60 Third Annual Report 



man informed me that several years before D. M. Ferry & Co. 

 had sent the scholars a lot of flower seeds to be grown on the 

 school grounds and that every "kid" got perfectly crazy about 

 growing flowers and the result was, that ever since they had 

 spent a large amount of money for flower seeds ; that every year 

 they all had to send to D. M. Ferry & Company for seeds. So 

 the Company got their money back and more. 



J. W. Clark: If you will allow me I wish to speak before 

 your society and the college men here in relation to the breeding 

 of plants. We all know that we have got to grow better fruits 

 ui the future than we have in the past; you have got to have a 

 dififerent style tree than you have had. Our trees vary in their 

 style of growth ; some are tall growing, some low, some spread- 

 ing, some upright, some bear annually, some every other year. 

 Our stations ought to take hold of the breeding of fruits and 

 keep a record of their work, the crossing of trees of different 

 character either in style or bearing quality, such as the crossing 

 of a Ben Davis, for instance, with a quality of a Northern Spy 

 or some other juicy apple and with an annual bearer, and in- 

 stead of a growth 40 feet high that it will be not more than 

 15 or 20 feet. 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS IN HORTICULTURE. 



J. h. HILLS. 



A survey of Bulletin No. 116 of the Vermont Station issued 

 last June, discussing in its 104 pages the commercial fertilizer 

 trade of the State, discloses the fact that there were 137 brands 

 of fertilizers licensed for sale in 1905. Eighty-one of these were 

 special goods, i. e., presumedly compounded for the special uses 

 of special crops and 56 were for general uses. Not one of the 

 137 brands was constructed for orchard uses. Neither the names 

 of the goods, the claims the manufacturers make for them, their 

 composition nor the Station analyses indicated that orchards 

 needed attention. There were 19 different goods called corn 

 fertilizers, 38 were dubbed potato fertilizers, 8 were designed for 

 grain crops, 9 for grass and for oats and 6 were offered to the 

 market gardener; but none were made for the orchardist. What 

 then shall he do in case he thinks that his orchard needs added 

 plant food? 



