Volume X
Madison, Wisconsin, November, 1919
Number 3
The following strawberry talk from the reporter’s transcript of the summer meeting proceedings is interesting and may easily prove of value to prospective planters.—Editor.
Mr. Herman Christensen: Strawberry conditions were very abnormal this year. The dry weather last year made the stands very poor and when the spring opened we thought we would have a very small crop. But the spring rains seemed to bring on the plants that we already had, and again our hopes were raised, but when it came to flowers we found a great many plants came blind in our locality. We could hardly account for it, because we had a very mild winter. But after the fruit was set we still had promise of a crop, when the dry weather struck us, so that we had almost the smallest crop in my experience. Here and there, there seemed to be exceptions.
As to varieties, it seems as though the Senator Dunlap still holds the first place this year. At first it seemed to blight badly in the blossom, and the crop was shortened by this blighting. The best crop in our locality was grown by Mr. Parsons, who you remember was associated with our late President, Dr. Loope in various fruit growing enterprises, lie had a patch near Omro, about an acre and a quarter, most all Warfield. He had a magnificent crop of berries, very uniform in size and fine color. The peculiar thing was, that though Omro is only eight or nine miles west of Oshkosh, they had plenty of rain there and from an acre and a half he took in some $1200. You see that was a very good crop, and the men who reported on it said that the stand was nothing extra, so that he had a very good crop.
The variety that we depend on is the Dunlap. We still have a few of the Warfields, because I do not believe in quality the War-field can be excelled as a canning berry. We have been trying the August Luther which has been called a new Dunlap, but I did not find it so. It has a tendency to blight in the blossom when weather conditions are not favorable, and I cannot see any improvement in the size of the berry, so I do not think it is an improvement on Dunlap.
Another berry that is growing in favor is- the Gibson. It is a heavy bearer, not very large, but rather light colored, so that it is not in favor with the storekeeper or retailer, nor with the canner, but it is a very prolific berry, and very vigorous plant.
We still stick to some of the older varieties, like the Bubach, but they seem to be, as we have said before, somewhat playing out. One of the varieties that I like to grow a few of, because it stretches over so long a season, is the Glen Mary. I think under favorable conditions this berry will bear as big a crop as any variety we have, but it is rather uncertain. It is somewhat subject to rust but after all the summer varieties have left us the Glen Mary will often hang on a week or ten days and give some very-fine berries.
We still grow some of the ever-bearing. I have cut them down to two varieties, Progressive and Americus. On sandy soil the progressive is surely the best ever-bearing. and I think most of us will agree that on heavier soil the Americus is the better berry, is larger, and therefore I consider it one of the very best berries that we have. It has a peculiar flavor all its own, similar to the old Brandywine that we used to grow so largely in Wisconsin. I have tried several of the other everbearing, but to my soil they are not very successful. I have not tried any of the still newer varieties, but of late years there does not seem to have been such a large number of new varieties introduced as we had eight or ten years ago.
Mr. Rasmussen spoke of my new variety of ever-bearing strawberry. I am sorry that I lost those plants, but I have a spring fruiting kind now that I am going to thrust on him one of these days that I feel will be quite a success. I think the Senator Dunlap is still the standard variety around Oshkosh.
Mr. M. S. Kellogg: Mr. Christensen spoke about the Progressive and Americus; I should Uke to ask if he ever tried the Superb on his grounds and with what results? As I understand, your ground is a little on the heavy order, and yet you would not class it as a marl, exactly, but it is along that line. When we have plenty of rainfall we get the best results by far from the Superb of any of the ever-bearing.
Mr. Christensen: The only trouble with the Superb is that it rusts. I do not know whether that is true in all localities, but with us, as far as the berry was concerned, it gave the largest yield and the largest berry, but it rusted so badly that we abandoned it. The Progressive is so small that it is hardly worth picking, except where it is grown on the right kind of soil; the size is double or treble what we get on heavy soil. This Minnesota No. 4 is almost entirely a failure; they rusted badly too, but the Americus with us is a fairly good plant maker, and very large in size and better in quality, in fact, in the making of plants.
Mr. Kellogg: Have you fruited the Dr. Burrill?
Mr. Christensen: Yes, for two years.
Mr. Kellogg: Does that compare with the Dunlap?
Mr. Christensen: I did not get half the stand last year that I did on the Dunlap; in fact, it does not seem to be as vigorous. The berry is almost identical with the Dunlap, in size, color and shape, but the plant looks more like a Warfield than like Dunlap.
The President: I have planted nothing but the Dunlap in the past ten or twelve years and I think they have yielded every time. For canning I think perhaps the Warfield is best, but all our customers want the Dunlap.
Mr. Kellogg: We are sometimes prone to let go those varieties that give us the best berries—particularly those of us who are in the nursery business—the ones that give us the most plants. I know that is a fault that can be charged up to the men that are in niy line of business, but in years past, we have had a variety that we had not previously planted for some time, and that is the Carson Beauty. It is a berry that is very dark red. There is one feature that growers do not like, it is a hard berry to look over for canning, the stem sticks to the berry. It is not two-thirds as rank a grower as the Dunlap, but under favorable conditions it will outyield the Dunlap. If a dry season catches it, it will suffer a little more than the Dunlap. It is a deep ruby variety and if any one has the true Carson Beauty, it will pay to hang on to it for your own use at least.
Mr. Moyle: I have been talking Kokomo and Gibson, and I have been told they are the same thing. They have been grown in different localities, in certain berry sections in Michigan and a certain man made a success of growing the old Carson’s Beauty, and he renamed it Kokomo. Both of these varieties came from the original stock of Carson’s Beauty, but I doubt, Mr. Kellogg, if you can beat the Old Dunlap.
I want to make a statement here in regard to 110 Minnesota ever-bearing. When I first began trying out new varieties I jumped at the conclusions, now I want from 3 to 5 years to test out a variety. That 110 beats anything else I have: in two years’ fruiting it beats them all. It is simply for the reason that it is a cross between the Kokomo and the Superb. It has the green leaf of the Kokomo and it is a large size ever-bearing.
Mr. Christensen: Does it not have the same characteristic as the Superb, that it does not fruit on a new runner the first year?
Mr. Moyle: Oh yes, I can show you plains in the nursery which are fruiting now.
Mr. Christensen: I have had it two years and it did not fruit on the new runners.
Mr. Moyle: Did you get your plants direct from the experiment station ?
Mr. Christensen: I did not, I got them from a nurseryman.
Mr. Moyle: I got these direct from St. Paul, where they originated.
Mr. Christensen: This variety has the foliage of the Gibson and resembles the Superb in the berry. I tried it for two years and discarded all of them. In a season like this it does not show the characteristics of the ever-bearing, because the runners are flowering this year to an exceptional degree, and that is ,•particularly characteristic of the Progressive, that it does not fruit on any runner.
Mr. Kellogg: I should like to ask if any of the members have noticed anything in regard to lack of productiveness in their strawberry bed this past season on June fruiting varieties, and last year amongs.t the same varieties from plants that they have grown in their own propagating bed for several years as compared with plants they may have gotten outside that had new strain, new blood; if they have had any opportunity to make comparison in that regard?
The President: I have a row of Dunlap that I bought from a Minnesota man that he thought were different from what I had. I planted one row; it fruited this year and I could not see any difference from those that I had been fruiting for a good many years.
Or if we don’t we get someone else to answer them. In any event you get the answer. It’s free.
Grape vines may be pruned as soon as the leaves fall and laid on the ground preparatory to .covering with earth before the ground freezes.
If you really want to be of serv. iee secure one new member.
By J. G. Moore
Starting any business requires capital. To the man considering what line of business to enter, the amount of capital required to successfully operate that business is frequently a very important factor. There is probably no phase of agriculture which requires a smaller original capital to operate a successful business than does the growing of small fruits or vegetables.
These lines of agriculture are intensive. The acreage necessary to profitably employ the time of a man is relatively small and the returns per acre are relatively large. This combination makes the initial investment in land much less than for most other lines of agriculture. It is true the unit price of land desirable for growing these crops will be somewhat higher than that usually used for stock raising or grain growing, but the area needed for the latter much more than offsets this difference.
Berries Give Quick Returns
Another important consideration to the man with small capital is the quickness of returns. In the growing of vegetables the returns in many instances are almost immediate and in no case is there a long interval of time between the planting and marketing of the crop. While a somewhat greater interval is necessary for the profitable production of small’fruits, it is not great, as strawberries give a full crop the second season, raspberries and blackberries the third, and currants and gooseberries produce good crops in about four years. In the meantime returns may be had from the small fruit plantation by intercropping with vegetables.
The possibility of marketing the crop after it is produced is a vital problem with the farmer. Market demands and the available supply largely control prices. The demand for small fruit has never been better, the supply seldom less than at present. The result is high prices. Practically none of the fairly large markets has been able to secure a sufficient supply of any of the small fruits during the present season, notwithstanding the fact that the yield per acre has seldom been larger. There is every reason to believe that the relative supply will not be greater for some years.
The War Trained Home Gardeners
The market demands for certain vegetables was not good during 1917 and 1918, due to the large number of war gardens. In spite of this large increase in home gardens, commercial gardeners who selected intelligently the crops which they grew in 1918 were able to secure fairly satisfactory returns. There will doubtless always be a larger number of families supplying their vegetable needs from home gardens than before the war but many who gardened during the war are no longer doing so.
The increased supply due to the increase in the number of home gardens is probably not a relative increase for the habit of using more vegetables in the diet because of our war-time training will offset to a large extent the increased production. The prospects of a ready market in the future for high grade vegetables is very promising. The market demands during the present season warrant this conclusion.
To the man interested in these lines of agriculture Wisconsin offers excellent opportunities. With ordinary care in selecting a location and soil and with the advantage of large markets close at hand the Wisconsin grower need not worry about markets or fear competition from other states. If he finds competition too strong in the eastern market he can direct his product to equally good markets west, north, northwest and southwest.
The desirable opportunities in Wisconsin along horticultural lines are not confined to small fruit or vegetable growing. The production of certain types of apples and sour cherries in many respects offers quite as great attractions for one contemplating entering agriculture as do the former. Somewhat greater care in selecting a location, a longer interval between investment and initial returns and a greater initial investment and return, however, is practical.
In order to make a success in fruit or vegetable growing it is necessary for one to devote to it the same type of intelligence and care necessary to make a success of any other business.
A disease resistant strain of asters would be a money maker for some one. So far no pathologist has been able to suggest a remedy for aster blight and hundreds of thousands of plants are a failure every year. It seems that the only sure way to grow asters is under glass.
The Cranberry Crop
The production of cranberries in 1919 for the United States is estimated at 560,000 barrels, based on October 1 conditions, according to a report by Joseph A. Becker of the Wisconsin Cooperative Crop Reporting Service. The forecast on September 1, was 637,-000 barrels and production in 1918, 350,100 barrels.
Practically the entire cranberry crop of the country is produced in the three states of Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wisconsin. The Massachusetts crop is estimated at 78 per cent of a full crop, or 360,000 barrels compared to 200,000 barrels produced last year. Average price to growers October 1 was $7.70 per barrel (100 quarts). Harvesting will be completed by October loth. Fruit is of good quality.
The New Jersey crop is estimated at 76 per cent of normal, or a total production of 155,000 barrels. The crop has suffered no frost damage and is 50 percent harvested. Cost of picking is the highest known, running up to $1.00 per bushel. Some rot in bogs reduced the estimate since September, but greater portion of the fruit is of good quality.
Wisconsin’s crop will run 97 per cent of normal, with a total production of 45,000 barrels. Pickers are being paid from 50 to 55 cents per hour. The crop is of good quality.
Most ornamental shrubs are easily propagated either by seeds or hardwood cuttings.
Roses should be covered with earth just before the ground freezes.
Concerning Certain Shrubs
As a member of your society, I should appreciate your advice regarding the following points:
In the annual report (1919) the shrub Weigelia Eva Rathke is recommended. Has this shrub flowers of a good red color, and do you consider it better than some of the other Weigelias? Also does it grow much over 5 ft. tall? Is the growth upright or somewhat bushy?
The report puts Kerria Japon-ica on the blacklist. What could be recommended regarding the White Kerria (Rhodotypos Ker-roides) ? Is it hardier than the other Kerria, and is it suited to a place that gets only afternoon sun? Is Deutzia “Pride of Rochester” hardy in that locality (La Crosse) ?
For planting near foundation of a house, what spacing would you recommend for the above mentioned plants?
T. C. O.
Weigela Eva Rathke is hardy in Wisconsin. It is a low growing shrub, rarely exceeding three feet and spreading in habit. The flowers are much darker than W. rosea.
Kerria Japoniea is not hardy in this state, neither is Rhodotypos Kerroides able to withstand our winters even in the extreme southern part.
The Deutzia Pride of Rochester is only half hardy. This is true of all the Deutzias in this state, none but that will kill back more or less even in a mild winter and very low temperatures means blank spaces in the shrub border where the Deutzias stood.
Shrub planting is much like seed sowing, we must plant many more of both than we expect to retain in the final stand.
For immediate effect shrubs should be planted two to two and one-half feet apart and thinned later either by severe pruning or the removal of plants.
A New Horticulturist at Minnesota University Farm
“Horticultural education in Minnesota is to have a new leader. W. H. Aiderman, director of the experiment station of West Virginia, has been elected by the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota as head of the University’s division of horticulture. He will assume the duties of his new position September I.
“Mr. Aiderman is a young man, being only 34. He was born and raised on a farm and was graduated from the course in horticulture in Cornell, N. Y., in 1908. He was first assistant and then associate horticulturist of the New York experiment station at Geneva from 1908 until 1911. In 1911 he became professor of horticulture and horticulturist at the West Virginia experiment station and one year ago he was made director of that station. He has also been acting dean of the Department of Agriculture of the University of West Virginia in the absence of Dean J. L. Coulter.
“Mr. Aiderman is one of the leading teachers of horticulture in the United States and has shown remarkable administrative and organizing ability as well.
“Mr. Aiderman is one of the joint authors of a large work describing the plums of New York.” —Minnesota Horticult uris I.
AMONG WISCONSIN BEEKEEPERS
The Wisconsin BeeKeepers Page
Prof. H. F. Wilson Editor
Your state association now has nearly 480 members and the indications are that the membership will be even greater by the time of the convention. With a membership of this size, we ought to have at least 200 at the convention. Make up your mind to come and give of your knowledge that we may all improve. If you want to know about the latest in beekeeping, come and we will see that the information is given you.
Beekeepers are now making preparations for the season of 1920. Many looked forward to 1919 with a great deal of expectancy to learn whether or not beekeeping would revert to the old system of pre-war days when honey prices were low and winter losses and disease were making serious inroads on the industry in this state.
We are glad to note that the tendency for more and better beekeeping is still increasing and general conditions are better in all respects than at any previous time in our history. Better laws have been secured, a better system of inspection prevails and the spirit of cooperation among beekeepers is of the very best. Crop production and the total number of colonies of bees are being rapidly increased.
Wisconsin’s Apiary Inspection Law
The new inspection law passed by the last legislature seems to be giving satisfaction both to the beekeeper and to the bee inspector. A number of inquiries have come to this office regarding the selling and moving of bees. For the benefit of our members, three sections of this law are here given.
Permit Required for Moving Bees or Supplies
8. No person shall sell, barter, offer for sale or barter, move, transport, deliver, ship, or offer for shipment any apiary, bees, comb, or used beekeeping appliances without a permit from the inspector of apiaries; or in lieu thereof, if shipped or transported from without the state, a certificate duly issued by an official state inspector showing that said apiary, bees, comb, or appliances have been inspected and found not infected with any contagious or infectious disease of bees. Such permit, or a copy of such certificate, shall be affixed to the outside of every package, box, crate, or bundle containing bees, comb, or used beekeeping appliances. The inspector may refuse such permit whenever such refusal is necessary, in his judgment, to prevent the dissemination of any contagious or infectious disease of bees or until after lie .finds by inspection that the said apiary, bees, comb, or appliances are not infected with any such disease.
(b) No person shall accept for shipment, ship, or transport any such bees, comb, or used beekeeping appliances unless such permit or certificate is affixed on the outside of the package, box, crate, or bundle containing the same; and the inspector or any of his deputies may forthwith seize and destroy any such shipment found at any time or place without such permit or certificate affixed as aforesaid.
(e) The use or an invalid or altered permit or certificate and the misuse of any valid permit or certificate are hereby prohibited.
Exposing Honey. Comb, Etc., Prohibited
9. No person shall expose in any place to which bees have access, any bee product, hive, or other apiary appliance in such manner that contagious or infectious diseases of bees could be disseminated therefrom.
Penalties
10. The words “person” and “owner” as used in this section include natural persons, firms, associations and corporations; and any person, who, himself or by his agent or employe, or as agent or employe for another, violates any provision of this section, or any regulation or order made in pursuance thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.
Complete information regarding this law and permits to ship bees can be secured from Dr. S. B. Fracker, State Entomologist, or Mr. H. L. McMurry, Chief Deputy, State Capitol Building, Madison, Wis.
Beekeepers can obtain sugar for feeding bees by writing direct to United States Sugar Company, Milwaukee, Wis.
H. L. McMurray.
WISCONSIN STATE BEEKEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL CONVENTION
Program
Thursday and Friday, December 4 and 5, 1919, at the Senate Chamber, State Capitol, Madison.
Meeting of Board of Managers, Wednesday Afternoon, December 3, 2 P. M., Senate Chamber.
Thursday, December 4
Morning Session
9:00—9:30 A. M.
Social Meeting, Paying Dues.
Call to Order. Singing of “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” led by
II. Lathrop.
Greetings to the Old Guard—Rev. J. E. Cooke, Reedsburg.
Reading of Minutes of the Last Convention.
Reading of Secretary’s Report. Reading of Treasurer's Report. Reports of Standing Committees. Report of Board of Managers. Presentation of new business by members.
Appointment of Committees for Convention.
Afternoon Session
1:30 P. M.
President,s Address—Gus. Dittmer, Augusta, Wis.
The New Era in Beekeeping— Dean Russel), College of Agr.
The County Agricultural Agent and the Development of the Beekeeping Industry — H. J. Rahmlow, Phillips, Wis.
Preparation of Exhibits for State and County Fairs—A. C. Allen, Portage, Wis.
Standardizing and Organizing the Honey nldustry — A. Swahn, Ellsworth. •
Questions and Discussions.
Evening Session
5:30—7 :30 P. M.
Beekeepers’ Banquet.
The Foulbrood Situation in Wisconsin—S. B. Fracker, State Entomologist.
Report of the Deputy Inspector—• II. L. McMurry.
Foulbrood fro mthe Standpoint of the Beekeeper—M. E. Eggers, Eau Claire.
Friday, December 5
Morning Session 9:00 A. M.
Management of Outyards—N. E. France, Platteville, Wis.
Relation of the State Department of Agriculture to the Beekeeping Industry—C. P. Norgord, State Commission of Agriculture.
Short Cuts in Wholesale Requeening—Edw. Massinger, Greenville, Wis.
“Queen-Rearing at Home”—Kenneth Hawkins, Watertown.
The Need of Better Educational Work in Beekeeping—Miss Iona Fowls, Asst. Editor, Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio.
Modern Beekeeping Practice— H. L. McMurry, Special Field Agent, U. S. Bureau of Entomology.
The Use of Large Hives—C. P. Dadant
Afternoon Session
1:30 P. M.
Out Yard Advantages—Chas. L. Duax, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Open Discussion on How to Make Our Association More Valuable to Its Members.
Business Session.
Report of Committee
Old Business
New business
Election of Officers
Appointment of Standing Committees.
Cane Fruits in Wisconsin
Leon K. Jones
In the previous number of Wisconsin Horticulture there appeared an article relating to statements made by Mr. Roberts, at the Summer convention of the State Horticultural Society. Mr. Roberts brought forward some of the reasons for the decline of the raspberry industry in Wisconsin, as were found in a survey of the State this summer. Has the raspberry industry declined!
The thirteenth United States census report shows Wisconsin as having nine hundred and sixty-four acres devoted to cane fruit culture. This leaves Wisconsin in 1909 with the smallest acreage of any of its neighboring States, as is shown by the following table:
Wisconsin______ 964 acres
During the past ten years the industry has declined about
eighty per cent, as is shown by the data collected this summer on the survey.
Raspberries (red)____126 acres
This data takes into consideration only commercial plantings of Vi acre or more in extent. Although the state was covered quite thoroughly ample allowance has been made for plantings that may have been missed.
Annual Convention
The Annual Convention will be held in Madison Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, January 6th, 7th and 8th, 1920.
The program will be published in the December number.
The premium list will be exactly the same as last year. It is not too late to lay aside .apples and vegetables for the exhibit.
A copy of the annual report containing proceedings of the 1918 summer meeting and the January 1919 annual convention was mailed to every member about October 1st. If your dues are paid and you have not received a copy notify the secretary.
Autumn Leaves
Leaves are, perhaps, worth saving. If you have an acre lot available, plenty of trees, are diligent and collect a ton, dry weight not saturated with rain, you will have garnered 15 lbs. of nitrogen, 3.2 lbs. phosphoric acid and 3.2 lbs. potash. A ton of rye straw yields 11.2 lbs. nitrogen, 5.1 lbs. phos. acid and 18.1 potash. Every good amateur gardener should build a compost heap adding to it every day from spring‘to autumn and to this the leaves that must be raked from the lawn for appearance sake may well be added but to spend much time in collecting leaves is doubtful economy.
Covering Roses
Remember that all but the very hardiest roses need winter protection; that early November is the time to cover them; that the bushes may be bent over without breaking if most of the pressure is applied at the roots. Remove a little soil from the s'ide toward which the bush is to be laid and push a fork down on the opposite side close to the roots and crowd hard at the same time pulling on the stems. Peg the tops to the ground and cover with corn stalks, leaves, or heavy building paper. If you bend in the same direction each year after about three years the bushes will almost lie down when you touch them, like a trained dog. Try it.
Lessons From the State Fair
The horticultural exhibit at the State Fair reflects pretty accurately the progress and present status of fruit growing in the state.
Twenty years ago we had no commercial fruit growing in the state worth mentioning and we had no state fair exhibit worth mentioning. Those of our members of a philosophical turn of mind may give us an answer as to which was the cause and which the effect. In any event we now have both orchards and a fruit display.
Ten years ago we had only plates of apples and poor ones at that, not a single display of over four apples on a plate. After trying and discarding pecks and bushels heaped on the tables, bushel and barrel packages, the tray, holding nearly a peck and resembling the top layer of a bushel box, has been adopted as the commercial display package retaining the plates for display of varieties. This plan gives the fair visitor his money’s worth and is satisfactory to the exhibitor.
There have been other changes of even more importance.
The score card system of judging has completely changed the character of the exhibits and, may we say, the exhibitors. Most anything would get by with a premium in the old days but not now. Every plate or tray of apples is subjected to the impersonal, merciless exactions of a score card the percentages credited for form, color, size, uniformity, etc., and the record left on each exhibit for the exhibitor to ponder over. Exhibits falling below a fixed standard are disqualified. This means that only good fruit can win a premium and the grower who now wins at the Wisconsin State Fair has just cause for pride as well as a substantial money reward. No one doubts
that this higher standard will be reflected in the apples which the exhibitor sells.
The point has been raised that this method of judging, exact and impartial tho it is, will eliminate the small exhibitor, or in other words the farm orchard fruit leaving the field entirely to a few big growers which is not altogether desirable. That surely is the first reaction as shown by the lessening number of exhibitors each year. There is only one answer to this: the fair is an educational institution and its standards must be kept up. The smaller exhibitor will, must, learn that “quality” is essential either for fair or for market and will endeavor to reach up to the standards set.
Ready to Repeat
The account of the journeyings of the trial orchard committee in the October number was written by William Toole, Sr., and should have been so credited. We regret the error but not the trip.
While his was an excellent account of a remarkably long automobile trip wholly within state boundaries there were some things that he did not tell: the oldest, in years, of the party, a few odd milestones beyond the Biblical allotment, he was yet the youngest in spirit thruout the trip. If the roads were bad he was thankful they were no worse; if they were good he sang; if moderate he whistled and whatever the conditions cheerful. At the close of the seven day and night, fifteen hundred mile trip he expressed his willingness to immediately go around again if necessary.
My Neighbor’s Garden n
I was much concerned the other day at the remarkable movements of my neighbor. It was just after the heavy rains of last week when the ground was soaked and everything was dripping wet. He was wandering aimlessly about his lawn and the grass plat between the sidewalk and the street. His head was bowed and every little while he would stoop down as if plucking something out of the grass and would put something in a dish which he held in his hand. He certainly wasn’t digging dandelions for he moved about much too rapidly. My curiosity got the better of me and so I went over to see what he was doing.
I found that he was digging up a lot of toadstools that were beginning to show their gray rounded tops through the grass. After a casual remark I told him that I had never dug those things out of my lawn and told him that I couldn’t see that they had ever done any harm.
“Harm!” he said, “I should say not! They are going to harm old H. C. L.”
“What!” I said, “You don’t mean that you are going to eat those toadstools!”
“You just watch me” was his retort.
I had, of course, eaten canned mushrooms, and had seen the nice clean white-topped ones at the grocers occasionally, but had always supposed that toadstools were a deadly poison, but my neighbor gave me most interesting glimpses into the abyss of my ignorance.
From him I learn that there is no botanical or gastronomical difference between toadstools and mushrooms. All cap fungi may be called by either name with equal propriety, the only difference being that the only variety that is cultivated is always called a mushroom. Of the many hundred of species of mushrooms or toadstools, the deadly poisonous ones are practically confined to one genus or family, and even of this genus only about one-half of the species are poisonous. But these are so deadly that they have given a bad name to all except the cultivated species. Worse than all is the fact that in early stages of growth the deadly varieties have forms which render them hardly distinguishable from the cultivated species. No one should have anything to do with a toadstool that there is or can be any question about. The risk is too great. “If he makes a mistake, he will be dead for a long time,” as my neighbor puts it.
He then gave me a lesson in the structure of mushrooms.
It seems that the top or umbrella-shaped part is the cap, and that under it and radiating from the stem, are a series of thin plates, thinnest on the edge, which are called gills. The seeds of the mushrooms which are mi-crospic are called spores, and these are formed on the sides of the gills. At first the gills are white, but as the spores form, the gills take the color of the spores which form upon them by the million, and are of various colors, generally white, rosy, brown, or black. The color of the spores is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of mature or even partially mature mushrooms.
Practically all of the dangerous mushrooms have white spores. Every mushroom which has white (f ’onl in nod on putrt* 43)
THE INSECT PAGE
Conducted by the Department of Economic Entomology College of Agriculture
An Interesting Moth
During the past two weeks many growers of Wisconsin were greatly alarmed about the sudden appearance of large numbers of moths or “millers,” dull olivegray to reddish in color with a dark spot in each forewing and dark markings. They have a wing expanse of about 1% inches and could be found in plenty,
Mtohs of cotton worm feeding on ripe tomato.
feeding on ripe tomatoes and cracked melons and flying to lights and store windows at night.
On October 4th the writer while doing some investigation work happened to step into a tomato plot. Large numbers of these moths flew up and an examination showed that there were thousands of moths in this and adjoining tomato plots. As many as 8 to 10 moths were commonly found on a single cracked tomato feeding upon the juices.
These moths are the adults of the cotton worm and fortunately are not injurious in the northern states but finally die. In the southern states they often cause serious injury to cotton. Why these moths should fly so far north in such large numbers has never been satisfactorily explained. In some years, they have flown as far north as Canada.
The moths can overwinter only in southern Florida, South America and the West Indies. In spring the moths lay their eggs on volunteer cotton. The larvae develop rapidly and the moths which develop from these larvae fly northward for a distance and there start another generation on cotton, each generation developing farther north as the season advances. By the time several generations have matured, there are immense numbers of moths which occasionally fly far north.
L. G. Gentner.
The Raspberry Root-Borer
This insect is also known as the blackberry erow’n borer and is known to occur in our northern states and Canada. This station has never received information regarding its occurrence in Wisconsin until this fall when specimens were sent in from Superior. They were said to be killing off an entire raspberry patch.
The larya is whitish with a brown head and is 1 to 1% inches long when full grown. They tunnel in the lower stems and roots of blackberry and raspberry. The adults are clear-winged moths and look very much like wasps with their black bodies and yellowish abdominal rings. They appear in late August and September. The females soon lay their brownish red eggs on the lower edge of the leaves. They hatch in September and crawl down the stems and bore in under the bark, sometimes spending the winter thus or they may go into the pith, providing they hatched early enough. The next spring they feed near the crown often causing the canes to wilt or show signs of weakness. The second summer the larva becomes full grown and bores a hole through the wood and bark just above the crown but leaving the
The Raspberry root borer. The larvae are nearly full grown. Notice exit hole in eenter cane.
skin of the cane over the hole. It then descends in its burrow and changes to the pupa which in time wriggles itself out of the tunnel until it projects part way out. The adult moth then emerges.
Control Measures
The only method known which will control this species is to pull up all infested canes, including the root, and burn. Wild berry bushes in the vicinity should also be destroyed as they will be a natural breeding ground for the borers.
Charles L. Fluke, Jr.
Preference of the Potato Flea Beetle for Certain Varieties of Potatoes
“While carrying on experiments at Madison the past summer for control of the potato leafhopper, many interesting observations were made as to the preference of the potato flea beetle for certain varieties of potatoes and the resulting injury to the plants.
The potato flea beetle, a very small, round, black beetle which readily jumps when disturbed was extremely abundant this year in the southern part of Wisconsin.
Observations made from time to time showed the following interesting facts in regards to its attack.
On Early Ohio potatoes were found more beetles than on any other variety and the feeding injury was consequently worst. They were found all over the plant, on the highest leaves as well as on the lowest. Their attack lasted later into the fall than on other varieties, and new foliage coming on after late summer rains was badly eaten. It was observed throughout the summer that injury to Bordeaux sprayed plants was only a little less than to untreated plants.
Irish Cobbler potatoes suffered next in order. The number of beetles found on plants and the feeding injury was nearly as great as with Early Ohios. The insects were found all over the plants, although in greatest numbers on the lower leaves. New late summer foliage was badly eaten.
Improved Green Mountain potatoes, (an Eastern type) were not as heavily infested nor injured as the previous variety. Some beetles were on the top leaves, but the great majority remained near the ground. Late summer foliage was not eaten badly.
Green Mountain potatoes were infested and injured to practically the same extent as the improved type. Flea beetles were seldom found, howver, on the upper leaves.
Sir Walter Raleigh potatoes (another eastern type) had relatively few beetles on the foliage, and they were usually found on the lower leaves. Late summer foliage sustained little injury.
Relative likeness of potato flea beetle for Rumi New Yorker (left! and Early Ohio (right» potatoes, growing side by side. Rural* practically uninjured; Early Ohios perforated with feeding holes. (Original).
Late Puritan potatoes were perhaps bothered less by the beetles than the previous variety. . All injury occurred on lower leaves and new foliage was not noticeably eaten.
Rural New Yorker potatoes were attacked by fewer beetles than any other variety planted. A small amount of feeding could be found on the lower leaves, but new’ growth was never injured. The accompanying pictures show’ the extremes of injury.
John E. Dudley, Jr.
Keep gladiolus and dahlia bulbs at about the same temperature as potatoes.
MY NEIGHBOR’S GARDEN II
(Continued from page 41) spores is therefore an object of suspicion. Most poisonous mushrooms grow' in the ground especially in w'oods or open grounds under trees or where trees have recently grown. Another characteristic of poisonous mushrooms is the fact that in the early stages there is a membrane or veil on the under side of the cap which covers the gills until the cap is half or more open, when it ruptures, forming a more or less well defined ring about the stem. Another characteristic of the poisonous species is that there is, at the base of the stem, generally completely hidden in the earth, a more or less w'ell defined cup out of which the stem rises. This is often very illy-defined in mature specimens, sometimes being mere scales. The color of the caps of most poisonous mushrooms is attractive, pure white with perhaps a steely luster, or shaded or dotted with red or orange.
If the mushroom grow’s in the w’oods, beware I
If it is w’hite or shaded or dotted with red, brown or orange beware!
If it has white gills, bew’are!
If it has a ring or anything that looks like a ring on the stalk, beware!
If it has a cup or scales which separate readily from the low'er end of the stem, beware!
It may be perfectly w'holesome if it has all these signs, but only a fool would take a chance. One good bite of Destroying Angel or the Fly Amanita would make an undertaker a necessity in any civilized community. A doctor would be of little use because no sure antidote for the poison is known.
The cultivated mushroom called the meadow mushroom, has white gills only in the button stage, before the gills are formed. It has the veil, but by the time that ruptures and becomes a ring, the spores have commenced to form and the gills assume a rosy pink tinge, later, and by the time the cap is fully developed, becoming a purplish black. The caps are white or white with a gray center. There is no cup at the base of the stem. These grow in open fields or lawns and closely allied species grow in the woods.
The ink-caps are another very common and useful variety. They are so-called from the fact that as soon as the plant is fully grown the gills commence to dissolve into a black ink-like fluid. The three most common forms are the common Ink-Cap, the Giant Cap and the Shaggy Mane, the latter being one of the best and meatiest of all mushrooms.
The common Ink-Cap will be found growing in clusters under elm or maple trees, or more especially where these trees have been growing and have been cut down or grubbed out. The caps are oval conical in shape at first, an inch or more in diameter, the color being that of a well baked biscuit. In twenty-four hours they begin to turn to ink, so they must be gathered soon after they appear and before the gills have turned completely black. The Giant Ink-Cap is gray in color ridged up and down instead of smooth, and grows in lawns or in places where rubbish has been dumped. In warm weather it turns quickly to ink, and should be used before the center portion of the gills begins to be black.
The following interesting account of the 1919 cherry harvest appeared in a Sturgeon Bay newspaper several weeks ago.
Conservative estimates of the 1919 crop made a month or so ago, placed the total output at 200,000 eases, but this figure is increased this week to 225,000 eases. This is about a 700 per cent increase over the crop of last year, and more than doubles the crop of 1917 which was the largest in
Both these ink-caps are found from early spring to late fall.
The Shaggy Mane is found only in the late summer and fall, usually in places where rubbish, sandy earth or coal ashes have been dumped. It is white with long loose white or gray fibers extending from the center of the cap towards the edges, sometimes curling up at the lower ends. It is usually two or three times as long as thick, and it may be from an inch to six inches in length and from a quarter of an inch to two inches in diameter.
But my neighbor when he starts on mushrooms, is, as you see, not merely loquacious, but is fairly garrulous, and I had to tear myself away just here, or he would have filled me up with more information on this hobby of his than I could digest in a week. Speaking of digestion, my neighbor, perhaps by way of atonement, invited me over to his house that evening to sample the toadstools which I had seen him gathering and which had so aroused my curiosity. Like all true mushroom fiends he is the cook as well as the collector, but that is another story.
Neighbor. the history of the industry in Door county.
While the present crop seems very large, it is really small compared to what may be expected in the future. With thousands of young trees just attaining a good growth; with thousands of other trees just beginning to bear, and with still other thousands planted but recently and more trees being set out there is no way to judge the extent to which the industry will eventually reach. The present crop has been so large and the prices so high that growers are encouraged and next spring there will be another great revival of planting.
There follows a resume of the cherry industry of the county, enumerating the various growers with attempts to describe the many phases of work.
Captain A. C. Templeton refused $3,000 an acre for his cherry orchard three years ago. It is more valuable now than it was then. Off his 7 acres he expects to get 2,500 crates this year. Mr. Templeton has trees which disprove the theory" that the life of a cherry tree is comparatively" short after starting to bear. Off a 15 year old tree he picked 12 cases of Early Richmonds. Off a 17 year old tree he picked 11 cases. A 10 year old tree produced 8 eases. He has one row of 19 year old trees and all are thriving and are big producers. They stand 18-feet high with great spreading branches. “It’s all in the care,'’ says Captain Templeton. He had 42 pickers principally’ from Milwaukee and Chicago. They have a eamp of their own and do their own cooking. Their camp is in a pretty spot on the shore of Sturgeon Bay.
While lnauy other growers are complaining about their plum crop, claiming the blossoms were heavy but the fruit very light, Captain Templeton’s plum trees are bearing heavily. “It’s all in the care,’’ he says.
There are several acres of apples in the Templeton orchard, and the fruit is already about right for “apple pie.” Every apple is perfect and the trees are loaded. “It’s all in the care,” says the captain.
H. S. Schnell, who has charge of the pickers at the orchard of the Sturgeon Bay Fruit company, is not one bit worried over the picking problem—which isn’t a problem at all, he says. There are 100 pickers at this 160 acre orchard and Mr. Schnell says he could just as easily have a thousand. They are all boys from the schools of Milwaukee.
Mr. Schnell is principal of the 1 Sth Avenue public school of Milwaukee. and also conducts a continuation school for adults evenings. He put the proposition of a cherry picking camp for boys up to the Milwaukee schools and received so many applications he didn’t know what to do with them. lie finally made a sort of selection taking a mixture of all extractions and all religions, just to try them out and find who’s best, but he didn’t pick any girls and he thinks that maybe he made a mistake. Not that the boys are-not good pickers—indeed, not!— but he is beginning to realize he didn’t give the girls a square deal. Next year he is going to start a girls’ camp, too.
The long building in the picture is the pickers’ quarters and is 20 by 192 feet. It is divided into 11 compartments, or move-* able units, the partitions of which can be moved to make rooms of any size desired. One unit is a kitchen, two units are used for dining room purposes, and the other 7 are sleeping rooms, wash room and shower baths, with cots for 12 boys in each. There is a large cottage for pickers on the property, too. Next year a screened extension, with a 10 foot porch and extended roof, will be added, doubling the width of the long building. Next year there will be electric lights and separate showers and many other improvements on the place.
The orchard is the property of a number of Milwaukee men and D. W. Larkin of this city is manager and also a stockholder. The entire property consists of 657 acres of which 57 acres are on Green bay. There are 20 acres of 9 year old trees and 70 acres of the 160 acres in cherries being young trees with additional acres being planted each year. David Goldman of Milwaukee is president of the company. Between 4,000 and 5,000 cases of cherries will be harvested this year.
All Boys at Reynolds’
An 8-teani baseball league gives the 200 Y. M. C. A. boys at the big Reynolds’ orchard something to worry about evenings after the day’s picking is over. There is a bunch of husky colored boys that at the present time are the best bet for the pennant. They also carried off more than their share of prizes at the recent track meet held at the orchard track. Financially, tho, the white boys are getting ahead of the game. They are up here for the coin, as well as sport, while the black youngsters are not worrying a-tall about next winter.
It is certainly taking some hustling to harvest the cherry crop on this 200 acre orchard. The half-mile rows with 166 trees in each row seem almost endless with each tree just loaded with cherries. Off of 40 acres 12,000 crates were picked and the company figures 25,000 crates will be their total crop this year. No
sooner are the trees free of cherries than the spraying machine comes along killing any life that might be detrimental to future crops. The company continues setting out more trees each year.
Cherries are not the only crop at the Reynolds big farm. There is between 400 and 500 acres in hay, peas, rye and other grain in a rotating crop. There are 100 beef cattle on the farm, kept for the fertilizing derived. The 100 beeves are to be sold at once and 100 steers of a better stock will be bought and carried ten months to be fattened up and sold.
Will Reynolds superintends the work in this big orchard, and it keeps him busy with his big family of pickers.
At the 800 Acre Orchard
Sixty-thousand eases of cherries will be picked at the Co-Operative orchard this year. About 600 pickers are engaged. There are 100 Indians in two camps on the premises; about 150 local pickers, who are brought to the orchard in the morning and back home in the evening by motor trucks; and more than 300 girls from all parts of the state. The care of this army of cherry pickers is a great task but Manager J. G. and Mrs. Martin have everything systematized, the work goes ahead rapidly without a hitch and every cherry in the 800 or more acres will be picked.
Masquerade dances, concerts of various kinds, sports, bathing and other amusements devised by the entertainment committee make the camp a regular summer resort.
Anna Monroe is matron of the camp and with several chaperones sees to it that the “young ones’’ don’t “get by” to see some
‘relative,” according to the camp prospectus.
“If your cards are not correct kick to this bunch,” meaning the office staff of which Miss Bessie Rounsevell and Miss Laura Kunkel are the heads. Leonrd Slattery and Raymond Lili, (not married, Mr. Martin explains), are also in the office. Joe Lavassor is orchard foreman. “Call him Dode when you want carriers and crates. If he don't keep you supplied call him “something else.” Herbert W. Miller is power mechanician, and “if you can't take a ride because the trucks are on the bum tell the manager what you think of Herbert.”
Mrs. L. C. Kellogg looks after overseers and packers, checks the picking cards “and makes you work. ’ ’
Nearly All Girls
Dr. A. J. Gordon had a strictly girls’ camp until a lady from Peshtigo brought over a halfdozen boys to help out the girls. The pickers live in pyramidal tents, just like soldiers in the training camps, and sleep in double-deck cots. There are more than 80 girls in the camp all working hard to pick 40 acres of cherries and it’s a big job. The orchard property is owned by the Northern Land and Fruit Co. The trees are 8 years old and 4,500 erates will be harvested this year.
A new farm house is being built on the property and many other improvements are being made. Dr. Gordon has a tractor sprayer, the only one owned in the county.
Orphans Pick at Hahn’s
About 60 orphans from St. Josephs orphanage, Green Bay, are picking at Henry Hahn’s orchard and are greatly enjoying the work and outing. They are in charge of three Sisters from the orphanage, and are among the very best pickers in the county. Mr. Hahn has a very pretty orchard situated on the southern slope of a large hill a few miles north of the city. He has 10 acres of 13-year-old trees from which he will get about 3,000 cases this year. Many of his trees produce 8 eases. While he lost 15 of his very best trees in the storm of three weeks ago he will more than make up for the loss by planting 500 more trees next spring, being encouraged by the present big crop. Mr. Hahn also has 2,200 apple trees which look very good this year.
School Teachers Own This One
The Peninsula Fruit Farm is owned by a Milwaukee corporation composed principally oh school teachers, T. W. Boyce, principal of the Cass Street School, Milwaukee, is in charge of the orchards. The pickers are principally college girls and teachers from Milwaukee and live in a camp on the premises. The orchard, in three tracts, consists of 110 acres of cherries, planted in 1912, and 100 acres of apples. This is the first “paying” year on the Peninsula Fruit Farm and the crop is a very good one.
The Old Orchards
W. I. Lawrence will get about 2,500 crates from his 11 acres of cherries. Some of the trees are 23 years old and all the trees were planted not later than 1909. His old trees are holding up fine. He has 12 acres in apples that look very good at the present time but he says that the trees need rain.
On the A. W. Lawrence property in the city is one of the original orchards from which started the cherry industry in this county. It was the trees in this orchard that were among the first to attract the attention of horticulturists in the possibilities of cherries in Door county. Mr. Lawrence’s old trees are still thriving altho he is cutting the tops from some of them which have grown too tall for convenient picking.
D. E. Bingham has about 12 acres of old trees that are still doing fine. Together he and A. W. Lawrence have several 40-acre tracts of cherries and have been employing more than 250 pickers continually since the start of the season. The gentlemen are also interested in a large cherry orchard at Ellison Bay where fully 12,000 crates will be harvested this year. Mr. Lawrence will also gather fully 3,000 baskets of plums this year.
H. W. Ullsperger, who has the “old Hatch orchard,” has a new planting coming on this year besides the old trees which are still bearing good. Mr. Ullsperger has a large number of apple trees, also.
Miss Cleveland of Oshkosh has 40 acres in the Co-Operative tract and Thomas Ash has charge of the orchard. Miss Cleveland has a camp of 30 girls* who will pick about 4,000 crates.
(Continued next month.)