WISCONSIN

HORTICULTURE

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Roses.

June is the month of roses. Also of rose bugs and diseases. None of these enemies need cause greait' concern; all can be con trolled and we may have fine bloom, clean, healthy, shining foliage and vigorous plants in spite of them. Sometimes I think because of them.

Three things are needed: thoro conviction on your part that you are bigger than any bug or any aggregation of bugs; a “bucket” sprayer (the little mason jar or tin squirt guns are an abomination) ; a quantity of arsenate of lead, nicotine sulphate and some lime-sulphur. The arsenate of lead is for slugs and other eating animals, the nicotine sulphate for aphids, commonly known as “lice,” and the lime-sulphur for mildew.

These used singly are needed or in certain combinations will insure results stated above, for all except the rose chafer. When this offspring of darkness comes, say your prayers. Aside from that there is little that will avail. This pest comes overnight, in great numbers, and eats buds, blossoms and leaves while you are getting ready. Try arsenate of lead, plenty, with something sticky, say molasses, and then hope for the best.

Mildew attacks mostly climbing roses and other kinds that are planted close to buildings. Roses thrive best out in the open where there is a free circulation of air at all times. Try lime-sulphur solution 1 to 40. Usually it kills the mildew and sometimes the foliage. Dry sulphur dusted in the leaves sometimes kills the mildew.

Send us some good rose photographs.

We All Get This Way.

Oak Holler, Wis.

Dear Friends :—It’s hard work to write when the orchards and the woods are calling me—I just want to run away to the woods and the water, to wander through the orchards, to listen to the chirp of the robin and the song of the wren, to see how near I can get to where she is building her nest before she commences to scold me and tell me to go on about my business.

I wouldn’t care if this editor man scowled or not; I wouldn’t care if there were dandelions in my strawberry patch; nor if the seeds were planted in my garden beds—I would just go and play for a spell.

Those old-fashioned ideas I learned in that old-fashioned garden of my grandmother’s when I thought I was having such a good time tagging around after her.

I did run away for a time to a beautiful old farm where the apple, cherry and pear trees were in bloom, where stately evergreens shield a low, rambling old white farmhouse, whose door opens hospitably as you drive up and whose sweet-faced, white-haired mistress greets you warmly. I like to go there. I always feel as I drive away that I want to go back. Isn’t that a nice, comfortable feeling to have when your visit is over—the desire to go back again ? There’s a charm about this old-fashioned home that three generations of the same family have lived in. There’s a happy blending of old orchard and young, of years-old spruce and balsam with tiny trees just set out. The old-fashioned house is flanked with new-fashioned barns. Tractors and horses work the broad acres, gasoline engines pump the water, churn the butter and do the washing. Inside the house the big. low. old-fashioned rooms with windows filled with plants provide a propel setting for home-like furniture.

Every time I go out there I think what a pity there aren’t more farms like this. It’s a great thing to live on a farm that your father and his father wrested from the wilderness —to know they loved the same home and trees you are loving and living with. We need more of these homes; it’s a great heritage to hand down to the coming generation. We need to get that feeling of peace and contentment. So don’t feel discontented, you mothers and fathers, when your boy or your girl decides they want to live on a farm instead of following the other profession you have chosen for them.

—Johnnie.

Some printer put it “Fiends of Our Native Landscape”—which is really not so bad!

Announcements.

The Summer Meeting of the State Horticultural Society will be held in Oshkosh. August 17th and 18th.

Owing to the enforced absence of Secretary Cranefield, Vice-president H. C. Christensen, 1625 9th St.. Oshkosh, will have charge of arrangements for program, outings, etc.

Inquiries concerning the Summer Meeting should be sent to Mr. Christensen.

The July issue of WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE may be much delaved. Readers are asked to be patient.

Wisconsin 'Horticulture

Published Monthly by the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society 16 N. Carroll St

Official organ of the Society.

FREDERIC <'R AXEFIELD, Editor.

Secretary ^V. S. H. 8., Madison, Wis.

Entered at the postofflce at Madison, Wisconsin, as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of popstage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 15, 1918.

Advertising rates made known on application.

Wisconsin State Horticultural Society

Annual membership fee, one dollar, which includes fifty cents, subscription price to Wisconsin Horticulture. Send one dollar to Frederic Cranefield, Editor, Madison, Wis.

Remit by Postal or Express Money Order. A dollar bill may be sent safely if wrapped or attached to a card. Personal checks accepted.

Postage stamps not accepted.

officers

J. A. Hays........................President

H. C. Christensen, Oshkosh.......Vice-President

F. Cranefleld, Secretary-Treasurer.......Madison

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

J. A. Hays.......................Ex 2£^cio

H. C. Christensen..................Ex-Officio

F. Cranefleld .....................Ex-Officio

1st Dist, Wm. Longland........Lake Geneva

2nd Dist., R. J. Coe............Ft. Atkinson

3rd Diet., E. J. Frautschi...........Madison

4th Dist,, A. Leidiger ............Milwaukee

5th Dist., James Livingstone........Milwaukee

6th Dist,, J. W. Roe...............Oshkosh

7th Dist., C. A. Hofmann...........Baraboo

Sth Dist., J. E. Leverich.............Sparta

9th Dist., L. E. Birmingham.....Sturgeon Bay

10th Dist., Paul E. Grant..........Menomonie

11th Dist.. Irving Smith.............Ashland

BOARD OF MANAGERS

J. A. Hays H. C. Christensen F. Cranefleld

Something Must Be Done; Let’s Do It

It has been said that there are at least three kinds of liars: liars, damn liars and fishermen. Also it is beginning to be evident that there is a similar classification for thieves, the superlative kind being the “highly respectable” who own automobiles, either in fee simple or mortgaged; the kind that raids gardens and orchards, committing petty and grand larceny. Clever (?) people, from the city, always, who would not dare steal from a neighbor’s garden, who would froth at the mouth if you called them thieves, just common thieves, who go out into the country in automobiles and return with wild flowers and plants dug from the roadside or from private property, who brazenly enter gardens and gather vegetables of any and every kind, who enter orchards or front yards where fruit trees are growing and, not only steal the fruit but damage the trees. If remonstrance is offered by the owner it is usually met w’ith abuse.

Quite often the male thief remains in the car while the females of the species do the raiding. Being too much of a coward to venture out himself he hides behind women’s skirts, or so much as are left of them.

There may be some who read this who will doubt if such things are possible, that people who pose as respectable at home, who ride in automobiles, actually do such things. For answer ask almost any farmer or gardener in this or any other state.

The editor has heard related instances by trustworthy people that really seemed beyond belief.

Such things have happened hundreds of times and the contemptible practice is increasing. It is a serious matter, not only the standpoint of financial loss to the farmers, fruit growers and gardeners, and the growing disregard for property rights, but the bitter feeling engendered. Farmers feel, and rightly, that they are held in contempt by city people, that their rights are not worth consideration. The most regretable part of the whole dirty business is that the thieves are generally ones who want to be considered respectable at home.

Now what can be done to protect ourselves? We cannot advocate violence, although Editor Collingwood of the Rural New Yorker suggests flogging. This punishment seems fit.

One way, and a good one, if you can catch the thieves, is to invoke the law. Secure the license number, swear out a warrant and appear against them. The trouble lies in catching them.

You cannot spend all of your time in watching your crop^i, but you have a telephone and every automobile has a license number.

If the thieves get away before you can get the license number, telephone down the line to your neighbors and have them spot the car. When you get this write or wire the facts to this office. Just across the street from this office is the office of the Secretary of State; every license number is on file.

We do not care to outline our plan of action just now but we will see what publicity will do. both statewide and thru your local paper. Be sure of your facts. Be sure about the license number, the number and sex of the thieves and as full a description of them as possible.

To protect yourself this Society will help to protect you. No communication will be published without consent of the writer but expressions of opinion on this subject for publication are most earnestly desired.

By the time this is printed, June, the thievery will be well under way. Play detective, suffer the loss from one raid in order to get the license number and other facts for identity and report at once to this office.

Who Knows?

A member asks: “Do you know anything about the Golden Winesap apple or the Red Wing apple? Would it be advisable to plant them in Lincoln county?”

“Red Wing” sounds like Minnesota, but “Golden Winesap” is a new one. Who knows?

Asked for Bread And,—

This is a hard, cold, unfeeling world. When you try to do a good, deed you are too often misunderstood ; someone accuses you of ulterior motives. As an example, last month we recommended a list of apples for Forest county, including two Hibernals. Now here comes Kern of Sparta, who says:

“Dear Cranefield:

“Have you some old grudge against the unfortunate, who is leaving Milwaukee for a new farm in Forest county, when you recommend the planting of two Hibernals, or are you getting a commission on sale of that variety of apple trees to help nurseries dispose of the undesirables? Or, are you aiding the sugar trust? Either of the above offenses should be made criminal and a secretary found guilty punished according to law. You should be kind to the poor unfortunate. He will remember you to eternity if he ever fruits the Hibernal and tries to eat it. I should prefer to go down in the annals of horticultural history as a “friend” of the beginner rather than languish eternally in the infernal regions for guilt of such an unkindness, even if it is a cold day. Sincerely,         Kern.”

Now, everybody who knows the Hibernal knows it will live in F rest county, that it will make a fine, sturdy tree with big, shiny leaves, an ornament to any front vard and that the wood is vain able for many purposes. It will also bear apples. Nothing was said about eating the apples.

Persiflage aside, the writer has no hesitation in recommending the despised Hibernal for northern Wisconsin. The tree is as hardy as the native pines, the fruit when thoroly ripe is much better than no apple at all, quite the equal of Ben Davis but will not keep as long.

Easter Lily Blooms From Seed in Fifteen Months.

Commercial florists may become independent of imported lily bulbs for forcing for the Easter trade, in the opinion of specialists of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.

When it first became known that experiments in raising Easter lilies from seed were being carried on by the Department of Agriculture, few florists were prepared to believe that the undertaking possessed any commercial value beyond the possibilities of producing new hybrids. The results of these experiments, which have now been carried on for four years, indicate, the department specialists believe, that this country can develop an important industry.

Imported Bulbs Often Carry-Disease

Heretofore practically all the Easter lilies produced in this country have been grown from bulbs imported from Bermuda and Japan. In these countries the bulbs are grown in the open and by the time they are ready to be dug and shipped the season is well advanced. When the bulbs reach this country it is necessary to force them rapidly in order to get blooms by Easter. Another disadvantage in using imported bulbs, the specialists point out, is that frequently they carry diseases which cause severe loss to the florists.

On the Arlington Experimental

Farm, which is just across the Potomac River from Washington, department specialists produce the lily seeds in greenhouses by artificial pollination. These seeds are planted about January 1, pricked out into small pots, and in May the young plants are set in the open ground. They develop rapidly, and by July or August some of the plants reach sufficient size to bear blooms. In October or November the plants are lifted, potted, and removed to the greenhouse. Without undue forcing the plants will come into full bloom the following February to April—15 months after the seed had been planted. Those plants which bloom in July or August and from which the bloom stalk has been cut may send out two or three stalks and can be forced to bloom again by Easter.

Practically no losses have been experienced in growing bulbs from seed, and a remarkably large number of bulbs can be secured in a short time. On the Arlington Farm this work was begun about four years ago with five plants, and there is now a stock of between 15,000 to 20,000 bulbs in the field which were protected by heavy mulch during the winter, and approximately 1,500 plants blooming in the greenhouses.

It is interesting to note that the bulbs grown from seed produce a larger number of blooms than those imported from Japan and Bermuda. One commercial grower, who imports a million bulbs from Japan annually, reports to the department that he produces an average of 2% blooms for each bulb. In the Arlington greenhouses bulbs grown from seed produced as many as 12 or more blooms, while 7 to 10 flowers on a stalk are common.

Grasshoppers Again!

Have you ever heard of banana oil (amvl acetate) ? It is a colorless liquid which has a very penetrating odor somewhat like bananas and pears. The Montana Experiment Station has shown in grasshopper campaigns the past two seasons that amyl acetate is far more attractive to grasshoppers in poison bait than lemons, oranges, or salt alone. “County agents and farmers having once tried the amyl acetate flavored poisoned bran mash would use nothing else.”

This oil may be secured thru drug stores and is well worth trying. It is cheaper than lemons, reduces labor in mixing, and it also adds greatly to the effectiveness of the bait. The formula to use then would be as follows: Bran.............................. 25 lbs.

Paris green or white arsenic ...

..................................................1  lb. Salt ................................... 1 lb.

Amyl acetate.......12 teaspoonfuls

Water ................................10 quarts

—Charles L. Fluke.

How to Check Pocket Gophers

Judging from the number of letters received, pocket gophers are becoming a serious menace to Wisconsin farmers. The following control measures are advocated by the Biological Survey at Washington :

Pocket gophers are readily caught in any one of several makes of special traps commonly on the market, and a few of these suffice to keep small areas free of the pests. For ridding alfalfa fields, orchards and long stretches of ditch embankments of them, a very successful and much more practical method is to poison them by use of baits of sweet potato or of parsnips placed in their underground runways.

The baits should be cut about 1 inch long and J/> inch square and washed and drained. From a pepper box slowly sift % ounce of powdered strychnine (alkaloid and 1/1) of this quantity of saccharine (ground together in a mortar) over about 4 quarts of the dampened baits, stirring to distribute the poison evenly.

The runways, which are usually 4 to 8 inches beneath the surface, can be located by means of a probe made of any strong handle an inch in diameter and 36 inches long. One end should be bluntly pointed. Into the other should be fitted a piece of inch iron rod, protruding about 12 inches, and bluntly pointed. A foot rest aids in probing in hard soils. By forcing down the iron rod near gopher workings, or a foot or two back of fresh mounds, the open tunnel can be felt as the point breaks into it. The blunt end of the instrument is then used carefully to enlarge the hole, a bait or two is dropped into the run, and the probe hole closed.

One soon becomes expert in locating the runs and a man can treat 300 to 500 gopher workings in a day. Baits need be placed at only two points in each separate system of 10 to 30 mounds, which is usually the home of a single gopher. Experience has shown that baits placed fairly in the open run invariably kill the gophers. The method has found great favor whever introduced.

Caution.

All poison containers and all utensils used in the preparation of poisons should be kept plainly labeled and out of reach of children, irresponsible persons and live stock.

Nicotine Sulphate Dust for Truck Crop Pests

Nicotine sulphate dust has been so effective against the walnut aphis that the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, decided t<> test it on truck crop insects. Recommendations based on the results of these tests are to be found in Department Circular 154.

While a 2 per cent mixture of the 40 per cent nicotine sulphate was sufficient to kill the walnut aphis, it was soon apparent that for other species a stronger proportion must be mixed with the kaolin. The melon aphis required about 5 per cent of the poison, bur with that amount the results were entirely satisfactory. The most satisfactory type of machine for applying the dust was found t > be a hand-operated bellows duster. With such a machine one man can cover two acres of full-grown melon plants in a day. using about 50 pounds of the mixture. The nicotine sulphate-kao-lin mixture costs about 12 cents a pound in the 5 per cent strength..

The cabbage aphis succumbed to a 6 per cent mixture. The pea aphis, onion thrips and western cucumber beetles were all suscep tible to the dust in various strengths. The proper proportions and methods of application are given in the circular.

The development of this poison puts a very effective weapon in the hands of the truck grower, specialists of the department say. Dust can be applied more easily and quickly than spray, and larger areas can be treated in a given time. Its killing efficiency is always equal and usually excels that of spray. It costs less than spray and power dusters are cheaper than power sprayers. In dust form the poison can be combined with arsenate of lead or sulphur and applied dry for insects and fungous diseases.

Nicotine dust will lose its strength if it is not kept in airtight packages. It is sometimes disagreeable to the operator, particularly if the latter is inexperienced. It cannot be combined with Bordeaux mixture except when the latter is dry.

In action the nicotine sulphate is similar to nicotine sulphate spray but much more rapid. When used as recommended by the Department of Agriculture, the dust has proved superior to spray in controlling certain insect pests.

Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms

Mrs. J. E. English, Baraboo

In these day when everyone is seeking for good food at reasonable prices, we turn with redoubled interest to edible mushrooms which are provided for us like manna from heaven, without toil and without price.

This vegetable food, which has great nutritive value, is said by some authorities to be of little benefit to us. as for some mysterious reason we do not assimilate the nourishment it contains. However. I am not convinced that this is true. I have often notice 1 that a meal at which mushrooms were the principle dish was quite as satisfactory and sustaining as one where meat was served. At any rate, they make a very inviting and appetizing change in our bill-of-fare, and the fact that birds, squirrels and many animals eat them indicates that their food value is assimilable.

There is no one rule by which to determine whether or not a fungus is edible.

If you want to be able to distinguish thein either have a teach er or get “The Mushroom Book” by Nina L. Marshall, or “A Thou sand American Fungi” by Chas. Mcllvaine, which is somewhat more scientific than Miss Mar shall’s book.

If you are fond of the natural sciences you will find fungi a most enjoyable study. In the first place learn the different parts of the plant. Then cut the pileus or cap from the stem of a specimen and place it with the gills down on a piece of white paper, and leave it undisturbed for several hours. On lifting the cap carefully you should see the spore print. Examining that with a magnifying glass you will find it made up of tiny spherical forms. The color and shape of these tiny spors determine the series to which the fungus belongs. Now bv careful observation of its various charac teristics you can go on and classify it. You may have the pleasure perhaps of discovering new varieties, for new kinds appear often.

There are the white-pink or red-tan-brown or purple and black spored series.

In the white spored series are (To page 179.)

Natural Park Areas

The movement that is on in Wisconsin to preserve places of striking natural beauty in their wild state should be supported by all. If something is not done at an early date, posterity will be penalized for our lack of vision as to the true value of preserving healthful and recreational fields. It is a move in which farmers, merchants, manufacturers and professional men, especially, should interest themselves. It will mean so much to all men, women and children of all ages to have preserved wild park areas.

Importance of Keeping Young

Too many men in middle life learn from sad experiences that the enormous amount of energy, enthusiasm and both physical and intellectual energy which they had accumulated during their childhood and youth on the farm, in the village, along stream, around lakes, became exhausted because of the lack of opportunity for health and recreational areas suitable for them during their adult life. Too many men fail to know the importance of preserving their physical strength at all times and in consequence thereof, we find their untimely separation from service and their health, energy and enthusiasm taken from them because of their failure to go out-of-doors to enjoy advantages that park areas supply.

Wisconsin Should Imitate

The Hanging Gardens of Bombay and the Parks of Calcutta have proven great assets to India. Switzerland’s beauties have been enhanced by the preservation of park areas in county and in city. Geneva is noted the world over for her attractive courts, her wonderful roads and her beautiful park areas. You find it on every hand in Geneva—gardens, trees, shrubs and beautiful lawns. Wisconsin should not hesitate to imitate Switzerland because the state is termed rightly “The Switzerland of America.”

The Demand for Beauty

We all realize that barren fields are no more inviting than barren walls, board fences and belching smoke-stacks. Barrenness always causes depreciation and lack of true enjoyment. It causes mankind to lose its better human impulses. There is a deep-rooted instinct in man that demands nature. The sight of trees and flowers has a soothing effect on the mind and soul, it refreshes and cheers. It is well known that the presence of trees and flowers is felt even by the blind. Cities that have not realized this fact, or sections of cities that have not conserved park areas have had property values go down and down and down. This fact is true everywhere. Those cities that have provided park areas at convenient places have had property values facing on the parks increase more and more from year to year. Parks are nothing more than community lawns. The country needs community lawns or park areas for country folk just as much as the urban population needs same.

Patience Needed

Wisconsin has at least a thousand small areas that should be set aside and conserved as county parks. To succeed in the movement that is now on in Wisconsin we need the support and backing of every public spirited citizen. Those who are advocating the idea are looked upon as visionary men and women and will have to stand for insults and rebuffs from those who fail to comprehend the importance of the undertaking.

A survey should be made in Wisconsin this summer to determine the exact location of scenic hilltops, beautiful river banks, attractive lake shores and historic spots that would make suitable park areas. This survey should be followed up by systematic effort to secure title in the public from the private individuals fur same. There should be no delay in this preliminary work if we ar really anxious to preserve Wisconsin’s wild natural beauty. Every year finds more woodlots cut down, more water fronts grabbed up by water hogs so that the public cannot obtain them for public use with funds that can be made available. Let friends take courage to press forward the movement to preserve and conserve wild natural beauty spots as parkareas.

Source of Support

The Friends of Our Native Landscape Society, organized about a year ago, has for its cardinal principle this great work. It is an organization of men and women banded together for m> selfish purpose but for the purpose of helping along the movement to make Wisconsin a better place in which to live. It behooves not only members of Friends of Our Native Landscape, but all good citizens to lend their support and exercise their ener gies to keep Wisconsin the “Yellowstone Park of the Middle West.” Wisconsin has more beautiful drives and more scenic vistas along the drives than any state in the Union. Its highways are well built, well maintained, well marked and are inviting to (To page 178.)

Apples shipped in this practical and useful package will sell more quickly and at better prices. The Pa Sa Co 19 INCH CORRUGATED PAD protects the top layer of apples from lip cutting or bruising.

Retailers and Commission Men prefer to have apples and other fruits shipped in the UNIVERSAL PACKAGE on account of the attractive displays made possible by this package.

Write for prices and interesting pamphlet, Career of Bushel Basket.

Shipment made from nearest factory: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas and Texas.

Package Sales Corporation, South Bend, Ind .

210 Union Trust Bldg.                                                  South Bend, Ind.

Natural Park Areas.

(Continued front page 176.) tourists to travel over. The hills, the valleys, the rivers and the lakes are not equalled in manv sections and are not surpassed in any state. Let us capitalize this asset by home appreciation. To the hog, the diamond has no value whatever. Wisconsin’s citizens must not stoop to the brute plane in the matter of lack of appreciation for our valuable asset. Wisconsin’s wild native flowers, shrubbery and trees, especially along our highways, when not in line of traffic, should be conserved. Vigilance on the part of the citizens of the state in this matter must be exercised in order to assure preservation. Many road builders do not rise to the high plane they should in this matter. For this reason we have observed in many places the grubbing out of the wild sumac, the grape vine, the hazel brush and the columbine.

Destruction of Nature Must

Not Continue

Is it possible that this vandalism, this destruction of wild native beauty must continue? Are we talking to those patrolmen as Mary talked when she said, “Stop, stop, pretty brook”? Is it not a responsibility that rests on highway authorities to say to the patrolmen and to other men who are continually needlessly destroying roadside beauty, “Stop, stop, no longer shall you be permitted to destroy Wisconsin’s valuable assets,” because as Browning says, “I am still a lover of the meadows, of the woods and the mountains and all that we behold from the green earth. This prayer I make, knowing that Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

Nature has provided Wisconsin with tall pine, sturdy oak, bending elm, weeping willow, shrubs, hedges and trailing vines and it is our duty to see that this quietness and beauty which feed us with lofty thoughts, curb our evil tongues, soften our harsh judgments and make us forget our selfishness are preserved.

Free to Everybody

Suitable county park areas in Wisconsin are not distributed in one section or in one county but in every section and every county of the state. The springs by the roadside should be free to the public as sunlight and the atmosphere. This will be made possible if the program of The Friends of Our Native Landscape is carried

Berry boxes and crates, either in the flat or made up complete; Climax grape and peach baskets; till or repacking baskets; bushel and half bushel shipping baskets, and tree protectors at remarkably low prices.

Send for our circular and prices before plating your orders.

SHEBOYGAN FRUIT BOX CO.

SHEBOYGAN, WIS.

out. The problem must be approached in all seriousness and earnestness by men of understanding, vision and courage. It is,ia problem that will not be solved by the ignorant, superficial and selfish. It is vital to the welfare of the living and the countless unborn generations. Its proper solution will exalt the imagination, broaden the vision and deepen the pure and unselfish undertakings of mankind.

—John A. Hazelwood.

Poisonous Mushrooms.

(Continued from page 175.) many of our valuable agarics and also the most poisonous one known, the Death Cup. Everyone should learn to recognize this dangerous fungus readily, as it has been the occasion of many deaths. It usually grows in rather sparse woods, singly, or two and very occasionally a cluster of three. The cap, or pileus, is white, buff or tan, from two to four inches across. The stalk is white and from 3 to 6 inches tall, and about it drops a beautiful deep annulus. At the bottom the stalk is surrounded by a cqp or volva. I advise all amateurs to avoid using any mushroom which has a volva until they have become really expert in classifying varieties.

The good Lepiotas belong to the white spored series, but in this family is one very black sheep. It is most attractive, the large white caps glisten in the green grass. Their spore fruit condemns them —it is made up of pale green spores, and the mushroom is very poisonous.

From May to October you may look on your lawns and treebanks for the glistening Coprimus. for with the first warm rains of spring our little friends arrive. They are small, tan colored caps growing in large clusters, packed closely together. They have an agreeable, nutty flavor raw, and are delicious creamed. The Co-prinus family is large. It has black spores. As they mature the gills deliquese and drip a black, inky fluid.

The Antramentarius is another fine member of this family, which also appears frequently throughout the season. It is gray and grows in great profusion where cottonwood or poplar trees have stood. It is a firm, meaty mushroom and a general favorite. The Shaggy Mane, which is found in the fall, is perhaps the best known member of this family. The tall, cone shaped caps are white trimmed with a little brown and look very stately in the green law’n. They are especially fine fried or in fritters. We might call the Coprinus family a domestic group, for the various edible members are found growing about our homes.

Just now, in May and June, are found the morels, Mojchella Escti-lenta. They are easily identified for they much resemble a cone shaped sponge on top of a short, white, hollow stalk. The whole surface is pitted or honeycombed and the spore sacks are embedded in it. They are found under any nut bearing tree, and often in orchards and oak groves. They are most tempting rolled in flour and fried brown. This family has no poisonous members—not one of them is even suspicious.

Another family of which you need have no fear is the puff balls. None of them is poisonous. They should be gathered while the spore bearing interior is still (Continued on page 181.)

“It is wonderful” is sure to be the exclamation of everyone who views the magnificent growth of Golden Seal and Ginseng in the Williams-Meyer garden at Loganville.

The “garden” comprises an acre and a half all under “roof,” every foot of ground occupied by healthy, thrifty plants, not a waste space, not a weed in sight, but a sea of sturdy stalks everywhere in the allotted enclosure.

Yes, it takes an enclosure to successfully grow either golden seal or ginseng—why—because both plants are native only of dense forests where they thrive only in rich, mellow, leafmold soil, modestly hidden beneath the dense foliage of forest shrubs, leafy ferns or tangled vines and briars.

To produce like conditions Messrs. Williams and Meyer have erected a shed or shelter and covered the sides and roof all with lath so that the light may filter through and the rain may not be excluded, for next to fertile, mellow soil, moisture and shade—both in the right amounts are necessary for perfect results.

They selected a sloping hillside, not too steep nor yet too flat for their experiment, for they started this plat some 8 years ago and when there were few who dared even in a small way to try to cultivate and grow either.

In the construction of this shelter more than 7,000 large posts were set and in all something like 75,000 feet of lumber are said to have been used.

While the structure itself involved a very large amount of work it was a small task compared to the infinite patience and labor required to search the woods for the plants.

Having their enclosure ready, the ground was platted in beds 6x50 feet or 6x100 feet as needed and the plants brought from the woods and transplanted or the seed gathered from the forest and planted here.

When the ground was ready and the seed gathered the seed was placed on top of the ground and the bed covered with leaves also brought in the autumn from the woods.

The golden seal seed seems to work itself into the ground and the next spring the first sprigs of the plant appear. With the ginseng it is different for the seeds do not germinate for a year and it is 18 months before the new plant shows itself above the ground and through the leaf covering.

As it takes about six years for either the golden seal or the ginseng to attain its majority a portion of the field will be ready to harvest this coming year.

Of the two plants, the ginseng root is the most valuable, pound for pound, but it is the hardest to produce and seldom does its best when grown alone. The market frequently quotes the dried roots at $12.00 to $15.00 per pound. By far the greater amount of ginseng is exported to China where it is highly prized as a medicine.

The golden seal is also valuable for its dried roots, the open market value being about one-third that of ginseng.

It is from the golden seal that some of the most used and highly valued medicine is made. The source of supply has been and still is that gathered from the wild by those who often make a business of searching the woods and gathering and drying and marketing the roots.

Golden Seal and Ginseng are both common or rather used to be common plants in the northern states east of Mississippi rirer, but like the buffalo, the deer and the wild fowl, the demands of the settlers have nearly caused their extinction.

In the early days Sauk County was an especially favored field for these plants. The fertile, mouldy soil, the dense shade and woody nooks and moist, woodsy places made ideal conditions for perfect growth and development of the plants and here they abounded and grew to perfection.

Even now it is not unusual for bands of Indians to come from their reservation near Tomah and camp along some of the streams and even on the ridges and stay several weeks in a place while they hunt for sang and seal.

Nor was it the Indians only who loved to profit especially in the early days, for many a settler found his tax money and the necessary “change” to run his household by spending a portion of his time In spring and fall, digging those roots. In the spring after a forest fire almost the first plants to appear would be the sang and seal and then were most easily found.

Within the last twenty years a “find” of sang only a few mi.es from the'city of Reedsburg netted the lucky discoverer several hundred dollars and the roots were all dug in a day or two.

It Is None Too Early

to begin planning for what you will plant in the fall of 1921 or spring of 1922. We will have a complete line of fruit, shade and ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials and small fruits to select from.

Before placing your order take this matter up with us.

The Coe, Converse & Edwards Co.

Fort Atkinson, Wis.

Fichett’s Dahlias

have acquired somewhat of a reputation wherever grown. At no time has there been such an interest in dahlias as now. Trial collection (list price $2.40) mailed anywhere in U. S. with cultural instructions on receipt of $2.00.

Oregon Beauty, Dec. large oriental red

Roue, Show, dark roue Floradora, Cactus, dark blood red

Cecelia, Peony-flowered, lemon yellow

Queen Wilhelmina, Peony-flowered, pure white

John Green, Peony-flowered, yellow center, acarlet tip

All grown in Wisconsin and not subject to any F. H. B. quarantine.

J. T. FITCHETT

JaneNville, Win.

However, it is a fact that it is now a problem for the most diligent “sanger” to go to the woods and dig enough roots even to pay his board. The plant is getting very scarce and di^cult to find and the high prices recently quoted have brought It near extinction.

It is this condition that has caused many people to try to raise the plants and not all have met with success, but there are many small plats in this and in other states.

Some idea of the labor and care required to properly raise these plants may be known when we learn that each fall the entire garden is covered with a thick layer of forest leaves. It is to this producing so nearly and so perfectly the natural conditions that these gentlemen have met with such success.

Certainly it is a beautiful sight in the spring time to see the many thousands of plants springing through the brown covering of leaves and later in the summer to behold the solid mat or carpet-like covering of the green, so thick as to show not a break or hardly the location of the paths between the beds, some 128 of them if all counted. Or perhaps the most beautiful of all is the autumn scene here when the ripening berries show their flaming scarlet of the ginseng mingling with the more sombre tones of the fruit of the golden seal showing through the solid mat of green leaves.—From Reedsburg Free Press.

Poisonous Mushrooms.

(Continued from page 179.) white. After paring off the hard outer rind, cut in half inch slices, dip in beaten egg and milk and fry slowly, keeping the pan covered. All mushrooms should be highly seasoned with salt and pa-prica.

I could go on telling you of numberless varieties which grow about us, for they are here in legions, but this little group of common ones are surely enough for one evening.

American Honey Producers’ League

Mr. H. B. Parks, Secretary of the League, writes that the Wisconsin Association Is the first one to increase its membership over the necessary 100. We now have 105 members in the League. Every member of the League should have received a copy of the League Bulletin by this time and if not, please notify us and, we will see that you get one. Mr. Parks writes that the material for national advertising has been made up and that an advertisement will soon appear. Wisconsin beekeepers have contributed $150 to the advertising fund and we hope that more will come in.

Wisconsin Honey Producers’ Co-operative Association and the 1921 Honey Crop

In the next issue of Wisconsin Horticulture we hope to be able to present a plan of operation for the coming season. Our beekeepers should take an active interest in the development of this association, as the competition for a market is becoming greater all the time.

An Infallible Method for Introducing Laying Queens

The season for introducing queens on a large scale will soon be at hand. And since the loss of a valuable queen, caused through some blunder in the mode of introducing, produces one of the keenest disappointments in the much credished hopes of a bee enthusiast, I have concluded to publish my infallible method of introduction through the columns of the Wisconsin Horticulture. of any kind, over a strong, queen-right colony, having brood in all stages. Be sure the colony is real strong. Place the queen to be introduced, on top of the brood frames in the shipping cage she came in, if received through the mail. Or place in a round queen cage, between the top bars. Have a stopper of candy in the cage, and if a mailing cage remove the tin over the candy and place cage containing the queen, bees and all on top of the frame. Now take the hive, which should be well filled with bees, and place on a bottom board, cover up bee-tight, put a wire guard across the entrance so no bees can get out. Put the now newly formed colony where it is wanted. Leave closed up for three or four days, after which time remove the entrance guard at dusk. Do not open hive for six to eight days, when you will have a new colony of bees which can be manipulated like any other In the yard.

When making a wooden stopper for round cage, see to it that the hole inside is not obstructed by fibers of wood, for in that case the queen will not come out. The stopper should be about an inch long, the hole five-sixteenths inch or larger. The candy should be packed in tight; the mailing cage should be looked at to see that there is a goodly amount of candy left in the releasing hole.

Before closing, I will add for the benefit of the beginner that, if a queen has to be introduced into a queenless colony, it is much safer to introduce first as above stated, and then unite the queenless and the queen-right, a la Dr. C. C. Miller, again using a queen excluder, as a Virgin might be in the queenless and cause trouble. In hot weather shade the hive as long as the entrance is dosed.

—A. C. F. Bartz.

The Wisconsin Honey Grading Law

By C. D. Adams

If a business man from Mars were to drop down upon us he would probably be very much interested in our systems of marketing some farm products and amazed at our lack of system in getting rid of other equally desirable foods.

When we visit almost any city market we find a certain uniformity in the marketing of garden vegetables. The radishes, onions, beets, etc., are invariably tied in uniform bunches, the cucumbers assorted according to size, and so on through the whole list of vegetables. This has resulted through good business methods rather than through marketing organizations.

When we come to the fruit market we find more uniform ways of selling, though in many places we still see apples marketed in bags and any old box, or even in bulk. But in almost •every village we And New York apples of at least fair uniformity in uniform barrels. We are still more certain to find scientifically correctly graded apples uniformly packed in boxes made with mathematical correctness, and on the ends are artistically designed labels. I recently saw a carload of this print unloaded in a small county nbsp;seat in the very center of one of our apple growing sections.

When I ask merchants if our apples are not as good as the western apple, they invariably say they are of better quality, but they add the information that people buy that which appeals to the eye more than by the sense of taste. Our Wisconsin apple grading law does not apply to apples marketed in open boxes and bags.

The uniform size and color of the correctly packed apple sells it while our own Wealthies of unquestionably superior quality shrivel up and rot in their bushel basket or burlap bag at their side.

This same principle holds good through almost the whole list of food products. When we come to the one commodity in which we are most interested we find other states shipping in carloads of inferior honey so far as quality goes, but so much better graded and packed we do not find it easy to meet the competition. I recently saw in Milwaukee a carload of •Colorado Comb honey, and after inspecting it I cannot blame the merchants for ordering it in preference to the average Wisconsin comb honey I have seen in the stores. While I did not sample it, I feel sure the quality did not compare favorably with our clover and basswood honey. But the packing and neat appearance was enough to sell it. Incidentally every section and case was stamped with the producer’s number.

And it Is not in comb honey alone that we have to meet this unequal competition. In almost every village in the state we find bottled honey put up outside the state. In many cases it is probably Wisconsin honey, but it was first shipped to Medina or New York, there to be put in attractive packages to be returned and sold to us. In many cases the bottled honey is of inferior quality. While in northern Wisconsin I recently paid thirty-five cents for an eight-ounce bottle of honey put up in one of our western states. One taste was enough for my children—they said it was not as good as our own honey. In the city of Madison today there are sixteen-ounce bottles of honey selling at sixty cents. We bave had this kind of competition for years and practically the only ones to take advantage of it were some business men of Milwaukee who years ago began to ship in cheap western honey, add to it a small amount of our honey to give It a flavor and sell it in attractive packages all over this and other states. When I asked one of them how much they shipped in, he sidestepped by saying: “We began fifteen years ago by shipping in eleven carloads. We bring in considerably more now.”

This blending, is a commendable thing to do in so far as it gives us a market for a considerable amount of our honey. The unfortunate thing was that each label bore the words, “Packed in Milwaukee, Wis.,” and many merchants and consumers thought they were buying a fair sample of Wisconsin honey.

When our beekeepers take their own superior quality of honey to the store in unlabeled pails and fruit jars, can you blame the grocer for purchasing only a limited quantity at rather a low prices? The uneducated housewife will buy the outside honey with the attractive label and he knows It.

But there is a section where outside honey comes out second best in the competition—in a dozen or more fairsized cities and villages around Lake Winnebago. In that district is a beekeeper, Mr. A. Stevens, who puts a ftne grade of honey in a nice one-pound bottle with a rather plain label. This year he told me that nearly all his 55,000 pounds of honey, if I remember the figures correctly, was marketed in this way. And I am sure from what the grocers told me in every town in that section that I visited that he could easily have marketed twice that amount.

These facts and others I might mention caused the members of this association to take the first step in the right direction one year ago when we voted to adopt uniform grading rules and requested the State Marketing Division to see that they were carried out.

When in September I was drafted by the Marketing Division to assist in the honey grading work I must admit that I was not very enthusiastic about the law. True, I had ordered stamps and was stamping every package of honey that I sold, but I was not sure that it was a step in the right direction.

My first experience was with the Milwaukee bottlers and you may be sure that they were not very enthusiastic about the new rules. Some of them protested in no uncertain terms and threatened to carry a test case to the Supreme Court at the first opportunity. But the one who was the first to object to the rules and who was sure they would not hold in court told me that after due consideration he had come to the conclusion that the grading rules would benefit the dealers more than it would anyone else. Suspecting a “nigger in the wood pile*’ I asked him why and he said: “The biggest trouble that we have is to get the necessary grade of Wisconsin honey to bring the western honey we use up to the necessarj’ grade and color. When we order ‘amber’ honey from a Wisconsin beekeeper we may get any shade from light to dark honey. Even when we order by sample we get a few cans like the sample and the remainder is either lighter or darker than we want. This law may teach our beekeepers to blend their lionev 

and sell it correctly graded. And another trouble we have is that we often get unripe honey that sours. We should welcome any rules that correct these faults.”

dther dealers spoke of the same objections to Wisconsin honey, but did not appear very optimistic about the rules correcting them.

The grocers are also much interested in this law and their first thought is that it is only another rule to cause them trouble. But I have yet to find a merchant who was not convinced the rules would help rather than hinder them when the objects of the grading were fairly presented to him. Again and again they tell me how they have been imposed upon by well-meaning but poorly informd beekeepers who assured them that they had some No. 1 honey. As these men are often good customers they are told to bring in all they have to spare. When it is delivered it is frequently comb honey just as it comes from the hives—not even removed from the super.

Extracted honey is better as a rule, but the grocer is often disappointed with that. So he welcomes any rule that will benefit both producer and retailer. He is our best ally in seeing that the law is not violated, for he cannot afford to become a party to its violation.

But what the dealers think of these rules is only of secondary interest to us. The big question is: “What does the beekeeper think of the rules?” I have visited beekeepers in their homes in nearly all sections of the state and I find a great divergence of opinion of the law. It is not to be expected that the farmer-beekeeper who has a few colonies from which he hopes to get enough honey for his own use every year and enough in good years to sell and buy the necessary supplies with the proceeds, would welcome the grading of honey. But we find exceptions here. He occasionally becomes a real beekeeper and sees in the business a chance to occupy his time and bring in a small income when he retires from more active duties. This class frequently takes a pride in producing something a little nicer than his neighbor and he welcomes the change. The others will probably continue to market the inferior honey marked "Ungraded.”

Neither do we hear a deafening applause from the “side lines.” Some of them seem surprised that the rules apply to their products. Others object to the “principle of the thing’’ and let it go at that. But the rank and file of them are living up to every letter of the law. It is probably from this class that we get the best co-operation In our attempt to standardize our product and let its merits be known.

The one who should be most interested in the rules is the commercial beekeeper, and we find he is. He is either for or against them in no uncertain way. In my visits to this class of beekeepers I have urged them to either suggest improvements or give definite reasons for their objections if they had any. I shall here attempt to give a fair summary of the few objections I have received:

One of our most prominent members felt quite sure the law was wholly bad because he said it had already caused a drop of three cents in the price of honey. It so happened that this drop took place at about the same time that the price of Fords and sugar took the big drop, but he would probably be at a loss to explain what bad (or would it be good?) law caused their downfall.

Another prominent beekeeper had just received a letter from a Milwaukee bottler in which he declined to make an offer for his honey because he said: “We are not buying Wisconsin honey.” This sounded rather alarming and in a few days I visited my friend who had written the letter and asked him what he was offering for Wisconsin honey. He replied: “We are not buying Wisconsin honey—or any other honey.” “Why?” “Why, because we are fairly well stocked up and the way sugar and other things are going down we do not think it good business to buy more than we actually need at present.”

The next objection heard was repeated by quite a number of intelligent men, but was first brought out by the President of the Northeast Beekeepers’ Association. He said in substance that the rules were not so bad in themselves, but the supplementary rules permitting the bottlers to state on the label that the contents is “Pure honey, produced in Wisconsin and ether states” has defeated the very object of the law in that the bottler may use a very small percentage of Wisconsin honey, yet so print the label that the consumer would think it was p r 1 n c ip a 11 y home-produced honey. He insisted that the label should give the exact proportion of Wisconsin honey.

On first thought this sounds not only reasonable, but absolutely unanswerable. But I feel sure that a moment’s reflection will bring out the department’s reason for making the rule. Who among you or even among our university scientists could tell us that a certain sample of honey contained 5 per cent Wisconsin honey and 95 per cent clover or basswood honey from some other state? It is even doubtful if it could be definitely proven that a sample contained a certain amount of Wisconsin honey and the remainder alfalfa honey.

Now, if we could not tell this the only way it could be enforced would probably be to license bottlers and have inspectors always present at the factory to see that the rules were carried out. The U. S. Government does such things, but Wisconsin does not and under present conditions it is not desirable that it should. The expense would be far beyond any good that might come from it.

(Continued in July.)

The Editor would appreciate very much receiving some timely articles from the members. The state convention papers will all be used in the next issue.

ATTENTION! BUSY BEE MEN!

Programs for the big Wisconsin Beekeepers Chautauqua and Field Meet at Chippewa Falls. August 15-20, will be announced complete in the July i. sue Lay your plans to be on the job with your coat off for interesting work!

DOLLARS AND SENSE

“The Olympian,” a trans-continental train, passes the window every morning at 7:55 rushing toward Chicago. Millions of dollars invested and hundreds of men are required to keep this train “On Time.” None object to the fare if the schedule is met, for we pay for Service.

Mr. Begjceeper in Wisconsin asks prompt and complete shipment of “Beeware.” The investment of thousands of dollars and hundreds of men in woods, railroad, factory and branch make this possible. Efficient distribution is costly but we willingly pay for Service.

Beside quality and workmanship, distribution is a part of the legitimate cost of “Beeware” to you. Thus better Service is possible than a small organization can give. Don’t take our word. Spend your Dollars and Sense. A trial will convince you today.

MS WVUAN* MUMM MMPMCNT

BEWARE

WHERE YOU BUY YOUR

BEEWARE

MAKES THE FINEST, oomwarr. *•<. aBiwtwrr

G. B. Lewis Company, M? Watertown, Wise., U.S.A.

Branches: Albany, N. Y.; Memphis, Tenn.; Lawyers (Near Lynchburg), Va. Carlot Distributers Throughout the U. S. A.