622 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



orchard pests, both insects and diseases, and to produce perfect 

 fruit at the lowest cost, by known and tested methods. Experiments 

 are being conducted from our own office in the vicinity of Harris- 

 burg and Mechanicsburg with new methods, or materials to obtain 

 new results, and it is not advisable to attempt any real experiments 

 in these demonstration orchards, but to show the public what can be 

 done in a practical way. There is a great deal of difference between 

 experiments and demonstrations. In the former the person under- 

 takes work by some new method, with new apparatus, or with new 

 materials, at a new or unusual time, etc., to learn what results may 

 follow. The results are unknown at the time of performing the work, 

 and may not prove beneficial in the end. However, where beneficial 

 results are obtained they are of course new, and may often be very 

 useful, but should be tried again before being placed before the 

 public. The experiments which we have performed up to the present 

 time have been of a wide range, including all kinds of insecticides 

 and fungicides available, difierent kinds of apparatus, treatment of 

 infested trees and plants by a great variety of means and at differ- 

 ent times of the year. The results of these have been j3ublished 

 from time to time in our bulletins and will continue to be so pub- 

 lished in the future. 



A demonstration is for the purpose of showing the public the 

 methods of some work which is already known and understood by 

 the demonstrator, and consequently the result of which can not be 

 in doubt. Thus, the demonstration orchard work in this State is 

 to be for the purpose of obtaining definite results which we now 

 know must follow certain methods, and especially for the purpose 

 of showing the public how the work is done to obtain these results. 

 Therefore, the orchards must be so situated that they will be availa- 

 ble to the greatest number of persons in a county or region, and 

 should be of sufficient size to be suitable in fairly demonstrating 

 horticultural methods, including pruning, spraying, thinning of fruit 

 and possibly also cultivating and fertilizing, with special reference 

 to the known modern methods of controlling insects and preventing 

 plant disease. Everything that can be done to increase or promote 

 the vigor of a tree is quite advisable as aids in helping to overcome 

 the adverse effects of injuries by injurious diseases, insects, or other 

 causes. Thus, the cultivation and fertilization of an orchard to 

 promote proper growth are necessary parts of insecticidal practice, 

 and pruning is so intimately connected with spraying that one can 

 not do a proper spraying job without first properly pruning his trees. 

 Also, if the trees be permitted to bear twice the amount of fruit 

 they should, and weaken themselves, they are at once more suscepti- 

 ble to injury by diseases and insects, and consequently the thinning 

 of fruit must receive its proper attention at the right time. 



It is our present intention to accept in each of the fruit-growing 

 counties of the State an orchard that is easy of access to the public, 

 containing some bearing trees of different kinds, preferring apple, 

 pear, peach, plum and others if possible, some of which should be 

 of bearing age, although the others may be younger, but all should 

 not be of the old style high-headed varieties, which it is almost im- 

 possible to treat properly by modern methods. We are willing to 

 take a few such trees and show how to prune and spray them and 



