20 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



collection of fruits was brought together on the occasion, among which a. 

 few were from eastern Michigan orchards, then in their pristine vigor, the 

 result of virgin soils, just redeemed from the native forest, and yet undis- 

 covered by codlin moth, curculio, or fungus. 



So large; perfect, and beautifully colored were many of these Michigan 

 specimens, that the experts of western New York, in very many cases, 

 failed to recognize even favorite and well-known varieties, on account of 

 exaggerated size and brilliant color. And yet, today, after an interval of 

 little more than forty years, these orchards have ceased to be productive 

 of merchantable fruit, and commercial fruitgrowing, so long one of the 

 most profitable pursuits of that region, has already been practically 

 abandoned. 



That such experience is not to be regarded as singular, but should 

 rather be taken as a warning of the liability to similar experiences, even 

 in our " fruit belt," recent calamitous visitations have already warned us; 

 and even now, when just acquiring courage to repeat our earlier under- 

 takings, there are not wanting indications that the clear field — the absence 

 of enemies — which attended our primary operations, is not now to be 

 looked for, but that, for the future, perpetual vigilance and prompt and 

 resolute warfare must be relied upon if we would win success. 



But it is by no means my purpose to attempt to cover so broad a field, 

 but rather to elicit discussion by the suggestion of causes which either 

 have led, or may in the future lead, to the dreaded results, and following 

 with remedies. 



THE DESTRUCTIVE CAUSES. 



(1.) Man, in his greed for wealth, is too generally taking from the soil^ 

 in crops, and omitting to make necessary or adequate returns, with the 

 inevitable result of diminished vigor of plant, with loss of size, quality, and 

 productiveness. 



(2.) Lack of proper preparation and cultivation of the soil follows, as 

 an almost inevitable corollary, to the foregoing, rendering results even 

 more emphatic. 



(3.) The general destruction of forests greatly and very unfavorably 

 modifies the climate; the consequently increased velocity of the wind, 

 over naked fields, removes moisture and warmth more rapidly; with 

 greater extremes of both heat and cold, as well as increased liability to 

 drouth. 



(4.) Not unlike human beings, insects, when deprived of their accus- 

 tomed food by the destruction of the forests, as in the case of the codlin 

 moth and curculio, accept our fruits as a substitute, and, finding them 

 abundant and quite to their liking, multiply at an accelerated rate; while 

 yet others, imported from abroad in some cases, finding the new conditions 

 specially favorable, display a fecundity unheard of in their original 

 habitat, not infrequently, as in the case of the icerza, in California, or the 

 gipsy moth in Massachusetts, becoming terribly expensive pests. 



(5.) As in the case of insects, so in that of fungi: either by transference 

 from our diminished forest growths, by foreign importations, or merely 

 from the increase of orchard or garden planting, the development of fungi 

 and bacteria has become so rapid and extensive as even to threaten the 

 profitable existence of some of our heretofore extensive pomological 

 interests. 



