1324 
'1' t-I K RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December! 3, 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Part I. 
The regular meeting of this noted so¬ 
ciety was held in Washington. D. C., Nov. 
17 to 22, and it was a most delightful and 
profitable occasion. The sessions and 
also the fruit show were held in the ca¬ 
pacious and beautiful rooms of the new 
National Museum, where every facility 
was afforded. The Northern Nut Grow¬ 
ers’ Association and the Eastern Fruit 
Growers’ met at the same time and place 
and added to the interest and benefits of 
the occasion. 
As is the custom of the society the 
blessing of the Great Creator of all things 
natural was asked, Rev. Dr. Joseph T. 
Kelly of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 
being called upon to lead in this devo¬ 
tion. President L. A. Goodman of Mis¬ 
souri was in the chair and conducted 
the meeting of the Pomological Society 
throughout. The other associations wore 
led by their respective presidents. The 
welcoming address was delivered by Mr. 
W. A. Taylor, Chief of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, as representing Secretary 
Houston who was obliged to attend a 
Cabinet meeting at that time. It was 
indeed very fitting that Mr. Taylor should 
welcome these associations to the Capitol 
of the nation for he has long been a mem¬ 
ber of the Pomological Society, and is 
deeply interested in all that they repre¬ 
sent and also being at the head of the 
government organization for their furth¬ 
erance. lie referred to the wonderful 
progress of the work and of the wide 
scope of the societies and the increase in 
products. lie touchingly referred to the 
memory of those who have passed away, 
some of whom had long lived in this city 
and served the cause of fruitgrowing all 
their lives. Notable among these was 
William Saunders, who introduced the 
famous Navel orange from Brazil, and in 
doing so added the main feature of Citrus 
fruit growing in California. The re¬ 
sponses were by Mr. G. L. Taber of 
Florida and Prof. W. T. MeCoun of Can¬ 
ada, both of whom made very fitting and 
happy allusions to the privileges to he 
enjoyed at Washington. 
The first business topic discussed was 
“Problems the Practical Orchardist Must 
Meet,” by S. IT. Fulton of West Vir¬ 
ginia. lie spoke of the natural condi¬ 
tions that confront him at the outset. 
He must be able to select the right lo¬ 
cations and soils for the fruits to be 
grown. There are droughts and exces¬ 
sive wet spells to be met, good manage¬ 
ment of the soil. There are insect and 
fungus foes to fight, but in this battle we 
have the aid of the modern scientists 
who study their weak points and invent 
tools and chemicals to use against them. 
The marketing problem is a big one and 
transportation has much to do with it. 
Only the best fruit will successfully meet 
all the market requirements. 
The past and present status of the 
grape industry of the United States is 
a topic that was well treated by Mr. G. 
C. Husmann, viticulturist of the U. 8. 
Department of Agriculture. He reviewed 
this industry from the beginning, telling 
of the small way in which it was started 
by the pioneers from Europe introducing 
vines from their native lands and finding 
them unsuited to the eastern part of this 
country the native grapes of America 
were taken up and made a great success. 
But on the Pacific Coast the foreign 
grapes succeeded so well that now they 
are grown by thousands of acres in a 
single vineyard. Raisins and wine are 
produced in such large quantities that 
our markets are now well supplied, and 
the opportunities for extension are al¬ 
most unlimited. The grape juice or 
unfermented wine industry was referred 
to at length and stress laid on the fact 
that it ought to be greatly increased in 
quantity and made so cheap that ordin¬ 
ary people could buy and use it, which 
is now impossible. The territory where 
grapes for this purpose may be grown is 
practically without limit and the nourish¬ 
ment and healthfulness of the unfer¬ 
mented juice is too important to ignore. 
During the discussion that followed the 
reading of his paper Mr. llusmann said 
that Concord was the leading grape for 
making juice and that 156 deg. Fhr. 
was the lowest temperature that would 
sterilize the product of any variety, al¬ 
though ISO was safer. Above that point 
the flavor of the juice is injured by the 
heat. 
“The Present Status of Canadian Pom¬ 
ology,” was next taken up by an address 
on this subject from Prof. W. T. Me¬ 
Coun, Dominion Horticulturist, lie re¬ 
ferred to the very favorable conditions for 
growing ordinary fruits in Ontario and 
British Columbia and the practical im¬ 
possibility to do so in the great plains 
region of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and 
Alberta, where small grains are the dom¬ 
inating crops, and make a market for a 
large part of the fruit not needed where 
it is grown. He mentioned the large 
export trade in fruits which had devel¬ 
oped within the last few years, especially 
in Winter apples to the British Isles and 
Europe. Canada has 16 experiment farms 
and many more demonstration orchards, 
where experiments are conducted for the 
good of the cause of practical fruit grow¬ 
ing. 
Mr. II. E. Van Deman followed with, a 
few words about the mistaken notions 
commonly held by those who had never 
been in Canada that it was a region of 
ice and snow where but few fruits flour¬ 
ished, while the facts are that Ontario 
is as mild and well suited to fruit cul¬ 
ture as the most favored parts of Ohio 
or other of our own regions along the 
Great Lakes. In British Columbia the 
climate is mild, and apples, peaches, 
plums, cherries and berries are grown 
with good success. He had been called 
to judge the great apple show at Van¬ 
couver at which many carloads of the 
best of fruit was displayed, one carload 
of Jonathan being the most nearly per¬ 
fect of any large lot of apples that he had 
ever been called to pass judgment upon. 
“The people of Canada,” he stated, “need 
neither to freeze nor starve for fruit.” 
II. E. v. 1). 
CROPS. 
The following prices were paid to farm¬ 
ers in this locality. 25 miles east of Cin¬ 
cinnati. O., November 25): Eggs 35* 
butter 25 cents a pound : old hens 1114 
cents; spring chickens 12; calves $9.50; 
hogs $7.25; cattle very scarce, at $7.25 
to $7.75. No sheep raised here. Freight 
and commission off on all stock, even if 
sold to local butchers. Corn, short crop, 
at SO; oats 48; wheat $1.05 (shipped 
in) ; hay in mow $16 to $17.50; oat 
straw $9 ; potatoes, a short crop, at $1; 
apples, few left, at $5 per barrel. Grade 
cows sell from $40 to $75. Fair to good 
farm horses $100 to $225; pigs six weeks 
old $6 per pair. J. R. 
Amelia, O. 
With few exceptions, due to purely lo¬ 
cal conditions, the past season’s farm op¬ 
erations have been nearly a failure. Late 
frosts in the Spring, and early frosts in 
the Fall, with the extreme drought in 
mid-Summer, have proven most disastrous 
in nearly every instance. While prices 
are at a record-breaking mark, most farm¬ 
ers have little of anything to sell. Very 
many will be obliged to buy hay, grain, 
potatoes and the ordinary food necessi¬ 
ties that are commonly raised on the 
farm. Stock of all kinds is being butch¬ 
ered, and thrown on to the market, even 
though unfit to be called beef. Hay would 
bring from $20 to $25 per ton, but there 
is none for sale. Pork is bringing $12 
and $13 per cwt. Beef $10 to $12. Po¬ 
tatoes about one-third crop, and selling 
for IX) cents to $1. Oats, corn, rye, and 
buckwheat, all staple products of this 
locality, nearly an entire failure, and 
farmers are buying and paying mill 
prices, This is considerable of an apple 
country, but only in isolated cases are 
there any for sale, very poor and bringing 
$3 per barrel. Butter is readily bring¬ 
ing 40 cents per pound, and eggs 50 cents 
per dozen. The local grocery stores are 
paying 40 cents. With the high price 
of grain, farmers are not feeding either 
milch cows or poultry in a manner to 
produce the best results. R. n. w. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
Conditions in this part of Nebraska 
continue fairly favorable. The weather 
is and has been warm and fine. Rain 
about November 20 gave the young wheat 
a good soaking. Wheat was needing rain, 
none having fallen since September 20. 
Wheat looking well and in very good 
shape for Winter. Some hog cholera 
around the country, which is apparently 
being checked by vaccination. A good 
many hogs are being fattened on ground 
wheat. There is no corn. Hogs fed on 
ground wheat have done finely. Live hogs 
now bring $7.00 to $7.25 per hundred. 
Butcher’s cattle $6; milch cows high. 
At a sale recently 13 common cows sold 
for an average of over $80. Hay brings 
$12 per ton; wheat 73; corn 78; oats 
45 ; potatoes 90, shipped from Wiscon¬ 
sin and other points. Wisconsin cabbage 
$1.75 per hundred pounds. Very few 
home-grown apples, at 75 cents per bush¬ 
el. Apples from Pacific States retail at 
$2 per box. Butter 30; eggs 33; hens 
8%. Many farms rented on the basis of 
two-fifth the grain raised, delivered in 
market, cash for grass land at the rate 
of $20 per acre for pasture and native 
meadow, to $5 per acre for Alfalfa. 
Nebraska. h. m. R. 
The late rains have filled our wells 
nicely. Many of the hill farmers have 
been drawing water for their stock for 
several weeks. The roads in consequence 
of the rain are very bad, the worst since 
last Spring. The burning of the M. J. 
Peck Co. barn, with a loss of 28 head of 
stock, total loss $29,175, insurance $12,- 
100, net loss $17,075, was the worst fire 
with loss of stock we have had in years. 
This dairy was the best collection of 
stock there was in the county, Mr. Peck 
being a very large dealer in registered 
and best grades stock for shipping pur¬ 
poses. This has been the worst year for 
farmers we have had in years, owing to 
the drought principally. The “back-to- 
the-landers” who have a living-wage job 
would better think twice before leaving it. 
Many of our farmers will not raise 
enough to pay their hired help this year, 
let alone realizing anything for their own 
work. Potatoes are being carried at 65 
cents per bushel. We have heard of five 
farmers who harvested over 300 bushels 
to the acre; many did not get half of 
that, and some are still wondering what 
became of their seed. Buckwheat was 
almost a total failure, many did not har¬ 
vest their crop at all. Apples are bring¬ 
ing from $1 to $1.50 per bushel. On the 
average we will not gather one apple to 
the farm throughout the county. What 
we have are mostly shipped in. Most 
of our farmers have got their plowing 
mostly done for next year. Should we 
get an early spring the crops will go in 
early. Egg buyers are paying 55 cents 
per dozen. Turkeys brought 26 cents for 
Thanksgiving week. The Bordens pay 
$1.80 per 100 for December milk. 
Cortland Co., N. Y. f. e. w. 
“Look Beyond the 
End of Your Nose” 
grandfather used to say. A big Florida fruit 
grower remarked that he had to go to Cali¬ 
fornia to learn that he had been wrong for 
twenty years. The potato growers of Maine get 
hints from Colorado; the apple men learn from 
the orange growers how to cooperate. Here's 
where the national-farm-weekly idea comes in. 
If you want to travel north, east, south, west 
and get your long-distance lessons in money¬ 
making methods without spending carfare, look 
beyond the end of your nose and get the national 
farm-weekly habit. The big National Farm 
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looking at the best farms of their kind in the 
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Service. Our three hundred thousand weekly 
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NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE FAILURE if 
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Country Gentleman. 
Everything about the BUSINESS of farming 
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national farm weekly. Five cents the copy, of 
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THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 
Independence Square Philadelphia, Penna. 
