THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
369 
Professor Van Deman: Mr. Horan was not growing a 
crop in his orchard that he was cutting and saving. He 
was simply working that alfalfa back into the ground by 
cutting it up with disk implements. In the case of Mr. 
Hitchings, he was not taking the crop off, but cutting alfalfa 
and mulching the trees with it. I have been hotly opposed to 
the growing of farm crops in an orchard where they were 
robbing the trees. 
Mr. Rowe: I believe that man’s success was in spite of 
his heresy. Had he cultivated, he would have had a better 
orange grove. 
Mr. Burson: In one grove, I raised vegetables, and that 
is the best grove I have. Why? The reason is this. We 
can’t grow vegetables here on this poor land without using 
lots of fertilizer. While you are using fertilizers for your 
vegetables, your trees get some of it; and you have to 
cultivate your vegetables if you grow them, so the trees get 
cultivated. You raise an orange grove, and it doesn’t cost 
you anything. 
Mr. Rowe: The reason for not planting other crops is 
not so much for lack of fertility. Perhaps you are all familiar 
with experiments conducted by Prof U. P. Hedrick in the 
state of Michigan, showing that a tree has its likes and dis¬ 
likes, as well as a person. His experience lasted over a 
period of three years, and trees were planted with oats, with 
potatoes, with tomatoes, and with the different legumes, 
and it was found that the trees liked some of the plants, and 
the roots would interlace; but when they liked them, they 
liked them too well, and would grow too fast. Some of the 
others would not grow together. It shows that a fruit tree 
does not like to associate with the different plants of the 
vegetable kingdom, and that we should not grow crops in the 
orchard, but give it a home of its own. 
Professor Reimer: I want to say one word for the South 
in this matter. The soil used in the South for most of the 
fruits is extremely poor, and we have found that cultivation 
with the common fruits is absolutely necessary for the best 
results on the average southern soil. We are not growing 
fruits here on the soils you are in the North and West. 
President Goodman: Cultivation is the best plan to 
manure soil. It is the best fertilizer you can give your soil. 
We stand adjourned to meet on board the boat tomorrow 
morning at 7 :3o.— igii Report Amer. Pomological Society. 
National Nurseryman: 
“Enclosed please find New York exchange draft for $1.00 covering 
subscription to your valuable journal which I would not think of 
doing without.” 
Oklahoma. C. L. Stoner. 
“We find your'paper very interesting.” 
Holland. Groenwegen & ZooN. 
National Nurseryman: 
We have been away from our office attending our Annual Horti¬ 
cultural Fair, where our product took first premium. The National 
Nurseryman certainly brings the inquiries and from the men who 
buy, too. Wishing you the success that you so well deserve, we are, 
respectfully, 
Ind. 
Obituary 
FRANCIS O. CANNING 
On September first, by aecidental poisoning by eating mushrooms 
at Villa Nova, Pennsylvania. Mr. Canning for a number of years was 
gardener to the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. He 
was well grounded in systematic botany, and a good practical horti¬ 
culturist. He is survived by his wife and a sister in Philadelphia, and a 
brother, Edward J. Canning, who is instructor in horticulture at Smith 
College, Northampton, Massachusetts. 
A TRIBUTE TO MR. HEIKES 
The Horticulturists and Nurserymen of this country will 
regret to learn of the death of Maj. W. F. Heikes, manager of 
the Huntsville Wholesale Nurseries, who died in Cleveland, 
Ohio, Friday, August 25th, after a very brief illness. The 
funeral was held in Huntsville, Alabama, where he had been 
a resident since 1872. The funeral was largely attended by 
his fellow nurserymen from many of the Southern States. 
The floral designs were very numerous and beautiful, be¬ 
speaking the admiration that his many friends had for him. 
All who came in contact with him learned to love him for his 
quiet reserved manner and intense interest in all that per¬ 
tained to Horticulture. 
Major Heikes was president of the Alabama State Horti¬ 
cultural Society since its organization in 1903 and his presi¬ 
dential addresses have been splendid contributions to the 
Horticultural literature of the State and South. His loss 
will be severely felt by the Society, as he gave it more than 
usual attention and encouragement. 
Madison County, in which the HuntsClle Wholesale 
Nurseries is located, is today one of the largest fruit tree 
nursery sections in the United States. The success of this 
industry in that locality can be attributed for the most part 
to the pioneer work of Mr. Heikes. 
Mr. T. J. O’Harra will conduct the business of the Hunts¬ 
ville Wholesale Nurseries along the lines which Mr. Heikes 
developed. 
P. F. Williams, 
Professor of Horticulture, Alabama Experiment Station. 
Auburn, Ala., Sept. 14th, 1911. 
AUTUMN 
We hardly know what best typifies the fall of the year. 
Sometimes we think a field of shocked corn with ripe pump¬ 
kins scattered around best does it; that when we go into the 
orchard and see a Wealthy apple tree loaded down with ripe 
red fruit, that’s it; that when we get off half a day and land a 
string of black bass from the pool up in the woods, that’s fall 
doings; that when we run across a hedgerow of goldenrod 
and wild aster or some fringed gentian down by the creek, 
and see the blood red south side of some jack oak, or flush a 
covey of quail, or see a lot of robins stripping the last of the 
fruit from the black cherry, or have some candidate for county 
office come around, then we know fall is here, or, better yet, 
when the evening lengthens out, and a little fire seems 
pleasant, and pumpkin pies get on the bill of fare, and one 
hates to get up in the morning, there is no question but the 
summer has gone and winter is not very far away.— Exch. 
Gray’s Nursery, Aloid G. Gray, Mgr. 
