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STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 25 



I plowed from them; and in that portion where I plowed from the trees, 

 and made the ground comparatively level, my trees fared worse than any 

 other trees in the orchard. It was a varied soil ; the orchard extended 

 across a ridge into low land on both sides. The trees on the low ground 

 were worse than those on the high ground. Last year I trimmed most of 

 the trees, and those that I trimmed suffered more than the others. I 

 commenced in April and finished in October. Those that I trimmed in 

 April the borers took hold of, and after that I do not think there was a 

 single tree affected by borers. 



Mr. Huggixs — Which borers do you refer to? 



Mr. Mosier — Those that work in the body of the tree. 



Mr. Barler — Do you think the cutting caused the borers to work 

 on the trees? 



Mr. Mosier — I think it must have had something to do with it. 



Mr. Huggins — Our friend Mosier, in speaking of his trees being 

 injured by the borer, makes me feel the importance of using proper 

 expressions. I know I fiiil in it — have failed in times past. The unin- 

 itiated do not know what we mean by "borer," as we know there is one 

 borer that works on the body of the tree, and never on the root, and 

 another that works at the collar, and sometimes a little higher up. We 

 therefore ought to designate which borer it is. I suppose he meant the 

 borer which works on the body. I don't think that cutting off the 

 branches of a tree has any effect on the work of the borers. 



Mr. ScOFiELi) — In my mind I am fully convinced it is no very 

 difficult matter to arrive at the cause of the failure last season. In Ste- 

 phenson county we made an early examination of the trees, and I was 

 satisfied they were not injured in body or limb, but as the spring advanced 

 the contrary was proved, and on examination of large orchard trees I 

 found the roots in a condition as if they had lain out all winter, and had 

 been exposed to freezing and thawing. Here is the cause of the death of ^ 

 many of our orchard trees. From these facts I was led to make a closer 

 examination, and in almost all cases where I made a thorough examina- 

 tion I found that the damage was in the root — that the root was literally 

 frozen. Two causes operated to produce the result, viz : the extreme drought 

 of the last three years caused our subsoil to be so dry that a man might 

 work it all day long without damaging the blacking of his boots ; then 

 our winter set in in November and continued until March or April, and 

 as there was no moisture in the ground to maintain the vitality of the 

 trees they died. 



