468 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Pratt. — I am iu favor of carrots for all purposes. My horses don't seem 

 to like ruta-bagas, but all animals eat carrots. I believe I plant too early; I 

 now think the worms take them. 



Mr. Brinkman. — My trouble is, the weeds come up before the carrots. Plow 

 twice and plant late. 



Mr. Drew. — As between the Belgian and the Orange, you get bulk with the 

 first, but all the best qualities with the latter. They need rich soil and deep 

 plowing. 



Mr. Brinkman. — Has Mr. Parmelee ever seen the Pound Pear ? 



Mr. Parmelee. — Yes, many of them. The pear is large. In Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, and Missouri they grow larger than with us; but the question is, are 

 they worth anything? 



Mr. Drew. — Maj. Brevoort of Detroit gathered sixty bushels of very fair 

 pears from one tree. 



Mr. Parmelee. — I hear the Eoxbury Eusset and the Baldwin are recom- 

 mended by eastern nurserymen for cultivation here, but the Roxbury here is ten- 

 der and liable to split, and the flavor by no means equal to the Golden Russet. 

 Nor would it be wise to plant largely of the Baldwin here. The Shiawassee 

 Beauty, a seedling from the Fameuse, is said to be superior to it. I have been 

 in all our orchards, and we have no better apple than the Golden Russet. Nei- 

 ther in the orchard nor the nursery was there any leaf blight, when for two 

 seasons almost every other variety was afiected. 



Mr. Drew. — We have fair crops of Russets every year; the other varieties 

 are not so uniform. 



Mr. Parmelee. — The size of the Golden Russet is no objection to it. There 

 is a demand for large apples, but it is not so extensive as for the smaller va- 

 rieties. 



THE POTATO. 



Old Mission, Jan. 11, 1875. 



Club met on the evening of this day. President Montague in the chair. 



Mr. Tracy. — We had not long since a very interesting discussion on root 

 crops, but I should like to hear something more about potatoes. Successful 

 wheat growers harvest sixty bushels to the acre, though twenty bushels or 

 even less is the ordinary yield. The difference, of course, is in the preparation, 

 of the soil and other circumstances; but are there any similar facts in regard 

 to the potato ? B. K. Bliss & Co. offered premiums for best crop of potatoes, 

 and in one instance a piece of ground, one half acre in size, was made to yield 

 at the rate of 900 bushels to the acre. Now, don't this show we have some- 

 thing to learn on this subject ? If sixty bushels instead of twenty bushels of 

 wheat can be raised on one acre, I should like to know if we can't do better on 

 potatoes. 



Mr. Marshall. — Last year I raised 260 bushels of Peachblows to the acre on 

 wheat stubble plowed in the fall, but not manured. I planted near the surface 

 and covered well. I first threw the dirt from the hills with the horse hoe, go- 

 ing both ways, thus leaving the hills about one foot square ; when the small 



