532 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the top of a tree that wants to run up too high. Cut when dormant. It 

 is necessary to top off dwarfs. I have used salt on pear trees, but have 

 not seen much effect from it. I think we may check blight by cutting 

 back into sound wood. 



Mr. Harrington: I set out 50 pear trees, manured strongly, and they 

 all died within six years. 



Mr. S. H. Comings: I have been away and have not attended to my 

 trees very closely, and I find some dead limbs, but the tree goes right 

 along. 



Mr. W. A. Smith: We know nothing about the pear blight. The 

 sooner a dead limb is cut out, the better; but it is not a sure cure. 



Mr. S. H. Comings: A grower tells me that if pear trees are mulched,, 

 and not cultivated, and the lower limbs allowed to grow, that you will get 

 more fruit. 



Mr. C. W. Whitehead: A man between Fennville and Douglas has a 

 Standard pear orchard. It blighted badly. He kept cutting out. It 

 bore largely. They were mostly dwarfs. I would cut back, whether 

 blight or no blight, and your trees will bear largely. 



On Jan. 30, the society met at Grange hall. S. Cook gave a talk on 

 insect enemies. He said: A comparatively new enemy is the apple- 

 maggot. If it gets a foothold it will probably be as injurious as the 

 codlin moth. The codlin moth lays its egg in the calyx of the very young; 

 apple. It takes about two weeks for the worm to develop into full size. 

 It leaves the apple at night because there are no birds around then to> 

 pick it up. It climbs up the tree and hides under the bark, and in about 

 two weeks hatches out a codlin moth. The common remedy is spraying. 

 We generally use Paris green or London purple, one pound to 150 gallons 

 of water. The apple maggot moth is smaller than the codlin moth. It is 

 like a fly. It deposits its egg anywhere on the apple. It hatches out and 

 eats into the apple. It lays its eggs later in the season than the codlin 

 moth. Spraying is not effectual as against the apple maggot. It is best 

 to have hogs or sheep run in the orchard to eat up the fallen fruit. When 

 it hatches it goes into the ground and stays there till the next spring- 

 Fall plowing will do some good. The best remedy for the tent cater- 

 pillar is cloths tied to a pole, and soaked with kerosene, with which burn 

 their nests. For the canker-worm, spray as for T*odlin moth. The pear is 

 attacked by the codlin moth to some extent. Cloth or paper bands tacked 

 around the trees is a good remedy. Put them on about July first. 

 Examine them in about ten days. In case the bands are used, the loose- 

 bark should be removed. I have caught over fifty insects under one band. 

 Neighbors should combine, as the moths may fly from one orchard to> 

 another. There is one pear-leaf enemy called the cherry slug. The easiest 

 way to manage this is to take fresh-slaked lime and dust it on when the 

 leaves are wet with dew; or dust or sand will do for young trees. Old 

 trees I would spray. Dry sand in hot sunshine is a good remedy. In 

 spraying cherry trees, the solution must be weaker than for apples. The 

 peach is more affected with borers when the trees are young. The eggs 

 are laid by a little insect, about the first of July, near the surface of the 

 ground. After it is hatched out it eats through the bark, and, if undis- 

 turbed, girdles the tree. The only way to get him out is to dig him out. 

 I have removed the earth from around the trees and coated the trees 

 heavily with thick whitewash and then returned the earth. I am of the 



