THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
FIFTEEN ACRES OF SCALE. 
It was discovered yesterday morning, says the Grand Rapids, 
Mich., De 7 nocrat of December 15th, that the ravages of the 
San Jose scale have reached within two miles of the Kent 
county line. A young farmer in Jamestown, Ottawa county, 
was ordered to cut down and burn fifteen acres of apple 
orchard containing more than 1,200 trees. He had borrowed 
money by mortgaging his farm to put out the orchard, which 
was only five years old and had always received the best of 
care. The trees have just come into bearing and promised a 
larger crop the coming year, which was depended upon to 
meet a portion of the mortgage, which had been extended to 
meet the crop. 
The young man was so shocked when told that his orchard 
would have to be destroyed that he was put to bed, sick. He 
had noticed last fall that his trees were not doing well and had 
written to the Agricultural College to find the cause The 
college people promised to look 
after the orchard, but made no diag¬ 
nosis till yesterday. 
Clinton D. Smith of the college 
attended a farmers’ institute held in 
the township yesterday, and on his 
way home visited the orchard and 
made the discovery. No case of the 
dreaded disease from this county has 
yet I'.een reported. Kent county trees 
are supposed to be free from the 
pest, but' this case comes near the 
line and shows the danger. 
Fruit men have kept a sharp look¬ 
out for this pest for years, and last 
winter Mr. Graham succeeded in 
creating an office and having a com¬ 
missioner appointed for the purpose 
of fighting it. U. P. Hedrick was 
appointed to that office, but up to 
date has not investigated any 
orchards. He has confined his work 
to nurseries, the great distributing 
points. The Jamestown case is sup¬ 
posed to have started from a few 
trees the owner of the orchard 
bought from an eastern nursery two 
years ago. So rapidly had it done its deadly work that at pres¬ 
ent every limb of every tree in the orchard is covered to its tip. 
Mr. Smith said he would send the inspector here next week 
and inspect the surrounding orchards and woods. On the isle 
of Catawba in Lake Erie the insect attacked the forest trees and 
large tracts of forest had to be destroyed. 
NEW GRUBBING MACHINE. 
The new Dansville cultivator and grubbing machine made 
especially for the use of nurserymen will prove a great labor- 
saving device if the claims of the inventor are sustained. 
This machine has been exhibited at Rochester, N. Y., and 
looks as if it would do all that is claimed for it. It is built to 
straddle any row of trees in the nursery seven or eight feet 
high, cultivating perfectly both sides of the row and by the 
attachment of hillers it throws up a perfect hill or furrow on 
each side of the row. 
169 
But the remarkable part of the machine is the grubbing 
device, by which the bank or furrow is turned from each side 
of the row and the comb or bank of dirt between the trees in 
the row is completely grubbed out as if done by hand labor. 
This is accomplished with no injury to bark or tree and with 
but one passage of the row. The inventor claims that one 
man with team and this machine can cultivate the soil and 
keep it perfectly free of weeds on thirty acres of nursery per 
week throughout the season with no help from hand labor. 
This is a pretty strong claim, but if it be true it will make a 
much needed saving to the grower in labor bills and must 
prove of great value to the trade. 
C. M. HOBBS. 
The subject of this sketch was born in Paoli, Orange county, 
Ind , in 1847. His boyhood was spent on the farm in the 
same county. Early in life he became interested in nature, 
especially in tree plants and flowers. 
His first connection with the nursery 
business began in his eighteenth year 
when he sold nursery stock for Oliver 
Albertson of the Canton nursery. 
The following year he spent with 
Abram Trueblood in the Salem nurs¬ 
ery. About four years were spent in 
selling for and working in the Can¬ 
ton nursery during the summer 
months and attending Blue River 
Academy during the winter, with an 
occasional spring term. One year 
was spent in a wholesale book and 
stationery establishment. 
Returning to the Canton nursery, 
he has been continuously connected 
with the nursery business up to the 
present time. 
In 1875 Oliver Albertson estab¬ 
lished a nursery at Bridgeport, Ind. 
Mr. Hobbs was placed in charge of 
the business. In 1876 he married 
Anna M. Albertson, daughter of 
Oliver Albertson. In 1881, after the 
death of Oliver Albertson, Emery 
Albertson, his second son, and C. M. 
Hobbs succeeded him in the nursery business under the firm 
name of Albertson & Hobbs. 
The business under this management has grown from small 
beginnings to the largest business of its kind in the state. The 
firm has always taken special care as to correctness in varie¬ 
ties and to be trustworthy in every respect. Mr. Hobbs has 
been prominently connected with the State Horticultural 
Society the past twenty years. He served the society seven 
years as secretary, and the past five years as president. The 
past two years he has given a course of lectures on horticul¬ 
tural topics to the agricultural and horticultural students of 
Purdue university. 
Wisconsin lumbermen have promised to replant their cut¬ 
over timber lands if the state will enforce the fire law regard¬ 
ing forests. It is estimated that the planting can be done at a 
cost of $3 per 1,000 trees, that is per acre. 
