35f> STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



There is but one approved plan of cultivation in Delaware and Maryland— clean cul- 

 ture. The lengfth of the season durinj^ which the orchards are kept clean varies, the 

 best orchardists makin<x it much longer than the more careless, and good orchardists 

 keeping it up longer on light lands than on heavier. But the majority of thrifty 

 growers cultivate from the first of May to well into July, plowing once or twice in the 

 early season and .sometimes late in the fall, runnmg the cultivator or harrow over the 

 orcliard every week during the growing season. 



Tiie \arieties in common use and universally recommended are Waterloo, Early 

 Rivers, Yellow St. John, Mountain Rose, Crawford's Early or Foster, Reeves' Favorite. 

 Moore's Favorite, Oldmixou, Crawford's Late, Beers' Smock. White Heath Cling.. 

 Salway. There are many other varieties planted and liked by many growers, but the 

 above list gives a succession through the entire season and each is believed to be the 

 best for its time of ripening, generally speaking, though local e.xceptions may occur. 

 The Salway is the latest good sort and is not very extensively planted. 



Carefid growers generally keep a sharp lookout for borers, but with occasionally dig- 

 ging them out there is little trouble from them. Some dig the earth away from the 

 tree trunk in the late fall, that the worms may be killed by freezing, and in the sprinjg 

 draw the sandy soil well up around the base of the trunks to prevent the insect from 

 depositing her eggs in the tender bark. 



The rot that is so severe in wet seasons has been considered as beyond remedy, but 

 the investigations of Dr. Erwin F. Smith, in this region, during the past two years, 

 indicate that si)eedily and carefully destroying all infected or decaying fruit will prove 

 of great benefit in lessening the trouble. 



A full history of the methods of marketing the fruit crops of this peninsula would 

 occupy much iiiore space than can be devoted to this paper. The most notable event 

 accomplished in this line in recent years was the establishment of the Delaware Fruit 

 Exchange. The original idea was to draw buyers from all tlie principal markets, to one 

 point, whither the peaches would be shipped or sold by telegraph, having been inspected 

 and graded, and there at the exchange sold to the highest bidder. The nearest 

 approach to this has been the gathering at a point where several thousand bushels of 

 l)eaches could be bought daily of wagons of representative buyers, to whom the fruit 

 was sold by the wagon-load, a load often being a hundred baskets or upward, at 

 auction. A few have been sold in carload lots, but the great majority of growers at 

 points distant from the exchange preferred to take the price ottered at their own ship- 

 ping station, or ship to some commission merchant rather than unite with their 

 neighbors to make up a carload to be sold by telegraph at the distant exchange. But 

 this metiiod brought buyer and producer together and raised the price received by the 

 latter often as much as twenty-five cents per basket the season through. This advance 

 in price at one station naturally made prices better all over the peninsula. Branch 

 exchanges were also organized which were in constant communication with the main 

 exchange. The result of the movement has been to cheapen and facilitate transporta 

 tion, to better distribute the croj), and to advance prices to the grower without 

 increasing the cost to the consumer. Two year.s ago several markets were ojjened in 

 Canada, to which the Delaware exchange shipped as many as five or six carloads daily. 



Of orchard fruits we should probal^ly name pears next to peaches. The Duchess, as 

 half standard, and Bartlett as standard, have proved most generally profitable, though 

 the Lawrence, the Sheldon, the Howell, Manning's Elizabeth, and others have paid 

 well in certain localities. Recently the Kietfer and Le Conte have been planted and 

 are proving protitable, immensely so in some cases. Of successful growers, the majority 

 average a net profit of §100 per acre annually. Sometimes it runs to S'250 or more. In 

 Newcastle county and Kent, Del., in Kent and Caroline in Maryland, orchards of 8.00(> 

 trees are not uncommon. Yet it must be admitted that outside of these counties pear 

 (iulture has not been an entire success. The usual practice is to use ground bone and 

 potash in some form -wood ashes, muriate, or kainit — with but little barnyard manure, 

 and to give all the cultivation the trees will stand without blighting. Where the soil 

 has been very fertile it has been necessary to keep the orchards down in grass or clover 

 to prevent blight. On less fertile lands, where no barnyard manure has been used 

 (only bone and potash), cultivation is often kept up through May, June, and July. 



For the slug, powdered white helebore is sometimes sprayed over the trees, but the 

 majority depend on air-slaked lime or road dust. The scab has been .scmiewhat damag- 

 ing, and a few have used hyposuljihite of soda in a spray, but with somewhat uncertain 

 results. 



Some apple orchards have proved very protitable, especially early apjjles in recent 

 years. The Fourth of July, the Early Ripe, Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, and 

 (Travenstein have done well, sometimes nearly $100 per acre. 



The Red Astrachan re([uires liberal treatment, good manure and plenty of it. The 



