NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 2175 



Fordhook Emperor; beet, Burpee Extra Early, Bastian 

 Extra Early Turnip, and Bastian Half-long Turnip; 

 cabbage, Burpee Surehead and Houser. The latter is 

 said to be the result of a cross between Flat Dutch and 

 Fottler Brunswick. It was developed by George Houser 

 about 1890 and introduced by the Holmes Seed Com- 

 pany in 1900; tomato, Chalk Jewel and Bonny Best. 

 The former is the result of a cross between Hubbard 

 Curled Leaf and Livingston Perfection, made by James 

 Chalk of Norristown, in 1889. Bonny Best is said to 

 be a selection of Chalk Jewel and was introduced by 

 W. P. Stokes, in 1908. 



The floricultural and special-crop interests have been 

 developed to an unusual extent in the general vicinity 

 of Pennsylvania. Some fifteen or twenty years ago, 

 the carnation industry had developed to such an 

 extent, especially around Kennett Square, that it had 

 become known as the "carnation belt." There was 

 also an unusual development of mushroom-production 

 in the same district. Both industries then dropped back 

 very materially for a time, but in the last few years the 

 production of carnations, and especially of sweet peas, 

 has come in again. The special carnation area has 

 also extended and is now being developed to a large 

 extent north of Philadelphia as far out as Hatboro, 

 and even up to Lancaster. The latter city is becoming 

 a carnation center, and is also producing considerable 

 quantities of sweet peas, of which the leading varie- 

 ties in this general section are of the Spencer class. 



All the large growers in and around Philadelphia are 

 also engaged in rose-production with a few fairly large 

 places that are specializing in them. The American 

 Beauty is the leading variety, especially in the Chest- 

 nut Hill district, which has the reputation of pro- 

 ducing this rose in the highest state of perfection. The 

 state as a whole, is credited with 1,331 floricultural 

 establishments in 1909 with a value of $3,803,000. It 

 was excelled only by New York in this respect. 



The nursery and seed interests around Philadelphia 

 are also noteworthy. The seed-farms of Burpee & 

 Company near Doylestown, and of the D. Landreth 

 Seed Company near Bristol are among the largest 

 in the country, the former involving about 450 

 acres and the latter about 600 acres. The latter seed- 

 house was established in Philadelphia in 1784. In 

 nurseries, for both fruit and ornamental stock, there is 

 now a total of more than 2,600 acres within a few miles 

 of Philadelphia, in Chester, Bucks, Montgomery, and 

 Philadelphia counties, which makes this one of the 

 leading centers of the country for these industries. 



In parks and city improvement systems, Pennsyl- 

 vania is showing an unusual degree of interest. The 

 oldest and largest rural park in the state is Fairmount in 

 Philadelphia, which now has 3,448 acres and is being 

 extended annually, part of it at great cost. It now 

 includes the old Bartram Garden, established in 1728, 

 the first attempt in the United States to gather trees 

 for study purposes. The Centennial Exposition of 1876 

 was located in this park. Other smaller areas are 

 annually being acquired for rural or community parks 

 in various sections of the city. Pittsburgh has two rural 

 parks, Schenley and Highland, and also the Alleghany 

 Parks formerly known as the Commons. Especially 

 notable park and civic improvements have been made 

 in Harrisburg since 1902. The parking of the Susque- 

 hanna River front, the flood-prevention, extension of 

 Reservoir Hill Park, establishment of playgrounds 

 under supervision, the extension of Capitol Park, and 

 the city control of shade trees are worthy of emulation 

 by larger cities. 



Among those now deceased who have rendered 

 important service in one or more phases of horticulture, 

 the following may be mentioned : John Bartram (volume 

 III, page 1564), the founder of the Bartram Garden; 

 John Adlum (page 1563), a native of York County, who 

 first called special attention to the Catawba grape; 



William D. Brinckle (page 1566), of Philadelphia, the 

 second president of the American Pomological Society, 

 experimenter with raspberries, strawberries, and pears, 

 originator of the Orange raspberry in 1843, which is 

 even yet the quality ideal in this fruit ; Henry A. Dreer 

 (page 1573), one of the pioneer seedsmen and nursery- 

 men especially along ornamental lines; Thomas Mee- 

 han (page 1587), nurseryman and extensive writer 

 along floricultural and landscape lines; W. G. Waring, 

 nurseryman, fruit-grower, friend of Downing, and one 

 of the first teachers of general horticulture in the Col- 

 lege; Wm. A. Buckhout, and G. C. Butz (page 1568), 

 botanists and horticulturists, long connected with the 

 teaching staff of the College and state; and Gabriel 

 Hiester (page 1580), fruit-grower, horticultural writer, 

 long-time president of the State Horticultural Asso- 

 ciation. 



Public-service agencies for horticulture. 



The land-grant college of the state was opened for 

 students in February, 1859, under the name of the 

 "Farmers' High-School." This name was changed to 

 "The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania" in May, 

 1862, and this again was changed to "The Pennsylvania 

 State College" in 1874. It was accepted by the state as 

 the land-grant college in 1863. There are now (in 1915) 

 eleven men on the horticultural staff. 



The Experiment Station is located at the College, 

 and, including the Institute of Animal Nutrition, it 

 involves a staff of eighty-eight persons. Thirty bul- 

 letins on horticultural subjects have been published 

 by the Station, and twenty-one by the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, located at Harrisburg. 



The School of Horticulture for Women at Ambler 

 has a total of 90 acres of land, 20 acres being reserved 

 for horticultural work. There are some thirteen agricul- 

 tural high-schools in the state, giving more or less 

 instruction in horticulture. 



Some horticultural work, especially along the line of 

 spraying and pruning demonstrations in connection 

 with pest control, has been done for the past five or 

 six years by the State Department of Agriculture at 

 Harrisburg. The nursery inspection for the state is 

 also done there, while the plant-disease work is in 

 charge of the College. Definite inspection of the gra- 

 ding of fruit has not been provided for as yet. 



A considerable amount of extension work in horti- 

 culture is done by the College staff, working especially 

 through the state and county horticultural organiza- 

 tions. The experimental orchards of apples and 

 peaches maintained by the College in the various fruit- 

 growing sections of the state may also be considered 

 as an important part of the extension work in the state. 



Other associations devoted to horticultural interests 

 are the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, 

 the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (devoted 

 chiefly to floricultural interests) and Pennsylvania 

 Nurserymen's Association. 



Statistics (Thirteenth Census). 



The approximate land-area in 1910 was 28,692,- 

 480 acres. The land in farms was 64.8 per cent of the 

 land area or 18,586,832 acres. Of this land in farms, the 

 unproved land numbered 12,673,519 acres; the wood- 

 land 4,281,439 acres; and other unimproved land in 

 farms 1,631,874 acres. The number of all the farms in 

 the state was 219,295, and the average acreage a farm 

 84.8. [The total area of Pennsylvania is 45,126 square 

 miles.] 



The leading agricultural crops of Pennsylvania are 

 cereals, hay and forage, and tobacco. The acreage 

 devoted to cereals decreased from 4,738,195 in 1899 to 

 4,324,058 in 1909, when the production was valued at 

 $70,348,726, which was 42.2 per cent of the total value 

 of all crops. Hay and forage decreased in acreage from 

 3,269,441 in 1899 to 3,088,105 in 1909, when the pro- 



