HORTICULTURE 



Experiment Stations 



AND COLLEGEb — C lo eU 



associated with the a ms f 

 the societies in the ^eiienl 

 extension of educnt i if 

 the experiment station i 1 

 agricultural colleges These 

 institutions are the result of 

 agitations in the agriculturil 

 societies. These agitations 

 began over one hun Ire 1 

 years ago. Most of the ex 

 perimeut stations are 

 founded upon the Fedeial 

 law known as the Hatch A t 

 which received the Presi 

 dent's signatuie March 2 

 1887. There are now 55 ex 

 periinent stations in the 

 United States There are a 

 dozen scientific bureaus and 

 divisions connected with the 

 Department of Agricultuie 

 at Washington three of 

 which directly concern the 

 horticulturist Dn ision of 

 Pomology, Vegetable Path 

 ology and Entomologv ai 1 

 to these might be added tl 

 Division of Gardens an I 

 Grounds. The work of ill 

 these stations and of tl 

 agricultural bureaus and di- 

 visions is condensed and 



epitomized in the "Experiment Station Record," a 

 monthly publication of the Department of A^'i-iculture. 



The writings and teachings -f fin i,..i i ; :.llnrists in 

 the colleges and experiment si: ■ ! linie, bring 



our horticultural activities int'' :i ■; i nvliips and 



perspective. These men will :iiii - n. n at. judicial 



conclusions on the disputed p.iini^. li i, only those 

 persons who have some taste and leisure for study and 

 reflection who can do this. Persons who are intensely 

 absorbed in one commercial pursuit usually exalt that 

 pursuit out of all proportion to its relative importance. 



Commercial Transportation. -The rise of the great 

 coiniiiercial 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- 

 isportation. was that of canning per- 

 ies. The method originated with a 

 5, 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. Fia- a sk.-trli ,,f tiie develu|inient of the can- 

 ning induvtrv. -,, e an aiii.le l,v i;.lward S. Judge in 

 "One Hundred \'ears ..f Amei-ii-aii Commerce." 



Drying fruit fnr market liy tire he.it began to attain 

 some prominence about 1800, luit 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 establishments 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 modem apple export trade is 

 generally said to have begun with the shipment of five 



HORTICULTURE 



proveme 

 ishable 

 Frenchn 





commercial apple orchard, in clean tillage. 



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, 1,438,1.55 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 

 Canailiaii'! b-n-e ree.-nth- mtele careful experiments with 

 transail :"i ,.■.].,■, un ,r , I i.r annual value of fruit ex- 

 ports ti I I - ■ including cider, vinegar, 

 cannel nuts, and all green fruits) 



is aboni livennlli l.illat-.- \M,rth. The largest sinele 



item in this aL'^'regate 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 nn-aiis ,,t c(.n-e.si.(,ndeiH-e amougst its 

 members. Tin- ■.].]■]■ fM-rt.r- ],:,y. r,-,.,v]i of the 

 traiisatlanti.- ap;.' ■• ' 'f ■ l''-- ■■ ' •■ p. ;■ -i MM^nt pub- 

 lish. -s snmniai - . . • ,., . : ■ ' -. But 

 beyond this, ih, ; ,; ,f our 



now and then for sjn.,ial 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 

 did not aspire. It was some years before even so slm- 



