THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
45 
to the lists of our fruits and flowers. - It is exceedingly difficult 
for a man to make plant breeding financially successful, and 
that is one of the reasons why so few individuals have entered 
the field. Now that the mere money considerations have 
been disposed of by the action of the Carnegie Institute, we 
may look for renewed vigor and for studies somewhat aside 
from channels which might be expected to prove pecuniarily 
advantageous. It is cheering to all those who are interested 
in the amelioration and improvement of plants to realize that 
this great scientific institution should thus recognize the 
work of an individual, and one whose leanings and inclina¬ 
tions are so closely allied to the man who multiplies the in¬ 
dividual, as well as the man who increases the number of 
varieties of useful plants. We congratulate the Carnegie 
Institute and our friend Burbank. 
INOCULA TING 
THE GROUND. 
We are delighted to notice that an energetic member of 
the program committee has secured the services of the emi¬ 
nent bacteriologist, Dr. Moore of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Washington, for our next annual 
meeting. This is the gentleman whose 
work has been given much publicity 
through Mr. Grosvenor’s fascinating ar¬ 
ticle which appeared in the Century 
for October under the above caption. No single advance 
in agriculture in recent years has attracted so much attention 
from the men who till the soil, as well as from those who are 
interested only indirectly, as the possibility of adding fertility 
to the land by a process of inoculation so simple as to fill one 
with astonishment. The whole work is based upon the prin¬ 
ciple that there are in the soil and co-operating with the plant 
beneficial microbic agents; that in some soils these agents 
are wanting; that some plants do not thrive unless they are 
present; that by means of their co-operation the most ex¬ 
pensive element- of plant food can be abstracted from the 
atmosphere and given directly to the plant, and through the 
plant indirectly to the soil. 
Coupled with this, is the fact that each plant appears 
to have its special variety of microbic helper. Therefore, 
if a farmer were growing Soy beans, he would need 
one kind of bacteria, if alfalfa another, if vetch still 
another. The important part of Dr. Moore’s work 
has been in the breeding of more useful kin*ds of 
bacteria than were heretofore possessed; the developing 
of kinds which will steal more nitrogen from the atmosphere 
than the forms nature provided us with. We congratulate 
the program committee on providing such an exceedingly 
practical and interesting topic, and for no other reason than 
this, we urge upon our members a full attendance at the West 
Baden meeting in June. 
A strong movement has been going on for some time in the 
eastern part of Long Island, having for its purpose the sup¬ 
pression of San Jose scale. The work is well organized, and 
as soon as the weather moderates the 
aggressive campaign will commence. It 
is to be co-operative in a measure, being 
supported by the persons whose trees and 
shrubs are being injured. The work will 
begin at Glen Cove and in the vicinity of 
Locust Valley. It will be superintended by Elwood V. Titus, 
A CAMPAIGN 
AGAINST 
SAN JOSE 
SCALE. 
assisted by the'inspectors of the Department of Agriculture 
at Albany. Three power sprayers have been purchased, 
and a co-operative war will be instituted on on a very exten- 
sives cale throughout the season. 
It is probable that an amendment to the present inspection 
act will be offered, extending the powers of the Commissioner 
of Agriculture in the matter of supressing noxious insects. 
There appears to be no doubt that the citrus industry in 
Florida has again been hard hit. If we were to accept the 
telegraphic despatches as accurately describing the situation, 
we would be led to believe that the disaster 
the SOL thern of this winter fully equalled the ruinous one 
freeze. of 1896. Later experience will probably 
develop the fact that the injury has not 
been so severe as during that killing winter. Nevertheless, 
the vegetable business was completely paralyzed for the 
time being. Tomato growers have had nothing to do but start 
over again. Their injury is one which can be repaired in a 
comparatively short time, and the injury to the orange crop 
of the current year is as nothing compared to the injury which 
the trees may have received. That it was no ordinary frost, 
but a real freeze, is evidenced by the statement of an orange 
grower in the northern part of the orange belt, that “ not only 
were the oranges on the trees frozen, but the fruit in the pack¬ 
ing houses was also frozen.” It was fortunate for the growers 
that about two-thirds of their crop was marketed at the time. 
This ensures cash to meet immediate demands, but the prob¬ 
lem is, to what extent were the trees injured? Probably 
this cannot be completely answered before the first of March. 
7‘It’s an ill wind,” etc., for now that the Florida crop has been 
suddenly lessened in quantity, the Californians are hopeful 
that the remainder of their crop can be harvested with much 
larger profit. More than four hundred cars of citrous fruit 
were sent from southern California to eastern points between 
the first and fourth of February. 
Every now and then, a winter of unusual severity sweeps 
over the country and leaves behind it a trail of dead and 
dying fruit trees. Such a winter was that of 1898-1899, and 
again 1903-1904. The former winter 
the Siberian was characterized by an excessive am- 
crab-apple ount of root killing. All over the North- 
AS A hardy western and Mississippi Valley States, 
dwarf STOCK. nursery stock and orchard trees suffered 
from the destruction of their roots. This 
was not a new and unusual form of injury. It was but a 
repetition of former happenings. It seems to be a fact that 
the French and Vermont apple stocks are not proof against 
the severe cold of the middle northwest, coming on unpro¬ 
tected ground. The tops of hardier varieties such as Duchess 
and Wealthy often escape injury, while the roots less resistant 
to cold, are destroyed. 
With a view of discovering a remedy for this weakness, 
the horticulturists of the Northwestern States have been 
carefully investigating the subject. Prominent among them, 
are Professor N. E. Hansen, of the South Dakota Experiment 
Station and Professor S. B. Green of the Minnesota Agricul¬ 
tural College. Professor Hansen who has travelled in Russia 
extensively, discovered that the injury by root killing was 
