150 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



two or three miles of the present station, which could be used not only 

 as a model and demonstration fruit farm, but upon which plantings 

 could be made that would be available for extended and careful experi- 

 ments in cultural methods, with fertilizers, and with insecticides and 

 fungicides. 



The five acres of land now owned by the station has greatly enhanced 

 in value during the last ten years and the ten acres adjacent upon which 

 the station buildings are located, and which is the property of the State 

 Horticultural Society, has a value perhaps three times as great. If 

 arrangements could be made with the State Horticultural Society by 

 Avhich all of the land could be sold and the proceeds invested in a farm 

 of forty to sixty acres upon Avhich experiments in fruit growing could 

 be conducted by the station along lines mutually agreed upon by the 

 station and society, I am sure that a very small increase over the present 

 annual expenditure for the maintenance of the station would make it 

 possible to secure far more valuable results than with the present loca- 

 tion. 



Especially if a farai, a part of which is planted to an orchard that is 

 now in bearing, is obtained, the returns would help materially in de- 

 fraying the cost of maintenance. I trust that this plan may have care- 

 ful consideration. 



THE WORK OF THE YEAR. 



A large number of new varieties of all kinds of fruits bore their first 

 crops last jear and notes were also obtained upon many other varieties 

 of recent introduction whose value has not been determined. There are, 

 however, at least one hundred and fifty varieties of tree fi-uits that have 

 not borne and a much larger number which should have considerably 

 more attention in order to ascertain their merits. Full descriptions 

 of the new sorts were given in the report. 



^^praying. Owing to the great increase in the interest taken by fruit 

 growers in matters relating to the spraying of fruit trees, even more 

 attention than in previous years has been given to experiments with in- 

 secticides and fungicides. By using some of the standard formulas 

 as a check, it was possible to carry on part of this work u]ton the station 

 trees but, for a considerable portion, and particularly for the testing 

 of remedies for the San Jose scale, it was necessary to make use of 

 orchards in the vicinity. 



During the season comparative tests were made of the various brands 

 of insecticides and fungicides now upon the market and of the home- 

 made mixtures that are used for the same purposes. The commercial 

 brands of miscible oils and lime-sulphur solutions were used to deter- 

 mine not only their value against the San Jose scale but as remedies 

 against fungous diseases. While for some purposes the lime-sulphur 

 solutions when diluted and used as summer sprays gave fairly satis- 

 factory results, we are not prepared as yet to recommend their use in 

 the i)lace of Bordeaux mixture, except perhaps for a few special pur- 

 poses and upon varieties which are seriously injured when the latter 

 spray is employed. 



Tlie tests of arsenate of lead, as a substitute for Paris green and the 

 other arsenicals which have been used in the past, were very satisfactory 

 and, considering the fact that per unit of arsenic oxide it costs no more 



