March, 1889. 
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HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES 
American Pomological Society. 
The 22nd biennial session, which closed on February 
32nd, at Ocala, Florida, was one of the most successful 
ever held. Notwithstanding the fear of yellow fever, 
which prevented some from attending, 22 States were 
represented, including Canada and the District of Col- 
umbia. 
The treasurer reported the finances in good condition 
and an increased membership. The old officers were 
re-elected. 
The display of citrus fruits was considered the largest 
in the number of valuable varieties of any ever made. 
Four gold and seven silver medals were awarded. 
About one-half the papers were devoted to sub-tropi- 
cal fruits, the second day being wholly given to that 
subject. This portion of the programme was in the hands 
of the chairman of the sub-tropical committee, Mr. A. 
H. Manrille. editor of the Florida Dispatch and Fruit 
Grower. The discussion on judging citrus fruits was 
especially valuable and a committee was appointed to 
draft a scale of points for that purpose, to be adopted 
by the society. 
Following are some of the points brought out in the 
papers and discussed: 
Grapes. 
J. S. Newman of Alabama, reported success in bag- 
ging grapes to exclude rot and Insects, and to delay 
ripening, thus securing a better price. 
B. F. Galloway of Washington, reported success with 
the Bordeaux mixture for black rot, especially if ap- 
plied early. 
Geo. W. Campbell of Ohio, read a valuable paper on 
the improvement of our native grapes by crossing. 
Baron Von Luttichan of Florida, gave an account of 
his success with Vitis virvfera , grafted on native 
stock. 
The Lutie grape was fully discussed. J. Van Lindley 
of North Carolina, considered it, when fully ripe, equal 
to any kind there cultivated, though when first colored 
it was too foxy. It was free from mildew and rot and 
nearly perfect in vine and fruit. Other speakers 
strongly objected to this variety as too disagreeable in 
flavor to be worthy of cultivation. 
TbeBerckmans grape was added to the catalogue and 
highly spoken of by Messrs. Hexamer, Newman and 
Hape. The Jewel was recommended by Mr. Campbell. 
Peaches. 
The Peen-to was added to the catalogue with one 
star for Florida. Several seedlings of the Peen-to were 
reported as better than that variety, but too little re- 
garding them was known for the society to take action 
upon them. The chief fault of the Peen-to in the 
northern part of the State is its early blooming, thus 
rendering it liable to be injured by frost. In southern 
Florida, where no danger from frost exists, this earli- 
ness is an advantage. 
Gooseberries. 
E. Williams of New Jersey, believed that the Tri- 
umph would cause a revolution in gooseberry growing. 
Mr. Brackett had failed with it in Iowa. Mr. Trow- 
bridge spoke highly of the Industry for Ohio. Mr. Will- 
iams had failed with it in N. J. 
Pears. 
Dr. Hexamer, in his report on new fruits, spoke very 
highly of the Idaho, and considered it one of the most 
promising varieties that had been introduced in many 
years. It was of good size, delicious flavor, and of es- 
pecial promise for the North, on account of its hardi- 
ness. Prof. Van Deman exhibited a painting of the 
same, showing the shape to be much like the Duchess, 
.llarketlng Prult. 
$1.00 a box on foreign oranges. Mr. Williams of New 
Jersey read a paper on honesty in packing fruit, which 
contained much wholesome advice. 
Cross Fertilization. 
A paper by Dr. J. C. Neal of the Florida Experiment 
Station, brought out a lively discussion on the imme- 
diate effect of a cross upon the fruit. Nearly all taking 
part in the discussion believed that in citrus fruits such 
an effect was frequent, but careful experiments seemed 
to be wanting. Dr. Neal also gave an account of the 
angulola or root-knob, which occurs throughoutFlorida 
and to some extent in the other Southern States. It is 
not found in the North where the ground freezes. It is 
most injurious to nursery stock. The disease is conta- 
gious, as the insect causing it is very tenacious of life 
and readily spreads from tree to tree. No direct rem- 
edy was known. The use of cow peas in orange groves 
was condemned, the pea being a breeding place for 
the disease. 
Several speakers cautioned growers against the intro- 
duction of the cotton scale and recommended quaran- 
tine against it. 
A number of valuable papers were sent by persons 
unable to be present, but none of them were read owing 
to lack of time. They will appear in full in the pro- 
ceedings. 
Upon adjournment, members of the society were 
offered free transportation to visit any part of the 
State, and many remained to enjoy the proffered hos- 
pitality. Parties were formed to visit Citra.Homosassa, 
Indian Rivet and other places of interest, under the 
guidance of members of the Florida Horticultural 
Society. 
The time and place of the next meeting were left 
with the Executive Committee. The sentiment was 
strongly in favo, of Chicago. 
The Western New York Horticultural 
Society. 
The annual meeting of this exceedingly enterprising 
and admirable society took place in January last with 
a good attendance and an instructive and lively discus- 
cussion on the excellent papers presented. The presi- 
dent of the Society, the venerable Patrick Barry, 
was unable to be present but sent a donation of $2000 
as the nucleus of a fund, whose income shruld be used 
in the interest of the Society. The president's address, 
which was read by Mr. W. C. Barry, was of a cheerful 
nature and took a bright view of the outlook for the fu- 
ture, insisting, however, that more regard must be 
paid to the quality of fruit, and the manner in which it 
is placed in market. 
Plum Culture. 
Mr. S. D. Willard of Geneva, in his paper on this 
subject, gave much instructive in formation, and affirm- 
ed that success can only be attained by strict adher- 
ence to certain rules; that only varieties suited to par- 
ticular locations should be grown there, and these 
should be such as are adapted to the local markets; the 
trees must have careful cultivation and sufficient food; 
and gave as his selection, in view of his location and 
markets, Lombard. Reine Claude, Quackenboss, Brad- 
shaw, Purple Egg,Genii,German Prune.French Damson 
and Yellow Gage. He regarded the jarring process as 
satisfactory against the curculio; also spraying the fol- 
iage with London Purple or Paris Green, which, however, 
should be used as weak as possible, because the plum 
foliage is readily injured. For black knot, the limb 
should be cut off far below the diseased part, on its 
first appearance. Leaf blight shold be provided 
against by giving good culture and a rich soil. Recom- 
mended cutting back the new growth of thrifty trees, 
to one half every year in vigorous trees and no thiuning 
out of branches is needed. Would name, as choice 
varieties for family use, McLaughlin, Reine Claude, 
Washington, Bradshaw, Peter’s Yellow Gage and 
Stanton. 
The Chautauqua Vineyard District. 
In the discussion on marketing, Mr. Fairbanks stated 
that the freight on Oranges from Florida to New York 
was greater than from Sicily to the same point. Better 
and cheaper transportation was the greatest need of 
the fruit growers of the State. There was a strong 
personal sentiment in favor of a tariff on foreign fruits, 
but the subject was not discussed at the meetings. A 
few days ago the Florida legislature passed a unani- 
mous resolution, asking congress to place a duty of 
This was a very interesting paper by Mr. S. A. Wat- 
son of Westfield, who fully described this great grape- 
growing section. One portion is a strip of land extend- 
ing along theSoutb-eastern shore of LakeErtefor about 
forty miles and fiom half a mile to a mile in width; its 
surface undulating andthesoil a sandy loam underlaid 
with clay. Here grapes succeed to perfection and are 
said to have a finer bloom, more compact clusters and 
better keeping qualities than in the next belt. This 
latter is a strip of gravelly loam, a stronger soil, and 
on this the vines yield enormously and the fruit ripens 
earlier. There is a narrower strip yet south of this, od 
the hill-sides, with a heavier soil, principally clay, 
and the grapes grown here are of a fine quality and 
keep well. The Catawba, Delaware and Isabella do 
better here than on the other lands. Although fully 
nine-tenths of these three belts is well adapted to grape 
growing, not one acre in forty is yet planted and hard- 
ly two-thirds of the vines planted have come into bear- 
ing. There was shipped from this section, during the 
past season, no less than seven hundred carloads of 
grapes which paid fully $100,000 in freight. The va- 
rieties grown extensively here are the Concord, Moore’s 
Early, Pocklington, Niagara, Delaware, Brighton, Aga- 
wam, Lindley, Salem and Catawba. TheConcord is by 
far the leading sort and is followed by the others in 
the order named. 
Fertilizers. 
This important subject was well handled by Joseph 
Harris and Prof. Caldwell. The latter explained the 
necessity for applying the nitrates to crops only as 
needed, whilst manure and other plant food may be 
put in the soil at any time there to be locked up un- 
til taken up by the plant. The nitrates are not so fixed 
in the soil but can be dissolved out by rain so as to pass 
off in the drainage water. 
Joseph Harris called attention to the advantages of 
using nitrates as the cheapest and most available form 
of nitrogen and urged the larger employment of this 
element. Early vegetables need nitrates before hot 
weather sets in, at a time when niti ideation goes on 
quickly. He found no loss in putting on all he needed 
at one application; sufficient rain to wash it out of the 
soil did not fall before it had all been taken up. We 
have no proof that plants take up nitrogdh to any great 
extent in other forms than that of nitrates; the “com- 
plete fertilizers” offered do not contain enough nitro- 
gen in available forms; nitrogen can be bought more 
cheaply in the form of nitrates than any other. In con- 
clusion he advised the use of nitrates directly, and 
largely but not indiscriminately; he thought careful 
trial and experiment with this fertilizer should be 
made by every gardener and fruit grower. 
The Canning and Evaporating I due 
tries. 
Interesting papers were read on these topics by S. G. 
Curtice and M. J. Doyle, showing the great growth of 
these important industries from very small beginnings. 
No accurate data as to the total amount of business 
done are available, but Mr. Curtice stated that in his 
own canning establishment alone, last year, $236,000 
were paid for fruit, $70,000 for tin, $14,500 for sugar 
and $68,000 for labor. Mr. Doyle said that within for- 
ty miles of Rochester, there were 2000 fruit evaporators, 
and that 25,000,000 pounds of apples alone were evap- 
orated here, while the total product of all sorts of dried 
fruit was 37,750,000 pounds, for which producers re- 
ceived $1,485,000. More than 4,000,000 pounds of dried 
fruit were exported from this region alone last year 
and the business is still rapidly growing. 
Deport on New Vegetables. 
Mr. E. S. Goff gave the results of tests made at the 
Geneva Experiment Station on new vegetables offered 
by the seedsmen. Many were similar to older sorts 
but some strains showed noticeable good points. Thus 
Marvin’s Savoy Cabbage yielded heads averaging nine 
inches in diameter and weighing six pounds each. The 
Ruby Sugar Sweet Corn is a valuable acquisition but is 
objectionable by reason of the red juice of its cob, dis- 
coloring all that it touches. Dwarf Champion Tomato 
is a valuable new sort on account, of its dwarf, compact 
habit and excellent quality. Rural New Yorker No. 2 
Potato gave the best yield of eighteen new varieties 
tested. The Quest melons tested were Emerald Gem 
and Perfection. 
Plant Diseagett. 
This subject was treated upon by Prof. A. N. Pren- 
tiss in his report to the Society. The losses to fruit 
growers from this cause had been considerable, and he 
regarded these diseases as more dangerous foes than 
even destructive insects. Our knowledge of many of 
them is very limited and we have few remedies that 
are reliable. It seems proved that sulphate of copper 
I can be successfully used in conbatlng the black rot of 
the grape and also in checking the growth of the 
downy mildew of the grape leaf. Pear blight is a bac- 
terial disease with no known remedy beyond tbeampu- 
