STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It is to these matters that this Society should give its constant and careful attention. 

 Having infused into the people a desire to plaut, and taught them in a certain degree 

 what to plant, it is a plain duty to warn them of the difficulties they must encounter, 

 and inspire in them the courage to meet and overcome them. We must, by our united 

 efforts in bringing together and collecting facts, ascertain for ourselves, and teach 

 to others, the character and habits of the various useful and Injurious insects, and 

 the means of protecting the one, and destroying the other. We must And out, If we 

 can, the nature of those fatal diseases that assail our trees and their fruits, and the 

 means of prevention or cure. 



The Society has not been derelict in its duty in this behalf. Through its exertions, a 

 competent Entomologist has been appointed, under authority of the State ; and, 

 rim; the past year, he has been In the field, actively employed in the important inves- 

 tigations committed to his charge, while all over the country, hundreds of unprofessional 

 but entrusted observers, have been sending to him, as to a common centre, the facts 

 that have come under their notice. In this way, it is fair to presume that we shall be 

 able to learn all that can be learned of the habits and modes of life of the more im- 

 portant classes of insects ; and that the surest and easiest means of counteracting them 

 will then be indicated. When this is all done, there will still remain what we shall 

 probably find to be the most difficult part of our undertaking ; that is, to induce 

 growers of fruit to exercise the care, and perform the labor, necessary to favorable 

 results. 



The diseases to which our orchards are subject, independent of insect depredations, 

 present a wide, and very difficult field for inquiry and investigation. Their causes, 

 and the course of their development, are so obscure as to almost defy detection. The 

 attention of this Society has been given to this subject with some earnestness, but, 

 thus far, with comparatively meager results. We have, at most, arrived at an opinion 

 that the greater part, if not all of these diseases, are caused by parasitic fungi. But, 

 supposing this opinion to be true, how little do we know of the character of these 

 low forms of vegetable growth, and the manner in which they fasten themselves 

 upon and destroy the healthy structure of our trees and fruits! And how much less 

 we know of the means by which they may be destroyed or prevented. 



For instance, we have reason to believe that what is called " rotten root " — a disease 

 that has been quite fatal to the apple tree in the southern part of the State, and 

 which also sometimes attacks the pear and the cherry — is caused by a fungus whose 

 normal place of growth is upon dead wood under ground, but which has the power 

 of spreading from this to living roots, producing death as it advances, but doing its 

 work beneath the surface, and progressing slowly and insidiously. Who will tell us 

 how to detect its presence before it is too late, or how to master it when detected ? Or 

 who will point out to us a sure means of preventing its attack ? When shall we know, 

 with reasonable certainty, the nature, and understand the cure, of that terrible malady, 

 the Pear Blight f Or who will explain to us the mysterious operations of nature's laws, 

 which cause the peach to rot just as it begins to mellow Into ripeness, or the grape to 

 perish suddenly while in all the vigor of apparently healthy growth '! These ques- 

 tions, the perfect solution of which, would be a proud triumph to practical science, are 

 of the utmost Importance to every cultivator of fruit. That they are. unsolved— that 

 we stand helpless In their presence, compelled to witness the results of their terrible 

 power, in the decay of our orchards, and the wasting of our fruits admonish us that, 



