THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
199 
Doings of Societies. 
The 31st Convention of California State Fruit Growers will be held at 
Santa Rosa, December 5 to 8, 1905. The arrangements for the meeting 
are in the hands of Mr. Elwood Cooper, State Commissioner of Hor¬ 
ticulture, Sacramento. 
NUT GROWERS MEET. 
The National Nut Growers’ Association will meet in Dallas, Texas, on 
the 7th, 8th and 9th of December. This is the second change of date 
which has occurred in connection with the meeting. The Dallas people 
are preparing an elaborate series of local entertainments and the event 
promises to be of unusual interest. An exhibition of nuts will be one of 
the features. The secretary is Mr. .1. F. Wilson, Poulan, Ga. A suc¬ 
cessful meeting is expected and fully deserved by those stirring people. 
AMERICAN CIVIC ASSOCIATION. 
RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS. 
This organization has recently issued a very noteworthy though 
modest pamphlet entitled “Railroad Improvements.” It is the report 
of Mrs. A. E. McCrea, vice-president of this department, presented at 
the last annual meeting, and contains a most interesting account of the 
progress of railroad im¬ 
provement work, together 
with the personal opinions 
of prominent railroad men 
regarding its value to the 
railroads. Mrs. McCrea has 
been the landscape archi¬ 
tect of much of the im¬ 
provement work which 
has taken place along the 
lines of the Chicago & 
Alton, Illinois Central, 
Chicago & Rock Island, 
Burlington & Quincy, the 
Northwestern and the Mil¬ 
waukee Roads, during 
the past four or fiva 
years. This valuable 
work has gone on quietly, 
but at the same time so 
steadily, that important 
and substantial progress 
has been made. Many 
travellers have failed to 
note it, but there is prob¬ 
ably no better opportu¬ 
nity of educating the 
public along the line of 
civic and general aesthetic improvement than by decorating and har¬ 
moniously planting the grounds adjacent to the way stations of these 
great arteries of trade and commerce. 
bedding Bells. 
The National Nurseryman staff extend their hearty congratula¬ 
tions and best wishes to Mr. George Lindley Taber, Glen Saint Mary, 
Fla., on the occasion of his recent marriage to Miss Willey of Brook¬ 
line, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Taber will be at home in Florida after 
December 15, 1905. 
These practically enclose the tree roots in a circular steel basket. The 
transporter, a bottomless circular wagon, with an opening at the rear, is 
now backed into position, so that the tree trunk occupies its center. 
Then hoists pulling on the steel basket, lift the latter up bodily with 
tree, roots and earth. The tree is then made to recline at an angle, and 
the transporter is driven to the spot where the replanting is to take 
place. This process is simply a reversal of the former one, the tree being 
hoisted back into an upright position, the steel basket dropped into the 
hole ready for its reception, the shovels removed one by one, and all 
holes filled with earth stamped down. Two men can work the entire 
apparatus, and so little injury is done to the tree that the leaves do not 
even wilt. —Country Gentleman. 
Our Booh Cable. 
Proceedings of the American Forestry Congress, held at Washington, 
D. C., January 2 to 6, 1905. Published by the H. M. Suter Pub. Co., 
Washington, D. C., 5 x 7£, 474 + NI pages. 
This volume contains the papers and impromptu speeches made by the 
delegates who attended this very important congress, held at Wash¬ 
ington, last winter. It was really a remarkable gathering. It included 
prominent men in all fields of agricultural and arboricultural endeavor. 
This congress was un¬ 
doubtedly a potent factor 
in stimulating thei nter- 
est in large movements 
which pertain to forestry 
and irrigation the country 
over. It was a distinctive 
agent of uncommon 
strength The volume 
contains the point o f 
view of a great many 
students on the question 
and is replete with facts 
bearing upon the econo¬ 
mics of forestry in almost 
every state in the union. 
It is a valuable contribu¬ 
tion to the literature of 
the subject and the vol¬ 
ume should be in all lib¬ 
raries, private and public. 
We heartily commend 
this publication. 
Obituary. 
Dr. Hermann Schroeder, 
Bloomington, Ill: Notice 
of the death of this remarkable and interesting personality has been 
unwittingly omitted from these columns. Dr. Schroeder was a Prus¬ 
sian who left his native country on account of pronounced republican 
leanings about half a century ago. Coming to this country he made 
a home at Bloomington, Ill., and there became intimately associated 
with the development of the natural resources of the country. For 
a number of years he was enthusiastically engaged in promoting 
grape culture throughout the West, and not only did he grow the 
grapes, but he grew vines in large quantities which were shipped to 
France for the purpose of providing French vineyardists with 
phylloxera resistant stocks. Dr. Schroeder has been a frequent 
contributer to the horticultural press of the country, and has always 
been a warm friend of the National Nurseryman. In his death 
one of the striking characters of the middle West has been removed. C. 
TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 
A new method of handling large trees is described in the American 
Inventor. It avoids handling the tree by its trunk, so that the most 
vital as well as the most tender part, the bark, is saved from injury. A 
heavy, flat steel ring, constructed in sections and six feet in diameter, is 
laid around the tree. The sections are then securely bolted together, 
so as to form a rigid platform. In the ring at regular intervals are 
aperatures, with guides, through which curved shovels are driven down. 
—The Gardeners’ Association of America held a meeting on November 
first at the time of the meeting of the American Institute in New A ork 
City. John M. Hunter, president, occupied the chair, and presented an 
address. The secretary of this organization is C. E. Maynard. 
—Illinois State Horticultural Society is preparing for an important 
meeting at Champaign, December 12 to 15. This will celebrate the 
semi-centennial of the society, and the program will cover the earlv 
history of the organization, in its various aspects, besides dealing with 
present day problems. The secreatry is L. R. Bryant, Princeton, Ill. 
