372 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



EXPERIMENTS 



I have not tried, except in a single case, which failed so ignominiouslj that I 

 shall not mention it here. 



My neighbor, Mr. D. G. Alston, whose fine crop of Hale's Early I have before 

 mentioned, applied half a pound of potash, procured from an ashery in Ionia 

 county, at a cost of eight cents per pound, to each tree upon a sandy ridge 

 where the sand had drifted badly, and harvested as fine peaches from the trees 

 as I have ever seen of the variety; whereas upon similar situations without the 

 potash I have this year seen Hale's Early not worth the freight to ship them to 

 market. The potash was applied by dissolving in water, and applying to the 

 surface in the fall. 



APPLES. 



The codling moth has destroyed the apples in Spring Lake and iu Ottawa 

 county, so far as my observation has extended. A remedy must be discovered 

 and used, or our choice winter fruit will only be fit for feeding swine. A 

 perfect winter apple is the rare exception, while one honeycombed with worm- 

 holes is the rule. 



"We look anxiously for a remedy against this insect and the thrip that de- 

 stroys our hitherto unexcelled Delaware. 



MARKET AND MARKETIIMG. 



Our systems of marketing have been as various as the disposition of the men 

 engaged in our calling. 



My own experience is that the most satisfactory results are obtained by put- 

 ting up good fruit in a neat and tasteful manner, and shipping steadily to the 

 same commission merchant, when those have been found to merit confidence. 



Out of over 4,000 packages shipped by me, a single commission house in 

 Milwaukee has sold about 2,000 ; and these sales have been uniformly higher, 

 and mucii more satistactory than the new men we have occasionally tried. 



