THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
341 
last part of the winter and early spring when the whitened 
trees were fully dormant after unwhitened trees had begun to 
swell and grow enough to make them susceptible to injury 
from any severe cold. 
“Only a few progressive orchardists so far as I know arc 
attempting to whitewash. A few have tried it, however, 
and of those who have tried it thoroughly, most of them say 
that it pays. Now as to whether it would be commercially 
successful in a maritime climate like most of New York State, 
I am unable to say. Of course in this interior section we 
have an intensely bright sunlight. Purple coloring matter 
on untreated peach trees often absorbs heat enough on a 
sunny cold day in winter to raise the temperature of the 
trees 25 degrees or more above the temperature of the 
atmosphere. Whitened trees remain at atmospheric temp¬ 
erature or usually a degree or so below. Whether that 
great difference would be felt in the lake region in New York, 
I am unable to say. 
“Again, it shoMd not be believed that whitewashing is a 
sure preventive of winter injury to the peach trees, because 
winter weather may sometimes in peach districts be cold 
enough to kill even the dormant fruit buds^ If such tempera- 
trues prevail, whitened buds would probably kill as quickly 
as those which are not whitened, because all that the white¬ 
washing is expected to accomplish is to keep the buds 
dormant.”—^J. C. Whitten, Rural New Yorker. 
Hmong tbc Importers 
AUGUST ROLKER & SONS, NEW YORK CITY 
Edward L. Bern ays 
August Rolker & Sons, nursery stock importers, estab¬ 
lished in 1853 in New York, at present the partnership of 
Joseph A. and Wilfried Rolker, still hold the traditions of 
their fatherland dear, for although Mr. J. A. Rolker was at 
first somewhat reticent in giving an interview, as soon as he 
got started on the precision, the thoroughness, the scientific 
skill of the Kaiser’s subjects in the nursery industry, his 
enthusiasm carried him away and he had much to say. 
The Rolkers represent a variety of interests here. Their 
importations vary from forest trees from Germany to 
curious and grotesque swans and elephants from Holland, 
besides palms, lilacs, azaleas, seeds, and fruit seedlings. 
When it came to a discussion of the foreign trade journals, 
Mr. Rolker noted that they pursued a different policy from 
the American journals. While the English and German 
journals specialize on a particular topic in each issue and try 
to exhaust its possibilities, the American journal tries to 
appeal to the greatest number by dealing with the field in 
general. Thus a German horticultural paper dealt ex¬ 
clusively with the cyclamen, while the American horticultural 
journal dealt with everything from cabbages to kings. 
As to these two policies, we can only say with the keeper of 
the tavern, that there is much to be said on both sides. 
TOPIARY WORK STILL PRACTICED 
William Keesen, Jr., of Terra Nova, Holland, specializes 
particularly in designs wrought out of box and yew. A large 
catalogue, showing things of beauty and joys forever, repre¬ 
sents the acme of such training. One picture showed a 
sailing vessel, two masted and fully rigged with rudder aft 
and pennant floating from the masthead—all grown from 
one plant. Whether it was to spend its life on the lawn of a 
millionaire yachtsman, to impress neighbors, or whether it 
was to remain sixteen years longer in the gardens at Terra 
Nova, it represented a deal of scientific training. But from 
the artistic standpoint, we would rather see sailing vessels in 
the sea, and lilac bushes on lawns. It seems a right happy 
circumstance that America has not touched this sort of art 
to any great extent yet. “God grant that in my day at least 
that curtain may not rise.” It is a good thing that these 
ornaments are at present too expensive even for our million¬ 
aires. It is left to future interviewers to see presidential 
possibilities growing in effigy on our most refined lawns, or 
to watch the evolution of a young charming girl from baby¬ 
hood upward from our back porch. On the other hand, it 
was noticed that the pictures of the plantations of foreign 
growers were particularly well arranged and well kept. The 
plots lay side by side with the symmetry of chess squares. 
Their regularity can only be compared to the schedule of 
letter writing that an obedient husband follows in writing 
to a far distant wife. 
FRUIT VARIETIES IN AND ABOUT OKLAHOMA 
Bulletin 95 of the Oklahoma Experiment Station brings 
out the interesting fact that the varieties of apples which 
were standards in the Oklahoma region forty years ago are 
still the most popular and most successful varieties there. 
The same is not true of other fruits. In preparing this 
bulletin, questions were sent out to a large number oT growers 
regarding the behavior of certain varieties. Some of the 
results are as follows: 
Favorable Unfavorable 
Apples —Ben Davis. 218 13 
Jonathan . 158 4 
Winesap . 178 4 
Peaches —Elberta. 263 i 
Pears —Kieffer. 193 3 
Bartlett. 121 14 
Garber . 96 3 
Plums —Abundance. 176 7 
Wild Goose . 165 o 
Red June . 99 ii 
Cherries —Early Richmond. 145 4 
Grapes —Concord. 233 3 
Niagara . 142 4 
Delaware. 125 3 
Strawberries —Gandy . 63 4 
The bulletin concludes that since the day of seedling 
orchards is past, the day when any considerable numbers of 
new varieties will appear is also gone. 
J. B. Pilkington, of Portland, Ore., vice-president of the American 
Association of Nurserymen has just returned from his European trip 
with the wife and family. On his way from New York City to Portland 
he called at the office of the National Nurseryman and paid a visit 
to his Rochester friends, and those in Dansville. Mr. Pilkington 
guarantees that the nurserymen will have the best time of their lives 
when they go to Portland in June to attend the annual convention. 
