ANNUAL MEETING, NORTHEASTERN IOWA HORT. SOCIETY, I9O3. 65 



Mr. Patten related his experience in bringing pollen of the Bart- 

 lett pear from California to Charles City. The pollen was trans- 

 ported 2,000 miles and kept for thirty days before being applied to 

 the flowers of one limb of a Kiefer pear tree. The result was that 

 pears were secured on that limb but not on any other part of the tree. 



Two papers were read on the subject of spraying, one by Mr. 

 Reeves, of Waverly, the other by Prof. Little, of Des Moines. It 

 was agreed that spraying was necessary and to be recommended. 

 As to methods, there was more than one opinion, some holding that 

 dust spraying was preferable. Prof. Little found the water mixture 

 more effective; perhaps dust preferable early in season on frosty 

 mornings. 



Mr. Guilford read a very inspiring paper on "The Horticultural 

 Volunteer." 



Prof. W. Green, of Des Moines, on subject of "Some Mistakes 

 in Gardening," recommended late fall plowing for the garden, as 

 it killed insects and gave the frost a better chance at the soil, which 

 would in this way be well prepared for the seed in the spring. Soil 

 should be worked so as to be fine and not too loose. People often 

 made the mistake of working soil too much when wet and not 

 enough when dry. The professor believed in thinning fruit more 

 than is generally done. Small plants should not be puddled when 

 transplanted, but roots washed clean. 



The praise of the Wealthy apple was sounded in no uncertain 

 manner during the meetings, very especially by Mr. Silas Wilson, 

 who told of how it was being planted by the thousand in Michigan, 

 New York, in the mountain region and on the west coast. The 

 Wealthy was said to be easily the king of all as a cold storage apple. 



A splendid public entertainment was given in the opera house by 

 the citizens of Decorah on the evening of the i8th. 



The meetings as a whole were very interesting and instructive, 

 and there was plenty of evidence that the Iowa horticulturists are 

 alive and doing. 



Pi^UMS IN THE Chicken Yard. — A writer in the Indiana Farmer says: 

 Theories vanish by the side of facts in every avocation. I have at the present 

 writing three Robinson plum trees loaded with ripening fruit and two others 

 with not a 'plum left. The five trees were set on the same kind of ground 

 seven years ago and have had the same culture. The same results have been 

 derived for the past three years, the three trees bearing a full crop of sound 

 plums and the two a crop of wormy fruit worthless. The three fruiting trees 

 are in the chicken yard; the others outside The ground in said yard is not 

 plowed, but early in the spring is swept and kept hard and smooth. Under 

 these trees I scatter bran and screenings 



