318 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



From these observations we infer that animal 

 excretions, especially urine, afford most valuable 

 and appropriate food for plants. And our 

 cities are impoverishing the country by empty- 

 ing their sewers into the rivers. The time will 

 come when this wanton waste will be stopped, 

 and the wasted matters will be utilized. 



A convenient method of saving this liquid 

 manure is to collect it in a cask and deoderize 

 with dry earth or coal ashes. 



A recent number of the Scientific American 

 states that two ounces of kerosene oil and six 

 gallons of water make an excellent fertilizer, as 

 also an antidote to the ravages of insects. It is 

 to be applied with a watering pot between the 

 rows of plants and round the trees. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Centennial Exposition. — It is but fitting 

 that with the maturity of the exhibition fruits 

 should pour in with great abundance. It has 

 indeed been the great feature of the month. No 

 «uch an exhibit of fruits was ever made on this 

 earth ; and Americans had reason to be more 

 than ever proud of their country, as the foreign 

 visitors showered encomiums on the great exhib- 

 it. Among those who have especial reason to be 

 proud is chief Landreth. There is no department 

 of the exiiibition that has had so difficult a road 

 to travel as the Agricultural. It is no secret that 

 the plan as originally drawn out and partially 

 acted on almost ignored Agriculture and Horti- 

 culture. At the eleventh, or, more properly, 

 near the twelfth hour, the subject was taken up. 

 Horticulture had an early recognition from 

 Philadelphians, and the great conservatory be- 

 came a part of the original plan ; but the com- 

 mission never seemed to know what to do with 

 it, and instead of its having any bearing on the 

 great central idea of the exposition — the giving 

 of the people an idea of how horticulture has 

 progressed in America during the last century — 

 it became a mere deposit for a few palms and 

 economic plants, chiefly from the United States 

 Botanic Garden and the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Fortunately the Bureau fell into the 

 charge of an excellent practical landscape gar- 

 dener, who succeeded admirably in showing 

 what good summer bedding plants can be 

 brought to in our climate. That branch has not 



shamed America ; but there was no place at all 

 for fruits in the Horticultural Department, where 

 all over the world it would naturally be placed, 

 and so pomology was turned adrift to the cold 

 charity of the world till Agriculture ran against 

 the little child and took the foundling in. Thus 

 it has been with Mr. Landreth. He has had to 

 work without time for any well-digested and 

 uniform plan, and hence has had to make all 

 things work in together as they came up as best 

 he could. In .spite of all this the Agricultural 

 Department has been one of the most successful 

 of the whole exhil)its, and we are satisfied that 

 if the visitors could be polled by the Finance 

 Committee, to know where the dollars came 

 from, the vote would be that more came attracted 

 by the Agricultural Department than by any 

 other — the Government building, perhaps, ex- 

 cepted. 



But just now we are dealing with the fruits. 

 We will pass over with a mere reference to 

 doubts, annoyances, and innumerable difficulties 

 which surrounded the agricultural chief— es- 

 pecially at the hands of those who would no 

 doubt have been assistants instead, if they could 

 have understood the exact situation of things. 

 The only honest critics of the department are 

 those who have had only a partial knowledge of 

 the surroundings. Yet, in spite of all these diffi- 

 culties, nothing could be finer than the show. 



The fruit was arranged in long, narrow tables 

 of three shelves each. The real magnificence of 

 the whole, as seen at one glance, would have 

 been better appreciated by flat table.", but this 

 would have seriously interfered with the exami- 

 nation of the fruit by the judges, and the facility 

 for reading the names and studying the fruit by 

 the visitors. One or the other idea had to be 

 sacrificed, and we think the management acted 

 wisely in preferring instruction to mere general 

 effect. The chief exhibitors were the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society; Worcester County So- 

 ciety, of Mass. ; Benj. G. Smith, of Cambridge, 

 Mass. ; John Cummings, of Massachusetts ; J. 

 W. Manning, of Reading, Massachusetts ; A. S. 

 Sheller, of Lewisburg, Pa. ; Berks County Agri- 

 cultural Society, of Pa.; J. A. Nelson, of In- 

 dian Run, Pa.; H. M. Engle & Son, of Marietta, 

 Pa. ; Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. ; Mr. 

 Ricketts, Newburg, New York ; Minnesota Hor- 

 ticultural Society. The Slate Society of Iowa, 

 James Smith, Des Moines, Iowa, and the individ- 

 ual entries from Iowa, were quite numerous. 

 Of these we noted some fine fruit from E. H. 



