F. Holsinger: There are about 200 trees on Mr. Goodman's farm at Westport, Mo. Some are blighting, but mine are fruitful. President: Chestnut wood lasts until worn out. J. W. Robison: While residing in Illinois I planted 100 trees, and only 10 or 12 are now living; but these are fruitful. A resolution to locate the Secretary's office at the capitol was adopted. President in chair. EVENING SESSION. Friday, December 13, 1894-7 p. m. HANDLING FRUITS.-By B. F. Smith, Lawrence. By improper handling many men make a failure of fruit-growing. No matter how large or well grown fruit may be, if put on the market in an unattractive condition the grower fails to realize a deserved price. Handling begins in the tree or patch. If carelessly picked and dropped in a distant basket, it is bruised and will not keep as long as if laid in with the hand. For picking half-bushel drop-handle baskets are good. They should be lined with sacking or canvas, so the fruit may not be bruised. The package for shipping all fruits should be neat and uniform in size, and neatly stenciled with the grower's address. All small fruit should be more carefully handled than eggs, nicely placed in new, clean, well-made boxes and crates. Fine berries packed in old weather-worn crates, slovenly marked, often sell for less than their real value.. The most careful berry-pickers are females; they handle the berries well if once shown how. Noisy berry-pickers are a nuisance. The berries they handle and don't put in their mouths are a damage to the well-handled berries. Send such home as soon as found. Orchard fruits and berries should be hauled in spring-wagons. I have seen hundreds of loads of fine apples on the Lawrence market badly bruised from being hauled in farm-wagons. For this reason many shippers buy and barrel in the orchard. The report of Auditing Committee was here presented, and is as follows: We, your committee, having carefully examined the financial reports of the Secretary and Treasurer, find them correct. F. WELLHOUSE, E. P. DIEHL, VINEYARDS.-By Wm. Cutter, Junction City. Committee. Grapes wintered well, in spite of a few days of 20 degrees below zero. Spring opened early and warm, and tender varieties had to be uncovered by March 1. Although the grape is one of the easiest fruits to grow, even in the North, yet I lay down and cover all my tender varieties. The dry season made small size and poor flavor, but it prevented rot. Of 60 bearing varieties we find Concord the best in its season; Telegraph best early; Worden best ripening between them; Moore's Diamond, and M. O. Risling, best white; Woodruff the most promising red. Of promising new grapes, Campbell's Early-not yet for sale-Carman, a late variety, Brilliant and Croton, are entitled to notice. Scientific pruning is not essential. There is an increased demand for vines, and ere long every wise farmer will have an abundance of grapes for his home use. GRAPE CULTURE.-By Peter Moyer, Fort Scott. Preparation. The land should be trenched 18 to 24 inches deep. A good fertilizer, such as bones, partly-decayed wood, etc., should be put in bottom of the trenches. In filling put the poorest subsoil on top to prevent surface roots. Stock. Select two-year-old plants, and plant six feet apart in rows eight feet apart, preferably north and south. Cultivate well; it pays. Trellises should be so arranged as to have the foliage cover the fruit, protecting it from rain and summer sun. This is best done by placing the wires in a triangular manner. I prefer trellises of wood not over four feet high. Prune while the sap is down. Close pruning insures better quality, leave one to three eyes to each last year's spur. Summer prune directly after the bloom falls; "tip" the vine at the joint above the last cluster set. Thin out the weak shoots; keep well ventilated below. A pint of unleached wood ashes at base of vine is the best stimulant I have found, and it also repels insects. Adherence to these rules has in the past 12 years given me bountiful crops each year with no mildew, black-rot, birds-eye rot or any withered by drought. VARIETIES OF GRAPES.-By E. P. Fisher, Sterling. I am testing 60 varieties, and will classify them: In first class I will place, as hardy, vigorous and productive, Worden, Concord, Moore's Early, Telegraph, Jewell, Champion, Martha, Niagara, Pocklington, Early Victor, Eaton, Etta, Antoinette, Isabella, Victoria, Jessica, Green Mountain, Moyer, Ives, and Catawba. Fine table varieties: Diamond, Berkman's, Jefferson, Delaware, Willis, Oriental, Witt, Mills, Empire State, Ulster Prolific, Vergennes, Duchess, Prentiss, Triumph, Lindley, Goethe, Newton, and Brighton. I have following new kinds to fruit next season: Geneva, Rockwood, Esther, Eaton, Ozark, White's Northern Muscat, Early Ohio, Carman, and Colrain. I have several seedlings of my own. I especially recommend Victoria as a late white grape; also Etta (very late), quality excellent. If Ozark does as well next season as this I shall consider it a great acquisition. It is said to be very late, good size and good quality. I am pleased with Worden; it is larger and better than Concord, but no earlier here. Its fault is poor shipping quality. Brighton is a sure and abundant bearer (if protected in winter) of fine quality. The best keepers and shippers are Mills (black), Duchess (white), and Ver- ́ gennes. Red Catawba and Jefferson are good keepers and shippers. Worden and Berkman's seem deficient in firmness. Telegraph is inclined to overbear. I picked ripe Jewell July 21, and Etta were not all ripe when struck by frost, October 8. Etta is reliable, good bearer and the best late white. Moyer is a small red grape, of excellent quality, ripening with Moore's Early. Herbert, Wilder and Iona are fine grapes, and will succeed here with a little winter protection. The Wilder is probably the best. DISCUSSION ON GRAPES. Prof. S. C. Mason: El Dorado and Lady are good varieties, but each requires winter protection. I have not observed a lack of pollenating power. F. Holsinger: Moore's Early, Champion, Concord, Goethe and Worden are all the varieties needed. I see no use of a long list as mentioned. I would plant no white variety, they do not sell as well as Concord. For profit, Concord, Champion and Worden cannot be surpassed. Prof. S. C. Mason: I would reluctantly offer Champion to a visiting friend. President: Major Holsinger treats his friends with such varieties as Goethe and Martha. B. F. Smith: We should all try new sorts as they are offered. By so doing we may find varieties better than we are growing. President: I would prefer Rochester, if confined to one variety other than Concord. It is a very fine table sort, handsome, ranking next the Delaware in flavor. The vine always strong and vigorous with me. Francis B. Hays ranks next. Etta is worthy our culture; is a heavy bearer and nice for table use. E. J. Holman: Ives is a profitable sort. DISCUSSION ON SMALL FRUITS. B. F. Smith: As novelties I tried Paris, King and Timbrell strawberries, and am disappointed in them. Princeton will, I think, prove a valuable late sort; the plant is fairly strong. I recommend it for trial only. Columbia is a good-flavored variety, and fairly productive. President: This variety was found in Tennessee by an elderly colored lady, who transplanted and cultivated it until she had several acres, which she sold for a large sum. She was once offered 50 bales of cotton. WEATHER REPORT.-T. B. Jennings, Government Weather Bureau, Topeka. 1893.-October: Dry, warm, sunny. November: Normal, dry. December: Unusually warm and dry. 1894.-January: Unusually warm; moist in southeast, dry in balance of state. February: Coldest in history of state; moist. March: First 20 days excessively warm; last 10 days cold, dry and windy, injuring much fruit. April: Warm, dry; general rain second and fourth weeks, third week dry and cold; hard on gardens. May: First week warm rain; second week strawberries in southern counties; fruit doing very well; balance of month dry. June: Warm and wet, but low night temperature detrimental to fruit. July: First week the rains were less frequent, and by the last week the month became so intensely hot and dry on into August as to nearly destroy fruit prospects for the year. Grapes wilted, tomatoes peeled in the sun, apples ceased to grow and fell rapidly. September: Rain and relief; apples ceased falling, but the crop was practically made. Charts were furnished, illustrating the rainfall and temperature, but cannot be published. REPORT ON EXHIBITS. We, your committee, find on exhibition; By the Kelsey Nursery Company, of St. Joseph, Mo.-Huntsman, Gano, Ben Davis, Willow Twig, Rawle's Genet and Romanite apples. By J. B. Buckmaster, Fort Scott, and Francis Goble, Leavenworth, each Ben Davis apples. W. J. Cook, Johnson county.-Plate of Minkler apples. F. Holsinger, Wyandotte county.-York Imperial and Winter May apples. E. J. Holman, Leavenworth.-Ben Davis seedlings and celery. Jacob Faith, Missouri.—Bottle of unfermented grape-juice, in excellent condition. C. H. Longstreth, Kearny county.-Display of fine apples, grown by irrigation. J. P. Treadwell, Allen county, and J. J. Measer, Reno county, each a collection of apples. F. HOLSINGER, E. J. HOLMAN, Committee. CONCLUSION. Resolutions of thanks were passed to the retiring President and Secretary for their able and willing services rendered during a long series of years; to the citizens of Fort Scott for hospitality and courtesies rendered; to the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis railroad for transportation courtesies; to the Hart Pioneer Nurseries for a pleasant excursion; and to the press for excellent reports and fair treatment. The time for closing having fully arrived, the President offered a few appropriate and encouraging remarks on the success of this, the twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Kansas State Horticultural Society, after which the meeting was adjourned sine die. The members spent the evening at an informal reception at the residence of Colonel and Mrs. U. B. Pearsall. PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING, Lawrence, December 10-12, 1895. Tuesday morning, December 10, 1895-10:40 o'clock. Called to order by the President. Prayer by Rev. J. W. Summerville. Committees were appointed as follows: On Credentials.-E. P. Diehl, Samuel Reynolds, and William Cutter. REPORTS ON ORCHARDS.-F. Holsinger, Wyandotte county. Last year was phenomenal in our orchards in production. The crop was large, and prices uniformly low. Apples now are a good price, and those who have held them may be thankful. The season was exceedingly wet with us, and apples matured well. The Ben Davis did not keep up its high character for bearing. The Winesap gives the best results. Willow Twig and other early apples uniformly bore well; but summer apples were a drug on the market, and there was little money in them. This was also true of fall apples. It is a grateful surprise that we are now getting better prices for apples than at this time last year. I think this largely due to the large quantity of apples put in cold storage. Strawberries were a short crop with me from dry weather. Raspberries and blackberries ripened after the rains commenced, and gave us a large crop. They sold at low prices. Cherries got us good prices and a full crop. Plums a very full crop and low prices. We lost many because it didn't pay to market them. Peaches I believe will give us more returns and better prices in Kansas than in the Ozarks. Last year peaches at Kansas City were of better value than for three previous years. This year I had a large crop of peaches of several varieties. Plant only the best. Hill's Chili is one of the best. One gentleman said to me "I have orders for 100,000 more Hill's Chili trees than I can supply, and would engage to-day, if I could, 300,000." He said Michigan was for Hill's Chili. A Nebraskan stated he had 3,000 or 4,000 bushels, and Hill's Chili headed the list. See the importance of planting varieties that bear well. Crosby is good. The Chapin gives great satisfaction. Hill's Chili and Chapin have given uniform satisfaction. Crosby is so closely allied with Chapin that I recommend planting together. The season was very wet, then turned dry, and when the later rains set in a great many branches bloomed. Pears were the most phenominal crop I ever witnessed in Kansas. The Keiffer gave the best satisfaction, being hardy and full. |