No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7G3 



The I'KEt^lDENT: Next in ordei- is the report of the Geuerai Fruit 

 Committee, but in the absence of the chairman, Prof. Watts, we will 

 be obliged to postpone this paper to a future session. Mr. Cooper, 

 who is on the program for to-morrow nioining, has consented to tak<' 

 the place assigned to I'rof . Watts, and will now give us his "Kemiuis- 

 censes of Fifty Years Among Fruit Trees." 



REMINISCENCES OF FIFTY YEARS AMONG FRUIT TREES. 



By Calvix Coopkk, Bird-in-Hand, Pa. 



I had hoped that after passing m}' seventieth birthday I might be 

 excused from the work assigned me, but having been granted the 

 privilege of choosing my own subject, I have considerable latitude in 

 addressing you. 



I have been interested in fruit and fruit culture since I was five 

 years of age, and 1 sometimes think we do not know much more 

 than we did 50 years ago. There have, however, been great ad- 

 vances in the increased number of varieties of fruit. Thou, it was 

 not necessary to spray and wage a continual warfare against insects 

 and diseases as is the case now. The leading varieties of apples 

 were Smokehouse, Rambo, Early Harvest, Sweet Bough, Red Streak, 

 Green Pippin and Pennock. Of pears, there were but three or four 

 varieties before 1840. Peaches were nearly all seedlings, some, of 

 course, were of good quality. Of grapes, the only varieties known 

 in my youthful days were Isabella and Catawba, and the wild Fox 

 grape, and about 1855 the Concord was introduced, and for quality 

 and an all-purpose grape, it has^ in my opinion, never been surpassed. 



In recent years sprayers have come into use and m}'^ first exper- 

 ience with them convinced me of their value. I had two Rambo 

 trees, one of which I sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and to my 

 surprise, instead of falling off, the fruit on the sprayed tree re- 

 mained until most of the other winter apples were ready to pick. 

 They hung like Winesaps, and held their foliage until late in the 

 fall. Since then I have sprayed regularly until last year, when for 

 want of help I did not get a tree sprayed, and yet I had the finest 

 apples I ever grew. We knew nothing of the peach borer until 

 about 1860. since when it has caused considerable trouble. I have, 

 in a measure, kept them in check by placing ashes around the trees 

 until about five years old, after which they will resist their attacks. 



