THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
l6 S 
IMPROVING TREES. 
Suggestions by President Pendergast, of the Minnesota Horti¬ 
cultural Society — Definite Course Necessary Along Lines 
of Selection and Crossing—Wisconsin Society 
Adopts Resolution for Co-operation with 
Committees in Iowa the Dakotas 
and Minnesota. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Wisconsin Horticultural 
Society, President W. VV. Pendergast, of the Minnesota Horti¬ 
cultural Society, discussing improvement of trees and plants 
said : 
all kinds compete now with every other kind of farm crop. Our 
orchards must be tilled better than our grand-father tilled 
them,as a good orchard of their time would not now have a place 
on a well-kept and profitable horticultural farm. The market 
end of the business is the most important part of all. We 
must more and more put our fruits in small packages and pack 
honestly—guarantee them to be alike all through the package. 
Spraying has come to stay. It is no longer a matter of dis¬ 
cussion, and the man who fails to recognize this is not up on 
fruit productions. As to varieties, adhere to standard" sorts 
and let novelties alone, or try them on a limited scale until fully 
established.” 
What has been done, can be done again. If the wild crab can be 
metamorphosed into a Wealthy apple, the best apple of the Northwest 
to-day can be further changed to meet the conditions more fully and to 
adapt itself more completely to its environment, at the same time 
improving its flavor and keeping quality. To do this best in the least 
time, the course to be pursued must 
be planned with care and judgment. 
It might be well to select at first say 
eight of the best varieties which are now 
grown, each one of which excels decid¬ 
edly in some one quality. Let one be 
an iron clad, one very highly flavored, 
one a beauty to look at, one a long 
keeper, one a good grower, one a great 
bearer, one fine grained, juicy and free 
from mealiness, while the last might re¬ 
present a spreading habit, long life and 
all that is desirable in the tree itself. All 
the chosen varieties should possess as 
many good qualities as possible, but be 
particularly excellent in the one named. 
When the selection is [made by a well- 
chosen committee appointed for the 
purpose, let the experiment stations, 
amateurs and pracitcal horticulturists 
and all others who wish to take part 
begin by crossing each kind with each 
of the others. This will give 28 com¬ 
binations, the fruits of each having a 
different pedigree. As soon as these 
bloom, let the propagator cross two var¬ 
ieties of the 28. then two more till he 
gets to the last. This would reduce the 
number from which the selection would 
be made to 14. A repetition of this 
operation would give but 7 to propagate 
from. Continuing along the same line 
the next time, we should have three 
crosses and one old tree to cross with best one already found. Before 
reaching this po'nt, which would require 40 years or thereabout, we 
should obtain some very good apples, and if long keeping has been 
made a specialty in all selections, there will doubtless be a few good 
winter apples. Yet it must not be forgotten that we are building for 
posterity and enjoying the work. 
The following resolution was adopted : 
Resolved—That the executive committee of this society be author, 
jzed and instructed to co-operate with similar committees in Iowa, 
North and South Dakota and Minnesota in devising some systematic 
plan for the improvement of our fruits. 
PRESENT DAY TENDENCIES. 
IN MEMORIAM—GEORGE GOULD. 
George Gould of Villa Ridge Nurseries, Villa Ridge, Ill., 
after an illness of four months died at his home in Villa Ridge, 
February 12 th, at the age of 64 
"years. The cause of his death was 
chronic liver trouble, caused bv 
malaria. Mr. Gould was a pioneer 
in the fruit and nursery business in 
Southern Illinois. He began graft¬ 
ing trees as early as 1870 and kept 
at the business all the time from 
then on. In the beginning his 
nursery was only a little local 
affair, growing trees for the neigh¬ 
bors. It steadily increased until it 
reached its present proportions. 
In 1896 the Villa Ridge Nur¬ 
series propagated and introduced 
the Koonce pear which has proven 
to be oneof the best marketable early 
pears and is widely planted now. 
The death of Mr. Gould will 
cause r.o change in the Villa Ridge 
Nurseries. H. L. McGee, who has 
been the active member of the firm 
for the last three years, will continue 
at the head of it as before. 
TREE PLANTING IN WASH¬ 
INGTON. 
Reports received by State Horti¬ 
culturist Baker of the State of Washington indicate that not 
less than r, 000,000 fruit trees will be set out by the farmers 
and fruit growers of Washington this season. This is by far 
the greatest record the state has ever made, last year’s plant¬ 
ings amounting to 750,000 trees. At least half of the fruit 
trees set out this year will be apple trees. Eastern Washing¬ 
ton will put out about two-thirds of the total number. The 
others will comprise prune, pear, peach, apricot and cherry 
trees. All of the nurseries along the Columbia river, in 
both Washington and Oregon, are sold out and farmers 
are unable to secure more trees in that locality. 
George Gould. 
“ The first and most important tendency to-day is education,” 
said Professor L. H. Bailey, of Cornell University, at the 
annual meeting of the New Jersey Board of Agriculture, 
speaking on the subject of present-day tendencies in horti¬ 
culture. We are facing new conditions. Fruit products of 
The effort to give the culture of the choice European table grape a 
thorough test in the South Atlantic States has been continued at 
Southern Pines, N. C., and Earleton, Fla. Vines of such varieties of 
the first importation (that of 1899) as failed to grow have been replaced 
so far as possible, and as many additional sorts of supposed merit as 
were obtainable on resistant stocks have been secured. 
