HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



Experiment Stations 

 AND Colleges. — Closely 

 associated with the aims of 

 the societies in the general 

 extension of education, are 

 the experiment stations and 

 agricultural colleges. These 

 institutions are the result of 

 agitations in the agricultural 

 societies. These agitations 

 began over one hundred 

 years ago. Most of the ex- 

 periment stations are 

 founded upon the Federal 

 law known as the Hatch Act, 

 which received the Presi- 

 dent's signature March 2, 

 1887. There are now 55 ex- 

 periment stations in the 

 United States. There are a 

 dozen scientific bureaus and 

 divisions connected with the 

 Department of Agriculture 

 at Washington, three of 

 which directly concern the 

 horticulturist: Divisions of 

 Pomology, Vegetable Path- 

 ology and Entomology, and 

 to these might be added the 

 Division of Gardens and 

 Grounds. The work of all 

 these stations and of tlie 

 agricultural bureaus and di- 

 visions is condensed and 

 epitomized in the "Experiment Station Record," a 

 monthly publication of the Department of Agriculture. 



The writings and teachings of the horticulturists in 

 the colleges and experiment stations will, in time, bring 

 our horticultural activities into proper relationships and 

 perspective. These men will arrive in time at judicial 

 conclusions on the disputed points. It is only those 

 persons who have some taste and leisure for study and 

 reflection who can do this. Persons who are intensely 

 absorbed in one commei'cial pursuit usually exalt that 

 pursuit out of all proportion to its relative importance. 



CojniERCiAL Transpoktation.— The rise of the great 

 commercial movement in horticultural products may be 

 said to have taken place since the civil war. The first 

 important invention to usher in this era, aside from im- 

 provements in transportation, was that of canning per- 

 ishable commodities. The method originated with a 

 Frenchman in 1795, but it first became an assured and 

 recognized success in this country. The inauguration 

 of the process dates from 1825, when President Monroe 

 signed patents to Thomas Kensett and Ezra Daggett, to 

 protect them in an improvement in the art of preserv- 

 ing. Kensett appears to have canned various products 

 somewhat extensively as early as 1819. At the present 

 time, the United States outstrips other countries in the 

 variety and extent of its canned goods. Over 20,000 

 factories in North America now employ towards a mil- 

 lion hands, directly or indirectly, during the canning 

 season. For a sketch of the development of the can- 

 ning industry, see an article by Edward S. Judge in 

 "One Hundred Years of American Commerce." 



Drying fruit for market by fire heat began to attain 

 some prominence about 1860, but the advent of the 

 Alden drier about 1870, and the Williams and others at 

 about the same time, brought in the modern "evapo- 

 rated" product, which is now an inseparable adjunct 

 of the fruit trade. In the East, the most important re- 

 gion of evaporating establishmenis is western New 

 York, particularly Wayne county, although California 

 far excels other areas in the output of similar pro- 

 ducts. 



The exportation of fruit has lately assumed large 

 proportions. The first record known to the writer of the 

 shipping of fruit across the ocean occurs in the corre- 

 spondence of John Bartram, from which it appears that 

 as early as 1773 apples were shipped to England in 

 "great quantities." In 1821, 68,643 bushels of apples 

 were exported. The modern apple export trade is 

 generally said to have begun with the shipment of five 



1095. A modern commercial apple orchard, in clean tillag 



barrels from Boston to Glasgow in 1845 under the au- 

 spices of one Buchanan, a Scotchman. The first heavy 

 exportations were made about 1880. In the season of 

 1880-81 the total shipment of apples from North America 

 to Europe was 1,. 328, 806 barrels. The subsequent heavy 

 years of the earlier period were as follows: 1888-89, 

 1,407,409 barrels; 1891-92, 1,450,336 barrels; 1892-93, 

 1,203,538 barrels; 1894-5, 1,438,155 barrels. California 

 green fruits were first shipped to Europe in 1891, but 

 the first public shipments were made the following 

 year. Fresh grapes from the East were first shipped in 

 1892 from Chautauqua county. New York. Florida first 

 shipped oranges to Europe in the fall of 1892, and Cali- 

 fornia early in 1893. The cranberry was first put upon 

 the European market in 1893. The first shipment of 

 fresh peaches across the ocean from the East appears to 

 have been made in 1893, when a consignment of Dela- 

 ware peaches was made to Ambassador Bayard at Lon- 

 don, but the attempt was only partially successful. The 

 Canadians have recently made careful experiments with 

 transatlantic shipments. The annual value of fruit ex- 

 ports from the United States (including cider, vinegar, 

 canned and preserved fruits, nuts, and all green fruits) 

 is about five million dollars' worth. The largest single 

 item in this aegi'egate is fresh apples, comprising one 

 and one-third million dollars' worth. 



Unfortunately, there are no statistics of American 

 Horticulture. Various horticultural inquiries were in- 

 cluded in the schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890); 

 only a few bulletins of summaries were published. The 

 American Cranberry Society makes a yearly summary 

 of the output, by means of correspondence amongst its 

 members. The apple exporters have records of the 

 transatlantic apple trade. The Treasury Department pub- 

 lishes summary statistics of imports and exports. But 

 beyond this, there is little statistical measure of our 

 horticultural wealth, except figures which are gathered 

 now and then for special areas from transportation com- 

 panies. The Twelfth Census is giving attention to the 

 matter. 



A summary history of the fruit trade was written by 

 John W. Nix for Depew's "One Hundred Years of 

 American Commerce," 1895. "One hundred years ago 

 the fruit merchant, as such, did not exist in this coun- 

 try. Some of the larger importers occasionally received, 

 among the other articles of an assorted Mediterranean 

 cargo, a few half casks of dried prunes, currants, rai- 

 sins, or grapes, but beyond these even the luxurious 

 dicl not aspire. It was some years before even so aim- 



