THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
123 
willing to learn, to make something, to make some money for 
their old age. In my opinion one of the best horticultural 
chances is in apples. 
SECOND ERA OF APPLE CLLTDRE. 
There will undoubtedly be a second era of profitable apple 
culture. This western section of which I was speaking is now 
crowding us to the wall with worthless Ben Davis, is already 
beginning to feel the ravages of the canker worm, codlin moth, 
and the apple scab, and some of those sections that only five 
or six years ago were sending in some of the finest carloads 
that went to our market, are to-day almost as bad off as we 
are ; and it is a fact that they are not so far along in knowledge 
of how to meet those difficulties. Their orchards are large, as 
a rule, their cultural methods are not equal to ours, and the 
natural result will be that their orchards will go faster than 
ours, because they do, in those climates, go faster than ours 
when they begin to fail. These warmer climates of Missouri, 
Kansas, and Southern Illinois, are those in which these insect 
and fungous troubles breed faster than they do with us, and 
are much harder to combat, and this must have its effect. We 
are fortunately situated, so long as these things must be fought 
all over the United States. I think we can combat them as 
cheaply as any other section, or cheaper. We can produce the 
highest quality, and we have the markets at our door ; we 
have the transportation facilities, and there are a few natural 
conclusions which I must draw from these facts, whether you 
do or not. The first one is that a man who is not willing to 
accept these conditions, who does not feel himself able to meet 
these requirements, would better destroy every tree he has, and 
get out of the business and go into wheat or corn or something 
that he likes, immediately and not breed trouble for his neigh¬ 
bors and disappointment for himself. The man who may 
enter into the business is the man who loves it, the man who 
will study it, the man who has not learned so much that he can 
not learn any more, and is willing to keep up witth he proces¬ 
sion. 
But what are we doing? We are, almost over this entire 
section that I have mentioned, accepting what appears to a 
good many men to be inevitable—going out of apple orchards, 
destroying, perhaps, ten trees where we are planting one. I 
think this year will show a little different state of affairs. 
Nurserymen tell me there has been a pretty good call for ap¬ 
ples over that section, and I think the conclusion must have 
forced itself upon the best informed men that there is a time 
coming, not very far from this, when they will wish they had 
good apples. 
IN MONTANA AND IDAHO. 
An exchange calls attention to the fact that Montana and 
Idaho recently passed rigid laws for the inspection of nursery 
stock. All homegrown stock in Montana must be fumigated 
before shipping, and all nursery stock, trees, plants, vines and 
cuttings shipped into the state must be fumigated before be¬ 
ing delivered to the purchaser. Such consignments must be 
unpacked and if covered with burlap, this must be removed 
for the fumigation. All green fruits and citrus fruits offerered 
for sale in Montana must be inspected, and if found free from 
disease or infestation, shall be passed ; if not, shall be des¬ 
troyed by burning. Fruit dealers are cautioned against sell¬ 
ing or giving away empty boxes, packages or wrappings which 
have contained fruit. The law declares that all such packages 
or wrappings must be destroyed by burning. The fruit inter¬ 
ests in these western states are small beside those of New 
York, yet the western fruit growers are more carefully pro¬ 
tected. 
Since the organization of the Montana State Board of Hor¬ 
ticulture the inspectors have inspected and fumigated upwards 
of 350,000 fruit trees, all of which were imported to the state 
and added to the orchards this spring. Most of the trees are 
varieties of apples, though pears, plums, cherries and apri¬ 
cots have a fair representation. The process of fumigation 
adopted for Montana is known as the California treatment, 
consisting of placing the nursery stock in air-tight tents or 
boxes and generating hydrocyanic acid gas. This is a solution 
of 58 per cent, potassium cyanide and sulphuric acid. 
HOTHOUSE GRAPES. 
At the sixty-eighth annual fair of the American Institute in 
New York, September 26-28, the center of attraction and of 
merit in the fruit display was undoubtedly the hothouse fruit 
from W. Rockefeller’s estate. The grapes Mrs. Pince, Mad- 
resfield Court, Black Hamburgh and Muscat of Alexandria 
were practically perfection in color, size and finish, and care¬ 
fully staged on proper boards showed up grandly. W. Scott, 
Tarrytown ; Howard Nichols, Yonkers ; A. Taaffe, and Mrs. 
Patrick Barry, Rochester, N. Y., also contributed materially 
to the display of hothouse grapes. As to varieties, besides 
those already named, there were Barbarossa (Nichols), and 
the following remarkable collection of Mrs. Barry : Black 
Hamburgh, Raisin de Calabre, Black Alicante, Muscat Tro- 
veren, Golden Queen, Chasselas Napoleon, Black Frontignan, 
Black Morocco, Chomier du Cautal, Mill Hill Hamburgh, 
Duchess of Buccleugh, Golden Champion, White Tokay and 
Syrian. 
©bituar\>. 
Jacob Wentz, who has been in the nursery business at Rochester for 
four decades, died at his home at Irondequoit, N. Y., on September 
27th, aged 70 years. 
F. W. Loudon, the well-known horticulturist, died at his home in 
Janesville, Wis., October 2d. He was best known as the originator of 
the Jessie strawberry and the Loudon raspberry. Francis William 
Loudon was born at Strafford. Vt., December 17. 1818. He was a tan¬ 
ner by trade, afterward engaging in the boot and shoe industry. In 
1852 Mr. Loudon retired from business and turned his attention to 
horticultural pursuits, in which he gained a national reputation. 
J. Y. Cotta, president of the Cotta Nursery and Orchard Co., Free¬ 
port and Nursery, Ill., died September 27th at his home in Nursery. 
Mr. Cotta was born at Eisnach, Germany, June 6, 1835. After an 
apprenticeship of three years under the late Herrman Jaeger at the 
Ivarthaus Garden, at Eisnach, he came to America at the age of 19 
and established the original nursery of the Cotta Nursery and 
Orchard Co., in 1865, at what is now Nursery, Ill. In February, 1899, 
this company was formed. It includes the management of the origi¬ 
nal nursery and that established at Freeport in 1886 by his son, H. R. 
Cotta. The deceased had been president of the company from the 
date of its organization. Mrs. Cotta, four sous and one daughter sur¬ 
vive. The business will be continued by the company. J. V. Cotta, 
Jr., is vice-president; H. R. Cotta, secretary, and Charles Cotta, 
treasurer, 
