610 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



New York than in the others which I have mentioned. Horticul- 

 turists have been well taught, by books, periodicals and nursery- 

 men's catalogues, how to train and shape the plant, but there is very 

 little good advice respecting thejproper treatments of the orchard 

 soil. H Yet the apple j orchard, which is the least productive of all 

 our fruit plantations, is at the same time the very one which re- 

 ceives least attention in pruning. It is fair to assume that some of 

 the failure is due to this inattention ; and there is also sufficient 

 direct experience to prove that careful and thorough pruning is 

 essential to best results in fruit-raising. 



8. Much of the unprofitableness of fruit plantations is due to 

 the incursions of insects and fungi. — This is the subject which has 

 latterly received the major part of the attention of persons who are 

 engaged in studying the difficulties of fruit growing, and it is not 

 strange that there has arisen a general belief that these enemies are 

 the one chief cause of the failures of orchards. I am convinced 

 that the experimenters have not overstated the destructiveness of 

 the insects and fungi, but there is danger that the silence upon other 

 and more fundamental matters in orchard economy, may tend to 

 magnify the enemies beyond their comparative importance. I 

 should not emphasize spraying less, but should emphasize tillage 

 and other good care more. 



The literature of spraying is now voluminous, and the farmer 

 should be able to instruct himself upon all matters of immediate 

 practical importance ; but whilst he is spraying he should also not 

 forget to look for borers, and to clean up old rubbish piles and 

 waste places about the plantation. 



9. Profit and loss is often a question of 'varieties. — Many or- 

 chards contain such, an ill-assorted lot of varieties that even when 

 the crop is good it is worth little. What varieties to plant is a local 

 question. It can never be answered by experiment stations. It is 

 one of those judgments which the farmer must make for himself 

 and upon which very much of his success will depend. 



The fruit grower should know by the time his apple orchard is 

 twelve or fifteen years old if his varieties are likely to be satis- 

 factory. He can generally find it out before this time. A man 

 who does not find it out until his orchard is twenty or more years 

 old has neglected his opportunities. If one discovers an error in 

 choice of varieties before his trees have reached full maturity — 

 whether the trees are apple, pear, cherry or plum — he should forth- 



