WESTERN NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 471 



I have an orchard of three hundred and fifty Baldwin apple trees thirty years 

 planted. The trees are very strong and thrifty^ hut have never borne much fruit, not 

 as much as other orchards on the farm of same age. It has been in grass five years, 

 mowed or pastured each season. In fall of 1892, was top-dressed ivith farm yard 

 manure under the trees as far as the branches extend. Some of it was very coarse. 

 In 1893 had a good growth of wood, but no fruit. The soil under the trees is full of 

 small roots clear up to the surface. Would you advise plowing in spring, say five or 

 six inches deep; cultivate until June 15, and then sow to rape, {to be fed off with 

 lambs in the fall) tvith an application of three hundred pounds ground bone and one 

 hundred pounds muriate of potash? 



Mr. Hooker: I would think that pretty good treatment. The Baldwin is one of the 

 kinds that has failed of late years. It may be entirely in the season, as Baldwin is 

 more susceptible to climatic influences than other varieties of apples. When we have 

 good dry weather at time of flowering and setting of germ we get excessive crops. 



Mr. Purdy: Have these trees blossomed in that number of years? 



A Membek: Yes, in 1892, but they did not bear. 



Mr. Purdy: Graft the orchard over. 



Prof. Roberts: If the roots are coming near the surface of the ground, would not 

 it be better to drain the orchard with tile? 



Mr. Hooker: If you plow in an apple orchard you will find the soil permeated with 

 living roots. I would plow only three or four inches deep and with a Rochester gang 

 plow. 



Is salt of any value as a fertilizer on fruit trees— would it pay at $2.50 per ton. 



Dr. Caldwell could not give any general answer to the question. Salt is not a plant 

 food, but it might release fertility already in the soil. 



Prof. Roberts: It acts beneficially on light lands, but is a detriment on heavy, clay 

 lands. 



Should tJie ferro cyanide test, in mixing the Bordeaux mixture, be made as soon as 

 the lime and copper sulphate are vii.ved, or a few hours later? 



Mr. Hooker: At the time the mixture is made. 



Mr. Woodward: A single drop is enough and it is very sensitive. A drop with a 

 quart will decide it. 



To what extent, and with what success has grape juice, bottled and unfermented, 

 been placed upon the market? Is a license required to sell it? 



Mr. Snow did not think any license is required. He could not say to what extent it 

 was on the market, but it is being manufactured in many places, and quite a good deal 

 is sold. He does not think the proper process for making it has yet been found. The 

 diflficulty seems to be in finding suitable packing for it and in keeping it entirely excluded 

 from atmospheric influences. 



From the experience of the last few years what system of training and pruning the 

 grape is proving the best for this state : is the single stake system again coming into 

 use ? 



Mr. Snow: The single stake system is not coming into use that I know of. Methods 

 of pruning differ in different sections. Am not prepared to say which is the best. 

 On the Hudson River the Kniffen system is used, and the Brocton system in the 

 Chautauqua region. 



I have an orchard of three hundred dwarf Duchess pear trees on a dark clay loam. 

 Trees are ten years planted and strong, making good growth of wood each year, but 

 never bearing fruit to any amount. Ground cultivated yearly and manured with 

 stable manure. Could these trees he top-worked to Bartlett and Anjou, or other 

 varieties that are more certain to bear, with a good prospect of success? Bartlett 

 standards on the farm bear good crops yearly. 



Mr. WiLLAED would give them a severe pruning if they had not already been 

 pruned; and if they did not bear then he would graft them. If dwarf pears are 

 pruned annually, cutting back one-half to two-thirds of the season's growth, they will 

 yield. 



Mr. McCullom: If the trees have not fruited would recommend trimming as late as 

 March, and if they do not bear fruit would break off the ends later. 



A Member: Where not cut bacK they continue growing with high cultivation, and 

 did so for three years. Last spring we cut back more thoroughly, not only the large 

 limbs, but especially the small ones that form from the body, thinking I would get a 



