FAEMEKS' INSTITUTES. 205 



pears, peaches, aud other fruits ; also ornamental trees and trees likely to prove 

 valuable for timber. AYitli these should be kept a record of their rapidity of 

 growth, the time of bearing, yield, quality, hardiness, aud other peculiarities. 

 A test orchard and garden is not always of much value to determine the worth 

 of a plant or tree except for a limited locality near the garden or orchard, unless 

 the soil, climate, etc., are similar. Even then our success or failure with a 

 variety may be owing to some peculiarity of one individual plant or the peculiar 

 place in which it grows. 



Irrigation. 



Some remarkable results have been reached by irrigation, both in dry coun- 

 tries where no crops will grow without it, and in damper climates where less 

 would be expected. Irrigation of gardens by windmills, by horse carts or other 

 means, seems to me well worthy of a fair trial for a series of years. Irrigation 

 of fruit trees in times of long severe drought I have no doubt would often pre- 

 vent them from winter killing and cause them to produce more fruit. Is it 

 practicable ? Will it pay ? Give us the control of water and we can grow almost 

 any size and quantity. 



Peaches in Cold Climates. 



It has been suggested that we try peaches by protecting them in diiferent 

 modes. In winter we have buried them in light, dry soil. All died after two 

 years of trial. We covered some with inverted barrels, using straw also. The 

 trees died, though they may not have been managed in the best way. Some 

 have set up boards aud stakes and covered with something to keep the cold out 

 or the heat in. There may yet be some simple mode of raising peaches at a 

 profit in a frosty climate or in a climate subject to very cold Avinters. 



Hedges and Screens. 



It will be of value to our people some day to know what are the best hedge 

 i^lants for different parts of our State, and the best way to grow them ; also 

 what are the merits and demerits of many of our trees and shrubs for screens 

 and ornamental hedges. To some extent this is now going on at your College. 



Thinning Fruit. 



It would seem that the eminent success of a few in various parts of our coun- 

 try because they thin freely and systematically would make it no longer neces- 

 sary to speak of this experimentally. To produce seeds is one of the most 

 exhaustive processes to which a tree or plant can be subjected. Theoretically, 

 if not practically, it will exhaust an apple tree or peach tree much more to pro- 

 duce two bushels of small apples or peaches than it will to produce two bushels 

 of large fruit, because in the small fruit we have more seeds or pits, which are 

 more exhaustive to the tree than the pulp or edible portion of the fruit. If 

 needed, experiments could prove this. 



Pear Blight and the Yellows. 



The causes and nature and best treatment for prevention aud cure of these 

 "diseases" are still matters of discussion. Experiments are desirable. In 

 just what direction wo may look for the best results I am not prepared to say. 



Insects. 



The best modes of effectually destroying or warding off our insect foes may 

 in many cases not yet have been discovered. We have advanced much within 



