534 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



about May 1, a perfect insect. In the spring (about the last of May) the- 

 stem shows dead and may readily be cut out. It is bad on Fay and Red 

 Dutch, but not on Victoria, because the inner bark is of a firmer texture.. 



W. A. Smith read a paper on grapes. 



Answering questions, Mr. Smith said he had had but little experience 

 with the Brighton grape. Others said it was a failure. Mr. Watson 

 spoke in favor of the renewal system of pruning. Let new sprouts grow,, 

 and cut off the old vines. One objection to this plan is, they sucker very 

 badly. 



Mr. Webster: You can save your grapes by spraying. 



Mr. Judson: Is not the reason why there is not so much rot on 

 renewed vines, that where there is no crop for a year or two there is not SO' 

 much old grapes and spores? 



H. Merry: My vicinity is not a suitable place for grapes, yet I have 

 made something on them, but not on berries nor plums. I got nine tons 

 of grapes off from seven acres, which is not a very good crop. I have 

 tried the Bordeaux mixture, but do not think I sprayed early enough. I 

 think we ought to spray as soon as they begin to bud out, and would spray 

 and soak the vines. I sprayed all but two rows. They showed great 

 advantage from spraying. Mr. Crittenden used - it and he has not much 

 rot. I think rot spores blow in the air and go from one grape cluster to- 

 another and to the foliage. 



Mr. Morrill: I think if spraying is not general we can not get the 

 best benefit. No question but the spores of rot are light as air and blow 

 everywhere. 



In the meeting of February 6, Mr. U. B. Webster read a paper on 

 " The best fertilizers, and where to procure them:" 



This is a question that should receive the attention of every tiller of the soil. It- 

 is one of the most imporant subjects connected with farming. No agriculturist or hor- 

 ticulturist can afford to ignore or neglect this all-important matter, for no man, be he 

 grain, stock, or fruit grower, can for any great number of years produce paying crops 

 without fertilization, for it is a law of natural economy that you can not constantly 

 exhaust without replenishing. The source will fail eventually. 



What food is to the physical system, what light is to the material universe, what 

 intellectual culture is to the mind of man, so fertilization is to the field. Everything 

 must be fed or it perishes, Dr. Tanner and other fanatical abstainers from food to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. That our lands will wear out if they are not enriched 

 needs no argument here. All admit this, and the question at once resolves itself into 

 this query: How can we best improve them, how best increase their productiveness? 

 It is not my province, neither is it necessary for me, to enter into a chemical analysis of 

 the various soils, or even the various fertilizers provided for us. Suffice it to say that 

 we all realize the fact that our lands must be enriched; and now, how can we do this 

 the cheapest and most effectually? 



Of all fertilizers, I regard clover as the cheapest and best, the easiest obtained, and 

 the easiest applied. In fact, it is indispensible to the grain farmer. He understands 

 its value and the mode of applying it thoroughly, and many of the fruitgrowers might 

 and do use clover to advantage. Next after clover comes rye. This is being used to a 

 considerable extent by many of the fruitgrowers, especially by those who grow the 

 vegetable fruits, such as melons. The melon-growers all, or nearly all, plow under rye. 

 Rye is an important article in this direction. It is shown on pretty good authority that 

 a crop of rye sown early in the fall, so that it may get sufficient growth to cover the 

 ground well, will more than pay for all trouble and expense, even if it is plowed up in the 

 spring before it attains much of any growth. It is said that it is better for the ground that 

 it hav ' some kind of vegetation during the season of heavy, drenching rains, from the 

 fact that the roots of the plants take up the nitrogen, which is so essential to plant 

 growth, and hold it; whereas, if no vegetation was there, the nitrogen would be washed 

 down by the percolation of the water and lost. 



