216 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Friday, Dec. 8, 9 a. m. 



The meeting was called to order by the President and opened with 

 prayer by Dr. E. D. Porter, Dean of the Agricultural College. 

 First was a report from Herman Jaeger on grapes : 



Neosho, Mo., Nov. 27, 1893. 

 L. A. Goodman, Esq.: 



Dear Sir— Herewith I send you such a report as I am able to make this 

 season : 



I continue to diminish the strength of the Bordeaux mixture, and have good 

 reason to believe two pounds sulphate of copper to 50 gallons of water quite suffi- 

 cient, 



I doubt not a bluestone solution, so weak as to evade the necessity of adding 

 lime, will also prevent the germination of the spores of fungi causing rot, etc. But 

 1 am afraid such weak solutions will wash off too easily, and in wet years might 

 necessitate more sprayings than are practicable on extended plTa,ntations. 



There is room for a great deal of experiment in that line. 



The calomel remedr against pear-blight 1 applied to four old and four young 

 trees, affected more or less. So far the iemedy proves as effective as Dr. Hensley 

 claims it is. I am anxious to observe those same trees next year, and shall continue 

 the application of calomel where needed, although I havj not the least idea how 

 it benefits the blighted trees. Uespectfully yours, 



Herman Jaeger. 



RESULTS OP THE YEAR. 



The season of 1893 was one of sore disappointment to fruit-growers. Even 

 apples were a failure in Newton and adjoining counties, while grapes were damaged 

 by late frosts and a cold, wet spring, followed by extreme droutb, from which we 

 sutler even now. 



Where not sprayed, the graprs were hardly worth gathering, while well- 

 sprayed vineyards yielded a partial crop of smaller burches Ihan usual, produced 

 on the second shoots, growing after the frost. The vines of the Liticecumii, or Post- 

 oak species, and their crosses (especially those with Herbemont ), yielded best, 

 because most of them, and especially Nos. 50 and 56, start growing so late in spring 

 that they escape frosts. It would be unfair to compare frosted vines with those 

 not damaged. A just comparison between the many new candidates for public 

 favor is therefore impossible— the more so as the past season was abnormal in 

 various respects. One thing was again proved : "Without spraying, we need not 

 expect success with grapes ; " and I incline to add, "Nor with apples either." 



The past two seasons we had few or no apples, and for next year the prospect 

 is anything but good. Most orchards lost their foliage from rust, blight and scab 

 before and in September. Late in the fall a new growth started, and apple, pear 

 and cherry- trees in bloom were the rule, rather than the exception. 



Most of my apple-trees ( about 20 years old) 1 sprayed for the first time. 

 Used Bordeaux mixture before blooming, Bordeaux mixture with Paris green 

 ri(^ht after blooming and 12 days later, and again Bordeaux mixture alone three 

 times afterward. From a few trees I got a full crop of sound apples, while the 

 average of the sprayed orchard was about one-third of a full crop. 



It is safe to say that the average of this county was not one per cent of a full 

 crop. The trees had bloomed full, but set poorly and lost about all the fruit by 

 scab, insects etc. 



