It is wartime France, and a hot day in May, rendered infinitely hotter because of the rarity of such temperature. The American troop-train stops again, with the usual series of bumps and jerks, groanings and squeakings. It has made an average of five miles an hour for two days, with the said average speedily diminishing as it nears the front.
A score of enterprising men leap off to see what may be discovered. Their first idea is water, because that in their canteens has long since vanished or has been heated beyond the cooling point; but the officer in charge speedily anticipates and checks their proposed raid on the shallow well of the railroad gatehouse at the crossing, as it is against orders for the men to drink from unknown wells. The gate mistress—for women were doing most of such work in France during 1918—seems surprised that the men are not allowed to drink what to her is “perfectly good” water, which she had started to draw for their use. Noting her disappointment, the officer first thanks her and then tells her that he and his men must obey certain regulations.
Lifting his eyes from the ruddy face of this peasant war worker, he notes for the first time her neat little house, with its tiny but well-kept grounds, but, most striking of all, the wonderful Gloire de Dijon rose which luxuriates and rambles forth over the south side of the cottage, and is even sending forth enterprising shoots on the roof itself. In his stumbling French he felicitates Madame on her beautiful Gloire de Dijon.
“Ah, mon Capitaine, you love the rose ; you know my wonderful one by name—it is most strange! Would you care to see my other plants? I have some very beautiful roses, is it not so? None can compare with mine, everyone says it. Voila mon Capitaine,” as he follows her, “Do you know what this is, and this?” Fortunately for her opinion of him, he does know, and smilingly identifies a fine standard of Lady Ashtown, unmistakably distinct, a Druschki with wonderful petalage and substance and several other well-known varieties, but he is unable to name an attractive yellow climber with a bloom almost like Sinety which she calls Nikola, and he forgets the name of a stalwart specimen of Queen of the Belgians.
It is shaded and cool in the little rose-garden, and the perfume brings back memories of other roses and other gardens, for they are all so much the same in many ways; even the never-failing aphis is busy as usual.
The men crowd nearer; another officer enters the little garden, and Madame is overjoyed to see them all, and does the honors unaffectedly, making all welcome in her delightful French way, quite evidently glad to see them and especially pleased that her roses are so appreciated and admired. Bustling here and there, she points out one bud, just opening, “Is not the color quite exceptional, the stem remarkably long, even for one of my roses?” Another plant must be carefully inspected; “It is a new one and has survived its first winter well; it replaced an old bush which died two years ago. Are there any roses like this in America?” She is glad her visitors grow roses in their gardens; of course they realize that before the war she had very many more varieties than now ; her husband did the work then, and she had time for her beautiful roses.
The Americans linger, forgetful of time, drinking in the beauties of the cool fragrance seasoned with the woman’s gracious hospitality. But it is all interrupted by the warning whistle of the locomotive, given in the usual dwarf squeak of the French production. Everyone but Madame starts for the train; but before they go she must really insist that the officers accept these few blooms she has cut; she will not miss them. So, thanking her and taking the flowers, they regain the train.
In a moment it starts, and soon the little French rose-garden of the gate-keeper’s wife is out of sight. Out of sight, but perhaps its modest glories have given a message to the hearts of the men on the train—the kind of a message that does good. At all events, the three officers talk roses, and forget the tiresome journey in recounting just what varieties they know and deciding what kinds they will grow when they get home.
All have fallen in love with the Dijon. At lunchtime one orderly states that his family in Nantucket have some very wonderful roses. He describes the house and just where the plants . are. and it brings up a picture of the qua,int island village. , i
After this experience it was easy to keep a lookout and note the roses grown and the difference between the wayside garden in France and America. Generally speaking, one finds that the French like standards, and such seem to thrive better over there than they usually do with us. But the one rose which stands out is Gloire de Dijon, and this applies from Clermontferrand, in central France, clear to Nancy.
Was it Dean Hole who said that were he placed on an island and allowed only one rose bush he would choose this variety ? At all events, Dijon deserves many more owners than it has. Near Philadelphia, if given winter protection and placed in a southern exposure, it will grow by fall to a height of over ten feet, and in November one may count two dozen blooms on one plant of it. Incidentally, it is of larger and finer growth if budded on Multiflora than on Brier, and it should not be grown outside on its own roots where it must withstand much frost. Parsons knew well the value of budded plants and recommended them, and his advice is borne out by the action of Dijon which, however, winters especially well on Multiflora.
There is no other yellow climber which compares with Dijon in hardiness and blooming. Climbing Mme. Melanie Soupert is another rose which, with protection, sometimes does exceptionally well as a yellow climber near Philadelphia, but it gives much less growth and bloom than Dijon;
Somehow it always seems that a hardy climbing or semi-climbing rose, with the form of the Hybrid Tea and more than one period of bloom, is the type most to be desired for the climate of the Middle Atlantic States. The South has the climbing Tea, the cooler North a longer period of bloom for the hardy climbing Perpetual. In France, where Gloire de Dijon is used so successfully, the climate approaches in severity the cold of our middle eastern section, so why not take a hint from the thrifty gate-keeper’s wife and grow this variety?— George C. Thomas, Jr., Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia in the 1919 American Rose Annual published by the American Rose Society.
Soft Maple a Poor Street Tree.
The city forester of Milwaukee has banned the soft maple as a street tree and as a result has received many protests from property owners.
The following from the Journal is an example. It seems to us that Mr. Spidel’s points are well taken.
“I have 200 soft maple trees which I raised from seed,’’ he said. “They are handsome, grow fast, and I can see no reason for preventing their use.”
O. W. Spidel, city forester, says that the soft maple has been rejected for use along Milwaukee streets because it is much more susceptible to insect pests than other trees, the limbs break easily, making them dangerous in storms. When large limbs break, he says, the wood is so soft that rot always follows, ultimately destroying the tree, and while the soft maple grows fast, this is its only merit, as it dies young. Under ordinary conditions a soft maple will live about forty years, while the Norway maple and elm will live about eighty years and the white ash about sixty years.
“Soft maple is more expensive to care for, as it needs more spraying and trimming after storms, it costs as much to set out, and lives only from half to two-thirds as long as other trees,” Mr. Spidel said. “Why should it be used when we have other trees that are superior? The Norway maple or sugar maple, the elm and white ash are all superior. Compared with these trees, it is a waste of money to plant soft maples.”
Orchard and Garden.
October 8 to 15
Everlasting flowers picked before frost and cured make fine winter bouquets for porches or often a living room.
Keep grass and rubbish away from apple and other tender bark trees if you want to discourage mice from girdling.
Celery may be set in boxes of sand or soil which just covers the roots, watered well and placed in a dark cool place for winter storage.
Squash and pumpkins should be placed on shelves in a dry warm room. Often the furnace room is a good place. Do not pile more than one layer deep.
The Boston fern is the best house fern to use. It stands the variations of temperature and the dust best of any.
Grapes and raspberries winter best if laid on the ground just before it freezes and when there is no frost in the cane. Cover with earth to the depth of about two inches.
Take up a few hills of rhubarb before the ground freezes hard for winter forcing. Let it freeze out doors and then about December first put in a box of earth or sand in a warm dark place.—Le Roy Cady, associate horticulturist, University Farm.
MYRTLE SHEPHERD FRANCIS (Mrs. Myrtle Shepherd Francis is the daughter of the late Mrs. Shepherd, founder of the flower and seed Industry In California. Mrs. Shepherd began the work of improving the Petunia, and her daughter has continued it with unabated zeal, and in a systematic manner, which places her among the great plant breeders of the age. Her experiences and observations, and the results of her achievements, are so plainly stated that the following article Is excellent reading and easily understood, even by people who are not disposed to delve into the mysteries of plant life. Read before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Genetic Association, at Berkeley California. Published in The Pacific Garden.)
Before presenting the subject of my double petunia that reproduces itself, I want to state that I claim no scientific attainments, that while the scientific aspect of the work has been of deep interest to me, my chief aim has been to produce the finest strains of double petunias to be had in the market, and to make those strains reproduce themselves. Competent authority assures me that my work has been successful. * * *
The first single petunia was found by Commerson in Argentina, on the banks of the La Plata river, and sent by him to Jussieu, who named it Petunia nyctagina-flora, introducing it into France in 1823. This plant had an upright habit, with thick, sticky leaves, and long-tubed, fragrant white flowers. The second species was sent by Tweedie from Buenos Aires to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens in 1831. This plant had a decumbent habit, small, violetpurple flowers, and short tube, and was named Petunia violacea. From these two species all varieties of petunias have been bred. They have been freely crossed with each other; hence the garden varieties now go under the general name of Petunia hybrida Hort
While the nyctaginaflora type is quite common, the true violacea form is seldom seen, proving that the nyctaginaflora species was the dominant factor in the early crosses. Even today most varieties revert to that form when left to themselves.
For convenience sake, I shall loosely divide the single varieties now under various names into two classes: those with upright habit, long-tubed flowers with small reproductive organs, slender style and fiilament adherent low down in the corolla tube, and wide range of colors, with satiny texture, as hybridas, representing P. nyctaginaflora. and the varieties with the decumbent habit, large leaves, flowers with short tube, large reproductive organs, thick style and filament adherent high up in the corolla tube and limited range of colors as representing P. violacea.
The first double petunia appeared in a private garden in France in 1855, and from this, so fat as I have been able to learn, have all other doubles been obtained by artificial fecundation.
Method of Operation
For the benefit of those who may be unfamiliar with the method by which double petunias are obtained, I will explain that the double is an imperfect flower, and the single is a perfect flower. The unbroken anthers (the pollen-bearing organs) of a single flower are removed, the flower is then covered with gauze or paper until the stigma is ready, the pollen is then applied from a double flower by means of a camel’s hair brush, and the covering replaced, to prevent the possibility of insect fertilization.
Such a procedure, however, is entirely too laborious for commercial work. I have never used the coverings but remove the anthers and pollenize at once from a nearby flower, double and single plants being grown in adjoining plots.
From the size of the anthers and stigma, colors and habit of growth, it would seem that the hybrida had been universally used for both male and female parents, until recent years.
Though advised otherwise, in my early work I chose the form known as grandiflora as the female parent for my doubles, probably because the flowers were easier to work with. Later, when an ideal had formed itself in my mind, the grandiflora seemed more likely to give the desired results.
Many doubles have rudimentary organs of reproduction, but in my first work in 1901 I noticed this, and formed the habit of examining each bloom carefully before picking it to pollenize with.
The first perfect double bloom was found in a hybrida plant in 1910. This plant had delicate!) fluted flowers with cream-colored pollen, and, when pollenized with another flower from the same plant, matured a capsule of seed. The stamens of this flower were many, rising directly through the center, the filaments being bound together by a band or collar, while the ovary sat upon a torus. The ovary of the single form sits directly upon the calyx.
From this capsule of seed thirty-seven plants were raised. No records were kept until 1911, but as near as I can remember seventy-five per cent were double, both single and double being of the hybrida type. None of these plants gave many perfect flowers, though all were examined for reproductive organs and some seven or eight matured seed.
That season among our regular doubles appeared a semi-double of steel-blue and white which bore all perfect flowers, and on an inferior double red was found a capsule of seed which had matured without hand pollenizing.
From three distinct types, six hundred and sixty plants resulted in 1912, eighty-five per cent double and twenty-two per cent seeding slightly.
Great Variability
The petunia is perhaps the most variable flower under cultivation, but its fluctuations have a certain regularity. In this generation, the three types being planted together, the wildest confusion prevailed. In it appeared for the first time the true grandiflora, represented by three plants of deep magenta color, with steel-blue pollen. Their doubling was of an entirely different nature— all extra petals were adherent to the corolla tube instead of the usual mass of petals and stamens which generally fill the center of the flowers. Nearly all blooms on these plants were perfect, though they did not all mature seed.
In,this planting were also some small inferior doubles of dingy purple flowers which were perfect with, the same manner of doubling and which matured several capsules of seed without pollenizing. Both extremes have the same form and both are fertile.
From the grandiflora crossed by the hybrida double and some seed of the hybridas also we raised in 1912 five hundred and ten plants, seventy-three per cent in double, twenty-five per cent seeding. Many of the flowers showed great variety of color, beauty and size.
In 1913 we got one hundred and eighty-seven plants, with seventy-three per cent double, but thirty-three per cent seeding. Nineteen fifteen marked a decided change—the grandiflora heretofore recessive became the dominant type with blooms of extraordinary size while its seeding capacity had increased eight per cent. Both beauty and reproductiveness had developed to such an extent that for our stock seed I crossed a perfect double with a perfect double for the first time, but disaster overtook, me for our seed beds, with our entire stock of seedlings, were washed out by the floods of 1914.
Replanting from our selling stock yielded 918 plants, 85 per cent double, 42 per cent seeding. 1915 produced 567 plants, 90 per cent double, 40 per cent seeding. While the increases of doubles has been quite steady, the seeding percentage has not increased so rapidly, due to the use of a plant that carried singleness in its pollen, but with other qualities which I wished to preserve.
I have not yet made the reciprocal cross again, but expect to do so, as many of the fine large flowers are perfect, seeding as freely, as singles when pollenized.
Doubtless my work would have been done on eitrely different lines had my knowledge been greater in the beginning. During the last five years I have bred distinct strains of double seeding petunias, steadily increasing doubleness, lengthening the stems and giving greater delicacy to the texture and colors. In all my work those qualities have had precedence over reproductiveness.
Many interesting and curious variations have been observed, in one of which the whole flower becomes pettalous. Some of the finest flowers are pistillate, reverting to the old form; others have anthers containing no pollen; while some almost single blooms have malformed reproductive organs, still others are perfect but infertile, etc.
Lavender and steel-blue seem to be the best seed producers, and I am quite sure that blue pollen is more productive of fertility in doubles than yellow, which continues to give about twenty-five per cent seeding plants. This may be due to the contracted throat which seems to accompany this pollen.
Of volunteers which appear each season the doubles predominate. I have never found one with other than blue pollen.
The small, pointed capsule of the hybrida, containing about two hundred and fifty seeds, has developed with the flower, one capsule often producing as many as four hundred and fifty seeds. The dehiscence in singles is in twos, but in these doubles it is often in threes and fours.
In conclusion, I quote from De Vries’ Species and Varieties: “Hays has repeatedly insisted upon the principle of the choice of the most favorable variety for the experiments in improving races. He asserts that half the battle is won in choosing the variety which is to serve as a foundation stock, while the other half depends upon the selection of parent plants within that variety.”
I. blindly striving to realize my ideal, unconsciously chose the most favorable variety and the right parents in that variety for what I desired to produce, and if the entire stock of these strains should be lost, with my present knowledge, I could consciously choose the right variety and the right seed parents in that variety, and other strains of seed producing double petunias could be developed.
(Extract from Mrs. Francis’ Letter, August 13, 1920)
Since the foregoing article was written, I have developed many new shades of color, increased the percentage of double blooms and the production of seed.
To my mind the single flower is more beautiful and our strains of them rival our doubles. The Giants of California, great, ruffled blooms, with black or yellow tigered throats, many of them six inches across, the fringed hy-bridas, smaller blooms of satiny texture and wide range of color, are fine breeders; and Fluffy Ruffles, the darling of my heart, is a cross between the Giants and Hybridas. This strain has most of the good qualities of both parents, though it is not a giant flower.
The petunia is a most difficult plant to work with, it is so plastic and so variable. One can obtain almost any result, but to retain it is a different matter. In the best of strains and the most careful roguing the inferior plants bob up in a very exasperating way, and their evil communications will corrupt the good manners of the best bred petunias.
Insect Enemy of Horseradish
Even the pungent and tearstarting qualities of horseradish are not sufficient to discourage insect enemies. In addition to two other specific and two incidental pests preying upon this plant, entomologists of the United States Department of Agriculture report a third specific enemy, known as the European horseradish webworm and described in a bulletin of that title, Department Bulletin No. 966, just issued.
The caterpillar, which does the most destruction, is of medium size and is also known as the purple-backed webworm, as well as by its regular name. While favoring horseradish, it is also known to attack turnip and cabbage, and after feeding on the lower surface of the leaves sometimes webs them together near the ground. When abundant, it attacks the stalks even down to the roots. It was first discovered in injurious numbers in Virginia near the District of Columbia in 1919, and occasional attacks have been noted in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. The moth of the species is rather a bright ocher yellow, with a wing spread of about 1 inch, peculiarly spotted. The eggs are deposited in compact masses containing from half a dozen to a score. They are a little brighter green than the leaf, and each egg is surrounded by an irregular ring of yellow spots. At least two generations a year are produced in Virginia.
The webworm may be controlled by arsenicals and by handpicking on horseradish, and more readily on other crops by fall and spring plowing and frequent cultivation.
Wisconsin to Establish Shipping-Point Inspection of Cabbage
A shipping - point - inspection service on cabbage is being planned by the Wisconsin Division of Markets. Grades for cabbage have been established by the division, based on tentative cabbage grades proposed by the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, United States Department of Agriculture. The service will be made effective beginning with the fall crop.
Although approximately 6,000 carloads of Wisconsin cabbage were marketed during the past season, about 25 per cent of the cabbage produced was unharvested for the lack of a market. In many cases the price received for cabbage that was marketed was not enough to pay for the actual cost of harvesting and marketing. It is with a view to preventing a similar situation the coming fall that shipping-point-inspection has been decided upon. The Wisconsin Division of Markets appreciates that carefully graded stock invariably commands a premium over products that are not graded. Careful attention also will be given the loading and ventilation of cars.
The tentative cabbage grades proposed by the Bureau of Markets were published in February. 1921. U. S. No. 1 grade consists of sound heads of cabbage which are of one type, reasonably hard, and neatly trimmed, which are not soft, withered, bursted or showing seed stalks; which are free from soft root and practically free from damage caused by discoloration, freezing injury, insects, disease or mechanical or other means. U. S. No. 2 grade consists of sound heads of cabbage which do not meet the requirements of U. S. No. 1. Detailed specifications for the grades can be had upon application to the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Help Take Fraudulent Methods Out of the Fruit Business
Much has been said about “honest pack.” Progress is being made, but an “honest pack” may not be honestly sold. “A” grade “2%” minimum size, is rather inadequate description. The maximum size might be “2%” and the maximum color 30 per cent and pale. The seller must specify per cent of sizes and per cent of color as well as grade. He must not misrepresent the quality or keeping qualities of what he has to sell. We are not prepared to say whether the grower as packer, distributor, or retail dealer is the most holy or unholy. It is altogether probable that all three of these classes could have stood more training in ethics during their school or college days without making either class better than the Golden Rule. We need to get away from poor moral strains, and the first step after the “honest pack” is to discontinue unlimited consignments.
Consignment business is deficient in business principles in several particulars: It is irregular in supply and is seriously charged with being the father of double commissions. When too many cars are consigned to one agent the prices are cut; the agent is under strong pressure to reduce prices to relatives, friends and to persons to whom he is under obligation; the agent is tempted to buy of himself and as seller and buyer he is not likely to cheat himself.
Consignment business has a tendency to make congestion in central markets, and consequently lower prices. Most dealers who sell as agents, also buy for themselves. Naturally a dealer wants to make good profits on his investments. If the customer will not take the stock the dealer owns, it is easy for the dealer to be generous with consigned stock at growers’ expense. The grower must be considerate of both the distributor and the retailer. Even the consumer’s needs must be taken into consideration. Losses kill business.
The retailer must be educated to fair dealing as well as the grower and the distributor. The old game of ordering carloads and refusing with expectation of buying cheaper on arrival of a car should put such dealers on the “cash in advance” list. Let us work to cut out all fraud in the fruit business, standardize our methods of handling, have approved distributors on fixed basis which will bring wider distribution and stabilize the fruit industry.—G. H. Townsend, Madison.
This is not tomato planting season nor tomato training season, but it is just exactly the best time to observe the results obtained by training vs. no training. It’s quite the fashion for penny-a-word writers in farm papers, who in turn copy U. S. Dept, of Agr. experts, to recommend staking and training tomatoes, usually taking the single stem method as a model. The claims set forth for this method are, economy of space, earliness in ripening and superior quality. Here is a sample from the U. S. D. A. hopper:
“It generally pays to stake and prune the tomatoes grown in the small home garden because by this method the fruit is held of? the ground and is clean, a larger number of tomato plants can be grown on a given space and the fruit generally ripens earlier than if the plants are allowed to grow in the natural way. * * *
“Twenty-five to fifty tomato plants trained to stakes will supply the average family with all the tomatoes needed for use while fresh, also for canning. It pays to go to some little trouble to have them early, also to stake and prune them so that the quality will be the best.”
Disclaiming any intention to convince the “stakers” that they are wrong, the writer merely offers the following hypothetical proposition: Fifty plants one foot apart requires 50 lineal feet and a feeding space for the roots two feet on each side, making 200 square feet; the time required in staking, tying and pruning will be not less than 50 hours during the season; twelve plants set 4 feet apart each way will require about one square rod, 272% sq. feet; no staking, tying or pruning. The twelve untrained plants will yield more fruit than the fifty trained ones; the loss from disease is not greater through a period of years; the first tomato may ripen on the staked row, but the second will be found in the “wild” patch; there will be less scalding during a hot spell and you can go fishing or read a treatise on staking tomatoes while the other fellow is doing it.
Pubtiahed Monthly by the
Wisconsin State Horticultural 8oclsty
___ 1« N. Carroll St OfficUl organ of th« Society.
FREDERIC CRANEFIELD. Editor.
Secretary W. 8. EL 8.. Madison, Wla.
Entered at the poetoffice at Madison, Wisconsin, as second-claM matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of popetage provided for in Section 1108, Act of October 8, 1917, authorized July 15, /918.
Advertizing 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.
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0FFICER8
J. A. Hays........................President
H. C. Christensen, Oshkosh.......Vice-President
F. Cranefleld. Secretary-Treasurer.......Madison
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
J. A. Hays.......................Ex-Offido
H. C. Christensen..................Ex-Offido
F. Cranefleld .....................Ex-Offido
1st Diet., Wm. Longland........Lake Geneva
2nd Diet, R. J. Coe............Ft. Atkinson
8rd Diet, E. J. Frautachl...........Madison
4th Diet., A. Leidiger ............Milwaukee
6th Diet, James Livingstone........Milwaukee
fith Diet, J. W. Roe...............Oshkosh
7th Diet, C. A. Hofmann...........Baraboo
8th Diet, J. E. Leverlch.............Sparta
9th Diet., L. E. Birmingham.....Sturgeon Bay
10th Dlst, Paul E. Grant..........Menomonie
11th Dlst, Irving Smith.............Ashland
BOARD OF MANAGERS
J. A. Hays H. C. Christensen F. Cranefleld
The Summer Meeting
W. J. Moyle
The morning of August 17th found the writer in the audience room of the Public Library of Oshkosh, prepared to assist the Oshkosh people in celebrating this annual festival. The room was filled with flowers and vegetables and all the greater and lesser lights of horticultural fame from different parts of the state.
President Hays presided and 'rice President Christensen acting as general supervisor, made the machinery run smoothly. Hon.
G. A. Buckstaff gave us a real sensible talk in his address of welcome. Then James Livingston of Milwaukee, told us how we should grow, prepare and arrange our flowers for exhibition in order to get the blue ribbons.
After dinner Mr. Longland of Lake Geneva, gave us an instructive talk on how to grow and prepare vegetables for exhibition so as to favorably impress the judge.
C. E. Durst of Chicago, Ill., an active member of the farm bureau of that state, gave a very convincing talk on the benefits derived from co-operation of fruit growers in marketing their crops in southern Illinois.
Mrs. Strong of West Allis (Our Flower Lady) told us why she loved old fashioned Larkspur and many others of the easy to grow annuals.
Then Billie Toole
From Garry nee Dule
Talked for a whil-a
On the Gysopheli-a,
The hardy pinks and speedwell
blue,
Coral Bells and Fox Gloves, too. Hardy flowers are Billie’s forte To talk of them for him is sport.
The evening of the first day we all autoed out to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Nelson, where we were entertained in a royal manner ; bushels of tender sweet corn roasted on a log fire with weiner sandwiches and coffee and doughnuts thrown in for good measure. Then followed a very high class programme, the principal feature being an address by Mrs. Lewis Morton of Omro, on the “Creation of a Village Park.” Through the entire evening music was furnished by a first class orchestra which added greatly to the pleasure of the evening’s performances.
The second day was spent in making an auto trip of about 50 miles over to Omro and back with short visits to the establishments of Rasmussen and Christensen and other prominent horticultural-ists of Oshkosh, winding up the trip by stopping at the palatial homestead of J. W. Roe for dinner, when a repetition of the former days of good time was carried out by feeding the inner man a lot of good things. Professor Moore of the State University gave us a very edifying after-dinner talk on how to make and keep a good garden.
The Oshkosh Horticultural Society has long been noted for the royal way they entertain on these occasions and they truly lived up to their past reputation during this meeting, which was voraciously demonstrated by the visiting delegates and visitors by a unanimous expression of their appreciation.
Peach Stories
This is the time of year when crafty amateurs, both the mild and the violent insane of the tribe, invade the office with home grown peaches and tell you how little you really know about fruit raising in Wisconsin. “Why. these peaches were raised in my back yard and look at them, finer than any ever raised in Michigan.” “All I did was to plant the pits,” etc., etc. “Don’t see why we can’t raise peaches in Wisconsin, I raised these,” etc., etc.
You really don’t say it, but you feel like saying, “Yes, you poor fish, we could raise peaches in Wisconsin if we could raise the trees to hang them on.” “Your blankety, blank, highly virtuous and consecrated peach tree that you have been telling me about for the last three weary hours
will be dead at a quarter past 6 in the morning of next April 12th, and you will say it was because “a worm bit a hole in the root.” No, brethren, and sisters of horticultural Wisconsin, we cannot raise peaches in this state on a commercial scale, back yard trees to the contrary notwithstanding. Plant pits by all means and have lots of fun for a year or two, but don’t plant an orchard. Ben Bones of Racine county tried it. He died. Take warning.
Not Many Cranberries This Year
The cranberry growers are all optomists or else how can they keep in the game. This year tip blight and the berry worm devastated the fields, while heat and drought depleted the reservoirs, thus preventing flooding. In 1918 and 1919 bumper crops were grown, but the scarcity of sugar killed the market for berries, many carloads of perfect fruit being thrown out.
Fall Planting for Wisconsin
What nursery stock may be planted in the fall? This is an ever-recurring question and an important one.
Currants, gooseberries, raspberries and many of the ornamental shrubs may be safely planted in the fall if heavily mulched after the ground freezes.
Fruit trees should not be planted in the fall. This has been so often and so thoroughly proven that nurserymen should know and do know that they are deceiving their customers when they advise fall planting of fruit trees. This practice may be all right for other localities, further east and south, but is not all right for this state.
Ornamental trees of the hardier varieties are often successfully transplanted in the fall if the trunks and larger limbs are wrapped, but spring planting is better. In fact with the exception of currants and gooseberries, which start growth exceedingly early, spring planting is best. This means early spring, as soon as the ground is fit and this means fall preparation.
McKAY NURSERY COMPANY
MADISON WISCONSIN
Champion Cherry Pickers
How much do the Sturgeon Bay cherry pickers earn in a day, or how many quarts is a day’s work? These questions are often asked by people “down state” and the answer is 200 quarts a day as a high mark down to 75 and 100 quarts. The following reports from S. B. papers show the high mark:
OCONTO, Wis.—Of the 40 boys of all ages from Oconto county, now picking cherries at Sturgeon Bay, Alfred McDermott, aged 16 years, has broken all records for this year by picking 268 quarts in one day and has been declared the champion.
STURGEON BAY—Jules Dubois, Sturgeon Bay, has been proclaimed champion cherry picker as a result of a record established during the season just closed.
In one day he picked 408 quarts, for which he received a day's wage of $12.24. The day before Jules picked 224 quarts in the morning, working only half a day.
A few years ago Jules held the record, but forsook the orchards when he went into the shoe repairing business, and his former record was beaten. This year, however, he decided to leave his cobbler’s bench for a few days, to set a new record, and his pick of 408 quarts will unquestionably stand for some time.
Nursery Stock of Quality
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Berry Boxes
Crates, Bushel Boxes and Climax Baskets
As You Like Them
We manufacture the Ewald Talent Folding Berry Boxes of wood veneer that give satisfaction. Berry box and crate material in the K. D. in carload lots our specialty. We constantly carry in stock 16-quart crates all made up ready for use, either for strawberries or blueberries. No order too small or too large for us to handle. We can ship the folding boxes and crates in K. D. from Milwaukee. Promptness is essential in handling fruit, and we aim to do our part well. A large discount for early orders. A postal brings our price list.
Cumberland Fruit Package Company
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Just Folks
Introducing ELIZABETH HELD
(Miss Held has agreed to write about Folks each month during the year, taking the place of "Johnnie,” who is, figuratively, dead.—Editor.)
Dear Readers: The Editor has bidden me entertain you for a year, (if I can). He gave me permission to write about anything I wished, but in the course of our conversation he intimated that folks were mighty interesting. I agree with the Editor, they are, and the more you study them— actions, expressions, tones—the more interesting they become. I’m a bit like “Johnnie.” I also learned some things when a child that I’ve never forgotten, though I didn’t learn them in Grandmother’s Garden as he did.
When I was about 12, a shrewd kindly old lawyer taught me this game of watching a person’s face while listening carefully to their conversation.
I was called as a witness in the case of a neighbor who had a bad habit of shooting up the windows in the vicinity. I have said the old lawyer was shrewd—he was, because he understood children well enough to be perfectly honest with them. Frankly telling me that on my testimony hung the success or failure of the case, he said: “I want you to look right at the other lawyer, watch his face, listen carefully to his questions and just tell the truth, as you told it to your mother and myself.”
Before I stepped down from the witness stand I knew why he had told me to watch the other lawyer’s face; my child mind had grasped the fact that he was being beaten, for though his voice was smooth and even, his face showed anger. He didn’t like to be looked at so ■ intently. And though at last he waved me, con-tempteously aside, it was an exultant, happy child who ran to the good old friend and said: “We’ve beaten him, haven’t we?’ That was my first and last experience in a court of law, but the habit of studying folks grew on me, and it has proven most fascinating. Like most games, though, there are some things about it I do not like,—for instance, when some one whom I decide I do not like,—because,—well just because I don’t, and I study them expecting, of course, I’ll prove conclusively they haven’t any good qualities,—and then they up and develop some of the most likable qualities any human being could possess, then I wish I hadn’t watched them. And again, the folks I like just because I do, develop little habits that irritate me, and I find myself making all sorts of excuses for them, just because they are my friends and I don’t want to see any faults in friends. Do you ever do that? Sure you do, Just think about it a bit; see if you don’t excuse the same thing in your friends you condemn in others. Now, next time I’ll tell you about other things I’ve discovered by watching folks. Sometimes it is tragic and sometimes it is funny, but always interesting.
More About Milwaukee Trees
The city forestry division of the park board has planted trees along 14 miles of streets this year. These consist of 2,OCX) elm and 500 Norway maple, 2 inches in diameter, according to O. W. Spi-del. The division also has sprayed trees on 85 miles of streets for
Our new 48-page catalog (It pages in colors) gives you an honest description ot FRUITS, VINES, ORNAMENTALS, PER. ENNIALS, etc., for this climate.
If you are in doubt as to what is best to plant we will be glad to advise with you.
We do landscape work.
Fort Atkinson, Wis.
tussock moth and scale; has pruned 45 miles of trees, cut down in tree borders 550 dead trees, and planted 160 trees from 4 to 10 inches in diameter.—Milwaukee Journal.
While Milwaukee is our largest city and we naturally expect big things from there, we cannot but marvel at the efficiency of its parkboard. Is there any other city' in the state that has done as much proportionate to size?
Door County Fruit
Door county fruit growers have solved all the big problems that confronted them, solved them one by one as they appeared until now their business rests on solid foundations. It is safe to say that the fruit growers of Doo: county are better organized than, any other group of farmers or fruit growers in Wisconsin. Their business is standardized, safe and profitable.
The first big problem was to produce fruit. It took twenty years to learn how to do that, how to plant, prune, cultivate and spray so as to produce big yields.
The next problem was to get the fruit picked. The cherry crop this year totaled over 8 million quarts, but it was all picked. An army of pickers, handled after the manner that armies are handled, solved the problem.
The most important problem was to sell the fruit. When the total output was 50 or 60 carloads it was more than a small problem, with a one-horse railroad, a highly perishable product and blood-sucking commission men at the other end of the line. This year, with six hundred carloads, the problem was no problem at all, because it wasn’t necessary to ship the fruit. It was canned right at home and only as much fresh fruit was shipped as pleased the organization to ship in order to hold good trade.
Door county growers have a lot to learn yet, but they have done pretty well. The moral of this tale is that fruit growing in Wisconsin is a mighty good line of business when business methods are used, for Door county has few, if any, natural advantages over many other sections of the state. This statement may be disputed, but it will take considerable argument to disprove it.
Some people actually eat egg plant and claim they like it.
Did you attend the State Fair? If not, why not? Give an honest answer.
The strawberry season in Bay-field county, just closed, has been the best for several years. The yield was large and the price obtained by the growers the best for many seasons. The estimate for the yield for the county is 22,000 crates, which netted growers $75,000.
More than 5,000 crates were raised in the vicinity of Washburn. The largest single grower was Ed Carlson, with 704 crates which brought him $2,816, the average of $4 per crate from two acres of ground. S. Anderson had a field of half an acre and sold $560 worth of berries. Charles Olson had three-quarters of an acre from which he picked $895 worth of berries.
Bayview fruit ranch, owned by W. H. Irish, had only two acres of plants under cultivation this season, but sold over 400 crates for $1,500.
It is estimated that the average crop for this season has been 150 crates per acre, yielding about $600 in cash. Bayfield county strawberries are ordinarily the last on the market, and usually in season about July 1. They bring higher prices since other berries are gone a week or two before. The dry season this summer, however, hastened the crop nearly two weeks.
Mark Twain Says:
We are so strangely made; the memories that could make us happy pass away; it is the memories that break our hearts that abide.
If your home garden plot is big enough to be plowed have the plowing done this fall if weather permits.
The Hawks Nursery Company are in a position to furnish high grade Nursery Stock of kinds and varieties suitable to Wisconsin and other northern districts.
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Established 1868
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A Complete Stock of Fruit, Shelter and Ornamental Stock in Hardy Varieties for Northern Planters.
AMONG WISCONSIN BEE KEEPERS
Devoted to the Interests of The Wisconsin State Beekeepers’ Association H. F. Wilson, Editor
OFFICERS OF THE WIS. STATE BEEKEEPERS’ ASSN.
Pres. L. C. Jorgensen, Green Bay. Treas. C. W. Aeppler, Oconomowoc.
Vlce-Pres. A. C. F. Bartz, Jim Falls. Secy. H. F. Wilson, Madison.
Annual Membership Fee $1.00.
Remit to H. F. Wilson, Secretary, Madison, Wis.
Annual Convention, December 8 and 9, 1921, State Capitol
We are now making up our program for the convention. We will soon be calling upon our beekeepers for papers. We hope that if you have some-ting to give you will send in your name for the program with the title of your paper, without our asking for it.
Dr. Miller Memorial Fund
A National Committee of Beekeepers. as indicated in several numbers of Gleanings and the American Bee Journal, has been appointed to raise a fund to provide a suitable memorial for Dr. C. C. Miller. To date, Wisconsin beekeepers have not been as responsive as they should be and we are at this time making a plea to the beekeepers of Wisconsin to give their financial support to this effort. The following abstract from a talk made by Dr. Phillips at the Chippewa Falls meeting expresses the feeling which every beekeeper in America should have, “There has never been a beekeeper in this country or any other country that has gotten as close to the hearts of beekeepers as did DR. MILLER. No man has helped you as much as DR. MILLER. If you have read his articles, I do not believe it
was possible to do so without being a better person. He never did an unkind thing; personal intimate contact of his heart with ours we cannot pay for that.”
Some of our beekeepers have replied directly to the national committee and these are not included in this report. The Connecticut State Beekeepers raised $100 at a single meeting. Certainly, Wisconsin ought to do as w’ell. To date we have received subscriptions through this office to the amount of $47, as follows;
State Association..........$10.00
State Cooperative Assn.... 5.00
$47.00
The following beekeepers have subscribed, but not yet paid:
6.00 DON’T DELAY! SEND IN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TODAY.
Changes in the University Staff
Mr. J. I. Hambleton, formerly apiarist of the University, is now with Dr. E. F. Phillips at Washington, and Mr. V. G. Milum, a graduate of the University, has taken his place.
Mr. H. L. McMurry, extension api-culturist, has resigned to enter commercial work, and Mr. L. P. White-head, a graduate of Kansas Agricultural College and experienced beekeeper, is now in charge of beekeeping extension work.
Summer Convention Well Attended
After three successful attempts to hold a Summer beekeepers’ conference, we know definitely that such meetings are well appreciated by the beekeepers and that they have really more educational value than the Winter convention. While the registration at Chippewa Falls was not as great as during the past two years, still the attendance was excellent considering the short honey flows for this season. The officials in charge were somewhat handicapped because they were unable to provide the promised cafeteria in the City Park, but in spite of this, the beekeepers seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and everybody seemed to have a good time. One hundred twenty-Bix beekeepers registered from 24 different counties. A total of 5,889 colonies were represented, this making an average Of 47 colonies per person, as compared with an average of 37 colonies per person in 1919 and 38 colonies per person in 1920. As in the past, the success of the meeting was largely due to the speakers from outside of the state. Dr. Phillips, Mr. C. P. Dadant and Mr. E. R. Root gave us some splendid material to study over uuring the winter.
According to the plans now under way, the next Summer meeting will be held at Green Bay, August 15 to 18, 1922. Begin making your plans for this conference. The Beekeepers of Brown County have promised us a big celebration.
Resolutions were passed as follows: “It is the sense of this body that sweet clover is not a noxious weed and that steps should be taken to prevent its being cut along the highways until after the blooming period is over.”
‘It is also the Bense of this meeting that a resolution be sent to the State Association at their December meeting relative to a change in the present market reports, it being understood that at present they are somewhat deceiving to the beekeeper.”
The beekeeping industry is going to pass through a decided change in the next few years and there are certain characteristics which will be predominant among our future beekeepers. Many now in the business are going to go out of it, while some will die out. There are five important factors which must be followed by the future beekeeper.
1. In my judgment every beekeeper must be a cooperator. He cannot keep bees by himself, having nothing to do with other beekeepers in his neighborhood. He cannot do it individually. This Jis an impossibility. Individualism is the worst doctrine ever advocated. We are not living as individuals and we cannot live as individuals. The future beekeeper is going to be a cooperator. He is going to cooperate with everybody who will cooperate with him in protecting his b6es and selling his honey. Maybe he will be a politician and go into the thing to protect the industry. To succeed we must pull together hand in hand and work together to control the disease situation and improve marketing conditions.
2. The future beekeeper will be more or less of a migratory nature. It is not necessary to move bees long distances, but most of our beekeepers in Wisconsin can move bees short distances with great success. The smart beekeeper will keep his eyes open and will move his bees to better locations in years when there is no crop at home. An example of this is moving the bees into the fireweed flow this season. I have never seen a universal honey dearth and it is well known that failures as a rule occur only in limited localities.
3. The future beekeeper must be a closer student of honey plants and nectar secretion. I believe that it pays to sow sweet clover for bees.
4. The future beekeeper must be an open-minded person open to conviction and not satisfied with his own methods.
5. There is another extreme to which beekeepers go and which they must get over: That is in their extreme method of trying out new things. One of the curses of beekeeping has been the continual change and experimenting with untried equipment and new schemes. Many things have already been solved for us, so what is the use of trying to experiment with things which have already been proven to be of no value? It does not pay to try out every new scheme given in bee books and journals. The beekeeper must Conserve his time and not spend it experimenting. Leave the experimental work to the national government and to our colleges and universities. Use the knowledge we already have to make your business a commercial success. —H. L. McMurry.
Mr. McMurry gave some very pertinent remarks concerning the American Honey Producers’ League and the advantages to be gained by supporting a national organization of beekeepers. He states that no beekeeper has a reason for not supporting the League and that we all have a dozen reasons why we should give it our full support.
Wisconsin Cooperative Associations and How the Division of Markets Can Help the Beekeepers
We are interested in cooperative marketing of all farm products and hope that in the future we may be able to help a great deal with the beekeeping industry. You have been spending your time becoming efficient producers of honey. What marketing has been done has been due to individual effort. The marketing end has been entirely neglected by the beekeepers. It has been almost entirely a peddling proposition. Your biggest problem is to find a satisfactory market for your surplus at a fair price.
In the past your methods of selling have not been satisfactory. Now what can be done? How large an association do you want? Shall It be a state association or a county association? Regardless of the kind of organization, there are certain fundamentals you must have as a basis for that organization. There must be a sufficient volume of honey to make a big business and your product must be standardized. Your product must also have a standard label. What have you done to advertise? How much of your income do you spend in advertising? Judicious advertising will make any honey product successful and If you have a good standardized product, It will not be a luxury but a food. Id this work you must have a guaranteed volume of business. It must be well financed and well managed.
There are three things that are of utmost importance in an organization of this kind and you must keep them in mind:
1. You must have a contract with every member.
2. You must have a sufficient volume of business.
3. You must be well financed.
If you do not have these you better leave cooperative marketing alone. If you do have them you can give Wisconsin Honey the name it should have.
The Department of Markets offers you its services in any way that it can help. You now have Mr. Adams of our Department to help you work out your honey grading plans.
There is one other reminder which I wish to give and that is, do not expect to get an organization that will be satisfactory to everybody, because there are no such organizations. If there were, they would be no good. Remember that although we are in a way your boss, at the same time we are your servants.—L. G. Foster, Wisconsin Division of Markets.
The Influence of Weather on Beekeeping Practice
The knowledge of beekeeping which we now have has been accumulated through a great number of years. The actual influence of bee behavior upon certain manipulations has been more or less accumulating for many years, but it is only during the past ten years that these have been so prominently brought out. Dr. Phillips has done more to collect and bring out these things than any one else. Beekeeping is not simply a matter of having bees, putting on supers, taking them off, but something vastly greater.
In beekeeping we have every physical science to deal with. Although we may not be aware of the fact, we must study bee behavior which is a part of zoology; we must study physics, botany in connection with the development of plants and secretion of nectar, climatology, electricity and so on. The honey bee is one of the few animals that is influenced to a very minute degree by slight changes in temperature. All animate are influenced by changes in temperature to a more or less degree and perhaps In the future we may find that many groups are as closely affected as bees.
Weather conditions are in my opinion as important if not more important than any other factor in beekeeping. A study of the weather records for the past ten years will show that bees should not be put away in the cellar in the vicinity of Madison later than November 20. These records show that practically every year we have a cold snell or snow in October. Bees should therefore have some kind of protection in the fall. Through the winter months the bees have apparently only one thing to do and that is to keep the temperature up to 57 degrees F. around the cluster. As soon as the bees are set out in the spring, they raise the temperature up to 93 to 97 degrees F. The queen apparently will not lay eggs until this temperature is reached and once it starts in the hive, it continues until the brood rearing ceases in the fall. Ordinarily, our beekeepers do not set their bees out until April 10 to 15. For this reason bees wintered out of doors have the advantage over bees wintered in the cellar in that they have an opportunity to fly earlier in the spring. If bees wintered in the cellar are set out on or near March 20 and are given good protection, they will have every advantage of bees wintered out-of-doors and will be in better condition because they do not have to stand such low temperatures during the winter.
One very important thing which is now being neglected by beekeepers is spring protection. Spring protection is in my opinion much more necessary than winter protection because the bees are using up a great deal more energy in developing the brood nest and the development of the colony is limited to a very large extent by their ability to conserve heat which helps them to conserve energy. Bees should be set out as early as March 20 in the vicinity of Madison and should then be given plenty of pro-ection as well as an abundance of stores and room.—H. F. Wilson.
Dr. Phillips gave us two very interesting and valuable talks, but before these can be printed they must be revised and O. K.’d by Dr. Phillips. It will also be necessary to have Mr. Dadant O. K. his talk before it can be published.
Only Organized Bees Gather Honey; Only Organized Beekeepers Gather Profits
Ladies and Gentlemen:
In this day and age of strenuous competition in all channels of commerce and industry, it becomes a matter of utmost importance for the Wisconsin farmer to turn himself to the attention that his profession deserves and to those things which concern the distribution and marketing of the products of his labor.
Agriculture, in its various phases, has been given an unusual amount of consideration and has been the object of a great many experimental studies wherein the matter of economical production was always given first thought. Our agricultural colleges, universities, and state departments have interested themselves commendably well in those activities concerned with disseminating information and knowledge on greater and more economical production. It is their sphere of service, and we must be thankful to such agencies for what they have done for farmers in general. There is, however, one branch of industrial agriculture to which the above agencies must not and can not turn their intensive attention, i. e. the organization of agricultural groups whose chief object Such activities necessarily fall upon might be the improvement of market the producer himself. The Wisconsin prices affecting such organizations, beekeeper will And himself no exception. With greater production, we have to solve the matter of greater consumption of such increased production. That problem must be met by group action of those producers so interested. For example, our state and college co-operators may find ways and means of increasing the 1921 honey crop by fifty per cent, but in so doing will find that some procedure must be taken whereby such increase will be profitably absorbed.
The average Wisconsin county unit of honey producers has a membership of thirty to fifty active members. Should you take from that number in each county from five to ten of the largest beekeepers, you will have in such group throughout Wisconsin all the producers who are making a specialty of honey production for export out of their immediate community. It is such honey producer to whom organized action for the creation of a wider market for his product should appeal. It is such surplus producer also who will reap the benefit of the advertising of a standard product at a reasonable price. Wisconsin honey is honey of quality and has no equal on the market in America. Wisconsin is so favorably located both as to climatic conditions and attractive bee pastures that honey production should be especially profitable. We in Wisconsin might be able to attract the markets of America to the Wisconsin honey output if the merit of our product were more generally known. We might truly say with pride in the product, that American markets should “COME OVERLAND TO CLOVER
LAND, THE BADGER LAND OF HONEY.”
The adoption of a certain brand for Wisconsin honey would do wonders in the way of creating a demand for our product. When we approach the question of branding Wisconsin honey, we also assume approval of the fact that honey qualities vary and should be put upon the market at prices that vary accordingly. Let us agree here that the State Department of Agriculture has taken a splendid forward step in the urging of honey grades, but I believe Wisconsin honey producers can improve upon what is being proposed by our State Department in the way of honey grades by mere’y adopting a brand of their own to which they subscribe their Integrity and to which they will give every attention to their effort to make their product equal to all that their brand would indicate. They then are grading their honey not because they must be law-abiding but because they have pride in their product. When the producer takes pride in his product, the consumer naturally will fol.ow with an estimate of it that always will be in keeping with what his brand claims. I should like to see Wisconsin honey advertised countrywide so that every large market would literally
“MAKE BEE LINES FOR WISCONSIN HONEY.”
Let us assume that Wisconsin bee men adopt a brand, calling it, for ex. ample,
“THE BIG BEE BRAND,” or by suggestion let it be named, “BADGER BUSY BEE BRAND.” Honey going out under Buch distinction would establish a market absolutely its own, and might eventually educate the average honey consumer to a point where he would insist upon goods stamped with such brand only. Should you be open for further suggestion we might offer
“WISCONSIN CLOVER MAID HONEY,” lithographically decorated with scenes or views that might Increase its appeal to the average consumer. I suggest these things only to add vision to those who have thought in terms of better honey markets, markets in waich Wisconsin honey should appeal extremely by virtue of its standards of quality. Why would it not be possible for Wisconsin producers to pool their annual output and sell it on a brand basis? Advertise the merits of the product and deliver goods that always wiJ be more than equal to all that the brand may mean.
Before we have mastered the market, there is the advertising campaign that must of necessity precede all. I need only cite a few examples of what has been done in the advertising world and the success that has followed such advertising investments. I may illustrate this by clippings from our household magazines which depict in beautifully colored plates in a most appealing manner the mrelts of the products advertised. You need only to glance through our modern magazines to note what is being done to promote the market of some of the most unusual products and substitutes we know. To support this statement, let us take for example, the advertising plates which have for their alm the increased consumption of butter, lard, and honey substitutes. Oleomargarine advertisements fairly impose themselves upon the reading public. Advertisements of lard substitutes are in the same class. Vegetable oils never should be considered on a par with pure and unadulterated animal fats. We may also say that syrups such as glucose, etc., never should be thought of except as substitutes for honey. Honey is a primary product of outstanding quality, food value and mer. its which never should fear a competing product. Here you may consider advertising as a program of education, which it undoubtedly is. The sooner Wisconsin honey producers will turn their attention to the education of the consumers of their product, the greater will be the demand for their output and the greater will be the price that they will receive.
Agricultural production in all its phases probably is at its height. Greater markets must be developed in order that our surplus may be consumed. The limit of profit to the Wisconsin farmer has been reached as far as production is concerned. He must be paid reasonably for what he now produces before he can be induced to produce more. If he must market what he now has at a loss, it is evident then that should he double his a greater amount of attention to mar-output, he would double his loss. Such procedure in the honey producing industry would be fatal. We must turn kets in the future than we have done in the past Emphasis on that phase of the industry will bring favorable results sooner than any other that may be recommended.
There is one outstanding feature of honey production that comes to my attention. That is that our honey producers, after years or a lifetime of study of bees and their habits, have not taken from these creatures the lesson of organization and co-operation. The very fundamental trait of bees in which every beekeeper is vitally concerned, is organization. Without it, there is confusion and chaos. The good beekeeper would not tolerate it in his bee yard, but he evidently has tolerated a condition among his fellow beekeepers which has been just as destructive to them as disorganization would be in the bee yard. I may close by recommending that each take home with him this lesson from his own apiary. Profit by the example set —organize and success in your vocation is assured.
—R. R. Runke.
Downy Mildew in Lettuce
The first step in the control of downy mildew is to destroy all wild lettuce plants in the immediate vicinity of your greenhouse
Italian Bees and Queens for Sale
MARSHFIELD - WIS. and hotbeds. Studies made here prove conclusively that this disease lives on both wild and cultivated lettuce, and, in many instances, the wild lettuce is a source of infection. The disease carries over the heated period of summer on the wild plants and infects the first crop of garden lettuce in the fall. Certain species of wild lettuce also live over winter and provides a friendly harboring place for the disease.
Different fungicides were used in our spraying experiments for control of mildew, but none of them proved superior to the standard 4-4-50 Bordeaux mixture. Lettuce mildew is primarily a seedling disease. This fact must always be kept in mind in making the spray applications. Spray measures, to be effective, must be focused upon the seedling stage of the plant. The first spray should be applied when the seedlings are about an inch high and the first true leaf is beginning to form. Coat the plants thoroughly, making sure that the under side as well as the top surface is covered with the solution. A second application about a week later will usually prove sufficient to control the disease. We have found that the control measures applied at this time are very effective, whereas, if they are delayed until the disease really appears as mildew on the under surface of the leaves, the spray is ineffective.—A. T. Irwin in Market Growers Journal.
FOR 8ALE—Hardy northern bred Italian queens, each and every queen warranted satisfactory. Prices: One, 11.50; 12, $15.
THEO. GENTZ, SHAWANO, WIS.
—
In May, 1921, 126 firms advertised beekeepers* supplies. They made and priced their products to get the business. Distributing nationally, we competed with all of them. Consider that of the 800,000 beekeepers in America over 80,000 were on the “Beeware” list in 1921.
BEWARE
WHERE YOU BUY YOUR
BEEWARE
MAKES THE FINEST.
Home Office and Works . . Watertown, Wisconsin
BRANCHES AND DISTRIBUTERS THROUGHOUT THE U. S. A.
Ask for a "Beeware” Catalog today
We offer for September and October THREE Annual Memberships in the State Horticultural Society (including subscription to Wisconsin Horticulture) for Two Dollars.
Send Two New Memberships, renewals not accepted, with Two Dollars, and get your own membership FREE or your time extended ODe year if you are now a member.
Send postal money order, draft or personal check to
F. Cranefield, Sec’y
701 Gay Building Madison, Wis.
Postage Btamps not accepted
Italian Bees and Queens for Sale
After June 1st, untested queens SI.00; tested, $2.00. One frame nucleus with untested queen after July 1st, $5.00. Two frame, $8.00. Full colonies after August 1st. Orders booked now with 10 per cent down.
The Henseler Apiaries MARSHFIELD, WIS.
Should send for our booklet on the new MODIFIED DADANT HIVE. The hive with a brood chamber sufficient for prolific queens. OUR CATALOG IS FREE.