No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 783 



points in his letter that it is published in full as follows: ''1 have 

 about forty varieties of apples in my best orchard. It is almost cer- 

 tain that if we want long- keepers we must plant the best they have 

 to the south of us. I find the Langford and Nero, now in full bear- 

 ing age, profitable varieties. Lawver is a long keeper but not always 

 prolific. This and Delaware Winter are identical. 



"The Clairgeau pear is a profuse bearer and very attractive. It 

 is not so good as the B. Anjou but bears earlier and sells better. 

 The Bartlett has not been superseded yet and, if one has cold stor- 

 age to prolong the season of this fruit, it is the variety to plant. 

 People know it and want it. 



"My peaches were a failure. Frost in spring and low temperature 

 in February did the damage. There is an orchard of several thou- 

 sand trees in the northeastern part of the county that bore a full 

 crop, the only one in the county that I know of which was a success 

 the past season. It is planted mostly with Elberta, the buds of 

 w hich are not very hardy. 



"I never had a larger yield of plums. The Wild Goose sold readily 

 at ten cents a quart, while prunes later in the season brought only 

 five and six cents a quart. Wild Goose plum trees are practically 

 exempt from diseases and insects and the trees bear abundantly, if 

 the Miner is grafted over a portion of the tree to insure pollination. 

 The flowers of the Wild Goose are rarely self-fertile. We never 

 spray the Wild Goose, except for the San Jos^ Scale. The Japans 

 will go by the board whenever the peach suiters. I think all of the 

 Domestica have hardy buds. 



"I am giving less attention to the small fruits now, for several 

 reasons. The tree fruits require all my time and the southern berries 

 have demoralized the markets. The Cuthbert raspberry leaves one 

 a nice profit. My soil is suitable to its culture. 



"The early part of the summer was very dry and vegetables fared 

 badly, but the latter half was wet and later crops succeeded well. I 

 saw late cabbage heads as big as a half-bushel and solid and heavy. 

 The potatoes rotted some, but notwithstanding this, the yield was 

 very good, averaging about 200 bushels per acre. All the potato 

 vines in this section went down with the blight. Those on low ground 

 and shallow planted tubers, suffered most from rot. For early, I 

 grow Early Fortune, Irish Cobbler and Boston Market. For late, 

 Carman No. 3 and Eural New Yorker No. 2. 



"I wish I could report an advance in Nature Study taught in the 

 public schools. Parents and school officers are indifferent about it 

 and teachers say they have no time, but most of them are not quali- 

 fied to interest the children. 



'^As long as spraying was practiced to combat the codling moth 

 and fungi, the wide-awake fruit growers derived benefits and the in- 



