1913. 
TMtfi KUKAli tCW -YOKKliK 
1270 
R uralisms 
CHRISTMAS GREENS. 
The trade in greens and Christmas 
trees is an increasing one, and it is not 
likely to fall below previous records this 
year. Prices cannot be predicted in ad¬ 
vance, as so many factors contribute to 
their variations, but last season's rates 
may give some idea of them. About De¬ 
cember 1 last year fancy holly brought 
.$.‘5 to $1 a ease. Arbor vitie clippings 
four to 12 inches long, and White pine 
clippings, same length, $2 pel* case of 
100 pounds; ferns, fancy and dagger, (15 
cents to $1.50 per 1,000; Galax leaves, 
$1.50 per 1,000; wild Southern smilax, 
$2.50 to $5 per case; boxwood sprays, 
10 cents per pound; holly wreaths, $10 
per 100. 
Holly is shipped in crates, the size be¬ 
ing about 2^x2V&x5 feet, the branches 
iveraging from IS to 24 inches long. It 
is essential that the holly should have 
;lossy leaves and abundant berries, and 
awkward branches with heavy wood 
should he avoided. The holly is laid flat 
in the crate, without any wrapping, 
packed closely so that it will not shake 
about. The average weight of the crate 
is from 80 to 05 pounds. The holly comes 
chiefly from Virginia southward; that 
from Delaware and Maryland is usually 
very good in quality. Sometimes early con¬ 
signments run as high as $5 a crate, 
when there is some reason for brisk de¬ 
mand, while just before Christinas, when 
the wholesale orders are practically all 
idled, it may drop to 75 cents a crate. 
The middle of November this year 
it was quoted at. $,‘{.50 a crate. No 
stock is quite so dead as holly and 
mistletoe after the holidays. A small 
amount of English holly of high quality 
comes over, but this rarely appears in 
the outside market, as it is usually im 
ported by florists with an exclusive and 
high priced trade. Pot-grown dwarf trees 
of the garden varieties of English holly 
are also imported for decorative use; 
they include forms with variegated foli¬ 
age and also golden berries. 
Mistletoe is packed in boxes, barrels 
or crates but we do not recommend bar¬ 
rels; it. is very heavy, and in large bulk 
settles so much that it is likely to heat, 
unless abundant ventilation is given. 
Mistletoe suffers decay and loss of ber- 
ies if heated in transit, and few things 
are more discouraging to the receiver 
than to find a package of mistletoe full 
of bare stems, with a slimy mass of de¬ 
cayed berries sifting through to the bot¬ 
tom. (’rates form desirable containers. 
Mistletoe is sold by weight, most sea¬ 
sons running from 20 to .'!<) rents a 
pound. The American mistletoe, I'hor- 
adendron fiavescens, differs from English 
mistletoe, Viscum album, in having a yel¬ 
lower east to the leaves, while the ber¬ 
ries are smaller, and tinged with amber, 
instead of pure white. English mistletoe 
is imported, but often suffers greatly in 
transit. There are occasional importa¬ 
tions of pot-grown apple trees from Eng¬ 
land, on which mistletoe has been col¬ 
onized, the apple being a favorite host 
for this parasite. 
The trade in box foliage is of com¬ 
paratively recent growth, and while it 
may be considered among Christmas 
greens, it is sold all the year 'round for 
florists' use. There is, already, complaint 
of carelessness in gathering it, as in some 
localities ignorant help is allowed to 
slash the hashes to pieces without regard 
to the future. It is very slow-growing, 
ami much of the supply has come from 
old gardens in the South. It is always 
old by the pound, averaging from 15 to 
IS cents. 
Laurel (Kalinin) is sold both in 
branches and festooning. About the mid¬ 
dle of November large bundles of branch 
laurel wholesaled for 55 cents; laurel 
festooning was four to six cents a yard. 
Short laurel twigs in 100 pound lots are 
now offered at three cents a pound; laurel 
wreaths $2.10 to $•! per dozen. Magnolia 
leaves from tin* South, ml, brown or 
green, were $1.25 per 1,000. Standing 
pine was eight cents a pound. The best 
"f this “pine” (Lycopodium) is tied in 
neat hunches of one half to one pound, 
packed in large barrels in layers, tops 
ait and roots in the center. It comes 
Tom the Eastern and Northern States, 
a great deal being shipped from Wiscon- 
in, but the Eastern pine is usually more 
arefully bundled, and hence runs a little 
higher in price. It is also shipped in 
rope form, but a great deal of evergreen 
roping of various kinds is made up by 
the wholesalers and middlemen, accord¬ 
ing to demand. 
Long leaf pine from the South and 
hemlock from the North are largely sold 
for decorating. The South is a tremendous 
shipper of wild greens, and the trade in 
smilax, pine, Magnolia. Galax, palmetto 
and Leueothoe must bring ready money 
into many heavily wooded districts. The 
Southern smilax comes in crates, and also 
in eases of 50 pounds, the latter being 
quoted in November at $0 for selected 
stock. One of the newer Southern 
“greens” is Itiiseus or butcher’s broom, a 
very distinct decorative shrub cultivated 
in Florida and California, but this oc¬ 
cupies a place distinctive from Christmas 
greens, ituscus is quoted at (55 cents si 
pound; it is prepared so that the stiff 
foliage keeps indefinitely, and is dyed 
red or bronze and purple. 
Christmas tree trade is of enormous 
proportions, but we think cutting is more 
conservatively done than formerly. A 
New England dealer tells us that more 
farmers now plant their wood lots with 
the idea of thinning out a succession of 
young growth for Christmas trees, and 
tin* trade thus cannot be looked upon 
as so destructive as formerly. At the 
present time there is a Federal quaran¬ 
tine on plants, nursery stock and ever¬ 
greens from a wide area in New England, 
including portions of Maine, Massachu¬ 
setts and Connecticut, where Gipsy and 
I’rown-tail moth exists. Christmas greens 
are specifically mentioned, and shippers 
in these States should learn from their 
State Department of Agriculture, whether 
this quarantine affects them, before at¬ 
tempting to ship to another State. 
E. T. R. 
Apples for Southwestern Michigan. 
What varieties of apples would be the 
best to plant for commercial use in the 
southwestern part of Michigan, a few 
miles north of tin* Indiana line? Also 
what do you think of the Delicious, King 
David, Senator and Stay man for this 
region? c. R. Y. 
Benton Harbor, Mich. 
Southwestern Michigan is a good region 
for apples, and all the varieties men¬ 
tioned will succeed there very well ex¬ 
cept Stayman. which will not reach its 
proper development in that climate. None 
of the Winesap types of which the Stay- 
man is one, are suited to the northern 
fruit regions but are excellent for those 
parts of the country from about the lati¬ 
tude of Philadelphia and Westward, Be¬ 
sides the kinds mentioned there are some 
of the old standards, such as Northern 
Spy, Baldwin, McIntosh and Red Cana¬ 
da that should not be forgotten. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Destroying Quack Grass. 
What can I put on a patch of quack 
grass that will kill it, root and top. Salt 
does not seem to be strong enough to 
hurt it much. 1 wish to get something 
that will kill everything even if it does 
render the ground barren, as I would 
rather have a bare spot than my whole 
farm covered with quack grass. 1 have 
thought of quicklime; would it be good? 
W. M . 0. 
This is a wey one to us, though we can 
imagine a farmer becoming so desperate 
over quack grass that he was willing to 
ruin a piece of land in order to kill the 
grass. We should harrow or spade that 
soil again and again and get out all the 
grass roots. Quicklime will not do the 
job. A drove of hungry sliotes would do 
better. It will be hard to reach the quack 
grass roots with ordinary weed-killers, 
but probably the best would be one con¬ 
taining white arsenic. It is made as fol¬ 
lows: Mix one pound of white arsenic 
to a paste, add it to water in which two 
pounds of washing soda is dissolved, boil 
until dissolved. The quantity of water 
is from three to nine gallons. A simpler 
method is to employ nrsenitc of soda, at 
the rate of one pound dissolved in three 
to nine gallons of water. 
Uncle Luke and Uncle Mark observed 
a little darky, apparently in great pain. 
By the side of him were the gnawed 
rinds of a large watermelon, eaten to tin- 
green. It had been a very large water¬ 
melon. "Look at dat chile." said Lulu*, 
"lie’s had too much wnttcrmelon.” "(Jo 
'long, man,” answered Mark, “dey cnin't 
be too much wat < *rn <*'i n. Dey a too lit 
tie nigger."- -Ocd'f Lost. 
asphalt make Genasco the great weather-resister 
—the economical roofing. 
Genasco stays put and stays tight against the action of 
rain, snow, sun, wind, heat, cold, alkalis and acids. 
,, Get Gerianco of y°ur dealer. Several weights. Mineral or smooth surface. The 
Rant-leak Meet for smooth surface Genasco keeps the scan ; watertight without cement 
and prevents nail leaks. Write for the Good Roof < iuide Boo!: and samples. 
The Barber Asphalt Paving Company, Philadelphia 
Largest producer* In the world IS CW \ Orlc C-lllCclgO 
Of asphalt and ready roofing San Francisco 
FAIRBANKS “BULL DOG” ENGINES 
Write for Prices and Terms 
THE 
“Bull Dog” Engines \i/i to 16 H. P. 
Vertical Engines 8 to 60 H. P. 
GAS, GASOLENE, or KEROSENE 
Equipped with Batteries or Magneto 
The best engine (or any purpose; Water 
Systems, Pumps, Hoists, Sprayers, Saws, 
Concrete Mixers, Stone Crushers, Electric 
Light Outfits, etc. 
Portable, Semi-Portable, and Stationary Types 
Made up to the Fairbanks standard and 
backed by the Fairbanks Guarantee. 
Bulletin No. 28 describes them. Copy upon 
request. 
FAIRBANKS COMPANY 
Albany, N. Y. 
Ball imore. Md. 
Boston. Mass. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
Hanford, Conn. 
New Orleans. La. 
Palerson, N. J, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
NEW YORK 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Providence. R. t. 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
Washington, D. C. 
London, England 
Glasgow, Scotland 
Hamburg Germany 
Paris, France 
mUTlHil- 
n ^ "l-.T-l -1 ~1 ~1 ujm - , , 5 
An ALPHA Storage Warehouse 
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28-1 
Your Cement 
Should Be Seasoned 
You simply can’t get the best results with Portland Cement that 
is rushed through the kilns, bagged, and shipped to dealers. That 
greeii cement will do for some jobs, but it often warps, cracks, 
and peels. ou want a seasoned cement for appearance and 
permanence. 
ALPHA Portland Cement is aged properly before it leaves 
the plants. It is kept for many weeks in great warehouses 
(2,000,000 barrels capacity) until it is thoroughly seasoned. As 
a result ot hourly tests in manufacture and the proper aging. 
ALPHA 
THE GUARANTEED 
PORTLAND 
CEMENT 
may be relied upon to give permanent satis¬ 
faction. Every sack of ALPHA is 
warranted to more than meet in strength, 
fineness and uniformity, the United States 
Government standard. 
Portland is a kind of cement. Portland 
Cement may be indifferent, good or excel¬ 
lent. ALPHA, the guaranteed Portland 
Cement, may cost a tiifle more than ccmcnta 
not made so carefully, but it is economy to use 
it—for it goes further than weaker cements. 
Your dealer can furnish ALPHA. If 
he won’t, avoid "just as good” substitutes 
and we will see that you are supplied. 
112-Page Farm Improvement Book—FREE 
Shows more than 100 ways to use ALPHA 
on the farm. Ask for our Book R 
ALPHAPORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY g?^ Easton, Pa. 
SPECIFY ALPHA AND BE SURE 
