WINTEE MEETING. 241 



3IOUNTAIX View, Ho-vvell County, Mo.. Feb. 25, 1895. 

 Mr. L. A. Goodman, Sec'y Mo. Hor. Society, Westport, Mo. : 



My Dear Sir— Lacking a little mfoi-matlon, and believing that no man in Missouri is 

 more and better qualifled to give it than yourself, is my only excuse for addressing you. 



1. In an apple orchard of nearly 5000 trees, the majority of which are looking and 

 doing well, I have In one block of trees a disease of the bark, making It dead, cracked and 

 scaly. This disease is chiefly confined to this one variety of apple-trees, the name of 

 which I do not know. It has a much finer leaf than the Ben Davis, and does not grow so 

 strongly. In works on apple-trees and their diseases, I do not find this trouble described. 

 Can you tell me what it is, and what is the remedy ? As this scaly, and in places blackened 

 appearance, Is frequently in branches ot tree, I have thought It might be well to saw top 

 off, just below first limbs, at an angle so water will run off the stump, and cover with graft- 

 ing-wax, and let it make a new top. Please advise. 



2. This winter is the first tliat rabbits have troubled me, and I have six or eight trees 

 girdled that ai-e two Inches through. I hate to lose them and set In new ones. Will It do 

 well to cut off near ground and leave standing stump, and cover with wax and make a 

 new top ? 



A. I understand that at Olden last summer your people planted artichokes for hogs. 

 If so, do you think them a success in that line ? I want to plant about three rows of them 

 between apple-trees and let the hogs root them out in winter. I think enough will stay in 

 to make a crop next season; and that far from trees, I judge they will not Injure them, and 

 hogs rooting will plow soil up in good shape. 



Did you plant them at Olden ? and do they grow and do well here ? Kindly give opinion. 



4. I would like to procure copy of last report of Missouri Horticultural Society. 

 Please send me one, and greatly oblige. 



I am sorry to trouble you with so many questions, but as I am comparatively a new- 

 comer In South Missouri, and as past two years have been hard ones on fruit-growers, I feel 

 that one must go cautiously and look well before leaping; hence I go to best authority I 

 know of for advice. I am very respectfully yours, 



R. C. Annin. 



Answer — (1) Cannot tell for certain ; I think it is a sort of blight, 

 perhaps. Scrape the bark off the diseased places down to the cam- 

 bium layer,'aud then wash with kerosene emulsion and blue vitriol ; 

 wash another lot with lye, sulphur and carbolic acid ; cut off some of 

 them and note the results ; (2) cut them off about two inches above 

 the ground and train up a single sprout ; (3) yes, artichokes are one of 

 the most valuable and profitable hog feed you can grow. It is also the 

 cheapest. Rich land will give 500 bushels per acre sometimes. 



Atterbukt, Mo , Feb. 25, 1895. 

 L. A. Goodman, Secretary: 



Dear Sir— The parties whom I ordered the peach trees have made a complete failure. 



I will either have to plant dormant buds or await another year. Give me your advice as to 



planting dormant buds. Do you think it advisable to plant them, and do they have to be 



planted early, before buds swell ? Yours truly, 



W. E. Williamson. 



Answer — Do not plant the buds unless you can give personal 

 attention to every one. You better plant 1-year trees, and you can get 

 and plant the rest next year. 



Holt, Clay County, Mo. , October 15, 1894. 

 I would like very much to hear the question taken up and debated, whatapple will we 

 plant to take the place of the Ben Davis? It Is a good bearer and a good seller, but I notice 

 they are nearly half culls, on account of the worms, even where they were sprayed, and 

 the trees are the easiest to be killed by wounds of any kind I know of; in fact, one hardly 

 ever recovers, even if the borer gets in it. I think Missouri should have something better 

 for her leading apple than the Ben Davis. 



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