7 ° 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
HANDSOME AND DELICIOUS SPECIMENS OF APPLES 
The editorial office of The National Nurseryman has 
recently been the recipient of specimens illustrating the 
superlative in appearance and quality. These specimens 
came from Messrs. Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards 
Company, of Louisiana, Missouri. The appearance and 
beauty factors were illustrated by magnificent specimens 
of the variety known as Black Ben Davis. The richness of 
the coloring of these specimens in their blending of the 
creamy-yellow with the scarlet, crimson and purple, is quite 
indescribable. More than that, these specimens were good 
to eat! 
The factor quality was illustrated in the highest degree 
by the specimens of Delicious. This fruit, as it is grown in 
the bearing orchards now established in the intermountain 
region and on the Pacific Coast, certainly exemplifies in 
proper manner the significance of the name. Advices from 
Chicago inform the trade that this variety sold as high as 
$5.00 per dozen in recent weeks. Unquestionably, it was 
one of the high class varieties, and in the region of its 
adaptation is bound to increase in popularity. 
WHEN FRUITS ARE INJURED BY THE COLD 
In an illustrated article on the “Effect of Freezing on 
Buds, Bloom, and Fruit,” in Better Fruit, Mr. O. B. Whip¬ 
ple of the Montana Agricultural Experiment College puts 
peach, apricot, cherry, and a large number of the plums in a 
class together, as being in danger from low temperatures 
from the very beginning of winter until the last spring frost 
has come and gone. However, apple, native plum, sour 
cherry, and pear buds are not often injured during the cold 
of winter, but, in commion with practically all other fruit 
buds, are subject to injury in spring after they have swollen. 
W ith stone fruits, while it takes a severe winter to hurt the 
wood, the buds may be killed very much more easily. 
The first group of fruits mentioned above will generally 
stand 10° below freezing early in the winter, but 5° more of 
cold will be liable to cause injury. Sour cherry and native 
plums have been known to stand 40° below freezing when 
perfectly dormant. If, upon splitting the bud during the 
dormant season, one finds the center to be brown, it is an 
indication that some of the flowers'are killed. 
Stone fruits are frequently injured just when the buds 
have opened enough to show the color of the petals. In this 
condition, peaches, for instance, can hardly escape injury if 
the thermometer drops to 21 or 2 2° F. If the pistil is found 
to be blackened, it is dead, and no fruit will form; for it is 
from the bottom of the pistil that the peach develops. It is 
the same with the cherry and the plum. The blooming 
period is a season of still greater danger, as with the tem¬ 
perature anywhere below 30° there is a risk, though even 
peaches, in rare cases, have withstood a temperature of 26°. 
Apple and pear buds are not often injured until the 
individual flower buds can be seen. One of Mr. Whipple’s 
photographs shows buds which were injured at 18°, just one 
bud having escaped; but that, with its two or three days of 
extra development, is liable to injury at 24°. Injury at 
this stage may be detected by pulling off the petals and 
exposing the pistillate organs in the center. If these cen¬ 
tral organs are discolored, the flower is killed. The time 
just after the petals have fallen is perhaps the period when 
the buds are most tender of all in the development of the 
apple. 
The Port Arthur Nursery Co. of Port Arthur, Texas, 
has sold out its business to Griffing Bros., Jacksonville, 
Fla. 
A post card received from W. C. Reed and wife from 
Habana, Cuba, saying they are having a pleasant trip, 
having made a stay of eight days in Habana. They will 
leave for Tampa, Florida, to attend the Pomological 
meeting to be held February 9 to nth. 
COMMERCIAL RATING OF APPLES 
At the meeting of the American Pomological Society 
in Tampa, Florida, February 9-11, Mr. J. L. Dumas of 
Walla Walla, Washington, will put forth his best efforts 
toward securing a higher commercial rating for Winesap, 
McIntosh Red, and Rome Beauty, which are grown suc¬ 
cessfully in the Northwest Pacific States. 
A meeting was held in Horticultural Hall, Boston, last Tuesday^ 
of the Board of Control, the Show Committee, and a number of the 
guarantors and representatives of the various societies interested 
in the great National Flower Show which will be held in Boston in 
March. 
Delegates were present from the Society of American Florists, the 
American Rose, the American Carnation, Gladiolus, Sweet Pea 
and Massachusetts Horticultural Societies, the Florists’ and Garden¬ 
ers’ Club and National Association of Gardeners, all of whom will 
hold their annual conventions during the progress of the Exhibi¬ 
tion. This gathering represents the largest combination of the 
floral interests ever brought together on such a project, and gives 
positive assurance that the Exhibition itself will be the most 
stupendous affair ever held. The entire Mechanics Building has 
been engaged, and, as it contains over 100,000 square feet of exhibit¬ 
ing space, ample room seems assured; but so many applications for 
space are being received that there is little doubt that when the 
doors apen Saturday, March 25th, it will all be filled. Many ofthe 
delegates from a distance who hav never seen the building were 
loud in their praise of its desirability for such an affair. The large 
banquet halls, as well as the two consecutive halls which will permit 
of all business of the Societies being transacted under one roof, 
were especially interesting to the delegates. They were particularly 
well pleased with the brilliant prospects and the large numberof 
firms who have already taken space, as reported by Chester I. 
Campbell, the business manager for the Show Committee. It is 
called a National Flower Show, but it is really International in 
scope, as exhibits will be sent from England, Holland, Denmark, 
Italy, South America, New Mexico, India, China, and Japan, and 
is creating a world wide interest. Among those who attended the 
meeting were; George Asmus, of Chicago, the new president of the 
vS. A. F.; F. R. Pierson, Tarrytown, N. Y., chairman of the Board of 
Control; F. H. Tradendly, New York; Wm. J. Stewart, Boston; 
Henry Bunyard, New York; John K. L. M. Farquhar, Boston; 
W. F. Hastings, Buffalo, N. Y.; W. A. Manda, Wallace Pierson, 
CromTell, Conn.; William Sim, Cliftondale; Thos. Roland, Nahant; 
W. H. Elliot, W. Allen Pierce, Waverly. 
It was a most enthusiastic meeting, and the various societies are 
co-operating in a most hearty manner to make the affair a gigantic 
success from every point given. 
The Quiz ColurtTn of The National Nurseryman is 
open to its subscribers who are invited to use it freely. 
