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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1907 



Farm and Garden News 



THE Society of American Florists' 

 meeting in Philadelphia last month 

 was one of the most notable in the career of 

 that Society which has done so much for the 

 cause of commercial horticulture. Operat- 

 ing under a federal charter, this Society bids 

 fair to become the leading representative 

 organization of the craft. It was twenty-one 

 years ago that the Society of American Flor- 

 ists last met in the city of Philadelphia, and 

 it is very appropriate that the return should 

 be made at this time, for no city in the Union 

 has been more continuously influential in the 

 progress of horticulture. The men of the 

 city and its surroundings have been pioneers 

 from the earliest days. The presidency of 

 the Society for the coming year falls upon 

 Mr. Frank H. Traendly of New York City, 

 the vice-president is Mr. Geo. W. McClure 

 of Buffalo, and the convention of August, 

 1908, will go to Niagara, Falls N. Y. 



Pennsylvania recently passed a law which 

 provides for the planting and maintenance of 

 shade trees on all the highways of the com- 

 monwealth. It is passing strange that very 

 little effort is made really to beautify our 

 country roads and lanes. Whatever charm 

 they possess — and thank Heaven they are 

 usually possessed of an abundance of charm 

 — is usually that of Nature and pure chance. 

 In the cities and suburban communities, there 

 are associations and organizations galore — 

 tree planting societies, civic improvement 

 leagues — urging the planting of shade trees 

 along the sidewalk, and in very many cases, 

 undertaking the responsibility for the work. 

 In very few cases, however, even in the cities, 

 is there legislative authority for the work, 

 and the State of Pennsylvania is surely set- 

 ting a good example in making possible shade 

 tree planting everywhere. Most people who 

 own gardens are large-hearted enough to do 

 something to give pleasure to the passerby, 

 and notwithstanding that there may be a 

 certain selfish interest in planting shade trees 

 beyond the property line, inasmuch as they 

 give the property a piece of furniture and 

 setting; yet there is something more to be 

 thought of, and that is the benefit to our 

 fellowmen. Every farmer in the country 

 has an opportunity to serve in this way with 

 very little trouble, and the cost of a few trees 

 as a gift to the public would be very slight in 

 comparison with the return that would be 

 earned in thanks. 



The humble peanut grows in dignity. Pea- 

 nut meal contains a larger amount of protein 

 than is contained in cotton seed meal, nearly 

 double in fact; yet its use as a foodstuff 

 is not greatly extended. The peanut crop 

 is one that is so easily grown and harvested 

 that it would seem worth while consider- 

 ing in its possibility for some classes of 

 farming. It is more than probable that 

 European trade could be developed for pea- 

 nut products just as easily as has been done 

 for cotton seed products. The present Euro- 

 pean demand is supplied exclusively from the 

 South of France. 



Another link with the past was broken on 

 July 29, when John C. Teas, one of the most 

 well-known horticulturists of a generation ago, 

 died at his home near Carthage, Mo., in the 

 eightieth year of his age. He was born in 

 Indiana in 1827, and began his horticultural 

 work when only a school boy, and while there 

 were many hardships and difficulties to be 

 overcome, nothing daunted the boy in follow- 

 ing his chosen profession. As years went by, he 

 became intimately associated with such well- 

 known horticulturists as Charles Downing, 

 John J. Thomas, A. S. Fuller, and many other 

 workers of equal prominence. To the ma- 

 jority of our readers, Mr. Teas' name will no 

 doubt be most familiar in connection with the 

 ubiquitous Teas' Weeping Mulberry, which 

 is widely distributed in our gardens. Mr. 

 Teas was the first nurseryman, we believe, to 

 distribute the hardy catalpa (Catalpa 

 speciosa). 



The American Association of Farmers' In- 

 stitute Workers meets for its annual conven- 

 tion at Washington, D. C, October 23 to 25. 

 Undoubtedly, much better total results from 

 institute work have been brought about 

 through the united efforts of the various 

 workers along certain well defined lines. It 

 is an age of specialization that we now live in, 

 and with the breadth of territory that such a 

 movement as the Farmers' Institute has to 

 cover, it is particularly essential that those 

 responsible for the direction of the movement 

 should meet together and lay out positive 

 action which will produce the greatest results 

 with the least waste of energy. The Farmers' 

 Institutes have taken a new development; 

 they are no longer pure experience meetings, 

 but they aim tc teach the farmer how to get 

 in touch with modern affairs and to realize 

 that farming is a much more highly organized 

 industry than some people are inclinerl to 

 think it. 



There can be very little question but that 

 a parcels post service would be of material 

 benefit to the seed, plant and bulb trade in 

 facilitating the transportation of small pack- 

 ages, which are somewhat too large for the 

 present mail requirements and are quite 

 costly when sent by express. It sometimes 

 happens, indeed, that the cost of expressage 

 on a small box of plants would be actually 

 more than the cost of the plants themselves. 

 This is a situation which is not at all unlikely 

 to occur when the route necessitates the 

 transference over two or three different com- 

 panies' lines. The Society of American 

 Florists has taken upon itself the burden of 

 an active propaganda on behalf of the allied 

 trades towards influencing public opinion in 

 the hope that the parcels post service may 

 become established. The amateur gardener 

 would be directly benefited by the institution 

 of such a service, and we venture to predict 

 that the establishment of the parcels post 

 would result in a remarkable development 

 in the trade with small plants which are 

 now kept down to the "mailing size" to 

 the dissatisfaction of both seller and pur- 

 chaser. 



The impetus that was given to scientific 

 plant breeding a few years ago continues to 

 make itself felt with unabated force. Min- 

 nesota, which has already distinguished itself 

 through the work of W. M. Hays, now Assist- 

 ant Secretary of Agriculture, means to keep 

 in the lead, and with an appropriation of 

 $16,000 for the purchase of land for an ex- 

 perimental plant breeding farm the work that 

 was begun in breeding agricultural crops for 

 their intrinsic value seems fair to become 

 firmly established. This work is eminently 

 that of official departments, for great as the 

 ultimate money value to the nation is in the 

 production and dissemination of a grass that 

 will give heavier hay, for instance; still it is 

 not the sort of thing that holds out induce- 

 ments to the commercial introducer of new 

 plants, because he cannot keep control and 

 realize an adequate financial return for the 

 labor and time put into the production. 

 Foreign governments have led the world 

 hitherto in these matters, but we are begin- 

 ning to move very rapidly here. 



There are manufactured in the United 

 States something like 315,000,000 lead pencils 

 annually, requiring 7,300,000 cubic feet of 

 wood, the most of which is red cedar. Red 

 cedar is better adapted for this purpose than 

 almost any other wood available, the grain is 

 straight, the wood soft and very free from, 

 defects, and as a consequence the supply is 

 getting scarce. The tree used to grow in the 

 Southern United States in large quantities, 

 but the constant demand upon it for posts as 

 well as for lead pencils has reduced the visible 

 supply to such an extent that many mills will, 

 probably be shut down in the near future. 

 At the present time some mills have been re- 

 duced to such straits for a supply of timber 

 that they are working up old fence rails and 

 small and knotty logs. A few years ago 

 such timber would not have been considered 

 fit for use. While a forty-year-old tree 

 makes a good post it does not pay to cut for 

 pencil wood until it is about sixty years of 

 age. By holding the cedar for this extra 

 twenty years, its value practically doubles. 

 There are many acres of cleared land in the 

 South which is of little use to agriculture and 

 on which the owners are paying taxes but 

 which produces no income. Any one posses- 

 sing such land and desiring to make it at least 

 pay the taxes, might well consider the plant- 

 ing of red cedar. A thousand young plants 

 can be bought sometimes for two dollars, or 

 gathered from the wild, so the cost of planting 

 an acre at six feet apart each way will be 

 less than $5. 



Texas, this year, has entered very success- 

 fully into the fruit producing sections, having 

 supplied certain markets with grapes as early 

 as June 6th, which is at the very least a 

 couple of months earlier than one generallv 

 looks for fresh grapes. There is plenty of 

 room, too, in Texas for the growing of grapes, 

 and with the ever-ready demand for good 

 quality fruit in the continually increasing 

 city populations, there may be an entirely 

 new phase of fruit-growing developed. 



