Vol. LYIII. No. 2558. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 4, 1899. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
Western N. Y. Horticultural Society 
HOLDS ns 44TH ANNIVERSARY. 
A Great Gathering at Rochester, N. Y. 
REVIEW OF A YEAR’S HORTICULTURAL THOUGHT. 
The Western New York Horticultural Society has 
direct or indirect influence wherever trees are planted 
or fruit is eaten. It is 
old and conservative— 
old enough to have seen 
Rochester develop from 
a flour city to a flower 
city, and conservative 
enough to make its re¬ 
ports standard publica¬ 
tions. Its members are 
the picked men of the 
great fruit and nursery 
districts of western 
New York. They come 
together fresh from 
field and orchard, and 
talk over the season’s 
work, and thus take 
home new plans and 
suggestions for the 
coming season. These meetings take largely the form 
of a year’s review of horticultural work. The scien¬ 
tists at the experiment stations always take a prom¬ 
inent part, either reviewing their work or suggesting 
new lines of research. Objection has been made that 
many of the papers are too long, too scientific, and too 
heavy—not permitting enough discussion. The an¬ 
swer to this is that the meetings grow in popularity, 
and that the reports, when printed, are in great 
■demand. 
The meeting this year was largely attended and was 
considered fully up to the standard, in fact better 
than usual. We give a synopsis of most of the papers, 
and pictures of some of those who made the meeting 
a success. Other papers will be printed later. Pres. 
W. C. Barry was sick and unable to preside, but Mr. 
S. D. Willard ably filled his place. 
“ Now, gentlemen ! ” he said on announcing a com¬ 
mittee, “please plant yourselves in that corner, and 
■get to ivork. Delay has ruined more men than any¬ 
thing else in the world ”! With these sturdy instruc- 
Dk. W. H. JORDAN. 
Director Geneva Experiment StatioD. Fig. 25. 
tions, the meeting “ got to work ”, and kept working ! 
There is no lack of discussion at these meetings. 
When questions were asked, Mr. Willard quickly 
called up the men who ought to answer them, and 
frequently one answer called out another. This made 
one of the best features of the meeting. 
HORTICULTURAL RECORD. 
BY DR. W. H. JORDAN. 
The agriculture of the United States is noted for the 
intense discussion on the application of science to 
farm practice. Not even Germany, with all her scien¬ 
tists and experiment stations, comes as close to the 
farmer and his work as America. It is one point, and 
a strong one, in which we excel. A large part of the 
discussion at our horticultural meetings, in periodi¬ 
cals and in experiment station bulletins, deals with 
the problem of production. We are always looking 
for new varieties, learning how to fertilize and prune 
the orchard, how to combat insect pests and fungous 
diseases ; everything in short which will enable us to 
put on the market the best fruit at the least cost. In 
Canada, the problem is reversed. There is the same 
intense interest in matters horticultural, but the 
Prof. I. p. ROBERTS. 
Director Cornell Experiment Station. Fig. 28. 
issue is that of selling, not of producing. Where we 
are weak, the Canadians are strong. It is all very 
well to grow a barrel of fine apples, free from scab 
and insect injury, clean, attractive, A No. 1 from top 
to bottom ; but that barrel of apples is not money, and 
never will be till it is sold. The art of selling should 
keep pace with the art of producing. We want a 
skillful combination of the two. We ought to acquire 
better traditional methods of selling. Those we have 
now were acquired years ago, when conditions were 
ve ry different. Cooperation in selling will accomplish 
this, to hold back poor fruit and to obviate market 
gluts. 
Dr. Jordan thought the time has passed when the 
chief work of an experiment station is held to be the 
testing of varieties. What shall our experiment sta¬ 
tions take up? It will be determining the rela¬ 
tions of the plant to its environment; the influence of 
heat, moisture and the mechanical condition of the 
soil on plant growth. There is a sympathetic mixture 
of food for certain plants, and each has, also, a natural 
preference for soil of a certain texture, and moisture 
of a certain degree. To illustrate : Prof. Beach found 
that the application of commercial fertilizers to light 
WM. C. BARRY. 
President Western New York^Horticultural Society. Fig. 27. 
sandy soils gave excellent lettuce, while barnyard 
manure on the soil returned a scant crop. On the 
other hand, manure applied to loam gave good let¬ 
tuce, and commercial fertilizers did not. The why of 
this we do not know. That is the problem to solve. 
Again, tomatoes will not thrive when soda is sub¬ 
stituted for potash as an element of plant food, while 
barley thrives under this treatment. Each farm crop 
has a different relation to its environment. These 
are some of the problems which will occupy the at¬ 
tention of experiment station workers in the future. 
CONVENTION NOTES. 
During the past season, Mr. Willard sold Bose pears 
in Boston for §12 per barrel. 
Prof. S. A. Beach says not to use Bordeaux Mixture 
which has been made over 48 hours. 
Crawford peaches are comparatively free from leaf 
curl. Elberta is one of the worst affected. 
Mr. Wili.ard was pleased to know that the San 
Joe 6 scale does not like to feed on the Kieffer pear. 
Prof. Baii.ky’s lecture on Horticultural Conditions 
in Europe was excellent. We shall report it next week. 
Western New York growers cannot do without the 
Lawrence pear. It has all the merits of a valuable 
commercial pear. 
The San Jos<* ecale is plastered over Long Island. 
Even strawberries are not exempt. Ornamental trees 
and shrubs bearing these scales have been auctioned 
in New York City. 
Three years ago, Prof. Bailey stood almost alone in 
favor of thorough orchard tillage against pasturing 
with hogs or sheep. This year, most of his former 
critics came over to his side. 
On February 1, the railroad companies purpose to 
raise the minimum weight of a car-load of fruit from 
24,000 to 30,000 pounds. Hence fruit growers who 
ship but part of a car-lcad must pay tariff on the lat¬ 
ter figure. The Society strongly protested against 
this unnecessary increase. 
Discussing Mr. Orr’s paper, T. G. Yeomans, of Wal¬ 
worth, emphasized the necessity for early spraying 
for the Apple fcab. He and his neighbors now spray 
twice before the blossoms burst. Arsenite of lime is 
superior to Paris-green. It is less expensive, equally 
efficient and remains in suspension longer than Paris- 
green. The formula is 1 pound of white arsenite, 
10 pounds of lime, 400 gallons of water. 
John Hall, Secketaky. 
