THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
253 n 
1014. 
THE WESTERN N. Y. HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
With some of the most pressing prob¬ 
lems of the fruit grower, especially the 
£5an Jos<5 scale and other threatening 
clouds (which had brought the farmers 
of the State to these meetings for help 
and advice) disposed of, and none but the 
ordinary problems of the fruit industry 
to come up for discussion, no decline of 
interest in the proceedings, and surely 
none in attendance, was to be noticed at 
the fifty-ninth annual meeting. Every 
session was well attended, although many 
members were loth to leave the exhibition 
annex, which seemed to hold out a 
wonderful attraction for all. The exhibits 
were certainly larger and more varied, 
and the fruit displayed more imposing 
than ever, even without the fine show of 
all sorts of fruits which Ellwanger & 
Barry used to make on these occasions. 
The young men are coming more and 
more to the front, and they have taken 
hold with a will and vim. They have 
now got into the fixed habit of making 
their annual pilgrimages to this Mecca 
of the fruit grower, and have put the 
society on a safe basis, even financially, 
in spite of the low membership fee. 
In earlier years, a feeble effort was 
made, now and then, to exhibit a few 
scattering vegetables. This year, for the 
first time that I remember, a regular ex¬ 
hibit of garden vegetables was to be 
seen, made by the Joseph Harris Seed 
Company. The late Joseph Harris, 
founder of this firm, was a member and 
very regular attendant. Bornological 
(especially apple growing) problems, 
have always been the chief topics of the 
discussions at these meetings, and the 
vegetable growing industry used to find 
but small and passing consideration. 
Even up to the last year the round table 
on vegetable gardening was attended by 
less than two score members. This at¬ 
tendance was nearly trebled this year, 
showing that with the elimination of 
very pressing fruit growing problems the 
vegetable branch is finding greater at¬ 
tention, and coming into its own. 
Mr. Woodward, as chairman of the 
nominating committee, asserted that 
much of the wonderful success of the 
Western New York Horticultural Society 
was due to the fact that it had good of¬ 
ficers, and that these officers were kept, 
so that the organization during its nearly 
three score years of existence has had 
only three presidents and two or three 
secretaries. The committee recommended 
the re-election of the entire staff of of¬ 
ficers, from president to executive com¬ 
mittee, with one or two exceptions, and 
this re-election was the final outcome. 
One of the suggestions in President 
Barry’s annual address (and a good one) 
was that every member should hunt up 
his copies of the annual reports, for as 
far back as on hand, and have them 
bound in a volume that must be very 
valuable and helpful for reference. The 
best advice President Barry thinks he 
can give, is to take better care of the 
fruit trees, especially during the first 
five years, as good care during this period 
is most important. If the trees get a 
good start, they have the advantage right 
along. The society’s mission, as he sees 
it, is to bring a bountiful supply of fruit 
to every family in the State. 
Dr. Reddick (Cornell) names apple 
scab as one of the troublesome diseases 
which affected the fruit grower in 1913; 
but says it was the first year in five 
that the early or first spraying was of 
primary importance. Raspberry au- 
thraenose was found mostly on black 
raspberries, and also on the purple Co¬ 
lumbian. For this disease the application 
of sulphate of iron solution, one pound 
to the gallon of water, made a few days 
or a week before the buds actually push 
out, is most important. By one spraying 
on the dormant wood, and two Summer 
applications of Bordeaux, made when the 
new growth is about 10 inches high, and 
again when two feet high, the disease 
attacks have been reduced from 00 to 
15 per cent. 
The so-called Scott lime-sulphur mix¬ 
ture is recommended for peach diseases, 
but did not entirely prevent peach mil¬ 
dew. The mixture is made by slaking 
eight pounds of lime and adding, while 
in process of slaking, eight pounds of 
sulphur flour, mixing thoroughly, and 
adding water enough to make 50 gallons. 
If any man should be able to give us 
reliable figures of the cost of an apple 
crop, I believe the man is Prof. Hedrick 
of the Geneva Station. On the basis of 
his experience in the Aucliter Baldwin 
orchards, which he has managed during 
the past 10 years’ period (the orchard 
then being in the prime of life), he figures 
the cost including interest at five per 
cent- on a .$500 investment per acre, to 
be per barrel of fruit 93 cents, cost of 
barrel 30 cents, together $1.29. The sell¬ 
ing prices averaged $2.00 for the firsts 
and seconds in barrels, and 03 cents for 
evaporator and cider stock (culls) per 
barrel without package, giving net re¬ 
turns of $93.74 average per acre per 
year, or a profit of 1S% per cent, on the 
$500 investment. And he expects the 
orchard to do as well or bettor during 
the next 20 years. This, however, is 
probably above the average, as many are 
losing, and few are winning. He be¬ 
lieves, however, that there is a bonanza 
close at hand for those who have eyes to 
see and brain to work. 
At the round table talk on small fruits, 
Prof. Taylor (Geneva) named Snyder 
as the hardiest of the blackberries, and 
Ancient Briton and Agawam also quite 
hardy. Eldorado, although most promis¬ 
ing and of large size, is not just yet re¬ 
commended for commercial planting, only 
experimentally. 
Dr. Wright warns against the use of 
lime on strawberry patches unless the 
land is very sour, and against its indis¬ 
criminate use for small fruits generally. 
No bad results have been observed from 
the use of wood ashes, and on light soils 
perhaps the effects of the potash offset 
the bad effects of the lime. 
Mr. Hepworth claims to have “only” 
about 60,000 currant bushes in fruiting- 
He plants currants in every vacant spot, 
in his vineyards, young orchards, etc. 
lie objects to Wilder for the reason that 
it grows all to wood on his land. Six 
tons per acre is a good crop, but the 
yield sometimes dwindles down to 1 % 
ton. 
The report on grapes, at the round 
table talk on that subject, show that the 
1913 crop was rather light, but prices 
high, so that the growers really fared 
better than in a season of heavy yield. 
This moved Prof. Taylor to say that a 
half crop at a high price is more profit¬ 
able than a full crop at a low price. The 
cost of growing and marketing an acre 
of grapes was given as about $50. Some 
vineyards have yielded three to four tons 
of grapes. A profit of $100 to $150 per 
acre looks very attractive. The aver¬ 
age price per ton, for the season, was 
$51.77. The reduced grape crop of 1913 
is of advantage to the health and vigor 
of the vines, so that a good crop can 
be expected in 1914. Grapes are easily 
grown even by the amateur, and a suc¬ 
cession can be had from August until 
mid-winter. 
Dr. Lipman, director of the New Jer¬ 
sey Station, in his talk on soil fertility, 
stated that phosphoric acid is usually 
applied to soils more largely than it is 
removed by the crops, and this for the 
reason that it does not circulate in the 
soil as freely as potash. We can work 
with a smaller plant food capital in light 
soils than in heavier ones, because the 
plant foods move faster in the former. 
We put organic matter into the soil be¬ 
cause we expect from it a contribution 
to the water-holding capacity of that 
soil. Usually we do not have rainfall 
enough to produce maximum crops. 
Ordinary farm rotation, even with ma¬ 
nure returned to tin? soil, does not main¬ 
tain the organic contents of the soil for 
getting maximum yields in quantity or 
quality. Nothing will stimulate soil bac¬ 
teria more than soluble phosphoric acid, 
and nothing is more satisfactory if applied 
in conjunction with lime. For continued 
use alone, acid phosphate will make the 
land more acid. It is not uncommon to 
find 2% per cent., and even up to five 
per cent, potash in some soils, and potash 
may be needed only because it does not 
become available fast enough. Soil defi¬ 
cient in available potash is more subject 
to fungous diseases. Usually the use of 
potash is more justified in our lighter 
soils. Acid phosphate applied in small 
quantities favors the germination of the 
seed and gives to the young plants a 
better root system, Land plaster although 
consisting largely of lime, has not the 
power to neutralize soil acid. T. G. 
Stumpp & Walter Co.’s 
SELECTED STRAINS 
ONION SEED 
Our Onion Seed is grown from selected 
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l yp e - ONION 
SEED 
S. & W. Co.’s 
Oz. 
V* Lb. 
Lb. 
White Globe. 
.. 20c 
60c 
$2.00 
Yellow Globe. 
.. 15c 
40c 
1.30 
Red Globe . 
40c 
1.30 
Prizetaker. 
.. 10c 
30c 
1.10 
White Portugal . 
. 15c 
45c 
1.50 
Ohio Yellow Globe .... 
.. 15c 
40c 
1.20 
Red Wethersfield . 
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25c 
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Our new 1914 Seed Catalogue, 128 pages 
devoted to everything for the Farm, Gar¬ 
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i New 
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(3 
REGORY S 
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J. J. H. GREGORY & SON 
436 Elm Street, Ma rblehead, Mas*. 
EstablLhcd 
1856 /^HONESTlk Seeds 
Cultural instructions for growing 
everything worth growing, by well known 
experts, will make gardening easy even for 
the novice. 
Over a thousand photographic illustrations 
and 10 color and duotone plates. 
Mailed free to any one mentioning this 
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Dreer’s Orchid-Flowered Sweet Peas, 
with immense wavy flowers in sprays 
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ture contains a full range of colors. 10c. 
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HENRYA.DREER 
714 Chestnut StPhila. 
I'MMIUIMi 
The best money can buy— 
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CLOVER, TIMOTHY and ALFALFA 
and all other grass and field seeds are the best 
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WE PAYTHE FREIGHT 
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The result of 41 years’ expe- 
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JOHNSON SEED COMPANY 
217 Market Street Philadelphia, Pa. 
Do You Have to 
be Shown? 
I’m told that I have the best 
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