154 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



inches from the trunk of the young trees. Curl leaf on peaches and leaf 

 diseases on apples, pears, cherries, etc., can be controlled by the use of 

 Bordeaux mixture. Examination should frequently be made of the 

 trunks to destroy all borers. !^an Jose scale may be controlled by sjtray- 

 ing with tlie lime-sulitliur Avash. 



Care should be taken to remove all weeds, grass or other litter which 

 might harbiir mice. It is also frequently advantageous to wrap the tree 

 trunks with wire netting, tar paper, or thin boards to protect them from 

 mice or rabbits. 



If a peach, apricot or plum tree develops yellows or little peach, im- 

 mediatelv remove and destrov it. 



THE SELECTION OF VARIETIES?. 



One of the most important and difficult problems that the fruit 

 grower has to solve, is tlie selection of varieties for his orchard. The 

 choice of varieties should depend upon three principal considerations, 

 the personal preferences of the grower, the ]»urposes of tlie orchard and 

 the locality. Failure to regard any one of these points will eventually 

 bring failure to the orchard. 



The personal preferences of the grower are of much more importance 

 than is generally given them. A man will usually take greater care and 

 pains with his orchard and make it more successful if it contains 

 varieties which he likes best. This is especially so in the case of the 

 small home orchard. There are a number of varieties which are con- 

 sidered valuable, high quality apples, but all have a few favorite varieties 

 and if these are ada])table to the locality and to the purpose intended, 

 they should be the varieties chosen. 



The second consideration, the purpose of the orchard or the nature 

 of the market to l»e su}q»lied, is one which has been greatly under- 

 estimated in scores of ^Michigan orchards, and jioints to one primary 

 reason why so many of them are so badly iu\g]e(ted and un]>rofitable. 

 If the orchard is to be a home orchard, it should contain varieties afford- 

 ing a succession of fruits for as large a part of the year as possible. 

 They should all be of high quality, part suitable for dessert and part 

 suitable for cooking. Size, appearance and productivity may wisely be 

 sacrificed to some extent, although these are exceedingly desirable quali- 

 ties and contribute much to the satisfaction that the fruits should give. 



The commercial orchardist must be governed in his choice of varieties 

 by the demands of the market which he expects to supply. If his market 

 is a local and select one, the orchard should contain varieties that afiford 

 a succession and are prolific bearers of good sized, good quality, and in 

 most cases, attractive appearing fruit, the commercial orchardist, who 

 purposes to dispose of his fruit in the general market, has a problem 

 of his own. He must understand that markets differ largely in their re- 

 quirements; as for instance, many eastern cities prefer white peaches, 

 while Chicago prefers a yellow peach, Boston craves for Baldwins, New 

 York wants Greenings, Chicago is a large consumer of Damson plums, 



