IINUAL RSPORT NEBRASKA |ta,teIorticultural Society i siiliiiiwiiiii:' 1913 ^^i^i&cy^iv;: ::c^;':JNv-;^(as;;>^ ';^^^^oHt FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NEBRASKA State Horticultural Society Containing all the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting held at the University Farm, Lincoln, January 1 6, I 7, and 18, 1912. By C. G. MARSHALL, Secretary LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 'iy^K. LINCOLN, NEB. PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 1912 •^AMCAL LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. To His Excellency, Chester H. Aldrich, Governor of Nebraska: Sir — In compliance with legal requisition, the annual report of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society for the year 1911, with accompany- ing papers, is respectfully submitted. C. G. MARSHALL, Secretary Nebraska State Horticultural Society. Lincoln, September 1, 1912. (3) CONTENTS. Page Letter of Transmittal 3 Officers 7 Standing Committees 9 Membership 11 Constitution 19 By-laws 21 Horticultural Districts of the State 23 List of Ornamentals 33 Proceedings Annual Meeting 37 Secretary's Report 66 Treasurer's Report 71 Miscellaneous Papers 151 Index 295 (B) OFFICERS. President W. A. Harrison, York First Vice-President A. .1. Brown, Geneva Second Vice-President L. Henderson. Omalia Treasurer Peter Youngers, Geneva Secretary C. G. Marshall, Lincoln DIRECTORS. G. A. Marshall Arlington J. A. Yager • Fremont L. M. Russell Lincoln (7) STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETY. SYNONYMS. G. A. Marshall, Arlington, A. J. Brown, Geneva, C. H. Barnard, Table Rock. METEOROLOGY. Prof. G. D. Swezey, Lincoln. ENTOMOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. Prof. L. Bruner, liincoln. VISITING COMMITTEE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA EXPERIMENT STATION. C. S. Harrison, York. GEOLOGY. Prof. E. H. Barbour, Lincoln. FORESTRY. E. F. Stephens, Crete. VEGETABLE CULTURE. Prof. R. A. Emerson, Lincoln. ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. W. H. Dunman, Lincoln. FLORICULTURE. EW. Williams, Grand Island, L. Henderson, Omaha, C. H. Green, Fremont. LEGISLATION. Peter Youngers, Geneva, L. C. Chapin, Lincoln. C. H. Barnard, Table Rock. (9) iMEMBEKSlilP 1912. HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS. Beach, Prof. S. A ' Ames, Iowa Brackett, G. B. Washington, D. C. Bniner, Prof. L Lincoln Burnett, Prof. E. A Lincoln Campbell, G. W Delaware, Ohio ♦Crounse, Lorenzo Fort Calhoun Earle, P Postoffic e unknown Garfield, C. W Grand Rapids, :Mich. Greene, Wesley Des Moines, Iowa Hansen. Prof. N. E Brookings, S. D. Van Deman, H. E : 3630 13th St., N. W., Washington, D. C. Van Ronton, George Lenox, Iowa ACTIVE LIFE MEMBERS. Adams, W. R Omaha Albert, U. G Normal Aldrich, Benton .Johnson Aldrich. Carl Johnson Alexander, A. A Palmyra Alexander, G. W Palmyra Allen, George L Spicer, Oregon Anderson, A. N Lincoln Atkinson. J. E Pawnee City Backes, H. J Humphrey Banks, E. H Postoffice unknown Barnard, C. H Table Rock Beltzer, L. A Osceola Bessey, Charles E Lincoln Blessing, David S 4 Court St., Harrisburg, Pa. Bliss, D. C Minden Blystone, W. J 33d and Dudley Sts., Lincoln Bowers, W. B Postoffice unknown Boyd, Chas. J Ainsworth Brown, A. J Geneva Brown, Frank P Florence ♦Deceased. (11) 12 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Brown, Guy A Geneva Brown, J. L Kearney Bruning, W. H Cedar Bluffs Camp, Charles B Cheney Card, F. W Sylvania, Pa. Carpenter, G. J Provo, Utah Chapin, H. A Lincoln Chapin, L. C Lincoln Chowins, Charles E Lincoln Christ, J. W Box 761, Lincoln Christy, G. S Johnson Christy, S. W Glendora, Cal. Colvin, W. E Postoffice unknown Coppoc, J. L Chambers Corbin, E. E Grand Island Crawford, William Postoffice unknown Cross, F. B Lincoln Damrow, Charles F Postoffice unknown Davey, R. H Omaha Davidson, J. R Aurora Davidson, W. E Holdrege Davies, William Brownville Davis, W. H Fullerton Davis, Roy A Gibbon De France, C. Q Postoffice unknown Deweber, H. N Pawnee City Dillon, J. W Greeley, Colo. Dole, E. W Beatrice Dovel, O. P Auburn Dugan, John 34 So. Logan Ave., Denver, Colo. Duncan, J. R Peru Dunkin, J. M Ravenna Dunlap, J. P Dwi'ght Dunlap, N. C Kearney Dunman, W. H Lincoln Eckley, Walter Tekamah Edinborough, Philip Lincoln Emerson, Prof. R. A Lincoln Erfling, E. C •. 1150 Sherman Ave., Omaha Ernst, C. J 1418 So. 10th St., Omaha Ernst, William Tecumseh Field, B. E Fremont Field, R. B Fremont' Floth, Paul Omaha Fox, B. C Lincoln Fredenburg, B Manitou, Colo. Frey, C. E Lincoln MEMBERSHIP, 1912. 13 Frey, C. H Lincoln Frey, H. H Lincoln Frey, Irvin . , . Lincoln Frey, J. B Lincoln Gage, J. A Beatrict, Gaiser, A Alliance Galbraith, G. B Fairbury Ganson, L. E Kearney Green, C. H Fremont Green, C. H. Jr Fremont Grennell, E. N. , Ft. Calhoun Guerney, C. W Yankton, S. D. Hadkinson, J. H Postofflce unknown Haney, Chas 639 No. 14th St., Lincoln Harris, W. R Forest Grove, Ore. Harrison, C. S York Harrison, Harry S York Harrison, W. A York Hartley, E. T Lincoin Heald, Prof. F. D University of Texas, Austin, Tex. Heath, H. E Arno, Tex. Helin, J. F 1612 Farnam St., Omaha Henderson, Lewis Omaha Hess, Jacob Omaha Hesseltine, Ray W Peru Hesser, W. J Pasadena, Gal. Hogg, J. A Shellon Hornung, Ernest Raymond Hornung, G. J College View Howe, H. R Auburn Hurlburt, C. M Fairbury Jackson, T. C Purdum * Jenkins, W. F Arcadia Jessup, J. G Clay Center Kaar, Theodore 910 So. 13th St., Lincoln Keyser, Val Fairbury Kretsinger, E. O Beatrice Langdon, J. N Seward Leonard, I. N Postofflce unknown Loughry, James Geneva Lundeen, N. P Alliance Mackley, W. H Table Maiben, Ben Palmyra Marshall, A. C Arlington Marshall, C. C Arlington ♦Deceased. 14 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Marshall, C. G , Lincoln Marshall, G. A Arlington Marshall, H. W Arlington Martin, Arnold i DuBois Martin, F. R 4622 Boulevard Ave., Omaha ♦Masters, J. H Syracuse Masters, J. W University Place McComb, H. A Postofflce unknown Mcintosh, H. F Alda Meek, James i , Talmage Meek, John Peru Mellor, W. R Lincoln Mergen, Philip , Omaha Meyers, M. E Broken Bow Moberg, F. O Omaha Mohler, Wm Springer, N. M. Morsch, C. H Greeley Center Mosher, D. C Eugene, Ore. Mosher, P. C " ,. .Wilber Mott, Bert i. . Hastings Murphey, P. A ;Exeter Nation, J. W Fremont Neff, J. G < Davey Nemechek, Paul Humboldt Nownes, Charles Papilliou Packwood, J. M 1345 A St., Lincoln Parker, C. P Brock Paulson, Paul i ' Omaha Payne, Mrs. G. H Omaha Pearson, James Denton Perin, S. W. Lincoln Perry, T. H Elk Creek Peters, R. C 4822 Cass St., Omaha Peterson, Frank Sll First St. E., Calgary, Alberta. Can. Peterson, John Postoffice unknown Pollard, E. M Nehawka Pollard, Isaac N/ehawka Randall, J. C Hamburg, Iowa Reed, I\Irs. J. H Blue Springs Reed, M. H Postoffice unknown Riley, Alfred .*. .Greeley, Colo. Roberts, E. A ' Albion Rosenbaum, H. J Kennard Russell, D. L Lincoln Russell, J. D , Lincoln ♦Deceased. MEMBERSIIir, i;tl2. 15 Russell, J. M Lincoln Russell, L. 1\1 Lincoln Sandoz, Jules Spade Saunders, Charles L 211 So. 18th St., Omaha Schamp, L. D Lincoln Schumacher, A York Shroyer, .J. O Humboldt Slayton. L. W Salem Slayton, George A 192 Hillsdale St., Hillsdale, Mich. Smith, E. E Lincoln Smith, E. H York *Smith, H. C Falls City Smith, H. L Geneva Smith, O. F Blackfoot, Idaho Stahl, .1. L Fuyallup, Wash. Stenger, Albert Columbus Stephens, E. F Crete Stevens, Frank G Nampa, Idaho Stevenson, J. W North Bend Stilson, L. D York Stouffer, B. R Bellevue Strand, G. A _. Mindeu Swan, J. T Auburn *Swan, W. G University Place Swezey, Prof. G. D Lincoln Tanahill, Wm Postoffice unknown Taylor, F. W 711-715 Earnest & Cramer Bldg.. Denver, Colo. Tester, Harry S 1315 No. 25th St., South Omaha Tiffany, M. D Lincoln Titus, G. N Nemaha Tracy, Charles A Benson Van Metre, C. M Valentine Walker, J. W Crete Ward, James Greeley Warren, G. F Harvard Watt, James R. F. D. No. 5, Lincoln Welch, G. L Fremont Wheeler, D. H Omaha Whitford, C. A. ' Arlington Williams, Ed Grand Island Williams, John Tecumseh Williams, L. O University Piace Williams, O. A .Neligh Williams, Theodore Benson Wilson, A. T Arcadia ♦Deceased. 16 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Wilson, W. H Postcffice unknown Woods, A. P Exp. Station, Minneapolis, Minn. Wurtzel, John I Albion Yager, J. A Fremont Youngers, Peter Geneva HON. ANNUAL MEMBER. J. R. Hess Council Bluffs, Iowa ANNUAL MEMBERS. Aldrich, Geo. E Fairmont Almm, L. L Plainview Anderson, D. E Burwell Barrett, J. W 1313 So. 33d St., Omaha Barkley, P. E Holdrege Barrette, G. W Brunswick Boyle, V. B Table Rock Beck, C. F Peru Blodgett, R. E Beatrice Bridenthal, L Wymore Caldwell, A. W Elgin Chamber, R. T Bennet Claasson, A. E ' Beatrice Craig, J. S. Lehigh Compton, 1736 Cherry St., Lincoln Cross, Alex W Crawford Cunningham, C. D Columbus Delano, F. E Westerville DeValt, W. P Baird Dickinson, Chas 833 O St., Lincoln Dunmire, D. E : Lowell Emerson, Geo Monroe Ethell, E. S Ceresco Faherty, P. A Greeley Felby, Robt A Grand Island Flood, E. J Newman Grove Flynn, P. J Benson Funke, Louis Havelock Gardner, Chas. F Osage, Iowa Hancock, John J Inman Havlicek, C. W Crete Heech, Henry Nebraska City Helm, C. A York Hof Mann, F. W University Farm, Lincoln Hooker, A. R Maxwell Howard, R. F University Farm, Lincoln MEMBERSHIP, 1012. 17 Hurley, Frank Elk Creek Isaacs, C. W Falls City Jenkins. M. D College View Lavaty, Wm. H " Spring Ranch Loukota, A Friend Leushen, John Wisner Lund, Wurtzel Genoa Megee, Wyland Bennington Mangold, Geo. M Bennington Marshall. Roy E Lincoln Melius, John M Cozad Meith, F. E Cairo Mills, F. C 3227 Holdrege St., Lincoln Moore, Wm Brownville Mosley, T. W 1626 E St., Lincoln Mulligan, J. T Greeley Neeley, Wm Nebraska City Nonnamaker, Edward Arlington Persinger, C. E Sta. A, Lincoln Peterson, John C Plattsmouth Pfaender, Max Mitchell Podlesk, Frank , . . Geneva Poitevin, Anton Norden Richards. C. L , Hebron Rlchey, H. W 4704 No. 24th St., Omaha Roelman. Albert Madison Rowan, I. M 3860 Davenport St., Omaha Roberg, S. A Bradish Sackett, T. L Tamora Schofield, H. L 2450 So. 17th St., Lincoln Sorenson. Christian ^ Plorence Sherwood. Robt. W. Jr Plattsmouth Shumate, W. W. Weeping Water Sidders, W. F R. F. D. No. 5, Lincoln Smith, S. A 1 Sidney Sundean, H. E 1844 P St., Lincoln Swanson, Chas Newman Grove Troup, R. H Plattsmouth Trotter, H. E Spalding Vogel. P. G Florence Wendell, Chas .' . .Orchard Whittaker, T. R Brownville Widhelm, Michael Pierce Williams, F .^ecumseh Willms, Sam Millard Wundt, Karl R Boise, Idaho Young, Andrew Jr Craig CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. — Name. — This association shall be known as the Ne- braska State Horticultural Society. ARTICLE XL— Object.— This society shall have for its object the pro- motion of pomology, arboriculture, floriculture, and gardening. ARTICLE III. — Membership.— The membership of this society shall consist of four classes, viz., active, associate, annual honorary, and life honorary. The active membership shall consist of persons practically engaged in fruit culture, forestry, floriculture, or gardening, who shall be admitted to life membership on the payment of a fee of $5 at one time; to associate membership by the payment of a fee of $1 annually. The honorary members shall consist of such persons as may be elected at any meeting of the society by a two-thirds vote of the members present, and shall have all the privileges and benefits of the society, except those of voting and holding office, which privileges shall belong exclusively to active members and to associate members who have been members of the society for twelve months and who shall have paid their second annual dues. ARTICLE IV. — Officers. — The officers of this society shall be a presi- dent, first and second vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, and board of directors of seven members, said board consisting of the officers enumer- ated in this article, excepting a secretary, and three additional members. The officers, with the exception of the secretary, shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting of the society in January. The secretary shall be elected by the executive board. The term of office of these officers, with the exception of directors, shall be for a period of one year, commencing on the first day of June following. One director shall be elected at the January meeting, 1906, for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, and afterwards every year one director to serve three years. ARTICLE— v.— Duties of President.— It shall be the duty of the presi- dent to preside at all meetings of the society, appoint all committees not otherwise provided for, countersign all orders drawn on the treasurer by the secretary; in conjunction with the secretary he shall arrange all pro- grams for the meetings of the society, and perform such other duties as the society or board of directors may require. ARTICLE VI. — Duties of Vice-Presidents. — The vice-presidents shall superintend all exhibits of the society, and in case of vacancy in the office of president at any meeting of the society or board of directors, shall per- form all the functions of that office in the order of their rank. ARTICLE VII. — Duties of Secretary. — The secretary shall keep an accurate record of the proceedings of all meetings of the society and board of directors, draw all warrants on the treasurer, and keep an ac- curate record of the same as countersigned by the president, prepare for (19) 20 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. publication and edit all reports of the society requiring publication by the statutes of the state; in conjunction with the president prepare all pro- grams and make all other necessary arrangements for all meetings of the society. ARTICLE VII. — Duties of Treasurer. — The treasurer shall be the cus- todian of all moneys belonging to the society, and shall pay from such funds all warrants drawn on him by the secretary and countersigned by the president. ARTICLE IX. — Duties of tine Board of Directors. — The board of di- rectors shall have general management of all the affairs of the society, for which no specific directors are otherwise provided in the constitution and by-laws. ARTICLE X. — Bonds of Officers. — The president and secretary shall each give a bond in the sum of $5,000 and the treasurer in the sum of $12,000 for the proper performance of his duties, which bond must be ap- proved by the board of directors. ARTICLE XI. — Salaries of Officers. — The president, vice-president, treasurer, and members of the board of directors shall receive such per diem per day for their services in attendance upon the meetings of the society as the society or board of directors may from time to time deter- mine. The board of directors shall pay the secretary an annual salary of $1,000 if they deem best, in consideration of his keeping an open office and giving his whole time to the work, spending at least eight hours a day in his office. It shall be his duty to put out each year a creditable annual report, issue monthly bulletins to each member, prepare articles at least once a month for the leading papers, doing also his utmost to secure new members. This to be done with the advice and direction of the executive board. ARTICLE XII. — Reports of Officers. — The president, secretary and treasurer shall each present an annual report in writing at the January meeting of all the business matters pertaining to their respective offices during the annual term expiring at that time. ARTICLE XIII. — IVIeetings. — The society shall hold two or more meet- ings each year. The annual meeting shall be held in Lincoln on the third Tuesday in January as provided by statute, and the other meetings shall be held at the same time and place as the annual exhibition of the Ne- braska State Board of Agriculture. ARTICLE XIV. — By-Laws. — By-laws not in conflict with the provisions of this constitution may be enacted by the society at any regular meeting. ARTICLE XV. — Amendments. — The constitution may be amended at January meetings of the society by a two-thirds vote of the members pres- ent, such amendments having been presented in writing and read before the society at a session preceding the one in which the vote is taken. BY-LAWS. -21 BY-LAWS. 1. All the officers of this society shall be elected at the January meet- ing, except the secretary, who shall be elected by the Board of Directors. 2. All officers of this society shall assume the duties of their respective offices on the first day of June following their election, and continue in office for the period of one year, or until their successors are elected and qualified. 3. The amount allowed the secretary for express, postage and station- ery shall not exceed $150 per annum, and it shall be the duty of the board of directors to employ a competent stenographer to report the proceedings of the meetings of the society, whose fee shall be paid by the society. 4. The first business of the society shall be on each morning the read- ing of the minutes of the previous day's proceedings, and submitting the same to the approval of the meeting. 5. There shall be appointed by the board of directors nineteen district directors, one from each horticultural district in the state. Also a standing committee of three on synonyms. Also a standing committee of one on each of the following: Meteorology in its relation to Horticulture, Entomology, Ornithology, Geology, Forestry, Vegetable Culture, and Ornamental Gardening. 6. These by-laws may be amended at any general meeting of the so- ciety by a majority of the members present. NEBRASKA STATE H( )r;TirTLTT'ltAE SOCIETY. iiortic[ilti:kal districts of the state. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON REDISTRICTING THE STATE. We, your committee to whom was referred the matter of redistricting the state and revision of the list of fruits and ornamentals recommended for general planting in Nebraska, beg to submit the following report: For District No. 1, comprising Richardson, Nemaha, Otoe, Johnson, and Pawnee counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Cooper's Early White, Cole's Quince, Early Harvest, and Sweet June. For second Choice we recommend Red Astrachan. Autumn — Wealthy, Maiden's Blush, Fameuse, Dyer, and War- field. Winter — Grimes' Golden, Winesap, Jonathan, Gano, Ben Davis, Salome, N. W. Greening, Missouri Pippin, and Virginia Beauty. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder and Early Harvest. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, and English Morello. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, and Siberian. CURRANTS: Red Dutch, Victoria and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing, Houghton, Industry, and Red Jacket. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Niagara, Moore's Dia- mond, and Woodruff Red. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Hale's Early, Russell, Champion, Crosby, Hill's Chili, Heath Cling, Salway, and Wright. PEARS: Kieffer, Bartlett, Sheldon, and Seckel. PLUMS: American — Forest Garden, Wild Goose, and Wyant. Jap- anese — Abundance and Burbank. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland, Kansas, Gregg. Nemaha, Turner (Red), and Cardinal (Purple). STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Splendid, Bederwood, Crescent, Gandy, and August Luther. For District No. 2, comprising Cass, Sarpy, Douglas, Washington, Burt, Dodge, and Saunders counties, we recommend the following for gen- eral planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Yellow Transparent, Cole's Quince, Dyer, Sweet June, Red Astrachan, Red June, Chenango, Strawberry, Early Pennock, Early Harvest, American Summer Pearmain, Benoni, and Summer Hagloe. Autumn — Wealthy, Utter's Red, Maiden's Blush, Rams- dell Sweet, Fulton Strawberry, Flora Belle, Plumb's Cider, Fameuse, War- field, Porter, Fulton, and McMahon's White. Winter — Ben Davis, Gano, Winesap, Windsor, Jo*nathan, Grimes' Golden, Janet, N. W. Greening, Salome, Ingraham, Black Twig, and Isham Sweet. F'or second choice we recommend Mifesouri Pippin and Iowa Blush. (23) 24 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. APRICOTS: Alexis, Budd, and Moorpark. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English Morello, and Dyehouse. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria, Cherry, White Grape, Fay's Prolific, and North Star. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing, Houghton, and Champion. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Agawam, Brighton, Focklington, Moore's Diamond, and Woodruff Red. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Russell, Champion, Bokara, and Wright for general painting in Cass and Sarpy counties, and for trial in balance of district. PEARS: Kieffer, Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Duchess, and L. B. De Jersey. PLUMS: American— Wild Goose, Wyant, Wolf, Stoddard, Hawkeye, DeSoto, Forest Garden. European — Lombard, Shipper's Pride, Green Gage, Shrop, and Damson. For trial, Japanese — Burbank, Abundance, and Wickson. RASPBERRIES: Nemaha, Kansas, Palmer, and Cumberland. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Splendid, Bederwood, Crescent, Sample and Warfield. For District No. 3, comprising Stanton, Thurston, Wayne, Dakota, Dixon, and Cedar counties, we recommend the following for general plant- ing. APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent, Duchess, Cooper's Early choice. Red Astrachan and Sweet June. For trial. Summer Hagloe. Au- tumn — Wealthy, Utter's Red, Flora Belle, Fameuse, and Ramsdell Sweet. For second choice, Maiden's Blush and Plumb's Cider. For trial, Warfield and McMahon's White. Winter — First choice for entire district, N. W. Greening, Salome, and Janet. First choice for south half of district, Ben Davis, Gano, and Winesape. Second choice for entire district, Iowa Blush and Missouri Pippin. For trial, Windsor. BLACKBERRIES: Synder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, and English Morello. For trial, Terry, Baldwin, and Ostheim. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria, White Grape, Cherry, and Fay's Prolific. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing, Houghton, and Champion. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, and Pocklington. For trial. Brighton, Agawam, and Moore's Diamond. PEACHES: Alexander, Triumph, Champion, Bokara, and Wright for trial only. PEARS: Kieffer, Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Duchess, and L. B. De Jersey for trial only. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Wolf, Wild Goose, Forest Garden, and DeSoto. European — Lombard, Shipper's Pride, and Green Gage. First HORTICULTURAL DISTRICTS OF THE STATE. 25 choice for south half of district. Wild Goose. For trial in entire district, Japanese — Burbanlc and Abundance. RASPBERRIES: Nemaha, Kansas, Palmer, Columbia, and Cumber- land. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Splendid, Bederwood, Crescent, Sample, and Warfieid. For District No. 4, comprising Gage, Jefferson, Saline, and Lancaster counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent, Duchess, Cooper's Early White, Early Harvest, Red June, and Sweet June. Autumn — Wealthy, Maiden's Blush, Fameuse, and Utter's Red. Winter— Ben Davis, Gano, Winesap, Jonathan, Grimes' Golden, Missouri Pippin, and N. W. Greening. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder and Early Harvest. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, and English Morello. CRAB-APPLES : Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, Martha, Red and Yellow Siberian. CURRANTS:: Red Dutch, Victoria, and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downey, Houghton, and Industry. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, and Niagara. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Hale's Early, Rus- sell, Champion, Crosby, Hill's Chili, Heath's Cling, Salway, and Wright. PEARS: Duchess, Flemish Beauty, and Seckel. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Hawkeye, Wild Goose, and Forest Gar- den. Japanese — Burbank. RASPBERRIES: Kansas, Palmer, Gregg, and Turner. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Splendid, Bederwood, Crescent, and Gandy. For District No. 5, comprising Thayer, Nuckolls, Fillmore, and Clay counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Cooper's Early AVhite, Cole's Quince, Early Harvest, Red June, and Sweet June. Autumn — Maiden's Blush, Wealthy, Famuse, Dyer, and Warfieid. Winter — Ben Davis, Gano, Wine- sap, Jonathan, Grimes' Golden, Janet, and Missouri Pippin. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English Morello, and Dyehouse. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Cherry, La Versailles, Victoria, Prince Albert, London Market, Red Dutch, and White Grape. DEWBERRIES: Lucretia. JUNEBERRIES: Dwarf. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early Duchess, Agawam, and Brighton. PEACHES: Amsden, Alexander, Hale's Early, Early Rivers, Russell, Cooledge, Champion, Triumph, Heath Cling, Wright, Smock, and Hill's Chili. 26 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. PEARS: Flemish Beauty and Bartlett. PLUMS: American — Wild Goose, Minor, Forest Garden, Wolf, Wyant, DeSoto, and Hawkeye. European — Lombard. RASPBERRIES: Kansas, Palmer, and Nemaha. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Clyde, Bederwood, Crescent, and Warfield. For District No. 6, comprising Seward, Butler, Polk, York, and Ham- ilton counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, Red June, Duchess, Summer Queen, and Sweet June. Au- tumn — Wealthy, Maiden's Blush, Utter's Red, Patton's Greening, Wolf River, Peerless, and Snow. Winter — Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, N. W. Greening, Janet, Salome, Walbridge, Ingram, M. B. Twig, Gano, Jonathan, Iowa Blush, Grimes' Golden, York, Imperial, Minkler, and Rome Beauty. APRICOTS: Russian. ASPARAGUS: Conover's Colossal and Palmetto. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Ricmond, Dyehouse, Large Montmorency, Eng- lish Morello, and Ostheim. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Florence, Martha, Golden Beauty, Hyslop, and Transcendent. CURRANTS: Victoria, Cherry, Versailles, and White Grape. DEWBERRIES: Lucretia. JUNEBERRIES: Dwarf. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Pearl. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Elvira, Niagara, Wyom- ing Red, and Pocklington. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Hale's Early, Rus- sell, Champion, Crosby, Hill's Chili, Wright, and Bokara. PEARS: Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Duchess, and Lincoln. PLUMS: American— Wyant, Wolf, Weaver, DeSoto, Forest Garden, Stoddard, Cheney, and Hawkeye. European — Lombard, German Prune, and Tagge. Japanese — Burbank and Wickson. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland, Kansas, Gregg, and Ohio. RHUBARB: Linnaeus and Victoria. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Warfield, Sample, Aroma, and Haverland. For District No. 7, comprising Colfax, Platte, Boone, Nance, and Mer- rick counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent and Duchess. For second choice. Sweet June. For trial, Summer Hagloe. Autumn — Wealthy, Ut- ter's Red, Ramsdell Sweet. For second choice, Plumb's Cider, Flora Belle, Fameuse, and Maiden's Blush. For trial, Warfield. Winter— Ben Davis, Gano, Winesap, Janet, N. W. Greening. For second choice, Iowa Blush, and Missouri Pippin. For trial, Salome, Black Twig, and Windsor. APRICOTS: Fully as hardy as the hardiest peaches. HORTICULTUKAL DISTRICTS OF TIIK STATE. 27 BLACKBERRIES: Unsuccessful except in damp seasons and favored localities. Snyder, and for trial, Stone's Hardy. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English Morello. For trial, Uyehouse, Baldwin, and Terry. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. '10, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Earlj, and Pocklington. For second choice, Elvira. For trial, Moore's Diamond and Brighton. PEACHES: Alexander, Triumph, Champion, Bokara, Russell, and W'right for trial. PEARS: For trial only, Kieffer, Sheldon, Flemish Beauty, and L. B. DeJersey. PLUMS: American — Wild Goose, Wyant, Wolf, Forest Garden. European — Lombard, Shipper's Pride, and Green Gage. For trial, Japan- ese — Burbank and Abundance. American — Stoddard. RASPBERRIES: Nemaha, Kansas, and Palmer. Successful only in damp seasons or favored localities. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Warfield, Crescent, and Beder- wood. For trial, Sample and Splendid. For District No. 8, comprising Madison, Pierce, Antelope, and Knox counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess and Yellow Transparent. For second choice. Red Astrachan and Tetofsky. For trial, Summer Hagloe and Sweet June. Autumn — Wealthy and Utter's Red. For second choice. Plumb's Cider, Flora Belle, Snow, Ramsdell Sweet, and Maiden's Blush. For trial, Warfield and McMahon's White. Winter — First choice for en- tire district, N. W. Greening. To be added for south half of district, Ben Davis, Gano, and Winesap. Second choice for entire district, Iowa Blush, Missouri Pippin, and Walbridge. For trial in entire district, Windsor. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, and English Morello. For trial, Terry and Baldwin. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria and White Grape. For trial. Cherry, Fay's Prolific, and London Market. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing, Houghton, and Champion. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, and Pocklington. For trial, Moore's Diamond and Brighton. PEACHES: For trial only, Alexander, Champion, Bokara, and W^right. PEARS: For trial only, Kieffer, Sheldon, Flemish Beauty, and L. B DeJersey. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Wolf, as first choice for entire district. Second choice for entire district, DeSoto, Forest Garden, and Stoddard. First choice for south half of district. Wild Goose. For trial in entire district, Burbank, Lombard, Shippers Pride, and Green Gage. 28 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. RASPBERRIES: First choice for river counties and for trial in bal- ance of district, Nemaha, Kansas, Palmer, Cumberland, and Columbia. For trial in entire district. Cardinal. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Sample, Warfield, Bederwood, Splendid, and Crescent. For district No. 9, comprising Holt, Boyd, Keya Paha, Brown, and Rock counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Yellow Transparent, and Summer Hagloe. For trial, Red Astrachan. Autumn — Wealthy and Utter's Red. For trial. Maiden's Blush and Plumb's Cider. Winter — Salome, N W. Greening, Janet, Iowa Blush, Winesap, Walbridge, and Ben Davis. BLACKBERRIES: For trial only, Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English Morello, and Terry. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria, White Grape, Cherry, Fay's Prolific, and Lon- don market. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Pocklington, and Moore's Diamond. Grapes should be covered in winter to insure success. PEACHES: For trial only, Alexander, Champion, Bokara, and Wright. PEARS: For trial only, Kieffer, Sheldon, Flemish Beauty, and L. B. DeJersey. PLUMS: American— Wyant, Wolf, Stoddard, DeSoto, and Forest Garden. RASPBERRIES: Kansas, Palmer, and Nemaha. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunalp, Splendid, Bederwood, Crescent, Sample, and Warfield. For District No. 10, comprising Howard, Greeley, Wheeler, Garfield, Valley, Sherman, Custer, Loup, and Blaine counties, we recommended the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer— Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, Duchess, and Sweet June. Autumn— Wealthy, Maiden's Blush, Utter's Red, and Patton's Greening. Winter— Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, N. W. Greening, Salome, Walbridge, Janet, Gano, Jonathan, Iowa Blush, and Grimes' Golden. APRICOTS: Russian varieties. ASPARAGUS: Conover's Colossal and Palmetto. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Large Montmorency, English Morello, Baldwin, Dyehouse, and Ostheim. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Florence, Martha, Golden Beauty and Hyslop. CURRANTS: Victoria, Cherry, Versailles, and White Grape. DEWBERRIES: Lucretia. JUNEBERRIES: Dwarf. HORTICULTURAL DISTRICTS OP THE STATE. 29 GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Elvira, Niagara, and Wyoming Red. PEACHES: Alexander, Triumph, Russell, Bokara, Hill's Chili, Crosby, and Wright. PEARS: For trial only, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Duchess, and Lin- coln. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Wolf, Weaver, DeSoto, Forest Garden, Stoddard, Cheney, and Hawkeye. Japanese — Burbank and Wickson. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland, Kansas, Gregg, and Ohio. RHUBARB: Linnaeus and Victoria. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Sample, Warfield, Aroma, Hav- erland, and Crescent. For District No. 11, comprising Hall and Buffalo counties, we recom- mend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, Red June, Duchess, and Sweet June. Autumn — Wealthy, Maiden's Blush, Utter's Red, Patton's Greening, Wolf River, and Snow. Winter — Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, N. W. Greening, Janet, Salome, Walbridge, M. B. Twig, Gano, Jonathan, Iowa Blush, Grimes' Golden and York Imperial. APRICOTS: Russian varieties. ASPARAGUS: Conover's Colossal and Palmetto. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Large Montmorency, English Morello, Baldwin, Dyehouse, and Ostheim. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Florence, Martha, Golden Beauty, and Hyslop. CURRANTS: Victoria, Cherry, Versailles, and White Grape. DEWBERRIES: Lucretia. JUNEBERRIES: Dwarf. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Elvira, Niagara, Wyom- ing Red, and Pocklington. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Hale's Early, Russell, Champion, Crosby, Hill's Chili, Wright, and Bokara. PEARS: For trial only, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Duchess, and Lin- coln. PLUMS: American — Wolf, Weaver, DeSoto, Forest Garden, Stod- dard, Cheney, and Hawkeye. European — Lombard, German Prune. Japan- ese — Burbank and Wickson. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland and Kansas. RHUBARB: Linnaeus and Victoria. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Sample, Warfield, Aroma, Hav- erland, and Bederwood. For District No. 12, comprising Adams, Webster, Franklin, Kearney, Phelps, and Harlan counties, we recommend the following for general planting: 30 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. APPLES: Summer — Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, and Duchess. Autumn — Wealthy, Utter's Red, and Plumb's Cider. Winter — Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, N. W. Greening, Salome, Gano, Jonathan, Iowa Blush, Grimes' Golden, and Janet. APRICOTS: Russian. ASPARAGUS: Conover's Colossal and Palmetto. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. ■ CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Large Montmorency, English Morello, Baldwin, Dyehouse, and Ostheim. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Victoria, Cherry, Versailles, White Grape, White Dutch, and Fay's Prolific. DEWBERRIES: Lucretia. JUNEBERRIES: Dwarf. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Elvira, Niagara, Wyom- ing Red, and Pocklington. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Triumph, Hale's Early, Cham- pion, Crosby, Hill's Chili, Wright, and Cooledge. PEARS: For trial only, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, and Kieffer. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Wolf, Weaver, DeSoto, Forest Garden, Stoddard, Cheney, Hawkeye, Wild Goose, Robinson, and Pottawattamie. Japanese — Burbank and Wickson. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland and Kansas. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Sample, Warfield, Aroma, Hav- erland, and Crescent. For District No. 13, comprising Furnas, Gosper, Frontier, and Red Willow counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess and Cooper's Early White. Autumn^ Wealthy and Maiden's Blush. Winter — Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Janet, Ben Davis, and Gano. APRICOTS: Russian. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Dyehouse, Large Montmorency, and English Morello. CRAB APPLES: Whitney and Florence. CURRANTS: Victoi'ia, Cherry, Versailles, and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Concord and Elvira. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Hale's Early, Triumph, Rus- selly Champion, Hill's Chili, and Wright. PEARS: For trial only, Seckel, Sheldon, and Flemish Beauty. PLUMS: American — Forest Garden, Hawkeye, and Minor. Japanese — Burbank. STRAWBERRIES: Bederwood, Warfield, Crescent, and Senator Dun- lap. For District No. 14, comprising Dawson, Lincoln, and Keith counties we recommend the following for general planting: HORTICrLTIKAI. KISTKICTS OF THE STATE. ;;1 APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Early Harvest, and Yellow Transpar- ent. Autumn — Wealthy and Utter's Red. Winter — Ben Davis, Winesap, Janet, Missouri Pippin, and Jonathan. BLACKBERRIES: Snyder. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, English Morello, and Montmorency. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Red Dutch, Victoria, and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Moore's Early, Worden, Elvira, and Concord. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Champion, Crosby, and Wright. PLUMS: American — Wyant, DeSoto, Forest Garden, and Hawkeye. European — Lombard. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland and Kansas. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, August Luther, Splendid, Beder- wood, and Crescent. For District No. 15, comprising Hitchcock, Hayes, Perkins, Chase and Dundy counties, we recommend the following: APPLES: Summer — Duchess and Yellow Transparent. Autumn — Wealthy, Utter's Red, and Famuse. Winter — N. W. Greening, Ben Davis, Gano, Janet, and Winesap. ASPARAGUS: Conover's Colossal. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English. Morello, and Dyehouse. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Red Dutch, Victoria, Cherry, and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing and Houghton. GRAPES: Moore's Early, Worden, Elvira, and Concord. PEACHES: Alexander, Early Rivers, Russell, Hill's Chili, and Wright. PLUMS: American — Forest Garden, Hawkeye, Wolfe, and DeSoto. RHUBARB— Linnaeus. STRAWBERRIES: Bederwood, Warfield, Crescent, and Senator Dunlap. For District No. Ifi, comprising Logan, Thomas, Hooker, McPherson, and Grant counties, we recommend the following for general planting: APPLES: Summer — Duchess. Autumn— Wealthy. Winter— Wal- bridge, Iowa, Blush, and N. W. Greening. CHERRIES: Early Richmond and Montmorency. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney. Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: White Grape, Victoria, and Cherry. GOOSEBERRIES: Houghton. GRAPES: Concord. PLUMS: American— Stoddard, Cheney, DeSoto, Forest Garden, Wolf, and Wyant. For District No. 17, Cherry county, we recommend the following for general planting on dry land with good care: APPLES: Summer— Duchess. Autumn— Wealthy. Any varieties 32 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. recommended for Districts 3, 8, or 9 will do well in most places in Dis- trict 17. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, English Morello, and Dyehouse. For trial. Early Morello and Terry. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, General Grant, and Virginia. CURRANTS: White Grape, Victoria, and London Market. GOOSEBERRIES: Houghton. PEACHES: Alexander and Wright. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Stoddard, Cheney, and Hamer. STRAWBERRIES: Crescent, Bederwood, and Warfleld. For District No. 18, comprising Box Butter, Dawes, Sioux, and Sheri- dan counties, we recommend the following; APPLES: Summer — Duchess and Wealthy, with good care. Any varieties recommended for Districts 3, 8, and 9, will do well in most places for District 18, under irrigation. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, English Morello, Montmorency, Dye- house, and Terry. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, Martha, and Transcendent. CURRANTS: Victoria, White Grape, White Dutch, and Red Dutch. GOOSEBERRIES: Houghton. PEACHES: Alexander and Wright. PLUMS: American — Wyant, Stoddard, Cheney, and Hamer. Euro- pean — Lombard and Shipper's Pride. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland and Kansas. STRAWBERRIES: Senator Dunlap, Sample, Warfleld, Bederwood, Splendid, and Crescent. For District No. 19, comprising Deuel, Cheyenne, Scott's Bluff, Ban- ner, and Kimball counties, we recommend the following for general plant- ing: APPLES: Summer — Duchess, Yellow Transparent, and Cooper's Early White. Autumn — Wealthy. Winter — Ben Davis, Gano, Janet, Grimes' Golden, Iowa Blush, and N. W. Greening. CHERRIES: Early Richmond, Montmorency, and English Morello. CRAB-APPLES: Whitney No. 20, Hyslop, Florence, and Martha. CURRANTS: Red Dutch, Victoria, and White Grape. GOOSEBERRIES: Downing, Houghton, and Smith's Improved. . GRAPES: Concord and Moore's Early. PEARS: Flemish Beauty, Bartlett, and Kieffer. PLUMS: American — Forest Garden, Wolf, Pottawattamie, DeSoto, Cheney, and Stoddard. RASPBERRIES: Cumberland and Kansas. STRAWBERRIES: Warfleld, Senator Dunlap, Brandy wine, Gandy, and Crescent. LIfST OF ORNAMENTALS. INCLUDING TREES, SHRUBS, ROSES, VINES, BULBS, ETC., WHICH APPLIES TO THE ENTIRE STATE EXCEPT WHERE OTHERWISE SPECIFIED. Hardy Shrubs. Snowball. Hydrangea Paniculata Grand) flora. Syringa, all kinds. Weigelia, Variegated and Rosea. Flowering Almond. Lilac, all kinds. Spireas as follows: Van Houtii. Arguta. Thunbergii. Collossa Alba and Ruberea. Anthony Waterer. Bumalda. Billardii. Prunifolia. Bulbs and Paeonias. Tulips. Lilies. Golden Leaf (Aurea). "iR:h Bush Cranberry. Altheas. Caragana. Moss Acacia. Yucca Filamentosi. Forsythia. Purple Berberry. Golden Leaf Alder. Tamarix Araaurensis. Dogwood. Wahoo. Rosa Rugosa. Bechtol Flowering Crab. Tubers. Dahlias. Gladioli. Tuberoses. Phlox. Oriental Poppy. Columbine. Gaillardia. Bleeding Heart. Golden Glow. American Ivy (Ampelopsis quefolia). Honeysuckles. Wistaria. Crimson Rambler. White Rambler. Wichuriana Creeper. Perennials.^ Iris. Larkspur. Foxglove. Cannas. Caladium. Climbers. Quin- Trumpet Vine. Clematis. Bitter Sweet. Climbing Roses. Prairie Queen. Baltimore Belle. (33) 34 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Harrison's Yellow. Persian Yellow. Luxembourg. Crested Moss. Hybrid Alfred Colomb. Anne De Diesbach. Margaret Dickson. Baron De Bonstetten. Mabel Morrison. Prince Camille de Rohn. Tom Wood. Marshall P. Wilder. Coquette Des Alps. June Roses. Madam Plantier. Moss Roses. Glory of Mosses. White Moss. Perpetual Roses. General Jacqueminot. John Hopper. Ulrich Bruner. Paul Neyron. Magna Charta. Madame Chas. Wood. Fisher Holmes. Jules Margotten. Mrs. John Lang. Thurlow Weeping Willow. Teas Weeping Mulberry. Weeping Trees. Camperdown Weeping Elm. Cut Leaf Weeping Birch. Ornamental Shade Trees. Hackberry. Russian Mulberry. Sycamore (S. B. part). Catalpa Speciosa (S. B. part). Carolina Poplar. American Linden. European Mt. Ash. White Birch. Black Walnut. Horse Chestnut (S. E. part). Butternut. Sweet Chestnut (S. E. part). Ash. Russian Olive. Soft Maple. Oaks. Elm. Hard Maple (extreme east). Berberry. Japan Quince. Spirea. Osage Orange. Hney Locust. Elm. Ash. Soft Maple. Catalpa Speciosa. Walnut. Black Hills Spruce. Ornamental Hedge. California Privet. Tamarix. Common Hedge. Russian Mulberry. . Forest Trees. Honey Locust. Russian Mulberry. Osage Orange. Box-Elder Evergreens. Ponderosa Pine. LIST OF OKNAMENTALS. 35 Pungens. Austrian Pine. Englemon Spruce. Scotch Pine. Douglas Spruce. White Pine (extreme east). Concolor. Balsam Fir. Respectfully submitted, Gv. A. MARSHALL, Chairman, G. A. STRAND, A. J. BROWN, C. H. BARNARD, W, G. SWAN, G. N. TITUS, E. P. STEPHENS, H. S. HARRISON, W. F. JENKINS, Committee. PROCEBDINGS Proceedings of the Forty-third Annual Meeting of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, held at the University Farm, Lincoln, January 16, 17, 18, 1912. (37) y ANNUAL MEKXINO Lincoln, Nebraska, January 16, 1912. Horticultural Hall, 2:00 P.M. The forty-third annual meeting of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society convened in Assembly Room, Agricultural Hall, University Farm, Lincoln, January 16, 1912. The following program was carried out: PROGRAM. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16. Forenoon Session. 9:30 — Arranging fruits and cut flowers. Renewing acquaintance and membership. Afternoon Session. 1:00 — Apple Packing Demonstration, Show Room, Judging Pavilion. ^ 2:00 — Invocation. Welcome Address Prof. F. M. Hunter, School of Agriculture Response The President 1. Grapes F. W. Hof Mann, Peru 2. Plums J. R. Duncan, Peru 3. Some Wild Fruits which Ought to be Cultivated, Dr. C. E. Bessey, The University 4. Persimmons and the Birkett Pear J. P. Dunlap, Dwight 5. Comparative Influence of Heat and Drouth on Trees and Plants, L. O. Williams, University Place 6. Pears C. H. Barnard, Table Rock Question Box. 6 : 30 — Society Banquet Lindell Hotel WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17. Forenoon Session. State Florists' Society's Session. 9:00 — 1. The Object of Growing Flowers Lewis Henderson, Omaha 2. Temperature and Ventilation of Greenhouses, Edward Williams, Grand Island 3. Growing Chrysanthemums Irwin Frey, Lincoln 4. Growing Violets W. A. Dole, Beatrice (39) 40 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 5. How to Destroy Insects and Fungous Diseases on Greenhouse Plants C. H. Frey, Lincoln 6. Peonies for the Florist C. H. Green, Fremont Question Box. Secretary's Report. Treasurer's Report. 11:30 — Business Session; Election of Officers. Afternoon Session. 1:00 — Apple Packing Demonstration, Show Room. 2:00— Music. 1. Cost of Orchard Management, Prof. R. F. Howard, Experiment Station, Lincoln 2. Quality of Nebraska Apples Val Keyser, Lincoln 3. Horticultural Observations in the Northwest, Frank G. Odell, Lincoln 4. Growing and Marketing Fruit, Chas. O. Garrett, Mitchellville, Iowa 5. Farming with Dynamite, Edward Lewis, DuPont Powder Co., St. Louis, Mo. 6. Converting Cull Fruit into Cider and Vinegar, Hon. E. M. Pollard, Nehawka Question Box. THURSDAY, JANUARY 18. « Forenoon Session. 9:00 — 1. Greetings from C. S. Harrison. 2. The National Horticultural Congress, F. C. Miles, Fruit Judging Team, School of Agriculture 3. Ftuits as Food.... Miss Gertrude Rowan, School of Agriculture 4. The Upward Trend of Horticulture, J. P. Hess, Council Bluffs, Iowa 5. Raising Flowers on a City, Lot W. J. Courtright, Fremont 6. Views from the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Prof. R. A. Emerson, The University Question Box. President W.. A. Harrison called the meeting to order and announced that the first number on the program would be an address of welcome by Professor Hunter of the School of Agriculture. ADDRESS OP WELCOME. 41 ADDRESS OF WELCOME. Prof. F. M. Hunter, School of Agriculture. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the State Horticultural Society: A few years ago, in one of the great music halls of the great city of London, a historic pageant was going on. At this pageant the characters of history from the earliest day down to modern times were represented by human figures clad in the costumes of the time. During the progress of this pageant a couple of maiden ladies were wandering down the aisle of the great hall, catalog in hand, and stopping in front of a great figure clad in Roman armor, one of them, looking up at it, said, "Ha, ha, you must be Appyas Claudius." A stifled voice from within came in reply, "No, madam; you are mistaken, I am not 'appy as Claudius,' I am un'appy as 'ell." Perhaps this expresses somewhat my feelings this afternoon in appearing before you, for I am at least as 'appy as Claudius to have the privilege of addressing this body of scientific fruit-growers. In bidding you welcome I take it I represent not only the School of Agriculture but the University itself as well, and therefore my welcome will be, in the first place, the welcome of a servant to a master, the wel- come of a steward to the lord, because you people, a body of scientific farmers, a part of the tax-paying citizens of Nebraska, know that this in- stitution is yours, your School of Agriculture, your buildings, your grounds, your University. It is your sons and daughters w^ho come here and make this institution their institution. I therefore give you the welcome of a custodian of the institution, and I hope that in coming back to this, your property, you may be as one who has returned from a journey into a far country to claim again his talent loaned the servant. You have been out about your business in your fruit orchards, and coming here in contact with this institution, I hope you will not find that we hate wasted the talents, or that we have wrapped them up in a napkin. I trust we will not be weighed in the balance and be found wanting. In the second place, I bring you the welcome of a comrade as well as the welcome of a servant. I bring you the welcome of a comrade be- cause you people are engaged in this same work. The University of Ne- braska is interested in the same things you are. We hold as one of our great principles, with the development of Nebraska's greatest resources, the development of citizenship. You are interested in this same thing. You are interested in the development of Nebraska's greatest resources, her agriculture and horticulture, and you are scientifically going about that business. You are interested more than anybody else in Nebraska's vital question, the development of the right kind of high-minded citizen- ship, the kind of citizenship that this country needs now more than at any time in its history. So I say I bring to you the welcome of a com- rade, of one who has the same type of ideals that you have as a body of men who are working towards the same thing. In bringing you this welcome it is well to consider just for a moment or two the problems that are now before us. There is a problem that confronts us right now — the principle of in- tensive farming. You have heard it preached and have preached it your- 42 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. selves. It is a matter of intensity. It is a matter of making our farms in this country do what the farms of Europe are doing. This is a prob- lem for the present generation, and the present generation is solving it by means of experiment stations all over the country* and by develop- ment of the American farm, not less in Nebraska than elsewhere. The present generation is solving it by means of the experiment station work and by scientific farms, by means of farmers' institutes, and many other forms of organized effort. There is another problem which you will please consider with me for a moment or two, a problem for the future to sol\e. It is a fact that you can gain, if you are not already in the possession of it, and trust some of you are^ — by looking into the reports that are printed by the United States Government, of the commerce of the country, that agri- cultural, horticultural, and food stuffs, as exports of this country, have become a minor factor. One of the great problems of the future is the development of the food production at a rate corresponding to the in- crease in population of the country. That this development has not been going on as the population has increased is proved by the authority I have mentioned. Other countries in the world have become convinced that it pays to educate for the thing they are trying to do as a nation. The United States has not as a country been developing that idea thus far. We are not educating for the thing that we are trying to do as a nation. Let us take Germany as an example. It is a sad commentary upon our American pride when we point to the commerce of Germany in compari- son with our own. We are a country of about three million square miles. The whole empire of Germany could be placed in the state of Texas, and yet there would be room enough to put the great state of Illinois there beside it. Germany has a population of sixty million, in comparison with our one hundred million. Yet Germany in twenty years has beat us in foreign commerce one-half billion dollars. Those who have been there audi have made a study of this thing find that the reason Germany has done that is because their school system has' developed as tlieir indus- tries have developed. She has educated her young people, her rising gen- eration, for the thing she expects to do as a nation. If you go to the city of Munich with a population of 600,000, a city like St. Louis or Baltimore, you will find thirty-eight different kinds of trade schools established. There are trade schools not only for doctors, lawyers, and professional men, but schools also for the artisan and mechanic, schools for carpen- ters, machinists, salesmen, painters, paperhangers, and even street-sweep- ers. They educate for the thing they expect to do as a nation. Let me take you for a moment to one of the little towns in France. I have a friend up in north Nebraska who is a scientific breeder of horses. This gentleman was called to Belgium a few years ago to consult with the Belgian government concerning some problems in horse raising. While there he visited a friend of his on his small French farm. The family consisted of five members, and the only resource of the home was a house and a seven-acre plot of Impoverished (?) French soil, and do you know that home Is a home of affluence and luxury? This lumily Qt AltnUKSS OK WKT/'OMR. 43 five had made a liviiis and accumulated sufficient in addition to invest $10,000 in American scliool l)onds. They inquired of my friend of tlie soundness of American securities of that kind, for they were thinlviug of investing more. In Nebraska we require 160 acres of land for our farming operations; there this family had 7 acres. Being of an investi- gating turn of mind, my friend turned to the cause. He went to the little town school, and what do you suppose he found tliere? He found in the ninth grade a knowledge of agriculture that would put this scientific body to shame. He proposed a question in scientific agriculture to the ninth grade class of some forty or fifty pupils, such as might be proposed to a high s('hool class. The class answered in a chorus, the question was con- sidered so elementary. The whole basis of their study there had been agriculture. They loved it, and lived it, and made it a part of their, every- day life. The school was helping them to train for the thing they ex- pected to do in life. The point that I am trying to make is that our problem of the future in Nebraska is to carry this type of training to the coming generation. This knowledge of scientific farming must be taught in every country school. Let me tell you that the school system of Nebraska today is the same in the rural districts that it was twenty-five years ago. Our rural schools in Nebraska are having as a basis of their instruction a course of study which leads to a classical high school course, and from that to a course of the same kind in the college or University. It is a fact that about ninety-three boys out of one hundred never get beyond the eighth grade, and they never get that training for real active life in the college or University. This is what our school system amounts to now. We are confronted with the problem of carrying agricultural education to the schools of Nebraska. That is the problem tliat is presented to you and to me and to all who are interested in this work. That is one of the things that we must do if we expect to keep pace with the nations who are doing it. We must have in our rural districts schools which can give real agricultural instruction, schools w^hich are worthy of being leaders in the various communities. We must have consolidated school districts, and with these must come means and facilities for a small experiment farm for each school. It may be a little way off in the future, but that thing must come. It must come if our educational system is to survive and assume the burden that is iaid ujion it. We must have in our com- mon schools and in the colleges of our state a course of study which has as its basis a knowledge of agriculture. It might not do ibr Lincoln or Omaha schools, but in the schools throughout Nebraska as a whole, an interest in agriculture is above everything else. In our high schools we must not have merely a course in Latin and German and English and history, but we must have a course in agriculture that means something. So I bid you welcome today, men of the State Horticultural Society, because we are interested in the same things you are. I bid you the wel- come of a servant as one of the custodians of this Institution of yours, and the welcome of the comrade, because we are seeking the same Ideals In our lifework. 44 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. RESPONSE. Pres. W. A. Harrison. In. the name of our Society, I wish to thank Professor Hunter for the cordial welcome extended to us. We appreciate the privilege of holding our meeting with you, and hope that we may cooperate even more closely in the future than we have done in the past. It has been very satisfac- tory to us to be able to work together so pleasantly. We realize the need of your help and the benefit of your experiments, and we should be of mutual benefit to each other. When we come to look at the magnificent fruit and flower shows that we have here, we can not help but go wild with enthusiasm and want to yell "hurrah for Nebraska." You do not need to go to California for flowers, and if orchards are worth $1,000 per acre in Colorado and other western states, the Nebraska orchards ought to be worth $2,000 per acre. Our orchard expense is less, our market is better, our quality is better, and our fruit keeps longer. We have got the best apple country in the world right here at our door, and it is up to us to show the public. For one thing we need a larger membership in our Horticultural Society and another thing that we need is a publicity bureau. If we could make one- half the noise that those western fellows do, we could turn eastern Ne- braska into one immense apple orchard. Now let us all get together and do some team work. If every member of the Society would pledge him- self to get one new member, we could soon have the largest society in the West. We have got a job on our hands here that is worth while. The President: The next paper will be by Mr. F. W. HofMann of Peru, Nebraska. MERITS AND DEMERITS OF GRAPES RECOMMENDED FOR THE MIDDLE WEST. F. W. HofMann, Peru. / This paper will simply be in the nature of a review. It is often a good plan to brush upi on some of the old information. If we wish to keep a tool bright and shiny we must use it. Besides, a young genera- tion is gradually taking the place of the old, and that generation must respect the information of the older generation. It is a hard matter to bring up anything new and original in the sub- ject of grapes, yet it is considerably interesting to review some of our information. It would be well to become thoroughly acquainted with the varieties that are recommended for Nebraska. Being thoroughly ac- quainted with a variety, a grower will give it corresponding attention. Growers often are not Avell enough informed as to the characteristics of a variety and consequently fall short when it comes to getting ideal re- sults. Perhaps the best known grape is the Concord. No grape is more pvtenslvely grown in this country, nor is there a better example of a GRAPES FOR THE MIDDLE WEST. 45 dominant type of our native species, which with its offspring, pure and crossed, furnishes a major per cent of the grapes grown in America. The Concord is a most cosmopolitan grape, and, due to its peculiar character- istic, it adapts itself to diverse conditions. It thrives well In variable climates. Besides taking up its abode in so many different conditions, it has a high degree of fruitfulness, as it gives large crops year in and year out. This grape has a peculiar hardiness, an ability to cope with adverse conditions, such as diseases and insects, a comparative earliness which makes it a very superior grape. The bunches are of fair sizes and the berries color up -well, with an abundance of bloom. This grape is not damaged by spring freezes as badly as other grapes, for it leaves out and blossoms somewhat late in the spring. Although the Concord is a most worthy grape, it also has its demerits. To many the taste is foxy; then it lacks that richness, fineness of flavor, and aroma. Unpleasant defects in this fruit are found in the large and abundant seeds so difficult to separate from the flesh, and the tough and astringent skin. Compared with the Vinifera grapes as a shipper, the Concord is poor. Then it loses flavor after ripening. Besides the skin has an inclination To crack and the berries to shatter from the stems after harvesting. The Concord thrives best on a virgin soil, although it is quite cosmopolitan and does well on a variety of soils. On the whole the Concord is a popular table grape and can be pro- duced so cheaply that no grape can compete with it. Tt is a poor wine grape, although it is used tn .some degree for making red wines and a white wine as a base for champagne. The grape juice industry depends almost entirely upon this variety, and during the past few years many carloads of grapes have been used in the Chautauqua region in New York for this purpose. According to Dr. Charles E. Bessey in his contribution "The Botany of the Grape," the Concord has originated from the Northern Fox Grape or Vitis labrusca L. A large number of varieties have come out of the Concord, both as pure breeds and as cross-breeds. All of these seem to have inherited the characteristics of the Concord to a high degree. According to Hedrick, the seed of a wild grape was planted in the fall of 1843, by E. W. Bull of ^Concord, Massachusetts, from which fruit was born in 1849. The wild grape from which the seed came had been transplanted from beside a field fence to the garden in which there was at least another grape, the Catawba, and the wild vine was open to cross-pollination. One of these seedlings was named Concord, and the variety was exhibited before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in the fall of 1852. The new grape was introduced in the spring of 1854 by Hovey & Company of Boston. This variety has grown into phenomenal popularity ever since its origin. So popular became the variety that within a short period of a year its propagation traveled half way across the continent. In 1865, the Amen- 46 NEBRASKA STATE IIORTICILTUKAL SOCIETY. can Institute awarded the Concord the Greeley prize as being the best grape lor general cultivation. The Moore's Early is said to be a seedling of Concord discovered by Captain John B. Moore of Concord. It was introduced by its originator in 1877, when it was awarded a first class certificate of merit by the Mas- sachusetts Horticultural Society. • The vines differ from the Concord in being less productive and more uncertain bearers. This variety will grow well only in a rich, well- drained, and loose soil such as is found in cleared timberland; then it should be carefully pruned and attended to in every way. The bunches are smaller and less compact than the Concord, and, due to the bad shat- tering habit, is considered a poor shipping or marketing variety. The berries are larger than the Concord, but if conditions are not propitious, the berries will crack. The cuiality is considered not as high as that of the Concord, yet the flesh character and flavor are essentially those of the older variety. Its merit lies in its earliness, since it is from two to three weeks earlier than the Concord. Although the fruit ripens from two to three weeks earlier than the Concord, it does, not keep well. In size, length, and breadth the clusters are intermediate. The berries are large to better than meflium, roundish dark purplish black to black, abundantly covered with a bluish bloom. The skin is not as thick as Concord, but is tender, adherent to the pulp, and not astringent. Although the Concord when originated was favorably received, the Campbell's Early was still more favorably received. This grape when mature is high in quality, free from a foxy and acid taste about the seeds. The small seeds are easily parted from the flesh of the berry. The bunches, which are large, compactly clustered, and well shouldered, often weigh IVz pounds. The berries vary somewhat in size, though usually large. They are roundish to slightly oval, dark purplish-black, rather dull as the season advances, and covered with a heavy bloom of blue color, persistent and moderately firm. Although the skin is medium to thin, it nevertheless is tough enough to not crack. It adheres slightly to the pulp and is somewhat astringent. Unlike that of the Concord, the juicy flesh is somewhat vinous, and nearly sweet from skin to center. The quality is superior to the Concord and improves by hanging on the vine. The fruit is better than the Concord, in that it ripens more uniformly and about two weeks earlier. It also ships better, in that the berries do not shatter so badly, and the flavor does not deteriorate after packing. Geo. W. Campbell, of Delaware, Ohio, after spending much time and energy in the improvement of grapes, finally produced this variety. He pro- duced this variety from seed of the INloore's Early which had been pol- linated by another one of his productions. This particular production was a seedling of Belvidere, pollinated by Muscat Hamburg. It has been introduced comparatively recently, that is in 1892, by Geo. S. Joselyn of Fredonia, New York. It was received with much enthusiasm and ad- mitted by all to be a good grape, yet it is not the grape that it was hoped GRAPES FOli THE MI1>I)I,K W KST. 4, to be by the various piowers in almost every state and territory, who welcomed it with hopeful expectations that it would be something of the vinefera type, yet perfectly hardy. It has not met the expectations of the grape growers in that it is not adapted to as many soils and conditions as are some of the varieties which it must compete with, and if grown in localities in which it is not particularly adapted, this variety lacks productiveness. It lacks that cosmopolitan peculiarity of the Concord. The fruit attains its full color before it is ripe, and since it is; often marketed in this condition by ig- norant growers, its quality has been imfavorably criticised. Besides, it must be severely pruned or it will bear itself to death. It means that if a grower wishes to get the best results, he must give this grape special attention and not treat it as he would any of the types like the Concord, which have a very elastic constitution and give fairly good results even if treated rather shabbily. The trouble with us is that we do not give the Campbell's Early and many other varieties of superior merit the spe- cial care that is in vogue among the European vineyardists who grow their varieties so successfully. Mr. Alexander, formerly near Peru, in speaking about the Duchess variety, tells us that grapes can be laid down and covered with soil for .$12 per acre and that the product of twelve of these vines would pay the bill. This gives us an idea of what could be done if we simply practice a little more special care. We should not condemn grapes as worthless that have not been given proper treatment. The Worden is a seedling of the Concord, originated by Schuyler Worden of Minetta, Oswego county, New York, in 1863. It was intro- duced by J. A. Place of Oswego, New York, a prominent horticulturist and friend of Worden. This variety has a larger berry and bunches, is of better quality, and from a week to ten days earlier than the Concord. In hardiness, health, vigor, and productiveness it equals its parent. Oc- casionally it will do better than the Concord, but in its adaptation to soil and other conditions it is more particular. The Worden is the best known and the most meritorious of the many products of the Concord, in that it possesses many of the good qualities and lacks some of the poorer ones of its parent. This variety, however, has some grave defects. Often a very profit- able crop can not be marketed due to the cracked fruits. When the Con- cord cracks in unfavorable weather, the berries can partly or wholly heal over this injury, but the Worden has a thin skin, and besides lacking the faculty of overcoming its injuries by the growing over of the cracks, it has a softer pulp. Then, there is more juice, which impairs the shipping and keeping qualities. This variety also loses its beiTies badly, especially when over-ripe and in certain peculiar seasons. It does not hang well on the vines; hence it ought to be harvested promptly, then it can sell for a better price than the Concord providing it is used for immediate consumption. As said before, the fruit ripens one or two weeks earlier than Concord, but does not keep long. The clusters are large medium to long, broad, tapering to cylindrical, usually single shouldered, and 48 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. somewhat compact. The large, roundish to oval berries are dark-pur- plish black, to black, glossy, covered with a heavy bloom, and moderately firm. The skin is of average thickness, somewhat tender, cracks badly, adheres slightly to the pulp, and is astringent. The flesh is juicy, slightly foxy in taste, sweet at the skin to tart at the center, and is mild and very good in quality. One of the best red grapes is represented by the Brighton. This variety is an offspring of Diana Hamburg, a hybrid of Vinifera with Labrusca, and Concord, a pure bred Labrusca. Very few Labrusca Vinifera hybrids have come into prominence in commercial vineyards, but Brighton is in high esteem. It ranks as one of the leading amateur grapes in New York and is among the ten or twelve chief commercial sorts of the state. It is a seedling of Diana Hamburg pollinated by Con- cord, raised by Jacob Moore at Brighton, New York, about 1870. The fruit ripens mid-season, but eventually keeps fairly well for a short time, and then deteriorates rapidly after ripening. The clusters are very large to medium, usuxilly long, broadish tapering, often heavily shouldered and loose to compact. The berries ai'e irregular, medium to rather large in size, roundish to slightly oval, light and dark red, some- -wrhat glossy, covered with dark lilac bloom, hand&ome and persistent, but not firm. The skin, though rather thick, is very tender, adheres con- siderably to the pulp, and is astringent. The flesh is melting, aromatic^ vinous, sweet, and agreeably tart to the center of the berry and is of very good quality. Another pleasant feature is the ease with which the seeds separate. The good points of the Brighton are its adaptability to various soils, ability to resist fungous and insect diseases, its high quality, handsome appearance, certainty of ripening, its vigorous growth and then being earlier than the Concord. If it were not for two serious defects, there is no doubt it would have taken still higher rank as a commercial sort. It deteriorates very quickly in quality after maturity, and, due to its poor keeping qualities, it can not be well shipped to distant markets. Then it is self-sterile, more so than any of our common varieties. It will not endure our severe winters without protection. One of the good market grapes where a white grape is desired is found in the Diamond grape (or Moore's Diamond). It was. originated about 1870 from Concord seed fertilized with lona pollen by Jacob Moore from Brighton, New York. The strain of the Vinifera in it has been just enough to give to it the richness in flavor of the old Worden grape, and yet has not overcome that refreshing sprightliness or foxiness so peculia: to our native varieties. This native character seems to give a certain spice that is so well liked by all who have become accustomed to it. It is to be regretted that this variety is not known better commei'- cially. Unfortunately it is often sold as Niagara, and as a result has not established its reputation. It surely is a good commercial variety, for besides being of high quality, the fruit packs, carries, and keeps well. Consumers need only to become more acquainted with it, and there is no GRAPES I-Oll TIIIO .MIDDLE WEST. 49 doubt that the demand for it would be such that it would command a fancy price, and thereby more than make up for its lack in fruitfulness. It is an excellent wine grape and especially in demand among wine- makers for making champagnes. Although Niagara is considered as first among the green grapes, the Diamond rivals it very closely. After the Diamond becomes as well ad- vertised there is no doubt that it will possess the Niagara's high rank. Considering the wants of amateurs and winemakers, the Diamond ranks indeed among the best all-around grape. To its desirable characters are added earliness, hardiness, productiveness, and vigor. Although Niagara is more productive in some localities, it nevertheless falls short of the Diamond in many essential characteristics. This variety is surpassed in quality and beauty by only few other grapes. It is a large, handsome grape, of good quality, hardy, healthy, and productive. The fruit ripens slightly earlier than the Niagara and keeps well. The clusters are vari- able in size, medium to short, rather broad, somewhat blunt, cylindrical to slightly tapering, often single-shouldered and compact. The berries are above medium to medium in size, roundish to strongly ovate on ac- count of compactness, green with tinge of yellow on riper berries, but less yellow than Niagara, glossy, persistent, rather firm, and covered with a thin gray bloom. The skin is thin, yet toughish, adheres to the pulp somewhat, and is astringent. The flesh is juicy, tender, rather melt- ing, slightly aromatic, sprightly, nearly sweet next to the skin, and agree- ably tart at the center. The seeds separate quite easily from the pulp. Another excellent white or green grape is the Dutchess. Mr. Alexan- der, formerly of Peru, Nebraska, has grown this grape for twenty years, and it has always given him the best of satisfaction. According to him, it produced immense crops of finest quality, and as a table grape it has no superior. It has a most delicious flavor, is handsome in appearance, and has long-keeping qualities. Its drawback is that the vine is tender to cold and rather fastidious as to the soil and other conditions; yet these defects can easily be controlled. The berries do not ripen uniformly, and in unfavorable soils the berries and bunches are small and hang loose and scatteringly. The foliage and berries are very susceptible to fungi. If we could get rid of these defects, we would have one of the most ex- cellent varieties, satisfactory in almost every essential. It is a pure- flavored, refreshing, juicy grape, sweet and rich, and yet does not cloy the appetite. The flesh is sparkling, fine-grained, tender, vinous, and of a most pleasant flavor and high quality. The seeds arer tender, easily crushed, and readily separate from the pulp. The skin has small dots, is thin, yet tough enough for good keeping, adheres to the pulp, and is not astringent. The berries are medium in size, roundish to oval, a yellow- green to a bronze-like tinge and covered with a thin gray bloom. The berries are firm and do not shell or shatter when shipped. The fruit is ripe about the latter part of August to the first part of September, and is a good shipper and keeper. Since the Dutchess is rather capricious, it piust be given some special attention- It should not be planted in a rich 50 NEBRASKA STATE HORTiri'ETURAL SOCIETY. soil, or pruned too severely, and then, since it is self-fertile, should be planted between other varieties. It should also be covered "in winter. If the grapes are picked before they are too ripe, as they will then crack, and are covered with bags to keep out rots, especially fine clusters will be obtained. The Dutchess was originated and introduced by A. J. Caywood, of Marlboro, New York. This took place in 1868 and 1880 respectively. It came from seed of a white Concord seedling, pollinated by mixed pollen of Delaware and Walter. Its maternal parent was a white offspring' of Concord, pollinated by Montgomery. Other good grapes are the Lady Washington, Empire State, Green Mountain, Niagara, and Geneva, which are white; the Jefferson, Rogers No. 1, and Goethe, which are red; and the Mills, Rogers No. 10, Herbert, and Ammia, which are black. In this paper the various good points and the defects have been briefly touched upon with an idea of helping any prospective fruit grower in his selection of certain varieties. No variety as yet is perfect, and that means much work along the lines of grape breeding can be carried on so that a perfect or standard grape can be grown in Nebraska. A variety in order to be perfect in Nebraska should have the follow- ing points: Perfect hardiness against adverse climatic conditions and insect and fungous pests; an elastic constitution; large, well-formed, and uniform bunches and berries; fruits with a high enough sugar content, so that they will keep and ship well, and make high grade wines and raisins; a rich, delicate, and vinous flavor, like that of the Old World grapes plus the refreshing sprightliness of the American sorts; a sweet, thin, yet tough, skin free from astringency; a fleshy pulp with the seeds small and separating readily; a firm and persistent berry — one that will not shatter or shell from the peduncles; vines that are more compact in habit, making a stockier annual growth, which does not require such severe pruning and special training; and fruit borne in the large quan- tities, vine for vine, or acre for acre, as is characteristic of the Old World varieties. DISCUSSION. President: If there is any one who wishes to ask Mr. HofMann any questions they may do it now. Q. When is the right time to trim vines? A. The best time to trim vines is just before the sap begins to flow in the spring. Some nice late winter day or early spring day is the best time; but don't wait until the sap begins to flow or the vine will bleed. Q. How would late October or early March do; of those two dates which would you select? A. If I wished to propagate and make new vines I would prefer to prune in late October, but otherwise I would prune the early part of March. There doesn't seem to be much difference otherwise between the two dates, late October or early IMarch. I haven't seen much differ- PLfMS. ni ence as yet, perhaps some of tlie older growers might know of some dif- ference. I always (rim iu the i-arly part of IMarcli bel'ore the sap begins to flow. C. II. Barnard; 1 have noticed that it you prune iu October you lay the grapes down on the ground, and will have a protection that will help to save a great many of the vines that you could not save in any other way if you leave thorn on the trellis. We have practiced this for many years, and we get a better crop by early trimming in October or Novem- ber and by letting the vines lie on the ground. It is a big job, but the snow and litter and leaves will help to make a covering. A. A. Alexander estimated the cost at about $12 per acre for laying down and covering the vines, but as the product is so much better it will pay for the laying of them down. Going back to the matter of pruning, it would be advis- able, in fact it is the only way you can go at it, to trim the vines and then lay them down. President: If there is nothing else w'e will now hear from Mr. J. R. Duncan, on the subject of "The Plum." PLUMS. J. R. Duncan, Peru. Plum culture in Nebraska has almost become a by-word among fruit growers. Why? Several things have caused this lack of interest, but the curculio and fruit-rot were the worst offenders, these enemies being so serious that many growers gave up in disgust. Some kinds of plums are more susceptible than others, so that selection of varieties gives us encouragement to continue to grow plums. Professor Waugh says there are some 300 varieties of plums listed by American nurserymen. These are divided into several different groups. Briefly they are as follows: Domestics or Europeans, comprising the prune of commerce. Green Gages, Damsons, Lombard, and other large red, and yellow sorts. The plums of this group are very fine flavored, usually large and showy, rather long and pointed, trees vigorous, upright growers. The Japanese group, first imported into this country about 1870, have smooth bark, leaves somewhat longer, narrower and smoother than Do- mesticas, fruit shorter and more round. Fmit is borne on new growth as well as on fruit spurs. Colors ranging towards cherry reds and yel- lows. Flavor not so good as the Domesticas. The plums of this group are adapting themselves to a large part of the United States. Americanas — Native wild plums of northern United States. Hortulana — Trees more open and more willowy growth than the Americanas. Fruits somewhat astringent and thinner skinned than Amer- icanas. Chicasa — Native wild plums of the southern states, and only a few varieties that succeed this far north. More resistant to rot than other southern grown sorts. Thought to be a hybrid of Americana; and Hor- tulana groups. 52 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Myrobolan — Native wild plum of France. Used as stocks in propaga- tion of cultivated sorts. Americanas are largely used for Americanas and peach for Japanese where winters are not too severe. Beech Plum — Native of New England states. Chief value is orna- mental. Of all these varieties and groups the ones of most interest to us are the Americanas, Hortulanas, Japanese, and their hybrids. We grow a few Domesticas with indifferent success, and as a class they are of no importance at all here. The Japanese make strong growing trees and bear abundant crops of fruit. They will stand lower temperatures in winter than the peach. Their great drawback is early blooming in spring and danger of being destroyed by late frosts. However, this can be overcome by the use of orchard heaters. The fruit of the Japanese is usually good sized, fair quality, and good shippers. Americanas are hardy, vigorous growers and bear annual crops of medium size, various colored fruits, of good flavor, somewhat astringent as a class, but fine for canning and preserving. Some varieties are ex- cellent eating out of the hand. This group is the best class of plums for Nebraska. There are numerous varieties of this class, so that no one can fail to find something suited to their conditions. Of the Hortulana group we have only a few varieties of importance. The Wild Goose. Miner, Wayland, are representative types and too well known to need description. The only representative of the Chicasas that is hardy this far north is the Pottawattamie, another very worthy plum. Out of Professor Waugh's list of three hundred varieties there are only a comparatively few varieties that are successful here in Nebraska. Of these the majority would be Americanas, a few Japanese, and several hybrids. There arc a number of hybrids of recent introduction that are worthy of extended trial. Of these the best way to find out their be- havior is to try them out under our individual conditions. Professor Hansen has done considerable work along this line in producing varieties that would withstand the cold dry winters of the Northwest. There is yet great work for plant breeders to produce varieties that have the high quality of the Domesticas, hardiness of the Americanas, and bearing and vigor of the Japanese. Yet, after all, what will it profit us if we get better sorts and let the curculio and fruit-rot destroy our crops? In the old order of things the grower would set out a plum thicket or orchard and let it care for itself. Then the curculio and fruit-rot or monillia came along and harvested the crop before the owner could get around. So that pluin growing was very unprofitable, and growers gave up in disgust. Under the new methods, with improved machinery, sprayers, etc., we can control these enemies and make plum growing one of the profit- able ^branches of horticulture. There is always a good demand for good pium's at remunerative prices and not enough to go round. In order to PLUMS. G.-} combat successfully the enemies of the plum we must know something of their habits and mode of attack. The curculio is a small dark grayish insect about one-fourth inch long with prominent snout, with which he punctures the fruit or leaves. The adult curculio emerges from the ground leaves when trees bloom and young plums commence to attain size. Then the female curculio deposits eggs in the small plum. In about three weeks the eggs hatch and the grub eats into the plum. By the time he is full grown the plum is prematurely ripened and falls to the ground. Then the grub comes out of the plum and hides under old dead leaves, trash, or goes into the ground to complete the next cycle of its existence. When next he emerges he is full grown curculio and ready to feed on leaves and fruit not yet ripened, until winter drives him into the ground again. In order to suc- cessfully fight the curculio we clean up our orchards thoroughly, prune tiiem so they may be easily sprayed, and let the sun shine into the trees. Before going further I will give a brief description of the working of the fruit-rot of monillia. The spores live over the winter on dead leaves, body of trees, and dried up fruits left hanging on trees. These spores do not show any signs of life until warm weather in summer. Then when a warm wet spell comes and plums are about half or two-thirds grown the spores get busy. Possibly the wind or some insect has carried the spore and left it clinging to the skin of the plum where there is a bruise or puncture. Then the warm wet weather starts the spores to growing. This is what we call fruit-i'ot. In our preliminary treatment for curculio we must remove all trash and brush from orchard after pruning, and then thoroughly cultivate the ground. We should endeavor to stir the entire surface to a depth of sev- eral inches. Thoro cultivation should be continued at intervals of ten days during the season until about August 1. This frequent stirring of the soil prevents the curculio from hiding in the ground and also desti'oys a good many grubs. In controlling the fruit-rot, in addition to the treat- ment for curculio we must be sure that all dried mummies of plums left on the trees over winter should be removed and destroyed. While the trees are dormant give a thoro spraying with lime-sulphur, 1 gallon to 11 gallons of water. This is a very important spraying, and bodies of trees should be thoroly covered. Then just after the first leaves come out and before the blossoms open, spray with arsenate of lead, 2 pounds to 50 gallons of water. Immediately after the blossoms fall, spray with combined spray, using lime-sulphur 1 to 50 and arsenate of lead 2\^ pounds to 50 gallons of water. Follow this at intervals of ten days until plums are over half grown. At this time a lime-sulphur spray of 1 to 50 strength should be applied. This application will usually be in time to prevent the spores of the fruit-rot getting a start. The main object in all the spraying is to keep the fruit and foliage covered with poison and fungicide so that the curculio can not feed without getting some of the poison and the spores of the fruit-rot have no place to grow. In addition 54 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICUVTUKAL SOCIETY. to the foregoing the fniit should be thinned so that no two plums will touch. I believe that with thorough cultivation, spraying, and thinning, we can reduce the loss by these enemies to a minimum and make plum growing one of the most profitable branches of horticulture. In conclusion, a word regarding marketing. The manner of market- ing and packages depend entirely on the kinds of plums you grow and market you have. Where we grow the larger showier sorts. and have a discriminating market, the four-basket crate is a very nice package. For other sorts and markets the 24-quart berry crates and boxes and 8-pound grape basket, ara commonly employed. Some places you can market the crop in bushel and half-bushel baskets. In whatever way you sell them be sure that nothing but first class fruit honestly packed leaves the farm. As to varieties, I would say that your local conditions govern' that largely. Find out what your neighboring fruit growers are successfully growing, then plant accordingly. Any new sort that you think worthy and that may be better than any you already have should be given a trial. I do not think every one should have an experimental farm, but we need to encourage the plant breeders in their work, in creating new varieties of plums, as our' list of real high quality plums that are suc- cessful here is limited. DISCUSSION. Professor Emerson: Did you ever notice any injury particularly to the Japanese plums from spraying with lime and sulphur at the rate of 1 to 50? A. I have never seen any injury at all. Q. Did you use lime combined with sulphur? A. Yes! and we have had good results by combining the two. President: If there are no further questions we will now proceed to the next subject on the program, which is: "Some wild fruits which ought to be cultivated," by Dr. C. E. Bessey, of the University. Dr. Bessey read his paper, which is as follows: SOME WILD FRUITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED. Charles E. Bessey, University of Nebraska. iNebraska is not usually regarded as rich in edible wild fruits, and yet if one looks over the wild fruits that occur in the state he may easily make up a list of at least twenty-five kinds that may be well thought of as worthy of cultivation. And I have no doubt that all of these, and more, too, will be cultivated, when we have lived here a century or two longer. For man is a wasteful creature. He rushes into a new country and usually pays no attention to the wild products he finds, other than to dig them out as last as he needs the ground for his imported plants. WILD FKUITS WIUCII OUGHT TO BIO CILTIVATED. 00 Then much later he wakes up to the fact that his imported things will not grow as well as he would like them to, and he then begins to turn about lor something to replace his failures. In some cases these failures came so early that he began long ago to improve the wild fruits around him, and in all cases the results have been satisfactory. And it is to bring some of these wild tilings to your attention that I am before you today. In doing so I am presuming that you are willing to do some work without the prospect of immediate payment on your investment, for work of this kind often does not pay as large dividends as are obtained by following the old beaten paths. But my brothers, I want to set before you an ideal higher than that involved in mere money return for our lives. We have a span ot life allotted to us. It includes so many years. We sell our labor in these years as we go through life. What do we get in return? Is it really worth while for us to sell our labor, our strength, our youth, our lives for mere money? Do not think I affect to despise money, for I do not, and I wish I had more of it; but no man should be contented to look back on a life which has brought" him only money, wealth, a fortune. And you, fellow workers in the Lord's Vineyard should feel the necessity of a greater return than this. All thru the ages there have been men of oui profession who have felt a great desire to add to the riches of the vine- yards and orchards and gardens it may bei one additional variety, and these men we honor, and the world honors. And yet may I say here that it should be the ambition of every grower of fruit to leave the world richer, by at least one new fruit, than when he began his work. Just as the right-minded farmer wishes to leave his farm to his children, richer and better than when he began to work on it, so the fruit grower should wish to add his contribution to the list of the fruits that the world may enjoy. So I am preaching the gospel of a higher horticulture than that which has to do with its commercial aspects alone. Let these receive full at- tention at your hands. Push this work with all the vigor of good and efficient business men; hut let me urge you to consider also that higher attainment which is concerned with the betterment of the world. I preach to you the gospel of making a better world of fruits for the fu- ture. Let us be helpers. Let us add to the good fruit& of the world. Let us leave better gardens, vineyards, and orchards of fruits than we found. Let us hand down to our children more and better fruits than were handed to us. With this introduction let me point out somewhat in detail what are some of the wild fruits of Nebraska, that merit our careful attention. The Sand Cherry (Prunusi Besseyi). Many years ago I called attention to this wild shrub of the sand-hill region of the state, and urged its introduction Into cultivation. The time that has elapsed since then has seen the Justification of what was then & 56 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. prophecy, for we now have ample evidenee of the worth of this native cherry. As most of you are aware, Professor Hansen of the Agricultural College of South Dakota has produced many hybrids of the sand cherry with other related fruits with most promising results. He has shown that in this wild cherry of our plains we have a fruit that is worthy of our best care and cultivation. But we do not need to go to South Dakota in order to learn of the value of the sand cherry. Professor M. R. Gilmore of Bethany, three miles east of Lincoln, has grown this fruit for a number of years. At my request he made the following statement under date of December 14, 1911: "I submit these notes from the observations I have made on the behavior of some native fruits of Nebraska which I have taken from their wild state and planted in my garden. I have a clump of bushes of the sand cherry (Prunus besseyi) which I brought from a sand ridge in the northwest part of Douglas county near Valley and planted at Bethany in Lancaster county. They flourish and have borne fruit very abundantly every year since they were set. They are fully resistant to drought, late frost, and inimical organisms, whether insects or parasitic plants. They seem to be wholly triumphant over any adverse conditions pertinent to this region. With me they have responded to the slightest degree of cultivation by an increase in their already abundant fruit-bearing. My clump of about three by six feet in area yielded last summer three gal- lons or more of cherries, which in size approximate ordinary Early Rich- mond cherries." I may add to this testimony the statement that fi'om a quantity of the cherries brought last summer from Professor Gilmore's plantation a dozen or so of cherry pies were made, and these were tested by the Botan- ical Seminar of the University of Nebraska, and pronounced to be equal to those made from ordinary orchard cherries. Buffalo Berry (Shepherdia argentea). For an acid fruit the buffalo berry is worthy of cultivation. It is hardy and apparently free from the usival enemies of so many of our shrubby fruits. It might be used as a substitute for the cranberry. Gooseberries (Ribes sp.). We have wild gooseberries in almost every part of the state, which in their wild condition are quite edible, and which under cultivation should give us something to replace our old kinds, many of which will not do well in this climate. Currants (Ribes aureum). In the western counties I found some years ago that the golden flow- ered currant was under cultivation, not for its flowers, as with us, but for its fruits, and I was told that the people there prized them and re- garded them as well worth cultivating. WILD FRUITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED 57 Raspberries (Rubus sp.). It would be a good thing- for every grower of fruits to take up some of the bushes of the wild raspberries he finds in his neighborhood, for no doubt among these he would find some equal to, or superior to those he has had under cultivation. The same may be said of the wild blackber- ries in those parts of the state where they are to be found. Juneberries (Amelanchier sp.). In the eastern part of the state we find the tree-like juneberry, which would be quite troublesome to grow on accoimt of its tall growth, but further west there are juneberries that are shrubby, rarely growing more than four to six feet in height. These shrubby juneberries are very good to eat, and would add much to the value of one's small-fruit plantation. Elderberries (Sambucus canadensis). The common black elderben-y so abundant in many places in Ne- braska should long ago have been taken in hand and improved. Even in the wild state the fruits are palatable, and from them good jams and pastries can be made. I have eaten rnany a piece of elderberry pie, and longed for more. It is a wild fruit that ought not to be longer neglected. Strawberries (Fragaria sp.). Everybody knows how good wild fctrawberries are, and yet few of us have taken them up and given them that cultivation under which they might be expected to develop into stronger and larger and still better varieties. So I was very much pleased when Professor Gilmore volun- teered to give me his experience, which is so favorable that I quote it here. "I also took up some wild strawberries from a patch near Dead Man's Run, five miles east of Lincoln. They have fiourished wonderfully well, fruiting most abundantly, and coming into bearing earlier and continuing in fruit at least a week longer than any cultivated variety that I know. By being freed from competition of the prairie grasses they responded at once by an increase of fillly 100 per cent in the size of the individual fruits. They are superior in color and flavor to the cultivated varieties, and very resistant to drought and other adverse conditions. They do not seem to 'run out' by continuance of the same stock in the same place year after year as our cultivated varieties do. The gathered fruits also resist decay much longer than the common cultivated varieties. I found my wild stock to consist of three types: one of appressed conical form and closely adherent to the calyx, another of a more acutely conical form and standing well up from the calyx, or 'hull,' and possessed of a firm texture and rich color; the third is like the first in form but of less firm texture and of a paler color. Of the three forms described, the second 58 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. is much more desirable, and the most responsive to cultivation according to my observation." Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). Here I refer to the common wild black cherry, of the eastern states, which has crept into eastern Nebraska, following the wooded bluffs of the Missouri river. Ever since my boyhood days I have felt that a cherry with so good a taste ought to be improved in size, and made to yield a larger amount of flesh for a given amount of stone. It is unquestionably worthy of your careful attention. Western Black Cherry (Prunus melanocarpa). On the plains we have a smaller tree that produces larger cherries, and that I feel is even more desirable as an original stock than the east- ern wild black cherry. This western species has been slandered by hav- ing bestowed upon it the name of choke cherry, although it is not a choke cherry at all. It often grows as a slender shrub, and at the height of four to five feet it is sometimes loaded with fruit. I found the ripe cher- ries to have a rather thick flesh of a very good taste, and I have eaten pies made of them, and pronounced them very good indeed. This species is well worthy of the serious attention of every fruit grower of an ex- perimental turn of mind. "" Wild Plums (Prunus sp.). These have been brought under cultivation to such an extent that they have given us most of the successful varieties for the prairies and Great Plains, Wild Grapes (Vitis sp.). While it appears that our wild grapes have in the past received the attention of experimental fruit growers, it is still true that very little is being done in this direction in Nebraska at the present time. Any one who has paid any attention to the wild grapes in his neighborhood has observed that they are quite variable in regard to the size and quality of the grapes. This should suggest the probability that under cultiva- tion our wild grapes would respond most profltably. We can not afford to let these really good wild grapes grow in the unappreciated way that has prevailed so largely in the past. Last fall Professor Gilmore, whom I have already quoted twice in connection with other fruits, brought me a bottle of unfermented grape juice made from wild grapes gathered on the Omaha Indian Reservation in the northeastern part of the state, and I can personally testify to' the very superior quality of the product. In fact, I don't think I have ever tasted as good a quality of grape juice manufactured from the cultivated grape. Now all of the foregoing fruits may be said to be practically certain to make a profitable response to cultivation, so that all that is needed is WILD FRUITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED. 59 for the improvements to be made when the results may be confidently expected to be acceptable to our palates. In other words, the people are ready to buy and eat the foregoing fruits when they are ameliorated and modified by cultivation. Now I wish to suggest half a dozen or so of our wild fruits that are still wholly in the experimental stage. In fact, I am not at all certain that people will eat some of the following things even though we were to cultivate them in considerable quantities. And yet I think it is worth our while to seek to add these to the list of fruits that we grow in our orchards and plantations. Wild Apples (Mains ioensis). Here I refer to what are commonly called wild crab apples, and which grow in the eastern and northeastern portions of the state. As I pointed out many years ago in a paper read before this society, our tree is not strictly a crab apple, but it is in reality a wild apple, allied rather closely with the wild apple of the Old. World from which all of our culti- vated varieties of apples have come. And it is a fact that in this native wild apple we have a better primitive stock than our forefathers found when they first took up the wild apple of Europe and Asia. Sometimes when I have urged fruit growers to begin improving our wild apple 1 have been met by the remark that the Old World apple is good enough, but this I am sure will not be your attitude, and I hope to live to eat pal- atable apples derived by some of you from our native wild apple. Hawthorns (Crataegus sp.). Every one who has observed our hawthorns closely has been impressed by the fact that they are very variable as to their fruits, and every one of you who was a boy in a region where hawthorns were abundant will remember that on some trees the fruits were very good tasting. Of course there is not a great deal of flesh on these little fruits, but what there is of it is good. Now since these are hardy trees, what more nat- ural suggestion can I make than that, after carefhl selection, an attempt should be made to ameliorate the taste and increase the size of the fruits of some of our native hawthorns? Rose Apples (Rosa sp.). Here again I must appeal to your boyhood recollection of the good taste you often found in the flesh of the rose apples that grow on the prairies. Even now as I run across the ripe, red apples on our low wild rose I am always tempted to eat all that I flnd, and my taste still assures me that they are good eating now, and I am sure that they could be greatly improved by cultivation and selection. Let some one start with a carefully selected wild form, and then plant the seeds of the largest and finest apples, doing this for a number of generations. I am confident that in these pretty red fruits we have the promise of what man might 60 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. do were he to undertake the work with seriousness and for a series of years. Prickly Pears (Opuntia sp.). In many parts of the state one or more species of prickly pears grow spontaneously upon the dry soil, and in spite of the dryness of soil or intense heat of the sunshine they produce their sweet and succulent fruits. Would it not be a wise thing for us to seek to increase the sizo and succulence of these fruits, since the plants are so well adapted to the dryest and hottest of situations, and certainly there are many places in the state, especially in the central and western portions, where such plants alone can be grown. Ground Cherries (Physalis sp.). It is a curious fact that the only species of the ground cherry that we cultivate came from Asia or South America, while we have neglected our own wild species, some of which are very promising. I am convinced that if we were to enlarge the size of the sweet berry to about double its present diameter we should add another to our raiher short list of jam- yielding fruits. The experiment is worth trying at any rate. Wild Tomatoes (Solanum nigrum, S. Triflorum). Although we commonly call these nightshades, they have been shown to respond so easily to cultivation that they may well be called wild to- matoes, although at the present time the fruits are very small, ranging from a quarter of an inch to half an inch in diameter. Already the first species under cultivation has enlarged its fruits to a full half-inch in diameter. Under the name of "prairie huckleberries'' they have been much advertised of late, and while the name is wholly wrong and mis- leading, the fruits themselves are worthy of cultivation and still fuither improvement. In time they may be made to yield as a tomato-like fi'uit from half an inch to an inch in diameter. Ground Plums (Astragalus caryocarpus). All over the plains and prairies there may be found the earty flower- ing and fruiting ground plums with their very succulent, few-seeded pods. The spreading plants spring up each year from a hardy, perennial root, and because of this fact they blossom very early in the spring, and pro- duce their fruits very shortly after. It is commonly said that the early travelers across the Plains used these fruits for food, cooking them as we cook peas or string beans. As the plants are perennial, it will be very readily seen that here would be a most decided advantage which these new plants would have over all of our present peas and beans. There yet remain only a few nut-bearing trees, which are not com- monly reckoned among those which bear fruits, and yet it must be' re- WILD FKLITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED. 61 membered that nuts are Iruits, and I may be allowed to briefly notice them here. Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra). Aside from its value as a timber tree the black walnut is worthy of cultivation for its edible nuts. By taking pains to plant only the best walnuts it should not be difficult to materially modify for the better this already excellent nut. Butternuts (.Juglans cinerea). What I have said of the black walnut may be said in regard to the butternut. Hickory Nuts (Hicoria ovata, H. laciniosa). Here may be repeated what was said above in regard to the black walnut. It will pay to try to grow and improve these wild nuts, which grow wild in the extreme southeastern part of the state. In the forego- ing I have enumerated the principal wild fruits of Nebraska that in my opinion are worthy of being cultivated, and T am hopeful that some or all of you will try to add at least one fruit from this list to those now cultivated. DISCUSSION. Mr. Yager: I would like to ask Dr. Bessey if there is any way of de- termining what is the real strawberry from the native seedling? Near our plantation we find everywhere strawberries and black raspberries that are supposed to l)e wild. We find them in every shape, form, color, and condition. We are growing in the neighborhood of some forty varie- ties of strawberries for experimental purposes. Dr. Bessey: The only way to do would be to go out to a place suffi- ciently remote from your plantation. We have one very well-known species growing in this portion of Nebraska. As you say, there is an enormous mixing up of these wild plants. It is a very difficult thing to tell whether the thing you speak of is a wild raspberry or not if you are near the raspberry plantation, but if you are back where you have no tame raspberries or patches, there you will be sure that you have the wild species. Take it twenty years ago, for instance, near' Long Pine, I suppose that was one hundred miles from any raspberry patch at that time, at least it was a good distance. There we found wild raspberries, and they looked very much like some of these that are cultivated, but I am sure they were wild. Mr. Harris: I was very much interested in this long list of wild fruit mentioned by Dr. Bessey, but I think he has failed to mention all of them. I think he has forgotten one which he will call to mind, and that is our Nebraska banana, we call it the pawpaw, in the southern portion of our state. I think it ought to be included in his list. Dr. Bessey: If the Secretary will call my attention to it I will add 62 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. that to my list. While I despise the taste of the thing, I believe it should be added to the list because there is no question that if there is any fruit that can properly be taken care of we should do it, and it will add very materially to our fruit list. ~ President: The next thing on our program is a. paper by Mr. C. H. Barnard entitled, "The growing of pears in Nebraska." GROWING PEARS IN NEBRASKA. C. H. Barnard. The growing of pears in Nebraska has in the past been a question that we are all rather inclined to doubt, and having doubted give the benefit of the doubt to the industry and pass it up without the try, try again that has accomplished the growing of apples and other fruit. One thing that has kept planters from making a more thorough test of pear growing has been the price of trees has been so high, or too high for just experimenting. Another thing, the almost universal practice of giving the pear the best place and good cultivation so as to make the best growth, with the idea of bringing to bearing as soon as possible, and in this way induced a tender growth which experience has taught us induced blight of twigs and limbs, and soon the tree is dead from what we term "blight." The first pear trees planted on my place were standard trees set fif- teen feet apart and in a very rich place, and then we gave this our very best cultivation, and as a result a few years and every tree was gone. An accident first made me think that pears could be grown, and while as yet we have not planted extensively we have a few trees that are doing fine. A short row of pear trees that had been left in a nursery row, being from eighteen inches to four feet apart, have for several years borne good crops and are apparently as hardy as apple trees standing near, and they bear as often as the apple. This row comprises a few Duchess, Bartlett, Louise Bonne, and Buf- fum, and are so close that the branches interlace. Each variety bears a full crop, and there is no difference in the bearing qualities of any one of the varieties. My orchard proper planted fifteen feet apart, before I no- ticed this row of the same varieties, when this row was all full, had some trees with fair crops and some with none. My last planting I placed them four feet in the row with the rows a little wider and breaking joints in the row. This seems very close plant- ing, but I wish to give it a fair trial and see how it will work out. The varieties are mixed as much as possible with a view to a more perfect pollenization. In selecting trees for planting I prefer the dwarf trees, and plant deep enough so that the pear stock will develop roots above the bud and thus combine the early bearing of the dwarf tree with the supposed longevity of the standard. PERSIMMONS AND THE BIUKETT PEAK. 63 After trees are planted see that j'ou do not try to push the growth of the tree too much, but try and have a very moderate* amount of well- ripened wood each year. Anything that will check the growth of pear trees, yet let them put on a moderate growth, Is beneficial in the end toward helping to grow a crop of fruit. A blue grass sod such as many of us have in our yards is one of the best agencies to help with this work. A clay soil or a lime stone rock mixed with moderately rich soil helps trees planted in our yards, and given a limited cultivation for a few years do well and bring results. By a limited cultivation I mean to keep the grass from closing up around the tree so that scarcely any rain or other moisture can get to the roots of the tree, and yet not that digging and hoeing all the time to keep the tree drinking in all the moisture and appropriating all the fer- tility in reach of the roots. The Chairman: The next paper will be by Mr. J. P. Dunlap, of Dwight, on "Persimmons and the* Birkett pear." PERSIMMONS AND THE BIRKETT PEAR. J. R. Dunlap, Dwight. The persimmon is native of the southeast quarter of the United States, but as there are many people here who have never seen the tree nor fruit a short description may be well. In shape, looks, and size the tree is much like our native hackberry and has large, thick leaves like the common milkweed. In size the fruit are like plums and are produced in great abundance. While green they are harsh and astringent, but when ripe are luscious. I do not know of any insect that attacks the fruit. They do not bloom until June. Where they grow in the wild woods or from seeds they are various in size and color and quality. The De- partment of Agriculture has been keeping a record of good quality trees. They also have brought different kinds of cultivated persimmons from Asia; so far they have proved too tender for this far north. Of the Amei ican kinds the trees generally are hardy in Nebraska, but many good kinds fail to ripen their fruit on account of our short seasons. Some kinds are hardy and ripen their fruit perfectly. The Ada has proved the best with me. It is of fair size, the color yellow, with red sides, qual- ity good, and ripens perfectly; tree hardy. Little Ruby is another that I have good hopes of, but not fully tested; it is red in color. As persimmons do not have perfect blossom it is necessary to have a stamenate tree along with the bearing trees. The better way to grow the trees is to plant the seed where the trees are to grow and let them grow until stamenate trees show bloom, then select those wanted for fertilizers and graft or bud the others. This can be done as successfully as with the apple, but needs to be done by an experienced person. The seedlings should grow two years in the seedling row; then be trans- planted before budding. The fertilizers can also be made by budding. 64 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The persimmons are eaten from the hand or prepared in many ways for food, without cooking, but not so good if cooked. The fruit when ripe can hang on the tree without injury until midwinter; any surplus fruit makes good hog and poultry food, but should have a ration of grain with it. Birkett Pear. The Birkett pear was sent out by D. B. Wier, of Lacon, Illinois, dur- ing the 70's, if I remember correctly. He propagated from a large old tree found on the farm of Mr. Birkett in that vicinity, the tree was noted for its large size, hardiness, and productiveness. I got one small tree of him. I think that was in the spring of 1878, and my tree is now about forty-five feet tall. The girth of the trunk is four feet, ten inches, and it showed a little fire blight when young, but not any more than Ben Davis apple near to it. But after cutting out the bad blighting varieties of ap- ples, it, as well as the Ben Davis, has not shown any blight. The Birkett pear, now thirty-three years old, appears to be in perfect health, while of the Ben Davis planted about the same time many are dead; and all others are badly damaged from age. For over twenty years the Birkett pear has grown fruit each year, although each alternate year the crop is much heavier. I have not meas- ured the fruit so as to be exact about it, but an estimate for the last few years since the tree has attained large size would say about ten bushels for the off years and twenty-five bushels for the full years. The fruit ripens in September. A few of the fruit has from one to three seeds each, but the most of them are seedless. The size and quality of the fruit are both below medium for a pear, but on account of the hardiness and great productiveness, I consider it worthy of planting. I would rec- ommend in planting to plant at one side of the orchard where it would not be in the way. after the rest of the orchard have died out. In propa- gating, it can be grafted in the usual way, either on pear or apple roots. While it grows readily on apple roots, this grafting makes it a dwarf tree and it bears when quite small; and is of quite slow growth, in nur- sery. If grafted on pear roots, it grows faster, but never a very fast grower in nursery. In planting in orchard, whether on pear or apple roots, I would recommend planting deeply, so that it could get on its own roots in case of the dying out of the root on which it was grafted. The tree needs very little if any trimming. The Chairman: The next paper will be number five, the "Compara- tive influence of heat and drouth on trees and plants," by L. O. Williams, of University Place. COMPARATIVE INFLUENCE OF HEAT AND DROUTH ON TREES AND PLANTS. L. O. Williams, University Place, Nebraska. It is a common practice among tree planters and gardeners to at- tribute the loss of newly planted trees and plants in a time of drouth to INFLUENCE OF HEAT AND DROUTH ON TUEE«. 65 that cause alone. When we bee vegetation fading under the summer sun we naturally think that lack of water is the cause and begin at once to apply this apparently needed remedy. It is quite apt to be the case that water will help relieve such plants from their distress, but let us study the conditions and see if water is the only panacea for such affected veg- etation. Plants and animals are much alike in their thirst for water. Both classes have a longing for water in warm weather because it helps us to keep cool. When an animal is sick from any cause, it has a desire to get in Ihe shade and have water also, for quieting his fever. Freshly planted trees or plants are in very much the same condition as a sick animal. With their roots torn loose and partially cut away, their tops also more or less mutilated, they are fit subjects for a hospital. Now animals, when wounded and bleeding, will seek shelter from the heat of the sun. Trees in a like condition have a low vitality, their cir- culation (the flowing sap) is very low, their foliage which might be used for their own shelter under normal conditions is insufficient, and they are left to swelter and suffer in the broiling sun. You and I can crawl under the shade of a friendly tree when the mercury is climbing up around the hundred mark, but the helpless inani- mate tree must endure the burden and heat of the day without recourse to shelter. The season of 1911 was noted here as elsewhere as a very remarkable one in its extremes of both heat and drouth. Tree planters lost very heavily of their newly planted trees and shrubs despite the amount of water that was given them. Out of several plantings that I made in which the tree trunks were wrapped with burlap, and the roots protected by mulching, I lost but a very small per cent. These trees re- ceived a normal amount of water, but I know of some trees planted under similar conditions that were lost despite a free application of water. Such instances as the above, coupled with observations in a general way, lead me to the conviction that the excessive heat of the past summer was responsible for a much larger damage to vegetation than was the lack of moisture, even tho there w;is a serious need for this moisture. The effect of the heat upon the blackberry crop was very marked in several cases that cajne under my observation. In a plantation of three or four acres near Lincoln, coarse manure and straw hadi been used to mulch all but a small portion of the patch. Strange to say, but it was true, that the portion that was mulched was nearly ruined by the heat, the berries drying up before attaining their first stage of ripening. On the small part that was not mulched, and not even cultivated, there were several cases of berries that came to a fair degree of maturity. The owner came to the conclusion that the reflection of the sun from the mulching being cast upwards against the growing berries was the cause of their premature drying. The same relative influence of the heat upon the ripening berries in my own: plantation was noticeable to a limited extent. My plantation was young and the mulching not heavy, but the 66 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. pickers would notice a difference between the mulched and unmulched rows, the sun's effect being more noticeable by both the pickers and ber- ries in the rows that were mulched. In these illustrations, showing the effect of the heat, it will be observed that the effect is reversed from the usual order. Mulching is recognized as a conserver of moisture, but in a season of such over abundant sunshine a contrary effect is produced. Shading the soil by the use of growing vines has some indicated les- sons. In spite of the extreme heat and drouth, I could not fail to notice the remarkable ability of the melon vines to Avith stand the trial. Vines that received no water by hand, — nothing more than ordinary made a steady growth, through the season, and succeeded finally in producing a good paying crop of melons. Grape vines have the same habit of shad- ing their own roots, and seem to have a similar power of resisting both heat and drouth. The example of the vinous plants and fruits that I have cited shows not only their marked ability to withstand heat and drouth, but emphasizes the need for shading such trees and plants that are in immediate danger of prostration by the heat. The President: We will now have the reports of the secretary and treasurer. SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1911. The Nebraska State Horticultural, Society, In account with C. G. Marshall, Secretary. 1911. Cash received and turned to Treasurer: June 1 Membership Fees $ 173 75 Sept 8 Fruit sold at State Fair 54 00 Sept 8 State Board of Agriculture 1,200 00 $1,427 00 WARRANTS DRAWN. No. To Whom Drawn, and for What Purpose Amount 1 Hesseltine, Ray W., Premium T $ 22 00 2 Mathews, Homer, Premium 15 00 3 Chresty, Clair, Premium 20 00 4 Williams, Frank, Premium 12 00 5 Barnard, C. H., Premium 6 00 6 Brinton, C. W., Premium 2 00 7 Henderson, L., Premium 16 00 8 Dole Floral Co., Premium 21 00 9 Hurlburt, C. M., Premium 5 00 10 Frey & Frey, Premium 3 00 11 Simanton & Pence, Premium 2 00 12 Tanner, T. C, Expenses as Iowa delegate 6 75 13 Blodgett, R. E., Apples used in judging contest 4 00 SECRETARY'S RErORT. 67 No. To Whom Drawn, and for What Purpose Amount 14 Harrison, A. S., Del. to Kan. Hort. meeting 10 00 15 Marshall, C. G., Del. to Minn. Hort. meeting and postage 30 00 16 Fausch, H. R., Judging premiums 2 11 17 Wilcox, F. L., Judging premiums 73 18 Charlton, H. M., Judging premiums 2 53 19 Heiderstadt, Stewart, Judging premiums 1 51 20 Herminghaus, E. H., Judging premiums 3 08 21 Beckhoff, A. H., Judging premiums 2 53 22 Marshall, R. E., Judging premiums 2 71 23 Osborn, D. H., Judging premiums 1 65 24 Williams, R. L., Judging premiums 2 39 25 Wilcox, A. W., Judging premiums 96 26 Patrick, Claude, Judging premiums 2 16 27 Gingrich, Fred, Judging premiums 1 47 28 Maxfield, Don, Judging premiums 1 38 29 Nelson, Leon .M., Judging premiums 1 97 30 Brainard, W. N., Judging premiums 2 35 31 Kuska, J. B., Judging premiums 2 85 32 Liebers, Otto, Judging premiums 2 57 33 Delano, H. E., Judging premiums 1 97 34 Trotter, H. E.. Judging premiums 1 74 35 Backlund, T. W., Judging premiums 2 07 3« HofMann, F. W., Judging premiums 2 34 37 Posson, R. J., Judging premiums 1 24 38 Asendorf, B. H., Judging premiums 2 34 39 Brinton, C. W., Judging premiums 2 34 40 Rennard, Fred, Judging premiums 2 48 41 Camp, Rudolph, Judging premiums 2 20 42 Erickson, J. E., Judging premiums 2 53 43 Higgins, J. E., Judging premiums 1 84 44 McCarthey, Joseph, Judging premiums , 2 43 45 Ritchey, H. W., Judging premiums 2 76 46 INIathews, H. L., Judging premiums 3 22 47 Kent, Percy, Judging premiums 1 51 48 Coupe, H. A., Judging premiums 2 20 49 Keifer, Joe, Judging premiums 2 39 50 Carpenter, R. W., Judging premiums 2 53 51 Comstock, Ned, Judging premiums 1 97 52 Gochner, Bill, Judging premiums 2 16 53 Moseley, Tom, Judging premiums 2 34 54 Butler, Nellie, Judging premiums 2 36 55 Gramlich, Howard, Judging premiums 3 22 56 Rogge, W., Judging premiums 2 85 57 Rennard, E. J., Judging premiums 50 58 Mundy, C. A., Judging premiums 1 15 59 Forbes, W., Judging premiums 1 28 68 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. No. To Whom Drawn, and for What Purpose Amount 60 Albers, John Jr., Judging premiums ••• 2 57 61 American Ex. Co., Freight on reports 34 73 62 Lincoln Paper Co., Twine and paper 3 70 63 Benton, W. M., Printing 26 50 64 Benway Co., The A. D., Filing cabinet - 8 80 65 Lincoln Paper Box Co., Filing cases 4 00 66 Adams Ex. Co., Express on reports 14 95 67 Williams, Ed., Per diem 9 00 68 Youngers, Peter, Per diem 9 00 69 Brown, A. J., Per diem 9 00 70 Marshall, G. A., Per diem 9 00 71 Yager, J. A., Per diem 9 00 72 Aspegren & Sti'and Lbr. Co., Lumber used in Hort. Hall 5 45 73 Marshall, C. G., Salary January 83 00 74 Green, C. H., Floral tribute to Mrs. C. G. Marshall 10 00 75 Bacon, Minor S., Reporting winter meeting 67 50 76 Pool, Raymond J., Use of Forestry Club in publishing annual 10 00 77 Williams, O. A., Expenses in coming to Lincoln to address society 10 89 78 Barnard, C. H., Per diem 9 00 79 Marshall, C. G., Salary February 84 00 SO Youngers, Peter, Per diem 6 00 81 Marshall, G. A., Per diem 6 ,00 82 Harrison, W. A., Per diem ■ 6 00 " 83 Yager, J. A., Per diem 6 00 84 Brown, A. J., Per diem 6 00 85 Marshall, C. G., Postage 9 39 86 Adams Ex. Co., Express on books 80 87 Claflin Printing Co., February Number of Hort 38 40 88 American Exp. Co., Express on books 1 29 89 Chapin Bros., Vases at winter meeting 3 00 90 Porter, Harry, Stationery , 1 00 91 Williams, Frank, Premium judging contest .' 2 89 92 Rudge & Guenzel, Supplies used in Hort. Hall State Fair. . 12 10 93 State Bd. of Agr., Freight on reports to farmers' institutes.. 28 84 94 Bacon, Minor S., Balance reporting winter meeting 2 25 95 Marshall, C. G., Salary March 83 00 96 Claflin Printing Co., March "Nebr. Hort." 38 40 97 Marshall, C. G., Salary April 83 00 98 Nebr. Tel. Co., Long distance 1 05 99 Marshall, C. G., Salary May 84 00 100 Harrison, W. A., Per diem 6 00 101 Yager, J. A., Per diem 6 00 102 Henderson, L., Per diem 6 00 103 Brown, A. J., Per diem 6 00 104 Youngers, Peter, Per diem 6 00 SECRETARY'S REPORT. C9 No. To Whom Drawn, and for What Purpose Amount 105 Russell, L. M., Per diem 3 00 106 Marshall, G. A., Per diem 6 00 107 Barnard, C. H., Legislative Com. work 50 00 108 Claflin Printing Co., April Horticulture 30 10 109 Lincoln Paper Co., Paper plates 3 00 110 American Express Co., Express on reports 2 65 111 Adams Express Co., Express on reports 1 40 1 12 Porter, Harry, Office supplies 3 00 113 Marshall, C. G., Postage, supplies and express 37 32 lU Marshall, C. G., Salary June 83 00 115 Claflin Printing Co., May and June Horticulture 48 00 11(] Benton, W. M., Printing stationery 9 50 117 Marshall, C. G., Salary July 84 00 118 Marshall, C. G., Salary August 83 00 119 Coolage, W. C, Signs at State Fair 8 25 120 Camp, C. B., Premiums 52 00 121 Camp & Chambers, Premiums 15 00 1 22 Chambers, R. T., Premiums 9 00 123 Barnard, C. H., Premiums 8 00 124 Brown. F. P., Premiums 41 00 125 Christy. G. S., Premiums u . . 51 00 1 26 Caldwell & Sheets, Premiums 100 1 27 Cachelin, U.. Premiums 2 00 128 Alder, Roy, Premiums 1 00 129 Ballard, D., Premiums 2 00 130 Boyle & Kibler, Premium 3 50 131 Barrett, G. W., Premiums 4 00 132 Butterfield, E. W., Premiums 1 00 133 Burgess, Henrietta, Premiums 2 00 134 Duncan & Velvick, Premiums 8 00 135 Furnass, J. S., Premiums 4 50 136 Grau, C, Premiums 3 50 137 Oilman, C. H., Premiums 1 00 138 Gilham, Henry, Premiums 2 00 139 Hesseltine, Ray W., Premiums 59 00 140 HofMann, F. W., Premiums ^ 69 00 141 Howard, R. F., Premiums 3 00 142 Hornung, E., Premiums 5 00 143 Hensler, .John, Premiums 3 00 144 Hagan, G. W., Premiums .7. . . 2 50 145 Hain, C. B., Premiums 1 00 146 Hoffman, J. R., Premiums 9 00 147 Heffelbower. D., Premiums 100 148 Keyser & Marshall, Premiums 27 00 149 Jjonergan, Wm., Premiums 5 00 150 Kaar, Theo., Premiums 1 00 70 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. No. To Whom Drawn, and for What Purpose Amount 151 McNutt, Oliver, Premiums 1 00 152 Martin, Arnold, Premiums 10 00 153 Nonnamaker, Edw., Premiums 12 00 154 Prater, W. A., Premiums 6 00 155 Pohlman, T., Premiums 2 00 156 Russell, A., Premiums 6 00 157 Shannon, W. G., Premiums 2 00 158 Sloam, C. N., Premium 2 00 159 Sunds, M., Premiums 1 00 160 Rosenbaum, H. J., Premiums 9 50 161 Railsbach, J., Premiums 1 00 162 Williams, F., Premiums 3 00 163 Wishert, S. O., Premiums 2 00 164 Vielle, J. H., Premiums 2 00 165 Witenkamp, H. W., Premiums 2 00 166 Wheeldon, F., Premiums 6 00 167 Timm, H., Premiums 2 00 168 Smith, L., Premiums 1 00 169 Schram, Geo., Premiums 2 00 170 Rutledge, Wm., Premiums 2 00 171 Sidders, W. F., Premiums 10 00 172 Williams, L. O., Premiums 7 00 173 Shivvers, C. H., Premiums 2 00 174 Stephens, E. F., Premiums 4 00 175 Roman, I. N., Premiums 2 50 176 Green, C. H., Premiums 105 00 177 Frey & Frey, Premiums 102 00 178 Henderson, L., Premiums 126 00 179 Simanton & Pence, Premiums 41 00 180 Williams, Edw., Premiums 75 00 181 Chambers, R. T., Premiums 3 00 182 Marshall Bros., Premiums , 195 50 183 Marshall, G. A., Per diem 24 00 184 Brown, A. J., Per diem 27 00 185 Harrison, W. A., Per diem 21 00 186 Yager, J. A., Per diem 18 00 187 Barnard, C. H., Per diem 24 00 188 Dunman, W. H., Judging floral exhibits 10 00 189 Ferguson, C, Assistant Secretary State Fair 20 00 190 Russell, Lr. M., Per diem 24 00 191 Havens, Bert C., Labor at State Fair 3 00 192 Edwards, Mrs. R. E., Labor at State Fair 6 00 193 Marshall Bros., Bbl. apples 2 50 194 Keyser & Marshall, 2 bbl. apples 5 00 195 Marshall, C. G., Postage and express 31 46 196 Frey & Frey, Vases and smilax 41 85 TREASURER'S REPORT. 71 No. To Whom Drawn, aud for What Purpose Amount 197 North, Jacob & Co., Entry books and supplies 7 50 198 Benton, W. jM., Cards and ribbons 9 50 199 Webb, S. A., Labor at State Fair 4 00 200 Beatrice Creamery Co., Storage and ice 49 35 201 Walker, J. W., Judging fruit at State Fair 25 00 202 Nebraska Tel. Co., Phone and tolls. State Fair 7 10 203 Blystone, W. J., Labor and supplies State Fair 75 00 204 Haney, Chas., Labor at State' Fair 28 00 205 Lincoln Paper Co., Paper and plates 11 86 206 Beatrice Creamery Co., Express on fruit for Fair 2 33 207 Marshall, C. G., Salary September 83 00 208 Rudge & Guenzcl, Supplies at Fair 14 53 209 Fleming, Chas. W., Polishing trophies 2 00 210 Grainger, J. & Co., Fruit for Fair 6 00 211 Claflin Printing Co., July, August, and September Hort 76 80 212 Marshall, C. G., Salary October 83 00 213 Wooden Box & Package Co., apple boxes 16 25 214 Miles, F. C, Delegate to Natl. Hort. Congress 5 00 215 Becker, Wm., Delegate to Natl. Hort. Congress 5 00 216 Forbes, Will, Delegate to Natl. Hort. Congress 5 00 217 Ritchey, H. W., Delegate to Natl. Hort. Congress 5 00 218 Camp, R. H., Delegate to Natl. Hort. Congress 5 00 219 Harrison, W. A., Per diem 6 00 220 Henderson, L., Per diem 6 00 221 Youngers, Peter, Per diem 6 00 222 Yager, J. A., Per diem 6 00 223 Marshall, G. A., Per diem 6 00 224 Brown, A. J., Per diem 6 00 225 Marshall, C. G., Postage and express 5 42 226 Rudge & Guenzel, Filing cases 18 00 227 Marshall, C. G., Salary November 84 00 228 Marshall, C. G., Salary December 83 00 229 Claflin Printing Co., October, November and December Hort. 72 20 TREASURER'S REPORT. The Nebraska State Horticultural Society, In account with Peter Youngers, Treasurer. 1911 Jan. 17 Balance on hand $2,167 99 June 1 State appropriation . . . : 1,500 00 June 1 C. G. Marshall 173 75 Sept. 8 C. G. Marshall 54 00 Sept. 8 State Agricultural Society 1,200 00 72 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Oct. 2 State appropriation 1,000 00 Total casli received $6,095 74 Total- warrants paid 3,811 55 Balance on hand January 16, 1912 $2,284 19 " LIST OF WARRANTS PAID. No. Name Amount 1 Ray W. Hesseltine $ 22 00 2 Homer L. Mathews 15 00 3 Clair Christy 20 00 4 Frank Williams 12 00 5 C. H. Barnard 6 00 6 C. W. Brinton Jr 2 00 7 L. Henderson 16 00 8 Dole Floral Co , 21 00 9 C. M. Hurlburt 5 00 10 Fi-ey & Frey 3 00 11 Simanton & Pence 2 00 12 T. C. Tanner ! 6 75 13 R. B. Blodgett 4 00 14 C. S. Harrison 10 00 15 C. G. Marshall 30 00 16 H. R. Farsch 2 11 17 F. L. Wilcox 73 18 H. M. Charlton 2 53 19 Stuart Heiderstadt 151 20 E. H. Hemingheus 3 08 21 A. W. Beckhoft 2 53 22 R. E. Marshall 2 71 23 D. H. Osborne 165 24 R. L. Williams 2 39 25 A. W. Wilcox 96 26 Claud Patrick 2 16 27 Fred Gingrick 1 47 28 Don Maxfield 1 38 29 M. Nelson 1 97 30 W. N. Brainard 2 35 31 J. B. Kuska 2 85 32 Otto Liebers 2 57 33 H. E. DeLano 197 34 H. E. Trotter 1 74 35 Theo. W. Backlund 2 07 36 F. W. Hoffman 2 94 37 R. J. Possom 124 38 B. Hasendorf 2 34 39 C. W. Brinton 2 34 40 Fred Reuner 2 48 TREASURER'S REPORT. 73 No. Name Amount 41 Rudolph Camp 2 20 42 J. K. Eritksou 2 53 43 J. E. Higgins 1 84 44 Joseph I\lcCartley 2 43 45 H. W. Ritchey 2 76 46 H. L. Mathews 3 22 47 Percy Kent 1 51 48 Henry Coupe 2 20 49 Joe Keifer 2 39 50 R. W. Carpenter 2 53 51 Ned Comstock 197 52 Bill Goehner 2 16 53 Thomas Moseley 2 34 54 Nellie Butler 2 30 55 W'. Rogge 2 85 56 Howard Gramllch 3 22 58 C. A. Mundey 1 15 59 W. Forbes 1 28 60 John Albers Jr 2 57 61 American Express Co 34 73 G2 Lincoln Paper Co. ...'. 3 70 63 W. H. Benton 26 50 64 A. D. Benway Co 8 80 65 Lincoln Paper Bag Co 4 00 66 Adams Express Co 14 95 67 Ed Williams 9 00 68 Peter Youngers 9 00 69 A. J. Brown 9 00 70 G. A. Marshall 9 00 71 J. A. Yager 9 00 72 Aspengren & Strand Lbr. Co 5 45 73 C. G. Marshall 83 00 74 C. H. Green 10 00 75 Minor S. Bacon 67 50 76 Raymond J. Pool 10 00 77 O. A. Williams 10 87 78 C. H. Barnard 9 00 79 C. G. Marshall 84 00 80 Peter Youngers 6 00 81 G. A. Marshall G 00 82 W. A. Harrison 6 00 83 J. A. Yager 6 00 84 A. J. Brown 6 00 85 C. G. IMarshall 9 39 86 Adams Express Co 80 87 Claflin Printing Co 38 40 74 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. No. Name Amount 88 American EScpress Co 1 29 89 Chapin Bros 3 00 90 Harry Porter 1 00 91 Frank Williams 2 89 92 Rudge & Guenzel 12 10 93 State Board of Agriculture 28 84 94 Minor S. Bacon 2 25 95 C. G. Marshall 83 00 96 Claflin Printing Co 38 40 97 C. G. Marshall i 83 00 98 The Nebraska Telephone Co 1 05 99 C. G. Marshall 84 00 100 W. A. Harrison 6 00 101 J. A. Yager 6 00 102 L. Henderson ' 6 00 103 A. J. Brown 6 00 104 Peter Youngers '. 6 00 105 L. M. Russell 3 00 106 G. A. Marshall 6 00 107 C. H. Barnard 50 00 108 The Claflin Printing Co 30 10 109 Lincoln Paper Co 3 00 110 American Express Co 2 65 111 Adams Express Co 1 40 112 Harry Porter 3 00 113 C. G. Marshall 37 32 114 C. G. Marshall 83 00 115 The Claflin Printing Co 48 00 116 W. M. Benton ." 9 50 117 C. G. Marshall 84 00 118 C. G. Marshall 83 00 119 W. C. Coolege 8 25 120 C. B. Camp ^ 52 00 121 Camp & Chambers 15 00 122 R. I. Chambers 9 00 123 C. H. Barnard 8 00 124 S. P. Brown 41 00 125 G. S. Christy • • • 51 00 126 Caldwell & Sheets 1 00 127 W. C. Achelin 2 00 128 Roy Allger 1 00 129 D. Ballard 2 00 130 Boyle & Kibler 3 50 131 G. W. Barrett 4 00 133 Henrietta Burgess 2 00 134 Duncan Velerick 8 00 TREASURER'S REPORT. 75 No. Name Amount 1 35 J. S. Furnas 4 50 136 Chas. S. Grau 3 50 137 C. H. Oilman 1 00 138 Henry Gilliam 2 00 139 Roy W. Hesseltine 59 00 110 F. W. Hoffman 69 00 141 R. F. Howard 3 00 142 Ernest Hornung 5 00 143 John Hensler 3 00 144 G. N. Hagan 2 50 145 C. B. Hain 100 146 J. R. Hoffman 9 00 147 D. Heffeleborn 1 00 148 Keyser & Marshall 27 00 149 Wm. Lonergan 5 00 150 Theo. Kaar 100 151 Oliver McNutt . : 1 00 152 Arnold Martin 10 00 153 Ed Wannamaker 12 00 154 W. A. Parter 6 00 155 T. Pohlman 2 00 156 A. Russell 6 00 158 C. N. Slocum 2 00 159 M. Sunds 1 00 160 H. J. Rosenbaum 9 50 162 F. Williams 3 00 163 S. O. Wisherd 2 00 164 J. M. Vielle 2 00 165 H. W. Wetenkamp 2 00 1 66 F. W. Wheeldon 6 00 167 H. Timm 2 00 169 Geo. Schram 2 00 170 Wm. Rutledge 2 00 171 W. F. Sidders 10 00 172 L. O. Williams 7 00 173 C. H. Shivvers 2 00 174 E. F. Stephens 4 00 175 I. N. Roman 2 50 176 C. H. Green 105 00 177 Frey & Frey 102 00 178 L. Henderson 126 00 179 Simanton & Pence 41 00 180 Ed Williams 75 00 181 R. T. Chambers 3 00 182 Marshall Bros 195 50 183 G. A. Marshall 24 00 184 A. J. Brown 27 00 76 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. No. Name Amount 185 W. A. Harrison 21 00 186 J. A. Yager 18 00 187 C. H. Barnard__^ : 24 00 188 W. H. Dunman 10 00 189 C. Ferguson 20 00 190 L. M. Russell 24 00 191 Bert C. Havens 3 00 192 Mrs. R. E. Edmunds 6 00 193 Marshall Bros 2 50 194 Keyser & Marshall 5 00 195 C. G. Marshall ' 31 46 196 Frey & Frey 41 85 197 Jacob North & Co 7 50 198 W. M. Benton ; 9 50 199 S. A. Webb 4 00 200 Beatrice Creamery Co 49 35 201 J. W. Walker 25 00 202 Nebraska Telephone Co 7 10 203 W. J. Blystone 75 00 204 Chas. Haney 28 00 205 Lincoln Paper Co 11 96 206 Beatrice Creamery Co 2 33 207 C. G. Marshall 83 00 208 Rudge & Guenzel Co 14 53 209 Chas. W. Fleming 2 00 210 J. Grainger & Co 6 00 211 The Claflin Printing Co 76 80 212 C. G. Marshall 83 00 213 Wooden Box & Package Co 16 25 214 F. C. Miles 5 00 215 Wm. Becker 5 00 216 Will Forbes 5 00 217 H. W. Ritchey 5 00 218 R.H.Camp 5 00 219 W. A. Harrison 6 00 220 L. Henderson 6 00 221 Peter Youngers 6 00 222 J. A. Yager 6 00 223 G. A. Marshall 6 00 224 A. J. Brown 6 00 225 C. G. Marshall 5 42 226 Rudge & Guenzel Co 18 00 227 C. G. Marshall 84 00 228 C. G. Marshall 83 00 229 The Claflin Printing Co 72 20 $3,811 55 TUK OH.IKCT Ol' IJIJUWING 1 'IJ iWJOUS. 77 The President: I will appoint as a committee to audit these reports, J. A. Yager, R. F. Howard, and E. W. Dole. Jan. Iti, 1912. AUDITING COMMITTEE'S REPORT. We, the iiienibers of the committee appointed to examine and report on the Secretary's and Treasurer's reports, beg to say that we find them correct. J. A. YAGER, R. F. HOWARD, EDW. W. DOLE. Accepted. If there is no further business to come before this meeting we will now^ adjourn, but before we ad.iourn I wish to call your attention to the Horticultural Banquet to be held this evening at the Lindell Hotel, and trust you will all secure your tickets. Meeting thereupon adjourned to meet tomorrow (Wednesday) morn- ing at 9:00 A.M. MORNINU SESSION Wednesday, January 17, 1912. STATE FLORISTS SOCIETY'S SESSION. Pres. C. H. Green in the Chair. President Green: I want to call your attention to the question box. If there are any questions you want to ask just make a note of them on a slip of paper, and as soon as the papers are finished we will take them up for discussion. Anything that you want to know, or information that you think you can get in the way of greenhouses, or greenhouse culture, or anything of that kind. The first subject will be "The object of grow- ing flowers," by Lewis Henderson, of Omaha. THE OBJECT OF GROWING FLOWERS. Lewis Henderson, Omaha. Mr. President and members of the State Florists' Society and State Hor- ticultural Society: What is the object of growing flowers, or why do we grow flowers? I have puzzled my heart many times afier some hard day's work among them, when the results seem so small, the leaves are dropping off, with the sprouts coming blind and only a few flowers, when the cold blasts are sweeping by and the raging of the elements, the hail storm and frost seem to have full control of heavens and the earth. Why do we go to all 78 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. this labor and tremendous expense for a few flowers? Of course you will say for the money that they bring, but why do they bring money? There is a deeper sentiment in the growing of flowers than money. The custom of using flowers at festivities and at various occasions as ex- pressions of sentiments, has existed since the time of ages. Only in the last thirtj^-five or fifty years have they been cultivated to any great extent. In former years they were plucked from meadows, rocks, and hill, in their natural state in various countries. Now we have them gathered and grouped from all parts of the world. From the tropics, and semi-tropics as well as the arctic zones. We supply them with their various needs all under the sun that brings out the luster and colors that charm the eyes of all mankind. We wake over them at night, guarding them against the cold blast of winds that are ready to nip their buds, we feed them, we water them, we guard them against insects and diseases. What do we do all this for? We do it to bring out the beauty, the fragrance, and the sentiments which can be expressed through these flowers at the various occasions of life. There is nothing that appeals more to the hearts of all mankind, no matter how hardened a criminal he may be, than a little flower plucked in all its simplicity, beauty, and fragrance, as a token of Nature's most beautiful and innocent emblems, or of a mother's memory when she so dearly cared for them when we in childish glee tottered at her knees. There is a charm within these petals that speaks of a life beyond. From childdhood's sunny morning to the mellow light of ripe old age, flowers are the tokens of love, the emblems of innocence, and the min- isters of happiness from the cradle to the grave. We use them to cheer the sick and those in distress. Many a tiiut. have I seen tears of joy and gratitude extended in return for only a little bunch of flowers sent to a friend whose heart seems to have been broken through sickness and life's struggles. As the poet says, "Save not your kisses for my cold brows; if you have any favors give them to me now." We grow them to decorate or charm our homes, our parks, our boule- A'^ards, our driveways, as an inspiration to Nature's most glorious and luxurious forms. We grow them to scatter to our friends. We grow them to inspire the wayward to live a more beautiful life. There is nothing that inspires or draws a person's mind more near to Nature's God than flowers, or softens or soothes the heart, than flowers. A young couple were courting and of course had a little love spat. They met. She said, "I thank you for the flowers you sent me," she smiled and blushed and hung her head and said, "I am sorry for the words I spoke, but now I know your heart is right, I want you to forgive me." And of course he did. But as they walked and talked through the shady bov/ers, he wondered who in the world sent her those flowers. With many another example of similar nature, where a bunch of flowers have softened wrath, and brought love, happiness, and sunshine into the hearts and home. VENTILATION OF GREENHOUSES. 79 Go gather a bunch of flowers Moist from the springs of crystal dew That life's gi-eeting will bring to you. The President: I think that Mr. Henderson's paper is so complete a presentation in itself there will hardly be any one that will want to take any exception to any of the statements that are made, so the next paper, which is "Temperature and ventilation of greenhouses," by Mr. Edward Williams of Grand Island, will be read by the Secretary. TEMPERATURE AND VENTILATION OF GREENHOUSES. Edward Williams, Grand Island. Mr. President and Gentlemen: Having been assigned the subject "Greenhouse ventilation and tem- perature," of same will say, that my experience has been that to properly ventilate a greenhouse is no small matter especially when breaking in a new man. It takes some time to learn to do the operation and do it right. For instance, a house that should be kept about 70 degrees sun heat, should, as the temperature rises, be given a crack of air two or three times after the thermometer leaves 62 or 64, not waiting until the thermometer registers 70 and then throw on about six inches of air, and let the temperature down to 58 or 60. The same precaution should be taken when lowering the ventilators. When the thermometer regis- ters 70 start lowering so that you can keep an even temperature as long as possible, until the steam is circulated and time to close the ventilators. I believe that the biggest mistake is made when a florist thinks that to walk around and watch his ventilators is waste of time, for the more even a temperature that can be kept the better the results. As a rule every fall you read in the trade papers of different growers wanting to know what makes the foliage yellow and soft, the stems weak, soil covered with green scum, flowers off color, carnations split, etc. I dare say that most of this trouble can be traced to poor ventilation. The tem- perature for different plants, to have them do well is as follows: For the tea roses day steam heat should be at 62 to 64 and night heat 58 to 60. The hybrid teas can stand about 2 to 4 degrees' higher tem- perature. Carnations such as the Enchantress varieties of which our main ones consist can stand a little higher temperature than the older varieties. I find that I can grow carnations with fair success with the following temperatures: day heat, 56 to 58, night heat 52 to 54, sun heat 70. Miscellaneous plants will do with carnation heat. Smilax, calla lilies, and palms will do w^ell with a rose house temperature. Violets' day heat should be 44 to 46 degrees, night heat 42 to 44 degres, when the weather permits ventilation. I believe that during the growing sea- son if the houses can be kept about 70 degrees it is about "right. Bulbous stuff does very well started in carnation temperature, and moved after the required stems have come to a warmer house if needed. 80 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. To have fair success in propagation the temperature must be watched very closely; for nothing will spoil a batch of cuttings quicker than to run the temperature of the sand up and down. This is especially true with roses after they have calloused. Often you will see a big batch of roses in the sand without a leaf on them. Yon can partly blame this to not keeping the temperature where it ought to be. Roses and all hard wooded plants can stand 10 degrees less, but the quicker the operation is done the better the success in per cent rooted. Another thing to be watched is the ventilation in a propagating house. On large places cheese cloth should be tacked over the ventilators to check the direct draft. The grafting case is another thing that has to be watched as to tem- perature, ventilating, and so on. But as there is not much, if any, of that done by florists in this vicinity, I will not dwell on that subject. Now as to raising your heat, for instance, previous to the holidays, I believe the same answers as to ventilating your houses. Do it by degrees, say 2 degrees every other night or day until you have the required tempera- ture, which you will have to decide yourself. If your stock is in no shape to stand a high temperature do not do it. For what few extra flowers you gain will be lost ten times over by softening your plants. And right here I want to say that sometimes they do not get over it, so don't get greedy; let well enough alone. I thank you. The Chairman: Is there any one who wishes to say anything upon the subjects in this paper? The Chairman: Our next subject is Growing chrysanthemums, by Irwin Frey, of Lincoln. GROWING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. Irwin Frey, Lincoln. In these days of competition growing chrysanthemums is a subject of great importance to the wholesale florist or the retail florist that has competition, for the flower-buying public is not long in finding out who has the best chrysanthemums; and this at a time of the year when many of them have not had occasion to buy flowers for two or three months may mean the gain or loss of a large number of customers for the entire year. I believe there is more difference in the quality of chrysanthemums grown in different floral establishments than any other si:)ecies of flower, and the difference in profit and loss is correspondingly great, as the cost of production is the same regardless of the quality of the crop. We use the following methods in growing chrysanthemums with- very satisfactory results. Starting with the stock plants which are planted close together on a good light bench so the cuttings will not be drawn and spindly. We save of each variety in proportion to the number we wish to plant the coming season. The first lot of cuttings are put in the sand about Feb- ruary 1, these are for growing or for pot plants, of which we grow about 2,000, only part of which are sold as pot plants. The larger part are used GUOWIXG CIIIiYSANTlIEMUMS. 81 lor cut flowers. These are grown with from 8 to 15 flowers per plant, giving a large number of the small and medium sizes for which there is always a good demand. The single varieties are also grown in this way, but without disbuddinj:;. The sefond lot of cuttings are put in the sand about the 15th of March followed by another lot as soon as the cuttings are ready, which usually is about a month later. Should we be short on any varieties, more of these are put in as soon as large enough. We get out benches ready for the young plants between the 15th of June and the 1st of July, placing about one inch of coarse manure on the bottom of the bench, then filling with soil, and adding one-half inch of manure on the top to be worked into the soil. The plants are placed 7 inches apart in the rows and 9 inches between rows. We have found very little difference, if any, in the size of blooms grown two on a plant, branching the plant about ten inches from the soil, and those grown to single stem. This is true with all varieties except white and yellow Eaton, which are better grown to one flower. No feeding whatever is done until the buds show, and then about one-half inch of manure is put on the beds. This is all the plants get in the way of feeding, as they receive the most good out of this dressing at the time needed, as, through the daily watering, the fetrength grows less as the bud develops, and there is no danger of overfeeding at any time. Close disbudding is essential in growing chrysanthemums, and they should be gone over every three or four days. Neglect in this always shows in the quality of the blooms. The following varieties have proven very satisfactory with us: Early Yellow Golden Glow, planting three different lots about three weeks apart, the first about the 15th of May. These will bloom in August and early September, being followed about two weeks apart by the other plantings. These are succeeded by Robt. HoUiday and Col. Appleton, growing enough of these varieties to supply the demand until along in November, when we have Golden Wedding, Yellow Eaton, and Golden Chadwick. In white, October Frost, by taking the crown bud, comes quite early and makes a very satisfactory flower; these are followed by Polly Rose or White Pacific. E. Touset and Alice Byron are two good mid-season varieties with us, followed by Minnie Wannamaker, T. Eaton, and Mm. W. H. Chadwick. We also grow a large quantity of Yanoma for Christmas, which, while not as good a flower as the other varieties I have mentioned, yields as large returns as any variety on account of being at its best at this time. In pink, our quantity varieties are limited to Pacific Supreme, early midseason, followed by A. J. Balfour. We have found the returns are much less on the pink varieties than on the yellow and whites, while the demand for red is not large enough to warrant growing them. Mr. Chairman: Are there any questions you want to ask about this paper? DISCUSSION. Mr. Henderson: Mr. President, I think the paper is very good. It 82 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL 'SOCIETY. is right down to the point and the facts, but I just wanted to say a word. He spoke about mulching when they showed the buds. That is true, and I used to think that way myself, too, but the truth is, my man kept on mulching a little too long and too late, and he finally had the flowers all burned up. If you mulch them too late it burns up the petals, especially on the white varieties, and we do not get the best results. I had quite a number of flowers spoiled that way. And as to feeding them his point was good there, when he said to weaken it down. The chrysanthemums are very sensitive, when they come out in bloom, and by overfeeding them you burn up the petals. As to all the other parts, I endorse the whole paper. Mr. Dole: In the course of six or eight weeks after these plants are planted they do not require any manure. You will find this bottom is a mass of roots, and they have received all the benefits from this bottom manure as well as what 3^ou have put on top. The Chairman: Mr. Henderson, I would like to ask you if you find it profitable to grow any big specimen flowers, that is from a commercial standpoint? I find my trade will consume a great many big flowers and pay a good price for them; but when I was at Omaha I saw the stock grown there was comparatively small, and the growers contended with me, some of them very violently, that there was no money in growing big chrysanthemums. Mr. Fi-ey: We have always found that a customer, if you set a med- ium and a large sized flower together at the same price, they will take the large flower almost every time, and that flower will grow in the same room that small flower grows, by taking care of them the same way. But I do not see why it would not sell as well as the small flower; it does with us. We can not get the size and the finish the same on the small flower. We have no trouble in disposing of the large ones; they are al- ways the ones that are in demand. On the wholesale markets in the larger cities, they always want the larger ones. For that reason ours are always grown on a smaller plant where we can get from ten to fifteen flowers to a plant. The Chairman: I want to take another exception to your paper, and that is in regard to feeding. Our experience is that by feeding with liquid we can control the feed better. We couple on our hydrant and go to work. You can make it just as weak or as strong as you want to in the tank. We installed the system ourselves at a very light expense, and I believe with the florists that have nothing of that kind, it would be a good idea to get it because it would save you an untold lot of hard, dis- agreeable work, and I am satisfied that we get better results. You can get the feed to them when and where you want it, and just as weak or strong as you want it; and in fact in the spring you do not need to ex- pect to use but just an occasional watering. Mr. Frey: Where do you have this tank located, high enough to give you a pressure? The Chairman: No, we have a rotary pump, with a back pressure. GROWING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 83 It is simply made from an old globe valve, which I filed the threads off from, and we pipe it over the place. We throw off the clear water, and throw on the liquid manure pump. Mr. Frey: I hear so often about chrysanthemums being spoiled. As I\Ir. Henderson says, if you do not happen to be there and somebody hap- pens to be careless, it does not take much of an overdose to spoil the chrysanthemum, at the right time. Mr. Chairman: It is better to havo too much than not enough; that is my experience. We can take the dumbest boy on the place, and he can go ahead and feed the roses by putting the hose in his hand, and saying, "Go ahead and soak them good." He can't go wrong; it's me- chanical, instead of expert work that is required. We start to feed as soon as the buds show, and' stop when they show color, and when we stop with the liquid we stop. We are done feeding when we 'discontinue the liquid. Mr. Dole: Would you advocate raised or solid benches? Mr. Frey: We used to grow in solid benches, but never got the suc- cess from them we did from the others. Mr. Dole: We do use solid benches with good success. We grow ours altogether in solid benches by themselves. In fact, we pulled down one bench to make a solid bench to grow them on. And the flower and the stem and the foliage were all that could be desired; in fact it was a revelation to some of the Omaha fellows. Mr. Henderson was there, and he can tell you it was good. Mr. Frey: That would make them practically the same if you had enough drainage in the bottom, for all of the superfluous water to drain off. The Chairman: Is there anything else you want to bring out on this subject before we pass it? Mr. Atkinson: In regard to the statement that the larger flower is the more salable. There are quite a number of country florists with whom the larger flower is not so desirable. Mr. Frey: If my trade demanded a larger flower, I would grow prac- tically all pot plants, since the profits would be the same practically from the same amount of room. The Chairman: Was there anything further? I would like to say one word. That is the reason I did not want to get up here — I want to do too much talking. Why grow a small flower in the bench, when you can grow a big one just as easily, and sell it a whole lot easier, and for the same money? So why grow a little one? There is not a customer anywhere that would not want to have a big flower at the same price. You can plant them the same distance apart, and you can get them any- where from a good sized up to a great big one just as easily as you can a little one. So why in the name of common sense grow a little one? Mr. Atkinson: There are a great many reasons for which a rosebud is better adapted to certain places, certain times, and certain conditions 84 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. than a cabbage. The large one is almost too coarse to use in the coun- try, sometimes even too coarse in the country. Mr. Chairman: That is a good point. But now say you are growing the yellow chrysanthemum. Now why grow a Chadwick or a small Ap- pleton, when your customer would a great deal rather have a big one and you can grow it just as easily? Mr. Atkinson: I can answer that by saying that I think most of my customers would rather have a dozen medium sized chrysanthemums than two large ones. The Chairman: Yes, sir, but wouldn't they rather have the same number of large ones, instead of the same number of small ones, at the same price? Mr. Atkinson: I believe, though, Mr. Green, that you will agree with me that we have to have some of the smaller flowers? Mr. Green: Oh, yes, sir. Mr. Frey: You can get this dozen from one plant, and so there would be no advantage in gi'owing half a dozen or a dozen of them in a bunch to get the same sized pot. Of course they would naturally grow a quantity of the large ones and small ones, that there would be a de- mand for, and try and even them as much as we could. Mr. Dole: We adhere to the cheaper trade to some extent. By grow- ing two stems from one root, we can then cut four flowers. Of course it took less disbudding to some extent and then we could sell those flowers at a cheaper price. Mr. Chairman: Now if there is anything else you want to ask Mr. Frey now is the time. If not, we Avill have a paper on "Growing violets," by W. A. Dole of Beatrice. GROWING VIOLETS. W. A. Dole, Beatrice. PROPAGATING. We will begin with the taking of the cuttings, which is done about March 15. Select the short jointed runners or divisions and insert them in sand kept about the same temperature as for rooting carnations. Or they may be cut just below the surface of the soil with a few roots at- tached and potted at once into two-inch pots in a compost of one part sand and three parts loam. SUMMER TREATMENT. After the plants become well established in two-inch pots, and dan- ger of frost is past, we plant them In the garden north of the greenhouse, where they are sheltered from the south wind and where they can be watered. The double varieties are set six inches apart in the row and GROWING VIOLETS. 85 the singles nine inches apart. The rows are spaced about a foot apart and cultivated with a wheel hoe. Some growers grow the young' plants through the summer in 2i^- or 3-inch pots plunged in frames, and in the fall transfer them directly from the pots to the bench with equally good results. BENCHING. The double violets, Marie Louise, are lifted the third week in Au- gust, the slender runners trimmed off and the plants benched inside. Gov. Herrick may be benched any time in September, but if you want early flowers on good length stems they should be benched before the middle of the month. They require a warmer temperature than other varieties and may be grown successfully in the cool end of a carnation house. We have grown Princess of Wales and Dorsett, which seem to be identical with each other. They bloom very freely in midwinter but the flowers and stems are smaller than those of Governor Herrick. Cali- fornia makes a long stem, but with us it does not bloom freely. SPACE BETWEEN PLANTS. Marie Louise is planted 9 inches apart each way. single varieties are spaced 10 x 12 inches. Plants summered in pots are more dwarf and may be planted closer. HOUSE BENCH AND SOIL. Our violet house runs north and south, though we have had equally good results in an east and west house. We use solid beds wuth sides two feet high, filled the full depth with good porous soil. When a crop is finished we take out the soil to a depth of five inches, put in one inch of cinders and use the bench during the spring for potted plants. During the summer we remove the cinders, put in one inch of rotted manure and four inches of soil, fork it over once, soak it down thoroughly, leave it till the weeds come up, then hoe off the weeds, and it is ready to plant violets. For soil we have suc- ceeded equally well with old garden soil and with sod from blue grass pasture. TILLING AND PRUNING. During the fall the surface of the beds should be stirred frequently; the weeds and all diseased or dying leaves should be removed as fast as they appear. Trim the slender runners from the double violets. The single varieties sometimes grow a suiplus of leaves, especially during the warm fall weather, and they need an occasional thinning out. 86 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. WATERING. When the plants are first set the beds should be thoroughly soaked, and if the leaves are disposed to wilt spray them several limes daily un- til wilting ceases. After this water only on bright sunny days, spray thoroughly to keep red spider from getting a start, and finish watering early enough so the leaves will get well dried off before night. The vio- let is a remarkable consumer of water considering the low temperature at which it is grown, and the soil should always be moist. TEMPERATURES. A night temperature of 40 to 45 degrees suits most varieties, though Governor Herrick needs five degrees warmer. The day temperature should be 55 to 60 degreesi on cloudy days, and 6 to 70 on sunny days. VENTILATING. Ventilation should im freely given whenever the weather will per- mit, and in mild weather keep them slightly open all night. DISCUSSION. Mr. Chairman: Is there anything you would like to ask Mr. Dole on this subject? A Member: Isn't 70 degrees rather a high temperature' for violets? Mr. Dole: It would be in midwinter, when you can keep it lower. In the fall you can scarcely keep your house lower than that, and it would be rather high. The Chairman: That would be a sun temperature, and not a steam temperature? Mr. Dole: Yes, sir. In regard to your question of which is the most profitable, I have never kept a record, and could not answer that. Chairman: Is there anything further you would like to ask Mr. Dole? You said that sod from blue grass pasture was good. You would not take the fresh sod, would you? It is well rotted, I suppose? Mr. Dole: No; it is ploughed up several months before so the sod is all rotted. Mr. Henderson: How rich do you keep the soil? Mr. Dole: The blue grass pasture we feed from we use very rich soil. That is all the feed we have given them except the manure, which we use pretty rich. The Chairman: Our next subject is by Mr. C. H. Frey of Lincoln, on "How to destroy insects and fungous diseases on greenhouse plants." now TO DESTROY INSECTS. 87 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS AND FUNGOUS DISEASES ON GREEN- HOUSE PLANTS. C. H. Frey, Lincoln. Every greenhouse man has had his troubles with insects and disease among his plants, as practically all plants are subject to disease or are the prey for insects; so then the price of good plants and flowers is eter- nal vigilance in combatting their enemies. Insects heading the subject we will mention a few that all are fa- miliar with. Take the aphis, or the green fly. This little fellow will tackle almost any plant, though, like us humans, has preferences and is especially fond of the rose, carnation, etc. Though one of the easiest to keep in check, this insect is found in almost every greenhouse, and, in- creasing so rapidly as he does, will, in a couple of weeks' time, have a village on every rose or carnation. Feeding on the sap by boring through the outer tissues, we can readily see what damage he can do in a short time. The method that I have been following for a number of years to de- stroy aphis is to spray with nicofume, two to four teaspoons to a gallon of water, using a Simplicity and a Paragon spray pump. We prefer the latter, though it takes two men to get over the place rapidly. Two men will go over the whole place in a few hours, and by having a certain time for this work, say Monday or Tuesday evening of each week, it is never neglected, and if your spraying or fumigating is done late in tTie afternoon the tenderest plant or flower will not burn. For such pla,nts as cyclamen, or begonias in ^ower that we do not want to get moisture on, we paint steam pipes, using equal parts of nicofume and water. If the above rule is adhered to, green and black aphis, thrip and white fly will be a minus quantity. No doubt many still follow the old practice of burning tobacco stems, but the smell in the house next morning — the flowers, your clothes, in fact everything smells of tobacco smoke. Of course very few have any objection to tobacco smoke, but we don't like such large doses. Then there are stems scattered all over the walks, and probably a nice lot of heliotrope or some such tender plant ruined. Going back again to insects, we must be on the lookout for black aphis whose especial diet is Queen of Autumn, though he can make a meal on a daisy or a violet. Thrip. — This pesky little fellow can do more damage before we real- ize that he is in our midst than any insect the grower has to deal with, from the fact that he works under cover. How many times do we find our carnations marred from the ravages of thrip, in fact almost any flower and even the foliage are his legal prey; and once he becomes es- tablished it will take three or four fumigations each week from the first to several weeks afterwards to get the upper hand of him. 88 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. White Fly usually congregates on a bunch of fuchsias, or some soft foliage plant. A few strong' applications of nicotine, either sprayed oii foliage or painted on pipes, or better still, both methods applied at the same time, will hold them in check. Red Spider, another of our friends, if we will call them such, will work on almost any plant, but is especially active in a hot,, dry atmos- phere. The remedy here is a good sharp spray of cold water and, if the man handling the hose attends to business red spider will not thrive. Mealy Bug is not usually troublesome where the hose is handled properly, but on plants in bloom the best remedy we have tried was to go over each plant separately, and touch ]\Ir. Bug on the back with a lit- tle grain alcohol. This may seem a slow way, but a man can go over hundreds of plants in a day, and once every two or three months will keep them clean. Scale. — There are a number of species of these, but they usually attack hard-wooded plants, palms, etc., and are kept down with the hose. This, with one or two overhaulings every season, will spoil their fun. Wood Lice, Slugs, etc., will have to be poisoned and trapped, as these usually feed at night. A little Paris green will get them, especially the former. For slugs, lay pieces of turnip or cabbage around their haunts, and you will find Mr. Slug hiding there in the morning. We have now talked about bugs and insects long enough, and will deal from this point with greenhouse plant diseases for a few minutes. Beginning with mildew, which is one of the hardest things the rose grower has to contend with, especially in houses where other plants be- sides roses are grown, but you can find traces of it in nearly every rose house, and the causes are many, viz., cold, draft, wet feet, or too dry feet, sudden changes in temperature, etc., all of which must be guarded against. After doing our best (of course, we all do that), we find mil- dew. Paint the heating pipes with sulphur, using moderation, or we will take all thei color out of the buds and even drop the foliage. The fall and spring are the times mildew gets us, either before fires arei started or after we quit firing. About the only thing to do then is to watch closely the watering and ventilation, and on a bright day, after swinging close the ventilators dust sulphur over the plants. The moisture causes it to adhere to the foliage. Let the temperature rise to 90 or 100 degrees for a minute, then begin gradually to reduce to what you carry the house at. Black Spot, another rose disease, is caused by too much moisture either on the foliage or at the root. Here again careful watering and ventilation is needed. Hybrid teas are the ones most susceptible to this disease. Club Root, caused by a minute insect or worm, or whatever you may call it, is another one of the many we have to contend with. I am led to believe by observation that if the plants are healthy when benched, and handled properly, you will have no trouble with eel worms. They are in most all soils, and a hard check to a growing rose bush simply gives them a chance to hasten its end. HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 89 Carnation Diseases. — First we will take stem rots. Tliis may be caused in young stock by too much water, and lack of air may even start it in the propagating bench Irom some cause. And in the field by too deep planting,, or some way in the house after planting, it is something to dread and something we must hold in check as far as it is possible. My remedy is to pull up all the plants at once, those that show any signs of stem rot, and burn or destroy them, and sprinkle air-slacked lime around those near by. Stig mouse, 1 believe, is caused by too much water at the root and too humid an atmosphere. Some fourteen years ago I had a large lot left in the field after planting ray houses, and about a week after we were through benching we had a week of cold rainy weather, followed by a few very hot bright days without a breath of air, and say, talk about stigmouse, spat, etc., there was not a leaf that was not affected on those outside, while those benched did not show any signs whatever, and I have noticed since that time that the same conditions will usually bring the same results. Rust. — This affects some varieties now and then more than others, but usually does not cause any trouble if care is used in syringing and watering. I have never found that there was any remedy that seemed to do any particular good. Bud Rot. — This is probably caused by too much water thrown over the buds as the only places I have ever noticed it to speak of was where the watering was done in a haphazard sort of way, and where they did not take the proper precautions not to get too much water on the buds. Violet Disease or Spot is one on me, but I believe is caused from careless watering and lack of air, or good circulation of same, and know of no remedy save picking off the diseased leaves. Cyclamen Mite. — This is another trouble that there is little known about, but we know what it can do. As a remedy I would suggest that you should throw out all the affected plants. We have taken up just a few insects and diseases, but I will stop right here, and try to answer to the best of my ability any questions that may be asked. DISOITSSION. The Chairman: Now, brother florists, this is one of the most im- portant things that has come up this morning, and one of the great hand- icaps, in fact, one of the great reasons why the florists do not get rich is on account of these diseases and insect pests, and it is a subject we can all learn something about. I would like to see a discussion brought out on one point particularly, and that is the white fly. I would like to hear from some of the brother florists. Mr. Frey: Of course cyanide will kill any insect in the greenhouse, for that matter. But very few of us are situated so we can use it, and for that reason it is bad for human folks as well as insects. I have never 90 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. given it a trial, but I have found that where white flies have gatherea very thick in some corner where they have not been molested with the hose, that by taking about six teaspoonfuls of nicofume (that would be about 40 per cent nicotine), and spraying with about a gallon of water, and then painting the steam pipes with that or pure nicofume, that you can hardly find a fly. And by following that up for a week, I do not be- lieve you will find a white fly in the house. Mr. Harrison: I would like to ask a question for the benefit of the ordinary home. Almost every householder has from three or four to a dozen rose bushes, and they have mildew and rust, and they have no remedy, and they do not know what to do, for they have no equipment. I was wondering if any one here knew of a simple remedy that would be inexpensive. The Chairman: Mr. Harrison wants to know about insects and fungous diseases on roses in the yard. Now there are people in private homes having roses or other plants in the yard that are affected that way. Is there any simple remedy you v/ould suggest for their use that they can handle? Mr. Frey: About the only remedy for the mildew would be sulphur, or flower of sulphur. That would better be applied in the early morn- ing, when there is plenty of dew, when the sulphur would thus adhere to the foliage and stick on. Of course, once it gets a good start, and is es- pecially well seated — I have seen crimson ramblers that are literally eaten up with mildew — and you can hardly clean that up. And the same is true with any out-of-door roses, where it is well started. But if you are careful and notice the first signs of mildew and keep it down you can probably keep the plants very clean by using a little flower of sul- phur. And as far as insects outside are concerned, this nicofume solu- tion is used, for it is a deadly poison, and would kill anything that feeds on the foliage. I have not at any time in my experience found an insect it would not destroy or kill. For the red spider I would syringe the plants from underneath. A nicofume solution used probably every ten days or once a week would keep them absolutely clean. Mr. Brown: I have used arsenate of lead, and I have used that prep- aration on tea roses. It does not hurt the foliage, and it is always handy, and you can get lots of it. I use that on my plants. The Chairman: The next subject will be by your President and present chairman and will be "Peonies for the florist." I have no paper, but will merely give you all the information I have. PEONIES FOR THE FLORIST. C. H. Green, Fremont. Ladies and Gentlemen: I have prepared no paper on this subject for the reason that I am not an expert on peonies. The little I know about them has been gleaned from my practical experience in growing PEONIES FOR THE FLORIST. 91 them for cut flowers. I took them up some eight years ago in order to have a medium priced, showy, cut colored flower, for calls that we have in abundance for our Decoration Day business. This is one of the biggest days the -florist has in the year. The demand is much heavier for a medium priced flower that will make a good showing than at any other time of the year, and as peonies seem to fill the bill better than anything else, I first got 300 to start with. They were not named, but in colors they were pink, white, and red, and that was all the names I had for them. I do not know the names of the varieties. We planted them in the fall, and the next spring we did not get any flowers to speak of. The following spring we got a big lot of flowers, but we found that it did not pay to grow anything that did not give a pretty fair share of its blossoms before that time. So we got three hundred of the Officinallis varieties. They were white and pink and red. .The red is the best of the lot, and while it is short stemmed, we find that if there is a late season when the main crop or the standard varieties did not get into full crop, that the earlier blooming and smaller varieties help out materially. Last year we had 240 plants that were from four to five years old. That is, we had them that had been planted and not disturbed for four or five years. And then we had two or three hundred plants that were two or three years established, and from that little block of ground, about the size of this room, we sold over $300 worth of peony blossoms. They not only w'ere a good thing financially, but they helped us out so we did not have to turn down any orders, and if there is anything we hate to do is to have some one hold out a dollar to us and be unable to get it because we do not have the flowers. It does not look like good busi- ness. Then in the fall we took up 120 of these plants that had been established five years. We took up two rows of these and sold a little over $40 worth of stock, and we planted 420 plants. The $40 we got for these plants would pay for the cultivation and care, grpund rent for the entire block for the year, and for the replant- ing this new lot. We did not solicit any orders. We got as hi^h as fifty or sixty flowers from one plant. We have one light pink variety that we call Genevieve Lord, probably because that is not the name of it, but it is almost the identical shade of the carnation which you remember a few years ago by that name. And when we divided those plants up, we just simply made dozens from one plant. I did not keep any account of it at that time, but we found it in a limited way very profitable. Now one of the main things we had to learn, and we have not finished learning it yet, or anything else in regard to them as far as that is con- cerned, was how to have them at the right time. The main thing is to get an early start in the spring. As soon as the crop is cut in the summer time, we give it a heavy mulch of pretty well rotted manure and after- ward stirring the ground, and then they do not get any further care for the winter. 92 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Early in the spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground we rake off all of the mulch carefully, and then we got over the ground and cultivate it with a five or seven-shovel cultivator. We loosen up the soil about the plants with a spading fork. That is all that is neces- sary to do to them until they begin to flower. Then we dis-bud them just as we would a chrysanthemum or a carnation, and after that we start cutting the early varieties, usually about the 15th of May. The first ones we usually use for educating our trade, by dihplaying them in our windows, and giving them to the plant customers to get them into the notion that it is peony time. I work on that theory with chrysanthemum time, carnation time, etc. It is a pretty good proposi- tion to keep that to yourselves, I would not say this out in public. We now sell quite a lot of peonies and make a nice thing out of it, before and even after Decoration Day. The lodges and fraternal or- ganizations will have their memorial days, and generally they use a big bunch of such flowers. As soon as the first petal uncurls or breaks away from the bud, we cut them a dozen in a bunch in the field, and tie them, keeping the buds even, and then take them into the house, and wrap an open newspaper right over the tops and put them into water. Now you can put them in jars or vases or anything that you please, and keep them in the cellar, without any cold storage, for ten days, and When you take them out they will be just in the form of a long pointed rose bud. Within a very few hours after you take them out, they are wide open, and it is wonderful to see the way they will open out after they have been in storage for three or four days in that way. In hand- ling them that way we lose very few, if any. In fact we do not lose any, because we did not sell directly, we used for advertising purposes. If a customer comes into the greenhouse and buys a bunch of flowers, or looks like he were going to buy later on, we give him a bunch of flowers. We have always found it is a legitimate advertisement. I would much rather distribute them, and let somebody have the pleasure of them, than to throw them away later on. I do not know of anything I can tell you about any further in this line unless there are some questions. - DISCUSSION. Mr. Brown: How deep do you put them in the ground? Mr. Green: I should say two or three inches below the ground. Mr. Yager: I would like to ask how you keep your peonies from freezing back. Ours do and we are only half a mile away from you. We begin to count our blossoms, and then there comes one of these late freezes, and we go oiit and find our crop more or less frozen, and some of the early blooming varieties are very much harmed, and I want to know what you do. Mr. Green: Did you ever notice that you would find one variety all killed, and about ten feet away from that you will find another variety that was not hurt? QUKSTION BOX. 03 Mr. Yager: Yes, sir. Mr. Green: We found that there were some very good varieties that were adapted for our purposes, and we have weeded them out now and have sold the sensitive ones to the nurserymen. I have disposed of th later blooming varieties at wholesale. There were some of these very beautiful, but they w^ere too late, and therefore not profitable to me. But you will find that there are other varieties that will stand a good deal of freezing, and still come out in good shape. We had a hard frost on ours last year, and I thought we would not get anything, but they came out alright. Mr. Harrison: Did you ever try turning the hose on them before the sun comes out? Mr. Green: No. I never did, but it is a good idea, I think. Mr. Atkinson: If you fail to plant in the fall, would you wait until next spring? Mr. Green: If you can get plants that have been well stored over winter, I would plant in the spring by all means, because tlien you will get at least a partial crop the next year. QUESTION BOX. The Chairman: We now come to the question box, whicli I spoke about at the start of this morning's session. Are there any questions? Mr. Barnard: I would like to ask about pedigreed strawberry plants. I have a lot of them planted, and I do not know anything about them. I do not know what the pedigree is. Of course I know what a pedigree is, but I would like to kuQw what pedigreed strawberries are. Kellogg and other plant growers send out all these varieties and call them pedigreed, and now I want to say right here I do not believe in it. The meanest plants I have are called pedigreed plants. I do not think it is fair to the horticulturists of this state, because I do not believe they are selling anything of which a record is kept. Mr. Christy: Mr. Crawford, of Ohio, one of the best strawberry growers in the United States, took this matter up several years ago, and he sent to Mr. Kellogg and got some Warfields from him, and I also sent him some out of my orchard, and I knew they were true Warfields, and he also got some from Sarcoxe, Missouri, and a number of different places, and planted them. The ones that I sent down there, that had been cultivated on my place for twelve years, produced just as good as Mr. Kellogg's, and they were the same kind and variety, and his produced just as good as mine. So the pedigreed plants did not amount to very much, and were nothing more or less than ordinary plants with a phrase to catch the suckers. The Chairman: I find it necessary to appoint a Resolution Com- mittee, and as members of that committee, I have decided to appoint the following: C. H. Green, B. E. Fields, H. W. Marshall. 94 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The Chairman: The next in the way of business will be our business meeting, and the election of officers. I presume of course the president is the first one of the officers that will have to be elected. We are ready for nominations. Mr. Christy: Mr. Chairman, I place the nomination of Mr. A. J. Brown for president before you. The Chairman: Are there any other nominations? Mr. Barnard: If there are no further nominations, I move that the rules be suspended and the secretary be instructed to cast the ballot of the society for the election of Mr. A. J. Brown. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Brown declared elected. The Chairman: As there are two vice-presidents to be elected, nom- inations for the office of first vice-president will be in order. G. A. Marshall: We have a resolution before us on commercial horticulture. There is no question about it, and we have got to get up and show what we are made of. We have to show what our state will produce, and in order to do that we must have a superintendent of exhibits who is a war horse, and one who knows horticulture, here or abroad, or whatever you have a mind to send him. The first vice-president, by virtue of his office, is superintendent of exhibits, and therefore in order to get >such a man for that office, who will have all the qualifications demanded for such an office, I place before you the name of our friend, C. H. Barnard. Member: I move that the rules be suspended and the secretary in- structed to cast the ballot of this society for the unanimous election of Mr. Barnard. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Barnard was declared elected. The Chairman: Nominations for second vice-president are now in order. Whom will you have for second vice-president? C. P. Beck: I want to place the nomination of Mr. J. R. Duncan of Peru before you. He is a nurseryman and orchardist, and I think would be a good man to fill the place. Mr. A. J. Brown: While I am a very good friend of Mr. Duncan, and I hope that at some day in the future Mr.- Duncan will be elected president of this society, for the good of our Horticultural Society we should have a florist for that office. Now I want you to understand I have not a word of objection to Mr. Duncan, he is a gentleman in every sense of the word. But that is up to the florists for any man they want for that office. The Chairman: It is necessary that this man be a florist, because he presides over their show at the fair. And unless you have a florist I do not imagine that the man presiding over that exhibit would be of much value to the florists. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 95 Mr. A. J. Brown: I wish to place before you the name of Lewis Hen- derson, of Omaha, to fill the office of second vice-president. The Chairman (addressing Mr. Beck) : Would you withdraw Mr. Duncan's name as a candidate? Mr. Beck: Let it go to a vote. Mr. Duncan: I wish to withdraw my name; I do not care to run at all. Mr. Yager: Inasmuch as Mr. Duncan has withdrawn his name, I move that the man suggested by Mr. Brown, L. Henderson, be made the unanimous choice of this society. Seconded. Carried. MY. Henderson was declared elected. The Chairman: Nominations for the office of treasurer are now in order. Mr. Yager: After all these twenty-four years I wish to place the name of Peter Youngers of Geneva before you. There being no other nominations, Mr. Youngers was elected unani- mously. yThe Chairman: We now have come to the point where we have to elect a new director of the association. I\Ir. G. A. Marshall: We have quite a proper, I might say, list of officers now, since we have placed Mr. Brov/n in as president, and all these other men, and the treasurer, too, is also one of the board you know, and he is twenty-four years in the harness. We had a little new blood nominated a while ago for second vice-president, Mr. Duncan. Now he is a young fellow.- I have been in the harness for so long I think about all the glory has been gotten out of it by me that I want, and I would like to place in nomination for that office the name of Mr. Duncan. Member: I move that the rules be suspended and the secretary be instructed to cast the unanimous ballot of this society for J. R. Duncan. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Duncan was declared elected. At this point calls were given for a speech from Mr. Brown, the newly elected president. Mr. Brown: Gentlemen, I am afraid that you will hear from me al- together too much, if you have not already. I want to say to the mem- bers of the State Horticultural Society that I very much appreciate the honor you have given' nie. I can not say truthfully that it was not un- announced beforehand. I can not say that I did not expect it, because ther boys told me what they were going to do. And I knew they usually kept their word. We have been told that we are right on the edge of aa evolution in horticulture. We must take that into consideration. We have undoubt- edly along the eastern border of this state the very best apple growing region in the West. You gentlemen know that the state of Nebraska, for seventy-five miles west of the river, has more real apple-growing land than all this land in the far West that they talk so much about. The 96 NEBEASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. city buyers would so much rather have Nebraska apples than mountain apples because they are so much better. They keep better than the west- ern apples, including Idaho and Washington apples. The people will al- ways want Nebraska apples to eat. As far as quality is concerned, our Grimes Golden and Jonathan are unequaled in quality. Their Delicious, and all those varieties that they hold up as the best, the very best things that can be grown in the apple line, shrink into insignificance when compared to our Grimes Golden and Jonathan. Thus you can all see that there is no reason, with the soil to produce the best apples in the world, the keeping quality of the apples assured, that there is no reason why, if we all pull together and work hard, that we can not make the state of Nebraska one of the best apple-producing sections in the world. I wish to again thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me, and assure you that I will do all in my power to fill the office toi the best of my ability and your satisfaction. Calls were here made for Mr. Barnard. . Mr. Barnard: In the eastern part of the state we have not done nearly as much as we should have done. Compared to the Iowa orchards, and the Iowa fruit growers across the river, we have not done nearly as much as we should, and we should wake up, and I think at this meeting that we have done just \vliat we should, and I want to congratulate the exhibitors upon what they have done. It is just what it should be, so if every fellow did not get the first premium it is because I did not have enough to go ai'ound. As far as the work of the society is concei'ned, I realize that we have a work before us, not only of the society and horti- cultural work, but we have a lot of laboring to be done with the legisla- ture and the agricultural board, and a lot of things that come in line with the Horticultural Society, and the Horticultural Society has to take the initiative and push it through, and as far as I am concerned I am always willing to add my share to the work that is to be done. I wish to thank you all for the honor that you have given me, and hope you will all be satisfied with the way I handle the office. Meeting adjourned to meet at 2:00 o'clock P.M. AFTERNOON SESSION Meeting called to order by President W. A. Harrison. The President: This afternoon's program will be opened by a paper by Mr. J. P. Hess of Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the "Upward trend of horti- culture." Mr. Hess is listed on the program for tomorrow afternoon, but we have made arrangements that his paper will be given at this time. THE UPWARD TREND OF HORTICULTURE. J. P. Hess, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Like every other great industry, horticulture had its beginning in lowly surroundings. The domesticated wild fruit bore little resemblance THE I TWAKI) TKKXl) OF llOUTICt I/ITUE. 07 to the luscious, magnificent fruits of today. Cultivation, crossing, graft- ing, and adaptation have given us the splendid varieties, and continuous experimenting has given us the knowledge of what localities are best suited to their production. Rut with all this the end was not reached; in fact, it was only the beginning, the ground work upon which to build the business of horticulture. In the first place we encounter the para- sites, the bugs and worms and moths that threaten and destroy the bet- ter part of our crop if steps are not taken to prevent them. Constant care, study, spraying, and cultivation are needed for this evil. Then we have the frost peril, but orchard heaters are invented for this, and there are other things too numerous to mention between the planting and pro- duction of perfect fruits. But the fruit grower of today is not of the stuff that stops at ob- stacles or is discouraged by them. He likes his business and believes in it. Is determined to succeed and wants a fair return for his effort, and right here we get to the r^al subject of this paper. The trend in horticulture, as in everything else, is towards speciali- zation. Growers find that to produce the best fruit in paying quantities requires such care and attention that they can not divide their time among too many kinds of fruit or too many varieties of one kind. Then, too, there is a growing tendency toward cooperation among growers of certain localities in the marketing of their product. There is a long gap between the producer and the consumer, and under modern business conditions this can only be bridged by such a combination of producers as will command the recognition in the markets as their product de- mands. But the most noticeable and significant tendency among up-to- date fruit growers is the broadening of their horizon by meeting with other growers and discussing and comparing results. The work of our State Horticultural Society is supplemented by this National Society, and growers are coming in contact more and more with those engaged in the same business all over the United States. The pur- pose of these national meetings is not, as some might suppose, to help eloquent westerners to sell high priced land, but to educate us all in the producing and marketing of fruit, and the results after a very few years are already quite manifest and apparent to all. At first, all of the prizes went to the western growers, who were more skilful in showing and exhibiting their product, but already Iowa growers have learned the lesson, and Iowa fruit from our own southwest- ern district is taking the prizes. This fall Mr. Worth, of Harrison county, took first prize at the Na- tional Horticultural Congress at St. Joe. Missouri, for the best Jonathan apples,- and J. W. Murphy took many ribbons at the Denver Apple Show. Nor is mere exhibiting the only end that has been accomplished by more general mingling with growers from all over the whole country. Better methods of tree culture and preservation are already in evidence, so that the whole tree may be made to produce uniform fine fruit, all mar- ketable and without blemish. 1 98 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. And SO we have learned the greatest lesson of all, that we live in a section that need be second to none, and with proper methods at our command and proper application of those methods we can make our fruit take the place to which it is entitled in the markets of the world. Thus, by assuring a definite and profitable return on the capital and labor expended, make our country prosperous and more densely popu- lated with the best class of people engaged in the business, the best busi- ness we know of. But it takes a man who loves his work and devotes himself entirely to it with a singleness of purpose that will not know defeat and has a great end in view, namely perfect fruit and lots of it. With our present facilities and a great market accessible there is no reason to hesitate and less reason for failure, and success will be rewarded with an abundance that we do not even anticipate or at present realize. While we are making progress in the development of horticulture we need continual coaching to bring about the greatest results. Horticultural societies, especially those supported by state appropria- tion, have been the greatest promoters and are responsible for the prog- ress being made. Horticultural exhibitions have done much to create en- thusiasm, which means the enlargement and betterment of horticulture. Thus we are now better equipped, with the experience of the past to guide us. We hardly give credit enough to the experimental work done by our state colleges, but the tendency is to increase the interest in that line. This Central West is an agricultural country, but we must not forget that the demand for horticultural products is increasing every year, and we have a soil and climate that, with proper attention, will produce profit- able crops in horticultural lines equal to any other part of the country. The hill lands on either side of the Missouri river will produce abund- ant and profitable crops of apples, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, and other fruits. I speak of the lands along the Missouri river because there is perhaps more of that character of land undeveloped than anywhere else in the state, that will in the course of time bring the greatest returns. We have made a great advance in the methods of marketing our crop. Council Bluffs and Omaha have an association whereby they handled last year's crops, mostly grapes and berries, the sales amounting to over $100,000. While we have made a decided advance in the last twenty-five years, indications are that greater progress will be made in the future. We can, by encouraging the development of horticulture, increase the wealth of this state thousands of dollars, besides making possible the building of numerous beautiful homes on lands now unattractive and unprofitable. With rich, inexhaustible soil noi country has a greater possibility in this direction, and those who build their fortunes upon it are making the greatest possible provision for the future. The President: Ladies and Gentlemen: Our friend Mr. Hess does not- live in this state, and he has come here from Iowa to give us this talk, and has gone to considerable trouble, I am sure, to prepare this COST OF ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 99 paper. He has given us a very practical talk on fruit growing in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, and he has also brought out a very strong point when he said that everybody shouhl belong to a horticultural society. That is a very important thing and should be impressed upon everybody. These societies are the means to an end. They are the places where we meet and have our discussions and give to one another the fruits of our latest experiences. They are the clearing houses of ideas for modern fruit culture, and they are the weapons we use and have to work with in this revolution that has been mentioned here, which is for the purpose of bringing about betterment in our fruit, both in its production and in its character. This point should be impressed upon everybody, and if there is any one here who does not belong to this society we invite them to join. The secretary will be glad to fix you out with membership at any time. The next number on this afternoon's program, will be the "Cost of orchard management," by Prof. R. F. Howard, of the University of Ne- braska Experiment Station. COST OF ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. Prof. R, F. Howard, University of Nebraska. To figure out a system of orchard management for Nebraska condi- tions, laying down rules to be followed, and stating just what each phase of the work should cost would be as ridiculous as it would be impossible to do. Owing to the diversified condition under which orchards are grown in this state alone, would make this quite impossible. The methods that would give best results with one grower might prove entirely unsuitable to other growers who were working under different conditions. When figuring on the cost of orchard management in Nebraska, one must have in mind that, irf addition to the necessity of using different methods to suit local needs, the cost of any given system will vary with the conditions under which it is operated. Even under a given set of conditions, when it is possible to approxi- mate the cost of pruning, cultivating, spraying, etc., it would probably be very misleading to say what it costs to grow a bushel of apples. The variations in yield from year to year would render such a statement use- less if based upon the results of a single season. For this reason, in giving figures of cost, I wish to state clearly the condition as they exited in this particular orchard last season, and have it understood that these figures are the results of one season's work only. 1 hope to have the management of this orchard in charge for a series of years, and I intend to keep every item of expense booked. At the end of five or ten years I should be able to deduct cost figures from the data thus taken that will be fairly accurate for the particular conditions as they exist in this or- chard. The orchard from which these figures were taken is located about the 100 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. middle of Otoe county. It consists of about 1,000 trees, planted on twenty- three acres. The trees are eighteen years old, and, owing to the excep- tionally good care they received while young, there are probably not more than a dozen trees missing in the entire orchard. The land slopes gently to the west with still lower land beyond. The soil is not very rich and parts of it has sand stone coming very near the surface. It is planted to the following varieties with the rows running east and west; 300 Ben Davis, 300 Missouri Pippin, 100 Jonathan, andd 300 Winesap. The trees were given systematic cultivation until they were ten years old and it has been in grass and clover since that time until last spring. COST OF PRUNING. The trees had not been wholly neglected prior to this time with re- spect to being pruned, but they were in needi of a moderate thinning out. In order to get them in a condition so the sun could penetrate the most inner parts of the top, and in order that a good job of spraying be made possible, it was necessary to remove probably a dozen branches the size of one's arm and smaller, besides the water sprouts from each tree. • The cost of giving these trees such a pruning was 15.8 cents per tree. This included hauling the brush from the orchard. Hand labor was $1.50 per day, andd $3 per day for hand labor plus a team. COST OF SPRAYING. The first spraying was given with commercial lime-sulphur alone just before the flowers opened. It was applied with a power outfit with three leads of hose. The second application was made at the usual time for the second spraying with lime sulphur plus lead arsenate. The third ap- plication was made about three weeks later with lime-sulphur plus lead arsenate on the Missouri Pippins and Jonathans and lead arsenate alone on the Winesaps and Ben Davis. The July spraying was omitted owing to the drouth that threatened the crop at that time, but the cost is figured on the basis of a fourth application of lead arsenate alone, the cost of the third spraying being as a basis for this estimate. The water had to be pumped by hand and hauled about a quarter of a mile. The cost of materials, including gasoline for making these four spray- ings was 12 cents per tree, and the cost of labor amounted to 14.2 cents per tree, making a total cost of 26.2 cents per tree for the four applica- tions. COST OF CULTIVATIONS. It was necessary to plow about one-third of the orchard where the sod was thickest. The remainder we were able to work up with a disk without plowing. The ground was disked six times during the summer and harrowed three times at a cost of 5.2 cents per tree. COST OF OUCIIARD MANAOKMKNT. 101 COST OF HARVESTING AND PACKING. Both men and women vv<'ie employed in harvesting the crop. The women were paid $1.15 per day, and the men $1.65 per day. Some of the experienced packers received $2.. 50 and $3 per day. The pickers were re- quired to hand pick everything and place it into bushel baskets under the trees. From here the baskets were hauled on a spring wagon to the pack- ing shed, where four men were kept busy sorting and packing. The yield was 2,316 bushels or 2.1 bushels per tree. The cost of handling the fruit from the trees until it was packed into barrels was $340.61. This reduced to smaller units means the cost of harvesting amounted to 30.1 cents per tree, or 14.3 cents per bushel. When these figures are grouped and reduced to the basis of a tree, we get the following: Pruning 15.8 cents per tree Spray materials 12.0 cents per tree Labor for spraying 14 . 2 cents per tree Cultivating 5.2 cents per tree Harvesting 30.1 cents per tree Total 77.3 cents per tree When we figure that the yield w'as 2.1 bushels per tree, it cost 36.3 cents per bushel to grow this crop, and put it into barrels. These figures are probably somewhat higher than they would be on an average year, owing to the fact that the Winesap trees averaged less than a bushel per tree last season. DISCUSSION. Mr. Howard: If there are any questions that any one wishes to ask. I will answer them as best I can. Q. The cost did not Include the cost of barrels oi'' of hauling it to the station? A. No. Q. What was the cost of picking and packing? A. 30.1 cents per tree, or 14.3 cents per bushel. That is pretty high. The crop this year was rather small and stunted by the drouth, and it was thin on the Winesap trees, which made the cost of harvesting more than it would have been otherwise. Q. Did your lime sulphur control the fungus? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you have any bad effects to the foliage by that treatment of lime sulphur? A. No. Q. If I understand you right, did you say you used arsenate of lead along with that lime sulphur, in part of it, and in part of it you did not? 102 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Was there any difference in that that you used with the arsenate of lead spraying, and that that you used with the lime sulphur? A. That would only be in the third application, and I will say we noticed no difference. Q. How late did you cultivate? A. Up until about the 8th of August, I think the last cultivation was harrowing in some cow peas. Q. Was there crop enough to pay? A. Hardly. Q. Where is that orchard? A. About the central part of Otoe county, six miles south and west of Unadilla. Mr. Yager: Referring for a second, if you will allow me, to what was given in the talk by Mr. Hess, I am sure we are all very much pleased with his paper, and with his talk, and I am sure that our society always appreciates these talks and papers by outsiders, and therefore I move that Mr. Hess be made an honorary member of this society. A Member: I move to amend the motion as just made and add "that a vote of thanks be given to Mr. Hess for his paper. Mr. Yager: I accept the amendment. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Hess: I thank you, and wish to apologize as to the statement I made that the Central West was behind in this experimental work. I wish to say that I have some information lately in regard to the state of Pennsylvania. The state of Pennsylvania has been rather backward in taking hold of this scientific horticulture, and the result was they lost a great many of their trees, and the apples they raised were hardly fit to put upon the market, but the state expended some money and did just such experimental work as the professor was doing in different parts of the state with wonderful results. They are now producing apples which they claim shall be and are superior to the apples that are grown in Col- orado, Idaho, and Washington. But be that as it may, we have our own responsibility here in our own country, and we are going to take care of the Central West, and I am sure that the enthusiasm; which I see here today will sustain me in the contention that we are beginning to wake up to the real work that is before us. We have as good a chance here to do the work that they do in the states so widely advertised as apple- growing states. We have a good rainfall, and do not have to- irrigate. We have a better climate, and a better soil. We are closer to good mar- kets, and we have proven our worth as an apple-producing section, and with such work as the professor is doing it will not be long until we can make a showing with any of them. I wish to thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me, and hope that if there is anything of value in my paper it may do the good it is Intended for. Mr. Harrison: The next number on our program is Number Two, "Quality of the Nebraska Apple," by Val Keyser of Lincoln. QUALITY OF NEBRASKA APPLES. 103 QUALITY OF NEBRASKA APPLES. Val Keyser, Lincoln. In discussing this subject the wrilei" has no apology to make for Ne- braska apples. That we can produce apples in Nebraska of superior quality is a question over which there is no chance for argument. In order to deal fairly with this subject I wish to state that by qual- ity I mean, first flavor, second texture, third color, and fourth keeping quality — on the ability of the apple to stand up in storage, on the mar- ket, or in the hands of the consumer. Apples produced in Nebraska are good, it makes no difference whether you measure them by the barrel or the box or in bulk. Ne- braska has a soil which contains the elements essential to the production of apples equal to those grown anywhere in the world, and which enables the production of better quality than many sections of the country, far more notorious, for apple growing. Mother Nature has likewise been more generous' with climatic con- ditions, moisture, and sunshine, heat and cold, and other factors which measure climatic conditions and which work in harmony with the prop- erties of the soil in fixing desirable qualities in our apples. That these things are literally true no rational mind would attempt to defy. We have proven our assertions by producing the fruit. Many apple growers, perhaps we had better say many people who attempt to grow apples, have labored under the delusion that fruit at the highest standard of excellence can be produced by planting a tree and leaving it to care for itself. In this respect we must all feel a sense of guilt, for it is only recently, within the past ten years, that we have been able to put upon the market with certainty apples which prove Nebras- ka's real worth in the production of this fruit. It is true that in the early history of orcharding in Nebraska fruit equal in quality to the best speci- mens grown today was produced. The fact that such splendid apples could be grown with the exercise of to little care on the part of the grower later proved to be an unfortunate condition of affairs. The climate did not change to any great extent, nor did the soil un- dergo any material changes. In many respects trees grow as well today or better than they did forty years ago, and yet in order to produce fruit equal in quality to that of the early growing it requires the exercise of the most intelligent care and cultural methods. Nebraska growers are unfortunate in assuming that because high quality fruit was produced in the ear]3' days without any special care that those conditions would remain unchanged, and while sleeping on that assumption they failed to awaken to see the ravages of Insect ene- mies and dangerous plant diseases, which depreciated the quality, dis- couraged the grower, and greatly injured the reputation of Nebraska's apples. All sort of theories were advanced by experienced orchardists In feeble attempts to explain the status of the apple-growing business in 104 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Nebraska. The general opinion prevailed that many varieties that were once so highly commendable had fallen by the wayside, degenerated, and only two things remained to be done. One was the origination of the new varieties suited to Nebraska's ever-changing climatic conditions. Tbe other to move the trees to a country, better suited to apple produc- tion. While the result of these conclusions brought forth the introduc- tion and origination of many new and valuable varieties, it also had the effect of driving from Nebraska's fertile glacial drift and loose soils hun- dreds of people who are now producing fruit in the volcanic ash of the western states. Those who have left the state to pioneer in horticulture are at pres- ent flooding our markets with apples, beautiful in appearance, but miser- ably inferior in texture, flavor, and keeping qualities. Now that we have solved the problems of producing high-class ap- ples, it is up to us to face a market condition which can only be done by teaching the consumer the difference between two things: general ap- pearance and real quality. In dealing with the question of quality of Nebraska apples, we may be able to come to a better understanding by the use of a few concrete comparisons. By making these comparisons we do not wish to reflect discredit on any individual, community, or state. Our ideal is to boost the apple business and to educate the consumer until there is a general appreciation of the difference between high-class and ordinary fruit. Be- cause Mother Nature has seen flt to make conditions in Nebraska ideal for the production of apples of superior quality, it would certainly be unjust to blame any individual or community who were fortunate enough to own these lands. The most encouraging thing concerning the fact that we can produce apples of high quality is that the factors which play a part in the pro- duction of our apples are permanent. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is our soil and climatic conditions which determine the quality of Nebraska's apples. Hereditary tendencies in the evolution of varieties are not respon- sible for the difference between Missouri river and western grown tarie- ties. The same varieties taken from the same nursery stock shipped to Colorado, Idaho, and other western states and planted on those soils in- variably produce fruit of inferior quality. An investigation of this subject shows that large shipments of apple trees from Stork Bros., of Missouri, and Youngers & Company, from Ne- braska, have been planted in the mountain states, and the same varieties from those nurseries used in orchard planting in Nebraska invariably produce fruit of superior quality. During the past few years western grown apples from the states of Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Washington have been consumed by Nebras- ka's people in immense quantities. Not merely a few boxes but by car- loads, by the hundreds of carloads, they have been shipped into the mar- QIALITY OF NEBRASKA APPLES. 105 kets of the larger cities of our state. A study of these shipments shows that they were largely composed of varieties which can be grown in our own state. We find the following varieties represented in these ship- ments: Winesap, .Jonathan, Gauo, White Winter Pearmain, Grimes Gold- en, Missouri Pippin, Arkansas Black, Lawver, York Imperial, and Rome Beauty. , Of course we also find a limited niiml)er of Newton Pippin, Delicious, and Stamen Winesap, and quite a large shipment of Spitzenberg. The point that the writer wishes to clinch is that Nebraska can pro- duce and does produce apples of the same varieties above mentioned, with the possible exception of Newton Pippin and Spitzenberg, which are of much better quality than the western grown apples. By better quality we mean that Nebraska's apples have a finer texture, more pal- atable flavor, and that they retain these qualities through the markets to the consumer. Perhaps it is true that fruit from the West, one year with another, can be made to take on a more attractive color, though the writer is not prepared at present to even concede this point. When Nebraska's orchards are properly pruned, the trees'headed to admit free access of air and sunshine; when Nebraska's apple trees are properly sprayed with a liberal use of lime sulphur; when Nebraska's orchards are properly cultivated so that the moisture conditions for growth and development of the apple are more nearly under the control of the grower; when the fruit buds of the apple trees in Nebraska's or- chards are protected] by the intelligent use of orchard heaters; and when Nebraska orchardists learn to select and grade and to give their apples decent care in harvesting and marketing, it is doubtful if the western states would be able to excel in a single character of the many which compose the quality of our apples. It is interesting to note that at least a dozen of our apple growers have observed the necessary steps in the practice of orchard manage- ment, as outlined above. These men have brought the fruits of their own raising from orchards handled under up-to-date methods. We are making an exhibit today for our society which is the result of our efforts during the past season, and I wish to state that those apples on exhibition over at our fruit show contain some of the finest specimens ever produced in the United States. We have always been able to produce specimens which did excel in flavor and texture; this year we have the color. It will also be interesting to note in studying our exhibition of fruit that we are able to produce the size and uniformity. Our fruit show is open to the public; it is the intention of the Society to make this educational. If wa could only reach a small per cent of the consumers of apples in Nebraska, if they could be brought here to view this beautiful exhibit, and, better still, if they could be allowed to taste and compare the quality of Nebraska apples with those grown in the western states, the thinking public would command the apple growers of Nebraska to put this fruit within their reach. 106 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Gentlemen, I believe we ought to feel a sense of duty in this matter in furnishing apples to the consuming public of our state. There is no good reason why Nebraska's people should eat apples of inferior quality, when here in Nebraska we have the ^oil and climatic conditions which, if given a fair chance to show what they can do, will produce fruit of superior flavor, texture, odor, color, size, and all of the characters which make up quality in apples. Nebraska's Jonathan, Grimes Golden, Winesap, Rome Beauty, York Imperial, White Winter Pearmain, and Black Twig furnish a variety of textures, flavors, odors, colors, sizes, and shapes which ought to satisfy the numerous tastes, likes and dislikes of the average community. The writer has purposely avoided in the foregoing discussion of ap- ples saying anything about Nebraska's Ben Davis, because Nebraska's Ben Davis can stand alone and on its own merits. In comparing it with apples of the same variety, grown in, the West, it is outstanding much superior. In fact, I believe that Nebraska Ben Davis, when properly grown, is a better eating apple than many of the high-class eating apples of the western states. We have never advertised our Ben Davis as de- sirable apples to eat out of the hand, but we can and do grow plenty of others for that purpose. But the old and much abused Ben Davis has a proper place among our varieties. It will stand alone and take care of itself. The women, the cooks, will keep the Ben Davis on the market. A study of the Ben Davis apple as w© find it on the markets of our state show that two things have been largely responsible for discrediting this valuable variety. First, the fact that the Ben Davis commences to color at an early stage in its development leads many of the small and inexperienced growers to assume that it is ready to harvest in early September. Consequently, a number of green, immature Ben Davis ap- ples are thrown upon the market, while they are in condition wholly unfit for human food, while in the average season this apple should not be picked from the trees before the middle of October. The second reason why so much discredit has come to the Ben Davis is the fact that so many growers do not exercise proper care in handling and marketing. The apples are bruised and jammed and generally abused, until the flesh of the fruit be- neath the skin turns brown, becoming tough, unattractive, and unde- sirable for use, while the texture of the Ben Davis will stand abuse in handling better than many other varieties. Its value on the market and to the consumer is greatly reduced by careless methods of handling. To verify the many assertions concerning the quality of Nebraska's apples the writer imposed upon the good nature of some of the leading commission merchants of a few cities along the Missouri river, where Nebraska apples have been handled for twenty years. In answer to a brief list of questions concerning the keeping qualities of Missouri river apples, all of the commission merchants agreed that Nebraska apples, properly grown and handled, would keep as good as apples from any part of the United States. A few ventured the assertion that apples grown in the same territory along the Missouri river would keep better than QUALITY OF NERRASKA APPLES. 107 the same variety grown in Colorado and Idaho, and would stand up longer on the market after coming from storage. In answer to the question which referred to the comparison of flavor and texture of Missouri river apples and the same varieties from Colo- rado and Idaho these men were unanimous m the opinion that apples grown along the Missouri river were much superior to these others in these respects. ^ One commission merchant from Lincoln who has had long experience in handling apples in all parts of the United States gave it as his opinion that the reason why Nebraska apples excelled in flavor was because the apples in this section of the state grew and developed under more natural conditions. That irrigation was a forcing process, and interfered with the function of the tree in the proper development of quality in the apples. A commission merchant from St. Joseph, Missouri, was of the opinion that the soil was the greatest factor in determining quality in apples. These statements serve to verify the assertions of the writer. While it would be interesting for us to know just what factors present in Nebras- ka's soil and climatic conditions enabled the production of apples of bet- ter quality than can be grown in many of the far-famed fruit sections of the West, we are more interested in the fact that we have these ideal conditions and that it is up to apple growers of Nebraska to put our state on the map as one of the greatest apple-producing sections of the world. Now all that is necessary to accomplish this end is for more people to become interested in commercial apple growing, that we may be able to supply not only the markets of onr state but to treat our friends in other states to some of the good apples Nebraska can produce. DISCUSSION. E. M. Pollard: I do not feel that this matter should be passed over in this form. Every member of this Society who has been growing Ne- braska fruit on a commercial scale knows that every bit that Mr. Keyser has said is the absolute gospel truth so far as the quality of Nebraska ap- ples is concerned. And it seems to me — this thought occurred to me while Mr. Keyser was on the floor — that it is a shame that there are so many apples coming into Nebraska from states that do not and can not produce fruit that will rank in quality with our own, and the thought occurred to me that possibly something might be done by this Society in the way of spreading information as to the real quality of our fruit among our own people. Now I do not just know how that should be gotten at, and I do not know just what methods should be followed, but that thought occurred to me, and it seems to me it is one of the most important things we have before us, that is, those of us that are engaged in raising fruit on a com- mercial scale. It is important to us, and I am going to move you, Mr. President, that a committee of three be appointed by the president to take up this matter and investigate it, and report tomorrow if they 108 NEBRASKA STATE IIORTICT'LTUKAL SOCIETY. can, and if they can not, at the next meeting. I will make that mo- tion. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Williams: I would like to say a word about advertising in Ne- braska. It is a large proposition. It requires a live working committee, and the committee should be continued from year to year. I want to say this: that one efficient way of advertising resources would be to publish very freely such papers as Mr. Keyser has read, and I want to ask Mr. Keyser that this paper be handed to the State Journal. I think it is a pretty good medium for advertising and publishing papers of the society. I was in the office this morning and they asked me to hand in any particular papers of interest. They want to get them, and it will be of great value to the orchardists of this state. Then a word while I am on my feet about the apple industry. I just returned from Mills county, Iowa, my old home, and I was able to meet a professional packer there, who has been in that region for twenty-one years, and he told me that out of the twenty-one years, there had been but one failure of the crops. The past year was one of the best years. The packers of that county, who number about half a dozen, packed in that county alone 200,000 bushels of apples, and the average price, I think, that was paid, was about $2.25 a barrel. This packer told me he paid $14,000 for the product of one orchard of seventy acres. Now it occurs to me there are hundreds of acres on this side of the river, and we in Nebraska have similar soil and condition, and I want to stand up for Nebraska and advertise its resources, for we can do the same thing here that those folk^ can do over there. A Member: I would like to ask the writer of the paper if he com- pared the quality of our apples with the New York and eastern apples. Mr. Keyser: No, I did not. My intention here was to show the difference between the apples we were up against on the market and the kind that should be on the market. The eastern apples, you will have to give it to them in some respects. They are just as good as we have in some respects, but I would not for one minute admit they are any better. E. M. Pollard: At the time of the St. Louis Exposition I was in charge of the horticultural exhibit of this state. There we had an op- portunity to compare the apples grown in every state in the Union, and I think several of the territories at that time, and I know it was the universal verdict of the judges who judged the apples from the various states, variety for variety, grown over the country, that the quality of the apples grown in this latitude running clear across the Atlantic Ocean, thai there was hardly any difference. Of course, you understand that the apple is at home in a cold climate. You put it in a warm climate and it takes away from its quality. I will say that a few years ago the Univer- sity made a very careful study of the quality of thei apples in Nebraska with those grown in New York and the other eastern state. I am sorry that the Chancellor of the University is not here, he could give us some very valuable information on this question My best recollection of the QUALITY OF MOHUASKA Al'l'LES. _ KCt whole matter is that the quality of the Jonathan and the Grimes Golden and the Winesap, etc, ran equal to, if not superior to the Greening and apples of that kind srown in New York and other eastern states. Secretary Marshall: We have in our office a silver medal given at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 for the collection of apples of the best quality, and it was won by Nebraska. So that must indicate that we have quality, and \vc were at that time competing with the eastern states. The Chairman: I would like to hoar from Mr. G. A. Marshall about his apples. Mr. G. A. Marshall: We have been selling our apples to a Chicago firm for the last two years, and we could not agree on the price last summer when the buyer was there, and so he went away. I contended that the price was going up, and you know it finally came down. Later wc got a telegram from him that he was coming back here, and I knew what that meant, because we had not made any price to him before. Then he came back, and we made him a proposition, and he accepted it. He had bought apples in different sections and I asked him why he came back to Nebraska when he could buy elsewhere cheaper. "I tell you," he said, "from March on we have to have an apple grown in the Missouri river country if we do not want to repack." He said the Missouri river apple is the best keeper they buy. This is one of the biggest firms in the United States, and they have been in the apple business since I have lived here, andi I thought that was saying a good deal for our apples. And another thing he told me, they shipped our Ben Davis into the various markets in Ohio, where we have been told they would not eat our Ben Davis, and he said they have a good trade there. Our orchard is more than half Ben Davis, so more than half the apples he buys of us are Ben Davis. Of cotirse it is just as Mr. Keyser told us, they have to have the Ben Davis. If we had more Jonathans, and Grimes Goldens, and Winesaps we could get a better price for them. But you don't find them turning down the Ben Davis. And another thing about the quality of the Ben Davis. When we give a New York man a Jonathan we will swell right up while he is eat- ing it because we know he likes it; when we give him the Grimes Golden we swell up bigger than ever. We do not care whether or not he is from Michigan or New York. But when we give him the Ben Davis, — well, the Ben Davis is not an apple to eat out of the hand, but for cooking they have a place you can't take away from them. It is the evener of all the apples. It is the apple that the common people should bow down on their hands and knees and be thankful to. Why? Because it is the one apple that keeps the price of apples from going so high that nobody but John D. Rockefeller could afford to eat them. Two or three years ago we were going down east, and we looked into the apples that wera in the markets of Chicago. Then we went to Buf- falo, and looked there. Then we went on to New York, and I found more 110 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ben Davis on the market than all the others together, and when we got clear down to Boston, where they had palates so educated to Boston baked beans, and all those other high-toned things they still had Ben Davis apples. Why, we just can not run them out of the market. One of the leading nurserymen in the United States told me the other day that he had more Ben Davis packed than any other tree, and he says that he was going to back them. The packers of our crop were from Michigan and they had some Ben Davis apples that they" were going to pack, and their barrels did not come, so they did not have anything to pack them in, and we piled others on top of them, and when we got down to them three weeks later the packers did not know what they were. They brought a Gano to me, and said, what have you mixed with the Ben Davis, and I looked at it and said, it is a Gano, and he said it is not. Look here, he says, you can run your finger through them, and they are in fact good to eat. And I looked at it, and saw it was a sweat ripened Ben Davis. Those Michigan fellows said they never ate Ben Davis before that they liked. Mr. Swan: About six years ago my first crop came on, and I had been up through the Northwest, and there was not a person that wanted our apples; they all seemed to think they must have Michigan or New York apples. Later there was a gentleman came out from Chicago who wanted to see our apples. I said, how are the other apples in comparison with these? He told us that they were good. And we talked a long time about prices and tried to agree on a price and finally he said, "I will take two thousand barrels of these apples at a dollar and seventy-five cents on board cars, and you can ship them to Chicago." I told him he could have them, but I did not think there would be that many. I thought there should be about 900 bushels. And so I shipped them to Chicago. Next February my son had occasion to be in Chicago, and I told him before he left to step around to that commission house and find out how those apples were selling. So my son went down to the commission house, and said how are Winesaps selling, and the commission merchant gave him a certain price, and then he asked him about the quality, and he told him they were fine. He asked them where they were raised, and they told him in Nebraska, and then he asked them if he could see them. He said they can not raise any good apples in Nebraska, he told him he was from the West and he knew what he was talking about, and that they could not raise any good apples in Nebraska. ^ Well, they told him to come and see them, and so my boy went to see them and he knew as soon as he saw them that they were my apples, and he looked them all over, and they were good. He then asked how much they was getting for them, and they told him that they was getting' $6.50 a barrel. What do you think of that? The Chairman: The next paper will be by Mr. Frank G. Odell of Lincoln, on "Horticultural observations in the northwest." HORTICULTURE IN THE NORTHWEST. Ill HORTICULTURAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE NORTHWEST. Frank G. Odell, Lincoln. I have been asked by your secretary to relate to this meeting some of the horticultural observations of a v^^andering Nebraskan in the North- west, that far-famed land where the crop of apples is exceeded only by the annual crop of "suckers" who fall under the spell of the boomers in the land of the Golden Sunset. Let me preface this quite informal talk with the frank confession that I returned from my first trip to the Spokane country some four years ago fully as enthusiastic over that country as the average tourist. A week in constant attendance at the first National Apple Show, where one ate, drank, talked, and dreamed of apples, left little time for real inves- tigation, such as has been afforded in later and more extensive journeys into the "scenic land of fortune," as it is dubbed in the literature of the Jim Hill railroads. I have revised to some extent my views of the Northwest as a profit- able opening for Nebraska citizens. In reaching these conclusions I be- lieve that my judgment has not been entirely partial. Though for nearly thirty years a resident of this state, it has not always been kind to me. It has fallen to my lot to have quite the average of the troubles incident to human existence; sometimes I have thought that more than my share had slipped over my way. The occasional cold winters which we have here do not awaken my enthusiasm, and I have always had a craving for the mountains and the life of the wild. Many times my mind has been fully made up to leave Nebraska and seek a more congenial clime. I can now see that adverse fortune has really been kinder than I thought, and that which seemed my misfortune in detaining me in this state has brought in these later years that richest of blessings, — contentment and realization of the value of those friend- ships of the passing years which come to a man but once in a lifetime. For these reasons, which have become in my later years the most powerful, it is my chief desire that this little talk lead your thought as mine has been providentially led, in the paths which make for real hap- piness and content. Very fortunately for most of us, these things do not always necessarily companion with worldly prosperity. As most of you know, my horticultural knowledge (if it may be dig- nified by such a term) is largely technical; such as one gathers from the reading of books and association with the people who really do the work; hence my observations should not be taken as by any means conclusive or as emanating from one who speaks with authority. Indeed, one must needs be careful what one says, for quite recently in my zeal for the de- velopment of our own state I ventured to print some facts given me by my good friend, your capable secretary. Some of my friends congratu- lated me, and I secretly congratulated myself, on having really done a capable bit of newspaper work; but to my chagrin a letter came from a i H2 NEBKASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, misguided resident of Lincoln who owns some land in the Grand valley in Colorado, who assures me gravely that my figures are all wrong ana that we can not raise apples profitably in the state ol' Nebraska. The only reply I could make was to lay the whole thing on, Mr. Marshall and invite my critic to attend this meeting. I sincerely hope he is here; in which case it will be my endeavor to let him hear some things that will be good for what ails him. I scarcely think it worth while to waste time in arguing the question of Nebraska's ability to raise apples of marketable value at a satisfactory profit, when we have this last season, according to the reports published in Better Fruit, the organ of the northwest growers, grown and marketed more apples than the state of Washington. The important thing at this time is that we show to the outside world as well as to our own people the potential value which lies awaiting the touch of trained intelligence and willing hands in the future orchards of the state of Nebraska. There are some things about the people of the Northwest which awaken my sincere admiration. One is their public spirit. I had occa- sion late last September to take a roundabout journey from Pendleton, Oregon, by the way of Walla Walla, Washington, up the Columbia river to Pasco, in order to catch a main line Northern Pacific train fof North Yakima. A good portion of this little journey lay through the unsettled country back of the Columbia river on the edge of Oregon and across the river in similar country in the state of Washington. There are no moun- tains there with their fascinating beauty, and a more desolate and gen- erally God-forsaken country it has never been my misfortune to look upon. We stopped at a flag station where an abandoned freight car served for a depot. Up the slope from the railway stretched a wilder- ness of sand, hub-deep to the wagons that followed the toiling horses. Sage brush and grease-wood everywhere. Not a tree in sight. But along- side the track was a forty-foot sign board, twenty feet high, advertising "THESE CHOICE ORCHARD LANDS— $3U0.00 PER ACRE AND UP." And that commands my admiration. It lakes "some class" to promote a patch of sand that was worth fifty cents an acre but yesterday, and to sell it for $300 an acre today. NOT A POOR MAN'S GAME. I submit that the orchard industry in the Northwest is no longer a poor man's game. Permit me to reproduce here a portion of one of my recently published letters from this country. "They talk apple lingo out here in the jargon of the plutocrat. In- cidentally they have some few apple trees now growing; the report of Commissioner Huntley for the year 1911 shows that there are over 7,000,- 000 apple trees in the state of Washington, and they are still planting. Presently they will have enough so we can all have an apple apiece any- how. "If outward signs count for anything, the orchardist is not unduly lloiniCl LTIUK IN THE KOUTIIWEST. 113 prosperous in this country at present. When questioned he will frankly admit that the average man is hard up, and that there is no immediate prospect of relief until the country shall have experienced its quadren- nial salvation at the hands of the politicians and the captains of finance. It matters little whether this condition be natural or artifificial; its pres- ence is too manifest to be comfortable." CAPITALIZING HOT AIR. "It does not require much probing to reveal the fact that the profits of orcharding in the northwest have been exaggerated to the detriment of the country. . I had a most interesting conversation with a onetime member of the faculty of the Washington State Agricultural College touching this point. He admitted frankly that the Ananias Club has a large and active membership in the Northwest, quoting as a typical case that of a. Wenat- chee orchardist who produced 1,200 boxes of apples from seven acres of five-year-old trees. This was heralded far and wide as a sample of the average yield in this wonderland, and the phenomenal story started an in- vestigation by the horticultural department of the college. My friend, the professor, verified the story of the yield and also that the grower sold his seven-acre crop for $2,400 at the orchard. "Bear in mind, please, that these were five-year-old trees. Apple trees are very precocious under irrigation. This orchardist might reason- ably expect this crop to increase, year by year, — but, bless you, — no. The next year it fell from 1,200 to 300 boxes, showing once more that it is not wise to count chickens before they are hatched or apples before they grow. The 1,200-box story received due publicity in railroad publications, real 'estate literature, and the newspapers. This is probably the first time the 300-box story has been told, and would not have now appeared but for the inquisitive faculty which 'dug it out' of the professor." "This should not be taken as conclusive that apple growing, is not profitable in the Northwest; it is profitable in many instances, but 'cum grano sails.' Have your salt-cellar ready and handy when those average stories of phenomenal crops are related in your hearing. I have been play- ing the role of an animated interrogation point all over the Northwest and have thought it prudent to ask questions of the people who own and operate the orchards rather than of the real estate agents." "The general result of this first-hand investigation is to develop the fact that the reports of thousand-dollar-per-acre crops must be divided by three to strike the average of leaa years, insecr, pests, and occasional mistakes in management. Against this reduced total must be charged expense of management, maintenance charge for water, cultivation, spray- ing, heating, taxes, interest on land, picking and packing, depreciation on tools and machinery, and possibly some few other items, which have escaped my eagle eye — all of which are necessary items in the expense account of a well-managed orchard in that section. "The single item of taxes and interest on land value is no joke in the 114 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURALr SOCIETY. Northwest, for however skilful one may be in cajoling the assessor, the taxes are still high enough; and as for land values — well, the less said, the better; say from $2,000 to $3,000 per acre for a well-kept orchard at ten years old, which will be considered a conservative valuation by any one who knows the Northwest."* SOME OBSERVATIONS ON VARIETY SELECTION. It was formerly said that the Northwest could beat the world on its wide range of varieties of apples which could be grown commercially at a profit. Like other uninformed folk I believed it. I don't any longer, since I have been talking with the men who know. I attended the National Apple Show at Spokane last November. In- cidentally it was a show much inferior to the first one four years ago, but there were many reasons) for this which, it is unnecessary to recite here. About six carloads of last year's apples were brought from cold storage to fill up the show. The fact that there were six carloads of apples in cold storage in Spokane does not signify so much, possibly; but it does look a trifle odd that they should be there after this year's crop was on the market. My visit to the Apple Show was purely to gather in- formation; hence I kept my eyes and ears open for the little confidences spoken in an undertone, which give one an idea of how things are really going at a big show. You understand this, you old exhibitors. We always put up a good front to the uninformed who come to see our show, but in strict confidence and quite between ourselves we unburden our mutual (griefs for the somewhat uncertain solaces which comes from exchange of troubles. Knowing this from personal experience, I found out a lot of things at Spokane. I am not going to tell you all of them, but here are a few: You have heard a lot about the commercial qualities of the Winter Banana, the Delicious, the Jonathan, the Northern Spy, etc., among the famous apples of the Northwest. Let us get down to brass tacks on this proposition of varieties. At the first National Apple Show, I saw something over three hundred plates of Northern Spy apples to my untutored eye there were as many varieties of apples as there were plates. I asked the judges to show me a standard plate so I could identify a Spy for myself, but got little satis- faction. This year I heard several people asking the experts about the Winter Banana. The invariable' reply was that "they are good to look at, but not much good for anything else." I heard one of the oldtimers answer an inquirer who wanted to know something about the "Delicious" with the reply, that "It's the best advertised fake that ever grew on a tree." And there you are. This process of elimination brings us down to where we must soon consider the merits of our old friend the Jonathan, than which in my judgment no better apple ever grew. What about the Jonathan in the *Travel stories in the Nebraska Farmer, 1911, by Frank G. Odell. HORTICULTURE IN THE NORTHWEST. 115 Northwest? It is the principal factor in determining their market, for they do get color and uniformity and flavor, too, in their Jonathans. And when you buy them as I did, at a Spokane grocery When I started for home, at the rate of $3.60 per bushel .you begin to wonder what kind of a blessed apple country this is anyhow. Somehow one feels that they are paying rather liberally for color. I wandered around the Apple Show one evening in search of some scandalous things that I could tell you folks about the" imperfections of the over-boomed Northwest, and all at once I stumbled on a juicy one: A sizable crowd was gathered about my old friend. Prof. C. L. Smith of Kiesling, Washington, one of God's noblemen, a prince among horti- culturists and an honest man. They were interrogating him about the orchard business in general, for Smith is always the center of a crowd of interested people. Some one asked what were the best commercial varie- ties to plant. "Well," says Smith, 'if you want to make money, plant Wagner, Rome Beauty,- Stayraan, Winedap, and Yellow Newton Pippins. If you want to spend your money for looks, get some Winter Banana, some Delicious and Jonathans." "What is the matter with the Jonathans?" ""WTiy," says Smith, "nobody ever saw a Jonathan tree bear over ten boxes of apples in the state of Washington, and everybody who knows anything about them and is honest enough to tell the truth will tell you that after they get to the age of ten or twelve years they deteriorate so fast both in quality and quantity that they are noi longer profitable. If you want to plant them for fillers, they might possibly pay up to the twelfth year, but you may expect to have to cut them out afterward." And I had learned something; remember it; it will fit in a little later, before this paper is finished. AS TO THE FUTURE PROFITS IN THE NORTHWEST. It is safe to assert that the orchardists of the Northwest are not in the business for their health primarily. They expect and should receive large ret^irns, for they assume large expense. I have not found any or- chard land recommended as first-class for less than five hundred dollars an acre when planted to two-year-old trees. It is more likely to run to one, two, or three thousand, if well located and with good water privi- lege. At the great Lewiston orchards, where 20,000 acres are under irri- gation, 5,500 acres planted, and a thousand acres a year being planted, the cheapest land is $525 per acre. This is the largest individual orchard under irrigation so far as my knowledge extends. It is expected that when this reaches its minimum bearing capacity on the basis of the present planting, about four years hence, that ten thousand carloads of apples will be shipped annually from Lewiston. And that's some apples. The Horticultural Department of the Washington State Agricultural College made a thorough investigation of orchard capitalization and cost of management, reducing their investigation to as accurate figures as can 116 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. be secured at this state of the industiT. They find that for the average of the state of Washington they have an overhead charge of 51 cents per box for every apple that grows for the first eight years before they caix bring an apple to market. It takes a pretty good crop to stand a main- tenance charge of that sort. On the basis of the present census of trees now growing in the moun- tain states, a minimum production in the irrigated regions will add to the present crop not less than one hundred million boxes of apples an- nually within the next five years; and they are still planting. Moreover, other sections are planting, rejuvenating the old orchards, studying the most scientific methods, and coming into direct and active competition with our western brethren. There will no doubt be something, doing in the apple market presently. About what will be doing presently, it is something like this: The only way the western grower can keep alive is to produce strictly fancy fruit and sell it at a strictly fancy price, for he has all the time that 51 cents overhead charge on every box of apples. And you need not imagine that every apple they raise is perfect by any means; of course they, don't put them in the pictures or the liteiiature, but I find neverthe- less they have their cider mills and vinegar factories and canning works with plenty of apples to keep them busy when they have a crop. ' This situation in which the western grower is finding himself will soon force the necessity of one of the greatest advertising propagandas the business world has ever seen — to popularize the use of the apple. It will be in the interest of the western apple and. will be paid for by their money. It ought to do something to boost the market for the grow- ers of the Missouri valley region who have all the advantages of climate, reasonably priced land, nearness to market, and a speaking acquaintance with the good God who makes it rain here, once in a while anyhow. That is what it is worth, and it is worth a whole lot. One more incident and this rambling paper will be done: I sat at table at the Spokane hotel with a group of gentlemen among whom was one who for seven years was at the head of the Horticultural Department of the Agricultural College of the state of Washington. One of the company asked the professor what proportion of the orchards of the irrigated. section are likely to prove profitable. He replied that, "Not less than 50 per cent of the orchards now planted will be non-producers and fail to be commercially profitable, necessitating their replacement by different or better trees or the conversion of the land they now occupy to other uses." I said, "Professor, that is a remarkable statement." "But, sir," he replied, "I have examined almost every orchard of commercial propor- tions in this state, and I believe I am far within the truth in making that statement." He may be mistaken. I hope so, for the sake of the innocent people who have spent their millions in outrageously exaggerated land values FARMINe WITH DYNAMITE. 117 under the spell of the boomer; but I fear that he is right and that a sad awakening is coming to the Northwest when its dream has passed. If these two men are right, — and they are two whose names are synonyms for authority in horticulture in the Northwest, — if they are right, and 50 per cent of the orchards now planted are to be commercial failures, and the Jonathans presently grubbed out of the 50 per cent that remains, there will be a lot of orchard land* for sale presently at con- siderably reduced prices. I think we can afford to wait. I am profoundly convinced that the opportunities for commercial orcharding are greater in eastern Nebraska today than in the most prom- ising regions of the irrigated Northwest. Every trip into that section and' every investigation on the ground confirms this view. This brings to me a feeling of deep and al)iding content; a feeling of confidence in Nebraska as a commonwealth which will grow greater as the years pass, whose people are dwelling under tlie shadow of a great destiny in the potential empire of peace and plenty. The Chairman: The next paper will be by Mr. Edward Lewis, of the Dupont Powder Company of St. Louis, Missouri. His subject will be '•'Farming with dynamite." I understand that Mr. Lewis has no paper, but he will give you an address on the subject that has been assigned to him. FARMING WITH DYNAMITE. Edward Lewis, St. Louis, Missouri. Ladies and Gentlemen — The name of Dupont suggests something rather scary, and the name of dynamite is also scary, but we do not en- deavor to teach anybody to use it in the manner that the McNamaras used it, so I hope that you will bear with me while I endeavor to tell you what we are trying to do along this line. We are trying to teach the people to farm with dynamite; we are trying to teach the farmers, through their associations and by demon- strations, that dynamite can be used to help him improve his crops, and as some people have said to make two blades of grass grow where one has grown before. Now we do not say that that can be done everywhere, or in every case, or every day, but what we do say is that farms cau be improved, and made better, and I think that I can show that this contention is at least reasonable by what I have to say. Take for instance in the indus- try of tree planting, the dynamite used in that is composed mostly of nitrate of ammonia. Now if a person has not used this before he does not know much about it. and about its effects, and it will probably make him sick the first time, or for the first two or three times he uses it. In using it in tree planting it is exploded underground, and when that hap- pens it of course distributes its properties through the subsoil, and be- cause of the properties it contains it is very beneficial. I was very sorry I did not have a moving picture machine here so I could show the different illustrations, and different things about which J 118 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. •wish to address you, but we could not have it because we had no elec- tricity. But altho I am not an artist, and as a matter of fact never drew a picture in my life, I will endeavor to show a few things on the board, so that you may the better understand the things about which I am talk- ing. Now in blowing out stumps, which is one of the most important branches of farming with dynamite, we always try to get the dynamite where it will do the most good, and have the most effect. Now for ex- ample, we- will suppose this is a stump here (indicating a figure drawn on the blackboard) and here is a tap root. The tap root is the main root of the tree, just as the trunk of the tree is the main part above the sur- face, altho some trees do not have a very pronounced tap root. Now we will suppose this is the tap here, and a single charge of dynamite placed here at this tap root would not raise it so well, so as a remedy for thav we would suggest that electricity should be used. The next thing we will do is to drive a hole down here (indicating) on one side of it, and then go over here (indicating) and drive another hole down here, and get down to that tap root. Now to the rear we will put in another one, and at the bottom of each one of these holes here we will take a small piece of dynamite, about an inch and a quarter thick. You can get it in any diameter, for that matter, from three-fourths of an inch on up, but we would recommend the inch and a quarter, and it weighs a half a pound to the stick. Ti^e will take about this much (in- dicating) of the cap- fuse, and put it in the end. No tamping at all, and that will make a pocket down there at the bottom of each stump. I have been asked the cost of clearing an acre of land, and I will say that that is an unfair question in a great many ways. For example, we do not know whether or not the stumps are green, or dead, or have a tap root, or what. Now you take a twenty-four inch stump, you take a dead one, and it should be pulled cut with about four or five sticks of dynamite, because it has the extra radius that the twelve-inch stump did not have. Now you take the gi'een stump, their roots are just ex- actly like a piece of steel, andd you would have a terrible hard time with any other way of removing them, and as a matter of fact it takes more dynamite to remove them than the roots of a dead stump. But we do know this, that we can prove conclusively that the stumps can be re- moved much cheaper with dynamite than they could be in any other way, or with a stump puller. I know of one red wood stump in Cali- fornia that took four hundred and fifty pounds of dynamite, but that is an exception. But then, too, that was not dynamite, it was black pow- der and simpler to shoot. We pour that in the bottom of the hole and we use one stick of dynamite as a primer. Now you see the black powder, being slower acting than the dynamite, it lifts the; stump right up out of the ground, and the dynamite, being so much faster, some- . times tears as well as lifts it out, and hence you do not get as good or even the desired results. It might bring only one-half of the stump out in some cases, you must know how to choose between them. Therefore you get much better results than where they are both used together. FARMING WITH DYNAMITE. 119 There are two different ways of breaking boulders. One way is what is known as mud capping, and is done in this way: Here is a boulder that we want to break. Now if there should hap- pen to be a little depression in the boulder, take a few sticks of dyna- mite and cover it with mud, first putting your fuse down close to the dynamite, or right in with it, leaving about two feet stick out, or more if you want to, and then put the mud all around it and on top of it. The fuse is thus protruding, and the next thing to do is to light the fuse and run. You wonder how that can blow the rock to pieces, and why it would not just blow the mud off and do nothing further. Well, here is the reason: That mud holds the shock to the rock. The mud is of course full of water, and water is one of the best conductors we have. The other way to break boulders is when this boulder is on the ground, and when you want to lift it up, as well as breaking it. Put it on or under the boulder just like you would under a stump, as I ex- plained before. That is what we call &nakc-holing, and you put it in that way and just lift or force it out. In planting trees, we have another use for dynamite. This thing is getting to be a great industry down in the Ozark country of Missouri. You folks do not have hard pan like they do there. I said something about hard pan in Topeka last week, and they took exception to it. I said that was all right, "let's call it concrete then." You can imagine the advantage in planting trees with dynamite in that kind of a soil over the method of digging holes for them, for so many reasons which i will not try to explain. Here is a tree to be planted. Now we will say that tree wants to be planted about eighteen inches below the surface of the ground. We will place half a stick of 2.5 per cent Red Cross dynamite in that hole, and tamp the stick. We have the fuse sticking out here, and we have it tamped just as tight as we can. Well, touch it off and let it go. That explosion comes out, and goes down as well, and in going down, it loosens up the soil for the roots for a radius of from eight to sixteen feet in diameter. And if it is just ordinary dirt, it will go from six to eight inches down. All that is necessary from that time on is to take three or four spadefuls of dirt out, and you have the ground ready for the tree. This loosening up of the ground on either side will give the roots a chance to grow immediately. You can see the great advantage of that. For if it is dug with a spade, of course the sides are packed and it does not give the roots a chance to grow, that the loose dirt brought about by the dynamite explosion does. Subsoil blasting, or hard pan blasting, as we sometimes call it, is the next important thing I will take up. We call this top soil, the soil which has been used up, and has not very much more plant life left in it, we call that, the top soil. Well, in the subsoil blasting you get at the soil that the plow can not reach, you get at the hard pan. I have heard of instances where plows can be gotten under the ground twenty-two 120 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL "SOCIETY. inches deep, below the grass, and it will give the desired depth, but with dynamite you can do better. Now puncture a hole down this way. Say it is four feet, and then take half a stick of Red Cross dynamite and tamp it in. The harder you tamp it in, the better, for where the explosion comes it will break this subsoil right where you want the force of the dynamite to work. If hard pan once is allowed to have water to gather in it, or you can force the moisture into it, you can rest assured it will disintegrate, and you will not be bothered with it, any more, but you can not say that with a clay subsoil, it will not last that way, and it will have to be re- blasted every six or seven years. With the deep plowing, this top soil has been worked to death, but with dynamite you can lift this dirt up, •and scatter it for four or five feet on top of the hole. So in doing this you get the richer and better soil on top of the worn out soil, ahd mixed in with it, and thereby you enrich it. Now take it in sections of fifteen feet, and you go right down the side of the field. If you have an ex- plosion at all these places I have indicated, you are bound to get the dirt stirred up so the water can get into the hard pan, and cause it to disintegrate. In subsoiling lands, we generally figure there are 194 holes to the acre, but to be safe, we say there are 200. We would use one-fourth of a stick to each hole, or in other words that would be 50 pounds to the acre. In Nebraska it is 16 cents a pound, and that would be $8.00 to the acre. At 2^^ feet deep it would cost $5 for fuse, and caps at a cent apiece, would be $2. That would make a total of $15 an acre. Now $15 an acre seems to be pretty large, but when you very nearly double your crop the first year, it may pay for what you do. There is nothing we can do for the betterment of our land but what ynU cost us something-. There is no betterment we can put into or upon the land that will be as permanent and far reaching as this subsoiling with dynamite. A Thayer, ^lissouri, farmer placed his dynamite about thirty feet apart, and he planted his corn in the land that he had dynamited, and it doubled his crop the first year. He had twice as large a crop where he used dynamite, as where l\e did not use it, or on the same land the year before. A Member: Have you any figures on the labor or the cost of putting in the dynamite? A. One of our professional dynamiters who was here, if I am not mistaken, two weeks ago, gave a demonstration on that. We gave a demonstration in Centralia, Illinois, and we subsoiled nearly two acres in a day. Of course, if any one wants to do a great deal of subsoiling, it would be better to do more than an acre at a time, and the chances are that the dealer you buy your supplies from will be pretty good to you on the price. He will be pretty good to you on the price of your fuse. Some of them really charge one cent when they should not. This is about all there is to the main discussion or talk that I in- tend to give to you, but I would be glad to answer any questions that any of you may have to ask. FAKMixr, WITH nv^^\^rIT^:. 121 A Member: I have a question I would like to ask because I have seen this demonstration recently in hard pan. And I also saw it in Kumho that was saturated with water. Practically it did not work out, in my mind, as theoretically it should. Instead of breaking this hard pan and gumbo up, it packed it so hard you could not cut it, and could not do anything with it. Alter I saw this the thought occurred to me that you ought to have yor hard pan subsoil dry instead of wet." A. Yes, sir; it is best. »But as regards gumbo, it is harder than hard pan and we do not like to fool with that. We do not make any claim on the gumbo, but if we are pinned down to it, the best we will say is that we will do the best we can. But the facts of the matter are that we have shot gumbo in Nebraska, right here In your own state, and have been very successful in opening it up. And we have reclaimed that ground in some instances. Q. What percentage of dynamite do you use? A. Twenty-five per cent for subsoiling, and the same for tree plant- ing, and 40 per cent in blasting. We have found those amounts to be the best. Q. What have you to say as to the value of blasting and the use of dynamite in an old orchard, and in the soil under old trees? A. I am very glad that you called my attention to that point. That is a very important thing. We call it the rejuvenating of old orchards. It Is all right, I saw it worked, and it was very successful. My idea is to go down about four feet into the ground and shoot. The best thing I have found for this is to use a stick of 25 per cent dynamite. Q. What does this 40 per cent dynamite usually retail for? A. About 17 cents. A cent higher than the 25. Q. And your 60 per cent? A. It is 18 cents. We do not recommend the use of the 60, except in shooting ditches. The price of it here is a little higher than that, it is about 20 or 21 cents. Q. Your 40 per cent dynamite, you say is 16 cents? A. Sixteen or 17 cents, something like that. We do not try to re- strict it. If we should tell fevery dealer the price he should sell it at, Uncle Sam would break up the DuPont Powder Company in about fifteen minutes. We suggest to them what they should charge, but that is as far as we go in the matter. Q. In breaking up the old orchards, would it not be better to use the slow explosives? A. Twenty-five is slow enough, and 40 is too quick. They tell me that the nitrate of ammonia which forms the nitrogen in the ground, will give color to the fruit, but how true that is I do not know, and I would not want to go on record as saying it was true. Q. About how much nitrogen would there be? A. I should not imagine there would be very much. If you want to plant the tree about 18 inches, put the charge down 18 inches, and it will break the ground 24 inches. It would be better, in fact it is better. 122 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. to put it down as deep as you care to go, if you can spare the time. If your ground is heavy enough to stand it. The Chairman: On behalf of the Horticultural Society I want to thank Mr. Lewis for the splendid talk he has given us and hope that we may sometime in the future have the pleasure of learning more about this most interesting and profitable subject. The next speaker on the program for this afternoon, will be Hon. E. M. Pollard, of Nehawka, who will address us on the subject of "Converttag cull fruit into cider and vinegar." CONVERTING CULL FRUIT INTO CIDER AND VINEGAR. Hon. E. M. Pollard, Nehawka. Ladies and Gentlemen — Of course in presenting this question, it de- pends entirely upon your view-point, the range that the discussion should take. If you have a small orchard and are in a community where there are a few, or perhaps no apples grown besides those you produce, then it hardly pays to construct a cider mill and put in the machinery necessary to take care of it. On the other hand, if you are living in a community where there are a great many apples grown, it might pay and pay well to put in the cider mill and go into the business of manufacturing cider and vinegar. As to the cost of putting in the plant, I have only taken into account a plant that would produce considerable cider, perhaps with a capacity of from five hundred to one thousand gallons a day. I would not, and I do not believe I would advise any one to put in a mill that did not have a hydraulic press. There are a great many different kinds of presses on the market. There are a good many presses manufactured that take all the juice out of the apple, and of course you want to get all the juice and not leave a part of it in the pumice. A hydraulic press with a capac- ity of from twenty-five to fifty barrels of jcider, operated by hand power, will cost about two hundred dollars. A hydraulic press with a capacity of from fifty to fifteen hundred barrels per day will cost around four hundred dollars, running of course by power. And of course you can in- crease that as much as you want to, and the greater it will cost propor- tionately. Then comes the cost of power. In most communities there are traction engines used for threshing purposes that can be used or hired to run your mill for a nominal cost, or you can put in a stationary engine at a -cost of anywhere from a thousand up to two thousand dol- lars, according to the capacity of the plant you want to operate. Now the cost of making the cider. We have a very large plant there, and make cider on a large scale. I have figured a great many times the cost of manufacturing the cider per gallon, taking a week's run. Some- times a machine will run satisfactorily all day, and other days a small accident will delay you an hour or two, — those things always occur in all machines. I have figured all those things in arriving at any kind of CONVERTING CULL FRUIT INTO CIDER AND VINEGAR. 123 a conclusion. And taking it on an average it costs to manufacture cider about V^ a cent a gallon, that is the actual cost. And it is taking into account the intei'est on your investment and the cost of fuel and labor on your machine. I will say that is on a basis of from 500 to 5,000 .gal- lons a day. I have never made a test as to any particular variety, for at home we dump all the apples into a pen, promiscuously, without any re- gard to separating the varieties, and we never have grown any variety and made a test of it. But, taking them as they come, the average bushel of apples will produce about 3% gallons of cider, or about 7 gallons to the hundred weight. Now you see it will net you about 20 cents a bushel for your apples, and of course those of us that are in the apple business know we have a great many apples of that kind, and it is simply a saving of a waste, which is always commendable in any enterprise. The conversion of cider into vinegar is another question, and in my opinion it is much more preferable an undertaking of the manufacture of cider to put it on tho market as suelv Especially I think it is true if you are going to operate on a small scale, and not go into the business too extensively. In what is known as the quick process of the manufacture of vinegar you can take the sweet juice today, and in thirty days or less convert it into cider or vinegar. Now that does not seem true, but it is. Under what is known as the quick process, all that is done is the separation of the cider into its smallest parts, or into droiis, so that every drop of the cider comes in contact with the air at once. Under the old process we made our cider in the fall, and we put it in a whisky barrel and rolled the barrel out under the apple tree at home, and put a bung into it, and so forth, and let the barrel lie there for two or three years' time, and it came out all right. It went through the same process that we put it through in the quick process. In order to convert cider into vinegar it has to have access to the air. The alcohol in the cider consumes the oxygen from the air, and converts it into acetic acid, and that is what gives the strength to the vinegar. Under what is known as the quick process that cider is broken up, and each drop comes in contact with the air at once, and that is why it is known as the quick process, and that is why we can make good vine- gar in a short time. The generator we use is a tank 31/2 feet in diameter, and about 7 feet high. It has two bottoms, the lower bottom being tight, and the other bottom, ten inches above, is perforated with a great many little holes. We simply dump into this second bottom shavings which are made for this second business and which help to ripen the cider. Three days from the time we start with the sour cider we have vinegar. The shrinkage during the converting process of cider varies accord- ing to the method of handling. The variation will run all the way from 10 to 30 per cent. Of course SO per cent is a heavy shrinkage. After the cider has passed through its fermentation stage and has become entirely quiet, there should be a top put over the tank and made air-tight to pre- 124 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. vent evaporation, otherwise you would hardly be able to conceive the rapidity with which it evaporates, especially in wai-m weather. Now as to the profits. In making cider that isi an important thing. We have been in the business for almost twenty-five years and we have gone thru all the upsi and downs of the cider business, and it is only within the last ten years we have made a success of it, that is, the hand- ling of the cider as a finished product. There is a good market for cider. I presume in Nebraska there is consumed every year from twelve to eigh- teen cars of sweet cider, which is dnmk as a beverage. Cider is one of the hardest commodities in the world to control. When fermentation begins in a barrel of cider it is next to impossible to stop it, unless it is pasteurized. That will check it. There is no grocery- man that has been in the business any length of time at all who has not tried taking cider from farmers or fruit men without experience, on ac- count of friendship or some other reason that has permitted him to do so, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it has gone back on him. For that reason it is difllcult to sell or introduce it. I think it was about ten years ago we found out how to prevent fermentation, or rather iiow to preserve the cider. It has then taken us ten years to build up a business. Even now in places we have trouble in selling our goods. The dealers all know the cider that is made in New York, or know the Duffy brand, and know that won't spoil, but they don't all know our cider. But with vinegar it is different. You convert cider into vinegar and you have a- staple product. Everybody knows what it is, and it commands a very good price. So my advice to the fruit growers would be this: Put in a small plant, because it is desirable to save the waste. DISCUSSION. A jVIember: You spoke about the vinegar always being salable. Now in our country, it is good pure cider I know about, and our merchants won't buy it at four cents a gallon. Mr. Pollard: Is it made the old way? Member: .Yes, sir. Mr. Pollard: The trouble is because every groceryman, that ever had a barrel of that vinegar knows he has about three or four gallons of slush in the bottom. Member: They refuse to touch it if it is drawn off. Mr. Pollard: Has the vinegar been tested, so that it comes up to the requirements of the law? Member: They say it does not make any difference, that it is illegal to buy it. Mr. Pollard: That is not true. I would like to buy it at that price. There is nothing in the law that prevents the groceryman irom buying vinegar from a farmer, or prevents a farmer from selling his vinegar to a groceryman, providing of course, the vinegar comes up to the test of the pure food law. Member: Must you have it tested beforehand? Mr. Pollard: It is best to do that because if you do not do it you are liable to be prosecuted. GUKKTINCS I'KO.M C. S. llAKKISoN. 125 Mcnil)cr: I think this might be a good leasoa why this condition exists, that no matter how good it is, or how it tests, they seem to refuse it. It might be because when they haul it in to the groceryman, it is all stirred uy, and it is not the same as it was when he started from home with it. Mr. Pollard: That is the point exactly. The Chairman: This closes our afternoon program. It now being five o'clock P.M., January 17, the meeting of the society adjourned to meet at nine o'clock A.M. next day, .hinuary 18, 1912. MORNING SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1912. The President: The first paper on the program will be a paper en- titled "Greetings from C. S. Harrison." Mr. Harrison is spending the winter in southern Califoinia lor his health. To the Members of the Horticultural Society: Dear Fellow Laborers — I find myself in this land of dreams and of eternal summer. It is hard to adjust myself to it. I visited a nursery yesterday. They do not have packing sheds and storage cellars. Every day in the year is salesday except Sundays. One peculiar thing here is the rise of the land. I, think they must fertilize with years. Ten acres soon becomes forty, then eighty and then one hundred and sixty. Men will look you squarely in the eye and say that they can get more off 10 acres than we can from 160. You never can catch a Californian in a lie. I suppose that the lie goes so fast they can't get it, to say nothing about getting into it. Land rises so fast that you get afraid of it. Now Harry got ten acres of lemon orchard and went home and turned around a few times and then went back. They told him his land had doubled in value. We went out to see it. It was a fine piece and the trees looked well. I was a little afraid to get on it for fear that it would rise with me, so I stayed in the road. Harry went onto it, and, in short, ran all over it. I was afraid that it would rise with him on it, and I didn't know what would become of the boy, but we got back all safe and I could not see as the land was much higher than when we or he first went on it. We saw thousands of acres of English walnuts. They were fine or- chards, and yet they are cutting them down by the thousand. "What is the trouble?" I asked, "they look well and healthy and bear good crops." The answer was, "We can't stand the measly meager returns. We can only get $100 per acre." How they were abused I We saw great orchards of oranges, and some groves have immense -packing houses and ship by the train load. This whole business keeps you in a whirl and you must get adjusted to it. The climate is fine. I have suffered more from the heat than the cold; 85 in the day time is a little hard on winter clothing. You find most all kinds of tropical fruits growing here. The flowers don't know the difference between summer and winter. Dahlias get to be trees covered with a glory of bloom. Well, this is a nice place for an old 126 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. man crippled up with the rheumatism. I don't know whetlier I would take to it if I was young. Good old Nebraska seems good enough for me. It has done well by most of us. We have a lot of Nebraska friends here, and one takes me through the orange orchards of Pasadena this after- noon. I am slowly gaining in health after a terrible surgical operation which almost killed me. Of course I never can be well again but hope to be well enough to enjoy myself and drive my pencil a little longer. Hoping that you will have a pleasajit session, 1 am yours, C. S. HARRISON. The President: The next paper on the program will be by F. C. Miles, of the Fruit Judging Team of the School of Agriculture, on "The National Horticultural Congress." THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS. F. C. Miles, Fruit Judging Team, College of Agriculture. The Fourth National Horticultural Congress was held at Saint Jo- seph, Missouri, November 23 to December 2, 1911. Whiie the attendance was not exceedingly large, yet undoubtedly the meeting will have a wide- spread influence. It seems that comparatively few people, who have never attended one of these large fruit shows, can realize the importance of being pres- ent. We all understood that, in order to succeed in any line of work, it was necessary to have an Ideal, and horticultural work proves no excep- tion. The primary object of the congress is to establish that ideal for the fruit grower. The grower has the opportunity to see almost perfect fruit and he can fix standards of the varieties in which he is interested. Thus he has something better to strive for. He comes in contact with other growers, and if he is an exhibitor he will see the points of superior- ity in the fruit which wins the prizes, and then by taking advantage of the several features of the congress he will be better fitted to compete in the following year. In addition to seeing an excellent display of fruit one may attend the programs which are given. At the meeting this winter such subjects as "Spraying to control apple diseases," "Control of fruit insects," "Market- ing th'e apple crop," "Orchard heating," and various other phases of or- chard management were presented by prominent authorities in these lines. Also there was each day a demonstration in the packing of fruit. Numerous forms of spraying machinery and other appliances used by the fruit grower were on exhibition, and a critical study could be made of the various types. Another feature of the show was the Students Fruit Judging Con- test. The contest was open to teams composed of undergraduate stu- dents from any agricultural college in the United States. A trophy in the form of a cup, donated by the Twentieth Century Farmer of Omaha was awarded to the winning team. In order to become the pei'manent property of any college the cup must be won two consecutive years. Ne- KAISING FLOWERS ON A CITY LOT. 127 braska won the cup in 1909, Iowa won it in 1910, and Nebraska regained it in 1911. Next year another trophy will be awarded to the team most proficient in judging from a box or barrel pack. This will be an induce- ment to the agricultural colleges to offer courses in judging apples in the box and barrel pack. As to the exhibits at the congress, the Western Fruit Grower states that the quality of fruit was better than in previous years. North Caro- lina had a fine display on which they won first prize, while Colorado won second prize on their display. DISCUSSION. The Chairman: Are there any remarks? Member: Gentlemen, I think this is a very creditable report for the boys to bring back. I am glad to see them interested in the w'ork. The Chairman: The next paper on this morning's program is by Mr. W. J. Courtright, of Fi'emont. Mr. Courtright is not here, but he has sent his paper and the secretary will read it to you. RAISING FLOWERS ON A CITY LOT. W. J. Courtright, Fremont. Before presenting my paper, it may be well to introduce myself in order that you may the better judge what credence to give to what I pre- sent to you. My age, 49; residence, Fremont, Nebraska; regular occu- pation, attorney-at-law; fad, garden flowers; length of experience in rais- ing them, five years. In this short time I have progressed from the pro- moter of a flower garden to tne owner of a garden of flowers. The chief attribute of a flower garden is anticipation. A garden of flowers means anticipation in winter, and realization in spring, summer, and autumn. I understand it is because, in so short a time, I have made good, that I am asked to prepare this paper, and to tell you what I raise and how and why. I have a plan of my owti, chosen because of conditions. Being cen- trally located in the city, with the bare ground worth at the rate of sev- eral thousand dollars an acre, and only a small amount of it, I have de- voted the rear third, every foot of it, to flowers. Eh'erj'thing is in a mass. In winter I draw my ground plans all to a scale. In many cases I raise two crops in a year on the same ground. For instance, tulips and hya- cinths, which bloom early and then die to the ground, may be followed by aster, salvia, snapdragon, verbena or petunia, and the annual poppy may be followed by petunia or verbena. In the choice of flowers I have certain standards. I want the largest amount of bloom per day per square foot. Notice this language. I say the largest amount of bloom per day per square foot. Hence I discard all biennials, because a plant that grows one year blooms the next, then dies, is 50 per cent loss to me. The flower of only a short blooming period I discard unless I can bloom 128 NEIBKASKA STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. another the same year on the same space. If a flower is not good for cutting, then I want it to have a long blooming season in the garden. If it is good for cutting, then the longer it will keep fresh in the vase the better. Of course I consider the question of beauty and the element of fragrance are important where they can be had. I very soon learned to choose single flowers instead of douljles. If I were raising blossoms to sell by the pound I would choose doubles. For garden or vase display the singles are far superior. Among perennials I choose only the hardy kinds, for continual winter killing is annoying. The selection must be such that there will be both a garden display and a cut flower supply for vases for every week from early spring until late frost. And I want to do the bossing, hence want no flower pests to take charge of the garden. I also consider the question of easy to raise and reasonable certainty of results, as well as economy of time and money. These are my general principles. Necessarily there are exceptions. I endure weakness in some point because of great vaTue in others, never expecting perfection in all points. In my early inexperience I was much troubled to know the proper distance apart for planting, and thought how easy it would be for the seed catalogs to state proper distances. In this article the flgures after each flower represent the distance apart in inches that I recommend. That is, aster 12x12 means the plants should stand one foot apart each way in the garden. I raise most of my own plants because I enjoy it. Others may prefer to buy. Every annual flower I now raise may be started in the open ground to advantage, except cosmos, pansy, salvia, and tuberoses, al- though I start some petunias inside for early plants. I use window boxes three and one-half by ten inches, and' three inches deep, for early seed- ing, putting four boxes to a window. I paint the boxes so they will not be unsightly. I bore two small holes in the bottom, cover these with a bit of broken pot, sprinkle in a little sand, fill with sifted soil, put on the seed, cover very lightly, press down very firmly, then set the box in water until the soil is saturated by capillary attraction from below. Suc- cessive waterings I do in the same way. By this plan a sprouting seed or small plantlet is never moved. The drainage being good, I have never yet lost a plant by "damping off." When these house started plants are large enough, 1 transfer to three-inch pots, and plunge these to the rim close together in the garden, surround by boards and cover with glass sash on nights and cold days until frost is over. By this time they are fine large plants and easily transferred to the open garden without aisj- turbing a single fine root. I must not fail to mention the condition of my ground. Every foot of it has been trenched, that is, spaded two spades deep, keeping the top soil on top. The benefit of this is noticable every year, and was espe- cially so during the dry season of last year. I have discarded many flowers as undesirable for my purpose, and I shall first list them, giving the reasons why I no longer have them. Some of these reasons will not apply to others here, and others will not apply RAISING FLK3WERS ON A CITY LOT. ll'O to other climates. Violets I tound more of a pest than a flower. Com- panula, digitalis, and Sweet William are bieunials, that is, you grow the plants one year, they bloom the second and then die. Nasturtiums are fine for some, easily grown, but common, and the space is worth more in something else. Carnations need a greenhouse, supports, and lots of care. Tritoma will not stand our cold winters. Bachelor buttons are fine, but other kinds are finer. Opinions differ widely on this, however. Forget-me-not is too tender for our winters. Bellis blooms are fine for a day or two, then fade, then shortly become very unsightly. Portulaca blooms for only half a day, and is such an inveterate self-seeder as to be a pest for years to come. I have been trying for three years to get rid of it, and yet a bed of it in bloom is a beauty. Salpiglossis is certainly a novelty, easily raised, but is not fragrant nor much good for cut flowers, is not a profligate bloomer, and the duration is only a month or so. Ten weeks stocks are fine plants, but no flowers to speak of, and I don't Jcnow why, as I started them early, and the few blooms I did get came three months before frost. Boltonia, advertised so highly, has a short bloom- ing period in fact, although there are scattering blossoms for two months. Chrysanthemums are too slow for our short seasons. Scabiosa blooms are too small and few to count enough. Ageratum is a pest. I bought it for a six-inch high edging plant. It was soon three times this high, and each plant is sufl^cient to self-seed four hundred thousand million (esti- mated, not counted) other plants. Some of these later grew and bloomed the same season as their parent planis. Begonia is too tender for the garden, although some varieties do reasonably well. Crocus did not last. Not one out of hundreds came up the third year, and only a very few the second year. Coreopsis is apparently too tender without winter protec- tion. Centaurea needs about ten times more blooms to make it worth while. Shasta daisies apparently won't stand either the hot sun of sum- mer or the cold of winter, or at least mine did not. Hibiscus needs a farm instead of a city lot. It is tall and straggly. Verbena is fine and to be recommended, but petunia answers every purpose for me and I think is superior in several respects. The season is a little longer at each end, and the persistence of bloom greater. However, a. bed of blue and purple verbenas that I had attracted as much attention as anything 1 had and these colors are hard to supply in other flowers suited for con- tinuous garden display. I will now list and describe the flowers I am continuing to raise: Achillea 36x36, has a small white double flower, and blooms from June 20 until frost. The roots may be divided every year. It is very hardy. When the flowers fade, cut the top all off and new flowers will soon come. Fine for garden display, cemeteries and cut flowers. Aster, annual, 12x12, I raise from seed planted in open garden in May. Thus started, it will bloom from August until frost comes. Extra choice for vases. It is a mistake to start the seed too early in the house, as much better flowers are produced in the cool weather of the late fall. Bleeding Heart, 36x36, blooms in April and has scattering blooms 130 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. all summer. I have had it frozen to the ground after being in bloom, and in a few weeks from that time it was again loaded with; blossoms. Divide roots every three years. Columbine, 12x18, blooms in later April and lasts for fifty days. When gone the foliage is fine. Plant seed and plants will bloom the fol- lowing year and increase for a few years. I have at least fifty different colors and they are all very beautiful. This is a very choice flower. Clematis Panicuiata is a choice vine, white and fragrant flower bloom- ing late in autumn. It is the only clematis vine that I have obtained sat- isfactory results with, as the others die shortly. Cosmos, 30 X 30, is a choice autumn bloomer, fine for cut flowers. It is important to get the dwarf early flowering varieties, as the giant flow- ered kind are too slow to get ahead of our early frosts. Start seed early in the house, and plant out in May. They need good supports, being very brittle. My dwarf varieties grow about four feet high and are greatly prized, both for flower and foliage. For cosmos and dahlias I use a sup- port of my own designing. I get heavy woven wire field fencing about three feet high, and cut into thirty-foot lengths. Bend each length into four pear-shaped sections something like a double figure eight, with the centers drawn together and fastened, and the two ends of the thirty-foot length joined together. In each of the four sections I put a plant, and with cosmos four or eight plants may be placed outside and tied to the wire frame. These wire frames are stiff enough to hold up the plants, and can be given a new location each year, as they simply rest on the surface of the ground. Dahlias, 30x30, I grow from tubers only. Plant a tuber with a good long neck, four inches deep in May, and when up a few inches cut off all but four branches and then let it alone, except to provide good support, as it is very brittle and easily broken by the wind. Blooms from mid- July until frost, and is fine for cut fiowers. One tuber in the spring will make several by fall. After hard frost, cut off the top, and carefully dig the whole bunch of tubers, leaving the dirt on, and store in a dry cellar with preferred temperature between forty and fifty-five degrees. They must not freeze. Leaving the dii't on all winter is a big help and keeps them from withering. In spring, remove the dirt and cut tubers apart with care, remembering that none will grow without an eye, and that the eyes are in the neck only. Use the supports suggested for Cosmos, but use only four plants for one clump. Delphinium, 18x30, will bloom some the first season if seeds are started in boxes in March but the second and following years the bloom will be much greater. Seed planted in summer as soon as ripe will make good plants for the following year. Old plants bloom in June, and by cutting down the stalk as soon as it is done flowering, new blossoms will come, and in this way I have prolonged the season until October. The roots may also be divided. The flowers are various shades of blue in color. Choice for both garden and as cut flowers. Day Lily, 24 x 24, is a choice, beautiful white and very fragrant flower, RAISING FLOWERS ON A CITY LOT. 131 raised by division of roots. My experience with it is too limited to say more than that. Eschscholtzia, or California poppy, 18x18, 1 have raised one year only. The seed must be planted in open ground very early, and v/here they are to remain, as this, like other poppies, is not transplanted with much success. Blooms freely from June until autumn. It is as beautiful a shade of yellow as I ever have seen. The flowers, both in garden and vase, will close up near evening, but come out again full in the morning. Gaillardia, 18x18, is the most prolific bloomer that I know of. Old plants will commence in early June and continue for four months, while plants raised from seed started early in boxes will bloom some the first season. Prevailing shades are maroon and yellow mixed. The flower stems are long, and in vases it will last ten days. The odor is not pleas- ant, but otherwise it is choice. It will survive our winters reasonably well with little or no covering other than its own leaves, although it is the most tender of any perennial plant I raise. Golden Glow, 36x36, blooms from mid-July until frost and is certainly king of yellow cut flowers and fine also for the garden. The roots should be divided at least every second year. The tail stems are better for sup- port. Gladiolus, 4 x 12, is one of my favorites. I plant the bulbs about seven inches deep. Deep planting furnishes a long below-ground stem so that the wind will not blow them over during a rain. I plant several hundred of these every year, at different seasons from April first to June fifteenth. The flowers come on long stems, and by cutting tha stem when the blooms commence at the bottom, they will continue to bloom in the vase from bottom to top and thus last for ten days. If it had perfume it would be the perfect flower, for it is easy 'to raise, certain of result, fine for garden display, an enduring cut flower, and is superbly beautiful. One bulb planted in spring will generally produce two or more by autumn. In late October when leaves are considerably withered, dig the bulbs, cut off tops, dry in the open for a couple of weeks, then store in cellar same as onions, keeping from frost. Hollyhocks, 18x18, will self-seed most freely. They bloom second season from seed and for me have continued to bloom satisfactorily for several years, although some people call them a biennial only. They commence blooming in early July. Hyacinth, 7x7, is ray favorite early spring flower, and I have a few hundred in alternate double rows of red, white, and blue. While they cost more than tulips they are preferable because each bloom lasts much longer and the bulb is more permanent. Iris, 18x18, is choice. I have thrown away all the faded out blues, and now have beautiful deep blues, whites, purples, and yellows. They bloom in May. Divide the roots every two to four years. I have also the Japanese Iris, which blooms in July, and nothing can be finer. I treat it the same as the other. Lily, 15 X 15, is generally planted too shallow. I plant eight inches 132 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. deep. The tiger should be planted farther apart. It and superbum are fine, but elegans, candidum and speciosum are my favorites. The elegans blooms in June, the candidum early, the others much later. All should be planted in the autumn, and it is important to plant the candidum in August or very early in September, as it makes a strong new growth in the autumn. Lily-of-Valley, 6x6, should be planted in the fall and left undisturbed for several years, as it does not bloom much the first year after planting. The sprays of small white flowers coming in early May are exceedingly fragrant and fine. Linum, or Flowering Flax, 12 x 12 is a beautiful blue flower resembling phlox in shape. The foliage is beautiful and stays green all winter. Will bloom a little the first season if seed is started very early. A year old plant may have a hundred blossoms in the morning, but by afternoon every one will have fallen and by next morning another hundred will be in full bloom. This will last for several weeks. When blooming has ceased and seeds are coming, cut down a few inches from the ground and in a few weeks a new supply of flowers will be ready. Lobelia is a fine low growing edging plant suited specially for wet and shady places, and easily grown from seed. The erect varieties should be planted six inches apart. The flowers are deep blue. Pansy, 9 x 9, I start in boxes in January or February, later pot them and set them in the garden under glass cover and have them ready for open planting by May the tenth. I find by this plan they bloom well from the last of May until frost. Peony, 24 x 36, is another of my favorites. I have forty plants of six- teen named varieties. It is best to get the choice kinds only. For home flowers do not divide roots oftener than once in five years. I like my whites best, and dark reds next. Petunia, 12x12, is one of the best for all season garden display. Ex- perience has taught me better than to ever again try double or giant flowering kinds. The medium priced, medium sized single varieties are far superior for practical results. It self-seeds, so there is an abundance of volunteer plants each spring, though I start some in boxes for extra early flowers. A plant once started is as hai'dy as a weed. I have taken plants full grown and blooming, cut the tops nearly to the ground, trans- planted the roots in the heat of summer, and had a solid mass of blooms in less than a month. Hence they are good as a second crop following early flowers. Sweet Peas must be planted very early in spring, and quite deep. For a support I use a circle three feet in diameter made of very heavy woven wire field fencing. This is one of the very few flowers where I plant a mixture of colors. Perennial Peas, 24 x 24, are not fragrant and will not bloom until the second or third year, but a few of them are worth while. Plant the seed where they are to remain. Perennial Phlox, 12x18, is one of the best of all. I raise it both RAISING FLOWERS ON A CITY LOT. 133 from seed, which I plant in late October, and by dividing roots, which I generally do every year, but there is no harm if dividing is only done each second year. I have ten named varieties and as soon as I can mul- tiply these into a sufficient number I will discard all the common un- named ones. Annual Poppy, 6x6, must be planted very early and may be planted in the fall. I sow the seed broadcast, and thin as desired. I prefer the Shirley mixed varieties. As cut flowers there can be nothing more beau- tiful. The blooms are so numerous^ that the short life of each does not count. Do not try to transplant. When the blooms have finished in mid- summer, pull up the plants, and fill the ground with plants of petunias. Oriental Poppy, 24x24, must be seen to be understood. The second year from seed my plants have raised six blooms each of seven or eight inches in diameter of the most brilliant flame color I ever saw. Plants are long lived and increase in bloom, and once started need no attention. In mid-summer the tops all die like tulips, but in the autumn come up new and remain green all winter. They bloom in May. The plants are both the hardest and the easiest to raise and transplant. To start, I bought twenty-five plants and saved only five of them. This was better than most have done. I "now have transplanted a hundred and not lost one. With a garden trowel I dig a deep straight hole, place the long tap root on the side of it, and plaster the dii't carefully around the root, then fill the hole and water good once. Transplant in early September. I plant the seed very early in the spring, keep moist and keep a lath screen over the plants until September. Roses, 12 X 12, I plant new every spring, using the tender every-bloom- ing varieties only, getting very small pot plants. By this plan I have roses in bloom every day from May until the last of October. Of course I also have the climbing crimson rambler. Salvia is best eighteen inches apart in a single row. Mine is about three feet high and from mid-July until frost it is a, solid mass of bril- liant scarlet, that for garden display has no superior. Start the seed early and protect from frost. Snapdragon, 12x12, is very odd, of many colors, and fine for both garden display and cut flowers. The duration of bloom is good in both cases. Tuberose, 12x12, is the most fragrant flower I know of. Nothing is finer to wear. The bulbs need eighty or more degrees of temperature to start them. I start in pots and place where very warm in the house, and give them a good start by planting-out time in May. In this way I get the earliest to bloom by the middle of August, and others continue until frost. Tulips, 6 X 6, I plant six inches deep, choosing the single named varie- ties only. I have discarded all doubles and mixed colors. A hundred or more in a bed is best. They should be dug and reset every one to three years. They bloom in April. Most of mine are quite fragrant and last well as cut flowers. 13i NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Zinnias, 18x18, bloom from mid- June until frost. They are coarse, but show well at a distance. One may as well try mixed seed. I saved seed last year from three of the finest colored plants and this year those three plants gave me eleven distinct colors. I now have more charity for the seedsman than I had. This ends my list at present. Of the perennials I think most of col- umbine, delphinium, goldenglow, hyacinth, iris, linum, peony, oriental poppy, and phlox. Of the annuals my preferences are aster, cosmos, dahlia, gladiolus, pansy, petunia, ever-blooming roses, salvia, snapdragon, Shirley poppy and tuberose. I list the ever-blooming rose as an annual because I do not try to preserve them over winter. By buying small plants in quantities in spring they are very cheap and soon produce bet- ter than old plants. . All my flowers must be of choice varieties. I know better than to raise scrubs. It doesn't pay from any standpoint. Common varieties may do to experiment with but as soon as one has learned how, and found a flower worth retaining, he should get a start of the very finest variety of it. In flowers I see human nature, and it is a most interesting study. Some have the most delicate and dainty beauty, which, as in human be- ings, is fleeting and easily dissipated. Some are glorious in their strength and majesty and remind us of the various leaders of humanity. Some are tender, suggesting him who gives great promise but talis by the way- side at the first serious opposition. Some are hardy, like the man who brooks no restraint, but with an iron will ever presses forward. Some are fleeting or transitory, suggesting the notional or unstable man who may never be depended upon. Some are enduring, regardless of weather, reminding me of him who is always on duty, no matter what obstructions may be encountered. Some respond only to favorable conditions, like the man who balks unless the environment is just to his liking. Some are of stately beauty suggesting enduring friendship. Some are sweetly fragrant, reminding of the warm, sympathetic heart which is always loved. Some have several of> these good qualities. Every one of them possesses one or more qualities of merit. They are the creations of the Almighty in His dispensation of the beauties of nature — but not one of them is perfect. Not one in the list possesses all of the six elements of hardiness, long duration of bloom for the garden, a long stem, long keep- ing qualities necessary for a cut flower, great beauty and sweet frag- rance. As I study the traits of human nature in my flowers I have an ever-enlarging charity for the imperfections of man and the children of men. DISCUSSION. The President: This is a very complete paper on the annuals and perennials. If any of us ever go to Fremont in the flower season, we should call upon Mr. Courtright. Mr. Yager, I would like to hear from FOOD VALUE OF FRUITS. 135 you, as you ought to know something about Mr. Courtright and his flowers. Mr. Yager: Mr. Courtright is a prominent attorney at Fremont. I have known him for a great many years. I did not hear all of his paper, but he is a comparative amateur in this line, and he has taken it up for recreation chiefly. He has become very enthusiastic about it, and now all that he will talk to you about is flowers, and it has been but a few years when he scarcely knew one flower from another. It is only another ex- ample about how enthusiastic people get when once they become interested in flowers, and it is almost always the case. A few years ago when you would meet Mr. Courtright on the street, all he would talk about was law, and now it is all flowers. It is just an example of enthusiasm. People can not do better than to attract their attention to the cultivation of flowers, and it is surprising how enthusiastic they get, and it is something that should be encouraged as much as possible. I think it is a very good idea to spread this knowledge among the people who live in the cities and vil- lages especially. People should want something to do, and those who want something to do, besides play, will not play lawn tennis and go to the club and such things as that. Mr. Young: I was very much interested in the paper, and I would like to ask Mr. Yager how much of a garden Mr. Courtright has, or how large it is, and how much help he employs. Mr. Yager: I forgot to mention that. While he is a city man, and some of these city fellows have to have a gardener and be high toned, you know, this fellow does it all himself, and tends to it all himself, and his plan is adapted to people of ordinary means. You can be poor and have just as much fun along this line — in the line of flowers and their cultivation, on your little place, or on your little city lot, as John D. Rockefeller can on his estate. I think he has one hundred and forty-four by one hundred and forty-four feet of ground, and he does it all himself, and his health is better since he tried it, and his plan is adapted to the common ordinary people. Nobody is so poor but what they can have some pretty flowers. Once in a while he has them to give away to his neighbors, and it does not cost him anything, and besides it contributes to his general health and his happiness. The President: We will now hear from Miss Gertrude Rowan, of the Nebraska University School of Agriculture, on the "Food value of fruits." FOOD VALUE OF FRUITS. Gertrude Rowan, University of Nebraska. Ladies and Gentlemen: I hesitated a little to come before the Horti- cultural Society with a paper on the food value of fruits, first because it is a disadvantage to follow a paper of such worth as the one we have just heard, and secondly I feel that the domestic science clubs and classes, and 136 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. home economics societies, perliaps would be better places than the Horti- cultural Society itself to present such a talk. In talking the matter over with Secretary Marshall, when he asked me if I would not come here this morning, I said I was only too glad to come, and consented, feeling that it is true, that women should receive some instruction before trying to buy fruit, and care for fruit, and pre- serve fruit, and they should not feel as they do feel at the present time, that fruit has no real food value. In our work over the state, we find that the average housekeeper is of the opinion that fruits have no food value, but are only a luxury to be added to the table when there is a little extra money to be spent, or to be put by for some one when they are ill, and not to be used as a regular diet. Beef and potatoes, and beef and potatoes, and coffee boiled today, and reboiled for dinner, and then maybe reboiled the next day, are the accepted diet. If we are to have grapes, oranges, and apples, we must consider whether we need them or not, and whether we want them around the house, to be kept a long time, and how quick they will spoil. So I believe that some educational work needs to be done along the food value of fruits. I do not like to make the next statement, but I know it is true; that when any campaigning of any sort has to be done, the men have to take the initiative. It seems that whenever a measure of any kind for the betterment of us all is at stake, and the solution is necessary, it is for the men to find the way out. In all of our domestic science work we have found that it is the men who are primarily interested in the domestic science work, and we find it is the men who are working with the school boards, and superintendents, and county commissioners, to get this work into the schools. Not in any specific instance, but in a very general way, that statement is true. Of course you can point to certain cases, at Crete, for instance, where the woman's clubs have taken the start in the domestic science way. No person, whether man or woman, has an intuitive ability to make a success out of any profession without any training or without the proper foundation. If a man wishes to be a lawyer or a minister, or a good horticulturist; if he is going to be an authority on flowers, or upon one kind of flowers, or apples, then that man makes a study of those flowers, and of those apples, a careful study, reading all he can find on the sub- ject. He attends meetings all over the country and does all that is pos- sible that will make him efficient. Efficiency is the best word that de- scribes the American of the twentieth century, and if that is the case with the man, it should be made to apply to the American woman. If we spend sixteen years fitting girls how to teach school, and prac- tically no time how to keep house, I think there is something wrong. But the girl can go out and teach school, in that little old red school house, for a single term, and she must spend fourteen years in order to be ad- missible to take a rigid examination, and then renew the examination FOOD VALUE OF FIllHTS. 137 every two years. With all of the preparation and all of the examina- tions, she just teaches three terms and then goes into a home of her own, with not one day spent in fitting herself for that work, and not one cent of money spent in fitting her for the responsibility she is to as- sume. And so I say in a very general way, when men realize this fact they will realize the need of long training to make the girls proficient in any particular profession they are to take up in the future. The men and the women have not realized this, but have felt that as a result of living centuries and centuries in the four walls of a home, that would make them proficient to assume all the responsibility that they would need for that work. Perhaps you are saying, "What has this to do with the value of fruits as food?" Just this: that when the training of women to make a real profession out of the work they will undertake in the proper handling of their duties in their future home is a realization, they will realize the food values and so understand that varieties are to be placed upon the table in the average home; they will so realize the need of all of these things from the training they have received in the school, and from the actual experience which they have received, that they will know how to care for and to preserve that fruit, and that they will know that certain foods are essential to the family. You say that you do not believe that. The only thing you have to do is just to display some apples before these men, and make their mouths water, and they will get up the appetite, and as soon as they see that they have a qua;r- ter they will go and buy apples. It will do all right, to have those apples on display, but create the demand and then you gentlemen will be able to spend all your time at home satisfying this demand. And this demand must be created in the home, and it is up to the housekeepers to do it. It is up to the house- keepers to see that there is a demand for fruits. Just to get enough to eat, or as the small boy says, "Until he is full," that sort of a thing has long gone past. Our American families are spending too much for doc- tor's bills, and then later on realizing that there is too great a loss of life in this country. There is too great a loss of life in this country, to keep on feeding families in the old slipshod way, giving them anything that happens to be at hand, when it is there, and all they want. When we stop to con- sider the average length of life in this country, and the number of children who never live long enough to go to school, then I think we will realize there is something w'rong with the practice we have been using in the feeding of our families, and that there is something to be done in the way of preparing a diet for the table. For instance, the average length of life in this country is thirty-six years and two months. In the state of Iowa, I am quoting Iowa because it was my pleasure to w^ork in that state last year, and because conditions are so nearly the same as they are right here in this state, or in the eastern part of this state, the records showed the same condition existed there. One-fifth of the 138 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. entire population never lived long enough to go to school. Just think of that if you will, one-fifth of the population never lived to be old enough to attend school. Did you gentlemen ever think of it in this way, that if one-fifth of all your orchards were dying out, that you would sit idly by and let that work of devastation go on. You certainly would not. What would you do? Why the first thing you would do would be to send to the experi- ment station or the federal department, or to the famous vineyards pf France if necessary, for experts to come here and solve the problem of why you were not realizing the profits from your orchard. If one-tenth of all the young pigs died every spring, what would happen? Why, the farmers would send to some place for experts to come and see what was the matter with the pigs, and why it was that they could not raise their pigs. But when it comes to the fact that one-fifth of all the population does not live long enough to go to school, then that is a different thing. That is part of another question altogether. It is not part of the running expense of the house, and it does not eifect our pocket- books. That is right, but that is not the way to look at it. It U on the other hand due time that something be learned about foods, and that we should realize that the women should understand something about food values, and the particulars of combining the proper amounts of the right kind^ of food and placing it before the family at the right time. To do this, the woman requires just as good a knowledge of her work as the young man does to know how much fertilizer to put about the base of a tree, or to know about the feeding of your live stock, or the handling of your orchard, or the raising of your corn. You would not think of feeding a fine dairy cow anything you happen to have on hand any time you want to do so. You do not want frozen corn stalks hauled in every other morning or a wagon load now and then to feed that cow. No, indeed, you are feeding that cow and others if you have them, a certain amount of other things such as oil cake and alfalfa, that you know will be good for her, and you are feeding it constantly and consistently, so that you know you will get a return on your investment, and that the return will be great, for you can not afford to keep that cow on the place and have her for a boarder. If it is necessary for man and the men who are interested in this business to put the subject of feeding stock on a scientific basis; if it is necessary for them to put the subject of raising crops, fruit, and caring for their vineyards and orchards and all those things on a scientific basis, is it not just as necessary to carry that a step further, and follow the fruits up to the house where they are to be prepared for home con- sumption? People are apt to consider that fruits are an extravagance, and that although there is a certain value in them, and that secondly they contain a certain amount of minerals and acids and salts, but they are positive that there is no more real value to them. Have you ever thought of this, that pound for pound, the good old Irish potatoes that we eat every day FOOD VALUE OJF FRUITS. ino only gives us two and one-half times as much food value as the apple. Now we find not only that the apples will measure up favorably with the potatoes', but we find in addition to that, what is of more value, and of still greater interest, that apples contain a lot of each of the five food products. In feeding work, we have thought a good deal about food principles. The first of these is protein, or the body-building material, that part of the food that makes the body, or rather the bone and muscle. There is just about 1 per cent of protein in the apple, not enough to make the apple of great value along that line. Beefsteak runs about 18 per cent in that matter. Second: The carbo-hydrate is the energy food, that food that makes the body useful in the world, and gives it energy to accomplish some thing. The apple contains about 15 per cent of that special product; the average shows 15.1 per cent to be exact, and it is enough so that in that line the apple has an actual food value. Third: This product is that of fats and oils, and the apple contains only four-tenths of 1 per cent, while the apricot has just a little more, and the grape not so much. Although the apple has not much of this product, not enough in fact to give it a food value in this line, nevertheless it shows that the apple has more than some of our other fruits. Fourth: The next is water, and the apple has 84.2 per cent of just water. "Oh," you say, "if there is so much water, it is an ex^pensive food," and as a matter of fact, they are expensive. But when you come to consider all the phases of food values, they are not so expensive after all. For instance, you pay 12 cents a quart for milk, if you use State Farm Milk, and that milk is 87 per cent water. On the other hand, you are also wrong in the contention of thinking it has no value, for if a food runs largely to water, it does not necessarily mean that that fruit has no value as a food. Milk is 87 per cent water, and yet milk will sustain life a long time, if nothing else is given at all. If you have three quarts of milk a day you need nothing else. There would be too much liquid, of course, and you could not keep on doing your best, but then, just the same, that milk would furnish all the food that you would need. Eggs also are largely water, and twenty-seven eggs a day would furnish all the food you need, without any water or other food. It might break up your bank account at the present price of eggs, but it would sustain life, nevertheless. The fact, then, that apples run as high as 84 per cent of water, does not mean that they do not have an acutual food value. Fifth: Now we come to the salt, ash, and mineral matter of fruits, which is about one-half of 1 per cent. It runs from three-tenths to seven- tenths of 1 per cent. It is very essential, because it is the mineral matter in the fruits that the body must depend on entirely for cleansing. During the winter, when the body is too inactive, and too much in the house, the blood does not run as it should and is sluggish, and then in the spring comes the treatment that takes the place of housekeeper's house cleaning. This fifth element in the apple will give all the cleansing properties that 140 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. are needed, and if it was used through all the year, it would not be neces- sary to have this annual spring cleaning. A corrective diet will prove to us that the annual spring house clean- ing of the physical system is just as much a necessity and a work of the times or a relic of the times when we did not realize the difference be- tween foods that were adapted to human consumption, and adapted to the personal system. But you will say in answer that you have been getting along pretty well all these years, and in pretty good shape, and that your wife did not take a course in domestic science, that your daughter has learned from her mother all the things she knows, and that the man who marries your daughter will get the benefits of the training she got from her mother, and they will get along in the same way, and if it was good enough for you it will be good enoaigh for them. Think, if you will, of the great number of contagious diseases there are in this country today, and in this connection I wish you gentlemen when you leave this meeting today would do me one favor. Do this: just shake hands with one another, and ask the man you shake hands with how he is feeling today, and then hail some other people and ask them. Mr. Brown will say that he is not quite as well as he was yesterday, or not quite as well as usual; Mr. Smith will say that he has a cold, and that he does not seem to be able to get rid of it; another will say that he is suffering from a little gout, and another will say that he had a little neur- algia last night, and did not sleep well, and so on it goes, until you think that everybody has something the matter with them. The very fact that the human machine is not properly oiled, and properly fueled and given enough water to keep it in condition the average length of time that the human machine should last, shows that we should furnish something to this human machine, and give it the care that it needs. Now if your threshing machine gave you as much trouble as the machine you call your body, you would go right to the agent of another company to trade off the old one, and get a new one in its place. But here is a different question altogether, although in a way the same. You have to live with the human machine, so isn't it worth — if you have to live with it, and put up with it, and endure it — isn't it worth furnishing it with some instruction so it will be able to return to you with the least amount of nervous energy expended for up-keep the service you demand and expect, and serve you the greatest number of years? To illustrate, we need a certain kind of food. We need any food that will make the body do this work, with the least tiring, and when we find the combination of foods that will do this we shall have a food that will make this human machine the most efficient machine we know. I was going to speak about the combinations that the apple could be used in. About the cooking side. But I do not think that is necessary. I will just say one thing, and that is about the making of apple pie, which shows that the pie crust increases the fuel values from two hundred and ninety to twelve hundred and seventy calorics per pound. So if you eat your average helping of pie, two quarters, or a half, you are getting about FOOD VALINE OF FltUITS. 141 six hundred calorics in that apple pie. Perhaps the expression of 600 calorics does not mean much to us. The ordinary day laborer requires three thousand calorics per day. What is a caloric? It is the heat we get out of the food, — the force. We put potatoes and meat and fruit and various other things into the body, and with a calometer measure the response the body gives. What is the difference between life and death? Just this: in life there is heat, and in death there is absence of heat. And so food is put into the body to keep up this heat; it is necessary in life. We measure this heat in calorics. Apples in pound quantities, or one pound of apples, will furnish two hun- dred and ninety, and one pound of potatoes will furnish eight hundred and twenty, or two and a half times as much. As to the food value of apples, I will say in conclusion that by far the greatest food value of apples is the cleansing effect upon the blood, and the furnishing of mineral material that is necessary to the blood. If it is necessary for you to get the supply of salt for the blood which you know is just as salty as the sea, and it is necessary to get this from the foods you eat, and if fruits furnish this in great abundance, then fruits have this value which any of you can readily see. If for no other reason, although we have shown that they have so many other values, if for no other reason, fruits are necessary for the minerals they furnish, and the cleansing properties that they contain. I had hoped this morning to have some little cooking tests, but on looking at the program, I saw you had planned so many other good things, and I thought it would be an imposition upon you to bring up a cook stove into the room, and I thought in the demonstration with apples I would have to be careful as the Winesap man would not like it, if the Jonathan apple cooked up a little bit better than his apple, and the Jona- than man would not like it if the Winesap apple cooked up a little better than this apple, and so on all the way around. I want to thank you for giving me a place on the program, and also for the attention you have given me throughout the talk. DISCUSSION. The President: On behalf of the society I want to thank" Miss Rowan for this fine talk, and want to say that I am glad she was here, because from now on I am a suffragette. Miss Rowan: I am not glad I was here, then, because I am not a suffragette. Member: I want to ask Miss. Rowan a question as to the relative value of the apple in its raw state and its cooked state. What would you recommend as to the proportion to be eaten raw and cooked? Miss Rowan: I think it depends a good deal on the system. In the raw stage the roughage part of the apple predominates. After the apple is cooked, that is broken down, the action is not so great in the cooked apple as in the raw apple. Member: How about the skin? 142 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Miss Rowan: The food value is not very much in the skin. Mr. Yager: This lady has given us a very nice talk. I recall a few years ago the Ladies' Home Journal offered a prize of four or five hundred dollars to the woman in the United States who would best answer a ques- tion. The question was, "How can a woman retain the love of her hus- band?" Of course they got thousands and thousands of letters from all over the country and some were very long and elaborate, but they kept on receiving the letters, and finally the day came on which they were to decide. Among these they found one reply consisting of three words only, and they said that is a rather short one, but in the end this one finally took the prize, and it read this way, "Feed the brute." And as a matter of fact that is the proposition exactly. She has given us a very good talk along that line, and for years my thought has been just along the line she has suggested this morning, that these girls who put in fourteen or sixteen years learning how to teach school, and are sup- posed to be our future cooks and have no instruction on that line, I predict that the day is coming and not far off, when cooking and household eco- nomics will be taught in all the schools, and our girls will learn sewing and cooking and so forth, instead of much they now are taught in our schools. The President: As it is only 11 o'clock, I think we have time for re- port of the Iowa meeting. Mr. Marshall was a delegate over to the Iowa Horticultural meeting, and I think he has a report to make. IOWA HORTICULTURAL MEETING AND FRUIT SHOW. C, G. Marshall, Delegate. That the fruit growers of Iowa are very much awake and enthusiastic over horticultural prospects in their state was plain to be seen at the re- cent meeting of the Iowa State Horticultural Society in Des Moines. The past season, Iowa produced one of the largest fruit crops every grown in the state, and owing to the much improved methods of orchard manage- ment now being practiced by Iowa growers the crop was very profitable in most cases. During the past three or four years rapid strides have been made in Iowa in the practice of spraying, cultivation, pruning and handling of the fruit. Almost every grower of consequence is now thor- oughly spraying, pruning, and cultivating and many are packing according to more up-to-date methods, the box package being used quite extensively. At the meeting questions pertaining to the planting, culture, spraying, marketing and harvesting, and heating, of orchards on a commercial scale — more particularly the apple — seemed to occupy the center of the stage. The Iowa State College has done considerable the past two seasons to stimulate commercial fruit growing and to improve the methods prac- ticed. An orchard of more than twenty acres near Council Bluffs is oper- ated by the college under a lease, and a number of experiments will be tried out. Problems of soil fertility, cultivation, spraying, and packing are being worked out. A number of horticultural short courses have been IOWA HORTICULTURAL MEETING. 143 put on at different points in the state, and the western style of box pack- ing was taught in one of the best apple sections at picking time. SOME INTERESTING PAPERS. Charles F. Gardner, of Osage, Iowa, gave an interesting paper on his work with strawberries. He told of his experience with several of the new everbearing strawberries; how that from some of these there was a continual production of fruit from the latter part of May until heavy frosts in the fall. One bunch of plants set August 6, blossomed August 30 and ripened fruit October 4 of the same season. He considers the everbearing varieties as valuable acquisitions to the fruit garden in Iowa and especially to the home fruit garden. He emphasized the importance of frequent shal- low cultivation and clean culture for satisfactory results with the ever- bearing kinds. Another interesting paper was by Charles G. Patton, Charles City, Iowa's Burbank and originator of Patten's Greening apple which was, or is, of such great value in the North. He gave some specific directions for breeding plants with the idea of originating new and hardy varieties for the rigorous climate of northern Iowa, and gave a report of the behavior of certain trees and plants being tested on his trial grounds. Mr. Patten has been working with pears to develop something hardy and blight-proof for the North. The Chinese Sand Pear, which is perfectly hardy and blight- resistant to his grounds, is used as one of the parents in almost all of his plant breeding work. This variety is crossed with the more hardy native pears with the hope that a progeny may be secured having the power to resist the severe climatic conditions of the North, the blight, and the fruit having quality. Prof. N. E. Hansen, of the South Dakota Experiment Station, gave an illustrated lecture showing lantern pictures of a number of the new plums originated by cross-breeding of the natives and cherries and native wild plums with the standard sorts at the South Dakota station. Professor Hansen is doing quite extensive plant breeding work, his aim being to de- velop fruits that will stand forty degrees below zero when the ground is bare and dry. Any hybrids and seedling showing the least injury under the severe weather conditions are destroyed even if the quality of the fruit is superior. Some of his hybrid plums are meeting with approval in the North, the Minnesota Horticultural Society recently recognizing three hy- brids, the "Hanska," the "Opata," and the "Sapa." These varieties will undoubtedly be valuable sorts in northern and western Nebraska where it is difficult to grow the old and standard sorts. On account of their small size as compared with European and Japanese sorts they will probably not find favor where these sorts may be grown successfully. Professor Hansen described them as follows: "Hanska." — The name is from a Sioux Indian word meaning "tall." It is from the seed of the native wild plum (Prunus Americana) pollenated with the Chinese apricot. It resembles the Chinese parent in form, color, fragrance, quality, and firmness of flesh. Its size is smaller, about 1% 144 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. inches in diameter. Tlie fruit lias a heavy blue bloom which is very at- tractive. Trees two and three years old in the nursery row fruited freely. The fruit is solid of flesh like the male parent, and unlike the native which are juicy and soft when ripe. "Opata." — From the Sioux Indian word meaning "bouquet." Its fe- male parent is the Dakota sand cherry and its male parent the Gold plum, a very large Japanese variety originated by Luther Burbank and which sold for $3,000. It is a strong grower and resembles the male parent in form. Fruit buds set freely on one year shoots in the nursery row. It is a trifle smaller than the Hanska, and is dark purplish red with blue bloom. Flesh is green, firm, and subacid, like the sand cherry and with the rich sweetness of the Gold plum. It ripens very early and has no competition on the markets when it ripens in Dakota, July 15. "Sapa." — From the Indian word "black." Its female parent is the western sand cherry and its male parent the Sultan plum, a Japanese variety originated by Burbank. It resembles the male very closely ex- cept in size, being smaller. While this one as well as those described above are not large the pits are exceptionally small, making a large per- centage of the fruit flesh. THE FRUIT SHOW. The fruit show was staged in the rotunda of the capitol building. About twenty-five thousand plates of apples and over two hundred boxes were exhibited. The box display attracted much attention, of which it was very deserving. The large part of the show was made up of the standard winter varieties, with which the Nebraska growers are quite familiar, yet there were a number of summer and fall varieties shown. The following" varieties were among those shown in boxes: Willow Twig, Gano, Ben Davis, Jonathan, Roman Stem, Rome Beauty, Sheriff, York Imperial, Genet, Delicious, N. W. Greening, Black Twig, Winesap, and Pewaukee. The exhibitors were very enthusiastic over their experience with the box packages. From talking with several it was learned that 10 to 100 per cent more per bushel was being received from the boxed fruit than from that packed in barrels. A number of seedlings of promise and new varieties were exhibited. The Winter Maiden Blush exhibited by Charles O. Garrett of Mitchell- ville appeared to be a valuable sort not grown in Nebraska, and which it might be well for our growers to investigate. Compared with the Maiden Blush it is larger, of equal appearance, better quality, a late winter keeper, and the tree is said to be hardy, a strong grower, and pro- lific. From our impression of this apple we are inclined to think that it could be made a strong rival for the Winter Banana, prized so highly in the West and which is not adapted to Nebraska conditions. MONEY IN TIMBER. 145 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. The President: Mr. Green are you ready with your report on resolu- tions? Mr. Green: I am. I also have the report of the committee on resolu- tions on the death of Mr. Beltzer, of Osceloa, and Mr. Smith, of Falls City. Mr. Green reads as follows: "Resolved, That the members of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, assembled at the University Farm, Lincoln, on January 111, 17, 18, 1912, desire to express their hearty appreciation for the success of the meeting resulting from the efforts of those responsible for the same. "We wish to thank the University Farm faculty for courtesies ex- tended, the exhibitors for their splendid displays, those on the program for their able, interesting, and instructive addresses, and others aiding in the success of the meeting. (Signed) "C. H. GREEN, "H. W. MARSHALL, "B. E. FIELDS." "Whereas, It has been the will of Almighty God to take from our midst two of our members, L. A. Beltzer and H. C. Smith, therefore be it "Resolved, that we gratefully remember their valuable services to our Society, and their interest and earnestness in the upbuilding of Ne- braska horticulture. "As death takes from among us one after another of our fellow mem- bers and coworkers in the field of horticulture, we can but mourn for them as brothers, who have toiled with us, and whose memories we will ever cherish. (Signed) "C. H. GREEN, "H. W. MARSHALL, "B. E. FIELDS." Moved and seconded that the resolutions be adopted as read and spread upon the records. Carried. The President: We have a paper here from Father C. S. Harrison, which the secretary will read. MONEY IN TIMBER. C. S. Harrison, York. RENTING THE POOREST LAND AT THE HIGHEST PRICE. Most farmers have some wet patches of land on their farms where for twenty-five or thirty years they have raised nothing but weeds. Had they been planted in the early days they would have yielded three hun- dred dollars' worth of lumber per acre beside an abundance of fuel. It is hard to make the average American farmer believe in a here- after in this life. He may believe in an immortality beyond the grave, but it is impossible for him to look ahead twenty-five years from now. If these rich unproductive lands were planted in trees you are also cer- 146 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. tain of a yearly rental of fifteen dollars per acre per year. Cottonwood groves twenty-five years old have brought in up to date thirteen dollars per acre in hundreds of instances. Lumber is going up all the time, and you are sure of fifteen dollars per acre from now on. How much better a thrifty grove of trees would look than a miserable patch of weeds. What shall we plant? The black walnut is a very thrifty tree. It is very valuable, and grows rapidly. It is better to raise from the nuts. These should be planted near the edge of your wet pieces, where the over- flow will not drown them out. The elm is a good thrifty tree. The Nor- way poplar is probably the best tree and will bring in the most satisfac- tory returns. Notwithstanding the slurs which have been thrown on this tree by those of high authority, yet it is a tree by itself. It has been called identical with the Carolina poplar. The twigs and leaves have some resemblance but the trees are distinct. The Carolina has a rough bark and the Norway a smooth bark. The Carolina seldom lives to be more than fifteen years old; the Norway has been known to live forty years, growing with all vigor. The Carolina is worthless for lumber. Did you ever see a Carolina saw log? A mill man in Minnesota sawed a quarter of a million feet of Nor- way poplar, and he calls it next to white pine in value. It is fine grained and takes on a smooth finish, and looks well dressed in hard oil. It makes good floor boards. It is good for framing timber, being stronger than pine. It is good for boxing and for furniture. We intend to put some specimens of this poplar for our society specimens which will refute for all time the assertion that the Norway is nothing but Carolina. I think it is hardly fair to pounce on a proposition and call it a fraud, and that nurserymen without conscience are fostering and pushing a fake. Nurserymen think something of their reputation, and it is not fair to brand them as dishonest until a thorough investigation has been made. A nurseryman generally does not take the say so of some irresponsible person and go off at half cock before he knows what he is doing. Again, in numerous instances in Manitoba, Minnesota, and the Da- kotas both kinds have been growing side by side. And in a severe winter the Carolinasi would be killed to the ground and the Norways would be uninjured. But if you are in doubt and can not readily get the Norway, then do as the early settlers did, plant cottonwood. You are sure then that your labor will not be in vain. But there are different varieties of cottonwood in the same species. As you go through Nebraska you will find a vast difference in trees. One Will be gnarled and tough, and will split about as readily as a bundle of twisted wire. Another tree will be thrifty but it don't exactly suit you. Another has a clean body and a long trunk and is of easy rift. No trouble to split it. In fact, it much resembles the Norway. You want to get scions from that kind of trees and plant them on the largest scale and you are perfectly safe. WTien farm lands are worth from one to two hundred dollars per acre it is a shame to let any portion go to waste, so plant these moist lands to trees and let them pump gold from the mud. MONEY IN TIMBER. 147 Plant and care for the trees a year or so and then you look on and see them work for you and they will bring in better returns than you would get from your wheat and oats. Perhaps you are growing old and it is better for you to look on and let those trees do the work. Years ago there was a Saharah in the heart of France. The winds would drive the sands into great drifts and sometimes whole villages would be enveloped, and you would see church spires sticking out of the sands, telling where a village was buried. A thoughtful man, Bremontier, submitted a plan to Napoleon, and he proposed planting pines in those sands. The great Gen- eral seconded the movement and furnished means for carrying out the plan, which shows what that wonderful genius could have done if he had turned his energies to the arts of peace instead of war. The plan was a success, and now the French are shipping lumber, turpentine and resen from those fields of sand — even to the United States. Go from Lincoln to Kansas City some wet summer and see the mil- lions of acres submerged lands — an utter waste. Thirty years from now we might have millions on millions of dollars coming in from lumber grown on those worthless lands. There is going to be a hereafter for Nebraska. It is a glorious state, and every man should do his best to increase her beauty and wealth. Go through our northern and western forests and see the awful ravages of the ax and the fires. Lumber is something people can not live without. Think what the price must be thirty years from now. Again, with the increase of population, unless our lands are made more productive the next generation will have a hard time. How easy it is to plant ten acres of trees and let them grow as a legacy for your children. There was never a more faithful servant than a tree. It never shirks. It is always working day and night, in sunshine or storm it is faithfully at it. Those long slender fingers are reaching through the soil on a foraging expedition gathering food to send up that valveless way, the cambium route between the bark and the tree. How they distribute their sustenance, feeding leaves and branches and add to the diameter of the trunk. That ceaseless fidelity is marvelous. When such a faith- ful friend stands knocking at your door, ready to give the most faithful service without wages, just give him a chance. DISCUSSION. Mr. Yager: I would suggest to the society that our secretary write a letter to Father Harrison and sign it for the State Horticultural Society and thank him for this paper. And send him congratulations. Member: I move that that be amended that we wire him a night letter tonight. Seconded. Motion put as amended. Carried. Mr. Pollard: Yesterday there was a motion made, seconded, and carried that a committee on publicity be appointed, and it was done so. I will say as a member of that committee that we had aj meeting last night with the board and went over the matter very carefully, and this morning we had an audience with Professor Pugsley, who is at the head 148 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. of the farmers' institute worl^, and out of it lias come this resolution which I will read: Mr. Pollard reads as follows: REPORT OF PUBLICITY COMMITTEE. "Realizing the importance of the fruit industry in the state of Ne- braska, and believing that the best development of this industry demands field demonstration work, and the presentation of the subject by trained men at farmers' institutes, short courses, and special meetings, be it Resolved, that we respectfully request the appointment of a man by the Regents of the University of Nebraska to devote his entire time to cooperative work under the direction of the Department of Horticulture of the University of Nebraska, and to the presentation of horticultural topics at agricultural extension meetings, under the direction of the De- partment of Agricultural Extension of the University of Nebraska. (Signed) "E. M. POLLARD, "C. H. BARNARD, "G. A. MARSHALL, "Committee." Member: I move the adoption of these resolutions as read. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Pollard: At the meeting last night I was sorry we were unable to get in communication with Mr. Barnard, but two of the members met with the board. But this was the concensus of the opinion of the two members of the committee that were present with the board. When it came to the question of publicity and the introduction of our Nebraska fruits into the Nebraska markets, and preventing the shipping in here ot Colorado, Washington, and eastern fruits, we thought that the first and the best thing to do was to get our own fruits in condition. We were of the opinion that the way to begin on this matter was to begin at the ground and prevail on the men who have the smaller orchards which constitute the acreage that puts on the market the bulk of the fruit of Nebraska. The commercial orchards on a large scale, that are operated by a few men, do not begin to produce the bulk of the fruit. Our idea was to get at those orchards and cultivate them and spray them and prune them, and then we are in a position to go to the people of Nebraska and say, when this fruit goes on the market, "Here, this is Nebraska fruit, and it is grown in this state, and can not be excelled in any other country in the world." Now, we can do as they are doing, and we have the facilities and so forth, and the plan that was adopted last night, in view of the lateness of the season, and the short time between now and the time necessary to begin this work, we thought of beginning with meetings where we produce, and get at the people of the state in Washington, Cass, and Nemaha counties. We thought that the department should pay the ex- REPORT OP PUBLICITY COMMITTEE. 149 penses of a practical horticulturist who would go there and present this matter to the people, with Mr. Marshall, Mr. Pugsley, and myself, and if the results are what wo hope they will be, we will be in a position to take up the subject in another year, and present it in the way it should be. Mr. G. A. Marshall: Before we leave this committee work, here is a letter from Mr. Camp, of Cheney, and I want to present it. The President: Mr. ]\larshall will read. "Cheney, Nebraska, "December 14, 1911. "Mr. C. G. Marshall, Secretary: "Dear Sir — At the Nebraska State Fair, September, 1911, the society kindly gave recognition to a seedling gi-ape I had entered Discretionary under the name of 'Osceola.' On the tenth day of the present month, in looking over the Grape Culturist by Andrew S. Fuller, published in 1894, I noticed on page 264 he credits Dr. J. Stagman with 'a large white grape' under the name of Osceola. I was not aware there was a grape intro- duced under the name of Osceola at the time I sheeted the name. The Nebraska State Horticultural Society will prefer I change the name to be different from any already introduced variety. This variety Osceola is a compound hybrid composed of four species as follows: one-fourth Post Oak, one-fourth Rupestris, one-eighth Vinifera, three-eighths La- brusca. With the consent of the society I will ask to have the name Os- ceola changed to 'Santa Anna.' He was president of Mexico about 1834. One-half of this variety is southern blood, yet the vine seems to be per- fectly hardy here and is a very strong grower. No wood is yet distrib- uted. "Respectfully, "CHAS. B. CAMP." Mr. Marshall: I move you that we change the name of this grape that Mr. Camp had already named Osceola to Santa Anna. Seconded. Carried. Mr. Brown: I looked over the State Journal this morning. I do not know that any of the meetings are any better than this, and I do not know that it is worse than any other. But any way, in the article about our meeting I noticed that the State Horticultural Society is not men- tioned in this paper except in small type and with a small letter "h." It seems to me that we have a committee on publicity and it seems to me it should be the duty of this committee to get this before the papers in the right way. It seems to me the paper that was read yesterday by Mr. Keyser, which I think was the best paper that was read before this society in ten years, should have been given a better write up. It has less than three lines, and I think it should be published in full by the State Journal or some other paper. All you have to do is to go to them and give them the material and they will be glad to publish it. The President: The next number on the program will be "Views 150 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. from the Arnold Arboretum, Boston," by Prof. R. A. Emerson, of the Uni- versity of Nebraska. As this lecture was in the dark, and was merely a talk upon the views which were thrown upon the canvass, it was impossible to record the proceedings. At the conclusion of the lecture Mr. Frank G. Odell moved the adop- tion of a "Blue Sky Resolution" in regard to western lands and orchard ventures. It was moved, seconded, and carried that the report adopted by the Agriculturists at the Nebraska Country Life Congress, and at the convention of the agriculturists being held in conjunction with this meet- ing of this society, be adopted. A copy of the resolution here follows, and is attached hereto and made a part of this record. RESOLUTIONS. SPECULATIVE INVESTMENTS. Whereas, a large proportion of the investment propositions now of- fered to the public are of speculative and doubtful character, absorbing vast amounts of money belonging to uninformed and innocent investors to the serious detriment of every legitimate form of business and indus- try, and, Whereas, a considerable proportion of these doubtful enterprises are speculative land-selling schemes which can not be reasonably expected to yield profitable returns upon their fictitious capitalization, which is reflected in corresponding increase in prices of agricultural lands in sec- tions where permanent agriculture has passed beyond the experimental stage; such speculation and consequent rise in prices imposing an added and unnecessary burden both upon the producer and the consumer and increasing the difficulty of securing a home; therefore be it Resolved, that this Congress sets the seal of its disapproval emphat- ically upon all forms of speculation of this character, and particularly upon such as are based upon speculation in lands which, tend to absorb the earnings of Nebraska farmers and reduce our agricultural population; and be it further Resolved, that the legislative committee of this body be instructed to cooperate with the Director of Conservation of the State of Nebraska in preparing a bill for introduction at the next session of the legislature providing for registration by authorized officers of state of all invest- ment concerns seeking to do business in Nebraska, and the examination of the business standing and reliability of such concerns and the invest- ments they offer, where such investigation is required. It now being twelve o'clock, noon, Thursday, January 18, 1912, the business having been all finished, all the papers read, and all discussions had, the Forty-third Annual Meeting of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society adjourned. NEW VARIETIES OF GRAPES. 151 Miscellaneous Papers NEW VARIETIES OF GRAPES. Originated by Chas. B. Camp, Cheney, Nebr. Cheney, Nebraska, December 14, 1911. To Synonyms Committee of Nebraska State Horticultural Society: Gentlemen — In response to your request, made at the late Nebraska State Fair, I herewith submit to the secretary of the society descriptions of seedling grapes that the Nebraska State Horticultural Society has rec- ognized by awarding premiums thereon. The list contains all the varie- ties the society has so far recognized. These descriptions are wholly my own productions, and if they are not fully satisfactory to the society I will secure a competent botanist, and have more accurate descriptions drawn. Thanking the Nebraska State Horticultural Society for the interest it has taken in my work of originating varieties of grapes, I am. Very respectfully, CHAS. B. CAMP, Cheney, Nebraska. ■ America ( Munson's ) - maternal parent Santa Annai Aurora (Camp's) paternal parent 'Post Oak- maternal parent /Rupetris— I paternal parent iVinifera — maternal parent Labrusca — paternal parent Concord — paternal parent Assuming that an equal proportion of each parental variety or species is introduced at each cross into the resulting variety, we would have, first, Brighton, % Vinifera, 14 Labrusca; secondly, Aurora, % Vinifera, % Labrusca; third, America, 14 Post Oak, Vz Rupetris; fourth, Santa Anna, % Labrusca, Vs Vinifera, % Rupertris, ^4 Post Oak. Seed planted in fall of 1904. Vine a strong, vigorous grower. Canes rather heavy, points medium length, buds rather prominent, rounded at 152 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. the end. Tendrils mostly intermittent, but on some canes four are found continuous. Leaves medium size, rather pale green above, pubescent below. Clirsters large, very much the size and shape of Worden. Berries large as Worden, deep black with shining appearance. Flavor smooth, sweet, and fine. Ripens between Moore's Early and Worden. Very pro- ductive, ripens evenly, does not crack or shell, and retains its fine quali- ties until frost. Flowers perfect. This variety was exhibited and awarded a premium at the Nebraska State Fair, September, 1911, under the name of Osceola. The name was changed by consent of the Board of Directors of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, upon the request of the originator, Mr. C. B. Camp, to Santa Anna. I Herbert— maternal parent Majestic - ( Moore's Early — paternal parent Majestic is therefore composed of the two species, Labrusca and Vinifera in the proportion of % Labrusca, 14 Vinifera. Seed planted autumn of 1898; set permanently in vineyard spring of 1900. First fruited in 1904. Has not failed to fruit each year since. Growth fully as strong as Concord. Leaves very large, deeply 3-lobed usually, lively green above, greyish felt below. Pedicels slightly hairy. Clusters very large and shouldered, shoulders sometimes almost as large as main clusters, making almost a double cluster. Berries very large, % to % inch diameter, dark purple in color. Ripens with Worden, sweet, and a fine table grape. Yields heavy annual crops. Tendrils in con- tinuation; seven on some canes, intermittent on others. Ehdured a tem- perature of 27 degrees below zero February 2, 1905, fully exposed. Pre- mium awarded the Majestic in Discretionary Class by the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, September, 1909. ^ Monmouth Sage I TT , , ' 1 Labr. maternal parent I maternal parent ) Black Hamburg Rival Pocklington paternal parent pure Labrusca paternal parent Rival, 1/4 Vinifera, % Labrusca. Seed planted autumn of 1902, first fruited in 1905, and has fruited every year since. Endured a temperature of 27 degrees below zero, Feb- ruary 2, 1905, fully exposed. Vine a medium grower, hardy and healthy. Canes medium in size, grey-brown color in winter. Joints short. Never sheds outer bark. Ten- drils in continuation, five to seven on some canes, intermittent on others. Flowers perfect. Clusters large, usually cylindrical, sometimes shoul- dered. Berries very large, bright red, no bloom, even in size, sufficiently compact to make a handsome cluster, ripens evenly, five to seven days after Concord, very productive. Should have half of fruit clusters re- X1-:\V VAKIKTIES OF GRAPES. 153 moved early in the season. Fruit persistent to cluster, never shells, remains in fine condition until frost, smooth, sweet, and fine flavor. Premium awarded the Rival in Discretionary Class by the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, September, 1908. (Agawam - maternal parent Concord— paternal parent As Agawam is supposed to consist of the two species, Vinifera and Labrusca in equal proportions. Esse will consist of Labrusca %, Vinifera -A parts. Seed planted autumn of 1898. Permanently set in vineyard spring of 1900. A strong, healthy grower. Canes heavy as Concord, but has very short joints, 1% to 3 inches in length. Color of canes in winter greyish- brown, sheds outer bark in spring and has ashy white appearance. Ten- drils in continuation, six on some canes, intermittent on some canes. First fruited in 1905. Has fruited every year since. Starts growth early in spring, clusters medium to large, often shoul- dered, berries above medium size, black with slight blue bloom, holds tenaciously to pedicels, never shells, ripens evenly and about with Worden. Quality smooth, sweet, with a mild wild flavor. A fine table or market grape. Endured 27 degrees below zero without harm, February 2, 1905. Fruit remains long in fine condition. Premium awarded the Esse in Dis- cretionary Class by the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, September, 1906. CAiSIP'S EARLY. This grape was grown under the "John Burr" system of originating varieties. The maternal parent is Brighton. Can not state positively from what source the pollen was derived. Seed planted spring of 1899. Camp's Early is a strong, healthy grower, canes medium heavy, with joints of medium length. Color of canes in winter yellowish brown. Sheds outer bark in spring and appears as if whitewashed. Tendrils in continuation, eight to twelve, nearly con- tinuous. Starts growth very late in spring, about with the Genet apple blossoms. Is pistillate flowered, but seems to be congenial with any of the Labrusca perfect flowered varieties. Although starting growth so late, it blooms with Concord. Cluster above medium in size, of handsome appearance. Berries, large medium, black, heavily coated with blue bloom, making a very showy grape. Quality of fruit almost equal to Delaware. Ripens with Moore's Early. If left attached to the vine the fruit remains in fine condition until frost. Endured 27 degrees below zero February 2, 1905, without harm. Premium awarded Camps Early in Discretionary Class at September Fair, 1905. LANCASTER. Lancaster is a sport of the Worden. In the autumn of 1898 I dis- covered a cane growing from near the base of a Worden vine produced 154 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. enormously large clusters and very large berries; berries % to 1 inch in diameter. Cane was carefully preserved, and in 1899 the cane reproduced the large clusters and berries. Was examined by Messrs. G. A. Marshall of Arlington and A. J. Brown of the firm of Youngers & Brown of Geneva, Nebraka. Cuttings were saved in the fall of 1899. Vines from cuttings .have fruited in the following years; 1905, 1907, 1909, 1911. Vine is a true Worden except greatly enlarged clusters and berries. Starts growth a little later in spring and has proven, so far, a rather weak grower and not as healthy as Worden. The original sporting cane was lost during the winter of 1901. Premium awarded the Lancaster grape by the Nebraska State Horticultural Society in September, 1900. Respectfully, CHAS. B. CAMP, Cheney, Nebraska. PRUNING APPLE TREES. R. F. Howard, Assistant Horticulturist Nebraska Experiment Station. The writer is of the opinion, after corresponding with practically all of the orchard owners in the state, and after personally inspecting many of the larger orchards in eastern Nebraska, that the trees are suffering more from lack of pruning than from any other one cause; many of the larger growers are now giving their apple orchards the attention they need in so far as spraying is concerned. On the other hand, very few of the commercial orchards, and practically none of the smaller ones, are receiving the attention they need in the matter of pruning. We hear com- plaints on all sides from growers of their orchards not paying; of having to sell their apples for $1 or less per 100 pounds. Until these growers realize that trees allowed to grow unattended will form a mass of water- sprouts and tangled branches, and that nothing but small, gnarled, poorly colored fruits should be expected, they will probably continue to receive the low prices. Spraying, properly done, will do much in producing clean fruit, so far as insect and fungous blemishes are concerned, but it should not be expected to increase the size and color of the crop. Some growers are receiving a fair income from their orchards without pruning. Their success is due to the good cultural care their orchards receive other than pruning, and is attained in spite of, not because of, their neglect in this respect. TRAINING THE YOUNG TREES. An apple tree that has been properly pruned from the time it is set needs comparatively little attention when it reaches bearing age. When the young tree is removed from the nursery row, probably more than half of its root system is left in the ground. In order to restore this unbal- anced condition and to start the general outline of the head, the first and PRUNING APl'LE TREES. 155 most important pruning should be given when the young tree is set in the spring. If two-year-old trees are set there will be several lateral branches from 1 to 3 feet long. Three or four of these laterals are enough to form the main branches for the future tree; all others should be removed close up to the trunk. Many of the early growers made the mistake of heading their trees too high. These laterals that are left should be distributed around the tree as well as possible, and should be arranged up and down the trunk at different heights in such a manner that a crotch will not be formed later. These laterals should be cut back at setting time to stubs about 6 inches long and the trunk cut off about 3 or ZV2 feet above the Fig. 1. ground. If the side branches are left 20 to 30 inches above the ground at setting time, this will be practically the height they will be on the mature tree. Newly set trees should make a rapid growth during the first year. After the first year's growth has been made the trees should be gone over and the tops thinned out. Usually there are a number of branches grow- ing in the wrong direction, and others crossed and interfering with each other, that should be cut out. This is the time to correct poorly shaped heads. A moderate heading in of the long upright branches at this time tends to encourage the development of stronger side branches on the leaders. 156 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The third and fourth seasons' pruning should aid in retaining the general shape of tlie head that is already started. Cut out all water- sprouts, remove crowded branches as well as those crossed and growing in the wrong direction, and head in any particularly long leaders. RENEWING NEGLECTED APPLE TREES. One of the problems that confronts the growers in Nebraska is how to renew their old neglected trees, how to get them thinned out and properly shaped so they will bear large, well-colored fruits instead of the hall-sized, poorly colored crops that they are now producing. There are two or three things necessary to bring this about: First, the trees themselves must be relieved of a great portion of their wood. This should be done in such a ' ?: r '^^'' \ % ,- "\ ■■■. - -:l-.-.\ y ^ A ^1 /Y^ \jf ',/ .-*/ T ■Brjai^'^^^ ^ . vj^ 1^ m 1 ^1 Fig. 2. way as not to unbalance the tree. Where it is necessary to take out a great portion of the old wood in renewing old apple trees it is probably better to distribute the pruning over a period of two or three years. If in order to get the tree properly thinned out it is necessary to remove one- third of the wood, great care should be taken to distribute the cutting equally throughout the top, and not simply take out a few of the larger branches. PRUNING Al'l'LK TliEES. 157 Figure 1 represents an average condition one may expect a tree to be in at tlie age of eigliteen or twenty years if left to grow unattended. It is next to impossible to spray a tree in this condition. Figure 2 shows the same tree after it has been properly pruned. The large pile of prunings gives an idea of the amount of wood that was removed. Note that this was not obtained by merely cutting out a few large limbs. The entire top was relieved until there were no crossed, rubbing, or crowded branches. Too often one is prone to cut out three or four large branches and let it go at that. This may be needed, but the tree is scarcely half pruned when this is done. A few large branches properly selected and removed will open up the crowded center and will relieve the tree of some of its surplus wood. These things are needed, but when this is done see to it that the outer portion of the tree is thinned out. After all, here is where most of the fruit is borne. Take the shears and clip off branches from an inch down to the size of a lead pencil all over the outer part of the tree until it presents an open appearance such as you have given the center by removing the large branches. It may be neces- sary to use the ladder for this part of the pruning. Figure 3 represents another condition that is entirely too common in Nebraska orchards. This tree has not only been in sod most of its life, neglected generally, but it has been allowed to grow too high. It is very difficult to spray the top of such a tree and to harvest the fruit is next to impossible. Trees of this type may be brought back into profitable bear- ing with the proper treatment. What this tree needs is to have its top lowered several feet, to have a considerable portion of its old wood taken out, and to stimulate it into a more vigorous growth. When one attempts to lower the top of an old apple tree by "dehorning" it he should be careful to cut back to a good healthy side branch for a feeder to avoid leaving a stub. The cut should be made slanting so as not to hold water. When it is necessary to cut away a considerable portion of the wood at a single operation a rank growth of water sprouts is apt to be induced the follow- ing year. It is very important that a severe pruning be followed up the next year by removing these, in order to throw the growth into the bearing wood that has been left. While an apple tree may be pruned most any time during the year, there are certain advantages in doing it during the dormant season — that is, any time after the leaves drop in the fall and before growth begins in the spring. Other work is not so pressing at this time, and one can see better what he is doing than if the leaves were on. If the pruning is done during winter a great amount of spray material is saved and a much better job of spraying is made possible. The cuts should be made up close to avoid leaving a stub. Larger wounds will be made, but they will heal over more readily than if cut farther out. All cut surfaces of over an inch in diameter should be painted over. Most any paint will answer this purpose, but white lead mixed with raw linseed oil is recommended. 158 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTUllAL SOCIETY. Many of the old orchards in Nebraska have been in sod for twenty years or have been used for calf or hog pastures until they are not making more than an inch or two growth each year. Pruning will tend to invigor- ate them some, but if the land is not too rolling they should be broken up and given clean cultivation for a few years. If the sod is too heavy to be worked up with a disc, a shallow plowing followed with a disc and harrow Fig. 3. will get them into shape to take in and hold the moisture. Clean cultiva- tion should not be practiced until the soil is so depleted of its humus that it will wash. What we want is to keep the trees growing, hold as much of the moisture as possible, and see that the soil is not robbed of all its humus and plant food. POSSIBILITIES OF THE WILD FLOWER GARDEN. Frank G. Peilett, Atlantic, Iowa. Many of our finest wild flowers are in danger of extermination. It is very unfortunate that the present generation should have been so madly in pursuit of wealth, as to have no time or interest to preserve the most desirable things with which a virgin country was provided. Our wild birds have been slaughtered mercilessly and thoughtlessly, until a number of species have been extirpated and several more are threatened with extinction unless the public shall promptly recognize the importance of their protection. Our forests have been sacrificed to the greed of men for gold. And now the wild flowers are threatened with a similar fate, though they can not be directly turned to cash. In the case of the flowers, the fact that men think that land must pay dividends is putting every available acre to the production of some cash-returning crop, and crowding the wild flowers off the earth. THE WILD FLOWEU GARDEN. 159 Many persons who love flowers are so situated that they lack either the time or the inclination to fuss with the ordinary garden flowers, or the tender bedding plants. Such persons, as well as those interested in saving the native sorts, will find a wild flower garden a most interesting diver- sion. It is quite possible to have flowers throughout the season from early April until killing frosts in October. Of course, to accomplish this result requires a large variety of flowers, but there is an abundance of those which are desirable to fill in the entire season if one has only the proper situation in which to plant them. The woodland plants, of course, require conditions somewhat similar to those provided by nature, but if one has a grove this is easily provided. Our own wild garden is planted in a bit of native woods that furnished the barn lot to a former owner of the place. When we arrived we soon decided that it could be put to better use, so the barn was moved away and a fence placed about the lot to keep out all live stock. In this prairie region many may lack the proper shade, but groves will soon grow and the wild flowers will thrive even among small trees if the weeds are not allowed to crowd them out. Here in Iowa there is a much greater danger of the extermination of the wild flowers than in timbered regions where there is a considerable amount of waste land, so that it behooves nature lovers to put forth an effort to preserve our native flora. Our earliest bloom comes from bloodroots followed by Dutchman's breeches. Trillium is earlier, but in our locality it seems to be entirely exterminated. The Dutchman's breeches are just at their best when the adder-tongues come in great abundance. Hardly have these faded when literally thousands of violets make an attractive display. We have both the blue and yellow varieties in large numbers. Yellow buttercups are next in order, and we have enough to give splendid mass effects. Then comes the wild phlox and Virginia waterleaf, also in quantity. Then there is a liberal showing of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Solomon's seal, and many others. We have scoured the country in search of columbine and now have several fine clusters. This is one of the wild plants seldom seen outside of gardens in our country now. The azure larkspur is a fine wild flower of other days; so far I have been able to flnd only one wild speci- men. The wood lily on the list of those becoming rare is a treasure in the wild garden. May apples, once abundant in this section, are now rapidly disappearing. Space will not permit the enumeration of all the attractive wild flowers that fill' in the season, but with a little care in selecting one can have a succession of bloom from April until October. Midsummer varieties are not so numerous, yet they are by no means scarce. The starry campion blooms in July, and with its pyramidal panicles of white bells it is not overshadowed by the finest creation of the florists' art. The cup plant and a number of similar showy plants bloom at this season. White snake-root and asters make a grand display at the end of the season, literally coming out to meet Jack-Frost. Of shrubs there is quite a long list of desirables such as sumach, elder- berry, and dogwood. 100 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Neither are our native climbers to be despised, and liops, Virginia creeper, trumpet vine, wild grapes, wild clematis, bitter sweet and others add much to the interest of the garden. By going to the undisturbed woods and transplanting as they grow it is easy to produce a natural harmony. While the first labor of establish- ing a garden of this kind is considerable, after it is once established it requires a minimum of care. The early plants, like the bloodroots, bloom before the appearance of those that shall later shade the ground. We have first a mass of bloom from adder-tongues and Dutchman's breeches, followed by violets, the buttercups, and later phlox and waterleaf, as well as others, and last of all the asters, all on the same ground, and each seems to occupy it fully at the time of flowering. It is surprising how many varieties can be grown together, harmoniously, many, like the wild ginger, hiding away under the leaves of more showy plants. It is worth while to save the wild flowers. FRUIT GROWERS' INSTITUTES. Val Keyser, Lincoln. The success of the annual meeting of the State Horticultural Society held in Lincoln, January 16, 17, and 18, caused unusual interest among Nebraska apple growers. The splendid quality of the eastern Nebraska apples on exhibition at the winter fruit show prompted the society to take some concerted action to interest a larger number of growers in the pro- duction of better apples. After a lively discussion of a paper on the "Quality of Nebraska Apples," a publicity committee was appointed by the society consisting of El. M. Pollard of Nehawka, G. A. Marshall of Arlington, C. H. Barnard of Table Rock. This committee was instructed to devise ways and means for encouraging the orchard owners of eastern Nebraska to give their orchards better care, looking to the production of a greater quantity of high class market apples. The committee was further instructed to give publicity to the merit of these apples in order that the public might become acquainted with the superior quality of apples produced in eastern Nebraska. The committee got busy at once, and arranged three mass meetings of fruit growers, which were held at Blair, Washington county; Platts- mouth, Cass county; and Peru, Nemaha county. Remarkable interest and enthusiasm were shown by the growers at each of these points. Forty- eight were present at the Washington county meeting, twenty-six at Plattsmouth, and 120 at Peru. The writer represented the Horticultural Society at these meetings and Prof. R. F. Howard, from the University, attended as a representative of the Nebraska Experiment Station. Considering the fact that these meetings were gotten up and adver- tised on short notice, the attendance was remarkable, and in a measure expresses the interest which has been awakened in apple growing in this FKUIT GROWERS' INSTITUTE. 161 section of the state. The result of these raeelings will be the organiza- tion of county apple growers' associations. These associations are organ- ized for educational purposes. The State Horticultural Society and horti- cultural department of the experiment station will be called upon for assistance in the different phases of orchard management. The chief work to be conducted during the present season will be the renewing of neglected orchards. Demonstrations in proper methods of pruning the trees will be the first step taken. Arrangements are being made in several places to conduct the experiment of community spraying. Pro- fessor Howard, in his address before these meetings, offered to take charge of this spraying work, by communities, if a number of the growers owning small orchards would join in buying a power outfit and furnishing spraying material. The work will not only include assistance in pruning and spraying, but also cultivation of the orchards will be directed, and later instruction will be given in harvesting the crop of apples. The exhibit of boxed apples at the winter fruit show has created a demand for apples in box packages, and the growers are planning to hire an expert box packer to give instruction in this method of packing for the market. It is the general opinion of those interested in the development of Nebraska resources that the Horticultural Society has started a move- ment which will be fruitful of much good. Arrangements are being made by the communities in the counties where meetings have already been held; also in nearly every county where apples are produced on a com- mercial scale similar meetings will be conducted. No attempt was made at these meetings to effect a commercial organ- ization. The speakers were merely starting an educational campaign, trying to instruct and encourage the owners of small orchards to apply up-to-date methods in caring for their apple trees. The importance of vigorous pruning was insisted upon. The first step in caring for the average neglected orchard is to prune out at least one-half of the wood from the tops of the trees. In removing the branches the cuts should be made close to the trunk and larger limbs, and all wounds larger than half an inch in diameter should be painted. Professor Howard was emphatic in his demands that this pruning must be done, and stated that he would not attempt to spray an orchard unless the trees were properly pruned. The importance of the first spraying, while the trees were dormant, was also urged by the speakers. For this purpose the standard 4-4-50 or 6-6-50 solutions of Bordeaux mixture were strongly recommended. By a series of charts such apple diseases as scab, blotch, and apple canker were explained. That these diseases could be controlled by the intelligent use of Bordeaux mixture and line-sulphur was one of the chief points impressed upon the growers. Because unsprayed apples the past two seasons were comparatively free from these diseases it should not be taken as evidence that the diseases would not appear in troublesome form in seasons of greater rainfall. The speaker also tried to impress upon the growers that spraying was a preventive and not a cure for 6 162 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. apple diseases. Lead arsenate was recommended as the most desirable insecticide. The use of Bordeaux mixture for the first spraying while the trees were dormant was advised, and all the later applications the use of lime-sulphur to prevent later infection from disease and to give rich color to the apples, was recommended. Four sprayings were recom- mended, emphasizing the fact that the second spraying with lime-sulphur and lead arsenate, to prevent disease and apple worms, which is applied just after the petals have fallen, was the most important application of spray material throughout the growing season. Thorough cultivation, to break up the usual soddy condition of the orchard, was urged by the writer, who has had much experience with the orchard disc. Those who have orchards planted on rolling land were cautioned against careless cultivation. It was suggested that cultivating orchards was not always necessary, and that the amount of cultivation should be governed by the kind of season, lay of land, and character of soil. The speakers were strong, in their conviction, which was backed by practical experience in apple growing, that one acre of apple trees prop- erly cared for would produce greater annual returns than five acres sown to any of the ordinary farm crops. An annual profit of $100 per acre was the lowest estimate put upon the average orchard over twelve years of age in eastern Nebraska, and the writer told of his and Mr. Marshall's experience in the Weeping Water orchard during the past year in pro- ducing a yield of 500 bushels per acre, which would have sold in the orchard for 50 cents per bushel. No illustrations were drawn of what might be accomplished in east- ern Nebraska, but the speakers confined their discussions to actual exam- ples of orchards which are being properly cared for in this section of the state. The necessity of equipping the orchard with artificial heat to save the buds at blooming time was also pointed out. A keen interest was expressed in orchard management, from the pruning of the trees to the harvesting and marketing of the crop. At Peru Mr. Duncan, who was in charge of the meeting, had arranged for a pruning demonstration, and the audience of over 100 marched to an orchard in the edge of town through a snow storm, and insisted upon watching a demonstration in pruning an apple tree before they would adjourn. The interest manifested was a happy surprise to the speakers, and if anything can be gathered from the questions asked, the State Horticul- tural Society and Experiment Station will be kept busy during the follow- ing summer supplying needed information and assistance to the apple growers of eastern Nebraska. If there is a disposition to clean up the old orchards and put them under modern methods. of orchard management, a commercial organiza- tion to assist the grower in handling and in marketing the fruit is contemplated. GROWING GARDEN CROPS. 163 GROWING GARDEN CROPS. Arnold Martin, in Nebraska Farmer. The purpose of the home garden is to give an abundance and variety of food for the family table as well as for the market. There is no place on the farm where a man can get as large returns for his labor and time as in the garden. This is the place where every member of the family may work more or less; and no one need be ashamed of it as long as they get a living from it. Implements used in the working of the garden and the work itself seem degrading to many people throughout the country today. This is true especially among the younger people. To my mind, where children are taught what to do with the earth and how to do it, it is as valuable training as any we can give them. Before rural life will take a better turn, labor, no matter what it is, should be held in morjs esteem. Even a garden implement should be looked at by every member in the family as an implement of honorable and profitable and health-giving industry. The impression that working in the garden is degrading has led many away from the farm. To many people today work of any kind is a burden. No home garden can be a success unless work is put on it. A well-kept home garden on the average farm or vacant city lot makes life more pleasant and breaks the monotony of dwelling too much inside of the house. That is why a garden should be located close to the house. Either fence the chicken lot or the garden. On my farm I fence the chicken lot. Then, if I want the chickens in the garden I can have them there in short order. I let them out in the evening before they go to roost, before and after the growing season. They can have all the range they want. We have found that this pays on our small farm; on larger farms a different system might be more profitable. In the fall and winter up to New Year's, on the average farm, hens are on strike. In giving them a fresh pasture in the fall, we get almost as many eggs as in the spring, and sell them at a higher price. During the growing season we feed the chickens over the fence what we can't use ourselves. The little chicks can have the run of the garden to pick up worms and bugs. They won't do any damage while small, and when they grow larger the fence won't let them through. The home garden needs rotation just as much as any other part of the farm. That is the reason I don't have a fenced garden, although if a garden is fenced the space along the fence may be used for small fruit, rhubarb, asparagus, horse radish, and winter onions. It is difficult for me to say how much land the home garden should contain. The size of the family influences this, and also the care given the garden, for some can get more out of a square foot than others out of a square rod. If possible, have the garden patch longer than broad. This means much in getting around with a horse. Plant the stuff in rows, not in beds, for this will save a good deal of backache. 164 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Plant vegetables that mature at the same time and grow to the same height near each other. Rows 3 feet apart permit a horse to work be- tween them. Some vegetables should be planted in rows only 14 to 16 inches apart. These require a wheel hoe or hand work. As I have already stated, have perennial vegetables at one side or along the fence, for this saves time in plowing the garden. The garden should be plowed in the fall. First clean up all dead vines and rubbish and burn it. This will get rid of many enemies of your crops. Spread about twelve to fifteen loads of well-rotted manure evenly on the land. I have put as much as twenty-five loads to the acre of the right kind of manure and have found no bad effect on the crops so long as moisture is not lacking. Freezing and thawing of plowed ground during the winter settles and pulverizes the soil and makes an ideal home for vegetables to grow in. Fall plowing gets rid of many insects. Let the poultry follow behind the plow; they will manufacture the insects into eggs. When the land is plowed late in the fall not much is gained by running a disc or harrow over it; I would rather leave it rough to catch snow, for there is not much evaporation going on during the winter months. I often spread well-rotted manure over the rough fall-plowed ground, then use the disc or harrow in the early spring just before planting. This well-rotted manure worked in on top of the soil gives the young plants a better start than the manure at the bottom of the furrow where the roots are unable to reach it in their early growth. In planting a garden, attention must be given to the feeding capacity of the plants, the time to plant, season's growth, and time to harvest for family use or market. Any retarding of the growth during the growing stage of most of our vegetables means poor quality, uneatable, woody bit- terness, lacking in taste, toughness, instead of tenderness. The condition of vegetables never improves after taking from the garden, although the price increases as they pass from one hand to the other until they reach the consumer. In the thorough preparation of the seedbed and its cultivation lies the secret of success, and the neglect of these factors is the cause of many failures. This is more true in this country than in Europe, where I spent twenty years in intensive farming. Our soil is just as productive as the European soils if we apply the same intensive system of cultivation and give the same time to caring for the seedbed. The real value of our products, however, depends upon the market. The farmers of this country would do well to study the cooperative sys- tems of marketing, selling and buying that prevail in European countries. Fourteen years of experience in growing vegetables and fruit of all kinds in southeastern Nebraska for home, market, and exhibition shows me that I have to lay aside much that I learned from an experienced man on the other side of the globe. In growing vegetables of good quality the time to grow them is short because we have very abnormal condi- tions to overcome. Even with the best of care, climatic conditions often GROWING GARDEN CROPS. 165 prevent us from bringing certain vegetables to maturity and at the same time have quality. Appearance and quailty are what goes in the market. It has often been demonstrated in my work that a stoppage of growth injures the quality. This may be caused by a dry spell during the hot days with a temperature of 110 degrees. If at such times we could move our vegeta- bles under some shade tree with plenty of water and keep the hot wind off, lettuce would not taste bitter, radishes would not have that sharp taste, table beets would not be stringy, and turnips would not have that unpleasant flavor. In the season just past, late potatoes came to a standstill during the dry weather. Then rain came and started them, again making a second growth. We heard of some good yielding plats, but quality was never mentioned. Some of the potatoes grown under those conditions may be boiled all day, and you may fix them up any way you can, and they are not as good as if they had had continuous growth; the starch is not there. Unfavorable conditions of growth seem to be the greatest cause of poor quality in vegetables, and very often the most practical men have no control over these conditions. Yet many of the problems have been solved in the past, and many more will be solved in the future if we will put our heads into the game. We learn greater lessons in unfavorable seasons than in favorable ones. In favorable seasons the thing that more than anything else con- trols quality and yield is the plant food in the soil. In a favorable season we almost believe Nebraska is a second paradise. Yet great losses are going on every year in the vegetable and home gardens of Nebraska. Much of the loss is caused by insects and plant disease. In dry seasons, like the last two years, insects of all kinds are particularly abundant. In extreme w^et seasons we find plant diseases abundant. In the average season both insects and plant diseases are at work. Rotation is one of the best safeguards to control these pests. All kinds of sprayers are advertised, but my choice is the dust sprayer. Dust sprays will adhere where wet sprays will not. Dust sprays not only con- tain a poison to kill insects, but help to close the pores through which the insects breathe, applied when plants are dry. Each family of vegetables has its peculiar enemy, but by constant changing of the soil the grower can control them to a large extent. That is why I don't like a fenced garden whose location can never be changed. A change to clover or alfalfa would help to improve many home gardens, or a crop of cowpeas would answer the same purpose. Too many gardens are planted in the spring and neglected throughout the remainder of the season. It seems that the gardens always need to be weeded when a ball game is going on in town; they need weeding on Saturday afternoon. Fourth of July or some holiday. Certain work has to be done in the garden before the boy or girl can go to the circus. Oftentimes the boy gets there after the parade, and just about the time the last elephant enters the tent. Boys treated that way have no use for a garden, and more than one has left the farm. 1C6 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. In some seasons conditions are favorable to growing more than one crop on the same piece of land. Some time ago I gave my system of com- panion cropping in the Nebraska Farmer. Crops that mature at different times may be planted together. This system gives the largest returns from the soil if it is rich enough and there is plenty of water to draw upon during the growing season. Weeds have no chance to get a foothold under this system, and it makes a man believe that Nebraska is as good as any place. If each vegetable has its own peculiar enemies, and the insects on the different vegetables are enemies to each other, which I know from observation to be true in many cases, then if we can find out what insects are enemies to each other and group the plants on which they live, insects could fight out their own battle. For instance, on early turnips we always find a great many lady- bugs. You may plant a row of cucumbers next to the turnips. When the cucumbers come up the yellow-striped cucumber bug makes his home there; likewise on watermelons, muskmelons, and squashes. If these striped bugs leave any of your vines, then the lice will come and enter the leaves of the vine crops and get away with a few more plants if they are left alone. Now, I have to take care of the yellow cucumber bug; but the lady-bug will get away with the lice so long as any turnips are grown nearby. How about the squash vine borer? He does his work after the cu- cumber beetle gets through. He lays his eggs in the vines right above the surface of the ground. The vines will grow from five to ten feet and young squashes may be formed; then we notice the vines begin to die when the squash is half grown. On pulling up the vines we find a large worm in the stalk. How are you going to get the bug that lays the egg which produces the worm? You can't always kill him, but you can fool him providing you get acquainted with him to know how he looks. You will find him around the vines when the young plants have their second pair of leaves. Kill him then. Spraying don't always get him. If you want to scare him place some cotton saturated with carbon bisulphide around the young vines and repeat it whenever needed. If you want to fool him plant the squashes among the pumpkins, then remove the pumpkin vines afterwards. Again, you can foil this worm by covering the vines with some soil so the vines will have a chance to make new roots and bring the fruit to its maturity in spite of the worm in the main stalk. What an acre of land will produce in financial returns depends a good deal on where it is located. The home market is the best market in the world if one can be established. Farther away from the railroad and markets the products have to pass through the hands of express com- panies and middlemen, and the producer's profit is largely absorbed. An acre of land distant from the market may outyield in quantity and quality, and yet give returns of only $50, where an acre close to the market gives a return of $400. GROWING GARDEN CROPS. 167 Nebraska has just as many good garden acres as any other state. Carloads upon carloads of vegetables and small fruit are shipped into Nebraska right where the land is adapted to the growing of these prod- ucts. Many a man, if he would put his individuality into it, could make vegetable growing pay in this State. The man who has the natural instinct and who studies to know the adaptation of crops in his locality, how to prepare the land, how to plant, what varieties to grow, when to cultivate, harvesting, marketing, storing for winter, will make good anywhere so long as there are hungry people and the cost of living increases. Such a man has opportunities far beyond the average man, but as soon as some of the important parts of the busi- ness have to be turned over to the hired help the "stuff's all off." It takes just as much care to market a crop as it does to grow it. I have always taken the liberty and claimed the right to make the price on my own stuff direct to consumers. With merchants, I do the same. During my fourteen years of experience in this locality I have come in contact with only one merchant who held the selfish idea that he ought to make both prices for me — on what I was selling as well as on what I was buying. He and I did not do business very long. It is always well to consider the season when stuff is produced. I have received from 22 cents up to $3 per bushel for potatoes; for cabbage, from 1 cent per pound up to 5 cents per pound; for tomatoes, from 1 cent up to 1214 cents per pound; for early turnips, from % ct. up to 3 cents per pound; for small fruits, from $1.25 per crate up to $3.50 per crate. In some seasons prices go to the extreme both ways. A general market is the home grower's protection. Free mail deliv- ery brings us the daily market reports on all produce. I have never sold potatoes at 5 cents per pound to farmers, nor tomatoes at 12 1/^ cents per pound. These extreme prices are always charged retail stores and were copied from St. Joseph and Omaha markets. The home grower, the man who makes a specialty in growing his stuff for the early market or in an "off" year when the average garden fails, should get the benefit of it. The point I want to make clear is this: If my vegetables or small fruit in off seasons come to market in just as good condition and of just as good quality and fresher than that shipped in from a distance, why should it not be worth as much to the merchant or consumer? The old saying is that "the early bird catches the worm." This may be truly applied in growing stuff for .the early market ten or twelve days ahead of the rush. This gives the home grower, the specialist, a corner on any- thing that is shipped in. The home grower who wishes to produce early vegetables will find that it will pay him to keep his soil rich and use some nitrate of soda to force the crops along. There are three reasons for this: First, it gets the crops to early market when prices are high; second, it gets the crop out of the way of dry weather; and third, out of the way of insect pests. Since boyhood I have been taught by practical experience to bring plant 168 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. food to the plants in the quickest way and most available form instead of allowing plants to hunt for it. That is intensive farming. One point I want to touch upon is the general complaint in Nebraska that it is often too dry; then again too wet. These changes have much to do with the growth of plants. In the spring the sun warms the soil, and this, with the moisture and other agencies, works upon the humus to produce plant food or nitrates. During the wet season, with heavy, fre- quent rains, much of this prepared plant food is washed lower down in the soil where the roots of the young plants can not get a hold of it. A crust forms on top of the soil after a rain, shutting out air, and prevent- ing the formation of plant food. So we see that water in the soil, soil temperatures, and soil aeration all have a bearing on vegetable growth. As a boy I remember well that after a rain we fertilized our growing crops with a liquid manure prepared in large cement tanks. We irrigated our garden directly from those tanks, always after the rain. On meadows, from five to seven cuttings of grass were made. The last growth was left as a mulch for winter. I could not always see the why or the wherefor of this. I was simply told to do it and saw the results. I was not told that this liquid manure replaced the nitrates that the rain had leached away from the roots of the plants or the plants had used up. We all do many things on our farms today because they bring results, but are unable to explain to others why we do them that way. Some of us can do things better than we can tell about them, but I don't object to that so long as they are getting results. However, a man will learn very slowly by his own experience alone. I know that some farmers make fun of a book or a farm paper article, but the experienced man can almost always tell if it comes from the pen of the practical man. The experi- enced man is able to gather something from such articles where "igno- ramus" won't. A man will learn little out of a paper or book unless he possesses the grower's instinct. We hear so much of that "back to the land" movement. I don't take much interest in it. I think we can spare a few more to the town when it comes to vegetable gardening and still be able to feed them. Give the farmer and producer better means and cheaper transportation, as they have in Europe, and we will still be able to keep them all. There is no use to make a special effort to get people out of the city. If they possess the instinct, have the desire, and are able to raise the capital they will go out themselves. To my mind, many of them would not last longer than a snowball in the hot summertime. Half the people living in the country have never discovered the real yielding capacity of the land. The average farmer has never even dreamed of it. This holds true of the family garden as well as to other crops. Last winter while in Columbia, Mo., I was shown the great cow Josephine. Fifty-two quarts of milk a day was her highest record. Were our cows all Josephines, with care and breeding behind them, we would need only a few, and then a windmill and pipeline would furnish all the milk needed for a good sized town. SPRAYING THIO APPLE ORCHARD. 169 Some of you have perhaps heard of the acre of vegetables near Kan- sas City that produfetl nearly $1,400 worth of produce two years ago. Give all our acres the same care and it would take less than 160 to feed and keep a small local town. SPRAYING THE APPLE ORCHARD. C. G. Marshall. There are many different insects and fungous diseases that do injury to apple trees and their fruit in Nebraska. The two most troublesome are the apple scab and codling moth worm, one a disease and the other an insect. In controlling these two most troublesome pests the many others are caught incidentally, so that these two are all that it is necessary to keep in mind when spraying. It is not necessary to go into details as to the life histories of these pests, or to take up and discuss at length the advantage of fighting them. The fact that our orchards are infested with these pests confronts *us, and the question is how to successfully combat them with the least trouble and expense. We are not so much concerned about how they come into the country and how they are perpetuated as we are about how and when they work and the sprays to use in fighting them success- fully. The necessity of making this phase of the orchard work a part of the plan in carrying out the details connected with growing of good fruit has been emphasized by the many experiment station publications, and by the agricultural press in general. It is recognized by the up-to-date fruit grower and farmer as a feature of the work connected with successful fruit culture that is just as important as cultivation and pruning. In fact, the commercial apple grower in many sections would rather dispense with, for a single season, either cultivation or pruning, or both, than with spraying. Apple scab is a disease that develops on the leaves, flowers, and fruit when the wetther conditions are favorable. It starts to grow in the flowers as soon as they are open if damp, cool weather prevails, making them weak and easily killed by spring frosts, and it also weakens the stems, causing the fruit to drop off badly after it has set. In addition to this injury the fruit may be affected and marred badly by the time it reaches maturity. On account of dry weather scab has been unusually scarce in Nebraska the past two seasons. Almost every season of ordi- nary rainfall it is very troublesome and should be guarded against every season. Two materials may be used to control the scab. Bordeaux mixture and lime-sulphur. Lime-sulphur is less apt to burn or russet the fruit and leaves, and is now usually preferred. A common test for the com- mercial product is 32 degrees Baume. This should be diluted about 35 times with water. Bordeaux mixture is made by slaking 4 pounds of quick lime in a little water and diluting to 25 gallons, then combining 170 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. with 25 gallons of water in which 4 pounds of coppor sulphate has been dissolved. Lead arsenate, 2 pounds to 50 gallons of water, is recommended for controlling the apple worm. It may be added to the dilute fungicide, making a combination mixture effective against both insects and diseases. Apple flowers in different stages of development. Figure 1 shows when to make the first spraying, and figures 3 and 4 when to make the second spraying. The stage shown in figure 2 is somewhat early and that in figure 5 somewhat late for the second spray- ing, while at the stage shown in figure 6 no poison can be forced into the calyx cup. ADORNING THE FARMSTEAD. 171 CALENDAR FOR APPLICATIONS. First Spraying: Directed against apple scab. — After the cluster buds open, but before the individual flowers open. Should be directed against the trunk and main limbs also. Use lime-sulphur or Bordeaux mixture. (See figure 1.) Usually about April 20. Second Spraying: Directed against both apple scab and codling moth worm. Very important. — Just as soon as the ground begins to appear white from falling petals. Do not delay this application. Use a rather coarse nozzel and direct the spray downward as much as possible with high pressure. It is importtnt that the poison be driven into the flowers before the calyx lobes close. (See figures 2 to 4.) Third Spraying: Directed against apple scab and codling moth worm. — About 21 days after the second spraying to guard against fungous dis- eases and to control the late hatching worms. Use the same material as lor the second spraying. Fourth Spraying: Against apple scab and codling moth worms. — This application is made late in July (15th to 20th), and is directed mainly against the second brood of worms. It is also sometimes very important against apple scab. If the season is dry and no sctb is apparent, the fun- gicide may be omitted, using 2 pounds of lead arsenate to 50 gallons of water. PLANNING AND ADORNING THE FARMSTEAD. A. T. Erwin in Bulletin 126, Iowa Experiment Station. Neat, conveniently arranged buildings, a well-kept lawn attractively bordered with trees and shrubs add greatly to the appearance and value of the farm and to the happiness of its occupants. The farmstead, including as it does the general area occupied by the farm buildings, house and lawn, is the center of activity for the farm. Its planning and development, both from the standpoint of convenience and of securing an attractive landscape effect, deserve special consideration. A well-thought-out plan is the first requisite to get these results, as in the absence of a definite scheme serious mistakes are likely to be made. This plan should include the location of buildings, drives, walks, trees, shrubbery, and every other feature which contributes either to the con- venience or ornamentation of the place. It should be developed with the larger relationships always in mind. The location of the house and farm buildings is the first consideration. Even though it happens that some of these are already on the ground, a plan for their location is important. New farm homes are erected to supplant old ones and other new farm structures are added, which make practicable a general consideration of the entire building scheme. Material improvement can often be made in a farmstead by a readjustment as new buildings are put up, though the best results are obtained where things are planned right from the start. In selecting a site for the house, good drainage is the first requisite. A south or east slope is generally to be preferred, while a north slope is 172 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. undesirable. In its location, give the house the greatest prominence. The farmstead first of all provides a home, and the residence should stand out as the central and most conspicuous feature of the picture. To place the barn and other buildings in front of the house is to reverse the logical order of things. Locate the house back far enough from the highway to afford privacy and give a good stretch of lawn in front, and yet not so far back as to suggest a spirit of exclusion, nor with a lawn so large that it can not be properly cared for. Most city dooryards are too small, while those in the country are so large that it is impracticable to give them lawn treatment. The location and grouping of the general farm buildings is a perplex- ing problem, and each place presents its own peculiar conditions and difficulties. The most common mistakes occur in the location of buildings as to convenience. The corn crib should be located near the particular feeting place that will call for the bulk of its supply, and the toolshed where the implements can be taken up or dropped en route to or from the field. In this connection the importance of providing enough shed room for the tools and general equipment needs emphasis. The promiscu- ous scattering of machinery about the barnyard always gives a place an air of carelessness and neglect and detracts much from its appearance, while the weathering of the machinery causes a serious economic loss. The watering trough and workshop call for a central location. The general farm buildings should be to the rear of the farm house, and the stable at least 150 or 200 feet away. Locate them to avoid odors being carried to the house by the summer winds. So far as practicable, arrange the farm buildings to serve as a windbreak. Locate the yards on the side farthest from the house, though it is often an advantage to provide a paddock near the highway for the display of the farm herds. The business side of the farm must not be lost sight of, and special features of the general building equipment may be given prominence, such as the seed house or any other important feature of the place. In landscaping the farmstead it is not the idea to obscure their presence, but rather to secure an orderly arrangement of the buildings and to have the front side to the front and the back side to the rear. DRIVES, WALKS AND GATEWAYS. The main driveway should enter from the direction of the heaviest traffic. As suggested in the accompanying plan, it may be desirable to provide two drives, one leading directly to the barnyard for the heavy traffic, and the other to serve the house, with a return loop for visitors. In locating drives, attention should be given to the matter of grades. Steep grades are objectional and should be avoided whenever possible. It is often practicable to do this by following around the hill, thereby securing not only an easy grade but also a long, sweeping curve which will make a more attractive drive. Massive concrete posts of a neat design may be appropriately used to mark in a formal way the entrance to the farmstead. Here also is a good ADORNING THi5 FARMSTEAD. 173 location for the bulletin board, giving the name of the place, the pro- prietor, and other information. Every farm should have a name. It gives to the place a dignity and individuality that is otherwise lacking. Iowa now has a law permitting the registration of farm names and affording legal protection therefor. Keep all other signs off. The use of farm buildings as billboards for the advertising of tobacco, etc., is cheapening. It not only detracts from the looks of a place, but is an illogical thing to do. The owner should work up a reputation for his own goods and advertise his own products in an appropriate way. Since the majority of the country people ride rather than walk, there is little demand for front walks, which are ivholly a matter of con- venience rather than beauty. When built, they should lead in the direc- tion people desire to go. Long, circuitous routes around a semi-circle are unnatural and do not represent good planning. It has been suggested that the best way to locate a walk is to find out where people want to go by first permitting them to form a path and take that as the location. This does not mean, however, that walks must always be in straight lines. Often a gentle curve can be introduced so as not to be objectionable from the standpoint of distance and to give a pleasing landscape effect. In such instances it may be desirable to plant a tree or clump of shrubs on the inside of the curve to give an apparent reason for the deviation. THE PLANTING OF TREES. As one of the larger features of the landscape, the location and num- ber of trees are of special importance. In selecting kinds the size of tree at maturity should be considered. The white elm, for example, may attain a spread of 100 feet, while the green ash or the white birch will scarcely exceed one-fourth df that. Do not overplant the lawn. By filling up the front yard the landscape effect is not only destroyed but the buildings are obscured or entirely hidden. From the sanitary point of view this is also undesirable, for it encourages dampness. Keep the trees back far enough to permit a free circulation of air and plenty of sunshine. Overshading is bad for a building, and under these conditions the shingles decay quickly. As a protection against the afternoon sun, a shade tree or two to the southwest of the house is desirable. In general, plant along the sides to border or frame in the picture. In this way a vista is formed with the house as the central feature. Most people err in getting things into the wrong location rather than in the selection of varieties to plant. Keep an open front. Immediately in front of the house there is nothing so appropriate as a well-kept stretch of greensward. Keep the tree planting mostly along the sides, and in placing them avoid a stiff, mechanical arrangement. If an evergreen is located so many feet from the walk on one side, do not place another one at a corresponding distance on the other side. ^ Avoid a stiff checker- board plan, and plant the trees more in clumps, securing the effect of a curve rather than a straight line, so that the whole will be as natural as possible. A limited number of tall trees to the rear of the house is useful 174 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. for a background and the pictorial effect thus secured is a vast improve- ment over that of the building which stands out against the bare skyline. LOCATING SHRUBBERY. One of the most common mistakes in planting shrubbery is to scatter it about over the lawn in a salt-and-pepper fashion. The way to secure a satisfactory effect is by grouping. Place shrubs in a mass about the border, particularly to screen off the back yard from the front, and in the corners about the porch or along the base of the building. Plant them about 21/^ feet apart, placing the taller kinds, such as the bush honey- suckle and lilac, in the back, with the lower kinds, such as bridal wreath, in front. The shrubs should be cultivated or mulched for the first year or two after planting, after which they become sufficiently established to shade the ground and take care of themselves. If flowers are grown primarily for cut flowers, line out in a straight row in the garden where they can be cultivated conveniently. For orna- mental beds, place them in a border 21/2 or 3 feet in width along the front of the shrubbery. Here the shrubbery serves as a background against which the colors stand out much better than they will in the open. More- over, this location avoids cutting the lawn with beds which make unsightly holes during the winter. TRIMMING TREES. The climate of our state is more or less severe upon tree life of all kinds. Trees are frequently injured by the splitting down of the branches due to sleet storms and severe winds. This condition requires pruning to insure the proper healing over of the wound, otherwise decay enters in and the lifeof the tree may be seriously shortened. In removing injured branches, particular pains should be taken to make the cut up close to the remaining branch and parallel to it. Under these conditions the wound is nourished and gradually heals over. Healing does not take place where a stub is left, and decay gradually works down into the main stem. For cuts over 2 inches in diameter the surface should be coated with thick white lead. In this connection the practice of topping back large trees, such as soft maple, should be discouraged. This can in no manner change a soft- wooded tree to a hard-wooded kind, and in the majority of instances the central portion of the large stub dies back and decays, leaving only a shell of live bark around the circumference, and in a few years the tree goes to pieces and is ready for the brush-pile. It must also be remem- bered that the leaf system takes part in the work of digestion and that a large tree entirely defoliated in this fashion has been treated in a very severe manner. ADORNING THE FARMSTEAD. 175 LAWN MAKING. The first requisite in securing a good lawn is a ricli black loam. It frequently happens that in excavating for the basement the clay soil is disposed of by spreading it over the front yard, thus leaving a very unsatisfactory soil for the lawn. Where this is done the top soil should first be taken off to a depth of 5 or 6 inches and replaced after the clay has been deposited. Similarly in back-filling around the foundation, debris of all kinds is dumped in. This is apt to cause trouble later in settling and also makes a very unsatisfactory soil with which to establish either grass or shrubs. Grade the lawn first and then thoroughly pulverize the soil for seed- ing. In Iowa the best time to seed is early in the spring, though in many seasons a very good stand can be secured by sowing the seed about the middle of August or just preceding the fall rains. Fall seeding, however, is more or less uncertain on account of the lack of moisture supply. In the case of fall seeding, it is advisable to mulch the lawn the first winter with strawy manure as soon as the ground is frozen hard enough to bear up a team. This should be raked off in the spring when the growth begins. The best turf is that formed by Kentucky bluegrass. The Canada bluegrass is sometimes used, but this is not as good. Sow the seed rather thickly, say at the rate of four bushels per acre. Exercise care to get an even distribution of the seed in sowing, and it is often advis- able to re-seed at right angles to the first sowing in order to secure this. For the purpose of securing immediate effect the plan is often fol- lowed of mixing with the bluegrass the English or Italian ryegrass. This greens up at once and makes a very good temporary turf. Since it is only temporary in character, it gradually dies out, leaving the bluegrass in possession. In using the English ryegrass the proportion commonly followed is that of three bushels of bluegrass to one bushel of ryegrass. A slight sprinkle of white clover is sometimes added as a temporary turf. Many follow the practice of sowing oats or rye with bluegrass. This, in our opinion, is not advisable. Both of these plants make a coarse stubble unsuited for the lawn, and they are gross feeders. Instead of being a nurse crop they rob the grass of its moisture and food supply and shade it too much. MOWING THE LAWN. Begin mowing just as soon as the grass is tall enough, as this cutting causes the plant to bunch and stool-out, thus securing a thicker turf. Set the lawn mower high, however; in fact, close cutting is not advisable in any case. Stop the mowing in time in the autumn to let the grass make a good top growth for winter protection. On the newly established lawn there is apt to be trouble with weeds of many kinds. Most of the coarser weeds will not stand close cutting and are killed out the first year by the use of the lawn mower. There are a few, however, including the dandelion, which are not affected in this 17G NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. way. For the eradication of tliese, iron sulfate has been recommended, but its value for this purpose seems quite doubtful. In applying manure to the lawn take care to secure material as free as possible from weed seed. Nitrate of soda is often preferable for fer- tilizing because it is free from impurities. Use this at the rate of 200 pounds per acre, and apply it at the beginning of the growing season. Rolling is a good practice for the lawn, as it closes the cracks early in the spring and also shoves the crowns of the plant back into place, thus correcting the heaving which has taken place during late winter. THE PRUNING OF BUSH FRUITS. After winter is over and before growth starts in the spring the black raspberry patch needs a lot of pruning. Each living bush is at that time of year composed of from one to five old, dead canes that bore the preceding season, and one to five live ones that were shoots the preceding season. These young canes have long trailing laterals. The first thing to be done is to arm one's self with a pair of pruning shears and prune these laterals to from 8 to 14 inches in length, varying with the vigor of the cane and the number of canes in the bush. When the laterals are all pruned, the old dead canes should be removed with a pruning hook. At the same time enough young canes should be removed so that no bush has more than four or five canes to it. When setting the black raspberry the portion of the old cane adhering to the set should be pruned off as close to the crown of the set as possible. This is one of our best methods of controlling such fungous diseases as the cane blight, and is a good preventive in all cases. The pruning of the blackberry is very similar to that which I have outlined for the raspberry. The shoots should be nipped low — when not over 18 inches tall — if no supports are used for the bushes, and should not be nipped at all if supports are used. The laterals should not be pruned as short as the black raspberry laterals by from 4 to 8 inches. If no summer nipping is practiced the canes should be headed in about one-third of their length in the spring. The shoots of the ordinary red raspberry should not be nipped, but if one is dealing with the drooping purple cane varieties, such as the Shaffer and the Columbian, the nipping should be done the same as with the black caps. The young canes of the red raspberry should be pruned back to from 2y2 to ZVz feet before growth starts in the spring. At the same time the old dead canes and all weak young ones should be removed. The pruning of the currant and the gooseberry is probably more neg- lected than the pruning of any other fruit-bearing plant under cultivation. This is largely due to the fact that they will bear some fruit — of a poor quality, however — if they are not pruned at all. If one wishes to have the gooseberries and currants of good quality he must prune them sys- tematically each year. Pruning currants and gooseberries to the tree form is never as satisfactory as the bush form, hence the growth of shoots PRUNING GRAPES. 177 should be fostered from the first. No summer pruning is required by the currant and gooseberry, so all the season's pruning can be done in spring before the growth starts. Both the currant and the gooseberry produce their finest fruit on the young wood, but the one-year-old canes are never as productive as the two- and three-year-old canes. Most of the fruit is produced on the base of one-year-old laterals, or else on fruit spurs. Since the fruiting habits of the currant and gooseberry are so near alike, the system of pruning the two is the same. The pruning of currants and gooseberries consists of five operations: First, remove all wood of four years or over. Second, remove all one- year-old canes but two or three. Third, heading in of the remaining one-year-old canes. These should be pruned not over 18 inches in height. This causes them to produce the fruit-bearing wood near the plant, and thus the canes are not so top-heavy when fruiting, and it also favors the production of fruit spurs. Fourth, heading in young laterals on two- and three-year-old canes. This should not be done unless they are making a vigorous gro^wth — a growth of 8 or 10 inches should be headed back 2 or 3 inches. Fifth, heading in all drooping branches in such manner as to produce an upright growth. When setting any of the bush fruits the top should, of course, be pruned to correspond to the root-pruning the plant receives in trans- planting. — A. T. Keithley, in Fruitman and Gardener. PRUNING GRAPES. C. G. Marshall. The pruning of grapes is probably neglected more than any other fruit commonly grown on the Nebraska farms. The grape is a fruit that is easily grown in a large part of the state and is found in almost every fruit garden. It is grown readily on a variety of soils, is a late bloomer, almost always escaping late frosts, and a prolific bearer when properly .nS?SS^i!&2^t^?^^^'^^^^^®^ Fig. 1. — Permanent stem and arms. Beginning of third year. cultivated and pruned. It responds very readily to the pruning knife, more so than almost any other fruit grown, yet it is one of the most neg- 178 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. lected. During March is a good time to prune. It should be done before the sap starts upward. The grape bears its fruit on shoots put fortli in the spring, which - usually arise from canes of the previous year's growth, in which respect it differs from our common tree fruits. Old wood is therefore of little value on the grape, and pruning should be practiced to keep the old wood cut out and to regulate the new growth for the best possible production. '%i4i*fc5%;«S?'^'''''''''if^iK^' Fig. 2. — Fruiting and renewal canes of third year. Marked ones to be cut. There are many systems of pruning, each having its points of advantage, but almost all arriving at the same final results. One feature common to almost all systems is the single permanent trunk from the top of which the bearing canes are renewed each year. Each variety does not require the same pruning, the difference, however, being mainly in the severity Fig. 3. — "Vine in Fig. 2 after prun- ing, beginning of fourth year. of the operation. Strong growing and heavy bearing kinds should have the bearing wood reduced more than the less vigorous and light bearers. To grow the ideal vine, training and pruning should be practiced from the time the plant is set. Old and neglected vines, however, if vigorous, can often be shaped up fairly well and be made to produce surprisingly. RECEIVING, PLANTING AND PRUNING. 179 To get a system in mind let us take a vine at the time of planting and discuss its training for the first three years. The first year one cane is allowed to grow from the permanent trunk. This is cut off at about 18 inches or 2 feet from the ground, or at the height of the lower wire of the trellis. The second year two canes only are allowed to grow from the top buds of this trunk. These canes are cut back to 2 to 4 feet, depending on variety and space, and placed on the lower wire of the trellis, one extending either way from the trunk. The third year from six to twelve shoots will come from these two canes, which should be fastened in a vertical position to the higher trellis wires, cutting them off even with the top wire. This constitutes the framework of the vine and thereafter the opera- tion consists of taking out the old canes annually and allowing the new shoots to take their places. Excepting the permanent trunk and the two horizontal arms the vine is renewed every other year. Each alternate upright cane should annually be cut down to a short spur near the arm and the other cut off even with the top wire of the trellis. One bud from this spur should be allowed to grow the following year. The above suggestions can not always be carried out essentially as given, because the grower must be governed to a certain extent by the variety, the form of trellis used, the space to be occupied by each vine and other local conditions. The ideal vine should be kept in mind, how- ever, and the pruning should be done to make the vines conform as nearly as is practical. The illustrations used in this article were copied from Farmers' Bulletin No. 156, United States Department of Agriculture. ') •-- \ ^ iK — ' — w& 1 1 ..^ i ^f^m^^^^:.^;^^m^^^:^'^4:W^'^ Fig. 4.— Vine with fruit, fall of fourth year. RECEIVING, PLANTING AND PRUNING. C. G. Marshall. Practically all of the trees and plants now being planted by Nebraska growers are delivered in the spring — during the month of April. Nurser- ies deliver trees in several different ways, probably the most common being the shipment of all goods for a certain point by freight, consigned to an agent who receives and delivers them to the purchasers who have 180 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. all been notified by mail to call at a certain livery barn or other suit- able place on a certain date. Nebraska nurseries now pack trees and plants in paper lined cases, each order tied separately and protected about the roots with moss and burlap, or each individual order packed separately and completely covered with burlap, hay, or straw and wet moss about the roots. Goods as a rule arrive at the delivery point in good condition, and losses due to exposure after the trees are taken up at the nursery and before being replanted can more often be charged to the purchaser than to the nursery. "HEELING IN." It is important that trees be called for on the day set for delivery, as the agent has another point of delivery the next day and can not stay and see that they are kept moist. ^Vhen left in the hands of the livery men or other disinterested parties they are sometimes allowed to become dry, and sometimes very quickly, owing to the dry and windy weather. As soon as taken home the packing should be removed and the trees "heeled in" where the earth is moist and a protection is af- forded against the drying winds. The bundle should be opened and the trees and plants spread out so that moist earth will come in contact with all the roots. They may be left in this condition until the ground for planting has been prepared, but should be planted out as soon as possible after growth starts. PLANTING. The site for planting should be well drained and the soil quite rich. Applications of manure should not be made near the time of planting, except it be thoroughly rotted. Coarse manure when mixed with the soil allows it to dry out quickly. The ground should be plowed deep and thoroughly firmed down with a disc or subsurface packer so that it is fine and firm, and will not dry out readily. Success, then, is largely a matter of avoiding all unnecessary root-exposure and thorough firming of the soil about the roots. Soaking the roots in water for a few hours before planting sometimes helps very materially toward securing sure growth. If they are to be exposed for any length of time, puddling is also often desirable. Holes should be dug large enough to admit the roots in their natural position and deep enough so that the trees will set about three inches deeper than they were in the nursery. The ends of the roots should be trimmed back to solid live wood and the heaviest roots placed on the side toward the prevailing winds. The tops should lean toward the southwest. Fine, moist soil should be placed about the roots and packed firmly with the feet, care being exercised not to bark them. If the trees are watered it should be done thoroughly, adding the water before the holes are completely filled and allowing the water to settle away before ORCHARD HEATING. 181 replacing the balance of the soil. If the ground is extremely dry it would be advisable to fill the holes with water a few hours before plant- ing, allowing it to soak away before the trees are set. FORMING THE HEADS AND PRUNING. The young trees should be well formed, straight and clean, of good size for tbe age, and of good shape for the variety. Allowance must be made, however, for the variety. Varieties like the Northwest Greening and Ben Davis make larger and more symmetrical trees at the same age than Duchess, Genet, and some others. The variety habit of the tree should be kept in mind, judging its quality. Slender and crooked trunks and stunted or unhealthy trees should never be planted. Two or three- year-old stock is best for planting. The mistake of setting large trees — three, four, or five years old — is often made. Such trees suffer more from transplanting and the heads already formed are as a rule not desirable. Usually mare than half of the original root system is left in the nur- sery row .when trees are dug, and the tops must be pruned back to corre- spond, or the tree will not be balanced. In order to save the life of the tree, if the spring is at all dry, this pruning must be done, as a small part of the original root system cannot supply the whole top with mois- ture and plant food. The pruning back of the top should be as severe, if not more so, than the root pruning in digging, since the roots must be- come adjusted to their new quarters before their activities begin, while the tops experience no great difference in this respect. Pruning to shape the head as desired is important at this time. The mistake of starting the head with too many limbs is very common. For most varieties not more than five limbs, well distributed, are sufficient. A whorl of limbs on a small tree may not appear objectionable at this time, but when those limbs have grown to six inches or- more in diameter the mistake IS apparent. The tree should be headed low and the limbs should be well distributed, no two coming out opposite or nearly opposite each other. ORCHARD HEATING. C. G. Marshall. Many commercial orchardists in all parts of the country are asking if it really pays to equip orchards with artificial heating devices. Al- most every Nebraska grower would say that it did not pay to heat last spring (1911). The writer is interested in an eastern Nebraska orchard that is equipped with modern oil burning orchard heaters which were in operation a part of one night last spring. Until picking time we were of the opinion that no good came from it, as trees outside the heated area in our orchard set fruit and almost every apple tree in eastern Nebraska that put out blossoms set and matured fruit. At harvest time, however, the effects of the artificial heat were certainly apparent in this orchard. 182 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. There was but one period after the blossoms opened when the tem- perature reachd freezing. By 12 o'c'Iock the night of May 1 the tempera- ture had dropped to 30 degrees with a slight wind from a little to the north of west. We started the fires in the heaters, beginning at the northeast corner of the orchard and following the north line of pots to the west side of the orchard and then down the outside row on the west side and then every other row was lighted north and south, working east from the west side. The reservoir type of heaters was used -and in the rush the first ones lighted on the north and west side were not carefully regulated and on returning to this part of the orchard some time later it was found that the valves had been closed to such an extent in most cases that the fires had gone out. Frost was forming on the vegetation near the ground and even on the lids of the fire pots where the fires had died out. The thermometers showed a temperature of about 27 degrees and the ground was slightly frozen in places. Farther east where the fires burned steadily no frost was apparent, even though this part of the orchard was considerably lower and the movement of air less. As the fruit began to gain size and color it could be noticed that the trees bordering on the north and west sides of the orchard were carrying a lighter crop of fruit, and when the fruit was gathered the light yield corresponded very closely to the area where the fires went out and frost formed. There was not another orchard in Cass county, or anywhere in eastern Nebraska coming under our notice where the crops were so even as in this orchard. Almost every tree in this orchard, except those on the north and west sides, carried a full crop, and it was evenly distrib- uted all through i;he trees. In other orchards similarly located and equally well treated, otherwise than the heating, the crop was more or less spotted and uneven. Quite often the crop was mainly on one side of the tree or on certain parts of the orchard. THE FARMER'S GARDEN. How different are the gardens today from the old home gardens of thirty and forty years ago, with its little beds that were spaded and thrown up so neatly and bordered by hyacinths, jonquils, tulips. May pinks, sweet Williams, and pansies. Around the garden fence was the hollyhock, jasamine, honeysuckles and roses galore that lived year after year. They remain but a sweet memory today. And in every old garden were the herbs our grandmothers loved so well and no garden was considered complete without rhubarb, asparagus, grapes, gooseberries, red and white currants and the black, yellow and red raspberries. I am old fashioned enough to still consider the berries a necessity in the garden. We have one acre in our garden and about one-fourth of that is in berries and seedling trees. It is a mistaken idea that gardening is hard work. Of course you can make hard work of it if you like, but it should be one of the most THE FARMER'S GARDEN. 183 healthful and delightful occupations to cultivate the plants and flowers and watch their development. Five things are essential for a good garden. The first is rich, well- drained soil, southern or southeastern slope preferred; the second, deep plowing; the third, good, deep pulverizing so as to form a loose seedbed; the fourth, seed adapted to the climate; and fifth, thorough, repeated cul- tivation. One-half acre will produce an abundance of vegetables for a good sized family. It will take only about one hour each week for the "good man of the house" to cultivate that amount. He may grumble a little at first, but he will soon get the "garden fever" and take just as much pride in that garden as you do. The garden should be plowed late in the fall, eight inches deep at least, and thoroughly disked and harrowed early in the spring. Check off the ground with the corn planter, making rows north and south. Plant early your onion sets and seed, early turnips, lettuce, early peas, carrots, beets and a few rows of early potatoes. We plant our early radishes in the same row with our parsnips, as the parsnips are so slow in germinating. The radishes are soon ready for use. We thin the parsnips and leave them. The early turnips are soon ready for use, and we pull_ them and set tomato plants in their place. We never follow turnips with cabbage or anything that belongs to the same family of plants, but always rotate. The first of April in this locality is early enough to make your hot- bed where early cabbage, tomatoes, cauliflower, ground cherries, peppers, and celery should be sown. They should be ready to transplant to the open ground from the 10th to the 15th of May, which is early enough. Even then we have to cover them quite often. If we had a market we would get things on the market as soon as possible. For the general crop of vegetables, about the middle of May is a good time to plant beans, peas, melons, squashes, late potatoes, and also early potatoes and sweet corn for the main crop. We plant the potatoes, squash, and sweet corn in the field. We plant our late cabbage seed in the garden from the 10th to the 15th of May; we drill in rows and cultivate, and the plants are ready to transplant about the middle of June — sometimes a few days before. We always like to have our ground replowed and pulverized well for our late cabbage, of which we always raise an abundance. Well pre- pared ground is half tended. One has plenty to do to weed and hoe around the plants, which should be done once a week after the culti- vator. We grow our own seeds of beans, peas, sweet corn, parsnips, beets, mangels, and melons and prefer them, although we buy quite a good many northern grown seeds. We have tried a good many of the novel- ties, but it does not pay, unless one wants to experiment. Better stick to the standard varieties that you know do well. For cabbage plant Jersey Wakefield and Winningstadt for early; Flat 184 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Dutch Holland, Surehead -and All Season for late. White Plume celery; Early Paris and Snowball cauliflower; Oxheart and Long Orange carrots; Egyptian beets; Long Red mangels; Prizehead lettuce; Scarlet, Globe and Icicle radishes for early and the White Strasburg for late; Golden wax and Henderson's Bush lima beans; American Wonder, Horseford's market, garden and everbearing peas; Sweet Marrow parsnips; Earliana and Beefsteak tomatoes; purple top strap leaf turnips; Red Wetherfield Prizetaker onions; Cole's Early, Sweet Heart and Peerless watermelons; Emerald Gem, Netted Gem and Osage muskmelons; Hubbard squash; Early Minnesota sweet corn; Early Ohio and Rural New York potatoes; these are all good varieties and do well here. It pays to get new, pure seed every three or four years, and get it just as near home as you can. Tested seed is alright provided it is test- ed under the same conditions you wish to grow it. We have raised just as fine tomatoes from the slips as from the par- ent plants, but they were later. Potato slips will grow all right, but I have never been able to get them to bear potatoes. From DeSota plum seed planted seven years ago last fall we have fine plums, and they were all larger than those planted. There were only two DeSota trees, two early red, two late red, and two of them were large yellow plums. Raspberry and gooseberry seed have come true to name, but I have never been able to get plums or strawberries from seed that were like the parent plants. You should always plant their fruit seeds just as soon as they are taken from the fruit, or put them in moist ground until spring. I have never been able to get dried seeds to grow. We find it pays to set a new strawberry bed each year, as they are very little more trouble -than cabbage. Among some sixteen or seven- teen varieties tested the Senator Dunlap is the best all around berry. Every four or five years we send to a strawberry specialist and get new plants, in the meantime setting the new runners from our old plants. Any one renting from three to five years can have asparagus, rhu- barb, and strawberries if they care to set them, as some neighbor gener- ally has an over-supply of roots they dig up and are glad to give away. Don't forget a row of flowers in the garden. The dahlia and gladiolus are so easily grown, and are the most beautiful of fall flowers. Verbenas, asters, sweet peas and pansies, are lovely little flowers, easy to grow, and general favorites with all. — Paper read by Mrs. Leona Williams before Hancock County (Iowa) Farmers' Institute, January 27, 1912. LAWN SEEDING. W. H. Dunman, Landscape Gardener, University of Nebraska. Kentucky blue grass is not surpassed by any other grass in the mak- ing of a perfect lawn. Sometimes, in adverse conditions such as acidity of the soil, lack of humus, or a scarcity of water, a mixture is preferable. For sour soil, a top dressing of air-slacked lime, using about one bushel PLANT BREEDING FARM. 185 to 1,000 square feet, will be found beneficial. Some people recommend sowing grass seed on the snow. I do not know how practical this system is as I have seen it sown this way but would consider that it would leave seed unevenly distributed over the soil. Where the soil is favorable and climatic conditions are the same and an ideal lawn grass is desired, plant Kentucky blue grass, using as a nurse crop white clover at the rate of 5 per cent in weight to the blue grass. Under the immediate neighborhood of large trees where the lawn is heavily shaded, a mixture consisting of equal parts of Kentucky blue grass, wood meadow, and one-fourth of various leaved fescue and crested dogs' tail is fine. Where an immdeiate effect is desired and growing conditions are not perfect a mixture of the following grasses is preferable: Kentucky blue grass 40 per cent, Canada blue grass 20 per cent, perennial rye grass 20 per cent, creeping bent grass 10 per cent, and sheep fescue 10 per cent. Seed should be sown liberally, about one quart to 300 square feet should be the minimum quantity required for a new lawn. One-half this quan- tity if reseeding an old one. If an immediate effect is desired used one- third more seed. Do not buy cheap seed. Try to get seed that will weigh about eighteen or twenty pounds per bushel. PLANT-BREEDING FARM. Max Pfaender, Mitchell, Neb. I am a horticulturist out of pure love for this line of work, and as such I wish to offer a suggestion which came to my mind while perusing the pages of the annual report of our State Horticultural Society for 1911. Why can not we have a horticultural plant-breeding farm? — a plant- breeding farm with the object in view of creating and producing new va- rieties of the various fruits, ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers — vari- eties that are actual liome products, produced in part from our own na- tive kinds, partly from our sorts now under cultivation and partly from best varieties obtainable from other states and countries. Let this plant-breeding farm be modeled partly after that started by the efforts of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. It should be in charge of a good practical superintendent who has a wide knowledge of the practice and theory of plant breeding. The farm should be under the general supervision of a board consisting of four or five members, one or more to be elected by the Nebraska State Horticultural Society, one to be a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Ne- braska, and the professor of horticulture at the Experiment Station, ex- officio — or some such similar board — the main consideration being to secure a board which would have at heart the horticultural advancement and improvement of our state. 186 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The state should make an extra appropriation for this plant-breeding farm because it would be a business proposition. The people of our state would be the ones benefited by it. After ten or fifteen years the state could boast of an ideal apple for each one of our horticultural dis- tricts, an ideal plum, grape, etc. At the Minnesota plant-breeding farm already great results are in evidence, and our problems here in Nebraska are even greater than those in Minnesota because our range is wider, our material more abundant, and our results will be even of greater value. The work in general as such a horticultural plant-breeding farm would be the getting together of every variety suitable for breeding work, and then using these in hand crossing work according to the re- sults to be produced. First of all, I would place our native fruits and flowers. Out here in Scottsbluff county, where I believe climatic conditions are about the worst in the state, we have growing wild a red, yellow, and a black cur- rant, plums, grapes, gooseberries, sand cherries, buffalo berries, and choke cherries, and the farther east we go the greater is the number of wild fruits found native. The wild varieties should be used for mother stock so as to insure hardiness and vigor in the resultant cross. These could be crossed with the best varieties under cultivation. For apples we could use the Hiber- nal, Duchess, and Malinda or other very hardy species of the mother stock, crossing them with the varieties under cultivation of best quality and with best bearing, shipping, and keeping characteristics. There is no end of desirable work that could be done along these lines. This is all practical work, and would be of great practical value to our state. Not only could we produce strictly hardy and all-around desirable varieties for the western part of the state, but we could even improve over our varieties generally planted in the favorable southeast- ern part of the state. Would it not be worth while to produce a variety of apple as good as the Grimes' Golden, as hardy and prolific as the Duchess, as good keeper as the Ben Davis, combined with other desirable features? For western Nebraska we want an all-around good strawberry, raspberry, grape and plum — in fact every kind of fruit. Likewise every fruit tree, shrub, and flower of the entire state can be improved on. Good old Father Harrison (young in spirits, however) has done not- able work in improving the peony, phlox, and other perennials. He saw the chance and need of improvement and has given a lot of his time and money for this improvement work. If we only had a hundred more men like him. In Minnesota we all hear of Peter M. Gideon who originated the Wealthy apple at great personal sacrifices. Other similar instances could be cited, but as a whole such men are scarce and their means will often not permit them to do their favorite work, even though their hearts are willing. Therefore, let the state; we, the people; we, the citizens of Nebraska PLANT BREEDING FOR NEBRASKA. 187 for whose benefit this plant-breeding farm shall work, let us endeavor to bring it to life so that in the near future we shall have a well-equipped horticultural plant-breeding farm in operation. Then I am confident that we shall see some great and very beneficial results from it. In closing I wish to state that sooner or later our state will do just what I have here suggested. We need this plant-breeding farm, and I dare say that our State Horticultural Society will be instrumental in bringing this about. Let us start at once our propaganda, let us enlist the aid and good will of every citizen, and farmers especially, in this movement, and as soon as there is popular demand for it, we shall see our plant-breeding farm in reality. PLANT BREEDING FOR NEBRASKA. Max Pfaender, Mitchell, Nebr. Plant breeding is very interesting and fascinating work for the horti- culturist. As a rule we think that hybridizing or crossing and the grow- ing, selection, and propagation of new varieties is only to be performed by professors and government scientists. Not so, however. Every horti- culturist who will interest himself in plant breeding can do this work if a little practice is had and the few fundamental principles are under- stood. First I shall give very briefly just one important part of the theory of plant breeding. Here we have, for instance, tw'o varieties or species of a fruit or vegetable, the one is hardy, vigorous, and prolific, but the fruit or vegetable born by it is poor of quality and small. The other one is rather tender and a shy bearer, but the fruit or vegetable is of very good quality. Now we would naturally prefer to have a plant that would combine in itself the good qualities of both and lack their poor characteristics. In order to produce such a plant we would cross or hybridize the one with the other and from the resulting seeds grow as many seedlings as possible. Of these seedlings the strongest and most promising are kept and the rest discarded. When the plants bear the final test is made, the best fruited ones are kept and propagated, either by cuttings, layers, or grafting. For beginners this is really all of the theory that we need to know and in short can be stated as follows: To improve plants we cross a plant having certain desirable characteristics with another plant of the same or a similar species having other desirable characteristics, thereby aiming to unite into one plant the good qualities of both parents. Before discussing the practice of a plant breeding we must first get a rudimentary knowledge of the flowers and sexual organs of plants. I shall try to confine myself to some of the more common fruits because these have large flowers and are not complicated. As a rule we will find both male and female organs present in the same flower. The pistil with the stigma at its end is the female organ, and is always found in the center of the flower. Sometimes there are 188 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. one, three, five, or many. Around these pistils is either one, two, or many circles of stamens, the male organs. On the end of the stamen we have the anther or pollen bag. This contains the pollen grains, which are the male fertilizing element. Some of the flowers of fruits are shown in figure 1.. sTiqmft/ stamens Stfti-wbcir --|>ist»L. •I Curra.nt -stumeas J/LC^.^U-Txl ,' 5* stigmas stuTiiensi. ^hKe. Fig. 1. Showing some common fruit flowers in cross-section. In order to produce seed or fruit the pollen grains must fall onto the sticky stigma, and there it must stay and grow down to fertilize the ovum of the seed. Now as to hand crossing. The first thing to do is to prevent the flower to be crossed from being fertilized by its own pollen, or else we would get a self-fertilized seed, and so crossing would not have any effect on the results. To accomplish this the flower bud is emasculated a day or two before it would naturally open, this simply means to re- move the stamens from the flowerbud, special care being taken not to break open the anthers lest some pollen falls onto the stigma. Often to PLANT BREEDING FOR NEBRASKA. 189 do this successfully it becomes necessary to also remove the petals of the flower, but in all these operations the flower should be cut and hurt as little as possible. This operation of emasculation, can be performed by means of little tweezers or fine pointed scissors, and with some flowers I have used a sharp small stick like a tooth-pick and my thumb nails. After emasculation the flowers should be covered over with a small paper bag to prevent any foreign pollen from getting on to the stigma. Figure 2 shows a strawberry bud before and after emasculation. Figure 3 shows the flowers with the bag tied over. 1 "^tm ))u\^', CiCt iftami^ns. Fig. 2. strawberry bud before and after emasculation; A, before emascu- lation; B, after emasculation, showing the head of pistils (the stamens and petals have been removed. The next day or sometimes longer "the stigma will start to become sticky, just as though it were exuding a bit of honey, and then is the best time to apply the pollen from the flower which is to be crossed onto the first flower. If the two plants blossom at the same time, then it is best to pick several well-opened flowers and see whether the anthers are open and are shedding pollen when shaken on the thumb nail. If pollen drops easily then apply it directly onto the stigmas or shake on the 100 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. thumb nail and thence onto the stigmas. If the plants blossom at differ- ent time the pollen may be kept in small glass bottles for a few days and sometimes it is also advisable to try and retard the period of blos- soming by various methods, such as mulching in the case of strawberries and heeling in and keeping the plants frozen later than otherwise by a heavy mulch, but the tops must be covered entirely. This latter method is used for retarding the bush fruits and sometimes even trees. After the pollen has been applied and you are sure that some of the pollen has adhered to the moist stigma, then the bag should again be placed over the flower and a label attached giving names of parents and date of crossing When the fruit or seed is ripe the seeds should be washed out and either planted at once or stratified until the following spring. Strawberries and the bush fruits are best planted at once in fiats in rich sandy soil and kept in the hot bed or greenhouse until well up. When the third leaf is developed they should be transplanted into paper pots or flats, and in August or September they can be set outside into frames so that winter protection- can be given. Sometimes, if the plants are not big enough to set outside, they must be over-wintered in the cel- lar or a greenhouse. The grapes, apples, cherries, and plums are best stratified until the folowing spring or until fall when they are planted. With these last-named fruits the practice is often to graft them to older stocks so as to get fruit sooner. This grafting can be done the first or second year. The plant breeder should try to get as many of the native wild fruits and plants as possible and plant them near the named varieties. These are all valuable for crossing purposes, especially if we wish to produce hardy and vigorous kinds. The various named varieties can often be Fig. 3. Showing the paper bag covering the emasculated flower bud and the label showing names and date of the cross. crossed with extra good results. Some examples of crosses that could be made are given: Concord x Beta, Beta x Delaware, Perfection x Red Dutch, Houghton x Downing, King x Cuthert, Snyder x Rathburn, Compass x Surprise, and many others. Sometimes it is difficult to know which plant should be used for the MAN'S BEST FRIEND. 191 in all cases it is a good idea to use each plant for both male and female parent. In the foregoing remarks I confined myself largely to fruits, but the principles are the same for all plants. Great and interesting results can be produced with vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and trees. And often the breeding of annuals is practiced to a greater extent because results are evident within one year as a rule. The potato is a good plant to work on, and especially do we need a more disease-resisting variety. The structure of the potato flower is very similar to the fruit flowers described above, at least in general. It has one stigma in the center and five large stamens. Emasculate the flowers just as described for fruit flowers and wait until the stigma be- comes moist and sticky. Then cross with the desired variety. Also use the paper bag and mark the flowers crossed. In fall the seed balls should be gathered and the seed washed out and kept in a dry cool place until early spring. It is then sown in a hot bed or flats kept in a warm room. After the plants are two or three weeks old the little seedlings are transplanted into paper pots or flats and then set out into the field about the beginning of June, setting the plants the usual distance apart. If we are breeding for disease resistance then the plants should not be sprayed, but to make the test severe let those die which can not with- stand the ravages of disease, and then those few that do remain will surely be resistant varieties. In fall when dug the hill with the best looking and largest number of medium sized tubers should be saved and propagated. This is the manner in which all new varieties have been originated. For crossing purposes the wild forms of the potato are used to good advantage, and these can be secured from some of the seed houses or from the government bureau of plant introduction. MAN'S BEST FRIEND. A boy who had been born blind, but who had recovered his sight through an operation, was asked to name the most beautiful thing in the world. "A tree," he said, without a moment's hesitation. Folks who have had their eyes opened to the true beauty of this passing world will go far toward indorsing this boy's choice. For a tree, if not actually the most beautiful thing on earth, at least deserves to rank high in the scale of beauty as applied to nature. Certainly there is nothing in organic nature more stately and impressive than a great tree — say an oak tree a thousand years old, or a sequoia that has stood since the beginning of the era. This beauty with which a tree is invested in our eyes is due, not to the lines of the tree in themselves — for it is not the most graceful and symmetrical trees that look most beautiful to us — but rather to the inti- 192 NEBRASKA Sl'ATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. mate relation that there has existed between man and the tree from the dawn of time onward. " For the tree has been man's mainstay from time immemorial. It was his first shelter, his tower of refuge, his fortress in time of strife. It gave him his first weapons — his club, his spear shaft, his bow. Its bark and its branches went to make his first house. And today, though he thinks he has gone far beyond the stage when the tree is essential to his well being, he is still dependent upon the tree for much that goes to make life worth living. If every tree on earth were to be withered to the roots tomorrow, it would not be long before man would wither, too. For a world without trees would be utterly uninhabitable. Thus we have grown to love trees for what they have been to us and thus it is that they are beautiful to us. Strangely enough, though the tree has been so much to man, man has ever been to the tree but a destroyer. If one could see the pro- cession of the centuries in panorama it would doubtless seem to him that man's sole mission in life, outside his occasional fits of man killing, was to devastate the forests of the earth. Only within the past one hundred years has he begun to wake to his folly in this regard. It's high time we were waking. Henceforth we must feel something more than a mere sentimental regard for trees — we must cherish and foster them as the very guardians of the flame of human life. For they are just that. The happiness, even the very existence, of the human race of the future hangs upon the perpetuation of the forests of the earth. — Sioux City Tribune. MAN A CREATOR. C. S. Harrison, York. "I said ye are Gods." Wlien you go into a primeval forest where massive trees lift their great crowns into the air, and the emerald of their foliage seems to blend with the sapphire of the sky, you are filled with awe. You are a devout worshiper in God's great cathedral and the spirit of Bryant's forest hymn is upon you. "The groves were God's first temples." Yet the thought will come to you amid all this impressive awe and grandeur that you can produce all this. Blessings on the man whO' covered the drifting sand dunes of France with forest beauty and built stately tem- ples amid the desolation. Even today a man can lay the foundations of a sequoia cathedral if he chooses a congenial location. You say "it takes such a long time." Yes it took hundreds of years to build the cathedral of Milan which would look funny if dropped down in Yosemite. How long it took to build St. Peters. You, too, can build for the ages. Suppose out on a western prairie you plan for a magnificent temple to cover forty acres. Grander in conception than many an imposing structure. The man who plans for the future is himself immortal. Don't ORCHARD CULTIVATION IN SUMMER. 193 be selfish; live for the ages and they will not forget you. Plan your mas- sive temple. You need not spend millions piling costly stones on the foundation. Kindly mother nature will attend to that. The energy which goes into grass and weeds will be the capital which will rear your structure. Why not divert the wastes which lie all around us into forms of use and beauty? Take evergreens congenial to the soil and climate. Have your rows perfectly straight. Handle and plant with care. The man who plants grand things lives longer than the one who lives for himself and lets care or pleasure eat out his vitals. Suppose you are thirty. Lead a simple life and you should be eighty. In your declining years walk through the temple which you and God have built. What a consciousness you have of your own worth — one of God's factors in making earth beautiful. You have been co-worker with him as creator. Those massive trees nod you welcome with all their moving branches. The coolness, sweetness, freshness, and silence of the deep woods are there. Devoutly you uncover your head in deference to yourself and your heavenly father. You realize you have had your coronation down here. You are crowned "with riches and honor." And as you consider your relations to earth, instinctively you lift the prayer that you may be a pillar in the temple of God up there — a factor in the building of his heaven as well as of his earth — a star in the new system of astronomy on which he is now at work to shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father. IMPORTANCE OF ORCHARD CULTIVATION IN SUMMER. By E. F. Stephens, Nampa, Idaho. Traveling through the country I noticed that some orchards planted this spring, as well as some of the older orchards, have not yet been cultivated. People say to themselves and to others, "The spring has been unusually favorable, we have had more than the average amount of snowfall the past winter, we have had frequent spring rains." Under such conditions many a man feels that he can busily engage in other lines of work and that his orchard is not yet suffering from lack of cul- tivation. The planter who reasons in this way evidently forgets frequent show- ers or periods of drizzling rainfalls really require an increased amount of cultivation. Scientific men with ample time for study have demon- strated that where the rainfall is not more than one-fitth of an inch no addition is made to the amount of soil water stored; succeeding evap- oration quickly removes the light rainfall. The late Professor King of Wisconsin has demonstrated that an appli- cation of one pailful of water applied on the surface around a petted tree or plant each evening, for thirty consecutive days, will leave the sub- 194 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. soil under that tree or plant dryer than a contiguous yard of subsoil that has not received any water from any source. HOW DOES PROFESSOR KING EXPLAIN THIS? Artificial application of water to the surface, or a shower, or a rain, promptly develops a rapid evaporation from the surface. This sets in motion the law of transposition of soil moisture stored in the subsoil. The capillary circulation causes the moisture stored in the subsoil to rise to the surface, to take the place of that lost by evaporation. Under these conditions the stored moisture in the subsoil is lost by transpira- tion. A light rainfall may not, usually does not, wet down more than an inch or two, and this is speedily lost by subsequent rapid evaporation. Only the heavy periods of rainfall deposit water enough in the soil to reach down to and reinforce the supply of water already stored in the subsoil. Hence the skilful orchardist or gardener must start his culti- vator after each and every rainfall that crusts the surface. Tnis rainy spring has compelled me to cultivate some of our orchards nine times and we are now starting over all of our three hundred and eighty-five acres of home orchards the seventh time, this within a period of forty- eight days, cultivation having commenced March 20. Those who have conserved the very ample supply of snow and rain water given us during the month of January, February, and March now have a sufficient store of soil water to, with suitable tillage, carry their orchards forward a number of months, depending very much upon the character of the soil, the depth that water has been stored in the sub- soil and the character of the past and succeeding tillage. We have orchard lands that would be classed as high and dry lands which have not been watered in a period of twenty months, but the tillage has been such as to maintain three feet of soil moisture. This moisture could not be reinforced from below because, between the sur- face moisture conserved by cultivation and the lower underlying water table, there is a stratum of hardpan about twelve inches in depth. The soil auger shows three feet of conserved snow and spring rain, one foot of hardpan; under the hardpan three feet of soil gradually gaining in moisture down to soil water. This particular orchard, now entering upon its fifth season's growth, that is, the trees have been planted four years and five weeks, is now coming into bloom. The question of what can be done by frequent tillage is to some ex- tent governed by the texture of the soil. Where the soil is pliable, easily worked, carrying such percentage of silt or sand as will enable the culti- vator to keep it in a mellow condition it seems possible to conserve the moisture from month to month and from year to year. We note, how- ever, where spots of gumbo intervene that it is difficult to maintain such conditions of tillage as will surely store moisture from month to month or from year to year. nOUTICULTlKAL SUGGESTIONS. 105 ALKALI. Much of the soil in southern Idaho contains more or less alkali. This is detected by the character of the water in shallow surface wells. In our own orchards the wells first dug before irrigation b-egan de- veloped soft, good water at thirty feet. With the advent of irrigation the water of the wells was made brackish, and we v/ere compelled to go down seventy-five to one hundred feet, then finding pure, soft water, under a clay stratum of such thickness and quality as serves to inter- cept the alkali and surface waters and give us pure, soft, mountain water. We note in traveling through the country alkali rising in many places. Uncultivated roadsides will show alkali, while properly tilled adjacent fields or orchards will be completely free from alkali. Why is this? Suitable tillage and frequent cultivation very greatly reduce the loss of soil water. In other words, sixteen to twenty cultivations during the season very nearly prevent the loss of moisture by surface; ^here will be little subsoil water rising. If water does not rise from the sub- soil to replace that lost by evaporation, very little alkali will be brought to the surface; hence superior and frequent tillage is one of the very best methods of keeping down alkali. HORTICULTURAL SUGGESTIONS. J. A. Yager, Fremont. To thousands of people, especially the dwellers in cities and villages, the high cost of living is one of the absorbing topics; and it touches not only the laboring man so-called, but the mechanic, clerk, professional man, and all others save the person of affluence and large income. It is a burning question, and all manner of reasons are assigned as the cause. One will charge it to the high tariff, another to the powerful combina- tions known as the trusts, too much gold being produced, too many auto- mobiles, the concentration of the population in the cities, too many mid- dle men between producer and consumer. J. J. Hill has been telling the people, that if immediate remedial measures are Jiot taken, we may look for calamitous results. We may well agree with him, that the source of all wealth is the soil, and that commercial pursuits of cities have absorbed the dweller upon the soil, until the equilibrium between production and consumption has been seri- ously disturbed. National commissions have been appointed to investigate the whole problem, and the concensus of opinion is that more people should go back to the soil and become producers of the necessities of life. It is a grand provision in the economy of nature, that our tastes for employment dif- fer. The production of grain and live stock easily take first place in im- portance in this state. 196 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. But few people realize the extent of fruit culture, even in the state of Nebraska. It is true that commercial orcharding has not been developed very extensively, but the day is fast approaching when a large number of such enterprises for profit will be found in the eastern third of this state. Aside from the commercial orcharding, the farmer has his orchard and fruit garden for home use, even the city dweller may have fruit with a small initial investment. Who will venture to estimate the value, for home use alone of the fruit crop of 1911? Of course we often find a man who sees more beauty in a Jersey Red hog, than a Jonathan apple, but we need both the hog and the apple. Out of the dim mists of the past rises the G-arden of Eden, at the dawn of our race, and from that time to the present progress has been marked by horticultural achievements, the tendency constantly being toward higher and nobler impulses and grander moral and mental devel- opment. The alarmists and magazine writers are calling our attention to the fact that the American people are living at a killing pace and that there is great need for diversion, something to cause a man to for- get the daily grind and create a breathing place. I have a professional friend who tired of horseback riding for recreation; he said golf was a positive waste of time; of reading he did too much; dabbling in poli- tics bored him; an "auto" was beyond his means. He appealed to me to make suggestions as to how to spend his leisure moments. I suggest- ed a flower garden. This was four years ago. He scarcely knew a dahlia from a phlox, but he bought some books, a hoe, and some other hand tools, some seeds and bulbs and plants, and today on his lot, 140 by 140 feet, he has by far the finest flower garden in the city. He has become an enthusiast, has better health. The neighbors are doing like- wise, and a short time ago he said he could sell $250 worth of surplus plants each year if he were so disposed. A short time ago I asked a banker how business was coming along. With the faintest suggestion of a sigh and a half-hearted smile he said, "Business is first rate, deposits large, interest rates are going up, but do you see that pile of mail? I work till 10 o'clock to keep up with my business, and it is simply killing. I wish I could just do some common work. I would like to saw wood or carry brick, or drive a dray or some- thing." Now that man's physician should prescribe that our banker join the nature club, plant a flower bed, raise some small fruit, pick strawberries and mow his own lawn. That is the remedy for tired business men. Each recurring springtime, when the frosts and snows have melted away, and the sun begins to warm the earth, a veritable miracle is per- formed. No one can explain it, even the scientist does not tell how it occurs. It is the growth of plant life, a very common phenomenon but clouded in deep mystery. Go into your garden in the spring and take a handful of earth. It is not pleasant to the touch, the odor is not inviting, the sight is not pleasing, but great possibilities are contained therein. For each cubic HORTICULTURAL SUGGESTIONS. 197 foot of earth is the veritable apothecary shop of nature, where the most intricate prescriptions and formulae are are filled with unvarying preci- sion. Last spring I had had occsicn to move a clump of perennials on my lawn. There were three plants closely interwoven — a phlox, rudbekia and a paeony. Upon lifting the clump it was found that the roots were closely and almost inseperably intertwined. Each plant had been de- riving the particular material from the same black soil that was needful in its cell structure; each plant performed its natural function, each grew and blossomed and produced its particular kind of foliage and flowers. But who will say how the rudbekia drew the golden color from the soil, how the phlox found its pure white blossoms, how the velvety rose of the paeony, and especially the fragrance of the two latter, were extract- ed from the few handfuls of clammy dirt? If you want to be a philoso- pher, a scientist, a man of learning and a student, grow plants and trees and flowers. Fruit culture admits of intensive methods. A small area will give immense returns both in pleasure and in profit. You don't have to have a big farm upon which to raise fruit and flowers. We hear of $500 net being made from an acre of strawberries, not in Texas or Maine, but in Nebraska. Average annual returns from apple orchards exceeding any ordinary farm crop. I have often marveled at our wastefulness. No richer soil can be found anywhere than here in Nebraska ; and yet how much of it lies ab- solutely unused and unproductive. Take a drive through any of our splendid cities or villages of which we are so proud, and observe how many vacant lots are abandoned to the growth of obnoxious weeds, tin cans, coal ashes, decrep-it machinery. In fact, these lots become the hospital for the flotsam and jetsam and the cast-off debris of civiliza- tion. Imagine how many potatoes and cabbages, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and other small fruits might be raised on these self-same lots. Some years ago the enterprising mayor of Detroit observed all this. He banded the boys and girls together, and you have all read of the marvelous results that were attained. In the vacation time parents are hard put to find something for the boys to do; but let me tell you how to solve this problem. Help the boys to clean up the vacant ground just back of the house. Help them to care for a vegetable and fruit garden: make a mental note of the bene- ficial results to the boys, and observe how it decreases table expanses and adds to your sum of human happiness. Yes, the boy may play foot- ball if he will, but if he works some in the*garden you will always find him on the winning side at the ball game. He will be a leader, for he will have a stentorian voice and iron muscles that will shame the boy that smokes cigarettes and parades the streets, filling the air with fumes of "Duke's Mixture." 198 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. For several years I have been taking special interest in watching the poor orphan boys and girls at the Lutheran Orphan's Home in Fre- mont. Each one is allotted a small space of ground each spring, only a few square feet. Flower and vegetable seeds are furnished them, and under the direction of the superintendent the rivalry begins as to who can produce the best and the most from the seeds. You would need to see their little gardens to believe how much they can do with a little encouragement. It is my firm belief that some day in the future when the cry of high priced living becomes more insistent, men and women such as develop this kind of children, will point out the way by which we may still be amply fed, housed, and clothed. The day is not far distant when elemental horticulture and garden- ing will be taught in our public schools; we are far behind the European countries in this respect. Our young people are sadly deficient in the knowledge pertaining to plant growth, propagation, varieties and habits of our commonest trees, plants, and vegetables. Only last summer I was asked to make a little talk to about fifty teachers along this line. I was surprised to find that a number of the young ladies did not know even how to grow a geranium from a cutting. A young man with a second grade certificate seemed to think that grapes were either budded or grafted. I did not ask him how cottonwoods were propagated be- cause I feared to add to the embarrassment, and yet these men and women can solve an algebraic equation, translate Caesar and Cicero, square a circle, and instruct our children in calisthenics. The tilling of the soil and the drawing therefrom the necessities of life will be one of the chief subjects in our future college curriculum. Some day all the situations as bookkeepers, clerks, and stenographers will be filled; young doctors and lawyers will hardly find a place to nail their "shingles." These professional folks will stand in line waiting for a chance to get a foothold in life, but for all save a few the places will be filled, and in the language of the Bible, "many will be called but few chosen." Some day this will happen, but to all such the hand of opportunity is beckoning them back to the soil to engage in agricultural and horticultural pursuits. It is often said that distance lends enchantment, and it often happens that we do not fully realize the possibilities that lie all about us. To illustrate my point, I had two well-intentioned neighbors who had heard of the great profits in fruit growing in Colorado and Texas. The allure- ments of the promoters were irresistible. The neighbor who went to Texas looked for an ideal climate, no winter, no frost, no snow, plenty of rain, cool nights, no insects, good markets, agreeable neighbors, bounti- ful crops, and good prices. I was sorry when he left. The girls took the kodak along and were to send us pictures of the scenery there; but the results were very disappointing all the way around. It didn't rain much, the sage brush was about the only vegetation, the strawberry plants all died, coyotes, jackrabbits, and Mexicans were their only neigh- bors, the girls were lonesome, the mother discouraged.* They all came HOKTICULTLUAL SUGGKSTIONS. lU'J back to the fruitful fields of Nebraska. The neighbor who went to Colo- rado had a similar experience in manj' respects; he lost the fruit of five years' labor, and found that his own county was a better county for fruit than Colorado with all its allurements on paper. Planting an orchard is like depositing money in a savings bank, you get simple and compound interest. A man said to me this fall: "I have fifteen bushels of Grimes' Golden apples that cost me two cents per bushel." Asking how this could be he replied, "The tree cost me thirty cents and to all appearances it is good for ten more crops." A good investment I should say. A drainage ditch was being dug in Dodge county. The right-of-way required the purchase of three Wine- sap apple trees, twelve years old. Tho purchasing agent allowed $20 each, the original cost was twenty cents each, and the owner did not get too much. A farm for sale upon which a good orchard is located com- mands a higher price than the farm without an orchard. In advertising a house and lot for sale, the owner never fails to state that there are fine shade trees on the place, shrubs around the house, twenty bearing fruit trees, and all kinds of small fruit. Fruit growing has its vicissitudes; there are early and late frosts; there are insects that bite and suck and sting; there are rodents that gnaw roots; domestic animals will destroy trees; weeds are natural ene- mies; hail, drouth, and wind often play havoc. But what crop is there that is not subject to these besetments? The man who complains that fruit growing does not pay in Nebraska, not even for home use, is the man who plants his trees in a hurry, never cultivates them, gives them no water during a drouth, has no time to prune, does not know a spraying machine when he sees it; in fact absolutely neglects the trees after planting them. This man says that it is cheaper to buy fruit, but about the only time the children have any apples to eat is at Christmas time or some special occasion. Ordinary care and intelligence are as neces- sary in fruit growing as in any other line of endeavor. 1 think I cannot do better in closing than to recommend that each farmer in the state become a member of the State Horticultural Society. If you want to do something of permanent value, plant some trees and flowers, and this may prove to be more enduring than most of your other accomplishments. Professor Bessey of the State University is the Burbank of Nebraska, and he has been telling us to allow the leaves to lie on the lawn during the winter as a mulch to the shrubs and trees. Bixby of the Lincoln Journal has tried the plan and philosophizes as fellows: What he remarked — I read it all. Nor did I doubt or scoff it; Said I: "When leaves fall in the fall My lawn sha'l get the profit." In time they fell — T let them rest. Since that could be no blunder — 200 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Wheu lo; a wind came from the west And blew tliem all to thunder. The only solace for my grief Is that next season, surely, I'll anchor every blessed leaf And fasten it securely, Each leaf pinned down, so it will stay. Some time before election; Ah, Bessey, there's no other way In such a breezzy section. I read the pleasant line you wrote And said, "Oh what a pity To burn the dry dead leaves that float Like airships through the city." Then came the playful wind that sweeps Down like a winter blizzard; It piled those leaves in shapeless heaps From A half-way to Izzard. And now, old friend, it's up to you — I fear you will upbraid him, But what's a fellow going to do When nature will not aid him? The leaves that fell like snowflakes rare. And don't you ever doubt it, Have blown the devil knows where; What shall I do about it? RENEWING OLD ORCHARDS. Among the greatest strides of education along scientific lines, but few are greater than those along horticultural lines. Especially is this the case in the treatment of plant diseases, both fungous and insect. These and these alone have smitten the fruit industry of the Central West, and it has been left for the eastern and the western man to work out the cure especially the western man, and now that they have shown us how the work can be done, we are willing to fall in line and help the good work along. There is a desire the country over to renew the fruit industry, espe- cially that of apples, and thousands of acres will be set this spring or fall, and at the very best the owners will have to wait twelve to fifteen years to get profitable crops from them. This is all right if the owner is willing and is in a condition to wait. Years ago there were times when there was a desire to set large RENEWING OT.D ORCHARDS. 201 orchards, and they were set. Some of them were taken care of and some were not, but few of them are in good condition and bearing paying crops at the present time. But with proper care they could be brought into bearing within one-fourth the time required to bring a young orchard into profitablei bearing. Some of these old orchards have only a part of the trees sitanding, others have practically all of the original trees, some of which are sev- enty-five years old or older and yet they will bear profitable crops if properly taken care of. There' is really more business in the man who goes out and makes the old orchard "blossom as the rose" than the man who goes out and sets the young orchard. The latter may stay with his job and make it a success, while the former is sure of success at the beginning, and now is when this nation needs apples; the future will be able to take care of itself. If you only knew what luscious fruit is locked up in those old, partly dead, diseased trees, you would jump at the chance to get it out at once. It is there, and you need not worry, for if you do your part the trees and nature will do the rest. Never was this matter brought more forcibly to our minds than last spring, when, in making our annual pruning, we came to the old Milam trees, trees that had stood there for at least three-quarters of a century, and only one crop of apples in the past twenty yea:rs that was fit for anything. We naturally concluded that they were no good, and after some few arguments, decided to cut them down, as they were disease- breeders and were a means of infection for the younger trees. However, the work was delayed, and before we were ready to do the work, we had concluded to experiment with them, and experiment we did. The pruning was done carefully under my supervision, and very little top was left on them, at least some of them. However, we wanted a crop of apples the first year, as we were anxious to see the results, and care was taken to leave some of the healthiest small limbs which had fruit buds on them, but we were very particular to get the tops out so we could get them down low enough to work on them. „ We aimed to take out the dead wood, but did not in all cases; In fact, some of our limbs bearing the most of the healthy twigs were dead half way around, so we left them, and trust that the new growth will in a few years take their place. Even some of the bodies have quite a lot of dead wood in them. In fact in some cases we chiseled this wood out, that is, if it was decayed too much to be solid. We soon found that we were right in our guess, that these trees were veritable incubators of disease and insects. After the heavy pruning was over, I went over the trees personally with pruning f:hears and pruning knife and cut out small diseased branches which had been overlooked. In many places, too, the twigs were too thick; here I thinned out the desired amount. Just as the buds were swelling, but before they were open, we sprayed them with commercial lime-sulphur in the strength of 11 to 1, 202 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. We sprayed the trees very thoroughly, forcing the spray mixture into the dead places under the bark and, in tact, everywhere that anything could hide. We should have scraped off all the old bark, but we were too busy, and let it go. As soon as the blossoms fell, we sprayed them thoroughly with the lime-sulphur spray, but diluted to 40 to 1 and about 2 to 2i/^ pounds of arsenate of lead added; in fact, we used the same spray on these old- timers as we used on the younger orchards, and did the job just as thorough, possibly more so. We quit too soon, we will admit, yet we had not over 3 per cent of the late brood — we undoubtedly got them the first time — but we did have some curculio. This could have been prevented by spraying at the time the little leaflets started, with the dilute lime-sulphur and a little of the arsenate added. It is thought by many that the old-time varieties that one time did so well have passed their date of usefulness, and that they are not adapted to this country and climate any more, but our experiments here do not bear out this theory at all, but on the contrary show that the old varieties will do as well as ever if only given fair treatment. The old residents were* astonished at the size of the Milams we raised on these old stubs, and that the first year, after the renovating, and they are full of fruit buds, promising a good crop next year. What we have done for this old orchard on a small scale can be done in thousands of others on a small or large scale, and will return their owners a good profit before a young orchard would ever come into bearing. Apples are high now, so now is the time to grow them, for by the time the young orchard comes into bearing they may be so cheap or other obstacles present themselves, that there will not be the profit in them that there is today. Make your money today and spend it to make yourself and others happy, and at the same time set another young orchard to be coming on for your old age or for your children — or some one else's children. There are some important points not to be overlooked in putting new life into an old orchard, for we know we are to redeem this orchard by the use of the saw and the sprayer — mainly by the sprayer — after the first pruning is over. We should always do the best we can. so if we are unable to burn the brush we should drag it out of the orchard, making things as neat and clean as possible. In burning, however, we get rid of a lot of diseases. Old trees as a rule heial over very slowly, so it is advisable in all cases to have some paint and paint over the larger limbs that are sawed off; indeed it would pay to chisel out the dead wood and fill the cavities with cement if one were not in too big a hurry. In pruning we must bear one point continually in mind, and that is to get the tree as low headed as possible. If you want profit iVom the start you may have to leave the tree a little tallea- than you like, with a STATIC FAIi; FnilT EXIIIIUTS. 203 view of cutting it down lower when the lower growth is sufficient to make the entire head, but always bear this part in mind when pruning — a thorough job of spraying is next to impossible in a tall tree. Besides you will want to be up-to-date and thin your apples and raise great big ones to show your neighbor what you can do after he has been laughing at your efforts all summer long. It may be that the old orchard needs a tonic in the way of some manure or commercial fertilizers. However, the chance is that all it needs iS; a good plowing, not too deep, and after cultivating awhile sown to some cover crop, such as cow peas or vetch. If the ground is too roll- ing, rye may be sown to keep it from washing through the winter. Your old trees may be so low in vitality that they will not bear the first sea- son; if not, they will undoubtedly set the fruit buds for the next season. It is advisable in some cases to cut off all the large limbs and start a new growth, either from a few little sprouis or from those that will spring up from the body the first season. Care also should be taken to scrape off all the old bark, I am sure, for here and in the dead spots are the spores and eggs for infection the following season. Of course the majority of them are subdued by the spray, but enough escape at the best. I think here is where we got our supply of curculio, under this old bark. If there is a blotch in these old trees, all of the infected tv/igs should be cut out, then there will have to be a treatment of Bordeaux applied to control it, as the lime-sulphur will not be effective. Directions for this will be gladly furnished by your experiment station. The idea of putting new life into the old orchard is not altogether a new one, but it is one which has received but very little attention be- cause the fruit tide has not been as high for years as it now is. There- fore, in their eagerness to get fruit in the shortest possible length of time, this idea is to become very popular in the near future, no matter what your neighbor says about it. This is comparatively a new field of work, and I have covered it as fully as I can under the present circumstances, as there is to be a lot of learning along this line yet, and the coming season I hope to be able to give out some more data on the subject. Meanwhile do some experi- menting on your own orchard, and give us the results of your experience. — Omer R. Abraham, in the Fruit Grower. THE STATE FAIR FRUIT EXHIBITS. In- quantity the 1912 fruit show at the Nebraska State Fair by the State Horticultural Society was the largest ever staged. The south half of the state is maturing one of the biggest crops on record, and there is a sprinkling of fruit over all of the north half. The quality was good, but owing to the tardiness of the late varieties in putting on color the show lacked somewhat in that respect as compared with last season, when the fruit colored very early. 204 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The space provided for fruit was completely filled, as well as addi- tional temporary shelving with fruit entered for premiums, and much fruit brought in to be shown was placed under the tables for lack of space to exhibit it. The judges were called into action as the fruit was being arranged, and plates that showed plainly they were out of the running for prizes were placed to one side and finally under the tables. As usual the bulk of the exhibit was comprised of apples, but an ex- traordinary showing of pears was in evidence. The people of the state have generally considered pear growing as a failure until within the past few years, when pears have been doing better each year, and the present season the pear crop is of such proportions that they are being shipped in car lots from Otoe, Nemaha and other southeastern counties. Grapes also appeared to good advantage this season, as well as plums. The only de- partment that was not up to the standards of former years was the peach exhibition. The severe weather of two years ago killed almost all of the peach trees in the state. Growers have not lost faith in the peach for Nebraska, however, as evidenced by the talk of planting peach orchards the coming spring. Several prominent fruit growers are now planning to plant commercial peach orchards next year. The following counties were represented by county collective exhibits of fruit and rated in the order named: Nemaha by Duncan and Hessel- ine of Peru; Washington by Marshall Bros, of Arlington; Pawnee by C. H. Barnard of Table Rock; Lancaster by R. T. Chambers of Bennet; Otoe by Keyser & Marshall of Wyoming. Premiums on individual collections o>! thirty varieties or more were awarded as follows: 1st, Marshall Bros., 130 varieties; 2d, C. H. Barnard, 100 varieties; 3d, Charles B. Camp, Cheney, 80 varieties; 4th, G. S. Christy, Johnson, 60 varieties; 5th, Frank Williams, Tecumseh. On fifty plates of summer and fall apples, display and condition to rule, Frank Williams won first place with Striped Gilliflower and Esops Spitzenburg; Ray W. Hesseltine was second with a display of beautifully colored Duchess and Yellow Transparent; Marshall Bros, won third with Maiden's Blush, Wealthy, and Chenango Strawberry; and C. H. Barnard won fourth on Chenango Strawberry. These exhibits occupied the center table of the north wing and attracted more attention than any other classes in the hall. On fifty plates to be judged by the score card, Vel- vick & Whittaker, of Brownville, won first; Marshall Bros, second, Key- ser & Marshall, third, and C. H. Barnard, fourth. Premiums of $7, $5, and $3 were offered for the most attractive single plate of any variety of apples. Ray W. Hesseltine won first on a plate of Chenango, Frank Williams second on Striped Gilliflower, and W. Sebering, of Dubois, third on Northwestern Greening. On a collection of pears J. E. Atkinson, of Pawnee City, won first prize, Ray W. Hesseltine, second, and C. H. Barnard, third. On a collection of plums Marshall Bros, won first, W. F. Sidders, of Lincoln, second, and R. T. Chambers, third. On a collection of grapes the first prize went to Peru Fruit Farms of Peru, and Charles B. Camp won the second. SPRAYING APPLE TREES. 203 REPORT OF BUSINESS MEETING STATE FLORISTS' SOCIETY, JAN. 16, 1912. The annual meeting of Nebraska State Florists' Society was called to order by President C. H. Green. The minutes of previous meeting were read and approved. The president made a report of the progress, and a prosperous busi- ness among the florists during the past year, and the interest that has been taken in the display at the state fair. A motion was made and carried that the State Horticultural Society be asked to increase the premiums at the state fair. Messrs. Henderson and Green were appointed a committee to revise the premium list and submit the same to the Horticultural Society. J. E. Atkinson, treasurer, reported that the receipts were in excess of the expenses. The following officers were unanimously elected: President, Irwin Frey, Lincoln; vice-president, J. W. Lawson, York; secretary, Lewis Hen- derson, Omaha; treasurer, J. E. Atkinson, Pawnee City; trustees, C. H. Green, Fremont; Ed Williams, Grand Island; W. E. Davidson, Holdrege. LOUIS HENDERSON, Secy. SPRAYING APPLE TREES. By Prof. R. F. Howard, University of Nebraska. In every fruit growing locality there are men who refrain from grow- ing apples merely because they have the idea that it is an exceedingly ex- pensive and complex operation to protect the trees and crops from their natural insect and fungous enemies. This attitude not only characterizes a class of men not actually in the business, but it applies to a certain class of orchard owners. In general this is not true of our largest growers — men who have most of their in- terest and capital in the business. They have found, as men will find in every line of business when their future depends upon the success with which it is operated, that a certain amount of attention is as necessary to successful fruit growing as it is to growing any other crop. On the other hand, the number of apple trees in the state not receiving this at- tention probably aggregate more than those in "commercial orchards." Men who are familiar with the apple growing industry in the central west know it is -useless to attempt to grow apples now free from insect and fungous blemishes without spraying. The early settlers did not have to give their trees this attention. They were able to grow fruit free from these things because fruit tree pests, like many of our social evils, were not known until civilization was fairly well established. In a way this is un- fortunate for it usually takes a generation to get any new agricultural practice into operation after its need becomes evident. The department of horticulture of the University began a series of spraying experiments and demonstrations eight years ago in eastern Ne- 206 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICT 'LTLRAL SOCIETY. braska on apple orchards to show the growers the beneficial effects of spraying to produce fruits free from these pests and to determine just what its cost would be under Nebraska conditions. This work was car- ried on in twenty-two orchards, representing eighteen localities in thir- teen counties. The conclusions drawn from this work are based on the results under all sorts of conditions extending over this period. Apple scab and the codling moth worm are the two most troublesome pests the growers have to contend with in this state. The apple scab is a fungous disease that develops rapidly under certain favorable weather conditions and infests both the leaves and fruits of most of our cultivated varieties of apples. It makes its appearance about the time the trees are in bloom causing numerous brown patches upon the leaves and a scabby lilie growth upon the fruits. Tlie worm so often found inside the apples Is the larva of a small moth. This pest has reached such a stage of de- velopment in eastern Nebraska that we cannot expect to get more than 10 to 15 per cent of the apples free from the worms without spraying. Four sprayings are necessary to hold these two troublesome pests in check. Spraying to prevent apple scab should be regarded as a pre- ventative and not as a cure, for when the disease ohce gets into the tissues ef the plant any spray material that we could use with safety to the tree would not stop its development. The object then is to thoroughly coat all parts of the tree with something that will prevent the spores from germi- nating. The materials most commonly used for this purpose are lime sulphur solution or Bordeaux mixture. Lime sulphur is a commercial preparation that may be bought on the market in a concentrated form. It should be diluted about thirty times before being put on apple trees. As a similar spray, Bordeaux mixture may be made by slacking four pounds of store lime in a small quantity of water and diluting it to twenty- five gallons and then adding to it twenty-five gallons of water in which four pounds of copper sulphate (blue stone) has been dissolved. Lead arsenate in the proportion of two pounds to fifty gallons of spray material Is used for controlling the worm. The first application is for scab only and should consist of either lime sulphur or Bordeaux mixture. The proper time for making the first appli- cation is just before the flowers open. The second application should con- sist of the same material as the first application plus two pounds of lead arsenate dissolved in each fifty gallons and should be put on immediately after the flowers begin to drop. This is the most important spraying and it should be directed downward and with as much force as possible in order to get some of the poison into the blossom end of the apple before the little lobes cross. About three weeks later, the second spraying should be repeated. The fourth and last application should be given about the middle of July and should consist of lead arsenate and water two pounds to fifty gallons. The department of horticulture found that the cost of these four ap- plications, including the cost of all material and labor was about twenty- four cents per tree. A grown apple tree in an ordinary year should bear over five bushels, making the cost of producing clean fruit free from worms less than five cents per bushel. NinV SHAD12 TREE PEST. 207 There is no better land for apple growing to be found anywhere than in eastern Nebraska. This is especially true of those counties bordering the Missouri river from Burt to the extreme southeast corner of the state, including Nemaha and Johnson counties. Considering the cheapness of some of this bluff land, one wonders why so many investors from this state, who are anxious to go into the fruit business are rushing to the western states where the raw land alone is costing them three to five hundred dollars per acre. Orchards on our Missouri river bluff lands, if given the same good care that characterizes western methods, will pro- duce fruit equal in quality to any fruit growing region in America. Where western competitors have to pay approximately 50 cents per bushel to get their product to the markets, we have our own markets here at our door. No better evidence could be cited that eastern Nebraska possesses real merit as an apple producing section, than the fact that some of the best growers in the state and of the state horticultural society are leasing every available orchard in this region. NEW SHADE TREE PEST HERE. Within the past year a new pest of shade trees has appeared commonly in Lincoln which until about two years ago was entirely unknown in the city. This pest is known as the bagworm, because of the characteristic habit of the caterpillar of enclosing itself in a baglike case, within which it makes its growth and transformations. In the fall the fully grown cater- pillars attach these bags to the twigs of trees and after the leaves have fallen they may be found rather easily upon close scrutiny of the trees. This pest increased in numbers last year to such an extent that, con- sidering its reputation as a shade-tree defoliator in eastern and southern cities, fear is expressed of possible ill effect on Lincoln trees, especially valued evergreens. Although last year the bagworm was found attack- ing only deciduous trees in Lincoln, at least as far as information is avail- able, wherever it becomes established and evergreen trees are available it greatly prefers to feed upon these, and since evergreens are usually greatly injured with only one defoliation, there is need of watching these very closely. In Lincoln it w-as found mostly on boxelder and maple last year, but also on elm, sycamore and plum; and poplar, willow, oak, catalpa, locust, linden, apple, pear, cherry and apricot are known to be commonly injured trees in other cities. Among the evergreens it prefers arbor vitae and red cedar but practically all are attacked. "There is but one generation of the bagworm in a year," said Pro- fessor Swenk of the state university. "The insect passes the winter in the egg state in these bags hanging in the trees. Late in the spring, in May or early June, these eggs hatch and the tiny caterpillars desert the bags and scatter over the adjacent leaves, upon which they feed. These caterpillars are very soft bodied and soon each one begins the construc- tion of a protecting case or bag composed of silk with bits of leaves inter- woven to give additional strength, and this bag is continually enlarged as 208 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. the caterpillar increases in size. By latter August the caterpillars are fully grown, when they become restless and wander to other trees and shrubs, finally attaching the bag by silken strands to a twig and within it transforming to the chrysalis stage. About three weeks later the adult moths are formed, and while the winged males emerge from the bag and fly about, the wingless grublike females half fill the empty chrysalis skin with eggs, sometimes several hundred or more of them, and then force their way out of the bag, fall to the ground and die. These eggs survive the winter in the bag and hatch out the following spring, as described. "The bagworm is a southern insect which is extending its range north- ward and westward up the Missouri valley. It was found abundantly in various localities in the vicinity of Rulo during the present winter, prin- cipally in the river bottom among the willows and in the boxelders and cedars in the town. One farmer near Falls City, who has a grove of about two hundred cedars and pines from eighteen to twenty-five feet high, had them extensively injured and destroyed by this pest last