THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
3 
the highest medals for fruit were awarded to Nebraska grow¬ 
ers. Five thousand reports of the work are circulated each 
year, and applications for them have been received from all 
parts of this country, and even from France. The members 
of the society feel that much more could be accomplished if 
the necessary funds were guaranteed. Iowa sets apart $2,800 
for the purpose and Illinois $4,000. Aside from the premiums 
about $r,5oo are required for the running expenses of the Ne¬ 
braska society. 
The society declared that a park and forestry association 
for Nebraska should be formed. 
The society elected the following officers: President, 
George A. Marshall, of Arlington ; vice-president, J. H. Had- 
kinson, of Omaha ; secretary, C. H. Barnard, of Table Rock ; 
treasurer, Peter Youngers, of Geneva. 
COMING MEETINGS. 
Horticultural society meetings have been called as follows : 
Connecticut, at Hartford, Feb. 1-2 ; Quebec, at Montreal, Jan. 
31-Feb. 1.; Wisconsin, at Madison, Feb. 7-10; Nova Scotia, 
at Annapolis, Feb. 20-22 ; Eastern New York, at Albany, Feb. 
21-22 ; Vermont, at Burlington, Feb. 21-22 ; Central Missouri, 
at Booneville, March 4 ; Massachusetts, at Worcester, March 
8 - 9 . _ 
EASTERN NURSERYMEN. 
The annual meeting of the Eastern Nurserymen’s Associa¬ 
tion was held in Rochester January 25. The following officers 
were elected: President, William C. Barry; secretary, William 
Pitkin; executive committee. George A. Sweet, of Dansville; 
Wing Smith, of Syracuse; Irving Rouse, of Rochester; R. G. 
Chase, of Geneva; Charles J. Brown, of Rochester. 
PLUMS FOR AMERICA. 
J. W. Kerr, Denton, Md., in the course of a paper before 
the Maryland Horticultural Society, made an earnest plea for 
the native plum and concluded with this summary : 
The case stands : The Japan plums upon the whole, are an acquisi¬ 
tion of value to our fruit interests, up to date in moderation, still a 
blessing. Not as an orchard fruit in their present status, but rather as 
means, the instrument, with which the size of many of our native 
varieties can be increased and the quality of others improved. We 
cannot afford, nor should we risk any process or operation in this con¬ 
nection by which would be sacrificed the sterling points of superior 
excellence in the vital make-up of the trees of the purely American 
group. By a careful and comprehensive system of hybridizing, 
sooner or later, the desired balance between the two will be reached, 
resulting in trees possessing or rather retaining the vigorous and tough 
constitutions of our native groups with fruit equaling the best Japans 
in size and quality, and far less susceptible to the monilia which, in so 
many localities, rots the fruit of the pure Japans and to a greater or 
less extent corrodes the morals of the grower. Until this is accom¬ 
plished and demonstrated by orchard results, it is infinitely safer where 
it is the purpose to reduce plum growing into dollars and cents, to 
plant an intelligently selected list of the best natives. The orchard 
ration is about 16 to 1 in favor of pure American varieties as the 
markets attest. _ 
DUE APPRECIATION. 
Joseph M. Neil & Co., La Porte, Ind., Jan. 25 , 1899 .—“The 
National Nurseryman is very valuable and worth many times the 
price. We enclose $1 to extend subscription. Every one in the trade 
who desires to be informed should be a subscriber. We should have 
renewed before.” 
Hn Common Council. 
Editor National Nurseryman : 
Among the most important items that we wish changed in 
the western classification, is the following: “Trees and 
shrubbery in bales completely wrapped or in bundles with 
bottoms boxed, each weighing 100 lbs. or over, 1 class ; in 
bales or in bundles with bottoms boxed, each weighing less 
than 100 lbs. Di class ; in bales, roots wrapped, each bale 
weighing 100 lbs. or over, We think this rule should be 
amended so as to allow the nurseryman to ship bales not com¬ 
pletely wrapped, weighing less than 100 lbs., at the first class 
rate. For instance, if we desire to make a shipment of fifty 
bales weighing 800 lbs. it would be necessary for us to tie the 
fifty bales into eight bundles, making a very awkward bundle 
to handle as well as causing more or less injury to the stock. 
We see no reason why the railroad company should not haul 
the fifty bales at the same rate billed “ Owners’s risk and 
count,” not holding them responsible for errors in counting or 
checking off. 
Another concession that we desire is on shipments of less 
than carlots—say from 4000 to 6000 lbs.—going to locfil points. 
For instance, if the nurseryman desires to ship within 50^ 
100 or 200 miles on the same line of road where there is no 
transfer, he should be allowed to pack in bulk in car at the 
same rate as though the goods were boxed. 
Another item is the matter of packing used in car-lot ship¬ 
ments. We think this rule should be amended so as to allow 
the nurseryman to use 1,500 lbs. of packing for each car. 
Every nurseryman knows that in order to pack trees in bulk 
and have them go through in good condition it is necessary to 
use a liberal amount of wet packing. The amount of water 
that is weighed up on the shipper at point of shipment will 
average at least 1,500 lbs. when if the same shipment is weighed 
at destination—if it travels any distance—this weight will all 
have disappeared by evaporation and leakage. This has been 
our experience from actual weights of shipments. 
We would be pleased to hear the views of others along the 
line, as when the committee goes before the Traffic Associa¬ 
tion it will be necessary to be united and reasonable in our 
demands. 
Peter Youngers, Jr., of Youngers & Co. 
Geneva, Neb., Jan. 6, 1899. 
PROFESSOR BAILEY ON THE SCALE. 
Editor National Nurseryman : 
Persons who have read the note in your January issue re¬ 
specting my remarks on the San Jose scale, desire that I 
define my position in respect to the matter. I his I gladly 
do. I have said that we should not get up a scare on the San 
Jose scale. I have also said that if 1 had to choose between 
the scale and the codlin-moth in my own orchard I should 
take the scale. This is because I believe the scale more 
amenable to treatment. At the same time I am equally 
convinced that the scale may become a more serious pest to 
the state than the codlin-moth is, from the fact that the scale 
is readily distributed on plant stock and that it may kill the 
plants. I believe most emphatically in inspection. 
L. H. Bailey. 
Ithaca, N. Y., Jan. 28, 1899. 
