134 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
lutely (so far as tested in ten years), free from blight; 
better grower in nursery row than Kieffer; very hardy in 
both bud and bloom. On March 26, 1894, a heavy late 
spring frost killed all the pears in the locality where the 
Koonce is grown, with the exception of the Koonce. It 
escaped with a fair crop. The foliage of most varieties 
was turned black, and in many varieties all the one-year- 
old wood was killed, but the Koonce was not hurt in any 
way. The foliage remained green and bright through it 
all. This pear blooms very late in the spring. 
The Koonce will undoubtedly prove a valuable pear to 
fruit growers in the South. It will not be subject to the 
spring frosts that so often kill the La Conte, and will 
come in so early that it will command the highest market 
price. Reports from Southern Mississippi are that the 
Koonce grows better than any other variety, is free from 
blight and bears abundant regular crops ; trees eight years 
old. 
It should also prove very valuable to fruit growers in 
the North. It is so hardy as to stand the rigor of the 
northern winters, and so early as to come into market 
before the glut of southern Kieffers and La Contes breaks 
the market. Reports come from Adel, Iowa, saying that 
a Koonce bud had made the enormous aggregate growth 
in one season of 36 feet, 10 inches, counting all the 
branches. The second year it made an aggregate growth 
of 70 feet, which make a total aggregate growth of 107 
feet from bud in two seasons. Report also adds, “the 
fire blight has been very severe during the past summer, 
attacking many varieties of both apples and pears, yet the 
Koonce was entirely free from it.” 
The Koonce is a good all round early pear, suitable 
for commercial orchard planting on a large scale. 
FALL PLANTING OF FRUIT TREES. 
The Denver Field and Farm gives this advice to the 
planters of the West: “The older class of fruit gowers 
over on the western slope have found that fall planted 
trees are alwa\ s superior to those set out in spring. In 
nine cases out of ten the trees will do better and the loss 
will be much less. The time for transplanting is the lat¬ 
ter part of September and October after having given the 
ground a thorough irrigation. Planted at that time, the 
trees will immediately take root, and they will get well 
established before cold weather. In the fall there will no 
longer be any demand upon the vitality of the young 
trees to produce leaves. The chief growth then will be 
root growth, and this is the great essential in young trees. 
Most of them are inclined to go all to leaves and wood 
growth. Spring planting tends to increase this leaf and 
wood growth at the expense of the roots. In the fall the 
ground and soil are warm, and if not moist they can be 
made so by applying plenty of water at the time of trans¬ 
planting. There will be several weeks after transplanting 
before severe winter weather will come, and by that time 
the roots of the trees ought to be pretty thoroughlv es¬ 
tablished.” 
©bituar)^. 
Kditor of Thj: Rationai. Nursekyman : 
It is my painful duty to announce the death of H. Kelsey, presi¬ 
dent of the Kelsey Nursery Co., of St. Joseph, Mo., and also president 
of tlie \yestern Association of Wholesale Nurserymen. He died at his 
residence in St. .Joseph, on Friday, September 20th, after a long illness 
of typhoid fever. His funeral took place at the family residence on 
the following. Sunday. The services were under the auspices of the 
A. O. U. W., of which order the deceased was an honored member. 
The funeral was largely attended, and included some of his brother 
nurserymen, more of whom would have attended except for the ex¬ 
tremely short notice, for it is safe to say that no man in the nursery 
trade was more universally esteemed than Mr. ICelsey. He had by 
earnest, upright effort built up a good business and was carefid to con¬ 
duct it in such a manner as to reflect great credit on himself and avoca¬ 
tion. The trees so skilfully and carefully reared by him and distrib¬ 
uted so widely throughout the West will be an enduring monument to 
his character as an honest, enterprising business man, while the immense 
gathering of the most highly respected citizens of St. Joseph who 
attended his funeral gave irrefutable evidence of the high character of 
the deceased. A wife and three children survive him, and inay He wdio 
tempers the wind to the shorn lamb sustain and comfort them in their- 
great hereavement. Suitable resolutions expressive of the high char¬ 
acter of the deceased wdll be prepared and pre.sented to the next meet¬ 
ing of the Western Association of Wholesale Nurserymen. 
U. B. Pearsall. 
Franklin Davis, president of the Franklin Davis Nursery Co., died 
October 15th. at his home in Waverly, Md. Mr. Davis was born Jan¬ 
uary 14. 1829. He established a nursery near Staunton, Va.. at the 
age of 21. He was (piite successful, but lost .$20,000 during the civil 
war. After the war Mr. Davis formed a partnership with S. C. Kent 
and began the nursery business again at Kichmond. Vbi. In 1879 Mr. 
Ivent sold his interest in the firm, and Mr. Davis conducted nurseries at 
Baltimore and Richmond. In 1892 Mr. Davis suffered a stroke of para¬ 
lysis and since then the business has been conducted by a stock com¬ 
pany, with a capital stock and these officers : President, Franklin 
Davis ; Vice President, Edwin Davis ; Secretary and Treasurer, Howard 
Davis. A widow, twm daughters and three sons survive Mr. Davis. 
Dr. Ephraim W. Bull, the originator of the Concord Grape, died at 
Concord, Massachusetts, on September 27th, in his ninetieth year. Dr. 
Bull studied and practiced medicine in Boston until failing health com¬ 
pelled him to remove to Concord, where he lived the remainder of his 
life. He w-ill long be remembered as the introducer of the Concord 
grape, which he exhibited for the first time in 1853 at the twmnty-fifth 
annual exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and 
which has become the most popular grape in America. The Cottage, 
Esther, Rockwood and Una are other varieties of merit for which the 
grape-growers of the country are indebted to Dr. Bull. 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
An interesting bulletin by the U. S. Department of Agriculture is 
that describing the objects and work of the agricultural experiment 
stations. 
Our Jlorticulturul Visitor, piddished l)y E. G. Mendenhall, Kin- 
muudy. 111., originally intended for a cpiarterly, will he issued monthly 
next year. 
Among the handsome catalogues recently sent out those of Thomas 
Meehan. Germantowm, Pa., and G. L. Taber, Glen St. Mary, Fla., 
deserve special mention. 
Bulletins 99 and 100 of the Cornell University Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station treat of blackberries and their evaporation. They are by 
Professor L. H. Bailey. 
Recent issues of I'he Gardeners’ Macjazine, Loudon. Eng., have been 
made particularly attractive by illustrated supplements descriptive of 
Worsley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Ellesmere, and Paiish-inger, Hert¬ 
ford, the seat of Earl Cowper. The beautiful grounds surrounding 
these stately mansions are depicted from various points of view, and 
their desciiption is very interesting. 
