1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



223 



Gardening. — Mr. Robinson's "penny" venture 

 under the above title has been a remarkable suc- 

 cess. It has reached a circulation of, 50,000. 

 We are glad of it. The one who strives to add 

 to the knowledge of those already intelligent, 



serves usefully in society; but he who takes 

 knowledge down to the comprehension and 

 within the means of the multitude, seldom 

 acquires the fame the other does, yet is for all 

 among the blessed in the usefulness of his labors. 



Horticultural Societies. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. — 

 Arrangements have been made on a scale that 

 must ensure success, by which a Mississippi Hor- 

 ticultural Society is to be established. An exhi- 

 bition on a first-class scale is to be held 

 September 7th, 8th and 9th, at St. Louis. 

 Some remarkably liberal premiums are offered. 

 For instance, the best collection of stove or 

 greenhouse plants, $100 ; second best, $75 ; third 

 best, $50; fourth best, $25; and the offers for 

 fruits aj-e equally liberal. S. M. Tracy, 600 Olive 

 Street, St. Louis, is Secretary, who will send 

 schedules or other information. 



Nurserymen's Meeting at Chicago. — By the 

 time this appears in print the annual meeting of 

 the American Association will have been held at 

 Chicago, and it is to be hoped with a success it 

 deserves. It is composed of the best men in the 

 trade, who are anxious to elevate their business 

 to the social rank it deserves. The writer of this 

 was expected, and hoped to be present, as it is 

 well known the Association has his best wishes; 

 but as he was expected as Botanist to the State 

 Board of Agriculture, to address that bodj-^ jlbout 

 the same time at Gettysburg, and soon after 

 would have to leave with a party on a botanical, 

 horticultural and agricultui-al exploration 

 through East and West Virginia, Tennessee and 

 North Carolina, it was not possible to be present. 

 At the meeting at Cleveland last year, the re- 

 marks of Mr. Henderson on firming the soil, at- 

 tracted a great deal of attention. 



We have desired to give it in full, as it well 

 deserved, but only now have the opportunity of 

 doing so. He said : " It mav be useless to throw 



out any suggestions relative to horticultural 

 operations to such a body of practical men as is 

 now before me. Yet I candidly admit that 

 although I have been extensively engaged in 

 gardening operations for over a quarter of a 

 i century, I did not fully realize until a few years 

 ago, the full importance of how indispensable it 

 was to use the feet in the operations of sowing 

 I and planting. Particularly in the sowing of seeds, 

 j I consider the matter of such vast importance 

 I that it cannot be too often or too strongly told, 

 for the loss to the agricultural and horticultural 

 community by the neglect of the simple oper- 

 ation of firming the soil around seed must 

 amount to many millions annually. From the 

 middle of April to nearly the end of May of this 

 year, in many sections of the country there was 

 little or no rain. Such was particularly the case 

 in the vicinity of New York, where we have 

 hundreds of market gardeners who cultivate 

 thousands of acres of cabbage, cauliflower, and 

 celery, but the 'dry spring' has played sad havoc 

 with their seed beds. Celery is not one-fourth a 

 crop, and cabbage and cauliflower hardly half, 

 and this failure is due to no other cause than 

 that they persist in sowing their seeds without 

 taking the precaution to firm the soil by rolling. 

 " We sow annually about four acres of celery, 

 cabbage and cauliflower plants, which produce 

 probably 5,000,000 in number, and which we 

 never ftiil to sell mostly in our immediate neigh- 

 borhood, to the market gardeners, who have 

 many of them even better facilities than we have 

 for raising these plants, if they would only do as 

 we do, firm the seed after sowing, which is done 

 thus : After plowing, harrowing and leveling the 

 land smoothly, lines are drawn by the 'marker,' 

 which makes a furrow about two inches deep and 

 a foot apart; after the man who sows the seed 



