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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
that's Going On. 
CONTRIBUTED BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS-!] ] 
FROM OUR MINNESOTA CORROSPONDENT.—FUTURE OF THE 
APPLE IN THE NORTH CENTRAL STATES. 
Recent addresses at the Annual Meeting of the Minnesota 
State Horticultural Society' evidenced a prevalent feeling 
that the prospects of the apple as a practical commercial 
fruit for this and adjoining states, was never brighter than 
to-day; and this in the face of one of the severest winters on 
record (1903-4.) After forty years of experience we have at 
last established a group of hardy varieties. Now our horti¬ 
cultural enthusiasts are working on the late keeping propo¬ 
sition. The Minnesota Horticultural Society offers a standing 
prize of SI,000.00 for a variety combining hardiness, quality 
and keeping ability. Eastern and Southern Nurserymen 
would be surprised at the great number of seedlings and crosses 
this is bringing out. The various exhibits of the past season 
showed a steady improvement over preceding years in the 
qualities sought for and at the present rate the ‘'great keeper” 
must soon appear. Already a number of entirely new sorts 
are being propagated in quantity and several of these are un¬ 
doubtedly destined to become standards in this section at 
least. 
Lake City, Minnesota. The Jewell Nursery Company 
NOTES FROM OUR MICHIGAN CORRESPONDENT. 
The Annual Meeting of the Central Michigan Nursery was 
held at the offices of the company on the 11th inst. C. A. 
Krill, Manager, reported that he was unable to present a 
statement to the stock holders and the meeting was adjourned 
until July. No election of officers took place. F. J. Phelps, 
President of the Kalamazoo National Bank, resigned as di¬ 
rector and L. P. Thurston, an employee, was elected in his 
place. 
Van Buckhove & Brother are planning to greatly enlarge 
their Greenhouse plant to the extent of 75,000 feet of glass. 
They are pioneers in the business and have been very suc¬ 
cessful. 
W. C. Cook, formerly Superintendent of the Central Michi¬ 
gan Nursery’s greenhouse plant, and later in charge of their 
store, has resigned his position and will engage in business 
on his own account. 
James N. Stearns the well known and acknowledged or¬ 
chard authority, reports that the peach buds have suffered 
no injury up to this time and the prospects are favorable 
for a good crop. 
Walter A. Allen, formerly engaged in the Nursery business 
and later in the employ of L. G. Bragg, has resigned. He 
will engage in some other line of business. 
Kalamazoo, Michigan. Chas. A. Maxson. 
SULPHUR WASHES. 
The experiments of the Geneva Experiment Station (N. Y.) point 
very strongly to the conclusion that the sulphur washes are destined 
to fill a very important place in the spraying program of the fruit 
grower and tree grower. Send to the station for a copy of the Bul¬ 
letin on this subject. 
A PROBLEM IN STORAGE CELLAR CONSTRUCTION. 
We are somewhat puzzled at the results of a storage house which 
we have just completed, and would like to know if any of the readers 
of the National Nurseryman can explain the difficulty. 
We had a large stone barn that we were not using, and decided 
that it would make an ideal storage house. We constructed a second 
floor twelve feet from the ground, using ten inch joist for the purpose. 
Between this floor and the apex of the roof there is a space of probably 
twelve feet at its highest point, slanting down on either side to the 
side walls to a height of about four feet from the new floor. We cov¬ 
ered the under side of these joists with one-half inch white pine box 
boards, fitting same closely together, over this heavy building paper, then 
another covering of the box boards,—this gave us an air space of about 
ten inches. The side walls of the barn are two feet thick, constructed 
of solid stone. Inside of this we made an air space, covering with 
double boards and building paper the same as the ceiling. We did 
not put any ventilator in it, for the reason, we concluded, that as we 
stored our stock in sand, it would not be necessary, or if we found it 
necessary we could do it later. 
We took it for granted that we had a thoroughly frost proof house, 
but much to our surprise, we find that such is not the case, and that 
the temperature will drop to about thirty degrees when we have say 
ten or twelve above zero outside. 
The north west side of the building has a cold sweep of the wind. 
It is not protected by any other building or growth of any kind. 
As a matter of fact, as our stock is well protected inside, we are just 
as well satisfied that the conditions should be as they are, as it will 
keep our stock more dormant than if it were any warmer inside, but 
supposing we had constructed a thoroughly frost proof house, we are 
at a loss to under stand wherein we have failed. 
We should be very glad to have suggestions from some of the ex¬ 
perienced nurserymen in regard to this matter. 
Cellar Storage. 
OPINION OF A NEBRASKAN. 
Our notion is that failure is due to the excellent conductive character 
of your stone wall. Stone is a good conductor of cold; and the wall 
being solid, there is nothing to prevent the outside temperature being 
quite rapidly transmitted to the interior, notwithstanding your single 
air space on the inside. 
Two air spaces in the covering would be much better than one. 
Your ceiling need not be any thicker, but that twelve-inch air space 
could be divided and would then give you a much more effective cold 
break. It is simply a matter of insulation. A wooden wall a foot thick 
with three air spaces thoroughly insulated should give you more pro¬ 
tection from frost than your solid stone construction with one air space. 
You will find that your stone wall will respond very promptly to changes 
of temperature. It is true it will not warm up as rapidly as a wooden 
wall, but it will cool down much more quickly. 
Westerner. 
A NEW YORK OPINION. 
The question is rather a hard one to answer from a statement of 
facts and without an inspection of the premises, but it would seem to 
us on looking the matter over, that it is possible that the air space on 
the side wall is not sufficient to counteract the frost, which probably 
comes through the stone wall, for in our experience a stone wall is a 
pretty good conductor of frost; much more active than brick, and 
again, it is our impression that if ventilation had been provided the 
conditions would be more favorable, for we think that foul air will 
be affected more quickly by cold temperature outside than fresh air. 
Rochester, N. Y. Chase Brothers Company. 
A MICHIGAN VIEW. 
We think it is a matter of more air chambers. It has been our ex¬ 
perience that one air chamber will not make a frost-proof building, 
when it is entirely above ground, but that more chambers will accom¬ 
plish it. 
We have adhered closely to the trenching of stock in sand, up to 
the past two seasons but being short of room, we concluded to do some 
ricking and prepared a portion of our largest cellar, by putting in one 
air chamber about the solid eighteen inch side stone walls, having one 
air chamber in the ceiling, as the building had been previously con¬ 
structed. 
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