8 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Hn flurser^ IRows. 
THE ve; ^red seedling. 
Peach Pits. —Edwin Hoyt, New Canaan, Conn., says in Rural New 
Yorker : “Peach pits should be buried on the south side of a fence or 
building, with the earth well mixed in with the pits. Put them from 
four to six inches below the surface of the ground. In April dig them 
out, when the larger proportion of the pits will crack open, and the 
meat of the pit will drop out of the shell. Keep the pits from drying 
and plant, covering about one to one and one-half inches deep. In this 
way almost every pit will come up unless worms eat the sprout off 
before it gets through the ground.” H. S. Wiley, Cayuga. N. Y.. 
says : “We usually get in our peach seed toward the end of Novem. 
ber and cover three to four inches deep, placing the pits two to three 
inches apart. This is what we call “bedding out” the seed. In the 
spring we usually find a fair percentage of the seed cracked and sprout¬ 
ing ; what does not crack we crack with hammer, using care not to 
bruise the kernel. The seeds are then planted in rows where they are 
to grow, and are budded in August following the planting. The young 
trees should be given good cultivation and kept free from weeds.” 
The Mother Apple. —The mother apple is one of the good old 
sorts which has been pretty nearly crowded off the list in the modern 
commercial development of the apple business, says F. H. Waugh, 
the Rural New Yorker. It does not have the qualities of the com¬ 
mercial apple. It is everything which the Ben Davis is not. The tree 
is a somewhat weakly grower, especially in the nursery. It is hard to 
make nice nursery trees of this variety. The best way to grow it is to 
top-graft it on some suitable stock like Spy or Tolman. We are 
beginning to realize that we have made a great mistake by discarding 
a number of fine varieties on account of their unsatisfactory growth in 
the nursery. We have allowed the nurseryman to dictate our varieties 
to us, but we are gradually growing out of that now. Another defect 
of the Mother apple is that it is a shy bearer, and that the fruit falls 
rather early from the tree before it is ripe. The apple is only fair¬ 
sized and though red is not so gaudy as the Ben Davis or the Baldwin. 
When it comes to flavor and aroma, however, I believe there is nothing 
else in the whole list of apples which can equal it. 
Ginkgo Tree. —“The Ginkgo is a new and very promising tree 
from Japan,” says W. A. Merrill, in a Cornell University, N. Y., Bul¬ 
letin. “ There is a fine avenueof them in Washington and they seem to 
stand the winter as far north as Boston, where several young trees have 
recently been planted. At Rochester, the extremities of the lower 
limbs are often winter-killed, and in Northern Germany it cannot be 
successfully cultivated on account of severe cold and injury to its 
branches from snow. This tree is in many ways an ideal street-tree, 
and is without enemies of any kind. One must wait many years for 
shade, however, and the form of the tree must be adapted to street use 
by careful pruning. The indications are that that the Ginkgo will 
make a valuable addition to our list of shade trees; but experiment 
alone will definitely determine its value. A new tree often has many 
advantages in the way of soil and attention which would work wonders 
if bestowed to an equal degree on some ordinary and less esteemed 
species ; while it might be difficult to say just what effect the vigorous 
conditions under which many of our city trees exist would have upon 
the species newly introduced. It is to be hoped that the Ginkgo will 
not have to suffer all that some other trees have borne.” 
MICHIGAN NURSERIES. 
We have quc'ed t remarks of G. A. Gamble on the 
“veneerea seedling.” Mr. Gamble has no respect for the 
“fence corner peach” which he characterizes as the downfall 
of the farmer and the foe of every nurseryman. Mr. Gamble 
says : 
A man was asked if he wished to buy some fine peach trees. He 
looked very wise and said : “ No I never buy peach trees, I plant the 
seed and grow my own trees.” The poor fellow didn’t have any more 
sense than to think he was aart. It would be almost a sin to disturb 
such a man in his blissiui ignorance. If a reformation is accom¬ 
plished, it must be thro’ gh future generations. These can hardly be 
called exceptional "ca ;„s. They represent such a large per cent, of the 
farmers of Arkansas it is certainly the rule and not the exception. 
Where the veneered seedling has been discarded, the fruit raisers are 
making money; where it has not, the people are oblivious to what is 
going on in the world. 
If we fail in our efforts at education, we can only continue to abuse 
the veneered seedling, and cry : Hurrah for the famous Elberta 1 the 
prize winner, the money maker, the mortgage lifter, and the peach 
which has gamed a national reputation by bringing to the fruit raisers 
of the United States over two billion dollars. 
THE FEDERAL BILL. 
^’ 1C f JbieTo assert that ngislation of the 
. U' 
Chairmai 
American Asso^ . u- men, nas seat out the follow 
ing under date of ^ec. 31 , 1902 : 
Dear Sir :—In obedience to the unanimous vote of the association at 
Milwaukee last June, the committee on legislation is doing its utmost 
to secure the success of our inspection bill (H. R. 10,999). The com¬ 
mittee will go to Washington next week to urge action, and needs your 
aid. Nothing else will help so much as a good strong personal letter 
to your congressman and one to your senator. Will you attend to this 
writing at once and make your appeal as earnest as you can ? We ask 
uniform rules to govern interstate shipments. A.t present most states 
have laws, but there is no uniformity. Some are very drastic and!diffi- 
cult to comply with ; others are imperfect; and some states have no 
laws at all. The administration of these laws lacks uniformity as much 
as the laws themselves do, causing complaint and friction. The great 
fruit growing interests of the country suffer loss, and business is 
hampered by uncertainty. We need uniform rules of law and uniform 
rules of administration. These will be secured by the passage of our 
bill. Please do not fail to mention the number (No. 10,999), and that 
we hope to have it without amendments. 
C. L. Watrous, Chairman of Committee. 
Edward Brown Spence, of Darlington, England, died recently at 
the age of 77. He came to America and served in the American army 
in the Mexican war. Returning to England he became a nurseryman. 
Frederick W. Kelsey, of New York City, president of the New Eng¬ 
land Society of Orange, presided at a dinner given at Orange, N. J., on 
Forefathers’ Day, December 21st. Ex-Attorney General Griggs was 
the principal speaker. Among those present were Governor Franklin 
Murphy, Thomas A. Edison and Congressmen Fowler. There were 
250 members end guests present. 
Nursery stock valued at $ 338,544 was reported by 159 farm¬ 
ers and nurserymen in Michigan in 1899 . The 54 commercial 
nurserymen reported $ 319,804 derived from the sale of nur¬ 
sery products, and $ 19,744 from the sale of other products. 
The area of land used was 6,029 acrss and the gross income 
per acre, $ 56 . 32 . The total investment was $5 28 , 530 ; $ 378,355 
in land, $ 100,800 in buildings, $ 28,795 m implements, and 
$ 20,580 in live stock. Fertilizers cost $ 7 , 637 , and farm labor, 
$7L435> or 2I -° P er cent of the value of the gross product. 
Pierce Bechtle, LeMars, Ia., Jan. 10, 1902.—“Enclosed find 
postoffice order for $1, which ntp-i.se place to my credit on subscription 
for the National Nurseryman. I am well pleased with the publica¬ 
tion. It covers the fieM quite thoroughly. 
J. W. Kerr, Denton, Md., Dec. 27, 1902.—“Enclosed please find 
one dollar subscription to National Nurseryman. Let your light 
continue to shine—in moderation; a “blaze” should be carefully 
guarded against, though. That you may have an overflow of felicit¬ 
ous prosperity, that will not only cover this holiday season, but extend 
far,/ar into the future, is the best wish of J. W. Kerr.” 
