126 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
dried prunes. The enterprise failed, however, but in 1856, 
scions were sent from France to California and there the 
industry began to thrive. It grew slowly, so that, in 1881, the 
largest grower in California rarely put out over five or six tons 
of dried fruit. In 1896, however, the California product was 
estimated at 55,200,000 pounds, and this will be largely in¬ 
creased in the near future. 
Washington, Oregon and Idaho are also engaged in prune 
culture, so that, probably, the product of American orchards 
for next year will exceed 100,000,000 pounds of dried prunes. 
The effect of this was rapidly seen in the decrease of imports. 
In 1891, there were imported 41,012,571 pounds of prunes, 
valued at $2,139,215 ; in 1897, these imports had shrunk to 
only 736,978 pounds, valued at $74,165. 
VALUE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 
Hon. Charles W. Garfield, Grand Rapids, Mich., in his ad¬ 
dress at the dedication of the new biological building, at the 
Geneva, N. Y., experiment station, said : 
“ My personal experiences and observations have been 
largely with the horticulturists. I have seen the wonderful 
potency of the experiment station in educating the rank and 
file of the growers. It matters not if a large proportion of 
them do not recognize the source of the amendments in their 
practice which have added so materially to their success. 
Many of them may not even know of the existence of the ex¬ 
periment station ; but the fact is unquestioned, they have been 
lifted to a higher level of practice, and sometime they will 
recognize the source of the evolution. 
“To-day in my own state, the horticulturists are openly 
and without loss of self-respect, acknowledging their depend¬ 
ence upon the experiment station for constant and increas¬ 
ingly valuable aid. And the men of science are happy in their 
opportunity to take off their hats to men like Lyon, Morrill, 
Stearns, Monroe and Kellogg, leaders in our horticultural 
practice, and acknowledge their scientific ability. This rela¬ 
tionship is healthful, beautiful and inspiring.” 
FALL-DUG PEACH TREES. 
Last fall a Massachusetts reader bought a lot of peach trees, 
pruned the roots and tops, and heeled them in, covering the 
tops as well as the roots with earth, says Rural New Yorker. 
Last spring, most of the tops appeared to be dead and dry 
most of their length. We asked a number of the horticultural 
authorities whether it is probable that covering the tops with 
earth caused this injury, and whether they consider it unsafe 
to dig peach trees in autumn for spring setting. The follow¬ 
ing is a summary of their replies : 
Edwin Hoyt, Connecticut, says that, as a rule, he does not 
advise taking up and heeling in peach trees, or even setting 
them in the fall. The peach is a late-growing tree, holds its 
foliage late, and the wood is porous and needs the leaves until 
they drop off naturally, to harden the wood. There is much 
more risk in planting peach trees in fall than in spring. If 
heeled in at all, it should be in dry soil with the tops all 
left on. They should be in a slanting position with one-third 
to one-half of the bodies covered, and the soil be thoroughly 
worked about every root. Well-grown peach trees set in 
spring and properly cut back, seldom fail to grow. He cannot 
see why any one should want to buy peach trees in fall to be 
set in spring. Let the nurseryman take the risk of wintering 
the peach trees. All other fruit or forest trees may be set with 
safety in fall, except on wet ground. 
J. H. Hale, Connecticut, says that long experience has 
taught him that it is entirely unsafe to handle northern-grown 
peach trees in the fall. They grow the latest of all trees, and 
do not fully mature their roots and tops until about freezing 
time in early winter. The practice of digging and selling 
them in October or November is a dangerous one, and the 
nurseryman who cares for his reputation should recommend 
his customers to buy peach trees in the spring. The cause of 
the loss by the Massachusetts reader was, probably, from bury¬ 
ing these immature, succulent trees ; as for thoroughly ripened 
trees, this treatment is the best he could have given them for 
his latitude. 
Professor S. T. Maynard of Massachusetts, does not con¬ 
sider it at all unsafe to dig in the fall, and heel in for spring 
planting, and would advise it if the trees are growing late and 
are on rather heavy soil. On thin, rather poor soil, they will 
stand more exposure. In heeling in trees, the tops should 
always slope to the south at an angle of about 45 degrees, that 
the sun may strike the branches as little as possible. They 
should be heeled in only in light, well-drained soil. 
jfoteion IRotes. 
It is suggested that people who do not keep a scientific gardener 
should go to Kew, England, for plants ; that this would not injure 
the nursery trade, but rather would quicken it. 
The Gardeners’ Magazine. London, recently published an interesting 
account of a visit to L’Horticulture Internationale, in the Rue Wiertz, 
Brussels, the remarkable establishment of the late Jean Linden, now 
conducted by his son, Lucian Linden. 
Covent garden wholesale prices during the last week of September 
were : Peaches, per dozen, 8 and 12s. ; Hamburg grapes, per pound, 
Is. ; Ribston and Bleinheim apples, per sieve, 8 and 4s. ; pears, for¬ 
eign, in French crates, 20s. ; Duchess, 11 and 14s. 
A scale insect, similar to but quite distinct from the San Jose scale, 
has been introduced in England on a consignment of Japanese cherries 
from Japan. It was originally discovered on the peach in Australia 
and has been found, it is stated, in Jamaica, Trinidad and in 1892 in 
the United States on dwarf flowering almond and fifty tea bushes im 
ported from Japan. 
In the memoirs of the National Horticultural Society of France, it 
is recorded that the graft which produces variation in the seed may 
be employed to produce new varieties. The variation may frequently 
be diverted culturally, so as to impart, almost assuredly, after re¬ 
peated graftings, certain qualities of taste, shape, color, etc., to a 
plant which did not originally possess them and which varies easily 
under cultivation. 
The annual fruit show of the Royal Horticultural Society was held 
last month at Crystal Palace, London. Only a veritable specialist, 
says the Gardeners’ Chronicle, could see any indication that 1898 is an 
indifferent fruit season. There are a few more exhibits than in 1897, 
and the falling off in color and size of apples and pears, though a 
fact, is to be seen only after very careful inspection. In the nursery¬ 
men’s competitive classes T. F. Rivers & Son, Sawbridgewortli, won 
the premier prize, a gold medal, for fruit trees bearing fruit in pots ; 
Bunyard & Co., Maidstone, the gold medal for collection illustrating 
orchard house culture ; G. Mount, Canterbury, for fruits grown en¬ 
tirely in open air. Bunyard & Co. won easily the prize for a collec¬ 
tion of seventy-five distinct varieties of apples and pears. 
