148 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
U. S. POMOLOGICAL REPORT. 
The annual report of Secretary J. Sterling Morton of 
the Department of Agriculture, just issued, includes the 
following with regard to pomology: 
This (livisiou has continued, under the direction of its chief, Mr. S. B. 
Ileiges, the systematic examination and comparison of supposed new 
varieties of fruits sent to it for identification, and has prepared careful 
studies and descriptions of the new specimens, illustrating them in 
most cases either with water-color sketches or colored models. These 
descriptions are carefully filed and must in time prove of great value. 
They will eventually make it possible to publish an authoritative work 
on the fruits of the United States. 
The introduction and distribution of new varieties of fruits have been 
continued, however, being confined to the comparatively few varieties 
of fruits of great value not at present found in our country, but prom¬ 
ising to do well here. Cions of many of these have been i)laced with 
experiment stations and sent to private experimenters for the purpose 
of determining their adaptability to various sections. 
KEW VARIETIES OF FRUITS INTRODUCED. 
Among the most important varieties that have been introduced are 
()■■) new specimens of figs received from the Royal Horticultural Society 
of England. For the present these varieties are being propagated in 
different jilaces for the purpose of testing further their adaptability to 
our climate and soils and for producing a larger number of cuttings for 
distribution. It is believed that there is a large area of country within 
the United States adapte'! to the growth of figs, and that it will be 
suflicient to supply our entire demand for this delicious fruit. 
Other imiiortant importations consisted of 29 varieties of the choicest 
apples of Austria-Hungary, which have been grafted upon seedling 
stocks for the purpose of propagation It is proposed to distribute 
these trees to the experiment stations as soon as they are in proper con¬ 
dition. Efforts have also been made to introduce improved and hardy 
varieties of persimmons from Xorthern China and the citron of com¬ 
merce from Italy. 
EXREKIMENTS IN ROOT-GRAFTINU ARPI.E TREES. 
CJonsiderable experimental work has also been undertaken. Prom¬ 
inent among these tests are experiments niiide with full-rooted and top- 
cut and lower-cut grafting in the propagation of apple trees. These 
experiments will be continued, and possibly on a larger scale. It is 
intended that trees grown from grafts as above described be distributed 
in different states and localities for testing. Varieties varying in habits 
of growth and longevity will be chosen. Generally they will be of 
standard varieties, like the Winesap, Albemarle, Pippin, Ben Davis, 
Oldenburg, Jonathan, and Xorthern Spy. Under this system of ex¬ 
perimentation a few years ivill demonstrate whether whole roots, top- 
cuts, or bottom cuts for grafting cions upon are most conducive to 
vigor of growth and longevity. 
Special effort is being made to interest the state experiment stations 
in these and similar subjects and to secure their assistance in collecting 
new and comparatively unknown varieties of fruits. It is desired to 
develop some regular plan of co-operation by which the horticulturists 
of these stations shall collect new seedling varieties or other novelties 
and forward them to this division for identification, description, illus¬ 
tration and preservation. Some central record office of this kind is 
absolutely necessary, and should be located in the Department of Agri¬ 
culture. 
EXPORTS OF APPLES. 
The economic value of apples for export is becoming more generally 
known to the horticulturists and farmers of the United States. Each 
year their exportation to Europe increases in quantity, quality and 
value. Good winter apples, carefully selected and properly packed, 
always meet with a favorable reception and command good prices in 
Great Britain and on the Continent. Among the best known of Ameri¬ 
can varieties on the other side of the water are the Baldwins, King of 
Tompkins County, Ribston Pippins, Xorthern Spy and various russets. 
But there is no doubt that the Winesap, Jonathan, Greening, Ben Davis 
and Vandevere Pippin, together with many other well-known varieties 
from the orchards of the United States, would be very acceptable and 
always secure for their shippers fair prices and profits. J'lie most suc¬ 
cessful shipments are made in Xew York barrels, which cany about 
three bushels and weigh about 112 pounds. The freight upon each of 
these barrels from American to European ports averages less than a 
dollar. During the fiscal year ended June JO, 1895, we shipped 818,711 
barrels of apples abroad, valued at $1,954,318. 
Export shipments of apples from any of the states east of the Rockj" 
Mountains can be made remunerative. The apple among fruits is as 
staple and universally demanded as beef among meats. The variety 
which has sold for the highest price in British markets is the Albemarle 
Pippin, which is successfully grown to its greatest perfection in the 
State of Virginia. This variety has at times netted the growers $7 a 
barrel in the orchards. It is a remarkably fine keeper, of delicious 
flavor and beautiful coloring. The profits of intelligent horticulture 
along the Atlantic seaboard can not well be overestimated. The suc- 
ce.ss in foreign marts of the Pacific states fruit growers and shippers, 
laboring under the disadvantage of a rail carriage from the Pacific to 
the Atlantic, should stimulate all horticulturists this side of the Rocky 
Mountains to further secure sales for their products in Europe. The 
peaches of Delaware, Maryland and most of the southern states along 
the Atlantic coast wouhl certainly reach the London market in as good 
condition, if properly put up, as those from California. 
California fruits have made marked gains in Euroiiean markets dur¬ 
ing the last year. This trade liegan three years ago by a shipment on 
the White Star Line, which consisted of pears, peaches, plums and 
grapes. The sale of that invoice at Covent Garden Market attracted 
public attention at the time, and the prices were so remunerative as to 
encourage fuither shipments. 
APPEARANCE OF INSECT PESTS. 
Research has been made to determine the geographic distribution of 
injurious in,sects appearing in devastating numbers. The localities in 
which they have appeared have been platted and the records of their 
damages carefully collated. With such data in hand, the entomologist 
will be able to predict the geographic lines at which the progress of 
certain species will stop and to advise agriculturists with some degree 
of certainty as to the possibility of the appearance of well-known in¬ 
sect pests in any given locality. 
Seeds purchased by the Department of Agriculture for distribution 
during the fiscal ,year 1895 were all submitted to purity and germina¬ 
tion tests, but as the number of these seeds was very great few of 
them could be finished before the seeds had to be sent out. Many of 
the varieties showed a surprisingly low percentage of germination, and 
evidences of fraud were iletected. 
ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS FOR NEBRASKA. 
Fred VV. Card, of the Agricultural College of Lincoln, 
Neb., writes to Garden and Forest: 
Any one interested in ornamental gardening, in visiting the West, 
cannot fail to notice the extreme dearth of material which both public 
and home grounds present. A few trees of Cottonwood, Box Elder. 
Soft Maple, and possibly some others, wdth here and there a shrub, 
make up the sum total of ornamental planting ordinarily found. The 
reasons for this are various, but the condition chiefly arises, no doubt, 
from the fact that in a new country, as Nebraska is, the people are first 
concerned with providing themselves with the needful things of life. 
^Esthetic features come as a secondary and later consideration. The 
people of a new country are not, as a rule, people of means, and all 
matters of mere adornment must be at first largely neglected. A second 
reason lies in the fact that this climate differs widely from the climate 
of those sections from which most of the people have come, and orna¬ 
mental plants familiar to them in their old homes often fail utterly 
here. Nurserymen, too, are much in the dark in this matter. They 
have been busy providing the more needed varieties of fruit and forest 
trees, and are often at a loss Avhen asked to recommend trees or shrubs 
suitable for lawn planting. There are plants that will endure this 
climate. It is simply a question of finding out what they are. A few 
well-known shrubs, such as the Lilac, Missouri Currant and the hardier 
varieties of Spinea, are known to succeed; but further than this most 
of us know little. 
Mr. Card adds that the Sand cherry. Amour Tamarix, 
