No, 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 287 



STATE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



PAPEES READ AT ANNUAL MEETING JANUARY 16 AND 17, 



1900. 



REPORT OF GENERAL FRUIT COMMITTEE. 



By H. C. SNAVELY, ClMirman. 



It was well on in December when I was assigned the duty of pre- 

 paring the report of the General Fruit Committee. I had prepared 

 and sent out the blanks for reports as speedily as possible, and 

 quite a number of the members of the committee and others to whom 

 the blanks were mailed responded promptly. The reports from the 

 various counties are not as full as a year ago, when almost every 

 county in the State was reported. The reports in my hands, how- 

 ever, cover every section of the State, so that a fairly accurate re- 

 port can be made up of the results of the past season. 



Generalizing these local, reports upon the different varieties of 

 fruits, as well as other pertinent matters, I report as follows: 



APPLES. 



Taking the State over, the conditions were favorable for a good 

 yield. The quality of the fruit, as a rule, is reported good. The 

 greatest injury to the crop, it appears, occurred during the dry and 

 very warm weather in September and October. In some instances 

 the fruit was scalded on the trees, and in nearly every report the 

 complaint is that the warm weather ripened the fruit prematurely 

 and impaired the keeping quality. 



No causes are assigned for the failure of the apple in about eight 

 or ten counties of the State. 



It appears that the northeastern part of the State had a good 

 crop. The north central part light, the northwestern part a good 

 crop, the southwestern part a short crop, while the south central 



