454 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
NOTE AND COMMENT 
INTERESTING FEATURES 
THE APPLE CROP OF 1911 
An estimate of the apple yield for the year 1911 has 
been made by the American Agriculturist and the crop is 
placed at thirty million barrels. This is a fifth larger than 
the yield for 1910 or 1909. 
WALNUT CULTURE TO BE INVESTIGATED 
The California Walnut Growers’ Association has decided 
to send a representative to Europe to study conditions of 
walnut culture there, and make such recommendations as he 
may deem wise for the improvement of the industry in 
California. Not only will the orchard management side be 
studied but the economic aspects will receive consideration 
also. Mr. Hazzard, President of the Walnut Growers’ 
Association, is to leave for Europe before long to begin the 
investigation. 
NOVA SCOTIA APPLE CROP 
The Province of Nova Scotia comes to the front this year 
with an exceptionally large yield of its own characteristic 
varieties. It is credited with a million barrel crop, a con¬ 
siderable proportion of which is Gravenstein, Nonpareil 
(Roxbury Russet), Spy, Baldwin, and the like. 
UNSEASONABLE WEATHER IN CENTRAL GEORGIA 
Authentic advices from Central Georgia indicate that the 
warm weather of the latter part of October and early part of 
November acted most disastrously upon the large peach 
plantings of that section. The effect of the excessive warmth 
was to bring- the peaches into bloom, and it is reported in the 
vicinity of Americus and Fort Valley that great areas of the 
peach orchards were in full blossom the first days of Novem¬ 
ber. This, of course, means that there will be no peach crop 
or at least a very scattering one the coming season on all trees 
which have been affected in this way. 
ROOT-GALL 
Mr. E. A. Smith; vice-president of the Jewell Nursery 
Company of Lake City, Minnesota, presents an interesting 
discussion of root-gall on various types of trees in the Novem¬ 
ber issue of the Minnesota Horticulturist. The paper is 
illustrated with photographs of trees planted with and with¬ 
out root galls, and the whole thing is an interesting contribu¬ 
tion to our knowledge of this subject. Mr. Smith is chairman 
of the committee in charge of these investigations on behalf 
of the American Association of Nurserymen. His report at 
the last meeting of that Association was exhaustive and 
valuable. 
EUROPEAN APPLE CROP 
It is reported that France will have a large apple crop this 
year. England is also credited with an unusually full supply. 
It is probable that this will cut down the demand to some 
extent for American apples. 
AT HOME AND ABROAD 
BAGGING FRUIT 
The fruit growing of the Old World, as viewed by the 
American \dsitor, is of a distinctly amateurish type. This is 
the first impression which the visitor from this land of com¬ 
mercial orcharding is apt to receive. On the other hand, if he 
studies the situation with some care, he will find that there 
are a good many practices which at the first blush seem 
amateurish that might be adapted with considerable advan¬ 
tage under our American conditions. As an instance, we 
might cite the practice of bagging fruit to protect from such 
enemies as birds, insects, and fungous diseases. This prac¬ 
tice is relatively new in this country, and as a matter of fact 
has been confined exclusively to high grade grape culture, 
while it is one that has long been in vogue in Europe and Japan. 
In Britain and on the Continent, in the gardens of the 
well-to-do, a great proportion of the tree fruits are trained on 
walls and on trellises. In these cases, all the large fruits, as 
apples, pears, and peaches, are bagged in the interests of 
thorough preservation from injurious agents. When visiting 
the gardens of the National Horticultural School near Ver¬ 
sailles, a short distance outside of Paris some time ago, we 
were greatly impressed by the number of paper sacks which 
had been used in protecting a crop of Coxe Orange Pippin and 
White Winter Calville apples trained on walls and approach¬ 
ing maturity at the time of our visit. We were told that 
these single apples would fetch a franc apiece on the Paris 
market. In other words, they were hand cultured and 
absolutely free from blemish. It is the common practice also 
to bag peaches grown in fruit forcing houses in England. In 
Japan the bagging of peaches where trees are grown on walls 
or in the orchard is quite common, and in some places uni¬ 
versal. It is regarded as a necessary protection against fungi 
and insects. By this method all fruit left after the final 
thinning is covered with a small paper bag made of strong 
Japanese paper. The bags are provided with small holes in 
the comers to let out rain water freely. In some cases, paper 
which is especially treated with an antiseptic substance is 
employed. In these instances, the bags may be used for 
more than one year. Peaches are covered with the sacks at 
quite an early stage in their development. The Japanese 
claim that the skin remains thin and delicate and that the 
fmits are larger and more uniform in size. In Japan the 
paper bags are removed a few days before harvesting, in order 
to allow the fmit to color as thoroughly as possible. The 
work of bagging is done exclusively by women, and a quick 
operator can put on 1500 to 2000 bags a day. The bag is 
attached either by tying the mouth with twine or with fine 
zinc or copper wire. 
In this country, a few grape growers have made a success 
of bagging grapes, but even in this instance the practice has 
not been carried to any considerable extent. 
Standard Nursery Co. of Tennessee says, “We are sending you 
‘one back’ subscription price for your magazine for one year. Place 
our name on your book and let the good news come along.’’ 
