438 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the peach ceratitis, a subtropical insect resembling the apple maggot, 

 which is extremely destructive to the peach crop of Bermuda and likely to 

 be troublesome if it once becomes established in Florida and Georgia, and 

 the Japanese peach fruit worm, which is allied to our codlin moth, and 

 in some seasons damages 90 per cent, of the peach crop of Japan. He 

 suggested that provision be made for the inspection at ports of entry, of 

 fruits and plants received from any part of the world from which we know 

 danger threatens. 



A practical and suggestive paper was that of Hon. C. W. Gakfield of 

 Michigan, on " Some Local Pomological Problems." The writer urged the 

 necessity of paying more attention to local conditions in recommending 

 varieties for planting. What succeeds in one locality may fail in another. 

 Even on different fields of the same farm this is the case. Speaking of a 

 case that came under his own observation, he said: 



The Grand River and six miles of territory separate me from a colony of fruitgrow- 

 ers, my warm friends. We meet in council; and they insist that the Gregg is a hardy 

 raspberry, of good quality; that the Shaffer is a poor thing, unworthy of cultivation; 

 that the Ohio has nothing to commend it, while my immediate neighbors unite with me 

 in combating them on every point, and widely proclaim that the Gregg is tender, the 

 Shaffer a great success, and the Ohio a model market black-cap. The dissimilar judg- 

 ments are based upon conditions that are widely at variance. The Hill's Chili peach 

 has been condemned by a whole section of our state as too poor a peach to grow, and is 

 highly commended by another locality. Both are righc. Each locality has its peculiar 

 conditions, affecting this variety differently. The man who asks how to make his 

 orchard bear is given counsel by another whose conditions are as dissimilar as it is pos- 

 sible to make them. And still the successful man knoivs he is right and gives his 

 advice without reservation. I would not minimize the value of our national gather- 

 ings in the interest of pomology, but the man who goes a long way from home to get 

 advice as to what varieties to plant or how to manage them is likely to be misled. 

 His local conditions are those to be studied, and hence the need of carefully conducted 

 experiments in our own neighborhoods. 



Other interesting papers under this head were: 



Cross Fertilization, Chancellor C. E. Bessey, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebr.; 

 Immediate Effects of Cross Fertilization as Affecting Quality and Commercial Value 

 of Citrus Fruits, Rev. Lyman Phelps, Sanford, Fla.; Fruit Districts, Geologically and 

 Climatically Considered, Prof. E. S. Goff, Experiment Station, Madison, Wis.; Here- 

 dity and Environment in Originating New Fruits, Prof. Thomas Meehan, Germantown, 

 Pa.; Horticulture at the Experiment Stations, Prof. J. S. Newman, Auburn, Ala.; 

 Pear Blight and Climatic Influences, G. F. B. Leighton, Norfolk, Va.; Physiological 

 Effects of Pruning, Prof. L. R. Taft, Agricultural College, Mich.; Section vs. Whole 

 Roots in Propagating the Apple, Prof. J. L. Budd. 



Commercial Pomology. 



Mr. J. H. Hale in an address on " How to Make Small Fruit Culture 

 Pay," laid much stress on thorough preparation of the soil, asserting that 

 while different soils need different treatment, thorough preparation, whether 

 in drainage, fertilizing, or tillage, or in all of these, will be fouud profit- 

 able. In his experience in Connecticut he had found potash and phos- 

 phoric acid to be the plant foods most needed. Wood ashes, or cotton- 

 hull ashes give the best form of potash. He uses 200 bushels of wood 

 ashes with a ton and a half of fine ground bone per acre. As a rule, but 

 little nitrogen is needed, as it increases the tendency to grow foliage. 

 Some varieties will be benefited by an application of nitrogen, however, 

 as, for example, the Marlboro raspberry — on soil where Golden Queen and 

 Cuthbert do not need it. The Marlboro is a feeble grower and needs 

 strengthening. Hill culture is preferred to matted rows for all small 



