Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-09
Notes from western New York.

Notes from Western New York.
The 44th annual meeting OF the
Western New York Horticultural So
ciety was held at Rochester. Jan. 25
and 26.
The attendance was very large, there
being at least 500 present. and stand
ing room was at premium.
The papers and topics discussed
were handled with ability and the en-
thusiasm was great. Elwanger ana
Barry made an exhibit of as varieties
OF pears and fine display of grapes,
and the Geneva Experiment Station
showed Sc varieties OF apples. There
was also a number of other smaller
displays. Exhibitors OF pumps and
spraying apparatus were very plenty.
President Barry being sick, Vice
President Willard presided. THE De-
cay and the Preservation Of Fruits"
was the topic of a paper by DR.. G. c.
Caldwell. He said that the decay OF
fruits was the action of germs, which
break up the sugar of the fruit. Flies,
wasps, and other insects carry the In
lection of rotten fruit from one place
to another. One year large number
Of wasps was noticed and there was
a great deal of decay in fruit, the next
year there was few wasps and few de-
cayed fruit, showing that without
doubt the germs Of decay was spread
by the wasps. The fungi once in the
fruit creates a poison which destroys
the cells Of the fruits, the more acid
and tannin in fruits the less 1t is at
taxed by the fungi Of rot.
Q.-Will it pay to have hogs run In
the orchard to eat up dropped and
rotten apples?
Ayes; they are a great help.
Q.-What shall We do with rotten
grapes?
A.-Continued spraying Of grapes
with Bordeaux mixture will do away
with the rot in grapes.
r. Morrill, said he picked all rotten
fruit and diseased twigs early in the
morning when damp with dew so that
the germs would not scatter, and boiled
them in caldron kettles, thus killing
the germs by heat
horticultural Research" by Prof.
W. II. Jordon, was the next subject.
He said that he had lately been in at
tendance at the Canadian meeting of
dairymen and Cheesemakers and had
found that the Canadians were strong
in points where we were weak in this
country. We had spent much effort in
studying methods of production but
had neglected the point Of finding a
profitable market for our products, and
that was just where they had expended
their greatest efforts. At their meet
ing he found the minister OF agricul-
ture and several members of parlia-
ment all interested experts in cheese
production. We have not got many
members Of congress In this country
that are cheese makers or expert cheese
men. Where we were weak they were
strong, for they have put their efforts
into finding a market for their prod
uct, and the correct methods OF mar
keting. II the horticulturists Of New
York two years ago had thrown away
half of their fruit and sold only the
best, they would have received more
for the crop than they did. The Amer
lean farmer is not as loyal to organi-
cations as his Canadian neighbors. but
IL We would combine thoroughly and
guarantee quality of all fruit we put
on the market we would gain by it,
We have been experimenting at the
station to prove the falsity of the
claims made by Andrew II. Ward that
soda will take the place of potash. We
have grown tomato plants in pure
quartz sand, giving different plants the
necessary quantities Of nitrogen and
phosphoric acid. Some of the plants
were given potash and others soda but
they absolutely refused to grow with
soda and without potash, but grew
nicely when no soda was furnished,
showing that soda was not necessary
article of plant food and could not
take the place Of potash. Also grew
some barley plants in same manner
with but slightly different results. The
barley would grow when provided with
soda until about one foot high when
all growth stopped, showing that the
demand for potash did not commence
at as early stage in the growth of
barley as in tomatoes.