iyoy. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A cloudburst in northern Wisconsin July 
-1 caused damage estimated at $500,000. The power plant 
at White River, which furnished light to the city of 
Ashland, and the State Fish Hatchery, near Bayfield, were 
practically destroyed. The Northwestern, Wisconsin Cen¬ 
tral, Northern Pacific and Omaha (rains were all held up. 
At High bridge, the river valley was a raging Hood. Houses 
could be seen standing with water almost up to the roof. 
. . . Browndel, Tex., together with the mill and stock 
of lumber of the Kirby Humber Company, valued at 
$250,000, was destroyed by fire July 20. The fire origi¬ 
nated in the lumber mill and nearlv all the 200 houses 
and small stores as well as the mill burned. . . A 
destructive Gulf storm struck Galveston, Tex., July 21. 
The sea wall saved the city from destructive damage by 
the sea and the massive concrete wall was put to a 
severe test. It stands 17 feet high, or a foot above the 
highest tide on the day of the great storm. September 8, 
1900. Sixteen persons perished on the tarpon fishing 
pier on the north jetty, six miles from the city, across 
the bay. This was a now resort, two stories high and 
with 25 rooms furnished. It was erected early this sea¬ 
son at a cost of $10,000. It is not exactly known how 
many were on Hie pier, but it is estimated that between 
12 and 14 guests and Captain Betfison, the manager, and 
his wife and daughter were lost. The structure was 
built to withstand a heavy gale, but collapsed and every 
one was lost. The life saving crew, Government boats 
and pilot boats made several attempts to reach the pier, 
which is out in the Gulf, but the sea was running too 
high. The total death list along the Gulf Coast is put 
at 23, with 14 missing; total property loss, $750,000. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Society for the Promotion 
of Agricultural Science will meet at Portland, Ore. 
August 17; T. F. Hunt, president. State College, Pa. ; 
F. W. Rane, secretary-treasurer, Boston, Mass 
President Kenyon L. Butterfield, of the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College, announces that Joseph S. Chamber- 
lain. who has been connected with a bureau of the United 
States Agricultural Department in Washington, has ac¬ 
cepted the position of associate professor of chemistry at 
the college. Prof. Chamberlain was formerlv assistant to 
Prof. Remsen at; Johns Hopkins University, which conferred 
on him the degree of Ph.D. He is now in Berlin, engaged 
in special study. 
The British government July 26 revoked the orders pro¬ 
hibiting the landing of hay and straw from New York 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. This 
removes the last of the embargo, ordered at the time of 
the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease in 1908. 
Thirty .States were represented at the annual meeting 
of the National Hay Dealers’ Association, which began a 
three days’ convention at Cedar Point, Ohio. July 27. An 
effort will be made to unite hay dealers throughout the 
United States in a movement in behalf of better shipping 
facilities and a readjustment of rates in certain sections. 
In a lecture before a large number of professors at the 
University of California July 27, Dr. I). I). MacDougal 
for many years head of the desert botanical laboratory of 
the Carnegie Institute, and later connected with the branch 
laboratory at Tucson, Ariz.. announced that he had pro¬ 
duced remarkable results by the use of chemicals upon 
plants. He said that by spraying the pollen of the parent 
plant with solution of calcium and iodine he has pro¬ 
duced radical changes in the derivatives, and that by 
hybridizing the derivatives with natural plants of the same 
species, lie has obtained other varying results. He had 
taken plants with coarse serrated leaves, and with chemi¬ 
cals had produced plants whose leaves are of fine and 
smooth texture. Dr. MacDougal was once in charge of 
the New York Botanical Garden. 
The Summer meeting of the New York State Fruit 
Growers’ Association will be held at Olcott Beach, Niagara 
County, N. Y., August 6 and 7. The speakers and topics 
are as follows: C. E. Bassett, Fennville, Mich., “What 
Are We After, and IIow Shall We Get: It?" T. II Todd 
New Franklin, Mo., “Middle West Ideas on the Hafeaii 
Package Bill.” P. A. Rodgers, Cravette, Ark., “Present 
and Future Prospects for Fruit in the Middle West.” 
Errett Wallace, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y„ “The 
Value of Uime-Sulphur Mixtures as Fungicides.” The dis¬ 
cussion of these topics will occupy the afternoon and even¬ 
ing of Friday, August 6. The morning of the 7th a 
field meeting will be held in a nearby orchard, to be 
conducted by speakers from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. The remainder of the day will be spent in visiting 
fruit-farms in the vicinity. So far as it is possible, au¬ 
tomobiles will be provided for the use of the visitors. 
Those wishing to take the automobile ride, will please 
notify at once Mr. Frank Bradley, Barker, N. Y„ who 
has charge of the local arrangements. There are ample 
hotel accommodations at Olcott Beach. 
The Cortland County, N. Y., fair will be held at Cort¬ 
land August 17-20. This is in a prosperous farming sec¬ 
tion and is one of the most important fairs in the State. 
Prof. R. A. Pearson, State Commissioner of Agriculture, 
is sending out checks amounting to $250,000 to the 92 
county and town agricultural societies to reimburse them 
for premiums paid in 1908, exclusive of racing awards. 
The total amount of premiums paid by the societies was 
$303,993, and they are being reimbursed by the State 
it the rate of practically 84 per cent, except' 12 societies 
which receive $4,000 each, the maximum amount allowed 
■y law. These 12 societies are in the counties of Broome, 
Cortland. Dutchess, Erie, Genesee, Niagara. Orange, 
Queens, St. Lawrence, Steuben, Washington and West¬ 
chester. 
A DISH OF WONDERBERRIES. 
Whither are we drifting? The Massachusetts Horticul¬ 
tural Society is holding an exhibition in Boston this week 
and an exhibit of Luther Burbank's latest miracle, the 
“Wonderberry,” bears the tag, “Worthless.—Burlington, 
\ f.. News. 
I saw a little bed of the Wonderberry (?) in the garden 
of a friend the past week. It made me smile; I have 
been trying to exterminate a similar looking plant in my 
strawberries for years past. iienry iui.e 
Mason Co., Ill. 
Please let up on Burbank. He has done some splendid 
work, and we can afford to help him out of a hole once 
m a while. I owe him a lot for the Shirn and the Gold 
and the America plums—superb here and in Florida also. 
E. P. POWELL. 
N.-V.—If Mr. Burbank is in a “hole,” he will admit 
iiiat lie put himself there, and can easily get out. 
I do not like to discuss Burbank's Wonderberry be¬ 
cause it seems futile to arouse any argument over the 
subject. Anyone can secure seeds and make a test for 
nmself. The plant belongs. I believe, to the common 
nightshade family. I believe it is no better than our 
common wild potato or any of the class of bitter-sweet 
7,? linve tested it here without confirming any 
'd Burbank s claims for its greatness.”—A. A. Illxon, sec- 
ictay Worcester Co. Horticultural Society. 
*.° do,ln Lewis Childs last Spring for a package 
•f Wonderberry seed. Our folks laughed at me for send- 
-VrbnrwJ' 1 thc iVy ht lt: might be an improvement on the 
nn ir, fi eri T' , 3 1)0 sp ed "'ns planted under glass; came 
m time it has borne fruit: a little black berry. There 
in m'n. r !’J ni ,,,r , 0 ^ what I think the same plants growing 
instead ef yard -. If t,le Plants were grown in the garden 
me em,M T ithout estivation I don’t think anv 
the plants a P art - It is certainly just the 
Ohio * de - H - A ' mcqdistox. 
h \ s r dooidpd that the Burbank Wonderberry is 
w> Ie^°ve‘ I Massachusetts was considered a good State 
wont u-eJ* n< , sonl e years ago when Luther Burbank 
dene morn rais , e , tl ? p country up with him. Having 
products 'fT al - others of the State to improve the 
at Post. f , 1 ° s °d- hp is unceremoniously thrown down 
cultural Noetic an cydbition of the Massachusetts TTorti- 
a • ociety in Horticultural Hall, last week, there 
CP H R RURAL NEW-YORKER 
stood on a table surrounded by choice specimens of fruit, 
a Piaaf that was labeled: “Burbank's Wonderberry, Prob¬ 
ably Solanum nigrum. Worthless.” It was in answer to 
similar criticism from England that Mr. Burbank made 
a statement a short time ago, and he may be called upon 
once more to defend the Wonderberry from the attack 
at Boston.—Worcester, Mass., Telegram. 
You ask for reports of the Wonderberry. I have it 
growing in my garden, and I must say I don't think a 
bigger fake was ever put on the public. Even if it was 
wholesome, it is the most insipid, worthless thing I ever 
attempted to grow, and for fear of being judged easily 
taken in, will say the seeds were given me by a friend 
1 used to have great respect for Mr. Burbank, ‘but; a trial 
ol Ins different introductions does not strengthen that 
respect, and a few more like the Wonderberry will make 
it small. elliott arooRE. 
W orcester Co., Mass. 
Do We Earn That $10,000? 
Mr. Burbank has made himself famous in the production 
of plants? Some may be good for the Pacific Coast, hut 
none has any value as far as I tried them iu this part 
of the country. I used lo buy and try the best of his 
hardy fruits, but they are not hardy here. His Wonder- 
berry was shown at our Douglas County IIorHcultural 
[society last week; grown from seeds bought from Mr. 
Childs. No one cared for the berries, though they were 
ripe ! ">'l iii condition to cat, but of such quality as many 
or some other Solanums. But that is nothing to the 
real issue with him. He offered to pay the money to 
any person who would prove that the Wonderberry is 
the black nightshade. You have produced the plant from 
his seed, and they seem to be the same as the berries 
shown before our county society, in size and descrip¬ 
tion: further, you have good men as witnesses. That 
should be the best evidence he can ask that you have 
proved your claim, and are entitled to your money. If 
Mr. Burbank would leave his decision to the public, lie 
would have little hope of any indorsement in Ibis part 
of the country of his productions. Even his rhubarb fails 
here, where any other grows to great proportions. I hope 
you may get on the right side and stay there till this Is 
setth-d. That is the most valuable part of the whole 
Lawrence, Kan. a. h. griesa. 
The horticultural trade as a whole glories in the achiove- 
ments of its geniuses, and always has done so. It re¬ 
spects and honors tile man who gives us a Seckel pear 
a Concord grape, an Early Rose potato, a Maryland rose’ 
or an Enchantress carnation. It has a right" to resent 
and unhesitatingly condemn anything that savors of fak¬ 
ing or deception, or in any way tends to bring dishonor 
and humiliation to the profession. For a quarter of a 
century the Society of American Florists has raised its 
voice repeatedly in favor of the highest standard of 
ethics and morality in such matters, and to-day the trade 
insists upon and the public demand a clean hill with 
whatever is pushed forward as a sensational novelty. On 
Saturday, July 17, 1909, “Luther Burbank’s Wonderberry.” 
in plant form and fruit, was displayed upon rne exhibition ' 
tables of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, marked 
“Worthless.” and Ibis fact was duly proclaimed in the 
Boston dailies, together with a statement of the poisoning 
of two Italians who had eaten of the fruit. The public 
has been so industriously drilled ini* the idea of the 
wizard's marvelous powers that in the popular frame of 
mind up to date it will buy anything bearing Burbank's 
name, so it is desirable that the true character of such 
introductions, untested except possibly for a short time 
in California, should he ascertained and given the widest 
publicity.—Horticulture (Boston). 
726 
ago from a prominent apple grower and dealer near St. 
Joseph, Mo., stating that the most that could be looked 
for around there was about 40 per cent of a crop. Dur¬ 
ing the month of May the same person figured on 75 
per cent to 80 per cent of a crop. Around Hutchinson, 
Kan., an important fruit section, about all the apples 
weio killed. the quality of apples will be fairly good: 
no worms, but some scab, and as a result of the cold 
weather at and shortly after blooming period. The 
Elbert a peach crop is light in most parts of Missouri. 
. he liest crop is in the Koshkouong district in Oregon and 
Howell counties. Of late peaches, such as Champion and 
,alway, there is a fair crop in sight in many places. 1 
don t believe the apple crop as a whole over' the United 
.States will average up in size or quality to last year 
Cedar Gap, Mo. Louis ebb. 
The apple crop in this section is very spotted, and 
much of the fruit is imperfect. From reports received 
from members of the Missouri Valley Horticultural So¬ 
ciety they indicate not to exceed 30 per cent of a full 
crop The June drop was heavy. There are no peaches 
whatever. Very few plums and pears, but a good crop 
01 grapes. a. v. wilsSn, 
Sec. Missouri Valley Hort. Society. 
Apples in the Ohio Valley. 
FRUIT GROWERS’ SELLING EXCHANGE. 
We made brief mention last week of a selling exchange 
organized at Rochester. N. Y. A call was issued for a 
meeting to be held July 17. Some 200 growers attended and 
addresses were made by Floyd Tonnv, Dr. W. II. Jordan 
W. C. Barry, M. C. Burnett and others. The following 
directors wore elected : C. II. McClew, Burt : Frank 
Bradley. Barkers: Jay Allis. Medina; Irving Rowley Me¬ 
dina: Sam Smith, Albion; Clark Toplev, Holley; Francis 
J. Miller, Byron; William Roeper, Wyoming; S. W. Wad- 
hams, Clarkson; Luther Collamer, Hilton; A. Emerson 
Babcock, Brighton; Frank Murphy, Morton; W. R Teats 
Williamson: T. B. Wilson. Halls; E. W. Catchpole North 
Rose. These directors will elect officers of the organ¬ 
ization. as follows: President, throe vice-president, treas¬ 
urer, secretary, general sales agent and a general man¬ 
ager. A company is to be organized with $40,000 capital 
par value of shares $100 each. Twenty per cent of the 
stock is to be paid at once for working capital—stock 
full paid and non-assessable. The exchange is to handle 
fruit products for its members on a five per cent basis 
and for others on a basis to be fixed by the directors.’ 
Local associations will be formed—each to be a stock¬ 
holder in the Exchange. The organization is to be con¬ 
ducted much like those in the West which have proved 
so successful. It is one of the best moves ever made bv 
New York fruit growers. 
THE APPLE CROP. 
Prospect for Apples in the Hudson Valley. 
From personal observation, and the best information I 
can obtain, 1 think the Hudson Valley has a normal crop 
of apples. Nearly all varieties except Newtown Pippins 
are well loaded, in fact more than the trees will well 
stand. That there has been a large drop is true, and 
the prolonged drought has made this greater than it 
otherwise would have been. Yet. with favorable weather 
from this on. 1 am sure, iu the majority of orchards, 
every apple that has dropped has been a benefit. To-day, 
July 23, we are having an all-day rain, which will mate¬ 
rially improve conditions, which were beginning to get 
serious. Aside from (hose orchards affected by San Jos€ 
scale, for which nothing has been done (and in the aggre¬ 
gate they are many), the fruit is clean and free from 
insect depredations. The most serious injury has come 
from the aphis early in the season. Wliere they were 
very bad, much of the fruit is small and will only grade 
as poor seconds. If this is as bad, as is generally re¬ 
ported. It will bring, the yield of first-class fruit very 
much below what the number on the trees would lead 
one to expect. A representative of one of the largest 
Now York firms dealing in apples told mo this week that 
on the west side of the river, half the fruit would be 
unfit to barrel in a large number of orchards. He had 
just come from one in this neighborhood, usually much 
sought after, and he reported the trees to show ‘a pros¬ 
pect of 1,000 barrels, of which not more than half wore 
merchantable. edward van ai.styxe. 
The Apple Crop in Missouri. 
It is difficult to make an approximately correct esti¬ 
mate of the apple crop in the Central West, because of 
tbe great irregularity that exists among bearing trees in 
the orchards. The Ben Davis, which holds about the 
same position here that the Baldwin does in tin- East, 
bloomed very unevenly last Spring. In some localities, 
not necessarily far apart, the trees had about a full set 
of blooms, and in others one-half or one-quarter and 
from that down to nothing, so that, on the whole, it 
would not be safe to call the apple crop of all varieties 
in Missouri, Arkansas, southern Illinois and Kansas more 
than about one-fourth of normal size. Such varieties as 
the Ingram, Payne's Keeper. Smith Cider, Missouri Pip¬ 
pin, Grimes and Huntsman bloomed well and give prom¬ 
ise of about a full crop, so that all those growers, who 
are fortunate enough to have many of these trees in 
bearing, will come pretty near harvesting normal crops. 
In Kansas and the northern part of Missouri where 
the Ben Davis bloomed hotter than in the Ozark fruit 
belt, considerable damage was done by the hard freezes 
around the first of May, so that oven in these sections 
tbe crop will be short. I received a letter a few days 
The outlook for apples in this part of the country is 
not the brightest. A few of the best-cared-for orchards 
have from a fourth to a half crop, but some trees have 
Hill crops and others under same conditions have few 
or none. It is the most uneven this year I ever saw. 
Many trees have a limb or two on one side full, anti 
little or nothing on the other. The orchards where the 
owners were so weak-kneed they quit spraying, have 
nothing of value, but if they had sprayed well they ini'dit 
have had a fourth crop of good apples. The shortage 
seems to result from lack of bloom almost entirely where 
welt sprayed, and most of the bloom came to naught later 
from curculio, Codling moth and apple-scab where not 
sprayed. I have plenty of trees that had seemingly no 
bloom and we could see no apples to amount to anything 
a month after blooming, and the men were told to sprav 
them anyway the first time after the bloom dropped, anil 
the next time they could go around the trees and spray 
us went, but if they were certain there was nothing 
on the trees they need not put on as much as if there 
were a crop. Now many of those trees show more apples 
than I expected, and also show some lack of thorough 
spraying, as some of them have been stung by curculio 
some have Codling moth in them and some are scabby! 
probably a fourth or half, depending on the care in sprav- 
ing, aie injured or ruined. Some of the trees that were 
.1 a , ~. s P rayed .just before a rain and some of it was 
washed off before it got dry, show scab on some of the fruit 
the foliage is the heaviest this year I ever had, more 
leaves on the trees, and it was more difficult to cover 
the apples with the spray than usual, so some scab began 
to show about the first of June, a month after the bloom 
ten, as a result of so many showers about that time, and 
the showers have continued often ever since. It rained 
on lb days in June and sprinkled on seven other da vs 
and has rained on seven of the 19 days so far in July.’ 
L t l0 - UKht , I 1 wouId not Pay to give the trees another 
spiajing between the second application after the bloom 
dropped, wluch was finished about the 25th of May and 
nL # t T 0ne wp expected to commence about tbe 
2oth of June for the last brood of Codling moth, apple- 
scab and bitter rot, but as the season has been rather 
wet ever since the 20th of May, I think now it might have 
• been best to have given another spraying. We have had 
no dry spell so far this Slimmer to cause any injury and 
I do not see any harm resulting from last year's drought. 
I do not see that frost or freezing had anything to do 
with the light bloom on apples, but ii killed our peaches 
and cherries so badly that we had none to sell, but we 
nave the best crop of plums we ever grew, and have 
had to thin severely. I do not anticipate much damage 
from rot as they have been well sprayed and thinned, but 
not thinned enough, although from a half to three-fourths 
were removed, hut the growers who did not spray well 
and often, and thin, may expect most of the crop to rot 
if the damp weather continues. As to the apple crop in 
general, I do not look for more than 15 or 20 per cent at 
most in all this part of the Ohio Valley region, including 
soutnern Ohio, northwestern part of West Virginia, north- 
ern part of Kentucky and southern part of Indiana and 
Illinois The Government report gives the States a higher 
per cent, but prominent growers say that the regions where 
the commercial orchards arc have a lower rating and 
some family orchards in other parts of the State Which 
are reported by farmers are given as having bettor crops 
Senator H. M. Dunlap, of Savoy, ill., writes me lie has 
a prospect of about a fourth of a crop in their company 
orchards of more than a thousand acres in three counties 
m the commercial belt, and taking the State as a whole 
it will not make over 20 per cent of a crop. The above- 
mentioned orchards are given the best of care and seldom 
miss ha\ ing a paying crop, and are far above the average 
in prospects now, so that region is going to be very short 
on supplies- Northern Ohio is reported light also, as well 
as V irginia, but the best orehards all over the country 
have some fruit, and the crops seem to he better dis¬ 
tributed than usual, hut there are few sections with a 
big crop. I lie far western States are lighter than last 
5 ear except Colorado, so we are expecting good prices for 
good apples well packed. They are unusually large for 
this time of the year, and will run well up to fancy grade 
foi packing where well sprayed and some thinning done 
on part of the trees. We have had to thin the Grimes 
seveioly, all the old trees Ik- ing very full; young trees had 
nothing at seven years planted. Some Beauty and Ensee 
that are younger have good crops on them, as well as on 
Jonathan. One grower said he had been offered $3 per 
barrel. u T ( , ox 
Lawrence Co., O hio. _ 
EGGS AND BUTTER IN COLD STORAGE. 
ttur cold Storage stocks of butter on the morning of July 
10 were 12o,991 packages compared with 164.248 packages 
tor corresponding date last year, and our cold storage 
ni°rert S ^Hh eg # 97 °QO® the ' Sa T date ' vpre 340 « 318 cases com- 
paied with 327,393 cases for corresponding date last year. 
,■ I??, , us l>p seen that we are short on butter and 
slightly in excess on eggs. By this time of the year 
most all stocks are in cold storage. Of course the dif¬ 
ferent receivers have their small private refrigerators 
where they keep samples and sometimes a little stock 
hut this does not vary much from year to year. The 
high prices of both butter and cheese are a great puzzle 
to the trade. No one likes it, and in spite of conservative 
treatment of the case, prices seem to go up week after 
wp ek, and I am inclined to think that thev will continue 
so until a price is reached that decidedly checks consump¬ 
tion. Everything is high, and consumers' are becoming 
accustomed to high prices, but there is a limit to all 
things, and some day we will find out what is the top 
notch. It must be borne in mind that all kinds of labor 
is well employed at good wages, then again, the farmers 
have been most prosperous for several years and are rich 
in comparison with former years'. They are living better 
and are using more and more of their product such as 
eggs, milk and butter, also poultry. There is another 
thing that must be borne in mind, and that is this coun¬ 
try has, and is, increasing enormously in population, espe¬ 
cially the West, and while some are deceived in the 
shortage of receipts in the largo centers', such as New 
York. Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, and think we 
are not making as much butter and cheese, or producing 
as many eggs, they arc mistaken, and I believe we are 
making more each year. The western country is growing 
so fast, somo_ cities, that were 5,000 some 10 years ago, 
to-day are 25.000, and cities of 50,000 and over have 
doubled and tripled in the past decade. Tbe same way 
all through western Canada: each cheese factory, butter 
creamery and egg-producing point is catering to the in¬ 
creased wants of these rapidly growing towns and cities. 
Boston, Mass. geo. a. cochranb. 
