6go 



LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



same way near the other ends of the slats. The 

 ■whole can then be placed around a tree, the wires 

 hooked, and thus a complete cage is made to protect 

 the tree. Of course, the slats can be placed closer to- 

 gether if necessary. The whole arrangement costs 

 only one or one and a half cents per tree. Another 

 member said he used wire screening, and it cost him 

 only nine-tenths of a cent for each tree. He would 

 cut out a piece of wire cloth that would a little more 

 than go round the tree, and bend it round a broom 

 handle. It was then put round the tree without any 

 fastenings and would hold its place. 



The Compost Heap. — Select a place handy to get at, 

 put down first a bed one foot deep of old sods or muck, 

 and on this pile all the refuse material as it collects in 

 various places ; it may consist of old straw, leaves, an 

 occasional load of heating manure, rotten vegetables, 

 etc. This should be turned over occasionally, by hand 

 if necessary, but the best way is to have the compost 

 in the hog yard, and haul to it manure as it collects 

 near the stables. If manure is piled upon a good bed 

 of rotten sod, it will not lose much by leaching, nor 

 will it lose by heating if hogs have the run of the 

 yard it is in, as they will ' ' root "it up well. — Prof. S. 

 B. Green, before the Minnesota State Hortieull nral So- 

 ciety. 



California Legislates Against Insects. — A law passed 

 in the last session of the California Legislature 

 makes it the duty of the County Board of Horticul- 

 tural Commissioners to inspect orchards, nurseries, or 

 other places in their jurisdiction, and to notify the 

 owners if they find such places infested with the scale 

 insect, the codlin moth, or other pests injurious to 

 plants or trees, and to request them to eradicate or 

 destroy the pests. Sach orchards or nurseries are ad- 

 judged to be public nuisances, and when their owners 

 shall refuse to abate the sams within a specified time, 

 it shall be the duty of the County Board to destroy said 

 insects, and the expense thereof shall be a county 

 charge, to be recovered by an action against the prop- 

 erty. 



Cemetery Planting. — A cemetery lot with mounds of 

 graves not higher than three inches above grade, of 

 plain sod, well clipped and trimmed, and cut by a lawn- 

 mswer, gives the appearance of neatness, simplicity, 

 quiet and beauty, that every burial lot ought to have. 

 Should ornamental relief be insisted on, there are nu- 

 merous and various plants and shrubs that may be 

 used, such as the American ivy, English ivy, myrtle, 

 laurel, box and holly, plain or variegated. These give 

 a natural appearance, and harmonize with a well-kept 

 lawn, and with the foliage of forest and other trees. 

 The growth of wild flowers should be encouraged, 

 which, together with a good collection of hardy herba- 

 ceous perennials, will insure an abundance of flowers 

 from earliest spring until the severe frosts of autumn. 

 This class of plants is inexpensive, will live through 

 winter, flourish without care, become larger in size, and 



increase in beauty every year, and should be dispersed 

 over the ground so as to give them a natural appear- 

 ance. — Geo. H. Scott, before the Association of Ameri- 

 can Cemetery Superintendents. 



Co-operative Marketing.— The Reno county, Kansas, 

 fruit growers have recently formed an association for 

 the purpose of securing better shipping facilities and 

 market prices. The stock is divided into i, coo shares 

 of S5 each, on which an assessment of 20 per cent, 

 is required to be paid at once. This gives to every 

 member the right to ship in the car of the association 

 to its agent at the pro rata carload rate for carriage 

 and sale. Each shipper will mark his own fruit with 

 his name and will receive in return the act- 

 ual price therefor, less the expense as above. 

 The company is now maturing shipping and 

 packing rules. An agent will secure mar- 

 kets, and the committee on transportation 

 will attend to shipments. This is an ex- 

 ample worthy of imitation by other local 

 societies. 



Trimming Trees to Plant.— At the recent 

 meeting of the American Pomological Socie- 

 ty in Washington, Prof. Brunk of Maryland 

 showed a sample of his new method of trim- 

 ming trees for planting, and also the results 

 of such trimming in root growth. The peach 

 tree, ready for planting, as shown by him and 

 here illustrated, was only 15 inches in length 

 The advantages claimed for this somewhat 

 harsh appearing mode of cutting back are 

 the perfect uniform distribution and ramifi- 

 cation of the roots all 

 through the soil in every 

 direction, while trees with 

 roots left wholly or nearly 

 intact make root growth only 

 along the lines and in the 

 direction of the root ends 

 left. The tops have to be 

 trimmed in proportion to 



^ „ the roots, to preserve the 



Peach Tree Trimmed for 



Planting proper balance between root 



and top. The specimens of 

 pear and peach trees grown from these "mere sticks," 

 and exhibited before the society, were fine and well de- 

 veloped, and superior to specimens grown from trees 

 as ordinarily trimmed. Prof. Brunk says that in 

 the tree as cut back by him he has the best part of the 

 whole in a small space. Nurserymen might do this 

 trimming and then be able to pack 6,000 trees in the 

 same space now required for 1,000. 



Good Rules for Beginners in Fruit Growing. — Do not 



undertake too much at first. Where "experienced per- 

 sons agree as to one method and disagree as to another, 

 follow the method on which they agree. Spring plant- 

 ing is conceded to be good by all authorities. Fall 

 planting may be practiced with such varieties as grow 



