January 15, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



29 



will take precedence as regards quality overall importations 

 from foreign countries. The results of the present season 

 will be watched closely and will have an important bearing 

 upon the future of an industry which represents millions of 

 investment. 



Redlands, Calif. Wilt. M. TlSliale. 



Meetings of Societies. 



THE twenty-first annual meeting of the New Jersey Horticul- 

 tural Society was held in the State House in Trenton last 

 week, and it was very successful in point of attendance, in the 

 character of the discussions, and in the display of fruits. In the 

 course of his report, the secretary, Mr. Henry L. Budd, stated 

 that the fruit farmers of the state, although they had much to 

 complain of, came out ahead of their brethren, the value of 

 the apple crop alone being greater than that of the general 

 field crops. The great importance of frequent tillage had been 

 made more manifest during the year than ever before. In 

 former years fruits have been so abundant without cultivation 

 that it had come to be an accepted truth that orchards in 

 sod-ground are as profitable as those which receive frequent 

 tillage, but this year experience and observation both showed 

 that every cultivated orchard in the state yielded better 

 where the soil was stirred as often as once a week and 

 not allowed to become compact, so that the moisture could 

 rise to the surface and pass into the atmosphere by evapora- 

 tion. Over a large part of the state no moisture fell for ninety 

 days, and the value of frequent surface-tillage was evident, 

 especially in the Corn fields. Under ordinary cultivation the 

 crop did not reach more than fifteen bushels an acre, while 

 seventy-five bushels an acre were often reported from neigh- 

 boring fields where the surface had been frequently broken, 

 so as to become a protecting mulch. The struggle with weeds 

 had been largely responsible for teaching this truth, as not one 

 farmer in ten would have tilled his land but for these vigorous 

 schoolmasters. 



Where the products of market-gardens and orchards and 

 vineyards are marketed, and where it is necessary to haul 

 fertilizers to insure crops, the secretary named good roads as 

 an important element in success. When it costs fifteen cents 

 a basket to haul truck over dirt roads and three cents on 

 macadam roads the value of a smooth road is evident. But, 

 besides this, good roads make it possible for the farmer to get 

 to the market when the prices are good, instead of being com- 

 pelled to wait in spring or after hard rains until the mud dries. 



Professor Voorhis, Director of the Experiment Station, 

 explained the experiments going on in regard to fruit and 

 vegetables, and announced as an important part of the work 

 in the near future a study of methods of forcing vegetables 

 and fruit for the early market. The station had been making 

 some statistics of the production of (he various fruits for com- 

 mercial purposes, with the following result for last year : 

 Taking the state through there were 18,749 acres devoted to 

 Peaches, 6,104 acres devoted to Apples, 3,700 acres devoted 

 to Pears, 64 devoted to Cherries, 27 to Quinces and Plums. Of 

 small fruits, 3,926 acres were in Strawberries, 2,847 acres in 

 Blackberries, 1,052 acres in Raspberries, 839 acres in Grapes, 85 

 acres in Currants, 20 in Gooseberries, making a total of large 

 and small fruits 37,423 acres, to which, perhaps, ten per cent, 

 ought to be added to 'cover orchards and fruit gardens 

 not reported. The number of fruit growers in the state was 

 3,058, so that the average acreage of each would be twelve and 

 a quarter acres. 



Mr. J. H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, Connecticut, who has 

 had great success in raising peaches, said that he cultivated 

 the ground in his orchard thoroughly and pruned the trees for 

 form until they began to bear, after which he pruned them for 

 fruit. After they had come out in bud he trimmed them, 

 leaving the twigs that had budded. This was a great advan- 

 tage when the winter had killed part of the buds. This prac- 

 tice sometimes left an ugly-shaped tree, but a very valuable 

 one. After the peaches had formed he pulled off the diseased 

 ones, then thinned out the others until they hung four inches 

 apart. Next year he will thin more severely, so that the fruits 

 will be six inches apart. He fertilized heavily with potash and 

 bone and pulled up a tree, root and branch, at the very first 

 appearance of yellows. He took the greatest pains in picking 

 and handling his peaches to make sure that they were in the 

 very best condition, so that every basket was exactly what it 

 seemed to be, the bottom layer being as good as the top. He 

 then advertised his method and sold his fruit on the reputation 

 for honest packing he had made. He declared that lie re- 

 ceived fifty cents a basket more by so doing and he felt better 

 by dealing honestly with the consumers. 



Mr. Charles Parry thought it was Impossible to exterminate 

 the San Jose scale here in the east, but that we should try to 

 introduce the natural enemies of this insect, as had been done 

 in California. The difficulties in fighting this pest are due to 

 its rapid increase and the difficulty of detecting it. The treat- 

 ment of the trees with a wash of caustic potash in December 

 and of whale-oil soap in February last year left only a few 

 scales to escape, and he thought another treatment this year 

 would probably finish the work. The trees made a fine growth 

 the next summer, but because of the severe cutting back 

 necessary three or four crops would be lost. The hydrocyanic 

 method as used in California was considered too expensive, if 

 anything else would possibly do, especially as it had to be 

 repeated every fourth or fifth year. He considered the intro- 

 duction of such predaceous insects as teed on these scales, or 

 of their diseases, the only safety. Some parts of California 

 which were at one time badly infested are now practically 

 free. Of the fifteen hundred species of ladybirds known to 

 science as helpful, one-half eat various scale insects. They 

 will work where a man cannot. 



Professor Smith did not consider the case so discouraging. 

 He did not believe that ladybirds could do as much for us as 

 for the Cahfornians, because our damper climate was inimical 

 to them. Then, too, the ladybirds have but one brood a year, 

 thus giving the scales a chance to gain largely on them, both 

 before and after their time. Even in California spraying is 

 still practiced. The action of insecticides is quite different on 

 the Atlantic and on the Pacific sides of the continent. Kero- 

 sene emulsion is good here, but comparatively useless in Cali- 

 fornia, though lime and sulphur are effective there. The 

 predaceous insects are worth importing on trial, though fewer 

 of them will be likely to succeed here than in California. 

 Keiffer Pears are only infested in large orchards, though where 

 they are near other varieties they are not liable to be attacked. 

 A good wash can be made of fish-oil, with plenty of caustic 

 potash, the office of the oil being to hold the potash while it 

 eats into the scale. He never knew scales to get from one 

 orchard to another or to isolated trees by any ordinary methods, 

 so he considered the spread of the trouble not likely to be 

 rapid. At Egg Harbor City Apple-trees of four or five years' 

 bearing were infested, but they had been frequently and 

 thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and the coating 

 of lime thus given had kept the scale in check. 



Mr. Charles Black, of the Fruit Committee, reported that the 

 Crosby peach was not handsome enough in appearance for 

 this section, but it was good to have when no oiher tree bears. 

 The Elberta was all that had been claimed for it — one of the 

 best, hardy and vigorous. Lemon Free was reported as a 

 promising late variety. In Strawberries the Cumberland was 

 still valuable on heavy moist soils. Pearson's Seedling, not 

 yet introduced, produced forty crates from a quarter of an 

 acre by the 6th of June. It is good on upland as well as low- 

 lands. The Mary was pronounced very good in Burlington 

 County, but other growers pronounced it a failure the first 

 year, while the second year it was fine, although a trirle soft. 

 Among Potatoes the Carman No. 1 was said to be the best in 

 yield of marketable tubers. 



Mr. S. D. Willard thought the Columbus Gooseberry, intro- 

 duced by Ellwanger & Barry, the most promising large Ameri- 

 can Gooseberry. It makes good wood, and the fruit is large, 

 egg-shaped, white and free from mildew. The Triumph would 

 not make wood for Mr. Willard in New York, but Mr. Baird 

 said it grew strong in Monmouth County. 



Recent Publications. 



Tiwughts from the Writings of Richard Jefferies. Selected 

 by H. S. H. Waylen. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 



This is a beautiful little book with an artistic cover 

 enclosing some one hundred and twenty-five pages of text 

 in heavy-faced type, red initial letters and with broad mar- 

 gins, and somehow the reader feels that the works of 

 Jefferies should never be printed in any other way. No 

 one would think of putting the robust thoughts of Thoreau 

 in such a dress, but there is nothing robust in this anthology. 

 Sometimes one sees a display of fierce energy, but even 

 this seems more like the exhausting effort of delirium than 

 the manifestation of quiet natural strength. Unfortunately, 

 the genius of Jefferies is not displayed at its best in extracts 

 like these, and the reader who is unfamiliar with his works 

 will hardly get an adequate idea of his real merits. Those 

 who know his writings will relish them because they 



