106 STA'IE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



pea I have witli me grows upright. It will grow here, and ripen ift 

 70 days. I think it will take the place of clover or other crops in the- 

 orchard as a plant for the improvement of the soil. The peas can be 

 picked by hand, if you want them; if not, plow them all under in the 

 fall. 



Dr. Curry — Would it not be a good idea to try the Canada pea ii> 

 the same way ? 



Prof. Waters : The purpose is not to have a crop growing on your 

 land in hot, dry weather. You want an early maturing crop that would 

 be dead before the dry weather of August. 



A member — In an orchard in Iowa, I sowed peas aud oats together^ 

 but left a space around the trees. I had a portable fence to confine 

 my hogs on a part of the orchard at a time. It was good for the hogs,. 

 and also for the orchard. It is one of the best things you can sow in 

 an orchard. Late in the fall I turned under the remains of the crop. 



WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR OECHAEDS? 



No crop on the farm is as remunerative as the product of the orchard, and 

 none so easily obtained. The loss of a crop is very keenly felt in a community, 

 while on the other hand, a good crop of perfect fruit is the source of much wealth 

 and benefit to county and state. 



It would indeed setm almost incredible to many, to have a statement givea 

 of the returns of an apple crop in a single township of some of the good fruit 

 counties of the State, to go to the stores of the towns and hear the merchant extol 

 on the amount of his increased sales, because of the good fruit year ; and he will 

 tell you also that the largest amount of goods he sold went to the households and 

 needs of the families. 



Wit h such important facts before us. it is well that we give the orchard treeg. 

 our best care. Annual pruning is a work that ought not to be neglected : we want 

 to train the heads of the trees to forms symmetrical as possible, and suitable for 

 the purpose we require of them ; the branches should grow out and apart, forming 

 an open top, so that air may circulate freely and sunlight enter to give color and 

 proper taste to the fruit. No large limbs should cross one another, and a free cut- 

 ting out of the smaller, the weak and dead branches should be well attended to. 



The theory of non-pruning we always considered wrong, and very detrimen- 

 tal both to tree and fruit. 



Permitting the tree to bear all the fruit upon every spur it may have formed 

 for a series of years must surely result in inferior fruit, and the great strain on the 

 vigor of the tree be very injurious to it. 



Where thinning the fruit is followed, the case would be very much altered.. 

 Picking off" one-fourth or third of the fruit on a tree, always trying to get that 

 which has been injured, or showing signs of insect in it, what line, perfect and 

 large fruit could we grow ; and think of it, the thousands of bugs that could thus 

 be destroyed. 



Stir the soil constantly; no sod should be formed in the orchard. Trees 

 growing on the hill-sides of loess formation and those on clay loam soils (these are 

 the very best for the apple), will require help in the way of manures, for on such 



