42 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
DEATH OF S. W. HOOVER. 
Rev. S. W. Hoover, the senior member of the Hoover 
& Gaines Co., of Dayton, O., died of paralysis on March 
lOth while preaching in his pulpit in the Brethren church 
in Dayton. Rev. Mr. Hoover organized the Brethren 
church in 1889, and he had been its pastor since. He 
was 58 years of age. His widow and two sons, Rev. O. 
P. Hoover and Rev. W. I. T. Hoover, survive. Mr. 
Hoover was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, April 
16, 1837. the spring of 1869 he entered the employ 
of Kinsey & Gaines, nurserymen, nine miles north of 
Dayton. Two and a half years later he purchased Mr. 
Kinsey’s interest, became a partner under the firm name 
of Hoover & Gaines and at once assumed charge of the 
office department of the business. In 1879, the land now 
occupied by the Hoover & Gaines Co., in the north¬ 
western suburbs of Dayton, was purchased. The Hoover 
& Gaines Co. was incorporated in January, 1883, Mr. 
Hoover was elected president. Soon afterwards Mr. 
Hoover, at his own request, was relieved from the more 
active duties of the business. He was a member of the 
Montgomery County Agricultural society, president of 
the Mathias Planing Mill Co. of Dayton, and was actively 
interested in the American Association of Nurserymen 
and the Nurserymen’s Protective Association. 
WESTERN MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS. 
At the recent joint convention of the Western Michi¬ 
gan Fruit-gi'owers’ Society, the Grand River Valley Hor¬ 
ticultural Society, and the Grand Rapids Fruit-growers’ 
Union in Grand Rapids, tliere were present over 250 fruit¬ 
growers. The chair was occupied by J. A. Pearce, presi¬ 
dent of the Grand River Valley Horticultural Society. 
Fruit prospects for the coming season were discussed. 
A. S. Packard, of Covert, gave an encouraging report from 
his district, but Roland Morrill said the outlook around 
Benton Harbor was not so good; that fully 25 per cent, 
of the peach buds had been destroyed, and about three- 
fourths of the more tender varieties had been killed. 
Allegan, Shelby and Grand Rapids reported little dam¬ 
age, with prospects for a big crop. Hon. J. N. Stearns, 
of Kalamazoo, discussing “ The Plum,” said he had been 
successful with only about one-third of the fancy varieties 
sold by tree agents. He recommended the standard 
varieties—Lombard, Green Gage or Reine Claude, Brad¬ 
shaw and McLaughlin. He thought it advisable to spray 
plum trees with Bordeaux mixture as soon as the blos¬ 
soms begin to fall as a cure for curculio and rot, with the 
use of mineral paint for black knots after cutting the 
knots off. Plum trees are liable to overbear, but he 
thought the best way to care for them was to keep the 
trees well thinned, fertilized, and, in the dry season, 
watered. The legislative bills requiring the spraying of 
fruit trees under certain conditions and preventing the 
increase of rabbits were endorsed. A. Adams, of Shelby, 
declared that peach growing is not being overdone. 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
The proceedings of the fortieth annual meeting of the Western New 
York Horticultural Society have been issued by the secretary John Hall. 
The frontispiece is an excellent likeness of the late Patrick Barry. A 
picture of John J. Thomas, the first president of the society, who died 
in Union Si^rings, N. Y., February 22d, is also given. 
The transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural Society for 1894 
comprise the proceedings of the state society and those of the Northern 
Central and Southern district societies and a number of county societies. 
The volume is a valuable compendium of the results of horticultural 
research in the state of Illinois during 1894. It is edited by the secre¬ 
tary, Henry M. Dunlap, Savoy, Ill. T. E. Goodrich is president of the 
state society ; Henry Augustine of Normal, of the central society. 
Lack of space alone has prevented earlier mention of that excellent 
manual of grapes, prepared by Bush & Son and Meissner, Bushberg, 
Mo. The fourth edition compri.ses over 200 pages devoted to a descrip¬ 
tion of American grapes. It has been declared by competent judges to 
be the most complete, comprehensive and valuable list yet published. 
The manual is endorsed by the veteran grape culturist, George W. 
Campbell, the originator of the Delaware, who says : “ The article uj'on 
grafting the grape vine is full and complete, the most approved 
methods being so well described and illustrated as to insure success if 
carefully studied und practiced. Training and culture describe the 
practice of the most successful vineyardists, with many illustrations of 
their various forms of trellis now in use. The diseases of the grape, 
with the latest and most aj^proved remedies for prevention, are briefly, 
yet fully and clearly treated by Prof. B. T. Galloway, Chief of the 
Division of Vegetable Pathology in the United States Department of 
Agriculture. The descriptions of insect enemies, with full illustra¬ 
tions, have been revised by Prof. C. V. Riley, the distinguished ento¬ 
mologist. Nothing of real interest to the student, the amateur or the 
practical grape grower and vineyardist seems to have been omitted, and 
the entire work can be honestly recommended as va'uable and reliable, 
for every one in any way interested in grapes or their culture in the 
vine-growing regions of our country.” 
There has recently been issued from the press of Macmillan &Co., an 
attractive volume, “ The Book of the Rose,” by Rev. A. Foster-Melliar, 
rector of Sproughton, England, a gentleman of large experience in the 
culture of the rose. This book is proof that Rev. S. Reynolds Hole is not 
the only clergyman in England who finds time to devote to the queen 
of flowers and to write about it. Indeed Mr. Melliar says; “ I may 
perhaps be excused for thinking that rose growing as a special pursuit 
and a hobby is particularly adapted for country parsons.” Mr. Melliar 
is an enthusiast. “I write for enthusiasts” says he, “for those who 
make a regular hobby of their roses, and think of them as fondly and 
almost as fully in January as in June.” Mr Melliar thus expresses his 
idea of rose-culture: “I do not consider the rose preeminent as a 
decorative plant; several simpler flowers, much less beautiful in them¬ 
selves, have, to my mind, greater value for general effect in the garden ; 
and even the cut blooms are, I imagine, more difficult to arrange in 
water, for artistic decoration, than lighter, simpler and less nohle flowers. 
A good rose should stand in a vase by itself as a queen should ; then let 
any other flower or combination of flowers rival her if they can So 
with all the best roses I should not wish or expect any general display 
at a distance, but come close and be content if I can find but one perfect 
bloom. For elegance in trailing blossoming beauty some of the-best 
and most vigorous of the climbing roses would indeed hold a high place 
among decorative plants ; but for masses of grand color as viewed from 
a distance, no rose effect can equal that of the rhododendrons ; and for 
unwearied continuance many ordinary bedding plants make a richer and 
more permanent display. No; the value of the rose is in the glory of 
its individual flowers; and in these pages, at least, the idea is not the 
rose for the garden, but the garden for the rose.” The book contains 
350 pages with handsome illustrations and is comprehensive in its treat¬ 
ment of situation and soil, planting, manures, pruning, stocks, proi^aga- 
tion, pests, roses under glass, exhibiting, manners, and customs, selec¬ 
tions and calendar of operations. It is an interesting and valuable 
volume ; price $2.75. New York and London : Macmillan & Co. 
L. G. Kellogg, Rip an, Wis. —“Enclosed find draft for $1. Continue 
The National Nursekyman.” 
