INDIANA HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 295 



struggling along against what I believe is not only neglect but abuse. 

 There are men here from other counties, and we want them to go out as 

 so many packages of yeast, to leaven them up again. 



I want to ask this question: Am I right or wrong? Is it true that 

 we do not pay enough attention to the feeding of the trees of the orchard 

 as well as care in the way of- cultivation? Is that the experience of Ihe 

 people here? Those that are in the business commercially, please an- 

 swer, for I do not want to preach the wrong gospel. I want the verdict 

 here in the way of a vote, or something. Is it as important to feed the 

 orchard as tt) cultivate it? 



Professor Newton:. In northern Indiana I know of but a very few 

 orchards that have been cared for properly; I know of some that have 

 been partially cared for, and I think they have paid for that care. There 

 are very few who are interested enough to take care of the orchard 

 as it should be, in this locality. There are very few fruit growers here 

 who are growing all varieties of fruit. So far as I am concerned, I have 

 plums and peaches, and I have neglected, and I knew I was neglecting 

 my apples. My main crop is strawberries, and while gathering and taking 

 care of my strawberries, I have neglected the tree fruit. This year I , 

 have a very good crop of peaches, neglected as they were. I deem it 

 possible to grow peaches in this locality, nearly every season, if planted 

 in the right location and properly cared for. I do not believe that the 

 plum is apt to be frozen here. I have raised plums the coldest winters 

 Ave have had. If the vitality of the tree is kept up, and the insects 

 liept off, I believe it is possible. 



Mr. Haines: My experience in that regard and Brother Newton's are 

 entirely different. I have only eight acres altogether, and I have it all 

 set out in fruit, and I have lived in my peach orchard most all summer. 

 I have appples and peaches and plums of all kinds. I commenced cultiva- 

 tion in April, and I have been over my orchard twenty-one times since 

 the first of April; I have kept it thoroughly clean, and the trees have had 

 plenty of moisture all summer. I visited another farm over here. My 

 peach trees are only two years old. I think I have ninety-five trees that 

 are bearing peaches this year. I have averaged about sixty-five cents 

 a tree, and some went as high as .$1.50. My friend has a peach orchard 

 two years older than mine. He took the plan of cutting all the lower 

 limbs off the trees, making the top about four feet from the ground; and 

 those trees two years older than mine, several hundred of them, when I 

 was through his orchard I found but a few trees with any peaches on. 

 I would like to ask the gentleman in regard to pruning. I have left 

 the limbs on, the limbs almost tough the ground, and I do not find the 

 peaches in the top of the trees but on the lower limbs, and I would like 

 to ask him the question in regard to pruning and cutting the tops. The^ 



