THE SOUTH HAYEK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 4&9 



FRUIT ENEMIES AND FRUIT FRIENDS. 



South Haye.v, May 12, 1S74. 



We confidently believe this is one of the most favored fruit regions in the 

 Union, and fi-unkly admit it equally favored for the development of insects, 

 but are glad tliat insect destroyers, beetles, and parasitic enemies are also well 

 protected so to hold in check the excess of insects injurious to fruit. For a 

 full crop we must help destroy them or ward them off. The most destructive 

 enemy to newly planted trees, especially on dry sand, or gravelly soils, is the 

 cut-worm, which eats the buds and foliage so as to destroy the function of the 

 tree, which new growth is necessary to the well-being of young peach trees, 

 ■especiallv newly transplanted trees, whose first effort is to restore the uneven 

 balance of the tree caused by cutting off a portion of the roots in digging, then 

 leaving on or taking off too much of the top. These cut-worms are best 

 destroyed by placing chips on the ground at the base of the tree, under which 

 the worms hide during the day, when they can be found and destroyed. The 

 most successful method of keeping them from the tree is to wind a band of 

 tin around the trunk. In the case of bearing peach trees they are removed 

 from under the barks put at the base of the tree for the purpose of catching 

 the curculio. The curculio lays eggs in the young fruit, which hatch out, and, 

 while a worm, usually destroy the fruit. By placing chips, barks, or boards at 

 the foot of the tree, early in the season, the greater part of the curculio can be 

 destroyed, if the weather is favorable for them to fly, before the fruit is large 

 enough to sting. The small beetle that lays eggs on the new shoots, which 

 hatch out and eat the pith of the new wood, causing it to die back, are also 

 found under the curculio traps. Lady bugs, tiger beetles, and golden carabus 

 also resort to the chips to catch and eat the cut-worms, curculio, and twig- 

 borers; these should not be destroyed in collecting the others. 



The question of cultivation was again brought up, one contending that 

 plowing orchards should be dispensed with and the cultivator used in its place ; 

 another thought a drag was sufficient, and another would substitute mulch. 

 These are all in their place for different kinds of fruit which root different. 

 Strawberries and raspberries, which root near the surface, can grow success- 

 fully if mulched; currants, gooseberries, and blackberries will do cultivated 

 with a drag ; grapes and quinces with a double-shovel cultivator ; and for the 

 following reasons peach trees should be cultivated deeper, the deeper the bet- 

 ter. Deep cultivation induces the roots to go deeper, it warms and moistens 

 the ground at a greater depth, which enables the trees to stand extremes of 

 heat and cold, wet and drouth, and the severity of winter. 



South Haven, May 18, 1874. 



The meeting was called to order, the President, Norman Phillips, in the 

 chair. In the absence of the Secretary, L. A. Randall was appointed Secretary 

 pro tern. 



Mr. D. B. Williams presented a newspaper article which was read, in which 

 the correspondent recommended yery highly the use of a solution of sulphate 

 of iron (copperas) to increase the yield and size of fruit, and at the same time 

 giving a better flavor. The past season its use had produced astonishing re- 



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