LIBRARY

OF THE

,oi?'i?^*^

Jses*

DATE DUE 1

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
LIBRARY

SB
354
M234
1899

TRANS/\CTIONS

OF THE

Maine State Pomolo^ical Society

FOR THE YEAR 1899,

Including: the Proceedings of the Winter Meeting held in New
Gloucester, January 18 and 19, 190O.

EDITED BY THE PRESIDENT,

W. M. MUNSON.

AUGUSTA

KENNEBEC JOURNAL PRINT
1900

..-r O

\J ' }

4 5

Al ?. ?

CONTENTS.

PAGE

In Memoriam — Secretary Cook 7

Review of the Year 9

Officers for 1899 12

Business Transactions :

Meetings of the Executive Committee 13

Annual Meeting 14

Public Meetings :

At Greene 19

Small Fruits, Charles S. Pope 19

Orchard Culture, Elijah Cook 22

Spraying, W. M. Munson 23

At Manchester and Camden 27

Annual Meeting at Newport 27

Address of Welcome, Hon. J. M. Sanborn 28

Response — In Behalf of the Society, Secretary

Elijah Cook 30

Response — In Behalf of the State, Dr. G. M.

Twitchell 31

The President's Annual Address, W. M. Munson. . ss
Some New Problems in Horticulture, Hon. Geo.

T. Powell 42

Question Box 54

The Begonia in House and Garden, Mrs. M. Eliza-
beth Pope 56

Boys and Fruit, Secretary 5^1ijah Cook 58

Pears for Northern Maine, Dr. H. A. Robinson. .. 61

Strawberry Culture, E. W. Wooster 66

Currants and Gooseberries, A. A. Eastman 71

Question Box 74

Experiences with Caterpillars, Chas. S. Pope 78

The Experiment Station and Horticulture, Direc-
tor Chas. D. Woods 80

Winter Meeting at New Gloucester 93

Nature Study in the Home, Mrs. V. P. DeCoster, 93

The Apple in Cookery, Miss Anna Barrows 99

Currants and Gooseberries, R. H. Libbey 103

Raspberries and Blackberries, E. P. Churchill 105

Strawberries, E. W. Wooster 108

One Relation of Insects to Plants, A. H. Kirkland, 114

Plum Culture — A Discussion 122

Tillage and Pruning in the Orchard, W. M.

Munson 125

Pear Culture — A Discussion 137

% 3r^y

4 CONTENTS.

Appendix : page

Members of the Society 141

Treasurer's Report 143

Act of Incorporation 145

By-Laws of the Society 146

PROF. ELIJAH COOK, VASSALBORO.
Secretary Maine Pomological Society. Died December 29, 1899.

INTRODUCTORY.

Owing to the sudden death of Secretary Cook, just at the close
of the year, preparation of a report of the work of the society
during 1899 seemed necessarily to devolve upon the President,
who was, perhaps, most conversant with that work. Naturally,
however, many points that would have been included by the
Secretary may be omitted in the hasty preparation of the sub-
joined notes.

Special mention should be made of the care with which Secre-
tary Cook preserved the records, and of the efficient services of
his daughter. Miss Eva Cook, in getting together necessary data.

IN MEMORIAM.

Secretary Elijah Cook.

By the death of Professor Elijah Cook, the Pomological
Society loses its secretary, the State Grange its lecturer, the
community a public-spirited and strictly honorable citizen, and
the poor a friend whose sympathy was unbounded. Although
the greater part of his life was occupied in teaching, he ever
longed to come more closely in touch with nature, and on his
return to this, his native State, after an absence of nearly thirty
years, he purchased a farm, and in order to obtain the best results
, from the same, felt that he must make himself acquainted with
the best methods, both in the cultivation of fruits and the tilling
of the soil. In consequence he seized the first opportunity to
become a member of this society. When chosen secretary, he
remarked in his emphatic way : I mean that under my juris-
diction the Pomological Society shall be all that I am capable of
making it, by putting into it my best energies. Prof. Cook's
success, in whatever he was engaged, was due to his indomitable
will and energy of character. This was most markedly dis-
played while he was yet a young man. He decided at an early
age to make teaching his profession and as he was obliged to
depend entirely upon his own efforts in fitting himself for this
position, he left no stone unturned towards its accomplishment.
He even made forty days to the month, during one school vaca-
tion, by weaving in the factory nights and a part of each day;
thus fitting himself, the man, to become the helpmeet that he
was in after years to the hundreds of young men who were for-
tunate enough to come under the tuition of a man so strong, so
self-reliant and yet so unostentatious, kind-hearted and just.
No scholar come under his influence, without imbibing some-
thing of his nobility and grandeur of soul. Recognizing most

8 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

keenly all the faults and mistakes of his pupils, he ever had the
most complete faith in their latent powers and inmost soul life
and in consequence was capable of calling out the best in them,
which is always the mark of the true teacher. Few men have
stamped more indelibly than he on the minds of a greater num-
ber of young people, traits of character that will make them
truer men in their homes, better citizens in their communities
and more loyal to their country.

Professor Cook was born at Milo, May 6, 1839. When but
four years old he came, with his parents, to Vassalboro, where he
remained till he went to Providence to fit himself for the pro-
fession which he followed ever after, with the exception of two
or three years spent on his farm in Iowa and the two years pre-
vious to his death, in Vassalboro.

IRENE B. POPE.

REVIEW OF THE fEAR.

Concerning the fruit interests of Maine, the past year has been
remarkable chiefly for the uneven distribution of the crop and
for the severe attacks of the forest tent-caterpillar.

Many of the best orchards in the State failed to produce a
crop this year while others produced an abundant crop. For
instance, one of the largest orchards in Kennebec county pro-
duced barely 300 barrels of fruit, while the orchards of Aroos-
took county were burdened. One firm in Presque Isle shipped
more than 1,500 barrels. There is little doubt that the reason
for this irregularity in the fruiting of Maine orchards, lies
primarily, in the lack of proper care ; the trees were allowed to
overbear in 1896 and were so weakened that few fruit-buds
were formed during the next year or so. On this account little
attention w^as given to tillage, pruning or spraying, and when
the caterpillars came in 1897 and 1898, the trees were still
further weakened. Therefore, even though apparently free
from disease and insect attack this year, there was a lack of buds
for producing the desired results. In general, those orchards
which have received the same care during the unproductive
years as when a full crop was expected, have repaid that care in
this year when fruit was scarce and prices were high.

In many parts of Kennebec, Franklin and Oxford counties,
the orchards were seriously attacked by both forest and apple
tree tent caterpillars. The timely use of Paris green, however,
in most cases proved an effectual means of protection. In Ken-
nebec county a band of paper placed around the trunks of the
trees, and covered with a mixture of lard and sulphur, proved an
effective barrier to the half-grown caterpillars which migrate
from the forest or from neighboring trees.

The crop of small fruits was seriously reduced by the long
drought of the summer, but, as with the orchard fruits, those
plantations which were thoroughly tilled and cared for, gave
satisfactory returns. Of the newer strawberries, Clyde and Glen

lO STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mary seem to be growing in general favor, while the Loudon is
attracting considerable attention among raspberry growers. Of
the currants, White Imperial is highly recommended for home
use ; but Fay, in spite of its weak habit of growth, remains the
leading market sort.

I wish to emphasize, in this connection, the fact that success
in fruit growing comes only as the result of patient, persistent
effort, and the three elements to strive after are : More fruit
from individual plants ; fruit of better quality, and the applica-
tion of business principles in grading, packing and marketing.

THE WORK OF THE SOCIETY.

By the act of incorporation, the Maine State Pomological
Society was constituted "a. corporation for the promotion of
fruit culture." For many years, however, there has been a dif-
ference of opinion as to how the interests of fruit growers may
best be subserved. Early in the history of the society special
meetings or horticultural institutes were suggested, but few were
held, and gradually, the policy of spending the larger part of the
available funds of the society in the payment of premiums and
exhibition expenses, was developed. While the importance of
well-organized exhibitions is conceded, the present officers of the
society undertook the difficult task of placing the work upon a
broader basis, in accordance with the vote of the society at the
time of their election. In this task the President and Secretary,
upon whom the immediate planning of the work has devolved,
have been greatly aided by the sound judgment and advice of
their predecessors.

During the year, the premium list for the usual autumn exhibi-
tion Avas thoroughly revised by the executive committee, with the
purpose of encouraging the cultivation of those fruits and
flowers which merit special attention and excluding those which
are only of local interest or are not worthy. A second, abridged,
list was prepared for the special winter meeting at New
Gloucester.

Besides the two-days' meeting for discussion at Newport, in
connection with the autumn exhibition, special field meetings
were held at Greene, at Manchester, and at Camden, and a win-
ter meeting and exhibition, at New Gloucester. (The latter,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. H

though held in January, was arranged for in 1899, and the
expenses were met from that year's funds.) In these meetings
an effort was made to meet the special needs of the particular
localities where the meetings were held, as well as to bring out
thoughts which should be applicable to the whole State.

THE OUTLOOK.

While encouragement of the pomological interests of the State
should remain the primary object of the society, more attention
should be given to beautifying the homes of Maine, and to
fostering a love for attractive surroundings. It is hoped that
during the ensuing year these subjects may be more fully devel-
oped. Never before in the history of the State was the outlook
more promising for intelligent earnest effort along horticultural
lines, and never before in its history has the Maine Pomological
Society been so well able to come to the aid of those interested
in the work which it represents.

W. M. MUNSON,
President.

OFFICERS FOR 1899.

President.
W. M. MuNSON, Orono.

Vice Presidents.

S. H. Dawes, Harrison,
D. P. True, Leeds Centre.

Secretary.
Elijah Cook, Vassalboro.

Treasurer.
Charles S. Pope, Manchester.

Executive Committee.
The President and Secretary, ex-ofUcio; John W. True, New-
Gloucester; R. H. Libbey, Newport; L. F. Abbott, Lewiston.

Trustees.

Androscoggin county, John Briggs, Turner.
Aroostook county, Edward Tarr, Castle Hill.
Cumberland county, T. M. Merrill, West Gloucester.
Franklin county, F. D. Grover, Bean.
Hancock county, Mrs. S. L. Brimmer, Mariaville.
Kennebec county, E. A. Lapham, Pittston.
Knox county, Alonzo Butler, Union.
Lincoln county, H. J. A. Simmons, Waldoboro.
Oxford county, Lemuel Gurney, Hebron,
Penobscot county, C. A. Arnold, Arnold.
Piscataquis county, H. L. Leland, East Sangerville.
Sagadahoc county, A. P. Ring, Richmond Corner.
Somerset county, F. E. Nowell, Fairfield.
Waldo county, Fred Atwood, Winterport.
Washington county, J. F. Sprague, Charlotte.
York county, C. A. Hooper, Eliot.

Member Experiment Station Council.
Charles S. Pope, Manchester.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS.
MEETINGS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Augusta, January 24, 1899. — At this meeting it was voted to
supply the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture a speaker
to represent the Pomological Society at such institutes as he
may desire ; the Board of Agriculture to pay simply the travel-
ling expenses.

Voted, That a special field meeting for demonstrating methods
of spraying be held in May.

Voted, That the annual meeting and exhibition be held dur-
ing October or November.

Voted, That as many horticultural schools be held as the
funds of the society will permit.

Auburn, May 8, 1899. — At this meeting it was voted that the
annual meeting and exhibition be held at the time and place of
the dairy conference of the State Board of Agriculture, provided
this occur on or before November 15.

Voted, That the society unite with the Board of Agriculture
in holding a field meeting at Sagamore Farm, Camden, during
the first week in June.

The question of holding an exhibition in conjunction with the
State Agricultural Society was discussed but action was indefi-
nitely postponed.

Auburn, August 16, 1899 : It was voted that the society loan
to Mr. A. E. Andrews the plates, vases, racks and vials, for use
at the State Fair.

It being found that the time of the dairy conference, would
be unsatisfactory, the previous action was reconsidered and the
Secretary was requested to arrange for a meeting at Newport,
to be held November 15 and 16.

W. M. Munson and Miss G. P. Sanborn were appointed dele-
gates to the meeting of the American Pomological Society to be
held in Philadelphia, September 7 and 8.

The premium list for the annual exhibition was revised and
extended.

14 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING.

Newport, November 17, 1899. — The minutes of the several
meetings of the executive committee were read by the Secretary
and were approved.

Professor Munson, as delegate to the American Pomological
Society, reported that this old society has taken a new lease of
life and that the meeting was most enthusiastic and successful.

The treasurer made an informal report of the finances of the
society and it was accepted ; the full report to be printed in the
transactions.

The election of officers resulted as follows : President, W.
M. Munson; Vice Presidents, S. H. Dawes; D. P. True; Secre-
tary, Elijah Cook ; Treasurer, Charles S. Pope ; Executive Com-
mittee, J. W. True, R. H. Libbey, L. F. Abbott ; Auditor, Z. A.
Gilbert ; Member Experiment vStation Council, Charles S. Pope.

Amendments to the by-laws were offered as follows :

"Only life-members shall be eligible to hold office in this
society."

"No person who has not been a member for at least one year
shall be entitled to vote in the society."

Both amendments were laid upon the table for one year.

The president announced the following standing committees :

Nomenclature and Neiv Fruits. — Z. A. Gilbert, Chas. S. Pope,
D. PI. Knowlton.

Entomology. — F. L. Harvey, Willis A. Luce, G. P. Sanborn.

Botany and Vegetable Physiology. — C. G. Atkins, L. F.
Abbott, H. A. Robinson.

The committee on resolutions reported as follows :

Resolved, That the Maine Pomological Society heartily appre-
ciate the efforts of Sebasticook Grange to make this meeting of
the society a success, and that we are under special obligation
to the members of the choir for the excellent music rendered.

Resolved, That particular mention should be made of Mr. R.
H. Libbey, whose active interest and energetic labors have done
so much to further the objects of the society.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I5

Resolved, That the society recognizes its obligation to the
several newspapers which have given so freely of space for
announcements and reports.

Resolved, That the thanks of the society are hereby extended
to the Maine Central Railroad for reduced rates and to the pro-
prietor of the Shaw House for the excellent service and low
rates eiven.

PUBLIC MEETINGS.

PAPERS, DISCUSSIONS, AND QUESTIONS.

FIELD MEETINGS,
At Greene, Manchester and Camden.

ANNUAL MEETING,
At Newport.

WINTER MEETING,
At New Gloucester.

FIELD MEETING AT GREENE.

A Pomological School was held at the Grange Hall, Greene,
May 9, when the subject of "Small Fruits" was presented by
Mr. Chas. S. Pope; "Orcharding" by Secretary Elijah Cook, and
"Spraying" by President W. M. Munson. The preparation of
Bordeaux mixture and kerosene emulsion were illustrated as
were also the right and wrong methods of spraying.

SMALL FRUITS FOR THE HOME GARDEN.

Chas. S. Pope, Manchester.

(Abstract.)
When the wood was cut off and the land was first cleared our
fields and pastures abounded in wild berries and the farmer's
table was well supplied with these, but in most localities it is now
impossible to furnish a suitable supply from this source. The
small fruits, once regarded a luxury, are now considered not only
a necessity but an economy also. Therefore the farmer who
provides for the table should not neglect his duty in this direc-
tion. Ten square rods, well fertilized and tilled, will furnish
nearly as many bushels of berries. It may need a little experi-
ence to learn the requirements of the dift'erent varieties, and
then there is no more difficulty in growing a crop of strawberries
than one of peas or cabbage. I can assure you it requires only
a little Yankee grit to overcome all the difficulties and learn the
secrets of success.

THE STRAWBERRY.

The Strawberry has the advantage of giving a full crop the
next year after setting. Although the plant is small it gives
such an immense crop of fruit that it must be well fed and
watered. There is very little danger of getting the soil too rich

20 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

in phosphoric acid and potash, but some varieties will give an
excess of foliage, at the expense of fruit, if too much nitrogen is
used. Hard wood ashes are generally easily obtained and make
one of the best fertilizers for all fruits. Plow deep and cultivate
thoroughly that the plants may take deep root and be able to
withstand the drought which frequently comes just as the fruit
is filling out.

If the plants are set in rows three feet apart and kept in nar-
row matted rows (6 inches wide), by cutting all runners which
extend beyond this, the ground can be worked with the horse
cultivator, when working the vegetable garden. Do not wait
until the weeds begin to grow before stirring the soil, but every
few days run over the ground and see what a wonderful effect
it will have upon the plants. So many of our people till the
ground only to kill the weeds and have not learned the effect,
and do not realize the need of this frequent stirring of the soil.
To obtain a full crop the plant must have a large supply of water
when the berries are filling out and there is nothing like a fine
earth mulch to conserve the moisture and thus furnish a good
supply when most needed. If you have but a little patch, take
the hoe along every time you go out to look at it, particularly
if the ground begins to bake a little after a shower. Most people
do not realize what hoeing means to the plant.

Do not select a piece of land for the strawberry bed where the
water can stand and freeze in the winter. As we are not sure
of a blanket of snow on the bed all winter, it is best to cover
with evergreen boughs as soon as the ground freezes in the fall.
Swamp hay or some such material may do as well if not put on
deep enough to smother the vines. Do not remove the covering
too early in the spring as the frequent freezing and thawing may
work much injury to the roots.

There are many little things that must be learned from expe-
rience. Do not be discouraged if you fail the first time. My
first patch did not give me a quart of berries. A friend gave me
the plants and they were a pistillate variety with no other kind
to fertilize them. My next attempt was a total loss, as the ice
formed on the bed and killed nearly every plant. But the next
time I succeeded, although I planted, contrary to all advice, on
a heavy witch-grass sward. We picked over two hundred quarts

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 21

from five square rods. I attributed my success largely to the
use of the hoe. The witch-grass made a strong fight but by
taking pains I never allowed it to breathe, and easily came out the
victor.

RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY.

The treatment of the raspberry and blackberry should be much
the same as I have recommended for the strawberry. Do not
plant too closely. Three feet apart in the rows, allowing seven
feet for blackberries and at least six feet for a row of raspberries,
is the proper distance. Keep all sprouts cut down, as weeds,
except a few in each hill. More berry patches are ruined by
allowing too many sprouts to grow than from any other cause.
What I have said about cultivating the soil applies here as well
as in the strawberry patch. The raspberry roots run very near
the surface and the soil must be kept moist and free from w'eeds,
but worked very shallow.

VARIETIES.

I have little to say about varieties of small fruits, as soil and
situation have so much to do with this question. Among straw-
berries. Crescent and Greenville have been the most prolific with
us. Beder Wood and Clyde have been used to furnish pollen
for these varieties. The Clyde will produce a large quantity 6i
fruit if given a deep rich soil and plenty of water, but with
ordinary treatment is hardly equal to the two first named.

The Snyder blackberry is probably one of the hardiest on the
list and will give fine fruit if allowed to remain on the bush until
fully ripe, — this means several days after it turns black.

Among the red raspberries, the Cuthbert is an old standard
and one of the best. To prevent winter-killing I would recom-
mend bending over the canes and throwing a little dirt on the
tips to hold them down. A few shovelfuls of dirt at the base
of the canes will prevent breaking at the ground.

The White Imperial Currant is not as acid as the red currants
and is therefore fine for the home table. Fay's Prolific is the
best red currant we have fruited among a dozen kinds.

In conclusion I would say, secure plants as near home as pos-
sible, of the standard sorts, which thrive best in your locality.

22 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

These are much more Hkely to succeed than plants by mail or
express from distant nurseries. If 3'ou have plenty of money
to spare for experimenting, there is great pleasure in testing the
new varieties, but few of them are equal to the old standards.

ORCHARDING.

Secretary Elijah Cook, Vassalboro.

(Abstract.)

Professor Cook said, in part : While the natural conditions of
soil and climate in Maine are well suited for the most successful
orchard culture, our methods are not the best. There is every-
where evidence of a lack of care in cultivating and pruning, as
well as in harvesting and marketing the product.

The importance of cultivating the young orchard and of care-
ful attention to pruning and spraying were emphasized. In the
matter of packing and marketing the product we have much to
learn from the California growers. California fruit of inferior
quality wall outsell native fruit because it is put up in attractive
packages.

The abundant use of fruit on the farm will tend to keep the
young people at home, and this is a most important thing to do.

With careful attention to details, the outlook for fruit-growing
in the State of Maine is very encouraging.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23

SPRAYING.
Prof. W. M. MuNSON, Orono.

(Abstract.)

"It is commonly estimated that the annual yield of all crops
is lessened about 25 per cent, by the attacks of injurious insects
and fungous diseases. Experiments have demonstrated that at
least 75 per cent, of this loss can be prevented by the use of
simple remedies applied by means of a spray pump. Expressed
in tigures, the annual loss would represent, about $500,000,000
in the United States alone. Of this amount, 75 per cent., or
$375,000,000 can be saved by spraying."

The above paragraph represents the facts concerning the im-
portance of spraying, at the present time.

Spraying has ceased to be an experiment. The beneficial
results obtained at the experiment stations have been fully cor-
roborated in practical field work, and now it is important to know
the hozv and the zvhy of spraying. In other words, in order that
the best results may be obtained, spraying must be done intel-
ligently.

Success in spraying, as in most of the work in life, is largely
a matter of detail. Little things, seemingly unimportant, all
affect the results obtained. Failure may usually be attributed
to lateness of application, carelessness in applying or in preparing
the material, or to defective apparatus.

WHY SPRAY?

Spraying is plant insurance. It is, with few exceptions, a
preventive measure for many of the ills that plants are heir to,
and not a cure. There are several distinct classes of enemies
which may be grouped first under the two general heads,- — insects
and fungi.

The insect enemies are naturally divided into distinct classes
which must be met in very different ways, and the same is true
of the fungi. The first class of insect enemies includes those
that, either in the mature form or as larvae, eat the plant tissue;
e. g., the plum curculio, the codling moth, the currant worm, the

24 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

tent caterpillar, the potato beetle, etc. These are very readily
destroyed by the application of some form of arsenic, as Paris
green, to the parts which will be eaten.

Another class of insects, e. g., the plant lice and some of the
scale insects, obtain their food by sucking the juices of the plant
and, therefore, are not affected by an application of poison.
These must be overcome by an external irritant, such as kerosene,^
or an alkali like caustic soda or strong soap suds, or by some
material that will close the breathing pores and thus stop respi-
ration, e. g. pyrethrum or hellebore (in the dry form hellebore
acts in both ways).

Fungi (singular, fungus) are simply low forms of plant life
which feed upon organic matter, either living or dead. Those
which grow on living tissues — parasitic fungi — are the ones with
which we are specially concerned. It is these which cause many
of the blights and rusts, and smuts and scabs and mildews of
various plants. Fungi are propagated by means of minute,
microscopic bodies, called spores, which are carried from place
to place by the wind and by insects, birds and other animals.
A spore, falling upon the surface of a leaf, or the growing tip
of a branch, if in the presence of moisture and the usual summer
temperature, germinates in a manner very similar to that of a
seed. If the surface of the leaf or fruit is coated with some
material which is destructive to the young fungus, as the spore
germinates, all the damage from the parasite is warded off. If,
on the other hand, there is even a small spot that is not coated,
there is opportunity for the parasite to obtain a foothold. With
few exceptions, after the parasite has once attacked the plant,^
spraying is of little if any avail.

WHEN TO SPRAY.

The time of spraying will depend upon the purpose in view^
but in no case should spraying be done when the plants are in
full bloom. Spraying at this time will often interfere with the
fertilization of the flowers, and consequently reduce the crop of
fruit, while there is much needless destruction of bees and other
insects which work upon the flowers.

In general, spray early. "Delays are dangerous." Fruit
trees should be sprayed before the buds open, potatoes before

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 2$

disease or insects appear. Subsequent treatment will depend
very largely upon the nature of the season ; if very wet, it may
be necessary to spray every two or three weeks ; if relatively dry,
three or four treatments may be sufficient.

HOW TO SPRAY.

Insecticides and fungicides are more effective if applied in a
liquid rather than in a dry form, since they adhere to the foliage
better. Sprinkling is not spraying. The best results are
obtained from the use of a fine spray or mist forcibly applied to
the foliage; and so far as possible, it should reach the under
sides of the leaves. A fine mist is preferable to a coarse spray,
as there is much less waste of material and much less danger of
injury to the foliage. A single dash of the mist is better than
continued soaking, as in the latter case the material gathers in
drops and runs off or injures the foliage.

As already stated, spraying for fungi is a preventive measure
rather than a cure. If the surface of the leaf is not completely
covered on both sides, with the protective coating, there is still
danger of attack. The spores of the fungus may fall upon the
smallest unprotected spot.

Again, while young insects may be killed by a very small dose
of poison, a much larger amount will be required as they grow
older. So spraying should be commenced early, that the first
meal of a young insect may be his last, and in order to insure
this end, the poison must be finely divided and evenly dis-
tributed.

THE MATERIALS FOR SPRAYING.

The materials used in spraying are mainly of two general
kinds, fungicides, used in killing fungi, and insecticides, used in
killing insects. The principal fungicides are Bordeaux mixture
and sulphide of potassium. The more important insecticides
are arsenic, in some form (usually Paris green), kerosene and
tobacco.

Bordeaux Mixture. This is the fungicide par excellence for
general use, and its preparation is a matter 'of considerable
importance. The formula in general use at present is known as
the "4, 4, 40" formula. In other words the mixture consists

26 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of 4 lbs. copper sulphate, 4 lbs. fresh lime and 40 gallons of
water. The copper sulphate should be dissolved in three or four
gallons of water in a wooden or earthen vessel and the lime
(which must be absolutely fresh) should be slaked in a separate
vessel, and diluted with water till it is of a milky nature. When
ready for use, the two solutions may be mixed in a third vessel,,
care being taken to stir constantly during the process. In every
case, the mixture should be passed through a sieve of number
50 brass wire cloth, or through cheese cloth backed by common
window screen wire. This straining is necessary to prevent
clogging of the nozzle.

Potassium Sulphide. Potassium sulphide, or "liver of sul-
phur" is specially valuable as a preventive of gooseberry mildew
and for use in the greenhouse. In using this material four
ounces of the sulphide are dissolved in ten gallons of water.

Paris Green. This material is the one which is always relia-
ble for the destruction of leaf-eating insects. Many other forms
of arsenic have been recommended, but none have proved so
generally satisfactory as Paris green.f It is practically insolu-
ble in water, but as there is usually present a small amount of
soluble arsenic, it is always well to add a little fresh lime to
the mixture before applying, that injury to the foliage may be
averted. Paris green is generally mixed with water in the pro-
portion of I pound to 200 gallons. If lime is added, however,
a pound to 100 gallons may be used.

Kerosene. Kerosene is the specific for all sucking insects.
It kills by contact and, owing" to its cheapness and efficiency, will
probably remain the most valuable insecticide for this class of
insects. The form in which it is usually applied is the soap
emulsion, but there are now several forms of spray pumps which
make a mechanical mixture of kerosene and water, thus greatly
reducing the labor.

Tobacco. A strong decoction of tobacco ("tobacco tea") is
often used with success in destroying the lice upon rose bushes
and tender, soft-wooded plants.

t Among the cheaper substitutes for Paris green are "Green Arsenite," "Para-
grene," "Emerahl Green," "Arsenite of Soda," "Arsenate of I^ead," etc. With the
exception of the last named, which is largely nsed by the Gypsy Moth Commis-
sion of Massachusetts, the substitutes are still to be considered as experimental.

< *^

'd °

q S
^^
o .S

TO

HO)
n

O >.

•—I r?

H S

H o

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 2/

The meeting having adjourned to the open field, the speaker
proceeded to ilhistrate the preparation of Bordeaux mixture and
of Kerosene emulsion in actual practice. The character of the
sprav thrown by different nozzles was shown, and several neigh-
boring trees were sprayed. The working parts of various pumps
were also explained.

FIELD MEETINGS AT MANCHESTER AND
CAMDEN.

MAY 5, AND JUNE 6, 1899.

In accordance with a vote of the executive committee, the
society united with the State Board of Agriculture in holding
field meetings at Manchester and at Sagamore Farm, Camden.
The President and Secretary attended these meetings and spoke
upon the same subjects as at the field meeting at Greene. Mr.
Pope also addressed the meeting at Manchester, and assisted in
the demonstration of spraying.

ANNUAL MEETING AND EXHIBITION.

NOVE^IBER 16 AND 17, 1899-
Newport, Me., Thursday, Nov. i6, 1899. — The meeting was
called to order by the president who, after prayer by Chaplain J.
W. Webster of the G. A. R., and singing by the grange choir,
called upon Hon. J. M. Sanborn of Newport for an address of
welcome.

28 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Hon. J. M. Sanborn, Newport.

Mr. President, Members of the State Pomological Society and

Fellow Citizens:

In behalf of the members of Sebasticook Grange and the citi-
zens of the town of Newport, we bid you a sincere and hearty
welcome, and extend to you the hospitalities of our town. This
is the first time that we have had the honor of your presence
with us, and we beg to assure you that your visit will be fully
appreciated. We feel that you will pardon us, if we say
that your welcome, perhaps from a selfish standpoint alone, is all
the more cordial because we wish to place ourselves at your feet
for needed instruction. We wish to say that Newport is
becoming a prosperous town. We are ambitious, we are deter-
mined to expand and develop to the utmost our resources, but
in righteous and just ways alone. Now we are the natural
center of an extensive agricultural district. The soil of the
Sebasticook river, which drains Western Penobscot and Eastern
Somerset counties, is not rivalled, in our judgment, in fertility
and remunerative capacity, under proper conditions, by the far
famed lands of the Aroostook valley.

As a village, therefore, we are interested in agriculture. Our
continued development depends largely upon the prosperity of
the farmer. He will be considered our greatest statesman and
best friend who will do the most to secure and maintain that
prosperity. But, notwithstanding our natural advantages, the
science of fruit culture in its various branches, is almost in its
infancy throughout this community. We have but few large
orchards, we may state still fewer good ones. With a few shin-
ing exceptions here and there, this whole subject has been sadly
neglected by our farmers. Indeed, but little effort was made by
too many of them to save their fruit trees from the ravages and
blighting effects of the worms and caterpillars during the past
season. But on the whole, we feel that our farmers are coming
to understand more and more that agriculture is a science which
must be mastered, if success is to be attained. They are begin-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29

ning to study, they are anxious to learn. Thrice welcome then
are those who will give the instruction, the enlightenment needed.

It seems to us, further, that the State owes to its grange and
to your society a debt of gratitude. Your works have been good
in the past, your influence broad in sustaining and restoring sick
and discouraged agriculture. And this must always operate as
an element of your welcome wherever you may meet. We are
all aware of agriculture's deep depression during the past years
in this State; of the hard struggle of many of our farmers to
maintain themselves, of their trials and discouragements. We
have deplored the fact that some of them have felt forced to
abandon their homes and seek other occupations. We have felt
sad to know that our rural population has been constantly
decreasing. The night has indeed been dark, the prospect
gloomy. But we believe that a brighter day has already dawned.
The law of compensation applies. During this very depression
the old system of farming has passed away, a system of theory,
of uncertainty, too often of ignorance, with all its weakening
and disastrous results.

And on the grave of that old system has sprung up another,
a broader, and a better one, a system which requires thorough-
ness and a practical and scientific knowledge of the subject, a
system which exacts that the successful farmer shall be a man
of thought and of study as well as of labor, a system which
ordains that he shall be a comprehensive man, that he shall look
beyond the boundaries of his own fields, participate earnestly in
the affairs of State and see to it that his State's laws are wise
and wholesome and not injurious to his interests. That agri-
culture has had this new birth, that we have to-day some pros-
perous farmers among us, that we feel and have faith to believe
that there is coming to the intelligent farmer in the near future
a prosperity, the like of which has never been known, is due to
some extent surely, we think largely, to the labor and beneficent
influence of the grange and your society. We therefore hope
that you will enjoy your visit with us and that your good works
and influence may continue to increase until this community and
the whole State shall contain a population of prosperous and con-
tented farmers. Then, and not until then, will your mission be
performed.

30 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

RESPONSE— IN BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY.
Secretary Elijah Cook, Vassalboro.

Ladies and Gentlemen: It gives me great pleasure to have an
opportunity of thanking the honorable gentleman who has so
ably, so warmly, and so earnestly bid us welcome to Newport.
And to thank the good people of Newport who have worked so
earnestly to make this meeting a success. I have been pleased
ever since I stepped off the train and met the large-hearted,
broad-minded Brother Libbey, and have learned so well the
earnest work which he has done, together with the good people
of Newport, to provide for all our wants ; to help in every way
possible to get all the advantage, all the good, that can be
obtained from our meeting. We see evidence upon every hand
that all the people of Newport are anxious to make our coming
here a success, and we are pleased, grateful, and thank these
people most earnestly for what they have done.

Every toiler of the soil needs encouragement, needs informa-
tion, needs inspiration, to help him to make his calling a success,
and we hope, in coming here among you, to help you to some
extent to enlarge the profits of the farm, to encourage you to
improve the methods and enlarge the possibilities of agriculture
in this favored section of the State. And when I say favored
section of the State, I mean favored of any part of the world.
In the great depression through which agriculture has passed,
there was no spot on all the earth that suffered less from that
depression than this northeast corner of our land. There is no
part of all the world that has suffered less or that has more
courage to take hold anew and make success in the future. I
was pleased with the words to which we have listened. The
law of compensation is true, and we have gained much during
the depression through which we have passed. We have gained
more than we could estimate, if we tried, in the one thought of
teaching better, higher methods in the future. The old methods
will not do ; they have passed away. They served their purpose,
but in agriculture, as in everything else, we must use business
principles ; we must use intellect ; we must use thought and
investigation all the time. And we hope that our coming here

- 2

a >

= 0

S o

"1 fD

p ^ -

!^'^

S3 >
■ 50

o *^

a, 02

SI
o -

So

^

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 3 1

to this section will encourage farmers to take hold of fruit cul-
ture more earnestly. If anything that may be said in this hall
shall encourage a part of the farmers here to make two trees
flourish and bear an abundance of fruit where there is now but
one, a part, at least, of our mission will be accomplished, and
no one can say that we have failed of success.

RESPONSE— IN BEHALF OF THE CITIZENS OF

MAINE.
Dr. George M. Twitchell, Augusta.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: What little I have to
say is in behalf of those citizens of the State of Maine, present,
who realize something of what it means to be so cordially
received under such attractive and pleasing conditions, where
the labor of the husbandman, and of the housewife, are manifest
in so many ways, in the decoration of the hall, and in the details
of the work of the local committee, the magnitude of which is
not appreciated, except by those who have been through the
same labor. Let us first return thanks to Sebasticook Grange,
and the citizens of Newport, who have made possible this pleas-
ing display, and completed the arrangements for the two days'
meeting of the society. I am very glad to hear Mr. Sanborn
speak of the coming of better days. He who watches the State
of Maine, to-day, must be conscious that the pendulum is swing-
ing back, and that we are passing out of the stage of depression,
and coming to better days in agriculture. Better days to
investors and better days to the farmers of Maine. Not during
my knowledge of the work in this State have there been so
many calls from persons who desire good farm property in the
State, as in the past few months. The atmosphere is different
from what it was ten or twenty years ago. Here in Newport
you have been growing prosperous. I asked the manager of
the condensed milk factory to what he attributed the great
change, and he pointed to the corn canning factory. I asked
the manager of the corn canning factory the same question, and
he pointed to the condensed milk factory. Such harmony tends

2^2 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

toward the prosperity of the community. The farms through-
out this section give evidence of improvement. At the same
time we all realize that the fruit industry of this section is not
what it ought to be, and the fruit industry of Maine, and of
New England, is not what it ought to be, but by such gatherings
as this we solve some of the problems, and get that interest,
uplift and stimulus which sends us back to the farms to push
the work a little further, and a little harder, than we have in the
past.

Professor Robertson, a few weeks ago, in setting forth the
marvelous advancement in Canada during the past ten years,
gave as the reason above all else why this advance had been so
marked, that the "Press of Canada is a unit in praise of the
farmers."

Now that one sentence stands as a solution of the whole prob-
lem we have to face to-day. Along our dairy and fruit lines let
us all have words of praise. When the press stops to criticize
there is woe. When the farmers stop complaining of hard times
and set their faces toward better times, determined to find them,
conscious of the fact that they are solving some oi the problems,
the trees will not die, and a happy, contented and prosperous
people' will be settled on the farms of Maine, and elsewhere, and
we shall all be singing the song of rejoicing.

Thanking the citizens of Newport for their generous and
hospitable welcome, let us take up the last thought that Mr.
Sanborn gave us, let us stop complaining and set our faces
toward the sun.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 33

THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Prof. W. M. ]\IuNSON_, Orono.

In accordance with the custom of previous years it becomes
the duty of the president of the society to deliver a short address
upon the work of the society, or some subject relating to horti-
culture. As workers in the same field, we are all seeking to
learn the best things to do in the line of horticulture and the
best way of doing them. We are striving to bring to bear, in
this search after truth, the thought of the scientist, the art of
the expert gardener or fruit grower, and the results of the
patient experimenter.

It is only by careful, varied and repeated trials and often after
bitter disappointments and discouragements that fair conclu-
sions and substantial results are obtained. So in the practical
branches of horticultural work, success, in other words, financial
gain, comes not to the shiftless or the indolent, but to the wide-
awake, up-to-date, energetic growers who profit bv the experi-
ences of other growers as well as by their own mistakes and
triumphs.

Instead of speaking at length of the work and the aims of the
society at this time, I shall ask you to look with me for a few
moments at some of the features of the pomology of our State
which have not received sufficient attention in the past.

A few years ago Mr. D. H. Knowlton, at that time secretary
of this society, delivered a very interesting and instructive paper
upon the "Possibilities of Fruit Growing in Maine," in which the
advantages and opportunities in this line were most clearly set
forth. It is not my purpose at this time either to discuss or to
ignore the difficulties and hindrances which must be encoun-
tered. The diseases of fruit are apparently increasing in num-
ber and severity. The insect enemies are ever with us. But
with increasing difficulties comes increasing knowledge of means
of combating those difficulties. With the attacks of fungi
come the improved fungicides ; with the insects comes a broader
knowledge of the use of poisons and preventive measures. Ten
years ago the treatment of orchards with insecticides and fungi-

34 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

cides was in its infancy, and "sprinkling" was ridiculed.
To-day every enterprising orchardist in the State recognizes the
importance of the practice. This advance in ideas is in no
small degree a direct result of the discussions which have been
held in the meetings of the Maine Pomological Society.

In the past our farmers have been urged to plant more trees
and vines. In the present and the future the watchword must
be improvement. Instead of investing more money in planting
orchards we must now aim to secure greater returns from
money already invested. More attention must be given to ferti-
lizing the orchard, to culture, to tillage, to pruning, to thinning
the fruit and to business methods in handling and 'marketing
the product.

POSSIBILITIES IN AROOSTOOK.

No part of the State is better adapted for the general opera-
tions of agriculture than is Aroostook county — "the Garden of
Maine." The winters of northern Maine are so severe, however,
that until recently fruit culture has received comparatively little
attention. Indeed, less than twenty years ago the positive asser-
tion was made by a well-known fruit grower and nurseryman
that fruit culture was impossible north of the latitude of
Houlton.

The first settlers on the Aroostook river seem to have made
no attempt at fruit raising. About forty years ago a few apple
seeds were planted on some of the upland farms, but the results
gave little encouragement. Such of the trees as lived bore
inferior or worthless fruit. After a few years the tree-peddler
found his way into this fertile, but at that time almost inacces-
sible region, and in succeeding annual visits introduced many
hundred dollars worth of so-called hardy fruits, all of which
soon succumbed.

About 1875 the Duchess of Oldenburgh was introduced from
New Brunswick nurseries under the name of "New Bruns-
wic'ker," and this was the beginning of a new era in the pomo-
logical history of northern Maine. The Duchess was followed
by Alexander, Fameuse (the latter being rather uncertain ) and,
in 1882, by the Wealthy. A little later Tetofsky, Yellow Trans-
parent and Montreal Peach were added to the list, while in 1890
Dudley's Winter began to be widely disseminated. The last

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35

named variety which, with the Weahhy, has proved to be one
of the very best for this northern region, was raised from seed
of the Duchess in 1880 by Mr. J. W. Dudley of Castle Hill
plantation, and in 1889 was sold to Chase Brothers of Rochester,
N. Y., who introduced it under the name of "North Star." The
use of this name is unfortunate, since it already belong-ed to one
of the "iron-clad" varieties of the northwest.

The pioneer m commercial orcharding in the Aroostook region
was the late Hon. James Nutting of Perham. In 1887 Mr.
Nutting planted an orchard of 100 trees three-fourths of which
were Duchess, the remainder Alexander, Fameuse and a miscel-
laneous collection, most of which have since died. In 1885, 100
Wealthy trees were set, and later 500 more of the same variety,
with several hundred Dudley's Winter. Among the varieties
tried and discarded by Mr. Nutting were Peabody Greening,
Red Astrachan, Pewaukee, Mcintosh, Haas, Mann. Early Rus-
sian, Talman Sweet, Northern Spy, Tompkins King, Ben Davis
and several others that are recommended as hardy.

In 1892 the Experiment Station undertook the introduction
of hardy varieties into this region and several of the most prom-
ising sorts from the Northwest — Wisconsin, Minnesota and
Iowa — were placed in Air. Nutting's hands. Of these, some of
the scions were set in bearing trees and others in the nursery.
Most of these varieties have now borne, and some of them will
prove decided acquisitions to the list of hardy fruits. Among
the most promising varieties now on trial in this orchard are
Arthur, Okobena, Patten Greening, McMahon, Longfield, Pro-
lific Sweet, C^strakoff.

About the time that Mr. Nutting commenced orchard culture
on a commercial scale, Mr. J. W. Dudley of Mapleton, C. Hay-
ford of Maysville, Benj. Tilley of Castle Hill, and several others
awoke to the possibilities in this direction, and the prediction
made at the meeting of this society in Bangor in 1891, that
"within ten years Aroostook county will not only raise its own
apples but have a surplus for export," has been fulfilled. Eor
several years a few apples have been shipped from Caribou and
Presque Isle, and during the present year 1,500 barrels were
shipped by one firm, Robinson Bros., of Presque Isle.

The present status of fruit growing in Aroostook county is
this: Under ordinarv conditions everv farmer who will, mav

36 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

grow sufficient fruit for his own use. In many parts of the
county, particularly in the hills about Caribou, Washburn and
Presque Isle, there are excellent opportunities for commercial
orchards, but only the hardiest, "iron-clad" varieties will survive.
A windbreak is an absolute requisite of success, but with this
protection some varieties of special value may be grown. At
the present time no varieties of plum or cherry have been found
which are sufficiently hardy to withstand the climate without
winter protection. One or two of the Russian cherries — partic-
ularly Griotte du Nord — are, however, promising for home con-
sumption. Even the Mooers' Arctic plum, which originated at
Ashland, is of uncertain hardiness unless top worked upon the
"Canada" plum and laid down each winter.

BLUEBERRIES.

The blueberries of America have been strangely overlooked
alike by horticulturists, and by historians ; yet there are no less
than six or seven distinct species which furnish fruit of consider-
able value, and as many more which, though of less importance,
produce fruit which may be eaten.

Despite the great use that must have been made of the berries
by the Indians and by the colonists in New England, there are
but few records referring to this fruit. We learn that Cham-
plain, as early as 161 5, found the Indians near Lake Huron
gathering blueberries for their winter store, and Roger Williams
mentions "Attitaash (Wortleberries) of which there are divers
sorts, sweet like currants." Aside from two or three minor
references, these are about the only records, extant, except in
the various botanies and floras published since the beginning of
the present century.

Doubtless the reason for this apparent neglect is largely due
to the abundance and excellence of the wild plants. There
seemed to be no reason for the exertion incident to cultivation
in order to procure a liberal supply of fruit.

In New York and in Michigan abortive attempts at cultiva-
tion have been made. At the Arnold Aboretum, in Massachu-
setts, Jackson Dawson has grown many seedlings and has
learned some valuable lessons regarding methods of culture. At
the present time, however, there is practically no systematic

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 37

attention given to the garden culture of the blueberry, save that
recently undertaken at the Maine Experiment Station.

In many parts of our State there are thousands of acres of
land utterly worthless for agricultural purposes, which after the
timber is removed, send up an abundant growth of blueberry
bushes, alders, poplars, gray birches, etc., and which by proper
management may, it is believed, be made to yield a handsome
profit to. their owners. In New Hampshire the picking of blue-
berries has come to be an important industry in many of the
country towns. Whereas, a few years ago, farmers thought the
blueberry crop of no account, and allowed perfect freedom in
gathering the fruit; many of the owners of blueberry pastures
now charge "stumpage" at the rate of two cents per cjuart, and
the blueberry field is regarded with as much concern as the apple
orchard.

In the southeastern part of Maine, principally in Washington
county, there are about 150,000 acres known as the "blueberry
barrens." The fruit from the barrens is mainly taken to the
canning factories at Cherryfield, Columbia Falls and Harrington.
The total output from these factories the present season was
about 50,000 cases of two dozen cans each, representing a cash
value of considerably more than $100,000.

Now, as already intimated, there are vast areas in our State
which, while bearing a considerable number of bushes, and yield-
ing a profitable return to the few people who make a practice of
gathering the wild fruit, are not utilized as they might be. The
systematic treatment of these wild lands, after the manner prac-
ticed on the barrens, might with profit be extended to many
other sections.

Again, there are large areas, otherwise worthless, which might
without doubt be made to yield good returns if in some way a
growth of blueberries could be started — either by setting bushes
or by scattering seed. Perhaps this suggestion may be regarded
as visionary, but it is Cjuite within the range of possibilities.

Another phase of the subject, which is worthy of careful atten-
tion, is that of domestication and the improvement of types by
selection.

Little has been attempted in the garden culture of the blue-
berry. That satisfactory results might be obtained, however,

4

38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

there is little doubt. The fruit, in its wild state is far superior
to that of many other cultivated plants and is very susceptible
to the influence of environment. So I feel perfectly safe in pre-
dicting that within a very few years, a race of garden blueberries,
rivaling in value some of the best of the other small fruits, will
be placed before the public and the culture of the blueberry will
be as much a matter of course as is that of the blackberry or the
raspberry.

CRANBERRIES.

From time to time in the past, the cranberry has been called
to the attention of the fruit growers of the State, but this fruit
does not yet receive the attention its importance demands. The
subject was treated so thoroughly by Prof. Harve}^ at the meet-
ing of this society in 1896, and the practical details of culture
were so well brought out at the last meeting in Augusta (1892),
that I shall but refer you to the transactions of the society for
those years.

CHESTNUTS.

In various parts of the State are rocky, sandy ridges which
are of- no particular value for general agricultural purposes, but
which are specially suited for the growth of the chestnut tree.
Since the common American chestnut is perfectly hardy in
Maine, there is every reason why the many bushels of nuts that
are used each year should be produced at home; thus adding to
the wealth of the farmers, utilizing waste places, and, in many
cases, hiding deformities in the landscape. Similar remarks will
apply to the hickory nut and to the butternut.

FILBERTS.

The common hazelnut grows freely in many parts of our
State, and we all remember the delights of childhood in romping
through the fields in search of the brown prizes contained within
the ample husks. Closely related to this nut is the English fil-
bert, and I would call the attention of the society to these two
nuts as affording a promising line of investigation.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 39

EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE SOCIETY.

Meetings for mutual interchange of ideas and experiences are
most effectual educators. This society early conceived the idea
of employing this means of carrying on its work. Right here
may I digress for a moment and consider the bearing of educa-
tion upon the advancement of horticultural interests ? It is not
the cramming of the mind with an array of facts which will be
most beneficial. It is the appreciation of cause and effect; the
growth of mental power; the ability to discriminate. There is
a loud call for practical instruction from all sides. But the most
practical instruction is that which makes an all round man.
This is an age of specialists, but the specialist must have a
foundation on which to build.

There is an element of uncertainty in all agricultural work. The
skilled mechanic may select his material and, applying the princi-
ples he has learned, can construct a machine that shall be prac-
tically complete and in accordance with his plans and expecta-
tions. No farmer or fruit-grower can, however, predict with
certainty the outcome of his labors. Nature and Providence
have much to do with the processes, and we can only assist the
one and submit to the other — we can control neither.

No agricultural college can turn out a farmer who can raise
exactly 29 bushels and 35 pounds of wheat per acre year after
year. But this does not signify that a young man is not better
■equipped for his life work because of the training he may obtain
at an agricultural college. In other words, a thorough study of
the laws of nature, as applied to agriculture, will reduce the
uncertainties to a minimum, and will raise the possibilities of
production to the maximum. The college brings to bear all of
the sciences related to the subject — chemistry, geology, botany,
physiology, entomology, etc., and gives to the young man who
has these resources, provided he has the additional and very
-essential quality of sound common-sense, distinct advantage
over the man who derives bis information solely from the school
of experience. In the words of one of the leaders in agricultural
-education : "The range of practical knowledge is so great that
it is unwise to leave its acquirement to the uncertain chances
of the chance farmer with chance information. The industry is
so great that it is entitled to bring to its aid all that science can

40 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

bestow, experiment can demonstrate, and observation can
classify. There has, heretofore, been too Httle intellect and too-
much luck in the processes of agriculture ; too little live investi-
gation, and too much following in the rut made by others."

Granting the desirability of giving our young men and young
women a college training as a preparation for their calling in
life, we must still meet the fact that the vast majority of such
young people, and the older ones as well, cannot avail them-
selves of such advantages. In order to reach those most in
need of help, we must go where the people are. It is the old
case of Mohammed and the mountain. If the Board of Agricul-
ture would discuss farming and dairying, it must hold its insti-
tutes among farmers or dairymen. So if this society would aid
the fruit-growers of the State, it must provide educational
means within reach of the class it seeks to benefit.

The attention of the society has heretofore been called to the
need of disseminating horticultural influence and information
through the State. During the past year your executive com-
mittee have undertaken certain work along these lines. Special
field meetings were held at Greene, and in conjunction with the
State Board of Agriculture at Manchester and at Sagamore
Farm, Camden, where the subjects of orchard culture and man-
agement were discussed and practical demonstrations of the prep-
aration and application of insecticides and fungicides were
made.

The officers have planned to extend this educational work as
far as the funds will permit, by means of "horticultural schools"
in various parts of the State. At these schools both principles
and practical problems connected with the management of fruit
plantations will be discussed by men thoroughly conversant with
their subjects.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

One of the serious problems in the history of any organiza-
tion is that of membership. In our own case the great weakness
has been in the custom of drawing mainly upon those who take
a certain amount of money in premiums at the annual exhibi-
tions. While a few dollars may be saved to the treasury by
requiring exhibitors who are awarded more that $io in premi-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 4I

iims to become life members, I do not consider the policy of
compulsory membership a wise one.

In many states an important factor in the strength of the
state horticultural societies is the auxiliary membership of local
societies. It is true that at the present time there are very few
such local societies in this State, but I would earnestly com-
mend to the attention of this society the advisability of encour-
aging the formation of such local organizations and fostering
the same in every way possible.

Owing to the increasing importance of a knowledge of the
world's progress along the lines of botany and vegetable physi-
ology, as well as in the knowledge of our insect friends and foes,
it seems specially important that standing committees be created
whose duty it shall be to present to the society each year a
resume of the work done along these lines. I would further
suggest that a similar report be furnished each year by the
committee on nomenclature and new fruits.

OUR PROSPECTS.

During the past year the fruit-growers have had much to con-
tend with, but the experience of those who have fought bravely
the battle against the elements, and against insect and fungous
enemies, but more especially against the hold which the customs
of the past have upon our practice as orchardists, enables them
to see beyond the clouds. The orchardists of Maine are awake
as never before to the possibilities of their own calling, and to
the importance of doing the right thing at the right time and
in the right wav.

42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

The afternoon session was devoted to the general subject o£
orchard culture. The principal address of the session was,

SOME NEW PROBLEMS IN HORTICULTURE.
Hon. Geo. T. Powell, Ghent, N. Y.

There are certainly problems before us in horticulture, just
as well as in other lines of work. The business man has his
problems to m.eet, the manufacturer has his problems continually
before him, and this is equally true of us who are cultivating-
the soil — either as farmers or as fruit-growers. It is because hard
problems have been pressing upon us for solution, that we
have been passing through this period of depression which has
been alluded to in the former addresses to-day ; the depression
that has rested so heavily over our agriculture. But while this
depression has been severe, we have been studying upon these
problems, and we have reached the point where we are meeting,
now, the solution of some of them. By the very rapid develop-
ment which has been going on in this wonderful country of
ours during the last thirty years, there has developed a great
competition in agriculture, and, as the result of competition,
there have arisen some of the hard problems which otherwise,
would not have to be met. The Eastern farmer, who has been
pursuing the raising of grain, has found himself depressed by
this competition, and he has been forced to solve the problem
of getting larger returns from his labor than by following the
old practices once followed here in New England.*

The developments in horticulture have been something mar-
velous during the last quarter of a century. Our country has
opened so much territory that we find a rapid extension of the
planting of orchards and fruits of all descriptions. Transporta-
tion has been so rapidly developed that all portions of our
great country seem to be brought closely together, and we meet
in Maine markets the products of the far West and the sunny
South, side by side with our own.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43

I was overwhelmed with the planting of apple orchards in
Missouri, where a single variety is often found in a block of
lOO acres; and there are orchards of i,ooo and 2,000 acres in
extent. In passing through these magnificent orchards the
question arises, what shall we do, here in the East, to offset
this enormous extension of orchards? As we ,?o into our mar-
kets we find the Pacific coast is here with us. It becomes an
important cjuestion, in the future, to know how we are to meet
competition which is forced upon us in our own markets from
California fruits. The attractiveness of those fruits, the man-
ner in which they are packed and sold, are all of vital import-
ance to us to understand who contemplate planting orchards in
New England. Because it is a fact that they are rapidly usurp-
ing our position in the Eastern markets. California fruits are
to-day leading, they are preferred by the buyers, — perhaps not
so much by the consumers^ — but the buyers prefer the Cali-
fornia fruit, and why? Because the California horticulturists
have learned the important lesson of not only growing fruit
well, of putting it up in the most attractive manner possible.

It was my privilege to stand on the great Erie dock and see
a large cargo of fruit sold. It was an important lesson learned,
why such an enormous amount of that fruit was sold. I saw,
upon one occasion, over sixty different marks of fruit sold in
sixty seconds. That is, the different marks were put up and
sold and struck off every second for sixty seconds, continu-
ously. It was possible because the fruit was packed so that every
buyer knew how it was packed. They knew the quality of the
fruit, and when it was offered they had to bid like lightning to
get it. And that is the way California fruit is sold.

This brings to us an important question as we contemplate the
extending of orchard planting in the Eastern States. That is
the question of reorganizing our entire methods. Western
orchards are in a high state of cultivation. We can no longer
compete with them, but when we plant orchards to-day, we
must learn from the Western growers, we must exert
our best efforts, our best thoughts, and bring the trees into
bearing in the quickest possible time.

How, then, can we shorten the time of bringing orchards
into bearing?

44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

I believe that we must recognize, in. the planting of trees,
the same principles that we recognize in the improvement and
development of live stock. I believe that we should recognize
in fruit trees the same principles of the law of heredity that
we recognize in animal life, and that, if we work upon those
principles, it is possible for us to improve our trees and our
fruits.

The principles of the propagation of trees have been clearly
understood, but I think our practices have not been correct.
For instance, in the propagation of trees in nurseries, the seed-
ling Atock is usually budded or propagated from the young and
growing stock in the nursery rows. The result of this system
of propagation is this : We are going to perpetuate in all our
trees so propagated the tendency to, protracted periods of growth
and wood-making. For a number of years I have been experi-
menting along the line of propagation of varieties, and the
growing of trees by the selection of buds and scions from trees
that are mature and of unusual merit. The same principle, pre-
cisely, that the breeder of live stock follows. Now, in the buds
and scions for the propagation of certain qualities which we want
in trees, there is as much individuality as there is in live stock.
Precisely the same differences in points of quality will be found
in trees as will be found in animals. And so, in the selection of
the buds which are to be transferred to trees that are to consti-
tute the future orchard, instead of going to the nursery row,
where dififerences in quality cannot be realized, go to the bearing
trees in the orchard and there choose the propagating stock.

I started about seven years ago, on this principle with
Tompkins King, choosing for stock the Northern Spy tree.
The Northern Spy was chosen for the reason that it is a
strong and vigorous tree constitutionally. It has great vigor.
It has power to resist disease, more so than many kinds of trees.
Also power to resist the attacks of insects. In selecting buds
to work upon this stock, I sent to Tompkins county, in New
York State, where the King apple is known to arrive at the
very best condition. I gave directions to select buds from a
typical tree ; a tree that had a certain characteristic in growth ;
that, from the nature of its growth would require but little
pruning. The fruit must also be typical in character and uni-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45

form throughout. Those were the requirements sought for in
the selection of buds. Nearly lOO of those trees we top-worked
five years ago. They came into bearing in much shorter time
than I ever had trees bear before. Buds were selected from those
trees to start another orchard. Now, the selection was made
again with reference to the very finest. Out of lOO trees I
found but two or three that came up to the standard, in form
and in uniformity of fruit. And so, out of the lOO, the selection
was narrowed to two or three. This has been the principle upon
which my orchards have been built up, and the results that are
now beginning to come are certainly beyond my anticipations.
I have selected other varieties upon this principle ; for example,
the Sutton Beauty. This is an old variety of unusual merit.
I am glad to be able to show you, this afternoon, fruit of the
Sutton Beauty from a tree which was top-worked but three
years ago last spring, and produced, this year, two bar-
rels of apples. (Showing sample.) Here is a portion of the
wood. Here are side branches taken from the main branch of
a tree top- worked three years ago. And those of you who care
to examine this wood will see that the very principle I have
spoken of is here wonderfully manifested. Despite the very
short period within which this tree has been brought into bear-
ing, it is supplied with a fine development of buds for next year,
and when the fourth year comes around it is going to show
a magnificent setting of fruit. This is an exemplification of the
principle. I have no doubt that we can shorten the time of the
bearing of orchards. Instead of running seven, eight, and ten
years, the third year has already shown fruit to the extent I
have mentioned.

(Mr. Powell shows an apple.) Here is a variety known as the
Lady Winter Sweet, which at the end of five years' top-work,
has produced more than a barrel of fruit. A number of the trees
representing this variety, this year came out beautifully laden
with perfect fruit. This is an average of the fruit of the tree.
Now this is certainly not only interesting, but it gives a great
deal of encouragement to take up the study of horticulture. It
gives me an entirely new appreciation of the vigor of the land
here in the East. It is not uncommon West. There the cli-
matic conditions are so fine, the soil conditions so congenial.

46 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

that the trees often show fruit the fourth year, and if, in our
northern climate, we can at four years produce a barrel of fruit,,
and at the fifth year produce two barrels of fruit, we will enjoy
that which the western fruit-growers are enjoying.

Now a few words concerning the other kinds of fruits. Plum
growing at the East is of importance. The plum is looked upon
as a great luxury, and there is no portion of this country where
plums are so largely consumed as in the New England States.
We in New York depend upon New England as the market for
our plums. We recognize the fact that when New England
industries are prospering, and when New England mills are
running full time, there is no limit to the consumption of plums.
So we make a specialty of prune culture. During this year I
am putting out something like 500 trees and expect to work
them upon this same principle. This is an exceedingly valuable
fruit.

The German prune is of high quality, but is of slow growth,
and it takes many years for it to come to bearing. The French
prune, when grown in California, is of high quality, but it has
been supposed we could not grow this prune in New England.
It is, however, being grown in New York State. California is
shipping hundreds of carloads of prunes to the English markets,
and if we compete in those markets we rnust bring our trees into
the earliest possible bearing. If you wish to do this choose a
quick-growing tree like the Lombard plum for stock. Use the
vigor and strength and the rapid growing habit of the Lombard
tree to push forward the rapid development of the prune. I
have no doubt in my own mind, that the trees being planted
to-day on my own farm will come into bearing in three years.
This is our method : We take, for instance, the Lombard plum
tree and plant it this fall ; or in the spring, where spring plant-
ing is more desirable. Next July or August, begin the process
of budding. Now the following spring, if the conditions are
right, simply cut away the balance of the Lombard wood and
you have that tree changed at once into the variety which is so
desirable. You also have the hardness, the strength, vigor and
vitality of this Lombard plum tree to drive the buds ahead
rapidly. I believe the development will be so rapid that the time
of getting them into bearing will be reduced three-fourths.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 47

I have here an exemplification of what can be done in inten-
sive peach culture. (Shows branches.) This branch represents
the second year's growth, and yet, during this season, strong
fruit buds have been developed. The third year, if the winter
is not too severe, will show those peach trees in good strong
bearing. The trees are from seven to ten feet in height. One
branch is of the Wayland variety, and the other the Early
Rivers. All of the trees are heavily set with buds. This devel-
opment is due to a high degree of tillage, showing that when the
soil is put into the same condition as that of the Pacific coast,
similar results can be obtained.

I wish to speak, at this point, upon another subject before
taking up tillage. It is of the influence of fertilization of blos-
soms. I think we are in the infancy of horticulture. I think
we are at the a b c of our lessons. The possibilities that come
as we delve into the science, the possibilities that come to us
by the study of hybridization and cross-fertilization of our
fruits, will give us difficulties that we have not yet realized.
And so, in planting varieties, we should study and learn what we
can of the efifects of cross-fertilization, and of the field open to
us to improve our varieties through seedlings. We must build
varieties specially adapted to the climate in which we are work-
ing. We know of many good things we cannot produce,
because the environments are not right, but cross-fertilization
opens a new field for building up varieties right upon our own
soil, in our own climatic conditions, and so getting new varie-
ties that will withstand the difficulties we find in the severe
northern climate.

During last year the conditions during the blooming period
were right for the setting of fruit in my own State. We had,
during the blooming period, most delightful weather. There
was a continuous circulation of the air; there was an oppor-
tunity for the insects to work, and every day you could hear the
humming of the honey bees. What were the lessons from this?
I hold in my hand an apple you will all recognize as the Rox-
bury Russet. If it were passed through the audience all would
say it is a typical Roxbury Russet, and yet it is not a Roxbury
Russet. It is a Seek-no-Further. It stood by the side of and
very near to a Roxbury Russet tree, and we have in this Seek-

48 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

no-Further all the striking characteristics of the Roxbury Rus-
set. Without doubt, we have the effect of cross-fertilization.
I cannot explain it in any other way. It shows the influence of
one variety on another. The lesson is : Do not plant single
varieties in great blocks; plant side by side different varieties,
for the reason that is so clearly and strongly marked here, that
there is advantage in the free circulation of the pollen to
improve the quality of our fruits.

Here is another marked influence (showing another apple.)
All of you would recognize this as a Lady Winter Sweet. Yet
it is not. It has all the marks, but it is a Seek-no-Further. On
the other side of the row there was a Lady Winter Sweet, and
here you have all the characteristics of the Lady Winter Sweet.
They seem almost identical. Put them side by side and you
have the same beautiful color as in the Seek-no-Further, which
must have been influenced by the blossom of the Lady Winter
Sweet, which was near by.

[The question of the immediate influence of pollen in chang-
ing the form and character of fruits has Ion ^^ been discussed
without definite conclusions. The specimens shown by Mr.
Powell, however, certainly were of a very striking character. —
W. M. M.]

A few words upon quality, and then I shall take up tillage,
on which I wish to lay great stress this afternoon.

As wealth increases in the country the demand for fine things
increases. I think we should recognize this fact in the planting
of orchards. We should plant those varieties which are going
to be most sought after by those who are not only accumulating
wealth, but also by those whose employment gives them the priv-
ilege of purchasing these things.

Fine quality would be represented in the apple I should select
for planting. Take, for example, the Jonathan. It is a beauti-
ful apple, with exquisite coloring and flavor. Here we have two
good qualities combined. If we should grow more of this vari-
ety, we should solve the question of the large consumption which
is so desirable in this fruit.

I speak of this as one of the important problems to study.
We should plan so that when we send a box or a barrel of fruit

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49

to Boston there will be a demand for that apple, because of its
intrinsic value.

The Jonathan is an illustration of choice quality, and who-
ever buys one barrel will want two. This is the principle on
which I would recommend the planting of orchards.

For a short time, I want to speak to you of the import-
ance of bringing greater care to our orchard culture. I find, in
going through this State, the same conditions that exist in
New York, very much neglect of the apple orchards. You fol-
low the practice of putting out apple trees and then letting them
take care of themselves. The future demands a different culture
from this. If we are to take our apples into the markets, and
hold our position, we must put our orchards into fine culture,
and then we can compete with any portion of the world. In
the first place we must prepare the ground thoroughly, and
then we must give to that orchard continuous culture. We
must plant apple trees with reference to growing apples, not
with reference to growing hay and potatoes upon that land.

VALUE OF TILLAGE.

This brings us to the object and value of tillage. Tillage has
the same importance as the wise selection of buds in propaga-
tion. It is closely connected with this idea of bringing about the
early bearing of trees. Now tillage does two things for us ; it
enables us to supply the roots of the trees with the food they
need ; and to improve the condition of the soil so that plant
food is made available. In addition to this, tillage enables us
to control, in years of short supply, the water already in the
soil. During the past year tillage has been of the most import-
ance to the fruit crop of 1900. The orchards that have stood
in grass the past year will be found very weak in fruit buds ;
but orchards under thorough tillage, in this season of drouth, will
be found well supplied with fruit buds, and will probably have
a satisfactory crop next year.

Farmers have been discouraged because they have been made
to believe their farms are worn out. They are nowhere near
worn out. It is true that the fertility in your soil in Maine is
sufficient in quantity to-day, to support millions and millions,
and the lesson for us to learn, the problem for us to solve, is how

50 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

to get at this plant food which is so abundant in our soil. We
must study and understand not only the plant food, but the ac-
tion of the water that is essential before the plant food can be
made available for the plant. I wish we could look into the
soil after a heavy rain has been sending the water down to
replenish the reservoirs, and see the action of the water. When
summer comes, there begins at once an upward movement of
moisture that will be more rapid as the temperature increases.
Tillage is one of the important means of controlling and holding
in check, this sub-soil supply which, if conserved, will carry most
cultivated crops through protracted drouths. Tillage makes
the surface soil loose, and gives no opportunity for the water
to pass off into the atmosphere, but holds it for the plant we are
cultivating.

If I start in the spring-time with a soil full of moisture, I
care not if there is no further rainfall, provided I can control
the water already in the sub-soil. I have proved it year after
year, by growing large crops of apples, pears, and peaches in sea-
sons of drouth. So I have a new understanding of tillage in
dry seasons.

In connection with orchard tillage, I have for several years
been using crimson clover, and I wish to give you, as rap-
idly as possible, the actual results that have been obtained by
the use of clover for seven consecutive years. I wish to give you
the result of building up vegetable matter and bringing to the
soil nitrogen, the most valuable food we have to supply. We,
in the East, are working under a disadvantage when we are
contemplating orchard planting on soil that, for upwards of
two centuries has been growing hay, corn, and potatoes, and
hence is not in the condition for fruit-growing that it should
be. We are at once confronted by this question, How can we
bring our soil to the most favorable condition for horticulture?
It is a serious matter for us, when we put our hands into our
pockets and buy commercial fertilizers. I have been trying to
build up the soil in the most economical manner. I once used
buckwheat, or rye, and plowed it in, but eight years ago I
began sowing crimson clover on my New York farm, and it
has brought good results. While speaking to fruit-growers of
the economical improvement of the soil, I was asked by a chem-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 5 1

ist from Cornell, if I knew just what I had been doing. Of
course I could give only the general results. The chemist took
samples of the soil where three crops of clover had been plowed
in, and another of the same kind of soil with no clover in it.
He analyzed the two samples. In testing for water he found
15% of the clover-treated land, against 8.75% in the other. At
this per cent., on an acre of land six inches deep, which is as
deep as we can cultivate in an orchard, he found in favor of
the clover-treated land, forty-seven tons more of water than in
the other land. Here are two pieces of land, lying side by side,
one treated by clover and one not, and the clover treatment made
a difference of 47 tons of water per acre.

In testing for humus he found 2.94% in the clover-treated
land, against 1.91% in the other.

Testing for nitrogen, he found .21% in the clover-treated
land, against .12% in the other. A difference of .09%, or
1,350 pounds in an acre six inches deep. What would it have
cost me to put that into my soil? Takinp- the low valuation of
fifteen cents per pound, the lowest cost would have been $200
per acre.

The results may, perhaps, be more clearly stated thus :

Thi'ee Crops Clover. No Clover.

Water 15.00% 8.75%

Nitrogen .21 % .12 %

Humus 2.94 % 1. 91 %

Phosphoric Acid 015% .008%

Available:

Water, 6.25 per cent. — 46,875 tons per acre more.

Nitrogen, .09 per cent. — 1,350 pounds more per acre.

Phosphoric Acid, .007 per cent. — 105 pounds more per acre.

It gives us a new inspiration to find that we can take a plant
like clover, and by a few years of free use, so rapidly build up
the supply of nitrogen and other vegetable matter the soil needs.
I cultivate to the middle of July, and then, when the time comes
that cultivation should cease, cover the soil with a growing
plant. I choose crimson clover because it is an annual plant,
and it grows rapidly, and when cultivation ceases it fills the soil
with roots and holds it to the best possible advantage during
the winter months. Possibly you in Maine may not succeed as

52 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

I have done, but if you will sow the seed from the plants grown
on your own land, and repeat the process for several years, the
time may come when you can successfully grow this crop in
Ivlaine. My first year did not give the best results, but the
longer the plant was used in this way, the easier it was to grow
it. Now I have eighty acres covered. So continue on, and after
several years, if you find it persistently dies, leave it. There is
the possibility of so acclimating it that it will be as useful
here as in New York.

I hope I have given you some encouragement to go on with
orchard extension in your State. I hope I have given you rea-
son to have faith in this attempt, and I am sure if you will
follow out high tillage, and select stock as indicated, the acres
you plant to trees will give you higher value than anything else
you can plant on it. Tillage, spraying, feeding, pruning, selec-
tion,— these are the requisites to success in orcharding.

DISCUSSION.

Question : Has Mr. Powell succeeded in carrying a full
crop of strawberries under such conditions?

Mr. Powell : I did not touch on small fruits. I will say that
I have been applying this system of tillage in strawberry culture
to some extent. In 1893, at the Columbian Exhibition in Chi-
cago, a strawberry plant on which there were at one time 243
blossoms, was shown. A great many people doubted the state-
ment, but many counted them and found it correct. I became
interested in the possible development of strawberries and began
a series of experiments at my place. A plot of land was laid out
in 1897, and a crop of red clover was plowed in. Crimson
clover was then planted. Then manure was hauled on, and in
the spring it was plowed and subsoiled to the depth of 22 inches,
and then plowed again. Over ten thousand plants were set, and
the cultivator was kept going. Numbers of those plants meas-
ured two feet in diameter. What was the result? The develop-
ment was pressed, of course, to a great extent in the growth of
the plant, but some of the plants had as many as 650 berries on
them. This shows that the development was carried away
beyond anything shown at the World's Fair, and the limit of
possibilities is not reached yet.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 53

As to the development this year: The drouth started in
April. There was no rainfall to wet the roots of those plants
until the whole crop was harvested, so you can see the severe
test the work went through for the want of water. Yet, from
three-fourths of an acre we shipped 200 bushels of fruit ; while
about me the berries usually failed. Some picked once or twice,
but we picked four continuous weeks on Parker Earle Improved.
The other varieties failed right along. Glen Mary, Clyde, Bis-
marck, and Brandywine, went down after one picking. That is
a very rapid outline 'of w-hat came of this system of high tillage
and feeding of plants, during a season the most disastrous of any
I ever experienced in strawberry culture.

Question : In top-working trees on Mr. Powell's system can
we use scions, and graft in the spring, instead of budding in
August ?

Mr. Powell : Yes ; and I recommend budding in August,
and then, if the buds fail, put the scions on in the spring.
Always graft if your buds fail.

Question : How about the use of the Ben Davis tree for
stock ?

Mr. Powell : The Ben Davis is recommended by some peo-
ple, but I do not believe in it. Any tree so prolific as the Ben
Davis is naturally a short lived tree. For that reason I do not
want it.

Question : Would prunes be hardy here in our climate ?
Mr. Powell : That would be a matter for you to test. For
the past year I have raised the fanciest crop I ever produced, and
the temperature reached 22 below zero last wanter. They can
be top-worked on a Japanese plum, but I should use some other
variety, such as Lombard, as they are very susceptible to the early
spring weather.

Question : Is not the great trouble with plums the black
knot?

Mr. Powell: You would have less trouble with black knot
if it were constantly cut out.

5

54 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

EVENING SESSION.
Secretary Cook extended an invitation from the President of
the Maine Condensed Milk Company to visit the factory on Fri-
day morning ; after which a half-hour was spent with the

QUESTION BOX.

Question : Where shall we market our apples and what
variety shall we grow ?

Mr. Powell : If I grew Ben Davis I should seek the general
market, whereas if I grew Jonathan, Spitzenburgh, Mcintosh
Red, Gravenstein, Newtown Pippin, or others equally as good,.
I should seek the first-class hotels, restaurants and families.
Taking one barrel, they will surely want more.

Question : What form of potash is best and cheapest ?

Dr. Twitchell: Experience alone can determine. For

cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries and peas, it has been found
that muriate gave large size but soft watery, inferior fruit, while
sulphate improved quality. Sources of supply and cost must be
reckoned by results in price realized, and in quality rather than
quantity of product.

Question : What is the cure for black knot ?

C. S. Pope : Have found no relief save by the knife. Some
advocate the Bordeaux mixture early in the season.

Question : At what stage should the first spraying be done
for apples and plums ?

Prof. Munson : For the apple scab spray before the leaves
come in the spring, usually in April, using one pound of sulphate
of copper in fifteen gallons of water. Again, before the leaves
expand, spray with Bordeaux mixture. Immediately after the
blossoms fall spray again, adding Paris green for the destruction
of the codling moth. Paris green can be added to the Bordeaux
mixture for the first spraying if there is danger of the canker
worm or tent caterpillar. Never spray while the tree is in
bloom, as it is liable to destroy the pistil of the blossom and
poison the bees. If you are spraying for the fungus that causes

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 55

the dried fruit that remains on the trees all winter (mummied
fruit), use sulphate of copper the same as for apple scab, and
then Bordeaux mixture, repeated after the leaves appear. The
number of times it is necessary to spray depends upon the season.
In ordinar}" seasons three or four times will be sufficient.

Dr. H. A. Robinson : I think I have almost a specific for the
cure of black knot. There is no doubt that the pest is decreas-
ing at this time. We have less to fight. If all the small twigs
can be destroyed, and the rest of the knots covered with the
preparation, I think they can be conquered, and easily. I have
used, for several years, a mixture every ingredient of which is
suited for the purpose, but the mixture of the whole is better.
It is linseed oil, kerosene, and spirits of turpentine, equal parts
of each, mixed together, and to improve it a small piece of rosin.
It makes a sort of varnish. This, applied in the fall, will prevent
the ripening of the spores, that takes place in the winter. I have
usually applied the mixture twice a year. If it is applied but
once, it should be in the fall. I have had large knots slough off
the trees, disappear and only a scar remain. I think it is a very
effective remedy.

56 ' STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE BEGONIA IN HOUSE AND GARDEN.

Mrs. M. Elizabeth Pope, Manchester.

This beautiful and deservedly popular plant was introduced
about a century ago. It is a native of the tropical South Ameri-
can countries, Mexico and the West Indies ; and at the time of
its introduction the varieties were more curious than beautiful.
A careful and systematic hybridization by European florists of
these inferior sorts has gradually led up to the magnificent speci-
mens of to-day, the improvement having been specially marked
within the last twenty years.

Until recently the begonia has been grown almost entirely as
a hothouse or window plant, but now many varieties, especially
the tuberous ones, are found to flourish in the open ground.

The begonias are divided into three well-marked classes : The
Rex, grown exclusively for its large palmate and highly orna-
mental foliage; the Flowering, or Evergreen begonias, of the
catalogues, which combine beauty of foliage with a very free-
flowering habit, and therefore commend themselves to every one ;
and the Tuberous, whose foliage is perhaps less beautiful, but
whose flowers, in great size, substance and brilliant coloring,
far outshine all others.

Begonias may be propagated by cutting off a mature leaf
with an inch of the stalk attached. Lay the leaf, after having
cut through the largest ribs in one or two places, flat in a box of
clean sand, with the stem entirely covered. Pin the leaf down
to the sand with two or three wooden toothpicks thrust through
it, slanting. The new plants will form at the end of the stem
and at the points where the pins hold the leaf in close contact
with the sand. If your box can have some bottom heat, so much
the better for your success. In either case, keep the sand well
watered, allowing no water on the leaf itself. Care should be
taken in watering the tuberous, as well as the Rex begonias,
that no water stands on the foliage.

All the Rex varieties require partial shade. All need a rest
of several weeks during winter, where they may be set back

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.- 57

from the light and watered sparingly till the lengthening days
call them to a more vigorous life.

The dry tubers from the florist are likely to -be the most
satisfactory to the ordinary grower of the tuberous sorts. -They
may be started early in the spring in flat w^ooden boxes filled
with sand, the tubers to be placed about an inch apart with the
tops barely showing. Water well and set in a good light, but
not where the hot sun of mid-day will strike them directly.
When the tops have made a growth of half an inch, lift care-
fully from the sand, and if they show an inch or so of fine
fibrous roots, they are ready to pot into a rich, loamy soil.
The pots should be large enough for the flowering plants
as the brittle shoots are likely to be injured in re-potting. They
grow more stocky in a lower temperature than some other
begonias — 50 or 60 degrees being sufficiently warm — and partial
shade is desirable in all stages of their growth.

For window culture they may be set directly in a well pre-
pared border or left in pots which are sunk in the ground.
The latter method has the advantage that one can easily reg-
ulate the water supply, and the tubers are already in pots
where they may remain until it is time to start them for another
season's growth. I omitted to say that when the tops show
signs of decay, water should be furnished more and more
sparingly until the stalks drop from the tubers, when the lat-
ter may be set away in a cool, dry place, where there is no danger
from frost, and kept perfectly dry until spring.

While tuberous begonias are grown primarily for flowers,
they are rendered much more attractive by a setting of foliage,
always good, and in many varieties strikingly beautiful. It
shows many tints of green, is often beautifully shaded, and pre-
sents a rich, silvery surface.

The color of the flowers varies from Dure white to pink,
scarlet and crimson, from palest yellow to deep orange. Among
all the begonias, purity of color is a striking feature. Not only
are there no ugly colors, but there are the most exquisite tintings
and shadings in the light colors, and the most brilliant of scar-
lets and cardinals.

In the single varieties, as in the flowering begonias, the large
pistillate flowers succeed the staminate. The double flowers

58 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

are very large, and, as in the geranium, they are much more
enduring than the single ones.

While the begonia may be somewhat exacting in its demands,
these are readily learned, and it fully repays all care. When we
take into account the beauty of the foliage, the great size, deli-
cate texture and exquisite coloring of the flowers, I know of no
plant more thoroughly satisfactory to the amateur.

BOYS AND FRUIT.
Secretary Elijah Cook, Vassalboro.

I am always glad to have an opportunity to speak a good
word for the boys before almost any audience ; and I am par-
ticularly pleased, to-night, to have the privilege of addressing
this large and intelligent audience upon a subject so dear to
my heart. We are anxious to increase the herd, to in-
crease the flock, to increase the products of the farm in
every way; and yet any one of these is secondary to our
duty to, and interest in, the boy and the girl. We are anxious,
to be sure, that they shall have broad, well-developed minds ;
that they shall have strong, vigorous bodies. But it is infinitely
more important that they shall have strong characters
as well. What advantage to the world though your
boy may have the mind of a Webster, and yet be controlled
by the lowest character? Environment does much for the proper
building of character in the boy and the girl. I shall have to
be careful to include the girl, for when we think of the grand
opportunities before the boy in this wonderful age, we must
remember that the opportunities are just as grand before the
girl.

How many lives are wasted for the want of something to
encourage and inspire action, and how little it takes, some-
times, to accomplish the change which will make life a success !
We cannot be too careful in regard to the environment, in
regard to the influence brought to bear upon the boy and the
girl. Be careful of their reading and teach them the way in
which the great characters of history were built up.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 59

The subject for to-night was Boys and Fruit, suggested
to me by the president, and naturally they make a good
■mixture. How much there is suggested in the way of properly
developing the boy, in the cultivation of fruit ! A young orchard
properly cultivated, tilled and enriched, will accomplish much
in making the boy in love with the farm. Keeping the boy on
the farm is a grand work, for where, I ask you, in all the world
can be found an occupation better adapted to develop all that is
acceptable in the young man, than farming, properly conducted ?
And the fruit comes in here with tremendous importance in this
direction. What can you do on the farm that will add more
pleasure to the family, more satisfaction to all concerned, than
the proper cultivation of fruit?

As an illustration, let me refer to a man at Skowhegan who
owns an orchard of Northern Spies. For the past eight or ten
years he has sent from eight to twelve barrels of apples, of these
Northern Spies, to Boston every year, and he has not received
less than $8 per barrel in any year. Faced on the bottom of
the barrel, faced on top and clear to the head,' with large beau-
tiful apples, highly colored, and nearly all of one size. The
sight is indeed a glorious one. When such fruit reaches Boston
there is no difficulty in getting almost any price. In order to
secure these high prices we must produce better apples. How
are we to do this? When you hear of a large crop of corn
reported, you know that the ground must have been properly
prepared, enriched and tilled, all through the season. Just so
with the orchard. We cannot neglect it and get any satisfaction
out of the business. How do they raise oranges in Florida?
By setting trees on some worn-out land and then neglecting
them? No. There is no success in that. They buy land under
the most favorable conditions, situated by a lake or river, cov-
ered with forest. Often it is land costing $ioo per acre. They
cut off the forest, clear the land, set the orange trees, and then
a man and a mule work year after year on each acre. If such
an orchard is neglected for two or three years, it results in the
loss of nearly the whole plant. If we should undertake orchard-
ing here in Maine on that scale, investing anything like what
they do with the orange grove, and give equal care, what a
wealth could be obtained.

6o STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Now we are all anxious about the boy, more than all else
combined. We have thoughts of leaving something to him
when we go over the river. How better accomplish this than
by setting a young orchard, and adding to it year by year,
cultivating it, enriching it, and having the boy interested in it
all times. Such an orchard increases in value and becomes
more productive every year, and we are sure of our opportunity
to leave something valuable to the boy ; surer than we can
possibly be in the bank account. It also adds much to the gen-
uine interest of the whole family upon the farm to have an
abundance, and to spare, of those luscious fruits of the orchard.
But that is not all. The small fruit comes in for a share. How
many farmers here in this section raise strawberries, rasp-
berries, blackberries, currants, and gooseberries enough to
furnish the family all the year around. If you do not
do it, what a grand change it would be to undertake
it in the future. What a difference it makes to the wife
if she has this abundance of fruit for three meals each day I
Not only through the berry season is this true, but in the cold
winter as well. No matter what it costs, fruit is a necessity m
the home and will pay for itself many times over. It will help
to keep the doctor from the door. It will help to make the child
pleased and satisfied with the home.

What are you living for? A man told me the other day, that
he was living to get a little bread to eat. God forbid that any of
us should be living simply to eat. Let us eat to live! Let us
have some thoughts higher, nobler, and grander, than simply
to accumulate the almighty dollar. Get something out of life as
you go along. It is not the man who accumulates the most
wealth who is the richest. Let us go home from this meeting,
determined that as for us, let others do as they may, we will
take better care of the orchard, produce better fruit, and make
the household happy.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 6l

FRIDAY, NOV. 17— MORNING SESSION.
The morning session was devoted to the annual business
meeting, a report of which may be found on page 14.

AFTERNOON SESSION.
The fifth session was opened with music by the grange choir,
after which the following subjects were presented :

PEARS FOR NORTHERN MAINE. ■
Dr. H. A. Robinson, Foxcroft.

A line drawn east and west, in extension of the southern
bovmdary of Piscataquis county, would divide this State into
two about equal portions. South of that line, I believe that most
of the common kinds of pears can be grown with a fair degree
of success; but north of that hne the case is different. It is
difficult to make the young trees live, and if some few live they
grow very slowly. The trees are often very defective, wounds
remain unhealed, the young wood is badly stained by the cold of
winter, the trees blossom little and bear less ; so that the efifon
to raise common pears in northern Maine and in northern New
Hampshire and Vermont as well, is hazardous and unprofitable.
Under these circumstances, what can be done to have pears?

In 1870 the U. S. Department of Agriculture introduced into
thi.s country some of the hardy fruits of Russia. Later, in
1882, Prof. J. L. Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, and
Mr. Charles Gibb of Abbottsford, Canada, spent four months
in inter-continental Europe, examining hardy fruits. They found
apples, pears, plums and cherries grown in abundance and in
many places in profusion all through central Russia, and as far
north as Simbirsk and Moscow, latitude 54 to 56 (ten degrees
north of this), where the temperature at times is 50 degrees
below zero. There they made arrangements for introducing
the best of these hardy fruits into this country.

62 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Of pears, there were two types, the "Grucha" and the "Ber-
gamotte," which seemed equally hardy, sometimes making large
trees fifty feet in height and two feet in diameter. They were
very often planted by the wayside as shade trees ; the pear being
a very long lived tree, sometimes reaching the age of one or
even two hundred years. There were also many wild pear
trees, which appeared to be indigenous.

The Grucha type of pear is pyriform, having a neck similar
to our ordinary pears, while the Bergamotte is nearly round
and is thought to be of Mongolian or Chinese origin. It is not
to be expected that these pears, with a habitat in this cold cli-
mate, are so large or so fine in quality as our common pears,
which came from western Europe. But they will do very well
where others cannot be grown.

Professor Budd finds the most of the trees hardy in Iowa
and Minnesota.

Dr. Hoskins, of Newport, Vermont, who lives on the high-
lands bordering Canada, in a climate where common apple trees
freeze to death and only the varieties known as "iron-clads"
can exist, wrote me four years ago that these Russian pear
trees were bearing with him at the age of seven years from the
root-graft ; that they bear early, and that they are apparently
as hardy in his severe climate as the maples and birches of the
forest. Mrs. Hoskins whites me recently that their original
Russians, now eleven years old, are fine stately trees, early
bearers, and heavy yielders ; good edible fruit on most of them,
and all fine for canning. They should be gathered before quite
ripe — as soon as the seeds are well colored, and before if they
fall much. She states that they have some thirty trees on the
home place, and over loo on the farm.

Two years ago I visited a half dozen of these trees on the
grounds of Mr. E. W. Merritt, of Houlton, Aroostook county.
These trees had been set five years, I think. They looked
thrifty and were bearing well.

I have also in my own place a few of several varieties of the
Russians and others ; some two, three, and four years set. The
latter are already blossoming and bearing fruit. The Besse-
mianka, Lutovka, and Gakovska are among the hardiest. Other
kinds that I have are Sapieganka, Limber Twig, Early Ber-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63

gamot, Flat Bergamot, Sacharine, No. 439, Orel No. 15, Mon-
g-olian No. 5, Mongolian Snow, Japan Golden Russet, Japan
Select, etc.

The ]\Iongolians are not so hardy as the Russians, and the
Japans still less so — perhaps not hardier than the Flemish
Beauty and Clapp's Favorite — but their growth is thrifty, and
their leaves have the beautiful, glossy, luxuriant appearance of
the hybrid pears, Keiffer, Garber, Idaho, and Le Conte.

I will give a brief description of some of the more common
varieties of Russian pears. First and most widely disseminated
is —

Besseuiianka: Fruit medium in size and nearly or quite seed-
less. Flesh tender, juicy, sub-acid, almost buttery, and very
satisfactory for dessert use. Season last of August or first of
September.

Gakovska: Very hardy. Fair quality. Valuable for cooking
and canning. Season, September.

Lntovka: Very hardy and a very fine tree.

Sapieganka: Medium size, nearly round, tender, juicy. Tree
not quite so hardy as some of the others.

Lhnher Twig: Similar to Bessemianka.

Early Bergamot: A fine, healthy tree, hardier than the
Wealthy apple. Early summer.

Flat Bergamot: Like the preceding, but later. September.

Mongolian Snow: Hardier than the Flemish Beauty. Leaves
always clean, handsome and perfect. Fruit above medium in
size, and when ripened in the house better in quality than
Kieffer, Le Conte^ etc.

Sacharine: This appears to be identical with the Zucker-
biren (Sugar Pear) of northern Germany. It is as hardy as
the Wealthy apple. Fruit Bergamot shaped, tender, juicy,
nearly melting, and sweet. Season early September.

Dr. Hoskins, in American Garden, says that "the northward
range of pear culture on the Atlantic slope does not anywhere
extend north of 45 degrees, except in Michigan, and in the low
valley of Lake Champlain, extending northward to Montreal. A
line drawn westward from Bangor, Maine, bending in a long
sweep southward of the White Mountains, to Lake Champlain
at Burlington, thence to Montreal, will mark the northern limit

64 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of pear culture." This has reference, of course, to the commori
varieties of pears, and was written before his acquaintance with
the Russians.

There is an average difference of one day for every eleven
miles of latitude, other things being equal, in the ripening of
fruit. I think, however, but few of our people realize the great
difference there is in climate in the different sections of the
State ; or, that to the ordinary diff'erence made by latitude,
must be added the difference made by general elevation.

Every three hundred feet of general elevation of a section of
country is said to be equal, in climatic effect, to one degree of
latitude; so that here at Newport must be added, probably, the
effect of about one degree ; at Dover and Foxcroft, a degree and
a half ; and from Blanchard and Monson' to Moosehead Lake
and northward, the effect of three or more degrees, to the actual
latitude.

Of course, this does not apply to abrupt elevations in a place
of general low level, since it is well known that these elevations
are the ones to be selected as sites for orchards of tender fruits,
the cold air settling down into the valleys. But we have refer-
ence to the general level of the country.

I fully believe that the Russians will supply the northern
part of the State with pears, if only they are planted and cared
for; but "success comes only to those who seek it."

A few of them can now be had from some of the general nur-
series. Bessemianka may be had from most of the leading
nurseries. Gakovska, from the Sioux City Nursery Co., Sioux
City, Iowa; Mongolian Snow and Japan Golden Russet, from
the Silas Wilson Co., Atlantic, Iowa. The latter variety bears so
young that it sometimes fruits in the nursery row. Limber
Twig, Sapieganka, and perhaps others may be had from the
Fonthill Nurseries, Fonthill, Ontario.

There ought to be a general waking up of the people of
northern Maine in regard to this matter of hardy fruits. It is
recommended that pear trees be cultivated for about four vears,
and then that the ground be seeded to grass. But as the trees
grow so much more slowly here. I should recommend that the
cultivation be continued a year or two longer.

o

v>
o

>

0

o

5? hi

o pq

3 a

o ^

ra -

" >

o

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. • 65

DISCUSSION.

Question : What is the best pear for northern Maine ?

Dr. Robinson : Bessemianca has been the most disseminated
and is a hardy tree. Ludovoska is also a good one.

Question : Would Flemish Beauty stand the cold weather ?

Dr. Robinson : It grows in our climate, but is by no means
a hardy tree. It takes it a great many years to become a tree of
any size.

Question : Is there any way whereby the cracking of the
fruit can be prevented, by spraying or otherwise?

Dr. Robinson : That is a very desirable thing, if it can be
found out. I have seen mulching recommended. Alfred Smith
recommended that, years ago ; but whether effective or not I do
not know. I doubt if it is. The theory was that it kept the
ground moist and so more favorable to the development of the
pear.

Prof. Munson : The cracking of the pear is caused by a
specific fungus, and we know that this fungus is best con-
trolled by the use of the Bordeaux mixture, which was recom-
mended, last night, for the apple scab, and for other fungus dis-
eases. There is no doubt that with careful, systematic, applica-
tion of the Bordeaux mixture, we may grow the Flemish
Beauty. At the Experiment Station this year, some of the
finest specimens I ever saw were grown. They were sprayed
with Bordeaux mixture before the buds swelled, and two or
three times afterwards.

]Mr. True : The Flemish Beauty proved, with me, very free
from that growth, this year. I may further state I have seen,
in Aroostook county, Flemish Beauty growine finely where
they thought they could grow no fruit. This was 12 or 15
years ago.

66 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

STRAWBERRIES— HOW TO OBTAIN A PROFITABLE

CROP.

E. W. WoosTER, Hancock.

The first thing to be considered is the selection and prepara-
tion of the ground. If greensward is to be used, and the
sward is very heavy, on rather low land, it should be planted
to some hoed crop and given clean culture for two seasons
before setting strawberry plants, to kill the weed seeds and
clean out the white grubs, which are almost sure to badly infest
such grounds. The best hoed crop to grow on such ground,
as far as the advantage of giving clean culture is concerned,
is the potato ; but the fact that it is a heavy feeder on potash,
like the strawberry, must be borne in mind. The best selec-
tion of ground, however, that can be made for the strawberry,
is that which is taken "right from the green stump." The
first cost of fitting such ground is great, but the first year's
fruiting wall more than repay the extra cost.

Ground should be selected from both up-land and low-land
when possible, and of a nature to suit the variety of strawberries
to be planted; or, when more convenient, select your variety
of strawberries according to your soil.

Such strong growing varieties as the Crescent, Beeder Wood
and Warfield, do better on upland shale and rocky soil, while
such shy running and heavy foliage varieties as the Bubach,
Glen Mary, Ridgeway and Parker Earle do better on heavy soils.

When fitting the ground for the plants, perfect drainage must
be carefully looked after. On low, flat land, both under drain-
age and surface drainage must be given ; on up-land good sur-
face drainage only is necessary, that the water during the time
that the earth is frozen may pass off quickly, before it freezes
and smothers the plants. The ground should be back-furrowed
into narrow beds like a good road-bed — the highest part in the
middle. The kind and amount of fertilizer, as well as the time
of application, depends largely upon the condition of the soil,
as to its natural richness, and upon the varieties of strawberries
to be planted. This q^'^ition of fertilizing is one of the most

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 6/

important, and at the same time most difficult, to be considered
in the culture of the strawberry. Upon its correct solution
depends the profit of the business.

I depend almost wholly upon commercial fertilizers and
chemicals and new soil. Fifteen years of experience has taught
me that for fruit, these are much better than stable manure,
but if I were growing plants more exclusively for market than
for fruiting, and was after quantity rather than quality, stable
manure would be just the thing. All varieties require much pot-
ash to give them high-colored fruit; the softer the variety the
more it requires.

The variety should be selected from those that are known
to succeed well in the locality, and selected from the earliest
to the very latest, so as to make the season of fruiting as long as
possible. The plants should be selected from the very best
high-bred stock that can be found nearest to your locality. There
is no necessity of their being the so-called "Pedigree" plants,
but the plants from which the runners are taken should not be
allowed to fruit on that season, as they will need all their
strength even with the special culture, to form the best plants.
Plants that are forced by an excess of nitrogen and water into a
rank top-growth, and allowed to mat thickly are not fit to set. I
set thousands of plants every year that I could not afford to sell
for ten dollars per thousand, because they would pay me much
better than that to let them remain where they grew to fruit ;
but experience has taught me that I could not afford to set
plants of less value. Unless the season is well advanced it is not
the best plan to set the plants at first where they are to remain.
They should be taken up as early in the spring as the season
will permit, all the old foliage trimmed off, the roots shortened
to about four inches, and healed in in rich, fine, dry soil. Dig
a trench five inches deep a little slanting on one side, against
this slanting side lay the plants about three inches apart, with
the roots spread out fan-shape, press the earth against them
firmly. Then, six inches from this row, dig another trench and
proceed as before. In doing the work, be sure that you get
the crowns of the plants all even with the top of the soil, and
that the roots are wet with muddy water. Plants so treated
can remain, if necessary, for more than a month before being

68 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

set in the open land, and will not stop growing in the least
when re-set. While in the beds they should have plenty of
water till a few days before they are to be taken up, when they
should be kept dry to the point of almost wilting. When taken
up they should be dipped into water and planted at once. Plant
them in the field in rows three feet apart, and from one and a
half to two feet apart in the row. Cultivate and hoe often,
allowing them to form very narrow matted rows, treating all
extra plants as weeds.

Never undertake to prepare your ground in the spring till it
is dry enough to work up fine. The last of June is not too late
to plant strawberries in Maine, if planted the way here described.
As fine a bed of strawberries as I ever grew were planted on
the second of July. My advice is, however, plant as early as
possible in the spring.

A little phosphate containing a large per cent, of nitrogen,
should be scattered along the line of the row and well raked
in, and after the plants are set, scatter a great spoonful in a ring
around each plant, about six inches from it. This phosphate
sowing should be repeated some half dozen times during the
growing season, but after you have got all the plants you wish
rooted, then a brand should be used that contains more potash ;
and at the last application, late in the fall, muriate of potash at
the rate of 250 pounds to the acre, should be used. Never sow
chemicals when the foliage is wet or allow any to long remain
upon it at any time.

Keep up cultivation till the ground freezes, and then cover
with straw, thatch, swamp hay or moss. It is a little dangerous
to put moss directly over the plants, unless put on very late
and removed by the time that the frost is out m the soring, but
it makes a good mulch. Snow is Nature's protection, and of
course the very best while it is in place; but it is never relia-
ble along the seacoast, even in its season. Evergreen boughs
make the safest artificial winter protection.

In the spring the everp-reen boughs must be removed, but
the mulching material mav be allowed to remain, except over
the plants where it should be loosened up, and where too heavy,
a part of it removed to the alley-ways. The whole surface
between the rows should be mulched for four very important rea-

STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69

sons : First, it preserves moisture to the soil by the arrest of
capillary action. It also prevents the soil from washing badly
and from being- beaten down hard from the effects of heavy
rains, thus allowing more water to pass into the soil during the
refreshing summer showers. Second, it keeps the fruit from
coming in direct contact wath the earth, thus keeping it free from
grit. Third, it keeps down the weeds. Fourth, it greatly
lengthens the fruiting season. By mulching, the crop will be
much larger, the berries will average larger and more beautiful,
and consequently will bring a higher price.

Now we come to what I call the commercial department of
fruit grow'ing. The most important human requirement is the
pleasing of the eye, and strange as it may seem, taste is among
the last requirements with the majority. As far as the straw-
berry is concerned, size and color are all essential. To make
these large beautiful berries more pleasing to the eye, they
should be carefully graded and put into clean new packages.
Every package should be so graded that your name upon the
package will stand as a guarantee that the package contains just
what is marked thereon. In doing a business of considerable
extent, in order to insure this, you must train your pickers very
carefully. You must thoroughly educate them up to the mark
of proper grading, and thoroughly impress upon their minds
the fact, that in working for the interest of their employer, they
are also working for their own interest. You must weed out
all those wdio will not appreciate the advantage in doing this ;
stimulate the best work by giving extra pay for extra work done.
Pay off your pickers once each week. Establish a line of
customers whose business methods have given to them the best
trade and they will appreciate your efforts in trying, through
them, to satisfy the requirements of that trade.

niSCUSSION.

Prof. Cook : I had heard a good deal about Mr. Wooster's
strawberries. I had talked considerably about them ; but last
spring I went down to view his plantation, and I assure you
that the half had never been told". It was a sight that pleased
me through and through. No weeds at all. All his vines, upon
some five or six acres, in admirable condition, making use of
6

70 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

what we were told they did, in regard to constant tillage, so
that he didn't need water. All of this, to me, was one of the
grandest sights I had ever seen. I have seen a great many
strawberry beds ; I have seen a great many different straw-
berries, but never anything equalling Mr. Wooster's plantation
down on Hancock Point.

Question : I would like to ask Mr. Wooster which variety
he grows gives the best results.

Mr. Wooster: Sometimes I like one variety a little better
one year, and sometimes another. The list changes every year.
Sometimes a new one comes along in which I think there is an
improvement. I find, perhaps one in fifty, that is an acquisition.
I drop the poorest. It is a great disadvantage to have many
varieties to care for. About 95% of my ground is occupied by
five varieties. The rest I am experimenting with. The variety
must depend somewhat upon the soil. For the earliest varieties
I have kept, for a long time the Haviland. I have a seedling
that I think is earlier, but it takes years to demonstrate that
quality. There is another early variety that I shall plant next
year. That is the Clyde. It has its difficulties. It is one of
the poorest berries for wet weather I ever saw, but in dry
weather it is good. It is prone to over productiveness. My
greatest producer was Parker Earle. This is a late variety but
is very productive. On i i-io acres I gathered, approximately,
14,000 quarts. I commenced to pick on that bed the 14th of
July, and the last picking was August 15th — a month on that
one variety.

I commenced to ship berries the 23rd of June. I commenced
with the Hawaii (one of my own seedlings), a few scattering
Clydes and Leavitts. I closed with Parker Earle. The Bubach
has been my leading variety. I have received more money from
that variety during the last three years, than from any other.

STATE POMOLOGICAL S0CIE;TY. Jl

CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES.

A. A. Eastman, Dexter.

The frost and the drouth of the present season may lead some
of us who are engaged in small fruit culture to look on the dark
side and to feel that we have more to contend with than any
other class, and in view of this state of things perhaps it would
be well to recount some of the advantages of our occupation, and
possibly we may find that we have more to encourage than we
ever before thought of. Even when things were most prosper-
ous it was natural for us to magnify our difficulties and draw-
backs and forget our advantages. Let us now reverse this order
and for the time being put aside all our discouragements and
consider some of the reasons why we should congratulate our-
selves that we are fruit growers.

Fruit growing does not require as great an outlay of physical
strength as other modes of farming. There is but little hard
work connected with it and for this reason it is a suitable occu-
pation for those who are not able to engage in farming, market
gardening, or any employment which involves much hard w'ork.
Old men, women, invalids, and children, may spend their little
strength in fruit growing and be successful.

Small fruit plants are set out for a special work; that is, to
send their roots through every inch of the soil in search of plant
food and, having found it, to change it into fruit. Our part is
to prepare the soil, set out the plants and see that they have the
best possible care to do their work.

As a rule currants and gooseberries are largely overlooked
by our fruit growers and farmers ; not cultivated at all.
They are, however, worthy of a place in the small garden as well
as the larger. The fruit can be used in a green state or when
ripe, and does not require a great amount of skill in growing.

The habits of growth of currants and gooseberries are very
much the same, and they require the same treatment in their
cultivation. They are northern fruits, which absolutely refuse
to do their best in a southern climate but there is no fruit grown
with us that will respond more quickly to first-rate care and

72 STATE) POMOIvOGICAL SOCIETY.

cultivation. They are the only ones of our garden fruits that
will endure our most severe winters and come out in the spring
without a damaged bud.

In selecting ground for these fruits a moist piece, well under-
drained is desirable. If your land is in the sod, plow and till,
with a hoed crop, one season. When the crop is ofif in the fall,
about the first of September, prepare the ground. Have it rich,
mellow, and in good shape.

In setting out plants, use a garden line so as to have your
rows straight, and set the plants in rows six feet apart, and in
the row five feet apart. The first two years after the plants are
set out you can plant corn or other hoed crops.

In setting currants and gooseberries, set them deep in the soil ;
they will not bear fruit unless you do it. In setting the plants
in the hole, fill partly with soil and then put in some old dress-
ing, and then cover over this dressing with soil two or three
inches.

By setting in the fall, say in September, a great deal of time
is saved, as new roots will grow until the ground is frozen deep,
and in -the spring they will take hold and grow and you will
hardly believe the plants were moved in the fall before.

Currants and gooseberries are gross feeders and if you want
to get a large crop you must feed for it. Use barn dressing and
be very liberal with it. This will pay better than a small dose
which means a small crop of fruit, poor in quality and poor in
price also.

For mulching fruits I use straw, swale hay and forest leaves.
All are good, but swale hay lasts longer than straw or forest
leaves. Forest leaves will keep down the weeds better than any
other mulching however; but you must be very liberal with
mulching in order to get any benefit from it.

In preparing for winter protection, first, we do the pruning;
cut out the old wood and a part of the new suckers — leaving
from two to four on each bush. You get the best fruit from
new wood and young bushes. After this work is done, tie them
up or draw them together with a string, to keep snow and crust
from breaking them down. In .the spring cut the string and let
them loose for their summer's work.

As a poison, for the currant and gooseberry worms, I use
London purple. I like it the best. It is light ; it does not sink

state; pomoIvOgical society. 73

in the water like some other poisons ; it is cheap, and a pound
will go farther than twenty pounds of hellebore. I mix a pound
of purple to about two hundred and fifty gallons of water and
use it in a knapsack sprayer. One or two good sprayings will
put a stop to their bad work. You must keep a sharp lookout
for the worms or they will strip your bushes in a short time and
the fruit will be small and poor.

Some of the later kinds of currants and gooseberries are the
ones to raise, I think, but many others are good. For market
we must raise that which sells best, and brings the most money
with the least expense and labor. Of the currants, for market,
I think the Fay's Prolific takes the lead ; but for family use we
like the White Grape. This variety is nearly as large as the
Fay and very much sweeter.

For gooseberries I like the Downing. This is a heavy bearer
and sells in the markets as well as any kind that I know of.

Currants and gooseberries come into bearing at three years
old, and will bear fruit for many years, with good care; but I
can get what there is in them in from six to ten years by dressing
them heavily. We get the best fruit, and largest crops, from
young bushes.

In propagating currants and gooseberries by cuttings, take the
tips of new wood six inches long and stick them down in the soil
the whole length in a rich place in the fall. When the freezing
nights come, cover them up with some coarse dressing or boughs
for winter. In the spring take off the boughs, but leave the
dressing. Gooseberries will not readily root from cuttings, but
you may bend a cane down and cover it with dirt when it soon
takes root. After one season's growth transplant it where
desired.

DISCUSSION.

Question : What time would you spray the gooseberry for
the worm ?

Mr. Eastman : Just as soon as you see the worms at work.
It will do no harm if you go all over the bushes. Give them
a good spraying. We find the worms at first, on the lower
parts of the bushes. As they grow larger, they go up.

Question : What is the best currant for home use, and what
the best for marketing ?

74 STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY.

Mr. Powell: If I were to be confined to one variety of cur-
rants for home use, I would choose the White Imperial. It
would not suit the ladies quite so well, largely because the color
of the white currant is not so beautiful as that of the red.
But the White Imperial is one of the sweetest and richest vane-
ties that I know. It is exceedingly luscious. For market pur-
poses I would hold very closely to Fay's Prolific. This is a
beautiful red currant, large in size, with long stems, and it brings
the highest price in the market.

There is another variet}' known as the President Wilder.
While the fruit is nearly as fine as Fay's Prolific, the bush has
an upward growth, and the fruit is well up. Fay's Prolific has
a drooping growth, and the canes are liable to be split down in
winter.

EVENING SESSION.
In the evening, as usual, considerable time was spent in the
informal discussion of subjects found in the

QUESTION BOX.

Question : What are the best raspberries for general cul-
ture '■'

Mr. WooSTER : For quality of fruit there is nothing that will
exceed the Cuthbert. The Golden Queen is identical with the
Cuthbert in quality. For commercial use grow the Golden
Queen. (The wisdom of this recommendation is doubted
because of the color of Golden Queen. — \N . M. M.) The Cuth-
bert will not ship. Ship your raspberries in large packages,
requiring two men to handle them, and they will fare better than
if sent in smaller packages.

I cannot see any difference between the Columbian and the
Schaffer. I do not think much of the Columbian, as far as
quality is concerned. Many would declare that the berries were
mouldy; but some accept the fact that it is the nature of the
berry. I have quite a trade in this variety. It is one of the
hardiest varieties I grow. In some places they winter-kill. But
it is a mistake to think they winter-kill from the cold. The
trouble is in starting too early in the spring.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 75

Mr. Eastman : My experience, in winter-killing, is that
when the warm days come and are followed by cold nights, then
the plants winter-kill. But if they are fastened down, they will
come through all right.

Mr. WoosTivR : Let the ground get thoroughly frozen around
the roots of the bushes, then cover with mulch and they will not
winter-kill. Let the frost be late in getting out of the ground
in spring, and they will not winter-kill.

OuESTiox : At what price must apples be sold to repay the
expense of growing?

Mr. PowEix : That depends very largely upon the yield you
get from your trees. I have known seasons when apples sold
at the station for fifty cents per barrel, and at that price were the
best paying crop on the farm. The yield was good. One year
with another, 75 cents to one dollar per barrel, for the fruit, not
including the barrel, will pay all expenses and leave a handsome
profit.

Question : What is the average cost of evaporating apples
and what price should we expect in .the markets ?

Mr. Pope : I can simply say that with a small evaporator,
with a capacity of fifteen or twenty bushels a day, the cost of
evaporating would be four or five cents per pound. A bushel
of fruit will make five or six pounds of evaporated apple. Any
one can. make the reckoning on the profit. The price ranges
from five to fifteen cents per pound, depending upon the year,
and the quality of the fruit. Three years ago apples were very
low, and evaporated apples brought about five cents per pound.
The next year they sold readily for twelve to fifteen cents per pound,
where the work was done nicely. If your apples are selling for
twenty-five cents per bushel, there is no money in evaporating
fruit.

Replying to a query as to the difference in varieties, Mr. Pope
said : I cannot say which variety is best. Apples picked
quite early, — those that blow off early in the fall, — make the
whitest fruit, and the dealers prefer them because they are quite
acid. Our Maine fruits, Baldwins, and other quite acid varie-
ties, are more sought after in the Boston markets than the west-
ern, because, when the apple is evaporated the quality they seek
after, the acidity, is reduced. Therefore the sourer the apples

76 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

are, the better the fruit will be, and the more sought after. The
early fruit will be the whitest and the sourest. The wind-falls
are not a dead loss because they make the whitest evaporated
fruit.

Question : Will Mr. Powell give his manner of cultivating
the cherry ?

Mr. Powell : The cherry requires a good soil, not too rich,
but a soil that would produce a good crop of corn. It should
stand on high ground where there is a good circulation of the
air, in order to avoid the root fungus that is so disastrous in
growing cherries.

The cherry orchard should be kept in clean culture for six or
seven years. After that any full bearing cherry orchard could
be seeded down and left in sod. To stimulate production do not
make the cherry tree too luxuriant. The cherry orchard would
be the exception to all other orchards in regard to standing in
grass.

I can hardly recommend varieties for your climate, as I do
not know enough of the conditions. I should think the sour
cherries would be much better here. The best are the Early
Richmond, which is a very early bearer, and a vigorous tree.
Next to the Early Richmond would be the Montmorenci, which
is another hardy tree and a fine fruit. It is an exceedingly rich
cherry canned. There is another variety of sour cherry, the
English Morello. The fruit is astringent, and not as fine in
quality as those mentioned.

Among the sweet cherries, I am growing the Black Tartarian,
also the Napoleon Bigarreau, which is a beautiful cherry. The
Downer is a red cherry, and very hardy, indeed. It is possible
you could grow the Downer in Maine. If so it would be a lux-
ury. The Windsor is a hardy, rich cherry. I do not know
whether or not you can grow it in Maine. It could be shipped
from here to California. It is thick-skinned. It is a trifle new
for general recommendation, as is also the Dikeman. This last
named variety comes on, with us, after everything else named
is gone. This would be a very valuable cherry for you if it
would withstand your clirr^ate.

The Yellow Spanish is a fine variety, but somewhat tender.
It is a beautiful cherry, exceedingly rich ; one of the finest when

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. ^7

canned, but with me it does not withstand the winter. The
Gov. Wood is a tender cherry, but an excellent variety.

When you plant cherries, plant two or three extra trees for
the robins. I make that my practice in planting cherries. I
put out such as the Gov. Wood for the birds.

Mr. Atherton : Something has happened to the cherry trees
in Hallowell by which they are all dying. All die down in one
winter. Perhaps the gentleman has had something of a similar
nature in his experience. In regard to the Black Tartarian, I
have some of the trees and they have something exude from
them that injures the tree.

Mr. Powell : Very frequently we lose trees from sun scald.
We have a few days of bright weather and, though the ground
is frozen, circulation will be stimulated, and then comes freez-
ing. Where sun scald takes place, you will have the exudation
of moisture. It is a peculiar condition that comes from the ris-
ing temperature. I have lost numbers of trees from the very
same cause. I should say sun-scald was the trouble with your
trees.

Mr. True : I think it is well brought out that the cherry has
not done well in Maine, except in favored localities. If others
dififer I would like to hear from them, for I think a great out-
lay in the finer varieties would prove a loss.

Mr. WoosTER : I have lost a number of trees out of the hun-
dred I had originally. Of the varieties mentioned here I have
some that succeed with me. The Montmorenci is one. The Early
Richmond has not been successful with me. The Gov. Wood is
a beautiful, ornamental tree. I get a few cherries by taking
them before they are ripe. They seem to be hardy. I have
some other varieties. The Ostheim is very hardy, but a miser-
able growing tree. The conditions do not seem to favor it.

Question : What shall we do for the rust and mildew on
currant and gooseberry bushes ?

Prof. MuNSON : Spray with Bordeaux mixture for the rust ;
with sulphide of potassium (liver of sulphur) for gooseberry
mildew.

Question : What is the best gooseberry for the market ?

Prof. Munson: The Downing.

78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

EXPERIENCES WITH CATERPILLARS.

Charles S. Pope, ]\Ianchester.

If we are to raise fruits we must fight the insects, and just at
this time, particularly, the caterpillar. We all know, to our
sorrow, what we have had to contend with in past years.

Twenty-five years ago our orchards were infested by the
canker worm. It never w^as heard of in our section before,
although in Massachusetts the orchards had been stripped for
years. We fought it as best we could, and succeeded pretty well,
after two years' fighting. The very next year the forest tent
caterpillar made a raid the same as they did last year and the
year before. In our old orchard we were unable to fight them,
and the orchard was completely ruined. At that time we learned
how it was possible to keep the caterpillar out of the tree when
Ave once cleared it, and in that way we were able, when they
made a raid two years ago, to fight them successfully from the
beginning.

We knew nothing, then, of spraying with Paris green.
After sweeping the caterpillars from the tree they would fall
down and then start for the tree. As soon as they struck the
trunk they were up and at it again. In some way we learned
that they would not cross a band of grease. The next question
was, what to put on for grease that would not run in the sun.
It was discovered that a mixture of lard and sulphur was the
best. W^e tried tar and printer's ink, but in a few days that mix-
ture would dry. By mixing sulphur with the lard it would not
run. To keep the mixture from the tree we put on oil-cloth car-
peting. That is the best of anything we have found, but it is
not available in all sections. We can go to the sand-paper fac-
tory and get a paper that is good. The glue makes a sizing
which prevents the grease from striking in. Tarred paper will
serve a very fair purpose.

So much for preventing the caterpillars from climbing up.
That is the way we were obliged to fight at that time.
Now comes the question, How shall we fight them at
the present day ? With Paris green. But some of you say. We

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 79

tried that last year. It was recommended, we gave them a
heavy dose of Paris green, but they kept on eating. The secret
of success is to begin spraying just as soon as the caterpillar
hatches, and that is before the buds open. Go before the snow is
off the ground, and you will find those little caterpillars living
on the hope of what they expect to get later. Give them a dose
then ; one pound to a hundred gallons of water, and keep it up
every week or ten days. There are sections you cannot reach ;
you cannot get your pump into your wagon, and vou are obliged
to fight them by hand, as we were, in some parts of our hillsides,
among the rocks. There we fought by hand ; we used suds made
from strong soft soap, and then put on the band of lard and
sulphur.

In most orchards, even if you are hghting with Paris green,
I would recommend putting on the band, for the caterpillars are
liable to leave their feeding ground in the neighboring forest
and strip your trees after you have destroyed all of those in the
orchard at first, as one of the best orchardists in the State knows
to his sorrow. The caterpillars came in from a neighboring for-
est and cleaned oft" every tree. Whereas, if he had put the bands
on lie would have saved the whole.

8o STATIC P0M01.0GICAT. SOCIETY.

EXPERIMENT STATIONS AND HORTICULTURE.

Prof. Chas. D. Woods, Director Maine Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, Orono.

What I have to say this evening concerning Experiment Sta-
tions is little more than a compilation from State publications.
I have drawn freely and without credit from the publications
of the Experiment Stations and from the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, to illustrate the lines of work the stations are
pursuing in connection with horticulture. Before taking up such
illustrations, a word explaining the origin of stations and
their purpose is appropriate.

THE ORIGIN OE EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

Long ago an agricultural writer said : "Farming is the per-
petual trying of experiments with soils, manures, and crops ;
with cattle and cattle food ; with milk, butter, and cheese ; with
plows, harvesters, and harrows ; with an almost endless list of
things. The most successful farmers — those that get the most
out of their land, their cattle, their crops, their fertilizers, their
implements and their labor — are those who experiment them-
selves most industriously, most successfully and most intelli-
gently, and who take the fullest advantage of the experiments
of others. The best agriculture is that which, in old countries,
on worn and intractable soils, has learned by long continued
and varied experiments to make the gain of farming sure."

Once the farmer made the rude tools he needed for practice
in his art ; he now employs implements and machinery which can
be made only with large capital and the highest mechanical skill
and by men who make this manufacture a business. In like
manner, the experiments which he can make do not meet his
needs to-day. The research of finding out nature's secrets, the
discovery of the laws which underlie the right practice of agri-
culture, is expensive of time and money. The more useful it is
to be, the greater must be the outlay of money, labor and scien-
tific skill. Within the past fifty years farmers and scientific
men interested in farming have seen the advantage of using the

STATi; POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Ol

resources of science to improve the practice of agriculture and
have estabhshed Agricultural Experiment Stations.

Established for the benefit of agriculture, and hence of the
community at large, the most of them connected with educational
Institutions, where experience shows their work is most suc-
cessful, these stations seek to -answer the questions which agri-
cultural practice is asking as to the tillage of the soil ; the nature
and kind of manures ; the culture of crops ; the food and nutri-
tion of domestic animals and man ; the production of milk, but-
ter and cheese ; the diseases of plants and animals, and in gen-
eral whatever the agriculturist needs to know and whatever
experimental science can discover.

The Station makes experiments in the laboratory, greenhouses,
garden, orchard, field, stable and dairy. It is probably safe to
say that there are few subjects which the farmer has to deal with
in the tillage of the soil, the use of manures, the cultivation of his
crops, the care of his stock, the management of his dairy, and
the preservation of his crop of stock from insect pest or disease,
that are not being studied by some of the agricultural experi-
ment stations.

Nearly fifty years ago a company of farmers joined them-
selves together near the little village of Moeckern, near the
city, and under the influence, of the University of Liepsic,
called a chemist to their aid and later, with help from the gov-
ernment, organized the first agricultural experiment station.
Liebig in Germany, Boussingault in France, Laws and Gilbert
in England and other great pioneers, had been blazing the path
of progress for years before. A great deal of research bearing
upon agriculture had been and is still being carried on in the
schools and universities, but the action of these Saxon agricul-
turists in 1 85 1, marks the beginning of the experiment station
proper, the organization of scientific research with the aid of
government as a necessary and permanent branch of agri-
cultural business.

This experiment station speedily commended itself so that in
Europe in 1856, there were five experiment stations ; in 1861, 15 ;
in 1866, 30; and to-day there are more than 100 experiment sta-
tions and kindred institutions in the different countries of
Europe. In each of these, trained investigators are engaged in

82 STATE POiMOLOGICAL SOCIl^TV.

the discovery of the laws that underHe the practice of farming
and in finding out how they are best appHed.

So rapid and so sure has been the progress in this enterprise
in both hemispheres, that private persons, educators, societies
and governments have learned the usefulness and indeed the
necessity of these institutions, not for the farmer alone, but for
all who are dependent upon the products of the soil. The move-
ment has extended so that there are to-day agricultural experi-
ment stations on every continent, and in most of the civilized
countries. There are experiment stations not only in Europe
and North America, but in Asia, in Africa, in South America,
and in Australia. It is impossible to form an estimate of the
number of men that are engaged exclusively in this w^ork of
investigation, but there must be at least 3000 trained investi-
gators studying in these agricultural experiment stations the
various problems pertaining to the tillage cf the soil, the care
of crops, animal husbandry, horticulture and allied subjects.
■ The expermient station movement in Europe was nearly 25
years old before any experiment stations were established in
this country. Storer, at the Bussey Institution, Johnson at the
Sheffield Scientific School, and other pioneers in American scien-
tific agriculture were laying the foundations. The demand for
teachers in agriculture in land grant colleges stimulated education
along these lines, but it was not until 1875 that any definite
move was made toward the establishment of an experiment sta-
tion. In that year, when the Connecticut legislature came
together, Mr. Orange Judd, founder and then proprietor of the
American Agricidfurist, made a proposition to the Board of
Agriculture, and through them to the legislature, that if the
legislature would appropriate $2,800 for two years for an experi-
ment station, he would personally give a like sum, and the
Wesleyan University would place the services of their Professor
of Chemistry and their laboratory at its disposal. The legis-
lature accepted that ofifer, and thus the first experiment station
in America began its work twenty-four years ago the first day
of last month. This work justified itself to the agriculture of
■Connecticut, so when the next legislature met, in 1877, they made
an annual appropriation of $7,000 for the continuation of the
experiment station. The Connecticut Experiment Station thus

STATi; poMOLonicAL socie;ty. 83

begun in 1875, has continued, and is to-day one of the best, as
weU as the first in point of time, of experiment stations in the
country. This station proved so successful that the example was
speedily followed elsewhere. In 1880 four were in operation,
and in 1887, there were some 17 of these experiment stations
in 14 states. Our own station was established by action of the
legislature of 1885. Its object, as stated in the law, being, "for
the purpose of protection from frauds in commercial fertilizers,
and from adulterations in foods, feeds and seeds, and for the pur-
pose of promoting agriculture by scientific investigation and
experiment."

In 1887, Mr. Hatch, member of Congress from Missouri,
introduced a bill which has come to be known as the "Hatch
Act," whereby $15,000 per annum was appropriated to each of
the states and territories which have established agricultural
colleges or agricultural departments of colleges for the establish-
ment and maintenance of Experiment Stations. This act called
into existence very many new stations, so that there are to-day
in our country over 50 agricultural experiment stations. These
50 experiment stations now employ upwards of 500 trained
men in the prosecution of experimental inquiry. The appropri-
ations by the United States government for these experiment
stations is about $750,000 per year. The several states appropri-
ate enough, either directly or indirectly, to make the total sum
about $1,000,000 from public funds for the support of agri-
cultural experiment stations. This may seem like a large sum
to expend annually for agricultural experiment stations, but
it is less than 10 cents for each of the farm workers of the
country, and less than 2]/^ cents for each of our popula-
tion directly dependent upon agriculture for their support,
and less than 1^4 cents for each of the entire number of people
who consume the products of our farms. The Experiment
Station costs about five dollars a year for each million of dollars
invested in agriculture. We are spending not far from 30
cents for every thousand dollars worth of products on our
farms in the attempt to increase the value of these products in
future years.

84 STATU POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE PURPOSE OF THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

The purpose of the experiment stations as defined in the
Hatch act are as follows :

"It shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations
to conduct original researches or verify experiments on the
physiology of plants and animals ; the diseases to which they are
severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical
composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth ;
the comparative advantages of rotative cropping as pursued
under a varying series of crops ; the capacity of new plants or
trees for acclimation ; the analysis of soils and water ; the chem-
ical composition of manures, natural and artificial, with experi-
m.ents designed to test their comparative effects on crops of
different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage
plants ; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds
of food for domestic animals ; the scientific and economic ques-
tions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such
other researcnes or experiments bearing directly on the agricul-
tural industry of the United States, as may in each case be
deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions
and needs of the respective states or territories."

ILIvUSTRATlONS OF THE WORK OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS

The experiment stations have studied, or are studying practi-
cally all of the vegetables and fruits which are grown in this
wide land. While nearly equal attention has been given to the
plum, the pear, the apple, the raspberry, the blackberry, the straw-
berry, the currant and the gooseberry, I have, because of its
importance in our own State, selected some of the lines of work
being done in the culture, growth, and care of the apple to illus-
trate the work of the experiment stations along horticultural
lines.

COVER CROPS FOR ORCHARDS.

An orchard cover crop is a crop grown in the fall and winter
to protect the soil and trees of orchards, and at the same time
to improve the soil. Unlike crops grown throughout the season,
cover crops as a rule do not injure the trees by drying out the
soil, for in many places heavy fall rains are the rule, and even

STATK POMOLOGICAIv SOCIETY. 85

where the weather during the fall is normally dry, the injury
is less than in summer, since plants evaporate less from
their leaves in the cooler weather and shorter days of fall than
in the longer and hotter days of summer. Cover crops not only
do not, as a rule, dry out the soil injuriously, but they also add
directly to the moisture-holding capacity of the soil by the humus
formed in their decay, and they hold much of the snow until
it melts and is absorbed by the soil.

Another reason why cover crops are rarely as injurious as
■crops grown throughout the entire season, and are often bene-
ficial, is that their growth is made after the trees have stopped
growing and are maturing their wood for winter. The Michi-
gan Station has shown that the majority of trees in that locality
complete their growth by July. Of course the conditions ob-
served in Michigan do not occur in all climates or seasons, but
they show unmistakably the tendency of trees to make their
greatest growth early in the season. Trees, therefore, require
much less moisture in the latter part of the season than they do
in the early part. Indeed, in moist localities it is often thought
to be a distinct advantage to stop cultivation by midsummer
and grow some secondary crop which will check the growth
of the trees and cause them to mature before winter. The
Washington Station, in studying the unusuallv severe freeze
occurring in the fall of 1896, found that in most instances late
summer cultivation had an injurious effect similar to late irri-
gation. "Wherever cultivation or irrigation had been kept up
late in the season and the ground was moist and the trees in an
active growing condition, there the frost did most damage."

Among other benefits to be derived from cover crops is the
checking of washing and leaching of the soil. Light soils are
often gullied by heavy rains in the fall, just as in summer, and
some crop to bind such soils is beneficial. In the case of soil
leaching and the consequent loss of plant food, especially
nitrates, a crop is more valuable in the fall and early winter than
■earlier in the season, for in spring and summer the tree roots are
in condition to take up much of the plant food as it becomes
available; but from the time their leaves fall until the soil is
frozen, the plant food which would otherwise escape in the
drainage water, or be washed down beyond the reach of plants,
7

86 STATE POMOLOGICAIv SOCIETY.

can be saved only by secondary crops, which grow until stopped
by the severe weather of winter. Even in cases where the
leaching of soils is not excessive a deep-rooting cover crop brings
up plant food from the subsoil and leaves it near the surface ta
be used later by the trees.

Besides preventing in part the loss of fertilizing elements
from the soil, cover crops may serve as a direct fertilizer. For
this purpose the well-known ability of leguminous plants to take
nitrogen from the air and store it^ so that it can be used later
by other plants, is made use of. The use of such crops in ordi-
nary farm rotations is well known. That they may be equally
useful in case of orchard fruits is shown by tests at the New
Jersey Station. Crimson clover was sown in the peach orchard
on sandy soil in the latter part of July, and the crop was
plowed under in the latter part of the following May. The
cover crop retarded to growth of the trees somewhat in the
spring, but after it was plowed under they gained rapidly, and
both wood growth and fruitage were more satisfactory than in
the remainder of the orchard, which was fertilized with nitrate
of soda. The use of leguminous crops, however, is not to be
recommended in all cases. It often happens that soils become too
rich in nitrogenous fertilizers, and the trees, therefore, grow
too vigorously, do not mature their wood well, and are unfruit-
ful. In such cases leguminous crops should not be used.

Cover crops may also improve the physical condition of the
soil. In this connection the relation of humus to the water-
holding capacity of the soil has been already noted. Humus
is also beneficial in changing the character of very heavy soils,
making them more porous and lessening their tendency to
puddle in wet weather. Cover crops which live through the
winter are of use in drying out heavy wet soils in spring so as to
allow cultivation.

Cover crops may also be advantageous in protecting the
trees and fruit. The Delaware Station reports lessened injury
to fruit blown from the tree where the soil was covered with
a crop of crimson clover. In the extreme North, cover crops
are thought to be of advantage in preventing deep freezing
and alternate freezing and thawing of the soil and the conse-
quent injury to the roots of trees. At the Delaware Station

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 8/

ground covered with crimson clover is reported as unfrozen
when the temperature of the air was 14 degrees F. In some
cases a cover may be injurious rather than beneficial to trees
and fruit, through the protection afforded to insects, mice, etc.

To secure the best results with a cover crop that lives over
winter, it should be plowed under early in the spring, while it
is still succulent enough to decay rapidly. A crop plowed under
late in the spring, after it has become more or less woody, will
decay slowly, keep the soil too loose, and thereby serve to dry it
out rather than retain its moisture. In many regions the crop
may also do injury by the evaporation of moisture from its
leaves if allowed to grow too late in spring.

[The speaker here mentioned in detail the work of numerous
experiment stations, demonstrating the points enumerated.]

CULTIVATING VS. CROPPING ORCHARDS.

Whether orchards shall be cropped or given clean cultivation,
how cultivation shall be done, whether it shall be continued
throughout the season and similar problems, depend very largely
on local conditions of soil, climate and the like. It is evident,
therefore, that no definite rules can be given for the cultivation
of orchards in all localities. The principles underlying success-
ful culture, however, are the same everywhere, and therefore
a knowledge of them will aid in deciding local questions.

Various experiment stations have conducted experiments to
find out what methods give best results and why they do so.
At the New York Cornell Station, it was found that the roots
of trees only five or six years old have a greater spread than
the tops. For instance, the roots of an apple tree in rich, culti-
vated soil extended eight feet from the trunk, while the entire
top was not over eight feet across. Another apple tree in sod,
with a top only six feet across, had roots ten feet long. A
pear tree in poor soil had roots 21 feet long, while its entire top
measured only seven feet across. The roots of an apple tree
which had stood in sod since planting, were just beneath the sur-
face of the soil, while the roots of those in cultivated soil were
nowhere less than eight inches from the surface. These facts
show that if orchards are to be cultivated at all they must be
cultivated from the first, since otherwise the roots grow so near

88 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

the surface as to be injured by plowing and cultivation. They
also show that to get the full benefit of cultivation all the space
between the trees must be cultivated.

At the Nebraska Station a study was made of the effect of
cultivation on the growth of apple trees, the size of fruit
and the water content of the soil. A small orchard was divided
into three parts, one of which was cultivated regularly, and the
other two left in grass and weeds, one of the latter being mowed
and the other pastured by hogs. The report says : "Trees in
cultivated ground suffered noticeably less from the drouth and
hot wiiids of summer than those in sod ground. The foliage
was darker and more vigorous in appearance, and there was
no yellowing and dropping of the leaves nor wilting during
hot windy days, both of which occurred with uncultivated trees.
Apples from cultivated land averaged nearly 14 per cent, larger
in weight than those from pasture land, and over 17 per cent,
larger than those from mowed land." The average percentages
of moisture in the first 20 inches of the soil in the different por-
tions of the orchard in the latter part of October were : Mowed
portion, 14; pasture portion, 14.7; portion cultivated until
August I, 17, and portion cultivated the entire season, 20.4.
The next season the results were practically the same.

The California Station has recently reported an instance of the
beneficial effect of cultivation on the growth and fruitfulness
of orchards. Apricots grown in adjacent fields under exactly the
same conditions, except for cultivation, showed great difference
in behavior. The soil of the region in which the orchards are
located has a rather loose texture. One orchard was cultivated
several inches deep, and the otherwas uncultivated. During one
season the trees in the cultivated field made a wood growth
of over three feet, while those in the uncultivated field made a
growth of not over three inches. There was also a great differ-
ence in the fruit. The average percentage of moisture in the
first six feet of soil was 6.3 in the cultivated orchard and 4.2
in the other one. A recent bulletin of the Illinois Station
reports marked benefit from clean cultivation of an orchard.

The injury caused by growing grass in young orchards is
shown very emphatically by an experiment conducted at the
Utah Station. P^rts of an orchard were seeded to alfalfa, tim-

state: pomological society. 89

othy, clover, and a mixture of timothy and clover soon after
the trees were set, and other parts were cultivated, all being
irrigated alike. Over half of the trees in the grass plats died
and were re-set twice, while the cultivated trees lived and grew
well. It is not to be expected that growing grass is young
orchards is always as injurious as it proved to be at the Utah
Station, yet the reported experiences of fruit growers and
experimenters everywhere show the importance of carefully
cultivating young orchards.

From the experiments referred to above it would appear that
the growth of grass, weeds, and even such plants as field peas,
through the entire season without cultivation, especially in
young orchards, is to be regarded as an injurious practice.

Notwithstanding all this, it must not be inferred that clean
cultivation is best in all cases. If the trees are set in fertile
soil there is usually no injurious effect from growing a sec-
ondary crop between the rows while the trees are young and
their roots do not occupy the entire soil, but the secondary
crop should always be one that requires careful cultivation and
does not evaporate moisture excessively, such as beans, peas,
potatoes, cabbages, squashes, melons, and the like. The crops
noted, and other similar ones, if not planted too close to the
trees, do not hinder cultivation, and they evaporate compara-
tively little moisture. As an example of this, it has been shown
at the Nebraska Station that in midsummer the moisture content
of the soil of well-cultivated plats of cabbage, beans, peas, and
potatoes, was but little less than that of cultivated fields in
which no crop was growing. Such plants as squashes and mel-
ons may hinder cultivation late in the season, but that is usually
not a disadvantage, as shown later. As the trees grow the
crops should be planted farther from them until the tree roots
occupy all the ground, when it is usually best to discontinue
growing secondary crops. Orchards with trees set twenty feet
apart should rarely be cropped more than three years, but
apple orchards can often be cropped for seven or eight years.
When the trees begin to bear it is usually time to stop cropping
the orchards.

Aside from the growth of secondary crops in orchards, there
are other cases where clean cultivation is not best. It often

90 state: pomologicai, society.

happens that in very rich soil or in very moist locahties fruit
trees grow vigorously, but do not fruit well. It is then neces-
sary to do something to check the growth and induce fruitful-
ness. This may often be accomplished by seeding the orchard
to grass. How long grass should be allowed to remain can be
determined only by the growth, fruitfulness, and appearance of
the trees. If tne erowth becomes very weak, and the leaves
are light-colored, it is an indication that cultivation should be
resumed. Indeed, it should have been resumed before these
conditions appeared.

THINNING FRUIT.

Thinning the fruit of trees that have a tendency to overbear
is recommended very generally and practiced very little. Few
extended experiments in thinning fruits have been reported by
the experiment stations, but where thinning has been followed
systematically for a number of years in commercial orchards,
it has been found profitable.

The number of fruits produced per tree may be regulated in
two general ways: By pruning away a part of the branches
to prevent the formation of too much fruit, or by picking off the
superfluous fruits after they have formed. With such fruits as
grapes, raspberries, blackberries, and the like, the former
method is employed almost exclusively. An experiment reported
from New York Cornell Station indicates that in the
case of blackberries and raspberries, no means of regulating
the number of berries per plant is necessary other than the
annual pruning.

Among orchard fruits, perhaps none need thinning as much as
Japanese plums, except, possibly, peaches, which, in commercial
orchards, are thinned more systematically than most other fruits.
It is reported that in favorable years the fruits of Japanese
plums set so thick as to hide the limbs. In fact, the tendency
to overbear is considered by some to be one of the greatest
faults. Thinning the fruits of these plums has been favorably
reported on by the Alabama College Station. The size of the
fruit was increased noticeably by thinning.*

The tendency to overbear is also seen in varieties of native
plums, as is shown by an experiment with the Gale seedling

STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 9I

plum at Wisconsin Station. About four-fifths of the fruit was
removed from a portion of the tree, leaving the fruits about
two inches apart on the branches. The fruits on this portion of
the tree were considerabl}' larger than on the unthinned por-
tion.

The Massachusetts Hatch Station has reported the results
of an experiment with apples and plums. A tree each of
Gravenstein and Tetofsky apples was thinned on July i, and a
similar tree of each variety left unthinned as a check. In case
of the Gravenstein, the yield on the thinned and unthinned
trees, respectively, was, first quality fruit, 9 bushels and 2^
bushels ; second quality fruit, i bushel and 2>4 bushels ; wind-
falls, 9J/2 bushels and io>^ bushels. In case of the Tetofsky the
thinned tree gave one bushel of windfalls, and the unthinned
tree 3 bushels ; of second quality fruit the yield was one-half
bushel from each tree ; and of first quality fruit the thinned tree
yielded 2 bushels and the unthinned tree none at all. Allowing 60
cents per bushel for firsts, and 25 cents per bushel for seconds, the
market value of the thinned Gravenstein apples was over twice
.as much as that of the unthinned, and if the thinned Tetofsky
apples, eleven times as much as that of the unthinned. It cost
48 cents to thin the Gravenstein and 35 cents to thin the
Tetofsky. The net gain due to thinning was 85 cents for the
Tetofsky and $1.85 for the Gravenstein. It is thought that the
results would have been more pronounced if the thinning had
been done two weeks earlier.

The results with plums were similar to those with apples, as
regards the increased production of fruit.

The advantages claimed for thinning orchard fruits are about
as follows : Thinning increases the size of fruit, gives it more
•color and a better flavor. It diminishes the amount of worth-
less fruit, windfalls, etc., increases the amount of No. i fruit,
and in some cases increases the total yield. It lessens the
amount of rot, especially in the case of peaches and plums,
since the diseases can spread less easily where the fruits do not
touch each other. Thinning also tends to keep injurious insects
in check, as care is taken to remove the infested fruit.

[The speaker then called attention to the leading insect and
fungous pests of the apple, and the work which has been done

92 STATU POMOLOGiCAL SOCIETY.

by the experiment stations in studying life histories and devising-
means of extermination. Among those mentioned were the
apple curculio, the apple maggot, bud moth, tent caterpillar,
borers, apple and pear blight, apple scab, apple rust and bitter
rot and others.]

In the above I 1 ave attempted to outline some of the work
which is being done by experiment stations in our country
for the growers of the apple. If anything like a full list of
the lines of work which are being taken up and the results
which have thus far been obtained in apple culture were to-
be presented, I should have wearied your patience more than I
already have. While in view of what there is to be learned,
it would seem as though very little had been accomplished by
the experiment stations, yet when one attempts to get together
for a paper like this even a catalogue of what has been done
along this one line, the amount is very great ; and when it is
remembered that important as is the apple, it represents only one
of many fruits, and as important as pomology is, it is only part
of the much larger subject of horticulture, the work thus far
done is very satisfactory.

The work of the station goes on, ever increasing in amount
and value, from year to year. Most of the agricultural experi-
ment stations of the country were established in 1888. When
another decade shall have passed, it is not a rash prediction tc>
say that fourfold as much will have been accomplished as in
the past decade.

STAT15 POMOLOGICAI, SOCIe;TY. 93

WINIER MEETING.

Nkw Gloucester, January i8 and 19, 1900.

A special meeting and exhibition was held as above, when
the following papers and discussions were presented :

NATURE STUDY IN THE HOME.
Mrs. V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield.

To make a success of any business a person must like it, must
have some inspiration and attraction for that business. Agricul-
ture, more than any other calling, offers a broad field of study,
and experiment. It would naturally seem that our country
schools, where the scholars are surrounded on every hand with
the best of material for study, should be the pioneers in Nature
studies. Unfortunately, however, such is not the case. In our
city schools you will find the children drawing from leaves,
flowers and stuffed birds. They have cabinets filled with spec-
imens for the study of Geology, Mineralogy, Entomology,
Botany, etc., while in our country schools, where these speci-
mens can most easily be obtained, they are seldom found, and
but few teachers are capable of teaching them.

Until we have these studies taught in the rural schools, every
father and mother should constitute themselves as teachers,
even though they be learners themselves. The love of nature
is not wholly a natural one, but is largely educational. When
walking along a public street you may meet many strangers
who will have no particular interest for you ; but let a mutual
friend introduce you to some of them, and then tell you about
their homes, work, habits, characteristics and families, and the
next time you meet any of them you will feel an immediate
attraction. You will stop with a smile and a greeting and expe-
rience a feeling of pleasure. As your acquaintance progresses
you will seek their homes, study them and their relatives, and
if they are worthy, learn to love them. It is just the same with
birds, plants and minerals. One may live among them all

94 STATIC POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

their lives, but without study or even a first introduction, will
never love them. The commonest flower by the roadside is of
interest when you know its name, family and habits.

A little toddling child will pick violets and buttercups by the
roadside, pleased with their color and fragrance, but as he grows
older this is not enough to hold his interest. The flowers soon
become common weeds to him, unless he studies deeper. As I
said before, introduce them ; tell their names, families and pecul-
iarities. Make them personal friends, visit them in their homes
and invite them to yours. What a child learns under seven
years of age, goes far to form his taste and inclination for a
life occupation.

Of course we do not wish to make farmers of all of our boys.
I believe in watching for a child's natural abilities in every direc-
tion, but Nature Study is a grand help in every path of life, and
a person surely can never make a success of agriculture without
Nature Study. Teach children to use their eyes and brains and
seek for little peculiarities. Unless a child can see and think for
himself, he will never remember much that is told him, but if the
parent will tell him enough to create an interest, then ,he will
watch and study alone.

But many parents may say — "How can I teach what I have
never been taught, or taken an interest in myself?" Begin as a
child, with the children. We parents are too old ! We must
renew our youth. We are too busy ! We must take time to
play. We stay indoors too much ! Let us go down to the
brook. Life is short ! Let us get the best good out of it.
"Except ye become as a little child ye shall in no wise enter the
kingdom of heaven." Many ministers have given us many
explanations of that text. I have found it to be a most delightful
heaven to get to the brooks and woods with the children and be
a child with them, close to nature's heart, for nature's heart is
God's heart.

It is rather slow work to study in a haphazard way, without
any particular aim or method, and much valuable time is lost.
Even though there are many excellent books at a low price, upon
such subjects, few parents know what is best to purchase, even if
they have a desire and money with which to buy. They cannot
leave their homes, work and families to attend an agricultural

STATS POMOLOGICAt, SOCIETY. 9$

college ; it takes all of their time and strength to earn a living,
clothe their children and send them to school. They expect the
schools to furnish the required knowledge. I was once talking
of this very thing with an acquaintance who was a superinten-
dent of a normal school, and I lamented the fact that we had no
kindergarten schools in the country. He answered, "Your
children, upon your farms, will get a better kindergarten train-
ing than any they could get in a city." I did not believe him.
I had much work to do, like all busy mothers, and felt a little
guilty to leave a floor unswept and dingy windows, to go into the
woods with the children, but as they grew older and I saw how
they remembered the names and habits of the birds and flowers
and butterflies whenever I took time to go with them, I began to
understand what that teacher meant. The knowledge they
gained from living things out under God's blue sky, was worth
far more to them than learning to use worsted, braid colored
straws, and fashion paper boxes. But we have always been
hampered for lack of reference books, and some aim or leader
in study. Quite recently, however, I have learned of something
which I believe is going to open up a most delightful and helpful
course of study. It is a free course in Nature Study or any
branch of agriculture, by correspondence, for both parents and
children. This has been conducted for several years at the
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca,
N. Y., and a similar course has more recently been opened by
the Experiment Station at Kingston, R. I, The directors advise
what books are best to study for different branches, and mem-
bers of the school can purchase them of the publishers at quite
a discount from regular prices. The college also issues monthly
or quarterly bulletins and lessons, while questions and directions
are freely exchanged by mail.

Now for a few practical suggestions for mothers in teaching
these Nature Studies at home. For germination, the best object
lesson is to lay a thin layer of cotton batting upon a tumbler of
water, place two or three beans upon the cotton and lay a little
more cotton on it. The beans will soon swell and the process of
germination can be plainly watched. By changing the water
occasionally the vines will often grow two feet and blossom.

96 STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY.

From now on is a good time to gather alder, maple, cherry,
apple and willow buds and have the children watch them open.
Don't mind if the sticks do look rather homely and clutter the
house. Plan to have apple blossoms for Easter. Bear in mind,
when forcing fruit buds, to procure branches at least ten inches
long and break off the leaf buds and the smaller blossom buds,
only leaving a few of the strongest buds on the terminal end.
The whole plant will concentrate its strength upon those few
buds. Pears, cherries and crab apples can be forced in from two
to three weeks. Another good plan is to transplant in the fall
several plants of the early spring flowers into a box and keep it
in some cold place till the latter part of winter and then bring
them into the house for forcing.

In studying flowers with children, a very valuable book is Mrs,
Wm. Starr Dana's "How to Know the Wild Flowers." This
is full of good illustrations of many of our wild flowers, so
arranged that any child who can read, can easily find the picture
and description.

In studying seed formation and plant germination a mother
has the most beautiful object lessons by which she can teach
children sex and reproduction in both the plant and animal king-
dom, in such a way that they will see God's laws working the
same through all nature, and the things which seem a vulgar
mystery to the ignorant child, will be to them a simple, pure, and
natural law.

I believe a child can gain a broader education while playing
about a little country brook, than from any one educational book
ever published. The six inch brook trout will look larger to the
boy of ten, than the six pound Rangeley lake trout to the man
of forty. The rushes, mosses, and ferns that line the banks of
the brook will look richer and more luxuriant than any tropical
growth of Porto Rico or the Philippines which he may visit in
after life.

The gentle ripple and splash of the water over a stony bed in
summer, or the rush and roar of the swollen stream in spring,
will recall fond memories as long as life may last. But with all
these things, his enjoyment will be keener, purer, and more last-
ing, if there is a guiding mind or teacher to answer his questions.

STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97

to call his attention to laws governing these things, and if he has
books for reference.

\\'hen you were boys, yon found in the bed of the brook, a
peculiar little worm encased in a roll of bits of bark, sticks and
sand stuck together. It made fairly good tish bait, if you had
no angleworms, but did you know what it was ; or how it came
there ; or that it would soon change into a dainty Caddice fly ?
Did any one ever call your attention to some ugly looking black
bug crawling about among the rushes of sluggish water ? And
would you ever have thought of watching on till he crawled up
some stem into the sunshine, where his skin split open and out
came a brilliant dragon fly, with great gauzy wings ; or did you
simply call it a ''devil's darning-needle" and run away for fear
it would sew up your mouth ? You probably found the wonder-
ful leaves of the pitcher plant in the meadows ; but did you study
it closely enough to learn that what appeared to be a generous
offer of drink to thirsty insects, was in reality a most wonder-
fully contrived deadly trap, for a carniverous plant ; and that the
beautiful leaf of the sundew was a similar trap for the insects?

When you played on the ledge in the pasture, if you noticed
the scratches and grooves on its surface, did any one tell you of
the great ice mountains that swept over this country ages ago,
and left those scratches ? And when your father scolded about
the rocks on his farm, did he lay it to those same glaciers leaving
the boulders there ; and making the soil what it is ? And when
you lifted your heel to crush many an ugly worm, did you know
yovi were killing beautiful butterflies as well as injurious moths?

The other day I called upon a friend on the top of Goff's hill
in Auburn. As I was coming away, I noticed upon a branch of
a cherry tree close by the piazza a brown bunch about three
inches long and perhaps an inch and a quarter in diameter.
"Oh !" I cried, "Here is a Cecropia chrysalis, do you care for it?
May I have it?" "Certainly you may have it," my friend replied,
"I noticed that there the other day, and said that there was some-
thing growing on that tree, and I must burn it up. I don't
know what it is." And so she broke off the small branch and I
carried it in my hand all the way home, so delighted with my
treasure, that I had nearly reached Buckfield before I remem-
bered that I had left my purse at her house. Now she had a

98 STATE POMOIvOGICAI, SOCIETY.'

bright little girl that would enjoy the beauties of that wonderful
moth which is sleeping inside that brown cocoon as well as my
children, if she were only taught.

Four or five years ago, when I began the study of entomology
with my children, I did not know the name of a single caterpillar
or butterfly, but the last two years have been exceptionally good
ones for studying a few kinds of caterpillars. Nearly every one
has such a dislike to caterpillars that this would not, at first, seem
a very interesting study, but we have found it extremely so.
It is surprising how many kinds there are, as soon as one begins
to watch them. Not only my children, but the men of the
family, and even the neighbors, when they find a peculiar cater-
pillar bring it to me. These can be easily watched in the house
by placing them under a screen or glass, or in a glass jar. We
often have several varieties under wire fly screens. Each cater-
pillar has its own particular variety of food on which it feeds,
so it is necessary to notice upon what plant it is found feeding,
and keep it supplied with fresh leaves of its kind until it enters
the pupa state. When they are ready for this change they stop
eating and anxiously crawl about their cage as if searching for
something. For those varieties which enter the ground for
their transformation, a box of earth should be provided. Other
varieties roll themselves inside of leaves, or spin a cocoon in
some corner. Still others, like the Asterias, Antiopa, Atlanta,
and Archippus, suspend themselves from some object.

I have already taken so much time that I will not begin upon
flowers, minerals and birds, which are equally interesting if not
more so. If you once begin the study of. any of these branches,
you will be surprised to see how interested you will soon become
and how the knowledge seems to be lying all about you, only
waiting to be appropriated.

If you begin with minerals, your friends will learn of it, and
give you specimens. Neighbors will tell you of something inter-
esting upon their farms. You cannot take a walk, or go near a
ledge or stone wall, without seeing something interesting.

If you begin the study of birds, there will be the same attrac-
tion. You will see new birds, hear new notes, and find nests
which you never saw before, although there have been the same
about you for years. There seems to be a law of mind attrac-

STATD POMOI.OGICAL SOCIETY. 99

tion which calls to us those things with which our mind is filled ;
or rather, which opens a sight which has been lying dormant.

I do not see how any one can be a true lover of nature without
being a Christian ! Will you just peep into a church I know,
for a moment ? Come up through the pasture to the top of the
hill where the great pines grow. Let us go in by this old wood
road. Bare your head as you come down the aisle. All of these
great pines stand here silently, worshiping. Under your feet
is a beautiful carpet of pine needles, traced with arabesques of
trailing evergreen, a hidden choir of birds is praising God with
sweetest song. The soughing of the winds in the tree tops rolls
over you in mighty waves like the tones of some great organ in
a vast cathedral. But the sermon comes straight from God.
You must still your ears and very thoughts, and the Spirit within
you will whisper thoughts no man could ever say. You will feel
your very soul grow stronger and know that you are in the pres-
ence of the Infinite.

THE APPLE IN COOKERY.

Miss Anna Barrows, Boston.

(Abstract.)

[Abstracts of other lectures by Miss Barrows are to be found
in the reports of this society for 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895.]

A few years ago some explanation seemed necessary when a
lecture on cookery or domestic science was added to the program
of any agricultural meeting. Now, this is a common occurrence,
and in farmers' institutes all over the country questions pertain-
ing to the home life, and to the consumption as well as the pro-
duction of foods, are generally discussed.

Surely it is desirable that the consumer should be educated to
discern the finer points in the quality and flavor of different food
products. If the producers also would more carefully study this
phase of the question, ultimately they would have larger
demands for their crops. Many varieties of fruits and vegeta-
bles are raised merelv because they are showy, and will bear
rough handling in t • isportation, and little regard is paid to
their quality and flavor for the table. The prevalence of such

lOO STATi; POMOI.OGICAL SOCIETY.

articles in our markets naturally prejudice buyers against this
class of foods as a whole.

There is much yet to be learned about the adaptation of dif-
ferent varieties of apples to the different processes of the kitchen.
Some apples are best suited for baking, others for certain kinds
of pudding, and still others for sauce and pies. But to the
average consumer, an apple is an apple and the quality and flavor
of apples for cooking are rarely considered. "Cooking" apples
like "cooking" butter are wholly undesirable; we better use less
and let that little be of good quality.

The quality of eating apples on sale in our railroad stations,
restaurants, and fruit stands is not above reproach, and fruit
growers should make it their business to buy samples from such
stands and demand that better varieties be offered the public.
As a rule good apples are less common and full more expensive
than the oranges and bananas, which are offered the travelling
public. This state of things, of course, is not favorable to the
apple grower.

Before proceeding to the cookery of any food product, we do
well to study its chemical composition and from that we may
learn how to combine it with other food substances. The anal-
ysis of the apple given by Professors Atwater and Woods in bul-
letin No. 28, of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Experi-
ment Stations, published in 1896, gives the composition of the
average apples as purchased, from ten different analyses as
follows :

Refuse 25

Water 61.5

Protein .4

Fat 4

Carbohydrates 12.4

Ash 3

The edible portion of the apple, in an average of ten analyses,
was as follows :

Water 82

Protein .5

Fat 5

Carbohydrates 16.6

Ash 4

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, lOI

At first it might seem that any substance containing so much
water had Httle food value, but it must be remembered that the
human body is at least two-thirds water and therefore our foods
should be mainly water. When we notice the minute quantities
of protein and fat present in the apple, we readily understand
why we so often combine cream and custards with apples in
puddings. INIoreover, the carbohydrate portion being mainly
sugar, it is also reasonable to use apples with starchy materials
as is done in rice and tapioca pudding, apple dumplings, etc.
Doubtless the chief dietetic value of the apple lies in the variety
which it enables us to give to the cereal products which, of
necessity, must be the main part of our diet, and to the valuable
mineral salts and acids which it contains. There are many old
proverbs to the effect that "It will beggar a doctor to live where
orchards thrive." When we know more about the cookery of
apples, and kindred fruits, and use them more largely in our
daily diet, perhaps the patent medicine venders will not reap as
generous harvests as they now do. JNIany barns and fences, as
well as the country papers, throughout New England, bear wit-
ness that manufacturers of patent medicines find it profitable to
advertise their wares in country communities.

More should be done to preserve the abundant apple crop of
one season for the next when the supply will be scanty. Jelly
making should not- be left to the city manufacturer wholly. Too
often the dried skins and cores of apples from the country can-
ning factory are boiled out in the city establishment, and by the
addition of artificial colors and flavors this substance is put upon
the market as currant, quince and every other known variety of
jelly. ]\Iight not an honest apple jelly be made where the apples
grow at a fraction of the cost of these shams?

For many puddings it is desirable to stew the apples without
removing skins and cores unless these portions are imperfect.
The seed gives an agreeable flavor and the skin imparts a bright
color. When thoroughly cooked all the soft pulp can be rubbed
through a strainer and used in a variety of ways. It may be
combined with gelatine or custard or whipped cream in very
elaborate desserts, or simply mixed with any cereal. Such pulp
is sometimes put into bread or muffins.

I02 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

A most attractive way to prepare apples with bright colored,
tender skins is to core them, without paring, and cook slowly in
a syrup made of equal parts of sugar and water until they are
perfectly tender, but not broken. The spaces where the cores
were, may then be filled with jelly or a mixture of chopped nuts.
Or each apple may be placed on a round slice of sponge cake and
the whole garnished with thick whipped cream.

Baked and fried apples should be served with fat meats more
frequently than is commonly done. In this case an omelet will
be garnished with rings of fried apple.

A quick dessert is a variation of the old time apple dufif or
apple dumplings. The apples should be stewed in a thin syrup
until they are tender, then dumplings made as for a meat stew
are dropped all over the surface of the hot stewed fruit. The
saucepan is then closely covered and allowed to cook rapidly for
ten minutes, then serve dumplings and fruit together with cream
and sugar. This dish is a good illustration of the way in which
we manage to combine the food substances needed in a daily
diet. Mineral matter in minute quantities is found in all.
Water is present also in greater or less degree ; the flour from
which the dumplings is made furnishes starch and some protein,
while the cream gives us more protein and considerable fat.
Where such a dish is served after a meat dinner no more protein
would be necessary, but the quantity could be increased by add-
ing beaten egg to the dumpling.

[While speaking, Miss Barrows indicated in a practical way
the method of preparing the various dishes mentioned and at the
close of the lecture those who chose to do so were given an
opportunity to sample the productions.]

STAT^ POMOIvOGICAL SOCIETY. IO3

CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES.

R. H. LiBBEY, Newport.

(Abstract.)

Profitable small fruit growing must ever remain in the hands
of those who love the work. There are intuitive faculties and
perceptions, as well as enthusiasm and study, necessary for suc-
cess, and only a small per cent have that appreciation, or are
willing to give that study, which alone will sustain effort year
after year.

Much also depends on the variety grown, for the best are none
too good. For gooseberries, I prefer the Downing for a market
berry ; they are large, attractive, and prolific bearers, but would
recommend the setting of a few Industry and Smith's Improved.
The Red Jacket is highly recommended, but with me, thus far,
has not been a success. For profit, the gooseberry is as good
a berry as I know of, the bushes have been known to bear for
twenty years and yield a good crop when properly trimmed and
cared for, and the fruit always finds a ready market. In 1894,
I set one hundred and fifty bushes and in 1895 they bore one
quart to the bush. In 1896 they bore five quarts to the bush, in
1897 ten quarts to the bush. I have picked seventeen quarts
from one bush.

The currant comes along partly with the raspberry and follows
it for weeks ; indeed none of the small fruits will remain so long
tipon the bushes without injury as will the currant, and since the
introduction of the newer varieties, and the easy way of destroy-
ing the currant worm, this fruit is attracting more attention than
ever before. If remuneration is the object with fruit growers,
they certainly can find it in the currant and gooseberry.

From recent minutes of the horticultural society, it appears
that Dr. Cannon of Geneva, from 1-16 of an acre, sold 15
bushels of currants, besides what was used in his own family,
and his crop was estimated at 250 bushels to the acre, but an
average of 150 to 2CO bushels is an excellent 3'ield. It is evident,
therefore that if properly cultivated, large profits are sure. In
naming varieties, I should place Fay's Prolific at the head of the

104 state; POMOI.OGICAL socie;ty.

reds, and Lee's Prolific at the head of the blacks. The currant
and gooseberry require about the same cultivation, are infested
with the same insect enemies and rec[uire the same kind of treat-
ment to destroy them. I use as a preventive, London purple or
Paris green, applied before the fruit sets. If you begin its use
as soon as the leaves become visible, there is not much danger
of the worms injuring your bushes. Should you discover
worms later, white hellebore in the proportion of ^ pound to
i6 gallons of water, applied with a spray pump, will check the
ravages. After my berries are picked, I spray again to prevent
the worms from working on the foliage.

While the growing of currants and gooseberries calls for care,
skill, application and a study of the habits of the bushes, for
clean cultivation, good mulching and fertilizing, no man can
succeed who does not appreciate the importance of marketing
in the right manner and at the right time. Never sell immature
fruit. You simply destroy the taste and desire for a good arti-
cle. The demand for gooseberries has been seriously checked
by the attempt to force immature, undersized and necessarily
bitter berries on the market. Mature your fruit by the best of
attention, ship only perfect berries of full size, give full measure,
and your customers will come again and again. This is the way
to make the growing of currants and gooseberries profitable and
yearly increase the demand for this luscious fruit.

STATD POMOIwOGICAI, SOCIETY. IO5

RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES.

E. P. Churchill, Hallowell.

(Abstract.)

Raspberries and blackberries will live in almost any place in
reasonably dry soil, though the raspberry does well in its wild
state in very damp soil.

Land suitable for corn has long been a standard guide to grow
the two species but it seems to me one very important point has
been overlooked ; where dressing is broadcasted we may expect
many sucker plants, remote from the hill or row. Now we can
overcome this very much by furrowing deeply and using the
dressing in these furrows as the plant will readily find its food.

Manure applied in the row will produce more fruit, and
stronger plants, with far less work, with much less dressing,
and I will say, less weeds and grass, than if applied broadcast.

It is the general practice to let the old growth remain until the
next spring, or at least many do, but I prefer to cut out the old
canes just as soon as possible after fruiting, for several reasons.
The new plants will become more stocky, will ripen up far better
and the rows need hoeing and working ; the latter should be
done without delay. I want to say here, one of the best tools
to cut out canes with is a narrow spade ; have it sharp ; take a
scythe-stone along and keep it to a keen edge. One can cut the
canes close down.

Until recently I have left my plants standing through the
winter, but the last two seasons have laid them all down, not by
burying the tops (except the black raspberries), but by looping
them together, bringing one top in by the lower part of another,
and so on, making binders thereby for others. Many small
plants can be held down, being under larger ones. I find it pays
even to tie many with strings. With a season like the last I
much prefer getting them down early, as there was a late growth
caused by rains after the drouth, and plants laid down will ripen
the wood sooner than if left standing.

In spring the plants should not be straightened up at once,
but after a few days they will come up very much and will bear

I06 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

assistance. Then about one-third the top should be cut off, care
being taken not to work deep near rows, after the first season.

FertiHzers should be applied early in spring, even before plants
are straightened up, and it seems to me ashes are excellent. A
little salt or fine bone, especially on dry soil, is good. All the
above applies to both raspberries and blackberries.

I have until the two last seasons cut the black raspberries off
when, say, two feet high, before fruit season, but I have made
an improvement in allowing them to grow, and as soon as fruit
is off, cut out old wood, swing the stool plants round all one way
and tie to each other, then cultivate in the spaces thus made, and
in September bend the plants down close, and a whole hill
together and cover a foot or more of tips. In spring I raise
them up about four feet and, if in hills, bring the tops of two
together, forming an arch, then an open space. I find I get
more fruit and the bushes do not feel the winds nor are they in
the way so much as in the old way, and above all they winter
far better. It would seem, bound thus, as though there would
not be room, but the laterals will come out in a wonderful man-
ner and rejoice one's heart with plenty of the largest fruit.

All of the tip-rooting sorts are sure to do better if set in a
depression not covered full depth at first, unless old plants, for
a young plant is easily smothered if covered as we do the red
sorts.

VARIETIES.

The Turner I have fruited for several years, but have dis-
carded. The berry was too small and too soft, though
the canes were free from thorns (a good feature) and among
the hardiest.

The old standard, the Cuthburt, I still grow, it being produc-
tive, of good size, etc., yet not as hardy as the Turner. By
proper laying down and fertilizing, however, it will please all.

I have increased the Loudon as fast as possible. I find it a
fine sort in all respects. In bush it resembles the Turner^
smooth and clean and very stocky '; fruit large and abundant even
on small plants. In the future I shall plant only this sort for
reds, unless it be the Marlboro, which I find an excellent very
early sort.

STATE POMOLOGICAI. S0CIE;TY. IO/

I have a few of the All Seasons, which is, as a whole, a fane
thing. It will give us fruit as a surprise, large, red, and of fine
flavor ; plant short and stocky, of peculiar color, very hardy.

I planted a few of the Royal Church, which I have discarded
as almost worthless. It resembles the old Clark, crumbly, and
has not many good qualities, anyway.

The Columbian, (a cross between red and black) I find a
remarkable fruit, more prolific than the Shaffer, and the berry is
firmer, not quite as dark in color, and good enough to induce one
to bestow extra care on the plants, as they are not perfectly
hardy, but if allowed to grow uncut and laid down close, they
will astonish the grower.

The good old blackcap, Gregg, is a favorite sort with me, very
large and firm and as productive as one could desire, good
enough raw or canned, cooked or dried ; plants not perfectly
hardy, yet v/ith care and proper treatment will give good satis-
faction.

BLACKBERRIES.

Years ago, I grew the Snyder to quite an extent, but the berry
was small and the canes were so apt to break off at the crown
and were so imcomfortable on account of thorns, I discarded
it. Something better I find in the Agawam and the Wachusett
thornless, so-called, both excellent in every respect.

I want to caution all as to the extolled Oregon Evergreen
blackberry. I have worked three years on one plant and have to
say, let it alone. Of all the thorny things it is ahead ; regular
hooks clear out on the leaf stems and the fruit is small and late,
while plant is tender. It killed in spring after I removed the
covering. My experience and 50 cents for one plant say let it
alone.

The raspberry-strawberry is of no use, at least four years'
experience has not proved it of any value whatever.

Something new : I wish to call the attention of the society to
something peculiar. For a few years I have found many rasp-
berry roots with enlargements, some as large as an egg, often
two or three on one plant. The old plantations taken up were
worse than plants of more recent setting. I am not able to tell
whether it is a fungus or what, nor do I know as it was a detri-

io8 state; pomological socie;ty.

ment to the plant. Nothing of the sort has ever come to my
notice before.

[Mr. ChurchilFs raspl3erries are evidently troubled with the
root gall {Rhodytes radicuni) and all affected plants should at
once be removed and burned. — W. M. M.]

STRAWBERRIES.
E. W. WoosTER, Hancock.

DOES CLIMATE AFFECT TIME OE MATURITY?

Under the above heading I saw an article in the American
Gardening, on page 848, December 16, 1899, written by C. W.
Benson of Alvin, Texas ; T here quote from it:

"I have noticed that plants shipped in here from the North
commence to fruit two or three weeks earlier than the same
variety, which has been grown on our grounds for three or four
years. Conversely, it may be possible that our plants, among the
late varieties, may be as much later when transplanted to the
North, and that this characteristic is retained for at least two
years.

"It is probable, therefore, that the picking season in a great
many localities might be nearly doubled, by shipping in early
plants from a more northern latitude, and late sorts from the
South every two or three years, or until they have become accli-
matized."

Now there is not the least doubt that Mr. Benson is on the
right track of a "happy hit," at least, as far as the Southern fruit
groAver is concerned ; for every farmer should know that that
class of vegetable life which has the ability to adapt itself to
climatic conditions is greatly affected by season's influences
in hastening or retarding the time of maturity, and that this
influence wull last for two or more years.

Take, for instance, our Indian corn ; every enterprising market
gardener of the South knows the value of northern grown seed
of early varieties over his home-grown stock. Where can you
find a vegetable life with greater powers of adaptability than
the strawberry? There is not a state or territory in the Union

state: pomologicai, society. 109

Avhere the strawberry cannot be successfully grown. While this
is true, it is not saying but what it will flourish better in some
than in others. It will flourish best where its requirements are
most closely met. That stands to reason. We can not com-
pete with the southwest central states in the production of corn,
except, perhaps, in these western counties with sweet corn for
canning, because climatic as well as other influences are more
favorable for the production of this vegetable in those states.
Corn requires hotter weather than the greater part of Maine
can give to do its best. From 90 to 100 degrees is all right
for corn, but it is 20 degrees above the requirement of the straw-
terry.

The strawberry, as far as the growth of the plant is con-
cerned, if furnished plenty of water, will flourish well in the
South ; but where perpetual summer reigns it will not fruit well
unless the growth is checked in some unnatural way.

The strawberry must pass into, at least, a partial state of dor-
mancy before it can mature fruit-buds. The most natural way
is by a low temperature, the least natural way is by drouth. In
the far South the latter must be the way. In certain sections
of the North, the most natural, and thus the most healthful
way can be found.

The strawberry is a cold-blooded plant, and will grow at a
very low temperature, in fact, at all times when the ground is
not frozen, even though covered with several feet of snow. But
the growth of the plant at this time is almost wholly confined
to the roots and crowns, augmenting the fruit-producing powers
of the plant.

This winter growth is much dependent upon the presence
of green and healthy foliage, and unless this is preserved intact
"by proper covering, as freezing weather approaches, very little
improvement can be seen.

When the foliage has been removed from the plant by any
cause which has not destroyed the roots and crown, its first
efforts are all along the way to repair the damage that has been
done, because the production of fruit is impossible without
foliage. If you mow ofT, or burn over, a strawberry patch with-
out injury to the crowns, you will never see a sign ofa fruit-bud
till after they have regained a strong foliage; but let a drouth

no state; pomological society.

attack a patch in full foliage, fruit-buds will at once begin to
form, and if the season is long enough, the result will be a
second crop of fruit.

One should easily see from this how our northern grown
plants, when set in the South, produce earlier fruit than the
same variety that has been acclimatized to the conditions of that
climate. First, because our plants are stronger, being devel-
oped under more favorable conditions as far as the summer
influences are concerned ; second, by greater fruiting tendencies,
beins: developed bv a longer period of partial dormancy; third,
because more susceptible to the influence of heat.

VARIETIES AND IMPROVEMENT.

Varieties of strawberries, like all other fruits, regardless of
favorable seasons, will have their off years in fruiting; and I
have noticed that on the off years of the usually productive
varieties, those varieties that have been only moderately pro-
ductive most seasons then make their best showing. Before we
had so many good staminate sorts, some five years back, I
planted more largely of the pistillates ; for a time all went well,
but when there came two wet seasons, just at the blossoming-
period, matters did not go so well. With so many good stam-
inates of all seasons as we now have, I do not take chances
by planting largely of the pistillates. The pistillates are never
as reliable on a wet season as the staminates.

All varieties, no matter how carefully propae-ated, will in
time run out. All perfect life, combining sex, produces
seed. This seed was produced for the purpose of per-
petuating its species. No new life can be produced except from
seed. All other methods of propagation are auxiliaries to
enlarge or multiply life.

Now I come to the befogging c|uestion : Can we properly
apply "pedigree" to plants propagated by runners without
greatly muddling matters? The definition of "pedigree," as I
find it, is : "Line of ancestors." Now is there any line of
ancestors formed by this method of propagation?

Let us see. Runners which are thrown out from plants, after
they get to a certain length, form new plants, but remain
attached to the main plant till they have become well rooted.

state: POMOI.OGICAL society. Ill

If these runners are detached as soon as formed, the plants will
be formed on the stool of the old plant and remain parts of that
plant. They are just as much parts of that plant, in reality,
if allowed to grow and root in their own way.

It stands to reason if there is any difference in the fruiting
powers, formation, color, quality or size of the fruit of these
several plants thus formed, save from the advantage given by
earlier rooting, it must be of a local nature and thus can have
only a local effect or influence. Every one of these plants of
equal age was designed by Nature to be of equal value for
propagation purposes.

Now we come to the most vital question: Can we improve
our fruit stock by selection further than to select for health
and strength, except through seed? Here is my answer to this
question : Imagine that I hold here between my thumb and
finger the tiny seed of a strawberry, incased in a hard
shell, which is more easily ruptured after it has been frozen —
clearly showing from the very start the climate best suited for its
development. Within that tiny case, sealed up, in the embryo,
is a strawberry plant and its fruit, but in the plant and its fruit
must be a consideration for the future. Within that little case,
so to speak, are all the plans, drawn by that greatest of all Archi-
tects, and all the tools necessary to build and model the future
plant and its fruit ; the mixing pots for the coloring, the brushes
and all paraphernalia, is all, all there ; and when the work goes
on, it must at all times be under the watchful eye of that great
/architect. Is there any reason for us to doubt that if all proper
material is furnished and conditions favorable, the highest
degree of perfection possible will be the result? Is it within
man to improve upon the plans and labors of Nature ? Man was
made to serve Nature, not to be her master ; her pupil, not her
instructor.

But Nature is a very indulgent mistress. She understands
well the caprice of man, and seeks to satisfy it in every reason-
able way. She will allow man to assist her in many ways, but
she will not allow him to dictate to her how she shall do her
work, how much she shall do, or how long she shall be in
doing it.

112 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

These are complicated cjuestions ; they are no less important
questions, for upon their correct solution and correct following
hinges much of the success of fruit growing. It is very neces-
sary that we should understand them and understand them cor-
rectly, that we may follow the correct methods of fruit improve-
ment.

While these questions may seem complicated, as we undertake
to solve them by considering only one special group of life,
much of the difficulty is removed when we consider them in
connection with all life ; and that life governed by one collective
law. As we can better understand the workings of the laws
which govern those lives of a higher order, we have only to apply
the same to those of a lower, in order that we may better
understand them also ; and as we more closely study these uni-
versal laws of life, we not only grow wiser in that wisdom that
better fits us to perform the duties in the business department
of our lives, but infinitely wiser in that wisdom which more
fully comprehends that the world is truly His and that He
made it.

Please imagine again for just a moment that I am holding
that tiny strawberry seed. Within it, in a dormant state, are
the combined qualities, in the abstract, of two opposite natures,
in sex. The combination of qualities makes the individuality
in the life that is to be. There never has been, there never will
be again, another combination exactly like it. Nature never
repeats. Although the parentage of this little seed may be
unknown, when the plant is developed, from its characteristics,
an expert can quite easily tell to what family it belongs.

The value of a seedling plant over its parents depends upon
the desirable combinations of their best qualities. This com-
bination of desirable qualities is very rare, however, and there
is not one chance in 400 of a seedling's being better than its
parents.

While these seedlings are developing it is very necessary that
they be cultivated in a way to strengthen, and thus enhance their
valuable qualities. Many valuable seedlings are ruined from
the very start by wrong culture. This work should be intrusted
to none but experts.

state: pomological society. 113

DISCUSSION.

J. W. True : Please name varieties to cover the whole season.

Mr. Wooster : Some of the best early varieties are : Hawaii,
which I have sent out through New England and the West
for the growers to test, and they have reported very favorably.
The Puerto Rico is another very early variety which ought to
be in everyone's collection, and is very early. It has been tested
for four years, and is also very satisfactory. It is a very uni-
form, symmetrical and beautiful berry. It has fine flavor and is
excellent in quality. Do not plant on clayey soil, but on high
ground, give plenty of room and high cultivation. The Clyde
has been badly propagated and is inclined to rot. Give it dry
soil and plenty of room, and it will give very good returns.
The Glen Mary and Bubach are also good varieties. The Nick
Ohmer is a good grower and healthy, but not very productive
and so not profitable. The Parker Earle is a very late variety
and a good one. The Hunn is extremely late and inclined to
rust, but I have carefully selected my plants, set them in new soil,
carefully propagated them and got rid of the rust. They give
about a picking every other day.

1 14 STATE POMOl^OGICAL SOCIETY.

ONE RELATION OF INSECTS TO PLANTS.

A. H. KiRKEAND, M. S., Maiden, Mass.

(Abstract.)

The practice of division of labor among human beings is
as old as civilization. In fact, in these later days, it is generally
considered that the degree of division and specialization of labor
is a standard by which the social development of a community
may be determined. In the average community each worker
performs one or more kinds of labor, contributes one or more
kinds of product and consumes a part of the products of other
workers. To facilitate these various operations curious tools
and elaborate mechanisms have been devised. Here human
ingenuity, taxed to the limit, has yielded its most excellent
product.

The division of labor among insects and plants dates back
to a period whose history has never been written, and whose
chronology we can only surmise. A single phase of the inter-
relations of insects and plants, that of the fertilization of flowers,
furnishes a most delightful field for study and one which may
be investigated with profit by everv lover of the outdoor world.
Here we find the mysteries of flower and seed production dis-
closed ; here we learn of the most important service of the honey-
maker, and here we see mechanisms and adaptations between
plant host and insect guest a thousand times more marvellous
and exact than the best product of human brains directing
human hands.

Underlying all the interesting phenomena of this entrancing
field of research is the great fundamental principle of reproduc-
tion of species, the chief end of life. All other activities and
stages of development are subsidiary or contributory to the
attainment of this grand result. The hidden seed germinates,
the roots develop, the leaves unfold, the stalk rises and the plant
grows into the form and beauty of its parents. These are nat-
ural stages of development, mainly dependent upon ample food
supply and proper climatic conditions. Granted suitable soil,
proper warmth and adequate water supply, nearly all our culti-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II5

vated plants can go thus far alone. With the approach of
maturity, their productive function develops, and buds and blos-
soms appear. Now the energy of the plant, working independ-
ently in this direction, is not sufficient, for the time has reached
its limit. It must now seek and receive the assistance of insect
visitors, and divide its labors with the members of the winged
world before the crowning work of seed production can begin.

And now for. a moment let us glance at the structure of a
typical flower in order that we may better appreciate the plant's
great need of external assistanceand the important role of insects
in plant economy. We find such a flower made up of four dis-
tinct sets of organs, the two outer sets, the sepals and petals,
serving to guard and protect the inner essential organs and as
guide-boards on which are displayed directions for the insect
visitors. The slender stamens bear the pollen with which the
flowers are fertilized. The pistil receives the pollen grains and
conducts their vivifying contents into the seed-producing region
at its base. This is a brief summary of our knowledge of the
functions of the flower organs. The essential facts are now com-
monly understood, even by school children, but by what slow
and difficult stages have they been determined ! Early students
of flowers held that the pollen, as well as the nectar, was in the
nature of an excretion, an undesirable product from which the
flower must free itself.

In 1682 Nehemias Grew astounded the savants of that day by
the announcement of the fact, well substantiated by examples,
that the pollen was the means of insuring the fertilization of
the flower, and that unless it reached the stigma, no seed could
be produced. In the general controversy that followed the
announcement of Grew's discovery, much valuable energy was
wasted in argument, and not until some fifty years later did
the fact became firmly established and generally accepted. The
work of Linnseus at this time, covering a large number of inves-
tigations, removed all doubt as to the function of pollen. But
even the great Linnseus, "father of natural history," though he
was, seems to have been in error as to the method by which fer-
tilization took place. He appears to have believed that the
stamens grew up over the pistil, and at the right moment dis-
charged their golden load upon the waiting stigma — all of
which was ingenious, but not altogether correct.

no STATD POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Late in the i8th century, Christian Conrad Sprengel, a Ger-
man scientist, given as much to reflection as to observation^
found that there were hundreds of cases to which the Linnsean
hypothesis would not apply. In many flowers where the sta-
mens and pistils matured at the same time, the two sets of
organs were separated by notable intervals of space across which
the pollen could not pass unassisted. After long study he
announced his startling discovery that flowers are fertilized by
insects, that insects in seeking the nectar, brush off the pollen
and convey it to the stigma. While this author was thus the
first to call attention to the role of insects in fertilizing flowers,
yet other students were quick to note its importance and to
find that there were many problems in plant fertilization to
which Sprengel's explanation could not be satisfactorily applied.
In some blossoms the anthers ripened and discharged pollen
days before the pistils matured. In others the pistils were fully
developed and the stigmas wide open days in advance of the
maturity of the anthers. These obvious difficulties were sufficient
to prevent the general adoption of Sprengel's ideas, and his work
became forgotten in the 70 years that elapsed before the era
of Darwin's labors in this field. The master-mind of Charles
Darwin at once grasped the contradictory conditions which had
seemed to refute Sprengel's theory, and drawing as it were a
bee line between the flower with mature stamens and the
one with mature pistils, he cleared up the mystery and enunciated
that great law, "Nature abhors perpetual self-fertilization."
Farther than that, he showed that flowers generally were
adapted to secure cross-fertilization by aid of insects either
through a difference in the time of ripening of the essential
organs, or through the development of special structures.

For this work of cross-fertilization, nature has provided the
most wondrous mechanisms, many of which we may study and
admire with a minimum amount of effort. They may be found
in every orchard ; they may be studied in every pasture ; every
woodland exhibits them ; and each garden spot numbers them
by the score. Their novelty attracts, instructs and delights,
and the more they are studied, the greater becomes our admira-
tion and the stronger the spell of their witchery over our senses.

To appeal to the varying fancies of insects, the delights of
color, odor or flavor are most lavishly offered. Housewives

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II/

know the force of the aphorism, "the way to a man's heart is
through his stomach," and the same rule governs the wooing of
the flowers. Nectar, the chief ingredient from which honey is
made, is the principal offering of the flower to its winged suitors,
but this liquid sweetness is usually presented in such a man-
ner as to cause the insect to participate unintentionally in the
consummation of the flower's existence.

And here it may be well to emphasize the great value of the
honev bee as an agent in cross-fertilizing flowers. Probably no
insect seeks nectar with more avidity or greater zeal, and none
is more useful to man. Bee-keeping does not receive the atten-
tion it deserves among our farmers and gardeners. A hive of
bees is just as necessary on the general farm and will yield as
good returns in proportion to the investment, as a span of
horses or a good milch cow. Herman Miiller, who, next to
Darwin, has done as' much as any single writer to familiarize us
with the services of insects in fertilizing flowers, has recorded
that of I, GOO insect visitors to flowers there were bees, 413 ; flies,
305 ; beetles, 89 ; butterflies and moths, 69, the remainder being
divided among the other order of insects. The importance of
bees in this work of cross-fertilization leads me to mention a
modern danger to the apiary, viz., the use of arsenical sprays
on fruit trees in bloom. Bees in gathering nectar from flowers
freshly sprayed become poisoned, and, worse yet, feed the poi-
sonous honey to their young in the brood cells, with fatal results.
In many states, laws carrying severe penalties have been enacted
to prevent the practice of spraying trees while in blossom. No
one except the ignorant or malicious would spray a tree with
poisonous insecticides at this time. Spraying is obviously done
to prevent insect damage, and I do not recall a single insect
whose treatment requires that spraying should be done while
the trees are in bloom. Where malice prompts such an action
the enforcement of a law on the subject might have a salutary
effect ; otherwise an educational campaign is all that is needed.

[The adaptations of flowers for securing cross-fertilization
were then described in detail. The structure of flowers char-
acteristic of the Rosacea", Ericacecr, Labiatcc and Orchid-
acecc, was shown by colored charts and the different stages of
cross-fertilization illustrated and explained. Turning from meth-

9

ii8 state; pomologicai^ society.

bds and details, some of the practical results of insect agencies
in cross-fertilization were then considered.]

These are best seen in cases where a plant is transferred from
its native environment to a new one. The early settlers of Aus-
tralia, finding the soil suitable for the cultivation of clover, soon
sent for clover seed and grew a splendid crop — for one year
only. Similar experiments elsewhere in that country gave
results equally unsatisfactory, and it was not until the bumble-
bee, the chief agent in fertilizing clover, was introduced that
this crop was successfully cultivated.

In southern California there is an extensive area well fitted
by climate and soil for the growth of figs. Many successful
introductions of fig trees have been made, but in the past it has
been impossible to obtain a crop of figs except by the laborious
method of securing the cross-fertilization by hand labor. Even
then the figs were inferior in size and quality. The peculiar
flavor of the fig is due to the seeds it contains. The fewer the
seeds, the poorer the flavor. Experts sent abroad by the United
States Department of Agriculture, found that the Smyrna fig,
the fig of commerce, was fertilized by pollen brought from the
wild Capri fig by a small insect which bred in the interior of
wild fruit, and emerging, covered with pollen, made its way
into the cultivated fruit. The introduction of these living
insects while breeding in wild figs was a task surrounded -by
many difficulties, and to the credit of the entomologist and other
agents of the Department, it should be recorded that eventually
all these difftculties were successfully overcome. Last summer^
for the first time, there were grown in California Smyrna figs,
of the best quality, fertilized by the imported Asiatic fig insect.
The far-reaching results of this undertaking are difficult to
predict, but it is certain by the successful introduction of this
little insect, a new industry has been opened to the fruit growers
of the far Southwest.

Such cases as these are more interesting because they are
unique. Of equal importance are those which we may find in
every orchard and garden. Without insect help, our fruit,
berry, nut and many of our vegetable crops would be reduced to
a minimum, and our finances, our comfort, and our health suffer
to a corresponding degree. I am not familiar with the data of
the Maine census, but in the little state of Massachusetts we

STATF, POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. II9

raise apples to the value of $765,883; pears, $159,416; straw-
berries, $404,007 ; cucumbers, $303,699 ; and cranberries, $1,038,-
712, a total of $2,671,717 worth of crops whose production is
largely dependent on insect aid.

But even the financial side of the question — which is a nar-
^row one at best — leads at once to considerations whose import-
ance cannot be measured in money. Good fruit crops on the
cranberry bog, in the garden, or in the orchard mean good food
and clothes in the farmer's house, increased comforts in the
home, and better educational facilities for the farmer's chil-
dren. Thus we are led to appreciate not only the interdepend-
ence between lower forms of life, but the important relations
of these forms to our own e:^istence and welfare. Such studies
bring us into closer and more sympathetic associations with the
whole living world. A plant or tree is no longer a semi-animate
thing ; it is a living organism, endowed with needs that must be
supplied, and with capabilities for service. The buzzing insect
is no longer an aimless, useless creature ; it is a vitalized, intel-
ligent being, with conscious and unconscious missions. In car-
ing for its own it becomes at once the servant of the plant and
the servant of man.

Such are a few of the teachings of Nature's school. A better
knowledge of animal and plant life, of that life other than our
own which is all around us, cannot but be broadening to our
interests and sympathies. It will enable us to attain to a fuller
and better and nobler standard of living. The pages of Nature's
book are always open, and in studying her teachings there is
great reward.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Wooster : Do you think cross-fertilization in strawber-
ries is brought about by bees or by the air ; that is, which is the
means by which the pistillates are cross-fertilized ?

Mr. Kirkland : In my opinion the strawberry blossoms are
dependent on insects for their fertilization. While the air takes
up the pollen and carries it about, it is likely to scatter it broad-
cast and on any other flower as well as the one to be propagated.
The bee takes the pollen from the staminate and carries it
directly to the pistillate and the fertilization is sure.

120 state; pomological, society.

Mr. Wooster: At my home there are acres of strawberry
plants all in bloom, with millions of blossoms. There are prac-
tically no bees kept in the vicinity, yet the plants thrive and
propagate freely. Must it not be the air that does the work?
We have almost no buiiible bees, and I am at a loss to see how
you can make your statement as to bees hold good in this case.
Again, I have noticed that plants set on the south side, where
the sun shines upon them and the winds are dry and warm,
propagate much better than those set on the north side where
the cold, damp winds strike them. The fertilization is surely
better where the air is dry.

Mr. Kirkeand : It is well known that insects fly about very
little in damp weather, but when the air is warm and dry and
the sun shines, then the air is full of them. This, I think, will
account for the difference in location. I said bees. I do not
mean by that word, simply the honey-bee. There are many
members of the bee family, the honey-bee, bumble-bee, tiny
boring bee, only being a few among many.

Mr. WoosTER: Is not fertilization partly due to the air?

Mr. Kirkland: Undoubtedly, yet I think I do not say too
much if I say that plants are cheifly dependent on insects for
their cross-fertilization.

D. P. True : How about apple trees ; do they also depend
upon the insect for fertilization?

Mr. Kirkland : Yes. Some years ago during the blossom-
ing season, the weather was very cold and damp, with only
brief intervals of dry weather. That year there was almost no
apple crop, due, as I believe, to the fact that insects will not fly
about in damp weather.

Mr. Wooster : Does cross-fertilization affect the seed only,
or does it also modify or change the flesh, in flavor, for instance?

Mr. Kirkeand : I would refer that cjuestion to Prof. Mun-
son.

Prof. Munson : I have never seen any change except in form.
The question of change in form and flesh by cross-fertilization
is, however, one that needs to be handled with gloves ; it is not
by any means a decided one. Though some experiments would
seem to authorize a definite statement, yet we must be careful
not to be too positive.

J

STATli POMOLOGICAI, S0CIE;TY. 121

Mr. Wooster: iMr. Kirkland's talk on the subject of fer-
tilization is especially applicable to the apple, pear and plum
trees. Now that he has told us how our friends among the
insects help us, perhaps he will tell us how to destroy our ene-
mies in that family.

Mr. D. p. True : What is the poison for the gypsy moth
which the Commission is using? I have not heard of any one in
Maine using it, and I should like to know more about it.

Mr. Kirki^and: It is certainly a pity if it is not used in
Maine, for it is very effective. We use four or five tons of the
poison every year on the gypsy moth, and get first-class results.
W^e manufacture it ourselves, using sugar of lead and arsenate
of soda. Dissolve the sugar of lead in water in a dish,
dissolve the arsenate of soda in a separate dish and pour
the two together. This gives a white precipitate, lead
arsenate ; about 1 1 parts of sugar of lead to 4 of arsenate of
soda is the proportion. This lead arsenate is very sticky, and
adheres to the leaves like death. This poison is now in the mar-
ket and can be obtained of Swift & Co., Boston, and of the Bow-
ker Fertilizer Co., of New York. They put it up in paste form in
size suitable for the small orchardist. It is best for those who
have large orchards to buy the ingredients and prepare the poi-
son themselves. Get your druggist to weigh out your lead and
sodium arsenate in packages, parts 11-4, dissolve in separate
dishes and mix. This precipitate should be dissolved in water,
proportion about one pound of lead arsenate to 10 gallons
w^ater, though we have made it one pound to four gallons water
and found it did no harm. The cost is about the same as Paris
green, but the labor is much less and the results far more satis-
factory. The lead arsenate applied in tlie spring will last until
the fall, and kill all insects coming in contact with it. Paris
green loses its eiTect after each rain and in the end does not
bring as good results and causes much more labor.
A Member: Will it injure animals?

Mr. Kirkland: No, not as a rule. Some few instances
have been known as where a cow was tethered to an apple tree
lately sprayed, and could only feed on the grass directly beneath.
The cow was sick, but did not die. I also believe on one occa-
sion, some hens died from an over-dose of lead arsenate, but
with a little care there is no fear of harm.

122 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIKTY.

PLUM CULTURE— A DISCUSSION.

R. H. LiBBY : I have been engaged for twelve vears in plum
culture in a small way, having some seventy-five trees. I have
always had a number of varieties so that cross-fertilization
might take place, and I think that essential to fruit-bearing. I
set my trees about sixteen feet apart, and they have proved
very profitable. Do not try to spray the black knot. This is
a fungous growth which comes two or three times a year and
you must cut it out. It is sometimes well to bathe the knot in
turpentine or kerosene, but the best thing to do is to watch
carefully, and as soon as you see a knot cut it 0"-t and burn it.
The orchardist ought to cut down every cherry tree he sees
with a black knot on it, for self-protection if nothing else. Clean
culture, careful attention, and good cultivation are all necessary
to successful plum growix^g.

C. S. Pope : Do not be discouraged by the black knot. The
New York Experiment Station at Cornell University says, that
by spraying with Bordeaux mixture you can hold the black
knot in check, and I have had very good results with the same
method. It forms a coating on the limb and keeps off the spores.
Any way, it is a very good plan to spray the plum tree with
Bordeaux mixture, and it is also well to add a little Paris green.
But if you see a black knot there is just one thing to do, cut
it out.

C. S. Phinney: I have for the past few years had many
plum trees, and I hope to have more. I ordered about six years
ago about ten Japanese plum trees from a dealer. He sent me
some, saying that they were not very good, and I set them out.
Four of these did well. Two years ago I set out about a hundred
trees, and to-day I have from one hundred and fifty to one
hundred and seventy-five trees, some having fruited twice, and
many not at all. I have here some shoots from a Burbank
fully budded out, from a tree which bore about $20 worth of
plums last year ; also a Wixon and an Abundance, fully budded.
The Abundance bore a very good crop in 1898, and a fair one in
1899. It is a very good plan if you have an orchard of

state: pomologicai, society, 123

young apple trees, to set your plum trees between these and
then give good cultivation to both. This can be done at a
normal cost and with little labor. I consider the Burbank the
best plum for canning, it having a nice flavor and being of good
size and texture. The Abundance is the best plum for table use,
being of exceedingly fine flavor. I have found in my experi-
ence that the New England plum is very much better flavored
than the California plum.

A Me;mber: Are your plums as large as the California
plums ?

Mr. Phinney: The Abundance can be grown to nearly
the size of the California plum if you keep your trees pruned,
but if they are allowed to thicken up the fruit is small.

A Member : What kind of soil is best for plum trees?

Mr. Phinney : I think corn soil is about as good as any.
These Japanese varieties bloom early, so must be set on high
ground to avoid early frosts. I also raise Hale and Red June. The
Hale is inclined to black knot, but by keeping pre-mises clear you
ought to avoid that. The Hale and Red June have never
fruited, with me.

A Member : Do you raise any of the European varieties, Mr.
Phinney ?

Mr. Phinney: No; I raise no European varieties. I find
the Japanese good enough for me.

J. W. True : In New Gloucester the Lombard is very well
known and used for canning to a great extent. Do you think
the Burbank better?

Mr. Phinney: I think the Burbank just as good as the
Lombard for canning, if not better.

C. S. Pope: Do not get carried away with the Japanese. I
have found the European full as hardy and just as good pro-
ducers. The Red June all died out with me, and the Burbank
and ri.bundance are the only hardy ones. If you want quality
in your fruit you must cut back your trees one-half or two-
thirds, or more. I also think that the Burbank is a good
■canning fruit. I think the blue damson superior to any of them.
It is a great seller on account of its rich color and flavor. The
Imperial, Gage, Reine Claude and McLaughlin are also very
fine varieties. All stone fruits should be grafted in the early

124 STATU POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY.

spring before the frost comes out. Either form of grafting,
cleft grafting or spHce, can be used with good success.

D. P. Trui5 : Twenty-five years ago I started in on plum
culture on quite an extensive scale, having about one hundred
and fifty trees. From these the best year I ever had I raised
only forty bushels. I believe that is because I let the trees get
too thick and large and did not prune them as I ought. One
day I discovered a black knot, and soon my entire orchard was
affected, and I had to cut down every tree I had. I found the
Lombard very susceptible to black knot. I also consider the
Burbank very good for canning.

R. H. LiBBY : It is an absolute necessity to prune your trees
and reduce your fruit. If your trees are too heavily loaded
they are sure to die.

Prof. Munson : Keep your trees cut back within a reason-
able limit, as this is for the best interests of the tree. Produce
your fruit near the body of the tree and take the weight from
the ends of the limbs, as the wood of the plum tree is brittle and
overloading will break it down.

J. W. True;: How can you kill the black knot?

Prop*. Munson : The black knot is a fungous growth. The
vegetative part of the fungvis is within the knot, eating away
the fibre of the tree, the "knot" being simply the fruiting por-
tion. You must cut it out as soon as it appears. Do not let
the limb stay, because it is loaded with fruit, but cut it ofif and
save your orchard.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 125

TILLAGE AND PRUNING IN THE ORCHARD.*
Prof. W. M. Munson, Orono.

The subject of tillage is so commonplace that one seldom
thinks of it as having had a history, as being the result of a
slow process of evolution. Doubtless the principal reason that
most persons would give for tillage, if asked for a reason,
would be that they are obliged to do it to secure a living. To
till the soil would seem to be the simplest and dullest thing in
the world. The simple guiding of the plow, or following of the
harrow, or it may be "the man with the hoe," is brought to
mind. If viewed only as labor, to be most quickly and easily
disposed of, this conception of tillage is a natural one; the
work must be done because in some way plants thrive best
when it is done.

From the earliest times tillage has been a mere necessity,
forced upon the husbandman by natural conditions. The first
step in its evolution was doubtless the breaking of the earth to
get in the seed; the second was the removal of other plants
(weeds) which interfered; the third was the stirring of the soil
in harvesting certain crops. In course of time men began to
realize that there was something in the practice which aids the
growth of plants, wholly aside from the lessening of the con-
flict with weeds. Not until the last century, how^ever, was there
any serious attempt to discover the reason for the beneficial
effect observed. Jethro Tull. in advocating his horse-hoeing
husbandry, while misapprehending the reason for beneficial
efifect, did a grand work in inducing farmers to till for the sake
of tillage.

The immediate efifect of tillage is to ameliorate and modify the
soil itself. Its secondary and most important effects are directly
concerned with the plant. Food materials are set free ; the
process of nitrification is promoted ; the capillarity of the sur-
face soil is lessened, and thereby moisture is conserved.

*Tbe two operations here discussed are among the most important in tlie man-
agement of orchards. Those interested in a fuller discussion of the subject will
do well to study Roberts' Fertility of the Land, and Bailey's Principles of Fruit-
growing, from both of which 1 have drawn freely.— \V. M. M.

120 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Now the soil is a vast storehouse of plant food, and the first
effort of the husbandman should be to make this store available
to plants.

In discussing the culture of any class of plants it is import-
ant to consider just how the processes of nutrition are carried on,
that we may know the reason for the operations performed
and the effect likely to be produced by any given operation.
A plant derives the greater portion of its food from the soil in
the shape of soluble inorganic materials. These materials ascend
to the leaves, through the young wood, and then, by the action
of sunlight, become changed into organized compounds like
starch, sugar, etc. These organized compounds are used in
the repair and growth of all parts of the plant, and they are
therefore distributed to the leaves, twigs, trunk and roots. The
growth of the roots is, therefore, largely determined by the
amount and vigor of the leaf-bearing surface, while the latter
is also dependent on the ability of the roots to secure the neces-
sary inorganic elements.

For practical purposes the benefits of tillage may be con-
cisely given under three general heads, viz. :

(a) Tillage improves the physical conditions of the soil.

(b) Tillage conserves moisture.

(c) Tillage may augment chemical activities.

The phvsical condition of soil is nearly always of more
importance than mere richness in plant food. Particularly is
this the case with such lands as remain hard or lumpy if left
to themselves. The chemical composition of a soil is not neces-
sarily a measure of productive capacity, since plant food is
of no consequence, unless the plant can make use of it.
Every farmer knows that hard and lumpy soil will
not grow good crops, no matter how much fertilizer he may
apply, and there is no doubt that the number of "worn-out"
farms in New England is much smaller than is generally sup-
posed. Any clay soil may be so injured by one season's inju-
dicious treatment as to render it comparatively worthless for
several succeeding years. It is useless to apply commercial
fertilizers to lands which are not in proper physical condition
for the best growth of crops. The average New England hillside
contains a sufficient amount of food material, and tillage, by
improving the texture of the soil, is the key which is to unlock

STATU POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 12/

this Store. More than two hundred years ago, Samuel Hartlib
wrote, "Men take him for a fool or a madman that, having
store of wealth in his trunk, doth yet complain of want. What
though the key be rusty for want of use? 'tis easier to get that
scoured than to obtain such another treasure."

By fining the soil and thus increasing the feeding surface of
the roots ; by increasing the depth and thus giving a greater
foraging area ; by warming and drying the soil in spring ; and
by reducing the extremes of temperature and moisture, the physi-
cal condition will be rendered best for the tmlocking of the
treasure.

As already stated, the food materials must be in solution in
order to be of use in building up plant tissue. Now the amount
of water which falls during the growing season is entirely inad-
equate to the growth of plants during that time. For this reason
it is important that the water holding capacity of the soil be
increased as much as possible, and that some means of checking
evaporation be adopted. Both of these conditions are best
brought about by tillage.

Naturally those soils which are most open and most porous,
w^hich contain the largest number of spaces between the parti-
cles, will retain the moisture to the best advantage, and will
give the best opportunity for the roots of plants to penetrate
them and take up the moisture there stored, — in the same way
that a sponge will take up a larger amount of water than will
a block of wood. By deep plowing and thorough w^orking,
and the addition of organic matter, this spongy condition desired
i.s obtained.

The effect of an old board, or a log or a stone wall in encour-
aging the growth or "-rass or weeds along tne roadside is familiar
to all. The reason for this is that the moisture underneath
this board, or stone w^all. is unable to escape, except as it is
pumped out by means of the roots of the plants. The grass
in the open field is dwarfed and stunted because of the exces-
sive number of plants crowding one another in the struggle for
existence, and the fact that there is nothing to hold the moisture
accumulated in the soil. So, in addition to the contmual pump-
ing by the plant, there is constant evaporation from the surface
of the soil. In order that the best results be obtained, some
means must be devised to ^^beck this evaporation, and there is

12t- STATU POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

no better way than by breaking the capillary pores near the sur-
face by frequent, shallow cultivation ; in other words, by provid-
ing a blanket of fine, dry earth. The blanket of fine earth will
serve the same purpose in holding the moisture back, as will the
board, or stone wall already referred to. Now if we are growing
corn, or potatoes, or any other hoed crop, we wish this particular
crop to serve as the medium for taking up the food and moisture
stored in the soil. The presence of weeds in a given area is
pernicious, not so much because of the crowding of the plants
that we are growing, although this is a serious drawback, as it
is an indication that the blanket of earth referred to is lacking
and, consequently, that the moisture which we should conserve
is being carried to the surface by capillary attraction and dissi-
pated in the atmosphere.

The value of tillage in aiding chemical processes is recognized
by all. By warming the soil and admitting oxygen, the decom-
position of organic matter is hastened, plant food is set free,
and nitrification is promoted. The simple statement of these
facts is, perhaps, sufficient at this time.

Now that we have come to understand why the stirring of
the soil makes plants thrive, the feeling of drudgery in tilling
the land is lost, and the operation becomes one of the most
important and suggestive of all farming operations. We rec-
ognize the fact that we must till for tillage's sake ; that the pur-
pose of tillage is not simply to kill weeds, but is rather to con-
serve moisture, pulverize the soil, and destroy the conditions
favorable to the presence of insects and other enemies.

In the management of orchard lands it is not so much a
question how the tillage shall be performed, as that it be given.
Many of our best orchard lands are so situated that ordinary
tillage by means of the plow and harrow are utterly impractica-
ble. In such cases the use of hogs is to be highly commended.
I am aware, in touching upon this subject, that I am treading
upon dangerous ground, but from practical observation, I am
convinced that the hog may often be used with excellent results
upon orchards which have reached a bearing age. The practice
in this case would be to use shoats rather than hogs a year or
more old. If six or eight hogs are put in an enclosure of about
an acre, if not too highly fed, they will, during the season.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I29

pulverize the soil as completely as could be done with plow and
harrow, and will, in addition, serve an important purpose in
destroying fruit infested with noxious insects.

PRUNING.

One of the most important characteristics of any plant is the
fact that its various parts are unlike ; that each branch is, in a
measure, independent and capable of becoming a new individual.
On this fact rests the philosophy of the pruning of plants.

There is an intense struggle for existence among all organisms,
and changes in the numbers and characters of individuals are
largely a matter of environment and of readjustment between
different types. Each kind is held down to a certain equilib-
rium in relation to other kinds by the struggle with those kinds
and with individuals of the same kind. The greater the number
of pigweeds in a given field, the less is the opportunity for
another pigweed to gain foothold. Ihe same is true of the
strawberry or anv other plant of value to man.

Now a tree is essentially a collection or colony of individuals.
Every branch is endeavoring to do what every other branch
does — i. e., to bear leaves, flowers and fruit. So every branch
competes with every other branch, and there are more germs
of branches — buds — than can possibly be supported upon any
tree. As with individual plants, so with branches — no two are
exactly alike, but each is what its position or condition makes it.
Some are strong and some are weak. There is no fixed shape
or size for any.

Granting this position, we see that there is a struggle among
the branches ; all are not necessary to the life of the tree ; the
removal of the useless ones will serve to the improvement of the
remaining ones. In other words, pruning is a necessity.

It is commonly asserted that cutting off a large limb is injuri-
ous because a given amovmt of tissue, in the formation of which
the plant has expended effort, is thus summarily cut off. In
other words, it is assumed that a plant has a fixed vitality from
which a certain amount is withdrawn wlienever a portion of the
plant is cut away. This assumption is wholly gratuitous. The
vitalitv of the plant is very largely determined by the conditions
under which it grows — the soil, the surroundings and the treat-

130 state; pomologicaIv society.

ment. Furthermore, since plants have no nerves, they cannot die
of shock, as is sometimes alleged. If the plant is largely what
its food supply and other environments make it, then the removal
of a portion of it cannot be injurious unless the removal is so
great as to interfere with the nutrition of the remaining parts,
as already explained.

It is often urged that pruning should be commenced when
the tree is planted and continued annually throughout the life
of the tree. It may be a question, however, if we really save a
proportionate amount of time, or preserve a better growth of the
tree, by early pruning; that is, whether equally good or better
results may not be obtained by removing superfluous branches
at four, five, or six years of age, rather than by pruning very
early in the lifetime of the tree. As already suggested, there
is an exact balance between the feeding capacity of the plant —
that is, its root system and food supply — and the superficial
growth. If we have an active, efficient root system, the top will
be correspondingly large. If now, a large part of the top is
remo\^ed, there is an endeavor to restore the balance by an
tmusually rapid growth. Pruned plants are almost always more
vigorous than unpruned ones because the food taken up by the
roots is concentrated into a smaller number of branches. Prun-
ing must, in a measure, then, have taken the same effect as
manuring, since the stimulating effect of the new growth must
be felt upon the root system also.

Let us take a concrete example, recorded by Bailey* :
"Two Siberian crab trees were set in the spring of
1890. The trees were as nearly alike as possible and
set but 25 feet apart. In 1891, the trees made nearly
a uniform growth. During the winter one of the trees
was severely pruned, the pruning amounting to 460 inches of
wood, of which 432 inches was new wood. The other tree was
not pruned. During 1892 the unpruned tree produced 118 new
twigs with a total length of 1,758 inches, while the pruned tree
produced 120 new twigs and made a total growth of 1,926
inches. The pruned tree, therefore, made 14 feet more growth
than the other, which is a large proportion for a tree only three
years set ; and the growth was stouter upon this tree also. In

* Pruning-Book, p. 15.

STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY, I3I

other words, a tree from which about forty feet of branches had
been cut bore, at the end of a single season, fourteen feet more
wood than a similar tree which had not been pruned."

Of all the operations connected with the growing of trees and
shrubs, pruning and training, bring the person into closest con-
tact and sympathy with the plant. The true lover of plant life
shapes and cares for his plants as thoughtfully and works out
his ideals as carefully as he would train and guide a child, and
the man who cannot feel this sympathetic contact w4th his plants
is the one who uses an axe in pruning.

It is astonishing, however, to find how little the average
orchardist thinks of the actual problems at issue with pruning
of his trees. To treat even a few of these problems exhaustively
would require much more time than can be given to the subject
on this occasion. A few important points suggest themselves
for discussion, however. As has already been seen, an important
effect of pruning is to increase vigor. Pruning is also practised
to produce larger and better fruits and flowers ; to keep the plant
within manageable limits ; to remove superfluous or injurious
parts ; to facilitate spraying, tillage and harvesting ; to train the
plant to some desired form.

One of the noticeable effects of severe pruning and the conse-
quent disturbed equilibrium of the plant is the formation of
water sprouts. The appearance of the water sprouts seems to
be influenced more by the vigor of the plant and the amount of
pruning than by the season of the year in which the pruning is
done. It is probable, however, that fewer water sprouts will
arise if pruning is done after midsummer, since at that time the
growth of the season is completed. In any case, water sprouts
may be regarded as weeds in the tree top and should be treated
as such.

The tendency of plants is to grow from the uppermost buds.
By pruning in one way this tendency is augumented,in another it
is checked. As a rule, in dealing with fruit trees, the latter end is
desired, since the principle that checking growth induces fruit full-
ness is universally recognized. The heading in of young growths
tends to develop lateral and dormant buds or to thicken the top.
So that the question of heading resolves itself into a question
of personal ideals. To secure a thick topped tree it is necessary.

132 STATE POMOIvOGICAI, SOCIETY.

It has, however, the further very marked advantag-e of inducing
the development of fruit buds near the body of the tree rather
than far out on tlie limbs. This, in the case of pkmis and tender
wooded plants, is an important consideration.

Fruit bearing is determined more by habitual performance and
by the condition of the plant than by the kind or extent of prun-
ing. In other words, it is to a certain extent an individual char-
acteristic. Pruning may, however, be made a means of thinning
the fruit and thus improving both the size and quality of that
which remains, by removing shoots upon which fruit-buds are
borne.

But here it is important that the operator knows the manner in
which the plant bears its flower-buds. Heading back the annual
growth thins peaches, quince, raspberries, blackberries, black
currants, and to a certain extent, red and white currants and
grapes, all of which develop flower-buds on the wood of the last
season. With the apple and pear, of course older limbs must
be removed.

Pruning, by thinning the fruit, may have a very important,
though indirect effect in controlling the bearing year of many
plants. If an individual fruit spur be carefully studied, it will
be seen that there is usually an alteration in fruit bearing for
the reason that the demands made by the fruit are so great that
a fruit-bud cannot develop the same year. So in the bearing
year, a leaf-bud develops to continue the spur the following
year; and this following or barren year, a fruit-bud is devel-
oped for the succeeding year. Alternate years fruit bearing
is then largely a question of food supply. If we wish to make
a tree bear every year, it is necessary either to supply more food
material, or to remove a portion of the fruit.

Since in large fruits one spur bears one fruit, the alternate
bearing of individual spurs will continue and it will be neces-
sary to remove all of the fruit from individual spurs, thereby
allowing a portion of the spurs to bear one year and others the
next. It is doubtful, however, if any amount of thinning can
produce an annual bearing habit unless the trees receive other
necessary good care. It is probable that the better course to
pursue in attempting to get fruit every year, is to change the
bearing year of entire plants through a part of the orchard and

state; pomologicai. society. 133

allow these to bear one year and others the next year. It is not
to be understood that these results will always follow, but the
tendency is in the direction indicated.

The season in which pruning is done has some influence on
fruit bearing since winter pruning tends to produce wood, while
summer pruning does not. The healing of the wound is, how-
ever, but slightly affected by the season in which the cut is made.
Theoretically, the best time to make the cut, so far as healing
is concerned, is in the early part of the season, since the healing
process then begins without delay. Other factors, such as the
general vigor of the plant, the position of the branch, the length
of the stump and the character of the surface, are chiefly con-
cerned in this matter. It may not be out of place, in this con-
nection to refer for a moment to the treatment of large wounds,
when it is necessary to make such.

As to the manner of making the cut, the rule laid down by
Prof. Sargent is perhaps as clearly stated as possible: "It is
necessary to prune in such a manner that no portion of an ampu-
tated or dead branch shall be left upon the trunk. The cut
should always be made close to and even with the outline of the
trunk, without regard to the size of the wound thus made. This
is the essential rule in all pruning, and on its observance the
success of the operation depends."

Wounds of any considerable size should be given a coating of
paint or some other durable substance. A suitable dressing
must possess two distinct properties. It must check the weath-
ering of the wound and prevent the growth of bacteria and
fungi, and it must be of such a nature as not to injure the sur-
rounding bark. The dressing is of no value in the healing of
the wound, except as it prevents decay. For general purposes,
a white lead paint is most satisfactory. It is an antiseptic, and
it adheres closely to the wood. Wax, shellac, tallow, etc., are
lacking in both respects. Bordeaux mixture would be an admir-
able material for this purpose if it were more durable.

It is often said that all pruning should be done with a pocket
knife. In other words that the pruning should be so carefully
looked after that the removal of large branches would not be
necessary. Theoretically this may be true, but practically such
close attention cannot be given, and it is often impossible to tell
10

134 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

which branches should be removed until they have reached con-
siderable size. The most essential pruning tools are a good
strong knife, hand shears and a narrow saw. Various modifica-
tions of these tools' are offered, but simplicity is usually to be
desired.

To summarize : Modern ideas and practice of tillage are the
product of a gradual process of evolution. The beneficial effects
are undeniable, and are manifested in an improved physical condi-
tion of the soil. In the conservation of moisture, and in the
augmenting of chemical activities, in the management of orchard
lands, the fact that tillage is practiced is more important than the
method employed.

The philosophy of pruning rests upon the fact that each branch
of a plant is, in a measure, independent, and that there is never
competition between these members. Pruning is not injurious
per se, and is often of great benefit, but damage often results
from the careless or injudicious use of the knife. Fruit bearing,
while to a certain extent an individual characteristic, may be
greatly modified by judicious pruning and thinning.

The season at which pruning is performed is of less import-
ance than is the manner of making the cut and the treatment of
the wound.

DISCUSSION.

C. S. Phinney: In the case of propping up limbs heavily
laden with fruit, does the bending of the limb injure the vitality
of the tree?

Prof. MuNSON : Yes, the twisting of the wood undoubtedly
checks the growth of the tree. There is no doubt that we seri-
ously abuse our orchards by permitting them to bear such loads
of fruit. We do not thin the fruit sufficiently. I should say
thin the fruit rather than prop the trees.

Mr. PhinnEy: Then you think that the propping checks the
growth of the tree ?

Prof. MuNSON : Yes, the twisting of the limbs will tend to
this. I may say that twisting of limbs is a method sometimes
employed to throw trees into bearing; it checks the growth.
The great object of nature is to perpetuate the kind. If a plant
is crowded it always has a tendency to produce seeds, to per-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1 35

petuate itself. Girdling the limbs and pruning the roots also
tend to check the leaf-buds and increase the fruit-buds.

L. GuRNEY : I should like to ask Prof. Munson if he thinks
that it is a good idea to make trees bear every year?

Prof. MuNSON : If your trees are of the annual bearing kind
you can make them bear every year. By proper feeding and
pruning you ought to make any tree bear.

Mr. Gurney: If you work your tree every day it cannot
live as long, can it, any more than a man ?

Prof. Munson: True, but we can get more out of it while
it does live. So in the case of man ; we live faster while we do
live than did our ancestors, but not so long.

T. M. Merrill : I should like to ask the professor at what
age he would advise setting trees from the bud ?

Prof. MuNSON : Two years is about right, I should say.

Mr. Merrill: Should you wait two or three years before
trimming out your young trees after setting?

Prof. MuNSON : I should trim at time of setting.

Mr. Merrill : Should you trim to a whip ?

Prof. MuNSON : Not in the case of apple trees, leave two or
three branches, or at least stubs, to increase leaf surface so as to
strengthen the root system of the tree.

Mr. Merrill: I have had the best success in trimming my
trees to a whip, cutting off all branches, clipping off the tops
wherever I can find three buds, and leaving a good spur to be
removed later. I always like to have three buds running out
at dift'erent angles and to leave a good spur above, so when this
withers down it will not kill the buds ; the spur should be two
or three inches long. This makes a good head and I have had
good success with it.

E. W. Wooster: What do you think of the necessity of
pruning the trees so as to present the most surface to the sun ?

Prof. MuNSON : Serious damage has often resulted from this
mode of pruning, as it allows too open a head, and trees are
injured by sun-scald. It is well to leave small branches in the
body of the tree. Do not trim large branches to a whip but
leave the twigs to shade the branches.

A Member : In setting trees, is it a good plan to remove all
the roots?

136 STATS POMOLOGICAIv SOCIETY.

Prof. MuNSON : I do not consider this practice best in New
England. I think it has not been tried here to any extent. The
method has been followed in the South with very good results.
We need more surface from which roots shall start out, here in
New England, so I favor leaving the young roots.

Mr. Merrill: Mr. Phinney has had practical experience in
reclaiming old orchards and I should like to hear from him.

Mr. Phinney: I bought in the spring of 1891 an old
orchard of about two hundred trees which were set out about
twenty-five years ago. Of these about a hundred and twenty-
five were what you might call fair trees, the rest were past
redemption. The previous owners of the orchard had never
got more than forty barrels of apples a year from them and
thought that no more could be got. That spring of 1891, I
pruned all the trees, ploughed up the ground, and planted a crop
of potatoes, using fertilizer liberally. The next year I sold four
hundred dollars' worth of apples from this orchard. I have cul-
tivated the orchard every year, except one; that year I let the
grass grow, then turned the sod under. I have used a commer-
cial fertilizer every year and pruned moderately. My fertilizer
is made up of about 3% ammonia, 8-10% phosphoric acid,
10-12% potash in the form of muriate. I give to every tree 10
to 20 pounds of fertilizer every other year, depending, of course,
on the size of the tree. In 1898 I planted a crop of potatoes in
among the trees, not for the potatoes I might get, but to culti-
vate the trees. In 1899 I did not plough, but cultivated with a
spring-tooth harrow, about ten times, I should think There
has never been a year but what I have got a fair crop, this year
I believe I got two hundred and seventy-four barrels.

A Member: How did you apply your fertilizer and what
is the cost ?

Mr. Phinney: I sow my fertilizer broadcast. It costs
about a cent and four-fifths a pound. Or $28 a ton.

A Member : Do you spray your trees ?

Mr. Phinney: Yes, I have sprayed every year with Bor-
deaux mixture and Paris green and have had no trouble from
insects. I do not believe there is the least need of being troubled
by the caterpillar.

Mr. Merrill: How long did it take you to get your trees
into shape by pruning?

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1 37

Mr. PhinnEy : I cannot say that I feel entirely satisfied with
them now. I think it very essential to remove the tops, espe-
cially of the Northern Spies. This should be done gradually.

Mr. MerriIvIv: Did I understand Prof. Munson to say that
one should not prune with an axe?

Prof. Munson : I do not know that I did ray so, but I do
say so now. Use a saw, .then you are not so likely to do harm
to the tree. Make two cuts, one at least a foot from the trunk,
then one close to the trunk. This will prevent splitting.

PEAR CULTURE— A DISCUSSION.

D. P. True : Bartlett pears have not been raised successfully
here.

Iv. GuRNEY : I raise good Bartletts.

Prof. Munson : You must be on high ground.

Mr. Gurney: How about the Lawrence? I have raised
some fine Lawrences and think them a good winter pear.

D. P. True : Some like the Lawrence and in certain localities
it does very well. The only two winter pears which I have
found any good, however, are the Beurre de Anjou and Vicar
of Winkfield. These I have had great success with and know,
in my experience, are the best.

C. S. Phinney: What kind of soil is best for pear trees, the
same as for apple trees, rocky soil, or clayey soil ?

D. P. True : I should say the rocky soil would be the best.
J. W. True : Have you had much success with the Flemish

Beauty ?

D. P. True: I have had a few trees and raised some fine
fruit.

J. W. True : Has spraying prevented cracking, in this
variety ?

D. P. True : I sprayed my Flemish Beauties in the spring
and had no cracks. I can't say whether the result was due to
spraying or not.

J. W. True: Did the Flemish Beauties russet?

D. P. True : No, they were fair and red-cheeked.

E. W. WoosTER : Were you ever troubled with pear blight ;
that is, about June have your trees turn brown, then black,
then died altogether ?

138 state; pomological society.

D. p. True : Yes, and I have found that, as a rule, there is
no help for it. If it only attacks a limb, cut off your limb and
burn it. However, I have had many beautiful trees blight and
I laid it to too much animal manure.

Mr. Wooster : I sent to Rochester some years ago and got
quite a number of pear trees, dwarfs and standards, Clapp's
Favorite and Sheldon and six trees of a variety I don't know
what. These six trees have borne about ten pears which are
striped like a Bartlett. The trees all blossom well but the blos-
soms fall and they don't bear. The trees are thrifty and appar-
ently hardy, they grow different from any trees I ever saw.
The limbs grow in a sort of a curled up shape instead of straight.
I should like to know what variety the tree is and the cause of
its not bearing.

D. P. True: I can't tell you the variety, but I should advise
your using the trees for stock and graft to some other variety.

Mr. WoosTER : I also have some Clapp's Favorites and
Flemish Beauties which I can't do a thing with. They bear
fruit about as big as your thumb and hard as a rock. Over in
Sullivan, at the same latitude and in the same kind of soil, these
varieties do well.

Prof. MuNSON : You must watch and spray. Evidently the
pear scab has attacked your trees. You can also prevent blight-
ing and cracking by spraying with the Bordeaux mixture. I
call to mind an article I read some little time ago, saying that
the Anjou could not be grown in New England. Mr. Libby
has shown the fallacy of that statement for he grows very fine
trees and says he thinks them the best winter pear.

Mr. Gurney: I raise the Duchess and think that a pretty
good pear.

D. P. True: That is a fall pear, I believe, ripening in the
middle of October and will keep till some time in November.

Mr. Wooster : What shall I graft those trees of mine to ?

Mr. Gurney : Try the Sheldon.

Mr. Wooster : The Sheldon won't grow where I live.

D. P. True: I would advise your looking around among"
your neighbors and finding some variety that has proved a
success.

APPEl^DIX.

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

Note. — Any errors or changes of residence should be promptly reported to the
Secretary. Members will also confer a favor by furnishing the Secretary with
their full Christian names where initials only are given.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Andrews, A. Emery Gardiner

Andrews, Charles E Auburn

Arnold, C. A Arnold

Atherton, Wm. P Hallowell

Atkins, Charles G Bucksport

Atwood, Fred Winterport

Averill, David C Temple

Hanscom, John Saco

Harris, N. W Auburn

Harris, William M Auburn

Harvey, F. L Orono

Hobbs. M. Curtis West Farmington

Hoxie, James S North Faiiileld

Hoyt, Mrs. Francis Winthrop

Bailey, W. G Freeport Jackson, F. A o Winthrop

Bennoch, John E Orono

Bickford, Lewis I Dixmont Centre

Bisbee, George E Auburn

Blanchard, Mrs. E. M Lewiston

Boardman, Samuel L Augusta

Briggs, John Turner

Burr, John Freeport

Butler, Alonzo; Union

Chandler, Mrs. Lucy A Freeport

Chase, Henry M.,103 Federal St., Portland

Chase, Martin V. B Augusta

*Cole, Horatio G Boston, Mass

Corbett, Herman Farmington

Crafts, Moses Auburn

Crowell, John H Farmington

Cummings, Mrs. Anthony Auburn

Dana, Woodbury S Portland

Dawes, S. H .Harrison

DeRocher, Peter Bradentown, Fla

Dirwanger, Joseph A Portland

Dunham, W. W North Paris

Dyer, Milton Cape Elizabeth

Emerson, Charles L South Turner

Farnsworth, B. B Portland

Frost, Oscar F Monmouth

Gardiner, Robert H Boston, Mass

George, C. H Hebron

Gilbert, Z. A North Greene

Goddard, Lewis C Woodfords

Grover, Franklin D Bean

Gurney, Lemuel Hebron

Hackett, E. C West Gloucester

Hall, Mrs. H. A Brewer

Johnson, Isaac A Auburn

Keene, Charles S Turner

Knowlton, D. H Farmington

Lapham, E. A Pittston

Litchfield, J. H Auburn

Lombard, Thurston M Auburn

Luce, Willis A South Union

McLaughlin, Henry Bangor

McManus, John Brunswick

Merrill, T. M West Gloucester

Mitchell, Frederick H Turner

Moody, Charles H Turner

3Ioore, William G Monmouth

Moor, F. A Waterville

Morton, J. A Bethel

Page, F. W Augusta

Parsons, Howard G Turner Center

Perley, Chas. I Cross Hill

Pope, Charles S Manchester

Prince, Edward M West Farmington

Pulsifer, D. W Poland

Purington, E. F West Farmington

Richards, John T ....Gardiner

Ricker, A . S Turner

Roak, George M Auburn

Robinson, Henry A Foxcroft

*Rolfe, Samuel Portland

Sanborn, Miss G. P Augusta

Sawyer, Andrew S Cape Elizabeth

Sawyer, George B Wiscasset

Simmons, H. J. A .....Waldoboro

Skillings, C. W North Auburn

Smith, Henry S Monmouth

•^Deceased.

142

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

LIFE MEMBERS— Concluded.

Snow, Mary S Bangor

Starrett, L. F Warren

Stetson, Henry Auburn

♦Stanley, Charles Winthrop

Stanley, O. E Winthrop

Stilphen, Asbury C Gardiner

Strout, S. F West Falmouth

Taylor, Miss L. L., (Lakeside) Belgrade

Thomas, William W., Jr Portland

Thomas, D. S North Aubuni

Thurston, Edwin West Farmington

Tilton, Williams Boston, Mass

Townsend, Mrs. B. T Freeport

True, Davis P Leeds Center

True, John W New Gloucester

Vickery, James Portland

Vickery, John Auburn

Wade, Patrick Portland

Walker, Charles S Peru

Walker, Elmer V Oxford

VVaterman, Willard H East Auburn

W^heeler, Charles E Chestcrville

Whitney, Edward K Harrison

* Woodman, George W Portland

Yeaton, Samuel F West Farmington

ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1898.

Abbott, L. F Lewiston Macomber, Arthur C North Jay

Beal, Lewis Skowhegan McKeen, B. Walker Augusta

Beal, S. H Skowhegan Munson, W. M Orono

Benson, Mrs. G. S Skowhegan Niles, Silas H North Jay

Burr, Perez Freeport Nowell, F. E Fairfield

Churchill, E. P Hallowell Paine, Mrs. E. E Jay

Cook, Elijah Vassalboro Shepard, L. G Orono

Crowell, Mrs. E. H Skowhegan Tarr, Edward Castle Hill

Dudley, J. W Castle Hill Titcomb, B. M Farmington

Eaton, Anna A Augusta Toothaker, L. P Simpson's Corner

Jewett, Frank W Hallowell Wallis, Belle Brewer

Kyes, Mrs. R. W North Jay Young, Bert L Augusta

Litchfield, L. K Winthrop

ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1899.

Abbott, L. F Lewiston

Cook, Elijah Vassalboro

Cook, Mrs. Sarah F Vassalboro

Cook, Miss Eva li Vassalboro

Davis, F Newport

Deering, Mrs. R. A Newport

Eastman, A. A Dexter

Folsom, O. A Palmyra

Grant, Mrs. Alice Newport

Leland, Will E East Sangerville

* Deceased.

Libbey, R. H Newport

Libbey , Mrs. Clara M Newport

Marsh, Mrs. J. B Newport

Munson, W. M Orono

Nowell, F. E Fairfield

Pliinney, C. S Standish

Pope, Mrs. M. E Manchester

Sturgis, C. G Auburn

Tarr, E Mapleton

Twitchell, G. M Augusta

TREASURER'S REPORT.

CHAS. S. POPE, Treasurer, in account with Maine State Poraological Society.

1899. Dr.

Jan. 2, To cash from Treasurer 1898 $46 80

First National Bank, Farmington, interest on stock, 20 00

Farmington Water Company, interest on stock 8 00

Merchants' National Bank, Gardiner, interest on

stock 6 00

State stipend 1-000 00

life membership fees 20 00

annual membership fees 20 00

$1,120 80

1899. CR.

Junes, By paid W. M. Munson, expenses, postage, etc $19 10

E. Cook, expenses, postage, printing posters, etc 12 43

J. W. True, expenses, postage, etc " 05

Miss G. P. Sanborn, expenses 5 30

L. F. Abbott, expenses 3 39

Aug. 16. Lewiston Journal Co., letter heads and envelopes 7 50

C. S. Pope, expenses, postage, revenue stamps, etc 13 80

W. M. Munson, expenses 5 50

Nov. 17. Geo. T. Powell, expenses and services at Newport 37 67

A. E. Andrews, expenses to Augusta 1 00

E. Cook, expenses and sundries 13 55

Maine Farmer Publishing Co., printing premium lists, etc. 18 75

E. W. Smith, board of officers and speakers at Newport . . 33 50

R. H. Libbey, services and expenses 5 00

Dec. 9. E. W. Wooster, expenses attending Newport meeting 2 40

Elijah Cook, express bills and expenses at Newport 15 25

Premiums awarded at Newport 269 50

Smith & Reid, binding Transactions 1898 7 87

E. Cook, clerk hire 8 00

Chas. S. Pope, salary and expenses 34 10

Augusta Safe Deposit and Trust Co., box rent 5 00

Augusta Safe Deposit and Trust Co., to credit of perma-
nent fund 20 00

Dec. 30. Miss G. P. Sanborn 6 00

W. M. Munson, expenses to Newport and Augusta 17 35

Elijah Cook, salary 100 00

John W. True, expenses and express bills 8 15

*Cash in hands of Treasurer '^32 79

$1,120 80

* The greater part of this amount was reserved for the expenses of the winter
meeting, January 18 and 19.

144 STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY.

PERMANENT FUND. Dk.

To stock, First National Bank, Farmington $400 00

Merchants' National Bank, Gardiner. 100 00

Farmington Water Company 100 00

Augusta Safe Deposit and Trust Company 690 00

$1,290 00
Loss by scale down in stock of Merchants' National Bank, Gardiner 100 00

$1,390 00

Cr.

By 137 life members to January 1, 1899 $1,370 00

membership fee of John McManus, Brunswick 10 00

Lewis I. Bickford, Dixmont Centre 10 00

$1,390 00

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY.

Bounty due from the State $1,000 00

Due from the Maine State Agricultural Society 150 00

Permanent fund 1,290 00

Property owned by the Society 200 00

Interest due (estimated) 40 00

Cash in the treasury 432 79

$3,112 79

I hereby certify that I have examined the foregoing accounts of the Treasurer
of the Maine State Pomological Society for the year 1899 and find them correctly
drawn. I also find there is the sum of four hundred thirty-two and 79-100 dollars
($432.79) in the treasury. Z. A. GILBERT, Auditor.

March 9, 1900.

APPENDIX 11.

ACT OF INCORPORATION.

STATE OF MAINE.

In the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hun-
dred AND Seventy-Three.

An Act to Incorporate the Maine State Pomological Society.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in

Legislature assembled, as follows :

Section i. Z. A. Gilbert, George W. Woodman, A. L. Simp-
son, George B. Sawyer, J. C. Weston, Charles Pope, Samuel
Rolf e, James A. Varney, Albert Noyes, Rufiis Prince, J. C. Madi-
gan, S. F. Perley, Hannibal Belcher, J. B. Phillips, Joseph
Taylor, Harvey Counce, John Currier, William Swett, Henry
McLaughlin, Calvin Chamberlain, Washington Gilbert, George
C. Weston, Hiram Chase, J. C. Talbot and S. L. Goodale, their
associates and successors, are hereby constituted a corporation
for the promotion of fruit culture, by the name of The Maine
State Pomological Society.

Sec. 2. Said society shall have all the rights, privileges
and powers conferred by the laws of this State upon county and
local agricultural societies, and shall be subject to all liabilities
imposed by existing laws upon such societies, so far as the same
are applicable to the objects of this society; but the bounty to
be paid by the State to said society shall not exceed the sum of
five hundred dollars* in one year.

Sec. 3. Said society shall have power to elect such offi-
cers, and adopt such by-laws and regulations, not inconsistent
with the laws of this State, as may be necessary to carry into
effect the objects of the society.

♦Increased to One Thousand Dollars by Legislature of 1893.

146 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Sec. 4. The first meeting of said society may be called
by A. L. Simpson, J. C. Weston and Geo. B. Sawyer, by a notice
signed by them, stating the time and place of said meeting, to be
published two weeks successively in the Maine Farmer, the last
publication to be seven days at least before the time of said
meeting.

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect when approved.
(Approved February 17, 1873.)

BY-LAWS

OE THE

MAINE STATE POMOEOGICAL SOCIETY.

As Amended January 29, 1874.

Article I. — Membership.

Section i. Any person may becorne a member of this
Society by signifying his wish to do so and paying to the Treas-
urer the sum of one dollar.

Sec. 2. Any person may become a life member by paying the
Treasurer the sum of ten dollars ; and the Treasurer's certificate
thereof shall entitle such member, with his wife and minor chil-
dren, to admission to all the exhibitions of the Society.

Sec. 3. Each member (excepting life members) shall pay to
the Treasurer an annual fee of one dollar ; and the Treasurer's
certificate thereof shall entitle him to admission to all the exhibi-
tions of the Society for that year.

Sec. 4. Any member who shall neglect, for the term of two
years, to pay his annual assessment, shall cease to be a member
of the Society ; and the Treasurer shall erase his name from the
list of members. Any member may, at will, withdraw from the
Society on giving notice to the Treasurer, and paying the
amount due from him to the Society.

Sec. 5. Ten members shall constitute a quorum.

APPENDIX. 147

Article II. — Officers.

Section i. The officers of the Society shall consist of a Pres-
ident, two Vice Presidents, Secretary, Corresponding Secretary,
Treasurer, and an Executive Committee, consisting of three
members exclusive of the President and Secretary, who shall be
members ex-officio, and one Trustee for each county in the State ;
all of whom shall be elected by ballot at the annual meetings,
and hold their respective offices during the calendar year for
which they shall be elected, and until their successors are elected.
In the event of a failure to elect the said officers, or any of them,
at such meeting, an election shall be held at the next meeting of
the Society duly called and holden.

Sec. 2. All the officers shall perform the customary duties of
their respective offices, and such further duties as are herein
specified or shall from time to time be imposed upon them.

Sec. 3. The Secretary shall keep a true record of the pro-
ceedings of the Society and of the Executive Committee, keep
an alphabetical list of the members, and make all reports required
or authorized by law.

Sec. 4. The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the cor-
respondence of the Society. He shall open and maintain cor-
respondence with other Pomological and Horticultural Societies
for the purpose of effecting an exchange of publications with
the same, for the permanent use of this Society ; and shall pre-
sent at each annual meeting, a report, embracing a review of the
proceedings of such Societies, and the substance of all such
matters therein as he shall deem to be of special interest to this
Society.

Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall keep all moneys of the Society
and disburse the same only upon the written orders of the Exec-
utive Committee. He shall render his accounts annually to the
Executive Committee, and give such bond as said Committee
may require. He shall keep a record of the names of the mem-
bers of the Society, and shall from time to time transmit to the
Secretary the names of all new members and of such persons as
have ceased to be members.

Sec. 6. The Executive Committee shall have the general
management and oversight of the affairs of the Society ; transact
its business, and appoint all standing and special committees,

148 STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY.

when not otherwise provided for; examine the accounts of the
Treasurer, and make an annual report to the Society, of their
doings and of the financial affairs of the Society.

Sec. 7. The Trustees shall represent the Society and act as
its agents in their respective counties. They may receive appli-
cations for membership, and forward the same, with the fees
therefor, to the Treasurer, and shall promote the interest of the
Society in their respective counties.

Sec. 8. Whenever the office of President shall become vacant,
the Vice Presidents shall succeed to his office, in the order of
seniority, for the remainder of the year ; and any vacancy occur-
ring in any other office may be filled by appointment by the
Executive Committee ; the person so appointed holding the office
for the remainder of the year.

Articee III. — Meetings.

Section i. The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held
at the place and during the time- of the Annual Autumn State
Exhibition, and such notice thereof shall be given as the Execu-
tive Committee shall direct. If, from any cause, the regular
Annual Meeting shall not be held as above provided, a special
meeting shall be held at Augusta in the month of January next
following.

Sec. 2. Special meetings may be called at any time by the
Executive Committee ; of which meetings each member shall be
notified, by a notice properly directed and deposited in some post
office at least ten days prior to the time of such meeting.

Article IV. — Funds.
The fees for life membership shall constitute a permanent
fund, to be safely invested by the Treasurer under the direction
of the Executive Committee, and of which only the interest shall
be used for the disbursements of the Society,

Article V. — Amendments.
These By-Laws, except Sec. 2 of Article i, may be altered or
amended at any annual meeting of the Society, by the concur-
rence of two-thirds of the members present, provided, however,
that Article 4 shall not be so amended without notice given and
entered on record at the preceding Annual Meeting.

INDEX.

PAGE

Act of Incorporation 145

Address of Welcome, Hon. J. M. Sanborn 28

Response, Secretary Elijah Cook 30

Dr. Geo. M. Twitchell 31

Annual address of President ^3

Annual meeting 27

Annual members 142

Apple in cookery 99

Apple, Northern Spy, for grafting 44

Apple, propagation of 44

Aroostook, fruit-growing in 34

Barrows, Miss Anna, paper by 99

Begonia in House and Garden 56

Blackberries, varieties 107

Blackberry 21

Blueberries, culture of 36

Boys and fruit 58

Business transactions :

Meetings of the executive committee 13

Annual meeting 14

By-laws of the Society 146

Caterpillars, experiences with 78

Chestnuts 38

Churchill, E. P., paper by 105

Clover, use of in orchards . . .' 50

Cook, Elijah, paper by 22

response by 30

Cookery, the apple in 99

Cover crops for orchards 84

Cranberries 38

Cultivating z's. cropping of orchards 87

Currants and gooseberries, culture 71, 103

De Coster, Mrs. V. P., paper by 93

Discussion, currants and gooseberries y^

fertilization of flowers 119

orchard management 52

pear culture 65, 137

plum culture 122

pruning 134

11

150 INDEX.

PAGE

Educational work of the society 39

Executive Committee, meetings of 13

members of 12

Experiment Stations and iiorticulture 80

origin 80

purpose 84

work 84

Experience with caterpillars 78

Fertilization, immediate effects of 47

insects and 116

Field meeting, at Greene 19

at Manchester and Camden 27

Filberts 38

Fruit, advantage of thinning 90

Fruit, boys and 58

Fungi, description of 24

Gooseberries, currants and 71, 103

Home, nature study in 93

Horticulture, some new problems in 42

In Memoriam — Secretary Elijah Cook 7

Insects, one relation of to plants 114

Introductory notice 5

Kirkland, A. H., paper by 114

Libbey, R. H., paper by • 103

Meetings of the Society :

Field meeting at Greene 19

at Manchester and Camden 27

Annual meeting and exhibition 27

Winter meeting 93

Members of the Society .141

Membership, by-laws concerning 146

Mulching, for strawberries 68

Munson, W. M., papers by 23, 125

president's address by : 33

Nature study in the home 93

Officers, by-laws concerning I47

for 1899 12

One relation of insects to plants 114

Orcharding 22

Orchards, cover crops for 84

cultivating z>s. cropping 87

Pear culture I37

Pears for Northern Maine 61

varieties of 63

inde;x. 151

PAGE

Phinney, C. S., experience in reclaiming orchard 136

Plum culture 122

Pollen, influence of 47

Pope, Chas. S., papers by 19, 78

Mrs. M. Elizabeth, paper by 56

Powell, Hon. George T., paper by 42

President's annual address 3;^

Problems in Horticulture 42

Propagation, principles of 44

Prune culture of lor market 46

Pruning 129

Pruning, tillage and 125

Question box 54, 74

Raspberries, culture 105

varieties 106

Raspberry 21

Recommendations of the president 40

Report of treasurer 143

Review of the year g

Robinson, Dr. H. A., paper by 61

Sanborn, Hon. J. M., address by 28

Small Fruits, cultural notes - ig

Society, educational work of the 3g

Spraying 23

Strawberries, effect of climate on maturity 108

how to obtain a profitable crop 66

improvement of varieties no

Strawberry for the home garden ig

Tillage and pruning in the orchard 125

1 illage, value of 4g

Thinning fruit go

Treasurer's report 143

Twitchell, Dr. G. M., response by 31

Value of tillage 4g

Varieties of apples for Aroostook 35

Russian pears 63

small fruits 21

Winter meeting g3

Woods, Prof. Chas. D., paper by 80

Wooster, E. W., papers by 66, 108