274 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
ject at large. I must again repeat that we have done 
all we can in Minnesota to urge the nurserymen to ob¬ 
serve the requests of the Quarantine Board, altho we hope 
that by a proper representation before the Board on the 
part of Nurserymen and Inspectors, we can get a modi¬ 
fication of this request in connection with dormant cur¬ 
rants and gooseberries. 
Mr. Thomas A. McBeth, Springfield, Ohio, is one of 
the old guards in the nursery business in the middle 
west, having been engaged in growing ornamentals for 
about forty years. 
Although chasing four score and ten pretty closely, 
the photograph which we were fortunate enough to 
take when he was visiting the convention, shows him 
Thomas A. McBeth at the Convention 
to be still active and by no means a back number. 
Mr. McBeth believes in specializing and in later years 
has confined himself to the propagation of evergreens 
and shrubs for lining out. He is a firm believer in a 
rosy future for the nursery business and while recogniz¬ 
ing things are not just as they should be at present, 
thinks it is going through a reconstruction period from 
which it will emerge better than ever. 
Mr. McBeth says:—“There is every reason why nur¬ 
serymen should be consistent Christian gentlemen and 
no reasons why they should not be.” 
He urges young men to make a scientific study of 
their business and to begin early, because the nursery 
business is a science that the longest life if far too 
short to master. 
SOUTHEBN NURSERYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 
Do not forget the meeting of the Southern Nursery¬ 
men’s Association, which will be held at the Peidmont 
Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday and Wednesday, Au¬ 
gust 29th and 30th. 
The first session will be held about 10 a. m. on Tues¬ 
day. A big crowd and a lively meeting is expected. 
For any special information apply to 0. Joe Howard, 
Secretary, Pomona, N. C. 
ORCHARD SUBSOILING WITH DYNAMITE 
By A. S. Harris, Beech Bluff, Tenn. 
It is now a generally recognized fact among a large 
majority of fruit growers and nurserymen that dynamite 
plays an important part in the preparation and subsoil¬ 
ing of orchard lands. 
It enables the orchardist to gain from six to twelve 
months, as all orchard soils need a thorough preparation, 
which usually takes a long time by the old methods. Dy¬ 
namite does this immediately. 
The cost of materials averages about 6c per tree. I 
would not think of setting an orchard without it. One- 
lialf stick per hole exploded at a depth of 24 inches makes 
an ideal home for the tree roots. The subsoiling thor¬ 
oughly breaks up the hardpan for several feet each way 
and from 3 to 4 feet deep. This enables the soil to take 
up and store moisture for the tree’s future use and also 
makes available much extra plant food by the greater 
depth of root penetration. 
Recently I visited one of the largest and most up-to- 
date orchards in this section. Mr. E. J. Barker, the 
owner and manager, is an enthusiastic user of dynamite, 
and takes much delight in telling of his success with it 
in orchard work. 
Mr. Barker told me, many years ago he learned to use 
dynamite in coal mines, in the north. When he quit the 
mining business he came south and bought a small 
tract of land of about 7 or 8 acres. 
This he set to fruit trees of various kinds. His place 
is very beautiful and everywhere shows signs of his 
thrift and progressiveness. 
He tells me he has had all kinds of experience in or¬ 
chard work with explosives. He does not set a tree 
without first blasting the ground if he can possibly avoid 
it. If he has to set without it he afterwards blasts 
around them. 
A section of his orchard set to peach trees, part blasted, 
part unblasted showed a remarkable difference in the 
growth of the trees as well as their fruiting. He has a 
lot of grape vines set in blasted ground and they are nice 
indeed. 
Yerkade Van Kleef, Nova Nurseries, Waddenxveen, 
Holland, writes:— 
“We have had a fine spring here and most all stock is 
looking very promising so that we are able to attend to 
the orders from America in a satisfactory way. 
Wish to say to our customers again that they will do 
good to send their correspondence in duplicate by differ¬ 
ent mails, if they wish to be sure of it reaching us.” 
