and other berries-880 plants. I recommend plum trees for the two rows nearest the shelter belt, because their natural habitat is along the edges of the original groves, and the proximity of the larger trees would injure them comparatively little. All of the distances above given may be changed according to the judgment of the planter. The plums will make no serious complaint at being set only eight and a quarter feet apart one way; and the apples, not being crowded by the smaller plum trees on each side, will stand close setting in the rows.

It must be admitted that the shelter belts take up a large amount of valuable space, and it is very doubtful, in my mind, whether the increased amount of fruit will pay the extra expense of the protection. Looked at, however, from an aesthetic point of view, an orchard such as I have described would be a gem that would ornament any farm. To many people of taste and culture, it would be the one great attraction.

When we come to grapes, and other small fruits which require winter covering, the conditions are completely reversed. These delight in a sunny spot well protected from cold north winds. They like to nestle down on the warm south slope of a hill, or where the genial rays are reflected from a high wall or a sheltering grove. There is no danger of sun-scald with them, for during the trying season they are beneath the earth, out of harm's way. When the danger of hard freezing is over, they will be all the healthier, and the fruit all the sweeter, for the extra heat absorbed. For several years, while the evergreens are growing into usefulness as a shelter, small fruits can be successfully grown in single rows on the south side, halfway between them and the plums, as indicated. I know, from many year's experience, that currants will flourish close to large trees and even in the shade of them.

To the man who intends to grow fruit exclusively for profit, I will say that it is questionable if shelter belts will pay for their cost. To him who thinks more of æsthetics than of lucre, who takes delight in seeing these beauty spots sprinkled artistically, over his farm, and who has the means to gratify his taste, I will say, let all the surroundings of the home be as beautiful as possible. The cravings of his soul will not be satisfied by broad fields of wheat and corn, by blank meadows and naked pastures, nor by twenty rows of orchard trees with twenty trees in each row-but every little hill, every winding path must disclose some touches of beauty, which appeal to the lover of nature adorned by art, and cause his eye to glisten with delight and his heart to glow with gratitude, when he feels that life can be made worth living.

EXTRACTING PERFUME FROM FLOWERS.

It is now possible for us to have the genuine extract of the perfume of any sort of flower we desire. Nature and science are combined to bring about this result. The idea is a simple one, and all hinges on the old time method of condensation. The results are gained by taking a glass funnel-any one will do-and over a spirit

lamp letting the glass heat until it is possible to draw the stem fo the funnel to a fine point-that is, to pull it out, to extend it until the proportion desired is gained.

This accomplished, the funnel, should be filled with ice and then placed upon a retort stand. It is absolutely necessary that the pointed end should then be placed in a small glass bottle, but at no time must the point be permitted to touch the bottle itself. After this has been done the stand and the funnel as arranged should be placed in a greenhouse right among the flowers whose odors it is desired to collect.

Now comes the scientific features of the plan, the feature which brings success-condensation. It is a well known fact that in every greenhouse a vapor rises from the flowers. If you happen to be in a greenhouse and the portion you are in is occupied by flowers with strong perfume, just inhale the odor that comes from the glass through which the sun's rays pass. You will notice that upon the glass there is a mist just as is seen upon a window pane on a chilly morning when you breathe upon it. This vapor has about it an odor as distinct as the flowers themselves. If there happens to be a variety of flowers, all of which emit perfume, the combination of odors is an odd one. As a matter of fact the idea for some of the most popular perfumes of the day has been gained in exactly this fashion.

The apparatus described is placed upon the retort stand in the center of a group of flowers whose perfume it is desired to secure. Gradually the vapor rises from the flowers, and in meeting the colder surface of the funnel condenses into drops upon the outside of the funnel. From the point of condensation it trickles down until it drops into the bottle. In a surprising short time a large amount of perfume is collected, and analysis thereof proves that 90 per cent of the contents of the bottle is perfume. The rest is water. Strange to say, this essence of the flowers needs to be adulterated with spirits of wine. Otherwise it would become sour and useless. -New York Herald.

PROTECTION OF FRUIT TREES FROM MICE.-Farmers care very little for the depredations of field mice upon their grains, but these small rodents sometimes do great injury to young fruit trees in winter. They seldom gnaw the thick bark of older trees, but cases are on record where a young orchard has been entirely destroyed when planted near a meadow or level field frequented by these little marauders. Coarse wrapping paper or a few layers of newspaper, dipped in kerosene and tied about the base of a tree, also a few pieces laid over the nearest roots, will repel the mice, and at the same time prevent the ravages of boring beetles. Field mice, like their cousins, the house mice, are easily trapped. A box trap set near their nests and baited with corn meal will often catch half a dozen at once.-[C. E. Allen.

In Memoriam.

J. C. PLUMB,

MILTON, WISCONSIN.

DIED MARCH 19, 1899, AGED 70 YEARS.

[See Frontispiece.]

Mr. J. C. Plumb died at his home in Milton, Wis., March 19, after more than a week of intense suffering, caused by accident. While hauling a load of wood, a wagon wheel came off, throwing Mr. Plumb to the ground under the falling wood.

Mr. Plumb was born in Stockbridge, Mass., December 1, 1828. In 1840 he moved with his father's family to Oberlin, Ohio, where he studied for two years in the public schools. The family in 1843 moved to Lake Mills, Wis., where one of the brothers of Mr. Plumb had already engaged in the nursery business, which he and his father before him had followed in Massachusetts. With such environment and training, it was natural that Mr. Plumb should soon engage in the business which he followed most of his life, for he was born with a love for horticulture.

When he was sixteen years of age, his father planted some trees and put them into his charge with the promise that if he took proper care of them they should be his. This was his start in the nursery business. And that he gave them the proper care no one who knew him needs to be told. He soon became a partner with his brother in the nursery business and followed this work most, if not all, of the time until his death, making a period of fifty-four years in which he was actively engaged in horticulture.

For a few years he resided in Madison, Wis.; from whence he came to Milton in 1867. The following year with his son, Malon J., he established the Green Hill Nursery, and carried on a business of great value to the little village in which he lived. At one time the anqual planting of this nursery was 100,000 trees, one year reaching 325,000.

Mr. Plumb's natural qualifications for this work were strengthened by the fact that he was a close student, not only of books, but also of nature. His principal interest was in trees and fruit, especially the apple. He was deeply interested in geology also. His constant observations gave him a practical knowledge of the soils in every part of Wisconsin, and to a large extent in other neighboring states. From its beginning, Mr. Plumb was greatly interested in the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, of which he was an honorary life member. He is sometimes spoken of as its father. He called its first meeting, was its first secretary and wrote the constitution first adopted. Since its organization he had served constantly as chairman of its standing committee on nomenclature. He has also held the offices of vice-president and corresponding secretary. He

has represented the society on several important occasions, at one time being secretary of its committee of exhibition at the Centennial Exposition, when he arranged the Wisconsin exhibit. He also collected the Wisconsin Gold Medal exhibit of apples at the New Orleans Exposition. He was a member at one time of the general fruit committee of the National Society. He had in charge the preparation of the horticultural history of Wisconsin for the semicentennial of the state. He was authority on Wisconsin fruits, and no man was more competent to judge of the value of a new species of fruit for propagation in this climate.

One of Mr. Plumb's most important contributions to Wisconsin horticulture is the "Plumb's Cider" apple. This apple is one of several seedlings which the Plumb family brought from Ohio. This variety proving to be a fine apple, they propagated it, and it has been grown extensively in Wisconsin and probably throughout the northwest.

Mr. Plumb was a member of the Congregational church for fifty-nine years, and was of great service in the Milton church, holding offices of importance most of the time since his first connection with it, thirty-one years ago. He was greatly interested in Sunday school work at home and throughout the state. He was also an ardent prohibitionist in politics, and an enemy of evil of all kinds. He was a member of the Milton College board, and has often furnished work for many a needy student.

Mr. Plumb was twice married. His first wife died in 1875. He was the father of twelve children, eight of whom still survive him. REV. A. L. MCCLELLAND, Milton, Wis.

The sudden death of our faithful, energetic and time-honored life member, Mr. J. C. Plumb, again reminds us that the older workers among us are surely passing away. When I learned of his death at once my thoughts went back three months to his letter to me in response to an invitation I sent him, asking him to meet with uswith other veterans I had invited-and read a paper on some subject he might choose. He at once accepted, saying: "I have for some years thought of writing something on the origin and history of our best Wisconsin seedlings, and this winter I feel that with the cares of a busy life and the weight of three score and ten years resting heavily on me, that if I ever present that paper for publication, I had better do it at our coming meeting." His many friends who did not hear it read will be anxious to see it in print.

Mr. Plumb was a great writer, and with all his pressing duties at home was always ready to write to those who were asking for information, giving them his best thoughts. Since Uncle Peter Peffer passed away, I have always referred questions on naming varieties to Mr. Plumb, and have felt that when he could not do it so he was certain what it was, there was little use to ask any one else. I have been impressed for years that no member in our society had traveled more miles or had worked harder to gain information on the geological formation of our state in connection with apple growing, than J. C. Plumb, and I believe no member was better posted on that subject than he.

As a Christian gentleman, as a man with an excellent character, as an earnest worker, an upright honest citizen, a man of good habits-in short, what the world terms a clean man-the men that would excel J. C. Plumb are very scarce. But he has gone, and his works and example will be a monument to his memory.-A. J. PHILLIPS, Sec'y. Wisconsin State Horticultural Society.

Mr. J. C. Plumb at the time of his death had been an honorary life member of this society for fifteen years. On the fifteenth day of January, 1884, at the annual meeting, as the record goes, "upon motion of Mr. Peter M. Gideon, it was voted to make Mr. Plumb an honorary life member of this society in consideration of his long and useful service in western horticulture." That tells the story concisely of the position he then occupied in the esteem of his fraternity. Fifteen years have gone since that event, and each passing year has found him more secure in this position.

In this great loss to the Wisconsin Society and its members, we share and carry with them a common grief and mourn a common bereavement. His name will ever be associated not alone with Wisconsin, but with northwestern horticulture.

SEC'Y.

MICE INJURING APPLE TREES.-W. W.: Probably most of the apple trees in your orchard can be saved by covering the injured portions with grafting wax and then banking up around the base so that the top of the soil will be an inch or two above the top of the injury. Keep this banked up the entire season, and in many cases your trees will recover. If the bark is removed all the way around, it will probably pay best to take out the trees and put in new ones. It is not likely that such will fully recover.

GEORGIA'S PEACH LOSS.-The warmer weather throughout the peach-growing sections of Georgia has served to intensify rather than diminish evidences of damage. It is now everywhere agreed that the cold wave practically destroyed the peach crop of '99. All testify along this line. The trees are rapidly putting on leaves, but as a rule no blooms are in sight.

NUTS FOR PLANTING.-Gather the nuts (walnuts, hickory nuts, hazelnuts, pits of peaches, etc.), place in a rough bag and bury in the garden about a foot deep. By the time the frost is well out of the ground in the spring the shells will have burst and the nuts can be placed in a bed especially prepared for them or put where the trees are to stand.