50 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
THE PEACH OUTLOOK . 
Roland Morrill Thinks Ten Years May Elapse Before Effect of 
February Freeze Will Be Overcome - Looks for Serious 
Shortage—May Be Short Crop of Natural Pits 
for Nurserymen Next Fall. 
Ex-President Roland Morrill, of the Michigan Horticul¬ 
tural Society, writing to the Rural New Yorker regarding the 
peach outlook, says : 
In the immediate vicinity of Benton Harbor, our peach 
trees escaped injury except occasionally young trees in low, 
damp pockets. In such locations, there are a few doubtful 
trees, while within five rods, on land six or eight feet higher, 
there are a few live fruit buds and no dead wood. Still 
higher, say twenty feet, there is a fair crop of live buds. 
Taken altogether, we shall, probably, have a fair crop of 
peaches, and there is no apparent injury to other fruits ; but 
within twenty-five miles conditions change, and there are 
many dead trees and only a few live buds in most favorable 
locations. This brings a most puzzling condition to many 
fruit growers—part of an orchard dead, part alive. 
The question arises, How badly can a tree be injured, and 
live? It is a new experience for most of our growers. The 
consensus of opinion is that a damaged tree should be cut 
back and trimmed severely, to balance the trying conditions 
imposed on the sap circulation, and give the tree a chance to 
recuperate by not allowing a surplus of buds to exhaust the 
tree and its ability to repair damages. My own opinion is 
that, by next August, fully one-half the peach trees in Michi¬ 
gan will be dead or worthless, and a large per cent, of pears, 
plums, and quinces will be found to be dead or seriously in¬ 
jured. The same condition exists in all states south of us 
as far as Southern Georgia, and as far west as Kansas. There 
is a strong demand for trees at advanced prices, and I look 
for a serious shortage in trees for next season’s trade, as in 
many nursery sections there was not enough snow to cover 
the dormant buds, and they cannot stand 20 to 35 degrees 
below zero. There may, also, be a short crop of natural pits 
for nurserymen next fall, and unless there is fair supply of the 
’98 crop carried over, plantings may be curtailed. On the 
whole, it looks to me as though it might be 8 to 10 years 
before there is so large an acreage of live peach orchards of 
bearing age in the United States as there was in 1898. 
THE APPLE OUTLOOK. 
Indications now point to a good to liberal apple crop, taking 
the country at large, says the American Agriculturist : It is a 
far cry from the blossoming period of late April and early May 
to full fruition of October harvest, yet the situation the middle 
of May is indicative of a good yield, providing orchar- 
dists can successfully battle insect and fungous pests. Pre¬ 
liminary but extensive investigation just completed by Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist in the principal apple growing sections of the 
country, and in the Canadian provinces brings out the fact of 
a favorable start, whatever may be developed later. 1 he 
severity of the past winter, which hurt peach orchards so 
badly, evidently caused no material damage to apples, while 
the spring was sufficiently free from severe changes in tem¬ 
perature to enable orchards to reach the blooming period in a 
normal condition. Our correspondents, including many lead¬ 
ing orchardists and specialists of the country, report that out¬ 
side of two or three important sections, trees have bloomed 
well, presaging an excellent set of fruit and a favorable start 
in this important crop. 
Our returns emphasize the importance, as frequently 
brought out in these columns the last two or three years, of 
western orchards in making up the commercial crop of apples. 
In Western Missouri and Northwestern Arkansas, where apple 
growing has received great impetus recently, a large and 
increasing number of young orchards are coming in bearing 
and prospects are brilliant for the ’99 crop. In portions of 
the Mississippi valley, including Northeastern Missouri and 
Western Illinois, growers are prosecuting an intelligent cam¬ 
paign against the various pests, and this is true of Southwestern 
Iowa, Eastern Kansas and Nebraska and the promising apple 
orchard sections of Wisconsin and other western states. 
Present prospects are favorable in Michigan, Indiana and 
Ohio. In the few sections of the Middle South where apples 
are grown, present outlook is for a good crop. In the very 
important apple belt of New York and New England, how¬ 
ever, the section long at the forefront in producing marketable 
surplus, the present outlook is relatively less favorable than 
further west, although there is a fair prospect of a liberal yield 
in the aggregate. A notable feature is the scant bloom of 
Baldwins in the heavy orchard section of Central and Western 
New York ; in many parts of the territory named Baldwins 
show a bloom of only 25 to 50 per cent., and there is also 
occasional like complaint of Spitz. Apple bloom in Massachu¬ 
setts seems to be somewhat lighter than a year ago, but prom¬ 
ising in Northern New England, and orchards in a healthy 
condition in the lower Canadian provinces where trees do not 
bloom until early June. 
BUSINESS IN THE NORTHWEST. 
A. Holaday, Scappoose, Oregon, writes : “ Trade has been 
very good this year out this way, and prospects for future are 
good.” 
M. J. Henry. Vancouver, B. C., writes : “ Business has 
been best I ever had. We have been rushed for the last two 
months and we are still shipping out trees to-day.” 
FORCING POTTED FRUITS. 
Professor Bailey’s reminiscences of his recent trip to Europe are 
reported by a member of the Lazy Club in American Gardening. 
The houses of Thomas Rivers & Son, Sawbridgeworth, England, were 
a magnificent sight in the fruiting season. This firm is the most 
expert grower of potted fruits in the world. Trees are on sale at the 
Rivers Nursery from two to thirty years old. Some of the oldest and 
rarest sell for $100 to $200 a piece. In Europe, and also in America, 
these potted fruits are really not forced because they are brought on 
only a few weeks earlier than the out-of door crop. The Cornell 
Experiment Station is now studying the actual winter forcing of potted 
fruits. Here the trees are in chestnut boxes instead of pots. Most of 
them will be forced for the first time next winter. 
Professor Bailey has always busied himself more or less chasing 
down our cultivated plants to their ancestral types. During his recent 
trip abroad he was pleased to run across a new facility for tracing 
plant evolution—the art galleries of the Old World. Plant life has 
always been a favorite study with artists, and their faithful repro¬ 
ductions from century to century give us excellent points on the 
evolution of garden plants. 
