INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 449 



REPORT ON EXPERIMENTAL ORCHARD. 



JOE A. BURTON, SUPERINTENDENT. 



The orchard is now enclosed by a substantial wire fence. The longi- 

 tudinal wires, ten in number, are No. 9 coiled spring, save bottom one, 

 which is a barb. These have a drawn tension of two rods on each side 

 of the orchard. The stay wires, every three feet, are soft No. 9. The 

 posts are cedar and corner posts encased in Portland cement. Around 

 all is a poultry netting 30 inches high to make the fence rabbit proof. 

 This part, however, is a failure. The groundhogs seem averse to climb- 

 ing this fence, so they make creep holes wherever they want to pass. I 

 counted thirty-nine creep-holes made since September 1st. This fence 

 cost $245.73, and was paid for by the State. 



But few apple seeds were planted last spring, and none came up. 



The following pedigreed trees were top worked: 



Winesap, pollenized by Grimes; Winesap, pollenized by Rome 

 Beauty; Winesap, pollenized by Ben Davis; Ben Davis, pollenized by 

 Rome Beauty; Ben Davis, pollenized by Grimes; Benoni, pollenized by 

 Early Harvest; Benoni, pollenized by Chenango; Benoni, pollenized by 

 Trenton Early; Benoni, pollenized by Yellow Transparent; four trees by 

 Grimes inbred. 



The following top-worked with scions from Stark Bi*os., Louisiana, 

 Mo.: One tree with Bay; one tree with E. 5; one tree with Z. 26; one 

 ti-ee. Black Ben Davis. 



The following from Albertson & Hobbs, Bridgeport: One tree, with 

 Celestia; one tree with Dickey; one tree with Whitney Russet. 



In experiments we get some results. One tree top-worked with Ben 

 Davis from bearing tree -and nursery stock propagated from nursery stock 

 for manj^ years, has borne. No difference in the bearing. This, however, 

 is not a fair test. Tree bore prematurely on account of girdling by label 

 wires. 



The following to determine whether the stock has any influence on 

 the* nature of the fruit we regard as conclusive, and will not follow it 

 further. It is a repetition of the test as given in 1902. Yellow Trans- 

 parent was grafted on Wild Crab and the apples grown with all Trans- 

 parent leaves removed. The apples were nourished with food prepared 

 by crab leaves alone. Two very line Transparents were grown, and 

 when ripe one was tested by Prof. Troop and Mrs. W. W. Stevens, of 

 the committee in charge of the orchard, assisted by Mr. Emery Albertson. 

 They pronounced it a true Yellow Transparent. The other was sent to 

 Prof. Taft at the WjOrld's Fair and by him and other experts there pro- 

 nounced a true Yellow Transparent. Prof. Taft ventured the statement 

 that "to raise a baby on goat's milk would not make it part goat." 



29— Agri. 



