64 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National Nurseryman. 
C. L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT, Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. ' 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One Year, in advance.$i.oo 
Six Months.50 
Foreign Subscriptions. 1.25 
Six Months. 75 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. 
Entered in the Post-Office at Rochester, N, Y,, as second class matter. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., June, 1893. 
INVESTIGATING CROP FAILURES. 
A series of experiments of great interest to fruit 
growers generally, and especially to those of Western 
New York, is in progress in this city, under the direction 
of M. B. Waite, of the pomological division of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. With few 
exceptions the apple and pear orchards in the western sec¬ 
tion of this state have not produced enough fruit dur¬ 
ing the last five or six years to pay the interest on the 
land. Repeated requests for an investigation as to the 
cause of the failure of those crops, led to the experi¬ 
ments begun last year and now renewed by Mr. Waite 
at Secretary Morton’s order. Mr. Morton thinks the 
failures have been due to-heavy rainfall, which has pre¬ 
vented pollination. Mr. Waite began his experiments 
here last month in a pear orchard at Ellwanger& Barry’s 
nurseries. “The result of the experiments last year,” 
said he in response, to an inquiry, “was to establish the 
fact that some trees are possessed of stronger powers 
of self-fertilization than others, and that in order to 
obtain the best results there should be a variety of trees 
planted in an orchard. This orchard which is notably 
prolific and flourishing, contains a great variety of pear 
trees including Duchess, Anjou, Bartlett, Clairgeau, 
Howell, Seckel and many others; the Seckel by the 
way is one of the trees that possess strong self-fertiliz¬ 
ing powers and it will do better even if standing alone 
tLan most other pears will under similar circumstances. 
It is to continue the experiment in regard to fertilization 
that bags are tied over the blossoms. They are 
merely to keep out insects which might convey the pol¬ 
len from one blossom to another. By observing the 
fruit which sets in the clusters covered by the bags and 
comparing it with that on the same tree not covered, an 
estimate can be made of the value of fertilization by 
insects. ’ ’ 
Mr. Waite has made a careful examination into a 
similar failure of the orchards of Virginia within the 
past few years, and his investigations resulted not only 
in discovering the causes but also the remedy. In Vir¬ 
ginia there are a great many isolated orchards. In 
one case several thousand trees are growing together. 
The orchard is well cultivated but the crops have re¬ 
peatedly failed. Two or three years ago Mr. Waite 
visited this particular orchard and took with him the 
pollen of trees from Washington. He tried the experi¬ 
ment of artificially fertilizing some of the trees with this 
pollen and the result was a good crop wherever the pol¬ 
len was used. That same fall the owner of the orchard 
was advised to try grafting other varieties of apples into 
his orchard. He took the advice and last year had an 
excellent crop. Similar experiments made in other sec¬ 
tions of the Old Dominion brought similar results, and 
the farmers and orchardists have learned the value of 
scientific pomology. 
The Post Express of this city is making an earnest 
appeal to the citizens to wage war upon the caterpillar 
pest which threatens to despoil the shade trees of the 
city. Professor M. V. Slingerland of Cornell University, 
has suggested, at the request of thafl paper for a remedy, 
that the most effective method by which the white- 
marked tussock moth can be checked is to destroy the 
frothy egg masses before the eggs are hatched. Every 
egg cluster destroyed means 300 less of the greedy cater¬ 
pillars. One result of the warning is that twenty-one 
pupils of one of the public schools gathered within 
24 hours around their homes and the school buildings 
over 9,000 egg clusters, thus destroying 3,000,000 em¬ 
bryo caterpillars. This is a much better way than wait¬ 
ing until the pest has begun its work and then attempt¬ 
ing to remove it by spraying. The same plan might be 
practiced in the case of fruit tree pests of many kinds. 
It is not a new plan, but it is one that is apt to be 
neglected in these days of spraying machines. 
The Society of American Florists has succeeded in 
obtaining from the Traffic Association of Express Com¬ 
panies the following concession on rates for the con¬ 
veyance of plants : 
Strawberry or vegetable plants when boxed, crated or packed 
in any way so that they can be loaded with other freight without 
damage, prepaid or guaranteed, will be carried at the same rate 
as trees and shrubs, which is the general special rate for produce 
between points where such specials exist, and between points where 
no such special exists they will be taken at 20 per cent, less than 
merchandise rates. 
An effort will be made to have all plants placed on 
the same footing as nursery stock. Some express com¬ 
panies have already interpreted the ruling as including 
all plants. 
