DISCUSSIONS AT SOUTH HAVEN. 371 



The Society passed a vote recommending that fruit be not picked for market 

 until suitably ripened. 



G. L. Seaver and D. C. Loveday, of the executive committee, during the 

 evening, waited on Capt. Costain, of the steamer Ira Chaffee, to see if arrange- 

 ments could be made for reduced fare from Chicago during the meeting of the 

 State Society. They reported that the Captain very cheerfully agreed to fur- 

 nish passage at hall fare to those attending the meeting for several days. 



Collections of samples of perishable fruit now in season, and other business 

 for the coming festival will be the order for next Monday evening. 



South Haven, October 13, 1873. 



The question for consideration was, how shall we prepare our trees for 

 winter. 



Mr. H. Linderman said he had thought of several plans. Of course, he 

 would first examine the peach trees for borers, which should be done early in 

 October. He would not bank up to the trees in the fall, as some had pro- 

 posed, for he thought the earth would freeze to the bark, and the swaying of 

 the trees by the wind would loosen the bark, and girdle them. He thought of 

 plowing a shallow furrow towards the trees, four feet from the tree, each side, to 

 carry off surface water, and to catch the snow. Also, he had thought of draw- 

 ing mulch and spreading it about the trees, but not against them, to keep the 

 sand from blowing away. He would look through the orchard after a hard 

 wind, and when the swaying of the wind had made a crevice he would pack 

 it down close to the tree. 



Mr. D. Howard stated that one year he left the roots a little bare after 

 grubbing his peach trees and they came through all right. The next year he 

 did the same and killed his trees. One season he drew the dirt away in Sep- 

 tember and examined for the bore-s, then examined them again in October 

 and drew the dirt back. The trees did first-rate the next season. He thought 

 it was well to mulch with straw. 



Mr. H. Linderman — Won't the mice burrow in the straw and gnaw the 

 trees ? 



Mr. Howard — Not if there is no grain in it. 



Mr. Linderman had seen trees in timothy sod, when the tall grass had 

 settled about the trees, girdled by mice. 



Mr. A. Fitch thought it was a good plan to bank up to peach trees after 

 grubbing them in the fall, and would leave them so the next season, only the 

 bank interfered with catching curculio in the spring with traps. (Flatten down 

 the bank a little and lay the chips on it.) 



Mr. L. H. Bailey said it had been stated that trees would not sway in the 

 ground when the leaves were off. He had apple trees on a clay subsoil, which 

 often twisted about badly during the winter, and he had to bind some of them 

 to posts set deep, to keep them from blowing. He wished to speak of a dis- 

 covery he had made in regard to the codling moth. He had recently placed 

 some barrels on their sides near his apple trees, preparatory to gathering the 

 fruit. A few days after, he found a great many moths on the underside of the 

 barrel ; as many as two hundred under some. There were a great many worms 

 in the apples of the orchaid north of his barn, which was seeded to clover, and 

 had been pastured to hogs throughout the season, from the first. The orchard 



