14 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
WESTERN NEW YORKERS. 
Forty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Horticultural Society—Most 
of the Prominent Members of the Well-Known Society Present 
—Questions of Marketing Fruit Predominated—Size of Pack, 
ages —The Breach Healed—Old Officers Re-elected. 
The forty-seventh annual meeting of the Western New York 
Horticultural Society was held in Rochester January 22-23. 
The attendance was not as large as last year, but most of the 
well-known members of this active society were on hand and 
much interest in the proceedings was taken. There was a fine 
display of fruit by Ellwanger & Barry and by the state experi¬ 
ment station at Geneva. Many nurserymen of Western New 
York attended the meeting. 
Papers read and discussed had little direct bearing upon the 
nursery business. The breach which threatened seriously to 
disrupt the society last year over the question of the proposed 
bill for fumigating nursery stock, has been healed and no echo 
of the old differences between nurseryman and fruit grower 
arose to disturb the harmony of the convention. 
When President Barry remarked that the society and its 
members seemed to be growing old together he hit off the 
characteristic which makes the Western New York Horticul¬ 
tural Society differ from most similar bodies. Its members 
are not delegates whose constantly changing personnel puts a 
new face on every meeting of the society, but old friends and 
neighbors who have come into the society as young men and 
are slowly growing old together. The annual sessions of the 
society have all the charm and intimacy of large family 
reunions. 
The question of the size of apple barrels brought out the 
query, “ Why does not the standard size package law apply to 
plum, peach and grape baskets?” No one seemed able to 
answer why the law did not apply to the receptacles named, 
but S. D. Willard of Geneva, chairman of the legislative com¬ 
mittee and one of the Nestors of the society, gave the question 
a new turn by remarking that a bill is now before the legisla¬ 
ture which seeks to put apple barrels back to the old standard of 
100 quarts. Mr. Willard expressed the opinion that by the time 
the legislators got through with tinkering with the standard 
package law the fruit growers wouldn’t know where the law 
did stand. Personally, he says, he preferred to go it alone, 
and by the quality of his own fruit establish for it such a repu¬ 
tation that it would make but a small difference to the public 
what sort of a barrel he packed his apples in. 
C. M. Hooker declared that the dealers in Western New 
York are satisfied with the present standard of apple barrels 
and declared that he had discovered a good-sized mouse in 
the measure now before the legislature. A man with a patent 
barrel holding just 100 qnarts, he said, is behind the measure, 
and for that reason, he believed, it would never become a law. 
George E. Curtiss said a New York commission firm had 
told him that while Western New York dealers raise the best 
quality of apples in the market, they do not know how to pack 
them, and consequently preterence is given to the carefully 
packed stock of California growers, which is afterwards placed 
on the market as “ Western New York fruit.” Mr. Curtiss 
urged that Western New York growers follow the example of 
of the California packers and not only grade their apples as to 
size, but mark on each box or barrel the number of apples it 
contains. By this means, he explained, the busy commission 
men of New York, many of them Italians and illiterate, can see 
at a glance what they are buying and quickly figure up their 
profits. 
All the old officers were re-elected, as follows : President, 
William C. Barry, Rochester; vice-presidents, S. D. Willard, 
Geneva; Albert Wood, Charlton Station; J. S. Woodward, 
Lockport; T B. Wilson, Halls Corners; secretary-treasurer, 
John Hall, Rochester; executive committee, C. M. Hooker, 
Rochester; H. S. Wiley, Cayuga; Edward M. Moody, Lock- 
port; Wing R. Smith, Syracuse; George T. Atwood, Albany. 
IN MARYLAND AND DELAWARE 
One of the most active horticultural societies of the east is 
the Peninsula (Delaware and Maryland). Its annual meeting 
was held at Berlin, Md., January 8-10. President Orlando 
Harrison, in the course of his address, said : 
Gentlemen of the Peninsula Horticultural Society—It is with 
great pleasure that I meet you again as a horticulturist and I congratu¬ 
late you on the eve of prosperity. The past year has been a remarkable 
one in many respects, and to the fruit grower a very profitable one ; 
from the first luscious strawberry in May to the Kieffer pear and Ben 
Davis apple in December. 
I assume that every fruit grower is capable of imparting some 
information to his neighbor, and each grower is sufficiently receptive 
to receive it. The primary object of this society is the improvement 
of our methods of cultivation, and the general management of our 
orchards and crops, by discussion and comparison ; and we may as 
well increase its utility by combined purchase of supplies and com¬ 
bined efforts to market our products more intelligently. 
Throw off the old cry of hard times and let us start at the root by 
cultivating our soil more thoroughly. What is thorough cultivation ? 
Not going over the land four times in a season, but forty if 
necessary. Cultivate the soil, grow part of your own fertilizer in 
Crimson clover and Cow peas. The real value of these two plants are 
known to but few and appreciated by a less number ; they are the sal¬ 
vation for the owners of poor land in this country. 
In growing fruit, if you want to succeed you must have a love foi 
fruit growing. Don’t give the inspector so much work in the old neg¬ 
lected orchards, but clean them out and start new. The growing of 
fruit for market is becoming a more profitable business every year. 
One acre of land recently sold for $400 in West Virginia to plant 
apples on, and one of our Delaware friends paid $100 per acre for land 
to plant Kieffer pears on ; and his Reeves Favorite peach trees, five 
years old, paid $4.50 per tree. 
It has been said, repeatedly, that the best flavored peaches in the 
country are grown on the Peninsula, and now other states are saying 
theirs are equal to ours. Let ours be the standard for quality, and 
never give away lhat reputation won by our forefathers. Stick to 
your home if you want to succeed. Make farm homes more attractive 
and keep the bright boys on the farm. He is the one that is needed to 
make it pay ; he is needed to have some system of thinning, grading 
and packing of fruit; to plant the lawn and ornament the home circle. 
Give him a chance at the State Agricultural College to see what can be 
learned. 
May the members of the legislature now in session be provident in 
this matter, and see the necessity of one of the ablest horticultural 
departments in America, and provide requisite funds to maintain it. 
What can a reasonable amount of money be expended for, that will 
pay the land owner better than to aid to increase the valuation of land ? 
We want our money spent where it can be seen. Just now, our land 
is increasing in value, and we should appreciate our favored surround¬ 
ings ; yet, I do not think our farmers and fruit growers enjoy half 
what they might of the good things of life that could be grown in our 
orchards and gardens. Let us be more thoughtful and encourage local 
horticultural societies. 
It is with great delight and satisfaction that we see the public is 
