December 28, 1«07 



H O K T I C U L T U R E 



847 



British Horticulture 



THE POPULARITY OF THE SWEET TEA 



A proof of the continuous increase in the populanty 

 of the sweet pea is afEorded by the success attained by 

 the National Society watching over its interests. M 

 the recent annual meeting the committee reported that 

 the Reading trials, the Floral Committee's work and the 

 new affiliation scheme have all been eminently success- 

 ful. There has been a steady increase in the member- 

 ship whilst financially the Society is in a sound condi- 

 tion. A new "Year Book" is in course of preparation. 

 Amongst the American supporters of the Society are 

 Messrs. W. Atlee Burpee & Co. of Philadelphia, and 

 Messrs. C. C. Morse & Co., Santa Clara, California. 

 Mr. Cuthbertson is anxious to see a closer union be- 

 tween American and British growers, for he advocated 

 an American membership with a dollar subscription. 

 The work) of the National Society is now to be supple- 

 mented by a new organization, tlie ilidland Counties 

 Sweet Pea Society. The jirornoters intend liolding a 

 show in one of the chief towns in the Midlands each 

 year, the first to be held in Wolverliampton on July 29. 

 1908. 



THE POTATO SLUMP 



Although the sweet pea society is enlarging its 

 sphere of work, another of -tlie newer liortieultural or- 

 -ganizations has just wound up its affairs. After a 

 career of about four years the National Potato Society 

 has been dissolved with the view of further steps being 

 taken, if possible, to found a society which will include 

 all vegetables within the scope of its operations. The 

 Society came into existence at the time of the "boom," 

 w-hen certain new varieties of potatoes were sold at fab- 

 ulous prices. The market was then flooded with alleged 

 new varieties — some of tliese w-ere old friends under a 

 new name. At this time tliere was no difficulty in get- 

 ting a strong trade section at the Society's shows. At 

 the two last shows there has been a decline in the trade 

 interest, and with the limited balance available the 

 committee did not feel justified in embarking on the 

 uncertainties of another show. It is a great pity that 

 the Society has collapsed for there is plenty of scope 

 for its operations in safeguarding the interests of the 

 trade growers, conducting trials, and testing and certifi- 

 cating new varieties. The difficulty apparently was to 

 secure a harmonious working between the trade section 

 and tliose more concerned in private gardens. 



THE C.iRNATION SHOW 



The third annual sliow of the National Winter Flow- 

 ering Carnation Society held on December 11th, was a 

 decided advance as regards number of entries and 

 quality of exhibits compared with the Society's previous 

 efforts. The Guenisey specialists were well repre- 

 sented, and loomed largely in the prize list. ilr. H. 

 Burnett, of Guernsey, who has raised several popular 

 varieties, secured a large gold medal of the Royal Bo- 

 tanic Societv from an admirable group in which some 



meritorious seedlings were included. Creditable groups 

 were arranged bv tbo leading trade growers. 



>t5y. (keli^. 



The White Fly in California 



The discovery of the dreaded White Fly in Califor- 

 nia last summer has caused the planning of a campaign 

 somewhat similar to that in New England against the 

 gipsy and browntail moths, only on a much smaller 

 scale. First found in Marysville. a vigorous search 

 has since been made over the State with the result that 

 the most feared of all Florida's citrus fruit pests has 

 been located in Marysville, Oroville, and Bakersville — 

 three prominent points for further dissemination of the 

 insect At all these points are well established colonies. 

 Besides these three there are doulitless other places 

 where tlie flics occur, at least in small numliers. The 

 danger of one insect spreading is very minute, but 

 when abundant, spreading seems inevitable. During 

 the past year iimdi bas lieen done to reduce the num- 

 liers. County horticultural commissions, the State and 

 the Experiment Station all united to control as far as 

 possible this serious menace to the citrus fruit industry 

 of the Pacific coast. 



The Oroville situation presents three interesting fea- 

 tures. They are probably an off-shoot from the Marys- 

 ville colony, they were doubtless carried by the electric 

 cars and they are thriving in a humid climate, an en- 

 vironment where it was believed they could not exist. 

 The pest is here to stay and a continual fight will have 

 to be waged against it. for it is the worst citrus pest 

 we have. In Florida it causes more damage than all 

 the others put- together. 



The aim will be to eradicate the colony at Bakers- 

 ville, as it is altogether too near the great citrus belt. 

 To this will be added the subduing of dangerous col- 

 onies by fumigation and defoliation ' of the trees, not 

 for the benefit of the community where they 

 exist but for the whole State. For this reason the cost 

 should, and probably will, be borne by the State, es- 

 pecially as the policy must be laid out with the greatest 

 aid to the greatest number. 



Economic control consists in fumigating. Two things 

 must lie considered. One is to give the tree a rest 

 after fumigating and the other is to prevent smutting 

 of the fruit. Just what the next canipaigTi will be is 

 not yet know-n. But the vigorous start will be contin- 

 ued although doubtless with some modifications as to 

 the concentration of authority and the extent to which 

 inspectors can go. The principal fact is that the White 

 Fly must now be added to the list of dangerous pests 

 in California and the citrus growers must prepare them- 

 selves for a long. hard. u.p-hill fight against this most 

 destructive insect. 



R. L. Adams. 



