70 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ing- 



Q. How old were tlie trees when the Mcintosh Reds came into bear- 



A. Nine years old before they bore anvthinj? that was a paying jiro- 

 position. Of conrse, they bore aijplcs from the time they were live years 

 old, bnt only a few. 



Q. Did von have red or black raspberries? 



A. Both. 



Q. What variety of blackberries did you have? 



A. We planted an acre or so of blackberries when we first went 

 there, bnt they were a complete failure, bnt any of the ordinary kind 

 that Avonld have done well on the lake shore were absolutely useless 

 to US. I do not know of any one Avho is making a success of grow- 

 ing blackberries in our section. 



Q. Were your young a])ple trees blighted this year? 



A. Very slightly. I did not look for it on Ihe old trees but the woi'st 

 of the blight was on the Northern Hpies, an unusual condition and Ihe. 

 first experience of the kind on that variety. 



Q. What did you do for it? 



A. Nothing. I left it alone. The blight struck on the low gronml. 

 The reason I did not bother with it was because it would have cost 

 more to git rid of the blight than the apples were worth. It may be 

 bad one year and gone the next on some trees. On young growing trees 

 it might probably pay to try to check it, but it might entirely disappear 

 in another year. I doubt if it would pay to spend the time necessary 

 to go over old trees. If I knew the blight was going to kill the trees, 

 I would do it. 



Q. Would you consider the blight a condition or a disease? 



A. It is a disease, and an exceptionally destructive one on pears. 



Q. Can it be communicated? 



A. I should say so — very much, although I cannot prove that, but 

 when it comes into an orchard it usually spreads all over the orchard. 

 The apple blight is apparently the same as the pear blight, only it affects 

 the apple instead. 



Q. We are cutting back some pear trees this fall. Do you think 

 this will bring up the pear blight? 



A. I am not an authority on pear blight. I have seen so many dif- 

 ferent conditions that I do not know. While one may lose a whole 

 orchard some one near that person may not be bothered with it. 



Q. Will the sto])])ing of cultivation stop the blight? 



A. Mj observation this year was that the orchards which were not 

 cultivated had it just as much as those thoroughly cultivated. I am 

 not qualified to state whether that has anything to do with blight or 

 not. 



Q. Do you favor top Avorking trees? 



A. I do not know anything about it. That question has come uj) 

 a great many times in our Society, but I do not know. Of course, 

 we all know that if we want a heavier, more vigorous tree, we can get 

 it by grafting on it a strong tree of another kind, 



Q. What stock would you recommend to graft on? 



A. I would take those trees that are the longest lived. That is 

 one thing you Avant to look out for. In going through the state of 

 Indiana, I saw many orchards dying when they were just beginning 



