196 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
section of the West was again visited by excessive rains in late 
summer, but the damage was not disastrous. 
Among the features filling newspaper space and attracting 
considerable public notice, were the exploitation of nitro- 
culture by business houses; the vigorous manufacture of pure 
cultures of mushroom spawn; the widespread publicity given 
to the Spencer-Seedless Apple, and finally the extravagant and 
inaccurate statements regarding the accomplishments and 
endeavors of Luther Burbank, the plant breeder of Santa Rosa, 
Cal. Nitro-culture was presented by the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture to the farmer as an important method of adding to 
the fertility of the soil through the good offices of civilized 
bacteria cooperating with plants, and was immediately seized 
upon and exploited by commercial agencies as a never-failing 
cure-all and panacea for all depleted soils. The furore passed 
quickly, and the public is now gradually absorbing the true 
import of the discovery. 
Through the efforts of Prof. B. M. Duggar of Columbia, Mo., 
working in co-operation with the Bureau of Plant Industry ; 
there have placed upon the market a number of varieties of 
mushroom spawn, “pure cultures,” grown direct from the 
tissues of the mushroom and not from the spore. By this 
means desirable variations are perpetuated and multiplied. 
The Spencer-Seedless Apple announced in 1904 has been 
vigorously advertised and propagated this year, and arrange¬ 
ments are being perfected for its sale. In the meantime the 
apple has been seen and examined by experts pronounced un¬ 
worthy of cultivation by most and passable by others. The 
methods which the company are taking to introduce the va¬ 
riety are peculiar, to say the least, if they are not above criti¬ 
cism. Undoubtedly the thing will have to run its course, 
like any other epidemic. In due time there will in all prob¬ 
ability be many disappointed planters. 
The severe attack of “ Burbankitis ” which many of the re¬ 
cognized and standard periodicals suffered during the year was 
brought to a fitting c’imax by the appearance of Harwood’s 
book on the life and work of Burbank. Very few of the few 
flamboyant periodical articles exceed this book in point of 
glaring inaccuracy and arrant overstatement. The gratifying 
feature about the whole incident is that we are furnished with 
indubitable proof that interest in the improvement of plants in 
particular and horticulture in general is on the increase. 
The editorial office of the National Nurseryman was 
favored recently with a visit from Mr. G. Harold Powell, of the 
Division of Pomology, Department of Agriculture, Washington. 
Mr. Powell’s special work is the handling 
handling and of fruit in cold storage and in transit. For 
transporting the past five years, he has devoted practi- 
fruit. cally his whole time to the study of the 
various problems connected with this 
part of the fruit business. Last winter he spent 
several months with an assistant, on the Pacific Coast, 
studying the packing and transporting of citrous fruits. He 
was fortunate, or perhaps it would be better to say clearsighted 
enough to be able to detect certain weaknesses and defects in 
the manner of picking and packing the fruit, which when 
pointed out to the business fruit growers of that hustling region, 
impressed them at once as being very important. California 
shippers did not realize that certain careless methods of 
harvesting, injured oranges in terms of percentages from 15 to 
35%. Then again, Mr. Pow^ell and his assistant, Mr. Tenney, 
were able to demonstrate that certain of the mechanical pack¬ 
ing devices were instrumental in injuring the skin of th*e fruit 
to a very serious extent. One must remember that the smooth 
skin of the orange is its protection, that when this is broken the 
spores of PeniciIlium and other destructive fungous moulds 
find entrance, and the life of the fruit is shortened, and its 
salability greatly reduced. 
In speaking of the citrous industry of the coast. Mr. Powell, 
says: “no one can help being greatly impressed with the aggres¬ 
siveness and business activity of the men who grow the great 
citrous crop, the lemons and oranges in California. Nowhere 
in the fruit world is there such fine illustrations of business 
methods as can be found in some of the California fruit ex¬ 
changes. Here the packing and distribution of fruits are re¬ 
duced to mechanical precision. This is largely the outgrowth 
or result of the business training of the men who have engaged 
in the industry. The majority of them did not grow into it 
from the ranks of the farmer, but rather diverged into this 
field from the paths of the business man.” 
Mr. Powell expects to spend the coming winter on the 
Pacific Coast again, continuing the investigations which were 
inaugurated last season. The work is meeting with the hearty 
approval and active co-operation of the best fruit concerns of 
the Coast, and the Division of Pomology is to be congratulated 
in doing such effective practical work. It is the dealing with 
live problems of this type that emphatically justifies the exist¬ 
ence of the Bureau. 
RETIREMENT OF A NOTED PLANT BREEDER. 
H. A. Terry, of Crescent, la., is known to all the prominent 
fruit growers of the Mississippi Valley as the originator of the 
Hawkeye, Terry, and other desirable varieties of Americana 
plums. Mr. Terry is also an enthusiast in the growing of 
peonies. He has grown them from seed for years, and has 
originated a large number of desirable forms. 
The news comes to us that Mr. Terry has sold out his busi¬ 
ness, and has now retired. He is on the border line of the 
eighty year mark, and should retire with a feeling that he has 
contrbiuted substantial benefits to his fellow-beings. The 
noted plum man, J. W. Kerr, of Denton, Md., has the following 
tg say regarding Mr Terry’s work in originating plums: “In 
the two varieties, Wilton and Mrs. Cleveland, originated in 
Iowa by my esteemed old friend and veteran in the cause of 
fruit growing, H. A Terry, the fruit growing public received 
two varieties of plums unequalled in market value by any 
others, in localities where this type is hardy.” This is high 
praise, but undoubtedly deserved. 
MAPLE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
The Bureau of Forestry is interesting itself in the maple sugar in¬ 
dustry. A somewhat careful study of sugar making has been made, 
covering a period of forty or fifty years, and the causes for shrinkage in 
one locality and expansion in another have been studied. As a result 
of this study, directions for the management and improvement of ex¬ 
isting groves and for the establishment of new ones in suitable localities 
are being prepared, and will very soon be published. This pamphlet 
will include methods of tapping as well as methods of evaporating the 
maple sap. 
