208 SJATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ent kinds at the same season nor long intervals with none to ship. This point 

 applies more particularly to the other fruits than apples, as the latter can be 

 preserved in a green state for so long a time. The arrangement applies to the 

 manner in which the orchard is set as to convenience of manipulating the 

 fruit. 



Fifth. — Culture. Which means cultivation, sorts of implements, and meth- 

 ods of using them ; fertilizers, their quantity and method of management. 



Sixth. — Pruning, as to time and method employed. 



Seventh. — Health and insects. This point looks at the general vigor of the 

 growth and the plan of maintaining it; the kind of insects that are trouble- 

 some, and the ways employed to check their ravages and exterminate them. 



Eiglitli. — Fruitfnlness. This point in the scale seems to be rather a result 

 of judicious management covered by the other seven points. Still, as this 

 exhibited the ultimatum which all orchardists seek to reach, it was thought 

 eminently proper it should occupy a place in the list. 



The number which corresponds to the different classes entered varies a great 

 deal. For instance, soil for grapes, small fruits, and apples, is given 15 points, 

 for peaches only 10, while for pears it is made 20, and for nursery stock it is 

 allowed 25. Protection is given five points in apples and nursery stock, 10 in 

 small fruits, and 25 for peaches. This grading is arranged in accordance with 

 the comparative importance which the divisions of the scale have to the class 

 entered. 



With this brief statement of the plan we are pursuing, I will close this com- 

 munication. Next week, if you desire, I will give you a statement more in 

 detail of the work we are accom];)lishing; giving the new ideas brought before 

 the committee in their work, an epitome of the conversations on the route, 

 together with some remarks as to the poniologicul value of the localities we 

 visit. 



The committee indulge iu the hope that they can notify in advance the par- 

 ties Avho have entries as to the time of their proposed visit, and that they will 

 be met promptly and assisted in their work. The entries were made so hur- 

 riedly that in many cases the membership was neglected, so that certificates 

 will be issued as the committee progresses. 



NUiMBER TWO. 



Agreeable to promise, I send you an account more in detail of the work 

 performed by the Orchard Committee up to the date of this article, and will 

 in subsequent communications follow the committee through their entire trip. 



Our first work was in Van Buren county, in the immediate vicinity of South 

 Haven. Here were thirty entries, and so far as possible, the committee visited 

 in a body the orchards and vineyards. 



Messrs. Wigglesvvorth & Histed entered raspberry, blackbeny, and straw- 

 berry lots, as well as two vineyards. The berry patches were upon a deep, rich 

 and loamy soil, containing a large amount of vegetable matter. The only 

 objection the committee found with the soil was the want of drainage ; twelve 

 hours after a rain the surface was very soft and muddy. In varieties of straw- 

 berries there had been but little attention paid to succession, the field consisting 

 mostly of the Wilson's and Triomphe de Gaud. The blackberries were look- 

 ing finely, but had not borne an extravagant crop because of late cultivation 



