1726 Report of Farmeks' Institutes 



PESTS 



Spraying is indispensable l)nt tlie frnit-grower can so plant as 

 to avoid some of the warfare with pests. Tlins King, Eoxbiiry 

 and Xorthern Spy among apples are nearly free from scale as are 

 the Kieffer, LeConte and Winter Nelis pears, Bradshaw and Field 

 ])lnms and all sour cherries. There are about thirty varieties of 

 ap|)les on the grounds of the Xew York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station never injured by scab, as many more scarcely injured, and 

 of course a large number that are badly injured. The Seckei 

 Kieffer, Le Conte and Winter Xelis pears do not blight badly. A 

 few plums are never attacked by black-knot and some peaches are 

 almost immune to leaf curl. Xow with these, and nearly all other 

 pests, men who cannot or will not spray, the general farmer and 

 the city suburbanite, for example, should plant varieties measur- 

 ably immune to the most troublesome pests. Commercial fruit- 

 growers must spray. 



MICE AND RABBITS 



It is necessary to protect young trees from mice and rabbits. 

 The best protection against mice is a mound of earth about the tree 

 several inches high, thrown up in late fall and removed in early 

 spring. "Wire netting is the best protection against rabbits. 

 When injury has been done the trees can often be saved by bridge- 

 grafting. 



CONCLUSION 



Fruit plants are various in kind and trees of one kind are often 

 quite unlike because the conditions under which they are grown 

 are dissimilar. It follows, then, that conditions must vary for 

 every person who grows fruit and that there must, therefore, be 

 more or less diverse ideals, diverse methods and diverse results. 

 But certain forces, embraced in what we call " good care," have 

 brought all fruits from the wild to their present state of domesti- 

 cation, and these forces modified and refined as we gain new knowl- 

 edge;, must be kept in constant operation. 



