396 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
good of the varieties which are worthy of introduction this 
sort of thing occurs too often. The confusion in the case of 
the McPike seems to be so widespread that it is a very 
difficult matter for anyone at the present time to be sure of 
getting the genuine article. The incident is regrettable and 
it emphasizes the great desirability of the exercise of care of 
the most scrupulous kind in the propagation of “new 
varieties. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH GRAPES IN CALIFORNIA 
At the Chico Experiment Station nearly 1,000 
varieties of grapes are being tested. There are twice or 
three times as many in the collection, but the newer ones 
are receiving the immediate attention of the experts. Sub¬ 
stations for the testing of grapes are now distributed quite 
generally over the state of California, and are in charge of 
George C. Hussman, expert in viticultural investigation, 
under the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Many of these 
grapes are grown for the purpose of determining their value 
in the production of wine. They are tested for sugar and 
acid, as well as for their general productivity. Another im¬ 
portant line is the study of the influence and value of 
various stocks. The success or failure of many varieties 
depends upon the stock upon which they are grown. 
A NEW PERENNIAL PHLOX 
C. S. Harrison of York, Neb., is enthusiastic over a new 
variety of phlox which he has developed after selecting 
phloxes for a number of years. The claims which he makes 
for his new variety, Arete, are that it is a free, continuous 
bloomer, with full symmetrical heads. It also propagates 
early which is a strong point in its favor. 
EDITORIAL WANDERINGS 
CANADIAN HORTICULTURAL GATHERINGS 
The week of November 8th to 12th, saw a gathering of 
four important societies, all having horticultural interests, 
in the city of Toronto. These societies are all subsidized by 
grants received from the provincial government. This 
enables them to pay the traveling expenses of their officers 
and insure the publication of their annual reports. In this 
respect the societies have a great advantage over others 
which are strictly self-dependent; but this form of paterna¬ 
lism is the rule in Ontario and not the exception, for it is a 
fact that there are probably over one hundred societies in 
that province receiving annual grants from the provincial 
government for the furtherance of the particular line of 
work which they are promoting. 
The societies which met in Toronto represented the 
Ontario Fruit Growers, the Ontario Vegetable Growers, 
the Florists and the Federation of Horticultural Societies. 
These are all largely delegate conventions. The meetings 
were held in different halls on practically the same days, 
although some of them simply overlapped. 
In conjunction with the meetings there was held a very 
impressive and comprehensive exhibition of fruits, flowers 
and vegetables. This exhibition was one of the best which 
we have attended. The district displays of fruits- were 
particularly fine. Not only was the quality and appearance 
excellent but the quantity was sufficiently large to ap¬ 
proach in impressiveness the fruit displays now coming into 
vogue under the auspices of the exhibition corporations in 
the West. One of the county displays may be cited, 
namely that of Norfolk county. This comprised an exhibit 
of boxed apples which on the score of appearance, quality 
and character of pack was as good as I have seen in any 
exhibition in recent years. It included a large quantity of 
apples in barrels in addition to the box packages. Norfolk 
county lies in the Lake Simcoe region in northern Ontario, 
a section characterized by fruit of brilliant color and of 
good quality. 
One of the sections which attracted a great deal of 
attention and in which keen competition centered, was that 
including Baldwin, King, Spy, Greening and McIntosh. 
There were from twenty to thirty entries of each of these 
in which prizes of $10.00 were offered for the best single 
specimen of the leading varieties of commercial apples, 
varieties and the task of discovering which was the best 
specimen was not an easy one. 
SUBJECTS DISCUSSED 
The program of the Ontario Fruit Growers’ Association 
was classified under different heads, a whole session being 
devoted to the consideration of a single subject, as apples, 
pears, grapes, peaches and the like. One of the interesting 
topics presented bore upon the most suitable kind of sec¬ 
ondary crop for the orchard. Ontario Fruit Growers are 
almost a unit on the desirability of inter-planting the 
orchard with some kind of secondary cron to bring in revenue 
and pay the expenses during the unproductive period: Mr. 
Hamilton of Clarkson showed by an exhibit of his expense 
account covering a five-year period, that he was able to 
bring a four-acre orchard to the bearing period and at the 
same time secure a net return of $1500 from this area in five 
years by strawberries and raspberries growing among his 
apple trees. The ground is to be permanently occupied 
by apples which are again “filled” with quick bearing 
varieties, but between these the raspberries and straw¬ 
berries have been planted. This secondary crop has 
proved a very profitable investment, and deducting all 
expenses has given the owner a return of almost $100 a 
