Some of the agents not only claim that their remedies will cure blight, but, due to ignorance or other causes, they also claim that trees treated will be immune from attacks of certain insects.

Orchardists may rest assured that up to the present time, no real preventative or cure has been found for blight, and that the only way it can be controlled is by cutting it out.—­Colorado Agricultural College.

IN MEMORIAM—­MRS. E. CROSS.

Mrs. Erasmus Cross, of Sauk Rapids, and a member of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society since 1888 (27 years), passed away at that place on Tuesday, December 28th.  On December 16th Mrs. Cross sustained a painful injury by falling on the floor and breaking her hip.  Owing to her advanced age, eighty-two years, the limb could not be set without the use of chloroform, which could not be given on account of weakness of the heart.  Death finally released her from her suffering.

[Illustration:  The late Mrs. E. Cross, daughter and grandaughters.]

Mrs. Jane Cross was always very enthusiastic about the Horticultural Society and the good it was doing, not only for this but other states.  The ills of her age had prevented her from attending the meetings these late years, though she often did so in earlier years, but she always sent her fee through the writer, and eagerly awaited her return from the meeting to hear of its stimulating success.  Mr. Cross died about six years ago.  Two sons, James, of St. Paul, and Robert, of Sauk Rapids, and two daughters, Mrs. Annie Nicholson, of Hamline, and Mrs. Emma Sovereign, of Sauk Rapids, mourn her loss.  Our society has lost a most loyal friend.—­Mrs. Jennie Stager, Sauk Rapids.

GARDEN HELPS

Conducted by Minnesota Garden Flower Society

Edited by MRS. E. W. GOULD, 2644 Humboldt Avenue So. 
Minneapolis.

Notes from Prof.  Alway’s interesting and instructive talk on
“Maintaining the fertility of our gardens.”

Requisites for proper plant growth are warmth, ventilation, root room, the absence of harmful alkalies or animals that destroy the beneficial bacteria in the soil, water and plant food.

By far the most important requisite for growth is water.  More plants and crops fail because of the lack of a proper amount of it than from any other cause.

Plenty of fresh air is needed by the plants, as they derive a portion of their food from it.

They adapt themselves largely to conditions as to root-room, a plant thriving in a pot, but spreading to much greater root space when grown in the open with plenty of room.  The more restricted the root space, the more food and water it will require.

The fourth requisite for growth does not concern us as there are no alkali lands in the counties near the Twin Cities, and the harmful minute animals that destroy the beneficial bacteria in the soil are as a rule found only in greenhouses.