i^KHT^3?S0CIETIES 



BeinqMatter Twat Deserves 



To BE WIDELY KNOWN, 



Apples for Northern Illinois. 



— For perfectly sure ones, plant 

 Duchess and Yellow Trans- 

 parent, but I do not care what 

 you take for a third sort. If 

 hardiness alone is considered, I 

 do not consider any apples abso- 

 lutely hardy except Duchess 

 and Wealthy. I believe in double-working. — /. V. Cotta, 

 Illinois Hortictdlural Society. 



Manure and Soil-Moisture. — I have found that manure 

 has a marked influence in bringing water toward the sur- 

 face, from depths as great as six feet below. While the 

 manured ground contains, in the upper three feet of soil, 

 three pounds more of water to the square foot of surface 

 than the unmanured ground, the lower three feet of 

 manured ground contains about the same amount less 

 than the unmanured ground. It appears, therefore, that 

 farm-yard manures have an effect upon vegetation other 

 than that exerted through the plant-food they may contain. 

 By increasing the movement of water toward the surface, 

 they make available water and minerals held in solution, 

 which, without this influence, would remain unused be- 

 low the zone of root-action. — Pi-of. S. H. Kinif, before 

 the irisconsin State Affricullitral Coii'ention . 



Pedigree Plants and Trees Needed. — Look at the prize- 

 winners in horticulture. The exhibitors go through their 

 orchards, picking a specimen from this tree and that, 

 until the collection is made. The tree that is loaded 

 year after year with the finest fruit, true to type, high in 

 color and rich in flavor, its perfect foliage and smooth 

 trunk indicating perfect health — this tree that has stood 

 the blasts of the severest winters is entirely ignored in 

 the awards. The same is true of a vine or plant. I 

 believe there is not a commercial nurseryman in America 

 to-day who seeks out these deserving trees and plants, 

 and makes a special feature of propagating from them. 

 There are some seedsmen who have practiced selection 

 until they have really become famous for their skill in 

 improving known varieties. In the case of fruits, I believe 

 it is a universal rule of nurserymen to take scions from 

 nursery-rows or any convenient tree of the variety de- 

 sired. I believe this has more to do with the failure of 

 orchards than any other cause. — R. M. Kellogg, Mich- 

 igan I[orticulti(7-al Society. 



Dooryard Pruning. — Ornamental trees, and fruit-trees 

 grown for ornamental purposes, should have their branches 

 started low, and if it is necessary to carry the top high 

 enough to walk under, trim the side-shoots from the 

 main branches just as if they were separate trunks. 

 Evergreens should always be trimmed down instead of 

 up. Resting on the grass the branches form beautiful 

 backgrounds and screens. Trimmed to bare stems, 

 with the foliage several feet up in the air the trees are 



neither useful or beautiful. Time is a most important 

 element in rural adornment. The beautiful trees we 

 see here and there by the roadside fences, developed 

 to the greatest beauty of the species, are the result of 

 time and severe letting alone. Give natural growth time 

 and it accomplishes wonders. Meddle with it every 

 year, cutting back and mutilating with saw and knife, 

 and its development is artificial and lacking in many of 

 the peculiarities that distinguish species or varieties. — 

 L. B. Pierce, before the Ohio Horticultural Society. 



The World's Fair and the German Seedsmen. — A re- 

 port has been widely circulated among German seedsmen 

 to the effect that wholesale firms in this country will 

 boycott any seedsman of Germany who attempts to make 

 an exhibit at the Columbian Exposition. J. M. Samuels, 

 Chief of the Department of Horticulture, has made a 

 thorough investigation, and having received emphatic 

 assurance from many of the principle seed-firms of the 

 United States that they know absolutely nothing of such 

 an intention, but on the contrary are anxious to see a 

 representative seed-exhibit from Germany, states that 

 the report is entirely without foundation. The following 

 resolution has been passed by the American Seed-trade 

 Association : 



' 'Resolved, That the American Seed-trade Association, 

 in convention assembled, heartily deprecates any action 

 that may have been taken to prevent exporters of seeds 

 in Germany from making an exhibit of their products at the 

 World's Fair in Chicago ; that none of its members have 

 ever participated in such a movement, and express a hearty 

 desire to have the fullest representation of the products of 

 the world, as relating to their business, exhibited at that 

 time." — A. L. Don, Secretary American Seed-trade 

 Association. 



Preparing Fruit for Market. — The recent discussion 

 on ways of marketing fruits, by the New Jersey Horticul- 

 tural Society, touched a subject worthy of greater con- 

 sideration. Mr. Parry stated that English jams were 

 offered for sale in Philadelphia, put up in quart-jars and 

 marked with prices between 65 to 85 cents. The large 

 profits made by the venders may be well understood, 

 when it is learned that the preparation consists of about 

 cents worth of sugar, besides the small quantity of 

 fruit. If managed properly, we could undersell the world 

 on these products, and make a large margin on fruit. It 

 does not require the expensive machinery needed for 

 canning. Every farmer can do it on his own place. 



Mr. Rodgers said the foreign preparation of jam is 

 superior to most American jams on the market. This 

 makes the market for it. 



Mr. Blackwell said that the demand was great for 

 jellies, and the apple jelly sold was made by using dried 

 cores and skins to flavor gelatine, thus requiring very few 

 apples. But we are aware that some manufacturers offer 

 only a pure article. 



Canning and Preserving Fruits. — In a discussion of 

 the Muskingum (Ohio) Farmers' Club, Mrs. W. S. Devol 

 said that the first requisite in canning is to have perfect, 

 ripe fruit of the best quality. Put in all the sugar and 



