308 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



He picked the first ripe specimens on the 8th of July. He kept his peaches- 

 and plums from becoming wormy by besmearing the bodies of the trees a foot 

 from the ground with a mixture of common grease and sulphur, putting in as 

 much of the latter as would stick to the grease. Plum and peach trees not so 

 treated, 50 feet away, had all the fruit destroyed by the worms. 



Mr. Dorr spoke of the value of the Early Curtiss peach. He became 

 acquainted with it about nine years ago, in harvest time, and was at once 

 favorably impressed with its merits. He felt confident that this peach was a 

 little earlier than the other early varieties. 



A committee was appointed to report upon the peaches upon exhibition, and 

 after some discussion the preference was given to the Curtiss over Hale's Early. 



A ugust Meeting. 



The August meeting was occupied by a paper read by 0. H. Richmond, 

 which we give in full, on 



THE RIGHTS 0E ORCHARDISTS AND PROTECTION AGAINST MARAUDERS. 



The first branch of the subject, "The Rights of Orchardists," I take it, or 

 rather interpret, as meaning the legal rights of the fruit-grower to the property 

 and products of the orchard, the garden, and vineyard, and his rights to con- 

 trol and protect the same from the depredations of every person who may be 

 disposed to unlawfully injure, destroy, or dispossess him of them. With this 

 interpretation of the first branch of the subject, it may be well to inquire 

 whether the legal rights of the orcbardist to his property and its lawful pro- 

 tection under our laws are materially different from those of the farmer or any 

 other class of our citizens. I think they are not, and I think that upon exam- 

 ination it will clearly appear that the underlying principles in all our laws for 

 the protection of all the property of all the citizens of the State are the same. 



It is true there are different kinds of property, for the protection of which 

 there are in some cases special enactments or laws, but in most cases the law 

 of itself is inadequate as a means of protection. It affords protection no fur- 

 ther than the fear of the penalty and disgrace of its violation acts as a restraint 

 upon the offenders, and the infliction of its penalty prevents the violators from 

 opportunities for further depredations. 



How far the owner of an orchard or vineyard may use the prerogative of 

 his muscle as a means of defending his property, and what means other than 

 the law he may use, are questions which may very properly be considered as 

 embraced in the subject you have proposed for discussion. I take it that the 

 word "marauders" as here used is intended to mean persons, lawless persons, 

 who commit trespasses and depredations upon the property of the fruit-growers 

 and farmers in various ways, and from different motives and objects. These 

 persons may very properly be divided into three classes : plunderers, thieves, 

 conscious and unconscious trespassers. The first are a class of roving, unprin- 

 cipled individuals, who commit their depredations upon any favorable oppor- 

 tunity, chiefly in the night-time and on Sundays, sometimes from motives of 

 gaiu, but mostly from pure cussedness ; they are not scrupulous about leaving 

 evidences of their having been present, for they seem to take pleasure in 

 breaking down and destroying, as well as converting and carrying away. The 

 second are a class who carry on their depredations in a more systematic way ; 

 they steal for gain ; professionals, working mostly in the night-time, and are 

 very careful not to leave traces of their work further than the absence of the 



