PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING. 53 



good care; but farmers generally plant their orchards and then let them 

 go their own sweet way. 



Mr. Beal: I think the apple orchards were pretty w^ell cared for while 

 they returned big crops, but are neglected since the returns were not so 

 great. I think there are more apple orchards l:>eing cut out in this county 

 than are being newly set. 



Dr. Owen: I can hardly agree with Mr. Beal. I think the apple orch- 

 ards are now given better care than in former years; and spraying is very 

 generally practiced. 



C. A. Sessions of Mears: I got spraying machinery from the Nixon 

 company, and several packages of their spraying mixture. This I reduced 

 one third below directions but hurt my plum and peach trees severely. I 

 was not early enough, but still I think the spraying stopped the work of 

 the curculio, for others, who did not spray, lost their fruit. I think I shall 

 spray next season and jar also. 



Mr. StPiONG: Some years ago I got a good plum crop without either jar- 

 ring or spraying. This year I did both and yet lost the whole. 



Prof. Taft: The curculio do eat the leaves. They have been seen to do 

 it and have been killed by eating poisoned leaves. I have used the solu- 

 tions of one pound of London purple to 200, 300, 500, 700, and 1,000 gal- 

 lons of water, and saw the effect on peach leaves of even the weakest of 

 these mixtures. I would not risk on peaches less than 500 gallons to the 

 pound; and this is as effectual on apples as any of the stronger ones. If 

 the weak solutions were used upon peaches, I believe it would be a grand 

 good thing. 



Mr. Sessions: I sprayed sweet cherries and scarcely had a stung one. 



Mr. Edmiston: Some pumps throw too much water, causing waste and 

 dripping AVith a half gallon I have sufficiently wet twelve-year-old apjjle 

 and pear trees. 



Mr. Strong: I used fifty-five gallons to twelve eighteen-year trees, 

 but I gave them a good wetting. 



Prof. Taft and Mr. Sessions had noticed that where trees were hurt by 

 spraying, the older leaves fell first. Prof. Taft said two thirds of the plums 

 could be saved, by spraying, in cases where otherwise the curculio would 

 take all. 



Wednesdaij Morning Session. 



The second day's proceedings began with the reading by the secretary 

 of Mr. C. W. Garfield's paper upon 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



" Asparagus is a luxury with which every household should be well sup- 

 plied. It can be easily grown and delightfully prepared for the table with- 

 out special culinary endowments, and while satisfying the taste, accom- 

 plishes a valuable mission in the maintenance of good health. The princi- 

 pal reason why it is not a feature of every farm garden lies in the elaborate 

 methods of growing it recommended by horticultural experts. 



