LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



27 



The total amount thus far sold comes to $125,118.08, 

 while the total cost of picking, packing and getting into 

 market aggregates $44,737.30 ; leaving a net income from 

 the eleven crops of $80, 380. 78. This year's crop is prob- 

 ably equal to that of last year. 



The Best Currants. — Samuel Edwards had twenty- 

 five varieties of currants on exhibit before the Illinois 

 State Horticultural Society. He prizes Victoria and 

 White Grape above all for the table, and the Black 

 English for jam and jelly. Long-bunched Holland 

 seems to be adapted to the climate of Nebraska. Prof. 

 Budd informed him that the currants noticed by him on 

 the steppes of Russia were all of that type. No one 

 claims that it is equal here to Victoria, but it is desir- 

 able for its hardiness and late maturity, in dry climates, 

 where other varieties lose their foliage in summer. 



Spraying and Bees.— Many cases of bees having died 

 from the effects of spraying fruit-trees with arsenical 

 poisons while in bloom were reported at the recent 

 meeting of the North American Bee-Keeper's Associa- 

 tion. R. McKnight, on the other hand, stated that after 

 putting Paris green on potatoes, he found 26 dead bees. 

 As bees go out early in the morning to these and other 

 plants to collect water from the leaves, he believes there 

 is more danger in this quarter than from spraying. A 

 resolution was finally passed condemning the practice of 

 spraying during blossom-time. 



Why Carnations Degenerate. — Propagation is not 

 reproduction ; it is only a part from the old plant grown 

 to an individual again. This process gives new life, but 

 by following it up year after year the stock must degen- 

 erate. We grow the first plant from seed, and then in 

 an endless multiplication of plants, we grow it from 

 year to year until it dies. Grow a plant from seed, 

 give it all the best requirements to grow and bloom, and 

 its life will be but two years at the longest. — Fred Dor- 

 ner, before the Society of America?! Florists. 



The Best Grapes. — The New Jersey State Agricul- 

 tural Society two years ago, balloting for the best three 

 grapes for general use, one of each color, decided in 

 favor of the Brighton, red, V^orden, black, and Niagara, 

 white. This list can not be easily improved upon even 

 at this day. 



Lower Transportation Rates Demanded.— In view 

 of the facts that the shipments of fruits and vegetables 

 in the United States are much greater in volume than 

 the shipments of grain, and that from the style of the 

 packages the former are easily and quickly unloaded, 

 and do not detain the cars so long as is usual with the 

 shipment of grain, the Missouri State Horticultural So- 

 ciety at its recent session adopted a resolution declar- 

 ing it to be the belief of the members that the horticul- 

 tural products of the country are justly entitled to the 

 same classification and rates as grain ; and respectfully 

 asking the managers of the railroads of the country to 

 place these products in the same class as grain, and give 

 the same rate, feeling certain that the increased volume 

 of business will amply compensate them for doing so. 



Autumn Coloration of Foliage. — Many of our plants 



put on their brightest dress and gayest colors in 

 the fall. October is the artist among the months. She 

 seems to paint by the sun by day and the frost by night, 

 making every landscape picturesque and beautiful. In 

 some seasons the painting is much better done than it is 

 in others ; and this can be well shown by making a col- 

 lection of leaves from the same plant for a succession 

 of years. Among the plants in Central Ohio that give 

 the richest tints, may be mentioned the oaks, the red and 

 silver maples, the dogwood, the burning-bush or wahoo, 

 the liquidamber or sweet-gum, different species of the 

 genus rhus, like the sumac and poison ivy, the Virginia 

 creeper, and a few others. Our cultivated plants are 

 frequently of bright colors. The leaves of the peach, 

 pear and blackberry are particularly noticeable in this 

 respect. We may say in general that these autumnal 

 changes appear to be quite analogous to the ripening 

 process in colored fruits.- — E, E. Bogue, before the Co- 

 lumbus {(9.) Horticultural Society . 



Kentucky Horticultural Society. — The annual meet- 

 ing was held in the Board of Trade hall, Louisville, 

 on December 2 and 3, a large number of the most 

 prominent people interested in horticulture being in at- 

 tendance. Judge W. L. Dulaney, of Bowling Green, 

 presiding. Col. Bennett H. Young delivered a very 

 eloquent address of welcome. He alluded especially to 

 the introduction of the Catawba grape from the swamp- 

 lands of North Carolina some fifty years ago, the hopes 

 held out for successful competition with foreign coun- 

 tries in the production of wines, the rude awaking when 

 the grape-rot came, and the recent successful efforts at 

 its extermination by the uses of spraying-compounds. 

 He also dealt generally with the difficulties experienced 

 in the raising of new varieties of fruits, the numerous 

 failures and the great patience necessary to achieve 

 success, and concluded by calling attention to the great 

 resources of our state for fruit-growing. A. D. Webb, 

 of Warren county, read a very interesting paper, ' ' Sug- 

 gestions to Fruit-growers, " "The Importance of Dis- 

 seminating Horticultural Literature Among the People, " 

 by Miss Hortense Dudley, should be published in all 

 horticultural journals. Many other instructive papers 

 were read. The election of officers for the ensuing year 

 resulted as follows : A. P. Farnsley, Jefferson county, 

 president; Jesse L. Talbott, vice-president; J. C. 

 Howes, Jefferson county, secretary, and A. D. Webb, 

 Bowling Green, treasurer. The next meeting will be 

 held on the third Thursday in September, 1892, at Eliza- 

 beth town, and in the meantime a meeting of an appointed 

 committee will be held for the purpose of forming a 

 Shippers' Protective Organization. — G. D. C. Ellis, Lyn- 

 don, Ky . 



Product of Your Fruit-Field. — Use freely of it. Have 

 plenty of it in the fresh state. Have plenty of it stored 

 away in the cellar. Have plenty of it canned. Give 

 plenty of it away to your neighbors. Take plenty of it to 

 market. Bring plenty of money home from the sale of 

 it. You have been generous in its use. You have been 

 liberal to your neighbors. What should be the cash 



