REPORT OF STATE HORTICULTURIST. 



To the Honorable William T. Guptill, Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture: 



I herewith submit my fifth annual report as State Horticul- 

 turist, for the year 191 5. 



In many ways this report will be of a depressing nature, 

 inasmuch as conditions have been far from favorable for the 

 production of satisfactory crops. The weather conditions this 

 season were most unsatisfactory and as a result the crop of 

 fruit and small fruits was of poor quality and very much 

 limited in quantity. Most of the snow disappeared in the latter 

 part of February, and with a fair March and little frost in 

 the ground everything pointed to a very desirable season. The 

 bloom was heavy, but in the latter part of May and the first 

 week in June we had frosts and a freeze which damaged the 

 fruit crop fully fifty per cent. Summer was very wet and the 

 frequent and continued rains not only damaged the little fruit 

 that was left, but also made it almost impossible to give ade- 

 quate protection from pests by spraying. The picking season 

 was very satisfactory, but the harm had already been done and 

 it was too late to look for any quantity of good fruit. 



Because of the season and the small amount of fruit, there 

 was quite a considerable falling off in spraying on the part of 

 the growers with the possible exception of the dormant appli- 

 cation. There was more or less winter-killing not only to fruit 

 trees, but also to ornamental shrubs and shade trees due no 

 doubt to the lack of snow for the greater part of the winter. 



With the crop estimates showing a decided falling ofT from 

 last year, high prices for fruit began to circulate early and 

 many buyers paid $2.75 to $3.25 per barrel. As has been 

 mentioned before, the fruit was of very poor quality, so fhat 

 when fruit arrived on the market, the demand was sluggish 

 and prices were not greatly superior to last season. At this time 



