The Southwest Farmer from Wichita, Kansas • 3

THE SOUTHWEST FARMER 3 SEDGWICK COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY MEETS The regular monthly meeting of the Sedgwick County Horticultural Society was held in the G. A. hall at the County Courthouse Thursday afternoon, January 2, 1913. The prompter's report called attention to work that should be done during this season of the year when veg. etation and insect life are dormant.

First, pruning; second, preparation to begin to spray for San Jose scale, fig. uring out the quantity of material that will be needed so that the local chants can have these commodities on hand for immediate use; third, routing out and killing gophers and field vermin that cause almost incalculable damage to fruit trees during the autumn and winter season. A discussion of the question as to what has been killing newly planted nursery stock during the past several spring seasons was postponed until the February meeting on the first Thursday of that month. This is an important subject, and a large attendance should be on hand when the thing is threshed out. Professor Emery, of the State Entomological Commission, operating in this locality to eradicate the San Jose scale, gave a very interesting explanation of the methods employed, as well as outlining on a finely prepared map of the districts infested and the progress that is being made toward checking the scourge.

One of the most important points brought out was the fact that horticulturalists and farmers having small orchards are cooperating much more readily since the work of the commission is better understood. Mr. E. G. Hoover, late President of the State Horticultural Society, gave an interesting report of the State meeting in December at Topeka, urg ing a stronger spirit of cooperation in the way of better cultural methods and a more extensive display of fruit that is grown in this part of the State.

A resolution calling for donations from real estate holders in the county for a horticultural. building in Wichita was voted down as unwise at this time, in view of the large hotel and hospital propositions now before the public for a greater Wichita. An informal discussion then follow. ed, in which it is proposed to increase the interest of the general public in these important meetings by using a little printers' ink, giving information as to the horticultural output, the investments involved and the relation of these interests to those of a large and growing city like Wichita. In short, to extend the work of the society, which has now grown to be the largest local organization of the kind in the state, on a much larger scale than heretofore.

All persons interested in the great horticultural and agricultural industries of the country are invited to hear the discussions brought out by papers that hitherto have compared By Richard Sullivan, Society Prompter. more than favorably with those of any similar organization. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month between 2 and 4 p. m. at the Courthouse during the winter months and at the outlying orchards as basket-dinner and outdoor meetings during the summer months.

Prompter's Report. The following is the report of Richard Sullivan for the court Thursday: You have seen fit to elect me as prompter of the Society for the coming year. I shall try to make a written and readable report as often as time will permit, and a copy will be furnished if desired for file in the archives. Whether the choice of my poor self is a wise one remains to be seen. However it gives me a monthly chance to air my opinions, and these may be of sufficient variety to excite argument and discussion.

And that seems to be the chief object of the office. RICHARD SULLIVAN. Before starting out on the prospective work for the coming month, I beg leave as a sort of salutatory to say that I have been associated with this society for nearly seven years. I have observed the progress of its work and have some little to do with pushing forward the endeavors of the society. I can not say that it is lack of interest, but there seems now, as hitherto, a disposition to let the other fellow do the work.

As I understand it, this society is the strongest local organization of the kind in the State. Look over the list of contributors to the advancement of its welfare--and by its welfare I mean the interests of all the fruit growers in this regionand you will find that but comparatively few persons have done the real work of the society during the past several years. It is not whether or not a member is educated that is of interest to us -it is what that member thinks, what his individual work may do in the sum total of the society's progress. No one man or one group of men can know it all. An old idea put forward in a new way oftentimes clarifies the otherwise beclouded situation.

So, in opening, I wish to say that bashfulness should be relegated to the rear. No one is going to eat you for standing up before people and hearing the sound of your voice. If you have an opinion, stick up for it, at the same time being open to conviction. You are one of the great men of the nation, and many great men have changed their view points. If you are requested to handle a subject, go for that subject; read up on it; masticate it; turn it through the sausage grinder and hand it to us, baked and toasted, as to a group of friends that desire your views.

We shall all rest assured of a treat." The investigator is really the one that gets anywhere--he is the one really most benefited. It would be a sad state of affairs if we all had taste for the same kind of work. My suggestion is to tackle the worst job first, and when he is strangled, the little easy side jobs will all jump into the band wagon without urging. There are over 1,000,000 species of insects; of these, but 300,000 have been described; one scientist spent 40 years describing just 16 species of a certain kind of fly, and in all that time he found but 3 males. Therefore, it will be some time before we know it all.

And neither are the members of this society going to expect you to know it all. We wish, however, that all enter into the spirit of the thing, to do what can be done, to the end that the work of this society this year may mark an epoch in the history of fruit culture. Hearty cooperation will make the work of the program committee a pleasure and the efforts of the President and Secretary of some effect for beneficent results. What must we do next month, beginning with this meeting? First, assemble at the next meeting so as to begin on time; second, prune; again I say, prune. Years agone it was the custom for our parents to hunt among the hirsute coverings of the youngsters' heads for certain six-legged insects that sometimes became numerous enough to make the younglings see things at night, as Eugene Field used to say.

It was also the custom to use a large-toothed comb to place the tangled hair in condition, followed by a small-toothed comb to silken it out. These implements we used to call the "starter" and "catcher." Of course, there will be some here that will plead ignorance of these things; to these I must say that the membership roll of the Ananias Club has been closed. And herein lies a tale. An old darky that worked for years for our family once said in his philosophical way: "I tell ye, chile, ye jest gotta com' thet grass jest lak ye do yer har ef ye want him to grow and get green." And herein lies another tale, the gist of the whole matter: I tell, you, friends, whether you agree as to the exact methods or not, you have to comb yourself, your lands and your vegetation if you expect to make progress. We wash our bodies to clean out the pores so as to exhale gases; we clothe our bodies to maintain a normal temperature of the system against inclement elements, resulting in a healthy state; we eat daily to recharge wasting tissue; and when we are tired we rest in slumber.

But there We let the matter end. While we are doing the sensible things for ourselves, we expect our trees and other vegetation to come into spring healthy and smiling after an autumn and winter of neglect. We expect our trees to go to fertilization and fruitage with their bodies scarred with vermin and their feet and toes eaten off and gangrenous from parasitic diseases. And then, when their wearied and amaciated arms grow tired under the weight of the bushels of the best they can procure, we grow angry because they dot still hold the baskets withow: spilling a single one. Now what of all this? We must comb our trees just as we would our heads and our grass.

We must wash them; we must feed them; we must nurse them, just as we do our children. We have tamed the wild fruits and weakened the vitality of their bodies for anything but fruitage. We cut off a gangrenous hand or mashed toe because we know eventually it will lead to a disease that will kill us. Then why not take off rotten and useless wood and nurse our servant back to health by progressive cultural methods? Our trees will thank us for these favors in the many blushes of harvest time. God made the sunshine for the joy of the earth.

Why should not the air's free chemicals be spread over the heads of our servants in this, one of the chief gifts of summer time. Hence, the blush of the golden sunlight will raise the market thermometer. I have seen many orchards in this locality whose wood could be reduced one-half, making a many-fold greater prospect than under the old system of neglect. No, I am not preaching. I am simply stating a few common homely facts that stare every observant man in the face.

So, I shall indulge in 'a few Don't grow suckers; they live off the fat of the land and the sweat or the siesta. Don't laugh at the man that decapitates his suckers; he will beat you on the markets. Don't forget that all trees need seration, even if a few parasites are born on the winds of heaven. Don't forget that bugs to be bugs must live on something; and that something is you, and at the expense of useless work and the death of an honest servant. Don't forget that the time to prepare is beforehand.

While hindsight is sometimes better than foresight, the market pays a premium on proper anticipation, which costs no more for grease. And these things lead to the ques-.