84 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



it is an advisable system or will ever Lecomc pojnilar may -well be questioned. 

 But for all practical purposes Prof. BeaFs plan of feeding trees well, so they 

 have a plenty to live upon, is the one to be relied upon for good results. I 

 understand it is by this method that Mr. Pell, on the Hudson Kiver, has been 

 enabled to make so largo profits from his orchard. lie is tbe man, as many of 

 you may know, who has shipped such large quantities of Xewtown Pippins to 

 Europe, from his orchard of 2,000 trees. As a general rule this orchard has 

 borne fair crops continuously. The process may be criticised from its render- 

 ing the trees short lived. Where trees are made to bear quantities of fruit each 

 year it must be an exhausting process, but there is no doubt but in tlie end it 

 will pay better to make and take the crops, setting new orchards when the old 

 ones begin to decline, always remembering to thin tlie fruit in such a manner 

 as to secure sufficient annual growth to maintain the vigor of the trees as com- 

 pletely as possible. 



Mr. Chapman. — I must say that my experience will not support the gentle- 

 man in his remarks. I have fed one of my orchards liberally and without the 

 result mentioned by Mr. Lyon. Tlie bearing year remains as before; one year 

 I will have a great abundance of apples and the next scarely enough to eat. 



Mr. Merriman. — It is a common thing to produce a magnificent growth of 

 wood through the addition of manures, but often there is no evidence of in- 

 creased production of fruit. 



Mr. Lyon. — It is a well known fact that the kind of fertili/.er makes a great 

 deal of difference with the result produced. Certain combinations have been 

 employed in the production of double flowers successfully, and no doubt if 

 careful investio;ation be made the increased fruitfulness of our orchardj^ from 

 the employment of manures may not be guess work but entirely under our 

 control. The thing to be sought after is such a control of fertilizers as to j^ro- 

 duce the result we desire, whether wood or fruit. Prof. Beal's experience 

 teaches us that soils abounding in vegetable material known as black loam, 

 will if sown to wheat produce a great growth of straw, and often little grain. 

 Barn yard manure added will only increase this tendency, while on the other 

 hand, land deficient in vegetable matter needs this kind of fertilizer; the ricli 

 loamy soil will produce in trees a great growth of wood, and requires some sort 

 of mineral fertilizer, 



P. C. Davis, Kalamazoo. — I would like to inquire what is the effect of culti- 

 vation on young orchards. My own impression has been that cultivating young 

 trees tended to a great growth of wood and the time of fruiting was thus 

 put off to a later date. I have known fruitfulness induced by checking the 

 growth of a single limb on a tree through the agency of a weight hung upon 

 it. It is a question whether this is a very practicable method however. 



Mr. Adams. — I have been waiting very anxiously for our worthy president ta 

 tell us of that method by which he had induced fruitfulness in trees success- 

 fully — not the secret that was rejiosed in keei)iMg by tiic gentleman at Lapeer. 

 I would not have him divulge that for the world ; but the same method he has 

 tried himself and tiiat he can certainly open to us. 



Mr. Lyon. — I have no serious compunctions about giving voice to the secret 

 even as it has already been mentioneil in connection with this discussion. It 

 consists in twisting or bending a branch in such a manner as to check the 

 growth and thus stimulate fruitfulness. I have seen it done repeatedly and 

 have practiced it myself, Ijut of course you all can see that it is a matter of no 

 considerable importance to the practical fruit grower. I have seen the Bald- 



