92 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



three to live buds : do not be afraid to slash off a fine looking top. "Spare the 

 knife and spoil the tree." 



Grow some hoed crop among your trees, and hoe about them as well as you 

 do your potatoes and then replace the mulch. 



Do not plant too many varieties; some people seem to think the value of the 

 orchard consists in the number of varieties it contains. 



Every one owning a foot of ground should, if possible, set out trees or vines 

 of some kind, so that all may enjoy fruit as one of God's cheapest blessings. 

 But do not put out a single tree unless you intend to take good care of it. 



1 will close with an extract from the New York Tribune : 



"It is a great folly to put off, as many do, the day of enjoyment until all the mort- 

 gage is paid or such a sum is laid up in the hank. To he sure, it is very desirable to 

 have the mortgage paid off and something laid by for a rainy day, but it is as desirable 

 to have a good time while one is doing that work, and to make sure of enjoyment as 

 one goes along. Many a farmer and farmer's wife work now so hard that when the 

 time comes for them to take comfort they have no capacity in that direction. Infir- 

 mities gather about them, or avarice, the besetting weakness of old age, robs them of 

 the power to enjoy. A home, where the scarlet strawberry ripens in abundant lux- 

 uriance, where luscious raspberries drop melting into the mouth, where blackberries 

 quench the thirst of August, where purple grapes make merry the heart in Septem- 

 ber, where peaches, and pears, and apples prolong the harvest joy into the months of 

 snow and ice, is not likely to be deserted for the barren street of cities; for the 

 disposition once set in the way of providing these luxurious enjoyments will not be 

 satisfied without the addition of whatever else will make the home a delight and joy, 

 a place to be sought, and an abode of constant peace." 



Discussion followed on tree planting. 



Mr. Harvey Smith. — In planting I would not pack clay soil very close to the 

 roots of the trees. If trees are brought in the fall from the nursery, they should 

 be planted in a sand pit as turnips are, until spring. There they will escape the 

 ravages of winter. 



Mr. Dickinson. — In selecting trees from a nursery the buyer should note the 

 growth of the previous year. If the growth is good and well matured, the root 

 is healthy and good. Select straight trees, not over three years old, and be sure 

 not to look for large trees, but for trees with a good growth the previous year. 



Mr. DeCou. — I set 243 trees one year ago, taken out of the nursery, and lost 

 tout one of them. 



Mr. S. Smith. — In cutting back trees I would not cut back cpiite as far as the 

 roots were set in the nursery. 



Mr. Suttle. — I have planted 2,000 maple trees for shade trees in this city, and 

 they are all doing well. In cutting back I leave a few of the branches at the 

 bead, cut back, and find the trees do better than if tops are sawed off below all 

 the branches. 



Mr. Ed. Munson. — Thousands of fruit trees are destroyed or damaged when 

 1 (might in the fall because they are not properly trenched. 



Mr. DeCou. — I do not believe in buying and planting trees in the fall. The 

 wood is not likely to be well developed if they are moved too early, or else, 

 taken too late they are in danger of freezing in the boxes while being trans- 

 ported. It is double the work, too, for it is as much work to dig a trench as to 

 set out the trees. 



II. \l Pierce, of Walker. — I lost 300 peach trees which were shipped to me in 

 the month of April by their freezing while on the way. 



Mr. W. K. Munson. — Had Mr. Tierce put the boxes in his cellar, and thus 

 ..caused the trees to thaw out slowly, they would not have been injured. 



