34 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
GENUINE NOVELTIES. 
Practical Results of Efforts of Secretary of Agriculture to Secure 
New Varieties of Trees and Plants—Professor Hansen’s 
Work in Russia—A Valuable List of Specialties. 
In January this journal called attention to the commendable 
efforts of Secretary Wilson of the U. S. Department of Agri¬ 
culture in proposing to expend not less than $20,000 of the 
seed appropriation in the sending of agents abroad to procure 
new varieties of trees, plants and seeds to be distributed among 
the experiment stations of this country for testing. 
The first result of these efforts is at hand. N. E. Hansen, 
professor of horticulture at the Brookings, S. D., experiment 
station, commissioned by Secretary Wilson to visit Russia in 
search of new varieties, has returned, and herewith is appended 
a summary of what he obtained: 
The musk-melons of Russian Turkestan, Bokhara, Khiva and Trans- 
Caucasia were deemed worthy of introduction. Many of the varieties 
run from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds in weight, oval in shape, 
flesh snow-white, melting and superior in quality to any American 
variety. Some varieties keep all winter and form one of the principal 
articles of food of the native sorts. Seed of a large number of varieties 
was saved from melons bought on the spot. 
A large number of pits of the choicest varieties of the Vladimir race 
of cherries of East Russia was obtained from carefully selected fruit. 
These come practically true to seed, bear fruit of large size and excel¬ 
lent quality, and endure 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. These 
trees, however, are a distinct race of cherry, and must be grown from 
seed or sprouts in the true Russian fashion, as they are short-lived and 
tender when grafted or budded on the common commercial Mazzard 
and Mahaleb stocks of the nursery. 
One thousand plants, the entire obtainable stock, was secured of a 
new species of raspberry of semi-recumbent habit recently discovered 
by explorers in the mountains of extreme Northern China. The fruit 
is orange in color, of large size and of peculiar but very pleasant flavor- 
The plant has proven hardy at St. Petersburg. This is 9 , new departur e 
in raspberries and is worthy of general trial. 
Scions of some new hybrids of the hardiest variety of the small' 
fruited Siberian crab with the hardiest Russian apple, originated by ^ 
Russian experimenter by artificial cross-fertilization. These will b 
valuable for trial in our Northwest, far north of the present limits of 
apple culture. 
The Russian method of absolutely preventing the root-killing 0 ^ 
apple trees on hardy stocks was carefully studied, and seeds obtained 
for trial. This method will no doubt prove a great boon to a large 
part of our northwestern prairie states where root-killing is the main 
obstacle to successful apple tree culture. 
From Turkestan, West China and Trans-Caucasia native varieties of 
apricot, plum, peach, cherry, apple, pear, quince, grape, oleaster and 
other fruits, and a collection of vegetables were obtained. 
A collection of new ornamental trees, shrubs and plants from Siberia, 
Turkestan and the Caucasus. 
Seeds of plants used in Russian forestry experiments to bind the 
sand dunes or moving sands of the deserts of Southeast Russia and 
Turkestan. 
Small lots of a number of new legumes, cereals, grasses, trees, fruits, 
shrubs and ornamental plants, etc., recently discovered by Russian 
scientific expeditions. 
COULD NOT DO WITHOUT IT. 
Bryant’s Nurseries, Princeton, III., Arthur Bryant & Son, 
January 14, 1898. —“ We herewith enclose you check for $1 for your 
paper during 1898. We could not well do without it.” 
Small Brothers, Nashua and Rochester, N. H., Jan. 14, 1898.— 
‘Enclosed please find one dollar in payment of our renewal subscription 
for your journal. It has become a sort of necessity and we cannot af. 
ford to be without it.” 
Jforeion Botes. 
George Paul, the well-known English nurseryman, one of 
the county councillors for the Cheshunt and Waltham Cross 
divisions, has been placed on the commission of peace for the 
county of Herts. 
Ten tons of flowers were used in the Cannes, France, battle 
of the flowers this year. They were chiefly acacias, anemones, 
pinks, violets and wallflowers. Twenty-five thousand people 
lined the beautiful sea drive and viewed the decorated 
carriages. 
The San Jose scale has made its appearance in Australia. 
Active measures are being taken for its extirpation and, under 
the vegetation diseases act, the owners of infested orchards are 
compelled to destroy the scale, and are prohibited from send¬ 
ing out cuttings or infected fruit. 
Rt. Hon. Walter Hume Long, president of the Board of 
Agriculture of Great Britain, in answer to a question put in 
the House of Commons, said that the subject of San Jose 
scale was being investigated and that any assistance which 
could be given to fruit growers would be rendered when 
requisite. 
The fourteenth international exposition of horticulture will 
take place at Ghent, Belgium, from April 16 to April 24, 1898. 
This exposition, every five years, is organized and managed by 
the Royal Society of Agriculture and Botany of Ghent. It is 
under the patronage of the king and queen of Belgium, and is 
subsidized by the national, provincial and municipal govern¬ 
ments. It is the one hundred and sixty-third exposition of 
this local society. 
It has been estimated by a correspondent of Le Semaine 
Horticole, that, under favorable conditions, the possible length 
of life of various trees grown in Europe is as follows: Judas- 
tree (Cercis siliquastrum), 300 years; elm (Ulmus campestris), 
335 ! ivy (Hedera helix), 450; field maple (Acer campestre), 
516; birch (Betula alba), 576; Orange (Citrus aurantium), 630; 
cypress (Cuprussus sempervirens), 800; walnut (Juglans regia), 
900; plane (Platanus orientalis), r,ooo; linden (Tilia europaea), 
1,100; Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), 1,200; oak (Quercus 
Robur), 1,500; cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus Libani), 2000; Yew 
(Taxus baccata), 3,200, and southern or bald cypress (Taxo- 
dium), 3,000 years. 
“ The American blackberry (Rubus villosus) does not appear 
to be a great success in this country, even in favored districts, 
says a writer in Gardeners Magazine , London. W. J. Stillman 
writes that if the plant would produce as good fruit in England 
as it does in America it would become an important addition 
to English fruits; but, having made the attempt to acclimatise 
it in the Isle of Wight, I do not believe it can succeed else¬ 
where in England, for there its fruit was in no way superior to 
the common bramble. Amongst the species of whortleberry 
found in America there are some which, if successfully accli¬ 
matised, would be of more importance than the American 
blackberry. One is a plant which is found in immense quanti¬ 
ties in the great northern wilderness of New York, and, I 
suppose, Canada, growing from six inches to a foot high and 
bearing at the apex a cluster of berries, marked by a blue 
bloom (hence called blueberries), of delicate flavour.” 
