130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



way between the rows of trees have these orchards been over with the cultiva- 

 tor this season ; the last time on July 15th. 



Severe cutting back of the trees, commencing as soon as warm weather will 

 permit in the spring, is one of the marked features in the management of 

 these peach orchards, and to it the owner attributes much of the thriftiness 

 and vigor of the trees as well as the size and quality of the fruit. Thinning 

 the fruit also is thoroughly practiced. Three times have these trees been 

 thinned of their overburthened loads of fruit this season. One man will 

 average fifty trees per day if cut back. The curculio is the worst of all the 

 insect depredators, and is caught by the jarring process, on canvass stretchers 

 attached to a barrow, and wheeled from tree to tree. The borer, so fatal to the 

 growing of the peach in many localities, has no lodgment here ; a diligent 

 search by Mr. Sleeper, the entomologist of the committee, failed to find their 

 presence anywhere. 



The next orchard examined was euLered in Class 9, Division A, and con- 

 tained 200 trees, planted four years, two varieties only, Jenny Lind (Hill's 

 Chili) and Late Crawford, about 100 each. These plants are all seedlings, or 

 grown from pits, and Mr. Eugle claims they are as true to name and more so 

 than most trees bought of nurserymen as budded trees. The Jenny Lind are 

 almost invariably true to variety grown in this way. The Crawfords vary 

 some, but those not genuine are easily detected in the seedling row. We failed 

 to discover any variation among the varieties named in this orchard. Should 

 have pronounced them budded trees and true to name. This, like the orchard 

 first named, was heavily laden wuth fruit, which had already begun to color 

 finely. Altogether this was, without exception, the finest 200 peach-trees 

 found in any one orchard visited by your committee in their examinations. 

 Like the one first mentioned, it secured a first premium. A subsequent visit, 

 on the 21st of October, after the examination of the other orchards had been 

 completed, and when the fruit had long since been gathered, fully confirmed 

 the decisions already made. Five thousand five hundred boxes of one-third 

 bushel each were gathered and sold from these two orchards this year, bring- 

 ing an average of 76 cents net per box, and found a market mostly on the line 

 of the M. C. E. E. east of Lawton, Detroit and Jackson taking the most. 



A few pertinent questions elicited the following replies : 



1. To what do you attribute the thriftiness and vigor of your trees ? Ans. 

 Thorough cultivation and severe cutting back. 



2. What is your theory of protection ? Ans. The wind currents, in passing 

 over this section, are caught in the valleys and drift rapidly off, following their 

 courses, the colder portion settling along the bottoms, leaving the warmer to 

 drift over the more elevated plain. 



3. Yv^hat is your most profitable variety ? Ans. Jenny Lind (or Hill's Chili), 

 and Late Crawford next. Old Mixon is a good peach, but too soft for market. 



4. Are you troubled with birds injuring any of your fruit crops ? Ans. Yes, 

 especially small fruits ; cherries the worst. 



5. What remedy do you apply ? Ans. Kill them. I have no more hesi- 

 tancy in killing a bird for the same reason than a curculio, the laws of the 

 State to the contrary notwithstanding. 



The pear orchard in class No. 6 has no competitors. A heavy wind a short 

 time previous to our visit destroyed one-half the fruit, but still left enough for an 

 average crop, perhaps more. Among a large number of varieties found, w^hich 

 were especially fine, were Bartlett and Buffum. A variety called the Church 



