SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 ' 



will settle the earth, leaving: the borers high and dry. A plaster of clay, or a 

 thick wash of something ofiFensive to the insect, may be laid on, that will 

 serve to drive them away, or at least keep them up, where they will be likely 

 to be seen and destroyed. 



Special pains ought to be taken in season, to guard against the ravages 

 of other insects. There are many ways recommended, and though some 

 seem to defy the ingenuity of man, yet any one determined to stay their pro- 

 gress, and prevent destruction, will soon devise some means by which most of 

 them may be kept from doing extensive injury. 



In the cultivation of fruits, there are many things of more or less moment 

 to be attended to, and in order to complete success in this as well as in any 

 other business, it is necessary that he who undertakes it, should understand 

 the f r'nciples on which success depends. He should also ascertain what va- 

 rieties are best, and if possible, procure such as have been proved valuable in 

 that vicinity. He should know how to prepare the ground, and how to set 

 the trees or plants. In short, he should understand the why and wherefore of 

 all his operations, and such knowledge (in these days of books and periodicals 

 within reach of all) will tend, not only to make the business more profitable, 

 but will render labor less a task, and prompt the operator to seasonable watch- 

 fulness in regard to what he has undertaken. 



A writer, in speaking of trees, and the many parts of which they are com- 

 posed, says, " all these have different ofiBces to fulfil, assume different forma 

 and characters, and are known and designated from one another by different 

 names when subjected to the practical operation of culture. Without some 

 knowledge of the names and structure of these different parts, of tlie piinci- 

 ples that guide their development, their relative connection with, and influ- 

 ence upon one another, tree culture cannot be, to any man, really pleasant, 

 intellectual, or successful, but a misty, uncertain, unintelligible routine of 

 manual labor." 



Attempts at raising fruit would be attended with better success, and the 

 cause of failure less frequently charged to some fault in trees, soil or climate, 

 if these things were better understood and regarded. 



Notwithstanding our winters are severe, and we are subject to difficulties 

 and obstacles of various kinds, still, with a moderate share of information and 

 iutelligence, a judicious selection of varieties adapted to our climate, and with 

 that care and attention which they every where need, duly bestowed, we can 

 raise a variety of fine fruit, and usually in abundance. 



The general failure of the crop last season was probably owing to the exces- 

 sive fruitfulness of the year previous, and the extreme cold of one day in win- 

 ter, wliich killed many fruit buds, and so injured others that they put out late 

 and feebly, and either failed entirely, or produced poor fruit. But this is an 

 exception. Seldom do trees so universally fail of producing at least a mid- 

 dling crop. Any one having an acre of land, can, if he will, have an annual 

 supply, at least for his own family consumption, almost without fail. But if 

 he would succeed, it will not do to merely set the trees and then leave them 

 to take care of themselves. Some attention is necessary at all times and stages 

 of their growth, to keep them in trim — healthy, erect, symmetrical — and to 

 guard them against casualties, and assault by enemies that surround them. 

 Be careful to do for them all that they require, and in a few years they will 

 come to bearing, and you will have the satisfaction of seeing them loaded with 

 delicious fruit. And when, as you are beholding with admiration the result 

 of a few years of care and watchfulness, the ripe and mellow fruits, of golden 

 hue and flushed cheek, are falling all around from over-loaded branches, and 

 you are ready to exclaim, 



" 0, what a life is this I lead, 

 Ripe apples falling on my head," 



you will then feel that you have what is worth caring for, and that you have 

 not watched and labored in vain. 



