THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
140 
earnest workers would have transformed the bare hall into a bower of 
beauty and been such a bid for notice that the echo might have reached 
even to legislative halls and helped the desire for more efficient recog¬ 
nition at the hands of those who hold the purse strings of the state. 
The weather was not cold, and reasonable fine, but President Cushman’s 
opening address found but 40 listeners in a hall of 600 chairs.” 
N. H. Albaugh, Phonetou, argued against the planting of many 
Keiffer pears as the demand is well supplied at present. This variety 
should be interspersed with others, he said, in order to secure polleni 
zation; 10,000 trees set by the Georgia Albaugh Orchard Company in 
that state, nine years ago, had failed to bear; now every alternate tree 
is being removed, and the places planted with Elberta peaches. Part 
of the pear trees left would be top-grafted to Le Conte. Prof. Van 
Deman said that the Rome Beauty apple which is proving popular in 
South-eastern Ohio and West Virginia, is being grown successfully in 
Western New York, whole orchards of Baldwins being worked to 
Rome Beauty and Ben Davis. W. W. Farnsworth praised the French 
prune and said the finest he had seen were in a block of 200 trees on 
the Hooker farm, Rochester, N. Y. 
The committee on San Jose scale legislation reported on the law 
requiring nurserymen to pay $10 for the first day’s work in inspecting 
and $5 for overtime, all certificates to be valid for a year from August 
15t,li. N. H. Albaugh argued in favor of a national law which would 
make state regulations uniform. L. B. Pierce said that a man is con¬ 
sidered innocent until he is proven guilty. He did not believe a man 
could be fined $10 or more for not having the San Jose scale on his 
trees and bushes, yet this is what the Ohio law amounts to. It was 
suggested that the law be changed so as to make the cost of inspection 
a charge against the state. 
Michigan State— At Grand Rapids, December 4-6. President C. J. 
Mon roe, South Haven, presiding. The apple, the demands of forestry 
and village improvement associations were principal topics of discus¬ 
sion. Among the exhibits were Greenville apples sent by E. M 
Buechly, Greenville, O. The late T. T. Lyon, who was long president 
of the society, bequeathed to it ten acres in South Haven, known as 
the South Haven Experiment Station, valued at $5,000. 
Missouri State— At Farmington, December 4-6. President N. F. 
Murray is in Los Angeles, D. A. Robnett presided. There weie 490 
plates of apples. A letter from President Murray states that he could 
find no really good fruit on the market there in California; he was told 
that all the best was shipped away. A..Nelson, of Lebanon, sent a 
barrel of apples to Manila and 90 miles inland, by way of San Fran, 
cisco, and without ice; was 47 days in transit and reached there for 
Christmas. Of the many thousands of Christmas presents sent over, 
this was the only barrel of apples. They were picked, wrapped in 
paper and packed with the greatest of care, and excelsior laid in top 
and bottom of barrel, and reached their destination in good order- 
Secretary Goodman said that in Paris each barrel is emptied out and 
examined, and he believes this is the right way. Apples sent from 
here in cold storage went in perfect order and could have sold 
them for $8 to $5 per bushel. Seventeen barrels sent there by 
express in the fall also reached there in perfect condition. A 
vote on best varieties of apples for a commercial orchard resulted in 
Ben Davis first, then Jonathan, Grimes’ Golden, Gano, Ingram and 
York Imperial, in order named, followed by several others. For bot¬ 
tom land, Winesap, Blacktwig, Ingram, Jonathan, and Maiden Blush. 
Maryland State— At Baltimore, December 20-21. Prof. L H. 
Bailey, of Cornell University, reviewed changes in methods of orchard 
management during the closing century. “A hundred years ago,” 
he said, "we had not even horticultural regions. Now we have horti¬ 
cultural sections. Maryland is a horticultural state, we say; California 
is a horticultural state. Then a man bought a field primarily to grow 
wheat or corn; now men buy a thousand acres to grow some variety of 
fruit. We had no commercial strawberry till about 1840; we had uo 
commercial blackberry till the beginning of the Civil war. Washing, 
ton was the model farmer of his time, but he knew nothing about 
commercial horticulture; he knew nothing about commercial cut-flower 
growing; he knew nothing about the breeding of animals A hun¬ 
dred years ago apples were grown primarily for cider. ‘They were 
grown for cider, for feeding to the hogs and some for the family,’ as a 
writer of that day put it. Farmers used to call the scientific men 
theorists; now the farmers themselves are the theorists. What we 
must do is to instil a scientific point of view, a mental idea, a trend of 
thought, the philosophy of things and then all will work right in 
practice. 
William A. Taylor, assistant chief, division of pomology, United 
States Department of Agriculture, gave an account of the horticultural 
exhibits at the Paris Exposition. Prof. Waugh, of Vermont, discussed 
‘‘Facts About Plums.” Addresses were delivered by Prof. M. B. 
Waite, assistant chief, division vegetable pathology, United States 
Department of Agriculture; Prof. H. E. Van Deman of Parksly. Va , 
and Guy L. Stewart, S. D. Willard, W. S McKean, W. G. John¬ 
son, and D. M. Nesbit, special agent, United States Department of 
Agriculture. 
California Fruit Growers— At San Francisco, December 4-8 
Twenty-fifth convention. The transportation of fruit to the East was 
the main topic discussed by President Ellwood Cooper. William B 
Gester, of Placer, said: ‘‘During the season past, the loss to growers 
and shippers occasioned by the unreasonable length of time occupied 
by fresh fruit in transit to destination can hardly be measured Mr. 
Gester favored the establishment of an independent refrigator car line 
to be owned and controlled by the growers. He pointed out the pros, 
pect of serious competition from the orchards of Mexico, where, he 
stated, every variety of fruit grown in California is now successfully 
produced President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, of the University of Cali 
fornia, at Berkeley, said: “ The question before you is to find watering 
mouths commensurate to the greatness of California’s fruit product. 
You growers of perishable fruit should insist upon scheduled trains 
which will carry your product into Eastern markets in proper condi¬ 
tion. Your business should be removed beyond the range of gamb¬ 
ling.” 
Resolutions requesting railway service to approximate a delivery of 
cars to Chicago in six days and Atlantic coast points in eight days, and 
asking Congress to appropriate $10,000 to benefit horticulture in Cali¬ 
fornia were adopted. 
Illinois State —Forty-fifth annual meeting at Champaign, Decem¬ 
ber 11—18. There were discussions by Professors Van Deman, Wiley, 
Blair, Burrill, Green, Forbes and Keffer. Prof. Waile of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, gave an illustrated lecture on the 
bitter rot of the apple and the ripe rot of the peach and plum. Spray- 
ing and cleaning up orchards were the remedies recommended. Prof. 
Forbes, state entomologist, made a report on nursery inspection. 
IN HONOR-OF GEORGE ELLWANGER. 
The 84th birthday of George Ellwanger, the senior member 
of the well-known firm of Ellwanger & Barry, was appropriately 
observed at a dinner at the Genesee Valley Club, in Roches¬ 
ter, on December 3d. Distinguished citizens were present. 
Dr. David Jayne Hill, formerly president of the University 
of Rochester, now Assistant Secretary of State, wrote the fol¬ 
lowing poem for the occasion, a touching tribute to the vener¬ 
able guest of honor: 
Fruits of the fecund earth ! 
How the rich orchards swell 
The channels of their living flood 
To keep the springtime promises 
Of leafage green and bursting bud; 
To round, ere blustering winter calls, 
The perfect circle of the year, 
And pledge to every fruit that falls 
That spring shall reappear. 
Fruits of the living soul! 
How the deep life divine 
Hidden in all men, high and low, 
Blooms in the heart and lends its strength 
To all things that upward grow; 
Friendship and love and faith 
Have no December in which to die, 
They mount from the crests of the snow clad hills 
To a springtime beyond the sky ! 
David J. Hill. 
Washington, D. C., December 2, 1900. 
