Pkbkuarv, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN B R K CULTURE 



107 



lonif. Witli all that's going on nowadays in the 

 way of wonderful discoveries in science, we must 

 have some periodical that can sift the wheat from 

 the chaflf, just as you have been doing for the paKt 

 st'vontv rears or more. Your old friend, 



A. I. Root. 



SOIENTIPIO AMERICAN 

 (Established 1846) 



PUBLISHING COMi'ANV 



MuNN & Co. 



New York, Oct 4, 1921. 

 Dear Mr. Root : 



Your very good letter addressed for the atten- 

 tion of Mr. Clias. Allen Munn is received, and in 

 his absence I beg to thank you for your kindly ex- 

 pressions towaid the Scientific American, also for 

 your subscription for a half year to the new 

 monthly. 



It is a great stimuhus to the imblisher.s and to 

 the editors to hear from a reader who has been 

 subscribing for and reading the Sciciitihc American 

 such a great number of years. 



You have made some pointed suggestions, which 

 gives us the privilege of answering and explaining. 

 In the first place, it would be utterly impossible for 

 piililications to exist in their present form today, 

 were it not for the patronage of advertising. We 

 could not liegin to pay the writer, illustrator, en- 

 graver, printer and paper manufacturer their pres- 

 ent i)rice,s were it not for the advertising. 



It has alwajs been the policy of the Scientific 

 .American very carefully to censor all advertising 

 « hich is admitted to its columns, 'and we not in- 

 frequently decline advertising because it does not 

 ad/nit of our strict censorship. That particular 

 class of advertising (cigarettes) does not, as you 

 say Mr. Munn has told you, appeal to us; neverthe- 

 les's this advertising is appearing in almost all the 

 reputable journals. More than that it is appearing 

 in practically all of the daily press. Cigarett&s are 

 on sale at \ our department store, your newsstand, 

 your stationery stores, in fact any place you turn. 

 If you abhor the exploitation of cigarettes, and 

 carry >our point to boycotting those who exploit or 

 handle them, I am fearful you would not be able 

 to carry on your daily routine of life. If the Scien- 

 tifie American had declined this advertising, it 

 would have in the past year or two made a serious 

 dent in our revenue, such a dent as we could not 

 afford. I hope therefore, my dear sir, that you 

 will close your eyes if possible to this class of ad- 

 veitising, and bear with us for the reasons as 

 stated. 



The first copy of the Scientific American Monthly 

 contains two cigarette advertisements, which I feel 

 sure are going to be objectionaljle to you, but inas- 

 much as we were under contract to run these adver- 

 tisements, we had no alternative, tho be assured 

 we would have greatly preferred to omit them. 



We are working toward the perfection which, as 

 an old friend, you would like to see, and we ein- 

 cerely hope tliat even if you have outlived three 

 score and ten, you will live to see it and rejoice 

 with us in it. A. C. Hoffman, 



Secretary. 



Blueberries in the North, and Blueberries 

 in Florida. 



The Department uf Agriculture has just 

 sent out a most valuable bulletin of over 50 

 jiajres and almost as many beautiful illus- 

 trations, entitled, "Directions for Blueberry 

 Culture. " It is from our good friend, Dr. 

 Coville (sec page 653, October issue). It 

 makes the matter very plain in regard to 

 jiropagation. On account of the beautiful 

 and expensive plates the price is 30c. Ad- 

 <lress Supt. of Documents, Government 

 I'linting OfHce, Washington, D. C. 



From tlie pamphlet I make an extract as 

 below: 



Great interest has developed recently in Florida 

 on tho subject of blueberry culture. Extravagant 

 and misleading statements have be 'n published and 

 thousands of ordinary wild bushes have been sold 



at high prices, the i)urcliasers being led to believe 

 that the plants were of specially selected or adapted 

 varieties. One company, located near Tampa, pub- 

 lished as the frontispiece of a blueberry advertising 

 pamphlet a natural-size illustration of a quart box 

 of one of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture selected hybrids, without designating it as 

 such. The reader of the pamphlet would naturally 

 believe that the bushes the firm was selling would 

 produce such berries as were shown in tho illus- 

 tration. The real success of a single blueberry plan- 

 tation near Crestview, in northwestern Florida, set 

 with selected jilants from the near-by woods, is 

 chiefly responsilile for the present wave of blue- 

 berry exploitation in that State. The best advice 

 that' can lie given at present to those desiring to 

 experiment with blueberry culture in Florida is to 

 make certain that any plants they liuy are as rep- 

 resented by the seller, to be sure that alleged 

 im])ioved varieties are not in reality ordinary 

 wild blueberries, perhaps inferior to wild bushes 

 ihat the purchaser might find in his own neigh 

 l)orhood by careful seareli. Tlie selected hybrids 

 described in this bulletin are of northern parent- 

 age and probably will not thrive in Florida be- 

 cause Florida winters are not sufficiently cold 

 to give these plants the chilling they require in 

 winter. The United States Department of Agri- 

 culture lias already begun the breeding of imi)roved 

 blueberries from species native in Florida, but it 

 greatly desires better southern breeding stocks than 

 it now possesses. 



Mrs. Bradshaw (see page 653, October) 

 informs us she gets from the swamps and 

 woods the plants which she advertised. 



Hubam Clover. 



Sirs: — We purchased four ounce.s of Hubam clo- 

 ver seed last spring, and planted it by hand on one 

 acre. It grew from five to eight feet tall and pro- 

 duced 5.56 pounds of clean seed in the hull. I be- 

 lieve it is one of the greatest crops that ever has been 

 planted here. 



It blooined for tlu'ee months, and a few etalks 

 are blooming yet that we never cut. The bees work- 

 ed from morning until night. There seemed to be 

 a continuous honey flow as long as there was bloom. 



We are for bees and Hubam clover. I would like 

 to see this in Gleanings if you have the space. 



Rule Brothers. 



Terlton, .Okla., Route 1, Oct. 5, 1921. 



Gentlemen: — About a year ago I purchased an 

 runce of annual sweet clover seed. I planted about 

 half of it and sent the rest to my cousin. Miss 

 Norah Goodsell, Battle, Sussex Co.. Eng. I obtained 

 about the same results as everybody else, but I 

 thought you would be interested in foreign results. 

 I will write the letter word for word that I re- 

 ceived, telling the results as follows : 



"First of all, I will tell you about the clover. 

 It was sown April 29th and came up May 6th. 

 It was just a week coming up. The weather has 

 been dry. We have had only little showers, no 

 rain at all you might say. -Vs soon as a shower 

 came, the sun was out the next minute burning 

 up things. The fields are all burnt up. no 

 green grass at all. Dad said it was the worst 

 year we could have had for clover. Well, it is 

 to the height of 41^ feet now-. It began bloom- 

 ing the first of July. Dad is going to thresh 

 it out when it gets ripe. It grew better than 

 anything we saw this summer." 

 It "looks like a good thing for England, doesn't 

 it? Samuel Goodsell, Jr. 



Cameron, 111., Oct. 4, 1921. 



Kixn woRns of sympathy. 



May God abundantly bless the dear friend.s who 

 have w^ritten me such touching letters of sympathy 

 in my great bereavement. I have said again and 

 again, surely I must prnt thin one. but there are 

 so many this brief note will have to answer. My de- 

 partment of Gleanings, froni this on, must be given. 

 at least mostly, to the betterment of a sinful hu- 

 manity and a sinful world. A new baptism of God's 

 Holy Spirit has come into my life. 



More than ever, vour old friend. 



Dec. 13, 1921. ' .\. I. Root. 



