The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1896, by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
VOL IV. ROCHESTER, N. Y., JANUARY, 1897. No. 12 . 
MICHIGAN. 
Prominent Horticulturists Meet at 
Grand Rapids -A Cabinet Choice 
—Resolution on the Tariff. 
The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Michigan State Hor¬ 
ticultural Society was held at Grand Rapids December 1-3. 
President Morrill presided. Among the noted horticulturists 
present from other states and Canada were J. H. Hale of Con¬ 
necticut; Professor John Craig, horticulturist at the Central 
Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ont.; Professor M. V. Slinger- 
land, assistant entomologist at Cornell University ; E. A. Riehl 
of Alton, Ill., delegate from the Illinois State Horticultural 
Society; J. J. Harrison, of the Storrs and Harrison Co., nursery¬ 
men, Painesville, Ohio, and M. A. Thayer of Wisconsin. Of 
Michigan’s noted horticulturists there were Hon. T. T. Lyon, 
ex-president of the society, and in charge of the experiment 
station at South Haven ; Professor L. R. Taft, of the Michigan 
Agricultural College ; R. M. Kellogg, Three Rivers ; Thomas 
Gunson, of the Agricultural College, and C. J. Monroe of 
South Haven. There were a number of others present who 
are among the state’s most successful fruit-growers. The 
morning session was passed in getting acquainted and listen¬ 
ing to reports. 
Regarding Michigan’s advantage in the market, E. A. 
Moseley, Grand Rapids, said: “ Michigan has access to more 
states and better markets than any other states in the Union. 
It is probably safe to state that our peaches were sold this year 
in at least twenty-two states. Michigan apples are sold in 
thirty states and territories. Michigan apple growers are not 
paying enough attention to cultivating, pruning and spraying, 
and as a result the fruit is losing its reputation. While travel¬ 
ing in other states I have often noticed in front of stores, 
when several grades and varieties were on sale, the sign, 
1 Michigan apples in barrels and baskets.’ ” 
HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION. 
“Education for the Horticulturist ” was the title of the long 
and interesting paper by Professor Taft of the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College. The professor said there is no calling in 
which a liberal supply of brains can be used to better advant¬ 
age than in that of the horticulturist. A practical education 
is essential in order to understand the nature of food required 
by different plants, the temperature at which they will develop 
to the best advantage, the character of the soil best suited to 
their growth and the amount of moisture needed. These and 
hundred of other points of interest and knowledge are supplied 
through the study of botany, chemistry, physics, entomology 
and other natural sciences. This knowledge is to be obtained 
through the agricultural college course, which is to be strongly 
recommended to the young man who expects to follow the 
business of horticulture or agriculture. Instead of the popular 
idea that instruction at an institution of this kind consists of a 
mass of ologies, the course covers four years of intensely prac¬ 
tical work. 
Papers of interest to florists were read as follows: “Some 
Floral Problems,” Thomas Gunson, Michigan Agricultural 
College ; “ The Carnation,” N. B. Stover, Grand Rapids ; 
“Rose Culture, Outside and Under Glass,” Henry Smith, 
Grand Rapids. 
“The Fruit Resources of Canada” was the subject of an 
illustrated lecture by Professor .John Craig of Ottawa. Pro¬ 
fessor Craig treated the subject in an informal manner and 
with the aid of numerous views carried his auditors through 
the various fruit-producting sections of the Dominion, begin¬ 
ning at Nova Scotia, famed for its immense exports of apples, 
to the western borders of British Columbia, where the warm 
breezes of the Pacific make possible the culture of apples, 
pears, plums, peaches and figs in great profusion. He told of 
the abundant growth of cherries on Prince Edward Island, of 
the apple exports of Nova Scotia, now reaching 1,000,000 
barrels annually, of the immense vineyards of Quebec and 
Ontario and the bleak expanses of Manitoba, where nothing 
in the way of fruit but the hardiest varieties of plums and 
apples can be grown. 
The paper entitled “Object and Limitations of Pruning” 
by R. M. Kellogg of Three Rivers, brought out much instructive 
discussion. 
FUTURE OF PEACH GROWING. 
“ The Future of Peach Growing in the United States ” by J, 
H. Hale of Connecticut, was the title of one of the most inter¬ 
esting papers of the meeting. In the course of his remarks 
Mr. Hale took occasion severely to criticise Michigan growers 
for their negligence in sorting peaches for shipment. 
Continuing, Mr. Hale warned the growers present that the 
conditions were greatly changed from what they were twenty 
years ago. Then the peach industry was largely confined to 
New Jersey, Delaware and Michigan, while now thousands of 
orchards have been set out in Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado and Texas, all of 
which would in the near future be strong competitors on the 
market.' This is proof positive that the Michigan growers must 
wake up, cast aside the old-fogy methods of the past and study 
every detail of the business as befits business men. He talked 
along the lines of requirements for success, and he outlined 
the first requirements as a love for fruits and flowers, and if a 
man is not in love with the farm he should leave it and make 
room for someone who will do right by the land. The next 
thing was the location, and he declared that the area for peach 
growing is practically unlimited, but the land best adapted to 
the raising of peaches is the sandy loam and elevation is 
essential. 
Investigation has shown that with increasing refinement 
comes an increased demand for fruit and flowers, and the 
sooner growers realize that the number of persons ready and 
