Chapter 66
Bread Cast upon the Waters.
C. S. HARRISON, YORK, NEB.
The instance recited below has nothing particularly to do with horticulture but a good deal to do with a "horticulturist," C. S.
Harrison, of York, Neb., that picturesque veteran in horticulture, who has been an attendant at our meetings now for so many years, adding such a strong interest to our annual gatherings. Mr. Harrison recited at our late meeting the incident referred to here--without the denouement, which came to him in California this winter, where he met Mr. Lindbergh, one of Minnesota congressmen. As a result of this incident we had Mr.
Harrison with again at our late summer meeting.--Secy.
In 1861 I was living in Sauk Center, Minn., where I preached the first sermon. I had a tract of country under my care 100 miles in extent and had all sorts of work to do. Ten miles from Sauk Center there was a st.u.r.dy Swede who was at one time speaker in one branch of the Swedish parliament and for a while secretary to the king. He moved to Minnesota about the year '60. It seems he had not learned the art of graft, and he was poor. He took up a preemption and built him a little log house 1216. One day he took a load of logs to the mill and, stumbling, fell on the saw. This caught him in the back and split it open, and also took a stab at his right arm.
It was hot weather and no surgeon within fifty miles. I followed him to his home; we did not think he could live. I picked out the sawdust and rags from his back and kept the wounded arm wrapped in cold water, and now for a surgeon I got a horse from a neighbor and a man to ride him. I said, "Don't hurt the horse but go as fast as it is safe." Twenty miles ahead I knew another man with whom he could exchange horses, and then another relay brought him to the doctor. Dr. Hunter proved to be a good surgeon. We had kept the patient with such care that with his clean habits and robust const.i.tution he underwent the operation all right. I helped the doctor, and we took off the arm near the shoulder. I had a busy time until the surgeon came. I stayed with the man all day, then drove home ten miles and was by his side early. It took the doctor about three days to get there. The horses were poor, and the auto did not exist even in a dream. By the next December the old hero was out chopping rails with his left hand.
How poor the people were! Every dollar had a big task before it. The good doctor only charged $20. I rode quite a distance--got a little here and there and paid the bill. A son of the old man, C. A. Lindbergh, is now representative in congress from the 6th district of Minnesota. We discovered each other this winter. I have kept up a pleasant correspondence. His daughter, Eva, who helps her father, has just written me that she is going to be married in Minneapolis in June, and she wants me to perform the ceremony. All the friends and relatives will be there, and she wants the man who saved her grandpa. Thus, after fifty-five years, stirring memories of the past are awakened and happy antic.i.p.ations of the future.--C. S. Harrison.
SECRETARY'S CORNER
MORE EVERBEARING STRAWBERRIES.--Mr. Walter Ferguson, of Mankato, has pretty near the record number of strawberry plants raised last year. From four plants of No. 1017 everbearing strawberries he reports having raised several over six hundred. He says he reset twelve new plants in July and they produced over three hundred.
ADVANCE PREMIUM LIST, ANNUAL MEETING, 1916.--Elsewhere in this number will be found an advance list of premiums to be offered on vegetables and apples at the coming annual meeting of the society. There will be practically no change from this list, though there may be slight additions to it. Possible exhibitors may feel safe to save material for exhibition in accordance with the premiums therein offered.
Pa.s.sING OF J.F. BENJAMIN.--Members of the society who have attended our
Mr. Benjamin was a successful fruit grower, not only from a financial standpoint but from his love of the art. We hope to publish a suitable sketch of his life at some later date.
MUNIc.i.p.aL CAMPS IN NATIONAL FORESTS.--The City of Fresno, California, has established a fifteen-acre camp in an adjoining national forest, providing low cost outings for the school children of that city and their parents. Los Angeles is doing something similar on even a larger scale, and other munic.i.p.alities are following suit. Minnesota has splendid national forests, and the time may come when the state or some of the munic.i.p.alities of the state may be able to make similar use of these forests for the benefit of our people who are not able to go to larger expense to secure needed summer outing.
THE APPLE CROP.--The Department of Agriculture in its August 1st report forecasts an apple crop of seventy-one million barrels against seventy-six million last year and a yearly average for the past five years of sixty-six million. The favored regions in apple growing this year are in the New England states and the Pacific states, the Central states showing a very large falling off in the apple crop, anywhere from four-fifths to one-fourth of previous years.
NATIONAL VEGETABLE GROWERS' a.s.sOCIATION.--It seems there is an a.s.sociation of this character, called "Vegetable Growers' a.s.sociation of America," and it will hold its next annual meeting in LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, September 26-29. Representatives of local vegetable growers'
a.s.sociations' will probably do well to get in touch with this national gathering. If any go from this state the secretary will be glad to receive from them a report of the meeting. Marketing, soil fertility, heating, packing, spraying and other subjects will be covered on the program. For further information address James B. Foley, Secretary, 3100 South Spaulding Avenue, Chicago.
APPLE TREES AS A WINDBREAK.--John W. Maher, of Devils Lake, N.D., in correspondence has spoken at two different times of the use of apple trees as one feature of windbreaks in his vicinity, using such varieties as d.u.c.h.ess, Patten's Greening, Hibernal, etc. In this connection he says "probably it is only the amateur horticulturist who sets a row of young apple trees in the stubble fields as a windbreak for apple grafts, but this has been done here and the windbreak is satisfactory. I believe that the apple is more hardy in this kind of soil than it is generally considered to be. If the apple tree is properly limbed so as to shade its trunk and larger limbs it is a real success."
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PERIODICALS.--February, 1894, the first number of the monthly issued by this society was published and sent out to its members. Publis.h.i.+ng the report in this way as a monthly was an experiment, which has proved to be a very successful one indeed, and this method of publication has now for a long time been a permanent feature of the work of this society. In 1894 the society had about six hundred members. The increase in the members.h.i.+p of the a.s.sociation since that period has brought the roll to high water mark this year at 3,700.
At that time as far as we know no other horticultural society was publis.h.i.+ng its report as a monthly. Quite a number of state societies are now doing something of this sort, though not exactly following the same plan as the Minnesota society, our report appearing as a monthly magazine and being bound up later with list of members, index, etc., making altogether the annual report. The only a.s.sociation that has exactly followed our plan is the Manitoba Society. Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Virginia and other a.s.sociations not now recalled are sending out a monthly to their members.h.i.+p. Illinois and perhaps some others are publis.h.i.+ng a quarterly. Some of the state boards of horticulture are publis.h.i.+ng a monthly, notably the California board, and in some cases the state boards of agriculture are doing this also. The plan inaugurated by this society is being slowly popularized and will undoubtedly continue to be made use of more and more as the study and practice of horticulture develops in our country.
GARDEN HELPS
Conducted by Minnesota Garden Flower Society
Edited by MRS. E. W. GOULD, 2644 Humboldt Avenue So.
Minneapolis.
GARDEN HELPS FOR SEPTEMBER.
_September Meeting of the Garden Flower Society_ will be held on the twenty-first, at 2:30 p.m., at the Minneapolis Public Library.
_Topics_, "Fall Work in the Garden."
"Planting for Fall and Winter Effects."
"Vines and Their Uses."
Have you taken any photographs of your garden, its individual flowers, or wild flowers for our photographic contest? It is not too late yet to get good pictures. Every member is urged to enter this compet.i.tion.
_Plant peonies this month._ Old clumps of hardy perennials may be divided and reset early this month. Flowering bulbs intended to be in bloom at Christmas should be potted now. Gra.s.s seed for new lawns or bad places in old ones can be sown this month.
The daffodil makes an early growth and should be planted this month.
After the first killing frosts the tender roots, like cannas, gladioli, elephant's ears, and dahlias, can be lifted with a fork and spread out under cover to dry, then stored in a cool cellar, free from frost.
Do not cultivate the soil after September first.
All newly set plants should be mulched lightly.
All litter about the garden can be cleared away. Any plants that have been infested with insects or diseased should be burned. Leave no harbors for the eggs of insects, such as old weeds, gra.s.ses or litter of any kind.
Seeds of native plants which you wish to naturalize should be gathered and sowed immediately in a shaded, well drained location, where the soil has some humus.
Lily-of-the-valley should be planted this month.
Try planting a few sweet peas late in September or early October.
Important September blooming flowers are phlox, j.a.panese anemones; perennial asters, or Michaelmas daisy, so-called because they are supposed to be at their best on Michaelmas Day, September 29th; h.e.l.leniums, helianthus, hardy chrysanthemum, pyrethrum uliginosum, boltonia.
If you have not these flowers, try and visit some garden where they are blooming in order to know what kinds to grow.
Poppies for next June's blooming can be sown this month.
Be prepared for the first early frosts, having ready to use some light covering, such as cheesecloth. The garden can be prolonged from two to six weeks by this slight protection.
ORCHARD NOTES.
Conducted monthly by R. S. MACKINTOSH, Horticulturalist, Extension Division, University Farm, St. Paul.
A CONFERENCE OF HORTICULTURAL EXTENSION WORKERS.
A conference of the Horticultural Extension leaders of Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota was held early in August at the Iowa State College, at Ames. The subject of apple and potato clearing houses was the chief question discussed. The work of this kind was started by Professor Greene in Kansas when they had the big apple crop in 1913. Later Iowa and Minnesota undertook similar work.
It is expected that a co-operative plan will be formulated which will be of greater value than when each state works alone.