THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
course, was the building of a house for the purpose of fumiga¬ 
tion, and I would say something about the expense, but Captain 
Emory is here, who has been washing trees for years with 
whale oil sr ap to protect them from scale, and is now fumigat¬ 
ing trees—work that the nurseryman should have done before 
the trees left the nursery. But with Captain Emory’s consent, 
I will say that fumigating trees is expensive and cannot be 
figured out accurately, as one would imagine, as you cannot 
always fill the house. When fumigating only a thousand trees, 
it costs the same as for five thousand or more, but in order to 
keep right, we are willing to continue until our state officials 
say, enough. 
“We believe in the system of fumigation, and are proud 
that our state was the first to make laws requiring it. The 
time is not far distant when every state in the Union will 
follow Maryland’s lead, and if any one nurseryman does not 
follow this system, he will have to go out of the business. 
“ One word about strawberries. We grow the plants for sale 
and not the fruit for market, and to get the best results, do 
your own experimenting with varieties. We have a list of over 
seventy-five varieties, and no grower should have more than 
ten, and half of that number would be better. We plant new 
land as far as practicable and consider it far superior to old 
land that has been long cultivated. One point with us is to 
clean up new land each year for strawberries. In planting the 
main fields, we use the Bemis transplanter. With team, one man 
and two boys, we planted sixty acres in due season last spring. 
The principal fertilizers used are crimson clover, cow peas, 
barnyard manure, dissolved bone, nitrate of soda, muriate of 
potash, and the value of each is classed in about the order 
named. 
“ The last of all, but not least, is the asparagus. For this, 
we select a light gravelly soil, particularly adapted to plant 
growth. The seed are soaked in milkwarm water for ten days 
or more, changing the water daily, and drilled in rows. We 
use five varieties, of which about half are Palmetto. This 
variety makes a better growth than the others and seems to 
suit the southern planter best, while the New England grower 
asks for the Conovers. So, do not be disgusted at nurserymen 
trying to grow so many varieties, for it is onl\ to keep right, to 
sell plants and trees. To start right and keep right means 
more than a nurseryman can answer.” 
CONNECTICUT FRUIT GRO" INC. 
At the recent meeting of the Connecticut Horticultural 
Society, at Hartford, Edwin Hoyt, of New Canaan, took a 
gloomy view of average New England farming. Yankee 
farmers have reached a crisis. They cannot make a living 
along the old lines. Western competition has ruined the home 
market for staple farm products, and nearly stopped the sale 
of farms. Good fruit, and especially the apple, is the most 
promising crop for New England soil. Illinois alone has 
20,000,000 apple trees. The best markets in the country lie 
inside a line drawn io miles west of the Hudson, north to 
Albany and Northeast to Portland, Me. He advocated a 
combination among Connecticut faimers to produce and sell 
apples. This is the way to compete with the vast orchards ot 
the West. President J. H. Hale said : 
Acres upon acres of so-called abandoned farm lands in Connecticut, 
if planted to good varieties of red winter apples, might easily be made 
1 7 
to earn dividends on land values of $1,000 per acre ; yet such lands are 
in the tax list at the present time at prices ranging from $5 to $15 per 
acre. Just at the present time in the market, a bushel of good apples 
will sell for {is much as two bushels of wheat, yet to produce a dollars’ 
worth of wheat, will take thirty times as much plant food out of the 
soil as it would to produce a dollars’ worth of apples. 
MASSACHUSETTS INSECT BILL. 
A bill introduced in the Massachusetts legislature provides 
for the appointment of a state inspector who shall inspect nur¬ 
series once a year. A certificate is to be given in case no San 
Jose scale or other injurious insect is found. In case such in¬ 
sect is found the pest shall be eradicated within two weeks. 
In the case of nursery stock coming into the state under cer¬ 
tificates by properly authorized inspectors in other states or 
countries, or by an official of the United States, those certificates 
may be accepted in lieu of examination, at the discretion of 
the inspector. 
The inspector is to have full power to enter any nursery or 
orchard and treat or destroy trees or plants having insects. 
The cost of treatment is to be borne by the town. Owners of 
infested stock which has been destroyed may have recourse to 
the courts if they believe they have been unjustly treated by 
the inspector. 
Section 5 is as follows: 
It shall be unlawful for any person, transportation company, or com¬ 
mon carrier to bring within this Commonwealth any package contain¬ 
ing trees, shrubs, vines, woody plants, scions, buds, or grafts, com¬ 
monly known as nursery stock, unless the same are accompanied by a 
label stating the contents of the package, the addresses of the consignor 
and consignee, and a certificate showing that the contents of the pack¬ 
age have been inspected within one year previous to date of shipment, 
by a properly authorized official of the state or country where such 
stock was grown, and found to be apparently free from said scale or 
other dangerously injurious insects ; and if by oversight, accident, 
negligence, or otherwise, any package of nursery stock is received at 
any depot, wharf or warehouse in this country, unaccompanied by 
such certificate, said stock shall not be removed from the place where 
it is first stored, and it shall be the duty of the transportation company 
to notify the inspector of the receipt of the same, the disposition of 
such stock to be left to his discretion. In the case of the stock coming 
in bond, improperly labelled or without certificate, examination may 
be made at the discretion of the inspector at the custom or warehouse 
where such stock is to be delivered. Any one offending against the 
provisions of this section shall be liable to a fine of not less than twen. 
ty-five dollars nor more than two hundred dollars for each and every 
offense. 
All stock shipped within or from the state shall bear a 
certificate. 
J. Woodward Manning, Boston, writes: “ Massachusetts is 
burdened with so much insect legislation that it would not be 
surprising if sufficient opposition developed to prevent the 
passage of this bill.” 
WANTS TO KEEP POSTED. 
C. E. Whitten. Bridgman, Mich., Feb. 8, 1899 :—“Enclosed 
find $1.C0 for my subscription to our paper. I want to keep posted 
as to what is bging done throughout the country in our line, and don’t 
know of any other or better way than by taking the National Nur¬ 
seryman. 
THE FIRST ONE OPENED. 
W. H. Kauffman, Stratford, Ia., Feb. 4 , 1899 .—“ Your reminder 
of Jan. 21 st, that my subscription was due received and I herein hand 
youtheamount. $ 1 . Of all the horticultural papers I get, the National 
Nurseryman is the first one opened. Wishing you success and plenty 
of it.” 
