3*6 



GARDENING. 



July 



and some not. It is from this time on 

 that it is interesting to watch them tor a 

 period. Those with no seeds on push 

 into leaf and into growth, every day 

 adding to their length of growth. But 

 how different those behave that are bear- 

 ing seeds. The foliage expands iust as it 

 does on the other trees, and casual ob- 

 servers would not know that they are 

 making no growth at all. But it does 

 not; not an inch; all its energies being 

 completely taxed in the perfecting of its 

 seeds. The seeds of this maple are ripe 

 in May and as soon as they drop Irom 

 the tree mark what a change takes place. 

 The food which the seeds required now 

 goes to the pushing on of wood growth, 

 and out spring the young shoots in all 

 directions. It is one of the best lessons 

 of the kind I have ever observed. The 

 tree alongside which bore no seed w 11 

 have made perhaps a foot of growth by 

 this time, and this advantage over the 

 other it maintains all through the season. 

 In flower beds in summer it is the rule 

 to cut off all decaying flowers. Neatness 

 demands this, of course, but aside from 

 this there would be less growth and, of 

 course, less flowers were they permitted 

 to form seeds. In the case of rhododen- 

 drons it has come to be a recognized rule 

 with gardeners to look over their plants 

 soon after flowering, cutting off every 

 decayed head to prevent the formation 

 of seed pods. Where this is overlooked 

 there will be less growth made and fewer 

 flower buds formed for the next year. As 

 will be inferred from the above remarks, 

 in the case of youngfruit trees it is wrong 

 to allow them to bear heavily. The 

 weakening it causes becomes permanent, 

 and the tree never becomes the vigorous 

 specimen all lovers of trees like to see. 

 It is therefore plain that vigorous growth, 

 flowering and seeding cannot all be had. 

 It then remains for the one who has a 

 case before him to make up his mind 

 which of these three things he wants. Is 

 it growth of plant, flowers or seeds? So 

 far as concerns fruits, even when trees 

 are of fair size, a moderate crop is much 

 better than a heavy one. Branches bear- 

 ing "like ropes ol onions" is reprehensible 

 instead of commendable, yet the state- 

 ment of such an occnrance is often boast- 

 fully made. Stanton. 



Societies. 



Nebraska Horticultural Society.— 

 The executive committee has decided to 

 offer $10(10 in premiums for a display of 

 horticultural products for one week in 

 connection with the Nebraska exhibit at 

 the Trans-Mississippi exposition. 



The Kankakee Valley Horticultu- 

 ral Society, Kankakee, Ills. — The an- 

 nual Strawberry and Rose Festival was 

 held on the fair grounds June 11. There 

 were large displays and nine premiums 

 were awarded for berries and thirteen for 

 rose exhibits. 



Noble County Horticulutral So- 

 ciety'. Albion, Ind— The subject discussed 

 June 16 was "Strawberries," a dozen 

 papers being read upon the various 

 stages of evolution from "soil" to "short- 

 cake." There was a Jarge exhibition of 

 very fine fruit under the direction of J. C. 

 Grossman, of Wolcottville. 



Columbus Horticultural Society, 

 Columbus, Ohio. — The last meeting until 

 September was held at the State Univers- 

 ity on June 25. There were interesting 



reports from standing committees and 

 Prof. A. D. Selby, of the Ohio Experiment 

 Station discussed "Can Leaf Curl of the 

 Peach be Controlled?" 



Wisconsin Horticultural Society 

 Appelton. Wis. — Nearly 150 members 

 attended the annual session June 24. The 

 program consisted of a discussion ol San 

 Jose scale legislation and the following 

 papers: "What Horticulture Has Done 

 for Southern Wisconsin," George J. Kel- 

 logg, of Janesville; "Benefits to Be Derived 

 from a Good Working Local Society," 

 Mrs. J. D. Treleven, secretary of the Omro 

 society; "The Progress and Mission of the 

 Wisconsin Horticulturist." Mrs. Franklin 

 Johnson, of Baraboo. 



Connecticut Horticultural Society, 

 Hartford Conn. — The summer exhibi- 

 tion, June 20 and 21, was very success- 

 ful, both in point of attendance and in 

 number and quality of exhibits. W. B. 

 May, gardener for J. J. Goodwin, made a 

 splendid exhibition of strawberries, note- 

 worthy in this class being his British 

 (Jueen. a late variety new to this coun- 

 try. He also showed some very hand- 

 some unnamed sweet peas from seed 

 raised by the California Sweet Pea Com- 

 peny. Robert Patchet, gardener for the 

 Rev. Francis Goodwin, also exhibited a 

 large variety of strawberries, lettuce, 

 sweet peas and cucumbers. Colonel Clay- 

 ton H. Case made an exhibit of ten vari- 

 eties of roses. He has upwards of sixty 

 varietieson his grounds in West Hartford. 

 Miss Florence Browne made an admira- 

 ble display of roses. One of her choicest 

 specimens was a Paul Neyron. Mrs. 

 James R. R. Moore made an exhibit of 

 roses and the daughter of Mrs. Moore, 

 Miss Grace Moore, showed a choice col- 

 lection of wild flowers. Stephen Delbar, 

 gardener for ex-Governor Morgan G 

 Bulkeley, showed a collection of roses 

 that was viewed with much interest. Mrs. 

 W. S. Seliger made a very fine exhibit of 

 hardy plants. The features of the display 

 were Loniceras Sinensis and variegated 

 Halleana. W. E. Wallace showed fifty 

 varieties of roses and had the largest and 

 most varied collection in the hall. He 

 had magnificent Ulrich Brunners and his 

 Mrs. John Laing were exceptionally well 

 grown. He also exhibited Margaret 

 Dickson, white with pale flesh center and 

 the Paul Neyron, one of the largest vari- 

 eties of rose in cultivation. There were 

 dozens of other good exhibits. A chrys- 

 anthemum was presented to each child 

 under 16 years of age, and each one was 

 instructed how to cultivate the plant. 

 The society will award gold, silver and 

 bronze medals to the children exhibiting 

 the best results at the November show. 



Gleanings. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Gorton & Lidgerwood Co., New York, 

 N. Y., boilers; The Richmond Stove Co., 

 Norwich, Conn., heaters', F.O. Pierce Co., 

 New Y'ork, N. Y., mastica; J. H. H. Boyd, 

 Gage, Tenn., tree seed; Frank Brunton .K: 

 Co., Boston, Mass., plants. 



P. S. Peterson & Co., Chicago, Ills., 

 peonies; H. Henkel, Darmstadt, Ger- 

 many, seeds and plants; Fairmount 

 Chemical Laboratory, Philadelphia, Pa., 

 weed killer; Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manu- 

 facturing Co., Syracuse, N. \\, boilers and 

 radiators; Hubert & Company, Ltd., 

 C.uernsey, England, plants; James Yick's 

 Sons, Rochester, N. \'., bulbs. 



In a climate as severe as that of Chi- 

 cago, Yucca hlamentosa flowers stronger 

 and more freely if protected by means of 

 a box during winter. 



The largest and oldest nursery in Eu- 

 rope is said to be that of the Messrs. 

 Spaeth, of Rixdorf, Germany. Itcomprises 

 700 acres, 680 of which are planted with 

 stock which includes practically all the 

 trees and shrubs which can be grown in 

 that climate. The business was estab- 

 lished in 1720 by Christopher Spaeth and 

 has remained in the hands of the Spaeth 

 family and in direct line continuously 

 from father to son through five genera- 

 tions. The annual output of the Spaeth 

 nurseries consists of 500,000 standard 

 fruit trees, 300,000 dwarf fruit trees, 

 3,000.000 ornamental trees, 6,000,000 

 shrubs and 500,000 conifers. Between 

 300 rind 400 employes are given work in 

 the nursery. The employes have a sick 

 benefit association with a kindergarten 

 to which sixty children besides those of 

 the employes and officers are admitted, 

 and a restaurant. There is also a library 

 connected with the institution, containing 

 many foreign publications, which are at 

 the disposal of the 3'oung gardeners. 



It may interest one of our subscribers, 

 who recently made inquiry concerning the 

 currant borer, to learn that the English 

 currant growers are also having such 

 trouble with insect pests as compels them 

 to destroy the bushes in order to get rid 

 of the enemy. A correspondent of the 

 Gardeners' Magazine refers to the matter 

 as follows: "It is interesting to note, 

 arising from the grave complaints as to 

 the ravages of this insect pest [the black 

 currant mite] in portions of Kent, that 

 our leading entomological authority, 

 Miss Ormerod, seems to have no palli- 

 ative to offer to growers other than in 

 absolutely stamping out the plague by 

 total destruction of bush and insect. 

 That is a method of dealing with the pest 

 that few growers on a large scale will 

 care to face, and indeed would be utterly 

 useless if conducted in isolated cases. No 

 possible good could result unless wide 

 areas were compulsorily dealt with, and 

 it really seems, so far asthisgravetrouble 

 is concerned, that local authorities will 

 have to be granted powers to deal with 

 infested areas just as they now have in 

 the case of cattle diseases. But in this 

 latter case some compensation for destruc- 

 tion of cattle in diseased areas is paid; 

 whereas it will be difficult to adopt such 

 a practice in relation to condemned fruit 

 breadths, as it would be unfair to the 

 general ratepayer or taxpayer. Miss 

 I Irmerod thinks that the proper course 

 to take where there are breadths of 

 infested black currant bushes is to grub 

 them out, root and branch, burn them 

 and crop the ground with potatoes or 

 other vegetables or corn, and thus starve 

 the mite out. That is all very well, but 

 in the meantime there must be steps taken 

 to maintain a supply of healthy bushes. 

 How is that to be done? Are there any 

 stocks in the kingdom absolutely free 

 from the mite? If there are, so much the 

 better. But still, if propagated, these 

 stocks must be kept a long way removed 

 from other old ones for a few years; and 

 to that end it seems needful to isolate 

 them right in the midst of corn growing 

 districts, a long way from gardens. Once 

 get the mite into the clean young stocks 

 and nothing would be gained. It seems 

 a pity that the resources of science can 

 furnish no other remedy for a great evil 

 than is to be found in absolute destruction 

 of stock." 



