Chapter M: H. Hegerle, Pres. Canning Factory, St. Bonifacius (3)

In the spring, when the fruit buds are unfolding, the beetles begin to emerge from their winter quarters and feed to some extent on the blossoms and tender leaves of the fruit trees. Mating soon begins, and by the time the fruit is well set the beetles make this fruit the chief object of their attention. The circular punctures in the skin are feeding punctures, while the crescent-shaped ones are egg-laying punctures. A single egg is deposited in a puncture, although several may be placed in a single fruit. From one to eight eggs may be deposited daily by an individual female, which may be continued for several months. The great majority of the eggs, however, are deposited by the end of eight weeks. These eggs hatch in from three to seven days, being influenced greatly by the weather.

The egg hatches into a larva, or "worm," which bores into the fruit. It becomes full-grown in from twelve to twenty days and bores out of the fruit. It enters the soil, burrows to a depth of one-half to two inches, and forms an earthern cell in which to pupate. In three or four weeks it emerges as a full grown beetle and attacks the ungathered fruit and the foliage. On the approach of cold weather the beetle seeks a protected place in which to pass the winter.

The character of the injury is very nearly alike in all fruits. In the plum the fruit often falls to the ground before mature. In seasons of short crops very little fruit may remain to ripen. The punctures cause the fruit to become mis-shaped and to exude masses of gum. The ripe fruit becomes "wormy." The late varieties may be seriously injured by the new generation of adults. In the apple the injury to the fruit is about the same as in the plum, except that the infested fruit is not so likely to fall to the ground and that the egg rarely hatches into the grub there. The fruit becomes knotted and pitted. The late varieties may also be injured by the new generation of adults. In the peach, cherry and other stone fruits, the injury closely resembles that of the plum.

Although the plum curculio has some natural enemies that tend to reduce its numbers somewhat, yet they are not important enough to be considered as effective means of control. Some of these natural enemies are parasites of various kinds, birds, chickens and the like.

There are several remedial measures practiced, varying in their degree of effectiveness. Away back in the early days of horticulture in this country, when the curculio became very abundant rewards were offered for an effective method of combating it. Several were proposed, but only a few were at all effective. The best of these methods is what is called "jarring."

The curculio has the habit of falling to the ground and "playing 'possum" when disturbed. This led to the practice of holding or spreading sheets beneath the tree and then striking the tree a sudden, forcible blow with a padded pole or mallet in order to dislodge the beetles. The trees were jarred daily from the time the calyx or "shuck" began to slip from the newly set fruit until the beetles had disappeared, or for at least four or five weeks. This was practiced to quite an extent, but it takes too much time and is too expensive.

A still better remedy is clean cultivation. Experiments have shown that as high as 76.75 per cent. of the pupae may be destroyed by means of thorough cultivation. The mere breaking of the pupal cell, leaving the earth in contact with the body of the pupa, is fatal to many. Others are killed by the crushing action of the earth as it is stirred. Others are exposed to the elements and subject to the attacks of their enemies, such as ants and birds. Sunlight is quickly fatal to them, and exposure to the air on a warm day in the shade is also fatal to them. Observations show that the insect is in the pupal condition in the ground in from fifty to sixty-five days after the falling of the blossoms of such fruit as apples and plums. Data have been presented to show that the minimum time spent in the ground is about twenty days. Shallow cultivation should begin, therefore, in about eight or nine weeks after blossoming. It is best to cultivate every week or oftener for six or seven weeks. It is very necessary that this cultivation should reach immediately beneath the spread of the limbs, as most of the curculios are found here, having dropped from the fruit above and burrowed into the soil where they fell.

The third method of combating the curculio, the method most commonly used and most generally recommended, is spraying with arsenical poisons. The spray most generally used is arsenate of lead. The most economical and effective way is to add arsenate of lead to Bordeaux mixture. The Bordeaux is mixed in the following proportions: three pounds of copper sulphate (blue vitriol), four pounds of lime, and fifty gallons of water. To this amount of Bordeaux mixture three pounds of arsenate of lead are added. In place of Bordeaux mixture lime-sulphur may be used. If the insecticide is used alone, three pounds of arsenate of lead in fifty gallons of water make an effective spray. It is best to spray three times, the first spraying coming just before the blossoms open, the second coming ten days later, and the third another ten days later. The cost is from ten to fifteen cents per tree for the three sprayings. This cost is lessened when combined with other sprays.

While spraying greatly reduces the injuries inflicted, yet it is apparent that account must be taken of other factors, such as the relative abundance of insects as compared with the amount of fruit present on the trees. With a small fruit crop and an abundance of curculios, the most thorough spraying in the world will not serve to bring through a satisfactory amount of sound fruit.

While spraying is undoubtedly the most important aid and, if persisted in from year to year, may answer for its control, as its effects are cumulative, yet it is clear that other control measures should also be employed. In all cases which have come under observation the insects have always been found most abundant in orchards which are in sod or are poorly cared for and allowed to grow up more or less in weeds and trash. Also, orchards near woods always suffer severely, especially along the border. As opposed to this condition is the notably less injury in orchards kept free from weeds and trash. In such cases spraying usually given for other insects, as the codling moth, serves to keep the curculio well under control. In fact, it may be said as a general statement that the curculio will never become seriously troublesome in orchards given the usual routine attention in cultivation, spraying and pruning now considered essential in successful fruit growing. Serious losses from the curculio are almost conclusive evidence of neglect, which is best and most quickly corrected by the adoption of proper orchard practice.

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AN ANTIDOTE FOR WASP STINGS.--It not infrequently happens that persons biting unguardedly into fruit in which a wasp is concealed receive stings in the mouth or throat. Such stings may be exceedingly dangerous and even fatal since the affected tissues swell rapidly and this is liable to cause difficulty in swallowing and breathing. An effective antidote is employed in Switzerland. The sting is rubbed vigorously with garlic, or, if it is too deep in the throat for this treatment, a few drops of the juice from bruised garlic are swallowed. If garlic is not to be obtained onion may take its place, but is a less active agent. The efficacy of this simple remedy was verified by a Swiss specialist, who found it important enough to be presented at a session of the Vaudois Society of Medicine.

Increasing the Fertility of the Land.

PROF. F. J. ALWAY, DIVISION OF SOILS, UNIVERSITY FARM, ST. PAUL.

I have been asked to speak on "Increasing the Fertility of the Land." To speak on such a subject is sometimes a rather delicate matter because some people consider they have a soil so good that you can't increase its fertility. With some of the prairie soils, when they were first plowed up that wouldn't have been so very far amiss. Take those black prairie soils with the grayish yellow clay subsoil, with an abundance of lime in it, which you find in a large part of the state, including a large part of Hennepin County, and you have as good a soil as you may expect to find anywhere on the earth's surface. But you can't keep a soil up to its full limit of fertility, no matter how good it is, unless you frequently treat it with something.

When a soil is well supplied with lime there are three things that are liable to be deficient. If it is not well supplied with lime there may be four, but the bulk of your soils are good enough so far as lime is concerned. Those three are potash, which is abundant and will be abundant 100 years from now, phosphoric acid, or phosphorus, with which our soils are fairly well supplied, and nitrogen, which comes from the vegetable matter. In nitrogen our prairie soils are remarkably rich when first plowed up. The phosphoric acid and the potash you can not lose unless they are taken away in the form of crops, but the nitrogen may be lost without even taking off crops. All you have to do is to cultivate your soil, when part of the nitrogen becomes soluble in water and is carried down by the rain into the water-table unless you have plants growing with roots to take it up; a large part escapes into the air. So when your black prairie soil has been under cultivation for twenty years, as an orchard, usually from one-half to one-third of the original nitrogen has escaped, most of it into the air, only the smaller part being carried off in the crops. That is the one thing that orchardists and horticulturists have to concern themselves about first of all, so far as soil fertility is concerned.

I see that the first of the questions for me to answer deals with that. "What crop do you consider the best green manure?" There are two kinds of green manures. One is represented by rye. Rye takes up the nitrogen that is in the soil, and when it dies leaves behind what it took out of the soil; the next crop can get this. By plowing under the rye crop you do not increase the amount of nitrogen, the most important element of fertility in the soil.

We have a better green manure than that, better than rye or oats or barley or any of those plants that properly belong to the grass family; namely, the members of the clover, bean or pea family--all of these plants which are called legumes, which have pods and which have flowers shaped like butterflies.

As these grow they take up nitrogen from the air; the bacteria which make their home on the roots of those plants take the nitrogen from the air and give it to their host plants. The plants receive this nitrogen, store it in themselves, and when the crop is plowed under you have a great amount of nitrogen added to the soil. Now, a clover crop of an acre growing from spring until the freeze-up in the fall may take out of the air as much as 120 pounds of nitrogen. One hundred and twenty pounds of nitrogen, bought in the form of commercial fertilizer from Swift & Company, or Northrup, King & Company, would cost you $24.00. The clover has taken that much out of the air. If the crop were pastured off, the greater part of this nitrogen would be returned to the soil; when you plow the clover under still more nitrogen is taken from the air by bacteria that live upon the decaying plant material, and you may have $48.00 worth of nitrogen per acre added to the soil by simply growing clover for one year.

Any kind of green manure crop that bears pods is good. Vetches are good, and soy beans are among the best for orchards. Clover, if you give it time to make a good growth, is as good as anything.

The next question is--"Should apple raisers use commercial fertilizers?" Now, the apple tree, when it is growing on good soil, makes such a vigorous root development that it is hard to get any commercial fertilizer to help it. On poor soils it, like any other kind of plant, will respond to fertilizers. Some of the eastern experimental stations have been carrying on investigations with commercial fertilizers for a great many years to see whether in apple orchards these will cause an increase in the yield or an improvement in the quality of the fruit. On good soils, even after ten or twelve years' fertilization they have been found to have no effect except in the case of nitrogen, and this can be better supplied in the form of a green manure plowed under than in any other way. That is to say, keep your orchard clean until the last of July or first of August, sow your green manure crop, let it grow until freeze-up and stay there during the winter time. It holds the snow and so affords some winter protection. In the spring plow it under, and you plow under all the nitrogen that the plants had collected the previous year. Then keep your orchard clean during the summer time, until in July or August you again sow the green manure crop.

The fertilizers that I get more inquiries about than any others are the phosphates--bone meal, acid phosphate and rock phosphate. Horticulturists have read that striking results are being obtained with these on certain crops in the eastern and central states, and they want to know whether the same fertilizers will pay here. Some inquire about potash fertilizers. With the latter there is no doubt but that the results we would obtain would, even under ordinary circumstances, not pay. At the present time potash costs about ten times what it does in times of peace. Sulphate of potash, which ordinarily brings $45.00 per ton, is now quoted at $450. This puts its use out of the question.

The phosphoric acid fertilizers are no higher now than usual. They cost, according to the kind, from $9.50 to $25.00 per ton. Some of them are produced near here--in South St. Paul. With tree crops, apple, plum and pear, we need expect no increased yield from the use of phosphates, unless it be on our very poorest soils. On certain crops, like the bush fruits--the currants and the raspberries, we might get a distinct benefit. I cannot give a definite answer to that. I can tell you what results they have obtained in New York state, what they have obtained in Pennsylvania or Illinois or Maine, but what results we would get in Minnesota we do not know. We can't apply their results to our conditions. The only thing we can do is to carry on such experiments here, and they have not yet been started. That brings me to a third question I have here.

"What experiments are being conducted by the University of Minnesota with orchard and other horticultural crops?" We realized the importance of this matter and plans were prepared. Then, as you know the last legislature was economical. It decided that one of the best places to make a cut would be in the funds for experimental work; when these funds were reduced we not only could start no new experiments but even had to cut off some of the old ones. For that reason these fertilizer experiments have to wait until the next legislature or the one after. I hope the next legislature will make such an appropriation that they may be begun.

Now, for the next question. A man states that he can secure at a very low rate limestone from one of the Minneapolis companies producing crushed limestone for road-making purposes and wants to know whether it will pay him to haul it to his farm. Well, if you do not have any other work for your teams it may pay you. However, if your time is valuable, you had better take some samples of the soil and send them in to the experiment station. Just address them to the Soils Department or Soils Division. Then we can decide whether it is worth while trying some of the limestone. We cannot tell you whether it will pay; we can tell you whether it is likely to pay, or whether it is likely to be a waste of energy, or whether it is so doubtful that you ought to give it a fair trial. On perhaps two-thirds of the fields in Hennepin County it would be a waste of money and energy; on about half of the others, we may say, it is almost certain to be a good investment at a dollar a ton. On the remaining portion we simply can't say. On these, chances are even whether it would pay. No crops are injured by limestone, so you are safe in putting it on. Practically all crops are benefited by it on sour soils and especially the vegetable crops.

The next question is--"Are the black peat or muck soils first class? Do they need anything besides drainage?" Some of them, a very few, produce really good crops when they are drained, plowed and brought under ordinary cultivation without fertilization, but only a few. Nearly all of them need commercial fertilizer, and until a bog covered with peat soil has been carefully examined to ascertain the depth of the peat, the difficulty of drainage, and the character of the peat (because peats differ greatly within a few miles of each other) it is unwise to attempt to reclaim it. Within three miles of the experiment station we have three bogs very different in character. One, about half a mile from the buildings, is heavily charged with lime. Another has an exceedingly small quantity of lime so that profitable crop production of any kind would be out of the question without a heavy application of ground limestone or quicklime. Still another one stands between these two. One of them can be reclaimed without any great expense, but with the one it would be a very expensive matter to fertilize and treat with lime after it had been drained.

Those are the questions that have been given me. Are there any other questions?

Mr. McCall: What is peat lacking in?

Mr. Alway: Practically all peats are lacking in potash. If the peat layer be very shallow, six inches, twelve inches, sometimes even twenty-four inches, the plants are able to get their roots down through the peat and get their potash from the underlying clay or loam. In that case no fertilizer is needed. Some of the peats lack lime, some of them lack lime, potash and phosphoric acid, and some these three and nitrogen also, so that you either have to apply some commercial form of nitrogen or grow legumes as green manures.

Mr. Kellogg: What was the trouble where I couldn't raise strawberries on new wood soil?

Mr. Alway: I couldn't answer that.

Mr. Kellogg: The leaf mold was six or eight inches deep.

Mr. Alway: Was it any deeper than that?

Mr. Kellogg: I don't know, it may have been down a foot, and the leaf mold had been accumulating there for ages.

Mr. Alway: In some cases the peat is so thoroughly decayed that it looks like leaf mold and it may be a foot or two feet deep.

Mr. Kellogg: This was no peat, it was just wood soil. I could not raise anything--

Mr. Alway: Did the plants grow?

Mr. Kellogg: Yes, the plants grew and wintered well but didn't bear worth a cent.

Mr. Alway: Did they make lots of runners?

Mr. Kellogg: Oh, fairly good, but right over the fence in the next field that had been worked for twenty-five years I got 260 bushels of strawberries to the acre; never had any manure on it.

Mr. Alway: The more leaf mold the more nitrogen; if you have too much nitrogen it may develop the vine and fail to form fruit or seed.

Mr. Ludlow: On heavy black prairie soil, three feet deep, where I am growing eighty bushels of corn to the acre, I want to put in strawberries, and I have a lot of wood ashes, dry wood ashes, not leached ashes, but dry wood ashes. Would it be worth while to put that on or would that overdo the thing? Would it be policy to put that on?

Mr. Alway: It is not likely to do any harm, and it is likely to do some good. Wood ashes contain chiefly lime and potash. The potash will be a distinct benefit. The lime isn't of any particular benefit to this crop on most soils. For strawberries it is slightly harmful on our ordinary soils that are originally well supplied with lime.

Mr. Ludlow: On another piece a ways from that I put out a young orchard, and in order to start the trees well I had covered the ground half an inch deep with wood ashes around those trees. I noticed that the weeds grew there twice as quick as they did when I got away from the wood ashes.

Mr. Alway: There you have the benefit of the potash and the lime. If you put lime in the orchards it will make the clover and most of the other green manure crops grow better, and thus you gain in nitrogen from the lime; you gain in potash as it comes from the wood ashes.

Mr. Brackett: Have you ever found any ground with too much leaf mold on it to grow good strawberries?

Mr. Alway: I have not.

Mr. Brackett: I remember when I broke out my place where I am living now I had a place where the leaves had collected and rotted until I would say there was eight or ten inches of leaf mold. When you went across it you would sink in almost to your shoe tops. On that piece of ground I grew 11,000 quarts of strawberries to the acre in a year, the largest yield I had ever grown on that leaf mold. You can never get too much leaf mold. There must have been something else besides the leaf mold.

Mr. Alway: In case a crop does not give a satisfactory yield it may be due to other things than the soil, and until we eliminate the other possible causes we can't safely blame it to the soil.

Mr. Moyer: What do those black soils in the western part of the state need? They have a whitish deposit on top.

Mr. Alway: Drainage. That is alkali.

Mr. Kochendorfer: I have a ten-year apple orchard that I disked last year and kept it tolerably clean this spring. There were a lot of dandelions sprung up that I mowed down the middle of July, and since then they have grown up again. Will they take nitrogen the same as clover?

Mr. Alway: They won't take any from the air. They will act like so much rye, but when they die and decay nitrogen will be gathered from the air and added to the soil by bacteria that live upon the decaying vegetable matter.

Mr. Kellogg: Did you ever hear of them dying?

Mr. Alway: Dandelions? If they are plowed under.

A Member: Is it practicable to grow soy beans in this soil? Can they be gotten at a reasonable price, and can we mature them here?

Mr. Alway: They mature here without any serious difficulty. There are a great many different varieties. If you order them from a distant seed house you may get a variety that will mature in Louisiana but not in Minnesota.

A Member: How about cowpeas?

Mr. Alway: Cowpeas are disappointing thus far north. In Minnesota they are not nearly as satisfactory as the soy bean. In an unusually warm summer they are satisfactory.

A Member: With the soy bean do you have to plow in the whole of it?

Mr. Alway: Yes. The whole plant ought to be plowed under.

A Member: Would it be practicable to feed soy beans in an orchard?

Mr. Alway: Yes. You don't get quite the same benefit from the green manure when you pasture as when you plow under.

A Member: How about the hairy vetch? Does it grow here?

Mr. Alway: Yes. It grows here. It is not a bad crop at all.

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POISONING TREE SCALE.--We take the following from _Scientific American_ as worth consideration by the owners of orchards and lawns:

A correspondent in _Science_ relates the following rather startling experiment in killing tree scale by poisoning the sap of the tree. He says:

"I have in my ground a plant of Spanish broom about a dozen years old and with a trunk about four inches in diameter which has for several years been seriously infested by cottony cushion scale (_Icerya purchasi_). I have tried various sprays, have put scale-eating beetles on the tree, and at one time cut all the branches off and sprayed the trunk several times in the attempt to get permanently rid of this scale, but up to last winter it seemed that all attempts were in vain. In February of this year, when the broom was very thickly covered with the scale, I bored a three-eighths inch hole in the trunk to a depth of about three inches, filled the hole nearly full of crystals of potassic cyanide, and plugged it up. In two days the scale began to fall from the tree and in a few days all appeared dead. Others hatched and attacked the tree, but lasted only a short time, and the tree has since been free from scale and very vigorous."

NOTICE OF SUMMER MEETING, 1916

A JOINT SESSION OF THE MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND ITS AUXILIARIES, THE MINNESOTA STATE GARDEN FLOWER SOCIETY, THE MINNESOTA STATE BEE KEEPERS SOCIETY AND THE MINNESOTA STATE FLORISTS SOCIETY.

Will be held FRIDAY, JUNE 23rd, 1916, in the Gymnasium, at University Farm, St. Paul.

THE GYMNASIUM BUILDING in which this meeting is to be held has recently been constructed and only finished suitable for the uses of this gathering within the past year. The grounds about it are still in part in an unfinished condition. Directly south of this building are the football grounds, originally a marshy tract, now filled in and leveled off, with hillsides sloping upwards some thirty to forty feet on either side, well shaded. These slopes would be excellent places for the picnic dinner and the afternoon session except for the fact that they have recently been seeded and are not yet in condition for use. The main room in the gymnasium building, which is a very large room--at least three times as large as the one occupied by our exhibit last year--will be used for the fruit and flower display, and exhibitors can have access to this hall early in the forenoon, though visitors will be barred from the exhibition hall until 12:00 m. to give ample opportunity for placing and judging the display.

The exhibition will remain in place undisturbed until 9:00 o'clock p.m. The flowers will be distributed to the various hospitals in the Twin Cities.

THE PREMIUM LIST accompanying this notice is practically the same as last year, there being only a few minor changes, to which it will not be necessary to refer here. The season, up to the time of writing this notice at least, having been a favorable one we are anticipating a large display of flowers, probably the finest ever shown at any of our summer gatherings, and as the weather is always pleasant on the occasion of our summer meeting a large gathering of members and visitors is also assured.

DEMONSTRATIONS.--There will be a number of demonstrations at the farm, one by Prof. Francis Jager, the apiculturist, at 11:30 o'clock, at the Apiary Building. No special subject has been announced for this, but it is certain to be a profitable occasion for those interested in bee culture. Professors connected with the entomological and pathological departments will conduct experiments in spraying at some point near the Main Building. Undoubtedly there will be other demonstrations, which may be announced before the meeting or in regard to which announcements will be found posted at the gymnasium.

GUIDES TO THE GROUNDS.--Guides will be in attendance to escort visitors about the grounds to various points of interest. These guides will be prepared to answer questions pertaining to the various branches of educational work at the farm. Those who wish to take advantage of this service will meet the guides at the gymnasium at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The guides will wear suitable badges.

PICNIC DINNER.--In regard to the picnic dinner, which will occupy the time between noon and 2:00 o'clock, we are not quite sure as to where it will be held, but probably near the dining hall. Should the weather be unfavorable of course there is plenty of room inside the gymnasium building. Lemonade, ice cold, will be provided in quantity at the gymnasium building to meet the needs of the picnickers.

AFTERNOON MEETING.--At 2:00 p.m. the afternoon session of the meeting will be held at some point in or around the gymnasium building, depending on the weather at that time and somewhat also on the weather between now and then as to the condition the grounds may be in.

REACHING THE GROUNDS.--Take the Como-Harriet or Como-Hopkins car in either St. Paul or Minneapolis, get off at Doswell Avenue, and a walk of approximately one-half mile will bring you to University Farm grounds. To reach the gymnasium go north on Cleveland Avenue, which is the avenue running along the west side of University Farm, past the University Farm buildings until you come to the last building, which you will recognize as the gymnasium by its size. The grounds between Cleveland Avenue and the gymnasium are in an unfinished condition, but visitors will readily find their way across. If you prefer to ride all the way to the grounds get off at Eustis Avenue, which the conductor will point out to you. From that place cars run every fifteen minutes into the Farm grounds, an extra fare of five cents being charged. Ask the conductor to let you off at the gymnasium building, which you will reach from the street car after a short walk over ground still ungraded and where no special path has been provided. Getting off at that point, however, saves a long walk from the terminal station. If in doubt as to the way, follow the sign of the arrow.

VISIT TO STATE FRUIT-BREEDING FARM.--This farm is located at Zumbra Heights, twenty-two miles west of Minneapolis on the Minneapolis and St. Louis railroad. The train leaves depot at 8:35 a.m. Return can be made by way of Zumbra Heights landing on Lake Minnetonka and the lake steamers via trolley line to Minneapolis, or by waiting until mid-afternoon a train can be secured returning to the city on the railroad. One or more of the professors will go out Saturday morning, June 24th, to accompany any who may desire to take advantage of this opportunity to visit the Fruit Breeding Farm in a body. There are many things of interest there, the special timely feature at this season being the fruiting of a large field of No. 3 strawberries, which variety gives promise of being the coming commercial berry of the Northwest.

ENTRIES.--All entries must be received by the secretary not later than Monday, June 19th. No entries whatever will be received at the meeting. The exhibitors are urged to send in their entries at as early a date as possible, under no circumstances later than the date noted above. Entry blanks will be furnished by the secretary on application.

EXHIBITS.--All exhibits must be in place and properly labeled by 11:30 a.m. to compete for premiums. The exhibitors must be members of the society and growers of the articles exhibited. Any one may become a member upon payment of the annual fee of $1.00.

Fruits and flowers shown become the property of the association.

Premium List, Summer Meeting, 1916.

No Duplicating of Varieties Permitted.

OUT-DOOR ROSES.

1st prem. 2d prem. 3d prem. 4th prem.

Collection--three blooms of each named variety, to be shown in separate vases $6.00 $4.00 $2.00 $1.00

Collection of named varieties--three blooms of each, in separate vases, amateurs only 6.00 4.00 2.00 1.00

Three named varieties, white--each variety in a separate vase, three blooms of each, each bloom on a separate stem 2.00 1.00 .50

Three named varieties, pink--each variety in a separate vase, three blooms of each, each bloom on a separate stem 2.00 1.00 .50

Three named varieties, red--each variety in a separate vase, three blooms of each, each bloom on a separate stem 2.00 1.00 .50

Collection of Rugosa and Rugosa Hybrids--each variety (consisting of one cluster of blooms on a single stem) in a separate vase 2.00 1.00 .50

Most beautiful rose in vase 1.00

Largest rose in vase 1.00 Seedling rose to be shown by the originator. (Not previously exhibited in competition.) Bronze medal donated by the American Rose Society. Basket of out-door roses and foliage, arranged for effect without ribbon, not to exceed twelve inches in diameter 3.00 2.00 1.00

The following named varieties of roses to be entered separately and shown in separate vases, three to five blooms in each vase.

Prince Camile deRohan, General Jacqueminot, Margaret Dickson, M.P. Wilder, Jules Margottin, Magna Charta, Paul Neyron, Madam Gabriel Luizet, Baroness Rothschild, Anna de Diesbach, Ulrich Brunner, John Hopper, Rosa Rugosa (pink and white), Baron deBonstetten, Karl Druski, Madam Plantier, Grus an Teplitz.

Each, 1st prem., 75 cents; 2nd prem., 50 cents; 3rd prem., 25 cents.

PEONIES.

1st prem. 2d prem. 3d prem. 4th prem.
Vase of Festiva Maxima. 6 blooms $2.00 $1.00 $0.50
" " flesh or light pink " " " " "
" " medium or dark pink " " " " "
" " white " " " " "
" " red " " " " "

Collection--three blooms of each named
variety in separate vases $6.00 $4.00 $2.00 $1.00

Collection--three blooms of each named variety in separate vases, amateurs only 6.00 4.00 2.00 1.00

Seedling peony, three blooms 3.00 2.00 1.00 .50

Collection--one bloom of each variety, shown each in a separate vase; for amateurs owning no more than ten varieties 2.00 1.00 .50

ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS.

Vase of Arabis $1.50 $1.00 $0.50
" " Canterbury Bells " " "
" " Dielytra " " "
" " Delphinium " " "
" " Evening primrose (Oenothera) " " "
" " Forget-me-not " " "
" " Foxglove " " "
" " Gailardias " " "
" " Grass pinks " " "
" " Iceland poppies " " "
" " Iris " " "
" " Lillies " " "
" " Lupine " " "
" " Nasturtiums " " "
" " Oriental poppies " " "
" " Pansies " " "
" " Perennial coreopsis " " "
" " Pyrethrum " " "
" " Shasta daisies " " "
" " Sweet peas " " "
" " Sweet william " " "

Collection--named perennials, in separate vases $6.00 $4.00 $2.00 $1.00

Collection of annuals and perennials in separate vases (not to exceed 12) by amateurs who have never taken premiums on flowers 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00

Vase of flowers grown and exhibited by child 2.00 1.00 .50

Vase of any kind of flowers not named in this list. (An exhibitor may make any number of entries desired under this head) 2.00 1.00 .50

Vase of flowers arranged for artistic effect 1.50 1.00 .50

Basket of outdoor-grown flowers, arranged by exhibitor 3.00 2.00 1.00

STRAWBERRIES.

One quart of each variety to be shown on plate, not in box.

1st prem. 2d prem. 3d prem. 4th prem.

Collection (not less than six varieties) $5.00 $4.00 $3.00 $2.00

Collection of three named varieties 3.00 2.00 1.00 .50

The following varieties of strawberries to be entered separately:

1st prem. 2d prem. 3d prem. 4th prem.

Bederwood, Dunlap, Cresent, Splendid, Clyde, Warfield, Lovett, Enhance, Glen Mary, Haverland, Progressive, Superb, Americus, each 1.00 $0.75 $0.50 $0.25

Best named variety not included in the above list 2.00 1.00 .50

Seedling's, originated by exhibitor 3.00 2.00 1.00

GARDEN HELPS

Conducted by Minnesota Garden Flower Society

Edited by MRS. E. W. GOULD, 2644 Humboldt Avenue So. Minneapolis.

_Photographic contest_--Open to all members of the Garden Flower Society.

Class I. Photograph showing best garden arrangement or planting effect. List of flowers and shrubs to accompany picture.

First prize--Twenty-five perennial plants.

Second prize--Twelve iris.

Class II. Photograph showing individual plant in bloom. A growing plant in bloom will be preferred to one in a vase.

First prize--Twenty-five perennial plants.

Second prize--Twelve iris.

Class III. Photograph showing wild flower in bloom. Directions governing Class II to be followed.

First prize--Twenty-five perennial plants.

Second prize--Twelve dahlia tubers.

Any number of pictures may be entered in each class, but only one prize in each class will be given an exhibitor.

When possible have photographs 5x7 inches or 4x5 inches, although size will not bar an otherwise meritorious picture. Photographs in Classes I and II should be confined to the garden of the exhibitor.

All pictures are to be in the hands of our secretary by November first, and are to become the property of the society. The prizes will be delivered the following spring. The pictures will be on exhibition at our annual meeting in December.

* * * * *

These directions in The Garden Magazine are so good they are quoted verbatim:

NEXT TO SEED PLANTING the most important part of the gardener's work is skill in the technique of transplanting. How often do you hear concerning some gardener, that if he "only touches a thing, it is bound to live?" There is no "king's touch" in the garden game. People who "love" plants are more successful with them, merely because such persons take greater care in handling them. The first essential in transplanting is to have good plants. They should be well hardened off (see March Reminder, covering cold-frames); this applies to plants in flats and in pots even more than to those growing in frames. In buying plants, select stocky, compact, dark colored ones in preference to very large ones.

PREPARE THE SOIL as carefully as though you intended to sow seeds. Mark out the rows, and if fertilizer is to be used, mix it thoroughly with the soil before beginning transplanting. Then prepare the plants carefully. Unless they are very small, cut back the largest leaves about one-half with an old pair of scissors. With a small trowel or an old knife, cut them out of the frame or flat in which they are growing, keeping as much soil as possible with each. (If not in flats, cut them out as you use them in the garden.) If they are in pots, knock them out carefully and pack into flat for convenience in handling. Paper pots, which produce the best plants, are not removed before planting. Water thoroughly the day before planting, so that the soil will be in the best condition for handling; but for several days before planting, it is well to keep the plants "on the dry side," as they will then re-establish themselves more quickly when set out.

(To be continued)

ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES

By F. L. WASHBURN, Professor of Entomology.

University of Minnesota.

A SILVER PRUNE IN BLOOM AT MINNETONKA.

May 19, 1916.--The writer has a small silver prune grafted on hardy root, which he obtained from Mr. Arrowood, Nevis, Minn., now in bloom at his experimental garden at Minnetonka--not many flowers, it is true, but in bloom just the same. This tree is not more than two feet high, and was somewhat protected by a rabbit protector and high snow. Other plums in the Entomologist's orchard, (one acre) are now nearly full of bloom: Hanska, Skuya, Opata and other Hansen hybrids, as well as trial plums from the University fruit breeding farm.

We have top worked this spring Hibernals, and Patten's Greenings with Stark's Delicious, Grimes Golden, King David and Johnathan.

One-half of this land slopes sharply to the north and the other half more gently to the south, clay, loam with clay subsoil, offering favorable conditions for orchard work as well as work with grapes, small fruits and vegetables.

Of grapes we have started Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Agawam, Brighton, Iona, Lindley, Salem, Barry, Herbert, Isabella, Green Mountain, and others.

We have even had the temerity to try Loganberries from the Pacific coast, and have some in fruit at present. A heavy covering of soil next winter will possibly protect these plants during the cold weather.

THE WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST IN MINNESOTA.

This disease has just been found on a few White Pines in two Minnesota nurseries. The trees in one of these nurseries came from Wisconsin, shipped into that state from the east. Absolute identification has been furnished by the Plant Pathology Division of the Agricultural College. The state entomologist has already in the field a force of men who will inspect every nursery in the state where white pines are grown.

THE ENGLISH SPARROW PEST.

We have experienced some success in the use of a sparrow trap, catching from 11 to 25 in half a day. It must be noted, however, that this does not occur every day, and further, that the young birds are most easily caught. Both old and young evidently learn to avoid the trap. Another party who has used this trap also reports success even greater than ours. Other parties report an average catch of ten birds a day for nearly four months. One can also, if on a farm, resort to shooting them singly, or, better, when gathered together feeding. In fact, they may be baited with grain for a few days (preferably in the fall or winter) and previous to the use of the shotgun. This accustoms them to gathering in a close flock. Eggs and nests may be repeatedly destroyed, if placed within reach. A well-directed stream of water from a hose is helpful in making them desert their roosts, at least for a while.

Dearborn (Farmers' Bulletin No. 493, U.S. Dept. of Agr.) describes a nest-box trap. Sparrows may also be poisoned, but this calls for extreme care. In this case it is interesting to learn that one experimenter fed a large number of sparrows killed by poisoning to a pet cat with no ill effects to the latter.

We have picked them from cornices upon our house at dusk with the aid of a small collecting gun or pistol, firing a very light charge of shot, but found that the shot marred the house, and were therefore obliged to discontinue the practice.

In addition to trapping sparrows with approved sparrow traps the following recipe has recently come to our notice:

"Feed good cracked corn a few days; then substitute poisoned cracked corn made as follows: Soak one quart of cracked corn in water; take it out and let it get about half dry. Dissolve one ounce of strychnia in hot water. Soak corn in this until it swells and then dry completely."

BEE-KEEPER'S COLUMN.

Conducted by FRANCIS JAGER, Professor of Apiculture, University Farm, St. Paul.

COMB HONEY, EXTRACTED HONEY, AND INCREASE.

(Continued from May No.)

Colonies run for comb honey are very much inclined to swarm. Swarming with the resulting division of forces is incompatible with profitable comb honey production. The colony must be kept together for best results. The following methods are used by well known beekeepers.

1. At the beginning of the honey flow let the colony cast a natural swarm. After hiving the bees on starters or full sheets of foundation and giving them a little brood to prevent them from swarming out again, the swarm is put in the place of the parent colony, which is removed to one side two or three feet. The seventh day the old colony is moved over to the opposite side of the swarm two or three feet. Two weeks after, all the bees are shaken in front of the swarm, and the hive with wax and honey removed. Thus the desire of bees for swarming has been satisfied, and the colony is still working together.

2. Make a shaken swarm. During the dandelion honey flow add an extracting super to your comb raising colony to give bees room to store. At the beginning of the honey flow set the whole hive a little aside and put a new bottom board on the place thus vacated. On this bottom board place the extracting super from your colony. Find the frame with the queen and put it in the middle of this new brood chamber, bees and all. Then shake all the bees from the old brood chamber into the new. The brood in the old hive thus left orphans may be piled up on top of some weaker colony in your yard who will take care of it. Five such supers with brood may be piled on top of one such colony, and they will be the strongest in the yard for storing extracted honey during the basswood or other late honey flow. This honey will be very handy for feeding your bees in the fall and spring. Now add a comb honey super to your shaken swarm. Add more supers when necessary, below before July 4th, on top after that date. Remove all comb honey supers at once at the end of the honey flow to have them white and clean.

3. When your colony is very strong at the beginning of the honey flow--about June 10th--remove the queen, either by killing her or by starting a new colony with her with two frames of brood. The seventh day cut out all queen cells but one--be sure not to leave two. This will re-queen your apiary, will prevent swarming for that season, will put a large number of bees into the field--there being no larvae to feed, will prevent thousands of bees from being hatched after they are of no use as gatherers of honey, and the honey needed for raising those bees will go into the supers.

(Continued in July No.)

SECRETARY'S CORNER

NOTICE OF SUMMER MEETING will be found on pages 257-259 of this magazine. Don't overlook it--and be sure to come. Great show of flowers and a fine day is assured--that is our record to date.

THE SECRETARY'S OFFICE during the summer month, will be open as usual except Saturday afternoon, but the secretary will be in regularly only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

THE STATE ENTOMOLOGISTS REPORT ON NURSERY INSPECTION in 1915 has been issued as circular No. 37. It contains a list of all inspected nurseries in the state; and also six full page photographs illustrating the nursery industry in Minnesota. Copies can be obtained by writing F.L. Washburn, St. Anthony Park, Minn.

A GOOD YIELD OF EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY PLANTS.--Mr. J. J. Kunkel, of Kimball, Minn., writes under date of May 13th: "The three everbearing strawberry plants I received of you in 1915 made about 250 young plants, of which I replanted this spring about 200. We had a few berries, but did not expect berries as we let all runners grow."

Who has done better than that in growing No. 1017 everbearing strawberry plants?

A FARMER ON THE BOARD OF REGENTS.--We are much pleased to note the appointment of a real farmer in the person of C. W. Glotfelter, of Waterville, as a member of the Board of Regents of the Minnesota State University. Mr. Glotfelter is well known throughout the state as late president of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society, and is at present occupying the same position with the Minnesota Crop Breeders' Association. He is a farmer in every sense, as he lives upon a farm which he has himself worked personally a great many years. We feel that the horticultural and agricultural interests of the state are especially well cared for by this board in having Mr. Glotfelter in its membership.

WYMAN ELLIOT'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIBRARY.--A short time since Mrs. Elliot, widow of the late Wyman Elliot, sent to this office as a contribution to our library all of the horticultural and agricultural books which belonged to Mr. Elliot. There were in all 397 volumes, nearly all of them bound in cloth. The larger portion of these were reports of other horticultural and agricultural societies, most of which the Horticultural Society already had in the library. There were, however, some forty or fifty very valuable reference books, or books on specific subjects of a horticultural character, and a considerable number of reports of other societies which we did not have, in all amounting to seventy-seven volumes. These have been placed mostly in two cases by themselves which will be marked with Mr. Elliot's name, and, of course, each one of these volumes has an inscription of similar character on the fly leaf. The remainder of these books, 320 in number, are being sent to University Farm library for use there as far as they need them, and they will be likely to know where to place to advantage any that they have no personal use for. There are plenty of libraries in the state that would be glad indeed to receive some of these volumes, and we hope that in this way Mr. Elliot's name will appear in the catalog of many of our public libraries.

NEW LIFE MEMBERS.--There have been quite a number of names added to the life membership roll of the society during the year 1916 and since the last public record was made of this sort. The names of the following persons have now been added to the permanent roll of the society: Ludvig Lima, Montevideo; Mrs. Florence Burlingame, Grand Rapids; A.L. Negstad, Arlington, S.D.; C. P. Bratnober, 1419 Harmon Place, Minneapolis; Miss Anna M. Johnson, Lafayette; H. J. Appleby, Minneiska; Hans M. Johnson, Pipestone; Christ Effertz, Norwood; O.J. Oyen, Watson; F.E. Older, California State Normal School, Los Angeles, Cal.; Erick Sparre, Elk River; E. H. Mazey, 3029 Ewing So., Minneapolis.

There is still room in this list for others, and why not instead of paying annual membership year after year make one payment and have done with it?

RESOLUTION ABOUT STATE FLOWER.--The following resolution was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Minnesota Garden Flower Society, held during the annual session of the State Horticultural Society, in December last.

Resolved, That whereas, The State of Minnesota has adopted a
state flower, which, on account of its being a native of the
woods and bogs, is not generally known or recognized, and

Whereas, The State of Minnesota in 1893 adopted by legislative
vote a state flag, which emblem is not generally known to the
residents of the state, and believing that familiarity with the
state flower and the state flag will do good and create loyalty
to the state and union;

Be It Resolved, That we, the Minnesota State Horticultural
Society, do hereby petition and pray the state legislature of
Minnesota, to have printed an attractive picture of the state
flower and the state flag, properly framed, and present it to
the high schools of the state, with the request that it be
placed upon the wall of their assembly room.

Also, that it be furnished free of cost, to such other public
buildings as may be deemed advisable.

PROGRAM, "FARMERS' WEEK."--During "Farmers' Week" at University Farm, January 1-7, 1917, there will be scheduled several conferences which fruit and vegetable growers should find of value to them in their work. These conferences deal with all of the problems of the grower, but special afternoons are given to the small fruits, the tree fruits, and vegetables. Next January will be the third conference of the fruit growers, the second for the vegetable growers, and the first for the small fruit growers as a separate branch of the fruit work.

Mr. W. G. Brierly, Chairman of the Division of Horticulture, University Farm, is working on programs for these conferences for next January. He will be very glad to have any one interested write to him for information or to suggest topics for discussion. The program for the vegetable growers' conference will be drawn up by a joint committee from the St. Paul and Minneapolis vegetable growers, working with Mr. Brierly. The committee is planning to meet at the time of the summer meeting of the Horticultural Society and will, of course, welcome any suggestions as to topics and speakers.