48 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
we have 5 doors on each side for letting out the air and to 
create a draft. 
Last season we were troubled to a great extent -with 
mould and we are at a loss to know what the trouble is. 
You mention in your article having air shafts in the roof; 
would you please give us an idea of the construction of these 
and how they are cared for, are they always open for ventila¬ 
tion or only part of the time, also if you use any other open¬ 
ings for ventilation ? 
In packing stock with excelsior or shingletow how wet 
do you make this packing, and do you add any moisture at 
any time after packing the stock ? 
Is there any disinfectant or smudge that could be used to 
kill this mould when it gets into a cellar? 
Thanking you in advance for any information that you 
would care to give us- we are. 
Cedar Rapids Nursery Co., 
By H. G. Williams. 
ANSWER BY THOS. B. MEEHAN 
I am not able to advise you on the points outlined in 
your letter for the reason that it is evident that you use 
the common method of packing away your stuff, that is, to 
rick it up, stuff a little shingle toe or moss among the roots 
and depend upon the confinement of the moisture to prevent 
evaporation. By such method you are very likely to get 
mildew and mould in your store-house. I believe under 
such conditions, it is customary to “smudge” by burning 
damp hay or straw inside of the building. 
Our method of storage is so different and so out of date 
as viewed .by most nurserymen, that we hesitate to explain 
it, though we are free to say that we would not use any other, 
as we believe that our stock carries better throughout the 
winter, that there is no danger of fungus or mould and that 
better results are achieved when the stock is planted out 
than with stock cellared under any other method. 
The interior of our cellar is a mass of stationary bins. 
Our plants are tied five in a bundle and the bundles placed 
flat in layers in the bins with roots at either side of the bin 
and tops overlapping to some extent. As every layer goes in, 
the roots are covered with damp sand, then another layer 
of plants, then another covering of sand. The boards in 
the front of the bins are movable and these boards are built 
up as the bin is filled. When the bin is completed, an extra 
thick layer of sand is placed over the roots. 
By this method, we can let the temperature in our store¬ 
house go below the freezing point, though we like to keep it 
say about thirty, and in fact, it rarely goes below that, but 
in order to keep it at thirty, we have air shafts in the roof, 
so that there is a continuous current of fresh air throughout 
the building. These air shafts are open all the time and 
simply consist of four boards nailed together with a board 
over the top as a stopper and large holes bored in the four 
sides of the air shaft above the roof for ventilation. We have 
no air ventilators along the base of the building. 
The sand which we use to pack around the roots of the 
plants is what we know here as bank sand, that is, it is taken 
right out of the ground and we use it just in the condition 
it comes out of the ground when we are ready to pack our 
plants away. Sometimes, it is quite wet, and other times, 
not so much so, all depending on the weather we have at 
the time we dig the sand. 
When we have emptied our store house in the early sum¬ 
mer, we haul the sand out to a field adjoining the packing 
house, spread it out in a layer about 18 inches deep, let it 
lie there all summer and until we. are ready to use it again 
in the fall, by which time, it is perfectly pure and fit to use 
a second time. 
fruit and plant Notes 
CRAB SEEDLINGS AS STOCKS 
For cultivation in Ontario and Quebec, Mr. W. T. Macoun 
of the Experimental Farm at Ottawa recommends the sow¬ 
ing of the seed of Martha, Whitney, and Hyslop crabs, for 
the purpose of securing stocks. This seed is sown in the 
fall, germinates promptly in the spring, and the seedlings 
remain in the beds over the first winter. The following 
spring they are set out in nursery at regular nursery row 
distances. The trees are taken up at the close of the second 
season’s growth, and are root grafted during the winter. 
Using stocks of this size, the writer claims to be able to 
secure salable trees at the end of the first year. He also 
claims that this class of seed gives him stocks quite uniform 
in character. 
CITRUS CROP FOR 1912 EXPECTED TO BREAK ALL 
RECORDS 
Preliminary estimates of the California Fruit Growers’ 
Exchange set the crop of California citrus fruits for the 
coming year at 49,200 carloads. The record of the past 
season was 43,585 carloads. 
California Washingtons arrived in New York early in 
December, and were sold at from $2.40 to $4.00 per box. 
[The frosts of December have materially changed the situation 
since the above -was written.] 
MR. BURBANK’S TWENTIETH CENTURY FRUITS 
The cover informs the public that “never in the history 
of mankind has there been offered a list of such valuable 
new fruits as those herein described,” and the reader is also 
informed in the body of the publication that “the trees 
offered in this list are absolutely new'creations, none like 
them existing on this earth. (This presupposes a wide range 
of knowledge.) All are early bearers, in fact hundreds of the 
very trees offered you this season, though generally only one 
year old, have borne delicious fruit freely during the past 
summer all along the nursery row.” This sounds not only 
remarkable, but miraculous! That trees should produce 
fruit the first season of their growth in the nursery row is 
upsetting our preconceived ideas of the behavior of horti¬ 
cultural products of this kind. Mr. Burbank is certainly 
a man of courage and apparently fully willing to back his 
convictions; for he says that during the period of nearly 
forty years when he has been in business, he has sent out 
millions of trees “everywhere on earth where the sim shines 
and trees can be grown,” and he has “yet to have a customer 
