60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. DuKBAR. My experience with apple trees is precisely like 

 Mr. Hale's with the peach trees. I have used a wash similar to 

 what he speaks of, and have found it very effectual. I set an 

 orchard, and the first two years the borers got into every tree and 

 destroyed some of them entirely, and I learned about this wash and 

 applied it, and after that I don't think I found more than one borer 

 where I had found twenty-five before I commenced to wash the trees. 

 There would always be a few that I would have to dig out, and I 

 have not omitted that. My time was the first week in June and then 

 again from the middle to the 20th of June a second application. I 

 think if I had done it again in August I should have made almost a 

 complete thing of it. I followed that for years, and have no trouble 

 of any consequence now with the borers ; still I look my orchard 

 over once or twice a year. 



Mr. Pope. Whenever a tree in this climate stands leaning to the 

 north-east, the southwest side of the body of the tree is very apt to 

 turn dark, the bark becomes hardened and drops off. This is said 

 by our New Brunswick friends to be caused b}' the flat-headed borer. 



Piof. Maynard. The flat-headed borer works almost invariably 

 upon the south side of the tree, and the blight might result from the 

 attacks of the borer and the sun striking on the south side, and the 

 winter freezing and thawing might cause a dr} ing of the bark, which 

 would be destructive, and then of course the fungoid diseases which 

 penetrate all decaying matter would develop there. 



PKOPAGATION AXD IMPROVEMENT OF THE APPLE. 

 By Frank Bow^man. 



As the apple is the most important fruit grown in Maine, my 

 remarks will be mainly on the propagation of the tree, with some 

 suggestions relative to the dissemination of new sorts. I will say 

 right here that in all parts of this country the mode of propa- 

 gation by nurserymen is almost exactly the same. As it would 

 require a volume to write up all the details of nursery practice, only 

 a synopsis of the leading and most important parts can be given. 

 The first year in the seed bed the utmost pains are taken to grow the 

 largest and healthiest seedlings. They are dug in the fall, sorted 

 and stored in a cool cellar. During the winter they are prepared 

 and worked for planting in the nursery' rows, washed, side roots all 

 removed. The tap root, which is from ten to twenty inches, is 

 shortened to from three to five inches. If to be used as seedlings, 



