REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



To the Director of the Cornell University Agrioultural Experi- 

 ment Station : 



Sir. — In the past year tliere have been no important new 

 departures in the work of the Horticultural Division of the Experi- 

 ment Station. The chief line of inquiry is the investigation of 

 matters relating to commercial frnit-growing, in which New York 

 State excels. For many years the Cornell Experiment Station has 

 been engaged in a propagandist movement for the better care of 

 orchards, particularly with reference to clean tillage. At first the 

 advice to keep orchards in clean tillage was i-arely accepted ; but, 

 at the present time, a most remarkable change of opinion has taken 

 place. Most of the leading orchardists are now tilling their lands 

 as carefully and thoroughly as they till corn or potatoes. This 

 movement has been coincident with the movement looking toward 

 the spraying of trees and the general increased attention to the 

 destruction of insects and fungi. The result has been most gratify- 

 ing. A number of profitable crops have raised the hopes of the 

 fruit-growers of the State and have put the industry on a very 

 profitable basis. Two or three dry seasons have also emphasized 

 the value of conserving the moisture by clean tillage, thereby 

 enabling the trees to bear a much finer quality of fruit. One of 

 the next movements which needs to be inaugurated for the benefit 

 of fruit-growers is one looking to greater care and attention in the 

 harvesting and marketing of the produce. 



At the home Station at Ithaca experiments are continuing on 

 the management of orchard plantations with respect to fertilizing, 

 tilling, pruning, spraying, and the like. In the testing of varieties 

 of fruits little is now being done with the exception of the Japanese 

 plum and the strawberry. It is the belief of those who are work- 

 ing in the Horticultural Division that the general or promiscuous 



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