STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 3Q1 



The StXRETARY SAID — In naming those three sorts, Mr. W. had 

 reference alone to quality and market value of the fruit, as the two 

 first were notorious for being subject to blight. They were so in Mr. 

 Darnell's orchard at Riverside, and were so given in the horticultural 

 papers. The Secretary asked Mr. Stracke to state what varieties had 

 been the most subject to blight in his orchard. 



Mr. Strackk — The Glout Morceau have all blighted and gone. 

 The Bartletts about one third — standards and dwarfs. 



REPORT ON ORCHARDS. 



Your Committee "on Orchards has not, perhaps, been as diligent as 

 it should have been in collecting information, but is prepared to report 

 the condition of some of the leading orchards in the county. 



The first orchard visited was that of Mr. Marlot, in Bear Creek 

 township. We found his trees in a fine, healthy condition, and heavily 

 loaded with fruit of extra large size and remarkably free from scab. In 

 his first planting, he planted largely of European varieties of apples, 

 pears and cherries, but has now abandoned them as unsuited to our 

 soil and climate. We found very little pear blight in this orchard, 

 which the proprietor attributes to his mode of summer pruning, or cut- 

 ting back, which causes the wood to ripen perfectly. His well kept 

 grounds, carefully cultivated flower garden and pleasant surroundings 

 denote the man of taste and culture. 



The next in order is the orchard of John R. Tull, of Pontoosuc. 

 This orchard is one of the largest and most profitable in the county, 

 consisting in fact of seven orchards, situated like the Imperial City on 

 seven hills, and less than a mile from the Mississippi river. Mr. Tull's 

 crop of fruit will be immense this year, and he is much less afflicted 

 with scab than many orchardists in this part of the county. He thinks 

 the Roman Sweet Pippin his most profitable variety. Jonathan is very 

 fine this season, Wine-sajj and Rawle's Janet are also doing well. Mr. 

 Tull is a zealous horticulturist, and his orchard, nursery, flower garden 

 and green house are well worthy of a visit by every lover of the beau- 

 tiful. 



The orchard of John Peyton, Esci., is situated on the bluff, four 

 miles below Warsaw. This has been one of the most productive orch- 

 ards in the county. The leading variety is Ben Davis, which the pro- 

 prietor considers his most profitable apple. And your committee can 

 bear testimony that they never saw trees more heavily laden with fruit, 

 many of them having already broken down with their superabundant 

 load of fruit. We find this variety better formed and more highly 

 colored on the bluff than on the prairie soil. Mr. Peyton thinks the 

 Willow Twig, Wine-sap and Rawle's Janet the next most profitable 

 apples, and we found them all carrying a good croj^ of fair-sized fruit, 

 very free from scab and worms. Indeed, the scarcity of worms in this 

 orchard struck us as very remarkable ; some varieties not having one 

 per cent, of wormy specimens. Mr. Peyton prunes judiciously, culti- 

 vates thoroughly, until the trees become so large as to make it imprac- 

 ticable, when he seeds his orchards down to grass. 



