I 



HORTICULTUKE 



October 5, 1918 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE. 

 New Assistant Secretary Appointed. 



Dr. R. A. Pearson has resigned from 

 the position as assistant secretary of 

 agriculture in order that he may re- 

 sume his duties as president of the 

 Iowa State College of Agriculture and 

 Mechanic Arts. Dr. Pearson came to 

 Washington at the urgent request of 

 Secretary Houston shortly after the 

 United States entered the war, the 

 college having very generously con- 

 sented to have him assist the depart- 

 ment in the handling of the many 

 emergency problems that had arisen. 

 After an absence from the college of 

 nearly a year and a half. Dr. Pearson 

 felt that it was necessary for him to 

 return to his former position and to 

 give his entire time and attention to 

 the affairs of the college. 



The nomination of .Mr. G. I. Christie, 

 of Indiana, to succeed Mr. Pearson, 

 has been transmitted to the Senate. 

 In April of this year Mr. Christie 

 came to Washington as assistant to 

 the secretary to aid the department in 

 further organizing and developing its 

 farm-labor activities. More recently 

 he has been representing the secre- 

 tary in the field in connection with 

 loans from the President's special 

 fund to farmers in Montana, North 

 Dakota and Washington. 



Mr. Christie was graduated from 

 the Ontario Agricultural College, re- 

 ceiving the degree of B. S. A. He 

 also received the degree of B. S. A. 

 from the Iowa Agricultural College. 

 He was assistant in agronomy, Iowa 

 State College, Ames, Iowa, 1903-1905; 

 assistant in soils and crops, 1905-1906,; 

 and he has been superintendent of 

 agricultural extension work in In- 

 diana since 1906. He is a member of 

 the National Educational Association, 

 the Indiana Corn Growers" Associa- 

 tion, the National Seed Analysts' As- 

 sociation, and the Association for the 

 Promotion of Agricultural Teaching. 

 He was superintendent of the Indi- 

 ana agricultural exhibits at the Pan- 

 ama Exposition, and was chairman of 

 the agricultural committee of the In- 

 . diana centennial celebration in 1916. 



To Sliow Killing Frost in Fall. 

 The Weather Bureau will publish 

 this fall in its National Weather and 

 Crop Bulletin a series of charts show- 

 ing for the country east of the Rocky 

 Mountains the southward progress of 

 the earliest killing-frost date line and 

 the total area covered by killing frost 

 to the date of each issue. These 

 charts are expected to be of much In- 

 terest and value, as they will indi- 

 cate the time of the ending of the 

 growing season for summer crops this 



year in the various sections of the 

 country. Much loss occasionally comes 

 from early frosts, and interest is un- 

 usually great this year because of the 

 possibility of frost damage affecting 

 the food supply. The National Weath- 

 er and Crop Bulletin will be published 

 weekly until October 9. and thereafter 

 monthly. 



Obituary 



TREE HOMAGE. 



When we attempted some time ago — 

 vainly, of course — to attract the atten- 

 tion of Bondsmith and his associates 

 in municipal administration to the 

 need of drainage inlets along the Bel- 

 field Avenue Boulevard, we spoke only 

 of the distress and damage done to 

 houses and individuals by accumulat 

 ing rain-pools. We refrain from saying 

 anything about the numerous noble 

 trees destroyed by this piece of muni- 

 cipal incompetency and neglect. Stand- 

 ing in one pool, a pest-hole and an eye- 

 sore of several years, in Fisher's Hol- 

 low, there are today five stark and piti- 

 ful skeletons which were once, and 

 might still be, things of living beauty. 

 They were once three lovely, spread- 

 ing beeches, a sturdy, full-bosomed oak, 

 and a towering tulip-poplar. Bond- 

 smith may have read recently in the 

 news of the death of Joyce Kilmer in 

 the trenches in France. We doubt if 

 he is at all familiar with that inspired 

 poet's splendid tribute to "Trees." 

 Since the poem is l)ut 12 lines long, we 

 reprint it here in the hope that Bond- 

 smith may take two minutes from his 

 day. so busy with other things, to read 

 and ponder .it: 



I think (hat I shall never see 



,\ poem lovely as a tree. 



.\ tret' whcise hunjji'.v month i8 prest 



ASJiii'Kt the earth's sweet-flowing ttreast : 



.\ trei- that loolis at tioil all ilay 



.\n(l lifts her leafy arms to pray; 



A tree that may i'l snmmer wear 



,\ nest of rol)ius in her hair; 



I'pon whose bosom snow has lain: 



Who iminiately lives with rain. 



rooms are made by fools like me, 



lint only (tOtI can make a tree. 



If he was a fool who made the poem, 

 what shall we call him who unmakes a 

 tree?" 



The foregoing clipping from a local 

 daily is a mild whack at the local 

 Tammany of Philadelphia, of course, 

 but it is worth 'reprinting — the lines 

 about trees meriting enshrinement 

 among our gems of literature. 



G. C. W. 



Hartford, Conn. — In addition to the 

 jjersons who donated fruits and vege- 

 tables to i)e sold at the close of the 

 Connecticut fair for the benefit of The 

 Times Tobacco fund for American 

 soldiers in France were the following 

 florists, whose flowers helped to swell 

 the fund: Coombs, Mrs. A. A. Pope. 

 Farmington; Neal Nelson, Maple 

 avenue; East Hartford Gladioli Com- 

 pany; F. 11. Pond, Bristol; C. Lo;iis 

 Ailing, New Haven; A. B. Goodrich, 

 Glastonbury; C. W. Brown & Son, 

 Ashland, Mass., and W. W. Thomson 

 Company, West Hartford. G. R. 

 Schrivener was superintendent of the 

 floral hall. 



John Enos Blocksidge. 



.\ telegram received in Swampscott. 

 Mass., from the war department in 

 Washington announces that Corp. 

 .lohn E. Blocksidge of Company G, 

 127th infantry, was killed in action 

 Sept. 2, Corporal Blocksidge was the 

 son of Harry and Mrs. Mary .1. Block- 

 sidge. He was born in Toronto, Can- 

 ada, Aug. 2'i, 1890, and is survived by 

 his father and mother and one sister. 

 Miss Minnie E. Blocksidge, Corporal 

 Blocksidge went to Camp Devens 

 with a contingent from Division 24, 

 April 27 of the present year and 

 sailed for "overseas" with the com- 

 mand to which he was attached July 

 S. He was well known in the Phil- 

 lips Beach and Beach Bluff sections 

 of the town, and his death coming so 

 soon after entering the service of his 

 country comes as a sudden blow to 

 his relatives and friends. No partic- 

 ulars accompanied the telegram an- 

 nouncing his death, but from letters 

 received from him by the members of 

 his family it is known that he was 

 well up on the front line. The 

 death of Corporal Blocksidge will go 

 on the record as the third of Swamp- 

 ccott's sons to be killed in action. 



Both John E. Blocksidge and his 

 father Harry Blocksidge have been 

 members of the Gardeners' and Flor- 

 ists' Club for years. 



BUSINESS TROUBLES. 



Walter A. Finney, florist, 714 Main 

 street, Leominister. Mass., is a peti- 

 tioner in bankruptcy. He owes $1,280 

 and has no assets. 



Dayton, Ohio. — The greenhouse es- 

 tablishment of the iliami Floral Co. 

 will be sold to the highest bidder at 

 the receiver's office in the Schwind 

 Iniilding on October 17. 



Discontinuance of the city's green- 

 house on College Hill at Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y., as a measure of coal conserva- 

 tion may be adopted by the Board of 

 Public Works when its budget is finally 

 made up. Mayor Butts and President 

 of the Board of Public Works, Alex- 

 ander C. Dow, admitted Monday after- 

 noon that the question is under con- 

 sideration. They say it is felt that the 

 greenhouse is in no sense an essential 

 institution, and regrettable as it would 

 be to dispose of the city's many excel- 

 lent plants, it may he preferable to 

 running the place and burning up a 

 considerable amount of good coal. 



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