreat  you  to  plant  largely 
only  of  well  tried  kinds,  and  not  listen  to  slick-tongued  tree  men, 
and  you  have  a  brilliant  prospect  for  the  future. 

C.  THORP. 

Weston,  Mo.,  Dec.  9th,  1884. 

Discussion  : 

H.  B.  Francis,  Mulberry  : — They  have  made  quite  a  discovery 
in  Bates  county.  Capt.  E.  P.  Henry  found  a  rotten  board 
punctured  full  of  holes  and  filled  with  codling  moth.  Thinks  all 
we  have  to  do  is  to  put  such  pieces  of  board  under  the  trees  and 
collect  them  and  burn  them. 

F,  Holsinger  : — Believesthe  York  Imperial  will  be  the  standard 
for  the  west,  and  it  is  certainly  a  number  one  ajiple  for  quality. 
Good  bearer  and  hardy  tree  ;  good  cooking.  Would  name  Ben 
Davis,  Winesap,  York  Imperial,  Grimes'  Golden,  Jonathan  and 
Duchess. 

L.  A.  Goodman: — Would  second  the  list  by  putting  the 
Mother  in  jilace  of  the  Duchess. 

E.  Liston,  Virgil  City  : — Has  thousands  of  Jannetts  in  his 
nursery  and  would  not  plant  another  one  of  them  on  any  account. 
Willow  Twig  rots  on  the  tree  and  would  not  plant  it  either. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  Ill 

N.  F.  Murry  : — Likes  Early  Harvest  and  it  has  paid  as  well 
as  any  other  variety  in  his  orchard.  Grimes'  Golden  is  one  of  the 
best.     Also,  Ben  Davis,  Jonathan,  Winesap  and  E.  Pennock. 

Chairman  asks  that  the  society  divide  the  state  into  three 
districts  and  a  committee  of  three  be  chosen  from  each  district  to 
make  out  a  list  of  fruits  for  their  district. 

The  next  paper  was  on 

HOW  TO  FIGHT  THE  CODLING  MOTH. 


BY    F.    FLEISCHEK,    GASCONADE    CITY. 

Naturalists  say  that  this  moth   was   introduced   from  Europe 
to  this  country.     I  believe  it  is  the   same   species   known   in  Ger- 
many as  Tinea  pomonella  (apfel   schabe,  ohen).     The   moth  lays 
its  eggs  in  the  blossom  of  the  fruit.     The  young  worms  will  feed 
upon  the  fruit  and  eat  down  to  the  core  of  the   apple,    causing   its 
decay  and  dropping  off.     After  the  worms  are  full  grown   they  will 
generally  build  a  nest  under   the   loose  bark  of  the   tree   in  which 
they  change  their  form   into   that  of  a  chrysalis.     Next   year  early 
in  the  spring  the  moth  comes   out.     The  moth    may  be   caught  in 
great   numbers  by  hanging  up  traps  in   the  trees.     Take  a  vessel, 
put  some  sweet  liquid  in  it — vinegar   with  sugar  or  molasses  is  very 
good  for  that  purpose — fasten  to  the   top  a  funnel  of  strong  paper 
or  tin  in  a  way  that  its  hole  forms  the  only   entrance  to  the  liquid. 
Between  the  end  of  the  funnel  and  the  liquid  there   should  be  sev- 
eral inches  of  room.     Bottles  with  wide   mouths  and  without  fun- 
nels can  also  be  used,  but  I  believe  the  moths   have  more  chance  to 
get  out  again.     When  a  boy  I  caught  in  this  way  for  my  collection 
of  butterflies,  hundreds  of  moths  (Tmcae),  Tortrices,   Geometrae, 
etc.     To   destroy   the   worms  some   recommend  sprinkling  of  the 
blossoms  or  young  fruits  with  a  solution  of  Paris  Green  and  water. 
This  will  only   answer  as  long  as  the  young   fruit  stands  erect  and 
gives  the  fluid  a  chance  to  enter  the  holes,  but  as   soon  as  the  fruit 
turns  down  this  remedy  cannot  help  any   more.     Swine   and  sheep 
kept  in  orchards    will  eat  all  the  fallen   fruit  and  with  it  all  these 
little   pests,    and  are   therefore    invaluable    worm-destroyers.     To 
destroy  the  chrysalis,  scraping  off  the  loose  bark  in  winter  and  keep- 
ing the  trunks   always  as  clean  and   smooth  as  possible,    is  the  best 
remedy  and  preservative.     So  far  I  have  had    hardly  any    Codling 
moth  in  my  orchards. 


112  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society.  . 

HOW   TO    FIGHT   THE   APPLE   TREE    BOEER. 

{Saperda  Bivitata.) 
I  suppose  that  most  every  orchardist  knows  this  beetle  and  I 
can  only  recapitulate  what  is  generally  known.  The  apple  tree  borer 
is  the  grub  of  a  beetle.  The  female  beetle  lay  the  eggs  early  in 
spring  in  the  crevasses^  defections  or  wounds  of  the  bark  of  the 
trunk  or  even  of  branches  of  larger  trees.  I  would  therefore  ad- 
vise the  application  of  pine-tar  to  the  larger  wounds  caused  by 
pruning.  As  soon  as  the  little  grubs  come  out  of  the  eggs  they 
commence  to  cut  through  the  soft  bark,  very  often  going  down  to- 
wards the  roots  of  the  tree  and  in  them.  G-etting  larger  and 
stronger  l^he  grub  goes  in  the  hard  wood,  and  often  advances  to  the 
very  heart  of  the  tree.  When  full  grown  the  grub  will  build  its 
nest,  inside  of  the  trunk  or  the  branches,  out  of  tine  splinters  and 
change  in  it  his  form  to  that  of  a  beetle.  Go  therefore  over  your 
orchard  and  carefully  examine  roots,  trunks  and  branches  of  your 
trees,  if  possible  twice  a  year,  early  in  spring  and  in  August  or 
September.  If  the  trees  are  young,  especially  on  locations  where 
the  growth  of  the  tree  is  not  very  rapid,  this  ought  to  be  done 
twice,  as  it  is  clear  that  the  borer  can  quicker  destroy  a  tree  of 
slow  than  fast  growth.  To  destroy  the  eggs  and  young  grubs, 
scraping  off  the  loose  bark  and  keeping  the  trunk  clean  and  smooth 
is  highly  to  be  recommended.  To  apply  a  wash  of  soap-suds  is  a 
very  good  plan. 

Birds,  especially  the  different  kinds  of  woodpeckers,  are  a  great 
profit  in  the  orchard.  They  can  find  quicker  and  better  the  eggs 
and  worms  than  the  most  experienced  orchardist.  Only  look  at 
the  thousands  of  little  holes  in  the  bark  of  the  trees  in  some 
orchards.  That  is  the  useful  work  of  our  friends  the  woodpeckers. 
Keep  them  and  save  them  as  much  as  you  can.  For  this  reason 
also  the  different  kinds  of  fowls  ought  to  be  kept  in  the  orchards 
as  much  as  possible.  To  remove  the  worm  when  deeper  in  the, 
wood,  practice  will  teach  us  the  most.  By  a  wire  introduced  in  the 
hole,  you  may  kill  the  worm  or  using  a  sharp  knife  and  fine  chisel 
many  of  them  may  be  dug  out.  Swine  and  sheep  will  also  not 
only  eat  a  great  many  of  the  beetles,  but  the  latter  by  rubbing 
against  the  trunks  keep  the  same  smooth.  I  noticed  that  the 
more  perpendicular  and  straight  the  trunks  of  the  trees  are  kept  the 
less  they  were  attacked  by  the  borers.  A  trunk  of  a  tree  leaning- 
over  is  generally  more  exposed  to  the  attack  of  this  insect  and  I 
have  found  that  the  beetle  likes  more  to  lay  his  Qgg  on  the  side  to 
which   the   tree   leans.      The   cause  is  the  rougher  bark   and  the 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Jose^^Ji.  113 

greater  number  of  crevasses  in  it.  Young  trees  ought  to  be  pro- 
tected in  a  way,  that,  when  hogs  or  sheep  are  turned  in,  they 
cannot  break  them  down,  bite  them  off  or  gnaw  the  bark.  Manur- 
ing of  poor  or  exhausted  soils  will  help  indirectly  against  the  attacks 
of  the  borers,  as  the  trees  will  have  more  strength  to  overcome  the 
injuries  of  the  insect.  Covering  the  trunks  with  paper,  sand  or 
ashes  is  also  to  be  recommended  and  surely  will  help  as  far  as  these 

protectives  cover  the  bark. 

FERDINAND   FLEISCHER. 

N.  B.  So  far  I  had  only  saperda  bivitata  in  my  orchards  and 
think  these  are  remedies  and  preservatives  also  for  chrysobothris 
femorata. 


EVENING    SESSION. 


AN  ADDRESS  BY  THE  MAYOR,  H.  R.  HARTWIG. 


Welcomes  all  horticultural  men  to  St.  Joe.  Twenty-six  years 
ago  as  I  landed  in  St.  Joe  I  found  fruit  growing  in  its  infancy. 
The  pioneers  of  this  work  are  Jacob  Madinger  and  that  other  noted' 
horticulturist',  H.  M.  Voores,  a  great  and  good  man  who  made  this 
his  life-work.  Not  wishing  to  detain  the  members  of  this  society  I 
now  take  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Rev.  Mr.  Abbott,  who 
will  make  you  welcome. 

A  welcome  to  St.  Joseph  is  unnecessary  to  a  society  which  is 
paying  its  own  way,  as  if  any  one  was  not  always  welcome  where 
they  pay  their  own  way. 

A  minister  scraping  the  roots  of  his  vines  made  a  mistake  in 
not  scraping  his  back. 

I  think  your  coming  will  help  rejuvenate  us.  The  educational 
institutions  should  be  turned  to  better  advantage,  and  the  scraping 
out  Greek  roots  should  be  dropped  and  they  set  to  digging  tree 
roots  and  plants.  It  seems  to  us  that  you  are  helping  us  in  coming 
among  us. 

I  have  an  uncle  whose  five  acres  of  orchard  paid  him  more 
than  all  the  rest  of  his  two  hundred  acres. 

Our  state  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  this  work  of  fruit  growing, 
and  a  society  which  is  working  for  this  should  be  honored. 


114  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Work  is  becoming  more  and  more  honorable  and  we  will  find 
more  men  at  it  in  the  years  to  come.  Religion  should  be  brought 
to  this  work,  and  we  should  all  be  baptized  with  the  sweat  of  our 
brows  in  this  work. 

In  this  work,  ladies  and. gentlemen,  we  bid  you  God-speed. 

If  the  man  should  be  honored  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  only  one  grew  before,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  man 
who  makes  an  orchard  or  vineyard  grow  where  none  grew  before. 

RESPONSE    BY    C.    W.    MUETFELDT. 

I   know   that  we   are   entertained   by  the  citizens  of  St.  Joe. 

Our  society  does  mend  nature.  If  you  doubt  it,  look  at  this 
fruit  and  these  beautiful  flowers.  We  claim  that  we  are  mending 
nature.     Our  work  is  to  find  what  will  be  best  on  our  own  places. 

We  like  to  go  to  these  cities  and  are  glad  to  be  welcomed  there; 
if  the  people  will  only  invite  us  to  come,  we  will  gladly  go.  We 
thank  you,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  citizens  of  St.  Joseph,  for  this  kind 
welcome  and  we  assure  you  that  we  will  accept  it  in  the  manner  it 
is  given. 

The  position  in  which  I  am  placed  is  rather  embarrassing. 
Your  President  is  absent,  and  also  your  Vice-President,  and  it  is 
always  hard  for  a  person  to  fill  it.  Our  President  should  outline 
for  us  the  work  for  the  year  and  now,  as  he  is  absent,  I  will  take 
this  omoard  look  and  read  my  paper  on 

THE  HORTICULTURAL  OUTLOOK  FOR  MISSOURI. 


BY    CHAS.    W.    MURTFELDT,  KIRKWOOD,    MO. 

It  would  be  a  very  pleasing  task  to  paint  the  horticultural 
outlook  for  Missouri  in  bright  and  glowing  colors  and  to  point 
with  pride  and  complacency  to  car  loads  of  all  manner  of  fruit 
leaving  every  section  of  our  state,  for  less  favored  regions,  and  to 
express  packages  full  of  gold  and  silver  certificates,  to  fill  the 
already  plethoric  wallets  of  the  Missouri  fruit-growers,  received  in 
return.  But  this  cannot  truthfully  be  done.  I  would  not  be  un- 
derstood, however,  to  assert  that  there  are  not  notable  exceptions 
and  localities,  where  fruit  is  abundant  and  the  returns  for  the  same 
are  appreciable  to  the  producer.  But,  while  admitting  this  to  be 
true,  it  should  be  understood  as  referring  to  the  exceptions  !  And 
this  state  of  things  is  to  be  accounted  for  from  certain  general 
data,  which  may  as  well  be  given  here  and  now  as  further  on  : 


Aniiual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.     .  115 

In  all  sections  of  our  state  the  peach  crop  is  oftener  a  failure 
than  a  success.  If  we  have  a  good  full  crop  one  season  out  of  three 
we  are  fortunate.  The  same  is  true  of  grapes  also.  Of  late  years 
large  vineyards,  once  productive  and  remunerative,  have  been  dug 
up  and  the  land  is  being  cultivated  to  field  crops  or  grass. 

The  pear  blight  has  long  ago  destroyed  most  orchards  planted 
for  commercial  purposes  ;  hence  these  are  utterly  neglected  or  en- 
tirely dead.  Even  choice  dessert  apples  are  being  imported  to 
Missouri  from  states  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  fruit  stands  in 
our  large  cities,  and  such  families  as  can  have  fine  fruit,  no  matter 
what  the  cost,  are  being  supplied  from  New  York,  Ohio,  Delaware 
and  mainly  California. 

Even  the  cultivation  of  the  stravvberry  is  not  very  profitable,  the 
earliest  in  our  markets  being  grown  in  Arkansas,  Tennessee  and 
even  in  Alabama  and  Louisiana.  The  berries  are  picked  before 
being  ripe  so  as  to  stand  transportation,  and  of  course  are  hardly 
fit  to  be  eaten  at  all.  But  they  spoil  the  market,  so  that  when 
home-grown  berries  reach  the  stalls,  the  season  is  short,  and  the 
prices  even  at  an  advance  of  two  or  three  cents  per  quart,  are  never 
high  and  scarcely  remunerative.  This  will  hold  good  for  all  sec- 
tions tributary  to  St.  Louis.  We  hope  it  is  not  true  of  the  entire 
state,  and  on  our  Avestern  border  a  more  bountiful  crop  and  better 
prices  obtained,  while  a  ready  market  awaits  the  producer. 

Are  we  now  to  conclude  from  the  conditions  just  recited,  and 
which  can  not  be  successfully  gainsaid,  that  we  are  to  make  no  fur- 
ther efforts,  and  that  a  brighter  and  more  proj)itious  day  will  never 
dawn  upon  the  fruit  growers  of  Missouri  ?  By  no  means.  Our 
coming  together  here  at  this  time  is  to  look  these  matters  square  in 
the  face,  and  consult  about  the  remedies  which  shall  turn  apparent 
defeat  into  victory  ! 

We  hold  this  truth  to  be  self  evident,  that  all  men  are  actuated 
by  motives  of  more  or  less  selfish  and  personal  nature  in  purely 
business  transactions.  When  a  man  plants  a  vineyard,  orchard  or 
garden  he  hopes  to  reap  the  reward  of  his  labor  and  expenses  in 
flowers,  fruits  and  vegetables.  Nor  is  there  a  wrong  in  this  kind  of 
selfishness.  If  he  has  been  circumspect  in  the  selection  of  kinds 
and  condition  of  plants,  vines  or  trees  and  their  adaptation  to  soil, 
climate,  latitude  and  exposure  he  may  and  ought  reasonably  to'  ex- 
pect to  gather  fruits  from  the  planting ;  that  is,  if  he  has  also 
fulfilled  all  other  necessary  conditions.  You  will  expect  me  to 
point  to  some  of  these  in  the  sequel  of  this  paper. 

After  a    man    has  selected   the   localitv   for    his  orchard,  or 


116  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

vineyard,  lie  should  consult  with  successful  fruit  growers  in  his 
neighborhood  as  to  the  best  mode  of  procedure,  in  selecting  kinds 
and  varieties,  in  modes  of  planting,  after  cultivation  and  exposure, 
because  their  success  and  experience  entitles  their  views  on  these 
points  to  due  consideration,  (and  if  they  are  honest  and  not  jealous) 
their  advice  Avill  be  of  great  value.  No  man  of  good  common  sense 
will  expect  that  the  mere  planting  of  an  orchard  or  vineyard,  and 
then  leaving  it  severely  alone  entitles  him  to  expect  crops  of  fruit. 
Men  do  not  act  so  in  regard  to  a  cornfield  or  vegetable  garden  ;  they 
know  that  after  culture,  watchfulness  against  depredating  insects, 
weeds  and  other  drawbacks  are  quite  as  important  as  the  first  plant- 
ing if  they  would  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  labor.  And  just  here  is 
w'here  most  men  fail.  An  orcliard  needs  cultivation  and  manure 
just  as  much  as  a  cornfield  though  perhaps  not  quite  so  often. 
Pruning  needs  to  be  done  more  or  less  every  year,  but  not  by  pro- 
fessional (?)  tree  butchers  :  such  men  think  that  there  must  be 
great  piles  of  wood  and  brush  to  testify  to  their  science  and  efficiency. 

If  the  outlook  seems  discouraging,  it  is  so  mainly  because  of 
insect  enemies.  The  most  destructive  of  these  is  the  codling  moth. 
Extermination  is  well-nigh  impossible.  Being  on  the  wing  during 
the  night  the  insect  is  unknown  even  to  many  professional  fruit 
growers.  We  all  know  the  larva  and  her  work.  If  we  wish  to 
know  the  perfect  insect  we  can  take  the  larva  (apple  w^orm)  in  a 
box  or  fruit  jar  and  let  her  go  through  her  transformation  and  see 
the  perfect  insect  (imago)  when  it  emerges  from  the  pupa.  Even 
an  apppreciable  check  from  the  ravages  of  this  insect  cannot  be 
expected  from  the  efforts  of  individual  horticulturists.  There 
must  be  united,  universal  and  persistent  efforts  on  the  jDart  of  all 
fruit  growers.  Let  me  quote  once  more  what  has  been  reiterated 
at  every  one  of  your  annual  meetings,  that  "eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  fruit  I  " 

When  we  come  to  the  peach  and  jDlum  we  state  the  case  in  a 
nutshell  by  substituting  curculio,  for  codling  moth.  Of  course  the 
natural  history  of  the  insects  differ.  The  grape  has  several  pestif- 
erous insect  enemies,  and  among  these  the  steel  blue  beetle,  the 
leaf  hopper  and  the  grape  root  louse  and  borer.  But  the  rot, 
whether  the  result  of  atmospheric  conditions  or  insect  work,  seems 
to  be  the  most  deadly  enemy.  (I  hope,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that 
our  more  experienced  grape  growers  and  vine  dressers  can  give  some 
light  on  these  points,  and  they  are  invited  to  stick  a  pin  here). 

There  was  a  time  which  many  here  present  will  remember, 
when  Missouri  had  a  State  entomologist,   and  in  this  respect  was 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  lit 

leading  all  other  states  of  the  Missouri  Valley.  If  tlie  farmers 
and  fruit  growers  of  our  state  would  make  a  determined  effort  she 
might  have  again.  In  the  legislature  about  to  convene,  there  will 
be  many  farmers  who  ought,  and  no  doubt  do  by  this  time,  appre- 
ciate the  efforts  of  such  an  officer  and  who  would  lend  their 
influence  in  bringing  about  such  an  appointment.  It  can  be  done 
by  a  simple  concurrent  resolution.  In  this  connection  I  am 
moved  to  say  that  we  still  have  the  illustrations  in  the  agricultural 
reports  for  1869,  70,  71  and  72,  and  I  assert  th^t  these  entomolog- 
ical illustrations  never  have  and  never  can  be  surpassed  in  accuracy 
and  truthfulness  of  delineation.  By  the  way,  how  many  of  the 
gentlemen  present  have  the  reports  just  referred  to  ?  I  pause  for 
X  reply.  I  know  that  a  good  many  of  these  reports  have  been  sold 
for  waste  paper  at  2  cents  per  pound,  or  less  ;  whereas,  had  they 
been  preserved  on  the  shelves  of  the  state  board  of  agriculture  they 
could  now  be  sold,  if  it  were  lawful,  for  S2  per  copy.  Prof,  Eiley, 
himself,  wovild  pay  that  price  for  a  goodly  number  of  copies. 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I  would  urge  upon  you  the  pro- 
priety of  jjreparing  a  preamble  and  resolution  looking  to  the 
appointment  of  a  state  entomologist  for  Missouri,  and  also  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  present  the  same  with  a  j^etition  to 
our  legislature  about  to  convene  in  the  state  capital,  and  urge  upon 
the  legislators  the  desired  law  and  its  passage. 

All  of  which  is  most  respectfully  submitted. 

Then  followed  a  paper  by  F,  P.  Baker,  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  on 

WHAT  HAS  BEEX  DOXE  FOR   FORESTRY, 


In  assigning  the  writer  a  subject  for  a  paper  to  be  read  before 
this  meeting  of  the  State  Horticultural  Society,  the  theme  selected 
for  him  was,  ''What  is  the  present  status  of  Governmental  effort 
to  promote  the  interests  of  Forestry  in  the  United  States,  or  What 
has  organized  effort  accomplished  in  the  endeavor  to  encourage 
forest -tree  planting,  and  to  j^reserve  timber  already  growing  ?  " 

This,  considered  as  one  question,  or  two,  affords  a  very  wide 
field.  In  fact,  it  opens  up  the  discussion  of  all  that  has  been  done 
by  the  General  Government,  by  State  Associations,  by  local  Horti- 
cultural and  Forestry  Associations,  and  by  individual  tree  planters 
in  the  United  States.  I  have  decided  to  "  lump  "  the  subject,  so 
to  speak,  and  allude  briefly  and  in  a  general  way  to  the  nature  and 
result  of  all  sorts  of  effort,  public  and  private,  general  and  local, 
under  the  head,  "  What  Has  Been  Done  for  Forestry." 


118  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Governments,  it  will  be  understood,  originate,  discover  and 
invent  few  things,  and  our  own  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  No 
government  eevr  discovered  the  power  of  steam,  electricity  or  new 
mechanical  forces.  It  was  not  a  government  that  discovered  gun- 
powder to  mangle  men  with,  or  chloroform  to  aid  in  repairing  its 
damages.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a  regular  oflficial  of  a  government 
ever  strikes  out  in  a  new  j^ath,  or  develops  a  fresh  idea.  The 
thinking  in  this  world  is  done  by  private,  and  frequently  obscure 
men.  In  time  their  ideas  become  the  property  of  the  community, 
and  lastly  they  are  adopted  by  the  government. 

The  United  States  government  when  established  possessed 
absolutely  the  most  magnificent  forested  domain  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Even  after  a  century  of  spoliation  and  waste,  as  well  as 
legitimate  sale  and  transfer,  it  is  still  magnificent.  Exactly  how 
large  it  is  is  not  known,  but  in  1880  it  was  estimated  that  the 
United  States  owned  85,000,000  acres  of  timber  land. 

This  is  a  mere  fraction  of  what  the  national  government  once 
owned,  and  which  was  parted  with,  or  stripped,  burned  or  stolen 
from,  with  scarcely  a  thought  of  its  value. 

Probably  the  first  trees  set  out  under  the  authority  of  ttie 
federal  government  were  those  in  the  Capitol  grounds  at  Wash- 
ington, pi  anted  under  the  supervision  of  tlie  first  American  landscape 
gardener,  A.  J.  Downing.  Those  who  have  seen  these  trees  can 
testify  that  they  are  not  yet  very  large.  As  to  the  extensive  planting 
of  trees  on  the  streets  and  in  the  public  grounds  of  Washington, 
that  is  the  work  of  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  general  government 
is  a  very  young  forester. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  assumed  its  present  shape 
about  twenty  years  ago  ;  but  the  Division  of  Forestry  was  organized 
not  over  five  years  ago,  and  with  its  organization  the  interest  of  the 
federal  government  m  the  preservation  and  growth  of  forests  may 
be  said  to  have  begun. 

The  position  taken  by  the  government  in  the  passage  of  the 
timber  culture  act  strengthened  the  growing  sentiment  in  favor  of 
forestry — it,  so  to  speak,  made  forestry  fashionable.  If  Western 
people  wish  an  illustration,  let  them  look  at  Wichita,  Kansas,  as  it 
stands  embowered  in  trees  to-day,  and  remember  how  Topeka — the 
capital  of  that  state,  looked  fourteen  years  after  its  settlement ; 
that  being  the  time  that  has  elapsed  since  Wichita  was  first 
settled. 

The  principal  advance  made  in  what  may  be  called  the  for- 
estry work  of  the  Government  has  been,  since  the  establishment  of 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  119 

the  Department  of  Forestry,  in  the  dissemination  of  knowledge. 
The  exhaustive  scientific  reports  of  Dr.  Hough  are  well  known, 
but  desiring  to  familiarize  the  subject,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
the  Forestry  Division  resorted  to  employment  of  special  agents 
instructed  to  collect  facts  and  embody  them  in  reports  clothed  in 
the  plainest  language,  and  unburdened  with  superfluous  matter. 

The  wi'iter  had  the  honor,  even  in  advance  of  tlie  appointment 
of  these  agents,  to  make  a  report  on  the  forestry  systems  of  the 
different  countries  of  Europe,  as  illustrated  at  the  last  Paris 
exhibition. 

Since  their  appointment,  the  special  agents  have,  I  may  say, 
not  boastfully  but  truthfully,  diligently  carried  out  their  instruc- 
tions. A  very  brief  notice  is  made  of  their  labors  in  the  report  of 
the  United  States  commissioner  of  agriculture  for  the  year  1883, 
A  still  more  concise  notice  of  the  work  of  the  agents  may  not  be 
uninteresting  as  part  of  the  history  of  what  the  general  govern- 
ment has  done  for  forestry. 

One  of  tlie  agents  appointed  was  Dr.  John  A.  Warder,  of 
Ohio.  His  life  prior  to  his  appointment  had  been  devoted  to  horti- 
culture and  forestry.  I  do  not  need,  in  a  company  like  this  to 
speak  of  his  great  merit  and  services  in  the  department  of  knowl- 
edge he  had  made  his  own.  Had  he  lived  he  would  have  done  a 
great  work  for  the  government,  but  his  death  occurred  shortly  after 
his  appointment,  and  his  field  was  left  to  be  worked  by  others. 
Hon.  John  W.  Furnas,  of  Nebraska,  was  one  of  these,  and  he  has 
added  to  the  literature  of  forestry  a  clear  a,nd  interesting  report  on 
the  forests  of  California.  Oregon,  Washington  Territory  and  the 
western  slope  of  the  Eocky  Mountains.  Governor  Furnas'  report 
is  especially  valuable  in  its  figures  respecting  the  destruction  of 
timber  in  that  district.  Governor  Furnas  has  also  contributed  an 
interesting  report  on  timber-growing  on  the  treeless  plains  of 
Nebraska.  This  is  of  special  value  to  Kansas  tree  growers.  The 
writer,  acting  as  a  special  agent,  furnished>  early  in  1883  a  jire- 
liminary  report  on  the  forestry  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  tree 
planting  on  the  plains,  and  subsequently  a  supplementary  report 
covering  more  particularly  the  forest  resources  of  the  Southern 
states.  In  the  preparation  of  these  reports  the  information 
received  in  response  to  thousands  of  circulars  was  utilized ;  the 
instructions  of  the  department  being  explicit  as  to  the  accumula- 
tion of  facts  rather  than  of  theories. 

It  may  be  said  that  official  reports  made  to  any  department  of 
the  government  are  slow  in  reaching  the  public,   appearing  annu- 


120  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

ally  in  cumbrous  and  uninteresting  looking  volumes  ;  but  the 
reports  herein  mentioned  have  been  more  fortunate.  Their  brevity 
has  made  it  possible  to  publish  them  in  pamj^hlet  form,  and  they 
have  reached  the  public  within  a  few  weeks  of  their  reception  by 
the  department. 

The  reports  thus  scattered  broadcast  by  the  government  have 
been  copied  by  the  newspapers  of  the  country,  two  or  three  of 
them,  to  my  knowledge,  having  appeared  in  full  in  over  four  hun- 
dred newspapers,  and  extracts  from  them  in  thousands  more.  The 
National  Forestry  Congress  is  now  publishing  weekly  bulletins,  or 
''leaflets,"  in  which  the  points  made  in  the  reports  of  the  govern- 
ment agents  are  given,  with  other  matter  relative  to  the  cultivation 
and  care  of  forests. 

We  may  briefly  sum  up  the  present  attitude  of  the  government 
in  regard  to  forestry,  as  follows  : 

The  Government,  by  the  passage  of  the  timber  culture  act, 
committed  itself  to  the  encouragement  of  tree  culture,  and  even 
though  the  act  should  be  repealed,  its  principle  will  be  preserved  in 
some  other  enactment. 

The  importance  of  forestry  has  been  recognized  by  the  erection 
of  a  Forestry  Division  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the 
present  Chief  of  the  Division  being  Mr.  N.  H.  Eggleston. 

Special  agents  have  been  appointed,  to  whom  has  been  assigned 
the  duty  of  investigating  the  needs  of  difterent  portions  of  the 
country  in  the  matter  of  the  protection  and  culture  of  forests. 

A  regular  system  of  disseminating  information  has  been 
adopted  by  the  government. 

As  a  result  of  all  this  the  government  may  be  said  to  have  in- 
formed itself  of  the  extent  and  condition  of  its  own  forest  domain, 
and  something  has  been  done,  though  manifestly  not  enough, 
toward  protecting  government  timber  from  spoliation  and  de- 
struction. 

Finally,  every  believer  in  trees  may  take  courage  from  the 
present  attitude  of  the  government,  and  hope  that  in  time,  the 
wise  example  set  by  other  governments,  as  for  instance,  France 
with  her  "  Bureau  of  Woods  and  Waters,"  may  be  followed  by  our 
own. 

You  have  noticed,  with  the  assurance  of  success,  the  rising 
interest  in  horticulture  ;  you  have  noticed  that  particularly,  be- 
cause horticulture  is  your  specialty.  Let  me  tell  you  that  there  has 
been  a  corresjionding  increase  of  faith  and  works  in  regard  to 
forest  trees. 


Amiual  Meetmg  at  St.  Joseph.  131 

You  can  take  into  consideration  the  larger  area  of  cultivated 
ground  in  Missouri,  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  the  larger  agricultural 
pojiulation,  and  estimate  for  yourselves  what  has  been  done  in 
these  states. 

x\s  an  example  of  what  has  been  done,  I  can  cite  the  states  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska.  I  have  been  unable  to  procure  statistics 
from  the  state  of  Missouri,  although  information  may  be  imbedded 
in  the  official  reports,  which  I  have  not  had  access  to.  In  Nebraska 
it  is  estimated  that  there  are  growing  53,000,000  forest  trees  planted 
by  the  hand  of  man.  I  suppose  it  is  safe  to  estimate  the  same 
number  to  the  acre  as  is  required  under  the  timber  culture  act — 
that  is  675.  This  would  give  a  little  over  78,000  acres  in  forest 
trees  in  that  state. 

In  Kansas  the  statistics  given  by  the  report  of  the  secretary  of 
the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  shows  119,682  acres.  If  we  make 
the  same  calculations  in  artificial  forest  trees  as  to  the  number 
planted  to  the  acre  as  we  have  in  Nebraska,  it  would  show  the 
number  of  trees  in  artificial  forests  in  the  state  to  be  70,486,350. 

It  has  generally  been  conceded  that  Nebraska  was  far  ahead  of 
Kansas  in  the  number  of  forest  trees  planted  ;  but  if  I'm  right  in 
the  above  calculations,  and  I  do  not  see  but  that  I  am,  Kansas  ex- 
ceeds Nebraska  in  the  number  of  trees  planted  out  by  17,486,350, 
and  in  acres,  41,682. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  above  estimate  does  not  in 
either  state  include  the  number  of  acres  of  trees  of  volunteer 
gi'owth.  That  this  is  very  large  every  observer  knows,  and  that  it 
is  equal  to  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  number  of  artificial 
growth  is  quite  evident. 

We  have  not  an  estimate  of  the  number  of  fruit  trees  in 
Nebraska,  but  the  authority  I  have  given  above  states  that  of  all 
the  varieties  of  fruit  trees  in  Kansas  there  are  20,851,276.  Reducing 
this  to  acres,  at  40  trees  to  the  acre,  which  is  believed  to  be  a  fair 
average,  makes  52,128,  or  a  total  of  acreage  in  forest  and  fruit 
trees,  almost  all  set  out  during  the  past  fifteen  years,  of  171,810. 

Besides  this,  there  are  6,228  acres  in  small  fruits,  and  3,865 
acres  in  vineyards. 

The  constant  discussion  of  the  subject  of  forestry,  the  im- 
mense accumulation  of  experience,  the  demonstration  of  what  man 
has  done,  gives  hope  of  what  man  may  do. 

The  only  thing  to  be  done  now  is  to  get  away  from  experiment 
and  go  into  the  business  of  forestry  on  what  Americans  call  a  big 
scale.     We  must  accustom  ourselves  to  speak  of  a  hundred  or  a 


12ti  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

thousand  acres  of  trees  just  as  we  now  do  about  so  much  corn.  It 
takes  but  little  more  time  to  plant  a  mile  of  trees  along  the  high- 
way than  it  does  to  set  out  a  dozen  trees  in  a  dooryard.  We  were, 
we  older  men.  born  in  an  age  when  men  ptit  in  a  life  time  chopping 
down  trees,  and  I  have  done  my  share  of  it  in  Andrew  county  in 
this  state.  We  have  fortunately  lived  to  see  the  first  development 
in  this  country  of  the  new  art  of  forestry,  the  art  of  making  trees 
grow.  Everything  is  in  its  favor.  Let  us  do  oitr  part  in  the  great 
work,  resting  assured  that  we  shall  be  doing  a  good  part  for  our- 
selves and  the  generations  to  follow  us, 

Next  was  a  paper  on 

THE  NEW  IN  HORTICULTUEE. 


BY    J.    N.    MENIFEE,    OKEGOX. 

This  is  a  subject  of  vital  importance  to  every  horticulturist. 
Our  daily  mails  come  laden  with  circulars  and  catalogues,  each 
describing  neiv  vegetables,  fruits  and  flowers. 

Shall  we  turn  away  in  disgust  (as  many  do),  saying  the  old  is 
good  enough,  and  refusing  to  listen  to  the  claims  of  the  new,  simply 
because  they  have  heard  of  somebody  getting  terribly  swindled  by 
uetv  things  ? 

This  is  an  age  of  progress.  And  horticulture  must,  and  will, 
keep  pace  with  the  forward  march  of  the  enterprising  world  around. 

The  writer  planted  an  orchard  in  Holt  county.  Mo.,  twenty 
years  ago,  containing  twenty-two  varieties  of  apples,  all  recom- 
mended by  the  best  available  authority  as  the  l)est.  Last  spring  a 
new  orchard  was  to  be  planted  on  the  same  farm,  and  but  four 
varieties  of  the  old  found  a  place  in  the  new  orchard. 

The  new  in  every  branch  of  horticulture  is  superseding  the 
old,  in  spite  of  the  prevailing  prejudice  against  the  new.  We 
anticipate,  in  the  near  future,  new  apples  that  will  equal  the  Ben 
Davis  in  all  its  good  qualities,  and  7nore,  be  fit  to  eat. 

The  blackberry,  raspberry  and  nearly  all  otlier  berries  of  ten 
years  ago  are  things  of  the  past. 

And  similar  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  vegetable 
and  flower  garden. 

The  old  hollow  Peach  Blow,  the  knotty  Neshannock,  the 
watery  Peerless  and  the  exhausted  Early  Rose  potatoes  are  thrown 
aside,   except  by  a  few  old    fogies,  who  never  heard  of  the   Almo, 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  123 

Invincible,  Stanton^s  seedling  and  a  number  of  others  far  better 
than  the  old  kinds  were  in  their  best  days. 

A  new  idea  in  horticulture  is  to  drive  strong  stakes  twenty 
feet  apart  in  the  raspberry  row,  fastening  a  smooth  wire  to  them 
two  feet  above  ground,  to]5ping  the  new  canes  a  little  above  the 
wire,  which  will  send  out  laterals  on  either  side  the  wire  and  save 
the  destruction  so  common  by  high  winds. 

Another  is  to  set  a  strong  post  beside  the  trunk  of  the  tree  and 
from  the  top  of  the  post  suspend  the  loaded  breaking  branches  with 
a  smooth  wire. 

Some  new  ini'plements  in  horticulture  deserve  special  note. 
The  potato  digger,  the  tree  digger,  the  wheel  hoe,  the  fruit  parers 
and  evaporators  are  revolutionizing  the  horticultural  world.  I 
pared  and  cored  on  a  new  machine  a  few  days  ago  one  bushel,  or 
two  hundred  and  forty-two  apples  in  twelve  and  one-half  minutes, 
and  comparing  the  evaporated  fruit  with  that  dried  the  old  way  is 
conclusive  evidence  that  the  neiv  in  horticulture  is  an  important 
subject. 

Yet  "  all  that  glitters  is  not  gold,"  neither  are  the  glowing 
advertisements  and  over-drawn  descriptions  of  the  new  to  be  relied 
upon.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  watchword  of  every  intelligent 
horticulturalist.  Be  careful  what,  and  where,  you  buy,  and  buy 
sparingly  of  the  untried  netu.  But  never  condemn  a  thing  until  it 
is  proven  worthless  ;  not  because  it  is  new. 

In  conclusion  I  name  a  few  of  the  most  valuable  acquisitions 
that  I  have  thoroughly  tested.  The  Snyder  and  Taylor's  Prolific 
blackberry,  the  Souhegan,  Hopkins,  G-regg,  Cuthbert  and  Hansell 
raspberries,  and  the  Bidwell  strawberry. 

Discussion"; 

F.  Holsinger — Would  differ  from  the  chair  in  saying  that  the 
curculio  is  the  most  destructive.  The  Gouger  is  a  thousand  times 
more  destructive  than  the  curculio.  The  Round  Head  Borer  is 
also  more  destructive  than  the  codling  moth.  Found  the  codling 
moth  filled  a  sponge  placed  in  tha  forks  of  the  tree.  This  matter 
will  come  up  in  the  report* of  the  committe  on  entomology. 

Da7i.  Carpenter  moved  that  the  chair  appoint  a  committee  to 
memorialize  the  state  legislature  to  appoint  a  state  entomologist ; 
carried  unanimously. 

Adjourned  until  9  o'clock. 


124  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

WEDNESDAY,  9.4.  M. 

Session  called  by  the  president  and  prayer  offered  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Abbott,,  pastor  of  Unity  chapel. 

DlSCUSSIOX  ON  THE  PAPERS  OF  TUESDAY  AfTERXOON — 

Chairman  Murtfeldt : — Thinks  that  if  the  mercury  goes  12  to 
15  degrees  below  zero  it  destroys  the  peach  crop  although  the  tree 
may  bloom. 

JY.  F.  Murry : — Says  that  he  has  known  a  crop  of  peaches 
with  twenty-one  degrees  below  zero. 

Maj.  Ragan  : — Found  ^liat  if  the  cold  comes  on  gradually  the 
damage  will  be  light,  but  a  cold  winter  after  a  warm  fall  often 
kills  them.  After  the  cold  of  1882  he,  with  J.  K.  Cravens,  went 
south  of  the  Ozark  mountains,  and  in  Howell  county  found  the 
peach  crop  very  fine  on  the  hills,  while  in  the  valleys  they  were 
killed.  One  day  he  went  into  one  of  the  commission  men's 
houses  and  found  the  w^hole  upper  story  filled  with  dried  peaches. 
Thinks  that  in  that  belt  peach  growing  Avill  be  a  success  and  there 
we  will  have  to  look  for  our  peaches. 

The  Secretary  read  the  following  letters  from  persons  whom 
he  had  addressed  for  items  for  the  State  report : 

Gkeencastle,  Ind.,  Nov.  2d,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman: 

Yours  of  the  21st  ult.  should  have  had  earlier  attention  but 
for  pressure  of  business. 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  honor  of  an  invitation  to  pre- 
sent a  paper  to  your  Society  in  December. 

Nothing  could  please  me  better  than  to  meet  Missouri  horticul- 

turalists  at  hovie.     From  the  foretaste  I  had  at    Kansas   City  last 

winter,  I  know  I  would  enjoy  the   occasion.     As  for  my  ability  to 

return  an  "equivalent,"  for  the  pleasure  I  would  enjoy,  I  am  not  so 

clear. 

But   seriously,  my  dear   friend,  it  will   hardly  be  possible   for 

me  to  comply  with  your  request. 

The   pressure  of  business  is  so  great  upon  my  time  that  I  must 

forego  all  pleasures  for  the  present. 

Shall  expect  to  meet  you  at  New  Orleans  in  January. 

With  kind  regards  to  all  friends,  I  am,  as  ever, 

Very  Truly, 

W.  H.  RAGAN. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejili.  125 

Dayton,  Ohio,  Nov.  3d,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman : 

My  Dear  Sir  : — Yours  of  Oct.  23d,  at  hand.  It  would  af- 
ford me  pleasure  to  write  an  item  or  two  for  your  coming  report. 
But  the  fact  is,  I  am  so  very  busy,  and  then  I  am  not  much  of  a 
writer.  I  however  send  you  a  report  of  onr  Ohio  Agricultural  and 
Horticultural  Experiment  Station,  and  last  year's  report  of  our 
Montgomery  county,  Ohio,  Horticultural  society ;  probably  the 
most  active  local  horticultural  society  in  the  land.  In  perusing 
them  you  may  find  something  that  would  be  of  interest  to  some 
one.  I  wish  I  could  be  with  you  at  your  annual  meeting,  Dec.  9th 
to  11th,  but  it  cannot  be. 

Our  Ohio  State  Horticultural  Society  will  meet  at  Columbus, 
0.,  Dec.  3d  to  5tli ;  would  be  glad  to  have  you  come  and  see  us. 

Remember  me  to  your  President,  Mr.  Tracy,  with  whom  I 
have  the  honor  of  being  acquainted.  Very  Truly  yours, 

N.  Ohmer. 


Denison,  Texas,  October  30,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman  : 

Yours  of  22nd  came  in  my  absence  at  New  Orleans.  It  would 
be  a  pleasure  to  write  something  for  your  state  report,  were  I  not 
already  "loaded  to  the  guards."  Have  just  returned  from  New 
Orleans,  where  I  have  been  arranging  for  my  botanical  display  of 
the  native  grapes  of  the  United  States  with  their  wild  and  culti- 
vated varieties  and  hybrids.  Earle  &  Son,  Tracy  &  Galloway,  with 
their  large  force  are  busy  as  beavers  in  the  exposition.  The  exposi- 
tion will  be  even  grander  than  advertised.  New  projects  are 
sprung  every  day.  Altogether  some  60  acres  of  ground  will  be 
covered  with  buildings,  36  acres  in  main,  15  in  government,  and 
balance  scattered  among  a  dozen  or  more  accessories. 

Wish  I  could  be  with  you  at  your  meeting  in  St.  Joe,  but  that 
is  at  my  busiest  season. 

Wishing  you  a  grand   success  I  am 

Truly  yours, 

T.  V.  MUNSON. 


126  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Dec.  2,  1884. 

L.  A.   Goodman,  Secretary  Missouri  Horticultural  Society,    West- 
port,  Mo.  : 

Dear  Sir: — While  I  appreciate  your  kind  attention  and  courtesy 
in  inviting  me  to  your  meeting  December  9th  and  llth,at  St.  Joseph 
Mo.,  I  feel  that  my  advanced  age  and  condition  of  health  do  not 
permit  my  being  present  there,  and  there  is  so  little  to  be  said  about 
the  subject  you  desire  me  to  prepare  a  jDaper,  that  I  shall  try  to 
send  you  one — very  short — in  time  for  the  10th  (Thursday).  Should 
my  friend  and  partner,  Mr.  Meissner,  be  able  to  attend — I  shall 
transfer  the  pleasant  task  to  him,  and  hope  you  will  excuse. 

Yours  truly, 

ISIDOE  BUSH. 


Boston,  Mass..,  Oct.  27,  1884. 
L.  A.   Goodinan,  Sec.  Mo.    Horticultural  Society: 

Dear  Sir  :  Your  favor  requesting  an  item  for  your  state 
report  is  at  hand,  and  I  would  gladly  comply  with  it  if  possible,  but 
I  do  not  feel  equal  to  giving  you  even  a  paragraph  ;  for  I  have  lost 
three  weeks  by  sickness,  and  was  behind-hand  in  my  work  before, 
and  am  not  yet  as  strong  as  I  ought  to  be.  I  am  promised  an 
assistant,  and  perhaps,  hereafter,  when  my  arrears  are  cleared  up,  I 
can  give  you  an  item  for  some  future  report. 

I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  expect  to  make  a  good  show  at 
New  Orleans.  We  shall  try  to  do  something  ;  but  distance,  and 
the  fact  that  fruit  growing  as  a  business  is  not  extensive  here,  are 
against  us.  Yours  truly, 

EOBERT  MANNING, 

Sec.  Mass.  Hort.  Soc. 


Alton,  III.,  Oct.  28,  1884. 
Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman,  Westport,  Mo : 

Dear  Sir  :  Yours  of  the  23rd  received.  I  do  not  know  tln^ 
I  have  any  item  that  would  be  valuable  to  the  fruit  growers  of  the 
west.  Our  knowledge  is  gathered  little  by  little ;  though  I 
no  doubt  know  some  things  now  I  did  not  know  a  year  ago,  yet  it 
is  so  little  a  thing  in  itself,  I  am  hardly  conscious  of  it. 

I  would  like  to  be  with  you  at  St.  Joe.,  but  hardly  think  lean. 

Respectfully, 

E.  A.  EIEHL. 


^        Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  12? 

South  Havex,  Mich.,  Xov.  10,  1884. 

L.  A.   Goodman,  Sec.  Mo.  Horticultural  Society, 

Dear  Sir  :  I  have,  for  a  considerable  time,  been  very  busy 
arranging  for  the  collecting  of  specimens  of  our  fruits,  for  exhi- 
tion  at  New  Orleans  ;  and  find  your  favor  of  23rd  ult.,  upon  my 
table,  on  my  return  home.  A  few  years  since,  a  friend  sent  me  a 
few  persimmon  seed,  grown  in  Southern  Indiana.  Understanding 
that  this  tree  is  indigenous  there,  as  I  understand  it  to  be  in  your 
state,  and  that  the  thermometer  in  your  latitude  occasionally  in 
winter  gets  down  among  the  twenties  below  zero,  while  here  it 
never  runs  down  below  sixteen,  I  planted  these  seeds,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  growing  quite  a  number  of  the  trees,  hoping  to  succeed 
with  them,  and  possibly  to  mature  the  fruit.  Several  of  them  are 
now  fine  trees,  six  or  seven  feet  in  height ;  and,  while  a  few  of 
them  have  stood  unprotected  through  a  number  of  rather  severe 
winters,  others  have  been  more  or  less  winter  killed  ;  and  four  or 
five,  out  of  about  a  dozen  planted  out  in  the  spring  of  1883,  were 
killed  outright  by  the  past  winter.  I  am  curious  to  learn  whether 
or  not  they  are  ever  injured  with  you,  and  whether  our  seasons  (in 
latitude  forty-three)  are  likely  to  be  sufficiently  long  to  allow  the 
fruit  to  mature.  Very  truly  yours, 

T.  T.  LYON. 


Newburgh,  K  Y.  ,  Oct.  29,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman, 

Dear  Sir  :  Your  favor  of  the  24th  at  hand,  and  in  reply  say 
that  I  would  be  pleased  to  comply  with  your  request  if  my  mental 
and  physical  ability  wouldjpermit — my  back  is  so  painful  that  I  am 
unable  to  answer  the  many  letters  I  receive  in  answer  to  inquiries 
relating  to  names  of  fruits,  and  as  to  my  opinion  as  to  their  merits  ; 
also,  specimens  of  fruits  come  in  daily  to  name,  &c.,  &c.,  so  that 
I  have  not  time  even  to  answer  all  to  accomplish  all.  I  am  still 
suffering  from  the  injury  I  received  in  my  back  two  years  since  so 
that  I  have  but  little  use  of  it  and  can  only  walk  a  few  rods  at  a 
tipie,  and  the  spine  being  injured,  there  is  little  if  any  encour- 
agement. 

With  best  wishes  for  your  health  and  welfare,  I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

CHAS.  DOWNING. 


128  Missouri  iSfate  Horticiclfural  Society. 

Office  of  American  Pomological  Society, 
Boston;  November  29,  1884. 

Dear  Sir  :  I  have  been  always  much  interested  in  the  reports 
of  your  Missouri  Horticultural  Society  and  the  wonderful  progress 
of  pomology  in  the  Western  States,  among  which  your  association 
stands  forth  so  prominently  both  for  enterin-ise  and  acquisitions. 

The  apples  which  the  society  had  the  kindness  to  send  me  last 
year  were  very  remarkable  for  their  size  and  beauty,  not  excelled 
by  any  collection  I  have  ever  received,  and  I  suppose  your  exhi- 
bition at  the  great  exposition  at  New  Orleans  will  astonish  the 
pomologists  of  the  old  world. 

The  Missouri  Horticultural  Society  has  been  a  powerful  agent 
in  the  advancement  of  American  pomology. 

Well  do  I  remember  the  hospitality  with  which  the  American 
Pomological  Society  was  received  at  its  meeting  in  St.  Louis  in 
.1867,  and  tlie  kind  words  of  President  Mead,  Dr.  Spaulding, 
Arthur  Bryant,  and  others  ;  especially  those  of  the  venerable  Dr. 
Edwards  in  introducing  the  lady  who  placed  on  my  head  a  beau- 
tiful wreath  of  flowers  in  bebalf  of  the  ladies  of  St,  Louis. 

And  now,  my  dear  secretary,  I  desire  to  express  to  the 
members  of  your  society  the  great  interest  I  feel  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  pomology  of  our  blessed  land.  Xo  other  country  has 
such  capabilities  and  no  other  has   made  such  wonderful  progress. 

In  the  order  of  Providence  she  has  become  a  great  leader  in 
this  most  beautiful  and  benevolent  employment. 

The  next  meeting  of  the  American  Pomological  Society  is  to 
be  held  in  Michigan  next  year,  when  I  doubt  not  there  will  be  a 
full  representation  of  the  best  men  and  the  best  fruits  of  our 
immense  domain  in  which  the  Missouri  Horticultural  Society  will 
occupy  an  important  place,  and  I  fondly  hope  to  see  a  great 
reformation  in  the  nomenclature  of  our  fruits.  This  is  a  subject 
which  has  lain  near  my  heart  for  many  years  and  which  I  hope 
may  be  accomplished  before  I  go  hence. 

You  have  copies  of  the  rules  of  pomology  adopted  by  the 
Americal  Pomological  Society  with  my  suggestions  as  to  the 
proper  naming  of  fruits,  which  I  am  most  happy  to  learn  are  being 
adopted  not  only  here,  but  in  Europe,  thus  striking  from  our 
catalogue  and  suppressing  all  long,  superfluous,  indelicate,  inap- 
propriate, and  bombastic  names. 

The  American  Pomological  Society  was  the  first  national 
society  thus  interested,  of  which  we  have  any  record.  It  is  her 
mission  to  lead  in  this  most  worthy  enterprise.     Let  her  fulfill  it. 

MAESHALL  P.  WILDEE. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph/  129 

A  motion  was  made  and  unanimously  carried  that  Hon.  Mar- 
shall P.  Wilder,  of  Boston,  Mass.;  Charles  Downing,  of  Newbnrgh , 
N.  Y.,  and  T.  T.  Lj'on,  of  Grand  Haven,  Mich.,  be  made  honorary 
members  of  this  society.  ( 

The  report  of  committee  on  small  fruits,  was  taken  up,  one  by 
Samuel  Miller,  Bluff  ton,  and  W.  M.  Hopkins,  Kansas  City,  and  by 
Jacob  Faith,  Montevallo. 


SMALL  FRUITS. 


BY    SAMUEL   MILLER,    BLUFFTON,    MO. 

Strawberries  a  fair  crop  with  a  few  exceptions.  Old  Ironclad 
and  Piper  gave  but  Httle  fruit  although  the  plants  were  vigorous 
and  healthy. 

Howell's  Prolific  bore  but  little. 

Walter  proved  a  complete  failure. 

Lenning's  White  nearly  so. 

Magnum  Bonum  bore  some  fine  fruit  but  the  foliage  sunburned 
badly. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  Albany  and  Ladies  Pine. 

The  heaviest  crops  were  of  James  Vick  and  Daisy,  two  new 
ones.  Although  Cumberland  Triumph,  Crescent,  Capt.  Jack, 
AVindsor  Chief,  &c.,  as  usual,  did  well  enough. 

Jersey  Queen  was  the  largest  average  berry  we  had  and  a  good 
crop  of  beautiful  and  excellent  ones  at  that. 

Quite  a  number  of  new  varieties  were  set  out  last  spring,  but 
of  them  hereafter. 

A  hint  to  those  who  have  the  situations.  Yesterday  I  was 
planting  the  latest  varieties  I  have  on  a  northern  slope,  partially 
shaded,  and  will  next  plant  the  earliest  sorts  on  the  south  side  of 
the  cliffs,  so  as  to  prolong  the  fruiting  season. 

Raspberries  did  well,  with  the  exception  of  Grregg  which  seems 
to  give  out. 

Among  the  new  ones,  Caroline  is  a  handsome,  large  yellow, ^ex- 
cellent one,  and  propagates  both  fern  tips  and  suckers.  Is  hardy 
and  productive. 

Among  the  Black  Caps  I  deem  the  Centennial  about  the  most 
valuable,  on  account  of  its  earliness,  productiveness  of  large  brilliant 
black,  excellent  berries. 


130  Missouri  State  Hor^ticultural  Society. 

Of  reds,  Turner,  Cutlibert  and  Colossal  are  my  most  reliable. 

Currants  I  have  but  one  bush,  and  that  had  but  little  fruit. 

Gooseberries,  Houghton  and  Downing  both  bore  well,  the  lat- 
ter much  the  largest  and  best,  but  will  not  bear  as  much  as  the 
former. 

Blackberries,  Snyder  and  Western  Triumph  bore  a  small  crop, 
but  Kittatinny  and  Lawton  never  worth  looking  after.  This  latter 
fruit  I  only  grow  for  my  own  use. 

I  cannot  attend  the  coming  meeting  of  the  society. 


REPORT  ON  SMALL  FRUITS. 


BY  W.   M.   HOPKINS. 

As  one  of  the  committee  on  small  fruits,  according  to  the 
requirement  of  the  society,  I  submit  this  report  for  the  year  1884. 
In  consequence  of  a  late,  cold,  backward  spring  strawberries  were 
late  starting  consequently  behind  in  ripening  about  ten  days.  The 
crop  was  about  a  full  average  one  contiguous  to  Kansas  City. 
Prices  much  lower  than  usual.  A  great  deal  of  very  poor  stock  was 
shipped  into  this  market  before  home  grown  berries  were  ripe,  and 
sold  at  ruinous  prices  to  the  grower.  This  poor  stock  had  a  very 
depressing  influence  on  prices  of  home  grown  ;  the  consumer  having 
too  much  bad  strawberry  was  very  slow  to  take  hold.  I  think  that 
at  least  one-half  of  the  strawberries  sent  to  commission  men  here 
later  in  the  season  were  never  placed  on  this  market,  being 
shipped  direct  from  the  union  depot  to  western  and  southwestern 
points,  thus  relieving  this  market  of  what  would  have  proven  a 
heavy  glut.  I  cannot  urge  the  grower  too  strongly  to  pick  and 
handle  this  tender  fruit  with  the  greatest  care  if  you  exjiect  to 
realize  paying  prices  in  this  market.  It  will  pay.  Red  and  Black 
Cap  raspberries  were  about  three- fourths  of  a  croji  and  realized 
good  prices.  There  was  the  usual  heavy  glut  only  for  a  day  or 
two,  and  good  stock  in  good  condition  sold  to  retailers  at  fair 
prices.  Blackberries  were  almost  a  failure  and  brought  high 
figures.  The  rust  has  destroyed  nearly  all  of  the  Kittatinny  and 
some  others.  Thus  far  the  Snyder  and  Taylor  are  entirely  exempt. 
The  currant  crop  in  this  vicinity  was  much  larger  than  I  have  ever 
seen  it  before,  and  j^aid  the  grower  well ;  it  seems  to  be  doing  better 
of  late  years,  or  probably  we  have  learned  better  how  to  treat   it. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejili.  131 

The  gooseberry  is  so  uncertain  and  if  it  ever  is  successful,  is  too 
poor  a  fruit  to  waste  laud  or  time  in  cultivating  it.  All  kinds  of 
small  fruits  are  in  excellent  condition,  especially  the  strawberry. 
The  Black  Caps  have  made  a  good  healthy  growth,  not  so  rampant 
as  some  seasons,  and  not  made  as  many  tips  as  usual.  All  are 
going  into  winter  quarters  with  unusual  promise  of  a  good  crop  the 
coming  season.  Be  sure  to  cover  the  strawberry  beds  lightly  with 
clean  wheat  straw  as  soon  as  the  ground  freezes  sufficiently  to  bear 
up  a  wagon. 


REPORT  ON  SMALL  FRUIT. 


BY    LIONBERGER    &    GUTMANN,  NEW  FLORENCE,  MO. 

S.  Miller  :  We  will  try  to  comply  with  your  request  in 
regard  to  a  report  on  small  fruit.  However,  we  have  not  been  in 
business  long  enough  to  give  as  complete  a  report  as  we  would 
like  to. 

Straivberries.  —  We  only  had  a  few  varieties  in  fruit  last 
summer  ;  of  these  we  found  Jersey  Queen  to  be  one  of  the  very 
best.  Captain  Jack,  Daisy  and  James  Vick  have  done  excellent  ; 
while  Old  Ironclad  and  Piper  did  rather  poor.  Crystal  City  had 
fine  fruit,  which  came  early,  but  was  not  of  the  best  quality.  Big- 
Bob  and  Manchester  we  do  not  think  deserve  the  praise  some 
nurserymen  give  them.  Ida  had  a  good  deal  of  fruit,  which, 
though  small,  was  of  good  quality.  In  August  we  had  commenced 
planting  a  new  plantation.  The  fact  is, we  have  been  planting  more 
or  less  the  Avhole  fall.  Of  the  first  planting  we  find  Old  Ironclad 
and  Piper  to  show  the  most  vigor,  next  comes  C.  Triumph,  then 
Daisy,  James  Yick,  Capt.  Jack,  Jersey  Queen  and  Crystal  City. 
Manchester  and  Big  Bob  do  very  poor.  Of  Sharpless,  Crescent^ 
C.  Downing,  and  Olendale,  which  we  planted  late,  we  could  not 
say  much  at  present. 

Raspberi'ies. — We  have  the  following  sorts  :  Cuthbert,  Turner, 
Thwack,  Doolittle,  Gregg,  Caroline,  Moody,  Shaffer's  Colossal, 
Crimson  Beauty,  Lost  Rubies,  Scarlet  Gem  and  Stayman's  No.  2. 
Cuthbert,  Turner  and  Thwack  have  done  fine  with  us.  Shaffers 
Colossal  is  a  fine  fruit  of  the  largest  size,  and,  we  think,  is  one  of 
the  best  for  home  use  ;  but- doubt  whether  it  is  attractive  enough 
for  market.     Gregg  and  Doolittle  we  think  a  great  deal   of,   and 


132  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

they  certainly  ought  to  have  a  place  in  every  collection.  Scarlet 
Gem  has  fine  everbearing  qualities  and  consider  it  one  of  the  best. 
Of  the  other  sorts  we  will  have  to  wait  another  year  before  ex- 
pressing our  opinion. 

BlacTcherries. — Kittatinny,  AVestern  Triumph  and  Needham's 
White  are  the  only  kind  we  have  ;  but  cannot  brag  on  either  of 
them.  The  former  two  ripened  a  few  enormous,  large  specimens, 
but  very  few  of  them  ;  while  the  last  named  has  not  fruited  with 
us  yet.  We  have  them  all  on  rich  ground,  but  expect  to  set  out  a 
new  plantation  on  poorer  land,  in  order  to  give  them  a  thorough 
trial.  We  have  seen  the  Lawton  doing  very  fine,  in  a  garden,  a- 
few  miles  distant. 

Currants. — Of  these  we  have  but  few,  mostly  red  and  white 
Dutch.  We  like  the  white  best,  but  we  are  not  acquainted  with 
the  newer  and  finer  sorts  ;  if  we  were,  perhaps  we  would  report 
different. 

Gooseherries. — Houghton's  Seedling  is  the  only  variety  we  have 
in  fruit,  though  we  have  others  on  trial.  Though  we  do  not  consider 
gooseberries  much  of  a  fruit  when  in  their  best,  we  must  say  that 
Houghton  did  excellent  for  us. 

REPORT    OF    JACOB    FAITH,    OF    MOKTEVALLO. 

MoNTEVALLO,  Dec.  8th,  1884. 

This  meeting  is  for  a  good  purjDOse.  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot 
be  present,  and  you  have  my  best  wishes.  I  would  not  miss  being 
a  member  for  $1.00  a  year.  I  value  my  horticultural  report  much 
higher  than  the  cost  of  being  a  member. 

The  past  season  I  had  a  good  and  paying  crop  of  strawberries 
from  one  and  one-fourth  acres.  T  sold  1625  worth  of  strawberries. 
They  sold  from  eight  to  twenty  cents  per  quart.  My  last 
report  in  form  of  a  table,  still  holds  good  for  this  year,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Lennings  White  which  falls  two  short  in  produc- 
tiveness, and  Chas.  Downing  and  Miner's  Prolific  a  gain  of  one  point 
each . 

I  can  grow  strawberries  for  two  cents  per  quart,  and  get  them 
picked  for  one  and  one-half  cents  per  quart.  Who  would  deprive 
himself  and  family  of  this  delicious  fruit  for  three  and  @ne-half 
cents  per  quart?  I  have  been  successful  in  mixing  the  Chas.  Down- 
ing with  the  Crescent,  as  the  Chas.  Downing  blooms  about  the 
same  time  as  the  Crescent,  which  is  a  pistilate  and  must  be  ferti- 
lized with  a  staminate,  blooming  and  ripening  at  the  same  time. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejjh.  133 

The  best  time  to  set  strawberries  m  this  latitude  is  March, 
April  and  May  and  September,  October,  i^ovember  and  December. 
Do  not  set  too  early  in  fall,  as  the  plant  should  be  well  matured  be- 
fore being  set.  The  season  can  be  lengthened  by  setting  early  var- 
ieties in  light,  sandy  soil  and  on  south  or  southeast  hill  side.  For 
late  varieties  and  late  croj)  on  north  hill  side  on  heavy  soil;  and  if 
jou  want  very  late  crops  pick  oif  all  fruit  stems  as  fast  as  they  ap- 
pear ;  keep  the  plants  well  watered  and  mulched  and  we  are  almost 
certain  of  a  fair  crop  in  September  and  October.  I  prefer  the 
matted  row  system  ;  rows  four  feet  apart,  plants  in  rows  eight  to 
twelve  inches,  keep  clean  with  hoe  and  cultivator,  train  the  run- 
ners along  the  rows  as  they  grow  out,  and  they  will  soon  form  a 
matted  row;  keep  the  runners  within  twenty-four  inches  ;  this  can 
be  done  by  keeping  the  cultivator  or  plow  going   between  the  rows. 

Mulching  is  very  beneficial  when  freezing  weather  sets  in.  All 
have  rotten  straw  or  clean  hay,  clear  of  seeds,  but  I  prefer  coarse 
stable  manure ;  the  winter  rains  and  light  snows  will  carry  down 
into  the  ground  all  the  strength  of  the  manure  ;  answering  as  a 
mulch  in  the  spring,  keeping  the  ground  moist  and .  the  berries 
clean. 

In  spring,  if  the  mulching  is  over  one-half  an  inch  thick,  it 
must  be  loosened,  or  some  of  it  raked  off.  * 

With  spring  set  plants  that  were  well  matted,  I  have  been  very 
successful  without  mulching,  and  mulch  only  the  middles  to  keep 
outside  berries  clean,  and  also  for  the  benefit  of  pickers.  A  late 
growth  of  crab  grass  will  not  injure  berries  and  will  answer  for  a 
mulch. 

Raspberries  follow  strawberries.  This  season  we  had  straw- 
berries and  early  raspberries  for  two  weeks  every  meal  at  the  table. 
The  raspberry  can  be  grown  with  less  work  than  corn.  After  the 
first  year  this  fruit  is  also  very  profitable  to  dry,  and  can  and  then 
be  kept  until  prices  suit,  but  not  as  many  varieties  adapt  them- 
selves to  our  soil  and  climate  as  strawberries.  Time  to  set  is  in  the 
fall,  after  the  first  light  frosts,  until  the  plants  are  four  or  five 
inches  high  in  spring. 

Set  the  plants  a  little  deeper  than  they  were  in  the  nursery, 
but  with  roots  down  straight  and  sj^read  out  fan-shaped  ;  make  the 
hole  with  a  paddle  three  inches  Avide,  press  groundto.it;  set  like 
strawberries  ;  ground  for  all  kinds  of  fruits  should  be  subsoiled. 
I  prefer  subsoiling  to  double  plowing. 

I  plant  black-cap  raspberries  seven  feet  apart  and  two  feet  apart 
in  the  rows.     Eeds,  six  feet  apart  and  ten  to  fifteen  inches  apart  in 


134  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  rows.  I  cultivate  the  first  year  like  strawberries;  when  the  plants 
are  fifteen  inches  hightoiD  them  the  first  year;  but  after  the  first  year 
top  them  when  they  are  three  feet  high.  Keep  this  up  until  all  the 
young  canes  are  topped.  Shorten  the  side  branches  to  fifteen 
inches,  plow  twice  a  year  and  in  fall  or  winter  throw  a  shovel  full 
of  manure  to  each  hill.  I  have  twenty-two  varieties,  but  plant 
Centennial,  Hoi^kins,  Mammoth  Cluster  and  Gregg  for  my  best 
black-caps,  and  Brandywine,  Thwack  and  Turner  as  the  best  reds. 

I  have  two  acres  of  raspberries  ;  have  not  kept  any  account  of 
what  they  brought  me,  but  I  know  they  brought  me  some  days  ten 
dollars  per  da}^  from  neighbors  who  picked  the  berries  themselves, 
or  about  eight  cents  per  quart. 

I  had  very  good  success  in  planting  strawberries  among  rasp- 
berries— three  strawberry  plants  between  each  two  raspberry  plants, 
both  set  at  the  same  time  and  the  same  cultivation  answering  for 
both.  In  this  way,  I  had  this  season  a  full  crop  of  strawberries, 
and  when  they  were  about  gone,  the  raspberries  came  in  and  made 
a  full  crop,  but  it  takes  more  manure.  I  will  plant  two  acres  next 
spring,  all  this  way.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,  and  was  admired  by 
all  who  saw  it.  One  Sunday  evening  I  counted  ninety-seven 
persons  who  visited  me  to  see  the  sight. 

Blackberries,  *I  have  tested  seven  varieties.  I  plant  Kittatinny 
and  Snyder,  rows  seven  feet  apart,  and  ten  to  eighteen  inches 
apart  in  the  row,  cultivate  and  top  oif  like  raspberries.  Black- 
berries bore  a  fair  crop,  but  as  yet  have  not  paid  me  much,  though 
only  the  first  crojD.  Between  the  rows  I  grow  potatoes,  cabbage  and 
beans.  I  have  a  selection  of  new  varieties,  but  not  sufficiently 
tested  yet. 

I  see  the  curculio  will  be  discussed  ;  I  have  learned  by 
experience  and  observation  that  ^Jlums  cannot  be  successfully  grown 
unless  hogs  are  allowed  to  run  in  the  orchard  to  eat  all  the  fallen 
fruit  which  is  stung  by  the  curculio.  I  have  seen  plum  orchards 
bear  good  crops  for  from  three  to  five  years,  but  the  curculio  stung 
fruit  was  allowed  to  rot  on  the  ground,  which  are  now  perfectly 
worthless  and  within  a  mile  of  same  soil  and  locality,  with 
care  and  where  hogs  were  allowed  to  eat  the  fallen  fruit,  good 
and  paying  crops  have  been  raised  every  year.  I  believe  one  acre  of 
plums  is  worth  two  acres  of  corn  for  hogs,  and  can  be  grown  for 
much  less. 

Plums  can  be  kept  for  months  in  barrels  in  water. 

It  IS  very  beneficial  to  plums  after  they  drop  the  bloom  to 
smoke  them  once  or  twice  a  week  with  tar  and  sulphur. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  135 

In  my  recipe  against  rabbits  I  must  have  made  a  mistake. 
Take  four  pounds  of  sulphur,  half  bushel  of  lime,  slack  with  hot 
water  or  soapsuds  boiling  hot,  and  stir  well,  then  add  half  gallon 
of  crude  carbolic  acid  and  one  gallon  of  gas  tar,  stir  well  w^hile  hot. 
Ready  for  use  when  cold. 

For  summer  use  against  borers,  leave  out  gas  tar  and  add 
instead,  one  gallon  of  soap.  I  have  tried  many  remedies  to  keep 
rabbits,  mice,  sheep  and  borers  from  trees  and  found  the  above 
much  the  best  one  that  I  ever  tried,  giving  entire  satisfaction  for 
the  past  ?our  years  on  over  4,000  trees  of  apple,  pear,  peach  and 
plum. 

I  will  not  say  much  on  the  apple  as  Mr.  Liston,  of  Yirgil 
City,  will  be  there  who  is  best  posted  in  this  country  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  is  best  to  set  apple  trees  shallow,  lean  towards  southwest 
and  head  low,  prune  a  little  once  or  twice  a  year  with  finger  and 
thumb,  wash  the  bark  and  keep  smooth,  keep  off  rabbits,  mice  and 
sheep,  cultivate  in  spring  and  first  part  of  summer. 

Mulching  will  cause  the  roots  to  grow  near  the  surface,  if 
kept  up  afterwards. 


THE  RASPBERRY— BEST  LOCATION  AND   BEST   VARI- 
ETIES FOR  MARKET, 


BY  W.   M.   HOPKINS,  KANSAS  CITY. 

We  live  in  an  age  of  progress  and  improvement,  and  the  indi- 
vidual or  community,  that  does  not  recognize  this  fact,  and  keep 
abreasi  with  the  times,  will  soon  be  lost  in  the  fogs  and  ruts  of  old 
fogyisn.  About  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  business  of  raising 
small  fi'uits  for  market  was  a  very  small  and  unimportant  vocation, 
and  wa5  looked  upon  with  much  fear  and  foreboding  for  future 
success.  Instead  of  failure  what  do  we  see  to-day?  A  grand  suc- 
cess that  entitles  it  to  be  classed  as  one  of  the  great  and  growing 
commercial  industries  of  the  age.  To  what  shall  we  attribute  the 
great  ctange  ?  To  the  industry,  perseverance  and  skill  of  the  pro- 
ducers of  the  soil,  assisted  by  organized  effort  and  influence  of 
horticultural  societies  scattered  all  over  the  land.  A  little  over  a 
decade  igo  such  a  thing  as  crates  and  boxes  filled  with  luscious 
berries  vere  quite  a  novelty  in  the  Kansas  City  market,  but  now 
each  succeeding  season  we  see  thousands  of  crates  sold  to  consumers 
by  retaibrs  and  thousands   shipped  off  to  seek  a  market  elsewhere. 


13 G  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

All  of  this  time  we  have  had  a  horticultural  society  of  live  working 
members  who  meet  regularly  ouce  a  month  and  discuss  all  subject? 
pertaining  to  fruit  raising,  thereby  imparting  much  valuable  in- 
formation to  the  public.  Therefore  let  me  urge  all  friends  of  hor- 
ticulture to  aid  and  assist  the  officers  of  the  Missouri  State  Socfety 
in  their  present  efforts  to  organize  our  great  state  and  place  ic  on 
an  equal  footing  with  our  sister  states.  Now  I  will  come  to  my 
subject,  ''The  Raspberry."  It  is  divided  into  two  branches  best 
location,  and  best  varieties  for  market.  Select  a  high,  drv,  level, 
well  drained  location,  sloping  gently  to  the  south  or  east  x'or  early 
berries,  north  for  late  ones.  Avoid  all  hillsides  if  possible.  My. 
reasons  for  this  are  the  raspberry  plantation  should  be  i;ept  well 
cultivated  before  and  after  picking  until  the  last  of  Septeaiber.  As 
a  consequence  our  heavy  rains  will  wash  away  all  of  the  best  soil, 
making  it  useless  to  apply  fertilizers  ;  and  this  is  not  all,your  stools 
will  be  left  high  and  dry  on  a  ridge  thus  exposing  the  roots  )ind  thereby 
diminishing  the  yield.  In  view  of  these  facts  I  would  say  plant  all 
kinds  of  berries  on  level  land  or  nearly  so.  The  second  branch  of 
my  subject,  "  What  Varieties  to  Plant  for  Market,"  may  not  be  so 
satisfactorily  solved  because  of  so  many  candidates  for  public  favor 
among  nurserymen,each  one  claiming  his  pet  or  favorite  as  thebest. 

Of  the  black  caps,  I  would  recommend  the  "Hopkins'  for 
early  and  the  Gregg  for  late,  and  here  modesty  whispers  me  io  go 
slow,  while  I  liear  some  one  say,he  has  also  an  axe  to  grind.  It  was 
charged  that  one  of  our  illustrious  presidents  appointed  nearly,all  of 
his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  to  office.  I  hope  you  will  par- 
don me  if  I  say  a  good  word  or  two  for  ray  bantling.  It  is  a  good 
strong  healthy  grower,  as  yet  entirely  free  from  rust  or  diseaae,  en- 
tirely hardy,  very  productive  and  of  first  rate  quality;  for  calming 
has  no  equal.  It  has  never  been  pushed,  but  has  gained  a  reputa- 
tion upon  its  merits  alone.  As  an  evidence  of  its  increasing  popu- 
larity, I  shipped  on  order  five  thousand  tips  the  last  spring  toone  of 
the  largest  small  fruit  growers  of  New  Jersey.  Its  season  of  ripen- 
ing is  with  Doolittle  or  four  or  five  days  behind.  Tlie  Gregg  fe  a  fine 
large  berry,  a  good  shipper  but  rather  poor  in  quality.  Th&  Hop- 
kins is  destined  to  take  the  place  of  both  Doolittle  and  Mahimoth 
Cluster,  as  they  are  rusting  badly  in  tlie  vicinity  of  Kansas  City  and 
will  soon  be  numbered  with  the  good  berries  that  have  gone  before. 

If  your  land  for  black  caps  is  not  naturally  rich  nii^e  it  so 
witk  rotted  barn  yard  manure,  and  keep  it  so  afterwards  wiih  dried 
blood  as  a  fertilizer.  I  always  select  the  best  land  I  have'  for  my 
black  caps  as  they  are  rank  feeders,  but  moderately  rich  land  I 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  13T 

think  the  best  for  the  reds.  Eich  land  stimuhites  them  too  much, 
causing  a  rank,  spongy  growth  which  sometimes  caitses  them  to  be 
injured  by  our  hard,  severe  winters.  I  would  say  about  the  same 
kind  of  location  for  the  red  as  the  black.  Cuthbert  and  Thwack  are 
the  best  varieties  I  have  tested.  The  Cuthbert  is  a  fine  large  berry 
of  good  quality.  Plant  a  little  tender  here,  but  sells  well.  The 
Thwack  is  a  very  hardy  plant,  the  best  shipper  we  have,  quality 
rather  poor,  quite  productive!  With  my  experience  of  fifteen 
years  there  has  not  been  a  failure  in  the  crop  of  raspberries.  I  con- 
sider it  the  most  certain  of  all  the  fruits,  and  the  most  profitable 
next  to  the  strawberry.  Its  consumption  will  keep  pace  with  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  of  the  great  metropolis  of  the  "^new 
west."  There  is  very  little  danger  of  overstocking  the  market  with 
good  berries  well  handled. 

Discussiox. 

Charles  Patterson: — Has  the  largest  berries  on  the  richest 
ground. 

/.  X.  Menifee: — Has  been  testing  many  new  varieties.  Hansel 
was  very  fine  and  very  early,  and  they  were  all  red  with  ripe  fruit 
before  the  Turner  began  to  turn.  Cuthbert  is  the  best  for  market 
and  comes  in  just  after  the  Hansel. 

Black  Caps,  Souhegan  is  the  best  thus  far.  Perfectly  hardy 
and  has  the  finest  berries  of  all. 

Hopkins  and  Gregg  are  also  Xo.  1.  Tyler  are  very  fine  also. 
Souhegan  all  ripen  close  together  and  are  the  best  for  close  market. 

The  Snyder  and  Taylor  blackberry  are  the  best.  Snyder  are 
hardy  and  have  never  failed  to  bear.  Taylor  follows  after  the 
Snyder. 

G.  W.  Ropkin.^ : — Thinks  that  it  is  a  fault  to  have  the  berries 
all  ripen  at  once. 

F.  Holsinger : — The  Gregg  is  the  poorest  of  all  with  him.  As 
for  a  red  I  find  the  Thwack  the  best  of  all. 

W.  H.  Thomas : — Finds  Doolittle  one  of  his  best  berries  and 
ripens  gradually,  and  never  fails  to  bear.  Trims  back  the  tops  and 
cuts  the  laterals  three  or  four  times,  and  finds  that  it  makes  a  fine 
bush  and  never  fails  to  bear.     Has  not  the  Ho^Dkins  or  Gregg. 

J.  A.  Durkes  : — Asks  about  the  Caroline.  He  finds  it  a  verv 
good  berry. 

L.  A.  Goodman:  —  Says  with  him,  and  with  all  the  fruit 
growers  about  Kansas  City,  their  berries  would  never  bear  at  all,  if 
they  were  trimmed  as  suggested  by  W.  H.  Thomas. 


138  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

P.  Jackson,  Carthage: — Finds  the  Souheghan  is  fast  taking- 
the  place  of  the  Doolittle.     Cuthbert  is  good,  Gregg  does  well  also. 

N.  F.  Murry  :  —  Thinks  the  state  ought  to  be  divided  into 
three  districts,  northern,  southern  and  middle  and  that  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  from  each  district  to  give  a  list  of  varieties  of 
fruits  that  are  the  most  valuable  in  their  district. 

/.  M.  Pretzinger,  Clinton  .-—Has  a  berry  found  in  the  woods 
and  has  brought  some  plants  for  the  use  of  the  society.  They  are 
hardy  and  productive. 

The  Chair  announced  the  following  committees  : 

On  Fruit  Exhibits — G.  F.  Espenlaub,  Chas.  Patterson,  J.  P. 
Rickard. 

On  Final  Resolutions — Dan  Carpenter,  Geo.  Meissner,  C.  H. 
Fink. 

On  Nominations — Z.  S.  Ragan,  N.  F.  Murry,  P.  Jackson. 

On  Memorializing  Legislature  for  Appointment  of  State  En- 
tomologist— J.  C.  Evans,  Z.  S.  Ragan,  Dan.  Carpenter. 

On  Obituaries — G.  W.  Hopkins,  W.  H.  Thomas,  J.N.  Men- 
ifee. 

On  Membership — J.  A.  Durkes;  J.  Madinger,  E.  Listen. 

On  Finance — P.  Holsinger,  D.  S.  Holman,  W.  G.  Gano. 

Adjourned  to  1:30  p.  m. 


WEDNESDA  Y    A  FTERNO  ON. 


REPORT  OF  THE  SECRETARY,  L.  A.  GOODMAN. 

At  our  summer  meeting  I  reported  that  our  society  was  work- 
ing its  way  gradually,  but  surely,  to  its  own  place  of  prominence  in 
this  state  that  it  should  occupy. 

Now  I  am  glad  to  report  that  during  the  last  one-half  year  we 
have  obtained  a  firmer  hold  on  the  horticulturist   than  ever  before. 

Now  not  a  day  passes  but  that  I  receive  from  one  to  ten  letters 
either  of  enquiry,  or  of  information. 

Before  I  have  had  to  do  all  the  writing  and  now  I  am  beginning 
to  receive  responses. 

I  foiind,  and  still  find  my  greatest  trouble  to  be  a  non  acquaint- 
ance with  the  florist,  fruit-growers,  nurserymen  and  commission 
men  of  the  state.  An  acquaintance,  however  short,  gives  your 
secretary  a  wonderful  advantage  over  writing  to  strangers. 


Anmial  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  139 

But  we  are  overcoming  these  troubles  gradually,  and  in  time 
hope  to  see  them  vanish. 

It  was  no  easy  work  to  get  these  people  to  take  an  interest  in 
our  work,  especially,  I  suppose,  because  they  thought  the  State  So- 
ciety did  not  accomjilish  much. 

One  year  ago  we  had  very  few  members,  and  but  two  horti- 
cultural societies,  while  to-day  we  have  a  long  list  of  members  and 
nine  societies.  The  work  has  now  taken  such  an  impetus  that 
before  the  end  of  another  year  we  hope  to  see  them  doubled  or 
trebled. 

FKUIT    REPORTS. 

On  May  27th,  I  sent  qut  the  following  blank.  No.  20,  to  every 
county  of  the  State  : 

SECEETAEY'S  OFFICE, 

Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society, 

Westport,  Mo.,  May  27,  1884. 

Will  you  please  examine  your  trees  and  vines  on  June  3rd 
closely,  and  answer  the  following  questions  as  far  as  possible  : 

(1)  Taking  100  as  a  full  crop,  give  the  percentage  of  the  fol' 
lowing  fruits  now  on  the  trees  and  vines  : 

Apples       Cherries,        Blackberries  — 

Peaches,    Plums,  •  Raspberries,      

Pears,        Strawberries,. GrajJes,  

(2)  What  are  the  prospects  for  a  full  crop  of  the  following 
fruits  ?     (Give  the  percentage). 

Apples,  Plums,         Easpberries      

Cherries,       Strawberries Grapes,  

(3)  What  three  or  four  varieties  of  the  following  fruits  will 
have  the  best  crops,  and  the  percentage  of  each  : 

varieties.  per  cent,     varieties.  per  cent. 

Apples, Strawberries  

Pears EasiDberries  

Cherries  Grapes, 

Plums 

(4)  What  is  the  present  condition  of  trees  and  vines  ? 


140  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

(5)  Did  the  winter  injure  the  following  : 

Apples,  Cherries,   Strawberries,  Rasj)berries    

Peaches Plums^       Blackberries,  Grapes,         

(6)  Are  the  berries  affected   by  the  rust,  and  which    have 
Buffered  most  ? 

(7)  What  insects  are  troublesome  this  year  ? 


Let  these  reports  be  sent  me  on  June  5th,  so  that  I  may  com- 
pile them  for  the  State  meeting,  to  be  held  at  Springfield,  June 

10th  and  11th. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Sec'y. 

REPORT. 

PERCENTAGE    OF   FRUIT   NOW  ON  THE  TREES  AND  VINES. 


Apples,  78  per  ct. 
Peaches,  00     " 
Pears,  60 


Cherries,  65  per  ct> 
Plums,  native  80  " 
Strawberries,  95  " 


Blackberries,  45   per  ct. 
Raspberries,  75         " 
Grapes,  60  " 


PRESENT     CONDITION. 

Apples  are  generally  in  good  condition,  although  in  many 
places  some  varieties  are  affected  with  the  rust,  especially  in 
central  and  southern  parts  of  the  state. 

Peach  crop  badly  injured,  and  showing  the  leaf  roller  at  work, 
and  trees  dying  in  many  places. 

Berries  are  generally  in  good  condition,  except  the  blackberry, 
in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  where  they  were  badly  injured, 
(except  Snyder.) 

WINTER    INJURY. 

Apples  in  many  places,  especially  on  the  rich  prairies,  were 
badly  injured,  and  now  show  it  by  casting  their  fruit.  The  tender 
varieties  show  it  more  now  than  ever.  The  loss  of  the  fruit  will  be 
the  salvation  of  the  trees,  and  they  will  be  ready  for  another  year. 

Peach  trees  were  so  badly  injured  that  it  is  a  question  if  any  of 
the  older  trees  will  ever  give  us  a  good  crop,  or  be  good  trees  again. 
I  think  that  we  must  look  to  our  new  i^lanting  for  our  good  peaches 
hereafter.  Those  who  did  not  cut  back  their  trees  find  them 
making  poor  growth  ;  many  have  cut  them  to  the  ground. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  state  the  trees  are  in  splendid 
condition,  and  along  the  Arkansas  line  they  look  well. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Jo&epli.  141 


PKOSPECTS. 


T^e  prospects  are    not  quite  so  favorable  ;  much  of  the  fruit 
appearing  as  though  it  mast  drop  off.. 


Apples,  65  per  ct. 
Peaches,  00     " 
Pears,  50 


Cherries.  60  per  ct. 
Plums,  75 
Strawberries,  90  "■ 


Blackberries,  40  per  ct. 
Raspberries,  70         " 
Grapes,  GO  " 


WHAT  VARIETIES  HAVE  THE  BEST  CROPS. 

Apples, — 

We  find  all  give  Ben  Davis  80  to  110  per  cent. 

Those  in  N.  W.  part  of  the  State,  Winesap,   75  to  90  per  cent. 

Some  give  Jannett,  60  to  80  per  cent. 
Jonathan,  80  to  100  per  cent. 
Willowtwig,  60  to  90  per  cent. 
W.  W.  Pearmain,  80  to  90  per  cent. 
Huntsman,  60  to  80  per  cent. 

Pears, — Duchess,  Bartlett,  Seckel,  60  to  80  per  cent. 

Clierries, — E.  Richmond,  E.  Morello,  40  to  70  per  cent. 

Plums, — Wild  Goose,  85  per  cent. 

Strawherries, — Crescent,  Monarch,  Bidwell,  90  to  100  per 
cent. 

Raspberries, — Hopkins,  Gregg,    Doolittle,   80  to  100  per  cent. 

Blackberries, — Snyder,  100  per  cent. 

Grapes, — Concord,  Martha,  80  to  90  per  cent. 

Cherries  were  a  little  injured  but  show  a  fair  crop  of  fruit,  and 
no  permanent  injury  to  the  Morello  varieties,  but  the  tender 
varieties  are  injured  beyond  recovery. 

Plums  are  not  injured  in  the  least,  (that  is  the  Wild  Goose 
varieties. )     The  others  do  not  pay  to  grow. 

Straiuberries  well  covered  were  safe. 

Raspberries, — Some  of  the  tender  varieties  were  badly  injured, 
and  there  will  not  be  more  than  half  a  crop.  The  hardy  varieties 
will  have  a  good  three-quarters  of  a  crop,  and  in  many  places  more. 

Blackberries, — All  varieties  badly  injured  except  Snyder, 
and  that  has  stood  in  every  part  of  the  state.  If  it  were  not  so 
small  it  would  be  the  berry  to  plant. 

Grapes, — Many  varieties,  and  the  finer  ones  were  badly  injured 
by  the  cold,  but  the  old  hardy  kinds  are  still  sound,  and  promise 
well.  • 


143  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  berries  have  been  aifected  with  the  rust  ;  even  the  straw- 
berry has  shown  it  badly,  especially  the  Charles  Downing.  In  some 
places  the  injury  has  been  very  severe.  The  blackberry  seems 
destined  to  be  ruined  in  many  places  where  it  has  not  already  been 
80,  and  we  will  have  to  look  to  other  varieties  or  other  localities  for 
our  blackberries. 

The  raspberry,  also,  has  begun  to  show  signs  of  rust,  and  I 
fear  we  will  soon  see  it  go  the  way  of  the  blackberry. 

The  reports  show  that  there  has  been  very  little  trouble  from 
insects  this  year.  The  cold  weather  has  kept  them  down  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  but  we  will  have  enough  later  in  the  season 
is  the  prophecy  of  all. 

In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  state  I  find  that  there  is  the 
greatest  per  cent,  of  a  crop  of  apples.  In  the  western  central  part 
of  the  state,  along  tlie  Missouri  River,  there  will  be  medium  crop, 
and  as  there  are  so  many  orchards  there  will  be  a  good  many 
apples.  In  the  central  part  the  prospects  are  not  as  good.  In  the 
southwestern  part  there  seems  to  be  about  one-half  of  a  crop,  and 
as  there  are  a  great  many  young  trees  planted  they  will  be  fine.  In 
the  southeastern  portion  apples  do  not  seem  to  be  a  great  staple, 
and  there  will  not  be  very  many,  although  the  per  cent,  is  good. 
In  the  northeastern  portion  it  is  somewhat  the  same,  and  although 
the  average  is  large  the  amount  of  bearing  trees  is  not  as  great. 

All  of  these  averages  will  be   lowered   by  the  time  the   August 

report  is  made. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN, 

Secretary. 

This  gave  the  prospects  for  June,  and  fruit-growers  were  happy 
to  think  of  such  an  abundant  fruit  crop. 

On  August  1st  I  sent  out  another  blank,  No.  32,  as  follows,  to 
find  the  amount  of  fruit  we  were  likely  to  have  ;  and  the  results 
this  fall  have  justified  the  report  made  from  those  instructions  : 

SECRETAEY"S  OFFCE,      \ 
MissouEi  State  Horticultural  Society,  f 

FRUIT  report. 

Date  of  Report, County,  

Name,    P.  0., 

Give  the  per  cent,  of  a  crop  of 
Apples,   Pears, Grapes, * 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  143 

Give  the  varieties  of  apjoles  that  have  the  best  crops  and  per 
cent. 


What  portion  of  the  crop  will  be  good  merchantable  apples? 

What  is  the  tronble  with  the  fruit,  and  can  you  give  the  cause, 
if  any? 


What  is  the  present  condition  of  the  apple  trees? 
What  locations  have  suffered  most  ? 

/ 

What  varieties  are  affected  worst? 


Will  you   please  answer  these  questions   and    return   to  me  at 
once.  L.  A.  GOODMAN". 

Wesfport,  August^  Ist,  1884. 

Thus  we  have  the  result  of  these  questions,  as  follows  : 
REPORT  FOR  AUGUST,  1884. 


As  we  continue  to  hear  more  and  more  from  the  fruit  men  of 
our  state,  we  find  an  increasing  interest  in  our  state  society.  Our 
inquiries  concerning  the  fruit  crop  for  the  August  report  have  been 
answered  more  fully  than  ever  before. 

APPLES. 

We  find  that  the  average  jirospect  for  the  entire  state  is  58  per 
cent,  of  a  full  crop.  This  prospect  for  winter  apples  is  much  better 
than  we  expected  some  time  ago,  and  it  is  our  own  opinion  that 
this  is  rather  under  than  over  our  real  situation. 

The  varieties  standing  highest  on  the  list  are  :  First — Ben 
Davis.  Second — Willowtwig.  Third — Smith's  Cider.  Fourth — 
Jannett,  (  Maiden's  Blush,  Lowell,  Keswick  Codlin,  Duchess,  E. 
Harvest,  Red  Astrachan,  Soi3s  of  Wine,  Benoni.) 

Only  about  one-half  of  the  crop  will  be  good,  merchantable 
apples,  and  fine  fruit  will  bring  good  prices  this  winter. 


144  Missouri  State  Hoi^ticultural  Society. 

The  cause  of  so  much  dropping  of  fruit  and  scab  is  attributed, 
by  some,  to  the  cold  winter  ;  by  others,  to  the  frost  of  last  spring  ; 
by  others,  to  insects  ;  and  by  others,  to  location. 

The  present  condition  of  apple  trees  »is  very  favorable  in  young 
orchards,  but  in  some  of  the  older  ones  the  trees  are  in  very  bad 
condition  ;  and  this  is  especially  true  of  certain  varieties,  among 
which  are  :  Winesap,  White  Winter  Pearmain,  Ortley  and  Eo- 
manite.  Trees  in  low  localities  seem  to  have  suffered  most,  and  on 
the  prairies  more  than  in  timber. 

The  greatest  per  cent  does  not  j^rove  tlie  most  bushels,  because 
the  young  orchards  are  the  fullest. 

The  prospect  for  grapes  is  about  50  per  cent  of  a  full  crop. 

Respectfully, 

■      L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Sec^y. 

Westport,  Missouri. 

I  give  these  reports  together,  although  a  space  of  three  months 
intervened  between  them,  because  it  will  be  much  easier  to  refer  to 
them  hereafter.  . 


EXHIBIT  OF  THE  STATE  SOCIETY  AT  THE    WORLD'S 
FAIR  AT  NEW  ORLEANS. 

This  next  demands  our  attention  and  what  has  been  done  has 
been  done  under  the  greatest  difficulties  and  expenses.  Some  of 
the  railroads  gave  us  assistance  in  this  matter  very  generously.  No- 
tably the  Kansas  City,  Springfield  and  Memphis,  the  Missouri 
Pacific  and  the  Wabash  railroads.  Other  than  this  I  have  had  to 
pay  my  expenses. 

To  assist  in  the  matter  and  save  as  much  expense  as  possible  I 

had  printed  circular  No.  34  and  sent  to  every  county  paper   in  the 

state  and  to  500  different  persons,  and  the  result  was  that  I  have 

received  many  packages  of  fruit   from   different    portions    of   the 

state. 

SECRETARY'S  OFFICE,      ] 
Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society.  '  [ 

Westport,  Mo.,  July  1,  1884. 

Dear  Sir  :  You  are  aware  that  our  State  Society  wishes  to 
make  an  exhibition  of  fruits'  at  the 

cotton  centennial  exposition, 
held  at  New  Orleans  next  winter.     To  do  this,   we  want  the  best 
late  summer,   fall  and   winter  pears  and  apples.     This  fruit  will 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  145 

have  to  be  kept  in  cold  storage  until  December,  and  arrangements 
have  been  made  with  the  Cold  Storage  Co.,  401  Grand  Avenue,  of 
Kansas  City,  who  have  kindly  agreed  to  keep  the  fruit  free  of 
charge  until  the  time  of  the  exposition. 

Now  we  desire  your  co-operation  to  assist  in  collecting  these 
fruits,  and  every  one  who  has  any  good  specimens  or  can  get  them 
can  help  in  this  matter  by  making  this  collection  and  forwarding 
to  me.  We  would  urge  you  to  make  an  effort  in  this  and  do  all 
you  can.  We  want  a  fine  show  of  these  fruits,  and  Missouri  can 
make  it  if  we  do  our  duty. 

Of  early  kinds  we  want  fifteen  specimens  of  each  and  of  the 
later  varieties  ten  of  each.  Wrap  each  specimen  well  in  paper,  and 
put  in  paper  sacks  with  the  name  plainly  written  on  them  ;  or  put 
the  name  with  each  apple  as  you  wrap  it  with  paper.  Pack  these 
in  boxes  holding  one-third  bushel,  and  put  plenty  of  paper  in 
packing,  so  they  cannot  move. 

Horticultural  societies  can  bring  their  collections  to  their 
meetings  and  then  select  the  best  from  them  and  pack  as  above. 

The  fruit  should  be  gathered  with  the  following  rules  in  view  : 

1st.  Condition  of  fruit,  which  should  be  in  its  natural  state, 
not  rubbed,  nor  polished,  nor  specked,  bruised,  eroded,  nor  wormy; 
with  all  its  parts,  stem,  calyx,  segments,  well  preserved  ;  not 
wilted,  nor  shriveled  ;  clean. 

2nd.  The  size  should  be  large  and  the  specimens  should  run 
even. 

3rd.      Form  should  be  regular,  and  the  lot  should  be  even. 

4th.  The  color  and  markings  should  be  in  character,  not 
blotched  nor  scabby  ;  in  fact,  a  perfect  fruit. 

All  eaj'ly  fruit  must  be  gathered  while  firm  and  sent  as  soon  as 
ripe  and  not  soft. 

Put  a  list  of  varieties  in  each  box  and  mark  the  box  with 
your  name.  Send  me  a  list  of  the  varieties,  also  when  they  are 
shipped,  and  by  what  express  company  sent,  to  have  for  reference. 

Send  them  by  express  to  me,  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  care  of 
Kansas  City  Cold  Storage  Company,  401  Grand  Avenue,  Kansas 
City.  ^       L.  A.  GOODMAN, 

Secretary. 

We  hold  with  the  Cold  Storage  Co.,  at  Kansas  City,  some  thirty 
or  more  barrels  of  fine  specimen  apples  for  that  display,  and  with 
the  collection  made  at  this  meeting,  I  think  we  need  not  fear  to 
meet  any  state. 


146  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Had  it  not  been  for  tlie  volunteer  assistance  from  our  horti- 
cultural societies,  my  work  would  have  been  much  heavier  and  the 
expenses  much  more. 

The  thanks  of  this  society  are  due  those  who  have  so  kindly 
assisted  us  in  this. 

Our  exhibit  will  go  to  New  Orleans  the  last  of  this  month  and 
will  be  made  in  the  horticultural  building. 

I  suppose  no  other  state  has  attempted  a  display  by  its  horti- 
cultural society  without  money  for  this  purpose  from  the  state. 

Other  states  have  from  11,000  to  as  high  as  17,000  for  their 
horticultural  display,  and  while  our  state  received  the  15,000,  the 
same  as  other  states,  yet  the  horticultural  society  could  not  obtain 
one  cent  from  the  United  States  Commissioner  from  our  state. 

Not  one  iota  of'  help  have  I  been  able  to  obtain  in  any  shape 
from  him,  so  that  what  we  have  done,  we  have  done  on  our  state 
allowance,  and  that,  with  the  generous  assistance  of  the  fruit-grow- 
ers, has  made  our  collection. 

Our  display  should  by  all  means  go  into  the  state  display,  but 
we  are  compelled  to  compete  for  premiums  to  help  pay  expenses, 
w]iile  the  Commissioner  does  not  seem  to  want  it. 

This  exhibit,  although  it  has  caused  a  great  deal  of  extra  labor, 
yet  it  has  been  a  means  of  reaching  many  persons  who  could  not 
be  reached  in  any  other  way,  and  it  has  caused  the  people  to  know 
that  our  state  society  is  alive  and  at  work  ;  and  this  work  is  a  work 
of  instruction  tg  us  all  alike. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 


MEMBERSHIP. 

Your  secretary  would  first  recommend  that  every  member 
make  it  a  personal  matter  to  secure  members  to  our  State  Society, 
because  we  need  all  the  workers  and  all  the  assistance  we  can  get. 
The  small  fee  of  one  dollar  per  member  is  a  promise  of  interest  and 
work  for  the  society, and  I  feel  free  to  ask  any  member  for  favors  or 
assistance  in  our  work,  because  I  know  they  are  interested. 

We  certainly  should  have  five  hundred  members  in  our  state, 
and  we  can  liave  if  we  will  all  do  our  duty  in  this  matter. 

There  are  a  number  of  honorary  members,  and  of  life  members 
in  the  state,  but  I  cannot  find  their  names  and  wish  every  one 
entitled  to    such  would  inform  me,  so  I  could  make  a  list  of  them. 


Annual  Meeti7ig  at  St.  Joseph.  147 

LIBRARY. 

I  have  brought  this  subject  up  at  nearly  every  meeting,  and  yet 
I  feel  it  to  be  of  so  much  importance  that  I  refer  to  it  again. 

We  should  have  a  certain  amount  set  aside  each  year  for  the 
purchase  of  standard  works  on  fruits,  insects,  gardening,  landscape 
gardening,  ornamentals,  nursery  and  green  house  work,  &c.  This 
library  would  be  for  reference  on  any  subject  that  may  present 
itself,  and  would  usually  settle  many  points  in  dispute. 

Such  a  library  would  benefit  hundreds  of  fruit  growers  all 
over  the  state,  and  when  I  can  see  all  matters  referred  to  the  office 
of  the  secretary  or  librarian  for  information,  and  close  connection 
between  all  members  on  the  subjects  of  common  interest,  questions 
continually  coming  in  and  answers  going  out,  and  the  secretary 
kept  busy  every  day  at  his  work,  I  shall  believe  Missouri  is  taking 
her  right  position  as  a  fruit  state.  '' 

STATE  REPORT. 

Our  report  has  to  be  paid  for  out  of  our  yearly  appropriation 
and  it  does  not  give  us  the  money  we  need  for  our  work.  It  takes 
about  one-half  of  it  for  our  printer's  bill,  when  we  should  have  our 
report  printed  by  the  state  as  do  other  horticultural  societies. 

For  this  year's  report  I  found  that  we  had  been  to  so  much  ex- 
pense in  state  work  and  in  the  collections  of  fruits  for  the  World's 
Fair,  that  I  went  to  Jefferson  City  to  see  the  state  auditor,  John 
Walker,  and  present  the  matter  to  him  and  ask  his  advice.  He 
went  with  me  to  the  state  printer  and  told  him  to  use  the  state 
paper  for  printing  and  that  we  should  pay  what  we  could  on  it  and 
the  balance  would  be  placed  in  the  deficiency  bill.  Our  bill  by  this 
contract  with  the  printer  will  be  $(300.00,  of  which  we  are  to  pay 
in  cash  1150.00  and  the  rest  goes  i^to  the  deficiency  bill. 

This  will  relieve  us  considerably  this  year,  and  return  to  us 
what  we  have  spent  for  the  World's  Fair. 

I  hope  that  this  matter  will  be  taken  up  and  a  request  or 
committee  sent  to  the  legislature  i-equesting  them  to  have  the  state 
printer  print  our  reports  as  all  other  state  reports  are  printed. 

The  report  of  our  summer  meeting  is  compiled  and  is  at  the 
printer's.  It  will  be  printed  by  the  time  this  meeting  closes  and 
the  printer  will  be  ready  for  the  report  of  this  meeting. 

The  Secretary's  Budget  is  nearly  complete  and  if  we  have  no 
mishaps  we  will  have  our  state  report  out  by  the  middle  of  January. 

Every  year  I  find  more  and  more  work  on  these  reports   and 


148  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

yet  as  I  become  more  acquainted  with  it  I  find  I  can  do  it  quicker. 
Our  last  report  was  received  with  favor  and  I  trust  this  will  be 
better. 

RAILKOADS. 

The  railroads  have  been  very  liberal  with  us  this  year  and  we 
want  them  to  understand  that  it  is  greatly  to  their  interest  to  assist 
us.  I  believe  every  dollar  given  us  in  favors  is  returned  to  them 
a  hundred  fold. 

It  has  come  to  be  a  positive  necessity  that  the  secretary  have 
passes  over  the  railroads  in  order  to  visit  the  horticultural  'societies, 
assist  in  organizing,  and  working  up  the  interest  in  the  State 
Society. 

A  resolution  to  that  effect  might  be  of  assistance  to  our  society 
and  be  a  step  in  the  right  direction  both  for  the  railroads  and  the 
society. 

EXPENSES. 

Our  expenses  have  necessarily  been  much  greater  than  before. 
I  have  in  every  instance  in  sending  out  reports  or  asking  for  re- 
ports had  enough  printed  to  send  to  every  county  seat  in  the  state 
to  at  least  one  paper  and  then  to  about  six  hundred  others. 

My  idea  was  to  get  hold  of  good  men  in  each  county  and 
advertise  our  society,  and  to  let  them  know  that  we  were  alive. 

I  have  been  compelled  to  pay  express  and  other  bills  as  they 
came  in  and  I  could  not  call  on  the  treasurer  or  give  them  a  war- 
rant for  the  money.  Although  it  is  not  the  correct  way  I  could 
not  do  otherwise.     Our  expenses  are  about  as  follows  : 

Mississippi  Valley  meeting ' ■ I  41.90 

Expenses  on  report  of  1883 103.95 

Postage  on  reports  sent  out 52.00 

Premiums  for  June  meeting 30.50 

Printing  circulars,   reports,  postal  cards,  letter  heads  and 

envelopes 95.55 

Postage  62. 75 

Express,  papers  for  budget,  sec'y.  expenses  and  incidentals..  61.40 
Collecting  fruit  for  World's  Fair 97.15 


Total ' $545.20 

I  have  sent  out  about  4000  circulars  and  crop  reports,  written 
over  1000  postal  cards  and  nearly  1000  letters. 

I  believe  that  we  have  more  peoj)le  interested  in  the  state  society 
than  ever  before  and  this  work  is  continually  growing  and 


Annual  Meeliny  at  St.  Josepli.  149 

OUR    HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETIES 

throughout  the  state  are  increasing  in  influence,  and  the  state 
society  should  in  every  way  foster  the  growth  of  these  in  all  our 
counties. 

They  accomplish  much  good  and  as  they  grow  older  the  people 
will  take  more  interest  in  them  and  assist  them  in  their  grand  work. 

When  we  see  nearly  every  county  well  organized  with  a  horti- 
cultural society  to  lead  them  we  shall  have  a  wonderful  change  in 
the  work  both  of  this  society  and  of  our  local  societies. 

Every  society  should  send  a  list  of  its  members  and  officers  to 
the  state  society  and  give  a  report  of  their  society  with  the  papers 
read  before  them  during  the  year.  These  should  as  far  as  possible 
be  printed  in  our  state  report  and  every  member,  of  these  local 
societies  should  be  taken  as  members  of  our  state  society.  Every 
one  of  these  county  societies  should  be  entitled  to  the  reports  of 
the  state  society  ;  thus  making  a  bond  of  union  between  the  two. 
I  believe  more  than  ever  that  we  should  every  year  authorize 
some  one  to  help  organize  in  all  the  counties  that  will  take  an 
interest  in  county  societies.  He  should  also  visit  every  county 
society  if  possible  once  each  year. 

A    STATE    ENTOMOLOGIST. 

Our  state  society  should  take  active  measures  to  induce  our 
legislature  to  appropriate  money  enough  to  secure  a  good  entomol- 
gist  for  the  state. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  we  know  our  insect  enemies 
and  our  insect  friends.  The  time  has  come  when  we  will  have  to 
fight  our  insects  continually,  if  we  would  grow  perfect  fruit,  and 
it  seems  as  if  we  were  entitled  to  this  officer  by  right.  Let  us  ask 
the  legislature  to  give  u.s  our  rights. 

OUR   FRUIT   CROP. 

In  June  we  all  expected  a  crop  of  good  fruit.  In  October  we 
were  all  disappointed.  What  caused  this,  and  the  remedy,  is  a 
puzzle. 

The  insect  destruction  is  so  great  that  we  will  have  to  fight 
them  or  lose  our  reward.  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  society 
to  the  filthy  weed  as  one  of  the  best  cure-alls  for  our  insect  pests. 
I  believe,  from  what  experiments  I  have  seen,  and  what  I  have 
heard,  that  it  will  be  one  of  the  best  preventatives  of  the  codling- 
moth's  destructive  work.  Sprayed  over  the  trees  when  in  bloom 
and  twice  afterwards,  I  believe  it  will  hold  them  in  check.  There, 
is   no  danger  in  the  use  of  it  and  the  stems  can  be  obtained  very 


150  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

cheaply.  I  hope  to  see  some  of  our  members  try  it  the  coming 
year. 

As  we  stated  last  year,  pyretJi rum  is  still  gaining  in  favor  and 
bids  fair  to  be  one  of  our  best  helpers  in  this  work. 

Prof.  Eiley  and  other  entomologists  are  making  this  an  especial 
study  and  we  are  fast  finding  some  means  of  destroying  our  insect 
pests.  Their  work  will  be  of  incalculable  value  to  the  fruitgrower; 
yet  it  is  best  for  each  of  us  make  some  experiments  and  tests  for 
ourselves. 

Prof.  Forbes,  of  Illinois,  has  made  this  his  especial  study  for 
years;  he  is  now  giving  us  such  information  as  will  be  of  great 
value  in  our  horticultural  work. 

A    FEW    NEW  IMPLEMENTS. 

I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  society  to  a  new  card-holder, 
the  work  of  Charles  W.  Garfield,  of  Michigan,  wliich  seems  to  be 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  purpose.  I  am  glad  to  say,  also,  that  one 
of  our  members,  J.  A.  Durkes.  of  \Yeston,  has  made  the  same  and 
thinks  we  are  entitled  to  the  use  of  it. 

A  hand  weeder  by  I.  S.  Haseltine,  of  Dorchester,  also  is 
peculiarly  adapted  to  weeding  out  small  plants  and  strawberries. 

An  apjjle  picker,  also,  the  patent  of  J.  C.  Merine,  is  worth 
double  its  price  to  any  one  in  saving  specimens  for  display  or  in 
gathering  early  apples  where  they  need  careful  handling. 

A  sample  of  each  of  the  tools  is  here  shown. 

THE    SECKETARY's    BUDGET. 

The  budget  is  made  up  of  clippings  from  the  best  horticultural 
papers  of  such  items  as  I  thought  would  be  of  interest  to  the  people 
of  our  state. 

1  liave  made  use  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  Ainerican  Agri- 
culturalist, Gardner's  Monthly  Rural  New  Yorker,  Country 
Gentleman,  Prairie  Farmer,  Colman's  Rural  World  and  a  few 
others. 

I  have  tried  to  give  in  each  instance,  credit  to  the  paper  from 
which  the  item  was  taken,  and  if  I  have  failed  it  is  because  the 
authority  was  not  known. 

This  Budget  will  be  the  choicest  bits  of  information  that  can 
be  gathered  in  a  small  space.  They  will  be  of  value  for  reference 
also. 

STATISTICS. 

I  wish  we  could  have  satisfactory  statistics  of  the  area  of  our 
orchards,  of  our  small  fruits,  and  of  vineyards. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  151 

I  wish  we  might  have  yearly  reports  of  the  amount  produced 
from  our  orchards  from  our  small  fruit  farmers  and  from  our  vine- 
yards. These  would  be  very  valuable  to  our  state  and  as  information 
to  send  abroad. 

Our  Society  can  scarcely  undertake  such  a  work  without  more 
money  to  work  on.  Yet  every  day  I  see  the  need  of  this  more  and 
more.  Other  states  give  reports  of  the  amount  of  fruit  produced 
and  the  value  of  the  crop  while  I  cannot  give  them  an  answer  in 
return. 

The  value  of  the  apple  crop  in  some  of  our  counties  runs  up 
into  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  while  that  of  small  fruits 
is  worth  nearly  or  quite  as  much.  And  if  the  value  of  the  fruit 
crop  of  the  state  was  correctly  ascertained  we  would  be  astonished 
at  the  amount. 

I  thus  give  you  some  of  these  thoughts  and  wants  of  our  Society, 
not  in  a  fault  finding  way  :  but  because  we  want  to  know  them  for 
the  benefit  of  the  society.  Knowing  these  things  we  will  have  some 
object  in  view,  some  end  to  obtain  in  our  work, 

Giving  you  then  the  results  of  our  last  year's  work  and  an  idea 
of  the  future  work  is  the  only  apology  I  give  for  the  length  of  my 
paper. 


ELECTION  OF  OFFICERS. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  1885  : 

J.  C.  EVANS,  Harlem,  President. 
E.  P.  HENRY,  Butler,  Vice-President. 
L.  A.  GrOODMAN,  Westport,  Secretary. 
Z.  S.  RAGrAN,  Independence,  Treasurer. 

The  following  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Society  and  by 
a  unanimous  rising  vote  of  the  members  they  were  adopted. 

The  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society  in  its  twenty- 
seventh  annual  session  assembled,  desires  to  give  exj^ression 
to  the  views  of  its  members  in  regard  to  the  appointment  of  a 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  when  the  term  of  the  present  incum- 
bent shall  expire. 

Heretofore  most  of  the  appointees  to  this  office  have  been 
residents  of  the  eastern  section  of  this  country.  The  Mississippi 
Valley  is   the  central  region  of  our  agricultural  wealth,  the  great 


152  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

producing  section  of  our  country.  Upon  its  success  the  prosperity 
of  the  nation  depends.  It  seems  but  just  that  the  a]3pomtee  to 
the  office  of  commissioner  should  be  familiar  with  this  great  pro- 
ductive section,  one  who  has  borne  a  fair  share  of  work  in  its 
development,  who  is  acquainted  with  its  advantages  and  familiar 
with  its  needs  ;  who  is  yet  not  unmindful  of  all  other  sections  of 
our  country,  and  willing  and  anxious  to  aid  as  well  in  their 
development.  Believing  we  have  a  man  admirably  qualified  to 
fill  the  ofiice — the  honored  first  president  of  this  Society,  Ex- 
Lieutenant  Governor  Norman  J.  Colman,  of  St.  Louis,  we  present 
his  name  in  the  fullest  confidence  that  if  appointed  he  will 
reflect  credit  upon  the  office  and  the  administration  with  which 
he  is  connected. 

For  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years  he  has  been  one  of  the 
leaders  of  progress  in  agriculture,  horticulture  and  stock  breeding 
in  the  great  west.  He  has  been  honored  with  the  highest  offices 
in  most  of  our  agricultural  organizations,  has  been  called  upon 
time  and  again  during  that  period  to  deliver  addresses  in  most  of 
the  states  of  this  great  valley  and  has  generally,  and  generously, 
responded  thereto.  He  has,  moreover,  during  that  entire  time, 
conducted  one  of  the  leading  agricultural  papers  of  this  section  of 
country. 

If  high  qualifications  for  this  ofl'ce,  if  high  character,  com- 
bined with  great  energy  and  business  capacity,  always  exercised  in 
the  right  direction,  should  be  the  qualifications  sought  for  in  the 
appointee  then  we  may  press,  his  name  confidently;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society,  in 
its  twenty-seventh  annual  session,  assembled  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo., 
does  hereby  present  to  his  Excellency,  Grover  Cleveland,  President- 
elect of  the  United  States,  the  name  of  Ex-Lieut.  Gov.  Norman  J. 
Coleman,  of  St.  Louis,  for  the  office  of  Commissioner  of  Agricul- 
ture. 

Resolved:  That  his  long  experience  in  connection  with  agri- 
culture, practically  and  theoretically,  his  ability  as  a  speaker  and 
writer,  his  practice  as  legislator  and  executive  officer,  and  his  high 
character  as  a  man  and  gentleman  j^oint  him  out  as  the  man  of  all 
others,  especially  in  this  section  of  the  country ,_  who  should  receive 
the  appointment. 

Resolved :  That  the  President  of  this  society  is  hereby  re- 
quested to  transmit  these  resolutions  to  his  Excellency,  Grover 
Cleveland,  President-elect  of  the  United  States,  and  ask  a  favorable 
consideration  of  them  at  his  hands. 


Aiinual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  153 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  STONE  FRUIT. 


BY   J.    M.    PRETZINGER,    CLINTON,    MO. 

Mr.  President,  officers  and  members  :  As  I  am  one  of  the 
committee  on  stone  fruit,  I  will  try  and  give  you  the  condition  of 
it  in  my  section.  The  peach  trees  are  in  a  better  condition  now 
than  I  expected  they  would  be  with  so  much  cold  last  winter, 
young  trees  from  one  to  eight  years  old  are  in  splendid  condition, 
older  trees  that  were  topped  are  in  good  fix,  but  of  the  old  trees 
not  topped  many  are  dead,  some  partly  dead,  while  some  of  them 
are  in  good  condition.  By  appearances  now  young  and  old  are  in 
good  condition  to  go  into  winter  quarters,  and  promise  a  good  crop 
next  year,  if  again  something  does  not  befall  them  as  this  year. 
There  was  not  a  peach  in  all  this  country  that  grew  around  about 
here,  or  I  have  not  seen  any  m  Missouri.  In  all  my  travels  I  see 
plenty  in  Arkansas.  More  young  peach  trees  planted  this  year 
than  usual.  Apricot  and  nectarines  nearly  all  winter  killed. 
Cherry  and  plum  trees  are  in  good  fix. 

As  to  other  points  regarding  this  subject  of  stone  fruit  it  has 
so  often  been  considered  that  it  is  with  reluctance  that  I  venture  to 
enlist  your  attention  on  stone  fruit,  as  I  can  but  feel  there  are 
others  in  this  society  that  are  much  more  capable  to  handle  this 
subject  than  I  am.  I  may  not  furnish  anything  new  for  all  of 
you,  1  may  for  the  unexperienced  ones,  I  will  give  you  my  con- 
clusions which  have  been  reached  through  my  experience  and 
observation.  Several  points  on  this  subject  have  been  forcibly 
brought  to  my  mind.  Part  in  time  gone  by,  when  I  started  in  to 
grow  peach,  plum  and  sour  cherry,  in  connection  with  my  apple 
orchard  of  4.000  trees,  700  each,  600  plum,  sour  cherry  and  pear, 
&c. ;  you  will  see  by  this  I  am  interested  in  fruits.  I  have  had 
some  failures  in  my  experience,  yet  I  have  been  very  successful 
in  getting  paying  returns  for  my  stone  fruit.  The  peach  raising 
pays  well  when  we  get  a  crop  every  second  or  third  year.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  here  to  say  how  the  young  trees  are  budded  and 
grown  as  they  can  be  bought  of  all  nursery  men.  One  year  olds 
are  the  best. 

To  plant  a  peach  orchard  for  market  and  family  use,  selection 
should  be  made  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest.  They  should  be  as 
much  as  possible,  freestone  for  market,  as  they  command  a  much 


154  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

higher  jn-ice  than  clingstones.  To  say  what  you  should  plant  of 
early,  medium  and  the  latest,  must  be  determined  from  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  peaches  in  your  section,  or  what  kinds  do  best  for 
your  neighbors  around  you.  In  this  way  you  can  raise  without  ex- 
perimenting. If  Amsden  June,  Alexander,  Early  Kivers  or  any 
other  variety  of  the  early  kinds  do  well  for  your  neighbor  with 
ordinary  care,  they  certainly  will  do  better  with  proper  care.  The 
above  kinds  are  generally  understood  tu  be  very  good  for  this  sec- 
tion. Crawford's  Early,  and  the  Fosteis  are  a  little  later.  There 
are  others  a  little  later  than  Crawford's,  Late,  0.  M.  Free,  tStump 
the  World,  Red  Cheek,  President,  Heath  free  and  many  others  for 
medium  late.  Later  ones  are  Heath  cling.  Smock,  Mammoth 
Heath,  Ward's  Late  and  White  Imperial.  There  are  many  other 
kinds  Just  as  good,  or  better  than  the  ones  I  mention,  as  I  said 
before  you  want  to  plant  such  kinds  as  do  well  in  your  section, 
or  what  do  well  for  your  neighbor. 

As  new  kinds  are  offered  by  nursery  men  you  have  as  good  a 
chance  to  try  them  as  any  other  parties  that  are  in  other  localities. 
As  to  the  yellows  on  peach  trees  out  west  here,  is,  I  think  a  rare 
thing,  as  for  me  I  have  the  first  to  see  yet,  but  we  have  got  some- 
thing else  ;  it  is  not  new,  the  rot  of  the  peaches  on  the  tree  while 
green  and  just  in  ripening.  The  kinds  that  rotted  for  me  were  the 
Crawford's  Early  and  Early  York.  I  put  up  with  it  as  long  as  I 
could  and  dug  all  of  them  up,  and  I  think  I  am  rid  of  it  now.  I 
see  them  grow  and  do  well  on  other  places,  perfectly  clear  of  rot, 
yet  I  believe  they  are  somewhat  subject  to  this  disease. 

Some  kinds  of  peach  do  best  on  low  moist  soil,  while  other 
do  well  on  either  high  or  low  land.  I  noticed  the  Steadly  on  high 
and  low  land  in  my  orchard.  They  grow  to  perfection  on  the  low 
ground.  One  tree  on  low  land  is  worth  more  for  peaches  than  a 
dozen  on  high  ground.  The  Steadly  wants  the  low  moist  soil  to 
fruit  well.     This  is  my  experience. 

There  is  something  as  important  as  raising  or  growing  the 
crop  ;  that  is  to  know  how  to  dispose  of  it  at  a  price  to  joay  you 
for  raising  it.  So  many  raise  peaches — I  might  say  worlds  of  them. 
They  don't  manage  to  get  cost  out  of  them,  then  they  say  peaches 
are  not  profitable  to  raise,  and  a  failure  to  them.  It  is  because 
they  are  not  successful  in  disposing  of  their  crop  advantageously. 
One  is  successful  in  raising  plenty,  wliile  other  men  can't  raise 
enough.  Tliis  is  the  diiference  m  men.  It  is  a  question  of  vital  im- 
portance to  educate  all  growers  to  dispose  of  their  goods  at  a  profit. 
Strictly  first-class  peaches  always  sell  at  good  prices. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  155 

The  above  sliould  be  well  considered  by  all  growers  of  this  kind 
of  fruit,  and  all  other  kinds. 

Next  in  order  comes 

THE    CHERRY. 

I  will  say  but  little  of  them  as  I  have  never  grown  any  for 
market — only  for  my  own  use.  But  have  tried  many  kinds  and 
see  many  kinds  in  bearing.  The  kinds  that  grow  and  bear  the 
best  are  the  Early  Eichmond,  May,  and  Common  English  Morello, 
red  and  black.  We  always  have  cherries  when  these  kinds  are 
jjlanted.  Some  say  they  are  not  as  good  as  the  so-called  finer  kinds, 
yet  I  like  them  better  than  the  so-called  finer  kinds.  In  my  opin- 
ion some  kinds  of  cherries,  so-called  good,  are  worthless  for  this 
section.  The  few  I  mentioned,  without  a  doubt,  are  better  grow- 
ers than  all  others.  The  Morello's  can  be  seen  in  nearly  every  lot, 
yard,  &c.,  on  nearly  every  farm  :  grows  and  does  well  in  nearly  all 
this  western  country — in  fact  were  it  not  for  this  kind,  we  would 
be  almost  without  cherries.  Scarcely  any  care  is  ever  bestowed 
upon  them.  They  sprout  from  the  root,  and  this  is  generally  dis- 
liked. 

I  will  not  say  anything  of  apricots  and  nectarines,  as  I  have 
never  seen  any  profit  in  raising  them. 

The  plum  I  will  speak  of  next  and  last,  of  which  I  have  had 
some  little  experience  of  several  kinds — foreign  and  our  native 
plums. 

Of  the  whole  list  I  have  but  little  use,  in  this  section,  for  any 
except  the  Wild  Goose,  Miner,  Weaver  and  Newman,  and  I  might 
add  the  common  little  blue  damson.  The  first  two  mentioned  are 
the  best,  in  my  opinion,  for  this  entire  western  country.  They  are 
less  subject  to  the  curculio,  while  the  others  are  ravished  by  this 
insect  to  such  an  alarming  extent  as  to  cause  the  almost  total 
destruction  and  failure  of  the  crop.  The  finer  varieties,  so-called, 
notwithstanding  all  the  remedies  advocated  and  applied  with 
vigilance,  are  continually  being  destroyed  by  the  curculio,  and  it  is 
this  kind  that  are  tlio  most  liable  to  its  attack.  The  insect,  so 
far,  has  proven  too  strong  and  numerous,  except  in  a  few  places 
where  eternal  vigilance  and  unusual  pains  have  been  taken  to  guard 
against  them,  and  they  are  only  partly  successful,  now-a-days,  I 
have  found  from  my  own  and  other's  experience, that  the  labor  and 
attention  required  to  grow  a  few  of  these  plums  so  subject  to  the 
pest,  are  worth  more  than  the  results. 


156  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

I  don't  say  these  few  kinds  that  do  well  for  us  are  entirely  free 
from  this  pest,  yet  some  say  it  is  curculio  proof.  It  may  be  in 
some  localities.  Our  Wild  Goose  and  Miner  are  of  the  Chickasaw 
family.  It  is  proven  and  demonstrated  as  a  fact,  the  few  kinds  I 
speak  of  are  the  only  kinds  that  do  well.  The  fruit  shipped  to 
market  by  the  thousands  of  boxes  from  this  and  nearly  all  this 
western  country,  the  Wild  Goose  Plum  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
list.  Some  may  not  say  so.  I  think  they  do.  It  originated  in 
Davidson  county,  Tennessee,  and  derived  its  name  from  the  fact 
that  the  pit  of  a  plum  was  found  in  the  crop  of  a  wild  goose,  and 
was  planted,  producing  this  variety.  The  tree  is  a  free  bearer, 
very  vigorous  grower,  hardy,  very  productive  and  the  plums  are 
very  beautiful  to  the  sight,  color,  crimson  red,  quality,  good;  while 
the  others  I  mentioned  are  good  and  in  some  respects  better.  You 
all  can  rest  content  that  we  will  have  no  plum  famine  while  these 
few  are  not  much  molested  with  the  curculio. 

These  kind  are  now  planted  in  nearly  every  yard  and  orchard 
in  town  and  country,  while  nearly  all  plum  growers  in  this  sec- 
tion make  these  few  a  specialty.  I  think  now  at  the  rate  these 
few  kinds  have  been  planted  of  late  years  the  market  must  be  then 
overstocked  with  these  kind  of  plums.  It  is  so  in  some  localities 
now,  producing  more  than  can  be  disposed  of.  The  question  is  with 
me  what  will  be  done  with  the  surplus,  as  it  is  they  are  not  good 
dried  or  evaporated  nor  preserved,  as  they  are  too  soft  a  nature 
when  ripe.  If  they  were  like  the  California  varieties  that  are  sold 
by  nearly  every  fruit  dealer  in  our  land,  they  could  be  evaporated, 
preserved  and  crystalized.  They  are  producing  more  than  the 
market  wants  or  they  can  make  now  more  to  evaporate  and  j)re- 
serve.  Even  this  year  a  large  quantity  are  evaporated  and 
preserved  as  the  American  Manufacturing  Company  have  sold  this 
year  many  American  evaporators  out  there  to  evaporate  and  pre- 
serve plums,  prunes  and  apricots. 
Swan 

In  our  locality  they  sold  over  one  hundred  No.  3  evaporators, 
capacity  fifty  bushels  per  day  each,  for  this  purpose  alone.  This 
fruit,  when  so  treated,  brings  twenty  to  twenty-five  cents  per 
pound,  at  wholesale,  in  the  eastern  market.  It  is  admitted  that 
they  have  as  good  plums,  prunes,  etc.,  as  can  be  grown  anywhere 
in  the  United  States.  If  our  plums  could  be  treated  as  the  Cal- 
ifornia plums  are,  then  we  would  be  all  right  when  we  get  a  surplus. 

The  plums  that  we  have  are  good,  but  not  good  enough  for  all 
j)urposes.     We  should  use  every  means  to  produce  better  kinds,  in 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  157 

every  way  than  we  have  :  Free-stones  for  shipping,  evaporating, 
preserving  and  other  uses.  If  then  we  get  too  much  to  ship,  it  can 
be  converted  into  evaporating  stock,  that  can  be  shipped  to  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  realize  good  prices. 

Yours  respectfully, 

J.    M.    PRETZINGER. 


THE  CHERRY  FOR  PROFIT  ;  WHAT  AND  WHERE  WOULD 

YOU  PLANT  IT  ? 


BY  F.    HOLSINGEK,    KOSEDALE,  KAS. 

The  cherry  comes  to  us,  as  we  are  informed,  from  Asia.  Tlie 
Roman  general,  Lucullus,  after  a  victorious  campaign  into  Pontus, 
has  the  honor  of  its  introduction  into  Italy  in  69,  B.  C.  Pliny 
informs  us  that  one  hundred  years  afterward  they  had  eight  varieties 
in  cultivation,  and  that  soon  thereafter  they  were  disseminated  all 
over  Europe. 

The  Hollanders  introduced  the  cherry  into  this  country  by 
planting  the  seeds  soon  after  the  first  settlement  of  the  country. 

Until  recently,  but  few  pomologists  of  the  west  appreciated 
the  great  value  of  the  cherry.  The  orchardist  has  been  engaged 
mostly  with  the  apple,  pear,  plum  and  peacli.  The  cherry,  by 
reason  of  its  easy  production,  has  not  been  considered  a  profitable 
variety.  Their  quality  as  a  dessert  fruit  has  never  .been  doubted, 
but  the  ease  and  slovenliness  with  which  they  have  and  can  be  pro- 
duced, has  been  such  that  they  have  thought  it  doubtful  if  it  would 
pay.  In  times  gone  by,  the  universal  custom  was  with  the  farmers 
when  a  neighbor  had  a  good  variety,  to  get  sprouts  from  some  good 
tree  that  had  proved  itself  a  kind  suitable  to  their  taste. 

This  they  planted  by  the  wayside,  leaving  it  to  take  care  of 
itself,  generally  some  spot  which  was  useless  for  the  cultivation  of 
any  thing  else  selected.  They  grew,  seemingly  without  attention 
into  magnificent  trees.  They  produced  the  finest  fruit — always 
loaded — and  the  farmer  who  sold  or  tried  to  sell  the  fruit  was  con- 
sidered the  meanest  man  in  the  section.  Why,  I  have  known 
parties  when  allowed  to  gather  the  luscious  fruit,  to  saw  ofE  great 
limbs,  drag  them  to  some  conveient  shade  and  then  strip  the  fruit 
— yes,  strip  it.     The  stem  was  always  pulled  out  and  when  they 


158  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

were  ready  for  use  they  were  swimming  in  their  own  liquor,  in  the 
massive  wash-tubs  in  which  they  usually  had  been  picked. 

Usually  conveyed  in  the  farm  wagon  several  miles  over  very 
rough  roads  they  were  of  little  use  for  culinary  purposes.  They 
were  allowed  to  ferment,  and  ''Cherry  Bounce"  was  about  all  that 
was  made  from  the  product.  Let  any  one  go  back  but  a  few  years 
and  they  will  be  surprised  to  see  the  change  that  has  been  brought 
with  this  now  popular  variety.  It  is  less  than  twenty-fivB  years  ago 
that  I  saw  the  cherries  upon  the  table  except  as  in  pies.  And  even 
now  I  feel  a  repugnance  when  I  think  of  those  pies.  You  gentle- 
men must  remember  I  am  of  Dutch  extraction.  The  custom  was 
to  make  the  crust  very  plain,  very  little  shorting  allowed,  for  the 
M.  D's.  of  that  day  said  they  were  very  unhealthy  if  containing 
lard.  The  crusts  therefore  were  usually  an  inch  in  thickness  ;  while 
the  cherry  was  sandwiched  between  so  flat  and  lonesome  that  a 
search  warrant  was  necessary  to  find  one.  The  juice,  what  little 
was  in  them,  had  gone  into  the  crusts,  and  they  became  so  tough 
that  I  have  no  doubt  that  had  any  Yankee  encountered  one  of  these 
ancient  cherry  pies  upon  which  I  was  fed,  would  have  made  the 
product  of  "aoutchouc"  or  rubber  tree  of  South  America,  a  use- 
less commodity.  Mr.  President,  would  you  believe  me  when  I  say 
that  at  this  date,  4  a.  m.,  Monday,  December  8, 1  have  just  awaked 
from  a  terrible  night-mare,  the  result  of  my  remembering  that  I 
was  booked  for  a  paper  on  that  cherry.  Having  retired  with  the 
intention  of  getting  up  early,  to  prepare  this  paper.  I  had 
dreamed  of  those  ancient  pies ;  hence  the  disturbed  condition  of 
my  night's  repose.  And  should  I  not  be  able  to  do  the  cherry 
justice,  it  will  be,  in  a  measure,  owing  to    the  etfect   of  those  ^;ie6-. 

Until  recently,  as  I  was  saying,  the  cherry  was  much  neglected 
by  the  orchardists  of  the  west.  But  a  new  era  has  dawned,  and 
•now  the  cherry  ranks  as  the  first  dessert  fruit  (strawberry  excejoted). 
Of  those  possessing  the  greatest  value  in  the  west  are  the  Keds  or 
Acids.  The  Blacks  and  Hearts,  while  making  fine,  showy  trees, 
and  excellent  varieties,  arc  not,  as  yet,  a  success  with  us  ;  therefore 
we  must  accept  the  Acids,  though  not  so  good  a  tree,  usually  be- 
ing scraggy  in  appearance,  and  not  so  vigorous  in  growth. 

In  early  spring  they  gladden  us  with  a  profusion  of  white 
blossoms.  They  are  usually  the  first  to  appear  and  inform  us  that 
the  icy  king  has  lost  his  grip,  aiid  that  spring  is  really  here. 

They  are  the  fit-st  dessert  fruit  that  we  welcome  (excepting  the 
strawberry.)  They  are  the  most  palatable  of  the  orchard  product. 
And   what   can  be  more   beautiful  than  a  tree   loaded    with   this 


An?inal  Meetiiiy  at  St.  Josejjh.  159 

Incious  fruit?  The  earliness  of  its  ripening,  its  juiciness,  delicacy 
and  richness,  says  Downing,  render  it  always  acceptable. 

As  to  its  profitableness,  there  can  be  but  one  opinion.  Whether 
cultivated,  or  allowed  to  remain  uncultivated,  in  stiff  sod,  there  is 
usually  a  crop  of  fine,  luscious  cherries.  It  stands  any  amount  of 
abuse.  I  know  of  one  orchard  that  has  produced  uniformly  the 
very  best  fruit,  that  is  in  stiff  blue  grass  sod,  with  no  cultivation 
for  eight  or  ten  years.  As  to  their  profitableness,  during  the  past 
ten  years,  they  have  paid  well.  In  the  Kansas  City  market,  they 
have  been  worth  from  two  to  four  dollars  per  crate  of  twenty-four 
quarts. 

And,  owing  to  its  certainty  to  produce  a  crop,  makes  the 
cherry  well  worthy  a  place  in  any  orchard. 

WHEKE  TO  PLAISTT. 

An  elevation  with  dry  soil  should  always  be  selected,  if  such  a 
one  can  be  found.  It  will  thrive  in  a  variety  of  soil,  but  gravely 
sandy  soil,  Avith  loam,  seems  to  be  its  home.  It  will,  however, 
prosper  in  a  variety  of  soils  and  locations. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  poor  ridges,  underlain  with  slate,  and 
upon  which  the  chestnut  thrives,  produces  the.finest  Hearts  I  have 
yet  seen — trees  growing  sixty  feet  in  height  and  very  shajDely — pro- 
ducing abundantly. 

Experiments  prove  that  the  Acids  luxuriate  in  rich  soils,  and 
a  good  top-dressing  of  stable  manure  has  proved  serviceable.  I 
doubt  if  the  Hearts  can  be  grown  successfully,  our  winters  being  too 
severe  for  them. 

Wet,  damp  ground  is  unsuited  to  the  cherry,  and  it  soon  drops 
into  decay.  Such  lands  should  be  drained  thoroughly  before  plant- 
ing, and  I  have  no  doubt  but  they  can  be  made  valuable  for 
cherry-orcharding,  when  otherwise  they  would  be  of  no  use. 

Xorth  hillsides  are  valuable,  if  other  conditions  are  even,  as 
their  blooming  will  be  somewhat  delayed,  and  they  will  be  less 
liable  to  spring  frosts. 

OF     VARIETIES. 


The  most  valuable  with  us  are  Early  Richmond,    Leib,  English 
Morello  and  Osthima  Weichel. 

If  for  profit  these  will  be  found  to  he  the  most  valuable  pos- 
sessing the  qualities  of  earliness,  size,  quality,  good  shippers  and 
carrying  you  through  the  whole  season.  There  may  be  other  good 
sorts  that  may  prove  valuable  for  profit,  but  as  yet  I  have  failed  to 
find  them  for  our  location.     As  to  the  "  Osthima,"  I  would    sav  a 


160  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

word  as  it  is  yet  a  new  variety.  It  is  the  latest  of  all  the  cherries 
with  us,  always  holding  its  fruit  and  invariably  larger  than  English 
Moreilo,  being  equally  productive  and  in  every  way  as  good  a 
cherry.     It  is  the  cherry  for  the  west  and  don't  you  forget  it. 

The  cherry  as  a  shade  tree  wherever  the  Sweet  or  Heart  varieties 
are  successfully  grown  are  truly  valuable. 

Mr.  London,  in  his  aboretum  gives  a  very  pleasant  account  of 
cherry  avenues  in  G-er many,  and  might  be  followed  in  America  with 
profit. 

Mr.  London  says :  On  the  continent  and  more  especially  in 
Germany  and  Switzerland  is  much  used  as  a  wayside  tree  particularly 
in  the  northern  part  of  Germany,  where  the  apple  and  pear  Avill  not 
thrive.  In  many  places  road  passes,  for  many  miles,  through  an 
avenue  of  cherry  trees. 

In  Moravia  the  road  from  Brunn  to  Omultz  passes  such  an 
avenue  extending  for  upwards  of  sixty  miles  in  length,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1828  we  traveled  for  several  days  through  such  an 
avenue  of  cherry  trees  from  Strasburg  by  a  circuitous  route  to 
Munich. 

These  avenues  are  planted  by  the  desire  of  the  respective 
governments  not  only  for  shade  trees,  but  in  order  that  the  poor 
pedestrian  may  obtain  refreshment  on  his  journey.  All  persons  are 
allowed  to  partake  of  the  fruit  on  condition  that  they  do  not 
injure  the  trees. 

The  main  portion  of  the  crop  of  cherries  when  ripe  is  gathered 
by  the  respective  proprietors  of  the  land  upon  which  it  grows,  and 
when  these  desire  to  protect  the  fruit  of  any  particular  tree  it  is  as 
it  were  tabooed,  that  is,  a  wisp  of  straw  is  tied  in  a  conspicuous 
place  in  its  branches. 

FKANK  HOLSINGEE, 
Rosedale,  Kansas. 

Chairman  Murtfeldt  asked  Mr.  Carpenter  to  take  the  chair 
and  he  gave  a  history  of  Dr.  Hull's  cherry  orchard  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
and  the  wonderful  productiveness  of  the  orchard.  Having  23 
varieties  of  sweet  cherries  and  they  brought  in  tlie  Chicago  market 
$12.00  per  bushel. 

Z.  S.  Ragan — The  E.  Purple  Guigne  is  the  very  earliest 
cherry  we  have  and  has  had  them  ripe  on  May  1st.  The  E.  Eich- 
mond  and  English  Morello  are  the  only  ones  for  profit. 

G.  F.  Espenlauh  —  The  Osthima  is  larger  than  English 
Morello  and  as  good  bearer  and  ripens  just  after  the  English 
Morello. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  161 

Dr.  A.  GosUn — Does  anyone  notice  that  the  Wild  Goose  plum 
does  not  bear  unless  near  some  other  wild  trees.     His  do  not. 

N.  F.  Murry — Has  found  the  same  trouble  and  in  an  orchard 
of  75  trees,  in  one  corner  he  has  a  wild  plum  and  five  trees  from 
that  he  has  plenty,  but  on  the  rest  none.  Thinks  we  need  some 
tree  near  them  to  fertilize  them. 


THE    PLUM  ;    DOES   IT   NOT  BEEED  MORE  CURCULIO 
THAN  THE   FRUIT  IS  WORTH  ? 


BY    C.    A.    FINK,    LAMAR,    MO. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  tlte  Missouri  Horticultural 
Association  : 

I  have  been  called  upon  to  write  and  read  you  a  i)uper  on  the 
fruiting  of  the  plum.  It  is  with  a  degree  of  diffidence  that  I  un- 
dertake to  serve  you  in  this  matter,  knowing  that  there  are  othei' 
gentlemen  present  much  more  able  and  better  qualified  to  edify 
your  meeting  than  myself. 

But  I  will  try  to  give, in  a  brief  manner,  a  little  of  my  observa- 
tion and  experience  in  my  efforts  to  grow  plums. 

The  question  is  asked  :  "Does  not  the  fruiting  or  growing  of 
the  plum  breed  more  curculio  than  the  fruit  is  worth  ? "  My 
opinion  is  that  it  depends  altogether  upon  how  we  go  about  it. 
About  sixteen  years  ago,  I  moved  to  and  settled  in  Barton  county. 
Mo.,  with  ti  purpose  to  go  into  the  business  of  growing  fruit.  In 
1871  I  set  out  about  two  hundred  trees  of  the  best  European 
varieties — twelve  or  fifteen  kinds,  that  were  recommended  by  the 
books  as  the  best.  ^  also  set  out  about  a  dozen  native  plums  I 
bought  for  Wild  Goose.  I  gave  them  all  good  care  and  cultivation. 
Three  years  after  planting,  the  Goose  plum  commenced  to  fruit 
some,  but  the  curculio  got  them  all  the  first  two  years.  The  third 
year  I  saved  about  one-half  of  the  crop  by  smoking  and  fighting  the 
bugs.  About  the  same  time  the  European  varieties  commenced  to 
bloom  more  or  less.  I  cultivated  and  waited  on  them  from  eight  to 
ten  years.  By  that  time  they  were  either  dead  or  dying.  I  then 
gave  up  and  threw  them  in  the  brush  heap. 

Tire  Wild  Goose  fruited  every  year  more  and  more  as  they  grew 
larger  and  older  and  the  curculio  increased  more  abundantly  than 


162  Missouri  State  HorticvJtnral  Society. 

the  plum  and  took  nearly  all  the  fruit.     By   this   time  I   had    but 
two  left,  having  sold  some  to  customers. 

About  the  same  time,  seven  years  ago  last  spring,  I  ^olanted  ?o 
native  plums,  mostly  Wild  Goose,  set  them  all  on  one-fourth  of  an 
acre  of  land,  built  a  hen  house  in  the  middle,  enclosed  the  whole 
with  a  picket  fence  to  hold  pigs  and  chickens.  When  they  com- 
menced to  bear  we  turned  in  the  pigs  to  eat  the  wormy  dropped 
plums.  We  keep  our  chickens  in  the  orchard  from  early  spring 
until  the  jilum  season  is  over. 

The  result  is  the  chickens  serve  to  thin  out  the  curculio  that 
comes  to  the  ground,  and  the  pigs  by  eating  all  the  plums  that 
drop,  destroy  the  larvae  for  the  next  crop.  In  this  way  we  have 
no  further  trouble  with  curculio.  In  fact  they  are  a  benefit  and 
useful  in  thinning  out  the  set  of  fruit.  Without  them  I  would 
have  to  thin  the  crop  by  hand  picking  at  considerable  expense,  as 
all  our  native  varieties  set  too  many  j)lums  for  the  trees  to  mature 
well. 

My  little  orchard  of  one-fourth  of  an  acre  yielded  me  a  profit 
last  summer  of  $300.00  besides  what  we  use  in  our  family  and  gave 
to  friends.  And  more  clear  profit  than  I  received  from  a  200-acre 
farm  that  was  well  cultivated  to  grain  crops. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  I  think  pigs  and  poultry  are 
what  the  fruit  grower  needs  to  keep  down  the  curculio,  codling 
moth,  the  gouger  and  root  grub.  They  can  not  increase  to  such 
an  alarming  extent  if  the  droppings  that  contain  the  larva  is  all 
eaten  as  fast  as  it  drops  from  the  trees.  Now  friends  if  I  am  right 
in  my  conclusions  we  should  advise  planting  liberally,  fence  the 
orchards,  turn  in  the  hogs  and  poultry  and  we  will  succeed  in 
growing  fruit  cheaper,  better  and  more  abundantly  besides  the 
profit  from  the  pork,  eggs  and  chickens,  that  will  thrive  and  fatten 
under  this  method. 

Respectfully, 

C.  H.  FINK, 

Lamar,  Mo. 


Anmial  Meeting  at  St.  Jose2)li.  163 


THE    KEXT  PA  PEE    WAS    ON    THE    PEACH    AND    ITS 

ENEMIES. 


BY    J.    A.    DUKKES,    WESTON,    MO. 

The  j)each  tree  is  a  native  of  Central  Asia  ;  in  Northern  India 
tlie  peach  and  nectarine  are  found  in  a  wild  state.  Among  the 
Himalaya  mountains  they  thrive  at  elevations  from  five  to  six 
thousand  feet. 

The  Romans  believed)  it  to  be  a  native  of  Persia,  and  the  fruit 
Malum  Persicum  (apples  of  Persia)  and  from  this  word  the  name 
for  the  fruit  has  been  derived  into  most  European  languages. 

Many  botanists  classify  the  peach  and  almond  as  one  species, 
claiming  the  latter  to  be  the  parent  of  the  former,  becoming  im- 
proved by  careful  selection  from  time  to  time  of  seeds  until  it  has 
become  the  delicious  fruit  of  the  present  day.  In  scripture  many 
passages  refer  to  the  almond  tree,  its  nut  and  flowers,  but  the  peach 
as  a  fruit  seems  to  have  been  unknown. 

The  earliest  allusions  to  it,  we  have  on  record,  are  by  Con- 
fucius,  who  speaks  of  it  thus  : 

"How  beautiful  and  pleasant  is  the  peach  tree,  how  blooming 
and  profuse  is  its  foliage." 

The  Romans  introduced  the  jjeach  into  Italy  during  the  earlier 
period  of  the  first  century,  aijd  it  is  supposed,  soon  after,  into  the 
Isles  of  Briton,  though  we  have  only  the  first  authentic  mention  of 
it  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Seeds  were  brought  to 
America  by  the  colonies  at  an  early  period.  Old  'records  mention 
that  stones  were  ordered  by  the  governor  and  company  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  1C29. 

The  Spaniards  brought  seeds  with  them  and  disseminated  the 
stones  throughout  their  colonies. 

A  writer  speaking  of  the  peach  trees  in  Louisiana  and  other 
southern  colonies  about  the  year  1750,  says  :  "  They  grow 
spontaneously,  and  in  many  resj^ects,  seem  as  if  they  were 
indigenous.  The  nuts  are  sown,  no  care  is  bestowed,  except 
weeding  for  a  year  or  two  ;  in  four  years  they  commence  bearing, 
and  continue  to  produce  fruit  for  twenty  or  thirty  years.  These 
plantations  grow  with  such  luxuriance,  that  the  orchards  almost 
resemble  forests." 


164  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

By  its  ease  of  propagation  and  early  fruiting,  it  became  the 
best  boon  among  the  fruits  to  the  first  emigrant.  And  we  are  in- 
formedj  that  as  soon  as  the  inoneer's  cabin  was  built,  a  clearing 
made,  among  the  first  few  important  duties  attended  too,  was  the 
planting  of  the  fruit  seeds  he  had  carried  with  him  from  his  old 
home. 

Before  the  land  was  denuded  of  its  vast  forests,  the  peach  tree 
bore  almost  annually,  at  least  a  crop  every  other  year  could  be 
relied  upon.  In  our  recollections  of  thirty  years  ago  such  was  the 
case  over  large  portions  of  the  west,  both  fruit  and  trees  were  more 
abundant.  We  seemed  to  have  had  a  hardier  race,  indeed,  most 
were  seedlings,  but  these,  wherever  selected  from  the  better  kinds, 
always  proved  very  fine  and  good. 

Elevated  grounds,  high  ridges  and  slopes  inclining  north  and 
west,  are  preferred  situations  for  the  peach  orchard  thougliout  all 
the  northern  belt.  Upon  these,  a  firm  growth,  an  early  ripening 
of  wood  and  bud  is  obtained,  and  also  the  too  early  blooming  in 
spring  is  retarded. 

Eminences  near  bodies  of  water,  or  any  lands  well  drained, 
bordering  on  lake  or  stream  are  admirable  situations  for  the  peach 
orchard.  The  experience  of  all  has  been,  that  in  such  localities, 
the  vapors  rising  from  the  water,  so  modify  the  atmosphere .;  that 
the  buds  and  bloom  are  injured  less  frequently  than  those  more 
distant  from  them,  while  the  water  gives  a  coldness  in  spring  re- 
tarding the  too  early  blooming  of  the  tree.  Limestone  soils  with 
perfect  dj-aiuage  are  found  to  be  the  best.  Analysis  show  the  wood 
to  be  largely  composed  of  lime  and  its  phosphates  ;  trees  planted 
where  these  are  lacking,  the  ground  should  have  an  annual  dressing 
of  ashes,  bone  dust,  lime  or  plaster  to  insure  perfect  wood  and 
fruit.  ♦ 

The  tree  should  be  trained  to  a  low,  rounded  head,  the  limbs 
shortened  in  annually  during  the  month  of  September,  is  the  mode 
pursued  by  most  growers.  Many  think  the  pyramidal  form  the 
best,  as  the  leader  with  its  lateral  branches  is  not  so  liable  to  split 
and  break  and  the  trees  and  fruit  much  freer  from  disease. 

The  peach  has  a  few  insect  enemies — the  curculio,  and  aj)ple 
gouger,  sting  the  fruit,  causing  it  to  drop  and  rot  on  the  tree. 
The  thorough  destruction  of  the  larvae  is  the  effectual  remedy.  In 
experiments  made  by  Prof.  Eiley  he  found,  that  this  insect  was 
most  numerous  on  the  trees  at  night,  and  thinks  this  would  be  the 
proper  time  to  catch  them.  '  He  recommends  the  placing  of  boards, 


Animal  Meeting  at  St.  Josejiti.  165 

or  j)ieces of  bark  concave  below,  where  tlie  ciirculio  will  gather  to 
avoid  the  cold,  removing  them  daily. 

From  these  facts,  somfe  recommend  the  hanging  of  open  ves- 
sels containing  a  liquid,  in  the  branches  of  the  trees,  having  burn- 
ing lamps  over  tubs,  or  building  small  fires  about  the  grounds — 
the  insects  being  attracted  by  the  light,  fly  into  the  flames  and 
vessels  and  perish. 

The  peach  borer  (geria  exilisa)  does  his  work  by  girdling 
the  bark  of  the  tree,  just  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Its 
presence  can  always  be  discovered  by  the  exuding  of  the  sap  or  gum 
at  that  particular  point. 

The  perfect  insect  is  a  four-winged  moth,  of  a  bluish  color — 
depositing  during  the  summer  its  eggs  at  the  base  of  tiie  trunk,  its 
larvae  enters  the  bark  and  wood — the  transformation  requiring 
about  a  year. 

As  soon  as  their  appearance  is  made  they  should  be  cut  with  a 
knife,  or  punctured  in  their  recesses  by  a  sharp  instrument,  re- 
moving the  soil  from  about  the  tree  ;  in  the  cavity  thus  made,  a 
half  peck  of  our  slacked  lime  and  ashes  should  be  heaped  around 
the  trunk,  this  removed  and  worked  into  the  soil  in  autumn. 

Other  remedies  are  recommended,  but  the  foregoing,  if  per- 
formed annually,  will  be  found  perfectly  effectual.* 

Mildew  sometimes  aj^pears  on  the  ends  of  young  twigs — the 
nectarine  and  peach  trees  with  serrated  leaves  are  more  subject  to 
its  attacks  than  others.  This  is  not  a  serious  malady  ;  checks 
the  growth  and  deforms  the  appearance  of  the  tree  ;  this  is  over- 
come by  cutting  away  such  branches  that  have  been  injured;  dust- 
ing with  sulphur  and  syraying  with  water  impregnated  with  nitre, 
in  a  mixture  of  an  ounce  of  the  latter  to  a  gallon  of  water,  are 
remedies  ;  the  latter  while  destroying  disease,  will  add  new  health 
and  vigor  to  the  tree. 

The  curl  is  developed  on  tlie  first  leaves  in  spring.  They 
become  red,  brown  and  seared,  swelling  into  odd  shajjes,  and  in  two 
or  three  weeks  fall.  This  is  caused  by  the  punctures  of  a  small 
plant  louse  (the  aphis  persica),  ujjon  the  under  side  of  the  leaves. 
Applications  with  a  syringe  of  a  mixture  of  strong  soapsuds  and 
tobacco-water  has  been  found  a  good  remedy  to  exterminate  the 
aphis. 

Barry  regards  the  curl  of  the  leaf  induced  by  sudden  changes 
of  weather.  The  young  leaves  caused  to  expand  by  warm  days, 
followed  by  cold  and  rainy  ;  the  more  severe  and  protracted  the 
cold,  the  more  fatal  and  severe  the  curl. 


166  Missouri  State  Hortimdtural  Society. 

We  rather  incline  to  this  theory  as  the  first  cause,  followed  by 
the  work  of  the  aphis. 

Last  spring,  a  curl  similar  to  this  affected  both  pear  and  apple 
trees,  resulting  in  much  indifferent  and  scabby  fruit. 

The  yellows,  in  the  first  appearance  of  this  malady,  the  young 
twigs  on  the  tree  become  sickly,  growing  slender  and  wiry,  the 
leaves  yellowish,  pale  and  small.  The  fruit  ripens,  two  or  four 
weeks  before  its  proper  season.  During  the  first  year  the  peach 
may  attain  its  full  size,  then  decreasing  as  the  strength  of  the  tree 
weakens.  Varieties  that  are  most  vigorous  and  healthy  have' been 
found  more  subject  to  be  attacked  than  those  of  a  slower  growth. 

Prof.  Penhallovv  regards  this  disease  the  result  more  of  a 
deficiency,  or  an  excess  of  proper  nutriment  in  the  soils,  than 
insects  or  fungus.  Though  the  latter,  after  the  tree  is  diseased, 
help  on  the  destruction. 

Downing  and  Elliot  hold  similar  views.  The  former  believes 
the  malady  to  have  first  been  produced  by  bad  cultivation,  and  the 
exhaustion  of  the  soil  by  overcropping,  the  continued  sowing  and 
planting  of  seed  and  trees  from  stocks  so  enfeebled. 

Thus  far,  in  the  west,  the  yellows  have  not  been  troublesome 
to  the  planter.  Mention  is  made  in  our  journals,  of  their  ap- 
pearance in  some  parts  of  the  Michigan  peach  region,  where  the 
soils  are  light  and  sandy.  Why  its  appearance  exists  in  some 
localities  more  than  others  we  quote  from  Downing,  some  facts 
bearing  on  the  subject  : 

'^For  upwards  of  a  century  after  the  peach  tree  Avas  intro- 
duced it  was  cultivated  everywhere, — the  great  natural  fertility  of 
the  soil  was  unexhausted,  lands  occupied  by  orchards  were  seldom 
put  to  any  other  use,  most  of  the  soils  of  these  states  (  Md.,  N.  J. 
Del.,  and  Virg. ,  )  at  first  though  naturally  rich,  was  light,  warm 
and  sandy.  Peach  trees  here  always  produced  to  excess — soon 
impoverishing  the  soil.  In  these  fields  the  disease  first  appeared 
and  gradually  spread." 

Trees  that  were  affected,  have  been  recovered  by  salt,  lime  or 
ashes  worked  into  the  soil,  and  cutting  back  the  trees  one-half. 

Some  believe  the  disease  to  be  contagious.  Xursery  men 
should  not  plant  seeds  for  stocks,  from  regions  so  infected — diseased 
trees  should  be  burned  and  fresh  situations  chosen  for  orchards. 
These  when  properly  cultivated,  manured  and  trimmed,  the 
original  health  and  longevity  of  the  tree  will  be  established. 

The  commercial  value  of  the  peach  product  is  estimated  at 
upwards  of  sixty  million  dollars  annually.     This  is  on  the  increase. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  JosepJi.  167 

The  improved  canning  and   preserving  macliiner_y,  of  the  present 
day,  has  opened  a  vast  market  for  this  otherwise  perishable  fruit. 

Thousands  of  acres  in  our  state,  are  adapted  to  peach  culture, 
especially' the  hills  along  the  river  valley — the  Ozark  plateau  and 
all  the  southern  parts  with  a  few  exceptions.  When  we  consider 
what  the  demands  for  this  fruit  are  at  present,  with  our  large 
growing  population,  what  will  they  be  in  the  near  future?  In 
peach  culture  then  an  immense  field  of  useful  labor  is  opened  to 
the  horticulturist. 

Since  coming  here,  1  have  inquired  of  the  members  whether 
they  knew  of  the  existence  of  the  yellows  in  parts  of  the  state 
where  they  came  from  ;  and  the  answer  has  been  in  all  cases,  that 
they  did  not  know  of  any  case  of  the  disease. 

J.  A.  DTJEKES. 

Tl^e  chair  wished  to  take  up  the  subject  of   curculio. 

Hull,  Earle,  Riley  and  others  claim  that  the  curculio  attacks 
both  the  plum  and  the  peach. 

Parker  Earle  used  to  continue  the  jarring  process  until  the 
fruit  is  ripe.  The  best  way  to  fight  them  is  by  jarring  the  trees 
and  catching  the  curculio  in  a  large  sheet.  Men  eminent  in  this 
work  have  all  stated  that  the  curculio  injure  both  the  plum  and 
peach.  Now  let  us,  during  the  coming  year,  find  out  some  of 
these  questions.     The  beetle  travels  from  farm  to  farm. 

Holsinger.  The  gouger  is  a  new  insect,  and  we  find  that  it  is 
the  insect  that  injures  the  peach,  and  not  the  curculio.  The  cur- 
culio never  touches  the  peach.  Thinks  that  much  if  not  all  of 
the  damage  done  to  the  peach  and  apple,  which  is  usually  attributed 
to  the  curculio,  is  done  by  the  gouger.  Quite  a  discussion  fol- 
lowed this  statement  as  being  opposed  to  the  books  and  professors, 
but  it  was  held  by  Maj.  Holsinger  to  be  true. 

Adjourned  to  7:30. 


1G8  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

WEDNESDAY   EVE. 

Society  called  to. order  ^^  the  chair  and  the  first  subject  taken 
up  was  a  paper  on 

THE   NEW    VARIETY    OF    PLANTS    FOR  1883  AND  1884. 


BY    EGBERT   S.    BROWN. 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Dec.  8th,  1884. 
In  presenting  this  paper  before  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural 
Society,    I  oti'er  a  few  thoughts  and  also  my  experience  in  growing 
some  of  the  new  varieties   of  plants  of  1883-4  introduction. 

Streptosolex  jamesoni — Which  was  given  such  a  high  repu- 
tation and  was  offered  as  a  number  one  plant  for  bloom.  With  me 
it  has  been  entirely  worthless.  Either  in  the  greenhouse  or  out 
doors  it  makes  a  strong  growth,  but  no  bloom.  I  saw  a  few  flowers 
on  some  of  the  plants,  but  the  most  of  them  had  no  flowers  at  all. 

Ch.konstemma  hispidia— Though  not  new,  is  a  free  bloomer 
and  it  makes  a  fine  plant  for  baskets  and  vases.  Does  well  as  a 
border  plant.  It  can  be  sheared  down  to  four  inches,  and  makes  a 
good  border  of  white  flowers. 

Abutilon  tiiompsoni  plena — Is  a  good  plant  to  flower  when  a 
year  old.  Then  it  is  constantly  in  flower  and  can  be  used  to  an 
advantage  in  cut  flower  work,  where  yellow  flowers  are  wanted. 
Being  double,  the  flowers  last  longer  than  the  single  flowering 
varieties. 

Freesia  refracta  alba— Too  much  cannot  be  said  in  favor 
of  this  tine  winter  flowering  bulb.  It  is  so  easy  of  growth  and 
such  a  free  bloomer  it  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  amateur 
and  florist  in  the  country.  The  bulbs  are  small,  and  having  no  ap- 
pearance of  making  such  fine  white  sweet-scented  flowers,  the  buyer 
is  ajDt  to  think  he  has  been  done  for  again  by  paying  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  cents  for  each  tiny  bulb.  But  he  is  most  agreeably  surprised  at 
the  fine  flowers  they  produce.  Six  bulbs  should  be  planted  in  a 
4  four  inch  pot  for  the  best  results. 

Canna  Ehe-MANNI. — Though  not  entirely  new  yet  I  don't 
think  they  are  plenty.  The  high  price  kee2:)ing  them  from  being 
distributed  as  much  as  they  deserve  to  be.  They  make  a  good 
growth  and  are   free  bloomers  with  large   scarlet   flowers  with,  no 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  169 

tendency  to  bloom  npright  like  other  canna.  They  droop  down 
gracefully  giving  the  jDlant  a  charming  appearance  when  viewed 
from  a  distance.  Plants  grew  this  season  from  eight  to  twelve  feet 
high,  with  immense  leaves  that  did  not  lacerate  with  the  winds, 
which  is  so  objectionable  in  other  broad  leaved  kinds. 

Begonia. — Brnantii  and  Gonry  are  a  good  addition  to  our 
winter  flowering  begonias  when  white  flowers  are  wanted.  The 
leaves  and  flowers  are  very  much  like  the  old  semperflorans  that  any 
one  who  has  not  grown  them  would  be  deceived  by  their  aj)pearance. 
But  after  growing  them  awhile  they  will  soon  see  the  difference. 
They  are  of  dwarf  growth. 

Goury  being  the  strongest  grower  I  tried  to  see  how 
large  I  could  grow  a  plant,  and  shifted  it  as  it  needed,  until 
it  occupied  a  six  inch  pot.  Goury  grew  twenty-tour  inches, 
and  Brnantii  fifteen  inches  in  height  and  very  bushy,  with 
an  abundance  of  bloom,  and  pleased  all  who  saw  them  in  flower. 

Impaitana  sultana  —  Or  the  ever-blooming  balsam  has 
come  to  stay.  It  is  a  plant  that  never  fails  to  attract  the  attention 
of  all  who  see  the  wonderful  amount  of  bloom  that  is  on  even  small 
plants.  But  when  grown  in  five  or  six  inch  pots  and  given  room 
to  grow  it  gives  good  returns  with  its  wealth  of  briglit,  showy 
flowers.  It  has  sliown  some  tendency  to  rust,  but  that  can  be 
prevented  by  keeping  the  plants  out  doors  in  frames,  or  even 
bedded,  until  there  is  danger  from  frost,  when  they  will  have  to  be 
removed  to  safer  quarters,  as  they  are  tender  and  can't  stand  any 
cold. 

Violet,  swanley's — Which  is  a  sport  from  the  well- 
known  Marie  Louise.  So  far,  it  has  held  true  to  color,  as  good  a 
bloomer  as  the  parent  and  flowers  are  of  same  size  ;  which  is  saying 
a  good  deal  for  it,  as  the  old  variety.  Belle  de  Chatney,  was  entirely 
worthless  and  gave  but  few  flowers.  But  in  this  new  variety, 
Swanley's  White,  we  have  a  plant  that  will  be  grown  extensively 
for  its  pure  white  flowers,  and  will  figure  largely  in  the  cut  flower 
trade. 

Alternanthea  al'ea  nana. — At  first  I  thought  it  was  a 
fraud.  It  grew  well  but  showed  no  tendency  to  turn  yellow  till  about 
the  middle  of  July.  Then  it  began  to  show  some  color,  and  by  the 
end  of  the  month  it  was  all  any  one  could  wish  for  in  forming  a 
yellow  border.  It  is  more  dwarf  and  the  leaves  are  much  smaller 
than  the  old  Aura.  Parychoides  major  is  another  fine  kind,  well 
worthy  of  a  place  where  a  red  line  is  wanted. 


170  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

4 

A.  latifolia  major  and  A.  latifolia  superba,  I  can't  see  much 
diiferauce  in  ;  neither  do  I  consider  them  any  better  than  the  old  A. 
Amabehs,  although  they  were  sent  out  with  a  flourish  of  trumj^ets 
and  sold  at  the  modest  price  of  13. OU  per  dozen,  for  plants  one 
inch  high  with  three  or  four  little  leaves  on. 

The  new  Golden  Lycopod  (krussia  aura)  is  a  very  good  acqui- 
sition in  its  line,  holding  its  light  3'ellow  color  through  the  hot  sum- 
mer months. 

Henderson's  new  verbena,  America. — As  for  as  heard 
from  has  not  ^iven  any  satisfaction  ;  yet  I  grew  some  very  fine  plants 
with  blooms  about  as  large  as  the  well  known  Beauty  of  Oxford. 
With  me  Henderson's  set  of  Verbenas  was  very  poor  and  not  a 
single  plant  of  merit  in  the  lot. 

All  took  the  rust  out  doors  this  fall,  as  well  as  some  of  my 
own  ; — but  native  seedlings  showed  no  signs  of  rust  out  doors. 
When  put  under  glass  only  showed  a  little  here  and  there,  while 
imported  ones  had  to  be  all  thrown  away. 

Heliotrope  roi  des  noirs. — Is  a  very  dark  Heliotrope  and 
a  good  grower,  but  it  has  a  fatal  fault  ;  hard  to  grow  on  account  of 
its  tendency  to  rust ;  it  may  be  easier  handled  in  another  year.  In 
a  lot  of  one  hundred  good  healthy  cuttings,  showing  no  rust  when 
rooted,  fully  one-fourth  rusted,  and  before  they  had  to  be  shifted 
in  two  and  one-half  inch  pots  only  eight  were  healthy  ;  balance  had 
to  be  thrown  away. 

'  New  rose,  sunset. — Did  not  get  the  growth  I  should  have 
liked  on  them  last  summer,  but  what  few  did  grow  pleased  me  very 
much  in  leaf  and  growth.  It  shows  all  the  character  of  its  parent, 
Pearl  Des  Jardius,  but  with  flowers  entirely  different  color  same  as 
Saffrano,  but  perfectly  double.  It  will  I^  think  become  a  popular 
rose  among  florists  and  be  grown  as  extensively  as  the  Pearls. 

Salvia  amebilis. — Is  a  fine  plant  for  the  garden.  Flowers 
are  violet  and  are  produced  freely.  Can  be  made  a  fine  specimen 
plant  and  is  very  showy.  Salvia  Luchea  is  a  fine  blue  dwarf  in 
growth  and  every  way  better  than  S.  Patens,  which  is  a  fine  old 
plant  and  will  be  retained  by  many  no  matter  how  many  new  kinds 
claim  our  favor. 

In  new  Carnations,  Geraniums  and  other  plants  it  would  take 
up  much  time  and  many  pages  of  paper  to  enumerate  tliem  all. 

Among  Thorp's  new  set  of  Carnations  are  some  of  robust 
growth  and  very  prolific  in  bloom,  but  among  the  lot  not  one  good 
white  one.     While  speaking  of  white  Carnations,  there  was  one  sent 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  171 

out  this  spring  by  the  name  of  Wm.  Blont.  It  commenced  to 
flower  soon  after  being  set  oiit.  After  being  pinched,  back  same  as 
other  sorts  did  not  throw  np  any  leaders,  but  made  a  compact 
bushy  plant  more  like  grass  pinks  than  Carnation.  After  being 
moved  to  green  house  showed  no  tendency  to  flower  as  yet — leaves 
have  rotted  badly  on  account  of  its  bushy  growth. 

The  past  season  has  been  a  very  good  one  for  nearly  all  kinds 
of  flowers  and  plants  in  the  garden. 

Gladiolus  did  unusually  well  on  account  of  the  cool,  wet 
weather.  Roses  with  me  did  not  flower  as  well  as  usual  out  doors. 
It  must  have  been  too  wet  for  them  after  the  hot  summer  sun. 

The  geraniums  were  the  glory  of  the  garden.  In  fact  they  are 
the  flower  for  the  west.  Rain  or  shine,  cool  or  warm  you  can 
depend  on  them  for  a  show  of  flowers.  We  bedded,  this  season, 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  varieties,  new  in  name  at  least,  if  not  in 
color,  but  I  must  confess  we  had  very  mamy  fine  ones  among  them 
in  both  single  and  double. 

It  would  be  hard  indeed  to  make  a  selection  from  them,  for 
what  pleases  one  is  objectionable  to  another. 

The  annuals  of  all  classes  did  well,  pai'ticularly  the  Phlox 
Drummondi  and  the  China  Pinks  which  made  a  gorgeous  show,,  We 
must  not  forget  to  speak  a  good  word  for  the  Perrennial  Phlox,  it  is 
a  plant  that  is  very  much  overlooked.  It  is  so  hardy,  of  such  easy 
growth  and  such  a  vdrief;y  of  colors,  saying  nothing  of  its  free 
blooming  qualities.  There  are  other  perrennials  that  are  well  worthy 
of  culture  and  in  the  near  future  they  will  come  to  the  front  once 
more.  '  R.  S.   BROWN, 

Kansas  Cit}',  Mo, 

Then  followed  a  paper  on 

^'HOME  ADORNMENT." 


BY  MRS,   DR,   A.   GOSLIN,  OF  OREGON, 

Some  one  has  said,  he  who  would  have  beautiful  roses  in  his 
garden,  must  first  have  roses  in  his  heart.  Paradise  has  always 
been  associated  in  my  mind  with  a  beautiful  garden.  Had  Adam 
been  contented  with  his  donation  from  the  good  Father,  his  Eden, 
and  home-making  bowers  and  rockeries,  cultivating  his  wild  roses, 
marigolds,  poppies  and  hollyhocks,  decorating  his  walls  with  the 
shrubs  and  vines  nature  had  provided  him  with,  his  satanic 
majesty  would   not  have  dared    enter   that   attractive   home,    the 


172  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Societ'y. 

lovely  Eve  would  not  have  had  the  disposition  to  listen  to  his 
seductive  words,  and  Adam  would  not  have  come  to  grief.  Flori- 
culture as  it  is  understood  by  the  amateur  has  become  one  of  the 
necessary  adornments  to  every  home,  the  simple  method  of  propa- 
gation by  cuttings  leaves  little  excuse  for  any  home  to  be  without 
•a  few  flowers. 

The  tired  house  wife,  witii  the  cares  of  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  house  resting  upon  her  as  nurse — seamstress  and 
queen  of  the  culinary  kingdom — is  sadly  in  need  of  the  bracing 
fresh  breezes  of  spring  to  aid  in  building  up  this  weary  and  over- 
taxed system.  An  hour  spent  in  the  morning  of  the  early  spring 
months  in  her  garden,  equipj)ed  with  her  pruning  knife,  trowel  and 
spade,  she  will  drink  in  pounds  of  oxygen,  sufficient  for  tlie  most 
delicate  constitution;  while  it  adds  strength  to  the  physical,  and  value 
in  dollars  and  ceijts  to  the  grounds  ;  it  is  instructive  from  a  bota- 
nical standpoint,  and  very  attractive  to  the  eye;  for  a  bed  of  well- 
kept  roses  is  a  thing  of  beauty  and  a  joy  forever.  There  are  few 
people  in  this  age  of  the  world  but  admire  the  beautiful  in  nature, 
and  lovers  of  some  of  the  many  arts  seen  decorating  the  inside  of 
almost  every  home,  from  the  useful  little  doyly  with  the  etching 
stitch,  the  indispensable  table  cover  and  sofa  cover  in  Kensington, 
tidies  of  every  design,  stitch  and  color.  K\\  these  things  make  the 
little  things  jjretty  and  the  larger  ones  more  beautiful.  Thanks  to 
printer's  ink  these  patterns  come  to  us  gratitously  tlirough  the 
medium  of  our  Bazars  and  Magazines. 

These  things  may  not  strike  the  over-practical  mind  as  of  much 
importance,  only  as  they  compare  with  that  which  is  truly  beau- 
tiful and  useful,  and  will  ask  the  question,  "does  it  pay?"  Let 
us  see.  The  inventive  genius  of  those  who  liave  given  much  of 
their  time  and  money  for  what  is  called  the  finer  arts,  have  con- 
ferred a  blessing  on  the  women  of  this  age,  who  are  the  leading 
spirits  in  this  industry;  which  is  surely  a  new  departure  from  our 
grandmother's  idea  of  what  a  woman  should  be  taught.  That  we 
should  be  instructed  in  all  that  is  proper  for  a  woman  to  know  in 
any  situation  in  life  is  well  enough  so  far  as  it  goes  ;  but  this  plan 
exclusively  acted  upon  would  doubtless  produce  very  good  com- 
mon place  domestic  drudges,  that  when  our  race  would  be  run,  we 
would  be  like  the  tired  woman  when  she  came  to  die,  wished  the 
resurection  to  be  ten  thousand  years  off,  that  she  might  have  her 
rest.  But  there  higher  attainments  equally  useful  for  an  immortal 
soul. 

The  New  York  society  of  decorative  art,  which  gives  instruc- 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  173 

tion  in  needle  work,  is  comparatively  yonng ;  its  object  and  aim  is 
to  reach  a  certain  class  of  women,  and  teach  them  to  nse  their  deft 
fingers  and  tnrn  them  to  profitable  account — a  class  that  could 
not  be  reached  in  any  other  way.  These  are  the  refined  poor, 
taught  from  infancy  that  labor  belonged  to  the  poor  and  ignorant  ; 
they  find  themselves,  when  thrown  upon  their  own  resources,  illy 
prepared  for  the  great  battle  of  life.  We  are  told  that  this  society 
alone  paid  out  to  its  pupils  for  work  skilfully  done,  last  year,  over 
118,000. 

Then  we  have  the  Cooper  Union  art  school,  largely  endowed 
by  the  late  Peter  Cooper,  who  is  known  on  both  continents  for  his 
liberality  as  a  public  benefactor.  They  give  to  their  pupils  the 
tuition  free,  in  the  different  branches  taught.  It  is  a  sort  of  bureau 
from  which  teachers  and  designers  can  be  procured.  Most  of  ouj- 
American  carpets  and  wall  paper  and  buttons  are  designed  by  joupils 
from  this  school.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  our  homes  are  more  attract- 
ive than  those  of  our  grandmothers'  ?  With  our  walls  hung  with 
such  beautiful  combinations  in  our  paper,  our  floors  covered  with 
carpets  whose  colors  and  shadings  are  so  exquisite  that  they  become 
a  study,  and  one  could  almost  believe  them  to  be  tiie  work  of  the 
needle.  Yet  these  were  planned  and  designed  by  pupils  from  the 
art  schools — which  makes  the  manufacturer  and  designer  depend 
upon  each  other  for  success.  It  is  with  the  blending  of  these  arts 
with  some  of  the  manufacturing  interests  of  our  country,  that  some 
of -our  brave  women  are  so  closely  identified. 

We  all  remember  the  struggle  for  years  of  the  American  silk 
weavers  to  compete  with  foreign  importation  and  get  a  footing  for 
their  goods  at  home.  It  was  not  until  Mrs.  Wheeler,  one  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  associated  artists'  club  of  New  York,  came 
to  their  relief  did  they  succeed.  It  was  through  her  suggesting 
and  designing  silk  and  woolen  fabrics  for  the  use  of  this  club,  that 
places  that  manufacturing  interest  where  it  stands  to-day,  equal  to 
any  and  second  to  none.  The  utilizing  of  the  wasted  silk  from  the 
more  costly  goods,  and  woven  into  cloth  known  as  raw  silk  was  the 
invention  of  her  brain. 

These  designers  have  not  confined  ftiemselves  to  the  costly 
silks  ;  the  pretty  cretonnes,  chintzes  and  lawns  have  received  much 
attention.  Our  Bazars  have  told  us  in  our  remote  villages,  what 
uses  the  designers  intended  for  the  pretty  cretonnes  seen  everywhere. 
They  have  found  artistic  use  for  the  heavy  old-fashioned  Kentucky 
jeans  as  heavy  drapery  for  certain  places  ;  this  goods  is  well  known 
to   most  of   our  western  farmers.     Was  there  ever  a  time   in   the 


174  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

history  of   our   country   that  our   homes    could  be    adorned   and 

beautified  at  so   small  a  cost   as  the  present  time,  when  men  and 

women  are  vying  with  each  other,  giving   their  time  and  money  to 

forward  the  progress  of  arts,  and   by  so  doing  refining  the  tastes, 

thereby  making  the  world  better  by  their  having  lived  in  it.     Too 

much  cannot  be   said   of  Benjaman    Pitman,    Maria   Longworth, 

Nichols  and  Louisa  McLaughlin,   who  through  their  efforts   have 

opened  the  way  for  men  and  women   who  have  assisted  in   making 

the  Cincinnati   school  of  decorative  pottery  a  national   institution. 

Since  it  has  been  discovered  that   the  ingredients   for  this  art  are 

found  in  many  parts  of  our  country,  the  outlook  for   it   to  come 

within   the   reach  of  the   less   favored,    is   flattering.     Wyoming, 

Ohio,  Alabama  and  Illinois  are  said  to  furnish  some  of  the  different 

"...  ' 

tinted  clay   suited  for  this  work,   which  has  been   developed   fully 

for  the  coarse  wares  so  far.     The  time  is  not  far   distant  when  we 

.will  be  enthusiastic  over  the  moulding  of  our  jugs.  Jars  and  vases, 

our  china  closets  filled  with  the  work  of  our  own  hands,  burned  in 

our   own    kilns.      When    America   can    produce    that  quality   of 

lithomarge,  then    she  will  call  home  her  own  Havalin  to  teach  her. 

sons  and  daughters  the  art   of  making   the  most  beautiful  china 

the  world  has  ever  known,  we  will  surely  be  a  fortunate  people. 

Painting  has  been  elbowing  its  way  to  the  front.  Our  young 
ladies  and  many  of  those  who  are  jDast  their  youth  are  developing 
wonderful  genius  and  enthusiasm  over  their  efforts  in  this  branch, 
as  ever  the  old  masters  did  over  their  grandest  work.  The  result  of 
this  art  can  be  seen  decorating  the  walls  of  many  of  our  homes,  and 
valued  more  than  if  the  brush  of  Eubin's  had  executed  the  work, 
because  it  is  the  developed  genius  of  our  children  and  our  neighbors 
children.  Almost  every  village  boasts  of  its  painting  class  and  ex- 
perience has  taught  us  the  work  accomplished,  will  bear  close  and 
severe  criticism. 

We  expect  most  of  our  girls  to  become  housekeepers  and 
homemakers ;  should  the  husband  be  able  to  furnish  the  four 
walls  of  the  home,  well  and  good,  if  not,  she,  witli  a  knowledge  of 
what  is  called  the  finer  arts  could  furnish  both  home  and  decoration. 
The  question  comes  to  us  again,  does  it  pay?  Is  it  not  our  duty  as 
a  progressive  people  to  encourage  these  arts,  not  only  for  their 
beauty  and  attractiveness,  but  for  their  commercial  value,  for  a 
tax  paying  class  of  citizens  without  representation.  Then  with 
the  advantages  we  have,  well  improved,  and  the  prosi^ect  of  a 
brighter  future,  our  homes  will  grow  more  and  more  in  beauty 
as  the  years  go  by.     We  can  sit  under  our  vine  and  fig  tree  feeling 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  175 

that  we  have  done  our  part  in  making  our  homes  what  they  are. 
"  Give  her  of  the  fruit  of  her  hands  and  let  her  own  work  praise 
her  in  the  gates."' 

By  motion  of  the  secretary,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to 
Mrs.  Dr.  A.  Goslin,  for  her  most  interesting  and  instructive  paper. 


THE  LAWN  AND  FLOWER  GARDEN. 


BY   MRS.    WADE    BURDEN^;   SPRINGFIELD,  ilO. 

A  well  kept  lawn   is  "a   thing  of  beauty  and   joy  forever  ;" 
though  winter  may  conceal  it  with  his  kindly  mantle,  yet  spring- 
will  again  reveal  its  beauties.     And  it  is  within  the  reach  of  all  in 
this  favored  clime,  where  nature  provides  such  bountiful  supply  of 
sod,   and  where  vegetation  is  so  rapid  that  we  have  only  to  stir  the 
soil,  scatter  the  seed  and  soon  the  tender  blade  will  appear.      Even 
where  the  grass  must  be  planted  singly  by  the  root,  as  in  some 
parts  of  Texas,   it  spreads  so  quickly  the  ground  is  soon  ct)vered, 
and  the  once  barren  spot  made  beautiful  and  attractive.     Downing 
recommends  a  thorough  breaking  up  of  the  soil  to  the  depth  of  two 
feet,  for  large  or  small  lawn  surfaces,  but  with  the  help  of  those 
modern  aids  to  lawn  culture,  the  hose   and  lawn-mower,   we  may 
have  a  lawn  with  any  ordinary  soil.     Common  red  clay,  with  a  top- 
dressing  of  coarse   manure   jjrepared    in  the  fall,  and  well  worked 
in  the  spring  makes  a  good  bed.     Have  your  ground  in  good  shape, 
perfectly  smooth  and  free  from  stones,  then  sow  your  seed   with  a 
lavish   hand  or  lay  your  sod,  and  a  few  bright  days  will  bring  the 
desired  result.      After  your  lawn  is  firmly  established,  keep  it  in 
order  by  frequent  mowing  ;    if  the  use  of  lawn  mowers  by  ladies 
could  be  made  as  jDopular  as  croquet   or  lawn  tennis  this  would 
follow  ;  or.  if  premiums  were  offered  for  the  finest  lawn,  would   it 
not  stimulate  ambition  and  be  attended   with  good  results  ?     The 
most   humble    home    may  be  made  doubly  attractive  by  a  lawn  of 
emerald   green    borders,  and  beds  of  ever-blooming  flowers  ;   vines 
creeping  lovingly  over  the  walls  add  beauty  to  the  scene,  and  all 
this  may  be  had  in  a  single  summer.     We  do  not  have  to   wait  for 
years  to  see  the  result  of  our  labors,  but  by  judicious  planting  have 
continued  bloom  and  verdure. 

A  good  place  for  the   flower  garden  is   between   the   lawn  and 


176  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

vegetable  garden,  the  walks  may  be  continued  through  the  latter 
and  bordered  by  shrubs  or  flowers.  The  beds  should  be  nearly 
level,  slightly  lower  in  the  center  that  the  sides  may  not  be  washed 
away  as  many  varieties  produce  volunteer  seedlings.  An  old  verbena 
bed  if  left  undisturbed  in  t-he  spring  until  the  plants  have  time  to 
appear,  will  furnish  an  abundance,  often  new  and  distinct  varieties. 
Greranium  seed,  after  lying  in  the  ground  all  winter,  will  germinate 
in  the  spring.  Sweet  Alyssum,  Mignonette,  Candy  Tufl,  Feverfew 
Pansies  and  many  other  sorts  produce  volunteer  plants. 

The  great  difficulty  with  beginners  is  to  know  what  to  plant. 
They  frequently  attemj^t  too  much.  A  bed  of  choice  plants  with 
careful  culture  will  give  more  satisfaction  than  a  garden  full  of 
neglected  ones.  Nearly  all  the  annuals  grow  readily  from  seed, 
while  geranium  cuttings  may  be  set  in  the  open  border  and  they 
will  hardly  stop  blooming,  but  continue  to  grow,  until  like  Mr. 
Phinney's  turnip  they  can't  grow  any  longer  and  they  may  be  dis- 
posed of  in  the  same  way,  put  in  the  cellar;  if  tliey  are  hung  up  by 
the  roots  they  will  grow  again  by  planting  very  early  in  the 
sprmg.  Heliotropes  and  many  other  plants  and  shrubs  grow  from 
cuttings.  Many  persons  seem  to  think  that  only  a  favored  few  can 
be  successful  in  raising  flowers.  Tliey  approach  you  with  a  never- 
nursed-a-wild-gazelle  expression  of  countenance,  and  beg  to  know 
what  yon  do  to  your  flowers  to  make  them  groAV,  while  everything 
they  put  in  the  ground  is  sure  to  die.  Perhaps  they  do  too  much; 
a  judicious  letting  alone  is  beneficial,  sometimes. 

Lilies  are  easy  to  cultivate  and  are  suitable  for  lawn  or  garden. 
Some  varieties  are  very  beautiful.  Lilium  Caudidum  or  common 
garden  lily  is  greatly  prized  both  for  beauty  and  fragrance.  Its 
pure  white  flowers  are  very  effective  in  floral  designs. 

Of  course  we  must  have  roses  ;  a  bed  of  the  everblooming,  with 
their  lovely  tints  and  subtle  odors  ;  a  hedge  of  Hybrid  perpetual  ; 
with  their  gay  coloring  or  siiigle  specimens  dotting  the  lawn  ;  these 
are  all  very  beautiful,  but  we  must  not  forget  the  beautiful  June 
roses,  but  have  them  for  the  sake  of  "  Auld  Lang  Syne."  They  are 
among  the  sweetest  recollections  of  our  childhood. 

The  sweet  brier  under  the  window  sill, 

Which  the  early  birds  made  glad, 
And  the  damask  rose  by  the  garden  fence 

Were  all  the  flowers  we  had. 
I've  looked  on  many  flowers  since  then  ; 

Exotics  rich  and  rare, 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph,  177 

Tliat  in  other  eyes  were  lovelier. 

But  not  in  mine  so  fair. 
But  those  roses  bright ,  oh  those  roses  bright, 

I  have  twined  them  vvitli  my  sister's  locks, 
That  are  hid  in  dust  from  sight. 


xMETHOD  IN  THE  ORNAMENTAL  PLANTING  OF  SMALL 

PLAGES. 


BY  K.   E.   BAILEY,    FULTON,   MO. 

Let  US  first  look  at  a  few  real  places  that  may  be^seen  in  this 
vicinity.  Perhaps  we  will  see  more  to  condemn  than  to  approve, 
but  we  will  at  least  see  that  almost  every  man  makes  some  essay  at 
ornamental  planting  ;  and  a  knowledge  of  the  mistakes  of  others 
fnay  keep  us  from  similar  mistakes.  Professor  A,  a  teacher  in  a 
western  college,  has  a  small  yard  in  town,  eight  or  ten  feet  wide 
and  thirty  or  forty  feet  long,  in  which  he  planted,  some  fifteen 
years  ago,  four  soft  maples.  His  soil  was  very  fertile  and  the 
result  may  be  imagined.  The  trees  now  tower  far  above  his  two- 
story  dwelling,  sliutting  out  the  air  and  sunshine.  His  wife  and 
one  of  his  children  have  since  died  of  consumption.  Who  knows 
but  that  the  exclusion  of  the  health-giving  sunlight  may  have  been 
one  factor  in^this  sad  result. 

Mr.  B.  has  a  front  yard  of  about  thirty  by  forty  feet,  in  which 
he  has  planted  a  dozen  or  more  of  these  same  soft  maples,  besides 
an  elm  or  two  and  a  few  evergreens. 

For  the  first  few  years  the  effect  was  not  bad,  but  now  as  the 
trees  have  grown  large  they  begin  to  crowd  the  place,  and  in  a  few 
more  years  his  jAace  will  be  as  badly  shut  in  as  Prof.  A.'s  If  these 
two  men  had  planted  evergeens  instead  of  deciduous  trees  the 
result  would  have  been  worse  yet.  The  evergreens  would  have 
excluded  the  sunlight  in  winter  when  its  admission  is  most  desirable. 
From  these  and  many  similar  cases  to  be  found  in  every  part  of  the 
country  we  may  draw  this  caution  :  do  not  plant  a  small  place 
with  an  over-abandance  of  large  growing  kinds  of  trees.  Look 
forward  to  the  future  effect,  and  limit  the  size  and  number  of  trees 
to  accord  with  the  size  of  the  place  planted.  Too  thick  planting 
could  be  partially  remedied  by  cutting  out  some  of  the  surplus 
trees  ;  but  I  iiave  found    few  men  with  nerve  enough  to  destroy  a 


178  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

tree  for  which  they  had  cared  until  it  became  large  and  spreading. 
When  such  a  course  is  suggested  they  seem  almost  as  much  shocked 
as  if  you  had  said  :  "  Your  family  of  children  is  more  numerous 
than  you  can  properly  feed,  clothe  and  educate  ;  kill  off  a  few  of 
the  least  promising  ones.  In  a  few  years  those  left  will  by  their 
increased  thrift  more  than  fill  the  places  of  those  you  put  out  of 
the  way," 

Mr,  C  has  a  place  very  different  from  those  already  mentioned. 
It  is  generally  admired.  It  covers  about  three  fourths  of  an  acre 
in  a  nearly  square  form,  with  a  large  two-story  white  house  in  the 
center  of  the  rear  boundary,  A  large,  straight,  gravel  walk 
bisects  the  place  from  front  to  rear,  lined  on  either  side  by  a  row  of 
our  native  red  cedars.  On  each  side  of  the  lot,  to  the  right  and 
left,  are  long  lines  of  well-formed  cedar  hedges  some  three  feet 
high  by  one  foot  wide  on  top,  and  eighteen  inches  at  the  bottom. 

A  small  plot  in  front  of  the  house  is  divided  from  the  remain- 
der by  a  low  lattice  fence  of  common  lath.  In  this  plot  the  good 
wife  has  her  flower-beds.  The  larger  j)lace  has  a  fine  blue  grass 
sod,  over  which  are  scattered  a  few  specimens  of  Scotch,  Austrian 
and  White  pines.  The  only  deciduous  trees  are  a  fine  beheaded 
black  locust.  The  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  place  is  a  num- 
ber of  red  cedars  sheared  into  fantastic  forms,  columns,  pyramids, 
globes,  cubes,  houses  surmounted  by  roosters,  peacocks  and  other 
such  forms.  Such  evidences  of  care  and  skill  attract  attention, 
and  even  admiration  from  many  persons,  but  are  in  doubtful  taste, 
to  say  the  least.  As  the  cedars  in  front  grew  large  and  hid  the 
view  from  the  front  windows,  their  lower  branches  were  cut  away, 
till  now  they  have  naked  trunks  fifteen  o]»-  twenty  feet  high. 
Such  trees  are  pronounced  ugly  by  almost  every  writer  on  landscape 
gardening.  The  same  amount  of  labor  would  have  produced  a 
better  result  by  a  greater  admixture  of  deciduous  trees,  say  a  speci- 
men or  two  of  elm,  Wier's  cut-leaved  maple  and  the  catalpa. 

Mr.  D.  marked  off  his  place  a  few  years  since  by  serpentine 
walks,  alongside  of  which  he  planted  small  Scotch  and  Austrian 
pines,  and  American  arbor  vitae.  It  looked  well  enough  at  first, 
but  now  the  trees  are  hiding  the  walks,  and  if  not  removed  they 
will  soon  hide  the  house.  Hence  I  would  like  to  ask  my  horti- 
cultural brethren  of  longer  and  wider  experience  than  myself,  if  any 
of  them  have  found  a  small  evergreen,  hardy  enough  to  stand  our 
torrid  summers,  frigid  winters  and  protracted  droughts?  The 
Irish  Juniper  and  the  dwarf  arbor  vitae  stand  but  few  years  at 
best. 


Amiual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  179 

Another  illustration  of  how  not  to  do  it,  is  furnished  by  a 
thrifty  German,  of  Fulton,  who,  in  the  lack  of  abetter  place, 
spaded  ^x\)  his  front  yard  and  planted  peas,  cabbage,  onions  and 
other  such  ornamental  plants.  He,  like  our  friend  of  the  sculp- 
tured cedars,  succeeded  m  drawing  the  public  gaze.  Perhaps  it 
was  the  best  he  could  do. 

Better  use  your  front  yard  to  grow  fruits  and  vegetables  than 
do  without  them,  or  go  in  debt  to  buy  them.  Indeed  the  Crabs, 
the  Wild  Goose  plum,  and  even  the  Red  June  or  the  Ben.  Davis 
apple  are  as  ornamental  as  many  trees  that  bear  no  fruit.  Even 
our  German  friend  was  not  wholly  given  up  to  utilitarianism. 
He  had  a  few  flowers  along  his  walks. 

It  would  be  worse  than  useless  to  try  to  give  specific  directions 
for  ornamental  planting.  Each  must  plant  according  to  the  special 
conditions  of  ground,  his  climate,  his  means  and  his  taste.  Of 
course  this  is  not  written  for  those  who  can  consult  an  expert  land- 
scape gardener. 

Young  planters  sometimes,  in  their  enthusiasm  to  decorate 
their  grounds,  attempt  too  much.  They  divide  their  plot  into  many 
shaped  beds  and  thus  destroy  the  breadth  of  effect  given  by  a 
simpler  plan.  Secure  a  fine  grassy  lawn  as  the  basis  or  foundation 
for  all  future  advancement.  A  few  fine  trees,  shrubs  and  beds  of 
flowers  set  in  such  a  lawn  will  make  any  place  beautiful. 


OENAMENTAL. 


BY  Z.  S.   RAGAIST,  OF  INDEPEXBENCE,  MO. 

It  having  fallen  to  my  lot  to  be  placed  on  the  committee  of 
Ornamentals,  and  inasmuch  as  Mrs.  Dr.  A.  Goslin  has  led  off  with  a 
very  spicy  and  beautiful  essay  on  Home  Adornments,  followed  by 
the  Hon.  C.  AV.  Murtfeldt  with  a  valuable  production  on  Orna- 
mental Tree  Planting,  it  will  devolve  upon  me  to  touch  upon  some 
of  the  aesthetic.  Still,  horticulturally  speaking,  this  subject  is  one 
not  confined  to  narrow  limits,  but  volumes  may  be  said  and  written 
without  exhausting  the  merits  of  the  subject. 

If  I  may  be  indulged  I  will  touch  upon  landscape  gardening 
in  rather  an  extended  way,  by  calling  attention  to  ornamentation 
of  public  grounds,  parks,  boulevards  and  highways.     A  taste  for 


180  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

rural  improvements  and  beautifying  our  land  is  attracting  increased 
attention  and  must  claim  a  due  share  of  encouragement  from  our 
horticultural  societies.  The  labors  of  such  societies  should  not  be 
confined  to  the  cultivation  of  the  finer  fruits,  flowers  and  trees. 
and  adornment  of  city  and  country  homes,  but  the  ornamenting 
should  extend  to  public  institutions  and  wide-spread  neighbor- 
hoods, including  state  and  court  houses,  colleges  and  public  school 
grounds,  boulevards  and  public  highways,  parks,  landscape  gar- 
dening, cemeteries,  &c. 

Our  most  valuable  American  work  on  Landscape  Gardening 
has  been  produced  by  the  much  lamented  A,  J.  Downing,  Esq.. 
who  thirty-five  years  ago  furnished  us  the  fourth  edition,  and  since 
his  death  we  are  indebted  to  Henry  Winthrop  Sargent,  Esq.,  for 
the  ninth  edition  of  that  invaluable  work.  Thus  the  fine  art  in 
horticulture  is  being  advanced  Avith  the  refinements  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live. 

To  Mr.  Downing  belongs  the  honor  of  laying  out  the  Smith- 
sonian and  public  grounds  at  "Washington  City. 

"  The  Central  Park.  Xew  York  City,  being  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  kind  that  has  been  undertaken  in  America,"  had  its 
origin  through  the  advocacy  of  the  ''horticulturist"  urging  its 
necessity  and  setting  forth  its  advantages.  Since  itsestablishment. 
it  has  grown  in  favor  and  importance  commensurate  with  the 
growth  and  is  the  pride  of  the  city  and  nation.  Many  of  our 
other  cities  have  finely  ornamented  public  and  private  grounds  that 
will  vie  with  the  example  mentioned,  but  we  must  be  excused  from 
attempting  any  description.  It  is  all  important  in  any  undertaking 
to  commence  aright.  The  planning  and  laying  out  parks,  pleasure 
grounds,  cemeteries,  etc.,  should  be  the  work  of  a  scientific, 
practical  landscape  gardener,  not  merely  the  work  of  a  civil 
engineer,  but  must  combine  sylvan,  graceful,  or  picturesque  abstract 
of  natural  beauty.  The  grounds  of  our  state  and  court  houses  as 
well  as  colleges  and  jDublic  schools  should  be  artistically  laid  out 
and  set  with  suitable  shade  trees,  shrubs  and  flowers. 

This  will  have  much  to  do  in  the  education  of  our  people  by 
the  way  of  example.  Public  or  common  schools  are  receiving 
attention  in  this  way  in  some  of  the  states  and  others  should 
emulate  their  example. 

Through  the  influence  of  the  Michigan  State  Horticultural 
Society,  many  of  the  grounds  around  the  common  schools  have 
been  ornamented  with  appropriate  shade  trees,  and  the  teachers 
co-operating  and  (  with  the  aid  of  scholars,)  have  contributed  much 


Annual  Meetitig  at  St.  Jot-epli.  181 

to  the  attractiveness  by  the  addition  of  well  arranged  programmes 
of  flower  beds  carefully  cared  for  and  cultivated,  thereby  incul- 
cating in  the  pupils  a  taste  for  rural  ornamentation.  The 
secretary's  report  contains  many  flattering  reports  of  the  success  in 
this  direction  made  by  the  teachers. 

Our  boulevards  and  public  roads  should  not  be  overlooked.  A 
row  of  our  best  native  shade  trees  planted  and  cared  for  along  each 
side,  would  not  only  add  much  to  the  beauty  of  the  country,  but  in 
time  afl:ord  a  refreshing  shade  during  the  heated  season  of  the  year. 
About  forty  years  ago  the  city  council  of  Terre  Haute,  Indiana, 
passed  an  ordinance  requiring  the  owners  to  plant  and  grow  shade 
trees  on  the  streets  in  front  of  their  lots.  Since  that  time  it  has 
grown  to  be  a  large  and  beautiful  city,  and  as  one  result  of  that 
ordinance  has  attained  uniformity  in  well  shaded  streets  seldom 
met  with.  I  chanced  to  stop  in  that  city  a  short  time  since,  and 
through  the  politeness  of  a  friend  had  a  pleasant  drive  through 
some  of  the  principal  streets  and  was  informed  that  on  one  of  these 
streets  there  was  a  continuous  drive  of  fourteen  miles  in  length  all 
arched  over  by  shade  trees.  Other  instances  might  be  enumerated 
where  Judicious  arrangement  or  symmetry  has  lent  a  charm  and 
given  notoriety  to  the  locality.  For  example,  a  certain  street  in 
Berlin  has  been  shaded  exclusively  by  Lynn  trees. 

The  fact  has  been  significant  in  suggesting  the  popular  name, 
"  The  Linden,"  or  as  described  by  travelers  "  Unter  den  Linden.'^ 
Here  let  me  say,  that  our  native  Linden  together  with  the  Elm, 
Ash  and  Sugar  or  Rock  Maple  comprise  some  of  our  most  desirable 
shade  trees  for  streets  and  public  highways.  They  need  little  or  no 
trimming,  are  thrifty  and  hardy,  not  liable  to  split  or  easily  blown 
down  by  storm.  For  examples  of  the  more  refined  scenic  art,  we 
no  longer  look  to  European  countries  where  the  embellishments  are 
confined  to  the  nobility.  Scientific  men  of  America  have  improved 
upon  their  examples  and  are  furnishing  living  examples,  unsur- 
passed in  the  picturesque  and  sylvan  beauty,  and  calculated  to 
excite  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  world. 

The  older  states  of  course  have  availed  themselves  of  all  the 
scenic  advance  of  the  art. 

As  yet,  in  this  state,  we  have  to  regret  (with  few  exceptions) 
that  with  the  many  costly  edifices  both  in  country  and  city,  which 
has  called  into  requisition  the  talent  of  the  most  skilled  architects, 
that  the  towns  and  surrounding  grounds  have  failed  to  be  made  to 
correspond.     Every  town  and    city    of   any    claim   to   importance 


182  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

should  have  its  drives   or  boulevards   in    connection    with  public 
parks,  landscape  gardens,  cemeteries,  &c. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  my  annual  address  to  this 
society  in  1881  at  Columbia,  we  suggested  artistic  ornamentation 
of  the  campus  around  the  University  as  a  suitable  place  for  an 
example  of  this  art. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing,  our  secretary  handed  me  a  book 
on  the  subject  of  landscape  gardening  which  I  consider  of  great 
importance  in  more  ways  than  one.  It  exemplifies  and  treats  in  a 
scholarly  and  scientific  way  of  the  subject  hinted  at  in  this  paper. 
It  supplies  the  place  of  a  long  needed  work  on  this  subject.  It 
should  be  in  every  family  and  school.  Mr.  Downing's  work  on 
landscape  gardening,  costing  six  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  is  too  costly 
for  the  million  ;  but  this  work  of  one  hundred  and  forty  pages 
comes  within  the  reach  of  all.  It  contains  much  in  small  space. 
This  work  is  by  that  eminent  scholar  and  practical  landscape 
gardener.  Prof.  M.  G.  Kern,  a  cotemporary  and  co-worker  with 
several  of  the  most  gifted  men  of  the  age  in  this  art,  in  connection 
with  "  The  creation  of  the  principal  ornamental  grounds  of  our 
country."  His  field  of  operation  has  been  in  the  west,  and  the 
leading  public  parks  in  the  metropolis  of  our  state  owe  their  artistic 
development  mainly  to  his  intelligent  labors.  We  are  pleased  to 
learn  that  Mr.  Kern  has  undertaken  to  lay  off  and  ornament  the 
grounds  of  the  State  University  and  know  from  what  we  have  seen 
of  his  skill  in  the  art  that  when  finished  it  will  be  an  example  of 
which  every  citizen  in  the  state  may  be  proud.  The  vast  improve- 
ments and  increased  wealth,  with  the  growing  interest  in 
horticulture  throughout  the  state,  must  call  into  requisition  the 
best  talent  to  suggest  practical  methods  of  improving  and  beauti- 
fying our  homes.  The  reason  the  outward  adorning  falls  behind 
the  architectural,  is  that  the  architect  is  employed  to  build  the 
house,  but  we  seldom  think  it  necessary  to  employ,  or  even  consult 
the  landscape  gardener. 


Animal  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  183 


OENAMENTALS  FOR  PLANTING. 


BY    CHAKLES    W.    MURTFELDT,    OF    KIEKSVILLE,    MO, 

"Make  the  home  beautiful,  bring  to  it  flowers  ; 

Plant  them  around  you  to  bud  and  to  bloom  ; 

Let  them  give  light  to  your  loneliest  hours — 

Let  them  bring  light  to  enliven  your  gloom  ; 

If  you  can  do  so,  O,  make  it  an  Eden, 

Of  beauty  and  gladness  almost  divine  ; 

'  Twill  teach  you  to  long  for  that  home  you  are  needing 

The  earth  robed  in  beauty  beyond  this  dark  clime." 

The  love  of  the  beautiful  has  been  implanted  by  a  beneficent 
Creator,  in  every  human  breast.  It  finds  expression  in  the  admir- 
ation of  all  that  is  lovely  and  charming  in  natui-e  and  art,  and  it 
prompts  men,  and  especially  ladies,  to  the  adorning  of  their  per- 
sons and  their  natural  surroundings.  The  aboriginal  of  America 
and  the  savage  of  Africa,  form  no  exception  to  the  general  rule  ; 
but  the  higher  the  civilization,  the  more  refined  and  cultivated  the 
taste,  the  greater  is  the  longing,  not  only  to  adorn  the  person  and 
surroundings,  but  to  gratify  the  desire  of  beholding  all  that  is 
grand,  beautiful,  picturesque  and  delightful  in  nature  and  art. 
The  wisest  and  best  of  men  have  written  about  the  love  of  the 
beautiful  ;  poets  have  immortalized  its  praises  in  verse ;  the 
lecture  platform  has  depicted  it  in  encomiums  and  language  both 
chaste  and  eloquent,  to  enraptured  multitudes  ! 

The  love  of  the  beautiful  has  caused  men  to  travel  thousands 
of  miles,  to  endure  privation,  fatigue  and  hardship,  yea,  even  to 
risk  health  and  life  itself,  that  their  longings  to  gaze  from  some 
lofty  mountain  peak,  if  but  for  an  hour  or  two,  upon  the  exquisite 
beauty  of  a  panorama  spread  out  at  their  feet,  upon  a  real  picture 
painted  in  indescribable  colors  by    God  Himself,  may  be   gratified. 

Thousands  upon  thousands  have  braved  the  storms  and  dis- 
comforts of  the  broad  Atlantic  ;  the  trials  and  terrors  of  aEuroj)ean 
feather-bed,  and  the  mysteries  of  the  French  kitchen,  in  order  to 
behold  the  never-to-be-forgotten  colors  of  the  waters  of  the  Rhine, 
its  terraced  and  vineclad  hills,  the  magnificent  ruins  of  ancient 
feudal  castles,  and  the  modern,  surpassing  and  impregnable 
fortress  of  Ehrenbreitenstein.  Thev  will  climb  the  dangerful 
heights  of  Mont  Blanc  or  of  the  Matterhornto  revel  in  the  grandeur 
of  a  sun-rise  among  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps. 


184  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Or,  perha2)s  they  will  take  the  direction  of  the  north  jDole  to 
behold  the  rainbow  tints  and  j^yrotechnics  of  a  northern  aurora 
iorealis,  or  to  stand  upon  some  promontory  on  the  longest  day  in 
the  year  and  wonder  that  there  could  be  anywhere  on  God's  foot- 
stool, a  day  without  a  night,  a  day  on  which  the  sun  did  not  set  ? 
And  in  our  own  beloved  land  :  The  waters,  the  palisades,  and  the 
highlands  of  the  charming  and  fascinating  Hudson ;  the  pic- 
turesque bluffs  of  the  upj^er  Mississippi,  the  canons  of  Colorado 
and  Montana,  the  weird  caves,  cascades  and  canons  of  the  Yose- 
mite  have  held  other  thousands  spell  bound,  while  millions  annually 
visit  the  Falls  of  Niagara  and  uevery  weary  of  gazing  upon  its 
grand,  ever-changing  and  awe-inspiring  panorama. 

It  was  asserted  just  now  that  a  high  civilization  will  show 
love  for  the  beautiful,  not  only  in  the  adorning  of  a  person  and  in 
beholding  and  admiring  the  wonders  of  nature,  but  will  work  itself 
out  in  beautifying  to  every  possible  extent  the  home  and  its  sur- 
roundings. The  nomad,  the  wild  hunter  and  fisherman,  with  few 
exceptions,  are  all  lovers  of  natural  beauty,  but  few  of  these  ever 
make  a  true  home  in  a  civilized  community?  In  cities  we  cannot 
look  for  much  of  natural  beauty,  there  everything  trlMy  beautiful, 
the  architectural  beauty  of  the  palaces  of  the  wealthy,  like  that  of 
the  churches  and  cathedrals  with  their  frescoed  pictures  and  paint- 
ings, their  heavenward  pointing  sjoires  and  steeples,  also  the  public 
resorts  and  parks,  are  all  the  result  of  art  and  design ;  even  the 
cities  of  the  dead  are  made  beautiful,  attractive  by  the  landscape 
gardener's  art  and  cunning.  And  it  is  well  that  even  much  money 
is  thus  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  general  public,  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  taste  and  refinement,  and  with  it  the  morals  of  the 
people  ;  because  all  have  free  access  to  the  parks,  the  churches  and 
the  cemeteries,  to  the  latter  if  not  while  living,  then  when  dead  ! 
Our  houses  of  worship  are  made  more  attractive  by  the  presence  of 
floral  beauties  and  living  plants  which  surround  the  sacred  desk. 
And  why  not?  Was  it  not  in  a  garden,  even  Eden,  that  man  first 
worshiped,  when  he  first  beheld  the  works  of  creation,  which,  when 
their  Maker  saw  he  called  good  ? 

Is  there  not  a  responsive  chord  in  the  breast  of  every  true  man 
and  woman  drawing  us  to  look  from  nature  up  to  nature's  God  ? 
Is  there  not  superhuman  design  and  an  incomparable  beauty  in  all 
nature  while  yet  untouched  or  unimproved  (?)  by  human  hands  or 
skill?  The  lilies  of  the  field  and  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  were 
planted  by  our  Creator  for  a  good  and  wise  purpose,  even  to  show 
unto  us  the  goodness  of  tlie  Lord? 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  185 

Perhaps  some  of  the  friends  present  (I  hope  none  or  not 
many)  may  not  rehsh  moralizing  ;  they  desire  only  practical 
thoughts  from  the  essayist  to  whom  has  been  assigned  the  subject 
of  ornamental  planting.  Ornamental  planting  is  practical  poetry, 
and  what  has  been  said  is  a  ver}'^  natural  avenue  thereto. 

The  most  of  the  citizens  of  Missouri  have  passed  the  first  and 
second  stages  of  new  settlements,  in  which  it  is  claimed,  though 
not  always  truthfully,  that  first  efforts  should  be  directed  to  ob- 
taining from  the  soil  the  substantials  for  subsistence.  This  is 
correct  only  in  part.  In  looking  for  a  site  for  the  new  dwelling 
on  the  new  eighty  or  quarter  section,  the  owner  very  naturally 
takes  into  consideration  the  physical  condition  or  lay  of  the  land, 
the  presence  or  absence  of  timber  or  water  from  spring  or  running 
brook  or  stream,  the  elevation  or  undulation  of  the  soil,  and  aims 
to  make  these  natural  conditions  subservient  to  the  ultimate  beauty 
of  the  completed  and  perfected  home. 

No  man  of  common  sense  would  ever  try  to  make  a  home  in  a 
swamp  ;  there  no  home,  could  be  beautiful,  and  malarial  diseases 
would  be  his  portion  forever.  If  the  choice  lies  between  a  swamp 
and  plenty  of  convenient  water  and  a  high  and  dry  knoll  or  plateau, 
where  water  would  have  to  be  supplied  by  artificial  and  costly 
means,  he  will  not  hesitate  to  choose  the  latter. 

Suppose  the  place  selected  for  a  home  should  be  a  portion  of  a 
high  and  rolling  prairie,  void  of  all  timber  ;  what's  to  be  done  ? 
Anywhere  in  Missouri  or  Kansas,  the  first  acre  of  soil  broken  by 
the  plow  can  be  made  to  produce  with  the  useful  also  the  orna- 
mental. It  could  be  planted  to  potatoes  and  other  vegetables  in 
such  a  manner  that  peach  pits  should  be  sown  in  every  third  or 
fourth  row  to  the  extent  of  a  bushel  or  more,  and  beyond  these,  to 
the  extent  of  half  an  acre  at  least,  soft  or  silver-leaved  maple 
should  be  planted.  In  most  instances  this  might  be  done  and  not 
interfere  much  with  the  cultivation  of  vegetables  on  the  same 
ground.  These  young  maj^les  and  peach  trees,  for  a  purpose  here 
shall  be  designated  as  nurse-trees.  They  are  fast  growers  and  will 
soon  protect  the  evergreens  and  deciduous  trees  which  are  to  be 
planted  for  permanency,  while  but  few  of  the  seedling  peaches  and 
maples  are  to  be  thus  retained.  Having  established  permanent 
roadways  to  the  dwelling  and  out-houses,  I  would  plant  on  the  now 
cultivated  soil,  evergreens  in  large  numbers,  especially  the  Scotch 
and  Austrian  pines  ;  the  white  pine  also  does  well  in  most  localities, 
while  the  spruces  can  be  made  most  dense,  the  silvery  sheen  of 
most  varieties  forming  a   pleasing  contrast  with   the  dark    green 


186  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

foliage  of  the  pines.  Tiie  hemlock  is  a  most  graceful  tree,  and 
with  me  does  well.  The  European  larch,  although  strictly  speak- 
ing, not  an  evergreen,  should  find  a  place  m  every  collection  of 
ornamentals  ;  its  upright  and  conical  form  is  most  pleasing  and  in 
striking  contrast  with  most  other  trees,  and  so  also  is  the  foliage. 
Arbor  Vitas  should  be  found  in  every  collection,  and  the  Irish  and 
trailing  junipers  add  both  beauty  and  variety  to  any  lawn  or  bit  of 
grass  near  the  dwelling. 

All  of  these  may  be  obtained  at  less  price  from  well  established 
nurseries  than  they  can  be  grown.  The  most  of  these  may  be 
planted  amongst  the  yonng  peach  and  maple  trees,  with  a  view  to 
remove  them  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  years.  They  make  the 
most  ornamental  as  well  as  most  effective  wind  break,  and  should 
be  so  planted  as  to  protect  the  dwelling.  Their  greatest  beauty  is 
made  most  conspicuous  when  planted  in  groups  or  clumps.  In  all 
ornamental  planting — strictly  speaking  —  there  should  be  a  well 
defined  design  or  plan,  more  or  less  elaborate,  according  to  means 
and  advantages  of  the  owner  ;  without  this  for  a  starting  point, 
most  precious  and  irrecoverable  time  will  be  squandered,  and  also 
some  money. 

I  shall  not  in  this  paper  make  any  attempt  to  give  instruction 
in  landscape  gardening,  for  the  very  good  reason  of  want  of  ability. 
I  am  conscious  that  the  best  I  am  able  to  do  will  be  fragmentary. 
If  I  can  say  a  word,  however,  which  will  in  any  way  improve  the 
home  of  even  the  humblest  free-hold  of  a  few  acres,  I  shall  be 
well  repaid  for  this  effort.  We  all  understand  that  next  to  pro- 
tection in  winter,  shade  is  desirable  in  the  hot  summer  months  ; 
and  in  ornamental  planting  we  should  bear  this  in  mind.  For  a 
new  home  we  need  the  most  rapid  growing  trees — already  brought 
to  view — with  a  view  to  their  removal  after  more  desirable  varieties 
have  become  well  established,  and  to  these  latter  we  must  from  the 
start  give  also  the  best  locations  with  a  view  to  permanency.  But 
while  shade  is.  desirable  and  grateful,  sunshine  in  and  around  a 
dwelling  is  an  absolute  necessity  if  the  dwellers  within  would  enjoy 
good  and  permanent  health. 

Little  by  little,  as  the  want  becomes  apparent,  we  can  add  to 
our  ornamentals  ;  m  some  instances  a  shrub  or  vine  w^ould  add 
grace  and  beauty,  while  in  others  only  a  tall  and  wide  branching- 
tree  would  fill  the  space  satisfactorily.  Some  of  these  can  be 
selected  from  indigenous  varieties — nursery  grown  always  prefer- 
able— such  as  the  elms  in  variety,  and  the  ash  and  hard  maple,  the 
catalpa,   tulip  and  coffee  tree,  the   European   linden   and  Scotch 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  187 

maple.  All  of  these  have  beautiful  foliage  in  spring  and  summer, 
while  others  are  in  the  greatest  glory  in  autumn.  The  most  beau- 
tiful tree  I  ever  set  eyes  on  is  the  weeping  cut-leaved  birch,  which 
stands  near  the  office  in  the  grounds  of  Ellwanger  &  Barry,  Ro- 
chester, N.  Y.  There  are  other  varieties  of  birch  whose  pale  green 
foliage  and  silver  white  trunks  are  really  ornamental,  especially 
when  brought  into  contrast  with  the  dark  foliage  of  the  evergreens 
or  hard  maples.  But  in  our  selections  and  plantings  we  must  have 
reference  to  the  natural  habits  of  the  trees.  Some  are  very  up- 
right, the  branches  hugging  the  trunk,  an  example  of'  which  may 
be  found  in  the  Lombardy  poplar — not  desirable  by  the  way  except 
for  a  landmark  and  near  or  on  the  highway — others  like  the  maples 
and  evergreens  naturally  assume  the  conical  form,  wtiile  still  others 
are  spready,  with  more  or  less  drooping  branches,  like  the  elms, 
the  larch  and  the  hemlock  ;  these  last  should  be  allowed  a  good 
deal  of  space.  Yet,  notwithstanding  these  natural  tendencies, 
most  trees  can  be  trained  at  pleasure  in  their  general  outline,  but 
it  needs  good  judgment  and  persistence  to  do  so  effectively. 

The  subject  of  planting  ornamentals  cannot  be  dismissed 
without  some  reference  to  blooming  shrubs  and  flowers,  because 
their  varied  forms  and  colors  are  full  of  charm  and  beauty.  Among 
the  shrubs  I  will  mention  first,  because  of  its  earliness,  the  pyrus 
japonica — by  some  called  the  burning  bush — deutzia,  crenata  and 
deutzia  gracilis  ;  the  althea,  the  snow  ball,  the  lilac,  both  the 
Persian  and  European,  the  blue,  the  purple,  and  the  white,  the 
white  fringe,  etc.,  though  the  flowers  of  but  few  of  these  are  desir- 
able for  bouquets.  The  Japan  quinces  and  annual  roses  will  also 
make  a  nice  bit  of  hedge  to  hide  some  iiidispensable  but  otherwise 
ill  looking  feature,  of  farm  or  village  lot.  The  trumpet  creeper, 
the  passion  vine  and  the  Virginia  creeper  are  desirable  for  like 
purposes. 

Speaking  of  roses,  there  are  two  climbing  varieties  well 
adapted  to  be  trained  so  as  to  intertwine  ;  namely,  the  Queen  of 
the  Prairie  and  the  Baltimore  Belle.  The  last  named  grows  its 
bloom  in  thick  clusters,  is  a  great  bearer,  and  is  fragrant,  while  the 
bloom  of  the  Queen  has  no  odor.  An  eastern  exposure  suits  them 
best,  because  a  full  southern  exposure  with  the  resulting  reflection 
from  a  building,  is  too  hot,  and  will  make  the  bloom  too  transient. 

And  who  among  all  the  sons  of  men  does  not  admire  and  love 
flowers  ? 


188  Missou7'i  State  Horticultural  Society. 

"  Flowers  are  the  sylvan  syllables 
In  colors  like  the  bow  ; 
And  wise  is  he  who  wisely  spells 
The  blossomed  words,  where  beauty  dwells 
In  purple,  gold  and  snow." 

Such  an  one  is  to  be  pitied^  for,  like  the  man  that  has  no 
music  in  his  soul,  he  too  is  fit  for  treason,  stratagemi  and  spoils. 
There  is  no  place  so  humble  or  so  small  but  its  beauty  can  be 
enhanced  by  flowers.  And  flowers  can  be  had  for  a  song,  or 
cheaper.  A  few  dimes  invested  in  annuals  will  make  a  garden  bright 
for  all  the  season.  Verbenas  in  variety,  flox  drummundi,  zenias, 
fever  few,  bachelor's  buttons,  ladies'  slippers,  nasturtions,  etc., 
should  be  found  in  every  such  collection,  and  will  repay  in  beauty 
an  hundredfold  their  cost. 

But  for  any  wishing  to  plant  more  elaborately,  the  following 
are  named  as  giving  a  desirable  succession  of  bloom  :  A  bed  of 
bulbs  embracing  crocus,  snow-di'ops,  narcissus,  tulips,  lily  of  the 
valley  and  hyacinths.  With  these  may  be  planted,  on  the  borders 
of  the  bed,  grass  pinks  and  ladies'  slippers,  aiid  in  the  center, 
verbenas  of  various  colors. 

For  roses  in  variety,  especially  perpetuals  and  hybrids,  a 
separate  and  exclusive  bed  should  be  prepared.  The  soil  must  be 
made  very  rich,  because  most  roses  have  but  poor  and  few  roots,  and 
feed  must  be  abundant ;  powdered  charcoal,  ashes  and  liquid 
manure,  should  be  supj)lied  throughout  the  season. 

The  foundation  of  a  good  soil  for  flowers  are  pure  humus  or 
decayed  vegetation,  sand  and  cow  manure.  I  know  of  no  flowers 
that  will  not  thrive  in  such  a  soil. 

Knowing  that  a  paper  will  T3e  offered  on  the  planting  of  orna- 
mentals on  small  places,  I  will  not  go  further  in  the  detail  of  the 
how  and  wherefore  of  ornamental  planting,  and  will  conclude  this 
fragmentary  effort  by  another  verse  of  George  W.  Bungay  : 

"  Oh,  sacred  is  the  use  of  these 
Sweet  gifts  to  mortals  given  ; 
Their  colors  charm,  their  beauties  please. 
And  every  better  sense  they  seize. 
And  bear  our  thoughts  to  Heaven." 

Z.  S.  Ragan  : —  Likes  the  trailing  jumper.  This  subject 
should  be  taken  up  by  our  state  society  in  a  more  especial  way.  Our 
public  grounds  should  be  ornamented  in  no  very  elaborate  way,  but 
in  a  good  substantial  way.  Central  Park  was  started  by  our  horti- 
culturists, and  in  the  west  we  should  begin  this  work,  for  we  are 


to 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  189 

growing  very  fast  as  a  city.  All  cities  should  have  a  good  well  hiid 
out  park.  In  Illiuois  we  find  the  state  society  has  induced  the 
schools  to  plant  their  yards  with  ornamental  trees.  Roads  should 
also  be  well  shaded  and  we  should  induce  every  one  to  plant  the 
road  sides  with  shade  trees. 

C.  W.  Miirtfeldt :  —  Of  the  three  most  prominent  men  in 
landscape  gardening,  M.  G-.  Kern,  of  Columbia,  is  one  of  the  best 
in  the  country,  A  letter  was  read  from  J.  S.  Eollins  concerning 
Mr.  Kern  and  his  book  on  "  Rural  Taste,'"  and  a  nnmber  of  copies 
of  the  book  sent  for  distribution. 

Columbia,  Booxe  County,  Mo.,  Dec.  8,  1884. 

Messrs.  A.  W.  St.  John,  Vice-President,  and  L.  A.  Goodman, 
Secretary,  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Gentlemen  : — I  send  you  this  day,  by  express,  twenty-five 
copies  of  an  admirable  pamphlet  written  by  Mr.  M.  G.  Kern  on 
•'  Rural  Taste  in  Western  Town  and  Country  Districts." 

Mr.  Kern,  on  account  of  his  engagements  here,  will  not  be 
able  to  be  present  at  your  meeting,  which  he  regrets,  and  his  most 
excellent  book  must  answer  in  his  stead. 

You  will  please  see  that  the  copies  sent  are  distributed  among 
the  leading  members  of  the  society  and  with  a  request,  after  they 
have  examined  it  carefully,  that  each  one  of  them  will  address  to 
me  a  letter  expressing  freely  their  opinions  of  the  merits  of  the 
work. 

It  has  been  very  highly  commended  by  gentlemen  of  taste, 
and  culture  in  such  matters,  and  among  these  by  Mr.  Thos.  Mehan. 
Ed.  Gardner's  Monthly  and  Robert  Douglass,  of  the  Waukegan 
Nurseries,  Waukegan,  Illinois. 

Hoping  that  you  may  have  a  pleasant  and  profitable  meeting, 
and  knowing  that  there  is  no  subject  connected  with  progressive 
horticulture  deserving  of  more  encouragement  than  the  beautifying 
of  our  homes,  cemeteries,  and  our  public  school  grounds,  I  hope 
the  subject  will  be  thoroughly  discussed  by  the  society  at  its  present 
meeting,  and  in  their  published  proceedings  a  free  expression  will 
be  given  as  to  the  real  merits  of  the  subject.  I  am  very  respect- 
fully Your  Obedient  Servant, 

JAMES  S.  ROLLINS, 
Pres.  Board  of  Curators  of  University  of  the  State  of  Mo. 

A  letter  was  also  read  from  the  President,  S.  M.  Tracy,  on  the 
work  at  New  Orleans. 


190  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society: 

Xew  Orleaxs,  La.,  Dec.  oth,  1884. 
L.  A.  Goodman,  Secretary  Mo.  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Deae  Sir  : — Your  call  for  matter  suitable  to  the  meeting  of 
our  State  Society,  and  to  my  own  official  relation  with  the  society, 
recalls  me  to  a  sense  of  my  duties  in  my  own  state — duties  which  I 
had  almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  whirl  and  rush  of  the  big  Exposi- 
tion. 

I  can  only  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  officers  and  members 
of  our  organization,  asking  you  to  be  equally  kind  with  the  Uni- 
versity Board  in  granting  me  ''leave  of  absence." 

The  work  here  has  so  grown  upon  our  hands  that  what  seemed 
a  considerable  undertaking  last  spring  has  now  assumed  colossal^ 
proportions,  and  working  early  and  late  accomplishes  only  enough 
to  heighten  by  contrast  the  importance  of  the  things  that  remain 
undone. 

As  soon  as  the  carpenters  leave  a  building  the  grounds  about 
it  are  in  our  hands  ;  but  the  carpenters  linger  like  snow  in  the  val- 
leys, and  we  grow  as  impatient  of  their  delays  as  we  do  of  the 
slow  coming  spring-time  of  the  north. 

It  is  difficult  to  fancy  your  sitting  in  solemn  conclave  with  win- 
ter at  your  doors,  when  here  the  air  is  soft  and  balmy,  the  roses 
are  crowded  with  bloom,  the  orange  trees  with  their  brilliant  green 
leaves  and  bright  yellow  fruit,  making  beautiful  pictures  on 
every  hand. 

We  have  had  so  far  little  rain  ;  not  enough  to  retard  appreci- 
ably the  work  of  planting,  which,  while  it  makes  haste  slowly,  is 
really  becoiAing  quite  a  feature  of  the  exposition  grounds. 

Exhibits  of  all  kinds — state  and  individual — are  crowding  in, 
and  the  sound  of  axe  and  hammer  is  indicative  of  busy  industry 
inside  the  various  buildings. 

Since  the  state  exhibits  began  to  assume  shape  miscellaneous 
visiting  has  been  prohibited,  but  some  of  us  who  have  a  way  to 
get  in  are  watching  with  great  interest  to  see  which  state  at  least 
shall  unpack  "the  big  pumpkin."  Ex-Gov.  Furnas,  of  Nebraska, 
has  pushed  his  work  with  more  apparent  zeal  than  any  other  state 
commissioner,  having  the  advantage  of  being  early  upon  the 
ground,  and  deserves  great  commendation  for  skill  and  persever- 
ance. Others  are  already  here,  however,  and  are  pushing  for- 
ward their  several  departments  with  a  will.  Maj.  F.  F.  Hilder, 
state  commissioner  from  Missouri,  is  here,  and  hard  at  work. 

Our  state  exhibit  promises  to  do  us  great  credit.  The  space 
assigned  to  Missouri  is  to  be  found  in  the  Government  building,  on 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  191 

the  south  side  near  the  center,  between  the  exhibits  of  Arkansas  and 
Alabama.  .  California  is  making  the  largest  exhibit  of  trees  that 
has  come  from  any  state,  having  now  nearly  six  hundred  varieties 
on  the  grounds,  including  Seqnoi  Gigantea,  Redwood,  Acacias, 
Eucalipti,  Palms ;  Avith  other  less  noted  kinds  of  semi-tropical 
plants.      It  is  a  showing  to  confirm  Fiiend  Husmann's  panegyrics. 

We  received  to-day  from  Mexico  seven  carloads  of  plants. 
Among  them.  Agaves  so  large  that  but  three  of  them  could  be 
placed  on  a  fiat  car,  one  of  them  with  a  fiower  stem  fifteen  feet 
high.  These  plants  were  accompanied  by  a  large  force  of  Mexican 
gardeners,  who  present  a  very  picturesque  appearance  in  their 
blouses  and  their  p6aked  sombrero  hats,  and  their  bare  feet  ;  but 
who  are,  of  all  men,  most  miserable  Avhen  it  rains. 

The  fruit  exhibit  promises  success — a  large  quantity  is  now  in 
cold  storage,  and  more,  much  more,  is  promised.  Mr.  Babcock, 
who  is  here  to  arrange  the  fruit  display  of  Arkansas,  has  the  largest 
quantity  of  fruit  now  on  the  ground  from  any  one  state. 

Nebraska  has  one  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  here  now,  and 
from  some  vspecimens  which  have  been  unpacked,  we  judge  that  she 
is  in  the  front  rank  of  fruit  growing  states.  I  hope  that  Missouri 
will  do  herself  justice  in  the  fruit  show — she  can  help  her  reputation 
immensely  by  doing  her  best  just  now. 

Electric  lights  are  now  being  put  in  position  in  all  the 
buildings,  so  that  work  can  be  done  by  night  as  well  as  by  day  ;  thus 
practically  doubling  the  available  time  before  the  exposition.  It 
will  be  some  time,  however,  before  all  is  done.  Although  those 
who  come  at  the  opening  will  find  enough  to  see,  to  amply  repay 
the  trouble  of  the  journe3^ 

For  information  to  those  who  think  of  making  the  trip  south, 
I  will  say  that  letters  regarding  places  for  board  should  be  addressed 
•  to  B.  T.  Walsh,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Information,  Exposition 
Office — -who  has  lists  of  rooms.  Places  near  the  grounds  are  scarce 
now,  but  two  new  hotels  are  now  going  up,  and  the  Great  Eastern, 
which  will  lie  at  the  Exposition  wharf  through  the  winter,  will  be 
used  as  a  hotel,  and  will  accommodate  three  thousand  people. 
Prices  in  private  houses  will  range  from  one  dollar  to  three  dollars 
per  day ;  but  good  board  can  be  had  for  two  dollars. 

I  hope  that  the  meeting  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural 
Society  in  January  will  be  the  grand  rallying  time  for  our  state 
society.  Then  will  be  the  grandest  display  of  fruits  and  all  will 
then  be  in  running  order  about  the  grounds  and  buildings,  and  the 


192  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

southern  climate  will  furnish  an  agreeable  cliange  from  the  freezing 
winter  weather. 

Wishing  you  a  very  successful  and  interesting  session  in  St. 
Joseph^  and  hoping   to  see  most  of  our  members  here  in  January. 

Yours  very  truly, 

S.  M.  TRACY. 

After  discussion  of  the  president's  paper,  the  society  adjourned 
until  Thursday,  9  a.m.  * 

THURSDAY,    9  A.    M. 

Opened  by  prayer  by  the  chairman. 

The  secretary  stated  that  an-angements  had  been  made  to  hold 
our   session    a   little   later   and    complete   the   programme  before 
adjournment.     Dinner  will  be  at  l:30»'tit  the  hotel  and   it  will  give  ' 
time  to  take  the  trains  both  noi'th  and  south. 

AN    ITEM    FEOM    A*' D.    WEBB,    OF    BOWLING    GEEEN,    KY. 

Mr.  President,  andmemhers  of  the  Missoiiri  Horticultural  Society. 
Having  been  requested  by  your  secretary  to  furnish  an  item 
for  this  your  annual  meeting,  and  feeling  it  my  duty  to  comply  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  with  every  request  made  of  me  in  the  interest 
of  horticulture,  on  this  occasion,  I  don't  know  what  better  I  can 
do  than  to  briefly  refer  to  Missouri  horticulture  thirty  and  forty 
years  ago,  and  compare  the  same  with  the  present. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  become  a  citizen  of  your  state  in  1842, 
where  I  remained  in  full  fellowship  until  1852.  ten  years.  Then 
circumstances  rendered  it  necessary  for  me  to  return  to  my  native 
state,  Kentucky.  During  my  ten  years  residence  I  traveled  over  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  state  south  of  the  Missouri  river,  my 
headquarters  for  seven  years  being  at  Independence.  Prom  my 
earliest  recollection  I  was  a  dear  lover  of  fruit,  and  a  close  observer 
of  the  same,  and  my  taste  has  not  yet  departed. 

The  horticulture  of  Missouri  at  this  time  was  in  its  infancy. 
Apple  orchards  were  like  small  potatoes  and  angels'  visits.  Those 
who  were  fortunate  in  having  a  small  orchard,  barely  had  enough 
fruit  for  home  consumption  during  the  winter. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Independence  there  were  a  few  orchards  that 
yielded  a  small  surplus  that  partially  supplied  that  market.  Any 
great  surplus  would  have  resulted  in  a  loss  to  the  producers,  there 
being  no  means  of  transjjortation  to  the  larger  markets  during  the 
winter. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejjh.  193 

A  few  peuc'li  trees  were  occasionally  seen  in  the  fence  corners, 
composed  of  common  seedlings,  and  considered  very  good  for  that 
day. 

Pears,  none.  Plnms,  ditto,  except  wild.  Grapes,  except  in 
the  woods  I  only  saw  at  Herman  and  St.  Louis.  Raspberries,  none. 
Strawberries  were  only  seen  in  nature's  fields,  the  prairies,  very 
abundant  in  some  localities,  as  also  the  rattle  snakes;  these  reptiles 
seemed  as  fond  of  reveling  in  a  strawberry  patch  as  the  boys  and 
girls.  .  So  much  for  Missouri  horticulture  at  the  time  referred  to. 
From  a  drop  in  the  bucket  it  has  increased  to  a  fountain. 

Missouri  stands  to-day  among  the  important  fruit  growing 
states  of  the  union.  All  the  fruits  adapted  to  your  climate  are  pro- 
duced in  large  quantities.  Horticulture  has  become  one  of  the 
great  industries  of  your  great  state.  Your  apples  particularly  now 
have  a  national  reputation,  and  I  think  deservedly  so,  as  during 
the  past  two  years  I  had  the  pleasure  of  feasting  my  eyes  on  two 
grand  displays  of  Missouri  apples,  viz  :  at  New  Orleans  and  Kansas 
City.     May  the  good  work  go  on. 

A.  D.   WEBB, 
Bowling  Green,  Kentucky. 


REPORT  ON  FRUITS. 

L.  A.   Goodman,  Sec.  Mo.  State  Horticultural  Society  : 

It  is  with  a  great  deal  of  Jiesitation  that  I  undertake  to  write 
a  paper  on  horticulture,  because  I  know  that  my  knowledge  is  too 
limited  to  make  it  what  I  would  like  for  it  to  be. 

My  laud  is  what  is  called  timber  land  and  is  well  elevated. 
The  soil  is  a  heavy  leaf-mould,  underlain  with  a  clay  subsoil.  In 
1878  I  commenced  to  clear  the  land  which  was  to  make  my  future 
home,  and  in  one  year  after  the  first  trees  were  planted.  This 
year  I  had  the  pleasure  to  find  the  first  specimens  of  fruit,  and  by 
another  year  will  have  enough  to  supply  my  family. 

In  procuring  trees,  I  always  went  to  some  nursery  and  selected 
my  trees,  and  set  them  out  at  once.  By  doing  that  I  always  had 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  how  long  they  had  been  out  of  ground. 
My  experience  is  that  good  one-year-old  trees  are  the  best  to  set 
out.  I  have  tried  both  fall  and  spring  planting,  but  could  never 
see  any  difference,  if  the  planting  was  well  done.      I  am  now  en- 


194  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

gaged  in  setting  out  a  new  orchard  in  connection  with  our 
Lionberger  &  Gutmann  nurseries.  I  plowed  the  ground  well  and 
deep  in  the  fall,  then  gave  it  a  thorough  harrowing.  After  that  I 
have  crossed  it  olf  by  making  a  straight  furrow  for  every  row  of 
trees.  I  then  took  a  two-horse  turning  plow  and  deepened  these 
furrows  as  much  as  possible,  after  which  a  tree  was  planted  in  every 
cross. 

I  found  that  there  was  but  little  trouble  in  making  the  holes, 
and  I  like  this  way  of  planting  better  than  any  other.  I  am  now 
planting  Ben.  Davis,  Rome  Beauty,  Huntsman's  Favorite,  Jona- 
than and  Winesap  for  commercial  purposes.  Besides  these,  I  will 
have  a  collection  of  not  less  than  seventy  varieties.  Were  it  not 
for  our  nursery,  of  course,  I  would  make  quite  a  different  selection. 
I  do  not  expect  to  ever  plant  any  more  Jennetings,  unless  to  replace 
trees  that  should  happen  to  die  ;  for  1  do  not  consider  them  a  good 
market  apple.  At  the  same  time  I  believe,  that  by  thorough 
cultivation  and  by  careful  thinning  of  the  fruit.  Jennetings  could 
be  raised  of  a  larger  size  and  good  color.  For  private  use,  however, 
I  coiisider  them  second  to  none,  not  even  in  the  state  that  they 
are  generally  found.  I  keep  out  rabbits  by  wrapping  the  trees  ; 
l;)ut  consider  the  borer  my  worst  enemy.  My  experience  is,  that 
thorough  cultivation  is  by  far  the  best  thing  to  keep  them  out. 
This,  in  connection  with  the  application  of  some  good  wash  a  few 
times  in  May  and  June,  I  think  is  the  best  remedy  yet.  Where  I 
cannot  give  the  cultivation  desired,  I  expect  to  mulch  heavy  and  to 
wrap  the  trees  with  coarse  paper.  I  think  that  mulching  is  of 
great  importance  to  fruit  trees,  at  the  same  time  I  have  found  out 
to  my  sorrow,  that  young  trees  could  be  injured  by  a  careless  ap- 
plication of  coarse  manure  ;  at  least,  such  is  my  experience. 

Last  spring  I  employed  a  man  to  haul  out  some  manure  and 
put  it  around  some  young  trees  that  had  just  been  planted.  He 
left  the  manure  in  a  pile  around  the  trees  which  injured  the  bark 
to  such  an  extent  that  two  of  them  died,  and  I  would  have  lost 
more  had  I  not  found  it  out  in  time.  The  mulch  should  be  well 
spread  over  the  ground  as  far  as  the  roots  extend. 

Pruning  : — This  I  consider  of  great  importance  in  the  culture 
of  trees.  While  I  believe  in  pruning  more  or  less  every  year,  un- 
til the  tree  is  about  full  grown,  I  admit  that  many  trees  are -ruined 
by  too  much  pruning,  but  this,  in  my  opinion,  goes  to  show  that 
no  one  is  capable  of  managing  trees  successfully  without  knowing- 
well  how  to  prune,  loliat  to  prune  and  when  to  prune.  And,  to  use 
the  language  of  P.    Barry,  ''this  knowledge  can  only  be  acquired 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  195 

by  a  careful  study  of  the  structure  of  trees,  because  the  pruuiug 
applied  to  trees  must  (aside  from  the  geueral  princij^les.,  ou  which 
all  pruning  depends)  be  adapted  to  its  particular  habits  of  growth 
and  mode  of  bearing  its  fruit.  *  *  *  The  idea  that  our  bright 
American  sun  and  clear  atmosphere  render  pruning  an  almost  un- 
necessary operation,  has  not  only  been  inculcated  by  horticultural 
writers,  but  has  been  acted  upon  in  practice  to  such  an  extent  that 
more  than  three-fourths  of  all  the  bearing  fruit  trees  in  the  country 
are  at  this  moment  either  lean,  misshaped  skeletons,  or  the  heads 
are  perfect  masses  of  wood  unable  to  yield  more  than  one  bushel  in 
ten  of  fruit  well  matured,  colored  and  ripened/^ 

I  prefer  to  train  standard  trees  in  the  shape  of  a  pyramid  with 
a  central  stem.  I  generally  select  yearling  trees  to  plant  without 
branches.  These  I  cut  back  a  little  to  a  good  sound  bud.  During 
the  summer  I  see  that  the  shoots  from  the  bud  cut  to,  takes  the 
lead,  by  pinching  the  others,  if  they  seem  to  outgrow  their  leader. 
I  go  over  my  orchard  a  few  times  during  the  summer  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  next  season  I  cut  the  leader  back  far  enough  to  insure 
the  growth  of  every  bud,  as  near  as  possible. 

Some  say  not  to  shorten  the  leader,  but  /  sai/  do.  If  your  leader 
has  made  a  fine  growth  and  is  not  cut  back  the  next  season,  the 
consequence  is  that  only  a  few  buds  next  to  the  terminal  bud  will 
push,  while  the  rest  will  only  produce  rosettes  of  leaves  ;  you  will 
get  blanks  that  can  never  be  filled  up  again.  The  sap  always  acts 
with  greater  force  at  the  extremities  of  the  shoots,  which  is  as 
true  as  preaching.  As  I  said  before,  I  always  cut  back  the  leader 
and  that  to  a  good,  sound  bud  opposite  the  bud  pruned  to  tlie  j^re- 
vious  season. 

If  the  branches  had  been  pinched  enough  they  soldom  need 
pruning,  except  to  remove  all  that  are  badly  situated,  for  they 
should  not  be  nearer  than  eight  or  ten  inches  to  each  other,  but 
this  I  attend  to  during  the  summer  by  rubbing  off  the  buds  that 
are  likely  to  produce  such  branches.  The  summer  following  I  do 
as  before,  see  that  the  bud  pruned  to,  produces  a  new  leader,  by 
pinching  back  other  branches  that  would  be  likely  to  outgrow  it. 
If  this  is  kept  up  a  few  years  you  can  have  nice  trees,  without 
using  the  knife  but  very  little.  I  know  some  will  say  that  that  is 
too  much  trouble.  But  of  such  I  would  ask,  what  they  could 
accomplish  without  trouble.  If  a  man  goes  to  work  in  the  morning 
with  the  calculation  to  do  a  day's  work,  he  can  attend  to  a  large 
orchard  in  a  very  short  time.  To  be  sure  you  cannot  always  get 
yearling  trees  to  commence  with.     But  every  tree  can  be    managed 


196  Mii<!<oari  iSiate  Horticultural  iSociefy. 

when  first  set  out,  just  so  that  it  is  alive.  If  it  has  a  fork  cut  one 
off ;  if  crooked,  give  it  a  stake  and  tie  it  up.  If  the  branches  are 
too  high  up  so  as  to  make  the  trunk  too  high,  cut  the  leader  back  to 
within  a  few  buds  and  the  lateral  branches  below  it  to  one  bud. 
The  formation  of  the  lateral  branches  lower  down  is  encouraged 
by  cutting  notches  in  the  stem  above  a  bud  at  a  point,  where 
branches  are  desired.  This  last  is  P.  Barry's  advice,  but  it  has 
been  put  in  practice  by  me  in  a  few  instances,  and  with  perfect 
success  and  if  memory  serves  me  right,  Samuel  Miller  has  seen 
trees  so  treated  by  me. 

Of  course  a  great  many  trees  are  ruined  by  too  much  pruning. 
Some  people  imagine  that  when  they  have  taken  a  pair  of  hedge 
shears,  or  some  such  instrument  and  shorn  off  the  ends  of  the 
shoots  on  the  outside  of  the  tree,  they  are  pruning,  just  like  they 
would  a  hedge.  Such  pruning  I  consider  worse  or  almost  as  bad 
as  the  let  alone  system,  this  I  think  is  the  reason  that  a  good  many 
horticultural  men  believe  in  the  let  alone  system.  But  how  many 
lean  missliaped  skeletons  as  Barry  justly  calls  them,  do  we  see  all 
around  us.  Trees  that  are  ready  to  fall  down  before  they  get  big 
enough  to  bear  a  crop  of  fruit,  are  so  shaped  that  the  first  crop  of 
fruit  or  even  a  heavy  sleet  will  burst  them  all  to  pieces.  And  let 
me  say  right  here  that  such  trees  can  be  found  in  abundance  even 
in  the  orchards  of  practical  horticulturalists.  No  one  can  deny 
that  a  good  pruning  at  the  proper  time  would  not  have  benefited 
such  trees. 

Pears,  I  believe,  come  next  to  apples  ;  of  these  I  have  about 
fifteen  varieties,  a  good  number  of  them  I  expect  to  see  in  fruit  next 
summer.  I  have  the  most  of  the  standards  in  sod,  but  dig  around 
them  in  the  spring,  es23ecially  the  younger  trees,  though  I  never 
stimulate  them  into  active  growth  later  in  the  season.  When  I 
plant  I  always  enrich  the  ground  with  bones,  lime  and  ashes. 

The  following  varieties  I  have  as  standard  :  — Bartlett,  Seckel, 
Sheldon,  Clapp's  Favorite,  Bloodgood,  Doyn  d'Ete,  Early  Harvest, 
Buerre  d'Aujou,  Easter  Buerre,  Kieffer,  Le  Conte,  etc.  I  would 
not  say  that  there  is  much  difference  except,  that  Kieffer,  Le  Conte, 
Bartlett  and  Clapp's  Favorite  show  the  most  vigor.  I  have  not 
seen  any  sign  of  blight  yet.  As  dwarfs  I  have  Duchess,  L.  B. 
deJersey,  Flemish  Beauty  and  A.  Mammoth  for  Pyramids  and 
Duchess,  Vickers,  etc.,  for  Espaliers,  which  I  am  training  hori- 
zontally. My  experience  is,  that  Duchess  and  L.  B.  deJersey  are 
worth  all  the  rest  on  the  Quince. 

Quinces. — Of  these  I  only  have  the  Orange  in  purity  of  which 


Annnal  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  197 

I  had  specimens,  that  measured  a  foot  around.  Keas  Mammoth, 
as  well  as  Champion  I  have  on  trial,  but  am  not  yet  prepared  to 
express  my  opinion  as  to  their  value.  I  fork  in  all  the  bones  I 
can  get  hold  of,  as  well  as  a  good  supply  of  lime  and  salt.  I  have 
also  found  that  soap  suds  are  excellent  for  them.  The  Quince 
deserves  more  attention,  than  it  generally  gets,  because  it  is  one  of 
our  finest  and  best  paying  fruits  we  have.  I  think  it  is  best  to 
plant  near  the  house,  where  they  can  be  watered  with  soap  suds. 
Mine  are  growing  in  the  bush  form,  but  what  I  plant  after  these,  I 
shall  train  in  some  shape  with  a  central  stem,  if  I  have  to  tie  them 
up.  Leading  horticulturists  of  Europe  (  Wm.  Loebe  of  Leipzig 
and  others  )  recommend  to  graft  them  on  the  pear  some  five  or  six 
feet  from  the  ground.  But  as  the  Angers  Quince  is  the  only  one 
that  forms  a  perfect  union  with  the  pear  tliat  will  last,  they  would 
have  to  be  double  worked  m  ray  opinion. 

Peaches — I  have  nearly  all  of  the  leading  varieties  besides 
many  new  ones.  My  trees  had  a  very  severe  pruning  last  spring, 
which  I  think  saved  a  good  many  of  them,  as  they  certainly  were 
injured  to  a  great  extent  last  winter.  They  look  very  promising  at 
present.  My  experience  is,  that  lime  and  wood  ashes  are  the 
best  manure  for  them  and  they  will  not  flourish  on  too  rich  nor  too 
wet  soil.  I  am  training  Heath  on  the  north  side  of  a  building  as  a 
square  espalier,  thinking  it  can  be  protected  in  that  way.  I  al&o 
■expect  to  protect  a  few  trees  by  putting  a  shock  of  fodder  around 
them  :   the  trees  were  trained  for  that  purpose. 

Plums — I  have  Wild  Goose,  Prince  Imperial  and  a  few  others 
fruiting,  but  find  they  draw  too  many  curculio  to  suit  me.  I  think 
that  I  will  have  to  make  war  against  the  little  rebels,  or  we  have  no 
plums.  I  have  some  Wild  Goose  that  I  have  grafted  on  small  peach 
trees  underground,  and  they  are  doing  fine.  Lombard,  Bradshaw, 
Yellow  Egg,  Washington,  German  Prune  have  not  fruited  yet, 
and  I  could  not  say  much  about  them  at  present. 

Cherries — Early  Richmond  and  May  Duke  are  my  best.  Reine 
Hortense,  does  also  fine.  Black  Tartarian  and  Governor  Wood  are 
making  fine  growth  and  I  think  will  fruit  some  next  year. 

Apricot. — My  experience  is  that  they  are  too  tender  to  grow 
them  in  the  common  way,  and  agree  with  Mr.  Stark  that,  as  he 
says,  "it  is  a  favorite  tree  for  growing  on  trellis,"  and  no  fruit 
garden  is  complete  without  it  ;  can  easily  be  protected  with  mats. 
That  is  the  way  I  am  training  mine,  except  the  Russian,  which  I 
have  on  the  peach,  it  made  fine  growth  last  summer.  That  is  all  I 
could  say  about  it  at  present. 


198  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Nectarine. — Have  but  one  tree,  which  is  growing  very  fine 
but  has  not  fruited  yet. 

A  fruit  garden  is  what  every  farmer  ought  to  have.  A  piece 
should  be  set  apart  from  the  vegetable  garden,  where  a  good  supply 
or  collection  of  the  different  small  fruits  should  be  planted,  enough 
to  supply  the  family  with  fruit  the  whole  summer,  which  can 
easily  be  done,  if  the  proper  varieties  are  selected.  Nothing  is 
healthier  than  a  good  supply  of  wholesome  fruit.  To  make  the 
fruit  garden  attractive  a  few  dwarf  fruit  trees  should  be  planted, 
some  as  pyramids,  others  as  espaliers,  along  walks,  borders,  etc. 
Apples  grafted  on  the  paradise  are  very  suitable  for  such  a  purpose. 
I  find  they  can  be  trained  in  most  any  of  the  smaller  designs  ; 
however,  experience  teaches  me  that  the  double  cordon  method  is 
the  best.  They  should  be  well  wrapped  with  paper  in  order  to 
keep  out  the  borers.  As  I  have  rej)orted  to  the  proper  committee 
I  will  not  say  anything  here  about  my  experience  with  the  different 
varieties  of  small  fruits. 

Grapes. — As  my  experience  with  the  culture  of  this  noble 
fruit  is  defective,  I  have  consulted  Mr.  C.  Grabenstein,  an  exten- 
sive vinter  of  this  neighborhood.     He  reports  as  follows  : 

Goethe. — He  likes  well  as  a  table  grape,  but  it  has  not  proven 
hardy  enough. 

Cataioba. — Is  worthless  with  him. 

Martha. — Not  quite  hardy  enough,  but  otherwise  propuctive 
and  of  good  quality. 

Elvira. — Is  one  of  his  very  best ;  a  fine  wine  grape. 

Concord. — He  likes  first  rate  if  it  could  be  kept  from  wilting. 

Virginia  Seedling. — Did  very  fine  with  him  last  summer. 

Re isling.  — Is  unproduct i ve . 

Taylor. — Did  excellent  with  him  last  season. 

Ives. — Rots  fully  as  badly  as  Concord. 

North  Carolina. — He  praises  very  high.  Said  it  was  one  of 
his  very  best. 

The  yard  around  the  dwelling  is  in  my  opinion  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  family.  A  great 
many  farmers  do  not  pay  attention  to  this,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a 
great  many  that  are  wealthy  and  otherwise  of  good  standing,  that 
could  just  as  well  afford  to  have  pleasant  surroundings  as  not.  If  all 
the  old  fences,  rubbish  and  weeds  that  we  find  accumulated  around 
many  dwellings,  were  removed,  the  ground  seeded  down  in  blue 
grass,  some  suitable  shade  trees  and  flowering  shrubs  planted  ;  this, 
with  a  few  well  kept  flower  beds,  would  make  a  place  look  attrac- 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  1^9 

tive.  The  little  labor  and  money  expended  would  be  nothing  to 
compare  with  the  sickness  that  could  be  prevented,  to  say  notning 
of  the  pleasure  there  can  be  enjoyed  by  living  in  such  a  place.  I 
cannot  see  why  we  yet  find  so  many  who  cannot  find  a  few  hours  to 
devote  to  making  their  surroundings  pleasant  and  attractive. 

Hoping  that  you  will   excuse  the  limited  report  of  a  new  be- 
ginner, I  remain,  Eespectfully  Yours, 

F.  LIONBERGEE. 


EVAPORATING  FRUITS. 


BY    H.    W.    HOFFMA]Sr,    LEAVENWORTH,    KAS. 

I  came  here  to  listen  and  learn,  but  rather  than  liave  a  subject 
of  so  much  importance  to  horticulture  and  so  valuable  to  horticul- 
turists go  by  default,  I  have  consented  to  present  a  few  remarks  for 
the"  purpose  of  drawing  out  discussion  upon  the  subject  of  "Evapor- 
ating of  Fruits  and  Vegetables."  Not  expecting  to  take  part  in  the 
discussion  I  came  unprepared,  as  I  could  have  offered  statistics  and 
information  which  I  have  gathered  from  agricultural  and  horticul- 
tural papers  that  might  have  added  interest  to  the  suljject.  I  will 
present  in  brief  the  arguments  in  its  favor. 

1st.  Its  liygienic  value  by  carrying,  in  an  almost  perfect  state, 
the  acid  fruits  and  anti-scorbutic  vegetables  to  the  seasons  and  the 
latitudes  beyond  their  natural  range,  cheapening  their  transporta- 
tion so  that  they  may  become  the  every  day  diet  of  the  common 
people  at  the  ''  Ends  of  the  Earth. " 

2nd.  Its  economic  value  in  affording  a  means  for  rapidly  and 
cheaply  preserving  the  surplus  fruits,  which  now  rot  or  go  to  waste. 
And  when  we  reflect  that  the  estimated  loss  amounts  to  nearly  one- 
third  of  our  entire  crop  of  fruit,  we  begin  to  comprehend  its 
importance  in  dollars  and  cents. 

The/r5^  proposition  I  suppose  will  be  accepted  without  argu- 
ment by  my  horticultural  friends. 

They  who  have  tested  the  exhilarating  and  healthful  fruits 
will  look  with'pity  toward  the  denizens  of  the  "arid  plains"  and 
frigid  northlands  and  gladly  welcome  some  means  of  extending  to 
them    a    meed    of  these    golden   gifts   of   our   soil   and    climate ; 


200  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

especially  if — to  enter  abruptly  on  my  second  proposition — it  shall 
also  enrich  the  pockets  of  said  benefactors  !  which  fact  I  hope  to 
establish  because  no  other  argument  is  likely  to  excite  so  many  to 
acts  of  pure  benevolence  !  Since  I  came  to  this  meeting  I  have 
been  asked  •''is  not  the  evaporation  of  fruit  becoming  unprofitable 
on  account  of  overproduction?"  And  again,  ''is  not  the  use  of 
evaporated  fruit  going  out  of  favor?"  To  the  first  query  I  can 
confidently  reply  in  the  negative.  That  cry  has  been  sounded  for 
ten  years,  or  ever  since  the  evaporation  of  fruit  became  an 
independent  industry,  but  with  its  growth  has  grown  an  increasing 
demand,  so  that  up  to  this  present  season  there  has  been  a  steady 
advance  in  the  price  of  the  product.  Exportation  to  foreign  countries 
has  grown  in  a  little  over  ten  years  from  the  insignificant  siim  of 
150,000  to  $1,188,000  (nearly  two  millions  of  dollars). 

The  comparatively  low  price  of  evaported  apples  at  the  opening 
of  this  season  was  not  the  result  of  overproduction  last  year,  for  it 
is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  small  apple  yield  in  the  eastern  and 
middle  states  last  year  and  the  consequent  high  prices  paid  for 
green  fruit  there  and  here  diminished  the  use- of  evaporators.  The 
secret  of  the  ''Bear"  is  told  in  a  few  words  in  the  evaporated 
apple  market. 

Commission  dealers  "  advanced"  ten  cents  per  pound  to  secure 
consignments.  Careless  or  greedy  shippers  put  upon  them  improp- 
erly cured  fruit,  and  the  dealers  were  "stuck"  with  unmerchantable 
fruit  which  they  had  to  hold  over  and  of  course  as  it  grew  worse 
they  grew  desperate,  and  in  fact  for  self-preservation  they  had  to 
slaughter  prices  to  rid  themselves  of  the  almost  worthless  stuff, 
which  had  not  only  become  sour  but  had  also  soured  the  disposition 
of  its  holders,  who  had  pocketed  their  loss  with  a  grim  resolution 
to  get  even  with  the  manufacturers  this  year.  They  would  only 
offer  manufacturers  for  fancy  stock  the  prices  which  they  had  re- 
ceived for  the  worthless  goods  of  the  previous  year.  But  the  old 
stock  has  nearly  all  moved  or  been  utterly  condemned,  and  prices  for 
properly  evaporated  apples  are  advancing.  Nine  and  three-fourths 
cents  is  offered.  Very  little  is  to  be  had  and  demand  is  active  so  that 
we  may  reasonably  expect  to  see  the  old  prices  nearly  restored  before 
spring.  As  fancy  evaporated  apples  can  be  produced  for  five  cents 
per  pound,  it  requires  no  arithemetic  to  cipher  out  a  good  profit 
even  at  the  low  price  which  temporarily  obtained  this  fall. 

As  to  the  second  question  relative  to  the  disfavor  of  late  evajio- 
rated  fruit,  I  wish  I  might  as  emphatically  reply  in  the  negative, 
but  truth  and  candor  compel  me  to  say  that  I  know   this  charge  is 


Annual  Meetmg  at  St.  Joseph.  201 

true.  I  have  heard  many  assert  that  they  find  it  possessed  of  a  very 
acrid  disagreeable  taste  and  they  are  undoubtedly  correct  in  the  be- 
lief that  much  of  it  is  absolutely  poisonous. 

If  you  will  examine  into  the  practice  of  some,  or  many  of  the 
manufacturers  in  the  use  of  the  cold  sulphur  bleach  you  will  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  this  distate,  and  an  additional  cause  for  the 
depression  in  market  prices. 

This  is  all  unnecessary  and  woise  than  useless.  Much  hand- 
somer looking  fruit,  and  perfectly  pure  and  free  from  the  least 
smell  or  taste  of  sulphurous  acid,  can  be  made  with  the  hot  bleach 
used  by  the  best  evaporators  and  soon  the  dealers  must  learn  to  dis- 
criminate between  ^?^re  and  poisonous  products,  and  the  unhygienic 
methods  driven  out  of  use. 

I  shall  not  take  time  to  say  all  that  the  subject  of  evaporation 
of  vegetables  deserves,  but  I  believe  that  it  is  soon  destined  to 
occujDy  a  place  of  almost  or  quite  as  much  importance  as  that  of 
fruit  evaporation. 

The  profits  in  evaporated  sweet  potatoes  are  even  greater  than 
they  are  on  any  of  our  fruits  and  the  product  is  said  to  be  even 
superior  to  the  green  tubers  in  richness  of  flavor,  some  varieties 
yielding  from  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred  dollars  worth  of  evap- 
orated products  per  acre. 

I  was  sorry  not  to  hear  the  paper  expected  from  Dr.  McPher- 
son,  of  Springfield,  on  "Evaporating  the  Raspberry,"  as  I  am 
informed  that  it  has  been  found  very  profitable  in  Michigan  and 
that  many  cultivators  there  are  engaging  in  its  production  for  this 
purpose. 

No  fruit  retains  its  original  aroma  and  flavor  so  perfectly  after 
evaporation  as  the  red  raspberry,  and  it  must  on  that  account 
continue  to  hold  its  place  at  the  head  on  the  price  list  of  evapor- 
ated fruits. 

With  the  earnest  hope  that  the  subject  of  evaporation  may 
receive  more  attention  and  examination  by  our  horticulturists  and 
that  we  'may  soon  herald  the  day  when  the  fruit  grower  will  not 
look  with  less  unconcern  upon  the  sinful  waste  of  his  fruit  by  lack 
of  means  for  its  preservation  than  the  thrifty  farmer  would  upon 
the  loss  of  one-third  of  his  wheat  crop  for  lack  of  machinery,  and 
with  the  belief  that  that  day  will  bring  us  a  cycle  nearer  the 
millennium,  I  am,  Yours  hopefully, 

H.  M.  HOFFMAN. 


202  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Carpenter :  —  Apples  being  j)ared,  cored  and  sliced  they  are 
put  in  salt  water  they  will  keep. 

C.  H.  Fink: — He  dried  some  sweet  potatoes  and  Irish  potatoes 
and  they  were  good  for  nothing. 

Hoffman : — Cook  your  sweet  potatoes  before  evaporating. 

Carpenter  : — Evaporate  the  sweet  potato  and  they  are  fine. 

J.  N.  Menifee: — Do  the  fumes  of  the  sulphur  cause  any 
injury  ?     Thinks  it  does. 

S.  K.  FaulTcner : — Thinks  that  the  sulphurous  acid  turns  to 
sulphur  and  does  not  cause  any  serious  effects. 

Carpenter : — Thinks  that  sulphur  is  beneficial.  Used  fifteen 
pounds  in  evajsorating  one  thousand  pounds  of  dried  fruit.  It 
pays  to  evaporate.  Raspberries — three  quarts  make  one  pound  ; 
thirty-three  pounds  to  one  liundred  quarts. 

Murtfeldt : — Thinks  it  is  not  very  profitable  where  they  can  be 
sold  at  as  good  prices  as  green  fruit.  If  we  do  not  use  poor  fruit, 
we  will  have  good  evaporated  fruit. 


LETTER  FROM  JOHN  GABLER,  ST.  LOUIS. 

L.  A.  Goodman,  Sec' y,  Missouri  State  Hoi'ticultural  Society: 

A  few  days  ago  I  read  in  a  paper  that  there  will  be  a  horticul- 
tural meeting  in  St.  Josej)h  ;  I  send  you  a  few  remarks  here  which 
you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  publish  : 

"While  Missouri  is  a  grape  growing  country,  I  think  it  will  be 
of  interest  to  some  grape  growers  to  know  of  my  experience  in 
grafting  on  the  dog  rose,  Rosa  Canina. 

I  experimented  several  times  with  them  and  had  success.  The 
stalks  are  best  when  they  are  raised  from  seed,  because  they  have 
better  fiber  roots  than  those  taken  out  of  the  woods.  They  grow 
best  grafted  by  copulation  and  should  be  planted  three  inches  under 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  so  that  the  summer  heat  may  not  interfere 
with  the  graft.  The  graft  should  not  be  over  three  to  four  inches 
and  such  taken  where  the  eyes  are  close  together.  In  this  way  it  is 
possible  that  a  vineyard  can  be  planted  and,  by  proper  cultivation, 
plants  live  at  least  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  For  countries  where  the 
Phylloxera  spoils  the  grape  vine  this  way  of  planting  is  of  the 
greatest  value,  because  this  insect  does  not  destroy  the  roots. 

The  best  way  of  glazing  greenhouses  is  as  follows :  Take  a 
common  lamp  wick,  soak  it  in  pure  white  lead,  which  first  is  mixed 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  203 

with  a  little  linseed  oil,  so  as  to  make  it  thin  enough  ;  pull  this 
wick  through  the  fingers  and  lay  it  on  the  sash,  then  begin  to  put 
the  glass  on  top  of  that  and  tack  them  with  four  tacks,  the  upper 
two  far  enough  up  to  keep  the  next  glass  from  sliding  down. 
Nothing  else  is  wanted.  No  rain  will  come  through,  and  this  will 
hold  as  long  as  the  house  stands,  while  putty  always  needs  looking 
after. 

[A  new  apple  was  sent  me,  and  I  supposed  it  was  the  Missouri 
Pippin  :  This  letter  gives  the  history  of  it.  It  seems  a  very  de- 
sirable variety. — Secretary.] 

ToLOifA,  Mo.,  Dec.  6th,  1884. 
M)\  L.  A.  Goodman  : 

Dear  Sir  : — Tlie  apples  in  this  bucket  are  of  that  variety 
that  I  sent  you  samples  of  by  mail.  You  said  in  your  letter  that 
you  thought  they  were  the  Missouri  Pippin.  Now  they  may  be 
very  much  like  that  variety,  but  that  the  original  tree  from  which 
the  scions  for  grafting  were  taken  was  a  seedling,  I  have  no  doubt. 
Four  years  ago,  when  the  first  one  of  the  two  trees  came  into  bear- 
ing, it  had  been  grafted  by  my  father.  I  sent  samjales  of  the  ap- 
ple to  Thomas  Meehan,  editor  of  The  Gardener's  Monthly,  to  know 
how  he  liked  the  apple,  and  that  I  thought  that  it  was  a  seedling. 
He  said  that  he  thought  they  were  Esopus  Spitsonburg  ;  the  little 
difference  between  those  sent  to  him  and  tliose  grown  east,  might 
be  caused  by  soil  and  climate.  One  year  later  the  other  tree 
came  into  bearing.  This  one  had  been  taken  up  a  sprout  from  the 
roots  of  the  original  tree,  and  the  apples  are  the  same  as  those  on 
the  tree  that  had  been  grafted  ;  and  the  old  orchard  that  was  on 
the  place  when  my  father  bought  and  moved  on  it,  about  twenty- 
seven  years  ago,  contained  thirty  or  forty  trees  all  seedlings,  judging 
from  the  thorny  growth  and  the  quality  of  the  fruit.  Only  three 
trees  bore  good  fruit  in  the  orchard,  so  the  chances  for  these 
apples  sent,  to  be  a  new  variety,  seem  good ;  and  that  the  two  trees 
I  have  in  bearing,  one  a  sprout  taken  from  the  roots  of  the  old  tree 
and  one  grafted  and  bearing  the  same  fruit,  seems  to  me  proof  that 
it  is  a  seedling.  Last  year  I  sent  samples  to  the  editor  of  the  Rural 
New  Yorker,  who  simply  said  did  I  think  them  better  than  the 
Baldwin?  Well,  I  have  never  seen  a  Baldwin,  and  cannot  say  any- 
thing about  that  variety.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  select  enough 
nice  specimens  out  of  the  lot  sent  you  to  make  a  good  showing  for 
that  variety ;  we  have  kept  apples  of  this  variety  as  late  as  the  first 
of  May. 


204  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

I  would  be  pleased  to  know  what  the  society  thinks  of  the 
apples  sent. 

H.  0.  KIRSHBAUM.       , 

[A  further  enquiry  elicited  the  following. — Secbetary.] 

ToLoN"A,  Mo.,  December  26,  1884. 
L.  A.  GooDMAisr. 

Sir: — Yours  of  the  14tli  received  sometime  ago  and  have 
tried  to  find  if  I  could  who  it  was  that  planted  that  orchard  of 
seedling  apple  trees  on  our  farm,  and  to  name  tlie  apple  sent  yon 
after  him.  Well,  I  learned  from  old  settlers  that  a  man  named 
Rankins  came  here  from  Kentucky,  and,  as  near  as  I  can  find  out, 
settled  in  this  neighborhood  about  1830,  and  he  brought  the  seeds 
with  him  from  that  state.  Trees  were  grown  and  the  orchards  set 
out  by  him  and  one  of  his  sons,  one  upon  the  farm  on  which  I  am 
living  at  present.  So  I  think  the  apple  should  be  called  the  Ran- 
kins, unless  there  is  already  an  apple  of  that  name. 

H.  C.  KIRSHBAUM. 


REPORT  ON  ENTOMOLOGY, 


BY  MARY  E.  MURTFELDT,   KIRKWOOD,   MO. 

(Read  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Missouri  State  Horti- 
cultural Society  at  St.  Joseph,  December,  1884.)  ^ 

THE  COTTONY  MAPLE  SCALE   {Pultmiaria  innumerabilis,    rath.) 

It  sometimes  happens  that  an  insect  of  which  a  few  may  be* 
observed  almost  every  year,  will  suddenly  appear  in  such  vast  num- 
bers and  over  so  large  a  territory  as  to  excite  general  attention  and 
apprehension.  This  year  there  has  been  Just  such  an  unusual 
development  of  the  species  named  above.  It  was  never  before 
known  to  dos  so  much  injury  or  Avas  the  subject  of  so  much  pop- 
ular interest. 

The  first  notice  of  it  that  met  my  eye  was  a  dispatch  to  the 
St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  early  in  summer,  from  Shelby ville.  111., 
stating  that  the  shade  trees  in  that  town  were  being  killed  by  a 
large  "cottony  bug"  that  fastened  itself  in  masses  to  the  branches 


Annual  Meeti?ig  at  St.  Joseph.  205 

and  twigs,  and  extracted  the  sap,  causing  the  foliage  to  turn  yellow 
and  fall.  About  the  same  time  it  appeared  in  great  numbers  on 
the  shade  trees  along  the  sidewalks  and  in  the  parks  of  St.  Louis. 

Specimens  were  sent  to  me  for  determination  by  the  editors  of 
the  Post- Dispatch,  in  which  paper  aj)peared  subsequently  a  very 
graphic  account  of  the  insect  and  its  depredations.  By  personal 
examination  made  soon  after,  I  found  it  abundant  on  the  maples, 
sycamores,  elms,  lindens,  and  some  other  shade  trees  throughout 
the  city.  ♦  All  the  trees  that  were  badly  infested  had  scant  and 
sickly  foliage,  and  in  the  course  of  the  summer  many  of  the  young 
trees  perished  outright.  The  insect  did  not  occur  in  noticeable 
numbers  in  Kirkwood,  nor,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  elsewhere  in  St. 
Louis  county,  but  I  was  informed  of  its  presence  in  many  other 
localities  in  the  State. 

This  Pidvinaria — which  is  the  sole  representative  of  its  genus 
yet  discovered  in  the  United  States — is  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
conspicuous  species  of  the  bark  louse  family.  It  was  first  described 
by  Mr.  Rathvon,  who  found  it  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  branches 
and  twigs  of  the  linden  or  basswood  ( Tiliu).  In  the  West  a  few 
years  later.  Prof.  Riley  discovered  it  in  considerable  numbers  on 
maple  and  Osage  orange,  and,  not  having  seen  Mr.  Rathvon's  arti- 
cle, briefly  described  it  as  Lecanium  maclura,  Subsequently  the 
late,  young  and  gifted  J.  D.  Putnam,  of  the  Davenport,  Iowa, 
Academy  of  Sciences,  having  found  out  its  identity,  gave,  to  the 
public  its  complete  history. 

The  mature  female  has  the  form  of  an  oblong,  brown,  wrink- 
led scale,  adout  one-sixth  of  an  inch  in  length,  from  the  posterior 
end  of  which  exudes  innumerable  filaments  of  snow-white  cottony 
matter,  forming  a  puffy  mass  as  large  as  a  hazelnut.  Couceoled  in 
this  mass  are  the  pale  orange-colored  eggs,  and  the  newly  hatched 
young,  to  the  number  of  from  five  hundred  to  two  thousand.  The 
young  begin  to  spread  over  the  branches  in  May,  and  attach  them- 
selves to  the  succulent  parts,  which  they  pierce  with  their  pointed 
beaks,  and  remain  stationary,  subsisting  on  the  sap.  The  scale  of 
the  male  iusect  does  not  show  the  cottony  filaments,  and  is  fre- 
quently found  on  the  leaves.  Late  in  summer  this  sex  acquires 
wings  of  a  brilliant  rose  color.  Its  season  in  the  winged  state  is 
short,  seldom  exceeding  two  or  three  days. 

This  bark  louse  is  so  conspicuous  that  it  attracts  many  natural 
enemies,  such  as  cannibal  bugs  and  beetles,  while  several  mites  and 
minute  insects  live  among  and  feed  upon  the  eggs  and  young  lice. 


206  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

It  is   also  probable  that  during  winter  the  egg  masses  will  be  de- 
stroyed by  birds. 

The  best  artificial  remedies  are  to  rub  the  branches  of  small 
trees  with  a  stiff  broom,  and  wash  or  syringe  the  tree  thoroughly 
with  strong  whale  oil  soap  suds,  or  with  a  kerosine  emulsion  formed 
of  one  part  coal  oil  to  ten  of  water — the  oil  to  be  first  thoroughly 
mixed  by  rapid  stirring  or  shaking,  with  an  equal  part  of  milk  or 
soap  suds,  and  then  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  requisite  quantity  of 
water.  A  tree  syringe  or  fountain  pump  afford  the  heal  means  of 
applying  it.  Where  one  has  but  few  trees  to  treat,  it  can  be  applied 
from  a  common  sprinkler  or  white-wash  brush.  The  best  time  for 
the  application  of  these  remedies  is  during  the  latter  part  of  May 
and  early  in  June,  while  the  young  lice  are  migrating. 

THE    GKAPE    VINE    SAW    FLY    [Selandria   vitis,    HARRIS). 

There  is  no  section  of  the  country  where  the  grape  vine  has  so 
great  a  variety  of  insect  enemies  as  within  the  borders  of  our  own 
State.  Prof.  Riley  in  his  successive  reports  described  no  less  than 
nineteen  different  species,  which,  either  exclusively  or  occasionally, 
prey  upon  this  valuable  plant.  I  now  have  to  record  the  advent 
into  our  vineyards  of  still  another  voracious  leaf-feeder.  This  is  an 
insect  belonging  in  the  same  family  as  the  notorious  rose  slug, 
currant  worm,  pine  tree  slug,  etc.  It  has  long  been  known  in  the 
east,  but,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  never  before  been  reported  in 
Missouri. 

The  perfect  insect  is  a  four-winged  fly,  about  the  size  of  the 
common  house-fly.  The  body  is  glossy  black,  with  the  exception 
of  the  top  of  the  thorax,  which  is  dull  red.  The  wings  are  dimly 
transparent  with  dark  veinings,  and  the  legs  are  pale  clay  yellow. 

This  fly  emerges  from  the  ground  in  the  spring,  and  lays  its 
eggs  on  the  under  sides  of  the  leaves  as  soon  as  they  are  expanded. 
The  larva?,  as  soon  as  hatched,  arranged  themselves  side  by  side 
and  feed  in  ranks  like  the  larva?  of  Procris,  gnawing  the  leaf  from 
the  edge  backwards,  devouring  every  part  except  a  few  of  the  prin- 
cipal veins.  In  this  way  they  take  leaf  after  leaf,  and,  when  num- 
erous, cause  serious  defoliation  and  injury  to  the  vine. 

The  full  grown  larva?  measure  a  little  over  half  an  inch  in 
length,  and  are  thickest  through  the  thoracic  segments.  The  head 
is  small,  round,  and  jet  black.  The  color  of  the  body  is  green 
with  two  traverse  rows,  of  short,  black,  pointed  tubercles  on  each 
joint.  After  the  last  moult,  which  takes  place  when  they  have 
done  feeding,  the  color  changes  to  a  dull  yellow,     ^he  larva?  then 


Annual  Meetmg  at  St.  JosepJ/.  207 

burrow  into  the  eartli,  and  each  encloses  itself  in  an  oval  earthen 
cell  and  changes  to  pupa.  In  the  summer  the  fly  appears  in  twelve 
or  fourteen  days  thereafter. 

This  insect  is  said  to  be  double  brooded  in  the  Eastern  States, 
but  with  us,  I  think  there  must  be  as  many  as  three  broods  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  as  I  observed  two  broods  of  larva?  after  the 
middle  of  July.  The  first  brood  in  May  or  June  escaped  my 
notice. 

The  latest  brood  of  larvae  hibernate  in  a  dormant  state  within 
their  earthen  cells. 

Like  most  of  the  saw  fly  larva?,  this  species  succumbs  to  a  feM' 
dustings  with  wliite  Hellebore  or  with  Pyrethrum  powder,  and  also 
to  Paris  green  in  liquid  suspension — one  teaspoouful  of  green  to 
two  gallons  of  w^ater. 

Vine  growers  should  be  on  their  guard  against  this  pest,  and 
if  possible  nip  the  evil  in  the  bud  by  thorouglily  exterminating  the 
first  broods  that  make  their  appearance. 

THE  PEACH  BORER  (  ^'Egerta  exitiosa,  say.) 

Compared  with  most  other  fruit  trees  the  peach  is  naturally 
short-lived,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  its  early  decay  is  much 
hastened  by  the  attacks  of  borers,  from  which  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  protect  it.  It  has  several  foes  of  this  kind,  but  the 
principal  one  is  that  named  above.  This  insect,  which  in  its  per- 
fect state  is  a  clear-winged  moth  much  resembling  a  small  wasp,  is 
supposed  to  confine  its  work  to  that  part  of  the  tree  at  or  just 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  This  habit  led  to  the  practice 
among  peach  growers  of  mounding  their  trees  to  the  height  of  a 
foot  or  more  to  prevent  access  of  the  moth  to  the  particular  portion 
of  the  trunk  which  she  affected  for  laying  her  eggs.  This  is 
undoubtedly  a  remedy  to  some  extent,  although  it  is  not  safe  to 
mound  trees  until  they  are  four  or  five  years  old,  and  much  damage 
mav  be  done  in  the  meantime  ;  but  from  observations  made  this 
summer  I  am  convinced  that  the  moth  is  not  limited  as  to  locality 
on  the  trunk  in  the  placing  of  her  eggs.  During  the  month  of 
August  I  found  indications  of  this  borer  on  some  voung  trees, 
three  and  four  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  upon  the 
cutting  for  it  I  found  young  larva?  in  the  forks,  and  none  of  them 
lower  down  than  a  foot  above  the  surface.  If  this  habit  of  boring 
the  trunk  at  any  height  generally  prevails,  the  mounding  system 
can  no  longer  be  depended  on  for  protection,  and  other  measures 
must  be  adopted.     Soap  does  not  seem  to  repel  the  moth,  as  it  does 


208  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  parent  insects  of  other  borers,  unless  thickened  with  lime  or 
soda  so  as  to  form  a  thick  crust ;  but  this  remedy  is  somewhat 
expensive  and  laborious,  and  needs  repeating  once  or  twice  between 
May  and  July. 

A  few  trees  are  easily  protected  by  wrapping  the  trunks  with 
paper  or  straw  and  banking  up  around  the  collar  with  earth  or  cin- 
ders, but  for  large  orchards  no  very  inexpensive  preventive  measure 
has  yet  been  devised.  During  the  comparative  leisure  of  late 
autumn  or  early  spring  the  fruit  grower  can  do  much  toward 
keeping  the  insect  in  check  by  cutting  and  destroying  the  larvae  and 
pupa  from  parts  of  the  trunk  where  their  presence  is  indicated  by 
the  exudation  of  gum.  The  kerosene  emulsions,  either  of  milk  or 
soap  suds  if  applied  several  times  during  the  summer  would  no 
doubt  penetrate  to  and  kill  the  young  larvaae  if  they  did  not  pre- 
vent the  moth  from  placing  her  eggs  on  the  trunk. 

THE  STALK  BORER  (Govtyna  nitita,  Gum). 

This  polyphagus  caterpillar  was  more  abundant  than  usual 
during  the  past  summer  in  the  nursery  and  small  fruit  garden. 

Early  in  June,  Judge  Miller,  of  Blufftou,  Mo.,  published  in 
the  Rural  World  an  account  of  a  small  gray  worm  that  was  boring 
the  young  budded  peaches  in  his  nursery.  •  Suspecting  the  author 
of  the  mischief  I  wi'ote  for  specimens,  which  were  kindly  sent  me 
with  great  promptness,  with  the  information  that  more  of  the  buds 
had  been  destroyed  than- was  at  first  supposed.  The  depredator 
was,  as  I  inferred,  the  species  named  above,  at  that  time  about  one- 
fourth  grown.  I  transferred  the  larvae  received  to  fresh  stems  of 
peach  and  succeeded  in  rearing  two  or  three  to  perfect  state.  The 
moths  were  of  the  typical  size  and  coloring,  a  fact  mentioned 
because  there  are  some  very  distinct  varieties  of  this  species. 

The  larva  develops  more  slowly  than  most  of  its  allies,  requiring 
about  two  months  in  which  to  attain  its  full  size.  It  is  of  a  livid 
purplish  color  with  several  interrupted,  dull,  yellow,  longitudinal 
stripes  and  a  pale  brown  mottled  head.  When  full  grown  it  is  one 
and  one-fourth  inches  in  length,  and  about  two-thirds  as  thick  as  a 
common  lead-pencil.  The  pupa  is  formed  either  in  the  bored  stalk 
or  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  the  motli  appears  in 
two  or  three  weeks.  It  is  of  a  grey  color  with  a  duvsting  of  yellow 
scales,  and  the  fore  wings  are  marked  across  the  outer  third  with  a 
more  or  less  distinct  pale  stripe.  It  hibernates  in  the  moth  form, 
becoming  active  in  spring  and  deposits  its  eggs  singly  on  a  great 
variety  of   plants  as  soon  as  the  stalks  are  sufficiently  grown  to 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  309 

afford  sustenance  for  its  larvae.  The  latter  are  not,  however,  con- 
fined to  a  single  stem,  but  make  their  way  readily  from  one  that  is 
wilted  to  one  that  is  fresh  and  vigorous. 

I  found  it  working  last  June  in  many  of  the  strongest  shoots 
of  our  blackberries,  and  in  Northern  Illinois  a  year  ago,  it  was  very 
destructive  in  rhubarb  (pie  plant)  beds.  It  is  frequently  found  in 
the  stalks  of  the  potato  and  tomato  and  various  choice  flowering 
plants,  as  well  as  in  young  shoots  of  maple  and  ash  trees.  It  is  a 
difficult  insect  to  exterminate  on  account  of  the  great  variety  of  its 
food  plants,  which  include  nearly  all  our  larger  herbaceous  weeds, 
such  as  the  rag  weeds.  Golden  Rod,  Aster,  Cockle  Burr,  etc.,  besides 
the  cultivated  plants  which  I  have  mentioned.  The  only  remedy 
is  to  pull  up  and  burn  stalks  that  have  suddenly  wilted.  In  very 
choice  plants  like  the  Dahlia  and  Lily,  which  are  frequently  at- 
tacked by  it,  if  observed^  soon  after  it  enters  the  stalk  it  can  be 
removed  with  a  sharp  pen  knife  and  the  plant  will  recover. 

By  motion  of  the  secretary  a  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to 
Miss  Murtfeldt  for  her  admirable  paper ;  and  the  great  worth  of 
such  papers  to  the  society  as  this  and  the  one  furnished  for  the 
summer  report  at  Springfield  and  the  secretary  is  directed  to  send 
her  a  copy  of  this  resolution. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON"  ENTOMOLOGY  TO  STATE 

HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY  AT  ST.  JOSEPH, 

DEC.  11,  1884. 


DE.   A.    GOSLIJSr. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  enlightened  age,  marked  by  so  great 
advance  in  every  department  of  science,  to  urge  the  importance 
of  the  study  of  the  insect  world.  The  study  of  insects  has  assumed 
an  importance  in  its  direct  application  to  advancement  in  agricul- 
ture, horticulture  and  sylvaculture,  second  to  no  other  department 
of  natural  history. 

It  has  been  truthfully  said  that  insects  have  established  a  kind 
of  universal  empire  over  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants.  Minute  as 
many  of  them  are,  and  insignificant  in  size  to  other  than  natur- 
alists,   yet   in    combination   they    liave   desolated    countries   and 


210  Missouri'  State  Horticultural  Society. 

brought  famine  and  pestilence  in  their  train.  If  unrestrained 
power  coukl  be  given  them,  all  counter-checks  removed,  and  they 
were  left  free  to  attack  us  in  our  persons,  food,  clothing,  houses 
■and  domestic  animals,  the  consequent  disease,  poverty,  exposure, 
and  want  would,  in  the  end,  remove  the  human  race  from  the  face 
of  the  earth.  Sir,  earth  and  water  teem  with  them  ;  they  swarm 
in  the  tropics,  find  a  suitable  home  in  the  arctic  regions.  .  They 
abound  in  our  homes,  our  gardens,  orchards,  fields,  vineyards 
and  forests.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom  they  are  found  in  the 
seed,  the  root,  the  stalk  or  trunk,  the  pith,  the  twig,  the  bud,  the 
leaf,  the  blossom  and  the  fruit,  within  or  upon  every  portion  of  the 
vegetable  organization. 

From  this  general  diffusion  there  necessarily  results  extensive 
losses. 

Ten  years  ago  Dr.  Packard  stated  •"  I  could  name  upward  of 
fifty  species  of  insects  which  prey  upon  cereals  and  grasses,  and  as 
many  more  which  infest  our  field  crops.     Some  thirty  well-known 
species  range  our  garden  vegetables.     There  are  nearly  fifty  species 
which  attack  the  grape  vine,  and  their  number  is  rapidly  increas-  * 
ing.     About  seventy-five  species  make  their  annual  onset  upon  the 
apple  tree,  and   nearly  as  many  may  be  found  on  the  plnm,  pear, 
peach  and  cherry.     Among  our  shade  trees  over  fifty  species  infest 
the  oak  ;  twenty-five  the  elm  ;  seventy-five  the  walnut  and  over  one 
hundred  species  prey  upon  the  pine.     Many  of  the  above  pests  have 
doubled  their  number  in  the  last  ten  years,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
estimate  the  loss  sustained  each  year  from  their  ravages.     The  casli 
value  of  wheat  and  corn  destroyed  in  the  year  1864  in  the  L^ate  of 
Illinois,  by  the  chinch-bug  is  estimated  at  seventy-three  million  of 
dollars.     The  loss  to  corn,  j^otatoes^and  other  crops  in  the  states  of 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  Iowa  and  Missouri  in  1874  from  the  ravages  of 
the  Rocky  Mountain  locust  is  computed  at  one  hundred  million  of 
dollars.    For  the  same  insect  in  the  western  part  of  Missouri  includ- 
ing 20  counties  for  the   year  18T5   of  Qfteen  millions   of  dollars, 
in  some  counties  the  loss  was  two  million  of  dollars.   The  loss  in  the 
southern  states  from  the  ravages  of  the  cotton  worm  has  amounted 
to  over  thirty  million  of  dollars. 

Tills  is  certainly  sufficient  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  importance 
of  the  study  of  economic  entomology.  An  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  habits  and  life  history  of  these  various  insect  pests,  will  enable 
us  to  wage  effectual  war  against  them,  and  limit  their  depredations 
to  the  minimum — we  cannot  hope  to  exterminate  tliem  entirely^ 
For  such  pests  as  those  which    feed  upon   the  foliage  of  our  apple 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejyh.  211 

trees^  we  have  a  sovereign  remedy  in  London  Purple,  one  and  one- 
fourtli  pounds  to  a  barrel  of  water,  mixed  thoroughly,  and  the  trees 
showered  with  a  syringe  will  effectually  destroy  all  canker  worms. 
Henry  Slieply,  of  Nevada,  Vernon  county.  Mo.,  read  a  paper  at 
our  last  meeting,  giving  his  treatment  with  London  Purple  of  his 
orchard  for  canker  worm,  and  he  writes  me  that  he  has  not  seen 
one  on  his  orchard  this  year.  He  further  says,  we  were  compara- 
tively exempt  from  the  codling  moth  this  year,  owing  to  the  early 
warm  weather  and  then  the  cold  weather,  rains  and  snow  which 
followed.  He  calls  the  attention  of  the  members  of  this  society  to 
an  unknown  insect  to  him — which  has  stung  many  of  his  apples. 
In  July  I  noticed  two  trees  of  Pippins,  the  apples  were  spotted, 
some  had  only  one  spot,  others  had  eighteen  to  twenty.  On  looking 
closely  I  found  they  had  been  stung  by  some  insect  ;  when  first 
noticed,  the  specks  were  not  larger  than  a  pin  head,  but  in  a  few 
days  they  would  spread  to  be  as  large  as  a  dime,  when  generally  the 
apple  would  drop.  On  cutting  the  spots  out  I  found  them  to  be 
about  half  an  inch  deep,  darkened  and  spongy,  looking  like  a  bruise 
hardly  ever  reaching  the  core. 

The  two  trees  had  on  about  twenty  buslielsof  apples,  of  which 
I  send  you  about  a  bushel.  It  seems  to  spread  in  a  circle  from 
those  trees,  over  about  two  acres.  I  lost  about  one  hundred  bushels 
of  apples  from  this  cause,  mostly  Ben  Davis.  I  watched  closely, 
but  was  not  able  to  discover  the  insect.  I  examined  the  apples 
under  a  good  glass,  but  beyond  the  skin  being  punctured,  I  found 
nothing.  1  find  a  good  many  fruit  men  here  are  troubled  with  the 
same  thing,  but  none  have  suffered  to  the  extent  tiiat  I  have. 
This  is  something  new  to  me,  perhaps  others  have  had  some  exper- 
ience with  the  same  pest,  il^so  I  would  be  glad  to  hear  from  them. 

How  shall  we  save  our  cabbage?  Mrs.  F,  of  our  village  ac 
cidentally  made  the  discovery  that  a  solution  of  alum  would  kill  the 
worm — a  pound  to  three  gallons  of  water,  sprinkled  over  the  cab- 
bage with  a  common  watering  pot,  will  kill  all  the  young  larvas, 
and  many  of  the  white  butterfly  were  found  dead — a  few  appli- 
cations at  intervals  of  a  week  or  more  will  enable  you  to  make  a 
good  crop  with  but  little  cost,  as  the  alum  is  cheap  and  non-poison- 
ous to  the  human  family,  and  is  much  more  eft'ectual  than  the 
much  lauded  Pyrethum. 


212  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


GRAPES. 


ESSAY  BY  G.   E.   MEISSJSTEE,    BUSHBURG. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow-Members  : 

I  must  preface  my  remarks  with  the  confession  that  I  feel 
myself  derelict  to  duty  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Vine- 
yards, in  not  placing  myself  in  better  communication  with  my 
fellow-members  to  co-o)3erate  with  them  in  preparing  such  a  report 
as  you  requested  and  will  expect  from  the  committee.  It  would  be 
useless  to  try  to  excuse  myself,  and  I  will  not  attempt  to  do  so,  but 
will  rather  plead  gnilty  and  throw  myself  on  your  mercy.  At  this 
moment  it  is  too  late  to  amend  my  short-comings  and  I  must  do  the 
best  I  can  under  tlie  circumstances,*  in  presenting  to  you  a  few 
remarks,  hoping  that  I  may  not  be  judged  too  harshly  by  your 
honorable  body  and  by  my  fellow-members  of  the  vineyard  com- 
mittee. 

The  summer  of  1884  has  not  been  a  favorable  one  for  the 
grape  in  the  Southeastern  part  of  Missouri  :  nor,  in  fact,  Avith 
some  local  exceptions,  has  it  been  favorable,  as  far  as  I  could  learn, 
in  any  large  section  of  this  state,  I  might  even  say  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  Various  causes  have  combined  to  injure  and  curtail 
the  grape  crop,  and  we  might  indeed  despair  of  grape  culture  as  a 
profitable  and  paying  business,  if  Ave  were  to  judge  of  its  success 
by  the  results  of  this  year.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  largest  share 
of  the  injury  can  be  traced  directly  to  unusual  and  exceptional 
causes,  and  a  part  perhaps  also  to  a  l^k  of  proper  knowledge  and 
experience  in  selection  of  varieties,  and  in  treatment  and  care  of- 
our  vineyards.  Far  from  being  discouraged  with  the  situation,  I 
think  that  if  we  will  only  profit  from  the  lesson  which  it  teaches 
us,  and  if  Ave  will  look  to  and  calculate  upon  normal  and  not 
abnormal  seasons,  we  have  no  real  cause  for  dismay,  but  can  look 
forward  with  full  confidence  to  see  our  state  retain  the  fame  which 
she  has  acquired  for  her  grapes,  her  vineyards  and  her  vineyard 
productions. 

Missouri  grapes,  Missouri  wines  and  Missouri  vines  have  a 
good  reputation  not  only  in  the  state,  but  throughout  our  country 
and  even  far  beyond  the  sea  in  the  oldest  grape  growing  countries 
of  Eurojje,  in  the  countries  which  ten  years  ago  saAV  their  once 
beautiful  vineyards  rapidly  devastated  by  that  dread  scourge  of  the 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josep//.  213 

Eui'opeHn  grape  grower,  the  Phylloxera,  but  which  have  since  seen 
them  restored,  thanks  to  the  resistent  American  vine,  of  which 
Missouri  furnished  the  old  world,  ten  fold,  to  those  from  any  other 
state  of  our  union.  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  ''poor  old  Mis- 
souri," who  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  re-establishment  and 
strengthening  of  the  threatened  grape  culture  of  Europe,  would 
not  offer  her  own  children  an  ample  field  for  successful  grape  cul- 
ture within  her  borders.  All  that  she  requires  from  ns  is  that  we 
cultivate  this  field  with  perseverance,  energy  and  intelligence,  and 
.  that  we  profit  from  the  lessons  which  varying  seasons  and  ex- 
perience teach  us.  The  fact  is  that  we  lack  experience  more  than 
anything  else  in  grape  culture,  because  this  industry,  as  a  branch 
of  business,  is  yet  too  young  in  this  country,  but  every  year  adds  to 
our  stock  of  information,  and  your  society  and  in  fact  every  other 
well  conducted  horticultural  society,  the  agricultural  press,  all  tend 
to  inci'ease  and  diffuse  our  knowledge  of  the  subject,  by  enabling 
us  to  learn,  one  from  another,  througii  an  interchange  of  our  ex- 
perience. •  There  is  none  among  us  who  knows  so  much,  but  what 
he  can  learn  something  from  his  brother  horticulturists,  and  there 
is  none  who  knows  so  little,  but  what  he  can  impart  some  knowl- 
edge and  experience  to  his  brethern,  if  he  will  only  communicate 
it.  .    " 

But  above  all  let  us  not  despair,  if  our  first  efforts  do  not  meet 
with  immediate  and  brilliant  success.  The  man  who,  after  having 
planted  and  cared  for  a  vineyard  for  years,  who,  after  sjiending 
much  time,  trouble  and  money,  becomes  discouraged  or  even  dis- 
gusted with  grape  culture  and  declares  it  will  not  pay  ;  who  roots 
up  his  vineyard  as  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  acres  have  been  rooted 
up  in  this  state,  seems  to  me  like  a  scholar  who  prepares  for  a 
profession  and  who,  after  years  of  study  and  struggle,  would  give 
up  his  aim  because  he  finds  it  too  difficult  a  task,  and,  declaring  it 
will  not  pay,  would  take  to  wood-chopping  or  some  other  mere 
manual  labor,  where  all  his  store  of  knowledge  would  be  of  no 
avail.  It  would  be  also  so  much  time,  money  and  trouble  thrown 
away  ;  only  with  the  difference  that  the  wood  chopper,  even  though 
his  studies  would  not  help  him  to  cut  a  cord  of  firewood,  or  hew  a 
railroad  tie,  would  at  least  derive  some  benefit  therefrom  in  his 
social .  life  ;  while  the  poor  grape  grower, who  throws  away  his  time, 
trouble  and  money,  has  not  even  that  little  satisfaction. 

Therefore  I  say,  let  us  not  despair,  let  us  not  throw  away  what 
little  experience  we  may  have  gained,  at  great  expense  perhaps,  but 
let  us  regard  it  as  so  much    capital   which,  if  we  continue  in  our 


214  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

work  and  in  further  efforts,  will  be  as  surely  requisite  for  success  as 
dollars  and  cents,  even  though  for  the  moment  it  may  have  no 
commercial  value. 

When  I  said  before  that  various  causes  combined  to  make  the 
year  1884  an  unfavorable  one  for  the  grape,  I  had  reference  firsf 
to  the  extremely  vigorous  winter  of  1883-84,  when  the  thermome- 
ter in  many  places  went  to  twenty-five  and  even  thirty  degrees 
below  zero.  This  intense  cold  was  the  first  hard  blow  the  grape 
received  this  year,  and  which  seriously  injured  all  but  the  most 
hardy  and  ironclad  varieties.  In  my  communication  of  June  9th, 
for  our  summer  meeting,  I  reported  the  efl'ect  which  it  had  on  a 
large  number  of  kinds.  Second.  The  spring  was  very  backward, 
cold  and  wet,  followed  by  unfavorable  weatlier,  heavy  rains  at  the 
time  of  bloom  and  hail  storms  in  many  parts  of  the  state.  The 
temperature  toward  the  end  of  June  and  beginning  of  July  was 
extremely  variable,  hot  mucky  days,  followed  by  cold  wet  weather, 
and  again  by  intense  heat,  with  a  heavy  damp  atmosphere.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  such  weather  developed  rot  and  mildew  to  an 
unusual  extent  and  caused  serious  injury  to  such  fruit  as  had  escaped 
the  rigor  of  the  winter.  With  such  a  winter,  followed  by  such  a 
season  as  we  had  in  our  sectioii  of  the  state,  it  is  not  a  wonder  that 
we  had  such  a  light  crop  of  grapes  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  a  wonder 
that  we  had  as  many  grapes  as  we  did  have,  in  fact  that  we  had 
any  grapes  at  all,  and  the  vines  that  Avithstood  all  this  strain  with- 
out total  failure  deserve  especial  attention  and  credit,  and  I  ,will 
now  attempt  a  brief  re2)ort  on  the  most  important  of  these  var- 
ieties. 

To  facilitate  this  review  I  will  make  tAvo  groups  of  them  :  the 
first  comprising  those  which  have  suSered  comparatively  little,  and 
considering  the  circumstances,  may  be  said  to  have  done  fairly 
well.  The  second  comprising  those  which  suffered  more  seriously 
but  still  gave  a  partial  crop. 

It  will  be  difficult  with  some  kinds  to  assign  them  their 
correct  place  in  either  of  these  respective  lists  and  to  draw  the  lines 
exactly.  My  notes  are  based  more  particularly  on  our  experience 
at  our  Bushberg  vineyards,  and  may  conflict  with  the  results 
obtained  in  other  parts  of  the  state.  For  this  due  allowance  will 
have  to  be  made  and  I  would  only  be  glad  if  my  remarks  should 
lead  to  a  comparison  of  notes  in  this  respect. 

I  would  further  remark  that  if  many  varieties,  and  especially 
new  kinds  should  not  appear  in  either  of  my  two  lists,  it  must  not 
be  inferred  that  all  kinds  not  mentioned  were  total  failures.    To  go 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josei)li.  215 

through  the  entire  list  of  grapes  would  occupy  too  much  of  your 
valuable  time  and  would  be  tedious  and  tiresome  to  you.  There- 
fore, I  shall  refrain  from  mentioning  such  old  varieties  which  have  ' 
either  been  discarded  or  possess  interest  only  for  the  amateur  or 
collector  of  kinds.  As  for  the  numerous  new  varieties,  it  would  be 
doing  them  injustice  to  judge  the  failing  ones  by  such  a  season  as 
the  past  one  has  been.  I  shall  therefore  mention  only  such  of  the 
newer  kinds  as  appear  to  me  specially  worthy  and  which  he 
passed  through  the  ordeal  comparatively  unhurt,  with  us. 

FIKST   GROUP. 

Cynthiana. — Gave  about  a  two-third  crop,  suffered  slightly  by 
winter  (thermometer  thirty  degrees  below  zero).  No  appreciable 
damage  by  rot.     None  by  mildew. 

Norton's  Virginia.  — Same  report  as  on  Cynthiana.  Though 
never  very  heavy  bearers  (both  varieties  considered  almost  identical 
by  some),  are  among  our  surest  and  most  reliable  croppers,  and  are 
hardly  affected  and  almost  uninjured  by  rot  in  the  most  unfavorable 
seasons.  Their  standing  as  wiue  grapes,  and  fair  eating  grapes  too, 
for  that  matter,  is  established,  and  they  should  be  planted  as  largely 
in  Missouri,  as  they  are  now  being  planted  in  Virginia  and  other 
states. 

Elvira. — About  a  three-fourth  crop.  Slight  damage  by  winter 
and  some  by  rot,  none  by  mildew.  This  variety  is  constantly 
growing  in  favor  as  it  becomes  better  known,  and  is  planted  more 
and  moie  extensively  every  year.  At  the  vineyards  of  the  Islands 
and  Lake  Shore,  of  Ohio,  it  is  fast  taking  the  place  of  the  Catawba. 
A  child  of  Missouri,  it  should  not  be  neglected  here. 

Hartford  Prolific. — About  a  one-half  crop.  Slight  damage  by 
winter  ;  but  did  not  set  fruit  well.  Only  slight  damage  hj  rot, 
none  by  mildew.  Losing  ground  fast  on  account  of  its  inferior 
quality  and  for  most  locations  should  be  placed  on  the  retired  list. 

Iver  Seedling.— About  a  one-half  crop.  Some  damage  by 
winter  and  slight  by  rot  ;  but  had  not  set  fruit  well. 

Perki7is. — About  three-fourth  crop.  Slight  injury  by  winter, 
very  little  by  rot.  A  reliable  and  beautiful  grape  but  lacking  in 
quality. 

Venango. — Same  report  as  on  Perkins. 

BlacJc  Pearl. — No  injury  by  winter  and  but  little  by  rot. 
While  this  variety  generally  does  not  set  its  fruit  well  in  our  vine- 
yards, strange  enough  it  set  better  this  year  than  any  previous 
season  and  brought  a  fair  crop,  of  value  only  for  wine  making. 


216  Missouri  /State  Horticultural  Society. 

Wardens  Seedling. — No  injury  by  winter,  very  little  by  rot, 
decidedly  superior  to  Concord  not  only  in  this  but  in  almost  every 
other  resj^ect,  including  qiiality ;  should  be  better  known  and 
appreciated. 

Early  Victor. — No  injury  by  winter.  Our  vines  were  cut 
down  by  hail  and  only  a  few  berries  were  left,  which  however 
showed  no  rot.  As  I  could  not  observe  this  variety  elsewhere  I 
can  not  report  as  fully  on  it  as  I  would  wish. 

Etta. — Slight  injury  by  winter,  very  little  by  rot.  This 
variety  is  yet  too  new  and  vines  too  young  to  judge  of  them  fully, 
but  from  all  I  have  seen  of  this  grape  I  would  consider  it  as  the 
most  promising  and  valuable  of  all  of  Jacob  Eommel's  seedlings,  so 
far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them.  It  will  have  a  great  future  if  it 
continues  to  do  as  well  and  succeeds  elsewhere  like  its  parent  the 
Elvira,  and  may  even  supercede  this  valuable  variety  on  account  of 
its  superior  quality  especially  as  a  table  grape. 

Montefiore. — No  injury  by  winter  ;  very  little  by  rot.  Among 
Eommel's  seedlings  we  rank  this  next  in  value  to  the  Etta,  while 
in  quality  we  consider  it  superior  even.  It  lacks  some  in  vigor  and 
productiveness,  compared  with  Etta  and  Elvira.  It  should  be 
tested  extensively. 

Grenis  Golden. — Little  injury  by  winter,  rot  or  mildew  :  does 
well  with  us  as  Bushberg,  though  we  hear  less  favorable  reports  of 
it  from  other  quarters.     Too  new  to  be  judged. definitely-. 

Masons  Seedling. — No  injury  by  winter  frost  ;  some  by  rot. 
Promises  to  be  one  of  the  most  reliable  of  the  White  Concord 
seedlings,  and  should  be  tested  more  extensively.  Quality  good  ; 
equal  to  if  not  better  than  any  other  of  its  class. 

Pocklington. — No  injury  by  winter,  nor  any  rot  on  the  few  ber- 
ries which  were  left  us  by  hail.  I  have  some  hesitation  about 
placing  this  grape  in  the  first  group,  but  think  it  would  hold  its 
place  there  if  the  fruit  on  our  vines  had  not  been  cut  down  to  such 
an  extent  by  hail.  Variety  is  too  new  and  vines  too  young  to  be 
judged  definitely,  but  it  promises  well  and  is  worthy  of  extensive 
testing. 

SECOND    GROUP. 

Brighton, — Almost  one-half  of  tlie  fruit  buds  killed  by  winter, 
some  rot.     A  grape  of  fine  quality. 

Catawba. — Considerably  damaged  by  winter  in  some  localities, 
less  in  other,  badly  damaged  by  rot. 

Cltawpion. — Not  much  damaged  by  winter,  but  set  fruit  badly. 
Very  light  crop. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  217 

Concord. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  but  rotted  badly. 

Cottage. — No  damage  by  winter,  rotted  badly. 

Delaware. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  none  by  rot,  but  consid- 
erable by  mildew  on  the  leaf. 

Eumelan. — -No  injury  by  winter,  but  sets  fruit  poorly  ;  little 
damage  by  rot. 

GoetliQ,  Herbert,  Lindley,  Massassoit,  Wilder. — Considerably 
injured  by  winter,  some  vines  having  nearly  all  their  fruit  buds 
killed,  damaged  by  rot.    Very  light  crop. 

Lady. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  some  rot.  It  is  a  pity  that 
the  vine  is  not  a  better  grower  and  more  prolific  bearer. 

Martha. — More  injury  by  winter  than  on  .Concord,  but  much 
less  by' rot,  some  vines  having  nearly  a  full  crop. 

Missouri  Riesling. — Little  damage  by  winter,  but  suffered  by 
mildew  on  the  fruit — for  the  first  time  affected  that  way  in  our 
vineyards. 

Koah.—^Mghi  damage  by  winter,but  considerable  mildew  on 
the  fruit  in  some  locations,  and  almost  free  from  it  in  others.  Gen- 
erally not  much  subject  to  rot  and  mildew  in  our  section  and  fur- 
ther south,  but  from  reports  received  suffers  more  frequently  from 
them  further  north. 

Telegrai^h. — Some  damage  by  winter  and  considerable  by  rot. 

Amber. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  but  little  by  rot.  Vine  a 
fair  grower  but  does  not  hold  its  foliage  well  in  all  locations  and 
seems  rather  a  shy  bearer. 

Moores  Early. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  but  more  by  rot, 
though  less  than  on  Concord. 

Neosho. — No  damage  by  winter,  some  by  rot,  but  is  a  shy 
bearer,  with  us,  at  best,  setting  its  fruit  imperfectly. 

Jefferson. — Slight  damage  by  winter,  but  fruit  cut  down  by 
hail  and  vines  too  young  to  say  much  about  it,  except  that  we  con- 
sider it  well  worthy  of  more  extensive  testing. 

There  are  yet  a  few  varieties  which  I  have  not  included  in 
either  of  the  foregoing  lists,  as  our  vines  were  covered  over  winter 
and  thus  protected  from  frost,  so  that  condition  of  comparison 
would  be  unequal.     I  will  mention  only  the  following  : 

Herbemont. — Set  fruit  well,  and  gave  promise  of  an  enormous 
crop,  but  was  almost  totally  destroyed  by  rot. 

Cunningham. — Suffered  by  rot,  but  not  nearly  to  the  same  ex- 
tent, and  gave  a  good  half  crop. 

Triumph — Some  damage  by  rot,  but  gave  a  three-fourth  crop. 
This  is  really  a  magnificent  grape,  and  with  winter  protection,  may 


218     •  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

prove  very  valuable  in  a  large  portion  of  our  state.  Combining 
beauty  and  largest  size  of  bunch,  with  excellent  quality,  it  should 
be  tested  extensively ;  and  is  especially  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
such  careful  horticulturalists,  who  are  willing  to  give  this  vine  a 
little  extra  care,  and  protect  it  from  frost.  I  am  satisfied  that  its 
fruit,  if  well  grown,  will  bring  the  highest  price  in  market,  of 
any  of  our  American  varieties  that  are  now  before  the  public. 

But  I  will  not  take  up  your  valuable  time  much  longer,  and  in- 
concluding  my  remarks  would  only  call  your  attention  to  some 
points,  which  a  season  like  the  past  one  should  teach  us. 

First.  If  we  live  in  a  section  where  experience  has  shown  us 
that  rot  and  mildew  are  prevalent  diseases,  let  us  not  plant  varie- 
ties which  are  notoriously  subject  to  them,  unless,  indeed,  we  are 
lucky  enough  to  be  in  one  of  those  few  favored  localities  from 
which  they  seem  to  be  banished.  There  are  some  such  localities, 
for  instance,  Just  north  of  St.  Louis,  as  the  vineyards  of  Mr.  Gast 
and  Mr.  Kuhs  bear  testimony,  in  which  the  rot  is  and  has  been  al- 
most unknown  ever  since  they  were  planted.  It  is  true  that  if  we 
would  shun  those  varieties  which  are  known  to  be  subject  to  dis- 
ease, the  selection  left  us  may  be  a  very  limited  one,  but  better 
plant  of  those  few  reliable  kinds,  even  though  the  quality  may  not 
be  just  what  we  would  desire,  than  to  forego  this  noble  fruit  en. 
tirely. 

Second.  If  we  want  to  grow  the  finer  varieties  let  us  give  a 
little  more  attention  to  winter  covering  of  such  as  are  known  to  be 
sensitive  to  extreme  cold.  This  covering  is  really  but  little  trouble 
and  in  case  of  a  severe  winter  will  largely  repay.  Your  less  careful 
neighbor  will  have  no  grapes  to  sell,  and  you  will  get  a  good  price 
for  yours,  as  the  high  price  which  has  been  ruling  for  good  grapes 
in  St.  Louis  this  year  will  testify. 

Third.  Let  us  test  new  varieties  more  extensively.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  plant  many  of  a  kind,  a  couple  of  plants  of  each  are 
sufficient  for  testing.  There  is  no  new  variety  now  introduced  by 
any  reputable  nurseryman  but  what  has  good  points  which  may 
make  it  a  most  valuable  grape,  for  your  locality,  provided  it  is 
adapted  and  will  succeed  there.  Experience  alone  can  settle  this 
question  definitely  for  you.  If  you  test  a  dozen  new  kinds  and 
only  one  or  two  should  succeed  well,  plant  of  those  more  largely 
and  you  will  be  amply  repaid  in  time  for  those  which  have  failed. 
Do  not  say  that  the  failing  ones  are  a  "  humbug."  They  are  good 
enough  if  they  only  find  the  soil,  climate  and  locality  suited  to 
them.       "No  one  grape  is  suited  to  all  localities,  nor  is  thereany 


■A?inual  3Ieeting  at  St.  Joseph.  219 

one  locality  suited  to  all  grapes/'  as  our  friend  Campbell,  of  Ohio, 
has  said. 

In  conclusion  let  us  hope  and  pray  for  more. favorable  seasons 
in  the  future,  and  with  these,  if  we  will  persevere  in  our  efforts,  we 
will  also  reap  the  reward  of  our  labors.  Every  other  branch  of 
industry  has  had,  and  every  new  branch  will  have  its  "  ups  and 
downs."  We  cannot  expect  it  otherwise  in  grape  culture,  but  if  we 
sum  up  everything  and  profit  by  experience,  I  think  we  may  look 
forward  to  a  bright  future  in  this  country  for  this  noble  and  oldest 
branch  of-  horticulture. 


EFFECTS  OF  SUMMER  HEAT  ON  FRUIT  CULTURE. 


.    BY  E.   LISTON,  VIRGIL  CITY. 

This  is  the  subject  assigned  to  me  for  an  article  to  be  read  on 
this  occasion.  I  do  not  feel  myself  able  to  the  task  of  writing  on  a 
subject  so  deep  in  science  and  will  be  very  brief  and  will  be  appli- 
cable to  Southwest  Missouri,  and  will  be  pincipally  for  the  apple 
because  I  have  had  more  experience  and  have  observed  more  closely 
on  the  apple  growing  and  because  there  are  more  people  and  money 
in  it  than  any  other  one  kind  of  fruits. 

We  observe  that  heat,  drouth,  soil,  climate,  neglect,  or  in  any 
manner  disobeying  the  natural  laws  of  vegetable  life  in  tree,  &c., 
affects  its  products. 

If  we  understand  those  natural  laws  required  by  the  tree  and 
plant  and  whenever  they  are  absent  supply  them  artificially  we 
then  can  hope  for  better  results. 

In  our  section  of  country  we  can  produce  all  common  varieties 
of  fruits  and  on  almost  all  kinds  of  soil. 

Although  certain  kinds  of  soil  and  certain  kinds  of  frnits  do 
not  adapt  themselves  together  and  the  soil  must  be  artificially  put 
in  condition  for  the  variety  of  fruit  or  else  the- variety  discarded. 

On  some  varieties  of  soil,  heat  and  drouth  affects  the  tree 
much  more  than  on  others. 

A  soil  that  is  loamy,  open,  loose  and  always ,  dry  either 
naturally  so  or  by  under  draining  will  show  least  effects  by  drouth 
and  heat. 

A  soil  right  to  the  opposite  of  this,  for  instance  a  tight  clay, 


220  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

hard  and  retentive  of  water  will  result  much  worse  in  hot/  drouthy 
weather  against  tree  and  its  products  and  would  be  of  little  account 
unless  artificial  assistance  is  given. 

Heat  and  drouth  affects  the  tree  and  its  product  accordingly 
as  those  natural  laws  of  vegetable  growth  are  complied  with. 
Those  fine  fibrous  roots  size  of  cambric  needles  are  the  feeders  and 
life  and  support  of  the  tree. 

In  dry  hard  soil  they  cannot  feed  and  support  the  tree  and 
fruit  no  more  than  the  fibrous  roots  of  corn  can  support  the  stalk 
and  make  large  fine  ears  of  corn  under  the  same  circumstances. 

We  distinctly  understand  in  corn  farming  we  must  give  the 
small  roots  a  chance  to  feed  the  stalk  to  make  the  ear  grow  to  per- 
fection and  in  like  manner  the  fibrous  roots  of  fruit  trees  must 
have  a  chance  to  feed  in  order  to  j)erfect  their  fruit. 

In  apple  orchards,  all  conditions  being  favorable,  the  roots  ex- 
tend out  as  far  as  the  tops  go  high  or  wide.  They  naturally  require 
a  reasonably  moist  and  mellow  soil  and  to  secure  this  result  in  dry, 
hot  weather  I  prefer  cultivating,  and  do  it  thoroughly,  and  more 
particularly  in  southwest  Missouri.  Indeed,  I  know  from  practical 
experience  in  southwest  Missouri,  that  to  have  healthy,  fine  trees, 
we  must  cultivate  and  never  cease  doing  so.  Our  apple  trees 
commence  to  decline  and  this  affects  the  fruit.  "\Ye  can  mulch, 
though  I  do  not  think  it  practicable  in  large  bearing  orchards,  or 
even   those  of  common  size,  on  account  of  being  very  expensive. 

It  is  not  within  the  line  of  my  essay,  though  permit  to  say, 
and  I  have  no  fear  of  successful  contradiction,  that  the  unhealthi- 
uess  of  our  apple  orchards  in  southwest  Missouri  is  due  to  the 
three  following  causes  :     Wet  soil,  deep  planting,    non-cultivation. 

In  small  fruits  mulching  is  practicable,  and  in  some  cases 
preferable,  for  a  portion  of  the  time,  to  so  much  cultivation. 

In  summing  up  this  article,  I  will  say,  we  must  seek  to  furnish 
food  for  the  fine  roots,  in  dry,  hot  weather.  Or  else,  to  the  extent 
we  fail  to  do  so,  we  injure  the  growth  of  the  tree,  and  everything 
that  does  this  affects  its  products. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  JosejjJi.  221 


SOUTH-WEST  MISSOURI. 


A    MAGNIFICENT   FKUIT-GROWING     REGION     AVHICH    IS    BEING  RAP- 
IDLY   DEVELOPED. 

Southern  Missouri,  as  a  fruit-growing  district,  is  destined  to 
become  one  of  the  best  in  the  west.  Howell  county  is  peculiarly 
situated  for  this,  being  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Ozarks.  The 
highest  points  on  the  Ozarks,  as  well  as  on  the  Kansas  City  and 
Memphis  railroad,  is  at  Cedar  Gap.  From  that  point  it  is  a  grad- 
ual descent  until  you  reach  the  valley  of  the  river  along  which  the 
railroad  runs.  This  slope  is  nearly  eighty  miles  long.  At  Cedar 
G-ap  is  a  large  orchard  started  by  one  of  the  railroad  conductors. 
Land  is  here  well  situated  for  orchards,  and  the  people  are  just 
finding  out  that  there  is  a  grajid  location  for  fruit  within  their 
reach. 

Below  Cedar  Gap  is  another  fine  location  at  Mt.  Grove.  Here 
is  a  broad,  level  plateau  ten  miles  wide,  and  admirably  situated 
for  both  fruit  and  stock  raising.  But  the  choicest  location  of  the 
whole  road  is  at  Olden,  Howell  county,  eight  miles  above  West 
Plains.  The  place  is  protected  on  the  north  by  the  higher  range 
of  the  mountains,  they  being  some  five  hundred  feet  higher  both  on 
the  north  and  west.  It  is  on  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  waters 
of  the  Black  and  White  rivers,  waters  on  one  side  flowing  to  the 
White  and  on  the  other  to  the  Black  rivers.  It  is  high  and  dry,- 
and  the  rains  disappear  in  a  few  hours  after  they  cease  falling. 

The  soil  is  of  a  gravely  nature  and  yet  quite  productive.  The 
hills  are  of  a  mulatto  soil,  and  the  valleys  are  a  rich  loam.  The 
whole  country  is  covered  with  a  young  growth  of  black  jack,  oak 
and  hickory.  All  through  the  woods  grows  the  prairie  grass,  blue 
stem,  in  abundance,  making  it  also  one  of  ttie  best  of  stock 
countries,  especially  for  sheep,  which  are  never  known  to  have  the 
foot  rot. 

Portions  of  this  upland  are  rocky  or  rather  covered  with  a  thin 
coating  of  flint-rock,  from  the  size  of  a  gravel  to  that  of  ten  or 
twenty  pounds.  Below  this  is  the  soil,  and  without  rocks  at  all. 
Persons  in  passing  over  these  rocky  points  would  think  them  almost 
worthless,  but  they  are  plowed  up,  and  after  plowing  no  rocks  are 
seen.  It  is  a  strange  country,  and  it  seems  after  it  was  finished 
there   came  a  terrible  hail  storm  of  flint-rocks,  which  covered  the 


222  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

ground  in  places.  In  places  you  will  find  two  to  four  reds  covered 
with  them  and  all  around,  clean,  fine  soil.  One  man  said  '''nothing 
was  the  matter  with  the  country,  only  it  was  made  upside  down." 

Below  you  can  dig  for  ten,  twenty  or  forty  feet  and  no  rock 
will  be  found.  Under  this  foot  of  mulatto  soil  yon  come  to  a  red 
clay  shale,  and  this  in  places  shows  strong  traces  of  ii'on.  This 
clay  shale  is  rich  enough  to  produce  if  thrown  up  to  the  action  of 
the  weather,  and  proves  a  source  of  wealth  to  the  fruit  grower,  for 
the  roots  run  down  deep  into  it."  The  peach  seems  to  succeed 
admirably  in  that  soil  and  location.  You  get  the  protection  and 
elevation  so  favorable  to  fruit  growing  ;  you  get  the  slope  desirable 
also. 

The  land  is  just  rolling  enough  to  make  a  good  natural  drain- 
age possible,  tlie  ridges  are  not  broad  nor  are  the  ravines  deep,  but 
the  land  lies  somewhat  as  it  does  on  our  prairies  south  of  here. 
Everything  points  to  it  as  being  a  choice  location  for  fruit-growing. 
Peaches  were  never  known  to  fail  for  sixteen  years  before.  Apples 
never  fail,  and  there  are  a  few  pear  trees  standing  which  show 
thrift  and  and  no  signs  of  blight. 

Lands'  are  cheap  there.  In  many  places  railroad  land  can  be 
obtained  at  13  per  acre,  government  land  at  11.25  per  acre,  and 
homesteads  can  be  bought  off  for  from  1300  to  1500.  On  the 
homestead  will  be  a  liouse  and  barn  and  ten  to  forty  acres  cleared 
and  in  cultivation. 

For  a  poor  man  it  seems  to  be  just  the  plac  e  to  go  to  make 
money.  Markets  are  good.  The  Memphis  railroad  gives  close  and 
quick  markets  both  north  and  south,  east  and  west.  Everything 
can  be  sold  there  at  good  prices  and  it  is  useless  to  go  farther  west 
when  the  chances  are  far  better  nearer  home.  For  marketing 
fruits  there  is  every  advantage.  They  can  be  put  on  the  cars  there 
at  6  o'clock  p.  M.  and  be  in  Kansas- City  at  8  o'clock  a.  m. 

The  place  is  healthy,  being  high  and  dry.  It  is  not  subject  to 
drouth,  as  are  the  Western  forests,  giving  a  good  protection  both 
in  the  winter  and  summer. 

This  country  is  changing  rapidly.  People  are  coming  in  from 
the  north  and  east,  and  in  a  few  years  you  will  see  good  farms, 
stock  ranges,  and  fruit  farms  where  now  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but 
forests.  The  government  land  is  being  taken  at  the  rate  of  3,000 
to  5,000  acres  per  week,  and  will  soon  all  be  gone.  For  sheep, 
And  also  for  hogs,  the  country  seems  peculiarly  adapted,  both 
being  able  to  live  the  entire  winter  almost  without  food,  if  there 
be  plenty  of  acorns. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  223 

But  the  great  wealth  of  that  country  will  be  iu  the  fruit-grow- 
ing industry.  It  has  hardly  made  a  start,  and  every  year  will  see  a 
wonderful  stride  foward. 

Three  years  ago  the  president  of  the  Missouii  State  Horticul- 
tural Society,  Maj.  Z.  S.  Ragan,  called  the  attention  of  its  members 
to  this  localit}'  as  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  fruits,  and 
now  he  says  he  is  more  than  convinced  that  within  a  few  years  the 
whole  southern  slope  of  the  Ozarks  will  be  covered  with  or- 
chards. 

At  Olden,  Howell  county,  the  Olden  Fruit  Company  have 
made  a  beginning.  The  1,300  acre  fruit  farm  is  beginning  to 
show.  This  year  were  planted  twenty  thousand  peach  and  apple 
trees,  and  they  are  in  good  shape  and  starting  finely. 

This  is  but  the  beginning,  and  each  year  will  see  about  twenty 
thousand  more  planted  until  the  whole  will  be  planted.  The 'lo- 
cation at  Olden  we  think  the  choicest  to  be  found ;  a  good  town 
site,  good  switch  and  level  land  near  it,  and  we  jjrophesy  it  to  be 
the  nucleus  of  a  large,  very  large  fruit  district. 

L.  A.  GOODMAN. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  NOMENCLATURE. 


Your  committee  on  nomenclature  can  at  this  time  only 
reiterate  the  substance  of  what '  was  contained  in  their  report 
made  at  the  semi-annual  meeting  of  this  society,  in  June  last.  As 
recommended  by  the  Hon.  Marshall  P,  Wilder,  and  later  by  the 
Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society  at  their  session  in  January 
last,  we  would  again  urge  upon  the  members  of  the  Missouri  State 
Horticultural  Society,  the  importance  of  doing  away  with,  as  far 
as  possible,  all  unnecessary  synonyms  and  that  the  names  retained 
be  shortened,  simplified  and  made  to  indicate  some  quality  or  val- 
uable peculiarity  of  its  fruit.  J.   C.   EVANS, 

Ch'm'n  Com. 


224  Mi>isnuri  State  Horticultural  Soridy. 


TREASURER'S  REPORT. 


RECEIPTS : 

Balance  on  hand,  Dec.  1888 $    598  00 

Received  from  Slate 1,250  00 

Total : $1,848  00 

EXPENDITURES  : 

Warrant,  No.  26.  Mississippi  Valley  meeting |  41  90 

"27.     Expense  on  report,  1883 103  95 

"          "      28.     Postage  on  reports  and  letters 114  76 

"  "     39.     Premiums  for  June  meeting.      Printing  letter 

heads  and  envelopes 126  05 

"          "     30.     Express,  papers,  fruit  collection 158  55 

•     "           "      31.     Secretary's  salary 500  00 

"          •'       8.     Printing  state  report 642  80 

"          "       6.     Paid  expense  and  Hale  Bros 85  00 

Total $1,773  00 

Leaving  balance  in  treasury $      75  00 

J.  C.  EVANS,  Treas. 
Approved  by  finance  committee. 

F.  HOLSINGER, 

D.  S.  HOLMAN, 

W.  G.  GANG. 


REPOET  OF  FEUIT  COMMITTEE. 

To  the  President  and  Members  of  the  State  Horticultural  Society 

of  -Missouri : 

Your  committee  on  fruits  on  exhibition,  having  performed 
their  duty  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  beg  leave  to  submit  the  fol- 
lowing report  : 

We  find  upon  the  table  a  very  creditable  exhibit  of  apples, 
composed  of  most  of  our  old  and  standard  varieties,  as  well  as  some 
of  the  newer  and  untried,  or  only  partially  tried.  The  entries  for 
premiums  consist  of  fift}^  varieties  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  plates. 
We  also  find  on  exhibition  a  large  number  of  varieties  and  j)]ates 
of  very  fine  specimens  not  entered  that  are  well  worthy  of  special 
mention.  We  find  upon  exhibition  three  seedlings  well  worthy  of 
being  more  extensively  tried.  The  following  premiums  were 
awarded  : 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  225 

Best  Seedling — Mr.  Kirschbaum. 
Ben.  Davis — Dan.   Carpenter. 
Huntsman — L.  A.  Goodman. 
Willow  Twig — Karl  Werdman. 
Clayton — Z.  S.  Kagan. 
Jersey  Black — Z.  S.  Kagan. 
Standard — Z.  S.  Eagan. 
Wagner — W.  Hofely. 
York  Imperial — F.  Holsinger. 
Lansingbury — J.  A.  Bayles. 
TulpalK)ckny— W.  Hofely. 
Baldwin — James  Gambell. 
Rome  Beauty — Rod  Weidman. 
Milam — S.  N.  Cox. 
Mo.,  Pippin — J.  N".  Bayles. 
White  Pippin — J.  Kirschgi-aber. 
Stark — Segessemunn. 
Wine  Sap — L.  A.  Goodman. 
Geniton — W.  G.  Gano. 
Ladies  Sweetny — N.  G.  Gano. 
Grimes'  Golden — Z.  S.  Ragan. 
Domine — N.  F.  Murry. 
Pennock — P.  Jackson. 
Pryor's  Red — J.  A.  Durkes. 
Border  Ruffian — J.  W.  Menifee. 
Lady  Apple — W.  G.  Gano. 
Gilpin — J.  Kirschberger. 

A  number  of  varieties  were  rejected  being  considered  un- 
worthy of  premiums. 

We  also  find  a  few  plates  of  Niagara  grapes  in  a  good  state  of 
preservation  by  Powell  Jackson ;  also  some  fine  specimens  of 
evaporated  apples. 

We  find  a  collection  of  twenty-one  varieties  of  potatoes  ex- 
hibited by  Mr.  J.  W.  Menifee,  of  Holt  county,  all  of  which  are 
very  fine  and  promising.  One  variety  by  W.  G.  Gano,  Tracy, 
XXX,  very  fine,  and  a  sample  of  Peach  Blow  by  W.  Hofely,  which 
is  very  fine.  Although  not  exactly  the  province  of  this  committee, 
we  can  not  close  our  report  without  mentioning  the  beautiful  floral 
tributes  presented  by  Hans  Neilsbn,  of  St.  Joseph,  H.  Michel,  of 
St.  Louis,  and  R.  S.  Brown,  of  Kansas  City.     They  were  artisti- 


226    '  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Soviet y. 

cally  arranged,  exquisite  in  fragrance  and  added  largely  to  the 
appearance  of  the  room  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  attending  onr 
meeting.     All  of  which  is  most  respectfully  submitted. 

J.   P.   RiCKARD, 

g.  f.  espenlaub, 
Chas.  Patterson, 
Committee. 

Invitation  of  the  society  to  meet  at  Butler  by  H.  B.  Francis. 
Moved  that  we  meet  at  Butler.     Carried. 

The  division  of  the  State  into  districts  and  the  appointment 
of  the  committees  is  referred  to  the  Executive  committee. 

By  motion  of  Mr.  Gano,  C.  W.  Murtfeldt  was  made  an  hono- 
rary member  of  the  state  society.  Mr.  Murtfeldt  thanked  the 
society  for  this  honor. 

Moved  that  the  society  thank  Mr.  Neilson  for  the  decorations 
in  the  chapel  and  the  tasteful  manner  in  which  they  are  arranged. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  FINAL  RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  1st.  That  the  tliaaks  of  this  society  are  hereby 
most  gratefully  tendered  the  Unity  Chapel  society  for  the  use  of 
its  comfortable  and  handsomely  adorned  church  during  the  session. 

Resolved,  2nc].  We  return  our  thanks  to  the  hotels  and  rail- 
roads for  reduced  rates  to  the  members  and  to  the  citizens  of  St. 
Joseph  for  their  hospitality  for  which  they  are  noted. 

Resolved,  3rd.  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  are  tendered 
our  excellent  chairman  for  the  courteous  and  impartial  manner  in 
which  he  has  preserved  and  conducted  the  business  brought  before 
the  society. 

And  all  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  our  appreciation  of  the 
courteous,  excellent,  faithful  manner  in  which  our  noble  Secretary 
has  discharged  the  duties  assigned  to  him. 

D.  Carpenter, 
Gr.  E.  Meissner, 
C.  H.  Fink, 

Committee. 


A7i7iual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  227 


EEPORT  OF  HORTICULTUEAL  SOCIETIES  AND  COUNTY 

EEPORTS. 


EEPORT     OF     SECRETARY     OF     MISSOURI     VALLEY     HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 

Mr.  President  and   Gentlemen  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural 

Society  : 

By  request  of  your  secretary,  I  furnish  a  brief  report  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Missouri  Valley  Horticultural  Society  for  the 
present  year. 

The  meetings  of  the  society,  during  the  winter  months,  were 
held  at  the  office  of  Vineyard  &  Wilkinson  in  Kansas  City.  These 
meetings  were  generally  well  attended  and  t!ie  proceedings  of  a 
very  interesting  character. 

The  award  of  premiums  on  apples  was  kept  up  during  the 
entire  winter,  and  we  can  say  there  was  not  a  single  meeting 
during  the  present  year  that  apples  could  not  be  found  on  the 
society's  tables. 

The  proceedings  of  the  meetings  of  the  society  are  published 
in  the  daily  papers  of  Kansas  City,  and  are  eagerly  sought  after  by 
all  classes  of  readers.  The  statements  and  reports  whicii  are  made 
at  these  uiontldy  meetings  are  regarded  as  a  kind  of  horticultural 
thermometer,  by  which  the  consumer  can  form  some  idea  of  the 
local  fruit  production. 

The  executive  committee  marked  out  the  best  programme  the 
present  year,  (so  far  as  concerns  the  selection  of  subjects  for  essays) 
the  society  has  ever  known.  And  had  each  member  responded  by 
producing  the  papers  assigned  him,  we  would  have  had  a  collection 
of  papers  of  whicli  the  society  might  well  feel  proud.  But,  not- 
withstanding so  many  failed  to  come  to  time,  we  have  quite  a 
collection  of  valuable  and  interesting  papers,  a  list  of  subjects 
which  I  append  below  : 

"  Injury  Done  to  Our  Stone  Fruits  and  What  to  do."  Es- 
sayist, G.  F.  Espenlaub. 

"  How  Shall  the  Horticulturist  Maintain  the  Fertility  of  the 
Soil.''     Essayist,  Wm.  Hopkins. 

"Mulching  Cultivation,  or  Seeding  Our  Orchards."  Essayist, 
Durkes. 


ii 


228  Missouri  State  Horticulttiral  Society. 

"  Birds,  Benefit,  or  Injury.     English  Sparrow  Good,  or  Bad." 
Essayist,  F.  Holsinger. 

"Horticultural  Progress."-    Essayist,  L.  A.  Goodman. 

"Horticultural  Outlook."     Essayist,  G.  F.  Espenlaub. 
Mission  of  Flowers."     Mrs.  F.  Holsinger. 
Observation  the  Key  to  Horticultural  Success."     Essayist. 
Judga  M.  B.  Newman. 

"Effects  of  Bees  on  Fruit."     Essayist,  S.  D.  Gregg. 

These  are  all  first  class  papers,  and  we  hope  to  see  them  pub- 
lished in  connection  with  the  proceedings  of  this  society. 

The  summer  meetings  of  the  society  were  held  at  the  fol- 
lowing places  : 

May — L.  A.  Goodman's. 

June — C.  E,  Kern's. 

July — Maj.  Frank  Holsinger. 

The  August  meeting  was  to  have  been  held  at  the  home  of 
Pres..J.  C.  Evans,  but  proved  a  failure  on  account  of  a  rainy  day. 

September — G.  F.  Espenlaub. 

October — Judge  John  K.  Cravens. 

Tne  summer  meetings  have  been  well  attended  and  the  dis- 
play of  all  kinds  of  fruit  in  their  respective  season  has  been  above 
an  average. 

The  Society  has  paid  out  as  premiums  on  fruit  and  flowers 
during  the  year  the  sum  of  $55.00,  and  realized  from  sale  of 
fruit  and  flowers  the  sum  of  $12.70. 

The  best  specimens  of  fruit  have  been  selected  at  each  montlily 
meeting  and  placed  in  cold  storage  to  be  used  in  the  State  exhibit 
at  New  Orleans. 

The  society  as  usual  competed  for  the  premium  offered  by  the 
the  Inter-State  fair  at  Kansas  City,  and  secured  first  and  third 
premiums,  amounting  to  $175.00. 

A  new  departure  was  taken  this  year,  and  the  society  made 
an  exhibition  of  vegetables,  taking  the  first  premium  of  150.  The 
display  was  the  most  tastefully  arranged  of  any  we  have  ever 
witnessed  and  the  society  expressed  its  appreciation  by  tendering 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  committee  in  charge.  The  total  premiums 
taken  by  the  society  during  the  year  is  1225.00, 

The  following  is  a  list  of  officers  for  the  present  year. 

President,  J.  C.  Evans. 

A^ice-President,  E.  Lindsay. 

Secretary,  G.  W.  Hopkins. 

Treasurer,  G.  F.  Espenlaub. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  229 

The  society  has  obtained  several  new  members  from  among 
practical  horticulturists  the  present  year,  which  shows  its  influence 
is  felt  and  sco23e  of  usefulness  is  being  enlarged  each  year.  In  con- 
clusion allow  me  to  indulge  the  hope,  the  time  will  sjaeedily  come 
when  each  county  in  the  State  will  have  within  its  borders  a  live 
horticultural  society. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

G.  W.  HOPKIiS^S,  Secretary. 


ESSAYS  READ  AT  THE  MEETINGS. 


HOKTICULTURAL   PROGRESS. 

I  believe  horticulturists  are  exceptions  to  the  rule  of  opposing 
anything  new,  or  anything  out  of  the  ordinary  line.  Of  all 
classes,  they  are  the  first  to  take  any  new  thing  that  may  present 
itself,  or  any  outlandish  affair  that  is  beyond  reason  itself.  When 
the  fact  first  became  known  that  the  world  was  round  and  not  flat, 
the  theologians  said  it  would  never,  never  do,  the  world  could  not 
be  round,  the  sun  stand  still  and  the  Bible  be  true.  But  let  some 
new  matter  come  up  in  the  horticultural  world  and  you  will  have 
nearly  every  horticulturist  to  believe  the  whole  thing.  Do  you  think 
I  am  joking  ?  Let  me  point  you  to  the  swindle  of  an  ear  of  corn 
growing  from  every  joint,  and  the  corn  sold  all  over  the  country  for 
seed.  Last  winter  -a  man  said  that  he  had  a  pear  and  butternut 
tree  growing  together,  and  the  butternut  fertilized  the  pear,  and 
the  consequence  was  that  he  had  a  pear  on  the  outside  and  a  nut  on 
the  inside,  and  some  were  ready  to  believe  it.  I  told  a  man  that  I 
gathered  black  raspberries  out  of  a  Winesap  apple  tree,  and  had  to 
use  a  ladder  to  get  them.  He  at  once  thought  I  had  a  tree  raspberry 
and  wanted  the  first  plants.  But  for  all  this  every  one  of  these 
things  helps  to  open  our  eyes.  It  sets  us  to  thinking.  It  starts  us 
to  experimenting.  It  brings  us  to  our  books.  It  makes  us  study. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  show  what  has  been  done  by  horti- 
culture, how  far  ahead  we  are  of  the  times  three  hundred  years 
ago,  nor  one  hundred  years  ago,  nor  twenty-five  years  ago.  We  all 
know  what  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  strawberry.  We 
know  what  changes  there  have  been  in  grafting  and  budding.  We 
know  we  are  ahead  of  old  times  in  our  horticultural  improvements. 


230  Missouri  State'  Horticulttiral  Society. 

We  know  how  manifold  are  the  horticultural  contrivances  that  are 
on  every  hand.  Tiiese  things  are  known  to  you  all.  How  the 
tools  are  on  every  hand  for  every  little  turn  we  may  make  ;  how 
rapidly  we  can  propagate  not  only  trees  and  vines,  but  every  plant 
known  to  man  ;  how  our  forcing  houses  are  sometimes  a  wonder  to 
behold  ;  how  the  lawns  and  yards  are  gaining  on  every  side.  We 
want  to  know  not  only  what  progress  has  been  made,  but  what  can 
be  made.  Where  do  we  need  an  improvement  ?  where  are  we  the 
most  deficient  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  our  greatest  need  is  in  a  good 
horticultural  education. 

We  should  have  a  school  where  the  matters  and  experiments 
should  be  followed  out  with  the  utmost  cai-e.  We  know  how  to 
plant,  when  to  plant,  where  to  plant,  what  to  plant,  or  we  think  we 
do,  and  all  our  talk  is  on  these  subjects,  or  pertaining  to  them,  and 
we  never  get  beyond  them.  When  shall  we  stop  this  A  B  C  of 
horticulture?  We.should  have  in  this  school  our  experiments  carried 
on  for  ten,  twenty  or  fifty  years,  and  then  the  results  will  be  worth 
something.  We  think  that  we  know  what  to  do  now,  but  listen  : 
Take  any  fruit  grower  and  let  him  plant  a  portion  of  his  place,  and 
keep  planting  every  year  after,  as  the  fruits  come  into  bearing,  and 
what  will  be  the  result?  You  say  he  will  learn  from  each  year's 
experience  what  to  plant.  Yes,  so  he  will,  but  each  year  will  be 
different.  For  instance  :  When  I  began  planting,  I  was  told  the 
White  Winter  Pearmain  did  finely,  so  I  planted  them.  The  next 
year  the  Jennet  was  the  only  one  that  bore,  so  I  planted  Jennet. 
The  next  year  the  Winesap  were  splendid,  so  I  planted  Winesap. 
Next  I  saw  some  splendid  Early  Harvest,  and  th"ey  brought  $3.00 
per  bushel,  and  I  planted  them. 

So  you  will  find  many  of  us  in  the  same  line  of  work.  This 
is  not  only  true  in  the  apple,  but  in  the  peach  and  berries  also, 
Now  what  is  to  be  done  ?  How  will  we  remedy  this  ?  I,  of  course, 
cannot  answer  this  fully,  but  this  I  do  know,  that  if  a  series  of 
experiments,  carried  on  for  a  number  of  years  could  be  noted,  the 
weather,  the  bloom,  the  insects,  the  crops  and  the  prices,  we  would 
have  some  basis  on  which  we  could  figure. 

Shall  we  ever  have  a  rule  for  determining  the  names  of  apples  ? 
will  be  one  of  the  questions  for  our  horticultural  progress  to 
answer.  How  many  have  come  to  me  with  discouraged  look, 
saying  they  could  not  find  their  apples  in  the  book  on  apples,  and 
did  not  know  where  to  look.  Can  we  have  a  book  that  will  tell  us 
the  name  of  an  apple  as  easily  as  we  can  find  it  in  the  dictionary, 
or  as  easily  as  we  can  find  the  name  of  a  flower  in  the  botany.  '  It 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Jose])li.  231 

seems  that  something  might  be  done,  and  I  believe  that  the  late 
Dr.  J.  A.  Warder  began  the  work  rightly  in  his  work  on  ''Amer- 
ican Pomology."  Can  this  be  imjDroved  upon,  or  will  it  be  fol- 
lowed out  ? 

Horticultural  progress  is  shown  by  the  live  horticultural 
societies  all  over  our  states,  and  needs  to  be  shown  more  and  more. 
Progress  will  be  seen  when  we  have  thousands  in  our  state  societies 
and  one  hundred  county  societies  scattered  all  over  each  state. 
Horticultural  progress  means  feeding  our  jilants  with  different 
foods  and  noting  the  result.  (Jan  we  ever  feed  our  trees  and  vines 
with  as  much  knowledge  as  we  do  our  hogs  and  cattle  ?  If  so.  we 
can  see  different  results  in  our  orchards  and  gardens.  Have  our 
orchards  been  starved  ?  Are  they  weak  ?  Have  they  been  frozen  ? 
Are  they  poor  ?  We  could  have  answered  these  questions  if  the 
trees  had  been  hogs  or  cattle.  Why  cannot  we  answer  them  now  ? 
Horticultural  progress,  here  is  some  of  the  work  for  us  to  do.  One 
year  ago  last  August,  I  was  up  through  Michigan,  Illinois,  Ohio 
and  New  York.  Their  orchards  looked  then  just  as  many  of  the 
trees  in  the  orchards  look  now  in  the  west.  What  caused  it  ?  Are 
we  everywhere  to  never  know  these  things  except  by  experience  ? 
My  belief  is  that  it  was  the  same  cause  that  injured  them  then 
that  has  hurt  ours  now.  Had  a  careful  record  been  kept  of  the 
weather,  crops,  condition,  treatment,  &c.,  of  them  then,  it  would 
have  been  a  warning  to  us  before  this. 

Shall  we  ever  reach  this  point,  that  certain  causes  produce  cer- 
tain results  ?  Can  this  be  brought  down  to  our  knowledge  ?  Can 
it  be  reduced  to  a  practical  matter  ?  It  can  and  will  be,  and  then 
we  will  not  go  on  the  haphazard  plan  of  planting  and  cultivating 
without  knowing  what  we  are  doing.  In  new  fruits  we  are  making 
fapid  progress,  and  still  here  is  one  of  the  broadest  fields  for  work, 
and  if  as  great  advance  is  made  in  the  next  twenty-five  years,  we 
shall  expect  to  see  Just  the  fruits  we  want. 

One  more  matter  and  I  am  through;  and  that  is,  that  we  must 
teach  our  children  and  let  others  know  the  same,  that  there  is  as 
broad  field  for  study  and  brain  work  in  the  horticultural  world  as 
in  any  other  field.  That  horticulture  does  not  mean  only  digging 
and  plowing,  but  it  means  study,  and  reading,  and  experimenting, 
and  working.  Here  is  one  of  the  best  fields'  for  horticultural 
progress  ;  give  people  to  understand  that  it  is  a  great  work,  an 
honorable  work.  That  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  study  and  inves- 
tigation, and  that  it  presents  one  of  the  best  fields  for  a  young  man 
to  enter.     We  will  thus  build  up  the  idea  of  horticulture  and  give 


233  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

it  the  prominence  it  deserves  among  the  professions  of  the  world. 

We  will  then  see  it  as  one  of  the  first  and  best  occupations  for  man 

to  engage  in,  even  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  when  man  was  put  in 

the  garden  to  dress  it. 

L.  A.  QOODMAX, 

MISSION   OF   FLOWEKS. 

Flowers  are  nature's  jewels,  and  deserving  of  a  place  in  our 
hearts  as  well  as  our  homes  ;  our  homes  are  more  home-like  by 
reason  of  their  presence.  Even  the  rude  dug-out  or  log-cabin  of 
the  pioneer  is  made  attractive  by  a  vine  covering  the  doorway  and  a 
few  flowers  cultivated  in  its  adornment.  We  always  feel  the  better 
when  coming  in  contact  with  people  who  thus  care  for  a  little 
flower.  Then  let  each  home  have  a  place  for  their  cultivation. 
They  will  reward  us  with  both  beauty  and  fragrance.  They  will 
teach  us  the  important  lessons  of  life — bringing  us  closer  to  the 
great  author  who  wrote  "  Consider  the  lilies  of  tlie  field." 

The  influence  of  flowers  is  potent  upon  all  for  good.  And 
sordid,  indeed,  must  be  the  nature  which  does  not  receive  pleasure 
from  them.  How  the  little  child  loves  them  ;  from  earliest  infancy 
they  behold  them  with  delightful  ecstacy.  And  what  is  more 
pleasing  than  thus  to  see  pure  little  ones  lovingly  gather  these 
treasures  a  gift  to  papa,  perhaps,  as  he  comes  home  from  a  day  of 
toil  or  vexatious  business. 

The  progress  of  our  race  is  indicated  by  the  care  of  flowers  ;  at 
least  as  we  grow  in  importance  as  a  people  it  is  seen  in  the  cultiva- 
tion and  love  cherished  for  them. 

No  home  would  be  complete  without  them.  JSTeither  could  a 
home  fail  of  benefit  from  their  presence  in  intelligence,  virtue  and 
refinement.  They  bring  us  to  love  the  infinite  and  remove  from 
us  the  bad.  Immorality  and  vice  cannot  exist  where  there  is  a 
proper  ai)preciation  for  the  fiowers.  How  generous  has  been  the 
Father  in  his  dissemination  of  "  Nature's  Jewels."  He  has  planted 
them  upon  every  hill  top  and  in  every  dell.  He  has  spread  them 
like  a  carpet  under  our  feet.  No  place  howsoever  secluded  but 
plants  and  fiowers  giving  forth  beauty  and  fragrance,  and  thus 
throughout  the  year  giving  manifestations  of  His  love.  How  they 
twine  themselves  to  our  hearts  when  sad  or  alone.  Many  instances 
could  be  given  where  but  for  the  presence  of  a  plant  life  had  been 
unsupportable.  While  the  companionship  of  a  plant  has  given  the 
comfort  coming  from  a  mind  employed  with  a  purpose'.  How 
touchingly  beautiful  and  pathetic  is  the  case  illustrated  by  Boni- 
face in  his  inimitable  story  of  Picciola.     The  Count  of  Charney,  a 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  233 

man  of  unusual  intelligence,  having  at  an  early  age  mastered 
seven  languages,  he  investigated  every  subject  and  was  finally 
lost  in  the  labyrinth  of  study.  So  like  many  students  he  fell. 
Like  Thomas,  he  doubted. 

He  came  to  look  upon  history  as  a  stuijendous  lie,  heaped  up 
from  age  to  age.  Like  many  other  students  he  assumed  to  change 
things  to  his  own  understanding.  Thus  his  historical  romance  was 
derided  from  envy  (no  doubt)  by  the  learned  and  society,  by 
ignorance.  Living  in  an  age  of  revolution,  he  was  carried  by  des- 
tiny into  politics.  He  engaged  to  point  out  some  of  the  worst 
abuses,  but  so  rooted  had  they  become  in  the  social  system,  so  many 
destinies  builfupon  false  principles  that  he  became  disheartened  and 
again  plunged  into  metaphysics.  The  further  he  advanced  into 
their  mysteries,  the  greater  the  confusion  in  his  mind.  It,  like  the 
will-o'-the-wisp,  allured  only  to  mislead. 

After  being  thus  tossed  about  after  first  one  doctrine  then  an- 
other, between  deism,  atheism  and  every  other  ism,  lie  took  refuge 
in  universal  skepticism. 

Thus  Charney  became  a  disciple  of  gross  pantheism,  refusing 
to  believe  in  one  superior  intelligence.  He  reasoned  thus  :  The 
disorder  inherent  in  creation,  the  perpetual  contradictions  between 
ideas  and  things,  the  unequal  distribution  of  strength  and  fortune 
among  mankind,  fixed  in  his  mind  that  blind  matter  alone  had 
created  all.  Thus  Chance  became  his  G-od,  annihilation  the  object 
of  liis  hope. 

Having  engaged  in  a  consiDiracy  he  was  seized  by  the  great 
Bonaparte  and  consigned  in  1804  to  the  fortress  of  Fenestrella. 
Here,  now,  we  find  the  philosopher,  sage  and  scientist  shut  out 
from  men  and  society.  .  All  that  wealth  could  bestow  he  exchanged 
for  a  prisoner's  cell — a  most  gloomy  chamber. 

One  day,  while  perambulating  his  cell,  he  saw  a  tiny  plant 
between  the  crevice  of  the  stone  pavement.  At  first  he  raised  his 
foot  to  crush  it — he  hesitated,  and  said  to  himself,  "  perhaps, 
some  day,  this  plant  may  emit  fragrance."  Another  thought  came 
to  him,  how  was  it  possible  for  that  plant  so  small,  tender  and 
fragile  that  a  touch  might  break  it,  to  rise,  separate  and  throw 
out  that  earth,  dried  and  hardened  by  the  sun.  trodden  under  foot 
by  him,  and  almost  cemented  to  the  two  blocks  of  granite  between 
which  it  was  pressed.  He  bent  over  it  again  to  examine  it  the  more 
closely,  and  saw  how  wisely  nature  had  provided  it  with  valves  which 
folded  and  protected  its  tender  petals.  This  was  his  first  lesson  in 
true  philosophy,  for  he  said,  behold  the  secret  :     "^  It  receives  from 


234  3Iissouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

nature  this  principle  of  strength  as  birds  do,  wlio,  before  they  are 
born,  are  armed  with  a  bill  hard  enough  to  break  the  thick  shell 
which  confines  them."  Before  this  he  had  written  upon  the  walls 
of  his  cell  with  a  piece  of  charcoal,  ''chance  is  blind,  and  is  the 
sole  author  of  creation."     He  now  wrote  beneath  it — "perhaps  !  " 

A  new  thought  has  dawned  upon  his  mind,  and  to  care  for 
this  plant  engrossed  all  his  thought.  Patiently  he  cared  for  his 
new  friend,  and  after  patient  watching  he  saw,  at  lengthy  evi- 
dences of  bloom. 

"  Oh  !  the  flowers  !  the  flowers,"  he  cried,  "the  flowers  that 
will  expand  their  beauty  for  my  eyes.  Whose  perfume  shall  exhale 
for  me  alone.  What  form  will  it  take,  what  shades  will  color  its 
petals  ?  Without  doubt  it  will  offer  me  new  problems  to  solve  and 
throw  a  last  challenge  to  my  reason.  Well,  let  it  come  ;  let  my 
frail  adversary  show  herself  armed  at  all  points,  I  will  not  shrink 
from  the  contest.  Perhaps  only  then  shall  I  be  able  to  comprehend 
her  in  her  completeness,  that  secret  which  her  imperfect  formation 
has  thus  far  hidden  from  me.  Wilt  thou  flower  ?  Wilt  thou  show 
thyself  to  me  one  day  in  all  the  glory  of  thy  beauty  and  its  adorn- 
ment, '  Picciola  ?  '  "     Thus  he  named  his  flower. 

To  follow  Oharney  through  his  companionsliip  with  his 
Picciola  in  health  and  sickness  would  require  too  much  time. 
When  convalescent,  after  a  severe  attack  of  sickness,  his  first 
thoughts  were  of  Picciola.  When  seeing  her  beautifully  arrayed 
in  bloom  he  was  led  to  ask  of  what  use  are  flowers,  why  fragrant? 
Do  they  enjoy  it  themselves  ?  No  !  Is  it  a  pleasure  to  animals  ? 
Who  has  seen  a  sheep  or  a  dog  stop  before  a  rose  to. breathe  its 
sweetness  ?  It  is  for  man  alone  then  that  they  pour  forth  that 
fragrant  treasure.     Why  ?     To  make  him  love  them,  perhaps  !. 

One  day,  after  studying  his  plant,  he  became  violently  agitated. 
Thought  succeeded  thought  in  his  brain,  and  for  a  moment,  raising 
his  face  heavenward,  was  led  to  exclaim, 

'•  Powerful  God  !  Source  invisible  whence  flows  all  harmony, 
all  life,  too  much  false  science  has  obscured  my  reason,  too  many 
sophisms  have  hardened  my  heart,  so  that  thou  canst  not  easily 
penetrate'  it.  I  cannot  yet  hear  thee,  but  I  call  thee.  I  cannot  see 
thee,  but  I  call  thee."  On  entering  his  chamber  his  eye  caught 
the  inscription  upon  the  wall  :  "God  is  naught,  but  a  word."  He 
then  added,  "That  word,  may  it  not  solve  the  grand  enigma  of  the 
universe  ?"  Thus  this  great  scholar,  this  teacher  of  false  re- 
ligions, is  conducted  to  the  infinite  by  the  simple  plant  through  its 
beauty  and  fragrance. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  235 

How   touchingly   beautiful   is  the  ijoem  of  "  God's  beautiful 
thoughts/'  by  Mrs.  Mary  Savage,  a  Kansas  horticulturist. 

God's  beautiful  thoughts  ai'e  flowers  so  fair, 
Which  tell  of  our  Father's  loving  care 
For  the  children  of  men,  .which  all  may  share, 
Whether  high  or  low,  whether  rich  or  poor, 
For  they  bloom  as  bright  by  the  cottage  door. 
With  odor  as  fragrant,  and  beauty  as  rare. 
As  in  the  grounds  of  a  millionaire. 


KEPOET  ON  VEGETABLES. 


BY    J.    W.    KIDWELL. 

Mr.  Presidext  : — Your  committee  on  vegetables  beg  leave  to 
begin  their  report  at  this  time,  by  referring  to  our  last,  or  rather 
beginning,  Avhere  we  left  off. 

In  our  last  report  we  outlined  the  work  of  the  gardener  for 
January  and  February  by  referring  to  that  work  in  a  general  way  ; 
leaving  out  many  details  which  are  just  as  important  as  the  main 
work.  We  spoke  of  manure  hauling,  hot-bed  making,  seed  sow- 
ing and  transplanting,  all  in  a  general  way.  Now  if  this  society 
can  stand  the  pressure,  we  propose  to  give  some  details,  as  we  un- 
derstand them. 

♦  MA]SrURE    HAULING   FOR   HOT-BED    MAKING. 

Who  would  suppose  at  the  first  thought  that  there  was  any 
science  or  art  in  that  plain  work?  Any  person  who. can  hold  the 
lines  and  drive  a  pair  of  well  broke  horses,  and  has  the  nerve  to 
handle  a  good  f our-tined  fork,'  can  come  to  the  city  and  get  a  load 
of  manure,  drive  it  home  and  carelessly  throw  it  off  where  directed 
by  his  employer.  Many  of  the  professional  gardeners  around 
Kansas  City  do  their  manure  hauling  (or  have  it  done)  in  this  very 
way,  and  then  wonder  why  it  does  not  start  to  heating  at  once,  just 
in  the  coldest  weather  when  they  are  anxious  to  start  a  hot-bed. 
Manure  for  hot-beds  should  be  fresh  from  the  stable ;  hauled  to  the 
place  selected  for  the  bed,  and  thrown  off  in  a  square  or  long  heap 
— not  in  a  careless  or  indifferent  manner,  but  when  a  third  of  the 
load  has  been  thrown  off  it  should  be  well  tramped  ;  when  another 
third  is  thrown  off  again  tramped,  and  so  treating  the  last  third  of 


236  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  load  in  a  like  manner.  Three  good  loads  of  manure  treated 
in  this  way  will  heat  in  the  coldest  weather.  After  the  pile  is  well 
fomented  ;  say  in  three  or  four  days  after  the  first  heat  is  noticed, 
it  should  be  turned  over,  beginning  at  one  end  and  forming  a  new 
heap  in  a  similar  manner  as  the  first.  If  at  this  turning  the  heap 
shows  signs  of  burning,  or  fire-fang  as  it  is  called,  give  it  six  or 
eight  buckets  of  water  in  the  center  of  the  heap,  and  in  four  or 
five  days  it  is  ready  for  the  bed.  Then  begin  the  bed  by  turning 
the  manure  on  the  spot  where  the  bed  is  to  stand  ;  being  careful  to 
shake  out  the  manure  well  and  at  the  same  time  keeping  the  bed 
as  level  as  possible  and  tramping  it  well  three  or  four  times,  till 
the  manure  is  quite  solid  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches. 
Then  the  bed  is  ready  for  the  frame,  which  is  usually  a  box  six  feet 
wide  by  twelve  feet  long,  with  the  back  board  fifteen  inches  wide, 
anp  the  foot  board  twelve  inches  wide,  giving  the  proper  pitch  to  re- 
ceive the  suns  rays  and  also  to  throw  off  the  rain  from  the  glass. 

The  sash  mostly  used  aroun,d  Kansas  City  are  six  feet  long  by 
four  feet  wide  ;  three  of  these  sash  being  placed  upon  the  twelve 
foot  box  or  frame.  Before  the  sash  are  placed  on  the  box  it  is 
banked  around  with  manure  and  well  tramped  to  keep  the  frame  in 
its  place.  Then  it  is  ready  for  the  dirt,  which  should  be  a  good 
light  loam  well  composted  with  rotten  manure  ;  putting  from  six 
to  eight  inches  in  depth  of  this  soil  in  your  box.  The  bed  is  then 
well  raked  down  and  the  sash  put  on  and  left  a  few  days  when  it  is 
ready  for  the  seed.  A  hot-bed  made  in  this  way  in  December  will 
hold  its  heat  all  winter  sufficient  to  grow  lettuce  or  most  any  other 
crop  by  covering,  in  the  severest  cold  weather. 

Eaising  the  sash  to  give  your  plants  air  during  the  winter 
months  is  another  fine  point  in  the  raising  of  winter  crops  under 
glass.  Here  the  best  judgment  and  fine  sense  of  the  gardener  is 
well  taxed  to  know  how,  and  just  how  much,  to  raise  his  sash  with 
a  good  bottom  heat  beneath  his  plants,  and  a  bright  sun  beaming 
down  upon  his  glass,  at  the  same  time  a  cold  north  wind  blowing  a 
strong  gale  and  freezing  everything  in  the  shade.  These  last  diffi- 
culties to  be  contended  with  are  the  greatest  drawbacks  to  the 
amateur,  as  well  as  the  professional  gardener,  in  the  managemen 
of  hot-beds  in  our  changeable  climate. 

After  the  hot-bed  is  ready  for  the  seed  it  is  marked  at  the 
proper  distance  and  the  marks  made  the  proper  depth  to  suit  the 
seed  to  be  planted.  The  seed  is  then  drilled  in  by  the  thumb  and 
finger  and  covered  by  opening  the  fingers  and  drawing  them  down 
each  side  of  the  row.     Then  a   board  a   foot   wide  and  just  long 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  237 

enough  to  go  inside  the  box,  is  dropped  in  and  the  dirt  on  the 
seed  is  settled  by  stepping  on  the  board,  and  in  this  way  going 
over  the  whole  bed.  After  this  the  bed  is  thoroughly  sprinkled 
and  the  sash  placed  back  on  again.  Should  the  weather  be  ex- 
tremely cold  or  the  sun  extremely  bright,  the  bed  should  be 
covered.  In  the  first  extremity  the  bed  might  get  too  cold,  and  in 
the  last  it  might  get  too  dry  and  hot  before  the  seed  had  time  to 
germinate.  Sometimes  a  little  air  before  the  seed  is  up  is  quite 
necessary  and  as  soon  as  the  seed  is  up  the  plants  should  have 
all  the  light  and  air  that  the  weather  will  allow,  to  give  them  the 
natural  healthiness  and  hardiness  that  they  Avould  have  if  raised 
in  open  ground. 

As  to  the  varieties  and  different  kinds  of  vegetables  to  be  raised 
your  committee  hardly  know  what  kind  to  recommend.  There  are 
many  gardeners  who  have  many  varieties  of  seeds  to  recommend  to 
the  public,  and  all  may  be  good  in  some  parts  of  our  country. 

Hence,  we  can  only  recommend  such  varieties  for  this  locality  as 
have  been  tried  and  tested.  The  following  are  some  of  the  leading- 
vegetables  that  have  been  raised  and  found  to  be  good  for  this  sec- 
tion :  Asparagus,  Colossal  beans,  Ey  Feejee,  Red  Valentine  and 
Golden  Wax,  Pole  beans,  large  white  Lima ;  Beet,  Egyptian  for 
early  and  eclipse  for  late  ;  Cabbage,  Early  Jersey,  Wakefield  and 
Henderson's  Early  Summer  for  early.  For  late.  Premium  Flat 
Dutch.  For  trial,  early  Etampes  ;  Cauliflower,  Henderson's  Snow 
Ball  ;  Celery,  Golden  Dwarf,  and  for  trial  Henderson's  White 
Plume.  Corn,  Early  Adams,  Egyptian  Sweet  and  Stowell's  Ever- 
green. Cucumber,  Long  Green.  Egg  Plant,  New  York  improved. 
Lettuce,  Coffman's  for  hot-beds  and  Hanson's  for  out  door.  Musk- 
melon,  Montreal  Market  and  Hackensack.  Onions,  Denver 
Yellow  Globe  and  Southport  White  Globe.  Peas,  Henderson's 
first  of  all  American  Wonder,  and  for  trial.  Bliss  ever  bearing. 
Spinach,  Savoy  leaf  and  Round  leaf.  Squash,  White  Bush  Scol- 
loped, America^!  Turban  and  Hubbard.  Tomato,  the  Paragon, 
Acme  and  Perfection  ;  for  trial,  the  Cardinal.  Turnip,  the  best 
variety  for  our  hot  climate  is  the  Purple  Top  Strap  Leaf.  Your 
committee  have  only  named  those  vegetables  that  are  mostly 
raised  as  a  main  crop  and  some  of  the  new  varieties  we  think  well 
'  worthy  a  trial. 


238  Missouri  State  Horticnltural  Society. 


OBSEEVATIUA  THE  KEY  TO  HORTICULTUEAL 

SUCCESS. 


BY   JUDGE    M.    B.    ]S'EWMA2f,    WYANDOTTE,    KANSAS. 

Mr.   President : 

In  response  to  the  request  of  your  society,  received  through 
secretary,  I  have  prepared  an  essay  on  the  subject  of  "  Observation 
as  the  Key  to  Horticultural  Success. 

As  it  is  well  known  to  the  members  of  this  society  that  my 
reputation  as  a  practical  horticulturist  rests  upon  a  very  limited 
foundation,  you  will  not  be  surprised  at  the  confession  that  I  find 
myself,  on  this  occasion,  to  be  in  a  somewhat  similar  position  to 
that  of  the  noted  Scottish  parson,  whose  precepts  were  much  more 
edifying  to  his  parishioners  thaii  was  his  example — and  who  used 
to  say  to  his  flock  :  ''Brethren,  I  wad  na'  ha'  ye  do  as  I  do,  but 
do  as  I  tell  ye.^'  But  as  all  this  was  fully  understood  when  the 
action  of  this  society  was  had  in  the  premises,  I  must  conclude 
that  little  more  will  be  expected  from  me,  in  this  essay,  than  the 
introduction  of  a  mere  entering  wedge  to  the  more  practical  ob- 
servations that  may  be  expected  to  follow  in  your  further  discussion 
of  the  subject. 

Observation,  and  the  practical  application  of  its  best  results, 
are  not  only  necessary  to  horticultural  success,  but  are  equally 
essential  to  success  in  all  the  leading  pursuits  of  life  ;  and  especially 
to  the  advancement  of  all  real  knowledge.  Astronomy,  geology, 
mineralogy,  chemistry,  and  all  the  kindred  branches  in  the  study  of 
nature,  would  unquestionably  have  been  yet  to-day  involved  in  the 
misty  ignorance  of  the  middle  ages,  had  it  not  been  for  those  funda- 
mental changes  in  the  courses  of  thought,  and  interpretations  of  na- 
ture's phenomena,  eifected  by  more  penetrating  observations  of  facts, 
and  their  more  careful  study.  Two  centuries  ago,  by  observing  the 
falling  of  an  apple,  the  great  intellect  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  pene- 
trated and  solved  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  thereby  first 
demonstrated  the  truth  of  the  Copernican  system  of  astronomy,' 
and  otherwise  prepared  the  way  for  a  new  era  in  scientific  progress. 
•Since  then,  following  in  the  light  of  that  great  mental  luminary, 
a  thronged  succession  of  ardent  students  of  nature  have  so  success- 
fully continued  observant  explorations  in  all  the  fruitful  fields  of 
natural   science,    that  now   clear   light  is   shining  everywhere  on 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  239 

what,   but  a  lew  centuries  ago,    was  the  comparative  darkness  of 
almost  vmiversal  ignorance  of  nature's  actual  laws. 

But  it  would  be  outside  of  the  purpose  and  the  necessary 
limits  of  this  paper  to  follow,  even  in  outlines,  the  course  and 
results  of  observation  in  the  wide  domains  of  scientific  research. 
Nay,  even  in  the  limited  field  of  horticulture  alone,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  carefully  guard  against  such  fullness  of  scope  as  would 
too  much  extend  the  limits  and  consume  the  time  to  which  I 
should  appropriately  be  confined.  And  I  am"  fully  aware  that 
much  of  what  I  nlay  have  to  leave  unsaid  herein  will  be  fai-  more 
intructively  referi'ed  to  by  the  intelligent  members  of  this  society, 
m  the  after  discussion. 

Unfortunately  for  the  modern  students  of  pomology,  the  past 
course  of  its  development,  previous  to  the  present  century,  is,  for 
the  most  part,  an  unwritten  history.  In  ancient  classic  literature, 
and  also  in  that  of  medieval  times,  and  onward  to  nearly  the  close 
of  the  18th  century,  we  find  occasional  references  to  the  subject ; 
though  but  little,  if  any,  real  light  is  thereby  thrown  upon  the 
actual  stages  of  its  development.  Doubtless  the  critical  observa- 
tions and  the  practical  experiments  of  those  earlier  ages  must  have 
been  incoiceivably  numerous ;  and  had  the  records  thereof  been 
duly  preserved  they  would  have  constituted  most  interesting 
volumes  of  horticultural  literature.  This,  however,  must  be  left 
largely  to  the  imagination  ;  and  while  we  must  deeply  reget  the 
loss  of  that  which  would  have  afforded  us  so  much  both  of 
scientific  and  antiquarian  interest,  we  have  abundant  reason  to 
rejoice  in  the  fullness  of  pomological  science  and  literature 
developed  within  our  present  century. 

Opening  with  the  valuable,  but  rather  unmethodized  writings 
of  such  men  as  Knight,  Forsyth,  and  others,  of  England,  and 
Coxe,  Fessenden  and  Prince,  of  the  United  States,  in  the  first 
quarter  of  our  century ;  and  still  later,  largely  enriched  by  those 
eminent  writers,  Thomas,  Kenrick,  Manning  and  Barry,  it  was 
reserved  for  the  latter  part  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  century  to 
lift  our  favorite  study  from  its  previously  unorganized  condition 
to  the  proud  distinction  of  a  highly  developed  science.  When 
the  labors  of  the  venerated  A.  J.  Downing  culminated  in  the 
publication  of  his  "  Fruits  and  Fruit  Treesof  America,"  in  1845,  a 
broad  scientific  basis  for  horticultural  study  was  at  once  recognized 
by  all  intelligent  pomologists.  And  guided  by  the  great  light  of 
that  admirable  production,  a  briliant  constellation  of  stars  suc- 
cessively arose  in  the  horticultural  firmament,  culminating  in  the 


240  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Suciehj. 

evolution  of  Dr.  John  A.  Warder,   whose  memory  is  now  equally 
venerated  with  that  of  the  lamented  Downing. 

Sin.ce  the  auspicious  events  last  referred  to,  observation,  sup- 
plemented by  sound  scientific  principles,  has  been  brought  to  bear, 
at  all  times  and  in  all  directions,  on  the  varied  phenomena  present- 
ed in  horticultural  work.  These  observations  have  been  regularly 
and  carefully  noted  and  collated  ;  and,  by  intelligent  study  and  ex- 
perimentation based  thereon,  progress  in  the  right  direction  is  be- 
ing steadily  maintained.  The  improvements  of  varieties  of  fruits 
by  cross  fertilization  and  hybridization — the  adaptations  of  our  va- 
rious classes  of  fruits  to  the  diversified  soils,  elevations,  aspects,  and 
other  local  influences  of  our  respective  orchard  and  vineyard  situa- 
tions— the  antidotes  to  our  multitudes  of  insect  enemies  and  fungoid 
antagonisms^ — the  modes  of  cultivation,  and  the  manurial  aids,  best 
suited  to  the  full  development  of  the  various  fruits  under  our  cul- 
ture, in  size,  and  forms,  and  excellence  of  qualities — in  short,  all 
matters  affecting  the  results  of  horticultural  labors,  advantageously 
or  disadvantageously,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  now  being  so  closely 
and  intelligently  studied  that  those  who  fail  to  keep  step  to  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  by  persistent  observation  of  all  the  elements  of 
success  and  failure,  must  necessarily  fall  behind  the  ranks  of  the 
successful  horticulturalists  of  the  age. 

But  m  connection  with  the  foregoing  suggestion  of  some  of  the 
perplexing  concomitants  of  horticultural  operations,  it  seems  appro- 
priate to  duly  recognize  the  valuable  work  now  being  accomplished 
by  certain  distinguished  laborers  outside  of  the  ranks  of  those  who 
are  devoting  themselves  to  fruit  culture  mainly  for  its  pecuniary 
results.  Last  January  we  had  the  pleasure  of  attending,  in  Kansas 
City,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Mississijjpi  Valley  Horticultural 
Society.  In  that  unusually  intelligent  assemblage  were  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  and  successful  fruitgrowers  of  our  country  ;  and 
also  among  them  there  were  a  number  of  the  learned  professors  from 
our  various  western  industrial  colleges.  There  ripe  experience  and 
scientific  ability  were  gathered  side  by  side.  Carefully  observed 
facts  were  clearly  stated  there  by  the  practical  members ;  and  on 
the  submission  of  these  to  the  scientists,  their  usually  clear  elucida- 
tions were  such  that  we  could  not  but  feel  gratified  at  the  many  tri- 
umphs of  mind  over  matter  therein  manifested.  But  the  feature  of 
that  meeting  that  I  would  call  special  attention  to  was  the  palpable 
effect  of  close  observation  and  study  as  the  means  of  their  readiness 
and  clearness  in  the  statements  and  interpretations  of  the  facts  pre- 
sented. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  241 

Who  that  attended  those  interesting  meetings  would  fail  to  bu 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  close  observation  and  profound  study 
of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  were  the  mainsprings  of  the  mental 
powers  therein  so  conspicuously  displayed.  And  how  well  was  it 
therein  demonstrated  that  in  the  united  labors  of  the  practical 
horticulturalists  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  scientists  on  the  other 
hand,  we  are  ultimately  to  bring  to  practical  solutions  all  the 
troublesome  problems  of  horticultural  pursuits. 

In  conclusion  I  must  briefly  advert  to  the  fact  that,  notwith- 
standing the  vast  advances  in  horticultural  knowledge  made  within 
the  present  century,  we  are  as  yet  but  barely  entering  upon  the 
pathways  that  lead  toward  the  highest  attainable  success  ;  and  how 
rapid  our  further  progress  may  be  must  depend  upon  continuing 
perseverance  in  critical  observation,  and  the  wisdom  shown  in  mak- 
ing the  best  use  of  the  results.  Then  let  me  here  suggest — and 
especially  to  tlie  younger  horticultural  workers  of  this  society — the 
importance  of  regularly  journalizing  all  the  daily  observations  and 
.interesting  incidents  of  your  work.  Note  when  and  how  you  have 
attended  to  the  planting  and  after  cultivation  of  each  species  and 
variety  of  the  fruits  under  your  care  ;  note  the  after  stages  of  growth 
and  development  of  each  ;  note  particularly  the  staminate  plants 
with  which  you  fertilize  your  pistilates,  and  closely  scrutinize  the 
varying  results,  if  any,  as  affecting  quantity  and  quality  of  the  fruit 
produced.  In  short,  every  item  of  work  necessary  to  be  done  should 
be  considered  worthy  of  a  special  note,  and  all  the  more  interesting 
items  should  be  carefully  underscored.  Then,  at  the  close  of  eacli 
season's  work,  the  entire  journal  should  be  thoroughly  reviewed, 
and  its  lessons  formulated,  as  systematically  as  your  accounts  of 
profit  and  loss.  No  better  course  of  self-education  can  you  possibly 
adopt  ;  and  no  other  course  can  make  you  so  useful  as  members  of 
your  society,  or  so  ready  to  speak  creditably  on  the  questions  arising 
for  discussion  in  your  meetings.  In  a  word,  emulate  the  admirable 
examples  of  the  distinguished  leaders  in  pomology,  the  benefits  of 
whose  arduous  labors  we  are  now  so  richly  enjoying,  and  honor  tlie 
memories  of  Downing  and  Warder  by  the  continuance  of  their  suc- 
cessful methods  of  work  and  study.  And  to  do  this  with  the  best 
practical  effect,  each  should  constantly  bear  in  mind  the  subject  of 
this  day's  discussion  :  "  Observation,  the  Ke}^  to  Horticultural 
Success." 


242  3lissouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


EEPOKT  OF  HOLT  COUNTY  HORTIOULTUEAL  SOCIETY. 


BY   THE    SECRETARY,    J.    M.    HASNESS,    OREGON,    MO. 

The  Holt  County  Horticultural  Society  was  organized  in  March 
1883,  with  ten  members.  ISI.  F.  Murry  was  elected  president  and 
J,  M.  Hasness  secretary.  From  the  first,  it  was  a  success,  and  now 
numbers  fifty-four  members,  of  whom  thirty-eight  are  males  and 
sixteen  female,  and  the  ihost  of  whom  talie  an  active  interest  in 
the  society  and  its  meetings.  Each  spring  a  strawberrry  and  a 
raspberry  display  is  made,  small  premiums  offered  for  best  displays, 
and  the  fruits  become  the  property  of  the  society,  and  with  cream 
and  cakes,  contributed  by  the  members,  a  feast  is  had.  Dr.  Gos- 
lin  is  the  '"^  Big  Injun"  at  the  strawberry  displays,  and  J.  N. 
Menifee,  at  the  raspberry  ones. 

During  the  year  four  meetings  have  been  held,  all  of  which 
were  well  attended.  At  the  last,  the  State  Secretary,  Dr.  Goodman, 
was  present  and  did  us  the  honor  of  saying  that  our  apple  display 
was  in  many  respects  the  best  he  had  seen  this  season,  and  would 
be  a  credit  to  any  country. 

Papers  upon  various  subjects  are  read  at  each  meeting,  and 
discussed  by  the  members,  and  mucli  valuable  information  obtained. 

The  officers  of  the  society  for  the  present  year  are  :  N.  F. 
Murry,  President ;  J.  N.  Menifee,  Vice-President ;  J.  M.  Has- 
ness, Secretary  ;  C.  Hoblozell,  Treasurer. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  society  much  more  interest  is 
being  taken  in  fruit  raising  than  formerly,  and  especially  is  this 
the  case  in  small  fruit  culture.  Not  only  are  more  going  into  the 
business,  but  better  varieties  and  more  systematic  methods  of  cul- 
tivating are  being  introduced. 

The  Holt  County  Horticultural  Society  held  a  very  interesting 
meeting  on  Saturday  afternoon,  October  11.  The  object  of  this 
meeting  was  to  make  selections  of  apples  to  be  sent  to  the  World's 
Fair  at  New  Orleans. 

State  Secretary  Goodman  was  present  and  read  a  very  inter- 
esting essay  on  the  fruit  interests  of  our  state,  and  also  a  very 
interesting  talk  on  the  prospective  prices  of  apples.  He  was  of 
the  opinion  that  if  our  apple  growers  would  hold  on  to  their  best 
varieties,  such  as  Ben  Davis,  Wine  Saps,  etc.,  they  would  be  able 
to  realize  80  cents  to  ILOO  j)er  bushel   by  December  or  January. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  243 

Missouri  and  Kansas,  he  said  no  doubt   would  be  called  upon  to 
supply  the  great  west  and  northwest. 

Those  who  made  displays  of  apples  were  : 

George  Meyer,  six  varieties. 

T.  I.  Kreek,  forty-six  varieties. 

David  Barbour,  five  varieties. 

]Sr.  F.  Murry,  thirty  varieties. 

John  Bond,  four  varieties. 

John  Callow,  five  varieties. 

S.  T.  Huiatt,  one  variety. 

J.  K.  Menifee,  five  varieties. 

Wm.  Brodbeck,  twenty-five  varieties. 

Stephen  Blanch ard,  seven  varieties. 

T.  B.  Curtis,  five  varieties. 

L.  ]Sr.  Howard,  three  varieties. 

Henry  Hughes,  five  varieties, 

Mr.    X.    F.    Murry    read  the  following  interesting  pajDer  on 

''VAKIETIES   OF    APPLES:" 

After  all  tlie  luminous  works  by  able  authors,  giving  a  detailed 
and  accurate  description  of  thousands  of  varieties  of  the  apple, 
together  with  the  nurseryman's  descriptive  catalogues  scattered 
with  a  liberal  hand  broadcast  over  the  country,  an  article  at  this 
time  from  your  humble  servant  on  the  same  subject  may  seem  stale 
and  a  waste  of  time.  To  my  mind  no  other  question  connected 
with  the  whole  routine  of  fruit  growing,  requires  so  much  careful 
study  and  practical  knoAvledge.  On  this  our  future  success  or 
failure  depends. 

Warder's  work  on  American  pomology  describes  about  fifteen 
hundred  varieties  ;  in  addition  to  this,  we  have  other  lengthy  lists 
with  glowing  descriptions,  and  new  varieties  coming 'into  notice. 
Also  many  imported  varieties  from  Eussia  and  elsewhere,  being 
continually  extolled  by  the  silver-tongued  tree  vender,  as  superior 
tf)  iiiir  native  varieties.  With  all  this  vast  array  of  varieties 
spread  out  before  the  man  who  contemplates  planting  an  orchard, 
it  is  little  wonder  that  he  often  makes  the  mistake  of  planting  too 
many  varieties.  This  is  the  fatal  rook  on  which  many  enthusiastic 
growers  shipwreck.  In  our  own  experience  we  have  noticed  many 
fine  looking  orchards  that  in  reality  had  no  commercial  value — not 
v/orth  the  ground  they  occupied  ;  because  of  too  many  varieties, 
many  of  which  were  almost  barren,  although  very  fruitful  and 
profitable  in  other  sections.  We  just  now  think  of  our  fine  Baldwin 
tree   in  our  own  orchard,  planted  fifteen  years  ago,  that  has   just 


244  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

borne  fifteen  apples  all  told  ;  yet  this  is  a  choice  apple  and  the  great 
commercial  apple  of  some  sections  in  the  east.  The  Roxbury, 
Ensset  and  Rome  Beauty  were  the  two  great  market  apples  of  the 
Ohio  River  Valley  twenty  years  ago  ;  neither  one  is  profitable  here. 

Some  varieties,  like  men,  start  off  well,  make  a  brilliant  record 
for  a  few  years,  then  so  utterly  fail  as  to  -disgust  their  warmest 
friends  and  admirers.  Of  such  is  the  White  Winter  Pearmain, 
famous  in  Northwest  Missouri  fifteen  years  ago,  and  at  that  time 
really  a  fine,  delicious  variety,  but  now  I  pronounce  it  worthless. 
The  history  of  this  apple  may  bring  to  our  minds  the  inquiry  as  to 
whether  certain  varieties  run  out  or  not.  No,  they  never  do.  This 
is  a  mistakei:!  notion  of  some  writers.  In  the  case  of  the  White 
Winter  Pearmain,  at  the  time  it  stood  so  high,  was  simply  a  trial, 
and  for  a  few  years  made  a  good  record,  but  in  a  fifteen  year  race 
it  has  been  left  in  the  distance.  But  it  would*  be  impossible  for 
me  at  present  to  speak  of  all  the  good  varieties  in  cultivation,  much 
less  the  bad,  so  I  shall  only  speak  of  a  few  good  varieties  for  a 
given  purpose. 

The  first  question  for  the  one  about  to  plant  an  apple  orchard 
to  decide,  is  for  .what  purpose  he  wishes  to  grow  apples  ?  If  it  be 
for  family  use,  then  he  should  consult  the  family  taste  and  select 
varieties  enough  to  give  them  a  succession  of  ripe  apples  the  en- 
tire year.  If  near  a  large  city  and  he  wishes  to  peddle  apples  on 
the  market  twelve  months  in  the  year,  let  him  do  the  same.  If  to 
feed  and  fatten  stock,  as  some  of  our  eastern  friends  do,  then  select 
sweet  varieties.  If  for  cider,  plant  Hem's  Virginia  Crab  and  you 
will  not  be  disapjDointed.  '  If  for  a  commercial  orchard  of  the  best 
paying  winter  varieties,  plant  Ben.  Davis,  Jonathan,  Grime's 
Golden  Pippin,  Willow  Twig.  Winesaps  and  Janet. 

If  I  was  asked  the  question  to  name  the  most  profitable 
market  apple,  I  would  unhesitatingly  answer  Ben  Davis.  It  has 
proved  so  in  our  own  orchard.  We  find  it  growing  in  favor  with 
the  people  and  advancing  in  price.  If  I  was  compelled  to  choose 
just  one  variety  for  all  purposes  it  would  be  Grime's  Golden  Pippin. 
I  feel  sure  this  great  apple  is  underrated.  The  original  tree  grew 
in  Brooke  count}",  West  Virginia,  not  far  from  my  former  home. 
I  have  known  this  variety  for  thirty  years,  and  had  the  statement 
from  a  trustworthy  source  that  the  original  tree  was  eighty  years  old 
and  had  borne  fruit  for  seventy-five  years  in  succession.  Warder 
says  the  tree  is  vigorous  and  healthy,  an  early  bearer,  fruit  of  the 
very  best  quality  ;  use,  dessert ;  too  good  for  aught  else  ;  season, 
June  to  March.     Twenty  years  ago  when  this  apj^le  was  introduced 


Aiimial  Meeting  at  ISt.  Joseph.  245 

into  the  Cinciunati  market  it  created  such  a  call  for  more,  that 
nursery  trees  run  up  from  fifteen  to  fifty  cents  each.  After  a  trial 
of  it  in  Holt  county  for  fifteen  years  I  find,  it  more  than  sustains 
its  eastern  reputation ;  the  fruit  is  larger,  finer,  tree  productive, 
don't  overbear,  but  bears  every  year  ;  tree  very  hardy,  so  hardy 
that  our  two  past  '^ Arctic"  winters  failed  to  leave  their  trace, 
al thong li  damaging  many  varieties,  considered  hardy,  seriously. 
The  frait  sells  readily  at  high  prices.  Only  one  objection  to  it  in 
the  market,  that  is  they  don't  get  enough  to  bring  it  into  general 
notice.  I  think  it  has  a  bright  future  and  those  who  plant  largely 
of  it  for  market  will  not  be  disajDpointed. 

There  were  four  premiums  awarded.  For  the  largest  col- 
lection of  apples,  two  dollars,  was  awarded  to  T.  I.  Kreck  ;  the 
second  largest,  one  dollar,  to  N".  F.  Murry.  For  the  best  collec- 
tion of  flowers,  two  dollars,  was  awarded  to  J.  N.  Menifee ;  for  the 
best  bouquet,  one  dollar,  Mrs.  S.  Q.  Goslin.  The  committee  in 
making  the  awards  for  apples,  stated  that  the  best  specimens  ex- 
hibited were  made  by  Mr.  William  Brodbeck  and  N.  F.  Murry. 

The  selections  made  for  the  World's  fair  at  New  Orleans  were 
made  from  the  displays  made  by  Messrs.  S.  T.  Huiatt,  John  Callow, 
T.  I.  Kreck,  N.  F.  Murry,  Thomas  Curtis,  Wm.  Brodbeck,  John 
Bond,  Henry  Hughes,  S.  Blanchard.  The  varieties  consisted  of 
Ben.  Davis,  Jonathan,  Winesaps,  Tophahocking,  Domine,  Talma 
Sweet,  Brodwell  Sweet,  York,  Imperial,  Baldwin,  Perry,  Russet, 
Bellflowers,  Rambo,  Stark  and  Pearmain. 

This  meeting  of  the  society  was  one  of  the  best  in  its  history, 
and  we  opine  Holt  county  will  make  a  showing  at  the  World's  Fair, 
second  to  none  in  the  United  States. 


REPORT  OF  GREEJN^E  COUNTY  HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


D.    S.    HOLMAX,    SECRETARY^    SPRINGEILD. 

Officers  and  Memtjers  of  the  Missouri  Horticultural  Society  : 

Pursuant  to  call  of   your  Secretary,   I  hereby   offer   a   short 

report  from  Oreene  County  Horticultural  Society. 

Though  never  large  this  society  was  a  living  working  society  a 

score  of  years  ago,  and  for  years  did  good  service  in  the  cause  of 


246  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

horticulture  in  this  locality.  Falling  into  a  state  of  lukewarmness 
for  a  time  the  society  abandoned  the  regular  monthly  meetings. 
Last  summer  a  reorganization  was  effected  by  a  few  old  members 
and  some  new  ones  with  intention  to  rebuild  and  go  forward  ;  this 
we  are  doing,  and  are  encouraged  by  occasional  accessions  of  new 
members,  of  whom  a  liberal  number  are  ladies,  who  readily  adjust 
themselves  to  the  floral  and  kindred  duties  best  fitting  their  skillful 
and  willing  hands. 

Our  regular  meetings  are  upon  the  first  Saturday  of  each 
month  in  Springfield.  Our  number  is  only  thirty-two  members, 
with  the  following  officers  : 

President — M.  J.  Koundtree. 

Vice-President — Joseph  Kirchgraber. 

Secretary — D.  S.  Holman. 

Treasurer — F.  F.  Fine. 

It  has  formerly  been  our  custom  to  give  to  the  public  an 
annual  and  semi-annual  fair,  or  exhibition  of  the  best  fruits  and 
flowers  grown  in  the  county,  which  were  always  well  patronized. 

This  we  propose  to  resume  and  to  make  the  i'utnre  better 
than  the  past,  and  we  hope  to  have  at  your  next  meeting  a  better 
report. 


REPORT  OF  BATES  COUNTY  HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


HENRY    ttPEERS,    SECRETARY,    BUTLER. 

Mr.  L.  A.   Goodman. 

Dear  sir  :  Your  programmes  and  kind  invitation  to  be 
present  at  St.  Joseph,  received.  I  find  I  cannot  come,  so  I  comply 
with  your  request  as  near  as  I  can. 

You  have  a  list  of  our  members  who  are  heads  of  families.  Our 
full  list  contains  thirty-five  names  ;  but  our  live,  active  membership 
is  much  less  than  that.  We  have  had  papers  read,  and  discussions 
upon  a-w^ide  range  of  subjects  during  the  year.  "  The  root  borer," 
''destruction  of  canker  worm,"  "codling  moth,"  "  varieties  of 
apples  for  commercial  orchards,"  and  *'  the  future  prospect  of  the 
peach  "  being  a  portion  of  them  ;  most  of  them  being  published  in 
the  local  papers. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  247 

I  trust  yoit  may  have  a  good  meeting  and  pleasant  time  and 
regret  it  very  much  tliat  I  cannot  be  tiiere. 

The  regiihir  monthly  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  at  the 
beautiful  and  commodious  farm  residence  of  H.  B.  Francis,  in 
Homer  township,  on  Saturday  last,  July  19.  The  attendance 
though  not  large  as  usual,  represented  a  large  number  of  the 
townships,  and  some  of  the  most  distant  from  the  place  of  meeting. 
J.  B.  Darand,  of  Homer  township,  presided  and  Squire  Innis 
acted  as  secretary  pro  tern.  Committee  on  orchards,  insects,  small 
fruits,  vegotables  and  flowers,  made  their  reports,  and  the  society 
discussed  points  of  interest.  Report  of  the  condition  of  fruit  and 
fruit  trees  throughout  the  state  of  the  State  Horticultural  Society 
was  also  read  and  discussed.  A  resolution  was  passed  requiring 
reports  of  committee  in  the  future  to  be  made  in  writing  and  filed 
with  the  secretary.  Mr.  C.  I,  Robards,  of  Butler,  supplemented 
his  report  on  small  fruits  with  some  very  practical  hints  regarding 
the  varieties,  cultivation,  etc.,  and  was  most  successful  under  his 
own  observation  and  experience.  I.  B.  Innis'  report  on  vegetables 
was  interesting,  and  suggestive  of  many  important  points  con- 
nected with  success  in  growing  vegetables  and  preserving  them 
from  the  ravages  of  the  insects. 

Thos.  Irish,  of  the  Mining  Review,  delivered  an  address 
before  the  society,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  asking  that  it  be 
published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  county,  and  that  Mr.  Irish 
furnish  a  copy  to  each  of  the  papers  for  that  purpose.  A  paper  on 
flowers,  was  read  by  Mrs.  H.  B.  Francis,  and  on  motion  was  ordered 
filed  and  a  request  made  that  it  also  be  published. 

The  society  is  in  a  flourishing  condition  and  promises  much 
good  to  the  fruit,  flower  and  vegetable  interests  of  this  county,  and 
should  receive  the  patronage  of  all  those  interested  in  the  upbuilding 
of  horticultural  interests  in  our  midst.  Tne  next  regular  meeting 
will  be  held  at  the  residence  of  J.  B.  Durand,  Prairie  City,  on 
Saturday,  August  i6th,  1884.  All  those  interested  and  desiring  to 
become  members  are  invited  to  be  present  at  the.  next  meeting. 
Newspapers  of  the  county  are  requested  to  note  time  and  place  of 
the  next  meeting. 

Besides  the  regular  business  at  the  next  meeting,  papers  will  be 
read  as  follows  :  Injurious  insects,  E.  P.  Henry  ;  condition  of 
apple  orchards,  Henry  Speer  ;  future  prospects  of  the  peach,  C.  I. 
Roberts. 


24:8  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


AN  ESSAY  KEAD  BEFORE  THE  BATES    COUISTTY    HOR- 
TICULTURAL SOCIETY,  JULY  19,  1884. 


BY    MRS.    H.    B.    FRANCIS,    OF    HOMER   TOWNSHIP. 

Flowers  are  to  the  vegetable  creation  what  poetry  or  music  is 
to  the  literary  world,  perhaps  not  as  profitable,  but  certainly  the 
most  beautiful  of  all  things  that  grow.  They  are  not  only  pleasing 
to  the  eye,  but  they  give  out  a  sweet  smelling  fragrance  that  im- 
parts an  agreeable  sensation  that  is  indescribable  and  defies  the  art 
of  man  to  imitate.  The  cultivation  of  flowers  is  one  of  the  few 
labors,  as  well  as  pleasures,  that  improves  alike  the  mind  and  heart, 
and  makes  every  true  lover  of  these  beautiful  creations  of  infinite 
love,  wiser,  purer  and  nobler,  and  teaches  industry,  patience,  faith 
and  hope.  We  plant  and  sow  in  hope  and  patiently  wait  with 
faith  in  the  rainbow  promise  that  the  harvest  shall  never  fail.  It 
is  a  pleasure  that  brings  no  pain,  a  sweet  without  a  sour.  We  gaze 
upon  the  beautiful  plants  and  flowers  with  a  delicious  comming- 
ling of  admiration  and  love.  They  are  the  offspring  of  nature, 
cultivated  and  improved  by  our  forethought,  taste  and  care,  pro- 
ducing a  new,  mysterious  and  glorious  creation  cherished  and  ad- 
mired by  all.  By  cultivation  we  can  add  new  graces  and  mould 
the  earth,  the  sunshine  and  the  rain  into  matchless  beauty,  and 
crystalize  the  dewdrops  into  gems  of  loveliness. 

Cod  doubtless  could  have  made  a  world  without  a  flower  to 
gild  the  landscape,  but  He  in  his  wisdom  and  goodness  did  not  do 
so.  After  creating  man  in  his  own  image  He  placed  him  in  a 
beautiful  garden  in  which  was  every  plant  and  flower  that  was  pleas- 
ant to  the  sight  or  good  for  food.  When  man  became  a  law-breaker 
he  was  expelled  from  the  garden  and  compelled  to  work  for  food 
among  the  thorns  and  thistles.  In  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world 
the  refinement,  innocence  and  happiness  of  the  people  may  be 
measured  by  the  flowers  they  cultivate.  The  farm  is  not  a  place 
for  stolid  drudgery  and  unthinking  toil,  but  a  field  for  study, 
thought,  research  and  culture  ;  a  place  where  not  only  money  but 
an  honorable  name  may  be  earned.  When  this  is  better  under- 
stood by  our  American  farmers,  our  young  men  and  maidens  will 
love  the  occupation  of  their  fathers,  and  fiowers  will  adorn  every 
country  home.  But  if  the  father  begrudges  wife  and  children  a 
few  dollars  and  a  little  labor  to  make  home  pleasant  and  beautiful, 
he  need  not  be  surprised  if  his  children  have  no  love  for  home. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josejjh.  249 

A  few  beds  and  borders  surrounded  by  shells  and  stones  filled 
with  a  judicious  selection  of  plants  and  flowers  add  a  charm  of 
both  beauty  and  fragrance  to  the  home  yard  and  garden.  We 
would  not  have  you  understand  that  we  would  fill  all  the  space 
with  flowers,  not  by  any  means,  but  that  they  be  not  overlooked  or 
forgotten  entirely.  We  also  like  to  see  a  farmer's  home  surrounded 
with  a  variety  of  crops  and  stock.  Besides  the  field  products  there 
should  be  an  orchard  of  standard  fruits  and  a  good  variety  of 
small  fruits  and  a  vegetable  garden.  To  this  add  a  small  lot  of 
poultry,  and  the  picture  is  complete.  By  a  proper  use  of  all  these 
comforts  by  the  housewife,  health  is  secured,  want  not  known, 
mortgages  not  needed,  and  happiness  and  content  is  the  reward. 

Below  will  be  found  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  speech 
of  Thos.  Irish,  of  the  Rich  Hill  Mhiing  Revieiv,  delivered  before 
the  Bates  County  Horticultural  Society,  July  19th,  1884  : 

"  The  amount  of  money  invested  in  horticultural  interests  in 
Bates  county  is  enormous — too  much,  my  friends,  to  be  alloAved  to 
take  its  chances  with  the  dangers  hovering  around  us.  Danger 
from  the  elements  and  from  the  pestiferous  insects  that  are  yearly 
attracting  our  eager  watchfulness  and  engaging  our  labored  at- 
tention ;  too  much,  I  say,  not  to  require  the  fostering  care  and 
untired  efforts  of  every  interested  citizen.  In  no  other  way  can 
our  aims  be  attained  and  our  efforts  made  successful  tlum  by  en- 
larging the  membership  and  interest  of  our  horticultui'al  society. 

A  county  with  35,000  enterprising,  industrious,  educated 
inhabitants,  occupying  576,000  acres  of  land,  and  enjoying  9,000 
homes,  with  horticultnrar  interests  valued  at  1450,000,  should  enjoy 
a  horticultural  organization  of  such  respectability  and  influence  as 
to  command  respect  and  attention,  not  only  in  our  own  county,but 
in  every  county  in  this  great  state  ;  and  to  accomplish  this  and 
much  more  it  is  only  necessary  that  every  member  become  a 
watchful  and  useful  member,  engaging  the  co-labor  of  his  neighbor 
in  the  cause  of  horticulture,  and  carefully  noting  every  item  of 
interest  that  comes  under  his  observation.  In  this  wav,  and  bv 
devoting  as  much  time  as  is  possible  in  researcli  and  study  of  leading 
works,  reading  the  best  horticultural  journals  and  proceedings  of 
state  and  national  associations,  can  we  hope  to  reach  that  high  and 
honorable  distinction  as  a  society." 

It  will  not  do  for  any  member  of  this  society  to  shirk  the  re- 
sponsibility of  his  membership  or  plead  the  excuse  of  want  of  time 
or  too  much  business  pressing  upon  him.  We  have  all  the  time 
there  is,  and  as  to  manual   labor,  when  not  excessive,  it  invigorates 


250  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  body  and  arouses  the  mind,  but  cannot  satisfy  its  wants  ;  and 
therefore,  it  is  recreation — it  is  real  pleasure  to  go  out  into  the 
orchard  and  garden  to  search  for  the  hidden  mvsteries  of  knowledse. 

As  laborers  in  the  orchard  and  vineyard,  on  the  farm  and  in 
the  garden,  we  must  remember  in  scanning  over  the  jjages  of  the 
world's  history,  that  a  large  portion  of  those  who  have  shone  as 
stars  in  the  literary  world  or  illuminated  the  path  of  scientific 
knowledge  ;  who  have  been  the  benefactors  of  their  race,  the  mas- 
ter-spirits of  their  age,  have  been  toilers,  born  in  obscurity,  reared 
in  poverty,  and  obliged  to  work  for  a  livelihood,  This  is  no  time 
or  place  to  i^lead  too  much  work.  This  is  an  age  of  invention  and 
investigation,  and  it  is  the  working  man  that  is  to-day  accomplishing 
the  most  good  in  the  world.  It  is  to  him  we  are  looking  to  unveil 
the  hidden  mysteries  of  science.  To-day  *'we  have  men  w^ho  labor 
at  the  anvil,  and  follow  the  plow,  wear  the  basket  and  tend  the 
loom,  and  yet  have  strength  and  time  to  imi^rove  their  race,  to 
send  forth  strains  which  elevate  and  purify  and  find  a  response  in 
every  soul.  We  have  philosophers,  statesmen  and  orators  eloquent 
from  among  the  working  classes,  who  far  outstrip  men  borne  in 
influence,  and  who  make  stndy  the  business  of  life.'' 

It  is  for  the  very  reason  that  we  are  engaged  in  the  gardens  of 
our  homes,  for  the  very  reason  that  we  sow  the  seed,  and  plant  the 
tree,  and  dig  up  the  gronnd,  that  we  are  capable  of  accomplishing 
more  for  the  cause  of  horticulture  than  the  man  who  makes  study 
the  b.usiness  of  life.  It  is  indeed  n  pleasure  to  study  the  science  of 
entomologj^,  to  examine  the  progress  made  in  natural  history  during 
the  past  centuries ;  to  read  the  workg  of  Aristotle,  Linnaeus, 
DeGeer  and  Fabricins,  and  to  know  how  under  the  more  extended 
research  of  Avriters  of  our  own, day,  the  number  of  insects  knowm 
and  described  has  prodigiously  increased  ;  yet  it  is  more  real  satis- 
faction to  watch  the  develoj)ment  of  these  varied  insects,  watch 
the  natural  changes  they  undergo,  changes  from  one  class  of  insect 
life  to  that  of  another,  and  group  them  together  in  their  different 
orders  ;  to  actually  observe  the  stages  in  life  at  which  they  do  their 
mischief  ;  liow^  to  protect  against  their  depredations,  and  when 
they  can  be  most  easily  destroyed.  In  this  way  the  working  man 
has  the  advantage  of  the  theorist  and  the  mere  classical  student, 
who  wearies  of  continued  mental  effort,  whose  mind  is  weakened, 
and  who  fails  to  realize  in  a  truly  practical  way  the  living,  moving 
world,  living  apart  as  he  does  from  its  active  scenes.  The  working 
man  gives  example  as  well  as  precej)t  to  the  Avorld.  He  is  in  it, 
and  of  it,  and  can  make  himself  felt  by  it  in  a  manner  the  theorist 
cannot. 


Ajinual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph,  251 

The  anxiety  aud  the  sweat  of  labor  the  horticulturist  under- 
goes in  his  earnest  endeavor  to  make  home  surroundings  pleasant 
and  healthful,  to  furnish  his  talJe  with  food  delicate  and  whole- 
some, to  have  the  best  of  everything  that  grows  in  tl^e  natural  or 
cultivated  world,  makes  more  of  him,  makes  him  more  original, 
gives  a  naturalness  to  his  thoughts  and  ideas,  and  they  come  forth 
with  a  force  they  could  not  have  done  if  first  anal3rzed  by  a  critic's 
head.  His  ideas  are  as  flowers  fresh  from  beside  Ihe  hedgerow, 
fragrant  and  blooming  ;  not  flowers  taken  apart  and  torn  by  the 
botanist.  The  trials,  disappointments  and  suffering  the  horticul- 
turist has  met  and  overcome,  have  fitted  him  to  help  others. 

The  ordinary  farmer  and  stock  raiser  does  not  accomplish 
much  without  work.  There  is  labor  at  every  turn  of  the  wheel  and 
every  corner  of  the  ranche,  but  to  the  man  who  adds  to  this  the 
care  of  an  orchard  and  a  garden,  it  would  seem  his  work,  like  the 
work  of  our  own  dear  wives,  was  never  done.  It  is  one  unceasing 
season  of  watchin-g,  pruning  and  digging.  But  what  we  want  as 
members  of  this  society,  is  a  reward  for  all  our  labors  ;  we  want  to 
see  the  tree  extend  its  branches  and  bear  fruit  ;  we  want  to  see  the 
vines  cling  to  the  wall  and  roses  blossom.  Then,  friends,  we  must 
work  ;  work  in  season  and  out  of  season  ;  work  with  our  eyes,  our 
minds  and  our  hands,  and  let  otliers  see  what  we  can  accomplish  by 
our  diligent,  systematic,  united,  intelligent  work.  We  will  not  be 
ashamed  of  our  labors,  for  as  the  world  advances,  its  workers  will- 
take  a  higher  position — the  dignity  of  labor  will  become  more 
apparent. 


EEPORT    OF    JASPER    COUjSTTY    HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


BENNETT    HALL,    SECKETARY,    CARTHAGE, 

The  above  named  society  has  twenty  members  and  has  held 
monthly  meetings  the  past  year  with  a  fair  attendance,  except 
during  the  summer  months.  Some  of  our  meetings  have  been 
very  interesting,  as  we  have  had  a  question  to  discuss  at  each 
meeting. 

The  crops  of  fruit  have  been  light.  Apples  and  pears  one-half 
of  a  crop,  peaches  and  grapes  one-third  of  a  c^op  and  strawberries 
and   raspberries   a   full  crop.      There  was  a  large  number  of  fruit 


252  Missouri  State  Horticultwal  Society. 

trees  planted  last  spring,  also  this  fall,  and  the  acreage  of  raspberries 
and  strawberries  has  been  largely  increased.  Fruit  trees  of  all 
kinds  go  into  winter  quarters  in  good  condition,  giving  promise  of 
good   crops   for  the  coming   year,  which  we  are  all  anxious  to  see. 


REPOET    OF    BUCHANAN    COUNTY    HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


JACOB    MADINGEK,    SECKETARY,    ST.  JOSEPH. 

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

I  can  make  no  flattering  report  from  Buchanan  County  this 
season.  In  the  spring  the  outlook  was  promising  indeed,  but  from 
a  combination  of  unknown  causes  fruit  returns  were  poor. 

Our  apple  trees  bloomed  and  set  very  full  m  the  spring  ;  but 
on  some  trees  in  many  localities  the  apples  did  not  grow,  seeming 
stunted  and  unfit  for  shipping  purposes.  The  greater  portion  was 
made  into  cider  or  was  wasted.  The  growth  of  the  trees  was  in  no 
way  natural  or  healthy.  The  Winesap,  Janet,  and  several  varie- 
ties were  most  injured.  The  Ben.  .Davis,  Baldwin,  Missouri 
Pippin,  Willow  Twig,  Romanite,  Rambo,  Red  Astrachan  and  Rhode 
Island  Greening,  bearing  much  better. 

Although  this  shortage  caused  the  amount  shipped  from  this 
county  to  be  below  the  average,  nevertheless,  it  amounted  to  about 
one  hundred  thousand  barrels,  prices  ranging  from  75  cents  to 
$1.25  per  barrel,  for  winter  fruit. 

The  peai's  also  bloomed  and  set  full,  and  early  in  the  season 
the  outlook  never  was  better  for  a  large  harvest  :  but  they  dropped 
badly,  leaving  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  crop  to  rij^en  in  a 
saleable  condition. 

Our  peaches  were  easily  gatliered,  the  crop  being  a  complete 
failure.  Many  of  the  tree  tops  were  winter  killed.  Young  trees 
have  made  a  good  growth,  and  promise  to  do  better  next  year. 

Tlie  cherries  were  generally  good  and  over  an  average  yield 
can  be  reported.  The  Early  Richmond  and  Morello  doing  better 
than  other  varieties. 

The  Wild  Goose  and  Miner  plums  did  well,  and  had  not  the 
curculio  destroyed  Ih em  other  varieties  wonld  have  had  an  equal 
show. 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josepli.  253 

The  outlook  for  a  large  and  perfect  yield  of  twenty-five  or  more 
of  our  tried  varieties  of  grapes  was  never  better  than  in  the  spring 
of  1884.  In  July  they  began  to  show  rot.  Afterw^ards  we  thought 
to  escape  it ;  but  we  were  badly  mistaken.  By  the  end  of  August 
the  rot  recommenced  and  in  some  places  a  few  days  told  the  whole 
story  of  destruction.  In  some  localities  a  man  w'ould  lose  all  and 
his  neighbor  three  or  four  hundred  yards  distant  would  have  a  re- 
markably fine  crop.  It  affected  not  only  one  variety,  but  all 
seemed  to  suffer  alike.  It  seems  evident  to  my  observations  that 
vineyards  sloping  to  the  east  suflEer  the  most. 

In  small  fruits  we  had  a  good  crop  of  strawberries  generally. 
The  first  picking  of  raspberries  was  firm  and  in  good  condition,  but 
afterwards  they  became  seedy  and  dry  ;  their  season  was  short. 

The  blackberries  blossomed  full,  and  gave  abundant  promise  ; 
but  when  gathering  time  came,  parties  who  had  two  acres  or  more 
of  vines  were  fortunate  to  have  enough  for  their  own  family  use. 
In  other  words  they  Avere  very  nearly  an  entire  failure. 

The  present  outlook  for  a  prosperous  fruit  year  in  1885  is 
good  ;  the  wood  has  ripened  well,  and  the  buds  are  in  excellent 
condition  to  go  into  winter  quarters.  Buchanan  county  fruit 
raisers  in  general  anticipate  a  much  better  report  for  next  year. 


KEPOKT  OF  JHE   MILLER   COUNTY  HOETICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


BY   N.    J.    SHEPHEED,    ELDON,    MO. 

Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman,  Secretary  Missouri  State  Horticultural  So- 
ciety. 

Not  being,  able  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  State  So- 
ciety, at  St.  Joe,  September  11th,  I  send  you  a  report  of  Miller 
county. 

We  had  no  peaches,  they  being  entirely  killed  last  winter. 
Trees  were  not  seriously  injured  but  the  fruit  all  killed. 

Apples  blossomed  out  well  and  gave  promise  of  an  abundant 
crop,  but  as  the  apples  began  to  form  and  until  they  were  of  con- 
siderable size  they  continued  to  drop  off,  until  the  croj)  when  ri- 
pened fell  considerably  below  the  average.  Taking  the  county  over 
I  think  sixty  per  cent,  will  be  as  much  as  it  will  average, 


::i54  Missouri  State  Horticiiltnral  Society. 

Although  the  crop  was  a  liglit  one,  prices  ruled  low  ;  summer 
apples  retailing  at  twonty-nve  cents  per  bushel,  and  good  winter 
varieties,  hand  picked  are  selling  for  thirt3'-five  and  forty  cents. 
So  far  as  I  have  seen  the  Winesap  were  the  best  apjjies  in  market. 
Gi-enitons  sold  the  most  but  were  generaly  knotty,  but  of  good  size. 

Pears  were  only  fair,  some  trees  failing  to  bear  entirely. 

Chen'ies  were  about  eighty-five  per  cent. 

Grrapes  were  good. 

No  blackberries. 

Plenty  of  strawberries  where  there  were  beds.  Wilson  and 
Monarch  of  the  West  yielding  best. 

Gooseberries  were  plenty,  a  full  crop. 

No  raspberries  to  speak  of. 

More  fruit  trees  than  usual  have  been  sold  through  the  county 
this  fall.  There  have  been  three  large  deliveries  from  three  separate 
nurseries.     Farmers  are  paying  more  attention  to  fruit  than  before. 

One  farmer  who  purchased  a  good  sized  evaporator  sold  all  his 
apples  at  seven  cents  per  pound,  wliile  dried  apples,  the  best  were 
sold  at  four  cents,  while  poor,  dark  colored  fruit  sold  as  low  as  three 
cents  ;  hardly  paying  for  the  work. 


REPORT  OF   THE  GENTRY  COUNTY  HORTICULTURAL 

SOCIETY. 


-.    SECRETARY,    ALBANY, 


Mr.  L.  A.  Goodman,  Secretary. 

Dear  sir  :  In  reply  to  your  request  for  reports  upon  the 
horticulture  of  the  various  counties  of  the  State,  I  will  say  for 
Gentry  county,  that  her  fruit  industry  has  had  a  very  gradual 
growth  ;  beginning  with  a  few  small  apple  orchards,  put  out  by  the 
early  settlers,  which  have  increased  in  size  and  numbers  until  now 
we  have  orchards  upon  nearly  every  farm,  some  of  them  numbering 
a  thousand  trees,  and  we  not  only  meet  all  home  demands  but  an- 
imally  export  large  quantities  of  apples  into  southern  Iowa  and 
elsewhere,  at  good  prices.  This  year  many  thousand  bushels  were 
shipped  out  at  from  thirty  to  fifty  cents  per  bushel. 

In  common  with  all  northwest  Missouri,  apples  are  a  grand 
success  here,  trees  with  ordinary  care  making  vigorous  growth,  and 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Josei^li.  255 

bearing  prolific  crops  of  choice  fruit.  Tlie  leading  varieties  are 
Raoul's  Janet,  Ben  Davis  and  Wmesap,  while  nearly  all  other  va- 
rieties are  represented. 

Pears  are  successful  under  favorable  conditions  ;  when  the 
trees  stand  in  cultivated  ground,  so  situated  that  it  is  fairly  drained, 
they  are  thrifty  and  bear  good  crops. 

The  Moreilo  cherries  are  at  home  here. 

The  conditions  are  not  favorable  to  peaches  in  all  i)arts  of 
G.entry  county,  though  m  some  localities  they  grow  vigorously,  and 
give  a  crop  every  two  years  or  oftener. 

Plums  of  the  native  varieties  are  a  never  failing  crop,  though 
the  Wild  Goose  is  more  less  damaged  by  the  curculio,  but  the 
Miner  seems  to  withstand  the  "little  turk"  successfully  and  is 
gaily  laden  with  all  the  fruit  the  limbs  can  hold  up,  and  often 
with  more.  It  is  a  pity  that  every  farm  does  not  have  at  least  one 
Miner  plum,  though  the  start  is  well  made  in  Gentry. 

Of  the  small  fruits,  grapes  succeed  as  well  as  one  could  wish, 
and  the  same  of  the  blackberry,  and  Black  Cap  raspberry  ;  the 
Red  raspberry  withstands  the  winter  only  fairly  well,  unless  cov-- 
ered  with  earth,  Hudson  River  fashion  ;  my  Turner,  Cuthberts 
:ind  others  were  so  covered  last  winter  and  bore  heavily  this  year, 
though  failing  to  do  so  after  much  milder  winters  ;  it  is  so  little 
trouble  to  bend  down  the  vines  and  throw  a  fcAV  inches  of  earth 
over  them,  that  the  wonder  is  that  growers  do  not  always  practice 
it.  ■ 

Strawberries  and  currants  grow  vigorously  and  bear  prolificly. 
the  latter  doing  better  with  a  little  shade — as  say  :i  fence  on  the 
west. 

And  yet  the  fruit  business  here,  as  in  all  Northwest  Missouri, 
is  but  in  its  infancy.  •  Few,  if  any  of  ns  can  comjjrehend  the  vast 
market  for  all  the  fruit  that  can  be  raised  here,  which  is  rapidly 
opening  up  in  that  grand  extent  of  country  now  being  so  speedily 
settled  at  the  northwest,  a  magnificent  empire  within  itself,  but 
beyond  the  fruit  line. 

We  need  in  Gentry  county  as  in  all  Northwest  Missoui'i  more 
nurseries  :  farmers  distrust  agents,  but  buy  trees  where  tiiey  see 
them  for  sale  neal-  their  homes.  Every  coimty  seat  or  railroad 
crossing  alfords  an  opportunity  for  a  nursery  business  that  should 
be  taken  advantage  of  by  some  one,  and  here  in  Gentry  we  have 
more  than  on.e  such  an  opening. 


256  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


EEPOKT  OF  EXHIBIT  AT  WOELD'S  FAIR,  JAN.  14,  1885. 

The  committee  appoiuted  to  make  the  exhibit  at  the  World's 
Fair,  began  packing  the  fruit  (in  cold  storage)  for  shipment  to 
New  Orleans  on  Dec.  39,  1884,  and  were  kept  busy  all  that  week 
sorting  and  siiipping  the  fruit. 

Some  of  the  fruit  had  kept  in  good  condition,  but  some  varie-  • 
ties  were  lost. 

We  found  twenty  barrels  of  fine  specimens  and  packed  them 
in  barrels  lined  with  paper  and  every  specimen  well  wrapped  in 
paper.  With  about  twenty  other  barrels  of  specimens  furnished  by 
our  members,  they  were  taken  to  the  freight  depot  of  the  K.  C.  S. 
&  M.  R.  R.  on  Jan.  3,  1885,  and  put  into  a  refrigerator  car,  kindly 
furnished  by  the  Ft.  Scott  railroad,  and  taken  free  to  New  Orleans. 
They  arrived  there  in  good  condition  on  the  9th  and  were  soon  on 
the  tables,  in  Horticultural  Hall. 

The  exliibit  was  one  ever  to  be  remembered.  There  were  ten 
tables  six  feet  wide  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  completely 
filled  with  fruit  from  the  states  of  Central  America  on  the  south  to 
Canada  on  the  north  ;  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ;  from 
across  tlie  ocean — Russia,  France,  Italy  and  England.  Fruits  of 
all  kinds  and  from  many  places — from  the  luscious  oranges  of  the 
south  to  the  little  crab  apple  of  the  north  ;  lemons,  bananas, 
oranges,  cocoanuts,  persimmons,  apples,  pears,  peaches  and  plums. 

A  place  to  study,  to  learn  and  to  enjoy.  A  sight  to  be  seen 
once  in  a  life-time  and  well  worthy  the  study  of  every  horticul- 
turist. How  jjlainly  is  there  to  be  seen  where  peculiar  varieties 
are  successful.  The  Ben  Davis,  so  valuable  here,  when  grown 
in  the  north  or  far  east  seems  to  be  worthless  to  us  and  I  do  not 
wonder  that  they  call  it  such  a  poor  aj^ple.  Notably  are  some  of 
the  southern  apples  attracting  our  attention,  as  well  also  many 
seedlings  of  our  own  ;  and  it  is  my  opinion  that  these  are  to  be  most 
valuable  for  our  state.  Here  we  will  yet  get  our  best  and  most 
profitable  apples.  One  instance  I  will  mention.  A  valuable  apple 
seedling  from  Lewis  county  was  prized  by  all  who  saw  it  and  tested 
it,  at  our  St.  Joe  meetings,  where  it  ^ook  the  premium  as  the  best 
.  seedling. 

Tlie  apple  is  called  the  Rankin,  and  was  obtained  from  Mr. 
Kirshbaura,  of  Tolona,  Mo.,  and  is  a  seedling  grown  by  Mr.  Ran- 
kin. 

Another  is  Loy's   seedling  which  I  found  in  Howell    county,  a 


Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joseph.  257 

fine  large  likely  apple  resembling  the  Willow  Twig,  but  much  better 
in  quality.  This  apple  took  the  premium  for  the  best  new  apple 
(over  thirteen  competitors)  at  the  World's  Fair,  and  I  believe  will 
be  of  great  value  to  us. 

Our  success  in  the  competitions  was  beyoud  our  expectation. 
We  have  taken  one  gold  medal  and  four  silver  medals  and  1495  in 
money  (if  we  get  it.) 

THE    FOLLOWING    IS   THE   LIST   OF    THE    PREMIUMS   TAKEX   BY   OUR 

STATE    FOR    APPLES   GROWN"    WITHIN   THE   LIMITS   OF    THE 

SOUTHERN    DISTRICT,     SOUTH   OF    PARALLEL 

FORTY     DEGREES. 

1G9  Best   and  largest   collection,    not   exceeding   200  va- 
rieties, by  auv  Horticultural  Society. 

Gold  Medal.  $200  00 
170  Best  collection,  100  varieties,  do  ...  .  Silver  Medal.  100  00 
173  Best  collection,  50  varieties,  do  ...  .  Silver  Medal.  75  00 
180  Best  plate  from  most   ancient   trees.    .  Silver  Medal.       10  00 

Best  plate  of  either  of  the  following  varieties : 

183  Broadwell  • 5  00 

186  Cannon  Pearmain 5  00 

193  Esopus  Spitzenburg 5  00 

196  Grimes' Golden ' 5  00 

200  Huntsman 5  00 

202  Jonathan 5  00 

205  Lady 5  00 

208  Maidens'  Blush 5  00 

209  Mother 5  OO 

210  May  (of  Myers) 5  00 

211  Missouri , 5  00 

214  Ortley 5  00 

215  Porter •    • .  5  00 

216  Pryor's    Eed 5  00 

217  Paradise    Winter   Sweet .  5  00 

218  Rome   Beauty 5  00 

222  Rawle's  Janet 5  00 

224  Rhode   Island  Greening 5  00 

231  Tallman   Sweet •        5  00 

233  Winesap 5  00 

236  White    Pippin 5  00 

238  York   Imperial 5  00 

245  Best  New  Autumn  variety,  not  generally  introduced .        10  00 

246  Best  New  Winter  variety,  not  generally  introduced  .        10  00 

Nearly  everything  we  entered  for  we  took,  and  Missouri  has 
not  only  taken  the  sweepstakes  but  mor^  premiums  in  number  than 
any  other  state  or  society. 


258  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  meeting  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural  Society 
was  a  success  as  usual,  and  the  forth-coming  volume  will  be  of 
great  value. 

The  World's  Fair  is  a  success  beyond  comparison  as  a  great 
show,  I  will  not  enter  into  the  distinct  merits  of  it,  or  discuss  it 
here,  but  would  advise  every  one  who  can  afford  it  to  go  and  see. 

I  would  not  lengthen  this  condensed  report,  but  must  acknowl- 
edge our  indebtedness  to  the  Kansas  City  Cold  Storage  Company, 
corner  of  4th  street  and  Grand  Avenue,  for  their  valuable  help  in 
keeping  our  fruits  for  this  exhibit  ;  for  without  their  help  we  would 
have  failed  in  our  object.  As  a  place  to  keep  fruits  we  cannot 
speak  to  highly. 

Also  again  to  the  K.  C.  S.  &  M.  Eailroad  for  their  valuable 
assistance  in  sending  our  apples  through  in  such  good  condition 
and  on  such  good  time,  and  without  charge  to  us. 

Also,  our  state  society  acknowledges  itself  powerless  to  have 
done  this  but  for  the  valuable  assistance  of  the  Missouri  Valley 
Horticultural  Society,  Bates  County  Society,  Holt  and  Jasper  County 
Societies,  Greene  County  Society,  and  of  all  the  members  who  have 
so  nobly  helped  us  in  this  exhibit.    • 

Our  State  is  certainly  in  debt  to  us  for  this  work  and  now  we  are 
asking  the  State  to  refund  the  amount  of  moijey  spent  in  making 
this  fruit  display,  and  do  not  doubt  but  that  she  will  be  liberal 
enough  to  return  it  to  us.  Whatever  of  honor  or  glory  Missouri 
has  gained,  the  state  certainly  owes  to  the  State  Society  the  suc- 
cess of  the  exhibit. 

We  began  this  work  last  August  and  have  been  continuously 
at  it  to  make  it  a  success.  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  no  other  part 
or  interest  of  the  State  has  been  so  well  represented  as  has  the  fruit 
department. 

With  Missouri  as  a  center,  and  as  a  leader  in  this  great  enter- 
prise, we  find  the  other  premiums  have  been  taken  by  Iowa,  Illinois, 
Kentucky,  Arkansas  and  Kansas,  and  it  is  acknowledged  by  all 
that  we  are  in  the  center  of  the  apple  growing  country  of  the  United 
States.     • 

L.  A.  j:>OODMAN,  Secretary. 


OTHER  PAPERS. 


HOETICULTURAL  OUTLOOK. 


BY  G.   F.   ESPENLAUB, 

Had  I  attempted  to  describe  in  this  paper  the  fruit  prospect 
about  the  first  of  May,  I  could  have  drawn  a  much  brighter  pic- 
ture for  the  horticulturist  than  I  can  now. 

Apple,  cherry  and  plum  trees  had  bloomed  so  full  that  it  caused 
one  to  speculate  how  and  where  everything  could  be  worked  off  and 
and  disposed  of  to  the  best  advantage. 

It  didn't  worry  any  one  much  where  to  market  his  peaches,  or 
where  we  should  get  boxes  to  market  them  in.  Jack  Frost's  icy 
fingers  did  all  that  for  us  last  winter  when  he  had  nothing  else  to  do. 

But  notwithstanding  the  thermometer  fell  to  from  twenty-four 
to  twenty- eight  degrees  below  zero,  the  cherry  trees,  sweet  and  sour, 
also  all  the  plums,  tender  as  well  as  hardy  kinds,  came  out-  in  one 
solid  mass  of  bloom,  and  although  they  got  caught  in  a  severe  snow 
storm,  while  in  bloom,  they  seemed  to  come  out  uninjured.  But 
sometime,  about  the  second  week  in  May,  a  storm  (probably  an 
electric)  swept  over  the  country  and  blighted  the  hopes  of  the  fruit 
grower,  the  foliage  crimped  up  as  if  it  was  struck  by  a  severe  mil- 
dew. The  apples  are  more  or  less  covered  with  this  mildewy 
appearance,  which  retards  their  growth  so  that  good  and  smooth 
apples  are  going  to  be  scarce,  and  the  cider  maker  will  be  kept 
busier  than  the  shipper.  There  are  neighborhoods  where  apples 
are  a  good  crop  and  of  good  quality  and  the  trees  look  healthy, 
while  sometimes  not  a  half  a  mile  distant  trees  look  like  they  could 
hardly  live  through  the  summer,  showing  that  this  storm,  like  most 
storms,  'Went  in  streaks  or  waves.  The  varieties  most  affected  are 
McAfee,  Lanover,  Red  June,  Cooper's  Early  White,  Missouri 
Pippin  and  Wine  Sap.  The  same  storm  destroyed  the  greater  part 
of  the  cherry  crop  in  some  localities,  while  in  others  it  was  unusu- 
ally large. 

The  strawberries  and  raspberries  had  a  splendid  season  to 
ripen   their   crops,  as   the   season    was   all  that  could  be  desired. 


260  Missouri  State  Horticulticral  Society. 

Blackberries  that  are  reasonably  free  from  rust  are  bearing  a  full 
crop  ;  this  is  once  more  they  did  not  get  killed  by  the  severe  winter, 
when  peaches  did. 

Plums  are  promising  from  one-third  to  one-half  of  a  crop,  the 
Lombard  being  in  the  lead. 

Grapes  are  looking  fine  and  promise  a  paying  crop. 

The  wood  growth  of  the  peach  is  very  good,  after  so  hard  a 
winter  that  killed  some  trees,  root  and  brancli. 

Taking  it  all  into  consideration,  from  low  j^'ices  for  small 
fruits  already  disposed  of,  the  jDoor  apple  crop,  with  no  peaches,  the 
horticulturist  may  justly  wish  for  better  times  in  the  near   future. 


HOW     SHALL    THE    HORTICULTURALIST    MAINTAIN 
THE  FERTILITY   OF   THE   SOIL. 


[read    before    the    MISSOURI   VALLEY    HORTICULTURAL    SOCIETY, 

MARCH  MEETING,  1884.] 

The  earth,  in  its  virgin  state,  before  being  tickled  by  man  with 
the  plow  and  hoe,  contains  all  the  elements  necessary  for  the  proper 
growth  and  perfection  of  grain,  fruits  and  grasses  for  the  susten- 
ance of  man  and  beast.  Plant  food  is  comjDosed  of  twelve  elements. 
Four  of  these  elements  are  gases,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon,  and 
nitrogen.  When  a  plant  or  animal  is  burned  the  gases  are  driven 
off.  The  ashes  which  remain  are  composed  of  potash,  soda,  lime 
and  magnesia,  sulphuric  acid,  phosphoric  acid,  chlorine  and  silica. 
In  other  words  the  food  of  plants  is  composed  of  four  organic  or 
gaseous  elements  and  eight  inorganic  or  mineral  elements,  of  which 
four  have  acid  and  four  have  alkaline  properties.  All  agricultural 
ph.nts  and  all  animals,  man  included,  are  composed  of  these  twelve 
elements.  All  soils  on  which  plants  grow  contain  more  or  less 
plant  food.  A  plant  cannot  create  an  atom  of  potash.  It  cannot 
get  it  from  the  atmosphere.  We  find  potash  in  the  plant  and  we 
know  it  got  it  from  the  soil,  and  we  are  certain,  therefore,  that  the 
soil  contains  potash,  and  so  of  all  the  other  elements  of  plants. 

When  our  new  lands  are  first  broken  they  are  rich  in  this  plant 
food,  hence  we  see  the  rapid  growth  and  large  yield  of  croj^s.  After 
a  few  years  of  slip  shod  cultivation,  our  crops  of  grain  and  fruits 
become  smaller,  and  we  hear   the  complaint  that  the  land  is  worn 


Uthei'  Pa'pers.  261 

out,  whicli  strictly  speaking,  is  not  true.  It  is  only  the  exhaustion 
of  the  accumulated  jjlant  food  in  the  soil.  It  is  not  available,  it 
lies  dormant  and  inert  in  the  soil  beneath.  It,  therefore,  needs 
deeper  plowing  and  subsoiling,  thorough  cultivation  and  pulver- 
izing. Then  the  plant  food  becomes  available.  The  roots  of  the 
plants  come  in  contact  with  this  food  and  a  strong,  vigorous  growth 
IS  tlie  result.  It  is  a  fact  that  a  soil  may  contain  enough  plant 
food  to  produce  a  thousand  large  crops,  and  yet  the  crops  we  obtain 
from  it  will  hardly  pay  for  cultivation.  The  plant  food  is  there, 
but  the  plants  cannot  get  at  it.  It  is  not  in  an  available  condition, 
it  is  not  soluble.  A  case  is  quoted  by  Professor  Johnson,  where  a 
soil  contained,  when  analyzed  to  the  deiDth  of  one  foot,  46.52  per 
cent,  of  nitrogen  to  the  acre,  but  only  sixty-three  per  cent,  of 
this  was  in  an  available  condition.  And  this  is  equally  true  of 
phosphoric  acid  potash  and  the  other  elements  of  plant  food.  No 
matter  how  much  plant  food  there  may  be  in  the  soil  the  only 
portion  that  is  of  any  immediate  value  is  the  small  amount  that  is 
annually  available  for  the  growing  crops.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
fertilizers,  natural  or  artificial.  Now  anything  that  will  furnish 
this  food,  anything  that  will  cause  the  soil  to  produce  what  the 
climate  of  season  is  capable  of  producing,  is  a  good  fertilizer. 
Nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash  are  the  most  valuable  in- 
gredients in  manure. 

How  to  keep  up  the  fertility  of  our  apple  and  peach  orchards 
is  now  becoming  an  important  question  and  is  attracting  consider- 
able attention.  There  are  two  methods  generally  recommended, 
I  dare  not  say  generally  practiced.  The  one  is  to  keep  the  orchard 
in  bare  fallow,  the  other  to  keep  it  in  grass  and  top  dress  with 
manure,  and  either  eat  the  grass  off  with  sheep  and  pigs,  or  else 
mow  it  frequently  and  let  the  grass  rot  on  the  surface  for  mulch 
and  manure.  This,  of  course,  applies  only  to  bearing  orcliards. 
When  we  apply  manure  to  our  orchards  the  ammonia  phosphoric 
acid  potash  are  largely  retained  in  the  first  few  inches  of  surface 
soil  and  the  deeper  roots  get  hold  of  only  those  portions  which 
leach  through  the  upper  layer  of  earth.  Nitric  acid,  however,  is 
easily  washed  down  into  the  subsoil  and  would  soon  reach  all  the 
roots  of  the  trees.  I  therefore  recommend  for  orchards  plenty  of 
barnyard  manure,  leached  ashes  and  lime.  My  personal  exper- 
ience with  fertilizers  is  rather  limited  but  from  the  results  I  am  en- 
couraged to  give  them  a  still  further  trial.  In  the  spring  of  1882 
I  used  two  hundred  pounds  of  dried  blood  from  the  packing  house 
iit  the  rate  of  about  three  hundred  pounds  per  acre  sowed  broad- 


262  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

cast  between  the  matted  rows  just  after  the  plants  were  uncovered 
in  the  spring  (none  on  the  plants)  and  raked  in  with  a  garden  rake. 
The  result  was  very  perceivable  in  the  strong  vigorous  growth  of 
the  plants  and  about  one-fourth  increase  in  fruit. 

In  the  spring  of  1883  I  used  it  again  on  a  three-year-old  bed 
of  downings  at  the  rate  of  a  little  over  four  hundred  pounds  per 
acre.  This  time  broadcast  over  the  plants  and  none  between  the 
rows.  The  rains  dissolved  it  and  washed  it  down  among  the  roots 
of  the  plants.  There  was  this  time  also  a  strong  plant  growth, 
and  a  much  better  yield  of  fruit  from  this  old  bed  of  downings, 
then  three-year-old,  than  from  same  variety  one  year  old  ;  whether 
the  fertilizer  was  the  cause  or  not  I  am  unable  to  positively  say, 
but  suspect  it  was.  I  made  a  second  application  on  three  rows  in 
the  center  of  same  bed,  same  amount  as  at  first,  about  the  time  the 
last  blooms  were  out.  This  brought  nearly  all  the  berries  up  to  a 
good  size,  and  the  plants  still  showed  a  very  strong  growth,  which 
was  plainly  visible  when  I  covered  them  at  the  beginning  of  the 
winter.  I  have  been  groping  in  the  dark — feeling  my  way — all  for 
the  lack  of  a  chemical  analysis  of  the  blood.  We  know  that  the 
strawberry  needs  nitrogen,  phosphorous  and  potash.  We  also  know 
the  blood  contains  these  elements,  but  in  what  quantities  of  each 
we  are  ignorant,  lience  we  have  to  be  cautious  in  its  use  until  we 
find  out  by  experience  or  analysis  how  much  to  use  ;  every  agricul- 
turist and  horticulturist  should  be  sufficiently  skilled  in  chemistry 
to  analyze  his  own  soil.  We  want  better  educated  farmers,  hence 
the  importance  of  giving  more  encouragement  to  our  agricultural 
colleges. 

I  would  say  use  the  dry  blood  for  your  vegetables,  flower  beds, 
strawberries,  raspberries  and  small  fruits.  Plow  raspberries  early 
in  spring,  pulverize  the  ground  well,  sow  broadcast  and  cultivate  in 
with  small  tooth  cultivator  or  harrow,  and  also  sprinkle  around  the 
stools.  Before  I  close  this  bloody  chapter  I  will  relate  an  incident 
that  occurred  at  our  place  last  spring.  The  women  folks  wishing 
to  try  an  experiment  with  the  blood,  made  a  secret  raid  on  my 
barrel ;  the  result  was  a  very  strong,  rich  growth  of  plants  and  an 
abundance  of  fine  blooms,  especially  geraniums.  They  attracted 
my  attention  and  I  asked  the  cause,  the  reply  was  they  had  been 
using  my  dried  blood  as  a  fertilizer.  I  guess  if  the  experiment  had 
not  been  a  success  I  would  never  have  known  it.  In  conclusion,  I 
would  suggest  that  this  society  employ  an  expert  chemist  to  analyze 
this  dry  blood  and  see  what  it  contains,  so  we  can  all  use  it  under- 
standingly.  W.  M.  HOPKINS. 


OtJiei'  Papers.  263 


CULTIVATING,    MULCHING  OR   SEEDING  OUR  OR- 
CHARDS. 


[paper    read    before    the    MISSOURI     VALLEY     HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY,  MARCH,  1884,  BY  J.  A.   DURKES.] 

Nature  is  a  productive  agent  recovering  her  exhausted  powers 
quickly  in  her  own  well-appointed  ways  ;  but  to  man's  creative 
genius  it  has  been  given  to  assist  her  in  producing  those  fruits  his 
wishes  may  dictate.  Thus  the  apple  tree,  left  to  itself  bears  to 
such  an  extent,  that  it  requires  one  season,  often  two,  of  rest,  to 
enable  it  to  form  buds  again,  for  fruiting,  making  what  we  term 
the  full  and  off  years  of  bearing. 

Here  we  come  to  the  aid  of  the  natural  resources  of  our  trees 
by  judicious  pruning,  thinning  out  the  surplus  fruit,  manuring 
and  a 'good  state  of  cultivation,  fair  annual  crops  may  be  obtained. 

The  apple  tree  needs  plenty  of  food  and  good  tillage,  varied  in 
their  application.  If  the  tree  stands  in  a  grassy  plot,  how  soon 
will  the  condition  of  its  fruit  and  growth  respond  to  a  complete 
turning  over  and  deep  spading  under  of  the  sod  ?  A  top  dressing 
of  ashes  or  lime  and  manure,  covered  with  straw  or  coarse  litter  of 
any  kind  to  act  as  a  mulch,  would  give  the  same  results,  but  not  so 
speedy. 

This  leads  us  to  the  points  of  the  subject  before  us — culti- 
vating, or  seeding,  or  mulching  our  orchards.  We  give  preference 
to  neither  method  ;  all  are  good  and  useful  taken  as  a  whole  or  in 
part.  They  become  necessary  for  the  invigoration  of  our  trees. 
For  the  first  four  or  six  years  after  planting  an  orchard  the  ground 
should  be  kept  in  a  good  state  of  tillage.  Where  it  is  not  prac- 
ticable to  plow  the  spade  should  be  used  to  turn  the  soil,  in  a  circle 
as  far  as  the  limbs  of  the  tree  extend.  When  this  work  is  done — 
but  once  in  a  season — fall  is  to  be  preferred. 

After  this  period  the  ground  may  be  seeded  in  grass  and  clover 
a  few  years  and  j^astured  by  swine,  their  droppings  making  a  splendid 
manure,  and  their  occasional  rooting  over  the  sod  in  search  of  plant 
roots,  insects  and  the  like,  eating  up  all  wormy  and  defective  fruit, 
all  known  to  be  very  beneficial. 

Trees  planted  in  soil  very  rich  should  .never  be  stimulated 
much,  an  earlier  checking  of  the  wood  growth  is  desirable  where 
fruit  is  the  object,  among  these  a  full  growth  of  grass  may  be  per- 


264  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

mitted  for  hogs  and  pasture  afterwards,  during  the  season.  From 
the  higher  and  poorer  soils  not  a  spear  of  clover  (which  is  by  far 
the  best  for  such  localities),  should  be  removed  from  the  ground. 
Every  limb  and  twig  that  is  pruned  from  the  trees  should  be  left  to 
rot  upon  the  ground  ;  to  do  this  that  they  be  not  in  the  way  cut 
them  a  foot  or  two  in  length,  placing  them  in  the  open  spaces  ; 
here  they  will  aid  in  holding  every  leaf,  weed  and  grass,  which 
serve  in  their  decay,  as  a  mulch  and  fertilizer  for  the  soil. 

An  orchardist,  in  planting  some  hundreds  of  apple  trees  upon 
a  high  ridge  where  every  particle  of  loamy  soul  had  worn  away, 
claimed  that  he  would  astonish  all  with  the  fine  fruit  he  would 
grow  there — by  thickly  strewing  the  ground  with  decaying  wood, 
and  plenty  of  lime  from  year  to  year,  though  this  was  not  carried 
out  to  the  letter.  The  trees  were  very  healthy  and  productive.  In 
this  case  the  rotting  of  the  wood  formed  a  good  mulch  aud  ferti- 
lizer. 

The  cracking  of  many  varieties  of  apples  (those  especially  late 
in  growth  and  ripening)  caused  by  drouth  checking  the  flow  of  the 
sap — maturing  the  fruit  prematurely — which,  by  the  fall  rains  be- 
ing forced  into  renewed  growth,  expanding  the  pulp  cells  of  the 
apple  more  rapidly  than  those  of  the  skin — could  be  remedied  by 
a  good  mulching  applied  before  the  soil  had  become  entirely  dry. 

In  orchards  planted  on  hillsides — seeding  in  grass  and  clover 
becomes  indispensable  by  cultivation  in  such  situations,  to  prevent 
the  soil  from  washing  away  one  space  between  rows  is  ploughed. 
The  next  left,  and  so  on.  These  spaces  receded  the  following 
year,  and  those  left  ploughed  in  turn,  mulching  after  ploughing 
always,  if  possible.  The  result  in  fruit,  borne  on  trees  treated 
in  this  manner,  though  they  stand  on  the  steepest  hillsides,  other- 
wise untillable,  will  pay. 

These  three  subjects  form  very  important  factors  to  the  fruit 
grower.  Mulching  in  dryer  portions  of  our  country  becomes  the 
main  stay  of  fruit  growing  with  us  during  the  heated  term  ;  its  use 
is  advisable  since  its  action  is  two  fold,  holding  the  moisture  aud 
fertilizer. 

By  culfivation,  we  bring  our  trees  to  that  state  of  cultivation 
and  vigor  wherewith  to  produce  those  abundant  crops  we  desire. 
And,  lastly,  the  seeding  of  tlie  ground  aids  in  checking  the  more 
rapid  growth  of  wood,  bringing  the  tree  to  that  state  in  which  its 
vigor  is  turned  into  a  fruit  bearing  condition. 


Other  Papers.  265 

The  manner  in  which  their  use  can  best  benefit  the  fruit  grower, 
the  condition  of  his  surroundings  will  determine.  The  wants  of 
the  soil,  and  climatic  changes  must  be  to  him  a  daily  study  of  dili- 
gent care. 


BIRDS  m  HORTICULTUEE. 


BY    CLARK    IliVIXE,    OREGOlSr. 

[This  paper  was  lost  and  was  not  found  in  time  to  take  its 
place  in  the  last  days  proceedings  of  the  society,  and  hence  appears 
here. — Secretary.] 

One  of  the  most  interesting  papers  read  at  the  recent  annual 
meetina:  of  the  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society,  at  St.  Joe, 
was  '-'Birds  in  Horticulture,"  by  Clark  Irvine,  of  Oregon,  Holt 
county. 

When  that  great  source  of  all  life  and  light  and  motion  we 
know  of  has  returned  far  enough  from  its  winter  solstice  to  dispel 
and  beat  back  the  invader  of  the  north,  unlocking  all  the  multi- 
tudes of  streams,  lakes,  veins  of  water  in  earth  or  air,  to  re-animate 
our  landscapes  and  vegetation,  and  bringing  airs  from  the  sweet 
south  stealing  and  giving  odors — countless  myriads  of  little  voices 
set  all  the  air  a  singing  with  their  glad  calls,  songs  and  warblings. 
Of  all  tha  harbingers  of  summer  with  its  promises  of  golden  har- 
vests and  luscious  fruits  and  long  mellow  days  these  little  songsters 
are  the  most  delightsome,  and  impart  to  every  conscious  heart  some 
of  that  gladness  with  which  their  beautiful  little  bodies  seem  fairly 
bursting. 

It  is  only  within  a  few  years,  comparatively,  that  their  real  im- 
portance in  the  economy  of  nature  has  been  estimated. 

Ignorance  in  its  overbearing  self-confidence  despises  the  little. 
The  longer  we  live  and  learn  the  more  strongly  are  we  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  certain  proverbial  expressions  we  habitually  repeat, 
without  really  appreciating  their  literal  and  immense  truth.  Thus 
we  repeat  with  Shakespeare,  "Naught  so  vile  upon  this  earth  doth 
live,  but  to  the  earth  some  special  good  doth  give.^'  And  we  say, 
'"'Oyes,  it's  true, '  certainly  it's  true,"  and  think  it  sounds  very 
nice,  and  mean  that  it  is  true  in  some  measure,  whereas  it  is  ex- 
actly, literally  and  importantly  true.  So  true  that  it  may  well  be 
suspected  were  the  least  and  most  unimportant  thing  exterminated, 
the  results  might,  in  time,  be  tremendous. 


266  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

A  few  familiar  illustrations  will  prove  how  this  may  be  so.  I 
quote  from  an  agricultural  report  :  "  It  is  the  custom  in  some  dis- 
tricts of  this  country,  as  soon  as  the  planting  is  finished  and  other 
spring  work  done  on  the  farm,  for  all  the  men,  old  and  young,  to 
assemble  with  guus,  and  after  choosing  sides,  as  'tis  called,  to  have 
a  shooting  match  ;  that  is,  each  party  tries  to  kill  the  greatest 
number  of  birds  and  animals  within  the  circuit  of  several  miles,  or 
the  limits  of  the  township  or  county.  Such  a  match,  some  years 
ago,  came  off  in  a  town  of  Pennsylvania.  The  party  was  numer- 
ous and  the  slaughter  immense,  in  fact,  nearly  amthe  birds  were 
killed,  and  as  the  migrations  had  passed,  it  being  the  last  of  May, 
scarcely  a  bird  was  seen  in  the  neighborhood  during  the  whole 
summer.  The  result  was  the  cut  worms  ravaged  the  cabbage  fields, 
the  apple  tree  caterpillars  and  borers  were  so  numerous  that  whole 
orchards  were  destroyed,  and  army  worms  and  injurious  insects 
were  so  abundant  that  there  was  hardly  one  grainfield  that  was  not 
damaged  to  the  extent,  at  least,  of  one-third  the  value  of  the 
entire  crop.  N'or  were  these  injuries  confined  to  that  year,  but 
many  seasons  in  succession  bore  witness  to  the  folly  and  wickedness 
of  that  wholesale  destruction." 

Again  about  the  year  1820',  in  North  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  the 
birds  were  killed  in  such  quantities  that  cart  loads  of  them  were 
sold  to  farmers  for  fertilizing  the  soil !  There  was  then,  for  some 
time  afterwards,  a  notable  scarcity  of  birds  in  all  that  vicinity.  Soon 
the  herbage  began  to  show  signs  of  injury ;  tufts  of  withered  grass 
appeared  and  spread  out  widely  into  circles  of  a  seared  and  burnt 
complexion.  Though  cause  and  effect  were  so  near  together,  yet 
they  were'  not  logically  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  at  that  time. 
Modern  entomology,  however,  would  have  explained  to  them  the 
cause  of  this  phenomenon  in  the  increase  of  the  larvse  of  injurious 
insects,  usually  kept  in  check  by  the  birds  which  had  been  destroyed 
at  that  shooting  match.  These  are  not  isolated  cases  nor  even  rare 
instances.  Consulting  the  local  newspapers  the  inquirer  will  find 
many  cases  of  similar  shooting  matches  in  different  sections  of  the 
country,  with  long  accounts  of  the  different  birds  destroyed. 

In  Europe  a  similar  system  of  extermination  prevails.  Fred- 
erick von  Tschudi,  president  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Canton, 
St.  Gall,  Switzerland,  writes  of  this  practice  as  follows  :  "  But 
the  cause  which  more  than  all  others  exercises  a  still  more  fatal 
influence  on  the  diminution  of  our  most  useful  birds  of  passage, 
is  the  extraordinary  hunt  they  are  subjected  to  by  the  Italians. 
It   is    well  known    that  during   the    spring    migration,   and  still 


other  Papers.  267 

more  in  autumn,  Italians  are  seized  with  a  mania  for  kill- 
ing small  birds.  Men  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  nobles,  mer- 
chants, priests,  artisans,  peasants,  all  abandon  their  daily  tasks  to 
attack,  like  the  banditti,  the  troops  of  passing  visitors.  By  the 
river-side,  in  the  fields,  all  around,  is  heard  the  report  of  fire 
arms  ;  nests  are  laid  ;  traps  are  set ;  twigs  covered  with  bird  lime, 
hung  on  every  bush.  On  every  hill  adapted  for  the  purpose  is 
placed  a  sort  of  trap,  rocolo,  full  of  owls  and  sparrow  hawks,  to 
attack  and  slaughter  the  little  strangers.  To  form  some  idea  of 
this  slaughter,  which,  for  weeks  together  delights  the  Italians, 
suffice  it  to  mention  tii;it  in  one  district  on  Lake  Maggiore,  the 
number  of  little  birds  yearly  destroyed,  amounts  to  between  sixty 
and  seventy  thousand.  In  Lombardy,  in  one  single  rocolo,  15,- 
000  birds  are  often  daily  captured.  At  Bergamo,  Brescia,  and 
Yerona  several  million  birds  are  slaughtered  each  autumn.  We 
can  not  prevent  the  Italians  from  indulging  in  this  absurd,  but 
barbarous  amusement,  but  we  can  lessen  tlie  evil,  and  it  would  be 
consistent  with  the  proverbial  good  sense  of  Germans  if  we  were 
to  protect  all  the  bird  tribes  as  solicitously  as  those  people  destroy 
them,  and  thus,  in  some  degree,  try  to  re-instate  the  order  of 
nature  and  preserve  the  necessary  balance  between  the  insect  world 
and  its  enemies." 

Doubtless  these  Italians,  wearied  somewhat  of  their  long  repast- 
on  maccaroni  and  other  dry,  farinaceous  diet,  are  eager  to  replenish 
their  lean  larders  by  a  bnxl  or  two,  and  at  the  same  time  save  their 
equally  lean  purses. 

Unfortunately,  in  some  of  our  American  districts,  even  the 
farmers  to  this  day  encourage  their  boys  to  destroy  the  birds  that 
are  traditionally  injurious — such  as  the  robin,  cat-bird,  crow,  black- 
bird, thrush,  owls  and  others,  but  all  of  which,  as  well  as  many 
others  are  essentially  beneficial.  How  to  teach  such  people  better 
is  the  question  ?  In  my  opinion,  better  than  all  the  speeches  and 
lessons  and  essays,  is  a  good  law  well  executed.  Because  laws 
educate  as  songs  inspire.  People  will  learn  that  the  law  exists, 
and  will  naturally  ask  why  it  was  made.  Provided,  always,  that 
you  do  not  enact  too  many  laws,  and  make  penalties  so  severe  that 
Juries  will  refuse  to  find  guilty.  For  then  your  law  straightway 
becomes  a  dead-letter.  But  that  is  one  of  the  great  evils  of 
American  society  to-day — law  for  everything,  and  when  the  law  is 
violated  the  silly  legislature  provides  such  penalties  that  they  are 
never  enforced. 


268  Missou7'i  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Who  would  have  suspected  that  these  little  winged  creatures 
of  the  air,  are  so  important  to  the  life  of  this  wondrous  being, 
man,  who  calls  G-od  his  Father.  And  yet  we  may  remember,  "  He 
saith  to  the  worm,  thou  art  my  brother."  And,  therefore,  should 
we  protest  against  that  reckless,  thoughtless,  selfish  pleasure- 
seeking  which  pursues  its  way  through  the  world  Avith  gun  on 
shoulder,  scattering  destruction  right  and  left,  merely  to  be  tickled 
childishly,  by  the  power  of  hitting  from  afar.  Could  my  pen  be 
pointed  with  fire,  and  every  letter  it  forms  burned  on  the  naked 
backs  of  these  trifling  "ne'er-do-weels"  I  would  write  '^'^from  hence- 
forth '' — to  make  them  smart.  Surely  there  are  birds  and  beasts  of 
prey  to  occupy  the  valuable  time  of  these  mighty  Nimrods,  by  the 
destruction  of  which  some  benefit  might  accrue  ;  and  yet  of  that  I 
am  led  to  doubt.  Some  time  ago,  seeing  a  hawk  light  in  a  chicken- 
yard,  I  called  to  the  owner  of  the  premises  to  shoot  it.  "No,"  he 
replied,  "  that  hawk  for  a  steady  diet  prefers  rabbit.  He  only 
desires  a  little  variety  this  morning,  and  I  am  willing  to  spare  him 
a  chicken  occasionally.  Eabbits  here  are  a  perfect  pest  without 
these  hawks." 

Agriculturists  when  they  know  exactly  the  tariff  they  must 
pay,  in  kind  and  quantity,  and  to  whom  to  pay  it,  may  generally 
make  some  arrangements  for  settlement  and  delivery  ;  but  when 
the  balance  in  affairs  is  disturbed,  and  the  chinch-bug  immigrates  by 
acres  an  inch  deep  into  their  fields,  or  locusts  in  vast  atrial  fleets  and 
armies  by  billions  on  billions  come  sweej^ing  over  whole  continents 
they  must  stand  aghast.  The  very  word  remedy  sounds  like  a  pojJ-gun 
in  a  cyclone.  Luckily,  our  troubles  of  that  kind  are  like  angels' 
visits.  One  sees  that  the  balance  is  easily  disturbed  at  times,  as  in 
the  case  just  quoted.  Usually  remedies  may  be  devised  in  time  by 
perseverance.  And  more  could  be  done  were  our  horticulturists  and 
others  willing  to  assemble  and  co-operate.  But  here  is  just  the 
difficulty  ;  they  are  the  last  people  to  do  so,  and  therefore  become 
the  prey  of  the  worm  and  blight  not  only  in  field  and  orchards, 
but  socially  and  politically.  Knowing  as  we  do  the  vast  benefit  of 
birds  to  farms  and  orchards,  what  class  of  men  but  farmers  would, 
year  after  year,  patiently  submit  to  see  lazy  tippling  tramps  prowl 
around  and  over  their  fields,  shooting  these  little,  harmless  deliglit- 
some  warblers,  whose  charming  notes  strike  their  slumbering  ears 
of  drowsy  summer  morns,  awake  them  to  the  joyous  day,  accompany 
fchem  as  they  "  jocund  drive  their  team  afield  ;  "  and  are  the  last 
lovable  solace  to  the   weary   plowman  as  he    "  homeward  plods  liis 


other  Papers.  269 

way."     In  sympathy  with  this  feeling,    the  Scotch  plowman  broke 
forth  in  these  ever  memorable  lines  : 

"  Inhuman  man  !  Curse  on  thy  barbarous  art, 
And  blasted  be  thy  murder- aiming  eye  ; 
May  never  pity  sooth  thee  with  a  sigh, 
Nor  ever  pleasure  glad  thy  cruel  heart." 

It  is  now  almost  twenty  years  since  the  writer  removed  to  his 
present  homestead.  The  place  was  then  a  wild  tangle  of  vines, 
jimsons,  a  brush  fence,  a  weedy  corn-field  and  a  few  apple  trees, 
set  there  by  some  predecessor,  selected  when  seven  or  eight  years 
old  in  order  to  get  apples  the  first  year.  The  lay  of  the  jay  bird 
and  carrion  crow  was  occasionally  heard  ;  "only  that,  and 
nothing  more."  Trees  were  put  out  as  rapidly  as  possible,  both 
shade  and  fruit  ;  and  the  exi)erience  has  been,  the  younger  the  tree, 
so  it  does  not  exceed  one  year  old,  the  better.  Bird  boxes  were  put 
up,  because  the  writer,  recalling  his  childhood's  days  and  his  de- 
light during  that  period  of  nature  and  innocence, — in  his  bird- 
boxes, — was  bound  that  three  little  shavers  who  then  nightly  gath- 
ered upon  his  knees  would  experience  a  similai'  delight,  knowing- 
its  wholesome,  humanizing  effect. 

The  prospect  for  tree-growing  seemed  dubious  ;  for,  at  that 
time  and  for  years  before,  every  tree,  every  spot  favorable  to  them 
was  disfigured  by  the  nests  of  what  are  called  tent-caterpillars. 
Every  leaf  was  consumed  off  most  of  the  trees,  and,  the  leaves 
being  the  lungs,  the  trees  would  decline  and  die.  The  idea  of 
destroying  these  pests  by  the  usual  methods  tried  seemed  in  this 
case  hopeless,  for  every  branch  of  every  tree  would  have  its  nest  of 
these  worms.  But  the  martins  and  blue-birds  had  taken  possession 
of  the  boxes  and  were  warring  for  supremacy.  At  first  the  policy, 
the  foolish  policy,  of  meddling  with  nature  and  siding  with  the 
martins  was  begun,  but  soon  wiser  counsels  prevailed — more  boxes 
were  put  up  and  also  boxes  for  the  wrens,  and  nature  was  thus 
patted  on  the  back,  instead  of  being  knocked  in  the  head,  as 
doctors  say  should  ever  be  done.  Later  a  similar  policy  was  advised 
and  adopted,  when  some  of  our  most  valuable  birds  were  found  too 
fond  of  cherries,  etc.  More  trees  were  planted,  cherry  trees  for 
the  birds  alone. 

The  cries  and  songs  and  sports  of  the  martins,  blues  and 
wrens  began  to  call  other  birds.  A  captive  red  bird  was  placed  in 
the  yard  to  sing,  where  he  drew  others  of  his  splendid  tribe,  where- 
upon he  was  soon  released  and  we  have  ever  since  enjoyed  the 
glorious  voice  of  this  songster  and  his  descendants,  who  are  known 


270  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

as  the  cardinal  red-birds.  In  about  three  years  the  notes  of  some 
other  birds  were  heard  on  onr  premises  and  the  adjoining  farms 
and  orchards.  One  day  in  .early  June  while  the  trees  hung  full  of 
their  swelling  loads  of  worm  nests  and  people  around  us  were  hope- 
less of  doing  much  in  the  fruit  way  on  this  account,  my  neighbor, 
Mr.  S.  Blanchard,  called  mv  attention  to  a  bird  he  ^'had  seen  for 
the  first  time,  a  strange  looking  bird,  which  acted  stranger  still, 
for,^'  said  he,  "this  bird  went  at  a  caterpillar's  nest,  tore  it  right 
and  left  and  eat  up  all  the  worms.  I  think,"  he  said,  "there  are  a 
pair  of  them.'^  He  could  give  me  no  idea  of  the  probable  name 
of  it,  not  being  much  of  a  bird  noticer,  but  just  then  he  exclaimed, 
"There  is  the  bird  now,  see  I  It  is  after  a  nest  of  worms."  That 
bird  was  the  South  Carolina  mocker,  usually  called  cat  bird.  They 
came  in  great  numbers  to  stay  and  the  result  was  that  by  two  years 
more  not  one  single  worm  nest  could  be  found  in  orchard  or  grove. 
Nor  has  there  been  for  fourteen  years  a  nest  of  the  kind  on  the 
premises. 

We  know  of  whole  regions  so  infested  with  this  curse,  the 
tent-caterpillar,  that  even  forest  trees  are  dying  out,  ajjple  trees  are 
protected  with  difficulty,  and  yet  so  great  is  the  stupidity,  ignor- 
ance, and  wickedness  of  "  the  natives "  that  were  a  colony  of 
cat-birds  to  visit  a  sour  cherry  tree  there  they  would  be  stoned  or 
shot  to  death  by  boys  hounded  on  to  this  suicidal  amusement.  So 
much  for  meanness,  ignorance  and  love  of  blood,  which,  like 
selfishness,  acts  as  a  two-edged  sword  to  slay  the  wieldei-s. 

In  addition  to  this  exemption  we  have  enjoyed  the  delightful 
song  of  this  most  charming  of  American  songsters — even  though 
interrupted  as  it  is  by  a  most  cunning  mischievous  "  me-au  "  at 
times.  However  this  is  no  worse  than  being  at  some  fine  perform- 
ance and  disturbed  by  the  j)ea-nut  fiend — no,  not  half  so  bad. 

And,  thus  encouraging  the  birds,  the  cunning  delightful  little 
rogue,  the  wren  above  all,  in  no  long  time  we  found  troops  of  them 
of  various  kinds  every  year  bringing  some  new  variety  to  our 
orchards,  not  new  to  ornithology,  but  new  to  our  immediate  region. 
During  the  first  few  years  there  were  only  those  mentioned  with 
the  Baltimore  and  orchard  orioles  and  robins.  But  as  years  passed 
others  came  ;  notably  one  of  the  latest  is  the  crimson  breasted 
gross  beak,  decidedly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  -charming  of 
all  the  air.  Their  note  is  a  delicate  warble  somewhat  like  the 
robin's,  but  lower  and  smoother.  With  his  snow  white  breast 
splashed  with  a  pure  blood  red,  one  might  suppose  the  bird  had 
just  been  wounded.  This  description  applies  to  the  male  ;  the 
female  is  very  like  a  partridge  in  color. 


other  Papers.  271 

Sitting  upon  our  porch  one  evening  lately,  we  could  not  but 
remark  on  the  wonderful  change  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years  had 
made  in  that  respect  around  us.  It  occurred  to  us  to  note  the 
names  of  the  varieties  whose  voices  we  heard  during  ten  minutes 
before  sundown.  There  were  robins,  wrens,  and  jays,  martins  and 
blue  birds  ;  fartlier  off  in  the  apple  trees  were  orchard  and  Balti- 
more orioles,  yellow  warblers  ;  through  the  air  were  swallows  and 
bee  martins  chattering  and  squeaking  ;  the  cardinals  and  red 
breasted  gross  beaks  and  cat  birds  kept  up  unceasingly  from  the 
majDles  ;  from  a  high  old  linn  came  the  melodious  clucking  of  a 
little  brown  bird  and  chirping  of  the  indigo.  Abont  the  porch 
were  pee  wees  and  sweet  springs  (so  called).  Doves  complained  and 
blackbirds  scolded  over  the  way.  In  a  wood  close  by  a  crow 
croaked,  while  from  the  darker  depths  a  whippoorwill  screamed  as 
though  in  reply  to-  the  clang  of  a  night  jay.  Warblers  and  tlirashes 
and  quails  sounded  from  the  hed^e  close  by,  while  a  red  head  wood- 
pecker screamed  and  a  yellow  one  hammered  on  a  fence  j)ost.  As 
though  crazed  by  all  this  confusion,  a  thrush  and  some  mocking 
birds  that  are  occasional  visitors  whistled,  yelled,  and  laughed. 
In  fact  within  a  very  few  rods  of  us  we  counted  the  voices  of 
twenty-seven  different  varieties  of  birds  where  once  all  was  quiet 
but  for  the  call  of  the  jay. 

Speaking  of  the  jay  reminds  us  that  here  again  at  the  start, 
we  tried  to  interfere  with  nature  and  drive  off  the  jays.  The  jay 
has  a  bad  name  and  people  do  like  to  have  an  excuse  for  killing 
something  besides  the  mice.  But  after  thinking  it  all  over  and 
comparing  experiences  of  over  fifteen  years  with  neighbors,  we 
conclude  the  jay  is  slandered  considerably.  He  will  not  steal  only 
when  he  has  to — and  perhaps  he  thinks  as  a  trader  did,  a  man  must 
cheat  a  little  to  make  an  honest  living.  He  certainly  does  not 
get  angry  unless  insulted,  and  then  we  can  declare  from  much 
watching  of  him,  he  gratifies  his  indignation  by  getting  a  company 
of  his  followers  to  jeer  and  call  out  the  object.  Generally  one  will 
do  most  of  the  villifying,  and  when  satisfied  will  rise  up  in  the  air 
and  all  his  company  with  him,  calling  back  in  most  jeering  tones. 
Instead  of  being  such  an  infamous  robber  and  air  pirate,  such  a 
monster  as  to  eat  up  little  ones  and  tear  up  homes  of  others,  I  can 
truthfully  say  that  I  have  never  seen  it,  although  a  colony  has  for 
seventeen  years  at  least  lodged  just  in  front  of  my  door  and  in  a 
tree  under  which  in  summer  I  often  sit  of  afternoons — and  this 
colony,  be  it  remembered,  is  right  in  the  midst  of  nests  of  some 
twenty  to  thirty  different  kinds  of  birds. 


272  Missotiri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Those  valiant  meddlesome  little  fellows,  the  wrens,  who  know- 
ing themselves  to  be  small  as  were  Napoleon  and  Alex,  the  Great, 
like  those  warriors,  feel  the  swelling  of  a  mighty  spirit  within,  are 
more  handsome  by  far. 

So  we  long  ago  concluded  that  two-thirds  of  the  jay's  reputa- 
tion was  due  to  slander,  and  one-third  was  owing  to  misconduct 
under  the  stimulus  of  supposed  wrong  and  depreciation.  Treated 
like  a  gentleman  he  might  become  a  highly  respectable  chai'acter. 
Surrounded  by  a  more  comfortable  society,  he  might  conform  to 
good  social  usages.  The  result  proves  we  are  right.  More  reflec- 
tion came.  We  found  that  after  all  your  popular,  joetted  birds 
had  made  their  visit  and  gone  ;  after  your  fashionable  birds  had 
only  spent  a  few  weeks  to  favor  the  philoprogenitive  principle  and 
recruit  exhausted  nature  in  our  fresher  air,  had  gone  to  their 
Southern  homes,  why  here  was  the  jay  still  abiding  with  us. 
True,  he  takes  his  young  ones  and  goes  off  in  the  warm  summer 
days.  Slanderers  used  to  intimate  he  takes  them  off  to  find  booty, 
plunder,  eggs,  little  birds,  etc.,  but  he  is  soon  back  with  all  his 
brood,  laughing  and  calling  over  u?  during  the  late  autumn  and  all 
winter  long. 

Now  if  a  bird  is  a  farmer's  friend  because  he  consumes  vermin, 
worms,  bugs  and  the  like,  what  shall  be  said  of  one  who  not  only 
eats  the  like,  but  hunts  wg  the  eggs  and  winter  deposits  of  these 
miserable  vermin  and  forages  all  winter  long  on  such  stuff'  as  he 
finds  under  bark,  or  fastened  on  limbs  of  trees.  Is  he  not  a 
thousand  times  a  friend,  and  shall  we  destroy  him  because  he  may 
mix  his  diet  with  a  little  grain  and  fruit  for  his  health  ?  There 
are  more  ways  than  one  of  looking  at  some  things. 

So  much  for  birds,  and  jay  birds  in  particular. 

To  really  know  the  nature, characteristics  and  habits  of  birds, one 
must  live  much  in  fields,  gardens,  orchards  and  woods  ;  he  must  have 
held  long  and  frequent  communings  with  nature,  which  is  the  only 
life  I  hold  worth  living.  Yet  over  large  districts  the  life  of  the 
country  seems  passing  away  ;  the  whole  desire  of  our  people  seems 
to  be  for  town  life.  The  country  lad  longs  for  the  village  near 
him ;  the  villager  looks  to  the  county  seat  as  his  haven  of  rest, 
while  the  loafer  around  the  court  house  has  an  eye  on  the  electric 
lights  and  jasper  pavements  of  the  city. 

Fathers  of  country  homes,  would  you  keep  your  sons  there  as 
you  should  ?  Then  see  to  it  that  the  life  of  the  country  has  more 
of  innocent  and  wholesome  diversion.  While  your  position,  if 
you  would  use  the  intellect  given   to  you  by  the    God  of  nature. 


other  Papers.  273 

commands  every  advantage,  you  purposely  or  negligently  make  the 
life  of  the  farm  one  of  dry,  gloomy,  iiopeless  slavery.  If  you  would 
use  your  wits  more  in  your  business  as  producers,  you  would  make 
ten  times  more  money,  and  have  to  do  very  much  less  labor.  That 
is  what  every  man  of  observation  sees  ;  what  the  experience  of  a^ 
who  have  tried  it  proves.  Raising  grain  to  sell,  paying  out  :i 
thousand  dollars  for  machines,  and  living  in  a  house  little  better 
than  a  hog-pen,  taking  one  or  two  county  newspapers  and  deeming 
that  a  useless  expense,  wasting  at  the  bungliole  while  forever  catch- 
ing drops  at  the  spigot ;  driving  your  offspring  late  and  early  like 
slaves,  exercising  a  poor  cultivation  over  hundreds  of  acres,  and 
never  dreaming  of  giving  your  children  a  chance  to  do  anything 
for  themselves  on  acres  appropriated  to  them,  treating  your  wive.-, 
yourselves,  and  all  around  as  mere  drudges — must  be  changed.  For- 
tunately there  are  even  now  country  homes  where  the  owners  have 
made  by  steady  but  easy  industry  and  sound  judgment,  little  Edens 
— homes  where  the  hearts  of  the  sons  and  daughters  ever  will 
turn — homes  that  teach  us  all  what  the  life  of  the  country  should 
be. 

To  the  man  of  really  independent  soul,  how  far  superior  is  this 
life  of  the  woods,  fields  and  orchards  to  that  narrow,  artificial  one 
of  the  town,  with  its  mean  ambitions,  its  envies  and  strifes  about 
trifles  ?  How  fearful  is  the  responsibility  that  rests  upon  us  of  the 
towns,  who  have  those  depending  on  us,  to  nim  wlio  stands  upon 
his  own  broad  acres,  but  a  pleasing  position.  He  feels  himself 
subject  to  no  danger  of  ousting.  At  worst,  the  very  worst, 
there  will  be  abundance  to  live  upon.  He  need  never  hear  his  own 
asking  for  bread. 

In  our  once  new,  but  now  prematurely  old  country,  life  gives 
no  such  easy  opportunities.  Education  is  no  longer  a  living,  it  is 
not  even  a  distinction.  Every  place  is  crowded.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  able-bodied  youths  idle  more  than  half  their  time. 
Advertise  in  one  of  our  village  weeklies  for  a  clerk  or  book-keeper, 
or  for  any  one  to  hold  "  a  soft  place  in  the  shade,"  or  in  any  gilded 
serfdom,  and  your  doors  are  crowded  before  daybreak. 

The  universal  premeditation  that  now  possesses  millions  of 
minds  is,  when  shall  we  make  the  rush  upon  the  new  president  for 
that  place,'  and  what  is  Cleveland  going  to  do  about  this  thing  ? 
More  and  more  are  new  places  made  to  accommodate  this  evil  state 
of  things,  until,  what  with  cabinets,  bureaus,  commissions,  clerk- 
ships, secretaryships,  attaches,  appointees,  agents,  assistants, 
collectors,  assessors,  examiners,   referees,  etc.,  until  the  vocabulaiy 


274  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

is  embarrassed  to  furnish  terms,  the  treasury  to  supply  funds,  and 
those  who  do  labor  are  made  to  groan  under  the  strain  of  taxation. 
Great  God,  how  pitiful  !  How  sickening  !  To  see  strong  men 
with  pallid  faces  and  trembling  hands  begging  for  the  privilege  of  . 
service.  That,  too,  in  a  land  where  millions  of  rich  acres  may  yet 
be  had  of  the  railroad  comj^anies  almost  for  the  asking. 

To  what  are  we  come  by  our  "'  educate,  educate,  or  we  must 
parish  by  our  own  prosperity  ?'"  To  this  universal  seeking  to  evade 
the  work  of  the  fields  and  orchards,  and  to  much  negligent, st^^pid, 
unskillful  agriculture-to  "living  from  dirty  hand  to  dirty  mouth." 

Let  us  reform.  Let  us  teach  our  sons  and  daughters  to  scorn 
dependence  ;  to  prefer  laboring  hard  for  self  to  the  gay  trappings 
and  liveries,  uniforms  of  slaves  and  menials.  And  that  still  the 
grandest  place  for  man  or  woman  is  where  the  old  patriarchs,  kings 
and  awfnl  fathers  of  mankind  stood — in  their  own  tents,  on  their 
own  soil.  With  all  our  artifices  we  are  making  a  nation  where  a 
few  hundred  are  millionaires  ;  several  hundreds  of  thousands  are 
their  dependents  or  menials  ;  other  thousands  are  supernaturally 
skilled  in  art,  tricks  and  ti-ades,  while  millions  are  crowding  the 
dirty  streets  of  cities,  or  leading  aimless  lives  in  the  melancholy 
tax-ridden,  mortgaged  country.  Legislation  'and  monopoly  com- 
bine to  make  the  rural  regions  still  more  a  waste,  dreary  and 
monotonous  ;  every  art  is  plied  to  draw  the  yeoman's  few  pence 
and  all  his  senses  to  the  town.  What  has  been,  what  is,  may  yet 
be  here.  The  census  proves  it.  Every  year  since  1880  this  ten- 
dency has  increased  most  woefully.  And  yet  who  does  not  see  that 
all  this  sickening  strife  of  town-life  is  unnatural,  unwholesome  and 
contemptible  ?  What  man  of  an  independent  soul  does  not  feel 
how  vastly  superior  is  the  position  of  him  who  can  boldly  exclaim 
with  Eobbie  Burns  : 

"  For  me,  so  low  I  need  na  bow. 
For.  Lord  be  thanked,  I  can  plow." 


SECRETARY'S  BUDGET. 


These  clippings  are  from  Gardener's  Monthly,  Country  Gentle- 
man, Colman's  Rural  World,  Prairie  Farmer,  Kansas  Farmer, 
Purdy's  Fruit  Recorder,  American  Agriculturist,  Rural  New 
Yorker,  JVew  York  Tribune,  and  man}^  others.  Where  known  the 
credit  is  given  with  each  article. 

"  L.  A.  GOODMAN,  Secretary. 

The  subjects  are  arranged  under  the  following  laeads  : 


Orchards,  1. 
Small  Fruits,  2. 
Flowers,  3. 
Marketing,  9. 
Birds,  12. 

Receipts  for  Use,  13. 
Miscellaneous,  18. 
Pruning,  10. 
Manure,  16. 


Vineyards,  8. 
Stone  Fruits,  5. 
Vegetables,  7. 
Ornamentals,  4. 
Insects,  11. 
Scientific,  14. 
Entertaining,  6. 
Canning,  15. 
New  Things,  17, 


27()  Missou7'i  State  Hoi'timdtural  Society. 


ORCHARDS. 


HOW  TO  MAKE  AN    OLD  OECHARD    BEAR  FRUIT. 

While  admiring  the  dark  green  and  luxuriant  groAvth  of  grass 
in  the  orchard,  I  remarked  to  Mr.  Lewis  that  nearly  all  the  old  or- 
chards of  Herkimer  seemed  to  be  dying  out,  but  that  his  trees  were 
looking  unusually  well — but  did  they  bear  fruit  ?  He  said  he  found 
no  difficulty  as  yet  in  getting  good  crops.  Last  year,  for  instance, 
when  the  apple  crop  in  Herkimer  w^as  almost  an  entire  failure,  his 
orchard,  containing  perhaps  170  trees,  gave  him  a  thousand  bushels 
of  apples,  and  that  is  about  his  average  crop.  But  how  did  he  do 
it  ?  The  secret  is  worth  knowing.  Well,  said  he,  ''  there  is  no 
great  secret  in  the  matter.  You  see  I  get  large  yields  of  grass  from 
this  meadow  by  liquid  manuring,  but  the  trees  are  benefitted  by 
the  manures  quite  as  much  as  the  grass,  and  perhaps  more.  I 
feed  my  grasses  and  I  feed  my  trees,' and  they  do  not  fail  me." 

One  great  feature  in  the  use  of  sawdust  for  absorbing  liquid 
manures,  is  that  it  can  be  spread  evenly  and  is  easily  broken  up  in 
minute  particles,  and  thus  becomes  more  available  to  the  roots  of 
plants  and  trees. — A.   Willard  in  C.  Gentleman. 

L.  H.  Baily,  one  of  the  large  apple  growers  of  Michigan,  says 
he  can  make  more  money  out  of  apples  at  twenty-five  cents  a 
bushel  than  out  of  wheat  at  one  dollar.  Good  apples  never  retail 
in  market  as  low  as  twenty-five  cents ;  tliey  are  seldom  sold  at  less 
than  forty  cents  a  bushel.  At  this  rate  they  are  worth  double  the 
value  of  wheat,  acre  by  acre,  one  year  with  another.  Why  do  not 
our  farmers  pay  more  attention  to  the  orchards? 

BEST  KINDS   OF   APPLES. 

Among  the  7,000  apple  trees  a  very  large  number  of  varieties 
hr.ve  been  grown  and  are  still  growing,  and  the  results  of  the  ex- 
periments here  have  been  and  are  of  much  value  to  others,  through 
all  the  central  portion  of  the  State.  Twenty-five  acres  of  new 
orchard  were  set  last  year.  All  the  trees  are  sheltered  on  the 
north,  west  and  south  sides,  with  wind-breaks — borders  of  soft 
maple  trees.  Having  but  a  brief  tmie  to  stay  after  going  through 
the  grounds  to  observe  the  effect  of  drainage  on  the  condition  of 
the  trees  on  tlie  higher  and  lower  or  wetter  soils,  we  put  this 
direct  question  to  Mr.  Henry  M.  Dunlap  :  "What  are  the  best  or 
rather  the   most    profitable   kinds  of  apples  for  this   region,  all 


Secretary's  Budget.  277 

things  considered,  such  as  hardiness,  fruitfulness,  quality,  etc  ? '" 
His  prompt  answer  was:  "For  winter  apples,  Ben  Davis,  but 
always  to  he  tvp-grafted  on  a  more  hardy  stock;  and  the  Willow 
Twig.  Of  fall  apples  we  make  no  account,  For  summer,  Eed 
Astrachan,  Sops  of  Wine  and  Keswick  Codling."  For  further 
south,  that  is,  below  Effingham,  .Mr.  Dunlap  names  for  winter 
apples,  Ben  Davis,  Rome  Beauty  and  Wine  Sap  ;  and  for  summer. 
Red  Astrachan  and  Duchess  of  Oldenberg. — Prairie  Farmer. 

THE    WEALTHY    APPLE    IK   THE    NOETHWBST. 

Editors  Country  Gentlemais". — I  find  so  many  good  things 
in  your  paper  benefiting  me  practically  and  mentally,  that  I  feel 
myself  indebted  to  it.  Allow  me  to  comment  on  some  things  in 
the  Country  Gentleman  of  July  31st.  Peter  M.  Gideon  says  that 
the  Wealthy  apple  is  estimated  to  be  worth  to  Minnesota  a  million 
of  dollars.  My  ten  years'  experience  with  this  tree  aud  its  fruit, 
induces  me  to  say  that  I  believe  it  to  be  worth  as  much  to  Dakota, 
Wisconsin,  Nebraska,  Iowa,  Illinois,  and  it  will  probably  prove  to 
be  one  of  the  best  orchard  trees  in  all  the  Northern  States, 

Since  the  Wealthy  is  getting  into  the  nurseries  and  orchards  so 
generally,  allow  me  to  give  a  short  history  of  it :  About  1865  or 
1866  Mr.  Gideon,  of  Excelsior,  Minnesota,  sent  to  Mr.  Emerson, 
of  Bangor,  Maine,  for  some  crab  apple  seed,  for  he  had  tried  the 
common  apples  and  they  winter-killed.  He  received  nearly  two 
quarts  of  seed.  He  planted  the  seed,  and  in  five  years  this  one 
bore  a  few  specimens  of  apples.  At  seven  years  Mr.  Gideon  was  so 
well  pleased  with  the  tree  and  its  fruit,  its  quantity  and  its  quality, 
that  he  took  off  400  scions  and  brought  to  me,  asking  me  to  graft 
them  on  the  halves,  and  to  send  him  one-half  the  trees  at  one  or 
two  years  old.  I  confess  that  I  very  reluctantly  consented  to  pay  a 
high  price  for  an  unknown  seeding.  But  it  was  Mr.  Gideon's 
knowledge  and  faith  in  the  great  value  of  the  Wealthy,  and  his 
flattering  me  by  saying  that  he  heard  that  I  was  an  honest  man, 
that  induced  me  to  accept  his  terms.  I  sent  him  1,000  one  year 
trees  the  next  fall,  which  was,  I  think,  1875.  A  few  scions  had 
been  sent  out  by  Mr.  Gideon  the  winter  before  (1874).  Such  is  the 
origin  of  the  Wealthy,  which  is  no  doubt  a  hybrid  of  crabs  and 
common  apples.  Mr.  Gideon  is  quite  sure  of  this,  for  from  the 
seed  of  the  Wealthy  he  has  obtained  crab  apples.  I  have  a  seed- 
ling of  the  Wealthy  bearing  this  year,  which  resembles  a  very  large 
crab  apple. 

SUEL  FOSTER, 

Muscatine,  Iowa. 


278  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

APPLE    ORCHARDS    IN    ENGLAND. 

A  writer  iii  Gardening  Illustrated  gives  an  account  of  the 
management  of  orchards  in  Devonshire,  a  locality  more  favorable 
than  most  others  for  the  success  of  the  apple  crop.  Screens  or 
other  jorotection  are  important  to  prevent  the  fruit  from  being  torn 
off  by  gales,  and  dashed  to  the  ground  long  before  it  is  ripe  enough 
to  gather.  A  good  deep  soil,  with  free,  natural  or  artificial 
drainage,  is  essential.  A  poor  and  a  wet  soil  causes  canker.  In 
artificial  drainage  the  ditches  must  be  cat  deep.  Top-dressing 
heavily  with  manure  is  regarded  as  the  best  remedy  for  stunted 
growth  and  moss  on  the  bark.  Gi'azing  with  sheep  or  pigs  in 
addition  to  the  top-dressing  is  recommended,  but  cattle  must  be 
excluded.  This  English  management  is  very  nearly  the  same  as 
that  adopted  by  the  best  orchardists  in  this  country.  This  is  nearly 
identical  with  the  treatment  of  one  of  the  most  profitable  orchards 
in  Western  New  York,  planted  on  a  light,  deep,  rich  soil,  top- 
dressed  in  alternate  years,  which  has  yielded  in  twelve  years  over 
820,000  above  all  expenses,  on  eleven  acres,  and  from  five  hundred 
trees. 

FOR  SUCCESS  IX  APPLE  ORCHARDING. 

We  must  have  healthy  trees,  first  of  all.  Many  insect  ene- 
mies are  disseminated  from  the  nursery.  The  trees  should  be  ex- 
amined before  planting,  and  if  infested  with  the  root-louse,  dipped 
in  water  heated  to  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  degrees. 
One  pound  of  Paris  Green  to  two  hundred  gallons  of  water  was 
also  commended  for  this  purpose,  and  one  pound  of  concentrated 
lye  to  two  gallons  of  water  for  the  bark-louse.  Better  kill  infested 
trees  by  heroic  treatment,  even  if  consigned  to  the  brush-heap,  than 
attempt  to  make  an  orchard  from  such  material.  Select  such  var- 
ieties as  have  proved  reliable  in  your  neighborhood  on  soil  of  a  sim- 
ilar character.  Autumn  planting  was  preferred,  and  the  strongest 
roots  should  be  spread  out  in  the  direction  of  the  strongest  winds. 
In  cold  soils  plant  further  apart,  for  sunshine  and  warmth  ;  ni 
warm  soils  closer,  for  shade  ;  and  strong  growers  further  apart  than 
sloAv  ones.  Young  orchards  should  be  cultivated  in  some  hoed 
crops,  except  corn,  for  three  or  four  years.  Sow  the  ground  to  rye 
in  the  fall  and  plough  under  in  May  or  June.  An  application  of 
two  or  three  hundred  pounds  per  acre  of  bone  dust  and  kainit  each 
3'ear  is  advisable  ;  the  latter  is  unjoleasant  for  the  root-louse.  The 
more  you  crop  an  orchard  the  more  manure  is  required.  Hundreds 
of  trees  supposed  to  be  winter-killed,  are  in  reality  destroyed  by 
ground  mice,  which  have  been  known  to  follow  roots  three  feet  under- 


Secretary" s  Budget.  279 

ground  ;  poisoned   grain  put  in  their  burrows  was  suggested   for 
winter  destruction. 

The  speaker  found  that  early  apples  from  nortliern-grown 
trees  ripened  later  in  South  Jersey,  and  winter  varieties  earlier,  till 
acclimated.  The  influence  of  stock  on  the  graft  and  vice  versa  is 
worth  attention.  Grafts  from  beai'ing  trees  of  known  vigor  will 
fruit  earlier  than  those  from  young  trees  in  the  nursery  row,  while 
the  latter  make  a  better  growth  of  wood.  Such  weak-growing 
sorts  as  Winesap,  Rawles,  Janet,  Melon,  etc.,  should  be  top-grafted 
on  straight-grained,  easily  rifted  stocks  like  Roadstown  Pippin. 
The  stock  exerts  a  marked  influence  on  the  growth,  season  of  ripen- 
mg,'size,  color  and  flavor  of  the  fuuit.  Harvesting  should  be  done 
in  the  cool  of  the  day.  Early  picking  improves  the  kaepinff 
quality  and  late  picking  the  flavor.  A  second-story  room  with 
northern  exjiosure,  above  the  influence  of  cellar,  and  below  that  of 
the  roof,  proved  a  desirable  storage  place.  The  apples  are  put  in 
the  north  side  of  the  room,  the  windows  kept  open  day  and  night 
till  severe  weather,  while  all  other  windows  and  shutters  are  closed. 
In  very  severe  weather  the  south  windows  are  opened  to  admit  the 
sunshine  to  warm  the  room,  and  if  there  is  danger  of  freezing,  pails 
of  water  are  placed  in  the  coldest  parts  and  renewed  as  needed. 
The  room  should  not  be  opened  in  damp  weather.  In  this  way  he 
has,  year  after  year,  kept  apples,  frequently  till  May,  with  a  loss  of 
less  than  five  per  cent,  and  never  exceeding  fifteen  per  cent. — ]\\ 
Y.  Tribune. 

SHEEP  IN  THE  ORCHARD. 

We  came  along  to  where  the  stumps  of  an  old  osage  hedge 
were  sticking  up  a  little  above  the  surface  of  the  ground.  There 
was  not  a  green  sprout  about  them.  "  How  did  you  get  rid  of  this 
so  effectually?"  A^as  the  question.  "Cut  it  off  at  the  roots  in 
August,  trimmed  out  the  wood  large  enough  for  fuel,  piled  the 
branches  along  the  hedge  row  and  when  dry,  and  the  wind  in  the 
right  direction,  fired  them.  Sprouts  started  up  in  the  spring,  but 
the  sheep  ate  them  ott'.  The  second"  spring  (1884)  they  suckered  a 
little,  but   the  sheep  have  finished   them.     They  will  give   us  no 

more  trouble." Then  came  a  talk  about  sheep  vs.  hogs  in  the 

orchard.  .  The  former  are  preferred.  They  do  not  root  up  the 
ground  ;  they  clear  out  a  great  variety  of  weeds  ;  they  "  syste- 
matically "  go  over  the  orchard  and  pick  up  the  apples  that  drop 
early,  thus  destroying  large  numbers  of  worms.  Hogs  will  take 
the  best  apples  and  leave  the  wormy  ones.  Sheep  will  keep  down 
the  root  sprouts  from  cherry  trees  on  Morello  stocks.     But  there  is 


280  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

a  difference  in  sheep.  The  Merinos  will  not  do  at  all.  They 
browse  too  much ;  the  lower  branches  of  trees  are  never  safe  with 
them.  Any  of  the  long  wools  are  preferable.  Two  good  Cots- 
wolds  to  the  acre  will  keep  an  orchard  in  good  shape."' — P.  F. 

Few  people  have  any  real  idea  of  the  value  of  the  apple  crop 
in  Missouri  in  a  good  fruit  season.  A  report  of  apples  shipped 
from  Platte  county  last  fall,  just  published,  shows  that  40,671 
barrels  were  shipped  from  the  various  raih-oad  stations  in  that 
county.  The  average  price  paid  was  two  dollars  per  barrel,  or 
$81,342.  The  orchards  of  Platte  are  nothing  unusual.  Those  of 
Buchanan  county  probably  yielded  fruit  to  the  value  of  $200,000 
or  more;  in  Andrew  county  to  the  value  of  about  $200,000  Was 
shipped  ;  Holt  county  did  not  ship  less  than  1150,000,  and  Nodaway 
county  quite  as  much.  Jackson  county  sent  away  $200,000  worth 
and  marketed  about  as  much  more  in  Kansas  City.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  if  full  returns  could  be  had  they  would  show  that  the 
apple  crop  of  Missouri,  last  year,  was  worth  several  millions  of 
dollars. 

LOW  GROUND  ORCHARDS. 

Dr.  Sanborn,  horticultural  editor  of  the  Farm  and  Fruit 
Groiver,  Anna,  111.,  announces  himself  a  convert  to  Mr.  B.  F.  John- 
son's theory,  which  Mr.  J.  has  frequently  advocated  in  the  Prairie 
Farmer,  that  low  prairie  ground  is  best  for  orchards.  Mr.  Sanborn 
says  :  "  We  have  seen  quite  enough  at  home  to  convince  us  of  the 
general  truthfulness  of  the  'low  ground'  side  of  the  question,  for 
the  apple,  pear,  and  quince  at  least. 

ORIGIN    OF   THE    APPLE. 

Our  cultivated  apples  undoubtedly  sprang  from  two  distinct 
species  of  plants,  one  the  Pyrus  Malus,  the  panent  of  our  ordinary 
large  apples,  the  other  Pyrus  prunifolia,  the  Siberian  crab  apple. 
Our  large  crab  apples,  as  Transcendants,  etc.,  are  supposed  to  be 
crosses  between  the  two.  The  original  home  of  the  apple  tree, 
Pyrux  Malus,  is  a  matter  of  uncertamty. 

Wild  apples  are  common  in  southern  Europe,  and  they  are  re- 
garded by  many  as  the  original,  uncultivated  species.  Two  sorts  of 
wild  apples  are  recognized  by  European  botanists,  one  characterized 
chiefly  by  smooth  leaves,  the  other  by  woolly  or  pubescent  leave^. 
De  Candolle,  the  latest  authority  on  the  origin  of  cultivated  plants, 
is  not  convinced  that  the  wild  apples  of  Europe  represent  the 
original  species  ;  he  doubts  if  they  are  any  more  than  cultivated 
apples  run  wild.     This  author  regards  thatj^art  of  Persia  extending 


Secretary's  Budget.  281 

from  Trebizonde  to  Gliilan  as  the  most  probable  home  of  the 
apple,  although  he  thinks  it  quite  possible,  if  indeed,  not  probable, 
that  the  species  originally  existed  also  towards  the  eastern  part  of 
Europe.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  the  apple  was  widely  known 
throughout  Europe  previous  to  the  records  of  the  Greeks  or  Romans. 
It  was  probably  brought  to  Europe  with  the  early  Aryan  migrations. 
The  name  apple  is  itself  a  history  of  the  fruit.  The  root  of  the 
\yord  is  nearly  the  same  in  all  the  ancient  oriental  languages,  and 
from  those  languages,  instead  of  the  more  modern  Latin  or  other 
Euroj^ean  tongues,  our  word  is  evidently  derived. 

Says  Dr.  Prior  :  "This  was,  apparently,  tlie  only  fruit  with 
which  our  ancestors  were  acquainted  before  they  came  into  Europe  ; 
for,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  wild  berries  and  the  hazel  nut,  it  is 
the  only  one  for  which  we  have  a  name  that  is  not  derived  from  the 
Latin  or  French.  It  seems  to  have  accompanied  them  on  a  northern 
route  from  the  western  spur  of  the  Himalayan  Mountains."  Dried 
and  carbonized  pieces  of  apples  are  found  in  the  pre-historic  lake 
dwellings  of  Switzerland,  and  in  some  instances  they  appear  to 
belong  to  an  age  earlier  than  that  in  which  metals  were  used.  It  is 
possible  that  these  pieces  of  apples  were  derived  from  wild  crabs, 
although  collateral  evidence  points  to  a  different  origin.  They 
probably  represent  the  earliest  stages  of  apple  culture  in  Europe. 
Much  later  the  Romans  cultivated  the  fruit,  and  Pliny  mentions 
twenty-two  varieties  grown  in  his  time.  Many,  and  perhaps  all,  of 
these  varieties  were  inferior.  Pliny  asserts  that  some  sorts  were  so 
sour  as  to  turn  the  edge  of  a  knife. — Ex. 

LOCATION"   OF    ORCHAKDS. 

Orchards  on  high  lands,  or  on  slopes,  or  on  slopes  and  ridges, 
suffering  for  moisture,  can  not  be  removed  to  low  lands,  nor  can 
they  be  irrigated,  except  at  an  enormous  expense.  What  then  can 
be  done  ?  In  the  first  place,  the  annual  rainfall  can  be  held  to  the 
space  it  falls  ujDon,  under  the  tree,  by  the  throwing  up  a  furrow  or 
ridge  around  it,  as  far  out  as  the  limbs  extend,  where  the  ground  is 
level,  and  by  a  dam  on  the  lower  side,  when  the  ground  slopes. 
The  latter  could  also  be  made  to  stay  a  portion  of  the  rain  falling 
on  the  higher  ground  above.  Further  :  a  general  system  of  mulch- 
ing ought  to  be  adopted  ;  not  for  the  purpose  alone  of  keeping  the 
surface  moist,  but  also  for  supplying  food  to  the  roots  as  the  mulch 
decays.  If  the  orchard  is  in  grass,  clover,  or  weeds,  they  should 
be  mowed  at  least  twice  a  year,  the  burden  suffered  to  lie  on  the 
ground  and  rot,  or  be  thrown  under  the  trees.  After  pruning,  the 
wood  removed  should  either  be  left  where  it  falls,  or  piled  in  heaps 


282  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

about  the  orchard  and  suffered  to  rot  as  in  the  "  hammock"  land 
orange  groves  of  Florida,  where  the  under  brush  and  extra  timber 
is  rarely  burned,  but  piled  in  heaps  to  rot  away. 

If  it  is  desirable  to  bring  barren  trees  into  bearing,  or  to 
rescue  from  decay  and  death  those  in  an  unhealthy  state,  meas- 
ures of  a  more  radical  and  expensive  character  must  be  taken, 
measures  similar  to  those  which  have  been  practiced  for  centuries 
with  the  grape  vine,  with  complete  success.  These  measures  consist 
either  in  removing  the  earth  under  the  trees  and  putting  new  and 
fresh  earth  in  its  place,  as  practiced  with  orange  trees  in  Louisian;i. 
and  on  the  coffee  plantations  in  the  tropics,  or  in  digging  a  deep 
and  wide  ditch  around  the  tree,  inside  the  outer  diameter  of.  the 
branches,  and  i-efilling  it  with  near  half  the  earth  removed  and  half 
such  mineral  fertilizers  and  amendments  as  tree  leaves  and  refuse 
decaying  vegetable  matter  of  any  sort  for  the  other  half. 

But  nothing  more  than  a  general  outline  of  the  course  to  be' 
pursued,  can  be  indicated  here  ;  and  nothing  more  is  necessary  for 
the  intelligent   amateur,  fruit-grower,  or  orchardist,  who  feels   the 
strength  of  the  proof,  and  accepts  the  situation. 

In  these  latter  days  most  of  the  diseases  which  afflict  humanity 
are  believed  to  be  attributable  to  improper  nutrition  and  faulty 
hygiene,  and  are  relieved  or  cured  by  a  more  or  less  radical  change 
in  food  and  habit. 

In  the  animal  world,  the  truth  appears  in  a  still  stronger 
light  ;  while  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  nutrition  counts  for  almost 
everything.  Still,  in  the  case  of  the  peach  yellows  and  pear  blight, 
both  appear,  on  first  sight,  to  be  distinct  diseases,  neither  yielding 
to  any  remedy  yet  applied  to  them,  and  both  being  attended  with 
the  present  fashionable  bacteria,  which  are  made  responsible  for 
many  diseases  and  all  epidemics.  But  has  anybody  yet  made  the 
experiment  whether  water  supplied  copiously  to  the  spare  and  thin 
roots  of  the  pear  will  or  will  not  jirevent  the  blight,  or  tried  the 
same  thing  with  the  peach  ?  We  all  know  the  gigantic  and  ven- 
erable pear  trees  of  the  Wabash  and  Kaskaskia  country  were 
planted  on  the  sandy  second  bottoms  of  the  rivers  named,  where  in 
their  early  youth,  if  not  in  their  mature  age,  water  was  always 
within  easy  reach  of  their  roots  ;  and  we  have  seen  the  item  in  the 
agricnltural  papers  telling  how  one  experimenter  at  least,  has  saved 
his  pear  trees  from  blight  by  copious  watering. 

The  prairie  and  timber  country  both  are  drying  out  and  losing 
soil  moisture  very  much  faster  than  we  have  any  conception  of. 
Situations  where  moisture  in  the  soil  was  abundant  enough  for  all 


Secretary's  Budget.  .  283 

crop  purposes  twenty-five  years  ago,  suffered  quickly  after  a  brief 
drought  now,  and  would  be  benefitted  by  irrigation  where  it  would 
have  been  injurious  fifty  years  before.  Beside,  we  have  borrowed 
many  of  our  ideas  from  the  fruit-growing  experiences  of  the  easi, 
and  they  from  the  cooler  and  moister  countries  of  Europe.  And 
in  that  way  the  amount  of  right  teaching  has  been  too  attenuated, 
until  it  is  in  many  respects  practically  worthless. — B.  F.  J.  in 
Prairie  Farmer. 

A.  E.  Whitney,  of  Franklin  Grove,  111.,  has  an  orchard  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy  acres  of  apple  tiees  (according  to  the  Frairi.' 
Farnier)  and  he  bus  an  expecUition  that  this  year  his  crop  will 
reach  18,000  bushels.  Upon  seeing  a  statement  of  this  fact  the 
Countrij  Gentleinan  is  lead  to  remark  : 

"This  orchard  is  larger  than  the  famous  Chapin  orchard,  of 
East  Bloomfield,  IS^.  Y.,  which  occupies  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  acres,  but  not  neavly  so  large  as  that  of  Robert  Mc- 
Kinstry,  of  Hudson,  IST.  Y..  covering  about  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five acres.  Mr.  Chapin  had  ten  thousand  barrels  ol  apples  in 
1879,  which  sold  for  seventeen  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  McKinstry 
had  twenty  thousand  barrels  in  1878,  and  about  the  same  in  other 
years.  He  raises  most  largely  Rhode  Island  Greening,  Baldwin  and 
Tompkins  King,  and  several  others  in  less  numbers.  Mr.  Whit- 
ney finds  Red  Astrachan,  Maiden's  Blush,  Willow  Twig  and  Domi- 
nie, most  profitable  in  that  region  of  Illinois.  Single  trees  in  some 
instances  have  given  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each.  The 
Yellow  Bellflower  proved  worthless  ;  the  trees  gave  only  a  single 
crop,  and  that  was  after  a  severe  root-pruning.  Baily  Sweet  has 
been  a  valuable  sort.  When  the  price  of  Mr,  Whitney's  apples  is 
not  over  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  barrel  he  converts  them 
into  vinegar  ;  at  three  dollars  a  barrel  they  are  quite  profitable. 
On  the  prairie  soil,  lime  is  very  beneficial  ;  and  to  apply  it,  old 
mortar  was  spread  under  the  trees,  and  was  worth  ten  dollars  a  tree. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  he  gives  his  orchard  intelligent  management, 
and  has  not  grown  poor  in  taking  care  of  it. 

ROOT    LOUSE. 

The  Farm  and  Garden  says  of  tree  planting  :  "  We  would 
especially  advise  all  who  plant  young  trees  this  year  to  examine 
them  closely.  First,  at  the  roots  for  a  white  mould  which  indicates 
the  apple  root  louse,  as  also  does  small  knots  the  size  of  a  pin  head 
on  the  roots.  At  once  burn  such  trees  and  buy  healthy  ones,  or 
before  planting,   dip  them  in  hot  water  not  less  than  one  hundred 


284  3Iissouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

and  thirty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  degrees  for  a  moment,  then  out 
again  ;  if  necessary,  several  times.  Or  make  a  tubful  of  Paris 
G-reen  water — a  teaspoonful  to  two  and  one-half  gallons  of  water — 
and  dip  your  trees  into  it  before  planting  ;  allow  every  crevice  in 
the  roots  to  receive  a  share  of  the  Paris  Green  water.  Examine 
the  trunk  at  the  roots  with  a  sharp-pointed  knife  for  a  bOrer. 
Examine  the  body  for  a  mouldy  look,  which  would  indicate  the 
woolly  aphis.  A  wash  made  of  one  pound  of  concentrated  lye  to 
two  gallons  of  water  ;  apply  carefully  with  a  rag  or  brush  over  the 
whole  body — not  on  the  roots  as  they  are  too  tender.  Examine 
and  destroy  all  eggs,  no  matter  how  small,  from  the  body  and 
branches.  If  your  eyesight  is  not  the  best,  use  a  small  pocket- 
glass,  for  some  of  the  eggs  of  the  most  troublesome  insects  are  not 
much  larger  than  a  pin  point.  If  your  tree  dies  under  the  treatment, 
feel  delighted  you  escaped  your  enemies.  If  it  lives,  you  will  be 
thankful  for  a  healthy  tree,  and  you  have  not  put  an  enemy  in  your 
orchard  that  will  work  your  ruin. 


>f 


A    FEW    FACTS. 

Many  persons  ignorantly  believe  that  roots  literally  eat  their 
food,  and  that  in  conseqence,  it  should  be  placed  in  immediate 
proximity  to  them.  But  the  thoughtful  cultivator  knows  that  all 
fertilizing  material  must  first  undergo  a  disintegrating  and  decom- 
posing process  before  it  passes  into  a  liquid  a'nd  vaporish  state, 
when,  and  not  before,  it  is  in  a  suitable  condition  to  enter  into  the 
vegetable  organism.  So  a  top  dressing  of  plant-food  is  carried  by 
the  rains  down  to  the  fine  fibres,  to  be  taken  up  through  their 
.  minute  pores,  and  assimilated. 

As  a  pretty,  generally  accepted  ^ule  the  agent  that  produces 
wood-growtli  will  not  secure  a  i'lne  crop  of  fruit  ;  and  on  the  con- 
trary a  large  crop  of  fruit  is  frequently  at  the  expense  of  vigor. 
The  two  extremes  are  rarely  if  ever  combined  during  a  single 
season.  The  thoughtful  cultivator,  however,  with  an  eye  to  profit, 
will  use  his  best  endeavors  to  produce  a  happy  medium  in  both 
productiveness  and  growth.  Success  is  more  certainly  assured  by 
preserving  our  orchards  in  a  perfect  state  of  health,  but  liow  best 
to  do  this  apparently  simple  task,  is  yet  debatable. 

So  far  as  I  am  informed,  no  harm  has  arisen  from  applying  an 
alkali  wash  of  some  sort  to  the  stems  and  branches  of  our  trees, 
which  in  addition  to  the  destruction  of  insects,  acts  as  a  fertilizer 
to  the  soil.  Whitewash  is  a  simple  and  inexpensive  coating  for  the 
bark,  and   is  beyond  question  of  undoubted  utility.     These  ideas 


Secretary's  Budget.  285 

have  been  frequently  given  to  readers  of  The  Tribune  aud  I  only 
allude  to  them  again  because  people  seem  to  forget  the  few  simple 
rules  that  appear  necessary  to  promote  health,  vigor  and  produc- 
tiveness in  trees. 

As  regards  the  question  of  sod  or  tilled  surface  I  do  not  feel 
inclined  to  take  positive  grounds  in  favor  of  either.  Each  has  its 
advocates,  and  under  both  systems  of  culture  I  have  seen  admirable 
results.  It  is  plausible  reasoning  that  the  top  soil  when  protected 
by  turf  or  grass  is  rendered  cool  and  even  in  temperature  ;  and  the 
small  fibres  of  the  tree  beneath  can  just  as  readily  extract  nourish- 
ment and  moisture  from  the  air  as  if  culti\'ated.  The  sod  if  kept 
mown  forms  as  good  a  bed  for  fertilizers  as  mellow  soil,  but  the  cut 
grass  should  never  be  removed. 

It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  cultivator  and  2>lougli 
do  not  injure  the  roots  to  any  extent,  and  when  we  consider  tliat 
the  smaller  fibrous  roots  are  instrumental  in  nourishing  the  tree, 
their  loss  must  necessarily  impair  vitality.  When  the  tree  is  young, 
the  soil  should  be  constantly  cultivated,  but  so  so  soon  as  the  soil 
becomes  filled  with  roots  it  should  not  be  disturbed.  Such  is  my 
method  of  reasoning,  but  I  know  the  opposite  course  is  pursued 
by  good  careful  orchardists,  who  claim  that  applying  fertilizers  to 
the  surface,  without  breaking  the  soil,  is  no  cultivation  at  all. 

The  advocates  of  the  latter  theory  claim  that  no  harm  ensues 
from  thus  dislocating  the  fibres,  and  that  in  practice  the  tree  at 
once  starts  into  active  growth  by  such  a  stimulus.  That  a  tree 
standing  either  in  sod  or  mellow  ground  will  make  a  vigorous 
growth  after  receiving  a  liberal  amount  of  fertilizers,  is  well-known 
to  every  orc'iardist,  so  that  the  only  question  of  real  importance  to 
be  decided  is  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  injury  to  the  roots 
which  breaking  up  of  the  sod"  will  inflict. 

Trees  enjoy  a  fair  mulch  over  their  roots,  not  only  to  keep  them 
moist  but  cool  and  even  in  temperature,  and  just  here  is  where  the 
advocates  of  the  so-called  "non-cultivation"  theory  claim  their 
practice  is  superior.  Experiments  with  the  thermometer  beneath 
the  sod  have  shown  very  gratifying  results,  especially  when  the  cut 
grass  is  allowed  to  remain  on  the  surface  to  decompose  and  furnish 
additional  shade  as  well  as  plant-food. — Josiah  Hoopes,  iti  New 
York  Tribune. 

ROOT   FEEDING. 

There  is  in  no  case  a  doubt  but  that  a  tree  has  need  of  all  its 
roots,  and  more  if  it  could  get  them  :  so  some  people  would  say, 
we  will  sow  the  orchard  in  grass,  and  thus   avoid  ploughing,  which 


286  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

must  injure  some  roots.  But  the  roots  are  of  no  use  unless  they 
have  something  to  eat ;  and  if  we  let  the  grass  have  the  best  of  the 
food,  there  is  no  gain,  and  often  a  loss.  In  such  cases,  it  is  better 
to  plough  the  ground  and  destroy  the  grass,  though  some  roots  are 
destroyed,  because  the  roots  left  have  at  least  all  the  food  to  them- 
selves. But  if  we  are  so  situated  that  we  can  give  the  grass  all  the 
food  it  wants,  and  the  tree  roots  all  the  food  they  need,  then  it  is 
far  better  not  to  plough  the  ground,  because  then  you  have  not 
only  all  the  roots  to  work  for  you,  but  some  cool  shade  besides.  It 
follows  that  in  those  parts  of  the  world  where  little  manure  can  be 
had  for  top-dressing,  it  would  be  the  height  of  absurdity  to  keep 
an  orchard  in  grass,  no  matter  how  great  the  theoretical  advantages 
might  be.  The  surface  should  be  ploughed  to  keep  down  grass  and 
weeds  so  that  the  tree  may  have  all  the  food  there  is  in  the  soil. 
All  that  we  can  say  is,  that  as  a  principle  of  culture,  those  trees 
are  the  healthiest,  the  largest  leaved,  every  way  the  best,  which, 
with  plenty  of  food,  have  their  roots  the  least  disturbed. 

POOE   TKEES. 

Henry  Waymire. — I  experimented  in  my  orchard,  and  have 
profited  by  it.  My  trees  had  not  borne  well  for  ten  or  fifteen 
years  except  little  knotty  fruit,  until  four  or  five  years  ago.  After 
a  hard  winter  I  determined  to  cut  them  down.  I  advised  with  my 
wife  about  it,  then  thought  I  would  spare  the  trees  one  year  more. 
I  dug  around  the  trees  for  six  or  eight  feet  out,  and  around  four 
of  them  spread  manure,  leaving  two  others  without  fertilizer.  The 
next  spring  all  bloomed  out  alike  and  apj^les  began  to  show  on  all, 
but  the  fruit  soon  began  to  drojD  from  the  two  that  Il-.ad  neglected, 
but  the  others  were  loaded  down  with  fine  Bellflower  apples,  so 
jnuch  so  that  one  split  in  two  and  was  ruined.  Since  then  I  feed 
Ihem  manure  every  year,  turn  the  hogs  in  until  the  fruit  begins  to 
get  good,  and  I  have  plenty  of  apples  every  year, -and  this  season  I 
have  as  fine  a  crop  in  quality  and  quantity  as  I  ever  had.  I  am 
satisfied  that  there  are  hundreds  of  these  old  orchards  starving  to 
death.  A  man  adjoining  me  bought  a  farm  with  a  jiear  orchard 
on  it.  The  trees  looked  bad  and  blighted.  He  rei:)laced  the  old 
with  new  soil,  fertilized,  and  in  one  season  he  has  increased  the 
yield  and  improved  the  looks  of  his  orchard.  Another  neighbor 
lias  fifteen  acres  in  orchard  that  blue  grass  has  starved  out,  so  that 
he  has  not  an  apple  to-day  as  big  as  a  hen  Qgg,  while  I  have  more 
than  I  want,  and  am  getting  $1  a  bushel  for  what  I  will  sell,  right 
ut  home.     It's  just  like  the  pigs.     Neglect   them  and  they  Co  not 


Secretary's  Budget.  287 

flourish  ;  care  for  them  and  feed  them  and  they  fatten. — Montgom- 
ery County,  Ohio,  Society. 

SHEEP   IN   THE    OECHAKD. 

The  Country  Gentleman  recommends  the  pasturing  of  orchards 
with  sheep,  insisting  that  they  are  better  than  swine  for  picking  up 
fallen  fruit,  etc.,  as  the  latter  sleep  so  soundly  that  they  do  not 
hear  the  fruit  drop,  and  advises  that  the  tree  trunks  be  washed 
once  a  month  with  a  mixture  of  soap-suds,  whale-oil  soap  and  sheep 
manure,  in  order  to  keep  the  sheep  from  gnawing  the  bark.  It  is 
very  seldom  we  find  occasion  to  criticise  the  advice  given  by  the 
Country  Gentleman,  especially  in  horticultural  matters  ;  but  on 
this  point  we  most  decidedly  condemn  the  advice  given.  After 
many  bitter  experiences  we  have  learned  that  sheep  or  young  calves 
are  quite  as  much  to  be  feared  in  an  orchard  as  rabbits  ;  and  our 
experience  of  farm  life  teaches  us  that  the  washing  of  the  trees,  if 
etfectual,  is  sure  to  be  neglected  just  one  day  too  long.  We  have 
never  known  swine  to  do  any  injury  to  an  orchard,  and  we  have 
found  them' always  active  and  efficient  in  taking  care  of  the  wormy 
fruit. 


SMALL    FRUITS. 


We  clip  from  Oltio  Far'mer  the  following  : 

SUMMER    PRUJSflNG. 

Mr.  Tryon,  of  Lake  county,  after  practicing  the  pinching-back 
process  for  several  years,  has  "  gone  back"  on  it.  He  says  the  pinch- 
ing off  of  bearing  shoots  develops  buds  that  should  remain  dormant 
till  the  next  year,  causing  young  shoots  to  grow  and  blossom  dur- 
ing the  summer,  so  that  at  time  of  ripening  there  would  be  green 
A\  ood  and  grapes  in  different  stages  of  growth,  when  all  should  be 
maturing  at  the  same  time.  For  eight  or  ten  years  past  he  has 
allowed  the  canes  to  grow  right  along,  ripening  its  wood  with  the 
fruit,  and  the  result  is  most  satisfactory. 

BERRY  NOTES  FROM  MICHIGAN. 

I  think  more  of  the  Ohio  Black-cap  than  ever  ;  it  is  of  such 
excellent  quality,  besides  all  the  other  good  things  I  have  said 
about  it.  The  Souhegan  disappoints  me.  I  had  quite  a  lot  of  them 
ripe  before  any  of  the  other  Black-caps,  and  we  could  hardly  eat 


:288  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

them  ;  they  are  not  even  good  enough  to  sell,  to  say  nothing  about 
eating  them  ourselves  or  giving  them  to  our  friends.  Shaffer's  is 
the  best  market  berry  I  have  ;  last  year  I  sold  a  few  for  canning 
purposes  to  people  of  good  sense,  and  this  year  they  were  in  great 
demand  at  the  price  of  the  best  reds.  Without  question,  it  is  the 
best  canning  berry  we  have. 

I  planted  Cowing's  Seedling  strawberry  with  twenty-five  other 
sorts,  and  allowed  friends,  on  going  through  the  plot,  to  taste  of  all 
and  vote  as  to  quality;  Cowing's  was  ahead  of  everything.  I  picked 
out  eight  of  the  best  sorts  and  planted  them  on  a  larger  scale,  and 
our  families  always  keep  Cowing's  clean  of  ripe  berries.  Why  has 
this  old  berry  been  so  neglected  ?  I  grew  it  at  Lansing  some  years 
ago  upon  clay  loam  ;  it  was  of  the  same  good  quality,  but  assumed 
monstrous  shapes  ;  no  worse  ihan  the  Sharpless.  however  ;  ujdou 
the  sand  it  is  very  comely.  Were  I  to  name  the  strawberry  "  grade 
marks"  in  the  order  of  their  importance,  I  should  put  comeliness 
among  the  first.  I  think  only  quality  and  color  come  before  it. — 
Chas.   I'F.  Garfield  in  Rural  Neiv   Yorker. 

STKAW  MULCH  POR  STRAWBERRIES. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Green,  in  the  Fruit  Grower,  says  :  "  We  shall 
never  mulch  bearing  beds  of  strawberries  with  straw  again.  Though 
a  good  winter  protection  it  can  not  be  made  free  from  grain  and 
weed  seeds,  and  thus  to  re-seed  soil  made  clean  by  long  culture,  is 
vexatious.  Aside  from  this  the  mulch  is  made  the  breeding  place 
of  insects.  We  found  thousands  of  small  worms  hatched  under 
the  straw  before  the  frost  was  fairly  out  of  the  soil.  It  is  expected 
that  the  damage  done  to  Parker  Earle's  (Cobden,  111.)  ^Dlantation 
by  an  insect  eating  into  the  berries  is  owing  to  the  straw  mulch,  as 
when  no  mulch  was  applied  no  injury  was  done." 

Mr.  Jared  Topping,  of  Colorado,  is  reported  "in  the  Tribune  as 
raising  400  quarts  of  strawberries  on  a  plot  20  by  60  feet.  This 
would  be  at  the  rate  of  14,520  quarts,  or  454  bushels  per  acre.  A 
prolific  country  certainly  ! 

Although  the  color  is  not  in  its  favor,  yet  its  superior  size  will 
secure  its  sale  at  the  best  prices.  Plants  of  this  variety  are  now- 
pretty  plentiful  at  the  nurseries  and  can  be  procured  at  low  rates. 
The  high  prices  which  have' prevailed  for  this,  also  for  those  best 
early  black-caps,  the  Souhegan  and  Tyler,  have  restricted  their 
planting  for  home  use. 

The  season  of  the  Shaffer  is  rather  late — extending  the  rasp- 
berry season  well  up  to  the  blackberry  season.     I  am  now  using 


Secretary's  Budget.  289 

Shaffer's  splendid,  large,  fine  berries  from  canes  clipped  in  spring 
to  within  a  foot  of  the  ground,  and  there  are  still  many  green  ones 
on  the  shoots  from  the  shortened  canes.  It  surpasses  other  varie- 
ties in  this  habit.  The  following  has  just  come  to  hand  :  Chas. 
"W.  Garfield,  Secretary  of  the  Michigan  State  Horticultural  Society, 
thus  writes  :  "Shaffer's  is  the  best  market  berry  I  have.  Last 
year  I  sold  a  few  for  canning  purposes  to  people  of  good  sense,  and 
this  year  they  were  in  great  demand  at  the  price  of  the  best  reds. 
Without  question  it  is  the  best  canning  berry  we  have." — 0.  B. 
Galusha. 

KOOT-HABIT    OF   THE    STRAWBERRY. 

According  to  one  of  his  latest  bulletins  from  the  State  Experi- 
ment Station  at  Geneva,  Director  Sturtevant  on  August  13  of  last 
year  washed  out  a  strawberry  plant,  of  the  Triomphe  de  Grand 
variety,  with  the  following  result : 

"  The  roots  extended  nearly  vertically  downward  to  the  depth 
of  2'2  inches.  The  horizontal  roots  were  few  and  short,  the  longest 
being  traceable  but  six  inches.  Nearly  all  the  fibrous  roots  were 
found  directly  beneath  the  plant.  The  new  roots  appeared  grow- 
ing out  about  an  inch  above  the  old  ones,  and  the  longest  of  these 
had  attained  at  this  time  a  length  of  six  iuches.  They  were  white, 
and  tipped  at  the  extremity  with  a  thickened  point." 

The  teaching  of  this  one  observation  is  that  since  the  roots  go 
deep  the  bed  should  be  prepared  by  previous  culture  and  thorough 
fertilization  to  a  considerable  depth  ;  that,  since  the  roots  cover  an 
area  scarcely  larger  than  the  leaves,  the  plants  may  be  set  close, 
provided  the  soil  is  rich  enough  to  properly  sustain  all ;  and  that, 
since  the  roots  run  so  nearly  vertical,  there  is  little  danger  of  deep 
cultivation  of  the  ground  between  the  rows,  even  after  the  plants 
have  reached  full  size.  And  this  added  point  or  two  we  give  in  the 
Director's  own  words  : 

"  The  fact  that  the  new  roots  grow  out  above  the  old  ones  each 
year,  explains  why  strawberry  plants  appear  to  elevate  themselves 
upward  as  they  become  old,  and  suggests  the  importance  of  draw- 
ing earth  toward  them  after  the  bearing  season.  The  formation  of 
the  new  roots  above  the  old  ones  as  well  suggests  the  advisability  of 
surface  manuring  after  the  crop  is  harvested,  for  these  latter  roots 
occupy  the  uj^per  portions  of  the  soil.  Our  observations  also  sug- 
gest the  advisability  of  applying  the  manure  or  fertilizer  close  to 
the  plant  as  thus  being  more  effective  than  when  placed  simply 
between  the  rows." 


290  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Dr.  Sturtevant  suggests  it  as  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry, 
"  whether  the  varieties  within  an  agricultural  species  have  as  dis- 
tinct habits  in  their  root  formation  within  the  soil  as  they  display 
in  their  visible  formation  out  of  it;"  and  incidentally  mentions  that 
a  cauliflower  had,  August  13,  roots  which  were  traced  to  a  depth 
of  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet,  and  horizontally  about  two  and  a 
half  feet,  and  "  the  fibrous  roots  were  less  numerous  in  the  upper 
than  in  the  lower  layers  of  soil."  Hence  for  this  crop  the  soil 
should  be  rich  low  down,  as  well  as  at  the  surface  for  tlie  especial 
use  of  the  plants  when  young. — N.    Y.    Tribune. 

SUCCESSION  IN    STKAWBEKRIES. 

The  American  Garden  gives  the  following  results  of  the  time 
of  ripening  on  the  grounds  of  Dr.  Hexamer,  the  editor,"  extending 
from  June  6th  to  18th  :  June  6th,  Crystal  City  ;  7th,  Crescent, 
Black  Defiance  ;  8th,  Ducliess,  Downer ;  9th,  Wilson  ;  10th, 
Miner,  Lennig's  White  ;  11th,  Cumberland,  Green  Prolific,  Hart^s 
Minnesota,  Jucunda,  Cinderella,  Seth  Boyden,  Hervey  Davis,  Red 
Jacket ;  13th,  Bid  well,  Warren,  Longfellow,  Capt.  Jack,  Man- 
chester, James  Vick,  Golden  Defiance,  Great  American,  President 
Lincoln,  Seneca  Queen,  Prince,  Daniel  Boone,  Kentucky,  Col. 
Cheney,  Glendale ;  15th,  Jersey  Queen,  Finch,  Mrs.  Garfield,  At- 
lantic, Mount  Vernon  ;  18th,  Marvin. 

THE  MARLBORO    RASPBERRY. 

Your  correspondent,  A.  B.  C.  (why  not  give  his  real  name  ?) 
in  the  Rural  New  Yorker,  of  July  19,  page  463,  states  that  he 
saw  "the  Marlboro  Easpberry  in  all  its  glory,  or  at  least  all  the 
glory  it  will  ever  attain  in  Xew  Jersey.  It  was  on  the  best  of  soil 
and  given  the  best  possible  treatment,  but  the  canes  were  faltering, 
and  would  not  bring  out  their  first  crop,"  etc.,  etc.,  "and  my  firm 
conviction  is,"  continues  this  anonymous  assailant,  "  from  what  1 
have  seen  of  the  Marlboro,  it  will  not  do  for  New  Jersey  and  loca- 
tions southward.     I  can  see  nothing  in  it  but  Idaeus  blood." 

Having  examined  the  Marlboro  raspberry  carefully,  I  think 
otherwise,  and  I  doubt  if  it  has  very  much,  if  any,  Idsus  or  for- 
eign blood  m  it  (except  in  its  mature  leaves)  ;  but  I  believe  it  to  be 
an  improved  seedling  of  the  American  red  (rubus  strigosus),  or  it 
may  be  the  result  of  a  succession  of  improvements  or  crosses,  etc. 
The  growth,  and  habit  of  throwing  up  numerous  sprouts  or 
suckers  :  the  strong,  vigorous,  upright  canes,  branching  a  little 
toward  the  top,  nearly  smooth,  with  a  few  short,  scattering  spines ; 
the  peculiar  reddish  color  of  the  young  leaves  at  the  ends  of  the 


Secretary's  Budget.  291 

new  shoots  ;  the  color  and  flavor  of  the  fruit,  all  strongly  indicate 
its  native  origin. 

The  bright  scarlet  color  of  the  fruit  (which  adds  greatly  to  its 
market  value)  ;  its  good  size,  quite  firm  flesh,  which  retains  its 
form  and  color  well,  and  keeps  well,  are  all  qualities  which  make 
the  Marlboro  promising  as  a -market  berry..  This  is  what  I  now 
believe,  but  my  practical  experience  witli  the  fruit  has  not  been 
sufficient  to  warrant  my  giving  a  more  decided  opinion. — Charles 
Doioning. 

STEAWBERRY    NOTES. 

In  regard  to  strawberries,  I  would  state  that  I  have  found  the 
Primo  to  be  large,  regular  in  form,  of  a  briglit  color,  as  well  as  of 
very  good  quality,  late  and  jjroductive.  Plants  of  the  Prince  (of 
berries)  sent  me  last  August  by  Mr.  Durand,  made  strong  stools, 
some  with  four  or  more  trusses  ;  fruit  good,  size  and  color  uniform, 
high-flavored  and  productive.  James  Vick  is  a  vigorous,  healthy 
plant  with  enormous  trusses  of  flower  buds,  but  it  requires  high 
cultivation  and  plenty  of  water  to  carry  out  its  crop  to  perfection. 
Of  the  older  varieties  I  find  Crescent  and  Duncan  to  be  my  most 
useful  early  kinds.  The  latter,  although  too  soft  for  carriage,  is 
healthy,  productive,  and  high-flavored.  The  Manchester,  when 
well  fertilized,  produces  abundantly,  and  is  worthy  of  extension. 

Mr.  Josiah  Hoopes,  in  the  Tribune,  thinks  that  after  two 
years'  fruiting.  Fay's  Prolific  Currant  produces  clusters  that  sur- 
pass the  immense  bunches  represented  by  the  wood-cuts  that  ushered 
this  new  fruit  "into  notice.  This  is  one  of  the  presents  we  shall 
give  for  subscribers.  •  He  also  tliinks  that  Downing's  Grooseberry  is 
a  valuable  fruit  and  that  no  one  can  make  a  mistake  in  planting  it. 

THE    NIAGARA    GRAPE. 

Mr.  Hoopes,  speaking  of  the  Niagara  Crape,  says  that  when 
fully  ripe,  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  it  has  surprised  most  vine- 
yardists  by  its  productiveness,  hardiness  and  real  good  quality,  and 
that  some  bunches  shown  him  this  year  closely  resembled  Muscats 
in  appearance.  The  easiest  way  to  secure  one  of  these  vines  is  to 
send  us  a  club  of  four  subscribers,  for  which  we  will  have  a  fine 
two-year-old  vine  delivered  to  you  free. 

HUCKLEBERRY    CULTURE. 

Mr.  D.  J.  Scott,  Bridgewater,  N.  Y.,  tells  the  Husbandman 
that  about  fifteen  years  ago  he  transplanted  huckleberries,  of  both 
the  high  and  the  low  kinds,  from  a  cold,  wet  swamp  to  a  dry,  grav- 


292  Missouri  State  Hortimiltural  Society. 

ely  soil,  where  they  have  grown  taller  than  in  their  native  spot, 
and  produce  larger  and  more  abundant  berries.  He  advises  us  to 
set  out  young  plants,  about  a  foot  high,  in  the  spring,  and  then 
to  mulch  them  for  a  year  or  two,  and  plow  in  some  coarse  horse 
manure  occasionally.  They  are  slow  to  start,'  but  after  they  are 
started  they  grow  rapidly,  both  in  bush  and  berry. 

PRESIDENT   WILDER   ON   NEW  FRUITS. 

Eds.  Country  Gentleman  :  — We  have  had  a  very  favorable 
season,  and  I  have  been  enabled  to  prove  many  of  the  new  varieties 
of  our  small  fruits. 

The  Primo  strawberry  is  large  and  uniform,  bright,  late  and 
very  good.  The  Prince  (of  berries)  makes  good  stools,  with  plenty 
of  trusses  and  fruit,  handsome  and  high  flavored,  very  good  to 
best,  excellent  for  home  use.  Mrs.  Garfield  and  Jewell  are  promis- 
ing, and  Bouquet  especially  so,  for  its  aromatic  true  strawberry 
flavor. 

Of  raspberries,  the  Marlboro,  of  which  you  have  spoken,  I  have 
to  state  that  plants  sent  me  for  trial  last  May  came  into  fruit  July 
10th,  and  bore  some  through  the  month  ;  a  very  robust  and  free 
grower,  with  numerous  shoots,  one  of  which  is  more  than  six  feet 
in  height.  I  hope  it  may  prove  to  be  a  good  acquisition,  but  it  will 
require  good  characteristics  to  surpass  the  Franconia,  Knevett  and 
other  well  approved  kinds,  Cuthbert  does  well,  and  so  does  Caro- 
line, a  true  h)'brid,  which  possesses  the  wood  and  foliage  of  the 
Caps,  with  the  color,  texture  and  flavor  of  the  Brinckle, 

Of  blackberries,  Early  Harvest  is  two  weeks  ahead  of  any 
other,  and  Dorchester  the  sweetest  I  possess.  Ancient  Briton  is  a 
hardy,  very  prolific  and  good  sort. 

Grapes  are  looking  remarkably  well,  Moore's  and  Worden  are 
now  coloring,  the  last  a  noble  yine,  surpassing  its  mother.  Concord, 
in  growth  and  beauty.  Of  dark  varieties,  Brighton,  Barry  and 
Wilder  ^re  my  favorites,  but  the  Concord,  when  well  ripened,  is 
very  good.  Of  the  reds,  Lindley,  Jefferson  and  lona,  all  high- 
flavored  and  fine,  and  when  the  latter  ripens  evenly  and  well,  it  is 
best,  and  good  enough  for  me.  Of  the  whites,  Niagara,  Prentiss 
and  Pocklington  are  competing  for  prizes,  and  Duchess  and  Lady 
Washington,  though  later,  are  noble  vines,  the  latter  the  most  vig- 
orous sort  I  possess,  and  although  twice  thinned,  has  now  too  mucli 
fruit. 

By-the-by,  what  a  striking  illustration  of  the  influence  of 
hybridization  or  cross-fertilization  have  these  white  grapes  afforded 


o 


Secretary's  Budget.  293 

us  !  The  time  was,  within  our  recollection,  wlien  this  process  was 
looked  upon  as  a  chimera  of  zeal  without  knowledge,  but  which  is 
to  go  on  improving  our  grapes  until  every  section  of  our  immense 
domain,  wherever  the  grape  will  grow,  shall  be  furnished  with 
varieties  suited  to  their  several  localities,  equal  in  size,  beauty  and 
richness,  to  any  now  grown  under  glass. 

These  are  the  means  that  help  nature,  and  great  as  have  been 
the  attainments  in  our  day,  they  are  but  the  dawniugs  of  universal 
improvement  in  our  fruits.  Improvement  is  the  order  of  Provi- 
dence, and  by  the  judicious  practice  of  this  art,  we  shall  ultimately 
arrive  at  the  time  when  perfection,  rather  than  the  exception,  will 
be  the  rule  in  our  fruits.  This  leads  me  to  say  that  though  this 
influence  is  potent  on  the  seed  in  producing  a  new  generation,  I 
hav&  yet  to  see  that  the  form,  texture  and  flavor  of  the  mother 
growing  fruit  is  affected  by  it,  as  now  supposed  by  some.  But  as 
we  know  something  of  the  influence  of  pollen  on  the  seed-coat  of 
beans,  corn,  &c.,  and  as  these  statements  are  made  and  corro- 
borated by  means  of  large  opportunities,  we  are  bound  to  give 
respectful  consideration  to  them,  and  if  my  life  is  spared,  I  will 
test  their  correctness. — Marshall  P.   Wilder. 

Shaffer's  colossal  raspberry. 

Ed"r  Prairie  Farmer:  Among  the  multiplicity  of  new 
and  "best"  varieties  of  small  fruits  which  are  annually  advertised 
and  sent  out,  it  is  a  relief  and  gratification  to  find  an  occasional 
one  of  superior  merit.  I  think  we  have  such  a  variety  in  the 
Shaffer  raspberry.     Its  characteristics  are  the  following  : 

1st — It  is  a  hybrid  between  the  black  cap  and  red  species. 

2d — The  canes  grow  immensely  large,  and  on  this  account 
should  be  clipped  off  while  growing  ;  first,  at  eighteen  inches  from 
the  ground  ;  again,  about  July  10,  at  two  to  two  and  one-half  feet ; 
and  again  about  August  10,  at  three  to  three  and  one-half  feet  from 
the  ground. 

3d — It  is  extremely  hardy — even  hardier  than  the  Gregg  or 
Cuthbert. 

4th — It  is  an  immense  bearer,  far  surpassing  any  variety  in 
cultivation  in  this  respect. 

5th — The  canes  root  at  the  tips  and  it  does  not  throw  up 
suckers  all  over  the  ground  like  the  red  varieties.  This  is  a  strong 
point  in  its  favor  for  planting  in  gardens  for  family  supply. 

6th — The  fiavor  of  the  fruit,  though  not  rich,  is  peculiarly 
agreeable  for  table  use,  and  especially  for  pies,  jams  and  jellies.    It 


394  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

is  more  acid  than  either  the  red  or  black  species,  and  is  free  from 
the  rank  '•  medicinal"  flavor  so  common  m  reds,  and  the  "  buggy" 
flavor  of  the  blacks.  My  family  prefer  it  for  table  use,  with  sugar 
and  cream  to  any  other  variety. 

7tli — In  size  it  surpasses  any  other  variety,  and  can  be  picked 
at  lialf  or  two-thirds  the  cost  of  any  other  known  to  me. 

8th — In  color  it  is  first  a  rather  light  red,  turning  quite  dark 
purple  when  fully  ripe.  For  market  the  berries  should  be  picked 
when  bright  red  ;  they  then  cleave  from  the  crown  very  well,  but 
for  family  use  they  should  be  left  until  dark  and  ripe,  when  the 
flavor  is  delicious. 

9th. — As  a  shipping  variety,  it  is  as  good  as  the  average,  if 
picked  when  red.  aiid  then  brings  the  higiiest  market  price. 
Shaffer's  shipped  one  hundred  miles,  sold  in  Peoria  at  from  two  to 
three  cents  per  quart  more  than  very  fine  Cuthberts  grown  near  the 
city. 

In  our  impetuous  desire  for  new  things,  we  are  apt  to  discard 
old  sorts ;  but  I  retain  as  standard  varieties  Charles  Downing,  Ken- 
tucky, Seth  Boyden,  Cumberland  and  Trioniphe  de  Grand. 

And  now  a  word  in  relation  to  the  immediate  influences  of 
pollen  on  the  growing  fruit  of  the  strawberry  :  The  discussions  at 
the  last  session  of  the  American  Pomological  Societ}-,  on  this  sub- 
ject, have  awakened  an  interest  not  before  known  in  this  country  ; 
and  although  our  botanists  and  most  experienced  fruit  growers 
have  not  observed  these  remarkable  changes,  all  are  bound  to  re- 
spect the  opinions  of  scientific  men  wh'o  are  engaged  in  these 
investigations.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  the  truth  of  this 
theory  might  easily  be  obtained  by  crossing  the  Manchester  Hovey, 
and  other  well  defined  and  regularly  formed  pistillate  varieties, 
under  glass,  with  the  Sharpless,  and  I  will  join  in  the  effort  to 
obtain  reliable  results.  Nor  would  I  omit  the  Wilder,  and  Hervey 
Davis,  a  seedling  of  the  latter.  These,  although  not  widely  culti- 
vated, for  beauty  and  excellence,  are  always  to  be  perj^etuated. — 
Rural  Neiv   Yorker. 

RASPBERRIES   I?I"    1884 — RED    OXES. 

First  ripe,  June  11th,  Scarlet  Gem,  bearing  a  fine  crop  of 
large,  handsome,  excellent  berries.  Crimson  Beauty  and  Stayman's 
K"o.  2,  five  days  later  and  bearing  a  good  crop  ;  Crimson  Beauty  is 
perhaps  the  most  valuable  of  the  three,  but  there  is  very  little 
difference,  all  are  valuable,  particularly  as  they  bear  nearly  all 
summer.     Last  season   I  thought  it  might  be  accident,  but  they 


Secretary's  Budget.  295 

are  showing  the  same  thing  this  season.  June  19th  I  picked  the 
first  ripe  Hansel ;  this  is  also  an  excellent  berry,  and  only  a  few 
days  behind  the  earliest.  Turner  is  turning  red  and  will  be  ripen- 
ing some  berries  in  a  few  days.  And  Lost  Rubies  are  bowing  their 
iieads  to  me  with  tlie  central  berry  ripe  here  and  there ;  the  largest 
of  all  now  ripe,  and  of  excellent  flavor.  Thwack  and  Colossal 
quite  green  yet.  All  these  passed  tlirough  the  severe  winter  and 
are  bearing  a  good  crop. 

BLACK    CAPS. 

Centennial  first  ripe,  June  16th,  Souhegan  and  Burns  a  few 
days  later.  These  are  all  three  valuable  varieties.  Centennial  is 
the  largest,  more  convenient  than  the  others,  and  a  shining  black  ; 
no  bloom.  Souhegan  not  so  glossy,  and  a  little  bloom,  more  acid 
than  the  others.  Burns  not  so  large  as  the  two  described,  but  the 
sweetest  and  to  my  taste  the  best. 

Gregg  and  Hoosier  Mammoth  green  yet. 

WHITE  O^TES. 

Moody,  very  productive,  good  flavor,  good  size  for  a  cap  berry, 
and  worth  having. 

Caroline.  This  is  certainly  an  acquisition.  Plant  hardy ; 
propagates  from  suckers  and  from  tips  (a  very  unusual  thing), 
which  shows  plainly  that  it  is  a  cross  between  Brinckle  Orange  and 
some  white  cap.  The  fruit  is  a  complete  sjalit  between  the  two, 
and  the  plant  also.  The  fruit  is  not  quite  as  large  as  the  Brinckle, 
nor  quite  as  good  ;  but  near  enough  so  to  make  it  very  valuable. 
My  plants  set  out  last  spring  a  year  ago  are  loaded  with  fruit,  some 
of  which  is  ripe  and  is  certainly  fine. 

In  this  we  have  a  first  rate  hardy  white  (or  rather  yelloAv)  rasp- 
berry, a  thing  not  in  existence  a  few  years  ago. 

Some  new  ones  added  to  our  collection  this  season  are  not 
bearing  yet,  so  we  cannot  describe  them. 

Some  one  asks  whether  the  Souhegan  is  not  the  old  Doolittle, 
brought  out  under  a  new  name? 

I  have  not  had  the  Doolittle  for  near  twenty  years,  and  can 
therefore  not  tell  as  if  the  two  were  growing  side  by  side.  One 
tiling  is  certain,  it  is  much  like  the  Doolittle  in  cane,  thorns  and 
frait,  and  is  probably  a  seedling  of  that  variety.  It  is  earlier  in 
my  opinion,  and  moreover  the  parties  who  brought  out  the  Souhe- 
gan are  above  sudi  tricks. 

Much  to  my  delight  I  have  Just  found  a  few  plants  of  the  Sur- 
prise raspberry,  which  I  thought  lost.     It  is  well  worth  keeping,  of 


296  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  largest  size  for  a  black-cap,  long  conical,  like  the  Centennial, 
but  while  the  latter  is  black  as  ebony  and  glossy,  the  Surprise  has  a 
bloom  like  a  grape  on  it. 

So  much  glory  for  Missouri,  having  originated  two  of  the  finest 
black  raspberries  in  the  country  ;  Centennial  found  near  Hermann, 
by  George  Husmann,  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  Centennial 
near  Carthage,  by  a  Mr.  Grayhill.  Both  early  and  productive,  as 
well  as  first  rate  in  quality  and  as  firm  as  any  others. 

June  24th  (to-day),  I  made  a  small  picking  of  Turner,  and 
they  are  really  fine.  Do  not  know  whetlier  it  is  not  still  one  of  the 
most  valuable.  Also  some  Senecas,  one  that  we  don't  see  in  the 
catalogues  any  more,  but  which  is  worth  growing. 

I  have  a  blackcap  sent  to  me  for  Caroline,  which  is  a  strange 
one  to  me  that  is  certainly  a  good  one.  Late  as  Gregg's  but  I 
cannot  think  it  that  variety,  but  will  compare  closely  when  they 
ripen. 

The  Gregg  and  Hoosier  Mammoth  question  I  expect  to  solve 
soon.  And  if  they  do  prove  identical,  the  question  will  be  "who 
stole  the  thunder,"  as  I  had  the  Hoosier  Mammoth  in  view  before 
I  heard  the  name  of  Gregg  mentioned. 

As  to  whether  allowing  the  tips  to  droop  and  catch  is  any 
detriment  to  the  following  year's  crop,  or  not,  I  would  not  pretend 
to  say,  yet  am  inclined  to  think  it  is  a  tax  on  the  plants,  and  if  I 
did  not  need  new  plants,  and  only  fruit,  I  would  keep  them  from 
catching. 

One  thing  about  pinching  I  am  now  sure  of,  that  they  should 
be  pinched  when  two  to  two  and  a  half  feet  high. 

On  the  18th  we  had  a  rain  and  storm  that  broke  down  quite  a 
number  of  young  canes  that  we  left  too  long. — S.  Miller. 

RAISING    SMALL   FRUITS. 

"  The  present  season  may  lead  some  of  us  who  are  engaged  in 
small  fruit  culture  to  look  on  the  dark  side,  and  to  feel  that  we  had 
more  to  contend  with  than  any  other  class  ;  and  in  view  of  this 
state  of  things  perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  recount  some  of  the 
advantages  of  our  occupation,"  said  Mr.  Crawford  in  a  paper  read 
before  Trumbull  County  Horticultural  Society. 

It  is  a  business  that  benefits  all  classes  and  injures  none.  It 
is  almost  the  only  business  in  which  a  poor  man  can  engage  and  be 
his  own  employer.  Fiuit  growers  are  comparatively  independent  ; 
they  are  not  liable  to  be  thrown  out  of  employment.  If  sickness 
hinders  for  a  time,  their  crops  do  not  cease  growing.     If  friends 


Secretary's  Budget.  297 

come  to  visit  they  can  take  a  little  time  without  having  to  give  an 
account  of  it,  or  deduct  the  price  from  the  few  dollars  due  them 
at  the  end  of  the  week  or  month.  It  is  worth  much  to  a  man  to 
be  employed  at  home,  to  spend  his  days  with  his  family  rather  than 
in  some  mill,  shop  or  factory.  Those  who  have  children  may  justly 
consider  it  a  great  advantage  to  be  able  to  employ  them  during  the 
summer  vacation,  when  so  many  children  are  running  wild,  and 
laying  the  foundation  of  bad  habits  which  will  cling  to  them  for 
life. 

"  Fruit  growers  have  more  leisure  than  most  working  people. 
In  .the  winter  they  can  take  time  to  plan  for  the  next  season,  and 
get  everything  ready  for  work.  They  can  attend  important  horti- 
cultural meetings,  doing  good  and  getting  good  ;  and  just  here  is  a 
point  worth  noticing.  Fruit  growers  have  no  secrets  ;  the  proceed- 
ings of  their  meetings  are  published  to  the  world.  There  is  no 
monopoly  in  this,  as  in  many  other  pursuits.  The  man  with  a 
single  acre,  or  even  a  village  lot,  can  engage  in  small  fruit  culture, 
and  is  quite  likely  to  realize  better  returns  for  the  amount  invested 
than  one  with  a  hundred  times  as  much. 

''As  fruit  growers  have  a  general  knowledge  of  horticulture, 
they  can  do  more  to  make  home  beautiful  than  any  other  class  in 
moderate  circumstances  ;  and  for  the  same  reason  they  and  their 
families  have  a  more  liberal  supply  of  the  good  things  produced  by 
the  soil  than  other  people.  Fruit  growers  are  intelligent ;  they  do 
more  reading,  writing  and  thinking,  and  cause  more  printers'  ink 
to  flow  than  any  other  class  of  working  people.  Fruit  growers  are 
independent ;  they  have  neither  asked  nor  received  any  special 
privileges ;  no  protective  tariff,  no  bounties,  no  remission  of  taxes, 
no  favors  of  any  kind  have  been  bestowed  upon  them,  and  no  other 
industry  has  been  taxed  to  make  theirs  profitable.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  the  business  has  had  a  wonderful  growth,  and  it  never  was 
in  a  more  healthy  condition  than  at  the  present  time.  Everyone  is 
interested  in  it,  directly  or  indirectly,  and  the  number  actually  en- 
gaged m  it  is  amazing. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that,  large  as  the  business  is,  it  will  for  several 
reasons  go  on  increasing.  The  demand  is  increasing,  and  the  sup- 
ply so  perishable  that  the  market  cannot  be  over-stocked  for  any 
length  of  time,  howeyer  many  engage  in  it.  But  little  capital  is 
required  to  commence  the  business.  It  is  not  necessary  to  buy  the 
land,  and  if  it  were,  a  little  is  sufficient.  No  expensive  implements 
are  needed,  and  the  returns  come  so  speedily  that  the  capital  invested 
does  not  lie  idle   long.     This  is  very   different   from   being  in  debt 


:i98  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

half  a  lifetime  for  a  farm  and  tiie  tools  and  stock  absolutely   neces- 
sary to  make  it  profitable. 

"Fruit  growing  does  not  require  a  great  outlay  of  physical 
strength,  as  there  is  but  little  hard  work  connected  with  it ;  and  for 
this  reason  it  is  a  suitable  occupation  for  those  who  are  not  able  to 
engage  in  farmirig,  market  gardening,  or  any  employment  which 
involves  much  hard  work.  Old  men,  invalids  and  children  may 
spend  their  little  strength  in  fruit  growing,  and  be  successful.  It 
is  pre-eminently  a  business  for  women.  There  is  scarcely  any  other 
work  in  which  they  can  engage'  with  as  good  a  prospect  of  making 
money. 

NEW  AND  RARE    RASPBERRIES. 

A  year  ago  I  set  out  a  dozen  or  more  seedlings — Gregg  crossed 
with  Tyler — nearly  all  are  now  in  fruit.  I  am  gratified  and  aston- 
ished. There  are  several  black  ones  as  fine  as  either  parent,  one 
larger  than  Gregg,  and  so  black  that  it  shines  like  a  blackberry  ; 
it  resembles  T3der  in  quality.  But  what  astonishes  me  most  is  there 
are  three  amber-colored  albinos  (may  I  not  use  this  term?),  one  larger 
than  any  black-cap  I  have  ever  seen — about  the  size  of  the  Turner. 
The  albinos  are  all  milder-flavored  than  the  blacks.  A  lady  said  : 
"'Why,  they  taste  just  like  wild  berries!"  The  canes  of  the 
albinos  are  very  large,  some  of  them  as  big  as  broom  handles.  Is 
it  not  quite  unusual  to  get  so  many  albinos  ?  The  experiment  so 
far  is  very  satisfactory.  Physicians  tell  us  to  eat  fruit  without 
sugar  ;  black-caps  are  usually  too  sour,  but  these  may  be  eaten 
without  sugar,  not  seeming  sonr. — D.  S.  Marvin. 

A    NEW    WHITE    SWEET   CURRANT. 

Peter  Henderson  &  Co.  sent  us  a  box  of  white  currants  the 
last  of  July,  which  were  raised  by  Geo.  Seymour,  of  Connecticut. 
Mr.  Seymour  said  the  fruit  was  from  bushes  which  had  been  growing 
for  a  long  time  on  his  place,  and  that  the  fruit  was  remarkably 
sweet.  We  notice  two  peculiarities  of  the  fruit — one,  the  remark- 
able uniformity  in  size  of  all  the  currants  on  a  stem.  Those  on 
the  very  tip  were  as  large  as  those  at  the  base.  They  were  also 
remarkably  sweet — we  think  the  sweetest  currants  we  ever  tasted. 


Secretary' fi  Budget.  21)9 


FLOWERS. 


HYBRID    PERPETUAL   ROSES. 

The  following  varieties  were  mentioned  as  among  the  best,  by 
members  of  tlie  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  at  a  recent 
meeting  for  discussion : 

William  H,  Spooner  said  that  Mme.  G.  Luizet  has  proved 
beautiful  under  the  past  trying  season  of  extreme  drouth.  Alfred 
Colomb,  Jean  Liabaud,  Victor  Verdier,  and  J.  Stuart  Mill  have 
done  well.  Magna  Charta  has  done  admirably.  La  Eosiere,  a 
dark  kind,  very  much  like  Princess  Camille  de  Rohan,  if  not  iden- 
tical, has  done  better  than  ever  before,  as  iiave  also  Abel  Oarriere 
and  Jean  Soupert.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  has  been  fine.  The 
Climbing  Victor  Verdier  is  one  of  the  best  garden  roses.  Chestnut 
Hybrid  has  tea  foliage,  and  has  suffered  from  winter,  but  in  an 
ordinary  season  would  be  hardy.  La  France  and  Souvenir  de  Mons 
Boll  have  done  well.  Climbing  Bessie  Johnson  is  a  very  strong 
grower  and  has  flowered  freely.  Marie  Baumann  is  an  old  kind 
which  has  done  "well.  Baron  de  Bonstetten  is  among  tlie  best. 
Charles  Lawson,  a  Bourbon,  gives  a  mass  of  bloom,  but  is  not 
suited  for  exhibition.  John  Hopper  is  good.  The  Duke  of  Edin- 
burgh is  not  up  to  the  standard.  Jules  Margottin,  and  the  climbing 
variety  of  the  same,  have  both  done  well. 

Some  of  the  hybrid  perpetual  roses  have  very  beautiful 
foliage  ;  Mme.  Dupuy  Germain  is  almost  as  good  in  this  respect  as 
Baroness  Rothschild.  Captain  Christy  is  a  hybrid  tea,  with  beau- 
tiful foliage,  but  a  little  tender  ;  Mme.  C.  Wood  is  a  good  flower, 
but  a  poor  grower ;  Louisa  Van  Houtte  is  the  best  rose  of  its  color, 
but  was  almost  a  total  failure  with  the  speaker.  Senateur  Vaisse 
is  an  admirable  garden  rose,  and  so  is  Marquise  de  Castellane  in 
most  seasons.  Fisher  Holmes  is  an  improvement  on  Genei'al 
Jacqueminot.  Dr.  Andry  is  perfectly  hardy,  but  Mme.  Eugenie 
Verdier  is  a  little  tender.  With  the  multitude  of  varieties  tlie 
hybrid  perpetuals  are  the  class  for  general  cultivation  ;  the  newer 
shades  are  very  desirable. 

E.  L.  Beard  said  that  Baroness  Rothschild  is  irregular  in 
blooming,  and  in  this  climate  is  a  failure  out-doors. 

M.  P.  Wilder  said  that  many  of  the  roses  mentioned  by  Mr, 
Spooner  have  taken  their  places  as  permanently  as   the  Baldwin 


300  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

apple  or  Bartlett  pear.  Baronne  Prevost,  John  Hopper,  ai:id  Dr. 
Aiidry  have  such  constituents  of  excellence  that,  though  better 
kinds  in  some  respects  may  exist,  all  things  considered  they  will 
retain  their  places  for  years  to  come.  We  desire  fragrance  in  roses, 
and  the  tea  blood  gives  this,  but  it  also  imparts  tenderness. — Rural 
World. 

HARDY    ROSES. 

In  answer  to  "Mrs.  J.  (1.  M.,"  of  Buffalo,  for  fifteen  hardy 
roses,  I  would  name  the  following  :  Hybrid  Perpetuals  :  "  Alfred 
Colomb,  Antonie  Mouton,  Auguste  Mie,  Beauty  of  Waitham, 
Caroline  de  Sansal,  Gen.  Jacqueminot,  Gen.  Washington,  John 
Hopper,  Jules  Magottin,  La  Eeine,  Madame  Laffay,  Madame  Victor 
Verdier,  Maurice  Bernardin,  Prince  Camille  de  Kohan,  Senateur 
Vaisse,  Victor  Verdier."  With  a  little  protection,  the  following 
may  be  added  of  Hybrid  Noisettes  :  "  Baronne  de  Maynard,  Co- 
quette des  Alps,  M.  Alfred  de  Eougemont,  Perle  des  Blanches,  and 
La  France,  if  the  plant  can  be  grown  strong,  otherwise  the  buds 
will  not  open."  Summer  roses:  "Madame  Plantier,  M.  Hardy 
and  Persian  Yellow,"  Of  Bourbons  :  "  Appoline  and  Hermosa, 
these  have  done  well  here  the  past  "five  or  six  years  without  any 
protection."  These  are  not  all  the  good  roses  that  can  be  grown 
here,  but  are  some  of  the  best  old  sorts,  and  are  likely  to  give  sat- 
isfaction. I  have  seen  over  one  hundred  varieties  in  full  bloom, 
that  had  no  other  protection  than  a  covering  with  the  plow. 
Climbers  :  "  Queen  of  the  Prairie  and  Baltimore  Belle  are  the 
best,  to  which  may  be  added  Gem  of  the  Prairie  and  Mrs.  Hovey. " 
For  pillar  roses  :  "C.  Jules  Margottin  and  C.  Victor  Verdier."  I 
cannot  say  that  tree  roses  are  a  success  here.  I  tnow  a  few  that 
have  done  well,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  fail. — F.  G.  Z.  in 
Gardener's  Monthly. 

ROSES    AND  "CLIMBERS. 

Seeing  the  request  of  Mrs.  M.,  on  page  43,  February  number, 
I  give  some  points  on  roses  ;  as  I  made  them  my  hobby  for  many 
years.  I  have  experimented,  and  noted  down  all  I  found  worthy, 
being,  moreover,  under  no  obligations  to  florists.  I  can  recom- 
mend as  the  best  book  I  have  "The  Rose,  by  H.  B.  Ellwanger,"  on 
account  of  its  catalogues  of  varieties.  My  best  roses  are  first  fifteen, 
as  asked :  Alfred  Colomb,  Annie  Wood,  Baroness  Rothschild, 
Boieldieu,  Charles  Lefebre^  Fisher  Holms,  Crested  Moss,  Common 
Moss,  Prolific  Moss,  Francois  Michelon,  General  Jacqueminot, 
John  Hopper,  Madame  Charles  Wood,  Madame  Boll,  Madame  Zoet- 


Secretary's  Budget.  301 

^iian,  Marie  Bauman,    Marguerite   de   St.  Amande,  Pierre  Noting, 
Paul  Neyron,  Maurice  Bernardin,  Xavier  Olibo. 

Of  climbers,  I  advise  to  keep  away  from  at  present,  except  a 
few  prairies,  like  Baltimore  Belle,  Half  Climbing,  Princess  Adelaide 
Moss,  and  Reine  Marie  Henriette  if  covered.  I  find  the  Clematis 
family  by  far  the  finest  blooming  climbers,  and  hardy,  which  none 
of  the  roses  mentioned  are,  sufficiently  to  withstand  22°  below 
freezing  this  year,  except  the  Moss,  Madame  Zoetman,  and  B.  Belle. 
All  others  are  Remontant,  or  Hybrid  Perpetual,  and  killed  now  to 
the  ground  or  snow  line.  But  as  they  are  to  be  pruned,  it  matters 
little  ;  entirely  different  from  climbers,  which  should  not  be  cut 
much.  If  you  try  the  Lanuginosa  section  of  clematis,  say  Candida, 
you  will  not  plant  many  climbers  besides.  Flamula  will  do,  with 
Candida,  for  trial.  Roses  must  be  planted  together  in  rich,  clayish, 
well  manured  soil,  dug  at  least  two  spades  deep.  I  plant  about  two 
feet  aj)art,  have  a  splendid  oval  bed,  shaded  north  and  west,  open 
east  and  partly  south.  I  find  it  best  to  get  own  root  plants,  two 
years  old,  from  open  ground.  Get  the  best  plants.  True  to  name 
is  a  very  strong  point ;  and  care  should  be  taken  to  know  what  one 
is  to  get  before  ordering.  —  George  BocJc,  in  Gardener's  Monthly. 

VARIETY    OF  EOSES. 

The  variety  of  monthly  roses  best  adapted  for  winter  is  lim- 
ited. A  great  mistake  is  frequently  made  by  the  inexperienced  in 
using  too  many  kinds.  The  roses  most  likely  to  be  valuable  the 
coming  winter  are  here  named  in  the  order  of  their  excellence  : 
Sunset,  a  rich  orange  color,  shaded  with  crimson,  possessing  the 
true  tea  fragrance  ;  Perle  des  Jardins,  deep  yellow  ;  Niphetos, 
large  pure  white  ;  Catherine  Mermet,  a  shell  pink ;  Marshall 
Robert,  pale  canary  yellow  ;  Southern  Belle,  a  real  blush  rose  ; 
Souvenir  d'  Ami,  delicate  pink  ;  Bon  Silene,  very  deep  pink,  with 
delightful  fragrance  ;  Mde.  Cusin,  silvery  salmon  tinted ;  and 
Douglass  a  dark  crimson.  There  are  hundreds  of  others  offered  by 
growers,  but  when  the  limit  of  this  list  is  passed  the  results  will 
not  be  so  satisfactory.  Nearly  all  the  colors  known  in  roses  are  here 
represented. 

SPRAYS   FOR    BOUQUETS. 

Flowers  should  be  cut  in  the  early  morning  when  the  dew  is 
on.  No  other  moisture  so  thoroughly  impregnates  a  plant  as  dew. 
We  know  that  oats  or  wheat  bound  when  wet  with  rain  will  dry  out 
much  more  rapidly  than  if  wet  with  dew.  If  flowers  are  moist 
with  dew  when  cut  they  will  continue  fresh  much   longer  than    if 


302  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

wet  with  rain  ;  apriori,  if  not  damp  at  all,  as  in  the  middle  of  the 
day. 

Hot  water  will  generally  revive  flowers  that  have  wilted  from 
having  been  cut  some  time.  Place  the  lower  part  of  the  stems  in 
nearly  boiling  hot  water  until  the  petals  become  smoothed  out,  then 
cut  off  the  parts  that  have  been  in  the  hot  water,  put  the  flowers  in 
lukewarm  water  and  keep  in  a  cool  room. 

Flowers,  either  cut  or  remaining  on  the  stem,  may  be  kept 
fresh  much  longer  by  keeping  the  air  of  the  room  moist  and  fresh. 
In  summer  the  air  is  apt  to  be  dry  and  hot,  and  in  winter,  when 
the  doors  and  windows  are  all  closed,  the  air  of  the  room  is  kept 
hot  and  dry.  Keeping  the  air  moist  is  better  not  only  for  the 
flowers  but  for  the  human  dwellers  in  the  room.  Keeping  a  pan 
of  water  in  the  room  will  suffice  in  hot  weather  ;  in  winter  it  must 
be  kept  on  the  stove. 

In  nothing  else  does  good  taste  make  a  better  showing  than 
the  arrangement  of  bouquets.  An  eye  naturally  acute  or  else  arti- 
ficially trained  to  critically  notice  colors  is  essential.  For  the  ar- 
rangement of  flowers  in  bouquets  no  all-sufficient  rules  can  be  giv- 
en. There  must  be  either  a  natural  talent  for  blending  colors  ar- 
tistically, or  else  an  ability  to  do  so  gained  by  intelligent  practice. 
Yet  some  hints  are*  valuable  to  those  who  must  learn. 

Never  put  blue  and  purple  together  ;  never  put  crimson  and 
scarlet,  or  bright  pink  and  scarlet,  in  juxtaposition.  The  result  is 
always  bad  and  destructive  of  pleasing  effect.  Arrange  the  flowers 
in  shadings  of  the  same  colors  or  in  contrast. 

Nature  does  everything  well  and  no  taste  is  better  than  hers. 
She  is  a  good  guide  to  follow.  She  is  always  artistic  and  her 
bouquets  are  always  beautiful.  With  every '  flower  she  puts  green 
leaves  for  a  background.  Hence,  green  leaves  are  always  desirable 
in  a  bouquet.  They  brighten  the  colors  of  the  flowers  and  at  the 
same  time  relieve  the  eye.  Also,  the  foliage  belonging  to  each 
plant  is  usually  the  best  adapted  to  its  peculiar  beauty.  A  bouquet 
of  Camellias  alone  would  be  chilly,  cold,  devoid  of  beauty .  or 
effect ;  but  combine  the  blossoms  with  the  rich,  glossy  foliage  and 
the  effect  is  charming.     Every  one  exclaims  :      "  How   beautiful." 

In  every  bouquet  or  dish  of  flowers  it  is  safe  to  have  a  plentiful 
mixture  of  white  and  neutral  tints.  After  green,  the  safest  color 
is  white.  But  white  is  for  the  foreground,  green  for  the  back- 
ground. Neutral  tints  brighten  bright,  showy  colors  and  save  the 
bouquet,  also,  from  ''loudness." 

Do  not  crowd  the  flowers.     This  is  a  common  fault. 


Secretary's  Budget.  '  303 

PROMISED   XOYELTIES. 

Among  roses  we  are  promised  a  crimson  La  France  and  a  white 
Catherine  Mermet.  The  owners  assure  me  that  these  are  decided 
in  color.  We  can  all  imagine  what  acceptable  desiderata  two  such 
roses  would  be.  Among  lilies  there  will  be  a  white  Superbum.  I 
have  seen  this  in  bloom.  It  is  not  a  piire  white,  but  by  far  the 
whitest  form  I  have  ever  seen.  The  Eed-flowering  Dogwood  will 
soon  be  ready  for  the  market.  It  is  a  red-blooming  variety  of 
Cornus  Florida,  and  as  vigorous  as  the  normal  form.  I  have  two 
plants  of  it,  and  they  grow  strongly.  Their  foliage  is  darker- 
tinted  than  that  of  the  white-blooming  one.  Prunus  Pissardii  is  a 
shrub  with  colored  leaves  in  the  way  of  the  Purple-leaved,  Bar- 
berry, Beech  or  Filbert  ;  but  its  leaves  hold  their  color  throughoui. 
the  summer  better  than  do  those  of  any  of  the  Japanese  Maples  or 
above  plants.     It  is  hardy  here. 

The  golden-leaved  Pinus  Massoniana,  of  which  we  have  the 
two  parent  plants,  will  be  distributed  as  soon  as  propagators  cai; 
get  up  a  stock  of  it.  Our  plants  are  two  and  a  half  feet  high  and 
three  and  a  half  feet  across,  and  very  dense,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  we  have  given  100  scions  for  grafting.  It  is  the  most 
beautiful  golden-leaved  conifer  that  I  know  of,  perfectly  hardy 
here,  and  survives  year  after  year  unprotected  and  without  a 
blemish,  while  its  relative,  the  sun-ray  pine,  growing  right  along- 
side of  it,  is  sometimes  injured  by  the  winter.  It  is  in  winter  that 
it  is  most  beautiful  and  golden  ;  in  summer  it  assumes  a  greenish 
hue — Willimii  Falconer. 

[This  golden-leaved  pine  has  proven  hardy  at  the  Rural 
grounds.  Our  plants  were  set  tive  years  ago. — Eds.  Rural  Ke^v 
Yorker.'\ 

NOTES   Oif    GERANIUMS. 

If  we  except  Begonia  rubra  there  is  nothing  scarcely  so  contin- 
uously in  bloom  as  the  geranium.  They  are  always  with  us,  and 
cheap,  while  orchids  are  dear,  and  only  bloom  a  few  weeks.  We 
hijd  Calinthe  vistita  and  Dendrobium  nobile  by  way  of  variety  in 
our  little  plant  room  this  winter.  These  are  easily  grown  and  not 
very  expensive.  I  wanted  a  Disa  grandiflora  that  was  $4.  Mr. 
Saul  showed  me  a  "wee  bit"  of  an  orchid,  grown  for  its  fine  foliage, 
that  cost  him  four  guineas.  I  didn't  want  that.  Any  one  cais 
grow  the  Epiphyllun  truncatum,  and  one  with  fifty  perfect  flowert? 
beats  many  orchids.  So  if  you  have  half  a  dozen  pots  of  Amaryllis 
in  the  cellar  to  be  brought  out  in  succession,  you  can  have  thein 
three   months,    but  these  things  are  not  always  with   you  like  tlit- 


304  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

geranium.     The  Cyclamens  are  also  very  fine  for   winter,  but  they 
are  lazy  fellows  and  want  to  sleep  all  summer. 

I  find  the  following  geranmms  good  winter  bloomers  :  '  •  White 
Vesuvius,  Emile  de  Girardin,  rose;  Mad.  Thiebaut,  carmine 
violet  ;  Guillion  Mangelle,  carmine  crimson  ;  Henry  Cannell,  fine 
scarlet  ;  Lemoine  Cannell,  rich  amaranthine  red  marked  purple  : 
Eepresentant  Gaudin,  deep  velvety  crimson."  These  are  also  good 
for  bedding  out,  except  the  first,  which  is  single.  I  cannot  find  a 
single  geranium  that  is  fit  for  bedding  out.  Queen  of  the  West  is 
as  good  as  any  to  hold  its  flowers,  but  every  shower  spoils  it  for  a 
few  days.  To  make  a  geranium  bed  interesting,  one  should  have  at 
least  fifty  varieties,  and  get  something  new  every  year.  I  mean 
new  to  those  who  get  them,  as  most  of  the  new  high  priced  plants 
are  not  as  good  as  many  of  the  old  ones.  So  if  you  raise  fifty 
seedlings,  some  of  them  will  be  good,  and  every  one  of  interest 
till  after  it  has  bloomed. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  colors  from  catalogue  descriptions. 
Robert  George  is  called  more  decided  in  color  than  Deputy  Taflize, 
while  it  is  lighter  and  only  a  shade  darker  than  H.  Cannell. 
Richard  Brett  is  called  "very  double  ;"  still  it  is  not  near  as  double 
as  McLeod,  and  is  a  coarse  grower,  a  poor  variety.  I  did  not  take 
it  up.  Prokop  Danbeck  is  called  pure  soft  rose,  while  it  is  nearly 
i(ientical  with  Leon  Simon,  Avhich  is  described  as  red  flamed  with 
salmon.  Remarkable,  a  much  improved  Earnest  Lauth,  with  me 
is  not  as  good.  La  Constitution  is  lighter  than  Asa  Gray  and  not 
as  good,  while  Mrs.  E.  G.  Hill  is  better  than  either.  I  have  had 
two  varieties  for  Mr.  Chas.  Pease,  but  neither  was  as  good  as  Mad. 
Thiebaut. 

Lemoine  Cannell  and  Charles  Darwin  are  much  alike.  Both 
might  have  come  from  the  same  parent.  One  description  answers 
for  both,  only  the  flrst  is  a  shade  darker,  which  can  only  be  told  by 
holding  them  together.  Their  amaranthine  red  and  purple  give  us 
a  new  color  for  the  geranium,  and  are  very  welcome. — Gardener's 
Monthly.  * 


Secretary's  Budget.  305 


OENAMENTALS. 


PRESERVATION    OF    THE   LEADIXG    SHOOTS    OF   EVERGREElSrS. 

One  of  the  false  impressions  that  have  long  prevailed  Avith 
much  force  and  endurance,  is  the  alleged  necessity  of  preserving 
the  top  shoots  of  evergreens.  Birds  are  looked  upon  with  appre- 
hension and  disgust  as  the}^  press  destructive  feet  on  this  valuable 
growth.  Stakes  are  even  used  to  support  such  important  elements 
of  liealth  and  symmetry  ;  and  the  purchaser  who  seeks  choice  spec- 
imens, carefully  avoids  all  evergreens  that  have  lost  their  leaders, 
almost  superstitiously  regarding  it  as  impossible  that  the  lost,  in 
this  case,  can  ever  return. 

What  are  the  real  facts  of  the  case  as  indicated  by  intelligent 
experience  ?  Simply  that  the  destruction  of  the  leading  shoot  is 
often  an  actual  benefit  to  the  tree  when  its  aspiring  habits  become 
too  strong,  and  that,  so  far  from  birds  fatally  injuring  the  symmetry 
of  trees  by  breaking  the  topmost  shoots,  cases  happen  frequently 
where  the  preservation  of  symmetry  has  been  largely  due  to  the 
action  of  their  little  feet. 

As  long  as  the  leader  grows  in  due  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the 
tree,  its  presence  is  most  necessary :  but,  unfortunately,  this  up- 
ward tendency,  when  excessive,  seems  to  draw  away  the  sap  from 
properly  doing  its  work  in  the  tree^s  lower  portions,  or,  in  other 
words,  destroys  the  equilibrium.  Diminished  gi-owths  then  appear 
at  tlie  base,  exhibiting  irregular,  open  spaces  in  the  foliage  whicli 
in  that  part  should  be  most  dense.  The  growth,  forced  aloft,  be- 
comes concentrated  farther  and  farther  up  the  tree,  until  all  sym- 
metry is  destroyed,  and  we  behold  a  monstrosity,  where  we  had 
gloried  only  a  few  years  before  in  perfect  proportion  and  grace. 
Silver  Firs  are  especially  liable  to  this  tendency,  and  consequently 
are  apt  to  possess  their  highest  beauty  at  a  comparatively  early 
age. 

An  efficient  remedy  may  be  applied  to  all  evergreens  by  prun- 
ing such  shoots  during  youth,  until  a  satisfactory  base  is  acquired, 
when  a  very  occasional  removal  of  the  offending  member  will  read- 
ily prevent  deformity.  The  fear  which  sometimes  exists  that  the 
amputated  leader  will  never  return,  is  perfectly  groundless  ; 
although,  when  the  operation  is  performed  on  a  plant  of  consider- 
able age,  reappearance  may  be  delayed  for  several  years.     This  de- 


306  Missouri  State  UorticuUural  Society. 

lay  will,  however,  be  found  rather  a  benefit  than  otherwise,  as  in 
the  meantime,  the  proper  furnishing  of  the  tree  will  be  established 
before  any  strength  of  the  sap  is  drawn  off  to  assist  the  upward 
growth  of  the  leader. 

The  lesson  taught,  of  course,  is  that  the  equilibrium  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  tree  should  be  always  maintained  by  pruning 
any  shoots  that  evince  rampant  tendencies.  Systematic  manage-, 
ment  will  thus  preclude  the  necessity  of  all  severe  pruning  in  the 
sense  of  amputation. 

The  simple  processes  hereby  pointed  out  are  doubtless  familiar 
to  most  experts  ;  but  it  has  been  our  wish  to  secure  from  all  who 
possess  evergreens,  a  greater  attention  to  such  operations.  It  is 
simply  pruning  with  thumb  and  finger,  or  knife,  and  not  shearing 
into  formal  shapes.  Only  experience  can  afford  an  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  quality  of  growth  thus  retained. — G.  M. 

THE    BEST   EVERGEEENS. 

If  proper  care  is  taken  in  handling  them,  evergreens  can  be 
successfully  moved  every  month  in  the  year,  while  with  careless 
handling  there  is  very  great  danger  of  loss  at  all  seasons. 

The  evergreen  tree  retains  its  foilage  at  all  seasons,  thus  always 
exposing  a  very  large  evaporating  surface  to  the  air  ;  consequently 
if  their  roots  are  disturbed  and  their  supply  of  moisture  thereby 
cut  off  there  will  necessarily  be  a  severe  drain  upon  the  vitality  of 
the  tree.  If  the  roots  are  exj^osed  to  wind  and  allowed  to  dry  they 
will  suffer  or  die  very  quickly,  so  that  when  reset  in  the  ground 
they  are  not  in  the  condition  to  resume  their  natural  functions,  but 
must  recuperate  themselves  before  they  can  supply  the  needed  sap 
and  nourishment  for  the  top  of  the  tree. 

Drying  of  the  roots  is  always  attended  with  an  equal  or  greater 
amount  of  drying  of  the  tops,  although  the  latter  is  less  noticeable 
at  the  time  of  exposure. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  which 
cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon,  that  the  roots  of  trees,  par- 
ticularly of  evergreens,    should    not   be   allowed  to  dry  in  the  air. 

It  is  not  possible  to  avoid  all  such  risks  in  transplanting  ;  the 
art  will  never  be  so  perfected  that  some  trees  will  not  die. 

It  is  also  very  important  to  preserve  all  the  roots  of  a  tree  un- 
injured while  digging  and  equally  so  that  they  should  be  properly 
spread  and  st)'aighteiied  in  planting  and  every  fibre  placed  in 
contact  with  the  soil.  In  order  to  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  work 
the  fine  earth  among  them  with  the  hands  and* by  liberal  watering 


Secretary's  Bridget.  307 

at  time  of  planting  make  the  earth  soaking  wet  and  press  it  firmly 
so  that  it  will  encase  the  roots  and  exclnde  all  air. 

The  best  plan  for  transplanting  evergreens  is  to  dig  out  a  ball 
of  earth  with  the  roots  and  remove  this  with  them.  If  this  is  not 
practicable  the  roots  should  be  puddled  in  their  mud  as  soon  as  dug 
to  protect  them  from  dying. 

The  best  trees — those  in  wliieh  there  is  the  least  risk  in  mov- 
ing— are  those  which  have  been  frequently  transplanted  and  have 
grown  thrifty  on  good  ground.  Sucli  trees  will  have  a  mass  of  fine 
fibrous  roots  in  a  com^Dact  space,  so  that  they  can  be  dug  without 
cutting  or  mutilation  and  will  retain  a  ball  of  earth  firmly -about 
them,  and  will  thus  be  preserved  in  growing  condition  while  on 
transit. — Rural  Home. 

ORNAMENTAL  TREES  AND  SHRUBS. 

The  following  list  of  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs  was  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Geo.  EUwanger,  of  the  Mount  Hope  Nurseries, 
Kochester,  JST.  Y.,  for  the  Western  New  York  Horticultural  Society  : 

[lu  this  list,  the  varieties  marked  with  a  f ,  are  for  a  small  place  ;  those 
marked  with  a  *,  includmg  those  mai-ked  with  a  f,  are  for  a  place  of  larger 
size,  the  whole  list  being  designed  for  more  extensive  grounds  :] 

f  Maple,  Wier's  cnt-leaved. 
Maple.  Norway. 

*  Maple,  Schwerdler's. 

f  Maple,  Japanese  atropurpureum  and  others. 

*  Horsechestnut,  double  white  flowering. 
Horsechestnut,  red  flowering. 

*  Alder,  Imperial,  cut-leaved. 
t  Birch,  cut-leaved  weeping. 

f  Birch,  Young's  weeping. 

*  Catalpa  syringfefolia. 
Cherry,  large  double  flowering. 
Elm,  Blandford. 

Elm,  Camperdown. 

*  Judas  tree. 

*  White  fringe  tree. 

*  Yellow  wood  (Cladastris  tinctoria.) 
f  Dogwood,  white  flowering. 

f  Thorn,  double  white. 

f  Thorn,  Paul's  double  crimson. 

f  Beech,  weeping. 

*  Beech,  cut-leaved. 


308  Missowi  State  Horticulturcd  Society 

f  Beech,  River's  smooth-leaved  purple. 

Ashj  All  Cuba  leaved, 
f  Kolreuteria  jianiculata. 

*  Larch,  European. 
Sweet  gum. 
Magnolia  tripetela. 

*  Magnolia,  Chinese  white. 
f  Magnolia  speciosa. 

*  Magnolia,  Soulange's, 

t  Peach,  double  flowering  red. 
t  Peach,  double  flowering  white. 

Chinese  cork  tree  (Phellodendom). 
f  Mountain  ash,  oak-leaved. 

*  Crab,  fragrant  garland  flowering, 
f  Oak,  scarlet. 

*  Oak,  cut-leaved. 
Linden,  white-leaved. 

HARDY    EVERGREEX. 

Spruce,  white. 

*  Spruce,  hemlock. 
Spruce,  Norway. 

t  Spruce,  Barry's. 

*  Spruce,  black  dwarf. 

f  Spruce,  Colorado  blue. 
t  Silver  fir,  Cilician. 

*  Silver  fir,  Nordmann's. 
Juniper,  Chinese. 

*  Juniper,  L'ish. 

*  Juniper,  j)rostrate. 

f  Juniper,  tamariscifolia. 

Juniper,  glauca,  red  cedar. 
+  Pines,  Austrian,  Cembra. 
f   Pines,  df.  Mugho,  heavy  wooded. 

Pines,  Scotch. 

Yew,  erect. 
f  Yew,  golden. 

*  Yew,  Washington  golden. 

*  Arborvitffi,  Siberian. 

f  Arborvit*,  pyramidal.    , 
ArborvitEe,  globe-headed. 

*  Arborvitse,  Vervane's  golden. 


Secretary's  Budget.  309 

OEKAMENTAL   SHKUBS. 

f  Berberry,  purple  leaved. 

*  Dogwood,  variegated  Cornelian  cherry. 
Dogwood,  red. 

f  Japan,  quince. 

f  Deutzia,  Pride  of  Rochester. 

f  Deutzia,  slender  branched. 

Diervilla,  (or  Weigela). 
t  Diervilla,  Candida,  white-flowering. 
t  Diervilla,  rose-colored. 

*  Diervilla,  variegated-leaved  df.  ■ 
Forsythia  (Golden-bell). 

*  Forsythia,  weeping  (suspensa). 

*  Forsythia  viridissima. 

*  Silverbell. 

f  Rose  of  Sharon,  variegated-leaved. 

Rose  of  Sharon,  Due  de  Brabant. 
f  Hydrangea,  large  panicle-flowered. 

*  Hydrangea,  oak-leaved. 
Mock  orange,  golden-leaved. 

f  Mock  orange,  hoary-leaved. 

*  Mock  orange,  Yokohama. 
f  Mock  orange,  laxus. 

f  Prunus  triloba,  double-flowering  plum. 

*  Golden  elder. 

f  Spiraea,  double-flowering,  plum-leaved. 
■    t  Spirfea,  lance-leaved,  double. 
Sj)ira?a  collossa. 

Spirsea,  large-flowering,  white. 
f  Lilac  rothomagensis. 
f  Lilac,  large-flowering,  white. 

*  Lilac  coerulea  superba. 
f  Viburnum  plicatum. 

« 

THE   TULIP  TREE. 

There  are  few  American  trees  more  worthy  of  cultivation  than 
this.  It  is  also  called  "  yellow  poplar"  and  "  whitewood,"  both  of 
which  are  misnomers,  for  it  is  not  a  poplar  at  all,  and  the  wood  is 
of  various  shades  of  yellow.  Its  botanical  name  is  Liriodendron 
tvUpifera.  As  a  lawn  tree  it  is  highly  ornamental,  with  glossy, 
peculiarly  cut  leaves,  and  an  abundance  of  greenish  orange  blos- 
soms,  followed  by  the  tassel-like    seed  vessels.     In  autumn   the 


310  Missouri  State  Horticulfurnl  Society. 

foliage  turns  to  a  rich  golden  yellow.  So  far  as  known,  it  is  wholly 
exempt  from  insect  pests.  As  a  timber  tree  it  is  valuable,  being 
rapid  in  growth  and  furnishing  the  well-known  "white  wood,"  so 
useful  in  cabinet  and  other  fine  work.  It  is  found  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  but  reaches  its  highest  perfection  in  the  rich  soils  from 
Western  New  York  to  the  Mississippi  river.  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  find  trees  four  and  five  feet  in  diameter  at  the  stump.  The 
demand  for  the  wood  of  this  tree  is  so  great  that  it  is  rapidly  dis- 
appearing. 

CULTIVATED    CHESTNUTS. 

Here  we  face  a  long  row  of  stalwart  chestnut  trees,  twelve  to 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  A  companion  row  has  been  removed 
and  cut  and  split  into  posts  of  ample  size.  The  living  specimens 
are  just  forming  burs  in  profusion.  Some  of  them  yielded  two 
bushels  each  of  excellent  nuts  last  year.  They  were  set  twenty- 
eight  years  ago.  "  Why  is  it  that  so  many  people  say  this  tree  will 
not  succeed  upon  the  prairie  ?"  we  ask.  "  You  see  they  do  succeed. 
It  is  as  easy  to  grow  them  as  it  is  to  grow  corn.  The  trouble  is, 
men  insist  on  setting  too  large  specimens.  Set  them  when  one  year 
old  ;  if  older  cut  them  back  severely.  This  is  the  secret.  They 
are  hardy  and  productive,  and  the  timber  is  lasting  and  easily 
manipulated,  but  remember,  they  must  have  dry  land.  Neither 
they  nor  European  larch  can  stand  wet  feet." — Prairie  Farmer. 

THICK    PLANTING. 

In  planting  new  places,  the  landscape  gardener  usually  has  ah 
eye  to,what  the  place  will  be  when,  some  twenty  years  hence,  the 
trees  shall  have  grown.  But  few  of  us  think  of  that  picture.  To 
us  these  unfinished  pictures  need  more  filling  now. 

We  approve  of  thick  planting.  Trees  grow  faster  for  one  an- 
other's company,  and  a  place  well  filled  at  once,  saves  many  years 
of  time  to  see  them  grow.  Those  not  wanted  after  the  place  has 
grown  some,  can  be  transplanted  to  other  parts  of  the  ground. 
Where  thick  planting  is  to  be  adojited,  of  course  care  mu'st  be  taken 
in  locating  those  permanently  to  remain.  But  the  trouble  usually 
is  that  a  thickly  planted  place  is  rarely  thinned.  People  hate  to 
see  a  tree  cut  down.  In  the  public  squares  of  Philadelphia  the  trees 
are  crowding  each  other  till  the  whole  square  looks  like  a  crow's 
nest.  Grass  will  not  grow,  first,  because  of  the  shade  ;  secondly, 
because  of  the  poverty  of  the  soil,  and  thirdly,  because  of  the 
drought  from  so  many  tree  roots  ;  and  though  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia appropriates  $25,000  a  year  to  improve  the  squares,  one  each 


Secretary's  Budget.  311 

\'ear  in  succession,  it  would  be  as  much  as  the  commissioners  place 
IS  worth  to  "cut  down  a  tree."  And  this  is.  an  example  of  what  is 
often  seen.  The  only  remedy  is,  to  educate  the  public  to  plant 
thickly  at  first  ;  but  to  thin  every  few  years  till  they  are  of  Judic- 
ious width  apart. — Gardener's  Monthly. 

A    SUGGESTION. 

Why  are  not  fruit  trees  more  generally  planted  on  lawns  or  in 
gardens  ?  The  idea  seems  to  prevail  that  fruit  trees  must  be  con- 
fined to  the  orchard  or  kitchen  garden  ;  yet  what  can  be  more 
beautiful  than  the  pale  pink  and  white  of  tlie  apple  blossom,  the 
pu]'e  white  of  cherry  and  pear,  and  the  deep  rose  of  the  peach  ? 
Cherry  trees  literally  white  with  blossoms  are  of  no  rare  sight,  and 
what  is  more  charming  than  the  graceful  branches  clad  in  spotless 
purity  ? 

Then,  too,  the  ripe  fruit,  in  thick  clusters  upon  them,  is  no 
less  pleasing  to  tl)e  eye  than  gratifying  to  the  taste.  There  are 
many  varieties  of  trees  which  are  planted  in  yards  and  lawns, 
which  have  no  more  sightly  appearance  than  an  apjDle  tree,  without 
its  wealth  of  fragrant  bloom  or  its  shower  of  luscious  fruit.  Even 
in  the  suburbs  of  cities  and  large  towns,  where  but  few  feet  of 
land  is  allotted  to  each  home  and  where  one  would  suppose  that 
each  inch  of  room  would  be  made  available,  the  front  yards  are 
planted  with  evergreen  trees,  or  purely  ornamental  shrubs,  to  the 
utter  exclusion  of  apple,  pear  or  plum  trees — any  of  which  would 
be  far  preferable  in  every  respect. — Am.  Cultivator. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  the  Duke  of  Athole  is  one 
of  the  most  extensive  tree  phinters  in  the  world.  There  are  already 
vast  woods  and  plantations  in  Athole  and  Dunkeld,  Scotland,  and, 
as  of  course  they  exist  for  use  as  well  as  ornament,  large  numbers 
of  trees  have  been  planted  annually  to  maintain  the  woods.  In- 
deed, every  year  the  duke  plants  from  600,000  to  1,000,000  trees. 
During  this  season  a  plantation  covering  2,000  acres  has  been  com- 
pleted. When  the  planter  duke  began  operations  on  a  large  scale 
in  1774  the  Dunkeld  hills  wer6  almost  bare.  During  his  life  the 
duke,  who  may  be  described  as  a  true  benefactor  to  his  country, 
planted  27,000,000  trees,  covering  an  area  of  15,000  acres. 

MASSACHUSETTS  HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  number  of  wealthy  amateurs,  who  love  gardening,  and 
do  their  best  to  encourage  a  spirit  of  emulation,  which  reacts 
favorably  on  public  taste,  is  very  large  around  Boston ;  ^  these 
mostly  support  ably  the  exhibitions  of  the  horticultural  Society. 


312  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Hence,  the  city  ]s  famous  for  its  neat  and  tastefully  kejot  public 
squares,  gardens  and  cemeteries.  A  corresi^ondent  says  :  "  The 
weekly  meetings  of  our  society  always  have  something  of  special 
interest ;  and  so  great  is  the  public  desire  to  know  all  about  its 
doings,  that  our  newspapers  take  special  pains  to  have  full  reports, 
written  by  persons  who  understand  what  they  are  reporting,  pre- 
pared for  them. 

I  think  the  meetings  recently  have  been  of  more  than  usual 
interest,  especially  the  one  that  has  just  closed.  It  has  proved  to 
be  the  most  successful,  on  the  Avhole,  of  any  of  the  annual  exhi- 
bitions made  by  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society.  The 
attendance  has  been  double  that  of  last  season,  and  the  cash  re- 
ceipts for  admissions  have  been  proportionate.  The  managers 
accordingly  feel  that  their  efforts  in  the  i^ast  have  been  effective  to 
the  end  proposed,  namely,  the  education  of  the  public  mind  to  a 
genuine  interest  in  horticulture,  whether  in  the  practical  form  as 
cultivators  of  garden  products,  or  in  what,  perhaps,  may  be  termed 
the  philosophical  and  aesthetic  form  as  lovers  of  progress  in  the 
useful  arts,  and  of  the  beautiful  in  nature. 


STONE  FEUITS. 


PEACH    GROWING. 

A  correspondent  of  the  American  Partner  has  the  following 
with  regard  to  peach  growing  in  Maryland:  •'!  plant  my  trees 
twenty  feet  apart  each  way  ;  larger  trees  and  more  feeding  ground 
result  from  wide  planting.  The  trees  are  headed  low  to  allow  the 
branches  to  shade  the  trunk  and  the  ground  beneath.  This  is  an 
important  matter,,  as  the  summer  sun,  and  possibly  the  winter  sun, 
scalds  the  bark  and  causes  it  to  peal  from  the  trunk.  I  have  also 
noticed  that  the  parts  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the  afternoon  sun  in 
summer  are  most  affected.  A  successful  j)each  grower  in  another 
state  showed  an  orchard  which  he  had  planted  in  such  a  way  that 
one  tree  shaded  the  trunk  of  another  at  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  ;  each  tree,  in  planting,  was  also  inclined  sharply  to  the 
southwest.  Shortening  of  each  year's  growth  during  the  first  few 
years  of  a  peach  tree's  life  causes  a  stocky  growth,  prevents  slab- 
bing off  of  long  limbs,   easy  gathering  of  the  fruit,  and,  what  is 


Secretary's  Budget.  313 

another  point  with  me,  keeps  the  ploughshare  from  too  close  con- 
tact with  the  roots,  as  the  shape  of  the  tree  will  not  admit  of  too 
much  familiarity  of  that  kind. 

THE    PEACH   TREE. 

Prof.  Groff  says  :  ''I  have  observed  that  the  peach  tree  fre- 
quently does  remarkably  well  on  the  north  sides  of  hills  and 
mountains,  where  the  cold  lingers  longest  in  spring.  I  have  seen 
it  cultivated  on  such  sj^ots  when  it  refused  to  do  well  in  any  other 
spots  in  the  region.     The  hint  may  be  worth  something." 

[Peach  trees  often  suffer  by  the  temperature  of  the  soil  going 
beyond  80°.  A  north  aspect  is  favorable  to  low  temperature,  and 
flower  and  leaf  buds  are  excited  prematurely  by  early  suils,  when  at 
low  elevations  or  on  warm  aspects.  The  peach  is  the  healthiest 
when  there  is  no  disposition  to  growth  till  the  spring  time  has  fairly 
come.  This  is  another  reason  in  favor  of  a  northern  aspect. — Ed. 
G.  M.] 

THE  CURL  IX  THE  PEACH. 

We  had  supposed  that  this  disease  which  takes  the  form  of  blis- 
tered and  succulent  blotches  on  the  leaves,  with  a  white  mildewy 
substance  beneath,  was  everywhere  and  generally  familiar  to  peach 
cultivators.  Bift  specimens  with  inquiries  as  to  the  nature  of  these 
blisters  come  to  us  from  different  quarters,  with  the  information 
that  it  was  in  those  localities  hitherto  unknown.  It  is  also  very 
much  worse  m  some  parts  of  the  country  than  in  others.  We  have 
never  seen  it  anywhere  so  destructive  as  in  Canada,  unless  what  we 
saw  in  California  along  the  Stanislaus  river  was  the  effect  of  the 
curl,  as  we  were  told  it  was.  Whole  branches  were  dead,  with  the 
dry  leaves  attached  to  them.  In  Pennsylvania  only  a  few  of  the 
earlier  leaves  are  attacked  ;  these  fall  off,  but  the  shoots  continue 
and  make  the  new  and  healthy  leaves  necessary  to  health.  The 
wood  is  weakened  but  not  destroyed. 

The  disease  is  caused  by  the  growth  of  a  minute  fungus  para- 
•site.  Each  species  of  fungus  requires  certain  exact  conditions  of 
heat  and  moisture  before  it  will  germinate,  and  judging  from  the 
facts  attested  in  these  widely  separated  localities,  we  conclude  that 
a  comparatively  low  temperature  is  required  by  this  one  that  pro- 
duces the  peacli  curl,  and  that  when  the  weather  gets  very  warm, 
or  sa}^  to  our  eastern  summer  heat,  this  species  will  not  develop. 
A  steadily  warm  temperature  will  therefore  be  the  best  protection 
against  the  curl.  —  Gardener's  Montldy. 


314  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

AN    ENTIRELY  NEW  PLAN. 

A  number  of  shrubs  and  small  trees  that  came  from  a  Euro- 
pean correspondent  a  few  years  ago,  were  planted  in  a  nursery  row 
prejDaratory  to  making  a  final  disjDOsitiou  of  them.  This  year  one 
of  these  attracted  attention  by  a  shoAV  of  fruit.  It  proved  to  be 
Prunus  Simoni,  Simon's  Plum,  a  native  of  the  northern  j)art  of 
China.  Tlie  tree,  now  about  ten  feet  high,  has  slender,  erect 
branches.  The  lance-sliaped  leaves  are  minutely  serrate  on  the 
margin,  and  with  two  or  four  small  globose  glands  at  the  base. 
The  leaves  are  a  dark  green  and  shining  on  the  upper  surface,  and 
lighter  colored  and  dull  below.  The  fruit,  ripe  about  August  10th, 
soinetimes  reaches  two  inches  in  diameter,  though  usually  smaller, 
and  has  a  very  short  stem.  It  is  much  flattened  lengthwise,  and 
at  a  short  distance  appears  like  a  diminutive  apple.  It  has  a  dis- 
tinct, but  not  a  very  deep  suture.  The  skin,  which  is  perfectly 
smooth,  is  of  a  dark-red  color,  known  as  cinnabar.  The  flesh  is  of 
an  apricot-yellow  color,  and  somewhat  adherent  to  the  stone.  The 
stone  has  a  nearly  orbicular  outline,  thicker  on  one  side  than  on 
the  other,  and  marked  with  furrows  and  holes  in  a  similar  man- 
ner to  the  peach,  though,  in  a  less  degree.  The  fruit  has  an 
agreeable  and  peculiar  odor,  recalling  tbat  of  an  apricot.  The 
flesh,  while  not  very  juicy,  is,  when  fully  ripe,  agreeable,  with  a 
marked  and  pleasant  flavor,  in  which  the  taste  of  bitter  almond  is 
quite  perceptible. 

It  is  the  possibilities  that  this  new  plum  i^resents,  rather  than 
what  it  now  is,  that  interests  us.  AVhen  we  see  what  has  been  done 
in  improving  the  Sand  pear  by  hybridizing,  we  hope  some  one  may 
experiment  with  the  Simon's  plum,  and  make  it  the  foundation  of 
a  new  class  of  plums,  and  perhaps  of  peaches.  Pomologists  will 
observe  in  this  fruit  a  remarkable  union  of  the  characters  that 
distinguish  the  plum  and  the  peach.  Its  smooth  skin,  and  the 
character  of  the  flesh  are  those  of  a  plum,  while  the  glands  at  the 
base  of  the  leaves,  and  the  grooved  and  rough  stone  are  like  the 
peach.  Indeed,  Decaisne  originally  named  it  Persica  Simoni* 
Simon's  Peach.  This  species  shows  that  Bentham  and  Hooker 
were  right  in  uniting  the  almond,  peach,  plum,  cherry,  apricot, 
etc.,  all  under  the  single  genus  Prunus. — American  Agriculturist. 

THE   PEACH. 

Amygdalus  Persica — is,  according  to  the  common  opinion,  of 
Persian  origin.  Diodorus  Siculus  says  that  it  was  carried  from 
Persia  into  Egypt  during  the  time  that  Cambuyses  ruled  over  that 


Secretary's  Budget.  315 

country.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  transported  from  thence  into 
Greece,  and  after  a  lapse  of  time  into  Italy,  where  it  only  began  to 
be  known  about  twenty  years  before  the  birth  of  Pliny,  that  is, 
about  seven  years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  it  appears  that 
Columella  was  the  first  to  treat  of  its  cultivation  there.  According 
to  Nicander,  it  was  brought  to  Greece  by  the  agency  of  Perseus 
from  Cephia,  a  locality  affirmed  by  some  to  have  been  in  Persia,  by 
others  in  Ethiopia,  or  in  Chaldasa.  The  peach  is  also  spoken  of  by 
Theophrastus,  Dioscorides,  and  other  Greek  writers.  We  must, 
therefore,  conclude  that  this  fruit  was  well  known  in  the  East  very 
long  before  its  introduction  into  Italy.  Many  ancient  writers, 
including  Athena?us  and  Pliny,  and  more  recent  ones,  as,  for  in- 
stance, Marcellus  Virgilius,  in  his  "  Commentaries  on  Dioscorides," 
confound  the  peach  with  the  persea,  a  fruit  the  identity  of  which 
is  uncertain,  some  supposing  it  to  be  a  Coidia,  others  a  Balanites. 
Macrobius  again  confounds  the  peach  with  the  persicum  of  Suevius, 
which  is  the  walnut,  and  with  that  of  Cloatius,  which  is  the 
citron  ;  all  fruits  resembling  the  peach  in  nothing  but  in  the  name, 
a  clear  proof  that  it  cannot  have  been  in  their  days  by  any  means  a 
common  fruit. 

How  few  were  the  varieties  of  peaches  known  to  the  ancients 
appears  from  Dioscorides,  who  only  names  two,  from  Pliny, 
who  enumerates  five,  and  Palladius  four  only,  giving  at  the  same 
time,  accurate  information  on  the  mode  of  cultivating  them.  Al- 
though all  the  evidence  collected  by  Professor  Targioni  tends  to 
show  that  the  peach  was,  originally,  brought  from  Persia,  and  lie, 
therefore,  does  not  consider  it  necessary  to  proceed  further  with 
the  investigation  ;  yet,  no  traveler  whom  we  can  rely  upon,  has 
ever  found  it  growing  really  wild  there  or  anywhere  else.  We  are 
left  in  doubt  whether  its  native  stations  remain  yet  to  be  discov- 
ered, or  whether  its  original  wild  type  must  be  sought  for  in  some 
species  of  Amygdalus  known  to  be  indigenous  in  the  East. 

It  has  been  more  than  once  suggested  that  this  original  parent 
is  no  other  than  the  common  almond,  a  conjecture,  founded,  per- 
haps, on  the  similarity  in  the  leaves^  and  in  the  perforations  of  the 
endocarp,  but  rejected  as  absurd  by  those  who  attach  even  generic 
importance  to  the  succulence  of  the  indehiscent  pericarp.  This 
point  cannot  be  decided  witn  any  degree  of  plausibility  until  we 
shall  have  a  better  knowledge  of  the  different  forms  which  the 
fruits  of  the  wild  Amygdali '  may  assume  under  various  circum- 
stances ;  but  we  may  mention,  as  circumstances  in  some  degree 
favoring  the  supposition,  that  some  kind  of  almond  is  the  parent 


316  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

of  the  peach,  the  ancient  tradition  referred  to  by  Targioni  (with 
the  remark  that  is  contradicted  by  Pliny,  and  by  common  sense) 
that  the  peach  in  Persia  was  poisonous,  and  became  inocuons 
when  transj^orted  to  Egypt,  and  the  case  quoted  of  a  supposed 
hybrid  raised  in  1831  in  Sig.  G-iuseppe  Bartolucci's  garden  at  Colle 
di  Val  d^  Else,  from  a  peach  stone  which  produced  fruits  at  first 
exactly  like  almonds,  but  which,  as  they  ripened,  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance and  succulence  of  peaches,  whilst  the  kernel  remained 
sweet  and  oily,  like  those  of  almonds.  We  might  also  refer  to^  some 
bad  varieties  of  peach  with  very  little  juice  to  their  pericarps, 
although  we  do  not  know  of  any  which  assume  the  flattened  form 
of  our  almond,  a  distinctive  character  which  appears  to  us  to  be  of 
considerable  importance.  The  foliage  and  flowers  of  the  two  trees 
show  little  or  no  specific  difference. — The  Garden. 


ENTERTAINING  AND  INSTRUCTIVE. 


AGRICULTURAL    STATESMEN. 

The  presiding  of  Governor  Frederick  Robie,  of  Maine,  over 
the  late  annual  meeting  of  the  Maine  State  Grange  has  furnished 
food  for  a  most  excellent  article  from  Major  Ben  Perley  Poore  on 
agricultural  rulers  and  statesmen..  He  thus  discourses  upon  the 
subject  in  the  columns  of  the  American  Cultivator. 

Travelers  in  China  tell  us  that,  at  a  certain  solemn  festival  that 
occurs  there  once  a  year,  the  Emperor  of  that  'Celestial  Kingdom," 
the  ruler  of  300,000,000  of  people,  so  far  evinces  his  respect  for 
that  glorious  science  which  yields  bread  to  his  subjects,  that,  in 
order  to  set  the  best  possible  example,  he  takes  himself  a  plow  in 
hand  and  turns  a  few  furrows  with  it,  in  the  same  fashion  as  does 
the  humblest  plowman  in  his  domains.  In  this  instance  do  we 
find  the  mighty  soverign  of  an  empire,  in  which  sovereignty  is  es- 
teemed a  thing  sacred — a  thing  exalting  above  the  lot  of  ordinary 
mortals  its  fortunate  possessor — proclaiming,  by  his  own  example, 
the  inestimable  worth  of  that  knowledge  in  virtue  in  which  the 
earth  brings  forth  her  fruits,  so  that  in  good  time  we  may  enjoy 
them. 


Secretary's  Budget.  31 


1^ 


Nor  i^  it  to  Eastern  civilization  alone  that  we  shall  refer  for  a 
sincere  appreciation  of  the  infinite  benefits — benefits  scarcely  to  be 
measured — which  are  yielded  us  by  agricultural  operations  Joseph 
II,  Emperor  of  G-ermauy,  son  of  that  heroic  Maria  Theresa,  who 
exalted  the  house  of  Hapsburgh  to  unwonted  influence  and  strength, 
when,  in  the  haughtiness  of  his  power,  he  visited  those  fair  prov- 
inces of  his  which  stretch  through  the  Milanese,  he  took  in  his 
hand  the  plow,  source  of  mightiest  wealth,  and  plowed  therewith  a 
whole  ridge  of  those  lovely  downs  that  slope  away  to  the  plains,  of 
central  Italy. 

In  our  own  republic  I  remember  to  have  seen  the  venerable 
Timothy  Pickering,  the  jDcrsonal  friend  of  .  Washington,  who  had 
been  brave  in  war  and  illustrious  in  the  national  councils,  at  one  of 
the  cattle  shows  of  the  Essex  Co.  Society,  take  off  his  coat  and  hold 
a  plow  drawn  by  four  oxen.  He  was  a  tall,  gaunt  man,  and  he  won 
the  approbation  of  the  surrounding  yoemen  as  knowing  how  to  hold 
a  plow  well. 

Some  of  our  best  and  noblest  statesmen  have  been  cultivators 
of  the  soil,  and  although  they  may  not  have  practically  held  plows, 
they  employed  others  to,  and  they  saw  that  the  work  was  well 
done.  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon,  Jefferson  at  Monticello, 
Webster  at  Marshfield,  Clay  at  Ashland,  Calhoun  at  Fort  Hill,  and 
Burnside  at  Bristol,  have  demonstrated  their  love  for  the  science  of 
agriculture.  They,  witli  many  other  men  of  note,  regarded  agri- 
culture as  the  great  wheel  which  moves  all  the  machinery  of 
society.  Whatever  gives  to  this  a  new  impulse  or  energy  -com- 
municates a  corresponding  impetus  to  the  thousand  minor  wheels 
of  interest  which  it  propels  and  regulates.  Providence  seems 
wisely  to  have  ordained  that,  because  this  is  the  most  necessary  em- 
ployment towards  the  subsistence  and  comfort  of  the  human 
family,  its  labors  shall  receive  the  highest  and  most  substantial 
reward. 

THE    FUTURE    OF     ORNAMENTALS. 

Whittier  somewhere  has  some  beautiful  thoughts  which  we 
cannot  now  recall  in  the  original  verse,  warning  us  against  the 
belief  that  all  that  is  grand  has  gone  before.  The  glory  of  Sinai 
and  the  great  mystery  of  the  Burning  Bush,  are  everywhere  about 
us  he  says  still,  if  we  will  open  our  eyes  to  see.  So  thought  we 
when  reading  recently  a  paper  in  a  popular  magazine  on  the  lost 
arts  of  gardening.  The  glories  of  Persian  flowers,  and  the  hanging 
gardens  of  Babylon  were  spoken  of  as  sights,  the  equal  of  which 


318  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

the  world  again  would  never  see.  Then,  perhaps,  we  never  may, 
even  if  the  halo  of  age  has  not  given  them  a  charm  they  never 
themselves  possessed  ;  but  beauties  the  ancients  never  saw  are  still 
in  the  world  to-day,  and  here  in  our  own  land  we  may  have  garden 
charms  that  no  other  portion  of  the  earth  may  enjoy. 

We  may  not  have  just  what  other  people  have  ;  but  our  warm 
summers,  and  dry  and  sun-lighted  winters  ;  our  numerous  spring- 
flowers  and  brilliant  autumn  scenery,  which  of  itself  rivals  Whit- 
tier's  envied  Burning  Bush  ;  all  give  us  advantages  together  which 
cannot  be  had  in  any  part  of  the  world.  But  unfortunately — the 
slaves  of  old  world  ideas  to  a  great  extent — comparatively  few 
wealthy  of  our  own  people  take  the  same  personal  interest  in 
landscape  gardening  and  garden  beauty,  as  do  the  more  independent 
class  in  the  old  world.  Very  seldom  do  we  find  any  of  this  class 
willing  to  lead  off  in  the  encouragement  of  horticultural  societies, 
as  do  the  wealthy  independents  of  the  old  world  ;  aiid  even  a 
horticultural  society,  instead  of  being  a  body  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  a  fine  art,  has  in  many  cases  come  to  be  considered  as 
little  more  than  the  adjunct  to  a  farm  ;  and  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  the  whole  exhibition  is  mixed  up  with  fat  oxen,  fast  horses, 
or  the  dog  show. 

Then  our  literature  follows  European  garden  literature,  and 
even  our  best  practicing  gardeners  receive  their  education  in  a 
foreign  land.  All  this  is  not  favorable  to  the  distinctively 
American  style  of  gardening,  which  we  might  have  if  more  atten- 
tion could  be  drawn  to  the  '^Burning  Bushes''  everywhere  around. 
When  we  look  on  our  woodland  just  as  we  write,  gay  with  the 
brilliant  tints  of  the  black  gum  and  sassafras ;  the  broken  under- 
brush where  sumac  and  spice  bush  predomniate  ;  and  the  waste 
places  brilliant  with  asters,  golden  rods  and  cinnamon  ferns  ;  and 
note  how  these  elements  alone  might  be  improved  on,  we  cannot 
but  feel  what  a  field  is  here.  For,  be  it  remembered,  that  true 
gardening  does  not  consist  in  forcing  trees  and  shrubs  and  flowers 
into  forms,  the  likeness  of  which  we  do  not  find  either  in  the 
heavens  above  or  the  earth  beneath,  but  in  taking  the  best  features 
of  nature  which  she  only  exhibits  here  and  there,  and  combining 
them  into  a  beauty  spot  which  even  gay  nature  would  herself  stop 
to  admire. 

And  let  this  be  our  "'Seasonable  Hints"  for  this  month.  We 
usually  devote  our  thoughts  more  to  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the 
drawers  of  water,  in  these  chapters.  To-day  let 'us  talk  with  those 
who  love  beauty,   and   gardens  filled  with  it.     It  is' surely  their 


Secretary's  Budget.  319 

field-day,  when  all  is  so  suggestive  everywhere  around.  Study  well 
what  is  to  be  seen.  Think  well  over  it  during  the  coming  winter 
months.  Read  works  on  landscape  art  and  landscape  work  if  you 
will ;  but  let  the  lessons  of  American  autumn  scenery  have  a  due 
place  among  your  thoughts,  and  when  in  the  spring-time  you  will 
have  decided  on  what  your  garden  shall  be  like  for  the  next  year, 
we  are  sure  our  hints  here  given  will  not  be  lost. — Ed.  Gardner's 
Monthly. 

SET  OUT   TREES. 

Set  out  trees  !  adorn  the  homestead. 

Make  it  pleasant  all  around, 
Let  the  elms,  and  oaks  and  maples . 

With  the  evergi-eens  abound  : 
Let  the  home  be  so  attractive 

That  the  boy  that  is  to-day, 
When  he  shall  arrive  at  manhood  i 

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  !  yes  plant  an  orchard, 

Dear,  good  farmer  do  you  know 
Of  the  wealth  there  is  in  fruit  trees. 

For  the  labor  you  bestow  ? 
How  the  apples  turn  to  money. 

With  the  peaches,  plums  and  pears, 
And  the  luscious  bright  red  cherries — 

All  the  fruit  the  orchard  bears  ? 
Little  children  love  the  fruit  trees  : 

How  they  wait,  with  what  delight. 
For  the  coming  of  their  blossoms. 

In  their  robes  of  pink  and  white. 
Never  flowers  were  half  so  pretty. 

Never  such  profusion  shown. 
As  Dame  Nature  gives  the  fruit  trees, 

With  a  glory  all  their  own. 

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, 


320  Mlsi^uuri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

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.  Annie  G.  Marshall. 

WISE   LIBERALITY. 

Peter  M.  Gideon  is  widely  known  for  his  energetic  and  suc- 
cessful efforts  in  producing  new  varieties  of  fruits  hardy  enough 
for  Minnesota.  Among  those  which  he  has  raised  is  the  Wealthy 
apple,  a  variety  which  promises  to  be  as  valuable  for  that  region  as 
the  Baldwin  is  at  the  east,  and  which  is  estimated  to  be  worth  a 
million  dollars  to  that  state.  0.  Gibbs,  Jr.,  stated  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  American  Pomological  Society,  that  in  recognition 
of  the  valuable  services  Mr.  Gideon  has  rendered  and  is  still  en- 
gaged in,  the  State  of  Minnesota  gives  him  a  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  and  the  use  of  a  farm  on  Lake  Minnetonka,  to  continue  his 
experiments  without  interference,  for  an  annual  report  to  the 
regents  of  the  State  University. 

SEASONABLE    HINTS. 

Flower  gardening  has  its  charms,  and  that  class  of  gardening 
which  deals  with  landscape  effects  is  c^elightful.  But  it  is  doubtful 
whether  these  give  more  pleasure  tlian  a  well  ordered  fruit  and 
vegetable  garden,  or  a  nicely  kept  and  well  cared  for  orchard. 
The  small  gardens  attached  to  residences  of  moderate  means,  are 
often  far  more  attractive  than  the  thousand  dollar  efforts  on  lawns 
of  i^eople  of  more  pretensions  to  taste  and  wealth. 

Indeed,  it  is  too  often  a  subject  of  regret  that,  where  there  is 
a  beautiful  specimen  of  landscape  gardening  to  be  seen,  the  vege- 
table garden,  instead  of  being  a  beauty  spot,  is  a  mere  "  truck 
patch  "  torn  up  by  the  plow,  rooted  about  by  the  harrow,  in  holes 
and  hills  everywhere,  with  dirt  and  filth  on  the  "headland"  which 
serves  for  a  "  track  to  the  patch,"  one  can  scarely  pick  his  way. 
We  use  the  masculine  term  deliberately,  because  ladies  are  never 
known  to  visit  these  places.  There  is  nothing  attractive  to  the 
delicate  mind.  The  vegetable  garden  is  solely  a  matter  of  profit. 
It  is  in  competition  with  the  market  stand.  If  a  bushel  of  pota- 
toes costs  a  dollar,  the  gardener  must  laroduce  them  for  ninety-nine 
cents,  or  his  occupation  is  gone.  Hence,  the  horse  and  plough 
only  must  be  thought  of. 


'  Secretary's  Budget.  321 

The  road  must  be  wide  enough  to  haul  manure  in  with  the 
cart,  and  the  horse  and  hoe-harrow  kept  in  view  when  the  rows  of 
vegetables  are  provided  for.  But  in  the  neat  cottage  garden  we 
find  a  main  path  of  gravel  or  gi-ass,  neatly  kept.  An  edging  of 
box,  or  some  other  dwarf  growing  plant,  a  border  two  or  three 
feet  wide,  in  which  are  peonys  and  double  butter-cups,  rocketts, 
sweet-williams,  love  in  the  mist  and  love  entangle,  and  loads  of 
real  flowers,  showy,  sweet-scented  and  enchanting.  Then  there 
are  the  back-grounds  of  currants  and  gooseberries,  or  trained  fruir 
trees,  the  beds  of  laspberries,  with  their  deep  mulch  to  keep  the 
soil  cool.  Blackberries  trained  to  stakes,  so  that  one  may  carefully 
get  among  them,  and  with  surface  dressings  of  rich  manure,  so 
that  the  fruit  may  be  sugary,  succulent,  and  jovial  to  look  upon. 
The  beds  of  asparagus,  herbs,  onions,  and  salads  are  all  neatly  lined 
out,  and  not  a  weed  to  be  seen  anywhere.  Who  that  loves  garden- 
in,g  has  not  met  with  such  a  scene  ?  and  who,  once  seeing,  would 
ever  forget  ?  No  plough  or  iiorse  ever  enters  there.  The  digging 
fork  and  the  wheelbarrow  are  the  ruling  powers,  and  when  at  rest, 
are  found  enjoying  themselves  in  a  regular  palace  of  a  ''toolery" 
at  the  garden  end. 

There  is  a  pleasure  in  such  gardening  for  which  no  penny  saved 
in  tl}e  market-house,  or  at  the  peddlar's  wagon  is  any  sort  of  com- 
pensation. But  is  there  any  saving?  We  think  by  no  means  al- 
ways. We  know  of  some  good  vegetable  gardeners  who  will  get 
more  out  of  a  rod  of  land  with  the  spade  and  the  hoe,  than  the 
horse  man  with  his  best  machinery  will  get  from  an  acre.  Of 
course,  all  this  is  intended  for  the  encouragement  of  the  amateur 
gardener.  In  your  conventions  and  horticultural  meetings,  he  is 
rarely  considered.  The  market  man  and  the  thousand  acre  orchard- 
ist  have  it  all  their  own  way.  We  do  not  want  to  neglect  them  ; 
they  should  not  be  neglected.  The  men  who  grow  fruits  and  vege- 
tables for  market  on  a  grand  scale  are  among  the  makers  of  our 
earthly  paradise.  We  give  them  many  a  chapter  in  our  columns. 
But  they  do  not  give  all  the  pleasure  there  is  in  gardening,  nor  by 
any  means  all  the  profit. 

Just  now,  we  are  reminded  of  these  things,  because  it  will  not 
be  long  before  we  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  horticultural  meetings 
and  conventions.  These  have  lost,  in  a  great  measure,  their  popular 
charm.  The  best  people  in  the  towns  or  cities  where  the  meetings 
are  held  seldom  attend  them.  They  are  looked  on  simj^ly  as  trade 
gatherings,  in  which  the  community  at  large  has  no  interest.  It 
should   be  the  aim  of  these   bodies  to  interest  all.      They   should 


322  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society.  * 

never  forget  that  there  are   amateurs  who  love,  as  well  as  growers 
who  profit  by,  the  advance  of  horticulture. 

PRIMITIVE    HORTICULTURE. 

Prof,  J.  B.  Steere,  of  the  University,  said  :  Fruits  are 
attractive  to  the  eye  and  taste  for  the  same  reason  that  seeds  of 
dandelions  and  thistles  have  downy  wings,  or  burdocks  have  spines, 
to  enable  the  seeds  to  be  distributed  and  the  plants  disseminated 
over  wide  areas.  Fruit  seeds  are  largely  carried  from  place  to  place 
by  birds,  and  were  the  fruit  of  neutral  tints,  or  disagreeable  flavor, 
birds  would  neither  notice,  taste  nor  devour  them.  Fruits  were 
the  earliest  food  of  man,  as  they  are  of  the  larger  aj)es,  which  have 
no  fire  to  render  digestible  by  cooking  the  portions  of  such  starchy 
plants  as  are  used  for  food.  For  ages  man  has  been  cultivating  the 
various  starchy  foods,  such  as  the  potato,  artichoke,  etc.,  until  now 
there  is  scarcely  a  family  of  plants  which  does  not  contribute  to  his 
support. 

After  primitive  man  had  begun  the  cultivation  of  fi'uits  and 
roots,  the  next  step  in  advance  was  the  improvement  of  imple- 
ments, irrigation  and  the  use  of  fertilizers.  The  gathering  into 
settlements  and  towns  was  a  natural  sequence,  aud  then  man  ceased 
to  be  savage.  The  plow  and  the  spade  are  characteristic  of  this 
stage.  Ownership  of  laud,  Avealth  and  hixury  followed,  and  new 
channels  of  gratification  sought  ;  men  turned  to  the  long  neglected 
fruits;  and  the  cultivation  of  them  began.  The  Eastern  hemis- 
phere has  produced  most  of  the  important  fruits  ;  the  American 
continent  but  a  few.  American  cultivation  has  been  turned  to  the 
small  fruits,  sucli  as  the  strawberry,  and  crossing  our  species  with 
closely  allied  European  varieties,  by  which  means  an  improved 
product  has  been  originated,  bivilized  man,  like  the  savages,  uses 
his  fruits  and  starches  for  the  manufacture  of  intoxicants. 

W'Hittier's  poem  on  the  burning  Busn. 

Oh,  someLinies  gleams  upon  our  siglit 
Through  present  wrong  the  Eternal  Right ! 
And  step  by  step,  since  time  began. 
We  see  the  steady  gain  of  man  ; — 

That  all  of  good  the  past  hath  had 
Remains  to  make  our  own  time  glad, 
Our  common  daily  life  divine, 
And  every  land  a  Palestine. 

We  lack  but  open  eye  and  ear 
To  find  the  Orient's  marvels  here, 


Secretary's  Budget.  323 

The  still  small  voice  in  autumn's  hush 
Yon  maple  wood  the  burning  bush. 

For  still  the  new  transcends  the  old, 
In  signs  and  tokens  manifold  ; 
Slaves  rise  up  men,  the  olive  waves 
With  roots  deep  set  in  battle  graves. 

Through  the  harsh  noises  of  our  day 
A  low,  sweet  prelude  finds  its  way  ; 
Through  clouds  of  doubt  and  creeds  of  fear 
A  light  is  breaking  calm  and  clear. 

Henceforth  my  heart  shall  sigh  no  more 
For  olden  time  and  holier  shore  ; 
God's  love  and  blessing,  then  and  there. 
Are  now,  and  here,  and  everywhere. 


VEGETABLES. 


OHIO    EXPERIMFNTS. 

Experiments  at  the  Ohio  Station,  the  latest  official  report  of 
which  has  just  been  published,  showed  that  potatoes  gave  much 
larger  yields  in  two  successive  years,  with  whole  tubers'  than  with 
cutting  to  one  eye — 302  and  2G4  bushels  per  acre  for  the  first 
method,  against  164  and  135  bushels  for  the  second  ;  ripening  was 
nine  days  earlier  with  the  wliole  seed.  All  was  planted  at  the  same 
distance  apart,  twelve  inches  in  the  row ;  it  is  remarked  that  the 
one-eyed  pieces  might  be  planted  closer,  and  the  seed  saved  when, 
scarce  and  costly.  With  different  fertilizers  on  this  crop  one 
remarkable  result  was  a  heavier  product  with  coal  ashes  than  with 
hen  or  stable  manure,  superphosphate  or  lime.  A  soil  that  can  be 
so  improved  by  a  mere  mechanical  alteration,  which,  agricultural 
chemists  think,  is  all  that  could  be  gained  by  the  addition  of  the 
coal  ashes,  would  not  seem  to  be  well  adapted  for  experiments  with 
fertilizers.  In  these  tests  no  unmanured  plots  were  left  for  stand- 
ards of  comparison. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

'  THE   LARGEST   YIELD   OF    POTATOES. 

No  farmer  has  yet  learned  what  the  largest  yield  of  any  crojj 
may  be,  and  few  have  learned  how  very  largely  the  yields  of  our 
common   crops   may  be   increased.     The  ag.   editor  of  the   iY.  Y. 


324  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Times  says  that  he  has  grown  over  six  hundred  bushels  of  potatoes, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  of  shelled  corn,  eighty  bushels  of 
oats,  fifty  bushels  of  wheat,  and  five  tons  of  hay  per  acre,  and  these 
large  yields  have  been  considerably  exceeded  by  other  farmers. 
The  largest  yield  of  potatoes,  however,  tlie  ag.  editor  of  the  Times 
goes  on  to  say,  deseves  to  be  credited  to  the  editor  of  the  Rural 
New-YorJcer,  who,  in  his  experimental  grounds,  has  made  the  fol- 
lowing yields :  524  bushels,  540,  544,  726,  877,  998,  1,050,  1,075, 
1,189,  and  1,391  bushels  per  acre,  or  at  that  rate  per  acre,  in 
several  plots,  each  of  different  varieties,  besides  many  others  vary- 
ing from  below  500  to  above  that  number,  the  largest,  however, 
being  1,391  bushels.  The  ground  was  fertilized  by  a  mixture  of 
fertilizers  oiily  and  no  manure,  and  containing  every  element  of 
plant  food,  including  salt,  lime,  potash  salts,  ammonia  salts,  super- 
phosphate of  lime,  bone  flour,  and  others.  The  variations  show 
satisfactorily  that  much  depends  upon  the  kind  of  potato  grown. 
The  above  notes  were  not  copied  from  the  R.  N.-Y.,  but  are  the 
result  of  the  observations  of  the  editor  of  the  N.  Y.  Times,  made 
at  the  Rural  grounds. 

SALT    FOE    ASPAKAGUS. 

Parker  Earle  tried  salt  to  kill  grubs  in  asparagus  beds,  but 
found  it  to  kill  weeds  and  most  of  the  asparagus,  while  the  grubs 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  application,  and  he  found  it  of  little  value  as 
a  manure.  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  experience  of  other  cul- 
tivators, and  also  of  those  who  live  near  the  salt  air  of  the  sea, 
while  others  find  it  quite  useful  when  applied  at  the  rate  of  forty 
or  sixty  pounds  to  the  square  rod.  These  facts  show  the  impor- 
tance of  trying  the  experiment  in  different  and  varying  localities. 
So  with  superphosphates,  which  have  generally  proved  valuable  for 
asparagus,  but  in  some  places  they  have  little  or  no  effect. 

TOMATOES. 

The  Cardinal,  a  so-called  new  variety,  producing  large  bright, 
scarlet  fruit,  which  is  usually  nearly  or  quite  smooth,  but  quite  late 
in  ripening.  The  Favorite  (Livingstones  Favorite),  is  medium  in 
season,  and  this  he  regards  as  its  greatest  fault.  The  New  Eed  Apple 
yields  medium  to  large,  very  smooth  fruits,  which  matured  this  sea- 
son earlier  than  either  of  the  above  sorts.  The  Perfection  (Living- 
stones Perfection)  produces  medium  to  large,  very  deep  red  fruits, 
usually  smooth,  but  often  rough  at  the  blossom  end.  In  season 
about  the  same  as  the  Favorite. 

The  Paragon  yields   very   smooth,    medium    to  small   scarlet 


Secretary's  Budget.  325 

fruits  wliicli  commenced  ripening  this  year  five  days  before  the 
Favorite  or  Perfection.  The  Red  Chief  yields  bright  scarlet  fruits 
of  medium  size,  usually  smooth  ;  in  season,  medium.  The  Rochester 
yields  fruit  of  the  largest  size,  of  a  deep  red  color  ;  rather  smooth 
upon  the  whole,  though  often  rough  about  the  stems  ;  a  late 
variety.  Tilden's  New  yields  bright  scarlet,  small  to  medium 
fruits,  usually  very  smooth. 

The  Acme,  though  faultless  in  form,  has  the  fault"  of  rotting 
badly  in  sections  Avhere  tomatoes  are  subject  to  this  disease.  Its 
earliness,  together  with  the  remarkable  smoothness  of  its  fruit,  will 
doubtless  retain  foi-  it  many  friends.  He  has  grown  two  sorts 
which  are  the  same  as  the  Acme  ;  the  one,  Essex  Early  Hybrid, 
the  other,  a  variety,  the  seeds  of  which  are  said  to  have  come  from 
South  America.  Tfie  Early  Red  Smooth,  with  him,  seems  to  be 
the  same  as  the  Extra  Early  Red,  and  the  Early  Round  Red 
Smooth.  It  has  the  merit  of  earliness,  smoothness  of  fi'uit,  and 
little  tendency  to  rot.  We  rani<  this  as  one  of  the  most  desirable 
of  sorts. 

The  Mayflower  has  the  tendency  to  produce  small  frufts  which 
he  hopes  may  disappear  after  a  little  longer  selection.  It  is  early, 
but  has  not  sustained  its  reputation  as  being  one  of  the  first  earlies. 
The  Boston  Market  produces  medium  to  small  fruits,  usually  very 
smooth,  but  only  inedium  in  season.  The  Alpha  is  a  very  early 
variety,  medium  size,  quite  smooth,  but  often  inclining  to  rough- 
ness. 

The  Trophy  varies  much  in  size ;  sometimes  so  small  as  to  be 
almost  worthless,  at  others  very  large.  In  shape  also  it  is  quite 
variable,  sometimes  being  very  rough  ;  in  season  intermediate.  The 
Yellow  Victor  and  Golden  Trophy  are  of  good  size,  fairly  smooth, 
and  are  useful  varieties  to  those  who  desire  a  yellow  tomato. 
Besides  these  standard  varieties,  there  are  several  sorts  which, 
though  possessing  little  value  for  the  table,  have  a  certain  value  to 
the  amateur  as  cui'iosities.  Among  these  the  Apple,  Pear,  Cherry, 
Plum  and  Currant  Tomatoes. 

WHAT  WOMEN  HAVE  DONE  AND    WHAT  THEY  CAN  DO. 

Carlyle  says  :  ' '  Blessed  is  the  man  who  has  found  his  work  ; 
let  him  seek  no  other  blessedness."  Equally  blessed  is  the  woman 
who  has  found  her  work. 

Man  was  made  to  attend  to  the  sterner  duties  of  life ;  to  till 
the  soil ;  oversee  business  houses ;  and  in  a  general  way  he,  with 
his  superior  strength,  was  set  apart  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
sterner  sex. 


326  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society 

Woman  was  made  to  beautify  and  grace  the  home.  To  there 
perform  that  invisible  work  which,  although  less  attractive,  is 
inevitable  both  to  life  and  happiness.  The  home  is,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  her  field  of  action;  and  "the  home"  says  an  eminent 
writer,  "is  the  center  of  joy." 

We  have  spoken  of  woman  in  her  general  work,  but  I  hope  to 
show  that  it  is  highly  proper  and,  indeed,  necessary  to  a  happy 
life,  that  a  woman  have  some  particular  work,  in  which  she  excels. 

When  a  young  man  arrives  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  there- 
abouts he  feels  called  upon  to  choose  his  life-work,  and  why  should 
not  n  young  lady  select  the  occupation  to  which  she  is  best  adapted 
and  develop  her  talents  with  a  view  to  excel  in  that  particular 
branch  ?  Then  if  she  should  be  thrown  upon  her  own  resources, 
she  would  not  be  utterly  dependent,  as  so  many  young  ladies  are, 
when  placed  in  such  circumstances. 

But  let  us  see  what  employments  are  open  to  women.  The 
profession  of  literature  has  been  from  an  early  date.  In  fact,  the 
first  modern  novel  was  written  by  a  woman  and  met  with  high 
commendation.  George  Eliot  has  acquired  universal  fame  through 
her  literary  productions.  Others,  whose  names  are  pre-eminent,  are 
Mrs.  Hemans,  Mrs.  Browning,  Adelaide  Proctor,  and  Jean  Ingelow. 
She  also  holds  her  place  in  the  production  of  journals.  A  modern 
writer  says  :  "In  English  literature  there  is  hardly  a  department 
which  woman  does  not  adorn."     But  we  must  pass  on. 

There  are  about  thirty  practicing  women  lawyers  in  the  United 
States.  Of  these,  Mrs.  Lockwood  is  one  of  the  most  successful. 
Although  I  am  an  advocate  of  "Woman's  Rights."  in  a  limited 
degree,  yet  I  would  never  vote  for  Belva  Lockwood,  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  if  I  could.  I  think  a  lady  has  her  proper 
sphere  in  life. 

Woman  is  gaining  an  in^.jiortant  standing  in  the  profession  of 
medicine.  Of  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  students  in  the  Bos- 
ton University  of  Medicine,  in  1870  or  thereabouts,  seventy-nine 
were  ladies.  Tliere  are  now  over  fifty  practicing  lady  physicians  in 
the  city  of  Chicago.  We  are  often  confronted  with  some  amusing 
incident  connected  with  this  subject,  which  shows  tliat  the  female 
doctor  is  not  yet  universally  adopted. 

A  farmer  living  near  a  western  city  went  hurriedly  to  town  for 
a  doctor.  Noticing  a  sign,  he  went  in  at  the  first  place.  He  asked 
of  the  neat  little  lady  who  met  him:  "Where's  the  doctor?" 
She  replied  :  "I  am  the  doctor."  He  turned  red,  whistled,  and 
finally  said  :     "  Whew  !     I  hadn't  calculated  on  a  woman  doctor, 


Secretary's  Budget.  337 

but  I  am  in  a  hurry,  jump  in;  I  reckon   Polly  will  be  glad   to  see 
most  anybody."     And  Polly  still  has  the  lady  doctor. 

The  musical  world  is,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  adorned  by 
ladies.  Three  of  the  brightest  lights  are  Patti,  Nilsson  and 
Langtry.     They  receive  from  13,500  to  $8,000  per  week. 

At  present,  the  race  which  your  speaker  represents  are  filling 
positions  in  the  Government,  both  as  clerks  and  also  transacting 
official  business.  I  noticed  not  long  ago  a  little  incident  illustrat- 
ing the  courage  and  determination  of  a  lady  applicant.  A  young 
girl  one  morning  assailed  the  Hon.  John  Sherman  in  his  office,  and 
told  him  she  wanted  a  position.  He  replied  in  a  very  cold  tone 
that  there  was  none.  '"  But,"  she  says,  ''such  an  answer  will  not 
do.  If  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  come  every  morning  and  black 
your  shoes  for  you,  if  you  can  do  no  better  by  me."  The  Secretary 
was  charmed,  and  in  less  thah  a  week  she  held  a  position  in  the 
Treasury. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  value  of  woman^s  inventive  power  is 
unappreciated  as  yet.  She  is  quite  an  inventive  genius.  I  wonder 
how  many  of  the  men  in  this  assembly  know  that  a  woman  made 
some  inventions  with  respect  to  the  combined  action  of  the  teeth 
and  cutters  on  the  mowing  and  reaping  machine  ?  And  how  many 
of  the  ladies  know  that  one  of  their  sex  has  invented  an  ironing- 
pan  to  be  sunk  into  a  board  for  receiving  the  flat-iron  ?  This,  if  it 
comes  into  general  use,  will  avoid  many  burned  fingers,  aching 
toes,  and  much  trouble. 

But  alas  !  I  find  that  woman  has  done  so  much  that  I  cannot 
begin  to  exhaust  the  subject.  We  have  seen  that  there  are  but  few 
callings,  comparatively  speaking,  in  which  woman  does  not  find  her 
place.  Her  genius  and  ready  wit  cannot  be  done  away  with.  She 
maybe,  and  has  been,  besides  what  has  been  mentioned,  a  telegraph 
operator,  an  elocution  teacher,  a  professional  nurse,  and  not  least  of 
all,  a  canvasser. 

One  thing  should  here  be  spoken  of — a  woman  may  be  a  good 
dressmaker,  but  not  all  are.  I  think  the  old  saying,  •'  Whatever  is 
worth  doing,  is  worth  doing  well,"  finds  illustration  here.  A 
dressmaker  in  order  to  be  successful  must  learn  the  trade.  The 
average  American  woman  has  a  good  figure,  when  it  is  not  distorted 
by  a  wretchedly  fitting  dress. 

To  take  a  different  view  of  the  subject,  let  us  mention  a  few 
ways  in  which  women  may  earn  money,  if  that  is  what  they  are 
seeking. 


328  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Gardening  may  be  carried  on  to  a  limited  extent,  and  the  cul- 
tivation of  flowers  may  be  made  a  specialty.  Lima  beans  are 
quite  easily  raised  apiid  sell  for  a  good  price  in  the  fall.  Sweet  corn 
may  likewise  be  raised  with  some  profit,  even  if  some  of  the  gain 
is  lost  in  defraying  the  expense  of  hiring  the  harder  part  of  the 
labor.  Gardening,  too,  has  the  great  advantage  of  being  a  decid- 
edly healthy  occupation. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  young  girl  who,  from  all  appearances,  was 
fatally  ill  with  consumption,  went  to  a  country  home  and  amused 
herself  in  the  garden  when  she  felt  strong  enough.  She  found  the 
health-giving  properties  of  the  soil  and  recovered.  She  declared 
that  the  spade  was  her  doctor. 

Kaising  poultry  is  a  paying  occupation  and  one  very  largely 
engaged  in.  Eggs,  if  sold  at  the  proper  time,  bring  in  the  course 
of  a  year,  quite  a  large  sum.  Bee-keeping  is  suid  to  be  a  very 
profitable  and  not  very  laborious  employment. 

But  we  would  not  entirely  overlook  the  domestic  arts.  In 
order  to  be  a  successful  house-keeper,  the  lady  of  the  liouse  must 
be  a  good  manager,  for  if 

"  The  butcher,  the  baker 
And  the  candlestick  maker  " 

are  left  to  themselves,  they  will  charge  exorbitantly.  Quite  often 
men  leave  the  control  of  such  matters  to  their  wives,  and  is  it  not 
a  good  way  for  a  man  burdened  with  business  cures  to  give  his  wife 
an  allowance  and  let  her  run  the  house  ?  But  whatever  may  be 
said  about  a  woman's  other  accomplishments,  I  think  the  science  of 
cookery  should  not  be  omitted. 

Emerson  says  :  "  There  is  always  a  best  way  of  doing  anytJiing, 
if  it  be  but  to  boil  an  egg."  It  has  been  said  that  the  best  way  to 
approach  a  man  is  by  means  of  his  stomacli  ;  and  as  we  all  often 
want  to  approach  a  man  on  the  right  side,  we  want  to  be  good 
cooks. 

It  is  said  of  the  modern  belle  : 

"  She  had  views  on  co-education 
And  the  principal  needs  of  the  nation  : 
And  her  glasses  were  blue,  and  the  numbers  she  knew 
Of  the  stars  in  each  high  constellation. 
And  she  wrote  in  hand-writing  clerky, 
And  she  talked  with  an  emphasis  jerky  , 
And  she  painted  on  tiles,  in  the  sweetest  of  styles. 
But  she  didn't  know  chicken  from  turkey." 

Can  this  be  said  of  all  modern  young  ladies  ? 


Secretary's  Budget.  329 

There  are  cooking  schools  being  established  in  several  of  the 
states,  where  it  is  hoped  that  those  girls  who  have  not  such  advan- 
tages at  home  will  be  benefitted.  Perhaps  it  will  then  be  said  of 
more  as  it  was  once  of  a  departed  wife. 

Her  husband  had  very  little  education,  and  when  asked  to 
write  an  epitaph  hesitated  as  to  which  of  her  many  virtues  to  select. 
He  finally  decided  on  this  :  "Her  picked-up  dinners  were  a  per- 
fect success." 

Besides  being  a  highly  approved  employment,  cooking  is  a  pay- 
ing one.  Some  distinguished  cooks  in  our  country  receive  from 
83,000  to  87,000  a  year.  And  be  li  remembered  that  one  may  be 
a  good  cook,  and  at  the  same  time  excel  in  other  ways. 

' '  We  may  live  without  poetry,  music  and  art. 
We  may  live  without  conscience,  and  live  without  heart, 
•  We  may  live  without  friends,  we  may  live  without  books, 
But  civilized  man  cannot  live  without  cooks." 

One  thing  remains  to  be  said  on  this  my  subject,  which  is 
within  my  reach,  and  that  is  this  :  Women  can  write  essays  for 
horticultural  meetings. 

EDUCATION    ON   THE    FARM. 

One  of  the  most  absurd  and  mischievous  errors  of  the  day,  it 
is  truly  asserted,  is  that  of  the  father  who  gives  to  the  son  destined 
for  a  farmer  an  education  inferior  to  that  he  bestows  upon  the  one 
destined  for  a  profession.  The  husbandman  deserves  a  better  edu- 
cation than  a  lawyer  or  a  doctor,  because  his  occupation  requires 
the  exercise  of  more  knowledge  ;  but  it  is  too  generally  the  case 
that  he  is  only  allowed  some  snatched  intervals  between  the  crops, 
"  to  learn  to  read,  write  and  cipher,"  and  that  is  deemed  education 
enough  for  a  farmer  !  What  a  wretched,  miserable  error  is  this — 
what  a  foe  to  the  improvement  and  dignity  of  the  class  !  It  ought, 
it  must  be  banished,  and  the  practice  which  results  from  it  abol- 
ished, and  a  wiser  and  better  one  substituted.  The  farmer  hiis  need 
of  a  better  education,  and  he  actually  requires  the  aid  of  more 
various  branches  of  science  in  his  ramified  operations,  than  the 
member  of  any  profession  ;  and  I  sincerely  believe  that  if  any 
discrimination  should  be  made  in  the  education  of  two  sons,  one 
destkied  for  a  farmer  and  the  other  for  a  profession,  it  should  be  in 
favor  of   the   former. — Ben  Perley  Poore,  in  American  Cultivator. 


330  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

THE     RUKAL's     experiment     WITH     DIFFEREN"T    FERTILIZERS    ON 
POTATOES    IN  A   "WORN  OUT"  SANDY-LOAM    SOIL. 

As  already  stated,  these  experiments  were  designed  to  test  the 
effect  of  the  various  concentrated  constituents  of  which  commercial 
fertilizers  are  composed,  separately  and  in  various  combinations. 
The  soil  of  the  plots  selected  is  a  worn-out  sandy  loam,  level,  and 
naturally  well-drained.  There  was  no  air  stirring  to  interfere  with 
the  even  distribution  of  the  fertilizers  ;  the  soil  was  mellow  and 
moist  without  being  wet,  and  with  ample  assistance,  the  entire  work 
of  sowing  the  fertilizers^  planting  and  finishing  the  plots,  was 
accomplished  between  seven  in  the  morning  and  sunset,  April 
14th. 

The  seed  had  been  cut  several  days  previously,  the  White  Star 
having  been  selected  as,  by  its  season  of  maturing,  keejoing  quali- 
ties and  vigor,  well  suited  to  such  tests.  Potatoes  of  nearly  the 
same  size  were  cut  in  halves  lengthwise,  the  seed  end  of  each  hav- 
ing been  cut  ofE  and  rejected.  The  seed  conditions  were  made  still 
more  equal  by  using  the  same  iueigltt  of  seed  pieces  to  each  plot. 
Trenches  had  been  dug  several  days  previously,  two  spades  wide 
and  six  inches  deep — the  trenches  six  feet  aj)art  so  that  the  roots 
of  one  trench  should  not  reach  and  feed  upon  the  fertilizer  of  the 
adjacent  trenches.  Later,  two  inches  of  soil  were  raked  into  the 
trenches  and  upon  this  the  pieces  (cut-surface  doAvn)  were  placed 
one  foot  apart,  April  14th,  as  we  have  said.  Two  inches  of  soil 
were  raked  over  them,  and  the  fertilizers  applied  as  shown  in  the 
table. 

The  first  column  gives  the  amount  of  fertilizers  used  in  the 
different  trenches.  The  next  column  shows  the  relative  size  of  the 
tops  (vines)  of  the  potatoes,  as  they  appeared  June  16.  The  nat- 
ural soil  is  rated  at  five  (5) ;  and  ten  (10)  is  the  maximum.  The 
object  of  that  is  that  our  readers  may  compare  the  yield  of  tubers 
with  the  gi'owth  (vigor)  of  the  vines  ;  that,  in  other  words,  they 
may  see  to  what  extent  the  actual  yield  of  potatoes  was  indicated 
by  the  size  of  the  vines  as  they  appeared  at  their  best,  June  16. 
The  fourth  column  gives  the  actual  weight,  in  pounds,  of  the  pota- 
toes of  each  trench  33  feet  in  length.  The  fifth  column  gives  the 
total  number  of  tubers  of  each  trench.  All  larger  than  a  pea  were 
counted.  The  sixth  column  gives  the  number  of  marketable  pota- 
toes. The  last  column  gives  remarks,  which  are  reprinted  "from 
the  Rural  of  various  dates. 


Secretary's  Budget.  331 

POTATO    FERTILIZER    EXPERIMENTS. 

Showing  the  comparative  yields  in  pounds,  the  fertilizers  used, 
the  relative  size  of  vines  and  the  number  of  patatoes,  with  remarks. 
Trenches  two  spades,  33  feet  long  ;  variety  White  Star : 


VINE. 

YIELD. 

Pounds 

Total 

Market- 

FERTILIZER   USED.                 per 

Growth 

weight  Total 

able 

acre. 

June  16. 

lbs.        No. 

potatoes 

No.  1. 

Nitrate  of  Soda.          200 

9. 

17         199 

39 

No  2. 

Sulphate  of  Ammo- 

nia.                              120 

8.50 

17        255 

41 

No  3. 

Dissolved  bone-black  400 

5. 

16  3-4  172 

65 

No.  4. 

No  fertilizer 

5. 

13  3-4  157 

55  . 

No.  5. 

Sulphate  of  potash 

(50  per  cent. )            300 

5.50 

21         170 

82 

No.  6. 

Plaster                        400 

5.50 

19  1-4  161 

75 

No.  7. 

Lime.                       2,000 

6. 

22         174 

89 

No.  8. 

Nitrate  of  Soda         200 

Dissolved  bone-black  400 

9. 

23  1-4  214 

70 

No.  9. 

No  fertilizer. 

5. 

181-2  141 

67 

No.  10 

.  Nitrate  of  Soda        200 

Sulphate  of  Potash    300 

9. 

313-4  261 

113 

No.-ll. 

,  Dissolved  bone-black  400 

Sulphate  of  Potash  300 

5.50 

23  3-4  185 

97 

No.  12.  Nitrate  of  Soda  200 

Dissolved  bone-black  400         10.  291-2  254  98 

Sulphate  of  potash     300 

No.  13.  Fine  ground  bone  1,000  6.50         21  1-2  255  58 

No.  16.  No  fertilizer  5.  23 1-2  227  64 

No.  17  Mapes  Potato  Ma- 
nure. 800         10.  35         415        106 

No.  18.  Farm  Manure,  2 
years  old. 

No.  19.  No  fertilizer. 

No.  20.  Sifted  coal  ashes, 
2  years  old. 

No.  21.  Kainit. 


',000 

8. 

30  1-4  301 

82 

5. 

191-4  187 

55 

400  bus. 

5. 

191-4  212 

45 

800  lbs. 

5.50 

21  3-4  184 

60 

332 


Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


FEETILIZER    USED. 

VIFE. 

Pounds 

per      Growth 
acre.     June  16. 

YIELD. 

Total 
weight  Total 
lbs.       No. 

Market- 
able 
potatoes 

No. 

32.  Kainit. 

1,760           5.50 

25  3-4  201 

88 

No. 

23.  No  fertilizer. 

5.50 

21 

178 

65 

No. 

24.  Unleached  wood 
ashes  from  burnt 
brush 

41  1-4  bus  5.50 

221-2  184 

78 

No. 

25.  Hen  Manure 

55  bus.       9. 

24 

347 

47 

No. 

26.  No  fertilizer. 

5. 

21 

204 

53 

No. 

27.  Mapes'  Potato 
Manure. 
Kainit. 
Hay  Mulch. 

500  lbs. 
50              8. 

47 

248 

168 

No. 

28.  No  fertilizer. 

REMARKS. 

Aug.  9th.  The  foliage  of  the  plots  which  received  nitrate  of 
soda  alone  is  now  dying,  not  as  if  the  tubers  were  maturing,  but 
rather  as  if  from  some  harm  or  disease.  In  the  first  nitrate  of 
soda  plot  half  of  the  plants  are  dead. 

Eesults  on  the  foliage  the  same  with  sulphate  of  ammonia 
alone  as  with  nitrate  of  soda  alone,  as  above  described.  {Rural 
Aug.  9.)  It  will  be  remembered  that  all  the  plots  that  received 
nitrate  of  soda  or  ammonia  salts  were  rated  in  our  last  report,  in 
every  instance,  as  giving  the  strongest  and  greenest  growth  of 
vines.  That  these  plants  should  now  be  dying,  evidently  before 
maturity,  is  to  us  quite  unaccountable. 

Phosphoric  acid  alone,  or  in  combination  with  potash,  failed 
to  do  any  good.  It  is  only  when  nitrate  of  soda  or  ammonia  salts 
were  spread  on  these  with  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  forming  a 
complete  fertilizer,  that  any  good  effects  are  noticed.  The  plants 
fertilized  with  the  dissolved  bone  black  are  all  green.  {Rural 
Aug.  9th.) 

The  potato  tops  on  all  of  the  unfertilized  plots  appear  to  be 
the  same  in  height,  color  and  vigor  ;  the  plants  are  all  green. 
{Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

Potash,  whether  in  wood  ashes  or  as  sulphate  or  muriate  of 
potash  produces  thus  far,  no  additional  growth  of  tops.  Kainit 
alone  changes  tops  to  a  yellowish  color.     {Rural  Aug.  9th.) 


Secretary's  Budget.  3oo 

Aug.  9th.  Plants  green,  but  no  larger  than  those  of  nnfei'til- 
ized  plots. 

Plants  green  and  but  very  little  larger  than  those  of  unfertilized 
plots. 

Rural  Aug.  9th.     One-third  of  the  plants  are  dead. 

Foliage  remains  green.     [Rural  Aug."  9th.) 

Foliage  green  and  shows  no  sign  of  maturing.  {Rural  Aug. 
9th.)  Neither  potash  alone,  phosphoric  acid  alone,  nor  phosphoric 
acid  and  potash  cause  any  additional  growth  over  the  unfertilized 
plots.     [Rural  July  5th.) 

Neither  potash  alone,  phosphoric  acid  alone,  nor  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  cause  any  additional  growth  over  the  unfertilized  plots. 
Either  nitrogen  or  ammonia  salts,  however,  in  every  plot  cause  a 
decided  increase  in  growth,  while  the  complete  fertilizers  stand  first. 
[Rural  July  oth.)  Foliage  turning  yellow  here  and  there  as  if  in 
the  first  stages  of  maturing.     [Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

Foliage  jjoor.     Eaw  bone  helped  somewhat.     [Rural  July  5th.) 

The  vines  of  these  potatoes  are  of  a  yellowish-green,  as  if  be- 
ginning to  mature.     [Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

This  farm  manure  plot  is  likely  to  gain  as  compared  with  the  oth- 
ers as  the  season  advances.  {Rural  July  5th.)  Foliage  has  not 
changed  since  our  last  report.  [Rural  Aug.  9th.)  This  plot  with 
old  horse  manure  is,  singularly  enough,  scarcely  better  -than  the 
unmanured  plots  at  the  present  tim.e.  Harvest  may  tell  a  different 
story.  Next  year  this  stable  manure  plot  would  probably  out-yield 
any  of  the  others.     [Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

Foliage  as  green  as  that  of  any  other.     [Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

The  foliage  of  these  kainit  plots  is  a  yellowish-green,  the  same 
as  from  the  beginning.     [Rural  Aug.  9t]i.) 

These  plots  21  and  32,  whether  880  or  1760  pounds  are  used, 
are  scarcely  better  than  the  unfertilized  plots.  (Rural  Jn\j  5th.) 
Foliage  the  same  on  both.     (Rural  A.\xg.  9th.) 

Unleached  ashes  seem  to  have  no  effect.  [Rural  July  5th.) 
Plants  on  this  plot  are  quite  green.     [Rural  Aug.  9th.) 

The  plants  of  this  plot  are  turning  yellow.  [Rural  Aug. 
9th.) 

In  case  of  continued  dry  weather  we  should  look  for  improve- 
ment in  the  mulched  plot  over  the  others.  {Rural  July  5th.) 
The  vines  of  this  plot  are  all  green  and  the  thriftliest  of  any.  [Rural 
Aug.  9th.) 

Not  measured.     Smallest  of  all. 

As  regards  the  yield  per  acre,  we  will  give  the  two  extremes — 


334  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

1st  the  mulched  plot  (No.  27)  which  received  potato  fertilizer  and 
kainit ;  and,  2nd,  the  average  yield  of  the  plots  not  fertilized.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  trenches  were  six  feet  apart.  Very 
likely  they  would  have  yielded  just  as  well  had  they  been  three  feet 
apart,  the  distance  usually  allowed.  At  six  feet  apart  the  yield  of 
the  mulched  plot  (No.  27)  was  at  the  rate  of  172.33  bushels  to  the 
acre,  or  344.66,  were  we  to  estimate  the  yield  from  trenches  three 
feet  apart. 

The  average  yield  of  the  plots  not  fertilized,  at  six  feet  apart, 
was  at  the  rate  of  69.66  bushels  to  the  acre — or  had  the  trenches 
been  three  feet  apart,  double  that  amount,  or  139.32  bushels  to  the 
acre.  If  we  take  the  average  yield  of  all  the  plots  which  did  not 
receive  ''complete^'  fertilizers,  we  find  it  to  be,  at  six  feet  apart,  at 
the  rate  of  79.75  bushels  to  the  acre — or  at  three  feet  apart,  159.50 
to  the  acre.  The  special  fertilizer  therefore  increased  the  yield 
only  10  bushels  to  the  acre,  if  we  reckon  at  six  feet  apart ;  and  20 
bushels,  if  at  three  feet  apart,  as  compared  with  the  natural  soil  ; 
while  the  comjjlete  fertilizer  and  hay  mulch  increased  the  yield, 
over  the  natural  soil,  102.69  bushels  to  the  acre,  if  planted  six  feet 
apart ;  and  205.38  bushels  to  the  acre,   if  planted  three  feet  apart. 

With  the  complete  fertilizer  ( potash,  nitrogen  and  phosphoric 
acid)  and  without  the  hay  mulch  (Plot  No.  17),  the  yield  was 
increased,  over  the  natural  soil  or  unfertilized  i3lots,  58.67  bushels 
to  the  acre  at  six  feet  and  at  three  feet,  117.34  bushels  to  the  acre. 
With  the  complete  fertilizer  of  plot  No.  12  the  yield  was  increased 
38.50  bushels  if  planted  six  feet  apart,  and  77.00  bushels  if  three 
feet  apart. 

We  have  been  particular  to  give  this  experiment  at  con- 
siderable length  and  with  a  repetition  of  details  and  results, 
because  all  the  conditions  were  seemingly  favorable,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  to  render  the  tests  as  instructive  as  if  they 
had  been  conducted,  under  other  conditions,  for  a  series  of  years. 

THE  POTATO-SEED   PUZZLE. 

Professor  J.  W.  Sanborn,  of  the  Missouri  Agricultural  College, 
at  Columbia,  rightly  thinks  it  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  experi- 
ment stations  to  amass  facts  to  guide  even  so  seemingly  simple  an 
operation  of  the  farm  as  preparation  of  seed  potatoes.  The  justice 
of  this  view  clearly  appears  from  calculation  that  between  the  ex- 
tremes in  the  practice  of  the  several  methods,  there  is  involved  at 
least  the  use  of  ten  bushels  extra  of  seed  per  acre  (worth,  according 
to  prevailing  prices,  from  15  to  $15)  or  in  his  own  state  75,000,000 


Secretary's  Biiclgei.  335 

bushels  each  year,  and  if  the  consequent  variation  in  yield  is  placed 
at  ten  per  cent,  the  Missouri  crop  may  be  thus  modified  by  more 
than  half  a  million  bushels  per  annum  : 

"Agriculture  is  woefully  prolific  of  such  unsettled  problems, 
seemingly  of  little  moment,  yet  the  aggregate  of  each  and  the 
sum  of  them  all  is  of  momentous  importance  to  civilization,  as 
the  unit  of  labor  essential  to  produce  a  given  amount  of  food,  or  of 
the  raw  products  for  the  arts,  measures  all  progress." 

The  botanical  consideration  has  influence  in  keeping  this 
among  the  multitude  of  puzzles  in  husbandry  ajipareutly  easy  of 
solution,  yet  still  perplexed  by  contradictory  views  and  reported 
experiences  : 

"  Many  assert  that  inasmuch  as  the  tuber  is  not  the  true  seed, 
which  seed  is  found  on  the  tops  in  the  potato  ball,  and  that  inas- 
much as  the  eye  is  but  the  bud,  it  matters  not  whether  the  plant  is 
propagated  from  a  large  potato  or  a  small  one,  from  one  eye  or 
from  many." 

Thus  it  becomes  apparent  from  the  foregoing  that  the  profes- 
sor, who  easily  ranks  among  tlie  first  of  our  practical  experimenters, 
was  right  in  taking  up  this  vexed  question  in  preference  to  seem- 
ingly more  "profound  work,"  and  the  data  of  tests  of  nine  consecu- 
tive years,  as  given  with  sufficient  detail  in  an  eight-page  bulletin  just 
issued,  cannot  fail  to  interest  all  who  raise  potatoes.  And  it  is 
remarkable  and  looks  like  a  long  step  toward  the  sohition  of  the 
difficulty,  that  uniformly  the  crop  during  all  this  time  was  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quantity  of  seed.  Against  "  one  eye  to  the  hill," 
advocated  by  many  good  farmers,  the  professor  says  : 

Among  the  very  few  official  trials  that  have  reached  my  attention, 
I  have  seen  none  that  favor  this  view,  in  the  ordinary  way  of  cut- 
ting potatoes.  Since  beginning  these  trials,  I  have  seen  two  foreign 
tests,  covering  about  seven  years  each,  wherein  the  effect  of  cutting 
on  the  future  vigor  of  the  plant  was  studied,  with  results  against 
fine  cutting.  One  eye  and  small  potatoes  gave  less  favorable  results 
at  the  Ohio  Experiment  Station  last  year  than  whole  potatoes.  I 
think  it  entirely  safe  to  affirm  that  light  seeding  of  potatoes,  or  thi 
use  of  small  potatoes  for  seed,  will  result  unfortunately  in  ordinarv 
hands  on  ordinary  soil  in  ordinary  fertility,  esj)ecially  if  deepl\- 
planted. 

These  views  rest  mainly  upon  the  fact  that  careful  tests  shov.- 
them  to  be  good,  and  that  theoretically  judgment  approves  them. 

"The  young  plant  receives  no  nourishment,  except  from  the 
seed  used,  until  the  leaf  appears  above  the  ground.      At  the  usual 


336  Miscoiiri  Si  ale  Horticultural  Society. 

depth  of  planting,  this  period  is  so  long  that  no  inconsiderable 
support  is  derived  from  the  seed  before  other  sources  supply  the 
plant.  The  reason  of  the  failure  of  one  eye  this  season,  in  new 
hands,  to  appear  above  ground,  I  ascribe  in  part  to  unusual  depth 
in  planting  and  the  failure  of  nourishment  to  give  it  vigor  for  the 
three  weeks  in  which  it  is  opening  its  leaves  to  the  air.  That  this 
nourishment  is  often  of  vital  importance  is  seen  m  the  far  greater 
vigor  of  plants  from  large  seed  against  seed  cut  or  ago  lust  small 
potatoes.  The  leaf  is  broader,  the  stem  stronger,  and  the  whole 
top,  always  in  my  experience,  much  in  advance  of  those  tops  grown 
from  severely-cut  potatoes  or  those  grown  from  small  potaitoes." 

In  reference  to  the  reports  from  farmers  who  found,  or  think 
they  found,  by  one  measurement  by  the  eye,  that  light  seeding  is 
as  good  as  heavy.  Professor  Sanborn  infers  that  this  result  has 
usually  been  in  cases  of  extra  rich  soil,  or  heavy  manuring,  fine 
pulverization  and  planting  not  too  deep  : 

"Such  conditions  give  to  the  plant,  food  relatively  quick, 
through  its  roots  in  abundance.  I  found  that  the  relative  results 
vary  with  the  season.  Thus  the  more  favorable  the  season  and  the 
better  the  conditions  the  greater  the  relative  yield  from  light  seeding. 
Our  farmers  must  then  bear  in  mind  that  the  good  results  reported 
from  light  seeding  of  potatoes  are  ofte t>gu esses  ;  generally  from 
market  gardeners,  or  obtained  undei*  favorable  conditions,  while  the 
failures  are  not  reported.     Good  conditions  you  want." 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  like  to  see  the  figures  upon 
which  the  above  conclusions  are  founded  we  append  the  table  giving 
average  returns  for  seven  years  from  measured  ground  and  weighed 
potatoes,  the  product  of  two  farms  and  in  agreement  Avith  unre- 
corded results  on  a  third  farm. 

PRODUCT   PER    ACRE, 

From  seed  of  whole  potatoes,  large 334.1  bushels. 

From  seed  of  whole  potatoes,   small 177.  bushels. 

From  seed  of  stem  end  of  potato 148.  bushels. 

From  seed  of  seed  end  of  potato 168.  bushels. 

From  one  eye  to  the  hill 81.  bushels. 

From  two  eyes  to  the  hill 104.  bushels. 

From  three  eyes  to  the  hill 160.  bushels. 


Secretary's  Budget.  337 

VALUE    PER   ACRE    AT   50    CENTS    PER    BUSHEL. 

From  large  potatoes 1113  50 

From  small  potatoes 88  50 

From  stem  end 74  00 

From  seed  end 84  00 

From  one  eye 40  50 

From  two  eyes 52  00 

From  three  eyes 80  00 

These  tigures  are  the  more  significant  on  account  of  the  length 
of  time  and  variety  of  conditions  involved,  and  we  i;hink  fully 
warrant  the  Professor  and  TJie  Tribune  in  inviting  to  them  careful 
attention  of  those  seeking  facts  for  use  in  farming  for  profit. 


GRAPES. 


GRAPE     CULTURE. 

At  a  meeting  of    the  Summit   (Ohio)   County    Horticultural 
Society,    after   other  very  interesting   proceedings,   among  which 
was  a  most   interesting   essay   on    Woman's    Work,    by  Miss  G.  B. 
Sackett.     M.  Crawford,  of  Cuyahoga  county,  took  up  the  subject 
of  grape  culture  which  he   handled  like  an  expert.     Among  other 
remarks  he  said  there  was  a  pressing  need  of  more  light  on  this 
subject,  for  the  reason  that  such  knowledge  can  be  turned  to  good 
account  by  nearly  all  classes.     Wc  cannot  all  have  an  orchard,  said 
Mr.    Crawford,  nor  even  a  fruit  tree.     Some  have  no  room  for  a 
row  of  currant  bushes  nor  a  strawberry  bed ;  but  who  has  not  room 
for  a  grape  vine?     Its  branches  may  be  trained  on  a  building  or  a 
fence.     Its  roots  will  run  under  the  side  walk  beneath  the  building 
— anywhere  and   everywhere — in  reach  of  plant  food.     *     *     *     * 
*  *  *  Grapes  may  be  grown  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  wherever  a  grape  grower  can  be  found  ;  and  the  more  un- 
favorable  the  locality   the   greater   will   be   the  success,   for  this 
reason :  the  greater  the  difficulty  to  overcome  the  greater  effort 
will  be  put  forth. 

If  he  lives  far  north  he  will  cover  his  vines  in  winter  ;  if  far 
south  he  will  plant  on  the  north  side  of  a  hill  or  building.  If  his 
ground  be  too  wet  he  will  drain  it,  or  plant  in  a  raised  border.    The 


338  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

hills  of  Southern  Ohio  are  specially  adapted  to  this  fruity  but'Cin- 
cinnati  gets  her  grapes  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie.  All  over 
the  South  the  vine  is  at  home,  yet  New  Orleans  sends  to  New 
York  for  grapes.  Campbell,  of  Delaware,  Ohio,  has  the  meanest 
place  in  the  country  to  raise  grapes,  but  he  has  splendid  success. 

Dr.  Buckley  in  his  travels  found  a  noted  vineyard  where  the 
vines  are  planted  in  baskets  and  fastened  to  a  bare  rock  six  or  seven 
hundred  feet  high.  Here  we  simply  remark  that  would  do  in  a 
country  that  stands  up  edgewise  and  where  labor  is  cheap  and  de- 
grading ;  but  where  labor  is  remunerated,  as  it  is  and  will  be  for 
many  years  .yet  to  come  in  this  country,  that  kind  of  situations  and 
that  amount  of  labor  are  not  sought  after.  After  telling  where 
and  how  to  plant,  Mr.  0.  remarks  on  distance  apart ;  vines  may  be 
set  three  feet  apart  and  kept  bearing.  Thirteen  years  ago  he  planted 
a  lot  of  vines  in  a  row  thirteen  inches  apart  and  two  in  a  place. 
The  second  year  he  allowed  one  in  each  place  to  bear  a  large  crop 
and  then  cut  it  away  in  the  fall. 

These  vines  have  remained  in  good  condition  ever  since 
although  as  much  fruit  miglit  have  been  produced  if  they  had  been 
tliinned  to  five  feet  apart  at  first,  and  then  to  ten.  He  cautiously 
remarks,  however,  that  the  above  is  given  to  show  what  may  be 
done  and  not  what  should  be  done,  and  continues  :  My  experience 
leads  me  to  believe  that  a  vine  is  more  likely  to  continue  in  health 
if  it  is  allowed  to  increase  in  size.  In  nearly  every  instance  a 
thinning  of  the  vines  has  been  followed  by  satisfactory  results. 
One  grower  who  has  thinned  to  fifteen  feet  apart  claims  to  have 
found  the  best  distance.  For  a  vineyard  I  would  plant  eight  feet 
apart,  and  in  a  town  lot  I  would  plant  wherever  I  could  find  room. 
The  choice  of  varieties,  soil  and  its  preparation,  etc.,  are  treated, 
and  as  to  fertilizers,  Mr.  C.  says  barnyard  manure  is  first,  and  after 
that  bone-dust  and  ashes,  and  recommends  that  they  be  applied  in 
the  fall  after  the  fruit  is  gathered.  Some  summer  pruning  he 
thinks  necessary,  no  matter  how  much  science  and  skill  may  have 
been  exercised  in  the  spring  pruning.  Some  eyes  will  start  out 
sooner  than  others,  and  unless  pinched  off  early  will  take  too  much 
sap,  leaving  other  parts  of  the  vine  in  a  starving  condition. 

THE    MOORE's    (4 rape. 

The  originator  imposed  upon  this  grape  the  name  of  Moore's 
Early  :  but,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  rules  of  pomology, 
adopted  a  year  since  by  the  American  Pomological  Society,  we  drop 
the  redundant  word,  and  designate  it  simply  by  its  distinctive 
name — that  of  the  originator. 


Secretary's  Budget.  ■         339 

Although  it  can,  as  yet,  hardly  be  said  to  have  thoroughly 
established  for  itself  a  reputation  at  the  West,  experience  so  far 
seems  to  justify  its  character,  as  given  in  the  latest  edition  of  the 
Bushberg  Catalogue,  wliich  I  quote  as  follows  : 

"Bunch  smaller  ( than  Concord)  and  rarely  shouldered,  but 
berries  somewhat  larger.  It  is,  in  similar  soils  and  localities,  as 
healthy  and  hardy  as  its  parent  (  Concord ).  It  is  equal  to  the 
Concord  in  quality  ;  but  ripens  about  two  weeks  earlier,  being 
better  than  Hartford,  Champion  or  Talman,  and  quite  as  early." 

This  is  certainly  not  very  high  praise,  and'  I  fancy  there  may 
be  found,  among  the  many  newer  varieties,  those  that,  by  the 
critical  pomologist,  will  be  esteemed  to  be  greatly  its  superior. 
Still  this  appears  to  possess  qualities  of  both  plant  and  fruit  which 
eminently  fit  it  to  fill  a  place,  in  advance  of  the  season  of  its  par- 
ent, as  the  early  grape  for  the  people  at  large. — T.  T.  Lyon. 

MOORE's    EA.RLY    GRAPE. 

The  reason  why  we  have  never  said  much  of  Moore's  Early 
Grape  is  that  our  vines  had  not,  until  the  present  season,  come  into 
full  bearing,  and  we  were  late  in  procuring  vines.  Of  all  our  col- 
lection Moore's  Early  ripens  first.  All  grapes  were  late  the  past 
season,  and  when  (September  1)  the  Moore's  Early  were  picked, 
there  was  not  a  fully  ripe  bunch  to  be  found  upon  any  other  vine. 
The  quality  is  just  that  of  the  Concord  ;  but  the  berry  is  larger — 
too  large  indeed  to  swallow  whole.  The  bunches  are  smaller  than 
those  of  the  Concord.  • 

QRAPE    NOTES    IN   TEXAS, 

The  following  table  was  carefully  compiled  from  notes  taken 
chiefly  in  my  experimental  vineyard,  but  supplemented  in  some 
points  from  notes  taken  in  neighboring  vineyards,  by  myself  or 
others,  and  data  as  to  origin,  etc.,  of  most  varieties,  from  Bush  & 
Son  &  Meissner's  able  manual  on  the  grape.  It  was  compiled 
specially  to  aid  me  in  my  work  of  originating  new  varieties. 

My  method  of  hybridizing  —  which  I  term  the  "natural 
method  " — requires  a  knowledge  of  the  times  of  blooming.  Along 
with  this  I  wished  to  know  the  weak  and  strong  points,  relatively, 
of  each  species  and  variety,  so  as  to  avoid  the  one  and  preserve  the 
other  in  my  |)roductions.  The  table  is  eminently  practical,  and  as 
scientific  as  I  dare  make  it  for  popular  reading  ;  but  the  true 
viticulturist,  or  he  who  desires  to  be  such,  will  not  object  on  that 
account. 


340  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

The  artificial  method  of  hybridizing,  though  ever  so  carefully 
practiced,  is  liable  to  mar  the  exquisitely  tender  pollen  grains  or 
the  stigma,  or  in  it  the  pollen  or  stigma  is  under  or  over-ripe,  and 
thus,  at  the  very  starting  of  the  variety  sought,  constitutional 
weakness  is  induced,  while  by  my  method  this  is  avoided,  I  may 
have  to  plant  more  seed  and  grow  more  seedlings  to  fruiting  age,  to 
get  the  hybrids  desired  ;  yet  my  method  saves  in  one  way  what  is 
lost  in  another  ;  it  produces  a  perfectly  natural  and  healthy  hybrid 
or  cross,  and  a  great  multiplicity  of  these  to  select  from,  so  nothing 
weak  or  indifferent  need  be  taken,  as  is  usually  done  in  the  artificial 
method  with  scissors,  brush  and  magnifier  ;  this  process  being  so 
tedious,  comparatively  few  vines  can  be  grown. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  wish  to  know  my  method  I  give 
it  here  :  For  the  female  parent  I  select  a  variety  which  blooms  a 
few  days  later  than  the  one  chosen  for  the  male  parent  (the  jjollen- 
furuisher;,  unless  I  design  to  grow  varieties  from  both,  then 
blooming-  together  or  a  few  days  apart  ;  either  way  will  do,  as  many 
fruits  on  either  will  contain  hybrid  seeds.  I  plant  these  two  vig- 
orous, young  vines,  one  on  each  side  of  the  same  post,  and  train 
them  up  side  by  side  till  they  reach  their  most  vigorous  bearing- 
season.  A  day  or  two  before  they  begin  to  bloom,  I  surround  both 
entirely  with  thin  muslin  arms  on  the  post  keeping  it  off  the 
plants  ;  thus  no  insects  can  jDass  in  or  out.  Every  day,  after  each 
l^lant  has  commenced  to  bloom  till  through,  about  10  a.  m.,  when 
most  blooms  are  opening,  I  lift  the  bottom  of  the  muslin,  intro- 
duce my  hand  with  a  fan,  and  gently  fan,  so  as  to  create  a 
circulation  of  air  within  the  muslin  :  thus  the  air  will  become  filled 
with  pollen,  and  numerous  crosses  be  made,  while  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  any  mixture  except  that  of  the  two  vines  used.  The 
muslin  is  kept  closed  until  blooming  is  over.  The  fan  is  cleaned 
by  brushing,  or  passing  it  through  a  flame,  to  get  rid  of  any  pollen 
grains  that  may  have  adhered  to  it,  so  as  not  to  vitiate  other  exper- 
iments with  other  vines  on  the  same  plan.  [  ^^e  have  found  in 
some  years  that  the  pollen  is  ripe  before  the  cap  falls  ;  in  other 
years  (as  during  the  past  season)  it  was  not  ripe  generally  until 
after.  We  should  suppose  by  Mr.  Munson's  method  that  a  very 
large  per  centage  of  seeds  would  be  the  result  of  self-fertilization. 
—Eds.] 

If  it  is  desired  to  hybridize  kinds  which  have  different  seasons 
of  blooming,  such  as  Rupestris  and  Cinerea  (the  earliest  and  latest 
bloomers,)  I  pinch  off  the  first  growth  of  the  earliest  for  several 
days,  so  that  some  at  least  of  the  new  growth  will  be   blooming  at 


Secretary's  Budget.  341 

the  same  time  as  the  later  kind.  Almost  any  kind  can  thus  be 
made  to  bloom  when  wanted.  To  grow  seedlings  largely  this  way, 
one  must  make  all  due  preparations,  and  attend  to  the  work  with 
business-like  care  ;  good  results  may  then  be  reasonably  expected, 
as  in  the  case  of  any  otlier  crop  intelligently  produced.  The  super- 
stitious idea,  so  common,  that  a  chance  seedling  is  more  liable  to 
produce  something  desirable  than  one  intelligently  produced,  is 
akin  to  the  notion  that  a  lottery  ticket  is  the  best  investment.  Lot- 
tery tickets  and  chance  seedlings  sometimes  draw  prizes,  but  seek- 
ing these  will  never  constitute  a  legitimate  or  laudable  employment. 
To  make  such  long  experiments  as  I  describe,  is  almost  a  lifers 
work,  and  the  benefits  are  likely  to  fall  upon  future  generations. 
Few  are  prepared  for  them,  or  patient  enough  to  consummate  them. 
Let  those  who  are  inclined  to  such  work  preserve  the  following- 
table,  and  thus  save  long  years  of  labor  in  securing  the  facts  it 
contains.  The  varieties  are  named  in  the  order  in  which  they 
bloom,  excepting  some  of  my  seedlings  whose  time  has  not  yet  been 
observed.  The  date  of  blooming  was  taken  when  the  kinds  were 
fairly  started  in  blossom.  The  table  will  be  valuable  for  any  section, 
as  from  it  the  order  of  leafing  and  ripening  can  also  be  obtained. 
For  the  information  of  those  unacquainted  with  the  specific  bo- 
tanical names,  let  me  state — the  genus  Vitis,  (the  Grape)  has  been 
divided  into  species  according  to  peculiar  characteristics  belonging 
to  every  plant  in  each  group  or  species,  thus  : 


342 


Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society 


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346  Missouri  State  Horticidtiiral  Society. 

GRAPE    ROT. 

The  following  article,  in  two  parts,  I  clip  from  the  N.  Y.  Sun. 

It  was  my  intention  to  abridge  it,  but  the  whole  thing  is  so  well 

written,  both  in  a  scientific  point  of  view  and  as  well  as  exceedingly 

plain,  that  to  meddle  with  it  might  spoil  it.     I  deem    it  worth  a 

year's  subscription  to  every  man  who  grows  grapes,  and   it  should 

be  carefully  read  and  preserved  for  reference.     The  item  where  he 

recommends  pinning  the  paper  sacks  over  the  lateral  branch  instead 

of  around  the  stem  of  the  bunch   is  quite  valuable.     I  never  lost 

any  bunches,  as  I  nearly  always  used  his  plan   as  recommended  ; 

not  because  I  thought  of  the  danger  by  storms,  but  just  because  it 

so  happened.     I  feel  satisfied  that  our   readers  will  not   begrudge 

the  space  these  long  articles  take  up.     The  destroying  of  the  evil 

corresponds  with  the  plan  I  once  gave  of  cutting  off  the   old  vines 

at  the  ground  and  burning  everything  that  might  contain  any  of 

the  disease  in  it,  as  it  was  always  my  opinion  that  the  cause  was 

just  what  our  friend's  article  describes  it  as  being. 

S.  Miller. 

PREVENTION    OF    GRAPE    ROT. 

To  have  a  just  appreciation  of  tlie  pbilosophy  and  probable 
efficacy  of  devices  suggested  and  tried  for  prevention  of  rot  and 
mildew  on  the  grape  it  is  requisite  that  the  nature  of  these  diseases 
be  clearly  understood. 

Their  characteristics  as  members  of  the  great  family  of 
parasitic  fungi  have  been  described,  and  it  would  seem  scarely 
necessary  to  begin  again  at  the  elements  of  the  subject  in  con- 
tinuing its  discussion. 

Germ  diseases  and  the  nature  of  disease  germs  are  com- 
paratively new  subjects  of  scientific  investigation,  and  knowledge 
in  relation  to  them  is  as  yet  chiefly  limited  to  scientific  inquirers. 
Many  of  those  affected,  either  in  pocket  or  in  person,  by  these 
mysterious  influences  are  too  busy  in  making  a  living  and  too 
much  engrossed  with  politics  to  pay  attention  to  matters  which 
they  cannot  readily  understand.  To  know  certain  things,  a  pre- 
liminary knowledge  of  certain  other  things  is  indispensable,  and 
thisknowledge  does  not  seem  within  the  scope  or  to  be  one  of  the 
consequences  of  the  average  education. 

As  I  wish  to  be  understood,  I  shall  give  a  few  elementary  ob- 
servations as  to  the  known  causes  of  rot  and  mildew. 

These  are  ascertained  to  be  the  visible  symptoms  of  the  de- 
structive depredation  of  invisible  parasitic — or  saprophytic — fungi. 


Secretary's  Budget.      '  347 

Do  not  accuse  the  "  bugs  !  "  No  matter  if  you  "  see  the  very 
spot  where  the  critter  stung  "  the  rotting  grape,  and  find  the  worm 
inside,  be  assured  that  he  is  not  jjarticeps  critninis  m  the  tresspass, 
under  consideration.  The  grape  rot  results  from  the  growth  of  a 
vegetation — a  saprophyte — one  of  the  great  family  of  cryptogams, 
which,  in  characteristics  of  growth,  resemble  the  visible  fungus 
known  as  the  mushroom.  Its  growth  is  rapid, as  is  that  of  most  fungi, 
and  it  feeds  upon  tlie  sap  or  juices  of  the  grape.  By  botanists  it 
has  been  identified,  classified,  named  "  Phoma  Uricola/'  and  is  also 
known  under  a  distinctive  appellation,  with  which  I  believe  I 
baptized  it,  as  the  American  grape  rot.  When  first  studied  here  it 
was  unknown  in  Europe.  There  is  no  longer  a  doubt  concerning 
its  nature. 

It  is  invisible  to  the  unaided  eye,  except  m  its  fructification. 
The  little  seed  balls  or  " perithecia"  which  contain  the  seeds  or 
germs  of  this  living  thing  may  be  distinctly  seen  pimpling  the 
surface  of  the  diseased  grape,  like  innnitessimal  shot  situated  be- 
neath the  skin.  They  ai'e  numerous,  at  a  rough  estimate  certainly 
not  less  than  a  thousand  of  them  occupying  the  superficies  of 
a  single  berry.  Each  of  these  seed  balls  contains  a  mass  of  spores 
or  seed,  at  least  a  thousand,  which  are  visible  only  when  greatly 
magnified,  and  each  of  these  sj^ores  is  compounded  of  six  germs, 
Avhich  are  probably  the  ultimate  sources  of  propagation.  Here 
we  have,  then,  without  exaggeration,  one  thousand  multiplied 
by  one  thousand  multiplied  by  six,  or  six  millions  of  seed,  dissem- 
inable  by  this  prolific  fungus  from  the  surface  of  a  single  rotten 
grape.  The  perithecinm,  when  mature,  bursts,  rupturing  the 
epidermis  of  the  fruit,  beneath  which  it  is  located,  and  extrudes 
its  contents  of  compound  spores,  which  when  dry  float  off  in  the 
atmosphere,  dividing  and  scattering  as  they  go.  I  have  witnessed 
this  evolution  in  the  field  with  the  microscope. 

The  spread  of  these  multitudinous  spores  can  hardly  be  called 
a  dissemination.  We  need  some  more  pervasive  term.  When  the 
disease  is  prevalent,  as  it  has  been  here,  it  is  an  invisible  fog  of 
infection,  almost  as  subtle  as  the  air  on  which  it  floats.  It  needs 
familiarity  with  microscopic  inspections  and  microscopic  measure- 
ments of  size  and  numbers  to  gain  a  realizing  sense  of  the  vast 
minuteness  of  the  subject.  It  is  so  mighty  small  and  so  infinitely 
enormous  that  one  must  draw  a  little  upon  faith — that  "evidence 
of  things  unseen "^n  order  to  "take  it  m."  Those  yet  in  doubt 
as  to  '•  whether  our  earth  is  round,"  or  who  "reckon  that  the  moon 
is  nigh  onto  several  hundred  miles  off,"  need  not  attempt  it.    They 


348  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

will  do  well  to  trust  to  the  ''say  so"  of  those  enabled  to  look  a 
little  farther  into  the  impenetrable  mystery  of  creation. 

By  those,  then,  who  ask  "if  anything  has  ever  been  found  out 
as  to  the  cause  of  grape  rot,"  these  facts  may  be  accepted  as  ascer- 
tained :  The  symptoms  are  caused  by  the  decomposing  power  of 
the  growth  of  a  low  order  of  vegetation  known  as  fungoid,  and  not 
by  "a  bug."  The  generations  of  the  pest  are  extended  by  spores 
or  germs  similiar  to  the  seed  of  other  growth  ;  for  instance,  the 
thistle.  These  germs  are  almost  infinitely  small  and  infinitely 
multiplied.  '  When  ripe  and  ready  for  distribution  they  j)ervade 
the  atmosphere  of  an  infected  vineyard,  and,  being  buoyant,  float 
wherever  the  air  may  bear  them.  They  alight  upon  the  surfaces 
liable  to  infection  and  get  inside — the  Lord  knows  how.  Warmth 
and  moisture  are  requisite  to  their  germination  and  development. 
Cold  (  and  perhaps  other  unknown  influences  )  checks  their  growth 
when  it  has  once  begun,  but  in  the  dormant  state  their  vitality  is 
unaffected  by  extremes  of  temperature  or  drought  or  moisture. 
This  is  a  characteristic  of  the  vital  principle  of  these  low  forms  of 
life — it  seems  too  minute  to  be  killed.  The  spore  of  the  Phoma, 
dormant,  withstands  a  temperature  of  30°  below  zero  (Fahr.)  and 
130°  above.  It  is  proof  against  winter's  cold  and  summer's 
drought,  being  only  liable  to  damage  from  these  vicissitudes  after 
it  has  awakened  into  active  life.  Hence,  when  we  find — as  yearly 
we  may — these  perithecia,  filled  with  spores,  upon  the  petioles,  dry 
leaves,  and  shriveled  grapes  under  the  trellis,  we  may  be  sure  that 
the  prospect  is  encouraging,  for  another  invasion  of  rot.  Finally, 
the  only  feasible  means  yet  discovered  to  prevent  the  grape  rot  are 
the  destruction,  or  suppression  of  the  infecting  germ,  or  its  ex- 
clusion from  contact  under  infectious  conditions  with  the  epidermis 
of  the  fruit.  These  conditions  are  warmth  and  moisture.  The 
berry  may  be  covered  with  infecting  germs,  but  if  its  surface  re- 
main dry,  or  be  quickly  dried  after  wetting,  these  germs  will  not 
sprout  and  take  root  there  any  more  than  will  grow  grains  of  wheat 
scattered  on  the  surface  of  a  dusty  road. 

But  though  finding  these  spores  existent  as  stated  is  an  indica- 
tion that  rot  may  appear  in  the  future,  it  is  not  certain  that  a  crop 
of  rotten  grapes  is  to  be  always  followed  by  a  crop  of  spores. 
Eestrained  by  various  influences,  the  fungus  may  fail  to  develop 
and  mature  its  seeds.  Then  the  initiative  of  a  future  crop  is 
lacking,  just  as  we  occasionally  see  a  failure  of  seed  corn ;  we  plant 
the  grain,  but  it  won't  sprout. 


Secretary's  Budget.  349 

Iij  1883,  wheu  my  vines  swarmed  with  rotting  and  rotted 
grapes,  I  wanted  a  matured  specimen  of  the  fungus — a  grape  upon 
whicli  the  perithecia  were  developed,  had  ruptured,  and  were  ex- 
truding their  contents  of  spores  as  usual.  It  was  difficult  to  find 
one.  Hence  I  reasoned  that  the  prospect  for  a  full  crop  of  that 
kind  of  seed  was  puor,  and  that  I  would  be  justified  m  giving  extra 
care  to  my  vines,  with  hope  of  reward  for  the  labor  in  a  probable 
healthy  vintage. 

The  utter  destruction  prevailing  for  some  years  had  discour- 
aged me.  My  jjrognostication  was  verified.  The  first  attack  of 
rot  in  1884  was  slight,  evidently  consequent   on  scarcity  of  germs. 

Nevertheless,  during  the  preceding  winter,  prompted  by'  that 
curiosity  which  makes  one  hunt  for  what  he  does  not  want  to  find, 
I  continued  search  for  matured  perithecia  of  the  fungus.  I  found 
them  and  germinated  them  between  microscopic  slides. 

I'his  unsatisfactory  discovery  convinced  me  that,  however 
scarce^  there  were  yet  "  a  few  more  of  the  same  sort  left,"  and  still 
farther,  encouraged  extra  exertion  to  paralyze  the  activity  of  those 
few  left,  if  possible.  What  was  done  to  accomplish  this  will  be 
described  in  a  future  pajoer. — A.   W.   P. 

THE    PHYLLOXERA 

Of  the  grape  vine,  is  an  American  insect,  which  has  perhaps  for 
untold  ages,  been  feeding  on  the  American  species  of  grape  vine  ; 
but,  for  reasons  which  we  need  not  here  follow,  it  is  not  seriously 
injurious  to  these  vines.  But  the  European  grape — belonging  to 
another  species — is  not  able  to  withstand  the  attacks  of  the  insect 
as  the  American  species  of  vine  can  ;  and  this  is  the  reason  why,  in 
America,  there  is  no  serious  trouble  to  the  cultivator  from  Phyl- 
loxera, while  the  European  vineyards  are  almost  totally  destroyed 
when  the  insect  gets  among  them. 

The  grape  is  cultivated  very  largely  about  Heading,  and  other 
places  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania — both  for  wine  making  and  for 
other  purposes — and  the  Phylloxera  is  found  abundantly  every- 
where. No  means  are  employed  against  it,  because  it  is  no  serious 
injury  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered,  as.  already  stated,  that  the 
graj)e  cultivated  is  of  the  American  and  not  the  European  species. 
All  attempts  to  succeed  with  the  European  grape  in  Pennsylvania 
during  the  past  one  hundred  years,  have  failed,  as  it  is  now  believed 
from  injury  through  Phylloxera. 

As  the  insect  is  already  in  Europe,  it  is  of  no  use  for  the 
French  Government  to  embarrass  trade  by  laws  against  its   intro- 


350  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

duction.  The  best  course  is  to  encourage  the  introduction  of  the 
American  species  of  vine  to  France,  and  the  grafting  of  the  Euro- 
pean grape  thereon.  This  has  been  going  on  to  a  great  extent  among 
commercial  men  who  have  come  to  understand  the  case  ;  and  we 
suggest  that  instead  of  a  hirge  force  of  officials  at  French  seaports 
to  examine  introductions  for  signs  of  the  Phylloxera,  the  money 
spent  on  a  free  distribution  of  seeds  of  American  native  grapes, 
would  be  far  more  advantageous  to  French  viticultural  interests. — 
Ed.  G.   M. 

UNFEKMENTED    WINE. 

An  industry  which  has  steadily  gained  ground  for  some  years, 
is  that  of  making  unfermented  wine.  True,  it  is  a  sort  of  mis- 
nomer to  speak  of  "  wine  "  as  unfermented,  but  in  the  absence  of 
a  better  term  it  must  pass  at  present.  It  is  the  pure  expressed 
juice  and  '''blood  "of  the  grape,  prepared  in  such  a  way  that  it 
can  be  used  as  a  safe  beverage  in  any  season,  with  no  danger  of 
intoxication,  nor  any  awakening  of  an  old  ai:)petite  for  it.  It  first 
came  into  demand  to  supplant  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine  at  the 
communion  service,  but  it  has  found  a  demand  outside  of  that  field 
because  it  is  agreeable  and  healthy.  The  steps  regarding  its  man- 
ufacture are  much  the  same  as  for  ordinary  wine,  up  to  the  point 
where  fermentation  begins  ;  then  various  processes  are  used  for 
"clarifying"  it,  so  that  it  shall  be  clear  and  free  from  sediment. 
Any  broken  clusters  of  sound  grapes  will  answer,  and  for  that 
reason  the  manufacture  furnishes  a  market  for  many  grapes  tliat 
cannot  wisely  be  shipped  to  the  great  cities,  though  of  course  a 
rather  low  price  is  paid — two  and  three  cents  a  pound. 

The  process  used  in  finally  closing  the  bottles  or  vessels  in 
which  it  is  to  be  kept,  is  like  that  of  canning  fruit,  corked  when 
at  ''a  boil,"  and  then  sealed.  It  must  be  treated  much  the  same 
as  canned  fruit,  and  when  opened  for  use  in  warm  weather  it  must 
be  speedily  consumed  or  kejjt  on  ice  to  prevent  fermentation.  Old 
wine  bibbers  do  not  always  take  to  it  readily,  but  most  other  peo- 
ple like  it  amazingly,  women  particularly  after  or  during  a 
fatiguing  day's  work,  as  it  warms  and  refreshes,  and  leaves  no 
*'bad  feeling"  as  a  penance.  One  of  our  manufacturers  has  shijiped 
a  good  deal  to  England,  and  others  also  have  orders  from  long  dis- 
tances. Wine  already  fermented  can  be  made  into  an  unfermented 
brand  of  virtually  the  same  quality  by  placing  it  in  open  bottles  in 
boilers  filled  with  cold  water,  gradually  heating  it  to  the  boiling 
point  and  then  sealing  ;  but  it  is  troublesome  and  expensive,  and 
attended   with    a   good   deal   of  breakage.     This  has   been   called 


Secretary's  Budget.  351 

''driving  the  devil  out."     The  cost  of  unfermented    wine  in  bottles 
is  usually  about  six  dollars  per  dozen.— P.  *S'. 

REMARKABLE  VARIATIOX  IN  A    CONCORD  GRAPE. 

A  correspondent  at  Newark,  N".  Y. ,  writes  :  "  We  mailed  you 
to-day  some  sample  grapes.  They  are  taken  from  one  branch  of  a 
Concord  vine,  which  for  the  past  three  or  four  years  has  borne 
grapes  double  the  size  of  the  balance  of  the  vine,  and  has  borne  as 
many.  Can  you  give  any  reason  for  it  ?  If  you  will  give  us  your 
opinion  of  it,  and  send  copy  of  paper,  we  will  be  very  thankful." 

This  is  the  most  remarkable  variation  of  the  grape  that  we 
have  ever  seen.  The  dark  blue  berries  were  three  inches  in  cir- 
cumference. The  main  stalk  (racliis)  was  double  the  thickness  of 
an  ordinary  grape,  and  the  whole  appearance  was  that  of  an 
unusually  large  and  well  developed  Black  Hamburg  as  raised 
under  glass. 

By  the  last  paragraph,  we  take  it  our  correspondent  is  not  a 
regular  reader  of  the  Monthly,  but  this  was  apparent  by  his  send- 
ing the  grapes  in  a  box  of  wet  moss.  One  of  our  regular  readers 
would  surely  have  understood  that,  to  prevent  fermentation,  we 
should  keep  fruits  as  dry  as  possible,  so  that  they  would  not  shrivel. 
The  moisture  added  to  these  caused  rapid  putrefaction,  and  the 
size  and  color  of  the  berries,  is  all  we  can  note.  The  flavor  and 
allied  qualities  are,  of  course,  out  of  the  question. 

The  case  we  take  to  be  one  of  bud  variation,  not  uncommon 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Among  flowers  it  is  well  known.  Some 
of  our  best  and  most  popular  varieties  of  roses  have  been  obtained 
in  this  way.  The  branch  which  makes  the  departure  is  taken  for 
propagation,  and  is  usually  persistent  enough  to  reproduce  itself 
under  these  circumstances. 

The  same  attention  to  getting  new  varieties  from  bud  variation, 
has  not  been  given  to  fruit  as  to  flowers  ;  although  the  most  ex- 
perienced pomologists  know  of  them.  Variations  worthy  of  selection 
may  often  be  had  from  sportive  branches.  We  have  in  Penn- 
sylvania, an  apple  called  the  Penn,  which  is  certainly  superior  to 
the  ordinary  Baldwin,  and  retains  its  superior  chaiacter  under 
propagation,  yet  it  is  well  known  to  have  come  originally  from  a 
Baldwin  tree  ;  and  theSeckel  is  notorious  for  its  numerous  varieties, 
none  of  which  are  from  seeds,  but  must  have  been  obtained  from 
sporting  branches  ;  or,  as  physiologists  would  say,  by  bud-variation. 
The  subject  is  one  of  great  interest,  and  deserves  more  attention 
than  it  has  received  from  fruit  growers. 


352  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

In  regard  to  the  special  case  before  us,  we  can  only  say  further, 
that  if  the  fruit  is  as  good  in  quality  as  the  Concord,  the  owner 
has  stumbled  on  a  fortune  ;  and  the  sooner  he  commences  to  prop- 
agate from  that  branch,  the  better.  All  this  is,  of  course,  su]3posing 
that  the  branch  is  in  a  perfectly  natural  condition.  Very  large 
berries  have  been  obtained  by  gardeners  taking  off  a  ring  of  bark, 
or  by — which  is  the  same  thing — allowing  a  wire  of  a  label  to  grow 
into  the  wood  ;  but  as  "three  or  four  years"  is  given  as  a  succes- 
sive period  for  the  large  fruit,  we  take  it  for  granted  that  the 
statement  is  made  in  good  faith,  that  the  branch  is  in  a  natural 
condition. — Ed.  G.  M. 


MAEKETING. 


COLD  FOE  SHIPPING  FRUIT. 

T.  S.  Whitman  stated  some  interesting  facts  to  the  Fruit 
Growers'  Association  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  connection  with  the  effect 
of  cold  and  heat  on  apples  for  shipment.  A  steamer  was  loaded  m 
the  winter  at  a  time  when  the  weather  was  very  cold,  and  the 
temperature  of  the  hold  of  the  vessel  was  down  as  low  as  26 
degrees.  Snow  and  frost  were  seen  in  the  hold,  as  6,300  barrels 
were  placed  in  it  for  the  London  market.  The  cargo  reached  Lon- 
don in  better  condition  than  any  other  sent  from  there,  and  sold  on 
an  average  at  five  and  a  half  dollars  a  barrel.  At  other  times, 
apples  have  been  taken  out  of  a  temperature  of  30  degrees,  and 
placed  in  one  ranging  from  50  to  60  degrees.  The  fruit  was  thus 
seriously  injured,  and  thousands  of  barrels  were  thus  lost.  Vessels 
will  he  constructed  expressly  for  the  trade,  and  to  prevent  such 
disasters.  An  apple  warehouse  at  Annapolis  held  9,000  barrels  in 
winter,  when  the  temperature  did  not  vary  one  degree  from  32  all 
winter,  and  kept  the  fruit  in  perfect  condition.  The  floor  was  dry, 
and  the  house  was  dark. — Country  Gentleman. 

PACKING   FRUIT   FOR   CONVEYANCE. 

We  find  the  following  sound  directions  for  packing  grapes  for 
railway  conveyance,  in  Gardening  Illustrated,  the  same  principles 
applying  to  packing  all  other  fruits,  as  no  kind   can  go  safely  long 


Secretary's  Budget.  35 


n 


distances  without  a  solid  pressure  to  prevent  all  shaking  or  rattling 
in  the  package  : 

If  I  were  asked  to  epitomize  grape  packing,  I  should  say  pack 
tightly,  for  therein  lies  the  whole  secret,  or,  at  any  rate,  so  much  of 
it  that  every  other  detail  is  but  of  secondary  importance.  Many  run 
away  with  the  idea  that  they  cannot  do  anything  better  than  en- 
velop each  bunch  loosely  in  paper  ;  whereas  they  could  scarcely  find 
a  surer  way  of  reducing  the  value  of  their  grapes.  The  paper 
rubs  the  bloom  off,  and  does  not  in  any  way  add  to  the  security  of 
the  berries.  I  have  more  than  once  seen  grapes  unpacked  in  Cov- 
ent  Garden  which  were  much  damaged  in  this  way  and  I  remember 
very  particularly  a  splendid  sample  of  Lady  Downes,  and  which 
had  come  a  long  journey,  coming  out  all  bruised  and  crushed  ;  they 
were  not  worth  the  cost  of  transit.  "Look  here,"  said  the  recipi- 
ent, a  Centre  Row  fruiterer,  "did  you  ever  see  grapes  packed  like 
these — thick  paper  round  each  bunch?  If  they  had  been  dropped 
into  the  box  and  the  lid  shut  down  on  them  without  further  trouble 
they  would  have  come  better." 

We  pack  our  grapes  very  simply  and  they  never  sustain  injury  : 
we  have  never  had  a  bunch  reduced  in  value  by  transit  in  a  period 
of  twelve  years.  Some  soft  hay  is  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  box 
or  basket,  a  sheet  of  paper  goes  on  that  and  the  sides  are  lined  with 
paper.  The  bunches  are  then  put  in  as  closely  together  as  it  is 
possible  to  get  them,  no  play  being  allowed.  A  few  leaves  are  put 
on  the  top  and  a  sheet  of  paper,  on  which  the  lid  shuts  down  with 
pressure  sufficient  to  prevent  the  bunches  shifting.  This  is  very 
important,  especially  when  they  have  a  long  journey  to  make,  as 
in  the  hurry  of  getting  parcels  out  of  various  stations  the  basket^ 
are  not  always  as  gently  handled  as  they  should  be.  In  a  general 
way  we  use  what  are  termed  "pea-baskets,"  that  is  to  say  such  as 
come  from  abroad  early  in  the  spring  filled  with  green  peas.  These 
hold  about  fifteen  pounds,  but  for  a  long  journey  I  should  not  care  to 
put  more  than  ten  pounds  together.  This  year  we  have  used  some 
of  the  cross-handled  baskets  which  the  Jersey  men  use.  The 
handle  in  a  manner  necessitates  mild  usage,  as  it  is  so  much  easier 
to  lift  them  about  in  this  way  that  no  one  would  give  himself  the 
trouble  to  pitch  them  about  roughly  in  the  way  square  hampers 
often  get  served.  An  excellent  plan  is  to  fix  a  stout  rope  to  the 
tops  of  baskets  ;  this  enables  the  railroad  official, to  lift  them  easily 
without  handles  ;  whereas,  if  no  grasp  is  visible,  he  per  force 
seizes  them  in  both  arms,  and  naturally  experiences  some  difficulty 
in  lowering  them  gently  to  the  ground. 


;354  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Sociefj/. 

PICKIIfG    APPLES 

Is  a  slow  and  expensive  process.  I  know  many  farmers  who  ha\e 
shaken  fruit  from  their  trees,  and  barreled  only  those  specimens 
that  escaped  bruising  in  their  fall.  Some  of  our  fruit  growers  are 
very  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  a  device  for  gathering  fruit.  It  is  a 
stout  canvass  encircling  the  tree,  and  in  funnel  shape,  so  that  the 
apples  are  delivered  in  piles  around  the  tree  on  heaps  of  straw, 
without  danger  of  being  bruised,  A  bearing  orchard  of  Baldwins 
or  King  apples,  gathered  around  the  trees,  is  a  beautiful  sight. 
Even  for  drying  purposes  the  fruit  is  much  better,  as  apples  bruised 
l)y  being  shaken  oli  in  the  usual  manner  waste  in  preparing  for  the 
evaporator.  The  fruit  gatherer  is  patented,  and  costs  more  than  it 
should  ;  but  in  a  large  apple  orchard  it  cannot  be  dispensed  with. 
One  large  apple  grower  thinks  that  he  saved  in  labor  with  this  fruit 
gatherer  an  average  of  nine  dollars  per  day,  besides  the  advantage  of 
getting  the  fruit  harvested  earlier  and  in  better  condition. —  ]V.  J.  F. 

P-RICES   FOR    FRUITS. 

The  Chicago  Tribune  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  price  of  fruit 
^vill  never  be  low  again  in  this  country.  The  facilities  of  trans- ' 
portation  are  so  abundant,  and  the  foreign  demand  for  evaporated 
fruit  so  constant  and  increasing,  that  fruit-growing  in  the  United 
States  may  be  considered  established  as  a  paying  business  "  while 
grass  grows  and  water  runs."  Thus  the  production  of  the  standard 
fruit  is  an  increasing  business,  and  not  only  seedsmen  and  nursery- 
men are  profiting  from  it,  but  those  who  give  most  attention  to  the 
orchards,  vineyards,  berry  gardens,  etc.,  find  their  interests  rapidly 
on  the  increase.  Our  railroads  carry  fruits  and  their  products 
hundreds  of  miles,  and  render  possible  the  cultivation  of  fiourishing 
orchards  on  hitherto  isolated  hills  which  were  abandoned  to  the 
wilderness.  Dried  fruit  is  wanted  in  most  foreign  countries. 
•  Canned  fruit  is  carried  from  our  great  seaports  to  "  the  end  of  the 
earth,"  and  profitably  sold.  Many  of  the  European  peasants  use 
our  Jams  instead  of  butter  on  their  bread. 

Dehydrated  or  evaporated  fruit,  better  than  all  other  kinds,  is 
of  general  acceptance  wherever  offered,  and  valued  equally  with 
the  fresh  products.  AVithin  the  last  ten  years  the  amount  of  raw 
fruit  brought  into  England  from  the  United  States  ,is  something- 
astonishing.  In  1871  there  were  but  56,441  bushels,  valued  at 
£40,604  ;  but  in  1883  there  were  1,065,076  received  in  Great 
Britain  from  this  country,  worth  £387,190,  or  11,881,734.40.  The 
outlook  for  the  American  fruit  grower  is  most  favorable,  and  those 


Secretary's  Budget.  355 

of  the  rising  generation  who  have  a  fancy  for  the  business  may 
enter  upon  it  with  confidence  that  their  enlightened  efforts  will  be 
crowned  with  success. 

COLD    STORAGE. 

It  is  surprising  to  what  an  extent  ice  is  entering  into  com- 
merce as  an  indispensable  factor.  Not  alone  in  the  meat  trade  is 
its  influence  felt,  but  in  the  dairy  trade  as  well.  Butter,  cheese, 
and  eggs,  poultry,  fish,  fruits,  as  well  as  all  kinds  of  fresh  meat, 
are  put  into  cold  storage  and  kept  until  wanted  for  sale.  And 
other  countries  are  "catching"  on  to  this  idea  and  practice  as  well 
as  ourselves — Australia  and  New  Zealand  especially.  The  refriger- 
ator mutton  which  comes  to  London  from  the  latter  country  forms 
no  inconsiderable  item  in  that  city's  weekly  supply. 


PEUNING. 


TREE    PRUNING. 

It  frequently  happens  that  we  neglect  to  trim  our  apple  trees 
at  the  proper  time,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  remove  large  limbs 
two  or  three  inches  in  diameter.  It  takes  so  long  for  such  wounds 
to  heal  over  that  such  pruning  is  very  injurious  to  the  trees  unless 
we  coat  the  wounds  with  something  that  will  effectually  protect 
them  till  new  wood  has  grown  over. 

Shellac  dissolved  in  alcohol  is  usually  recommended  as  the  best 
coating  in  such  cases  by  horticultural  writers.  But  an  ingenious 
French  chemist,  M,  Lefert,  has  given  us  a  receipt  for  making  a 
liquid  grafting-wax  which  is  beyond  doubt  the  most  complete  pro- 
tection to  all  the  wounds  mflicted  on  fruit  trees  yet  discovered.  To 
the  careful  cultivator  who  wishes  to  get  the  best  returns  from  his 
trees  by  keeping  them  in  proper  shape,  and  yet  not  injure  them  by 
so  doing,  this  receipt  is  very  valuable.  It  sometimes  becomes 
necessary  in  trimming  pear  trees  affected  with  blight  to  remove  all 
or  a  portion  of  the  to]D  of  the  tree,  thus  exposing  a  large  wound  in 
the  center  of  the  tree  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun.  To  be  able  to 
protect  this  wound  effectually  for  a  sufficient  time  is  a  matter  of 
vital  importance  to  the  longevity  of  the  tree. 


35 G  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

As  this  receipt  is  but  little  known  even  among  fruit  men,  we 
publish  it  for  the  benefit  of  all  interested.  We  have  made  it  only 
once — about  eighteen  months  since,  and  have  used  it  with  the  most 
satisfactory  results.  By  long  standing  it  becomes  a  little  thick. 
When  such  becomes  its  condition,  a  few  drops  of  alcohol  makes  it 
all  right.  It  needs  no  warming'  to  apply  it,  being  the  same  winter 
and  summer ;  for  out-door  grafting  nothing  can  be  compared  with 
it.  We  apply  it  with  a  stiff  turkey-feather.  In  a  few  days  the 
alcohol  evaporates,  leaving  the  other  ingredients  forming  a  perfect 
coating  as  hard  as  stone. 

The  receipt  is  as  follows  :  ''Melt  one  pound  of  common  resin 
over  a  slow  fire,  add  to  it  one  ounce  of  beef-tallow,  and  stir  well. 
Take  from  the  fire,  let  it  cool  down  a  little,  and  then  mix  with  it 
a  tablespoonful  of  spirits  of  turpentine,  and  after  that,  about  seven 
ounces  of  strong  alcohol  (95  per  bent).  The  alcohol  cools  it  down 
so  rapidly  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  put  it  once  more  on  the  fire, 
stirring  it  constantly.  Still  the  utmost  care  must  be  exercised  to 
prevent  the  alcohol  from  getting  inflamed.  To  avoid  this,  the 
best  way  is  to  remove  the  vessel  from  the  fire  when  the  lumps  that 
may  have  been  formed  commence  melting  again.  This  must  be 
continued  till  the  Avhole  is  a  liomogeneous  mass,  like  honey.  It  is 
best  kept  in  a  large  mouthed  bottle." 

When  the  wound  is  over  one  inch  in  diameter,  we  coat  it.  It 
pays  to  do  so.  For  removing  large' limbs  we  use  the  hand-saw. 
Trim  in  February,  or  June  and  July  ;  do  not  trim  in  extreme  cold 
weather,  or  just  as  the  sap  is  rising.  With  a  little  thought  and 
study  any  good  farmer  can  learn  to  trim  his  own  trees  better  than 
many  of  the  jirofessional  tree-trimmers  who  travel  over  the  country, 
I  have  noticed  some  apple-orchards  seriously  injured  by  these  per- 
sons. The  greatest  danger  is  in  topping  the  trees.  I  noticed  one 
orchard  where  many  of  the  top  limbs  after  being  severely  short- 
ened had  died  down  a  foot  or  more.  Had  the  wounds  been  properly 
protected  such  would  not  have  been  the  case. —  Wm.  H.  Smith,  in 
Spirit  of  the  Farm. 

IJSTTELLIGENT   PKUNING. 

Eds.  Country  Gentleman  : — It  has  often  been  said  that  no 
rule  can  be  given  to  guide  a  tyro  pruner,  because  every  tree,  bush, 
or  vine  requires  some  modification  of  treatment.  But  there  are 
rules  applicable  quite  generally,  of  which  a  leading  one  is  to  thin 
from  the  exterior  so  that  all  shoots  left  shall  have  ample  distance  to 
expand  their  leaves  in  full  light  without  shading  each  other,  or 
shading  those  of  the    inner  fruit-bearing   spurs  in   orchard   trees. 


Secretary's  Budget.  357 

Where  a  branch  can  be  stayed  apart  from  others  into  an  open  space 
it  is  a  clonble  economy  to  do  that  rather  than  to  cut  it  off,"  because 
there  is  the  saving  of  its  fruit  yield,  and  the  saving  to  the  tree  of  a 
wound.  Every  wound  is  injurious  that  remains  open  to  the  air 
through  a  second  season.  All  wholesale  pruning  of  whole  branches, 
twigs  and  all,  for  the  sake  of  speed  does  more  harm  than  good.  So 
another  general  rule  is  to  remove  only  the  weak,  unripe  young 
wood,  or  decayed  old  wood. 

In  pear  trees,  where  liable  to  blight,  all  unripened  sprouts 
should  be  cut  out  early,  before  the  sap  begins  to  circulate,  or  the 
tree  will  be  injured  by  the  infusion  of  poisonous  sap  from  the 
winter-killed,  blackened  wood  of  these  sprouts,  just  as  we  are  en- 
dangered by  pyemia  from  decaying  parts  remaining  attache'd  to  the 
circulation  in  our  bodies.  Some  trees  are  very  impatient  of  the 
knife  or  saw,  of  whicli  the  cherry  is  one.  The  peach  on  the  con- 
trar}^ — a  more  tender  tree  as  to  effects  of  low  temperature — endures 
cutting  remarkably  well,  and  so  does  the  grape  vine,  but  our  native 
sorts  less  than  the  vines  of  Europe, —  W.  G.   W. 


INSECTS. 


XOTES  ON  INSECTICIDES. 

At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  Michigan  Horticultural  Society, 
the  following  notes  on  insects  and  insecticides  were  gleaned  for  the 
readers  of  the  Prairie  Farmer. 

CURRANT    WORMS. 

Several  members  stated  that  they  had  subdued  this  insect  by 
sprinkling  hellebore  in  the  lower  part  of  the  bush  in  May,  soon 
after  the  eggs  are  laid.  The  operation  is  repeated  a  few  weeks 
later  for  the  second  brood.  This  kills  them  before  they  do  any 
appreciable  damage.  Pyrethrum  will  also  kill,  but  it  must  be 
applied  immediately  on  the  worms.  Picking  the  lower  leaves 
which  have  the  young  Avorms  on  them,  was  also  recommended. 

STRIPED  BEETLES. 

Prof.  W.  W.  Tracy  said  that  he  had  kept  these  pests  at  bay  by 
dusting  ground  tobacco  stems  over  and  around  the  young  plants  ; 
although  the  beetles  were  not  wholly  driven  off,  there  were  not 


358  Musouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

enough  left  to  do  any  serious  damage.  The  stems  can  be  obtained 
very  cheaply  at  the  large  tobacco  factories,  and  act  as  a  fertilizer 
besides  preventing  insect  depradations. 

WIRE  WORMS. 

Prof.  Tracy  also  stated  that  he  had  successfully  fought  these 
pests  by  the  potato  remedy  so  much  used  m  England.  Potatoes 
were  buried  a  few  feet  ajsart  and  a  few  inches  deep  in  the  infested 
melon  and  cucumber  patches,  and  when  examined  often  contained 
a  dozen  of  the  worms.  They  were  usually  only  part  way  in  the 
potato,  so  that  they  could  be  easily  removed  and  destroyed,  but 
occasionally  they  were  in  so  far  as  to  necessitate  cutting  out  with  a 
knife.  'Potatoes  used  as  bait  in  this  way  soon  rotted,  probably 
because  of  the  access  of  air  through  the  holes  bored  by  the  worms. 

CABBAGE    FLIES. 

Secretary  Garfield  stated  that  this  pest  had  almost  ruined  cab- 
bage production  in  the  vicinity  of  (rrand  Rapids,  as  also,  according 
to  Prof.  Tracy,  was  the  case  about  Detroit.  In  the  latter  instance 
the  'estimated  loss  was  $20,000.  Bisulphide  of  carbon  is  said  not 
to  destroy  these  pests  on  clay  ground.  Kerosene  and  soap  mixtures 
have  been  successfully  used  in  several  cases,  although  the  kind  of 
soil  has  not  been  reported. 

CABBAGE  AVORMS. 

Prof.  Cook  recommended  the  kerosene  emulsion  for  these 
insects.  In  recent  papers  hot  water  has  been  frequently  advocated 
to  destroy  cabbage  worms,  but  Prof.  Forbes  has  found  that  water 
cannot  be  applied  hot  enough  to  kill  the  worms  without  at  the  same 
time  injuring  the  plants.  A  neighbor  of  the  writers,  who  has  a 
large  field  of  cabbages,  has  sent  his  hired  boy  out  with  a  butterfly 
net  for  about  an  hour  each  day  to  catch  the  white  butterflies  since 
they  have  appeared.  At  first  fifty  or  sixty  were  caught  each  day, 
but  later  they  became  much  scarcer.  This,  combined  with  occa- 
sional picking  of  the  worms  has  kept  the  cabbages  nearly  free  from 
their  ravages. 

About  one  year  ago  Prof.  S.  A.  Forbes  found  that  the  cab- 
bage worms  {Pieris  rapce)  about  Normal  were  dying.  They  exhib- 
ited the  following  symptoms  :  The  caterpillars  affected  first  be- 
came pale,  finally  before  death  an  ashy  green,  and  in  the  later 
stages  of  the  disease  were  somewhat  torpid.  They  die  upon  the 
leaves  and  decay  with  astonishing  rapidity,  soon  being  reduced  to  a 
blackish  semi-fluid  mass  which  dissolves  at  a  touch.     The  writer  at 


Secretary's  Budget.  359 

that  time  found  the  disease  prevalent  among  the  caterpilhirs  in  tlie 
gardens  of  the  Micliigan  Agricultural  College,  and  during  a  late 
trip  there,  saw  that  it  was  again  preyalent.  Let  us  hear  from  any 
Prairie  Farmer  readers  who  have  noticed  these  worms  dying  in 
their  localities,  in  order  that  an  idea  my.be  gamed  as  to  what  extent 
this  beneficent  destroyer  may  be  relied  upon  to  save  the  cabbages. 

PEVENTIISTG  INSECT  DEPREDATIONS. 

In  the  same  report  the  following  preventive  measures  are 
recommended:  1.  High  culture,  to  impart  strength  to  resist 
insect  attacks.  2.  Rotation  of  crops,  and  their  removal  as  far 
distant  as  possible  from  the  soil  which  has  become  infested  with 
them.  3.  Selection  of  such  seed  as  is  least  liable  to  attack,  as  for 
instance  the  Lancaster  or  Fultz  wheat,  against  the  Hessian  fly.  4. 
Late  sowing  ;  as  for  the  Hessian  fly,  after  frosts  occurring  late  in 
September,  in  New- York.  5.  Refraining  for  a  year  or  two  in  an 
infested  locality  from  the  cultivation  of  crops  formidably  attacked. 
6.  Surrounding  fields  with  a  border,  or  rows,  of  more  attractive 
food,  to  concentrate  the  attack.  The  following  modes  for  exclud- 
ing insects  are  also  mentioned,  which  may  be  useful  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  although  killing  the  depredators,  instead  of  repelling, 
is  always  to  be  preferred  :  Tarred  paper  bands  to  exclude  canker 
worms  ;  washing  trunks  to  prevent  egg-deposits  ;  mounding  earth 
or  ashes  to  exclude  peach  grub  ;  showering  plum  trees  with  putrid 
whale  oil  after  every  rain  to  repel  curculios,  &c. 

SALT  FOR  INSECTS. 

If  you  wnll  examine  the  wilting  Hubbard  squash  vines.  Just 
under  the  ground,  yon  will  doubtless  find  two  or  more  borers  eating 
their  lives  out,  and  I  would  suggest  your  trying  salt  on  them, 
which  has  saved  mine  this  summer.  Whenever  I  found  a  vine 
wilting,  I  put  about  a  teaspoonful  around  it  at  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  then  hilled  them  up  to  the  first  leaf  stalks,  and  in  a 
few  days  new  leaves  made  their  appearance,  and  they  are  now  doing- 
well,  and  not  one  that  I  did  treat  so  died.  My  theory  is  that  salt 
will  poison  tlie  borers,  and  the  hilling  will  bring  out  new  roots, 
and  so  it  acts.  I  have  been  experimenting  this  summer  with  salt 
on  all  the  vegetables,  to  find  out  how  much  each  sort  would  stand 
before  injury,  and,  to  my  surprise,  I  find  onions  will  grow  under 
an  application  at  the  rate  of  150  bushels  to  the  acre  before  turning 
yellow  ;  carrets,  parsnips  and  beets,  100  bushels  ;  cabbages  more 
than  a  gill  to  each  plant ;  but  cucumbers,  strawberries  and  turnips 


360  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

go  down  under  a  very  small  dose.  I  will  give  in  full  later  the  par- 
ticulars, but  the  result  of  the  experiments  shows  that  we  can  safely 
apply  a  very  large  quantity  of  salt  to  our  crops,  and  so  kill  all 
grubs,  cut- worms  and  other  enemies,  and  add  a  cheap  fertilizer/ 
acting  at  the  same  time  as  g,  helper  in  weeding. — ,/.   V.  H.  Nott. 

PAEIS    GKEEN"   FOK    CUKCULIOS. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Canadian  Horticulturist  describes 
the  result  of  his  experiments  with  spraying  apricot  trees  with 
Paris  Green.  A  teaspoonful  of  the  poison  was  mixed  with  a  pail- 
ful of  water,  and  thrown  over  the  trees  with  a  Whitman  pump, 
three  times  in  one  week.  He  says  :  ''My  apricots  are  now  as 
large  as  plums,  and  not  a  mark  upon  them  ;  and  by  searching,  I 
have  found  but  two  plums  thus  treated  stung  by  the  curculio  on 
my  ten  trees.  In  former  years  hy  this  time,  plums  and  apricots 
were  falling  in  perfect  showers,  and  very  few  of  either  fruit  es- 
caped." It  is  not  probable  that  tJie  extremely  thin  coating  of  Paris 
Green  on  the  young  fruit  would  prevent  the  beetles  from  inserting 
their  ovipositors,  and  it  must  therefore  have  ojDerated  in  some  way 
on  the  newly  hatched  and  sensitive  larv®.  Tlie  experiment  is 
worth  repeating.  The  rains  would  wash  off  every  vestige  of  the 
poison  long  before  the  fruit  could  ripen. 

We  have  now  to  record  what  we  have  proved  by  experience  to  be 
a  more  effectual  method  of  ridding  land  of  cut-worms  than  any  of 
those  hitherto  proposed.  It  is,  in  brief,  the  use  of  poisoned  balls 
of  any  succulent  plant,  a  method  which  we  successfully  used  in 
Missouri  in  1875.  One  of  our  most  valued  correspondents.  Dr.  A. 
Oemler,  of  Wilmington  Island,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  has  long- 
fought  cut-worms  by  trapping  them  under  leaves  and  grass.  To 
make  use  of  his  own  words  :  "My  mode  of  dealing  with  cut- 
worms of  late  years  has  been  to  remove  them  from  the  held  before 
the  crop  to  be  jeopardized  is  up  or  the  plants  are  put  out. 

By  placing  cabbage  leaves  and  bundles  of  grass  along  the  rows 
of  watermelon  hills  four  years  ago,  I  caught,  by  hunting  them 
daily,  1,533  worms  on  about  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  before  the  seed 
came  up,  and  lost  but  a  single  melon  plant.  On  one  occasion  I 
captured,  one  morning,  fifty-eight  of  all  sizes  under  a  single  turnip 
leaf,  and  my  son  found  fifteen  at  the  root  of  a  single  small  cabbage 
plant."  A  year  or  so  ago  we  wrote  Dr.  Oemler  that  his  remedy 
would  be  much  improved  in  point  of  economy  of  labor,  if  he 
poisoned  his  traps  before  setting  them,  or,  in  other  words,  if  he 
sprinkled  his  cabbage  leaves  or  grass,  or  other  foliage  used  for  this 


Secretary's  Budget.  361 

purpose,  with  a  solution  of  Paris  green  or  London  purple,  in  order 
to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  hunting  for  worms  in  the  morning. 
We  again  quote  Dr.  Oemler  concerning  the  practical  working  of 
this  plan  :  '^^  After  the  land  is  prepared  for  cabbages  or  any  other 
crop  needing  protection,  I  place  cabbage  or  turnip  leaves  in  rows 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  apart  all  over  the  field,  and  about  the  same 
distance  apart  in  the  rows. 

The  leaves  are  first  dipped  in  a  well-stirred  mixture  of  a  table- 
spoonful  of  Paris  green  to  the  bucket  of  water  ;  or  tliey  may  be 
first  moistened,  then  dusted  with  a  mixture  of  one  part  of  Paris 
green  to  twenty  of  flour,  and  placed  carefully  with  the  dusted  sur- 
face next  to  the  ground.  Two  such  applications,  particularly  in 
cloudy  weather,  at- intervals  of  tliree  or  four  days,  will  suffice  to 
allow  the  cut-worms  to  make  away  with  themselves,  which  they 
generally  do  with  perfect  success.  This  plan,  first  recommended 
by  Professor  Riley,  is  the  best  I  have  found.  Whoever  adopts  it 
will  rid  himself  of  the  pest  at  least  cost  and  troiible,  and  will  not 
be  compelled  to  replant  constantly  or  to  sow  his  seed  thickly."  In 
our  own  exi^erience  we  used  chiefly  clover  sprinkled  with  Paris- 
green  water  and  laid  at  intervals  between  the  rows,  in  loosely-tied 
masses  or  balls,  which  served  the  double  purpose  of  prolonging  the 
freshness  of  the  bait,  and  affording  a  lure  for  shelter. 

INSECTS    INJURIOUS    TO    THE    APPLE. 

In  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  farm  or  garden  crops,  tlie  farmer 
and  gardener  find  themselves  forced  to  wage  constant  warfare 
with  insects  or  parasitic  plant  life.  In  this  paj)er  we  give  the  re- 
sults of  a  few  observations  in  regard  to  the  plum  weevil,  or  curcu- 
lio  {Conotrachelus  nenuphar,)  as  affecting  the  apple  crop,  compared 
also  with  the  codling  moth  and  the  apple  maggot. 

It  has  often  been  noticed,  early  in  the  summer,  that  apples 
nearly  all  fall  from  the  trees  when  quite  small.  This  was  especially 
the  case  during  the  past  season,  and  careful  investigations  were 
made  to  ascertain  the  cause.  A  tree  of  the  variety  known  as  the 
Westfield  Seek-no-further,  which  blossomed  very  abundantly  and 
set  an  unusually  large  crop  of  fruit,  was  selected.  When  from 
one-half  to  one  inch  in  diameter,  the  fruit  began  to  drop  in  large 
numbers,  so  tluit  not  enough  was  left  on  the  tree  for  one-half  a 
crop.  A  large  quantity  of  these  were  collected  and  examined, 
and  out  of  eight  hundred  it  was  found  that  all  but  three  were 
punctured  by  the  plum  curculio,  leaving  its  peculiar  crescent- 
shaped  mark,  and  in  every   punctured    one  was   found   an  egg  or 


362  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

small  larvas.  The  worms  commonly  found  in  the  apple  at  this 
time  have  generally  been  supposed  to  be  the  larvae  of  the  Codling 
Moth  (JJarimcapsa  pomonella,)  yet  in  the  number  examined  only 
four  or  five  of  the  larvas  of  the  latter  were  found. 

The  remedies  that  have  been  successfully  employed  to  prevent 
the  injury  of  the  plum  crop  by  these  larvae  are  two,  i.  e.,  (1)  that 
of  jarring  the  trees  and  catching  the  insects  and  affected  fruit  in  a 
sheet  stretched  on  a  frame  or  spread  on  the  ground,  and  destroying 
them,  and  (2)  that  of  planting  the  trees  in  the  limits  of  poultry 
yards.  The  first  remedy  cannot  be  applied  to  the  apple  tree,  on 
account  of  its  size.  The  second  lias  proved  successful  in  saving 
the  plum  crop,  and  would  undoubtedly  be  as  successful  with  the 
apple,  but  the  fowls  should  be  numerous  enough  to  not  only  catch 
the  insects  when  they  come  from  the  ground,  but  also  to  let  none 
of  the  larvae  escape  when  they  come  from  the  fallen  fruit  to  the 
ground.  Perhaps  a  more  sure  preventive  would  be,  in  addition  to 
the  above,  to  have  the  fruit  destroyed  by  pasturing  swine  in  the 
orchard  in  sufficient  numbers  to  eat  all  the  fruit  as  soon  as  it  drops. 

The  apple  crop  is  also  much  injured  by  the  larvfe  of  the  cod- 
ling moth,  mentioned  above,  which  has  been  common  for  a  long 
time,  and  the  Apple  Maggot  {Trifeta  poinonella),  which  has  only 
done  serious  damage  within  the  past  five  years.  The  latter  injures 
the  fruit  by  making  burrows  in  the  flesh,  many  larvfe  or  maggots 
often  working  in  the  same  apple. 

The  eggs  are  laid  by  a  small  fly  somewhat  resembling  the  com- 
mon house-fl}' — but  not  more  than  one-half  its  size — through  a 
small  opening  in  the  skin  of  the  apple  made  with  its  ovipositor.  It 
shows  es^oecial  liking  for  the  thin-skinned,  mild,  sub-acid  or  sweet 
summer  or  autumn  varieties,  but  also  attacks  some  winter 
varieties. 

Its  ravages  have  become  so  extensive  in  some  localities,  that 
prompt  measures  must  be  taken  for  its  extermination,  or  it  may 
work  the  total  destruction  of  the  apple  crop. 

The  practice  of  pasturing  swine  in  the  summer  is  being  recom- 
mended, and  practiced  by  many  of  our  leading  farmers  and  stock- 
breeders, and  the  orchardist  must  combine  to  a  certain  extent  this 
branch  of  business  with  his  own,  if  he  would  be  successful ;  for 
the  destruction  of  the  fruit  as  it  falls  from  the  tree  is  the  only  safe 
and  sure  remedy  now  known  to  prevent  injury  by  these  three 
insects. — Prof.  Maynard,  in  Bulletin  of  the  Mass.  Experiment 
Station.  * 


Secretary's  Budget.  363 

WIKEWOKMS. 

I  was  not  aware  until  I  read  Professor  Cook's  article  that  wire- 
worms  are  the  grubs  of  spring  beetles  ;  I  supposed  they  propagated 
after  their  own  kind  in  the  soil,  year  after  year.  There  is  much 
ignorance  regarding  the  names  and  habits  of  a  multitude  of  familiar 
objects,  animate  and  inanimate,  denizens  of  the  eartli  and  air. 
Why  is  not  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  names  and  habits  of 
familiar  birds,  beetles,  bugs,  also  the  names  and  uses  of  trees, 
shrubs  and  weeds,  taught  in  our  country  schools  ?  It  seems  to  me 
the  study  of  these  things  \tould  be  exceedingly  interesting  and 
useful.  Children  would  enjoy  an  occasional  "field  day  "  spent  in 
the  out-door  study  of  the  wonders  of  nature.  I  am  very  much 
dissatisfied  with  my  own  ignorance  and  would  like  authorities  to 
suggest  several  practical  treatises  upon  our  native  insects  and 
weeds,  useful  and  injurious. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

BUTTERMILK    AND  WATER  AS  AN  INSECTICIDE. 

To  get  rid  of  the  cabbage-worm  I  have  successfully  used  but- 
termilk and  water  the  last  two  years — about  one-third  of  the  former 
to  two-thirds  of  the  latter.  My  cabbages  were  also  badly  infested 
with  lice,  but  two  applications  freed  them  completely.  The  brown 
and  yellow  striped  bug,  the  great  pest  to  cucumber  and  water- 
melon vines,  will  do  no  damage  if  the  vines  are  occasionally 
sprinkled  with  the  mixture  ;  but  I  think  they  require  sprinkling 
oftener  and  with  a  stronger  solution  of  buttermilk  than  the  cab- 
bage.—r.  C.  C. 

A  HOMELY    FRIEND. 

It  is  astonishing  how  repulsive  the  toad  is  to  most  people.  He 
is  a  very  homely  fellow  but  like  many  other  homely  folks  has  some 
great  virtues.  Tlie  Toronto  Globe  tells  us  of  some  of  them  as 
follows  : 

"  Tlie  toad  can  be  both  tamed  and  trained  to  an  extent  which 
will  amply  repay  the  necessary  trouble  and  patience  expended  in 
the  undertaking.  In  proof  of  this  let  some  plucky  reader  instead 
of  screaming  and  kicking  the  next  specimen  that  crosses  his  or  her 
path  into  the  wayside  gutter,  gently  take  it  by  the  "scuff  of  the 
neck  "  (it  won't  bite)  place  it  on  the  window  sill  and  watch  the 
results.  Presently  a  fly  comes  within  reach,  when  like  a  flash  it 
disappears  on  the  tip  of  the  creature's  tongue,  speared  apparently 
with  a  precision  that  would  warm  the  soul  of  an  Afghan.  Another 
and  another  shares  the  same  fate,  until  the  supply  or  capacity  fails — 


364  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

our  '  knight  of  the  lance  '  the  while  maintaining  an  imperturbable 
gravity  of  demeanor,  unbroken  by  even  a  wink  as  the  savory  morsels 
follow  in  qnick  succession  down  its  capacious  throat.  It  is  not 
generally  known,  perhaps,  that  the  tongue  of  the  animal  is  so  con- 
structed that  it  can  be  projected  fully  two  inches,  and,  as  already 
intimated,  the  aim  is  an  unerring  one.  The  process  of  casting  its 
skin,  in  which  the  creature,  after  rending  its  outer  garment, 
disposes  of  it,  body,  sleeves  and  all,  by  slowly  swallowing  it,  has 
been  frequently  described,  and  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  per- 
formance. In  Great  Britain,  and  presumably  on  the  Continent  as 
well,  the  existence  of  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  these  creatures  hopping 
about  in  the  lawns  and  gardens  in  a  semi-tamed  condition  is  quite 
common,  and  instances  have  been  known  of  the  little  animal's  re- 
turn to  its  box  every  evening  with  the  greatest  regularity."' 

ANTS    AS    INSECT    DESTROYERS. 

Farmers  or  gardeners,  in  their  contest  with  insects,  have  not 
as  yet  called  to  their  aid,  as  they  should,  other  insects  and  ^birds, 
the  natural  enemies  of  insect  hordes,  says  the  Siin.  Too  generally 
all  insects  are  looked  upon  as  enemies,  although  it  is  well  known 
that  many  kinds  of  insects  are  very  beneficial  in  protecting  fruits 
and  grain  from  the  ravages  of  other  insects.  The  ants,  although 
generally  regarded  as  an  unmitigated  nuisance,  have  been  found, 
by  careful  observation,  to  be  useful  in  several  ways.  The  canker- 
worms,  which  are  a  most  destructive  pest  to  orchards  in  some  sec- 
tions, are  sometimes  destroyed  in  large  numbers  by  them.  The 
editor  of  the  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry  says  that  ants  are  great 
destroyers  of  canker-worms,  and  probably  all  other  worms  or  in- 
sects of  the  smaller  varieties.  He  watched  with  great  interest  the 
work  of  a  large  colony  of  black  ants  which  attacked  the  canker- 
worms  on  an  elm  tree  in  his  grounds  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  was 
delighted  with  the  nature  and  results  of  their  labors.  Two  pro- 
cessions of  the  ants  were  moving  on  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  one 
going  up  empty,  the  other  coming  down,  each  bringing  wdth  him  a 
canker-worm,  which  he  held  fast  in  his  mandibles,  grasping  the 
worm  firmly  in  the  center  of  the  body. 

Although  the  prey  was  nearly  the  size  of  the  destroyer,  the 
plucky  little  ant  ran  down  the  tree  in  a  lively  way,  deposited  its 
booty  in  its  nest  in  the  ground,  and  instantly  returned  for  further 
slaughter.  There  were  at  one  time  as  many  as  40  coming  down 
the  tree,  each  bringing  along  his  victim,  and  doing  the  work  with 
apparent  ease.     Extending   his  observations,   he  noticed  that   the 


Secretary's  Budget.  365 

ants  ran  up  the  trunk  and  out  on  the  limbs,  thence  on  to  the  leaves 
of  the  tree  where  the  filthy  worm  was  at  work  and^  seizing  him 
with  a  strong  grip  at  about  the  center  of  the  body,  turned  about 
with  the  squirming  worm  and  retraced  his  steps.  The  worm  was 
dead  by  the  time  the  ant  reached  the  ground.  If  this  move  of  the 
ants  is  common  they  must  prove  valuable  friends  to  farmers  and 
fruit  raisers,  and  should  be  protected  in  every  way  possible.  We 
do  not  believe  that  the  birds  that  prey  upon  worms  will  do  the 
work  in  a  week  in  our  orchards,  whicb  these  ants  were  doing  in  an 
hour. — Rural  New  Yorker. 

STKAWBERET  I]SrSECTS. 

Prof.  Forbes  recommends  the  following  remedies  m  a  general 
way  for  the  insects  which  feed  on  the  strawberry  plant :  1.  Py- 
rethrum,  or  the  hand-net,  for  the  tarnished  plant  bug  and  its 
allies,  which  attack  the  plant  before  the  fruit  is  picked.  2.  Pois- 
oning the  foliage  in  midsummer  to  kill  the  beetles  and  root- worms, 
or  using  carbolic  acid  or  sul^jhide  of  carbon  in  the  ground  on  their 
first  a]3pearance.  3.  Exterminating  tlie  leaf-rollers  and  other  leaf- 
eating  insects,  by  mowing  and  burning  the  leaves  in  midsummer 
after  the  fruit  is  picked.  4.  Changing  the  crop  occasionally  when 
noxious  species  multiply  inordinately.  5.  Preventing  the  transfer 
of  the  crown-borer  from  old  to  new  plantations.  These  measures 
will  be  found  highly  profitable  in  the  way  of  defense,  considered  as 
an  investment  of  time,  labor  and  money. — Prairie  Farmer. 

CODLING    MOTH. 

According  to  the  Kansas  Farmer,  IS".  P.  Deming,  Lawrence, 
Kans.,  has  found  an  effectual  remedy  for  the  curculio'and  the 
codling  moth  m  the  following  :  Eight  teaspoonfuls  of  Pans-green, 
and  one  and  one-half  pounds  of  common  bar  soap,  to  thirty  gallons 
of  water  ;  then  Avith  the  use  of  a  small  force  pump  spray  the  trees. 
Mr.  Deming  feels  so  well  satisfied  with  the  experiment  that  he  will 
plant  out  more  plum  trees,  now  that  he  can  subdue  the  curculio. 

A  EEMEDY  FOR  THE  PHYLLOXERA. 

We  have  discovered  a  complete  remedy  for  the  phylloxera,  in 
the  application  to  each  vine  of  one-half  ounce  of  quicksilver  mixed 
with  clay  so  minutely  that  the  globules  are  not  distinguishable  with 
an  ordinary  microscope.  We  find  the  application  will  cost  little 
more  than  one  cent  per  vine.  Among  our  experiments  two  dozen 
vines  that  were  dying,  owing  to  the  phylloxera,  were  dug  up  in  a 
vineyard,  and  after  a  dose  of  mercury  had   been   applied   to   each 


366  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

hole,  they  were  replanted  without  any  attempt  to  cleanse  the  roots. 
They  regained  their  vigor,  and  are  now  healthy,  while  adjacent 
vines  have  died.  In  another  exjDeriment  one  pound  of  mercury 
was  applied  to  each  vine,  and  all  are  growiug  vigorously.  The 
lesson  taught  is,  that  while  the  metal  destroys  the  insects,  it  does 
not  injure  the  vines.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  entomologists 
and  taxidermists,  use  mercurial  mixtu.res  to  preserve  their  cabinets 
from  all  insects  and  pests,  and  that  they  are  entirely  effectual.  It 
is  at  least  worth  trying,  and  if  found  effectual,  it  will  enable  us  to 
grow  many  of  the  finer  varieties  of  grapes,  that  are  now  entirely 
destroyed  by  that  scourge  of  the  vineyard. — Pacific  Rural  Press. 

EEMEDIES    FOR   VARIOUS    INSECTS. 

Professor  Riley,  the  United  States  entomologist,  in  a  recent 
paper  gave  the  result  of  his  experiments  for  the  destruction  of  the 
insects  that  stand  in  the  way  of  successful  fruit  culture.  He  first 
alluded  to  the  codling  moth.  He  believed  that  there  was  no  question 
that  Paris  green  was  not  only  a  remedy,  but  that  there  was  little 
danger  in  using  it.  But  he  still  is  unable  to  overcome  a  disinclina- 
tion to  recommend  it,  especially  since  the  late  Dr.  Hull  maintained 
that  he  had  found  slaked  lime  dusted  on  the  trees  to  be  equally  as 
effectual.  Professor  Riley  positively  affirmed  that  he  knew  that  the 
worms  sometimes  left  one  apple  for  another,  a  question  that  has 
been  occasionally  discussed.  Por  plum  curculio,  he  believed  that 
there  was  nothing  superior  to  jarring.  He  j^laced  no  faith  in  the 
repellent  powers  of  strong  smelling  substances  which  are  sometimes 
recommended.  He  said  if  he  were  to  enumerate  the  six  most  im- 
portant substance?  that  could  be  used  for  destroying  insects  above 
ground,  he  would  mention  tobacco,  soap,  hellebore,  arsenic,  pe- 
troleum and  pyrethrum. 

It  has  lately  been  learned,  too,  that  the  vapor  of  nicotine,  that 
is,  tobacco  vapor,  is  not  only  very  effectual  in  destroying  insects 
wherever  it  can  be  confined,  as  in  greenhouses,  but  that  it  is  less 
injurious  to  delicate  plants  than  either  the  smoke  or  the  liquid. 
This  fact?  will  explain  the  efficacy  of  tobacco  stems  strewn  upon 
the  ground.  As  an  instance  of  the  good  results  attending  the  lat- 
ter plan,  he  cited  the  interesting  experience  of  William  Saunders 
in  dealing  with  the  grape-leaf  hoppers.  These,  until  two  years 
ago,  baffled  all  his  efforts  ;  they  caused  his  grape  leaves  to  turn  yel- 
low and  fall  prematurely  m  the  grapery  at  Washington.  But  he 
found  that  by  strewing  the  ground  under  the  vines  with  the  tobacco 
stems  which  were  constantly  being  moistened  by  the  syringing,  the 


Secretanfs  Budget.  36? 

leaves   were  preserved  intact  and  he  had  no  further  trouble  from 
that  source. 

The  last  three  substances — arsenic,  petroleum  and  pyrethrum — 
have  come  into  use  during  recent  years.  These  have  now  also  come 
to  be  so  well  known  that  it  is  perhaps  scarcely  necessary  to  particu- 
larize as  to  their  application.  The  arsenic — London  purple,  Paris 
green,  or  other  preparations — lias  been  more  extensively  used  than 
any  other  substance,  and  where  it  can  be  used  safely  it  is  undoubt- 
edly the  most  valuable  of  all.  The  value  of  different  preparations 
of  petroleum  has  also  long  been  known,  as  no  other  substance  is 
more  destructive  to  insects  generally.  But  the  great  trouble  has 
been  to  use  it  with  safety,  because  of  the  difficulty  experienced  in 
mixing  it  with  water  or  diluting  it  in  some  way.  He  exjjlained 
how  to  make  a  permanent  kerosene  emulsion.  Take  two  parts  of 
kerosene  with  one  of  sour  milk,  and  churn  the  mixture  together  by 
means  of  a  force  pump,  which  produces  a  butter-like  substance 
that  is  easily  diluted  to  any  degree  with  Avater.  This,  he  continued, 
he  believed  to  be  not  only  one  of  the  most  invaluable  insecticides, 
but  the  only  one  that  will  effectually  destroy  many  of  the  worst 
pests  which  afflict  the  fruit-grower. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Hubbard,  one  of  his  assistants  at  Crescent  City, 
Fla.,  has  found  such  to  be  the  case  with  reference  to  the  scale 
insects  which  infest  the  orange.  He  also  stated  that  a  permanent 
emulsion  can  be  made  by  substituting  soap  for  milk,  or  a  certain 
proportion  of  dissolved  soft  soap  could  be  added  to  the  kerosene 
and  milk.  The  value  of  this  emulsion  when  applied  by  improved 
spraying  machinery  is  not  yet  appreciated  as  it  will  be  when  it 
becomes  better  known.  Eecent  experiments  show  that  it  can  be 
used  on  almost  all  kinds  of  vegetation  without  injury  to  the  plants. 

In  reference  to  pyrethrum,  he  said  that  it  'is  most  satisfactory 
when  used  for  insects  like  th^  cabbage  worm,  and  other  trouble- 
some pests  of  that  nature.  But  its  influence  is  of  short  duration 
at  best,  and  much  dejaends  upon  getting  a  fresh  and  unadulterated 
article. 

Ill  regard  to  underground  insects,  nothing  effectual  has  been 
found  so  far,  except  bi-sulphide  of  carbon  and  napthaline.  But  he 
had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  kerosene  emulsion  can  be 
successfully  used  here,  and  that  it  will  j)rove  to  be  one  of  the  most 
— if  not  the  most — satisfactory  means  of  destroying  the  dreaded 
grape-vine  phylloxera.  In  speaking  of  the  various  insecticides 
before  mentioned,  he  said  that  all  six  of  the  substances  to  be  used 


368  Missoitri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

above  ground  may  be  used  in  liquid  form,  and  he  preferred  to  apply 
them  in  that  way. 

Within  a  radius  of  a  mile  from  where  I  write  there  are  proba- 
bly four  thousand  aj^ple  trees  one-half  of  which  are  in  bearing 
this  year.  Were  it  not  for  the  codling  moth  these  two  thousand 
trees  would  give  their  owners  four  or  five  thousand  bushels  of 
handsome,  marketable  fruit.  As  it  is,  they  will  not  save  half  so 
many,  and  most  of  these  will  be  deformed,  knotty  and  wormy,  only 
fit  for  hogs,  or  to  grind  for  vinegar.  The  difference  in  the  cash 
account  would  more  than  pay  for  the  labor  of  enough  men  to  keep 
the  insects  in  check. 

It  is  a  serious  fact,  that  fruit-growers  will  have  to  accept — 
they  must  use  more  vigilance  in  the  destruction  of  insect  enemies, 
or  they  must  quit  planting  for  fruit.  The  curculio  is  master  of  the 
field  long  ago,  as  regards  plums,  apricots,  and  nectarines — all  of 
which  could  be  grown  in  abundance,  were  it  not  for  them — and  the 
codling  moth  is  fast  gaining  a  like  ascendency. 

What  is  difficult  for  one  man  to  do  alone,  can  be  done  by  two 
or  three  neighbors  conjointly.  And  if  two  or  three  would  join, 
and  each  spring  hire  one  man  or  set  of  men,  and  make  it  a  busi- 
ness to  fight  the  codling  moth  through  the  necessary  period,  the 
work  would  be  accomj)lished,  and  great  would  be  the  results. — 
T.  G. 

BEXEFICIAL   INSECTS. 

One  of  the  most  beneficial  families  of  beetles  is  that  of  the  trim 
little  lady-birds  which  nearly  every  one  has  seen  and  admired. 
These  insects  belong  to  the  family  Coccinellidce,  and  are  the  most 
active  enemies  of  the  thousands  of  plant  lice  or  "  green  flies  "  which 
infest  nearly  all  trees  and  shrubs  in  spring  and  summer.  Another 
family  which  are  very  beneficial  are  the  ground  beetles  (Carabidai), 
some  specimens  of  which  are  illustrated  here.  These  are  common 
and  may  be  seen  any  summer  day  by  turning  up  boards,  sticks  or 
stones  in  moist  places.  They  live  largely  upon  the  juices  of  other 
insects,  such  as  cajiker-worms,  army-worms,  potato-beetles,  Kocky- 
mountain  locusts,  etc. 

THE  PLUM  CURCULIO  AGAIN. 

We  have  recently  interviewed  some  of  the  most  successful  plum 
growers  of  Michigan  as  to  the  best  method  of  fighting  the  *'  little 
Turk,"  and  are  more  convinced  than  ever  that  jarring  is  the  safest 
and  most  practicable  remedy.  Judge  Eamsdell,  one  of  the  most 
successful  and  intelligent  of  Michigan  pomologists,  said  :  ''I  have 


Secretary's  Budget.  369 

two  frames  on  wheels  with  sheets  about  six  feet  square  stretched 
upon  them ;  a  man  takes  charge  of  each  of  these,  wheeling  it  up 
against  the  sides  of  trees,  making  a  complete  square  under  the 
limbs  which  are  then  jarred  bj  means  of  forked  sticks,  padded 
with  rubber  hose.  After  jarring  five  trees  in  this  way  the  curcu- 
lios  are  picked  off  the  sheets  and  crushed.  I  do  not  sweep  them 
off  as  many  do,  for  that  also  kills  the  larvae  and  beetles  of  the  little 
"ladybnxls"  which  keep  the  apliides  or  plant  lice  in  check  later  in 
the  season. 

I  let  the  curculios  get  a  good  many  plums  so  as  to  thin  the 
fruit,  and  regulate  the  times  of  jarring  with  reference  to  these. 
Some  years  I  jar  the  plums,  but  very  little,  so  as  not  to  drive  the 
beetles  onto  my  peach  trees.  They  prefer  plums,  but  if  often  dis- 
turbed will  attack  the  peaches.  It  will  pay  peach  growers  to  have  a 
few  plum  trees  in  and  around  their  orchard,  to  attract  these  insects. 
I  hire  children  to  pick  up  the  fallen  plums  and  scald  them  to  kill 
the  eggs  and  larvje.  I  have  over  700  trees,  and  two  men  will  jar 
the  whole  orchard  in  a  day." 

As  to  varieties  of  plums.  Judge  R.  said  :  ''Most  any  large  plum 
is  good  for  market ;  among  the  best  are  the  Washington,  Lombard 
and  Pond's  Seedling.  These  varieties  grown  in  Michigan,  go  to 
Chicago  and  are  purchased  by  Italian  vendors,  who  wrap  them  in 
tissue  paper  and  sell  them  as  California  plums." 

Mr.  H.  H.  Pratt,  a  successful  Oceana  county  plum  grower, 
said  of  the  Paris  green  remedy  for  the  curculio':  "  I  don't  believe 
it  pays  to  use  the  arsemites,  as  the  jarring  method  is  cheaper  and 
more  effective,  besides  being  far  less  dangerous." — Prairie  Farmer. 


BIEDS. 


INSECT-EATING    BIRDS. 

The  important  question  of  the  relative  benefits  and  injuries  to 
agricultural  and  horticultural  interests  from  insect-eating  birds  was 
the  subject  of  a  paper  read  before  the  Ohio  Horticultural  Society 
by  M.  C.  Read,  of  Hudson,  and  incorporated  in  the  society's  annual 
report,  recently  issued.  From  facts  collected,  all  our  common  birds 
are  placed  in  three  groups  :     First,    birds  whose  habits  make   it 


o 


70  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


doubtful  whether  they  are,  on  the  whole,  beneficial  ;  second,  birds 
whose  habits  make  it  doubtful  whether  they  are,  on  the  whole, 
beneficial  or  injurious  ;  third,  birds  whose  habits  render  them,  on 
the  whole,  injurious.  According  to  Mr.  Eead,  the  catalogue  of 
birds  the  contents  of  whose  stomachs  show  they  are  beneficial,  com- 
prise a  large  majority  of  our  common  birds,  and  a  large  i)ercentage 
of  these  are  shown  to  be  wholly  beneficial,  not  only  feeding  on 
insects  injurious  in  agriculture,  but  without  charge  of  stealing 
fruit. 

These  facts  warrant  the  conclusion  that  our  small  birds  gener- 
ally ought  to  be  fostered  and  protected  by  securing  them  suitable 
nesting- places.  Mr.  Eead,  after  careful  obseryation,  is  satisfied 
that  the  imported  English  sparrow  does  not  expel  wrens  and  blue- 
birds by  reason  of  any  greater  pugnacity  or  strength,  but,  being 
winter  residents,  always  occupy  the  eligible  houses  and  locations 
when  the  wrens  and  bluebirds  return  from  their  southern  trip.  "If 
boxes  and  nesting  places  are  prepared  for  the  latter  they  will  take 
possession  of  them  and  defend  them  against  the  sjianow.  The 
English  sparrows  are,  however,  grouped  among  birds  injurious. 
Mr.  Eead  spoke  a  good  word  for  the  robin,  which  is  grouped  with 
birds  beneficial.  While  not  attempting  to  deny  its  thieving  pro- 
pensities, he  claimed  that  the  stomachs  of  thirty-seven  robins  on 
examination  were  found  to  contain  thirty-four  per  cent,  of  animal 
food  to  thirteen  per  cent,  of  vegetable  matter;  cut-worms,  wire- 
worms,  grubs,  grasshoppers,  etc.,  formed  a  large  portion  of  the 
contents. 

In  the  discussion  following,  the  robin  scarcely  found  an  advo- 
cate, fruit-growers  with  one  accord  denouncing  him  as  injurious, 
especially  among  cherry  trees  and  in  strawberry  beds.  Other  birds 
meeting  with  wholesale  condemnation  from  fruit-growers  were  tlie  cat 
bird  and  oriole.  It  was  suggested  that  strawberiy  beds  may  be 
protected  from  the  depredations  of  robins  by  covering  with  nets. 
Thin  pajDer  bags  are  the  best  protection  for  grapes.  A  condensed 
table  makes  it  appear  that  the  insect  food  of  the  different  families 
of  birds  is  as  follows  : 


Secretary's  Budget. 


371 


Detri-  Bene- 

mental  ficial  Un- 

Family.  insects.  inseots.  known. 

Thrushes 86  17  133 

Bhiebirds 42  5  22 

Kinglets 9  2  64 

Chickadees 17  2  37- 

Muthatches 10  2  56 

Wrens 23  '2  87 

Tanagers 38  15  84 

Swallows 124  67  108 

Vireos 211  9  182 

Butcher  birds 42  8  24 

Finches      226  16  229 

Starlings 119  12  129 

Jays 10  5  39 

Flycatchers .        .    .  126  53  400 

Goatsuckers 18  1  97 

Cuckoos 102  3  31 

Woodpeckers 352  22  1,901 

ANTS,  SNAKES,  AND  BIRDS. 

We  stumble  over  a  mammoth  '^  ant-heap."  There  were  num- 
bers of  them  about.  "Why  not  destroy  these  fellows  ?  "  said  the 
unsophisticated  visitor.  "  Because  they  are  useful.  Ants,  striped 
snakes,  and  birds  of  all  kinds  are  protected  here.  These  ants  are 
insect  eaters.  Throw  a  branch  covered  with  worms  upon  that  heap 
and  in  fifteen  minutes  there  will  not  be  a  show  of  a  worm  left. 
Ants  are  particularly  fond  of  canker-worms  and  leaf-rollers.  A 
hired  man  made  this  discovery  accidentally  ;  future  observations 
proved  it  to  be  true.'' — Prairie  Farmer. 

EXPERIENCE    AND   INCIDENT. 

Mr.  C.  M.  Weed,  who  is  carefully  studying  the  kind  of  food 
taken  by  our  common  birds,  finds  much  and  weighty  evidence  in 
their  favor  as  farmers'  and  gardeners'  friends.  For  instance,  July 
9th,  in  the  stomach  of  an  adult  robin  he  counted  sixty  maggots  of 
the  genus  Anthomyia — which  ruin  the  cabbage,  spoil  the  radish  and 
blight  the  onion.  This,  too,  just  at  the  time  when  cherries  and 
raspberries  were  abundant  and  luscious.  "Tally  one  for  the 
robin." — Neiv  York  Tribune. 


ENGLISH    SPARROWS. 


L.  D.  Watkins,  of  Manchester,  stated  that  three  years  since 
while  in  England  investigating  the  "great  sparrow  question,"  he 
found  it  a  most  fearful  pest  of  plums  and  small  fruits,  so  much  so 


372  Missouri  estate  Horticultural  Society. 

that  in  many  localities  the  trees  were  covered  with  netting  to  keep 
the  birds  away.  In  barley  and  oat  fields  they  crush  the  kernels^ 
when  green,  for  the  milky  juice.  They  are  not  an  English  bird 
but  were  imported  to  the  islands  from  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
have  not  yet  spread  all  over  them.  Wherever  introduced  they  in- 
crease with  marvellous  rapidity.  Prof.  Baur,  of  Ann  Arbor, 
remarked  that  in  Germany  they  are  a  terrible  pest,  and  every 
village  is  required  to  pay  an  annual  tax  of  a  certain  number  of 
sparrow  heads.  The  sooner  legislative  protection  is  repealed  in  this 
country  and  young  America  let  loose  upon  them  to  convert  them 
into  pot-pies  the  better.  Probably  it  will  pay  people  of  infested 
communities  to  offer  a  bounty  just  as  is  done  in  many  localities  for 
woodchucks. — Micltiyan  Farmer. 


RECEIPTS. 


PROTECT  YOUR  TREES. 

The  time  is  at  hand  when  some  means  must  be  used  to  prevent 
the  depredations  of  rabbits  and  mice  on  young  fruit  trees.  I  have 
tried  and  read  of  various  means  and  methods  of  guarding  against 
their  ravages,  and  the  most  effectual  method  that  we  have  tried  is 
to  take  strips  of  Fay^s  Manilla  Lining,  (manufactured  at  Camden, 
N.  J.,)  about  three  inches  wude  and  of  the  proper  length.  Begiu 
at  the  bottom  of  the  trunk  and  wind  the  strip  around  the  stem  to 
the  proper  height  and  secure  the  end. 

The  advantages  of  the  Manilla  are  its  great  strength,  durability 
and  ease  of  apj)lication.  It  will  not  injure,  and  aj)plied  thus 
allows  the  free  growth  of  the  tree  without  binding  it.  It  also  pro- 
tects the  tree  from  sudden  changes  of  temperature. — A.  S.  Tandy. 

SALT   FOR   RED    RUST. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Farmer  and  Fruit  Grower  recommends 
the  use  of  common  salt  as  a  cure  for  ''^  red  rust,"  the  deadly  scourge 
of  our  blackberries  and  black  raspberries.  "  I  throw  salt  freely 
among  the  old  canes,  and  a  small  handful  plump  at  the  root  of  every 
one  where  I  detect  any  signs  of  rust.  By  repeating  this  salting 
every  week  where  rust  is  seen,  it  will  soon  go  away  and  leave  you 
good,  healthy  plants.  The  blackberry  is  cajDable  of  using  almost 
as  much  salt  as  the  asparagus  plant,  and  but  little  fear  need  be  felt 
of  using  too  much.'"' 


Secretary's  Budget.  3*  3 

LIME    FOR    GRAPE    ROT. 

A.  B.  Colemaii  contribntes  to  the  Rural  New  Yorker  a  remedy 
for  grape  rot,  which  has  proved  successful  with  him  for  a  numbe'r 
of  years  : 

Whenever  the  slightest  indication  of  rot  is  observable,  scrape 
every  vestige  of  vegetation  away  from  the  vines  to  a  distance  of  at 
least  four  feet  in  every  direction,  and  cover  this  space  with  fresh 
lime,  air  or  water  slacked.  Just  enough  to  whiten  the  surface  is 
sufficient.  I  do  not  put  the  lime  close  enough  to  touch  the  vine, 
generally  strewing  it  not  closer  than  six  inches.  If  heavy  rains 
follow,  the  dressing  of  lime  should  be  repeated  at  once.  A  prom- 
inent Missouri  grape-grower  says  the  same  atmospheric  influences 
that  produce  fever  and  ague  in  the  human  family  will  produce  roc 
in  the  grape.  Knowing  lime  to  be  a  powerful  absorbent,  I  thought 
perhaps  the  air  in  the  vicinity  of  my  vines  could,  be  to  some  ex- 
tent purified  by  its  use,  and  the  rot  prevented.  The  result  of  my 
test  has  been  satisfactory  ;  yet  I  do  not  claim  that  the  lime  is  an 
infallible  remedy  for  grape  rot.  I  do  think,  however,  it  is  worthy 
of  trial. 

HOW  TO  GET  KID  OE  MOLES. 

.  The  ground  mole  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  constant  source  of 
annoyance  to  gardeners  and  farmers,  and  the  question  has  often 
been  asked,  "Is  there  no  way  of  getting  rid  of  this  pest  without 
the  tedious  process  of  trapping  it  ?"  which  at  best  is  only  a  partial 
relief.  To  this  question  I  answer,  yes.  The  remedy  I  have  known 
for  many  years,  and  I  wish  to  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  it 
through  the  columns  of  the  Gardener's  Monthly.  Like  every  thing- 
else  that  'is  given  gratis,  perhaps  some  will  be  found  to  deny  or 
contradict  the  good  effect  of  this  remedy,  but  I  challenge  contra- 
diction and  demand  a  fair  test  from  the  public.  One  pint  of  the 
seed  of  the  castor  oil  bean  (Eicinus  communis,  or  Palma  Ghristi) 
is  sufficient  to  clear  any  garden  of  an  acre  or  less  for  the  season,  if 
properly  dropped  in  their  runs,  which  is  simply  to  thrust  the  fore- 
finger into  the  mole  hill  and  then  drop  a  bean  there,  which  he 
will  be  sure  t©  eat  next  time  he  comes  along ;  at  the  same  time 
covering  up  the  hole  made  by  the  finger  with  a  bit  of  earth,  chip, 
stone  or  clod,  so  as  to  make  the  run  tight  as  before  and  keep  out 
the  light. 

This  plan  I  have  found  effectual  in  all  gardens  where  I  have 
tried  it.  It  is  not  quite  so  satisfactory  in  grass  lands,  because  it  is 
•often  bard  to  find  all  their  runs  in  the  grass.     Also,  in  planting 


374  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

corn  in  fields  where  this  pest  abounds,  if  a  seed  be  dropped  occa- 
sionally in  the  hill  along  with  the  corn  the  mole  will  eat  the  bean 
in  preference  to  the  corn,  and  as  sure  as  he  eats  it  that  is  the  last  of 
him.  If  this  plan  be  adopted  when  the  moles  first  begin  to  run, 
which  is  generally  after  the  garden  is  made  and  nicely  planted,  they 
are  easily  got  rid  of,  and  no  trap  of  any  kind  need  ever  be  intro- 
duced into  the  garden.  This  saves  much  time,  labor  and  annoyance. 
— Gardeners  Monthly. 

PAKIS    GREEN    FOR   THE    CODLING    MOTH. 

President  Saunders  remarks  :  ''Within  the  past  two  or  three 
years  Paris  green  mixed  with  water  in  the  proportion  of  a  tea- 
spoonful  to  a  pailful  of  water  has  been  recommended  as  a  remedy 
for  the  codling  moth,  the  mixture  being  freely  applied  to  the  apple 
trees  with  a  syringe  or  force-pump  soon  after  the  fruit  is  set.  In 
my  own  experiments  where  the  mixture  was  applied  to  alternate 
trees,  the  proportion  of  wormy  fruit  in  some  instances  on  the  trees 
syringed  seemed  to  be  nearly  the  same  as  on  the  adjoining  trees 
which  were  not  treated,  the  fruit  on  both  being  less  wormy  than 
usual,  while  in  other  instances  there  was  a  very  unusual  freedom 
from  the  apple  worm.  Other  experimenter's  claim  far  more  de- 
cided results." — Gardener's  Monthly. 

An  Indiana  man  says  :  "  Last  year  I  put  twelve  moles  in  my 
strawberry  patch  of  five  acres  to  catch  the  grubs,  and  they  did  the 
work.  I  never  had  a  dozen  plants  injured  during  the  summer, 
either  by  grubs  or  moles.  I  know  some  people  do  not  care  for 
moles  on  their  farms,  but  I  want  them  in  my  strawberry  patch." 

A    WASH   TO    KILL    SCALE. 

Kerosene,  three  gallons  ;  whale  oil  soap,  half  pound  ;  water, 
one  gallon.  Dissolve  the  soap  in  hot  watei*  and  add  boiling  hot  to 
the  oil.  Churn  the  mixture  at  least  five  or  ten  minutes,  if  possible 
through  the  spray  nozzle  of  a  good  force  pump.  This  emulsion  is 
a  thick  cream  which  should  adhere  to  the  surface  of  glass  and  show 
no  oiliness.  For  use,  dissolve  one  part  of  emulsion  with  ten  parts 
of  water.     The  above  formula  is  for  thirty  gallons  of  wash. 

SCALE    INSECTS. 

A  writer  m  the  London  Garden  says  that  for  plants  under 
glass,  infested  with  bug  and  scale  insects,  paraflflne  has  proved 
a  most  efficient  remedy,  and  will  do  more  in  an  hour  than  could  be 
effected  in  a  day  by  sponging  and  brushing.  But  its  powerful  na- 
ture  should  never  be  forgotten,    and  it  must  not  be  applied   too 


Secretary's  Budget.  375 

strong,  or  without  continual  stirring.  The  crudest  and  least  pure 
oil,  being  heavier  and  less  inclined  to  float  on  water,  is  best.  Two 
or  three  tablespoonfuls  to  a  gallon  of  water  is  strong  enough  to 
kill  any  of  the  above  named  insects.  For  bugs  on  wood  work  it  is 
used  unmixed,  and  brushed  over  like  paint  into  every  crack.  On 
some  tender  growth  it  may  prove  hurtful,  even  if  largely  diluted. 

PEARS    ON    APPLE   TEf:ES. 

Pears  grafted  on  apples  usually  thrive  wonderfully  for  a  few 
years.  The  grafts  are  short-lived,  however,  and  only  two  or  three 
limbs  of  an  apple-top  should,  therefore,  be  set  to  pears.  Pears 
thus  grown  are  commonly  very  large.  It  is  the  practice  of  some 
I'ruit-growers  to  raise  pears  in  this  manner  for  fairs. 

PROTECTINfT    FRUIT    FROM    BIRDS. 

If  the  birds  are  stealing  your  cherries,  hang  several  old  tin 
cans,  in  which  you  have  bought  canned  fruits,  in  the  trees,  and 
hang  a  small  stone  or  a  piece  of  metal  in  the  can  as  a  tongue,  sus- 
pending it  so  that  the  least  breeze  will  agitate  it.  The  unusual 
and  unexpected  noise  will  scare  any  intruders. — Rural  World. 

TOBACCO. 

Tobacco  is  good  for  something  I  do  believe,  better  than  for  a 
man,  or  a  he-goat,  or  a  nasty  green  worm  to  eat.  It  is  doubtless 
one  of  the  best  of  insecticides.  I  would  therefore  advise  gardeners 
and  fruit-growers  to  plant  this  spring  a  hundred  or  more  plants  and 
grow  to  use  in  that  way.  But  take  care  in  handling  it ;  don't  get 
any  of  it  in  your  mouth,  or  its  smoke  in  your  nostrils  ! — T.  G.  in. 
Prairie  Farmer. 

WEEDS    ON    WALKS. 

A  writer  in  an  English  exchange  destroys  moss  and  weeds  on 
walks  and  drives  by  giving  an  annual  dressing  of  salt.  Sometimes 
it  is  gently  sprinkled  with  water  to  dissolve  and  make  it  more  effect- 
ive. ' '  Managed  in  this  way,  weeds,  moss,  and  all  other  vegetable 
confervse  disappear  after  the  first  rain,  and  the  walks  are  left  as 
bright  and  fresh  looking  as  if  they  had  been  newly  gravelled,  and 
remain  in  that  very  pleasing  and  desirable  state  throughout  the  sea- 
son. Of  course,  it  will  only  do  to  use  salt  where  there  are  dead 
edgings  or  grass  verges,  as  however  carefully  it  may  be  applied,  it  is 
almost  sure  to  injure  the  box,  which  soon  shows  how  much  the  salt 
disagrees  with  it  by  the  yellow  color  it  turns." 

There  is  a  wide  difference  in  apples  this  year.  Those  who  were 
so  unfortunate  last  year  as  to  have  no  apples  in  their  orchards,  find 


376  MissouiH  State  Horticultural  Society. 

compensation  this  year  in  fruit  free  from  worms  or  nearly  so. 
Those  who  had  even  a  few  apples  last  year  have  fruit  as  wormy  as 
ever,  except  in  the  rare  instances  where  trees  were  sprayed  with 
water  containing  Paris  green.  This  is  undoubtedly  an.  effective  de- 
stroyer of  the  codling  moth,  and  its  use  on  apple  trees  is  destined 
to  become  even  more  general  than  the  application  of  Paris  green  in 
growing  potatoes. — Country  Gentleman. 

BABBIT  TRAP. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Farmers'  Beview  describes  the  follow- 
ing novel  method  for  catching  rabbits.  He  sa3"s  :  "I  sunk  a 
flour-barrel  in  the  ground  level  with  the  surface,  then  took  five- 
inch  lumber,  about  eight  feet  long,  and  made  a  box,  leaving  an 
open  space  on  the  under -side  the  width  of  the  barrel.  I  then 
placed  two  shingles  on  a  tilt  in  that  open  space,  and  placed  the  box 
right  over  the  barrel,  and  then  I  piled  about  twenty-five  rails  over 
the  box  ;  that  is  the  bait,  and  the  trap  is  always  set,  and  every  man 
knows  that  a  rail  pile  is  the  natural  home  for  rabbits  ;  instinct  leads 
them  there  for  protection,  and  as  soon  as  they  see  a  rail  pile  the 
first  thing  they  do  is  to  examine  it,  and  if  your  trap  is  right,  all 
that  you  have  to  do  is  to  take  him  out  and  un joint  his  neck  and 
that  tames  him.  I  have  caught  eleven  m  one  trap,  and  one  hun- 
dred in  one  winter.  But  if  you  want  to  eat  them  you  must  go  to 
the  trap  every  morning  or  they  Avill  eat  one  another." 


SCIENTIFIC. 


TREES    AS    LIGHT]SriNG    CONDUCTORS. 

Electricians  in  the  Old  World  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  greatest  j^rotection  a  building  can  have  is  to  have  a  few  tall  trees 
planted  near  it.  The  branches  of  a  tree  are  as  so  many  points  con- 
ducting the  electricity  by  the  trunk  to  the  ground  ;  and  hence  the 
closer  the  branches  grow  to  the  trunk  the  better.  What  are  called 
upright  or  fastigiate  trees  are  therefore  better  for  this  purpose  than 
trees  with  broad  spreading  heads.  If  there  is  a  small  pond  of 
water  between  the  tree  and  the  building  the  protection  is  as  j)erfect 
as  it  can  be. 


ISec relay ij's  Badyd.  3?? 

DRYJSTESS   IlSr   THE   FRUIT   HOUSE. 

After  a  low  and  even  temperature  is  secured,  the  other  essen- 
tials in  preserving  fruit  are  :  darkness  ;  an  air-tight  room,  to  retain 
the  carbonic  acid  given  oif  by  the  fruit,  and  a  dry  atmosphere.  As 
stated,  fruit  in  ripening  gives  oS  both  carbonic  acid  and  water,  or 
moisture.  The  carbonic  acid,  by  excluding  the  oxygen  of  the  air, 
aids  in  preserving  the  fruit.  Moistnre  is  undesirable,  as  it  hastens 
decay.  The  only  effective  method  of  removing  it  is  by  exposing  in 
the  room  some  substance  that  will  absorb  it.  The  French  use 
chloride  of  calcium,  which  is  a  very  different  substance  from 
chloride  of  lime.  This  salt  has  such  an  avidity  for  moisture,  that 
it  takes  it  from  the  air  of  the  room  and  becomes  liquified.  The 
objection  to  this  is  its  expense.  An  American  experimenter  has 
found  a  substitute  in  the  ''bittern,"  or  waste  material  of  salt  works, 
which  is  thrown  away.  This  is  mainly  a  very  impure  chloride  of 
calcium,  and  answers  the  purpose.  The  bittern,  in  a  large  iron 
pan,  is  exposed  in  the  fruit  room.  When  it  has  become  liquified 
by  the  moisture  absorbed,  the  j)an  is  set  over  a  fire  and  the  salt 
dried,  by  driving  off  the  water  it  has  absorbed,  when  it  is  again 
ready  for  use.     This  process  may  be  repeated  indefinitely. 

APPAREXT    WASTE    IX    XATURE. 

In  his  Montreal  address  Mr.  Meehan  says  :  "  We  discover 
nothing  in  the  behavior  of  plants  to  indicate  that  they  are  actuated 
by  individual  good  further  than  may  be  necessary  to  enable  them 
to  fall  in  with  nature's  great  aim  of  preparing  for  the  future. 
Millions  of  seeds  are  produced  for  every  one  that  grows  ;  millions 
grow  for  every  one  that  lives  long  enough  to  flower  ;  millions  of 
flowers  open  for  every  one  that  yields  seeds,  and  millions  on  mil- 
lions of  grains  of  pollen  are  produced  for  every  one  grain  that  is 
of  service  in  fertilization.  But  these  surplus  seeds,  surplus  plants, 
surplus  pollen  are  useful,  not  to  the  parents  which  bore  them,  not 
in  any  way  to  themselves,  but  as  sacrifices  to  posterity.  They  serve 
as  food.  They  die  that  something  else  may  live.  They  all  work 
in  with  nature's  grand  aim  of  developing  something  for  the  future. 
At  the  present  time  the  eyes  of  science  are  turned  to  the  past.  We 
compare  the  dim  view  with  that  which  is  about  us,  and  we  perceive 
that  all  things  have  worked  together  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 
We  see  that  nothing  has  lived  in  vain.  We  know  that  in  the 
general  economy  of  nature  there  is  no  waste  anywhere." — Journal 
of  Horticulture. 


378  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

FRUIT-RIPE]Sri]SrG    AND    DECAY. 

After  a  fruit  has  attained  its  full  size,  and  received  from  the 
tree  all  the  nutriment  that  can  conduce  to  its  perfection,  it  is  fully 
mature  and  then  makes  preparation  for  dropping.  This  is  especially 
seen  in  the  pear,  in  which  the  hold  upon  the  tree,  so  to  speak,  is 
lessened,  and  if  the  fruit  be  gently  raised  to  a  horizontal  position, 
the  stem  parts  from  the  tree  by  a  clean  fracture.  In  the  peach  and 
some  other  fruits,  decay  soon  follows  maturity,  while  in  the  Russet 
apples  it  does  not  occur  until  at  the  end  of  several  mouths.  Among 
apples  and  pears  we  find  a  great  difference  in  the  rapidity  wuth 
which  decay  takes  place.  In  some  it  occurs  in  a  few  days  after  ma- 
turity, and  it  is  useless  to  try  to  keep  these.  They  are  called  early 
varieties,  and  must  be  disposed  of  as  soon  as  possible  after  they  are 
mature.  The  late  varieties  of  aj^ples  and  pears  afford  no  exception 
to  the  statement  that  fruits  commence  to  decay  soon  after  they  are 
mature.  This  decay  is  very  slow,  but  not  the  less  certain.  In 
keeping  such  fruits  we  endeavor  to  retard  and  prolong  the  process 
as  much  as  possible.  There  is  a  certain  point  in  the  process  of  de- 
cay at  which  these  fruits  are  best  suited  for  use.  We  call  it  ripeness 
or  mellowness,  and  say  that  the  fruit  ism  "eating  condition." 
When  fruit  reaches  this  condition,  destructive  decay  or  rotting  soon 
follows. 

After  late  apples  are  stored  for  the  winter,  the  gradual  decay, 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  commences.  Important  changes  are 
going  on  within  the  fruit.  It  absorbs  oxygen  from  the  air  of  the 
room,  and  gives  off  carbonic  acid  gas.  Another  change  results  in 
the  formation  of  water,  which  is  given  off  as  moisture.  The  tak- 
ing up  of  oxygen  by  the  fruit,  and  the  giving  off  of  carbonic  acid, 
in  a  short  time  so  vitiate  the  atmosphere  of  the  room  in  which  the 
fruit  is  kept,  that  it  will  at  once  extinguish  a  candle,  and  destroy 
animal  life.  An  atmosphere  of  this  kind  tends  to  preserve  the 
fruit.  There  being  little  or  no  oxygen  left  in  the  air  of  the  room, 
the  process  of  decay  is  arrested.  Hence  it  is  desirable  that  the 
room  be  air-tight,  in  order  to  maintain  such  an  atmosphere.  The 
production  of  carbonic  acid  shows  that  the  cellar  in  a  dwelling  is 
an  improper  place  for  storing  fruit.  When  the  gas  is  present  in 
the  air  in  sufficient  proportion,  it  causes  death,  and  a  very  small 
quantity  will  cause  headache,  listlessness,  and  other  unpleasant 
effects.  No  doubt  that  many  of  the  troubles  attributed  to  malaria, 
are  due  to  the  gases  from  vegetables  and  fruits  stored  in  the  cellar. 
A  fruit  cellar  should  be  underneath  some  other  building  than  the 
dwelling,  or  a  fruit  house  may  be  built  entirely  above  ground.     A 


Secretary's  Budget.  379 

house  to  keep  fruit  properly  must  be  built  upon  the  principle  of  a 
refrigerator.  Its  walls,  floor,  and  ceiling,  should  be  double,  and 
the  space  between  them  filled  with  saw-dust.  The  doors  and 
windows  should  be  double,  and  as  light  is  undesirable,  the  win- 
dows are  to  be  provided  with  shutters.  There  should  be  a  small 
stove  for  use,  if  needed,  to  keep  a  proper  temperature  in  severe 
weather. 

AVINTER-KILLIJTG    PLANTS   AND   TREES. 

Attention  has  frequently  been  called  to  the  fact  that  rapid 
growing  trees  and  plants  are  more  apt  to  winter-kill  than  those  of 
slow  growth.  L.  H.  Bailey,  Jr.,  gives  this  probable  explanation  of 
the  cause  in  the  Countrij  Gentleman  :  I  have  this  fall  made  micro- 
scopical examinations  of  well-ripened  apple  twigs  of  rapid  and  slow 
growth.  In  all  cases  the  thickened  interior  cell-walls,  with  their 
peculiar  markings,  gave  evidence  of  maturity.  The  thickness  of 
the  walls  was  about  the  same  in  both  kinds  of  twigs,  but  the  cell- 
cavities  were  from  one  and  a  half  to  over  two  times  as  large  in  the 
rapidly  grown  twigs  as  in  the  slowly  gi'own  ones.  If  the  theory  be 
correct  that  winter-killing  of  tender  bi'auches  is  due  to  the  rupturing 
of  the  cell-walls  by  the  freezing  of  the  moist  contents  of  the  cells, 
we  may  have  here  an  explanation  of  our  problem.  In  proportion 
to  the  size  of  cell-cavities,  the  cell-walls  in  the  rapidly  growing 
twigs  were  only  about  half  as  strong  as  in  the  other  twigs,  and  so 
they  could  not  withstand  so  great  a  strain. 

THE    FUTURE    OF    HORTICULTURAL   EXPERIMENT. 

The  Secretary  dispatclied  a  note  to  Dr.  E.  L.  Sturtevant, 
Director  of  the  New  York  Experimental  Station,  inquiring  what 
was  his  view  of  the  trend  experiments  should  take  to  be  of  greatest 
advantage  to  the  horticulturalist.  A  prompt  reply  is  so  full  of 
suggestions  that  we  give  it  complete  as  follows  : 
Chas.   W.  Garfield,  Esq.,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

Dear  Sir  : — You  ask  me  for  a  note  upon  the  future  of  hor- 
ticultural experiment  for  use  iu  your  portfolio.  I  suppose  jou  are 
aware  that  an  answer  must  be  merely  an  opinion  whicli  cannot  be 
supported  by  facts  or  data  of  an  accurate  character. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  work  in  horticulture  has  been  very  hap- 
hazard, and  that  the  great  gain  that  has  been  made  has  come  more 
from  the  number  of  people  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  attempt 
to  form  new  and  improved  varieties  tlian  from  any  one  particular 
system  that  they  have  followed.     Whether  horticulture  shall  make 


380  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

rapid  strides,  and  work  toward  a  definite  aim  in  the  future,  will  de- 
pend upon  the  extent  to  which  the  methods  of  science  are  applied 
to  the  problem.  When  we  can  secure  accurate,  exact  data,  and 
connect  all  oar  observations  with  preceding  facts,  the  time  must 
surely  come  when  we  shall  be  able  to  direct  the  forces  of  nature  so 
as  to  cause  a  production  of  fruits  with  definite  qualities  and  for 
definite  purposes.  The  first  eUort  must  be  to  determine  Just  where 
we  stand  at  present  and  what  we- really  know.  No  matter  how 
simple  the  question  which  is  referred  to  us,  as  to  the  effect  of  hy- 
bridization, the  effect  of  selection,  of  cultivation,  or  of  treatment, 
we  do  not  seem  to  have  aught  but  impressions  to  offer  in  reply. 

For  horticultural  experiment  it  seems  requisite  to  determine 
numerically  the  effect  of  any  procedure  of  ours  by  which  we  modify 
or  direct  plant  growth  toward  a  certain  direction.  Thus,  in 
hybridization,  what  is  the  influence  of  variety  ?  What  is  the  in- 
fluence of  species  ?  Does  the  female  parent  give  form  or  quality, 
or  produce  any  other  effect  differing  from  that  produced  by  the 
influence  of  the  male  parentage  ?  What  is  the  percentage  of 
variation  in  each  experiment  tried,  and  in  what  direction  are  the 
variations  ?  What  is  the  per  cent,  of  variation  as  between  the  first, 
second,  or  third  generation  after  the  original  hybridization  ?  What 
qualities  are  requisite  in  a  fruit  in  order  that  it  may  become  rot- 
resisting,  blight-resisting,  or  insect-resisting  ?  And  so  I  might  go 
on  almost  indefinitely,  for  the  field  is  a  broad  one.  But  I  might 
give  my  own  view  succinctly  by  stating  that  the  future  of  horti- 
cultural experiment  depends  largely  upon  the  number  of  attempts 
which  are  made  Avith  numerical  data  as  their  basis.  The  problem 
of  horticulture  must  be  attacked  from  the  mathematical  side  before 
we  can  obtain  that  table  of  constants  which  shall  be  so  essential 
toward  future  advance.  Very  truly  yours, 

E.  Lewis  Sturtevant. 

FREEZING    OF  SAP   IN  TREES. 

A  correspondent  inquires  whether  the  sap  freezes  in  winter  in 
trees  or  not.  We  have  been  so  often  over  this  topic  before,  that  it 
seems  superfluous  to  go  over  again.  But  there  are  so  many  new 
readers  of  the  magazine,  and  so  much  interest  evidenced  in  the 
subject  that  it  may  do  no  harm  to  allude  to  it  again.  Experiments 
have  shown  that  instead  of  the  branches  of  trees  expanding  in 
winter  time,  as  they  would  do  if  the  sap  froze,  they  actually  con- 
tract. If  we  break  a  twig  in  sharp  freezing  weather  we  find  it 
cracks    "  short   off,"    just    as   it    would    when  half    dry   in  sum- 


Secretary's  Budget.  381 

mer  time.  If  examined  closely  the  bark  will  actually  have  the 
appearance  of  being  dried,  showing  wrinkles.  Now  if  this  same 
twig  be  taken  into  a  warm  room  it  soon  changes  its  appearance,  the 
bark  becomes  smooth,  and  the  twig  will  bend  short  without  break- 
ing, and  thus  we  conclude  that  the  sap  instead  of  having  froze  and 
expanded,  had  actually  contracted,  and  we  have  the  lesson  that  the 
sap  does  not  freeze.  The  whole  subject  is  curious,  and  it  is  sing- 
ular that  so  much  misapprehension  exists,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
a  continual  flow  of  liquid  through  the  plant  all  winter  long  is  a 
necessary  condition  of  its  existence.  That  there  is  a  great  amount 
of  evaporation  going  on  we  know,  and  that  this  evaporation 
increases  with  the  lowness  of  the  temperature.  That  liquid  is 
turned  into  ice  does  not  alter  the  fact.  There  is  evaporation  from 
ice  as  well  as  from  water.  This  evaporation  must  be  supplied,  and 
is  supplied  during  the  winter  by  what  is  known  as  "root  pressure. '' 
In  short,  the  tree  would  die  from  sheer  evaporation  if  the  circu- 
lation was  suspended  by  its  liquids  freezing. — Thomas  Meelian  in 
^Gardener's  Montlily. 

We  are  sorry  to  see  that  even  Mr.  J.  J.  Thomas  uses  the  word 
"  staminate  "  to  designate  the  perfect  (hermaphrodite,  or  bisexual) 
flowers  of  strawberries.  By  "pistillate"  is  meant  flowers  with 
pistils  and  without  stamens.  By  "staminate"'  is  (or  should  be) 
meant  flowers  with  stamens  and  without  pistils.  By  "bisexaual" 
is  va^wai  perfect  flowers,  i.  e.,  those  with  both  stamens  and  pistils. 
Horticultural  writers  and  teachers,  of  all  people,  should  not 
encourage  the  use  of  ambiguous  or  erroneous  terms.  The  words 
"  hybrid  "  and  "cross"  are  also  by  many  used  as  synonyms,  or 
interchangeably,  and  the  word  "  superphosphate,"  which  has  a 
very  definite  signification,  is  now  freely  used  to  mean  merely  a 
commercial  fertilizer,  even  though  there  is  neither  phosphate  nor 
superphosphate  about  it.  All  such  teachings  have  to  be  unlearned 
before  readers  can  arrive  at  a  clear  understanding  of  the  subjects 
involved.  The  R.  N.  Y.  has  protested  (alone,  we  believe,)  for 
years  against  the  use  of  the  word  " staminate "  for  "bisexual,"  or 
•"perfect,"  and  "hybrid"  for  "cross,"  and  vice  versa,  with  some 
effect,  it  may  be  hoped.  We  now  protest  against  the  use  of  the 
word  "superphosphate,"  except  as  applied  to  phosphates  treated  to 
.sulphuric  acid. — Rural  Neio  Yorker. 


382  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

LOSS  OF  LEAVES  BY  EVEKGREEis^S, 

^' E.  W.,'^  New  Albany,  Ind.,  says  :  "I  notice  large  trees  of 
magnolia  grandiflora,  that,  owing  to  the  severity  of  last  wint^', 
when  the  thermometer  fell  twenty-two  degrees  below  zero,  had 
shed  their  winter-browned  leaves,  and  seemed  apparently  dead,  re- 
suming life,  and  again  unfolding  their  mantle  of  rich  green.  The 
loss  of  foliage  usually  proves  fatal  to  evergreens,  does  it  not  ?" 

[The  fact  that  the  loss  of  leaves  by  an  evergreen  is  usually 
fatal,  refers  only  to  coniferous  trees  or  the  ''needle"  bearing  sec- 
tion. But  pine  needles  are  not  leaves  in  the  usual  acceptation  of 
the  term.  Pine  leaves  are  adnate  or  connate  with  the  stem,  though 
when  the  plants  are  young  or  have  low  vital  powers  they  are  some-- 
times  seen  wholly  free,  and  not  united  with  the  branches.  The 
needles  are  modified  branches,  though  often  called  phyllodes.  Now 
we  see  that  the  tree  having  lost  its  true  leaves  in  a  natural  way, 
and  forced  to  rely  on  a  modification  of  branches  to  perform 
the  offices  of  leaves  is  in  a  very  bad  way  when  these  also  are  lost. 
There  is  indeed  nothing  left  out  of  which  leaves  can  come,  and 
this  is  the  reason  why  such  trees  suffer  so  much.  When  an  ordi- 
nary tree  loses  its  leaves,  the  axial  bud  develops,  and  makes  another 
crop,  and  does  what,  in  the  pine,  has  already  been  done. 

So  far  from  the  loss  of  a  leaf  in  winter  to  a  broadleaved  ever- 
green being  an  injury,  it  would  probably  be  a  benefit,  by  lessening 
the  draft  by  the  atmosphere  on  the  plant's  liquid  capacities.  We 
should  not  be  surprised  if  a  Magnolia  grandiflora,  often  killed  in 
winter  in  northern  latitudes,  would  be  as  hardy  as  other  species,  if 
divested  of  its  leaves  in  autumn. — Ed.  G.  M.~\ 

A  truth  well  known  to  all  intelligent  fruit-growers  is  that, 
next  to  the  pear,  the  wood,  leaves  and  fruit  of  the  apple,  when 
reduced  to  ashes,  contain  more  potash  and  phosphate  of  lime  than 
any  other  common  fruit  tree,  yet  how  many  supply  these  to  the 
soil,  notwithstanding  the  hundred  instances  in  which  beneficial 
effects  have  resulted  from  the  use  of  ashes  ?  Above  all,  how  few 
provide  water  in  quantity  large  enough  to  dissolve  these  mineral 
elements,  so  that  the  roots  can  avail  of  them  after  the  ashes  are 
applied  !  Only  in  form  of  a  solution  can  the  roots  absorb  food. 
If,  then,  a  given  soil  is  very  rich  in  these  mineral  elements,  and 
deficient  in  water  to  form  this  solution,  the  supply  of  plant  food 
will  be  insufficient,  and  the  trees  will  starve  to  death  sooner  or 
later.  It  is  easy  to  understand,  then,  how  one  soil,  admirably 
suited  to  the  wants  of  the  apple  tree  in  all  mineral  substances,  but 
deficient  in   water  or  moisture,  and   subject   to  drouth,  may   not 


Secretary's  Budget.  383 

support  trees  in  health  and  fniitfulness,  and  in  another  soil,  not  so 
well  supplied  with  the  mineral  elements,  but  in  a  state  so  constantly 
moist  that  there  is  always  an  abundance  of  mineral  food  in  solution 
to  support  the  trees  in  health. 

INFLUENCE  OF  POLLEN  ON  STEAWBERRIES. 

There  has  been  considerable  discussion  of  late  regarding  stam- 
inate  and  pistillate  varieties  of  strawberries.  A  paper  was  read 
by  Prof.  Lazenb3%  of  the  Ohio  Experiment  Station  before  the  late 
meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  advancement  of 
science,  giving  results  of  recent  experiments.  The  Rural  Neiu 
Yorker  summarizes  them  thus  : 

"These  experiments  seem  very  decidedly  to  show  that  the 
shape,  color,  firmness,  and  quality  of  the  so-called  pistillate  straw- 
berries are  influenced  by  the  pollen  which  fertilizes  tliem.  Boxes 
covered  with  glass  were  placed  over  the  different  pistillate  varie- 
ties, and  the  pollen  was  applied  by  hand.  Although  somewhat 
imperfect,  in  every  instance  there  was  a  marked  resemblance  in 
shade,  size,  color,  and  general  appearance  to  the  fruit  of  the  male 
parent.  All  of  the  duplicate  tests  showed  exactly  the  same  re- 
sults. Owing  to  an  early  and  long  protracted  drouth,  strawberries 
grown  in  Central  Ohio  the  past  season  were  not  nearly  as  large  or 
perfect  as  they  usually  are.  The  same  cause  affected  the  cross- 
bred berries.  Yet  despite  this,  the  characteristics  of  the  male 
parent  were  plainly  evident  in  each  case.  So  strongly  did  they 
predominate  that  there  was  little  or  no  resemblance  to  the  fruit  of 
the  female  parent.  No  one  would  have  named  any  of  the  four 
cross-bred  samples  as  Crescents,  while  every  one  acquainted  with 
the  varieties  from  which  .the  pollen  was  taken  could  readily  iden- 
tify the  fruit  it  had  fertilized  as  the  same  variety. 

When  the  pollen  of  the  Cumberland  Triumph  was  used  the 
color  was  very  light  and  the  berries  exceedingly  soft.  Those  fertil- 
ized with  the  pollen  of  the  James  Vick  were  small  but  very  firm 
and  remarkably  perfect  in  outline.  The  cross  with  the  Charles 
Downing  showed  a  marked  resemblance  in  shape,  color  and  con- 
sistency to  this  well-known  variety.  It  showed, also, the  characteristic 
gloss  of  this  fruit.  Where  the  Sharpless  was  used  as  the  male 
parent  the  berries  were  large  and  irregular.  The  fruit  of  this  cross 
was  much  more  imperfect  than  that  of  any  other.  Thus  far  we 
have  only  spoken  of  the  effect  produced  by  cross-fertilizing  one 
well-known  pistillate  variety  of  the  strawberr3%  the  Crescent.  A 
further  test  was  made  in  the  same  manner  by  pollenating  a  com- 


384  Missouri  State  Horticultural  /Society. 

paratively  new  pistillate  variety,  the  Manchester,  with  the  Sharpless 
and  the  James  A'ick,  two  of  the  four  varieties  used  to  fertilize  the 
Crescent.  The  results  obtained  were-  precisely  similar  to  those 
already  described.  The  Manchester  fertilized  by  the  Sharj)less  pro- 
duced large  berries  resembling  the  Sharpless,  and  possessing  few  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  Manchester.  When  artificially  pollenated 
by  the  James  Vick,  the  Manchester  produced  a  small,  firm,  perfect 
and  regular  berry  like  that  of  the  male  parent. 

Director  Lazenby  must  be  credited  with  having  made  the  first 
systematic  experiments  to  determine  the  effect  of  pollen  from  dif- 
ferent varieties  upon  the  pistillate  kinds. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF   SOILS. 

Barely  does  the  farmer  whose  plow  or  hoe  is  dulled  by  striking 
against  a  buried  stone,  reflect  that  upon  the  mineral  composition 
of  that  stone  was  dependent  to  a  very  considerable  extent  the 
barrenness  or  fertility  of  the  soil  he  cultivates.  Yet  such  is  the 
case,  for  soil  is  but  disintegrated  or  decomposed  rock,  mingled 
with  more  or  less  organic  or  vegetable  matter. 

XO    SOILS    ORIGINALLY. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  earth's  history  there  was  no  soij,  but 
the  exposed  surface  everywhere  consisted  of  hard,  barren  rock, 
affording  neither  nourishment  nor  foothold  for  any  kind  of  plant 
life.  After  a  time,  however,  through  the  combined  chemical  action 
of  air  and  water,  the  surface  of  the  rock  became  weathered  and 
porous,  and  there  began  to  grow  upon  it  the  lower  kinds  of  plants, 
such  as  lichens  and  mosses,  just  as  we  may  now  see  them  growing 
ujjon  ledges  and  stone  walls,  especially  where  it  is  a  little  damp. 
These  lived  and  died,  and  furnished  by  their  decomposition  not 
only  vegetable  mold  for  other  plants  to  take  root  in,  but  also  small 
amounts  of  humic  and  other  organic  acids  which  partly  dissolved 
the  rock,  thus  allowing  the  growing  plants  to  drive  their  minute 
rootlets  still  farther  down,  and  wedge  off  more  small  particles,  and 
expose  fresh  surfaces  to  its  solvent  action. 

Thus,  aided  by  heat  and  frost,  through  hundreds  and  thous- 
ands of  years,  the  rocks  continued  to  weather  or  disintegrate,  and 
the  vegetable  mold  continued  to  accumulate,  affording  nourishment 
and  rooting  place  for  more  and  larger  plants,  until  as  now  the  land 
was  covered  with  vegetation  of  all  kinds,  varying  in  size  from  the 
minute  fungus,  visible  only  with  the  microscope,  to  the  giant 
Sequoia  tree  of  the  California  forests. 


Secretary's  Budget.  385 

ACTIOX   OF   AIR,    WATER,    AXD    FROST. 

That  the  agencies  just  described  may  seem  to  many  persons 
far  too  weak  and  slow  in  their  action  to  give  rise  to  soils  of  such 
depths  as  are  found  in  many  localities,  is  very  probable.  Espec- 
ially will  this  be  the  case  with  those  living  in  the  northern  and 
eastern  states,  where,  in  ancient  times,  the  great  ice-sheet  called  a 
glacier  has  scraped  tlie  tops  of  the  hills  entirely  bare  and  left  them 
hard,  barren,  and  apparently  indestructible.  But  "firm  as  the 
everlasting  hills,^^  is  only  a  poetic  expression.  From  a  geological 
standpoint  hills  are  neither  firm  nor  everlasting.  The  great 
destroyer.  Time,  is  as  relentless  in  his  dealings  with  rocks  and  hills 
as  with  human  beings  ;  it  is  but  a  question  of  time  and  nothing 
more.  Let  any  one  examine  for  himself  the  soil,  accumulated  at 
the  foot  of  a  large  mass  of  roek,  of  whatever  kind,  and  he  will 
find  it  to  consist  of  small  fragments  of  the  same  material  as  the 
rock  itself,  mixed  with  particles  of  decaying  wood  and  leaves.  Or 
if  he  live  in  the  southern  states,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  glacial 
or  ice  action,  he  may  be  able,  in  any  deep  road  or  railway  cut,  to 
trace  the  gradual  jjassage  downward  from  flue,  loose  soil  to  hard, 
compact  rock. 

There  are  many  places  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  where  the 
observA'  may  easily  trace  this  transition,  and  in  one  locality  which 
the  writer  has  in  mind,  a  hard,  tough  rock,  composed  almost 
Avholly  of  quartz  and  mica,  has  become  so  rotten  for  a  deptli  of 
nearly  eighty  feet  below  the  surface,  as  to  be  readily  dug  up  with 
pick  and  shovel.  The  resultant  soil,  it  is  interesting  to  note,  is 
not  remarkable  for  its  fertility. 

SEDENTARY   AND    DRIFT   SOILS. 

Since,  then,  there  are  many  different  kinds  of  rocks,  so,  also, 
there  are  many  different  kinds  of  soils ;  but  geologically  they  mav 
all  be  grouped  under  two  heads,  the  distinction  being  based  upon 
their  methods  of  formation.  The  first  of  these  are  called  "  sedent- 
ary soils,"  (sedentary  from  the  Latin  seder e,  to  sit,)  that  is,  soils 
resulting  from  the  decomposition  of  rocks  in  situ,  and  which  have 
never  been  removed  by  water  or  ice  from  the  portions  in  which 
they  originated.  Such  soils  necessarily  agree  closely  in  composition 
with  the  rock  which  they  overlie. 

They  are  perhaps  more  common  in  the  southern  than  in  the 
northern  states,  cover  a  more  limited  area,  and,  in  some  cases, 
contain  a  much  larger  proportion  of  organic,  or  vegetable  matter 
than  those  included  under  the  second  head,  which  are  called  drift 


386  Missotiri  State  Horticultiiral  Society. 

soils,  since  they  no  longer  occupy  the  positions  in  which  they 
originated,  but  have  been  washed  or  drifted  by  running  water  or 
moving  ice,  and  redeposited  in  new  locadities.  As  in  this  process 
of  transportation  across  the  country  soils  resulting  from  the 
disintegration  of  many  kinds  of  rock  are  brought  together  and 
thoroughly  mixed,  drift  soils  are,  as  one  would  naturally  infer, 
much  more  complex  in  composition  than  those  of  purely  sedentary 
origin.  They  vary  in  fact  almost  indefinitely,  and  to  them  may  be 
referred  the  greater  part  of  our  deepest  and  most  fertile  soil. 

SOILS    IS    VARIOUS   STATES. 

As  already  intimated,  the  majority  of  our  soils  are  drift  ;  nev- 
ertheless sedentary  ones  of  greater  or  less  area  may  be  found  in  ev- 
ery State.  According  to  the  celebrated  geologist,  Prof.  Geikie,  the 
deep,  rich  soils  of  many  of  our  Western  prairies  belong  to  this  class. 
Dr.  White,  in  writing  on  the  geology  of  Iowa,  states  that  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Redwood  river  there  is  a  cliff  of  granite  upwards  of 
100  feet  in  height  that  has  become  so  thoroughly  decompo.^ed  from 
top  to  bottom  as  to  be  readily  crushed  in  the  hand.  This  is  there- 
fore a  sedentary  soil  and  the  upper  portion  is  very  fertile.  The  so- 
called  Erie  shales  underlying  part  of  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  de- 
lompose  into  a  sedentary  soil  consisting  of  stiff  yellow  clay  which  is 
very  fertile.  The  brown  Triassic  sandstones  of  Gonnecticuf  give  a 
light  porous  soil,  and  Aroostook  county,  Maine,  the  most  fertile 
portion  of  the  State,  is  underlain  by  slate  and  limestone  from 
wdieuce  the  soil  originated.  It  is  doubtful  if  this  last  is  tiuly  sed- 
entary, but  at  all  events  the  drift  here,  as  m  many  other  localities, 
has  been  slight,  and  it  is  often  possible  to  judge  correctly  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  soil  of  any  locality  from  a  knowledge  of  the  rocks  un- 
derlying it.  To  the  class  of  sedentary  soils  belong,  also,  those  large 
deposits  of  moss  and  peat  in  our  bogs  and  swamps.  These  are 
especially  abundant  in  European  countries.  About  one-seventh  of 
all  Ireland  is  thus  covered,  and  one  bog  contains  an  area  of  :?38,500 
acres,  over  which  the  jaeat  averages  25  feet  in  depth. 

ORIGIlf    OF    PRAIEIE    SOILS. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  soils  of  Iowa  are  "drift/'  those  of 
the  northern  part  of  the  state  having  been  brought  from  Minne- 
sota. Geologists  say,  however,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Iowa 
drift  soils  have  resulted  from  the  decomi^osition  of  rocks  within 
the  state  limits  and  the  amount  of  drift  has  therefore  been  slight. 
On  the  western  part  of  the  state  the  heavy  drift  soils  were  found 
by  the  geologist,  Dr.  White,  to  be  mixed  to  a  considerable  extent 


Secretary's  Budget.  387 

with  the  light,  sandy,  sedentary  soils,  wliich  resulted,  from  the 
decomposition  of  the  underlying  sandstone.  This  admixture  of 
the  two  varieties  is  said  to  be  beneficial  in  making  the  resultant 
soil  lighter  and  more  mellow.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  state 
the  soil  is  clayey,  having  been  formed  by  the  decomposition  of  the 
clayey  and  shaly  rocks  in  the  near  vicinity.  Prof.  Newberry  says 
that  more  than  half  of  Ohio  is  covered  by  drift  soils.  In  the 
Western  Eeserve  the  underlying  rocks  are  sandstones  such  as  would 
by  their  disintegration  give  rise  to  very  light  and  barren  soil  ; 
whereas,  as  is  well  known,  this  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  regions  ol:" 
the  state.  The  reason  is  simply  this  :  that  the  poor,  sandy,  seden- 
tary soil  has  been  completely  covered  by  a  drift  clay  from  the 
north.  In  the  southern  half  of  the  Eeserve  the  drift  clay  is  mixed 
with  a  much  greater  j^roiDortion  of  sand  and  gravel,  and  is  there- 
fore lighter  and  dryer. 

And  so  we  might  go  on  indefinitely,  did  time  and  space  permit. 
Enough  has,  however,  been  said  to  show  that  rocks  and  soils  are  by 
no  means  so  unlike  "as  they  may  at  first  appear,  and  to  teach  us  that 
the  slow  persistent  action  of  plant  growth,  of  air,  water,  and  of 
frost,  have  had  far  more  to  do  with  fitting  the  earth  for  man's  abode 
than  we  may  heretofore  have  realized.  The  rush  and  roar  of  a 
tornado,-  and  the  convulsions  of  a  Krakatoa,  although  fearful  in 
their  intensity,  are  comparatively  local  in  their  effects.  All  over 
our  earth,  however,  the  rocky  hills  and  mountains  are  slowly 
crumbling  away.  Too  slowly,  it  may  be,  for  human  eye  to  mark, 
but  none  the  less  surely.  And  the  time  must  come  when  the  places 
that  know  them  shall  know  them  no  more,  but  they  shall  have  en- 
tirely disappeared  under  a  layer  of  soil  and  vegetable  growth. — G. 
P.  Merrill,  of  National  Museum,  in  Prairie  Farmer. 

THE    CROSS-FERTILIZATIOSr    OF    STRAWBERRIES. 

The  idei:^  that  the  fertilization  of  berries  affects  the  fruit  as  to 
size  and  appearance,  appears  to  be  a  new  one.  I  do  not  remember 
reading  anything  of  such  a  theory  until  quite  recently.  It  is  not  a 
plausible  theory,  and  my  experience  does  not  corroborate  it.  Mr. 
Kogers,  in  the  Rural  of  July  19,  describes  the  different  effects  pro- 
duced on  the  Manchester  by  fertilization  with  Miner's  Prolific  and 
Sharpless.  It  happens  that  I  have  contiguous  beds  of  these  three 
varieties.  Here  is  a  bed  of  Miner  four  feet  wide,  separated  by  a 
path,  a  foot  wide,  from  a  similar  bed  of  Manchester,  and  not  en- 
tirely separated  for  careless  cultivation  has  allowed  the  two  kinds  to 
run  close  together.     The  Manchesters  here  are  identical  with  those 


388  Misstwi  State  Uorticulttiral  Society. 

several  yards  away  from  all  other  sorts.  On  the  opi^osite  side  of 
the  garden,  the  Manchester  runs  close  up  to  the  Sharpless.  No 
perceptible  difference  in  appearance  and  size  was  noticed  here,  I 
have  had  for  three  years  jjast  ten  to  twenty-five  varieties,  some  in 
single  beds  contiguous  to  other  sorts,  and  some  in  beds  thirty  feet 
wide.  No  difference  was  noticed  in  the  fruit  in  the  middle  of 
large  beds  from  that  on  the  edges,  where,  if  this  theory  be  true, 
fertilization  by  other  sorts  would  be  more  sensibly  felt.  Doubtino-. 
or  i-ather  rejecting,  tliis  theory,  I  am  almost  ready  to  doubt  the 
commonly  accepted  one  that  a  pistilate  berry  cannot  be  fruitful 
without  a  stamiiiate  close  by.  It  would  be  interesting  and  bene- 
ficial to  call  out  the  experience  of  those  who  have  experimented  in 
this  matter.— /.  J.  Foote,   Vif/o  Co..  Inch 

A    SUPPLE JIEISTTARY    PAPER    UPON     ANTISEPTICS,    GERMICIDES    AND 

BAOTERIACIDES. 

The  object  of  this  additional  paper  is  to  l^eep  the  mind  direct- 
ed to  the  bacterian  hypothesis  of  disease,  as  previously  suggested  in 
the  Gardener's  Monthly,  and  linked  with  pear  blight  and  peach 
yellows.  Witkthis  recognition  iu  view,  I  will  proceed  with  a  retro- 
spective glance  upon  a  limited  number  only  of  long-known  and  still 
highly-prized  remedies,  and  which  the  present  generation  of  invest- 
igators consider  reliable  agents,  either  as  antiseptics,  germicides  or 
bacteriacides.  Originally  it  was  my  intention  to  have  presented  a 
tabulated  form  of  many  experiments  made  by  the  most  renowned 
men  engaged  in  these  valuable  researches  ;  this,  however,  would 
have  taken  up  too  much  of  your  valuable  space,  so  I  will  substitute 
it  with  concise  comparisons  of  the  remedies  before  us,  as  most  wor- 
thy of  special  notice  and  consideration. 

As  I  am  a  thorough  believer  in  the  prevention  of  disease,  rather 
than  the  alternative  of  allowing  disease  to  "set  in"  and  become 
uncontrollable,  I  will  first  proceed  to  mention  carbolic  acid  as  being 
probably  for  many  reasons,  and  in  many  cases,  the  ne  plus  ultra 
remedy  as  an  antiseptic,  and  very  useful  as  a  germicide  and  bac- 
teriacide.  Antiseptics  as  such  are  known  by  their  action  in  de- 
stroying all  sources  of  decay  and  decomposition  and  preventing  the 
formation  of  germs  without  acting  iipon  the  mineral  or  vegetable 
matters  present,  and  their  value  depends  upon  their  power  to  jjrevent 
the  multiplication  of  bacteria,  though  this  is  not  necessarily  con- 
nected with  germicide  potency  ;  for  some  re-agents  which  fail  to 
kill  micro-organisms  are  nevertheless  valuable  antiseptics.  Carbolic 
acid   has  been  prominently  before  the  public  for  many  years  as  a 


Secretary's  Budrjet.  389 

successful  iiutagonist  to  bacterial  influence.  As  far  back  as  1866-67 
I  tested  this  article  in  a  series  of  experiments  upon  certain  substances 
of  organic  origin,  and  also  those  of  an  albuminous  nature,  the  object 
mainly  being  to  prevent  fermentation,  decomposition  and  putre- 
faction, which  are  corresponding  conditions  to  the  well-known 
bacterian  theory.  The  intermingling  of  carbolic  acid  in  the- above 
cases,  in  proportion  of  one  part  to  one  thousand,  was  tlien  amply 
sufficient  for  the  purpose. 

In  1868,  Dr.  F.  Grace  Calvert,  in  a  lecture  before  the  Society 
for  the  Encouragement  of  National  Industry  of  France,  said  that 
carbolic  acid  was  then  tbe  hope  of  the  textile  manufacturer  as  an 
antiseptic  in  tlie  various  glues,  sizes,  &c.,  inseparable  from  this 
special  manufacture,  and  to-day  we  have  the  very  highest  authority 
in  stating  that  it  takes  the  lead  for  the  same  purpose,  thougli 
chloride  and  sulphate  of  zinc  are  valuable  and  reliable,  and  fre- 
quently used.  When  we  keep  in  view  the  fact  that  thirty-one 
species  of  fungi  are  found  growing  upon  the  cotton  tissue,  and  this 
naturally  arising  from  the  use  of  organic  substances,  that  without 
the  precautionary  aid  of  antiseptics  great  losses  sometimes  would 
be  inevitable,  why  not,  then,  utilize  the  same  philosophy  as  a 
cautionary  measure  against  the  spread  of  bacterian  influence  upon 
any  vegetable  structure  to  which  it  may  be  exposed.  Any  one 
having  any  interest  in  the  matter  should  secure  a  proper  and 
effectual  syringe  or  force  pump  and  try  the  antiseptic  principle 
upon  their  trees  in  their  own  particular  districts  and  at  a  time  at 
least  two  weeks  previous  to  any  known  case  of  pear  blight  or  peach 
yellows  having  been  detected,  the  syringing  being  repeated  occa- 
sionally dui'ing  any  anticipated  prevalence  of  the  disease. 

Dr.  Calvert  in  his  lecture  previously  mentioned,  stated  that 
carbolic  acid  had  the  advantage  over  all  other  antiseptics  inasmuch 
that  it  could  not  be  used  for  any  illegal  purpose,  as  may  be  the  case 
of  corrosive  sublimate  and  some  others  then  on  trial  ;  but  the  well- 
known  investigator  and  experimenter,  Koch,  considers  corrosive 
sublimate  at  the  present  date  the  disenfectant  and  germicide  par 
excellence,  as  from  his  'own  experience  it  destroys  spores  in  a  solu- 
tion of  one  part  to  20,000  and  solutions  of  one  part  to  1000  and 
even  5000  are  capable  of  destroying  spores  in  a  few  minutes  when 
applied  as  a  spray.  The  same  strong  opinion  is  held  by  the  editor 
of  the  Druggists'  Circular  who  boldly  asserts  in  the  June  number 
of  the  present  year  that  no  agent  can  compare  with  corrosive 
sublimate  for  the  destruction  of  fungoid  growths  or  bacteria,  so  far 
as   reliability   and  power  are   concerned,   and  adds  that    carbolic 


390  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

acid  is  far  behind  it  as  a  destroyer  of  bacteria  ui^on  animal  tissues ; 
he  has,  however,  no  experience  to  offer  of  its  effects  upon  vegeta- 
tion ;  but  admits  that  carbolic  acid  is  one  of  our  most  precious 
antiseptics.  One  caution  may  be  mentioned  concerning  the  latter, 
and  that  is,  from  full  and  comjoaratively  recent  investigation  it  is 
said  to  have  no  antiseptic  influence  when  mixed  with  oil. 

It  is  the  aqueous  solution  only  that  is  reliable  for  tlie  diffusion 
of  health.  Vaporizing,  as  now  practiced  in  the  Eotunda  Lying-in 
Hospital  of  Dublin  and  other  institutions,  both  with  carbolic  acid 
and  corrosive  sublimate  (one  part  to  one  thousand)  is  barely  prac- 
tical either  in  orchard  or  garden  where  the  "broad  expanse"  of  air 
covers  so  much  unconfined  space.  This  theme  could  be  continued 
to  an  almost  indefinite  extent  ;  but  what  fruit  gi'owers  are  most 
concerned  about  is  "'a,  remedy,"  antiseptic  rather  than  disinfecting; 
but  both  have  been  presented  in  this  paper  and  I  trust  will  prove 
of  some  value  to  the  future  experimenter. —  Wm.  Creed,  in  Gojrden- 
er's  Monthly. 


CANNING  FRUITS. 


THE   ART  OF    CANNJNG  AND  PEESEETING — SEASONABLE  HINTS  FOE 

HOUSEWIVES. 

A  writer  in  the  Providence  Star  gives  the  following  instructions 
for  putting  up  fruits  : 

Canning  is  in  many  respects  the  best  way  of  preserving  fruits. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  the  least  expensive,  since  the  amount  of  sugar 
required  is  considerably  less  than  is  necessary  for  other  methods. 
Again,  the  flavor  of  delicate  fruits,  such  as  Bartlett  pears,  peaches, 
egg  plums,  &c.^  is  preserved  better  in  cans  than  in  any  other  way, 
and  may  be  nearly  as  good  as  when  the  fruit  is  freshly  gathered. 
Finally,  in  no  way  can  fruit  be  preserved  at  so  little  expense  of  time 
and  trouble. 

There  are  several  Avays  of  successful  canning.  One  is  as  fol- 
lows :  Peel  the  pears  or  peaches,  dropping  them  into  a  deep  jar  of 
cold  water  to  prevent  them  from  changing  color  from  exposure  to 
the  air.  Make  a  syrup  by  mixing  one  quarter  of  a  pound  of  sugar 
to  every  pint  of  water.  When  it  is  boiling  fast  droj?  the  fruit  in 
and  allow  it  to  cook  until  a  straw  will  pass  easily  through  it.     Da 


Secretary" s  Budget.  391 

not  put  too  much  of  the  fruit  in  at  once  in  order  to  avoid  bruising 
it,  the  main  object  being  to  keep  it  as  perfect  as  possible.  The 
yellow  variety  of  peaches  M'ith  a  deep  red  stone  is  the  richest  and 
looks  the  nicest  put  up  in  this  manner,  although  many  prefer  the 
white  free-stone  peach.  If  it  is  desired  to  have  them  to  use  on 
extra  occasions  do  not  divide  them.  Tlie  stone  imparts  a  peculiar 
flavor,  which  is  an  improvement,  and  at  the  same  time  the  fruit 
looks  better  to  be  served  whole. 

Pears  are  the  most  delicious  of  all  fruits  put  up  in  this  way, 
but  they  must  be  ripe.  They  also  look  better  to  be  left  whole,  but 
should  they  be  halved,  remove  the  seeds  and  blossom  with  a  small 
sharp  knife.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  buy  one  especially  for  the  pur- 
pose, so  as  not  to  waste  any  portion,  however  small.  Leave  the 
stem  on.  If  the  pears  are  green,  boil  them  in  water  until  tender, 
and  after  draining  them  carefully,  put  into  the  syrup  and  cook  in 
the  same  way  as  the  ripe  fruit. 

Another  way  is  to  fill  tae  jars  with  fruit  without  any  previous 
cooking.  Then  fill  up  the  jars  with  a  syrup  made  by  allowing  one- 
quarter  of  a  pound  of  sugar  to  one  pint  of  water.  Place  the  jars 
in  a  wash  boiler  with  pieces  of  wood  or  straw  for  them  to  stand 
upon  to  prevent  breaking,  and  with  pads  of  paper  between  each 
bottle.  Fill  up  the  boiler  with  cold  water,  and  place  it  over  the 
fire.  The  syrup  in  the  bottles  must  boil  twenty  minutes.  If  there 
is  not  enough  of  it  to  cover  the  fruit,  an  extra  quantity  will  have  to 
be  made  to  meet  this  demand.  The  end  to  be  attained  is  perfect 
color  and  flavor,  without  handling. 

Egg  plums  and  large  purple  plums  should  be  pricked  with  a 
fork  ;  they  can  be  peeled,  but  it  is  a  tedious  process,  and  the  skins 
are  usually  tender.  All  of  the  above  should  be  sealed  hot,  according 
to  the  directions  given  in  the  last  article. 

Jams  and  marmalades  are  similar  in  character,  the  chief  dif- 
ference being  that  the  former  are  made  from  juicy  fruits,  such  as 
strawberries,  raspberries,  currants,  &c.,  while  the  latter  are  made 
from  firmer  kinds.  They  both  require  the  same  amount  of  watch- 
fulness during  the  boiling  process.  If  they  are  at  all  scorched  the 
flavor  is  unpleasant ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  fruit  will  not  keep 
unless  boiled  sufiiciently.  When  the  fruit  is  weighed  and  well 
scalded,  add  the  sugar,  allowing  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  sugar 
to  a  })0und  of  fruit. 

The  enameled  preserving  kettle  is  particularly  suitable  for  this 
purpose,  as  the  thick  rim  on  the  bottom  prevents  it  from  resting  on 
the  fire  when  placed  over  it,  and  at  the  same  time  allowing  the  con- 


392  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

tents  to  boil  rapidly,  and  this  is  essential  to  the  better  preservation 
of  the  flavor  and  color.  After  the  sugar  has  been  added  the  fruit 
must  be  stirred  frequently  with  a  wooden  spoon  to  prevent  sticking. 
If  such  an  accident  should  occur  the  jam  must  be  turned  into  an- 
other vessel  and  the  kettle  scoured  with  sand  soap,  and  every  parti- 
cle adhering  to  the  surface  removed.  The  jam  may  then  be  poured 
back  and  the  boiling  process  resumed  with  more  watchfulness  than 
before,  for  when  the  kettle  has  been  scorched  once  it  is  more  apt  to 
catch  again.  As  the  scum  rises  it  should  be  faithfully  taken  off, 
and,  if  there  is  much  of  it,  strained  through  a  fine  piece  of  muslin 
that  the  syrup  may  run  clear  back  into  the  kettle. 

For  peach  jam  choose  the  yellow,  soft  kind,  that  the  jam  may 
be  of  that  beautiful  golden  color  so  much  admired.  The  white 
variety  is  not  as  good.  Peel  and  cut  the  fruit  into  small  pieces  and 
weigh  it,  scald  it,  and  then  allow  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of 
granulated  sugar  to  a  pound  of  peaches.  Crack  a  few  stones  and 
blanch  the  kernels  and  scatter  them  through  the  jam.  Boil  until 
they  look  clear,  and  the  syrup  turns  to  jelly  when  cool.  Seal  when 
cold. 

Pineapple  jam  is  very  delicious.  Grate  the  pines  on  a  coarse 
grater,  rejecting  the  core.  Scald  and  proceed  as  in  other  kinds. 
Some  receipts  for  this  recommend  pound  for  pound  ;  but  less  will 
answer  quite  as  well. 

Green  gooseberries  preserved  make  the  most  delicious  of  all 
tarts,  and  it  is  worth  while  to  secure  them  for  this  purpose  if  for 
nothing  else.  Eiib  off  the  dried  blossoms  and  stems,  and  allow 
pound  for  pound  of  sugar  ;  but  the  gooseberries  must  be  well  boiled 
before  the  sugar  is  added  or  they  will  not  be  of  the  right  consist- 
ency. 

For  orange  marmalade  take  of  high-flavored,  sour  oranges,  half 
their  weight  in  sugar.  Squeeze  the  juice  through  a  sieve  coarse 
enough  to  allow  some  of  the  pulp  to  pass  through  as  well,  but 
none  of  the  seeds  or  white  inner  skin.  Grate  in  as  much  of  the 
yellow  rind  as  will  flavor  the  marmalade  richly,  and  if,  after  you 
have  mixed  the  sugar  with  the  fruit,  it  seems  insipid,  add  the  juice 
of  lemon  until  j^roper  tartness  is  acquired.  Cook  for  two  liours, 
stirring  constantly,  and  put  away  in  glasses  or  shallow  wooden 
boxes  lined  with  thin  white  paper. 

The  small  pieces  rejected  from  your  quince  preserves  of 
inferior  finish  will  answer  for  marmalade.  Parboil  them,  pour  oft' 
nearly  all  the  water,  work  u]o  to  a  jam,  and  cook  over  a  gentle  fire 
several  hours,  stirring  all  the  time.     When  nearly  stiff,  add   the 


iStioreiary'n  Badyel.  393 

sugar,  allowing  half  a  pound  to  a  pound  of  quince.  Cook  until 
almost  too  stiff  to  stir.  Put  away  iu  wooden  boxes  or  cups.  It 
will  never  spoil,  and  can  be  kept  indefi*nitel}^  It  can  be  cut  into 
bits  for  garnishing* puddings,  pies,  &c.,  or  used  with  omelet.  This 
is  a  most  useful  sweetmeat,  and  easih'  made. 

KEEPING  FKL'IT  WITHOUT  CANS. 

In  our  issue  of  July  19th,.  we  published  a  communication  to 
the  Prairie  Farmer  from  the  editor  of  the  Sharon  (Mass.)  Advo- 
cate, describing  a  simple  process  of  keejiiiig  fruits  in  bowls  and 
other  open-top  vessels,  simply  covered  with  the  unglazed  cotton, 
such  as  is  purchased  in  the  stores  rolled  in  blue  paper,  as  follows  : 
"  Use  crocks,  stone  butter  jars,  or  any  other  convenient  dishes. 
Prepare  and  cook  the  fruit  precisely  as  for  canning  in  glass  jars  ; 
fill  your  dishes  wdth  the  fruit  while  it  is  yet  hot,  and  immediately 
cover  with  cotton  batting  securely  tied  on.  Remember  that  all 
putrefaction  is  caused  by  the  invisible  creatures  in  the  air.  Cook- 
ing the  frait  expels  all  these,  and  as  they  cannot  pass  through 
cotton  batting,  the  frait  thus  protected  will  keep  an  indefinite 
period.  The  writer  of  this  has  kept  berries,  cherries,  plums,  and 
many  other  kinds  of  fruit  for  two  years  with  no  cover  save  batting 
on  the  jars." 

[As  previously  stated,  if  fruit  can  thus  be  unfailingly  kept,  it 
is  a  matter  of  great  interest.  We  lind  in  the  Sharon  Advocate,  of 
July  25th,  our  articles  and  remarks  copied,  and  the  following  ed- 
itorial remarks,  which  are  confirmatory  of  the  previous  statements, 
and  we  advise  at  least  a  limited  trial  of  the  process  by  our  readers. 
We  will  not  discuss  the  theory  of  the  method,  which  is  of  less 
immediate  importance  than  the  practical  outcome.  Mr.  Wickes 
says  :] 

"This  subject  is  of  such  importance  to  the  public,  and  so  little 
understood,  that  we  again  refer  to  it.  Brother  Judd,  editor  of  the 
Prairie  Farmer,  is  no  doubt  correct  in  supposing  that  the  preserva- 
tion of  fruits  in  tightly  sealed  cans  results  from  the  exclusion  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  air.  We  suppose,  however,  that  depriving  the 
bacteria  of  oxygen  deprives  them  of  life,  as  no  animal  life  can 
exist  without  it.  Professor  Tyndall  demonstrated  several  years  ago 
that  all  j)utref;iction  was  caused  by  the  bacteria  in  the  air,  and  could 
be  prevented  by  enclosing  the  article  in  cotton  batting. 

"  The  published  results  of  Tyndall's  experiment  fell  under  the 
eye  of  Dr.  Chase,  an  eminent  phy.siciau  of  Thomaston,  Maine,  and 
he  at  once  saw  its  practical  value.     At    his    suggestion,  Mrs.  Chase 


394  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

put  up  several  gallon,  of  Damson  plums  in  stone  pots  with  but  little 
sugar,  the  jars  being  onl}^  covered  with  cotton  batting.  The  plums 
kept  perfectly,  until  opened  one  uud  two  years  afterward.  Mrs. 
Chase  told  the  result  to  the  editor  of  the  Advocate,  and  we  have  for 
three  years  put  up  berries  in  the  same  way,  and  never  had  a  jar  fail 
to  keep.  Last  year  we  opened  in  the  presence  of  several  people,  a 
jar  of  blueberries  that  had  been  put  up  just  two  years,  and  found 
them  in  nice  order.  To  Professor  Tyndall  belongs  the  honor  of  the 
discovery,  and  to  Mrs.  Chase  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  make  a 
practical  use  of  it.  We  desire  to  make  so  useful  a  matter  known  to 
the  general  public,  and  we  only  claim  to  have  been  the  first  to  pub- 
lish the  directions." 

MANURE    FOR   THE    ORCHARD. 

[  I  believe  that  the  cheapest  and  best  way  to  manure  is  by  sow- 
ing clover  and  let  it  rot  on  the  ground.  I  have'  tested  it  to  my 
satisfaction  and  find  that  after  two  years  of  such  manuring  the 
ground  is  nearly  like  new  ground,  and  wonderfully  improved — 
Secretary.] 

Prof.  Shelton,  of  the  Kansas  Agricultural  College,  says  red 
clover  (trifolium  pratense)  deserves  a  prominent  place  in  the  list  of 
forage  plants  suited  to  Eastern  and  Central  Kansas.  In  1874  and 
1875,  two  exceptionally  dry  seasons,  it  failed  almost  entirely  at 
Manhattan,  giving  neither  pasture  nor  hay.  But. during  the  fav- 
orable seasons  which  have  since  preyailed,  it  has  flourished  abund- 
antly, and  has  yielded  more — both  of  hay  '  and  pasture — than  is 
generally  obtained  in  the  East.  He  has  in  one  season  cut  two  ex- 
cellent crops  of  hay  and  a  crop  of  seed  from  the  same  ground. 

Red  clover  in  that  state  has  one  interesting  peculiarity  worth 
mentioning.  When  land  is  once  seeded  it  never  "runs  out,"  but 
thickens  and  spreads  continually  by  self-seeding.  A  piece  of 
ground  seeded  with  red  clover  in  ISI'Z  gave  a  large  yield  of 
clover  hay  last  year.  He  believes  that  nowhere  are  there  such  large 
crops  of  clover  seed  grown  as  in  Kansas.  Eed  clover  is  worth 
a  trial  anywhere  in  the  state.  Already  it  has  taken  a  high 
place  in  the  agriculture  of  the  eastern  aud  central  portions  of 
the  state,  where  its  cultivation  is  rapidly  extending.  In  very  dry 
seasons,  however,  it  lacks  the  "staying"  qualities  so  remark- 
able in  alfalfa.  But  while  drouth  generally  reduces  the  yield 
of  clover,  as  of  all  other  crops,  it  will  rarely  upon  clay  soil  perma- 
nently injure  the  plants.  Regarding  the  relative  merits  of  clover 
and  alfalfa — a  question  often  raised — he  says  that  while  the  former 


Secretary's  Budget.  395 

yields  scarcely  more  than  half  the  hay  or  pasturage  given  by  alfalfa, 
in  the  point  of  quality  the  latter  is  greatly  inferior.  The  stalks  of 
alfalfa  are  nearly  solid  and  woody,  and  the  waste  in  feeding  is 
great  compared  with  clover. — Prairie  Farmer. 

MANURING    FRUIT   TREES. 

One  of  the  leading  contributors  to  the  London  Garden  makes 
the  following  good  practical  remarks  in  favor  of  a  practice  which 
fruit  growers  in  this  country  are  finding  of  great  importance  : 

It  is  singular  how  long  some  fallacies  retain  their  liold,  even 
after  they  have  been  disproved  by  facts,  and  of  these,  one  of  the 
most  mischievous  is  the  belief  that  fruit  trees  and  bushes  are  liable 
to  injury  rather  than  benefit  from  the  application  of  manure.  All 
sorts  of  diseases,  such  as  canker  and  other  ailments  to  which  fruit 
trees  are  liable,  are  set  down  as  the  result  of  applying  manure  to 
the  roots  ;  whereas,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  it  arises  from  poverty 
of  the  soil,  causing  the  roots  to  run  down  into  the  bad  subsoil.  I 
am  continually  hearing  complaints  from  owners  of  fruit  trees  as  to 
their  unsatisfactory  condition,  and  on  examination  have  invariably 
found  scarcely  any  surface  roots  or  fibres  of  any  kind,  nothing  but 
large,  thong  like  roots,  that  run  right  down  into  the  subsoil.  On 
inquiry  1  have  usually  found  that  manuring  or  top-dressing  had 
not  been  practiced  for  many  3^ears,  their  owners  having  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  such  practices  were  dangerous. 

I  do  not  say  that  manure  will  prove  to  be  a  cure  for  fruit-tree 
ailments  of  all  kinds,  but  I  will  briefly  detail  a  few  facts  that  have 
come  under  my  observation  at  various  times,  to  prove  that  starva- 
tion of  the  roots  is  a  far  more  prolific  source  of  injury  than  abund- 
ant feeding  of  the  surface  roots,  both  with  solid  and  liquid  manures, 
and  growers  must  form  their  own  conclusions  as  to  the  best  course 
to  pursue.  The  fruitful  or  unfruitful  state  of  orchard  trees  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  attention  which  they 
receive  as  regards  manuring.  In  the  fruit  growing  parts  of  Kent, 
where  large  orchards  of  standard  trees  planted  on  grass  laud  is  the 
rule,  it  is  a  well  established  fact  that  if  the  grass  is  cut  for  hay  and 
carried  away,  the  trees  soon  become  unfruitful  and  die  out ;  while, 
on  the  contrary,  if  the  grass  is  fed  off,  so  that  the  nutriment  is  re- 
turned to  the  roots  in  the  shape  of  manure,  the  trees  keep  fruitful 
and  healthy.  I  have  seen  some  of  the  most  moss-grown,  miserable 
specimens  of  starved  orchard  trees  restored  to  fruitful  condition  by 
making  the  gi'ound  beneath  them  the  winter  quarters  of  sheep  and 
pigs,  feeding  them  the  same  time  as  if  they  Avere  in  -the  farmyard 


396  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

with  roots  and  corn.  The  finest  old  specimens  of  apple  and  pear 
trees  are  generally  those  in  an  orchard  next  to  the  homestead  that 
is  used  as  a  run  for  calves,  sheep,  pigs,  and  poultry  the  whole  year 
round.  In  these  orchards  the  turf  is  short,  and,  being  full  of  nutri- 
ment, the  trees  keep  healthy  and  prolific  for  an  indefinite  period. 
Ashes,  garden  refuse,  or  any  kind  of  road  scrapings,  or  even  scav- 
engers' rubbish  may  be  utilized  for  increasing  our  supply  of  orchard 
fruits.  They  should  be  spread  roughly  on  the  surface  in  winter, 
and  in  spring  luirrowed  and  rolled  down  firmly.  The  result  will 
soon  be  a  marked  improvement  in  the  size  and  quality  of  the  crop. 
Difference  of  opinion  prevails  as  to  pruning  or  not  pruning  trees, 
some  adopting  one  S3"stem  and  some  another  ;  but,  be  that  as  it 
■  may,  I  never  knew  fruit  trees  continue  to  yield  good  crops  for  any 
length  of  time  unless  the  roots  were  supplied  with  manure  in  some 
form  or  other. 

A  notable  part  of  the  proceedings  at  the  two  days'  session  last 
week  of  the  New  Jersey  Horticultural  Society,  in  Camden,  was  a 
successful  market  gardener's  report  of  four  years'  experiments  with 
"fertilizers  and  modes  of  application.  In  one  instance,  as  a  mix- 
ture, he  used  twenty-five  loads  of  stable  manure  and  a  ton  of  bone, 
or  of  some  other  commercial  brand,  at  a  saving  of-  about  twenty 
dollars  per  acre  over  the  use  of  manure  alone.  Another  combination 
was  twenty-five  bushels  of  poultry  droppings,  four  hundred  pounds 
each  of  cotton  seed  meal,  plaster,  fine  bone  meal  and  sulphate  of 
potash,  and  ten  bushels  of  muck,  making  about  one  and  a  hali' 
tons,  at  a  cost  of  about  seventeen  dollars  per  ton.  This  gave  as 
good  results  as  bone  meal  and  different  brands  of  fertilizers  side  by 
side,  at  a  saving  of  fully  twenty  dollars  per  ton.  In  applying  fer- 
tilizer alone  he  used  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  tons  to  the  acre  in 
spring ;  barnyard  manure  was  applied  in  winter  on  fall-ploughed 
ground.  By  this  process  he  increased  his  receipts  from  $1,750  per 
year  to  17,300.  By  high  manuring  and  thorough  tillage  the  crops 
were  larger,  one  to  two  weeks  earlier,  and,  being  of  quick  growth, 
were  of  better  quality,  found  an  early  market,  ready  sale  at  good 
prices  and  a  fair  profit,  and  by  the  time  the  market  was  overstocked 
his  crop  was  harvested  and  the  same  ground  ready  for  a  second  crop 
the  one  manuring  serving  for  both. 

The  benefit  of  soluble  and  readily  available  plant-food  was 
shown  in  the  following  averages  of  four  years  with  seeds  and  plants 
from  plantings  to  harvest  :  Early  cabbage,  (wintered  plants),  eighty 
days  ;  lettuce,  forty-four  ;  early  tomatoes,  fifty-two  ;  cauliflower, 
eighty  ;  celery,  seventy  ;  radish  (first  crop,  seed),  fifty  ;  beets,  sixty- 


Secretary's  Budget.  397 

eight ;  onions  (sets),  sixty-nine.  The  advice  given  was  to  broad- 
cast all  the  fertilizer  or  manure  you  can,  and  as  little  in  the  hill  as 
possible.  On  a  river  bottom  or  banked  meadow  with  soil  ten  feet 
deep,  a  deposit  of  vegetable  matter  considered  inexhaustible — only 
requiring  an  occasional  dressing  of  lime  to  produce  seventy-five 
bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  or  heavy  crops  of  grass — an  acre  was 
tried  with  late  cabbage,  using  one  ton  of  fertilizer  broadcast ;  re- 
sult a  heavy  crop,  95  per  cent,  heading.  Another  acre  had  the 
same  quantity  of  fertilizer  applied  in  the  row  ;  the  crop  of  leaves 
was  immense,  covering  the  ground,  with  not  over  thirty  per  cent 
heading.  A  few  rows  adjoining,  without  fertilizer,  were  little 
better  than  a  failure,  becoming  a  prey  to  lice,  while  none  of  these 
insects  were  to  be  found  on  the  broadcast  portion.  He  thus  learned 
a  lesson  in  application  of  manure  ;  also  that  our  richest  soils  are 
often  lacking  in  some  elements  of  fertility. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

MANURING  THE  ORCHARD. 

That  the  orchard  should  be  kept  well  manured  is  at  the  present 
time  very  generally  admitted  ;  but  what  is  the  cheapest  and  best 
material  to  apply  is  as  yet  unsettled. 

Those  who  have  had  an  opportunity  to  test  the  different  fertil- 
izers, are  as  a  rule  opposed  to  the  application  of  large  quantities  of 
fresh  stable  manure,  especially  to  the  pear  orchard,  but  if  such 
manure  is  to  be  applied  it  should  be  applied  in  the  autumn. 

That  bearing  trees  consume  considerable  quantities  of  both 
|)hosphates  and  potash  is  conceded  by  all,  and  that  the  application 
of  large  quantities  of  manure  rich  in  nitrogen  is  not  only  not 
necessary,  but  positively  injurious,  is  the  opinion  of  some  very 
intelligent  orchardists.  We  have  seen  orchards  very  much  im- 
proved by  appljang  wood  ashes  in  considerable  quantities,  but  not 
as  much  as  when  fertilized  with  a  moderate  quantity  of  ground 
bone,  which  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  phosphate  is  needed  the 
most. 

Some  orchardists  apply  ground  bone  and  wood  ashes,  or 
muriate  of  potash,  mixed  with  good  success.  Fifty  bushels  of  ashes, 
and  1,000  pounds  of  ground  bone,  makes  a  very  liberal  dressing 
for  an  acre  of  land,  and  will  last  a  number  of  years.  When  wood 
ashes  cannot  be  obtained,  500  pounds  of  muriate  of  potash  may  be 
used  in  its  place. 

When  barn  manure  is  to  be  used,  if  only  half  the  usual  quan- 
tity be  applied,  and  the  same  value  of  ground  bone  be  applied  with 
it,  the  result  will  be  much  more  satisfactory,  than  if  all  manure  be 


398  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

applied.  When  an  orchard  gets  grown  to  near  its  full  size,  it  is 
not  so  desirable  that  materials  should  be  applied  to  force  the  growth 
of  the  wood,  as  it  is  to  force  the  growth  of  the  fruit ;  this  is  a  fact 
that  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of.  An  orchard  just  set,  will  bear 
more  nitrogen  and  potash  than  the  orchard  that  is  fully  grown. 

In  applying  fertilizers  to  an  orchard,  it  should  be  spread  over 
the  entire  surface  of  the  ground,  and  not  applied,  as  some  do  only 
a  few  feet  from  the  tree.  The  feeding  roots  of  a  tree  are  at  the 
small  ends  of  the  roots,  more  than  at  the  large  ends  near  the  tree, 
and  they  are  also  very  near  the  surface,  where  the  land  is  not 
ploughed  every  year,  therefore,  whatever  fertilizer  is  applied  should 
be  spread  evenly  over  the  surface,  and  left  but  a  few  inches  under 
it,  then  the  feeding  roots  will  easily  reach  it. — Massachusetts 
Ploioman. 

FERTILIZING    PEACH    ORCHARDS. 

Keferring  to  Prof.  Penhallow's  experiments  to  find  remedies 
for  the  "  yellows"  in  peach  trees  the  New  England  Farmer  says  : 
Without  going  into  details,  we  may  say  that  muriate  of  potash  and 
dissolved  bone  have  been  found  to  give  excellent  results.  In  one 
case,  where  several  diseased  trees  Avere  treated  with  different  kinds 
of  fertilizers,  the  only  one  that  became  healthy  was  the  one 
manured  with  muriate  of  potash.  Similar  results  have  been 
obtained  at  the  Massachusetts  State  College  Farm,  where  Dr.  Goss- 
man  has  been  applying  muriate  of  potash  to  peach  trees.  So 
strongly  do  indications  point  in  this  direction,  that  J.  W.  Clark, 
who  has  one  of  the  largest  and  best  peach  orchards  in  the  state, 
has  discarded  all  other  fertilizers  for  peach  trees  except  bone  and 
potash.  The  explanation  seems  in  part  to  be  tlmt  ordinary  stable 
manures  contain  too  much  nitrogen  for  the  healthy  growth  of  the 
peach,  causing  too  luxuriant  a  growth  of  leaf  and  wood,  especially 
late  in  the  season,  and  that  this  late  soft  growth  cannot  endure  our 
ordinary  winter  weather.  Prof.  Clarke,  we  believe,  is  in  doubt 
whether  the  "yellows"  should  be  classed  as  a  specific  disease,  but 
thinks  it  may  be  only  a  condition  of  partial  starvation,  caused  by 
being  restricted  to  an  ill-proportioned  supply  of  plant  food. 

Some  of  the  finest  peach  orchards  to  be  found  anywhere  are 
fertilized  almost  exclusively  with  unleached  wood  ashes.  On  the 
general  effect  of  nitrogenous  manures  upon  vegetation,  Messrs. 
Lawes  and  Gilbert  remark  in  one  of  their  reports,  that  "it  should 
be  called  to  mind  that  a  general  tendency  of  nitrogenous  manures 
is  to  favor  luxuriant  and  continuous  growth,  as  distinguished  from 


Secretary's  Budget.  '  399 

• 

a  rest  and  cousolidatiou  of  that  already  formed,  whilst  that  of 
mineral  manures  is  to  favor  consolidation  rather  than  luxuriance. 
Or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  a  characteristic  effect  of  nitrogenous 
manures  is  to  favor  the  extension  of  foliage,  and  to  give  it  depth  of 
color,  wliereas  that  of  the  mineral  manures  is  to  tend  to  stem  forma- 
tion and  production  of  seed."  In  the  light  of  recent  experiments 
in  feeding  peach  trees,  as  carried  on  at  Houghton  Farm,  and  the 
Massachusetts  State  College,  many  of  our  old  peach  growers  who 
had  abandoned  the  business  on  account  of  the  uncertainty  of  the 
crop,  are  making  preparations  for  setting  out  new  orchards.  We 
should  never  recommend  setting  peach  trees  in  the  fall,  but  it  is  a 
good  time  now  to  be  getting  a  place  ready,  and  to  find  out  where 
good  healthy  young  trees  can  be  procured  for  setting  in  the  spring. 
The  peach  is  too  valuable  a  fruit  to  be  neglected  wherever  it  can 
be  grown. 

If  the  pomological  student  now  passes  east  from  Breslau  one 
thousand  miles  to  Saratov,  on  the  Volga,  he  will  learn  another 
lesson  in  cherry  growing,  which  he  will  not  soon  forget.  He  is 
now  in  the  rich,  black  soil  section  of  Russia,  with  an  annual  rain- 
fall of  only  tw^elve  inches,  and  with  a  common  southeast  wind  in 
summer  bringing  the  breath  of  the  desert,  and  a  common  north- 
t'Rst  wind  in  winter  bringing  a  temperature  of  40  degrees  below 
zero  in  extreme  test  years.  Even  here  we  find  thrifty  trees  of  low- 
growing,  thick-leaved,  sweet  cherries,  said  to  be  natives  of  Northern 
Bokhara  ;  and  we  find  many  varieties  of  Amarelos  with  leaves 
much  thicker  than  those  at  Breslau  and  with  fruit  richer  in  grape 
sugar. 

If  the  student  now  turns  northwest  to  a  point  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  east  of  Moscow,  he  will  be  in  the  midst  of  the 
largest  cherry  orchards  of  the  east  plain.  Here  he  will  see — if  in 
cherry  season — whole  trains  loaded  with  dark  colored,  small-pitted, 
nearly  sweet  cherries,  picked  from  many-stemmed  bushes  rather  than 
trees.  By  this  time — having  in  passing  eastward  and  northward 
eaten  cherries  for  over  a  month — he  will  conclude  with  us  that 
America  has  a  wide  range  to  choose  from  in  adapting  the  cherry  to 
the  different  soils  and  climates  of  the  continent. 

Two  years  ago  w^e  obtained  a  number  of  varieties  of  the  East- 
ern cherries,  and,  last  spring,  we  put  in  a  specimen  orchard ,  about 
thirty  other  sorts.  The  behavior  of  these  plants  I  have  watched 
with  much  interest ;  so  far  they  have  fully  met  my  expectations 
as  to  endurance  of  our  winters  and  ability  to  carry  heavy  fol- 
iage through  our  changeable,  half-tropical  summers.     In  the  near 


400  Mit^souri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

future  the  college  grounds,  and  our  many  trial  stations,  v.ill  tell  the 
whole  story  as  to  the  truth  of  my  present  belief  that  the  cherry 
growing  region  of  the  North-west  will  yet  extend  up  to  Lake  Win- 
nipeg.— Prof.  J.  L.  Budd. 

THE    SOUTHERN   APPLES. 

Ed's  Peairie  Farmer:  Your  correspondent  B.  F.  J.,  of 
Champaign,  111.,  strikes  the  right  key  when  he  states  in  a  recent 
number  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  that  we  must  look  to  the  south  for 
reliable  winter  apples,  instead  of  tlie  north.  Above  41  degrees 
Baldwin,  Seek-no-further,  Cogswell,  Minister,  etc.,  do  reasonably, 
but  in  central  and  southern  Ohio,  and  westward  through  Missouri, 
and  Kansas,  they  become  strictly  autumn  apples,  dropping  early, 
and  decaying  rapidly,  as  many  have  found  to  their  cost.  Northern 
Spy,  which  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  is  a  fine  winter  apple,  keeping 
until  April,  is  all  gone  here  by  the  end  of  November.  Thirty 
years  ago,  when  the  writer  began  to  collect  fruits,  the  northern 
varieties  were  his  main  hope.  Like  thousands  of  others  he  knew 
no  better  ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  years  of  failure  that  his 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  southern  varieties.  As  might  reasonaby 
be  expected,  not  all  the  southern  apples  will  be  desirable  north  of 
the  Ohio. 

The  summer  varieties,  as  a  rule,  are  of  comparatively  little 
value.  The  late  autumn  and  winter  varieties,  however  are  very 
promising,  and '  experience  will  show  which  of  these  are  best. 
Mason's  Stranger,  from  southern  Virginia,  resembles  Stuart's 
Golden  of  central  Ohio,  but  is  smaller,  and  not  so  good  a  bearer, 
nor  so  good  in  quality.  And  Camack's  Sweet,  of  N.  C,  Steph- 
enson's Winter,  of  Miss.,  and  some  others  do  not  seem  desirable. 
On  the  other  hand.  Hoover,  Kinuaird's  Choice,  Cedar  Falls, 
Cullasaga,  Cannon  Pearmain,  Sparks,  Press  Ewing,  and  Kentucky 
Long  Stem,  have  given  much  satisfaction,  and  Johnson,  from 
southern  111.,  may  be  classed  with  these. 

At  first,  fears  were  entertained  concerning  their  liardiness, 
but  after  the  severest  winters,  the  shoots  of  Mamma  and  one  or  two 
others,  which  suffer  most,  were  but  slightly  discolored,  and  not 
more  so  than  the  shoots  of  Smitli's  Cider,  and  Cornell's  Fancy. 

Great  interest  is  felt  in  the  more  recent  introductions  :  Guil- 
ford's Red  and  Forney  from  N.  C,  Black  Twig  from  Tenn., 
Arkansas  Black  and  Stevenson  Pippin  from  Ark.,  Norton  Pippin. 
Kestner  and  Brewington  Pippin,  from  Ky.,  Santa  from  Ga.,  etc. 
—R.  J.  B. 


Secretary's  Budget.  401 


NEW  THINGS. 


REVISED  NAMES  OF  FRUITS. 

We  have  recommeuded  occasionally  in  past  years  a  revision  of 
some  of  the  names  of  fruits,  and  more  recently  the  subject  was 
taken  up  iu  a  thorough  manner  by  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  president 
of  the  American  Pomological  Society,  in  his  recent  address  before 
that  body.  The  result  has  been  the  adoption  of  a  large  number  of 
revised  names  in  the  recently  published  catalogue  of  the  society. 
We  copy  the  following  list  of  the  alterations  from  the  last  volume 
of  its  proceedings,  in  which  our  readers  will  see  the  great  improve- 
ment which  has  been  made.  In  a  few  instances  we  should  have 
gone  a  little  further,  and  omitted  a  few  words  which  still  appear 
to  be  unnecessary.  For  instance,  the  word  "  Prolific "  may  be 
omitted  from  "Miner's  Prolific,"  as  at  least  half  of  the  new  straw- 
berries are  prolific,  and  the  adjective  does  not  distinguish  the  sort. 
''Jodoigne''  is  enough  for  "Triumph  of  Jodoigne,"  as,  judging 
from  the  quality  of  this  pear,  we  should  not  regard  it  a  great 
triumph.  "  Cole  '"  is  a  sufficient  name  for  "Cole's  Early,"  which 
by  the  way  is  some  weeks  later  than  several  of  our  new  sorts. 
"  Tewksbury  "  is  a  suflficiently  large  name  for  the  little  apple  wiiich 
bears  it,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  the  word  "winter,"  as  there 
is  no  summer  apple  of  this  name.  For  the  same  reason  "  Knight's 
Black"  would  be  more  expressive  than  "Knight's  Early,"  and 
"Autumn  Paradise"  more  convenient  than  "Paradise  of  Autumn." 
The  following  lists  of  the  former  and  of  the  revised  names, comprise 
all  which  have  been  changed  in  the  society's  catalogue  :    ' 

APPLES. 

Name  Rejected.  Name  Adopted. 

American  Golden  Pippin American  Golden. 

American  Summer  Pearmain American  Summer. 

Carolina  Red  June Carolina  June. 

Chenango  Strawberry Chenango. 

Cooper's  Early  White Cooper's  Early. 

Cox's  Orange  Pippin Cox's  Orange. 

Danver's  Winter  Sweet Dan ver's  Sweet. 

Duchess  of  Oldenburg  ....        ...       Oldenburg. 

Early  Red  Margaret Early  Margaret. 

Hubbardston  Nonesuch Hubbardston. 

Jewett's  Fine  Red       Jewett's  Red. 


402  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Name  Rejected.  Name  Adojited. 

Kentucky  Eed  Streak Kentucky  Red. 

King  of  Tompkins  County Tompkins  King. 

Kirkbridge  AVhite Kirkbridge. 

Large  Yellow  Bough Sweet  Bough. 

Marquis  of  Lome Lome. 

Marston's  Red  Winter Marston's  Red. 

Otoe  Red  Streak Otoe. 

Pleasant  Valley  Pippin Pleasant  Valley. 

Pyle's  Red  Winter Pyle's  Winter. 

Striped  Sweet  Pippin Striped  Sweet. 

Tewksbury  Winter  Blush Tewksbury  Winter. 

Twenty  Ounce  Apple Twenty  Ounce. 

CHERKIES. 

Bigarreau  of  Mezel Mezel. 

Early  Purple  Guigne Earley  Purple. 

Empress  Eugenie  .    .    .• Eugenie. 

Knight's  Early  Black Knight's  Early. 

CURRANTS. 

Fertile  d'Angers Angers. 

Fertile  de  Palluau ;    .  Palluau. 

Knight's  Large  Red Knight's  Red. 

La  Versaillaise Versaillaise. 

GOOSEBERRIES. 

Smith's  Improved Smith's, 

Woodward's  Whitesmith Wliitesmith. 

GRAPES. 

Hartford  Prolific Hartford. 

FOREIGN   GRAPES. 

Calabrian   Raisin Calabrian. 

Early  Silver  Frontignan Silver  Frontignan. 

Lady  Downes'  Seedling    ........  Lady  Downes'. 

Mrs.  Pince's  Black  Muscat Mrs.  Pince's  Muscat. 

Wiimot's  Black  Hamburg Wilmot's  Hamburg. 

PEACHES. 

Amsden's  June Amsden. 

Austin's  Late  Red Austin's  Late. 

.  Cole's  Early  Red Coles's  Early. 

Cook's  Late  White   .    .     ...•'...  Cook's  Late. 
Crackett's  Late  White Crackett's  Late. 


Secretary's  Budget.  403 

Name  Rejected  Name  Adopted. 

Early  Albert Albert. 

Early  Beatrice Beatrice. 

Early  Louise Louise. 

Early  Rivers Rivers. 

Early  Tillotsoii \  Tillotson. 

Harker's  Seedling Harker. 

Hoover's  Late  Heath Hoover's  Heath. 

Van  Zandt's  Superb Van  Zandt. 

Ward's  Late  Free Ward's  Late. 

PEARS. 

Belle  Epine  Dumas E2:)ine  Dumas. 

Beurre  Bosc Bosc. 

Beurre  Clairgeau Clairgeau. 

Beurre  d'Amanlis Amanlis. 

Beurrre  d'Anjou Anjou. 

.Beurrre  de  Brignais Brignais. 

Beurre  Diel Diel. 

Beurre  Giffard Giffard. 

Beurre  Hardy Hardy. 

Beurre  Langelier Langelier. 

Beurre  Superfin Superlin. 

Bonne  du   Puits  Ansault Ansault. 

Dearborn's    Seedling Dearborn. 

Doyenne  Boussock Boussock. 

Doyenne  d'Ete Summer  Doyenne.    , 

Doyenne  du  Cornice Cornice. 

Dr.   Bachman Bachman. 

Dr.   Lindley Lindley. 

Duchesse  d'Angouleme Angouleme. 

Duchesse   de  Bordeaux Bordeaux. 

Golden  Beurre  of  Bilboa Bilboa. 

Jalousie  de  Foutenay  Vendee Fontenay. 

Josephine  de  Malines Josephine  of  Malines. 

Knight's  Seedling Knight. 

Louise  Bonne  de  Jersey Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey. 

?^ouveaa  Poiteau Poiteau. 

Paradis  d'Automne Paradise  of  Autumn. 

Supreme  de  Quimper Quimper, 

Triomphe  de  Jodoigue  .    . Triumph  of  Jodoigne. 

Vicar  of  Winkfield Vicar. 

Winter  of  Jonah Jonah. 


404  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

PLUMS. 

JVcwie  Rejected.  Name  Adopted. 

Boddgert's  Greeu  Gage Boddtert. 

Denniston's   Superb Denniston. 

Oullin's  Golden  Gage Oullin's  Golden. 

Transparent  Gage Transparent, 

QUINCES. 

Eea's  Seedling Rea. 

KASPBERRIES. 

Belle  de  Pallnau i    .  Palluau. 

Belie  de  Fontenay .  Fontenay. 

Knevett's  Giant Knevett, 

Merveille  de  Quatre  Saisons Four  Seasons  Red. 

STPvAWBERIES. 

Cumberland  Triumph Cumberland. 

Hovey's  Seedling Hovey. 

Miner's  Great  Prolific .    .  Miner's  Prolific. 

Monarch  of  the  West Monarch. 

Neuman's  Prolific Neuman. 

Pi-esident  Wilder Wilder. 

Wilson's  Albany Wilson. 

THE    DRAG. 

Wherever  introduced  the  drag  is  taking  the  place  of  the  roller. 
In  almost  every  way  it  does  better  work.  If  the  ground  is  uneven 
the  roller  will  not  smooth  it ;  the  drag  will.  If  the  clods  are  hard 
and  dry,  and  the  rest  of  the  ground  loose,  the  roller  will  often 
simply  push  them  down  without  crushing  them  ;  the  drag  grinds 
them  fine.  If  the  lumps  are  wet,  the  roller  will  be  likely  to  press 
them  into  a  solid  mass,  and  while  the  drag  will  often  tear  them  to 
pieces,  leaves  them  loose  to  be  dried  by  the  sun  and  air.  The  best 
form  of  drag  is  made  of  oak  plank  two  inches  thick,  and  about  a 
foot  or  fourteen  inches  -wide.  If  for  four  horses,  the  planks  can  be 
about  twenty  feet  long  ;  if  for  only  two  horses,  ten  or  twelve  feet 
long.  These  are  bolted  firmly  together,  overlapping  about  two 
inches.  About  two  feet  from  each  end  of  the  front  plank,  a  strap 
clevis  is  fixed  to  receive  the  double-trees,  and  a  team  is  hitched  to 
each,  the  driver  standing  on  the  drag  behind.  If  the  driver's 
weight  is  not  enough,  stones  or  logs  may  be  added.  For  a  two- 
horse  drag,  a  hole  is  bored  in  the  front  plank  about  two  feet  on 
each  side  of  its  center,  and  a  chain  is  then  passed  through  tliese 
lioles,  connected  with  a  clevis  in  front,  to  which  the  double-tree  is 
attached. — American  Agriculturist. 


Secretary's  Budget.  405 

I  herewith  present  the  description  of  two  new  tools  of  Mis- 
souri patent  and  mri-uufacture  that  will  be  of  great  use  to  every 
horticulturist. 

l§t.  S.  I.  Haseltme,  of  Dorchester,  Mo.,  Hand  Weeder  and 
Scraper. — A  very  useful  tool  for  the  gardener  who  grows  the  onion, 
heet,  radish,  or  lettuce  for  market ;  for  the  florist  who  grows  many 
plants  in  beds,  for  the  horticulturists  especially  in  growing  the 
strawberry.  A  little  jiractice  in  its  use  and  it  is  astonishing  how 
fiuicvkly  one  can  destroy  the  weeds. 

DESCIIIPTIOK. 

Total  length  of  weeder  9)^  inches. 

Blade  %  in.  wide,  %  in.  thick  and  has  fine  sharp  edges. 
The  cut  is  one-sixth  full  size  and  gives  an  idea  of  what  the 
tool  is. 


I  have  used  it  also  in  scraping  trees  both  the  bodies  and  at  the 
ground  for  borers.  If  a  little  stiffer  it  would  be  an  admirable  too] 
for  this  purpose  also,  but  probably  would  not  work  quite  so  easily 
in  the  ground. — Secketary. 

3nd.  J.  C.  Merine,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Fruit-Picker. —  In 
gathering  specimens  or  in  gathering  early  apples,  pears  or  peaches, 
where  they  are  easily  bruised,  we  have  here  a  tool  that  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  j)urpose.  A  little  practice  and  one  soon  learns  the 
'^  knack"  of  the  tool  and  can  use  it  rapidly  and  to  good  advantage. 
Every  fruit-grower  needs  one  of  these  if  for  no  other  purjoose  than 
to  gather  specimens. 

DESCRIPTION. 

This  picker  is  on  the  end  of  a  long  pole  and  has  a  pair  of  jaws 
which  shut  with  a  wire  cord  on  the  handle,  thus  cutting  off  the 
stem  so  as  to  be  sure  to  have  it  with  the  fruit.  It  was  shown  at  our 
state  meeting  at  St.  Joseph  and  at  the  Mississippi  Valley  meeting 
at  New  Orleans  and  elicited  manv  favorable  remarks. — Sec'y. 


406  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


CALIFORNIA   VS.    MISSOURI    VALLEY. 

Grant  City,  Mo.,  July  19tli. 
Editor  Prairie  Farmer  : — Fair  farming  lands  in  California 
are  held  at  from  1100  to  1300  per  acre,  and  orange  orchards  and 
vineyards  have  a  speculative  value.  Better  farms  can  be  bought  in 
the  Missouri  Valley  for  $30  per  acre,  and  will  raise  more  certain 
and  substantial  crops  than  are  grown  in  California.  Further,  who 
does  not  know  that  a  good  apple  orchard,  a  corn  field,  and  a  potato 
patch  will  beat  the  orange  groves  and  vineyards  of  California.  Then 
again,  compare  the  condition  of  the  Chinese  and  laboring  men  in 
California  with  the  intelligent  laboring  men  of  the  Missouri  Valley, 
and  the  climate  of  California  with  that  of  our  Valley  States. 

One  who  has  been  there. 

too  much  fruit. 

On  page  599,  is  a  complaint  of  the  small  fruit  market  being 
overstocked.  This  is  no  doubt  true,  but  why  and  how  best  reme- 
died ?  Let  me  name  one  great  trouble  that  with  reasonable  fore- 
thought and  care  can  certainly  be  very  largely  remedied.  Instead 
of  shipping  almost  the  entire  crop  to  a  few  large  cities,  let  all  the 
fruit  consuming  stations  the  country  over  be  properly  supplied  di- 
rect from  the  growers.  The  fruit  interest  of  this  country  is  big 
enough  to  be  far  better  organized  than  it  is  at  present. — F.  K.  P., 
Delavan,  Wis. 

uses  of  pyrethkum. 

Pyrethrum,  or  the  Persian  insect  powder,  seems  to  be  an  effectual 
check  to  the  ravages  of  the  cabbage  worm  if  properly  and  seasonably 
applied.  A  correspondent  of  the  Indiana  Farmer  relates  his  ex- 
perience in  its  use  last  season  whereby  he  was  able  to  secure  four 
hundred  and  fifty  good  solid  heads  from  five  hundred  plants  set  out. 
He  used  a  common  tablespoonful  of  the  powder  to  a  two  and  one- 
half  gallon  watering  pot,  first  putting  in  the  powder  and  pouring 
on  boiling  water,  stirring  it  well  meanwhile.  After  standing  to 
steep  awhile  it  is  ready  to  apply  to  the  plants  by  spraying.  He 
says,  ''the  effect  M^as  marvelous,  for  in  an  hour's  time  after  the 
application  not  a  live  worm  could  be  found,  unless  by  chance  he  had 
been  missed.  Two  applications  were  made  per  week  as  long  as  any 
worms  could  be  found.     Only  about  thirty-five  cents  worth  of  the 


Secretary's  Budget.  407 

powder  was  used  upon  the  cabbages,  and  the  labor  did  not  exceed 
one  ancl  a  half  hours  per  week.  The  powder  can  be  bought  at  any 
druggist's,  retailing  at  fifty  to  sixty  cents  per  pound.  It  would 
doubtless  prove  effective  in  destroying  many  other  insects  which 
prey  upon  vegetation.  It  is  one  of  the  best  destroyers  of  bed  bugs, 
lice  on  stock  of  all  kinds,  including  chickens,  sheepticks,  etc.  For 
such  purposes  it  is  best  applied  dry.  Druggists  keep  and  sell  a 
little  blower  with  which  to  use  it  in  its  dry  state.  If  applied  to 
animals  the  hair,  wool  or  feathers  should  be  parted  and  the  powder 
applied  directly  to  the  skin  by  the  blower.  When  a  chicken  house 
has  become  infested  with  lice  it  is  too  often  ditticult  to  eradicate 
them,  on  account  of  the  many  cracks  in  which  they  harbor.  But 
with  the  blower  the  powder  can  be  introduced  everywhere,  making 
a  thorough  renovation  of  the  premises,  as  the  writer  can  testify 
from  an  experience  he  had  a  few  years  ago. — Farmer  h  Review. 

FACTS  CONCERNING  FRUIT  EVAPORATION. 

From  the  American  Garden  we  take  the  following  :. 

"In  any  process  of  evaporation  the  great  desideratum  is  the 
application  of  intense  heat  in  the  first  stage  of  drying,  except  in 
the  case  of  grajies  and  similar  fruits,  where  extreme  heat  will 
burst  the  skin  and  allow  the  juice  to  floSv  out — as  the  great  heat 
will,  by  affecting  the  outer  surface  of  the  substance,  form  an  im- 
penetrable external  coating,  thus  retaining  the  flavor  and  other 
desirable  qualities  of  the  fruit. 

The  best  arrangement,  and  indeed  the  only  proper  one,  is  to 
subject  the  material  to  a  continuous  current  of  hot  air.  This  cur- 
rent cannot  be  made  hot  enough  to  scorch  or  burn  the  fruit,  if  it 
be  kept  in  brisk  motion  ;  but  let  it  become  stagnant  for  a  short 
time  and  the  product  will  undoubtedly  be  ruined  by  the  intense 
heat. 

Raspberries  we  have  found  to  be  very  profitable,  as  three  quarts 
of  the  fresh  fruit  yield  one  pound  of  the  evaporated,  and  this  has  a 
ready  sale  at  thirty-seven  cents  per  pound.  So,  in  case  the  market 
price  for  fresh  berries  is  down,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  put  them  in 
such  a  shape  that  we  can  command  better  figures. 

Corn,  properly  evaporated,  makes  a  dish  fully  equal  to  that 
just  cut  from  the  cob,  at  a  cost  of  about  fifteen  cents  per  pound. 
Half  a  pound  is  sufficient  for  a  family  meal. 

Pumpkins  also  make  a  good  article,  when  evaporated — fully 
equal  to  fresh  ones  for  making  pies,  thus  extending  tlie  pie  season 
through  the  entire  year. 


408  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

Many  other  fruits  and  vegetables,  which  can  readily  be  dried, 
have  not  yet  taken  a  place  in  the  market,  or  are  not  known  in  this 
condition  to  commerce.  Among  these  are  dried  sweet  potatoes, 
which  those  who  have  tried  them  like  very  much.  "When  thus 
preserved,  they  are  safe  from  frost  and  other  contingency,  and, 
although  not  in  condition  for  being  baked,  are  excellent  for 
stewing. 

Evaporated  peaches  and  apples  are  now  extensively  shipped  to 
European  ports,  and  are  a  great  factor  in  our  exporting  trade. 
Evaporated  sweet  corn  will  also  before  long  rank  with  these  as  an 
important  article  of  export,  on  account  of  its  superiority  over  the 
canned  article. 

Almost  any  vegetable  or  fruit  can  have  its  surplus  water  driven 
off  by  proper  evaporation,  and,  by  again  restoring  tliat  water  when 
wanted  for  use,  makes  a  highly  welcome  substitute  when  the  fruit 
article  is  not  to  be  had. 

POPULAR    IS^AMES. 

If  those  friends  in  the  old  world  who  find  comfort  in  poimlar 
names  of  jalants  had  a  whole  continent  to  deal  with;  as  we  have, 
we  believe  they  would  soon  tire  of  popular  names,  pleasing  as  they 
may  be  to  some  ears.  Our  nurserymen  and  seedmen  are  nearly 
driven  crazy  by  the  number  Avhich  spring  up  in  every  direction, 
and  they  in  turn  appeal  for  relief  to  the  editor  of  Gardener's 
Monthly,  who  is  powerless  to  help  them.  By  this  one  mail  we  have 
three  letters  from  these  unfortunates.  One  has  an  order  for  "  two 
bushels  of  evergreen  seeds  for  cattle  pasture.  It  is  a  kind  of  grass," 
Another  wants  to  know  if  the  "fruit  bushes  of  the  white  brier  can 
be  had  in  any  nursery?"  The  third,  and  she  must  be  a  highly  edu- 
cated lady,  inquires  for  "bushes  of  the  Paris  de  ponetta."  As  to 
the  last,  we  hazarded  the  suggestion  to  our  bewildered  friend  to 
send  the  lady  a  Pyrus  japonica. 

ADORNMENT   OF    A    LADY's    HAT. 

In  a  recent  Monthly  you  mention  Mahonia  aquifolia  leaves  as 
becoming  very  fashionable  in  Europe.  It  seems  we  Americans  can- 
not start  a  fashion,  even  if  we  are  first  to  see  the  beauty  and  pro- 
priety of  anything.  We  must  wait  for  our  cousins  across  the  At- 
lantic to  take  the  lead  ;  then,  like  sheep,  we  follow,  be  it  good  or 
bad.  This  time  they  were  not  first  in  making  use  of  the  Mahonia 
leaves.  Here  they  have  been  in  fashion  for  ten  years  or  more. 
Many  a  buttonhole  bouquet  has  been  carried  away  from  here  made 
of,  Mahonia  leaves  and  rose  buds. 


Secretary's  Budget.  409 

Four  years  ago  my  sister  asked  what  kind  of  flowers  I  would 
■  select  for  a  summer  hat.  I  said  if  I  were  to  wear  flowers,  I  would 
have  the  genuine  or  none  at  all.  That  with  Mahonia  leaves  and 
roses  and  a  few  other  flowers  of  the  season,  a  hat  could  be  trimmed 
much  nicer  than  any  I  had  ever  seen  with  artificial  flowers,  and  I 
would  like  to  have  her  try.  She  at  once  agreed  to  try  the  experi- 
ment. That  hat  was  a  success  all  through  the  season,  judging  from 
the  many  remarks  made  about  it  and  the  frequent  question, 
"  Where  did  you  get  your  hat,  I  like  that  trimming  ?"  No  one 
suspected  that  the  flowers  were  not  counterfeit  like  all  the  rest. 

KEFORM  THE  FAIRS. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Woodward,  in  the  way  of  journalistic  duty,  visited 
many  of  the  leading -'agricultural"  fairs  during  the  last  year  or 
two,  and  found  a  deplorable  condition  at  most  of  them  which  he 
dared  to  denounce  through  The  Tribune  and  Bural  Xew  Yorker, 
in  terms  severe,  but  mainly  just.  In  return  he  has  been  sharply- 
arraigned  by  some  of  the  directors  and  officers  whose  sliameful 
doings  were  thus  exposed.  This  was  to  be  expected,  and  indicates 
that  the  criticism  is  happily  not  without  hopeful  effect. 

In  a  recent  summing  up  of  the  investigations  he  does  not,  as 
we  believe,  put  the  case  too  strongly  when  he  declares  that  while 
none  of  these  exhibitions  are  free  from  objectionable  features,  they 
have,  with  three  or  four  exceptions,  been  so  conducted  as  to  be  a 
disgrace  to  the  managers  and  a  n/rse  to  the  coninninities  in  which 
they  were  held.  Money-making  has  seemed  to  be  the  controlling 
idea;  '"no  matter  how  fraudulent,  demoralizing,  degrading  or 
corrupting  "  their  side-shows,  traveling  scamps  could  always  obtain 
the  best  positions  on  the  grounds  if  willing  to  pay  well  for  the 
privilege  of  plying  their  nefarious  arts. 

In  view  of  the  drinking  and  gambling  thus  directly  fostered,  is 
it  too  much  to  say  that  the  fairs  as  now  conducted  are  "the  most 
pernicious  of  all  influences  at  work  to  corrupt  the  morals  of  our 
sons,  our  daughters,  indeed  of  the  nation  ?  Remembering  that  the 
country's  hope  is  in  its  boys  and  girls  ;  remembering  also  the  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  young,  we  feel  inclined  to  accept  the  statement  as 
founded  on  fact.  Certainly  there  is  truth  enough  in  it  to  warrant 
right-thinking  people — who  always  control  when  they  will — in  de- 
termining that  agricultural  fairs  shall  be  either  "reformed  or 
abandoned. " —  Tribii  ue. 


410  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

CULTIVATED    PLANTS  AND  THE  TIME  OF   THEIR  INTRODUCTION. 

The  following  list  contains  the  date  of  introduction  of  some 
of  the  foreign  plants  which  are  now  familiar  in  our  gardens  and 
conservatories  : 

The  common  Acacia  tree,  a  native  of  North  America,  was  first 
cultivated  by  John  Tradescant,  Sr.,  in  1640. 

The  French  and  African  Marygolds  were  introduced  by  John 
Gerard,  author  of  the  ''Herbal,"  in  159G. 

The  Almond  tree,  from  Barbary,  is  first  mentioned  by  Lobelius 
in  1570.  A  few  years  later,  in  1596,  Gerard  cultivated  the  com- 
mon Pomegranate. 

The  dwarf  Pomegranate  of  the  West  Indies  did  not  appear  in 
our  gardens  before  1730.  To  Gerard  we  also  owe  the  first  intro- 
duction of  the  Yucca  gloriosa  and  the  African  Aloe.  The  Agave 
Americana  was  not  cultivated  for  a  century  later. 

The  Apple  and  Pear,  Plum,  and  Cherry,  are  native  plants,  but 
the  Quince  came  from  Austria  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

The  Cucumber  is  a  native,  but  was  first  cultivated  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  as  was  the  common  Melon. 

Asparagus,  Cabbage,  or  Brassica  oleracea,  in  all  its  varieties  of 
White,  Red,  Savoy,  Cauliflower,  Broccoli  :  Turnips,  or  Brassica 
rapa.  Beet,  Hops,  Horseradish,  Celery,  Onions,  Leeks,  Radishes, 
Mustard,  Cress,  Lettuce,  are  all  indigenous  plants. 

The  Potato,  as  is  well  known,  came  from  America  ;  the  Mar- 
rowfat or  common  garden  Pea  from  the  South  of  Europe,  as  did  the 
globe  Artichoke,  the  Bean  from  Egypt,  the  China  Orange  from  In- 
dia in  1629,  the  Lemon  from  Asia  an  1648,  the  Jerusalem  Artichoke 
from  Brazil  in  1617,  the  Coffee  plant  in  1696,  the  Tea  plant  about 
1768,  Parsley  from  Sardinia  in  1551  ;  and  to  foreign  countries  we 
are  also  indebted  for  almost  all  spices  and  condiments  except  must- 
ard. 

Garden  Balsam,  a  native  of  the  East  Indies,  was  introduced  by 
Gerard  in  1596. 

The  Plantain  tree  was  first  cultivated  at  Hampton  Court  in 
1690,  and  the  Banana  in  1781. 

The  Cedar  of  Lebanon,  now  so  common,  was  not  grown  in 
England  before  1783,  and  is  first  mentioned  in  a  letter  of  Ray  of 
that  year. 

The  common  white  Larch  had  been  introduced  in  1629,  and 
the  Norway  Spruce  Fir  m  1739,  first  in  Chelsea  Gardens, 


Secretary's  Budget.  411 

The  Canadian  or  white  Spruce  Fir  was  cultivated  in  1700  by 
Bishop  Compton, 

The  Cypress  tree"  of  Southern  Europe  was  cultivated  in  the 
garden  of  Sion  House  in  1551  ;  the  white  Cedar,  or  arborvitse- 
leaved  Cypress,  in  173G. 

The  common  hollyhock  came  from  China  at  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

Maize  or  Indian  corn  had  been  grown  about  the  middle  of  tliat 
century. 

To  Gerard  we  owe  the  common  Syringa  from  the  south  of 
Europe. 

The  Sensitive  plant,  Mimosa  pudica,  from  Brazil,  is  first 
mentioned  in  1733  by  Dr.  Houston,  who  also  introduced  more  than 
one  species  of  Passion  flower  from  the  West  Indies. 

The  Laurel  or  common  sweet  Bay  came  in  1562  from  Italy,  the 
Laurestine  in  1596  from  the  south  of  Europe. 

The  Ancuba  japonica,  now  universal  in  our  shrubberies,  was 
first  introduced  from  Japan  in  1783  by  Mr.  John  Gr^fer.  The 
female  plant,  with  its  splendid  berries,  has  only  been  introduced 
during  the  last  few  years,  the  Aucuba  being  till  then  regarded  as  a 
monoecious  plant.  We  might  extend  this  list  largely,  but  enough 
has  been  noted  to  show  how  recent  have  been  many  of  the  additions 
to  our  gardens  and  forests,  and  how  small  the  variety  of  species 
known  before  the  days  of  Gerard's  "  Herbal,"  or  even  of  Evelyn's 
"Sylva."  A  more  complete  list  of  the  now^  common  trees  and 
flowers,  with  the  time  and  circumstances  of  their  introduction  to 
England,  would  l)e  an  interesting  compilation. — Leisure  Hour. 

ABNORMAL   STRAWBERRY. 

Prof.  Grolf  notes  :  "  Roses  are  sometimes  seen  with  the  stem 
growing  beyond  the  flower.  This  spring  some  one  sent  me  a  straw- 
berry in  which  the  stem  had  continued  to  grow  beyohd  the  fruit. 
Has  this  been  often  observed  ?  " 

[It  sometimes  occurs.  The  fruiting  stem  of  a  strawberry  is 
simply  a  metamorphosed  runner,  which  has  become  erect,  and 
hence,  a  short  stem  may  appear  from  a  flower  head,  just  as  it  would 
beyond  the  young  plant  on  a  runner. — Ed.  G.  ilf.  ] 


412  Missouri  State  Horticultiiral  Society. 

FREAKS    OF    NATURE. 

Wm.  Bassett,  Hammouton,  N.  J.,  says:  "1  have  several 
times  observed  a  secondary  flower  stem  growing  from  another,  on 
geranium  Dr.  Lindley.  These  were  always  smaller  than  the 
original  cluster,  but  produced  leaves  and  could  be  used  for  propa- 
gation the  same  as  other  portions  of  the  plant," 

[It  may  be  worth  while  to  note  that  a  flower  stem  is  only  a 
modified  branch,  and,  when  not  perfectly  reduced  fi-om  a  bianchto 
a  flower  stem,  may  produce  weak  branches,  as  if  it  were  a  perfect 
branch.  Indeed  it  is  because  of  just  such  occurrences  as  these  that 
the  morphologist  is  able  to  lay  down  the  law  that  a  flower  shoot  is 
but  a  modified  branch,  for  no  one  has  been  able  to  get  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  transformation. — Editor  Gardener's  Monthly.^ 

PRODIGIOUS    STRAWBERRIES. 

We  have  had  brought  to  our  attention  this  season  an  extraor- 
dinary number  of  new  seedlings,  each  claiming  to  be  the  best  ever 
raised,  but  when  we  get  them  we  fail  lo  see  any  difference  from 
scores  of  others  already  known,  and  decline  to  give  the  desired 
"boost"  to  them.  We  are  willing  to  go  to  the  expense  of  engraving 
anything  when  such  engraving  informs  and  instructs ;  but  in  the 
case  of  these  strawberries,  all  we  should  have  to  do  would  be  to 
sort  out  some  cut  of  a  bushel  on  hand,  and  no  reader  would  ever 
be  the  wiser.  This  fact  seems  to  impress  others  as  well  as  us,  for 
the  trade  cuts  now  generally  aim  at  something  else  besides  form 
and  color.  Before  us  is  a  colored  illustration  of  a  grand  novelty, 
which  gives  a  stalk  with  twenty  berries  all  ripe,  and  not  one  less 
than  three  inches  round  on  the  side  of  view,  and  allowing  one-half 
on  the  side  we  cannot  see,  this  would  give  thirty  berries  all  ripe  at 
one  time  on  a  single  stalk,  and  ranging  from  three  to  four  and  a 
half  inches  in  diameter.  We  should  not  like  to  say  such  a  sight 
is  impossible,  or  that  the  picture  is  overdrawn,  but  we  do  say  that 
few  who  buy  the  plants  will  ever  see  the  picture  realized. — Editor 
Gardeners'  Monthly. 

PROPAGATING    PLANTS. 

Is  there  any  more  bewitching  occupation  that  reasonable 
mortals  can  engage  in  than  the  propagation  of  new  and  rare  hardy 
trees  and  shrubs  ?  To  see  sin'inging  up  around  you  the  thrifty 
rows  of  little  beauties  collected  by  loving  hands  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  nature's  darlings,  the  pride  of  many  distant 
people,  and  the  surprise  and  delight  of  our  own  countrymen,  is  a 
pure  and  daily  new  sensation,  whose  bright  charm  keeps  us  always 
children  in  our  quick  impressibility  and  enthusiasm. 


Secretary's  Budget.  413 

GAEDEX    BEAUTY. 

^  Rev.  A.  B.  Muzzey  tells  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society  that  in  the  practice  of  horticulture  in  its  highest  branches 
three  things  are  necessary — first,  a  practical  knowledge  ;  and  to 
supply  this  want  we  have  papers  and  discussions  of  a  practical  cast. 
Second,  money  is  wanted ;  and,  with  a  right  spirit  and  culture,  the 
more  the  better. 

He  was  glad  to  see  men  grow  rich  honestly,  and  furnish  the 
means  for  refining  and  elevating  pursuits.  But  something  is  want- 
ed beyond  producing  marketable  articles,  however  laudable  that 
may  be.  Man  has  an  inherent  love  of  beautiful  tilings,  and 
through  a  taste  for  the  beautiful  products  of  horticulture,  a  deep 
and  glorious  part  of  human  nature  is  ultimately  reached.  Some 
are  content  for  a  time  with  the  practical  view,  but  sooner  or  later 
there  comes  a  point  where  we  must  increase  the  taste  for  the  beau- 
tiful. There  is  among  the  American  people  a  great  lack  of  culture 
and  taste,  but  they  are  taking  steps  to  supply  it,  and  if  this  society 
does  not  assist  in  educating  the  taste  of  the  community,  it  will,  in 
part  at  least,  have  failed  of  its  object.  A  man  may  be  jDossessed  of 
wealth,  but  there  is  something  wanting  to  him  if  he  has  not  a  sense 
of  the  beautiful  and  does  not  know  what  a  magnificent  world  we 
live  in.  Why  has  the  Great  Artist  so  clothed  the  universe  in 
beauty,  but  that  it  may  be  appreciated  and  enjoyed  by  his  children? 

THE    INVENTOK    OF    SHAKING    FOR    CUECULIO. 

In  a  recent  rssueit  was  remarked  that  the  inventor  of  the  certain 
and  very  profitable  method  of  destroying  the  plum  curculio, 
should  be  definitely  fixed  before  it  is  too  late.  Horticulture  should 
establish  to  whom  it  is  indebted  for  so  valuable  a  practice.  The 
Country  Gentlemaa  is  inclined  to  give  the  credit  to  David  Thomas, 
who  practiced  it  successfully  "about  sixty  years  ago."  Let  us  fix 
the  date  at  1824.  Is  there  anything  that  will  place  the  successful 
practice  earlier? 

COLOR   vs.    FLAVOR   IN   FRUITS,    ETC. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Goff,  of  the  New  York  experiment  station,  has  an 
interesting  article  in  the  last  American  Naturalist,  on  the  relation 
of  color  to  flavor  in  fruits  and  vegetables.  He  collates  some  signifi- 
cant facts  pointing  to  the  conclusion  that  the  lighter  the  color  of 
the  flesh,  the  milder  the  flavor,  and  the  less  firm  the  texture.  Thus^ 
blanched  celery  and  asparagus  are  much  more  palatable  than  the 
green,   white    cabbages  are  milder  than  the  red   variety^  and  light 


414  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

colored  onions  are  less  strongly  flavored  tlian  red  ones.  The  most 
sugar  is  derived  from  beets  destitute  of  coloring  matter,  and  red 
carrots  have  a  more  pungent  taste  than  yellow  or  white  ones.  White 
apples  are,  as  a  rule,  much  less  acid  than  their  brighter  colored  rel- 
atives, and  the  same  is  true  of  pears,  and  even  more  strikingly  of 
jjeaches.  A  more  marked  instance  is  seen  in  the  white  and  red 
currants. 

Of  the  practical  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  application  of 
this  hypothesis,  Mr.  GofE  says  :  "In  the  amelioration  of  fruits  and 
vegetables,  it  is  the  constant  aim  of  the  horticulturist  to  intensify, 
so  far  as  possible,  the  desirable  qualities,  and  to  eliminate  the  unde- 
sirable ones.  It  is  evident  therefore,  that  if  it  can  be  shown  that 
the  color  of  the  flesh  has  a  direct  relation  to  its  flavor  and  tender- 
ness, we  have  a  valuable  index  in  the  work  of  selection.  If  by 
whitening  the  flesh  of  a  fruit  through  selection  we  can  eliminate 
acidity  and  solidity,  or  if  by  darkening  tiie  flesh  of  another  fruit, 
already  too  tender  and  insipid,  in  the  same  way,  we  can  heighten 
its  characteristic  flavor,  and  increase  its  firmness,  we  have  gained  a 
new  faculty  in  the  work  of  making  the  products  of  nature  subserv- 
ient to  our  wants," 

ADVANCEMBSTT   IN    ENTOMOLOGY. 

Prof.  C.  V.  Eiley  recently  read  a  valuable  paper  before  the 
Philosophical  Society  of  Washington  on  the  subject  of  recent  ad- 
vances in  economic  entomology,  which  he  has  kindly  sent  to  the 
Prairie  Farmer  for  publication.  The  paper  set^  forth  tlie  parr 
which  insects  play  in  the  economy  of  nature,  and  particularly  their 
influence  on  American  agriculture.  The  earlier  writers  on  applied 
entomology  in_  the  United  States,  as  Peck,  Harris,  Fitch,  Walsh, 
LeBaron,  Glover,  did  some  excellent  work  in  their  studies,  but  the 
most  important  results  followed  when  such  studies  were  combined 
with  fleld  work  and  experiment  by  competent  persons  and  upon 
scientific  principles.  A  number  of  the  remedies  proposed  in  the 
agricultural  press  are  foolish   and  based  on  misleading  experience. 

Economic  entomology  as  a  science  is  of  comparatively  recent 
date.  It  implies  full  knowledge  of  the  particularly  injurious 
species  to  be  dealt  with  and  of  its  enemies,  of  its  relations  to 
other  animals,  and  to  wild  and  cultivated  plants.  In  short,  the 
whole  environment  of  the  species  must  be  considered,  especially 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  farmer^s  wants.  The  habits  of  birds, 
more  particularly,  and  the  bearings  of  meteorology  and  of  the 
development   of  minute  parasitic   organisms  must  be  considered. 


Secrelarifs  Budget.  415 

Experiments  with  insecticides  and  appliances  will  then  be  intelli- 
gent and  successful  in  proportion  as  the  facts  of  chemistry, 
dynamics,  and  mechanics  are  utilized.  The  complicated  nature  of 
the  problem  is  illustrated  by  the  life-history  of  the  Grape  PImjUooc- 
era,  and  the  difficulties  encountered  m  acquiring  facts  are 
illustrated  by  the  late  investigation  of  the  cotton  worm. 

The  chief  insecticides  considered  for  general  use  and  applicable 
above  ground  are  tobacco,  w4iite  hellebore,  soap,  arsenical  com. 
pounds,  petroleum  and  pyrethrum  ;  those  for  use  under  ground, 
naphthaline,  suljjho-carbonate  of  potassium  and  bi-sulphide  of 
carbon.  Recent  experiment  showed  that  kerosene  emulsions,  such 
as  have  been  recommended  lately  in  the  official  entomological 
reports,  are  superior  to  bi-siilpliide  of  carbon  when  used  under 
ground  against  the  Grape  Pliylloxera,  and  the  discovery  is  deemed 
of  great  importance,  especially  to  the  French  people  and  those  on 
our  Pacific  slope.  Contrary  to  general  belief,  pyrethrum  powder 
has  been  shown  to  have  a  peculiar  and  toxic  effect  on  higher  animals 
as  well  as  on  the  lower  forms  of  life.  Its  deadly  influence  on  lower 
organisms  led  the  author  to  strongly  recommend  its  use  as  a  disin- 
fectant, and  to  express  the  belief  that  it  will  yet  come  to  be  used 
in  medicine. 

The  paper  concluded  with  the  following  plea  applied  for  sci- 
ence :  "  Matters  of  fact» do  not  tend  to  provoke  thought  and  dis- 
cussion ;  and  I  must  confess  to  some  misgivings  in  bringing  these 
practical  considerations  before  a  body  which  reflects  some  of  the 
highest  and  purest  science  and  philosophy  of  the  nation.  ,  From  the 
days  of  Archimedes  down  to  the  j)resent  day,  there  has  existed  a 
disposition  to  decry  applied  science  and  to  sneer  at  the  practical 
man.  Yet  I  often  think  that  science,  no  matter  in  Avhat  fine-sound- 
ing name  we  clothe  her,  or  how  high  above  the  average  understand- 
ing we  stilt  her,  is,  after  all,  but  common  sense  employed  in  dis- 
covering the  hidden  secrets  of  the  universe  and  in  turning  them  to 
man's  wants,  whether  sensual  or  intellectual. 

Between  the  unbalanced  vaporings  of  the  pseudo-scientific 
theorizer  and  the  uninformed  empiric  who  stumbles  upon  a  dis- 
covery, there  is  the  firm  middle  ground  of  logical  induction  and 
deduction,  and  true  science  can  neither  be  exalted  by  its  inappli- 
cability, nor  degraded  by  its  subserviency  to  man's  material  welfare. 
The  beat  results  follow  when  the  pure  and  the  applied  go  hand-in- 
hand — when  theory  and  practice  are  wedded.  Once  the  naturalist 
was  honored  in  proportion  as  he  dealt  with  the  dry  bones  of  his 
science.     Pedantry  and  taxonomy  over-shadowed  biologic  research. 


416  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

To-day,  largely  through  Charles  Darwin's  influence,  we  recognize 
the  necessity  of  drawing  our  inspiration  more  directly  from  the  vital 
manifestations  of  nature  in  our  attempt  to  solve  some  of  the  many 
far-reaching  problems  which  modern  science  presents.  The  fields 
of  biology,  morphology,  physiology,  psychology,  are  more  inviting 
than  formerly.  Nor  is  the  lustre  that  glorifies  the  names  of  Ste- 
venson, Watts,  Faraday,  Franklin,  Morse,  Henry,  Siemens,  and  a 
host  of  yet  living  investigators  dimmed  because  they  made  science 
useful.  If  to-day,  right  here  in  Washington,  there  is  great  activity 
in  the  fields  of  original  research,  if  the  nation  is  encouraging  it  in  a 
manner  we  may  well  be  proud  of,  the  fact  is  due  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  efforts  of  those  who  have  made  practical  ends  a  means,  rather 
than  to  those  who  would  make  science  more  exclusive,  and  who  are 
indifferent  to  practical  ends  or  popular  sympathy.'' 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Annual  Meeting  at  St.  Joe 86 

Annual  Meeting  of  Mississippi  Valley 62 

Annual  Eeport  of  Secretary 138 

Annual  Report  of  Treasurer 324 

Address  of  Welcome,  June 15 

Address  of  Welcome,  December 113 

Address  by  S.  S.  Laws,  D.  D 18 

Address  by  Vice-President,  A.  W.  St.  John 25 

Address  of  Parker  Earl  at  M.  V.  H.  S.  Meeting 63 

Apples  in  England 278 

A  Few  Facts  in  Orchards .• 284 

A  Suggestion .......  311 

An  Entirely  New  Plan 314 

Agricultural  Statesman '. 316 

A  New  Apple 203 

A  Few  New  Implements  150 

Bills 148 

Birds,  Paper  on , 265 

Birds 369 

Insect-Eating  Birds 369 

Ants,  Snakes  and  Birds '. 371 

English  Sparrows 371 

Best  Evergreens 306 

Best  Kinds  of  Apples 276 

Bearing  Orchards 276 

Berry  Notes 287 

Constitution 10 

Constitution  for  Local  Societies 12 

Committee  Standing 9 

Committee  on  Sec'y-  Report,  June  Meeting 47 

Committee  on  Flowers,  June  Meeting 47 

Committee  on  Fruits 47 

Cherries,  Paper  on 157 

Chestnut 310 

Curl  in  the  Peach 313 

Cold  for  Shipment  of  Fruit 352 

Call  for  Fruit  for  World's  Fair 144 

Discussion  on  Roses 24 

Horticulturists 29 

Evaporating  Fruits 36,  202 

Strawberry 53 

Market  Fruits 80 

•     Orchards '. 106 


418  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

PAGE. 

Discussion  on  Varieties  Apples 110 

Small  Fruits 137 

Cherry 160 

Curculio 167 

Downing,  Chas, Letters  from 43,  137 

Discussion  on  Ornamentals 188 

Essay,  Home  Surroundings,  D.  F.  Emry 21 

Tender  Roses,  S.  F.  Phoenix 23 

Entomology.  Mary  E.  Murtfeldt 29 

Fruit  in  South  Missouri,   Z.  S.  Eagan 32 

Our  Surplus  Fruits,  A.  "W.  McPherson 35 

Market  Fruits  of  Kansas  City,  L.  A.  Goodman 76 

Where  to  Plant,  Dan  Carpenter 95 

Healthy  Orchards,  N.  F.  Murry ,  99 

Trouble  With  Orchards,  H.  Scholton 107 

Six  Varieties  of  Apples.  C.  Thorp 108 

Codling  Moth.  F.  Fleischer Ill 

Hort'icultural  Outlook,  C.  W.  Murtfeldt 114 

Forestry.  F.  P.  Baker 117 

New  in  Horticulture,  J.  N.  Menifee 122 

Raspberry,  W.  M.  Hopkins 135 

Cherry,  F.  Holsinger 157 

Plum,  C.  H.  Fink 161 

Peach,  J.  A.  Durkes 163 

New  Plants.  R.  S.  Brown 168 

Home  Adornment,  Mrs.  Dr.  A.  Goslin 171 

Lawn  and  Flower  Garden.  Wade  Burden 175 

Entomology,  Dr.  A.  Goslin 209 

Ornamental,  Z.   S.  Ragan 169 

Ornamental  Planting.  C.  W.  Murtfeldt 183 

Method  in  Planting.  R.  E.  Bailey 177 

Entomology,  Mary  E.  Murtfeldt 204 

Grapes,  G.  E.  Meissner 212 

Effects  of  Summer  Heat.  E.  Liston 219 

South  Missouri  as  a  Fruit  District,  L.  A.  Goodman 221 

Horticultural  Progress.  L.  A.  Goodman 229 

Mission  of  FloM-ers.  Mrs.  F.  Holsinger % 232 

Observation  the  Key  to  Horticultural  Success,  M.  B.  Newman  238 

Varieties  of  Apples.  N.  F.  Murry 243 

Flowers.  Mrs.  H.  B.  Francis 248 

Horticulture,  Thos.  Irish 249 

Horticultural  Outlook,  G.  F.  Espenlaub 259 

Fertility  of  the  Soil,  W.  M.  Hopkins 260 

Treatment  of  Orchards.  J.  A.  Durkes 263 

Birds  in  Horticulture,  Clarke  Irvine 265 

Expenses  of  State  Society 148 

Entomologist  Wanted  (Secretary's  Recommend) 149 

Election  of  Officers 151 

Entertaining  and  Instructive 316  to  323 


Contents.  419 

PAGE. 

Education  on  the  Farm '. 339 

Exhibit  at  World's  Fair 256 

Entomology,    Papers  on 39,  204,  209 

Evaporating  Fruits,  H.  M.  Hoffman J99 

Fruit  Crop,  June  Prospects 140 

Fruit  Crop,  August  Prospects 143 

Fruit  Packages 73 

Fruit  Transportation 75 

Fruit  Handling 74 

Fertility  of  the  Soil,  Paper  on 260 

Forestry,  F.  P.  Baker 117 

Flowers 399  to  305 

Flowers,  Paper  on 348 

Future  of  Ornamentals 317 

Fruit  Committee,  Report 54,  224 

Final  Resolutions,  Report 61,  326 

Flower  Committee,   Report  t 55 

Fruit  Crop,  Report  (Secretary's  Recommend) 149 

Grapes,  Paper  on 213 

Report  on 57 

Grapes 337  to  352 

Culture 337 

Notes  in  Texas,  T.  V.  Munson 339 

Rot ; 346 

Prevention  of 346 

Horticultural  Societies,  Secretary's  Recommendations 149 

Horticultural  Societies, 227  to  256 

Horticultural  Societies,  How  to  Organize 11 

Horticultural   Exhibit,  World's  Fair 256 

Horticultural  Progress,  Paper  on 239 

Horticultural  Outlook,  Paper  on 114,  359 

Horticulture,  Paper  on 249 

Home  Adornment,  Paper  on 171 

How  to  Keep  Orchards  Healthy,  Paper  on 99 

Home  Surroundings,  Paper  on 31 

Huckleberry  Culture 291 

Hybrid  Roses 299 

Hardy  Roses 300 

Insects 70 

Irwine.  Clark,  Paper  by 365 

Implements,   New 150 

Irish,  Thos.,   Paper  by 249 

Insects,  Notes 357 

Insects 357 

Currant  Worms 357 

Striped  Beetles 357 

Wire  Worms' 358,  363 

Cabbage  FUes 358 

Cabbage  Worms 358 


420  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society, 

PAGE. 

Insects — Preventing  Insect  Depredations 359 

Salt  for  Insects 359 

Paris  Green  for  Curctilios 360 

Insects  Injurious  to  Apple 361 

Buttermilk  and  Water  as  an  Insecticide 363 

A  Homely  Friend 363 

Ants  as  Insecticides 364 

Strawberry  Insects 365 

Codling  Moth 365 

Eemedy  for  Phylloxera. ...    365 

Remedy  for  Various  Insects 366 

Beneficial  Insects 368 

Curculio 368 

Jasper  County  Horticultural  Society 251 

Letter.  J.  A.  Rollins 189 

President  S.  M.  Tracy 189 

A.  D.  Webb 192 

John  Gabler 202 

H.  C.  Kirshbaum , 203 

Library,  Secretary's  Recommend 147 

Lawn  and  Flower  Garden,  Paper  on 175 

Largest  Yield  of  Potatoes 323 

Letter,  Chas.  Downing 43,  127 

M.  P.  Wilder .■ 43.128 

C.  W.  Murtfeldt 56 

B.  T.  Galloway 56 

Parker  Earle 56 

W.  H.  Ragan '. 124 

N.  Ohmer 125 

T.  V.  Munson  125 

I.  Bush 126 

Robt.  Manning 126 

E.  H.  Reihl 126 

T.  T.  Lyon 127 

Marketing 352 

Moore's  Early  Grape 339 

Members 5 

Meeting  at  Springfield 18 

Meeting  at  St.  Joseph 86 

Market  Fruits  of  Kansas  City 76 

Mission  of  Flowers,  Paper  on 232 

Mulching  Strawberi'ies 288 

Marlboro  Raspberry ■. 290 

Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society 311 

Missouri  Valley  Horticultural  Society 227 

Miller  County 254 

Memberships,  Recommends  of  Secretary  146 

Methods  in  Planting,  Paper  on 177   , 


Contents.  421 

PAGE. 

Miscellaneous 406 

California  vs.  Missouri  Valley 406 

Too  Much  Fruit 406 

Use  of  Pyrethruni 406 

Facts  of  Fruit  Evaporation 407 

Popular  Names 408 

Adornment  of  a  Lady's  Hat 408 

Reform  the  Fairs 409 

Cultivated  Plants  and  Time  of  their  Introduction 410 

Abnormal  Strawberry  411 

Freaks  of  Nature 412 

Prodigious  Strawberries 412 

Propagating  Plants 412 

Garden  Beauty 413 

Shaking  for  Curculio 413 

Color  vs.  Flavor  in  Fruits,  &c 413 

Advancement  in  Entomology 414 

New  Orleans  Exposition,  Report 256 

New  in  Horticulture,  Paper  on 122 

New  Plants,  Paper  on 168 

New  Things 150 

Notes  on  Geraniums 303 

Niagara  Grape 291 

New  Fruits,  by  President  Wilder 292 

New  Berries 298 

Nomenclature  Committee 20 

New  Apple 203 

New  Things 401 

Revised  Names  of  Fruits 401-404 

The  Drag 404 

Hand  Weeder  and  Scraper 405 

Officers 3 

Observation  the  Key  to  Success,  Paper  on 238 

Ornamentals,  Report  on 20 

Our  Surplus  Fruits,  Paper  on 35 

Ohio  Experiments 323 

Ornamentals,  Papers  on 179-183 

Ornamentals 305-312 

Ornamental  Trees  and  Shnibs 307 

Orchards 276-287 

Orchard  Location 280-281 

Origin  of  Apple 280 

Orchards.  Reports  on 86,  89,  91 

Place  of  Meeting 

Plum,  Paper  on 161 

Peach,  Paper  on 163 

Potato  Puzzle 334 

Poor  Trees 286 

Promised  Novelties 303 


422  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

PAGE. 

Preserving  the  Leading  Shoot  of  Evergreens 305 

Peach  Growing 312 

Primitive  Horticulture '. 322 

Potato  Experiments 330 

Pamphlet  on  Rural  Tastes,  M.  G.  Kern 189 

Phylloxera 349 

Packing  Fruit 352 

Pruning — Tree  Pruning 355 

Report  of  Sec'y.,  Annual 138 

of  Fruit  Prospects,  June 140 

of  Fruit  Prospects,  August 142 

on  Stone  Fruits,  J.  M.  Pretzinger 153 

on  Entomology,  Dr.  A.  Goslin 309 

of  Committee  on  Nomenclature    223 

of  Treasurer,  J.  C.  Evans 224 

of  Fruit  Committee,  St.  Joe 224 

of  Committee  on  Final  Resolutions 226 

of  Misssouri  Valley  Horticultural  Society .' 227 

on  Vegetables,  J.  W.  Kidwell  235 

of  Holt  County  Horticultural  Society 342 

of  Green  County  Horticultural  Society 245 

of  Bates  Coujity  Horticultural  Society 246 

of  Jasper  County  Horticultural  Society 251 

of  Buchanan  County  Horticultural  Society 252 

of  Miller  County,  N.  J.  Shepard 253 

of  Gentry  County,  C.  G.  Comstock 254 

of  Exhibit  at  World's  Fair,  L.  A.  Goodman 256 

of  Fruits,  F.  Lionberger 193 

of  Entomology 204 

of  Resolutions  for  Com.  of  Agricultui-e 151 

on  Stone  Fruits,  D.  F.  Emry 17 

on  Ornamentals,  Z.  S.  Ragan 20 

on  Nomenclature  Committee 20 

of  Secretary  Semi-Annual 37-47 

on  Small  Fruits,  Sam  Miller ;•  • :  •  47 

on  Small  Fruits,  W.  M.  Hopkins .* 49 

on  Rust,  L.  G.  Shepard • 52 

on  Secretary's  Recommends,  Committee 53 

of  Fruit  Committee,  Springfield 54 

of  Flower  Committee,  Springfield 55 

on  Grapes,  G.  E.  Meissner 57 

on  Grapes,  Geo.  Hussmann 58 

on  Final  Resolutions 61 

on  Orchards,  W.  G.  Gano 86 

on  Orchards,  D.  S.  Holman 89 

on  Orchards,  Chas.  Patterson 91 

on  Small  Fruits,  Sam  Millei 129 

on  Small  Fruits,  W.  M.  Hopkins 130 

on  Small  Fruits,  Lionberger  &  Gutman , 131 


Contents.  4:23 

PAGE. 

Report  on  Small  Fruit«,  Jacob  Faith 132 

on  Stone  Fruits 153 

Railroads,  Sec'ys    Recommend 148 

Root  Habit  of  the  Strawberry 289 

Raspberries  in  1884 29) 

Raising  Small  Fruits 296 

Roses  and  Climbers 300 

Root  Louse 283 

Root  Feeding  285 

Rust  on  the  Strawberry 52 

Recommend  of  Secretary 146,  152 

Receipts 373 

Protect  Your  Trees 372 

Salt  for  Red  Rust. . .  .^^ 372 

Lime  for  Grape  Rot 37;> 

How  to  Get  Rid  of  Moles 37:J 

Paris  Green  for  Codling  Moth 374 

A  Wash  to  Kill  Scale 374 

Scale  Insects 374 

Pears  on  Apple  Trees 375 

Protecting  Fruit  from  Birds 375 

Tobacco 375 

Weeds  on  Walks 375 

Rabbit  Trap 376 

Statistics,  Necessity  for 15 1 

State  Entomologist,  Necessity  for 149 

Small  Fruits,  Reports  on 47,  49,  129,  130,  131,  132 

Secretary  s  Budget '. 275-416 

Small  Fruits 278-29!i 

State  Entomologist.  Recommend '    149 

Semi-Annual  Meeting 15 

Semi- Annual  Report  of  Secretary 37 

South  Mo.,  as  a  Fruit  District 221 

Success  with  Orchards 27^ 

Sheep  in  Orchards 279,  282 

Succession  in  the  Strawberry 290 

Strawberry  Notes 291 

Shaffers  Colossal 293 

Sprays  for  Boquets    ....     301 

Stone  Fruits 312-316 

Set  Out  Trees 319 

Seasonable  Hints 320 

Salt  for  Asparagus 324 

Summer  Pruning 287 


Standing  Committee • 9 

Secretary's  Report,  Annual 138 

Secretary's  Report,  Semi-Annual 37 

Stone  Fruits,  Reports  on 17,  153 


424  Missouri  State  Horticultural  Society. 

PAGE. 

Scientific 376 

Trees  as  Lightning  Conductors 376 

Dryness  in  Fruit  House ; . . .  377 

■  Apparent  Waste  in  Nature 377 

Fruit  Ripening  and  Decay 378 

Winter-Killing  Plants  and  Trees 379 

The  Future  of  Horticultural  Experiment 379 

Freezing  of  Sap  in  Trees 380 

Loss  of  Leaves  by  Evergreens 382 

Influence  of  Pollen  on  Strawberries 388. 

Origin  of  Soils 384 

No  Soils  Originally 384 

Action  of  Air,  Water  and  Frost 385 

Sedentary  and  Drift  Soils : 385 

Soils  in  Various  States 386 

Origin  of  Prairie  Soils 386 

The  Cross-Fertilization  of  Strawberries 387 

Paper  on  Antiseptics,    &c 388 

The  Art  of  Canning  and  Preserving 390 

Keeping  Fruits   Without  Cans 393 

Manure  for  the  Orchard 394,  397 

Manuring  Fruit  Trees 395 

Fertilizing  Peach  Orchards 398 

Southern  Apple 400 

Treasurer's  Report 224 

Treatment  of  Orchards,  Paper  on 263 

Trouble  with  Orchards,  Paper  on 107 

Tender  Roses,  Paper  on 23 

The  Burning  Bush,  Whittier 322 

Tomatoes 324 

The  Tulip  Tree 309 

Thick  Planting 310 

The  Peach '. 314 

Unfermented  Wine  350 

Varieties  of  Apples,   Papers  on 243,  108 

Varieties  of  Roses 301 

Vegetables 235,  323 

Variation  of  a  Concord  Grape 351 

Wilder,  Marshall  P.,  Letters 43,  128 

Wealthy  Apple ■. . .  277 

What  Women  Have  Done 325 

Where  to  Plant,  Paper  on 95 

World's  Fair,  Report 256 

World's  Fair,  Preparation  for 144 

Yellows,  None  in  the  West 167 


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