INDIAIv'A HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 435 



'I WO years ago last June a terrible -windstorm passed over this section 

 That blew down on§ hundred and twenty-two of the trees and blew off 

 every apple, on the trees left standing. 



I have seen a good many orchards in America and Europe, but never 

 saw an apple orchard that averaged as well as this. The trees are about 

 in their prime, and are generally healthy, thrifty, with the limbs bending 

 with their load of large, fair, perfect fruit. Yellow Transparent, of which 

 there are twenty-four trees, had all been marketed before my visit. Two 

 hundred and fifty dollars' worth of fruit had already been sold and the 

 crop remaining is estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 bushels. 



From fifty to two hundred trees each of the following varieties were 

 planted in addition to the Yellow Transparent mentioned above, and are 

 esteemed by Mr. Williams nearly as in the order named, with Yellow 

 Transparent near the head: Northwestern Greening, York Imperial, In- 

 diana Favorite, Wealthy, Salome, Grimes' Golden, Roman Stem, Smith's 

 Cider, Ben Davis, Pewaukee, Rome Beauty, Northern Spy, Winesap and 

 Cranberry Pippin. Comparatively few varieties were planted. Many that 

 were omitted might have been found profitable. 



Mr. Williams attributes his success this year mainly to spraying liber- 

 ally. The orchard was gone over thoroughly three times and a part of 

 it the fourth. A few trees near a line fence could not be reached on one 

 side with the ^pray and the difference on the sprayed and the unsprayed 

 portions was veiy marked, the fruit that was not sprayed being small, 

 scabby, ill-shaped and wormy, while the portion of the same tree fully 

 reached by the spray was large, bright and perfect. The entire cost of 

 material and labor in spraying was about $40, the difference between 

 splendid success and almost utter failure. 



Mr. Williams had tound the Northwestern Greening a failure in former 

 years, not one apple in ten being fit for mai'ket, while this year nearly 

 every apple was fine. There are two other features in which the value of 

 spraying is manifest. Grimes' Golden, Wealthy and some others usually 

 drop much of the fruit before picking time, which is a great loss. In this 

 sprayed orchard there was very little dropped fruit— the fruit hanging 

 well and the foliage remaining quite green until the sharp October frosts, 

 while in nearby orchards not sprayed the fruit and leaves had largely 

 fallen weeks earlier. This feature— the retention of foliage and fruit — 

 applies to pears as well as apples, as in this orchard Kieffer pears were 

 fair and free from blemish, and the foliage green and fresh until late fall, 

 while in a Kieffer orchard not far off both fruit and foliage dropped 

 early, the former so rusty and knotty as to be almost worthless. 



I think quite likely thorough spraying would prevent the early drop- 

 ping of the fruit of the Vandevere Pippin and Rhode Island Greening, 

 once so popular here, and restore these old-time favorites to profit again. 



The other feature noticed by me was the almost entire absence of twig 

 blight, so destructive in many orchards, and especially liable to attack 



