THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Diluting the Benefits of New Discoveries. 
In this age of rapid agricultural development, an age of re¬ 
markable business acumen, every investigator runs much 
danger of having his latest discovery so warped and twisted by 
scheming promoters, that the public is often set against it so 
early in the day, that the real purposes of the discovery or in¬ 
vention are thwarted. We have seen an example of this in 
the over advertising and exaggerated claims made for nitro- 
culture. This method of increasing the fertility of the land 
was seized upon by men who were anxious to make a fortune 
in six months, and misrepresentation and exaggeration of the 
benefits of the method resulted. The final effect was to dis¬ 
credit the whole principle, and it will be some time before a 
sane and reasonable view of this important advance in agri¬ 
culture is held by the rank and file of the farming public. 
Within the last two or three years some of the experiment 
station experts have succeeded in propagating special strains 
of the edible mushroom by using pure culture. This method 
is now being exploited by certain companies, and exaggerated 
claims are being made for it. Disappointment is sure to fol¬ 
low. The New York Packer says that there seems to be a 
gang of mushroom spawn swindlers operating over the country, 
and from the number of complaints received by the Packer, 
they must have caught many victims. 
The truth of the matter in this connection is that there are 
just as many difficulties in growing mushrooms as ever, and 
the only difference between the pure culture spawn and the 
ordinary spawn is that when you get the former, you are secur¬ 
ing a specific variety of the mushroom. It may be a light 
colored or dark colored type, but you know which it is when 
you buy it. That the spawn is more vigorous and will pro¬ 
duce mushrooms with greater certainty is hardly claimed by the 
manufacturers of this “form of seed.” But it is a decided 
satisfaction to be able to grow a definite specific thing. There¬ 
fore the production of pure culture spawns is a line of work that 
is to be recommended. Let people understand that there is 
nothing magic about it, nothing extraordinary, but that in¬ 
stead of growing seedling mushrooms, you are growing recog¬ 
nized varieties. Have no wish to discredit the straightfor¬ 
ward honest efforts of those companies which are exploiting 
these cultures on their merits, but there are “methods and 
methods.” 
Washington, D. C. Observer. 
fruit and plant jMotes. 
BIG RETURNS FROM APPLES. 
This 'wall be a year for large stories about profits in apple growing 
When prices range above $2.50 a barrel, there is big money for the 
grower of apples. One orchardist at Penn Yan, N. Y., is reported to 
have sold 3,000 barrels from thirty acres of land for $2.90 a barrel, the 
buyer furnishing the barrels. This is a tidy sum for a thirty acre farm, 
with an outlay for the year of probably not more than $10 an acre. 
GRAPE PRICES. 
The price of grapes continued to advance throughout October, and by 
November first, growers were holding their prices double that asked or 
expected last year. 
PLUMS FOR HOME AND MARKET. 
The Ohio Experiment Station at Worcester, has recently issued an 
excellent bulletin on plums. The three leading classes of plums are in¬ 
cluded, namely, European, Japanese and the very much mixed native 
group. Of the European varieties, Clyman, Czar, Lincoln, Bradshaw, 
Field, Lombard and Empire, are among the varieties specially men¬ 
tioned. Of the native sorts, Poole, Wilder, Hunt and Downing, are 
fully described, and of the Japanese, Berger, Red June, Burbank, 
Chabot and October Purple, are recorded as the leading sorts. 
In the hybrid section, Apple, Gonzales and Nona have commended 
themselves to the writers of the bulletin. 
POPULAR VARIETIES OF NUTS. 
At the last meeting of the Nut Growers’ Convention, an informal 
ballot was taken to ascertain the preferences of members for the dif¬ 
ferent varieties of pecans cultivated in the Gulf States. Members were 
asked to name in order of preference five or six varieties which they 
favored. It was found that there were eighteen varieties mentioned in 
these lists. One variety mentioned in every list was the Stuart. Other 
popular kinds were Van Deman, Frotscher, and Schley. The second 
class graded on order of popularity were Pabst, Georgia, Curtis and 
Russell. The third class included Alley, Gregg, Halbert and Money¬ 
maker. The fourth class included Atlanta, Magnum, Senator, Stevens 
and Success. This sort of a test gives an exhibit of the relative popu¬ 
larity of varieties and the present trend of planting. 
The report of the proceedings of the 13th annual convention of the 
National League of Commission Merchants by A. Warren Patch, Secre¬ 
tary, Boston, has just been received. The convention was held at New 7 
Orleans, Jan. 11, 12, 13, 1905, and the secretary is to be congratulated 
in presenting thus promptly to the members of the Association this 
interesting and well edited report. 
BUSINESS MOVEMENTS. 
The Iowa Nursery Co. was organized in Des Moines early in October. 
Martha Drotz, late of the Watrous Nursery Co., is the organizer. 
At Dayton, N. Mex., there was organized October 30th, the Dayton 
Orchard and Nursery Co. The officers are W. H. Chisholm, John S. 
Kerr, and D. W. Gullic, of Sherman, Tex. These men will be associated 
with W. H. Chisholm and E. C. Higgins, of Dayton, N. Mex. The pur¬ 
pose is to grow orchards, alfalfa and nursery stock. 
Mr. Samuel C. Moon, of Morrisville, Pa., has recently purchased seven 
acres of land, overlooking the Delaware River and Trenton, on Morris 
Heights. This block is to form the home estate of Mr. Moon. He will 
here build a home and beautify the grounds. 
ELM CITY NURSERY CO. ENLARGMENT. 
A large new frame building is being erected for The Elm City Nur¬ 
sery Co. at their nurseries at Edgewood, to be used for storage and 
packing purposes, increasing materially their facilities in this direction. 
They are also putting up a large tank and tower for an increased water 
supply. The nursery is enjoying such a rapid increase in their business 
that additional facilities are demanded. 
SHENANDOAH VALLEY ORCHARD CO. 
A large orchard company has recently been organized in the Shenan¬ 
doah Valley. This is styled the Shenandoah Valley Orchard Com¬ 
pany, having headquarters at Mount Jackson. It has been incorpora, 
ted with a capital of $50,000, and its aim is to plant and maintain com¬ 
mercial orchards in Shenandoah County. 
AMONG THE EXPERIMENT STATION WORKERS. 
Indiana. Bulletin No. 102, Agricultural Station Experiment, 
Lafayette, Ind., is by James Troop, and is devoted to apple growing in 
Indiana. It treats the subject in a popular and interesting manner. 
Bureau of Forestry, Washington, D. C. Circular No. 33 con¬ 
tains a digest of the addresses delivered at the American Forest Con¬ 
gress held in Washington, January 3 to 6, 1905. This Congress was 
significant in showing the widespread interest of this movement, which 
has for its purpose the reforesting and conservation of lands not valu¬ 
able for ordinary agricultural purposes. 
Connecticut. Fourth report of the State Entomologist published 
by the experiment station at New Haven. A very valuable report 
largely devoted to the description of experiments and methods of 
treating San Jose scale and other noxious insects. A considerable 
portion is devoted to a report of a mosquito survey of Connecticut with 
suggestions for the control of this pernicious disease carrying insect. 
