Secretary's Corner.

CAN YOU SHOW FRUIT AT THE STATE FAIR?-This is not so good a fruit year in our state as some, and the aid of every one interested in repeating the good show of last fall is urgently needed. Will you kindly inform the secretary, without waiting for personal application, what you can do in this way, and, if desired, tags will be sent you for use in storing fruit at Minneapolis in preparation.

WHITE FLOWering AlmonD.-"President Pendergast at our summer meeting gave out a list of hardy flowering shrubs and said that the flowering almond would be one of the best if entirely hardy. I know the pink blossomed are not hardy, but the white ones are entirely so. I have grown them for more than twenty years."

J. T. GRIMES, Minneapolis.

A HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY IN VIRGINIA.-There must have been at some prior date a state horticultural society in Virginia, as the report received in this office speaks of the society as re-organized March 3, 1897. This, their first report, for the year 1898, is an interesting volume of 110 pages, edited by the secretary, Geo. E. Murrell, of Fontella, Va. Nearly every southern state now has such a society, though some do not as yet publish reports.

HAVE YOU RETURNED THE JULY SUPPLEMENT?-In the July number was placed a supplement, which was really a blank to be filled out with certain information needed in this office for statistical and other important uses. If you, dear reader, are one of those who have not yet sent it to the secretary filled as requested, will you kindly give the matter early attention? Do not think, because of a personal acquaintance with the secretary, that he knows all the facts it would contain. He does'nt know so much, but he is very desirous to know these facts for the ultimate benefit of yourself, in common with others interested in our pursuit. Please send in very soon.

STORE FRUIT FOR THE WINTER MEETING.-Tags will be supplied on application to this office to be used in placing in cold storage for that occasion anything you can display and that will not keep till then in the cellar. Any varieties that will keep in the cellar may be held in that way if preferred. A separate list of premiums will be prepared, without doubt, this year for fruit so kept, as well as for that in cold storage. The cold storage facilities arranged for by our society are, however, a great convenience, not only in enabling us to exhibit fruits out of their season, but also in storing fruits that would keep in the cellar, as by so storing it is on hand in Minneapolis when wanted and can be delivered at the place of meeting without danger of freezing. You can use either or both places as convenient, but in any case help us out in the display.

BIENNIAL SESSION, AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-The regular session of this association is to convene at "Horticultural Hall" Philadelphia, on September 7th and 8th, 1899, as guests of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. A very low rate, on account of the meeting of the G. A. R. at the same time and place, makes a large attendance certain. Our society should be represented, and if any of our members are planning to be in Philadelphia at that time, they are invited to correspond with the secretary and secure the neces sary credentials.

Our readers will recall the engraving of this hall used as a frontispiece in the June, 1898, No. and the brief description in Secy's Corner. It is,undoubtedly, the finest structure of its kind in America. We note many familiar names on the program and among them S. M. Emery, Montana, Prof. E. S. Goff, Wisconsin, and Prof. S. B. Green, of our own state. It is a great program,and we should like to hear it. Prof. Green's topic is "Horticultural Schools of the High School Grade," and Prof. Goff talks on one of his favorite subjects, "American Plums for America."

THE SWEEPSTAKES APPLE PREMIUM.-The special premium of $100 offered by J. W. Thomas & Co., of Minneapolis, last year, at the state fair, to be divided among all the competitors for the sweepstakes apple premium pro rata, is offered again this year in the same way. Besides, the state fair association offers first, second and third premiums of $25 00, $15.00 and $10.00. (See page 44, state fair premium list.) Apples used in making up this exhibit need not be grown by the exhibitor but may be collected anywhere within the state. The competitor need not, if he chooses, have in this exhibit a single apple of his own growing. It was hoped that this method of making an exhibit would result in bringing out all the varieties grown in the state, and the result has in large measure fulfilled the expectations. Every exhibitor in our department at the fair can also make an exhibit in this class and be sure of some premium in return, the way the $100 is divided, and, besides, you will assist us in making this the best year so far in Horticultural Hall. Bring for this purpose what varieties you and your neighbors have and extend your researches as far abroad as you may have time and opportunity.

A CORRECTION FROM JULY No.-"In looking over your July number, I note that Mr. J. M. Underwood, in his report of the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, makes me respon. sible for the following:

"Plums: Quaker, Ocheeda, Berkman, Dewain, Purple Gage. Burns brimstone under the tree for curculio. Sprays with tobacco and Paris green.'

"Now, Mr. Editor, I have fought the curculio for many a weary hour during the past six or seven years; I have often considered brimstone in connection with its destruction and have figured in my mind just the kind of lake of fire and brimstone that would be suitable, but I have never burned brimstone under the trees. Neither have I sprayed with tobacco and Paris green. We get up before

breakfast down here in Wisconsin, when we are after curculio. The early bird is always slumbering, and even the worm is still abed when we get at work with sheet and mallet. After a few years of this sort of thing, one does not relish being made to say that brimstone, Paris green and tobacco are sufficient. Further, I am totally unacquainted with Dewain and Purple Gage plums, and the list reported under my name is entirely incorrect. Will you kindly make this correction?"-Frederic Cranefield.

Some one said it, and I thought it was Mr. Cranefield.-J. M. U. CHEMISTRY OF THE SOILS AND FERTILIZERS.-By Prof. Harry Snyder.-A little book of 275 pages with the above title has just been issued by Prof. Snyder, professor of chemistry at the Minnesota College of Agriculture, primarily, it appears, for use in his classroom in teaching, as he expresses it in his preface," the principles of chemistry which have a bearing upon the conservation of soil fertility and the economic use of manures."

This book is divided into chapters as to general subjects, and these subdivided into paragraphs, each one being headed with a few words in black-faced type indicating the topic treated upon therein. While each paragraph is a link in the chain of the subject matter treated of in the chapter, yet the writer, in running over the book and reading one here and there, found each one practically a finished and concise treatise in itself and not one so technical as not to be of sufficient interest to desire to complete its reading and get the whole of the thought it conveyed.

The book is intensely practical. It can be read continuously or by selecting at a glance by the aid of a full index and the headlines referred to the subject it is desired to investigate. Any agricul turist or horticulturist who is interested in knowing how to select and care for the soil and "the way of it," will find the price of the book, $1.50, an excellent investment. In size and general appearance this work is a very good counterpart of that issued on "Vegetable Gardening" by Prof. S. B. Green, of the same school, and should have a place beside it in the library of every practical cultivator of the soil.

A GOOD SHIPPING CRATE.-To make a bushel shipping crate for holding vegetables, fruits, etc., get inch boards 10 inches wide and 10 to 12 feet long. Saw these up into pieces one foot long for end pieces. Secure plastering laths, which are exactly 4 feet long, and saw them in two in the middle. Use these for the sides and bottom of the box, putting six on each side, five on the top and five on the bottom, making 22 in all. You will then have a box two feet long, one foot wide and ten inches high. If you are to ship to a distant market, saw one lath into four pieces and nail four of these on each end, over the ends of the slats which form the sides. This strengthens the crate considerably. These boxes can be piled up in wagon loads or on cars, and are easily handled, and the purchaser can see just exactly what kind of fruit he is getting. They should not cost more than five or ten cents each.-O. J. Farmer.