September 



1905 



AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SO- 

 CIETY. 



The annual convention of this re- 

 spected society was held in Kansas 

 City September 19-23. The program 

 was most attractive. Among the im- 

 portant subjects treated was "Apple 

 and Pear Blight," by Professor AVhet- 

 zel, a vegetable pathologist of Cornell 

 University. Professor Whetzel has 

 made several important discoveries 

 which were given to the public at ihis 

 meeting. 



The eminent agricultural explorer, 

 David G. Fairchild, of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, spoke of 

 the useful things we may expect to 

 procure from the unexplored regions 

 of the Orient and East. 



The horticultural history of the 

 states west of the Missouri was 

 rounded up in a series of spicy ad- 

 dresses at one session during the con- 

 vention. 



The subject of pruning was ably 

 handled by Mr. N. F. Murray of Mis- 

 souri, Professor Crandall of Illinois, 

 and others from the standpoints of 

 locality and needs of the tree. 



Among other important subjects 

 treated were cold storage by W. A. 

 Taylor, Division of Pomology, Wash- 

 ington, D. C; new fruits by Colonel 

 Brackett, United States pomologist. 



Several important committees made 

 reports. One of these was the subject 

 of inspecting and grading fruit under 

 consideration. Mr. C. H. Williamson 

 of Quincy, 111., was chairman. Among 

 the attractions was a reception and 

 banquet, a motor car ride through 

 the parks, and at the close of the con- 

 vention an excursion through the 

 famous Ozark fruit region of Mist^ouri 

 and Arkansas tendered by the Kansas 

 City Southern and Frisco railroads. 



PHILADELPHIA FLORISTS AMONG 

 THE DAHLIAS. 



A representative delegation from the 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia jour- 

 neyed to Atco, N. J., on the 16th inst. 

 at the invitation of the L. K. Peacock 

 Company to view the 130 acres of that 

 glorious autumn beauty which this 

 establishment has under cultivation. 

 Sixty-five of the beauty and chivalry 

 of the club made up the party. Under 

 the able guidance of Mr. L. K. Pei- 

 coek and his brother, Amos, and with 

 the valuable assistance of Mr. Maull, 

 the treasurer of the company, the party 

 was taken over the grounds. At 4 

 o'clock lunch was served on the lawn, 

 and after some speechmaking by 

 Robert Kift, L. K. Peacock and others 

 the whole party was photographed. 

 At -5.13 the train stopped to take the 

 delegation home, and it was a sight to 

 see them — every one laden with huge 

 armfuls of flowers, as Mr. Peacock told 

 them to help themselves. Those who 

 ■were not there missed a rare trcit. 

 Atco is a fine town in the estimation 

 of Ed. Flood and a few more of its 

 inhabitants; but to the outside world 

 Peacock and his dahlia farm are what 

 have made Atco famous. All the 

 dahlias are there— gathered from 

 everywhere — and by the million! 

 They can supply the whole world. As 

 to varieties and their merits — that will 

 have to be another story; no room this 

 week. 



HORTICULTURE, 



SOCIETY OF IOWA FLORISTS. 



At the last meeting of the society, 

 in Des Moines, the following officers 

 were elected for the ensuing year; 

 President, G. A. Heyne, Dubuque; 

 vice-president, Theo. Ewoldt, Daven- 

 port; secretary, Wesley Greene, Daven- 

 port; treasurer, S. E. Muntz, Dubuque; 

 J. C. Rennison, Sioux City, J. F. Wil- 

 cox. Council Bluffs, E. C. Keck, Wash- 

 ington, and Mrs. S. E. Muntz were 

 elected on the executive committee. 

 Mr. G. A. Heyne read a paper on "Or- 

 namental School Grounds — Their In- 

 fluence on the Pupils and Benefit to 

 the Florist Trade"; and William Tril- 

 low described the method used by the 

 Iowa Seed Co., in propagating hardy 

 shrubs. The next meeting of the so- 

 ciety will be held in Dubuque. 



325 



NOTES. 



The Kentucky Society of Florists 

 held a special meeting on Thursday, 

 September 14, at Aug. R. Baumer's 

 store, to consider business relative to 

 the coming show. 



Our report of the Newport Horticul- 

 tural Society's show in last week's 

 issue should have credited Mrs. C. M. 

 Bell, D. Mcintosh, gardener, with sec- 

 ond prize for group of palms and 

 foliage plants covering 100 square 

 feet, instead of 50 square feet. 



The dahlia show of the American 

 Institute at the hall of the society in 

 New York City, was held on Wednes- 

 day and Thursday of this week. There 

 was a splendid showing of new and 

 beautiful varieties, besides the usual 

 contributions of fine flowering and 

 foliage plants. 



The Gardeners' Club of Baltimore, 

 met at their hall on Monday evening, 

 Sept. 11. A goodly number was pres- 

 ent, and a .general routine of business 

 was enacted. F. Lautenschlager, rep- 

 resenting Kroeschell Bros. Co., gave a 

 talk on the merits of wrought iron 

 boilers vs. cast iron boilers, also dem- 

 onstrated the workings of Kroeschell's 

 new chain wrench, "The Ideal." 



EARLY HISTORY OF INSECTI 

 CIDES. 



(Continued from page 206.) 

 J. Murray, In 1841, used sulphur and 

 alcohol against mildew on peach trees. 

 In December, 1844, nitre and water 

 was used for mildew on chrysanthe- 

 mums. On March 5, 1842, David Hag- 

 gerston was awarded a premium of 

 $120 by the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society for the cheapest and 

 most effective mode of destroying the 

 rose bug. It was 2 pounds whale oil 

 soap to 15 gallons water. 



A recipe made up by Nichols con- 

 sisted of soft soap, flowers of sulphur, 

 nux vomica, and soft water. Supposed 

 to be good for any scale insects. 



Loudon publishes Hamilton's recipe, 

 consisting of the following ingredients: 

 sulphur, Scotch snuff, hellebore pow- 

 der, nux vomica, soft soap, cayenne 

 pepper, tobacco liquor, and boiling 

 water. Hamilton himself mentions 

 that solution as a specific, if properly 

 used: that is, while you wash the 



plants with this solution, remove the 

 insects. 



In 1S49, Hemery, a French nur.sery- 

 man, recommended for peach mildew 

 aconite branches and tubercles and 

 water to be followed right off with 

 pigeon dung and urine. Grison, head 

 vegetable gardener at Versailles, rec- 

 ommended flowers of sulphur, fresh 

 slaked lime, and water for mildew. 

 The liquid was called "The Grison 

 Liquid," and is still in use. 



In 1850, J. Young of Louisville, Ky., 

 found that covering the young fruit 

 with a thin coating of lime was a pre- 

 ventive for the plum curculio. 



In 1861, W. F. Radclyffe experi- 

 mented with copper sulphate, as it was 

 used with good success for smutty 

 seed-wheat. He tried it on roses for 

 mildew. Not long after that growers 

 were warned not to use sulphate of 

 copper, as it would kill roses by com- 

 ing in contact with their roots and no 

 more was heard of it until 1883, when, 

 under the directions of Millardet, ex- 

 periments were made in the Medoc 

 with sulphate, carbonate, phosphate, 

 and sulphide of copper. 



I may say a few words in regard to 

 the invention of Bordeaux mixture. 

 In southwestern France, in the Mari- 

 time department of Gironde, is situ- 

 . ated the city of Bordeaux. It is one 

 of the greatest grape-raising districts. 

 It was here that the downy mildew of 

 America made its first appearance 

 about 1878. 1882 was particularly 

 favorable for the disease and but few 

 vines escaped the attack. These that 

 escaped were situated along the high- 

 ways. Vineyardists in these localities 

 had suffered considerable losses from 

 the stealing of their grapes by children 

 and travelers along the highways. It 

 had been the custom to sprinkle verdi- 

 gris upon a few rows near the highway 

 to give the appearance of having been 

 poisoned. Some years before the ap- 

 pearance of the downy mildew, this 

 substance being too expensive, it was 

 replaced by a mixture of the milk of 

 lime and some salt of copper. The 

 vines thus treated were the ones which 

 had retained their foliage through the 

 fall of 1882, while others growing 

 further from the road lost their leaves. 

 Prillieux and Millardet were among 

 the first ones to note the effect, and 

 they started at once to work out a 

 proper solution in which work they 

 were assisted by U. Gayon, professor 

 of chemistry In Bordeaux. It is conse- 

 quently to these men that the honor 

 of having first experimented with the 

 "Bouillie Bordelaise," as it then 

 began to be called, may be granted; 

 and to Millardet in particular may be 

 given the credit of being the first to 

 plan and publish results which showed 

 plainly the value of the copper com- 

 pounds in commercial work. 



