130 State Horticiilfiiral Society. 



Thursday, 8 p. m. 

 The program of the evening was varied by piano and vocal numbers. 



HORTICULTURE. 

 (By G. H. Malone, Columbia.) 



Third Prize Essay from Short Course Student. 



There are but few people of Missouri that realize the possibilities 

 of Horticulture in this great State, provided the same care is used in the 

 selection of seeds, plants, varieties, location and soil, and provided the 

 same management is used that a successful farmer or business man 

 employs ; that is, if a person has some knowledge of Horticulture. And 

 there is no place in the world where one can obtain that knowledge in so 

 short a time and at so little cost, as in the Horticultural department of 

 the Missouri State University. 



Care should be taken in the selection of seed or plants in Horticul- 

 ture, as in the selection of any other seeds. A great many apple seeds- 

 are imported from France, and are also procured in America, in lika 

 manner ; that is, they are saved from rotten, and knotty vinegar apples,, 

 and are more or less diseased. How can any one expect to get good^ 

 strong, healthy plants from small and inferior seeds. To get the best 

 results, you should be as particular to select the best seeds possible as you 

 would in selecting seed wheat ; so it is better to devise some plan to get 

 seeds from the very best, healthy fruit, or send to some reliable firm in 

 that business. Take these seeds and drill thickly, in rows 4 feet apart,, 

 and cover about 2 inches deep. The soil should be a deep, rich loamj 

 well drained, with good subsoil, and in a year they will make good, 

 healthy stocks; so the next thing to consider is the selection of scions. 

 Stock breeders, in selecting animals to breed, select those of the very 

 best type and quality they can procure ; so it is reasonable to suppose 

 that in order to obtain the best results in fruit culture, you must select 

 scions and buds from trees that have been fruited, and from trees with 

 fruit of the best type, color, quality and quantity, instead of from those 

 you know^ nothing of. In fact, this is proven to be true from the im- 

 proved varieties coming from well selected seeds and scions, with good 

 cultivation. 



Take these one-year-old seedling rots, and scions of one year old 

 wood, cut scions 6 inches long and graft on 3 or 4 inches of root, then 

 plant in rows 4 feet apart, with 6 or 8 inches between the plants, after 

 dipping in thin mud ; and press the dirt firmly around each plant. 



