364 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ORCHAKD REPORT. 



From nearly all sections of the country, east and west, we hear 

 complaints that the apple crop is again a failure, as well as that trees 

 are flying, and countless hordes of insects are preying upon Ijoth tree 

 and fruit. In this section all these conditions prevail to a consider- 

 able extent, and Hancock County will have a light yield of apples. 

 Orchards are unusually variable in condition. Occasionally a Ben 

 Davis orchard may be found that promises nearly a full crop, while 

 a neighboring one will yield next to nothing. 



Among early apples Red Astrachan, Sops of Wine and Golden 

 Sweet produced a partial crop, all others being a failure. Among 

 fall varieties Rombo is doing the best, Maiden's Blush and Porter 

 bearing half a crop. Many of the standard winter varieties have 

 failed entirely. Ben Davis takes the lead in productiveness, and may, 

 if the conditions continue favorable, yield from one-third to one-half 

 a crop of fine large fruit. Willow Twig, Jonathan and Roman Stem 

 will also give us some fruit; but taking the entire orchard area of 

 the county into consideration we do not think that we shall gather 

 more than one-fifth of a crop. 



The condition of apple trees is more unsatisfactory than ever 

 before. The long cold winter of 1880-81 was very disastrous to 

 orchard trees, killing many outright, and so injuring others that they 

 were unable to endure the intense cold of last winter. 



Nearly every orchard shows more or less dead trees, and the 

 careful observer will find many others that will never again bear 

 fruit. Geniton has suffered more than any other variety, and we 

 know of several orchards that will be cut down next wiuter. Wine- 

 sap has also suffered Ijadly, and we venture the opinion that the 

 sooner they are decreed to be " cumberers of the ground '" and devo- 

 ted to the wood pile the better it will be for the owner. 



It is each year becoming more evident that a ceaseless, persistent 

 warfare must be waged against our insect enemies, unless we expect 

 them to take the field. Borers — both the flat and round headed — 

 are increasing in our orchards; the Codling moth is, as usual, destroy- 

 ing a large portion of our fruit; canker worms and leaf-rollers are 

 defoliating our trees; but an insect, to which many apple-growers 

 pay but little attention, is, I suspect, doing more injury in my orchard 

 than all the others combined. I refer to the plum curculio. I have 

 a Ben Davis orchard, about ten years old, by the side of which has 

 stood a peach orchard, the fruit being last year badly infested with 

 curculio. There being no peaches this year they seem to have made 

 a coml}ined attack on the apple, and there is scarcely a specimen in 

 this orchard that does not carry the marks of the little Turk, which 

 makes them rough and deformed and unfit for market purposes. My 

 other orchards show some evidence of their presence, but not in such 

 numbers as this. 



