THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
155 
MICHIGAN HORTICULTURISTS. 
The annual meeting of the Michigan Horticultural So¬ 
ciety was held December 3d to 5th, at Adrian. President 
Roland Morrill of Benton Harbor, presided. J. N. Stearns 
of Kalamazoo, said of the peach yellows law that some 
fruit growers in the peach belt felt that a five days’ notice 
was not enough. He thought it was and said he had cut 
out 400 trees just in the prime of bearing, in one year, and 
300 in the next, and so on down to five in a year. For 
three years he had not had a case in 2,500 trees. 
In a paper on insects in the United States, Professor F. 
M. Webster of the Ohio Experiment Station, said: “Of 
all foreign insect-pests that have gained a foothold in this 
country, not one has been exterminated, and but two can 
I now recall have ever been dealt with in a way to check 
their ravages. The short time required to come from a 
foreign country to this enables the foreign insect to be 
easily brought on trees or plants secured in foreign coun¬ 
tries. I found, when in Tasmania in 1889. myriads of in¬ 
sects on twigs of trees. I gathered specimens of cater, 
pillars there in January, inclosed them in a tight box^ 
brought them to San Francisco. March i8th, and turned 
them over to the entomological division of the United 
States agricultural department, and they were in good 
order. This shows the ease with which foreign pests 
may come to our country in these days of rapid transit.’’ 
J. J. Harrison of Storrs & Harrison, Painesville, Ohio, 
opposed the plan of appealing to congress for government 
interference with insect pests. Mr. Willard of Geneva, 
N. Y., said he was pleased to know that someone had be. 
come a leader and pioneer reformer in this great matter. 
He had suffered immensely from the pests mentioned. 
There was not a section in the world that had suf¬ 
fered from black knot as had the Hudson River country 
in New York. Once it was lined with trees that were 
laden with plums and cherries. Fortunes were made in a 
year. To-day there is not a tree bearing either fruit in 
that section, but there are piles of dead brush and worth¬ 
less trees, victims of black knot, and individual neglect. 
P. Gallar of Palmyra, favored less local laws and more 
general laws. He asked Mr. Webster if a man would have 
any better chance if they sprayed orchards provided ad¬ 
jacent neighbors did not spray. Mr. Webster allowed 
that the results were not satisfactory if adjacent orchards 
were not sprayed, but he thought it would be 75 per cent, 
benefit at least. President Thomas of the college, said it 
was easy to pass laws, but the trouble was that the laws 
were not carried out. “ We must build up a sentiment to 
enforce the laws. Now what is the constitutional power 
of congress in the matter? Can congress come into the 
state and direct a matter that seems to be within the 
jurisdiction of state control and supervision ?” This mat¬ 
ter was discussed by various parties, and many reasoned 
that from analogy there was a power in congress to act, 
as it was for the public good, and came within the same 
scope of power as did contagious disease, lotteries, etc. 
Officers were elected as follows: President, Roland 
Morrill, Benton Harbor; secretary, EdwyC. Reid, Allegan; 
treasurer, Asa W. Clayton, Grand Rapids; executive 
board, L. R, Taft, agricultural college, Elmer Smith, 
Adrian, Prof. W. W. Tracy, Detroit. 
, —. 
MINNESOTA HORTICULTURISTS. 
The twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Minnesota 
Horticultural Society was held in Minneapolis, December 
3d to 6th. President J. M. Underwood, of the Jewell Nur¬ 
sery Co., Lake City, presided. J. S. Harris, of La Cres¬ 
cent, submitted the report of the committee on seedling 
fruits, which had to do largely with apples. He said that 
the committee had visited seedling apple trees in Winona 
county and had found trees sixteen years old which were 
still hardy. One of these trees in particular bore large 
fruit of good appearance, and in quality was somewhat 
similar to the Oldenburg though its season is about a 
month later. On the farm of John Carson, in Houston 
county, near the town of Sheldon, they had found John¬ 
son seedlings which were all bearing to their utmost 
capacity and would prove valuable additions to pomology. 
One of the trees, knovvn as the Johnson No. 6, originated 
from seed brought from Norway. The tree is now thirty- 
one years old, and yet twenty-eight bushels of apples had 
been gathered from it this season. At the state fair one 
hundred varieties of seedlings of Minnesota origin were 
exhibited, some of which would become standards in 
pomology. One of the va’-ieties on exhibition, Symon’s 
Prolific, was worthy of looking after on account of its 
hardiness. At the Wisconsin state fair the committees 
had been shown a remarkably fine collection of Oldenburg 
seedlings, which was the finest collection ever yet pro¬ 
duced from one variety. In conclusion the report said 
that the project for raising an abundance of the finest 
apples in the cold North is growing brighter, and seedlings 
of Russians and crosses with the best and hardiest Amer- 
can varieties are destined in the very near future to fur¬ 
nish the best list of apples known to the world. 
William Somerville, of Viola, said that one of his trees 
had produced thirty bushels of apples this season, which, 
he believed, broke the record. The weight of the apples 
was so heavy that one limb six inches in diameter was 
broken off. This tree was tvventy years old. He had tested 
three hundred varieties of Russians and had sifted them 
down to eighty varieties. The trouble with the most of 
them was that they would blight. This was the case with 
only a few of those left. His orchard had produced 1,500 
bushels for the market this year and they sold at sixty 
cents. 1 he following officers were elected: President, J. M. 
Underwood ; vice-president, first congressional district, E. 
H. S. Dartt ; second district, S. D. Richardson ; third dis¬ 
trict, Mrs. A. A. Kennedy ; fourth district, R. S. McIntosh ; 
fifth district, J. R. Stevens; sixth district, J. O. Barrett ; 
seventh di-^trict, Mrs. Jennie Stager; e.xcutive committee 
for o e year, J. P. Andrews, L. R. Mayer; treasurer, F. 
G. Gould. The secretary is A. W. Latham. 
