WINTER MEETING. 115 



Wednesday, Dec. 5 — Morning Session. 



The session was called to order promptly at 9 o'clock by Presi- 

 dent Evans. Prayer by Rev. J. W. Crawford. 



A paper on " Prevention of Root Blight," by S. W. Gilbert, of 

 Thayer, was very interesting, and called forth considerable discussion. 

 Also that of "Trees, not Shrubs, for Orchards," by Conrad Hartzell, of 

 St. Joseph, elicited a very warm discussion by Dr. J. W. Greene, of 

 Trenton; Murray, of Holt county; Smith, of Lawrence; President 

 Morrill, of the Michigan University, and others. There was quite a 

 lively discussion of the two subjects together, in which the question 

 of planting, trimming, root-growing, cutting back, cultivating the 

 ground, were handled with considerable warmth — many of the speak- 

 ers taking opposite views as to the cutting back and trimming and the 

 need of roots, when planting, and also the benefits or disadvantage of 

 cultivating the ground. 



Mr. Nelson, of Lebanon, then read a paper on "The Needs of the 

 Hour," which included the subject of " varieties and location," and as 

 Mr. Wilcox, of St. Joseph, to whom was assigned the latter subject, 

 was not present, the two were discussed together. The discussion took 

 a wide range, tt was shown in the first paper that there is a large 

 profit in an apple crop, ranging from $140 to $200 per acre. The prof- 

 its in the business were considered largely in this discussion. 



There was great difference of opinion as to variety, influenced 

 somewhat by location and the experience of the grower. For profit, 

 three varieties of winter apples was considered better than more, al- 

 though in some localities the number might be extended to 10. The 

 Ben Davis was given the preference, by every speaker, as a merchant- 

 able apple. The Winesap and Willow Twig and Jonathan came in 

 about the order named. One speaker contended that more attention 

 should be given to quality, but as one speaker from Iowa said, who is 

 himself a dealer, the Jonathan and similar varieties are splendid apples 

 to buy, but not profitable to raise. 



Quite a discussion arose over the origin of the Ben Davis — some 

 contending that it was first found in an old Indian orchard in Platte 

 county, while others contended that it originated in Howard county. 

 There was also a lively discussion on the question of whether the root 

 of the tree supports the leaves, or the leaves the root. 



There is no lack of interest in all the discussions. 



