STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 15 



FIRST DAY. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at half past one o'clock, pursuant 

 to adjournment. 



PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



M. L. DuNLAP, the President of the Society, read his Annual Address, 

 as follows : 



After the experience of another season, we have met to take counsel 

 together. 



The unusual drought of the past three years has given us some new 

 conditions to be considered, and, if possible, to be corrected. Formerly 

 we had been taxed with a surplus of rainfall, that called for drainage, and 

 now we have the very reverse. The wet feet that occasioned so much of 

 our attention have became dry feet ; and that excess of dryness, like the 

 excess of wet, has led to death in the orchard, the vineyard, and on 

 the lawn. 



We must not speculate on the cause of the changes in the progress 

 of the season, but may look to the effect, and inquire for a remedy. 

 Fortunately, the plan for the cure of the one is also a cure for the other. 

 Deep tillage and a friable condition of the soil is essential to both condi- 

 tions. In one case the rainfall may pass off through the soil, and in the 

 other it may arise by capillary attraction. 



The dead trees are now past remedy, but the lesson should be of 

 value hereafter in the case of trees, and vines, and shrubs. 



The abundant crop of 1872 also weakened the vitality of the orchards, 

 and aided, to some extent, in their destruction ; and at this time there 

 is every indication that the same result is to follow, and we shall need to 

 guard the orchard during the coming year from an over-crop, unless the 

 late frost shall do the work for us. We are largely indebted to Dr. Hull 

 for valuable lessons in the thinning of fruit, and I respectfully call atten- 

 tion to his teaching, not only for the peach, the pear, and the cherry, 

 but for that most valuable of all fruit, the apple. 



There is a demand for a superior article of cider, and there is 

 no reason why our orchardists should be l)ehind those of New Jersey in 

 furnishing it. The samples here shown prove that this may be accom- 

 plished. This will add greatly to the value of the apple-orcluird. 



We need more thorough lessons in the making of cider-vinegar, and 

 the manner of putting it in the market. Age and careful racking-off 

 before shipping are the essentials to this end, and their observance should 

 be regarded by all, and ought to nearly double the value of the orchard 

 in the making of this product. 



