THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
2 I 
NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
At the annual meeting of the New York Botanical Garden 
last month a membership of 860 was reported. D O. Mills 
was re-elected president ; Dr. N. L. Britton, secretary and 
director-in-chief. 
Five new buildings have been completed during the year in 
the conservatory range and are nearly ready for use. The 
most expensive work of construction, grading and stocking 
the garden and park will be finished with the $150,000 which 
the society asked from New York city in November, provided 
the society gets the money before spring. 
A collection of 8,000 fossil plants loaned the garden by 
Columbia University has been received and set up in the 
museum building, and a gift of $500 from Andrew Carnegie 
has been used for the purchase of the collection, which is 
strong in raie Mexican species. The famous A. Henry col¬ 
lection of Asiatic species has also been purchased. The 
library has been largely increased. Dr. Britton urged that a 
special exploration fund be established. He says that such a 
fund would just now be the greatest aid to the museum and the 
progress of science. 
RHODE ISLAND TREE PLANTING. 
A noteworthy development of the fruit-growing industry in 
Rhode Island has occurred during the last decade. This is 
especially marked in the cultivation of peaches, the number 
of trees having increased 36,247, or 306 8 per cent, and the 
quantity of fruit produced 4.991 bu-hels, or 434.4 per cent. 
Substantial gains were made in every county in the state In 
Newport county the number of trees increased from 399 to 
2,227, or 7°9 P er cent. ; in Providence county from 2,096 to 
24,37 3, or 1,063 per cent, and in Washington county from 854 
to 9,634, or 1.028 per cent. 
The number of apple trees increased 3.1 per cent. / the entire 
gain having been in Providence and Washington counties. All 
other counties report a decrease. 
Pear trees increased in number 12.3 per cent., decreases in 
Bristol, Kent and Washington counties having been offset by 
an increase from ro,2io to 13,432 trees in Providence county. 
The unusually favorable season of 1899 was responsible for 
an increase of 92.9 per cent, in the cherry crop, although the 
number of trees had decreased 27.2 per cent. The number of 
plum and prune trees increased 265.8 per cent, and the 
quantity of fruit produced 313 8 per cent. 
PEACH AND PLUM STOCKS. 
Some forty years ago I was led to try plum stocks for 
peaches, apricots and nectarines upon the claim that they 
would be proof against the peach tree borer, says Dr. B. L. 
Ryder in American Gardening. In this I was disappointed ; in 
fact, the plum-rooted trees appeared to be more subject to the 
attacks of the borers than the peach trees on their own roots, 
and when so affected the damage was usually greater, and after 
cutting out the grubs, the repair or healing over was not so 
rapid as in the peach. Moreover, the peach would outgrow 
the plum stock in a few years to such an extent that the plum 
root would not be able to support the tree. 
On the contrary, in my experience the peach makes a better 
stock for the plum. Borers seldom attack peach stock on which 
plums are grafted, and if they do, but little damage results. One 
objection is that the peach stock will make so much more growth 
than the plum or apricot, and an unsightly base is formed 
below the point of union. Just why the peach root with a 
plum tree trunk should be less affected by the borer than the 
all-peach tree I cannot say, but such was clearly the case under 
my observation, and it would be of interest to have the experi¬ 
ence of extensive plum growers who have used peach stock 
for plums. The hard shelled almond I have tried to some 
extent as a stock for peaches, plums and apricots, with most 
satisfactory results. The bark of the almond is smooth and 
hard and presents a surface not easily penetrated by the larvae, 
and makes a large tree and keeps pace with the peach in its 
growth. My observations along these lines have been made in 
Southern Pennsylvania, on the southeastern side, near the foot 
of the Tuscarora mountain range. Soil freestone, with day 
subsoil, underlaid with limestone. 
IDAHO ORCHARDISTS. 
At the seventh annual meeting, last month, of the Idaho 
State Horticultural Society, A. McPherson, state horticultural 
inspector, said that ten years ago there weie less than 3,000 
acres of orchard lands under cultivation in the state, and now 
there are over 40,000 acres. At that time people did not 
know how to plant their trees, when to plant, or where to plant. 
But now they are familiar with these things, and the knowledge 
they have gained is largely due to the work of the horticul¬ 
tural society. J. B. Perrine, Blue Lakes, was re-elected 
president ; J. D. Huntley, Moscow, vice-president ; Robert 
Milliken, Nampa, secretary, R. M. Gwinn, Caldwell, treasurer. 
APPLE OUTLOOK IN IOWA. 
“The outlook for spring business is very good,” writes 
Pierce Bechtle, LeMars, la. “As the soil becomes old the 
successful cutlivation extends west and north until now there 
are a number of large commercial orchards in the northwest 
part of this state, Nebraska, Soutl] Dakota and Minnesota, 
which are doing well. The number of apples which are suc¬ 
cessfully grown is being added to each year, until now we 
have some fifty varieties in different localities all over the 
state, when a few years ago people thought nothing but crabs, 
Duchess and one or two other varieties of apple would pay to 
plant. Last year we had peach trees, two years planted, which 
are full of fruit. Americana plums are just in their element 
here ; thousands are being planted in commercial orchards, 
and they are very profitable. We have splendid markets for 
fruit, as these western cities are growing rapidly and the people 
are fruit eaters.” 
John C. Chase, Derry, N. H., last month made a flying trip through 
the South, visiting the Charleston Exposition and attending there the 
annual meeting of the Southern Nurserymen’s Association, where he 
met A. L. Wood, of Rochester, N. Y., and other nurserymen. 
G. H. Miller & Son, Rome, Ga., Jan. 15 . 1902 .— “We enclose $1 
on subscription for the National Nurseryman for the year 1902 . 
We are well pleased with the journal and look upon it as a necessity. 
Our trade for the last year has been very heavy, about double what it 
was for the year before and we anticipate a heavy trade for 1902 .” 
