Commercial pomology in Ohio has made a signal advance during the past few years.

This progress is well evinced by the following conditions:

(1) A rapid extension of the area devoted to commercial orcharding and an equally rapid introduction of better methods of general orchard management.

(2) A more intelligent selection of varieties as to actual merit, and a more thoughtful study of the adaptability of varieties to local conditions.

(3) A marked improvement in the packing and market of fruit. (4) By a growing demand on the part of the buying public for good fruit, and a greater insistence upon an honest name and better grading of fruits sold.

If the few notes seem to show that the writer is merely trying to exploit the art of horticulture, or to boom the fruit lands of Ohio they are not rightly interpreted.

I believe in progressive horticulture, but I have little sympathy with any who seek to use agents and means that stand for real progress, for purely personal or speculative purposes.

PRESIDENT HEDRICK: Some Peculiarities of Native Georgia Apples will be discussed by Professor McHatton.

SOME PECULIARITIES OF NATIVE GEORGIA APPLES.

BY T. H. MCHATTON, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. It gives me great pleasure to bring before this Association a few points that may prove of interest, relative to the apples being grown in North Georgia. For a good many years the apple question, in Georgia, lay locked up within the heart of its mountains. It is undoubtedly true that the Indians, who inhabited this portion of the State, raised many and diverse kinds of apples, all of which were seedlings, but no knowledge of these trees was placed before the public until the early half of the nineteenth century, when a Mr. Jarvis VanBuren of Clarksville, Georgia, began to make excursions into the mountains surrounding his home. He was accompanied on these trips by a Mr. Silas McDowell, who lived in Franklin, North Carolina, just across the line from Georgia. These gentlemen were the first to give any adequate idea of the apples that could be grown within this mountainous section. The first publications of any moment concerning these fruits were made by Mr. William N. White, who was a personal friend of Messrs. VanBuren and McDowell, and even at the time of Mr. White's writings, knowledge of the native apples was scant. Mr. White's work was done prior to 1865. The size of some of the trees grown in this section undoubtedly demonstrates the adaptability of the apple to these mountains. A couple of years ago there was exhibited at the state fair the stump of a tree that was three feet in diameter two or three feet from the ground. This tree was in such condition that its approximate age was unascertainable from the annual rings. There is said to be a tree of even larger dimensions in Rabun County.

Referring to old and large apple trees, if I may be allowed a digression at this point, Cole's American Fruit Book, published in 1857, tells of a tree, growing in Hartford, Conn., which at that time was said to be 209 years old. A foot note in Downing's "Landscape Gardening" also mentions this tree and others growing in the immediate locality. By communicating with the mayor and citizens of Hartford, the pictures which I have here were obtained together with the information that at 3 feet from the ground the tree measured seven feet and three inches in circumference. The variety was an English Pearmain, and the tree was bearing fruit. in 1902 when it was cut down for fire wood. This tree stood near the Charter Oak on the farm of Governor Wyllys, third governor of Connecticut. Governor Wyllys sent his steward to this country from England in 1636 and came himself in 1638. Some of the clippings regarding this tree stated that it came over in the Mayflower, but there were so many ancestors and so much furniture on board the Mayflower that it is hardly probable there was space left for an apple tree. This little sketch is given purely as a matter of interest, because this appears to be the earliest, authentie planting of an apple tree on American soil.

But to get back to the question in hand, Georgia is far-famed for peaches, and you would think that a state having devoted so much time to a given fruit would list many native varieties. This. however, is not so, as there are only about twenty-five different varieties of peaches listed as having originated in Georgia. The investigation of the apple gives fifty-seven varieties as having originally come from the state. Some thirty-eight of these are pretty surely natives. The history of the others either does not show any definite place of origin or proves that they came from other states. It would be tiresome and of no interest to try to list and describe these fruits. The number at hand goes to show, however, that the Southern Alleghany Mountains are the cradle of new sorts. A great many of the varieties appearing in the list are absolutely unobtainable at the present time, and every year sees the addition of some one or two promising sorts from the northern section. In fact, at the present time all of the pomologists that get up into the apple regions of the state are called upon to identify apples by almost every resident in a county, and the phrase. "I don't know what it is, it must be one of the everlasting Georgia seedlings," is the usual way of avoiding a difficulty. We expect to see a great many new kinds come from this section within the near future, because every man in a county feels it encumbent upon him to discover and promulgate a new apple. Naturally there is going to be a greater mixture of names than at present, also, there is going to be trouble in preventing the propagation and dissemination of worthless varieties because it is very hard to make the average originator see the lack of worth in his pet fruit. It might be well to state here, however, that a good many of the kinds now being extensively grown and planted in the northern sections of the state are of local origin. The testing of the more common commercial varieties of the country has not, as yet, been of sufficient

length to warrant passing judgment upon them all. Grimes does as well as, if not better than, in other sections; the Winesap and Stayman Winesap also grow extremely well. The Tompkins King and York Imperial are likewise adapted, though both tend to be shy bearers. The Baldwin, Jonathan, Yellow Newtown, and many others, are as yet on the questionable list. The heaviest plantings are of such apples as the Yates, Terry, Poorhouse which is called the Winter Queen because Poorhouse is considered a poor market name, Nickajack, and several other varieties of local origin, or those having first come to light in similar sections of neighboring states. It is hoped, of course, that all the more common commercial sorts of the United States will be found profitable, though if this should prove not to be the case it is undoubtedly true that local kinds will be produced that should equal the varieties grown elsewhere.

There are a few interesting points that have been observed in the apples grown in our northern counties. I am not going to try to explain these points, because, as yet, we have formulated no hypothesis upon which to base explanations.

I was first attracted to a peculiar type of basin, calyx and calyx tube by a study of the Fort Prize apple which was brought to light from Rabun County, Georgia, by Dr. J. P. Fort. Dr. Fort exhibited this fruit at the first National Apple Show in Spokane and took second prize in competition with other southern fruit. At the second exposition the same apple took the first prize in the same class. The calyx tube is found to be very broad and deep and something between urn and cone shape. The type forcibly impressed itself upon one, as nothing of this exact character seems to exist amongst the middle western apples, nor does there seem to be a cut in the "Apples of New York," showing this peculiar type of calyx. The lobes seem to have fallen away or dried up, leaving a very broad and open space at the bottom of the basin. Besides this peculiar formation the apple also shows quite a marked oblate shape. The earmarks of this variety were so peculiar that I felt I would always be able to identify a Fort Prize at sight. I found later, however, that this would not be so. Other apples, one of which is locally known as the Royal Limbertwig, another as the Bald Mountain, and another as the Winter Pippin, have this Fort Prize type of basin. The Yates and the Kinnard, the former having been first brought to notice from the state of Georgia, though its history shows that the original tree came from South Carolina, and the latter being of Tennessee origin, also show, to some extent, the peculiar basin formation and oblate shape. Another apple called locally "Little McAfee," has the open calyx particularly marked. The Rabun which originated in Rabun county, likewise has both the peculiar open calyx and basin. The Sunshine, a new apple having first been shown last summer at the Georgia State Horticultural Society meeting, has the oblated shape with the peculiar calyx and basin. This Sunshine is a seedling of Cathey, a large yellow apple which was brought to notice. a few years ago from Rabun county by a Mr. E. F. Cathey. The

seedling is a rather late summer apple of very good quality with red stripes the predominating color. It may prove of value. The Baldwin, Georgia grown, often shows the typical open calyx and peculiar basin formation of some of the native varieties. Of course, we understand that the Baldwin is variable in type, but exactly why it varies towards this type can not be explained. The vertical sections of these fruits show valyx tubes of remarkable depth and breadth. This can be particularly noted in the variety, Winter Pippin. Little McAfee also has a particularly broad and deep cone shaped tube. The tube of the Yates is rather broad and deep. The oblate shape seems to be typical of these fruits and can be particularly noted in the vertical sections. It has been noticed that a good many other varieties have very deep and broad calyx tubes when grown in our mountain sections, especially is this so of the Nickajack and the Ben Davis. The Poorhouse which is known as the Winter Queen in the South, and the Cannon, both have very broad tubes, while the southern grown Baldwin shows a very deep one. The Northwestern Greening, when grown in the mountains of North Georgia, developes great breadth and extreme depth in its calyx tube.

No explanation of these perculiarities has been attempted, nor have the investigations gone far enough to warrant definite statements. It looks, however, as if the apples of this section were going to have a peculiar shape of their own, which shape will be towards the oblate. It also shows, to our minds, that a marked southern type of basin, calyx and calyx tube is being produced on these fruits. A good explanation for the same will probably be a long time forthcoming and may never be obtained. The climatic conditions may have something to do with this, as there is a great deal of rain in the northern sections of the state. Rabun county shows as much as 75 inches in some years. The rest of the counties of this section also have a heavy rainfall. The summers, of course, are longer than in the more northern latitudes, and the soil, though supplied with potash seems to be deficient in lime. Whether the explanation will be one of soil conditions, climatic conditions, or some unobserved factor remains to be seen.

These points have been gradually impressed upon me in trying to identify and locate the apples that have been sent in from the mountains of north Georgia, and no books that I could get have helped me in classifying and identifying, because the points are so different from fruits grown elsewhere that it is largely a matter of guesswork.

PROFESSOR BLAKE: I would like to ask the time of ripening of Baldwin and Tompkins King and at what elevation they are grown.

PROFESSOR MCHATTON: The Baldwin has not been planted extensively, but it is a late summer or early fall variety with us. Tompkins King is marketable the last of September and in October. Our elevations vary from a thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. PRESIDENT HEDRICK: We will pass on to the last paper for the afternoon on Chemistry of Lime-Sulphur Solutions by Professor Whittier of Delaware.

COMPOSITION OF LIME-SULPHUR SOLUTIONS.

BY A. C. WHITTIER AND FIRMAN THOMPSON,
Experiment Station, Newark, Delaware.

The results of much chemical work on the constitution of limesulphur solutions, and of many field experiments with this spray material, have been published, but many chemists, entomologists and horticulturists are still experimenting with it, which indicates. that the matter has not been conclusively settled.

Since its insecticidal value was discovered by Mr. F. Dusey of California in 1886, various formulas for its preparation have been suggested and several statements as to its constitution when prepared under apparently the same conditions, are found in the litera

ture.

A large number of theories as to the action of this complex solution as a contact insecticide and as a fungicide, have been advanced. One bright spot in this chaotic condition, however, is that the boiled lime-sulphur is very effective on the San Jose scale, no matter what the formula of preparation. But when this solution is used as a summer spray contradictory results seem to be the rule, even by the same investigators. Self-boiled lime-sulphur solutions do not always give satisfactory results. No explanation for this erratic behavior is accepted by all.

Haywood (U. S. Bureau of Chemistry Bull. No. 101) gives analyses of lime-sulphur solutions prepared by several formulas for the most part using more lime than sulphur. He considers that the principal constituents are thiosulphates and polysulphides and says, "Of course, calcium hydroxide would be present," but does not prove it nor attempt to do so, but no doubt is correct, since he used an excess of lime. He then says on a following page, in reference to its action as a spray material, "First the excess of lime in the wash is quite caustic, and loosens the scales from the tree and exposes the insects. Almost at once the pentasulphide on decomposing deposits sulphur in a very finely divided condition, which has its usual insecticidal value, but just how this is exerted is not known. The thiosulphate present in the wash, together with that formed by the decomposition of the pentasulphide, probably has some insecticidal properties also. Next the thiosulphate begins to decompose and sets free sulphite and more free sulfur

He further says, "It is a well known fact that sulphites act as antiseptic agents. There is reason to believe that they would also act as insecticides. From the decomposition of the wash there are obtained sulphur, thiosulphate for a time, and sulphite which is gradually set free. But according to Classen's Analytical Chemistry Vol. II, page 274, sulphites and polysulphides cannot. exist in the same solution. Therefore, no soluble sulphites could remain in solution if formed until all the sulphides were oxidized. And since calcium sulphite is insoluble, there would probably be no soluble sulphites present at any stage. This fact has been lost sight of by many chemists who have attempted to prove the presence of soluble sulphites in the lime-sulfur solution.