312 ILLINOIS STATE HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



State, are of finer quality than other late keepers which have proved 

 successful here, and it is hoped that they will be of great value to us. 



On the subject of shelter a variety of opinions are entertained, mine 

 is, that it is indispensable for preventing fruit from being blown off. 



For five or six years from planting the surface should be kept mel- 

 low by frequent cultivation the fore part of the season ; corn, small-fruits 

 or any hoed crop are suitable for growing in an orchard. Mulching 

 during hottest weather is advised when practicable. 



Some having met with good success by seeding to clover and pastur- 

 ing with hogs, this plan was highly recommended a few years since, and 

 adopted by many, a goodly number of whom, having small orchards 

 and large numbers of swine, soon had the surface as bare of herbage as a 

 traveled road, in many instances the bark stripped from trees. After 

 in this way indulging in too much of a good thing, the masses were 

 ready to pronounce it a failure, and our horticultural societies, which 

 recommended it, arrant humbugs. 



So far as my observation goes, those who have kept a reasonable 

 number of hogs in their orchards for the amount of feed afforded still 

 approve of the practice. 



All vegetation or litter near the bodies of trees is liable to harbor 

 the beetles, which deposit eggs for borers in summer, and mice in 

 winter. It should be kept clear in May, June and July, again late in the 

 fall, and a mound of earth raised a foot high with a sharp-pointed top at 

 the body of the tree, just before winter, to be leveled in spring. Various 

 washes recommended as preventives of the deposit of eggs for borers 

 have been tried by me — at present I have most hope of efficient protec- 

 tion from using a weak solution of carbolic acid with strong soap-suds, 

 as recommended by M. B. Bateham, of Ohio, to be repeated after each 

 rain during the season of danger. Trees should be examined for them in 

 April and September each year. They are the most to be dreaded of any 

 insect enemy to the apple-tree with which we have here been afflicted. 

 The canker-worm has thus far failed to visit us, and I pray to be excused 

 from forming his personal acquaintance. 



The oyster-shell bark-louse, which was formerly so much dreaded by 

 us, is rarely if ever seen of late, for which, probably, our Society should 

 pass a vote of thanks to Dr. Shimer's acarus. 



The codling-moth damages a great part of our apples most seasons ; 

 the various devices of bands and traps would probably rid us of them to 

 a good degree, if concerted action could be secured — a consummation 

 devoutly to be wished, but difficult, if not impossible, of accomplishment. 

 Winter is a good time for destroying eggs of tent-caterpillars and leaf- 

 rollers, and through the growing season frequent examinations of trees 

 should be made for this class of enemies. 



The fertility of the soil should be kept up by the application of some 

 appropriate manure, of which that from the barn-yard and wood ashes 

 are as good as any readily attainable ; winter is a good time for applying 

 it. Extensive pruning has never seemed to me a judicious practice. 



