782 ANNUAL, REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



AUSTIN WRIGHT, Alum Bank, Bedford Co.: '^Bedford county is 

 in the fruit belt of the State and the yield and quality of the fruit 

 grown here are as good as in most other sections of the State and 

 better than in some. There has been quite an unusual interest 

 manifested in this county in the planting of apple and peach or- 

 chards for commercial purposes, but as our market facilities are 

 poor very little attention is given to the cultivation of the small 

 fruit." 



JOSEPH W. THOMAS, King of Prussia, Chester Co.: ''The season 

 has been peculiar and unusual for the growth of vegetable matter. 

 The month of March came with April or May weather, with a torrid 

 atmosphere that brought vegetation forward rapidly so that the 

 pear, peach, apple and plum trees all bloomed together and nearly a 

 month too early. The consequence was that when late frosts came 

 many of the blooms were killed. We had no peaches, plums and 

 cherries, and only a fair crop of pears and apples. In regard to in- 

 sect pests we feel sure that it has been a good year for their propaga- 

 tion. We observe in many places a great luxuriance of oyster shell 

 scales attacking soft maples, Persian lilacs and other plants. This 

 insect is not confined to any particular section. In some cases we 

 know of efforts being made to check the ravages of this insect by 

 spraying with whale oil soap." 



OLIVER D. SCHOCK, Hamburg, Berks Co.: ''It was the writer's 

 pleasure to judge the fruit display at the famous Inter-State Fair at 

 Trenton, New Jersey, Lehigh county fair at Allentown, Pa., and the 

 York county fair at York, Pa., the three largest and finest collections 

 of fruit in this section of the country in 1903. 



"A most gratifying feature of these exhibitions is the fact that the 

 nomenclature of fruit is becoming better understood, and that ex- 

 hibitors have a better knowledge as to how to display their products 

 more intelligently and successfully. The interest manifested ex- 

 ceeds that of previous years. It is also a notable fact that the num- 

 ber of those vrho grow fruit for the market and the profit that can 

 be derived from that source is constantly increasing. All united 

 in the claim that the markets will always absorb all the first-class 

 fruit that can be grown, but that buyers will hesitate to buy in- 

 ferior products even at concessions. 



"The amount of money paid out as premiums by these agricultural 

 societies, as well as many other such organizations throughout Penn- 

 sylvania, is very large, and the management deserves the thanks of 

 the public and a still larger share of patronage for what they are ac- 

 complishing in this beneficent direction." 



H. C. SNAVELY, Cleona, Lebanon Co.: Mr. Suavely, former Chair- 

 man of the General Fruit Committee, has fiiven so many practical 



