154 
<P*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
February  3,  1923 
Horticultural  Notes 
New  York  State  Horticultural  Society 
Meeting 
* 
Pabt  I 
A  Fine  Gathering. — “It  has  been  a 
good  meeting,”  was  the  common  expres¬ 
sion  of  the  fruit  growers  as  they  hustled 
to  catch  their  trains  on  Friday  evening, 
January  12,  at  the  close  of  the  State  Hor¬ 
ticultural  meeting.  The  feeling  that  the 
meeting  was  a  success  was  in  the  atmos¬ 
phere  as  soon  as  one  landed  at  the  Ex¬ 
position  Park  and  mingled  with  the  grow¬ 
ers.  Everyone  seemed  to  have  some  def¬ 
inite  thing  that  he  was  interested  in,  and 
he  was  determined  to  find  all  about  it 
that  he  could  while  he  was  there.  There 
was  a  great  discussion  on  the  relative 
merits  of  dusting  and  spraying,  and  each 
school  of  thought  had  its  ardent  support¬ 
ers. 
Controlling  Insects. — The  opening 
day  of  the  meeting  was  larger  than  usual. 
It  was  estimated  that  fully  1,000  attend¬ 
ed.  The  crowd  was  divided  between  the 
lecture  room  and  the  exhibit  room  at  the 
exposition  grounds.  In  the  exhibit  room 
150  of  the  largest  manufacturers  of  the 
implements  of  interest  to  fruit  farmers 
had  their  display.  This  exhibit  comprised 
such  things  as  tractors,  spray  rigs,  har¬ 
rows,  plows,  trucks,  packing  equipment, 
apple  sorters  and  nursery  stock.  On  the 
morning  of  the  opening,  Prof.  G.  W.  Her¬ 
rick,  who  answers  the  insect  questions  for 
The  II.  N.-Y.,  discussed  some  of  the  new¬ 
er  developments  in  the  control  of  insects 
that  have  caused  the  fruit  growers  addi¬ 
tional  worry.  He  stated  that  Paracide  is 
slowly  coming  into  use  as  a  fumigant  for 
the  control  of  grain  insects,  hop  insects, 
grubs,  and  the  peach  borer.  He  said 
that  the  cost  of  the  operation  was  small, 
usually  from  2%  to  3y2  cents  per  tree. 
He  re-emphasized  the  use  of  corrosive 
sublimate  for  the  control  of  cabbage  mag¬ 
got,  and  told  of  its  growing  use  in  Can¬ 
ada.  He  pointed  out  that  this  was  also 
being  used  successfully  with  radishes. 
Spraying  and  Dusting. — The  ques¬ 
tion  box  on  the  first  day  opened  up  the 
question  of  spraying  versus  dusting.  The 
experiment  workers’  attitude  was  neces¬ 
sarily  conservative,  and  they  made  no 
predictions  other  than  what  their  experi¬ 
ments  actually  had  shown.  The  general 
feeling,  however,  was  favorable  for  dust¬ 
ing.  A  detail  report  that,  was  submitted 
by  the  Experiment  Station  at  Geneva  on 
the  experiments  which  they  have  con¬ 
ducted  during  the  past  year  will  appear 
later  in  The  R.  N.-Y.  In  connection 
with  this  were  samples  of  fruit  fi'Om  some 
of  the  plots  where  the  experiments  were 
conducted.  These  experiments  were  con¬ 
ducted  on  the  station  grounds,  on  the  E. 
\V.  Catchpole  &  Sons’  orchard  at  North 
Rose,  and  on  the  Wilson  &  .Tones  orchard 
at  Hall.  N.  Y. 
The  Gypsy  Moth.— Dr.  E.  P.  Felt. 
State  Entomologist,  in  speaking  before  the 
society  on  the  first  day,  pointed  out  the 
eration  Exhibit  of  Ornamental  Horticul¬ 
ture  and  Floral  Clubs.  In  this  booth 
were  specimens  of  roses,  carnations,  bird 
of  paradise  plants,  Cyclamens,  orchids 
and  heather.  It  also  emphasized  the  value 
of  hardy  ornamental  shrubs. 
Business  Meeting. — The  second  day 
of  the  society  meeting  was  given  over  to 
the  business  of  the  association.  The  ad¬ 
dress  of  the  president  was  an  expression 
of  appreciation  of  the  co-operation  that 
had  been  given  him  during  his  term  of 
office.  He  stated  that  the  society  had 
passed  through  the  most  successful  year 
in  its  history.  He  emphasized  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  the  activity  of  the  society  in  the 
work  of  the  conference  board  of  agricul¬ 
ture  in  preventing  any  political  changes 
Ten  Brook,  Hudson;  T.  E.  Cross,  La- 
grangeville ;  W.  D.  Chase,  Hilton ;  Les¬ 
lie  Tanner,  Sodus. 
A  Trip  to  Europe. — One  of  the  most 
interesting  papers  of  the  third  day  was 
that  given  by  Prof.  U.  P.  Hedrick  of  the 
Geneva  Station,  on  his  trip  to  Europe 
last  Summer  to  stpdy  the  horticultural 
situation  there.  Following  are  excerpts 
from  his  talk  :  “American  fruit  growers 
are  generally  surprised  at  the  difference 
in  vegetation  in  England  and  America, 
due  to  climate.  This  difference  in  climate 
is  due  to  the  Gulf  Stream  and  makes  con¬ 
siderable  difference  to  the  quality  of  the 
fruit  that  is  grown  on  both  continents. 
Contrasts  show  that  American  apples  are 
redder,  milder,  sweeter  and  more  richly 
flavored  than  British  apples;  but  pears, 
cherries  and  plums,  which  like  a  cool, 
moist  Summer,  grow  better  in  the  fruit 
regions  of  Europe  than  in  Eastern  Amer¬ 
ica.  In  Europe  fruit  plantations  are 
small,  compared  with  ours.  The  plant 
there  is  the  unit,  against  the  acre  here. 
Their  orchards  are  thickly  set,  and  fillers 
and  inter-crops  are  used  almost  without 
exception.  Dead  stock  is  promptly  re¬ 
placed.  Machine  work  is  practically  im¬ 
possible  in  plantations  such  as  these,  but 
men  are  cheap,  women  and  children  much 
cheaper,  and  every  hour  of  the  daylight 
finds  the  French  and  Italian  family  dig- 
ding.  pruning,  planting,  tending  their 
trees.  Thus  the  European  fruit  grower 
comes  to  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
his  plants  which  our  growers  never  ac¬ 
quire.  A  tree  with  them  is  a  family  pet. 
To  an  American,  Europeans  seem  lament¬ 
ably  behind  the  times  in  all  that  has  to  do 
with  the  control  of  insects  and  fungi. 
Prevention  is  little  known,  and  used  even 
less.  The  open  markets  in  Europe  are  a 
great  asset  to  the  farmer,  an  asset  which 
but.  few  American  farmers  enjoy.  These 
eliminate  useless  middlemen  and  improve 
the  service  of  those  who  remain,  and  re¬ 
duces  speculation.  The  by-products  of 
the  two  countries  differ.  Europeans  go 
in  strongly  for  cider,  wines,  jams,  pre¬ 
serves  and  candied  fruits,  and  do  very 
little  with  canned  fruit  or  dried  fruit, 
with  the  exception  of  dried  prunes.  Our 
canned  and  dried  fruit  are  seldom  found 
in  Europe,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  here 
lies  a  great  opportunity  for  us.  The  out¬ 
look  for  Americans  is  not  as  good  as  it 
once  was.  Europeans  seem  desirous  of 
trading  with  America  just  as  little  as 
possible.  They  think  that  we  are  thor¬ 
oughly  selfish.  Equipment  for  agricul¬ 
tural  work  is  inferior  to  ours,  but  the 
men  in  their  schools  and  stations  are  bet¬ 
ter  trained  than  our  men  doing  the  same 
work.  Can  it  be  that  we  are  spending 
too  much  on  equipment  and  not  enough 
on  men  ?”  E.  A.  F. 
Florieultural  Exhibit  at  the  Elate  Horticultural  Eoeiety’s  Meeting 
ravages  of  the  gypsy  moth.  He  cautioned 
the  growers  on  watching  out  for  this  pest. 
He  said:  “In  Massachusetts  $860,000 
was  expended  last  year  in  an  effort  to 
combat  this  pest,  and  with  the  finding  of 
this  insect  in  Vermont  and  Connecticut 
it  behooves  us  to  watch  out  for  its  con¬ 
tinued  advance  into  New  York  State.” 
He  spent  some  time  urging  the  appropria¬ 
tion  of  State  funds  for  the  prevention  of 
this  insect,  as  he  feels  that  an  appropria¬ 
tion  now  will  be  economy  in  the  long  run 
if  the  pest  continues  to  advance  in  this 
direction. 
Floral  Display. — The  visitors  of  the 
first  day  were  attracted  to  the  newest  ad¬ 
dition  to  the  horticultural  show  in  Fed¬ 
detrimentally  affecting  agriculture.  The 
report  of  the  secretary  was  also  read  and 
approved.  Mr.  McPherson,  as  secretary, 
has  given  of  his  time  unsparingly  to 
make  the  society  function  in  the  best  pos¬ 
sible  way.  The  election  of  officers  also 
took  place  on  the  second  day.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  officers  were  elected :  President, 
,T.  B.  Pease,  Gasport,  N.  Y. ;  first  vice- 
president,  C.  S.  Wilson,  Hall ;  second 
vice-president,  E.  W.  Mitchell,  Kinder- 
hook ;  third  vice-president,  J.  G.  Case, 
Sodus ;  fourth  vice-president,  F.  J.  Free¬ 
stone,  Interlaken;  secretary  and  treas¬ 
urer,  Roy  McPherson,  LeRoy  ;  treasurer 
of  the  permanent  fund,  II.  E.  Wellman. 
Kendall ;  executive  committee,  Wiltsie 
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