ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 183 



JULY MEETING. 



The Alton-Southern Illinois Horticultural Society held a basket 

 picnic at E. A. Riehl's Saturday, July 21. The weather was perfect 

 and the attendance probably as large as any ever attending a meet- 

 ing of the society. 



ORCHARDS. 



Mr. E. A. Riehl — The prospect for a crop of apples is not so 

 good as at the time of the last meeting; there is not so much fruit 

 on the trees, and much of it is scabby and the trees do not look 

 healthy. The -Janet bloomed very lightly but they set well and I 

 have a better crop than I expected. Pears are a very good crop and 

 the fruit is unusually fair. We have had some early peaches, but as 

 is usually the case they were not very good and brought a low price. 

 I would not recommend the planting of the early peaches. They are 

 all poor and unsatisfactory to everybody who has anything to do with 

 them, from the grower, dealer and commission man to the consumer. 

 Do not expect we will grow a good peach earlier than Early York. 

 There is so much fruit grown south of us that we cannot get the 

 benefit of the early market and we must look to a market that we 

 can command with goods of the best quality. 



Mr. J. S. Browne — Tbe leaves of the apple trees are also affected 

 with scab and I think it was caused by the London purple with which 

 the trees were sprayed. I sprayed a peach tree with a very strong 

 solution of London purple and destroyed all the leaves. 



r'-' Mr. Riehl — Do not think the scab on the apple is caused by 

 London purple, it is a fungus growing on the fruit and can be 

 scratched off, showing the green skin underneath. If caused by the 

 London purple the skin would be destroyed. But the London pur- 

 ple, if applied too strong, will burn the foliage and fruit too. Its 

 use is not satisfactory and I think the white arsenic applied, one 

 pound to 400 gallons of water, is cheaper and better in every way. 



Mr. Pearson — I think the Janet crop, generally, is very light, 

 and as a large share of the trees in this vicinity are Janets, the result 

 is that our apple crop is a small one. My Wine Saps are also very 

 poor, and I intend to grub them out. They have not paid me for 

 the ground they stand on. 



