134 State Horticultural Society. 



allowed to self- fertilize. Garber and Anjou are the same way, and 

 practically all pears are the same. With Garber or Anjou the Keiffer 

 is much better. It will also fertilize th-^^se other two varieties. Nearly 

 all pears fertilize each other and so improve the quality as well. 



Mr. Tippin — How about the self-fertilization of blocks of Ben Davis? 



Prof. Whitten — I believe the same principle holds true of Ben Davis, 

 but in a lesser degree. It is certainly self-sterile in a cold damp spring. 

 Wjhen the spring is dry and the earth is mellow, we get a good setting 

 of blooms and get larger fruit and of better quality. Two varieties of 

 apples are absolutely self-sterile, and all the others are fairly so. 



Mr. Wayman — We are doing very well with our pears. The Keiffer 

 bears nearly every year a full crop. The Flemish Beauty we think a 

 great deal of, and have over five hundred trees of it now twelve years 

 old, but so far no fruit. It is slow in coming into bearing. The fruit 

 is a great improvement over the Keiffer, but the latter helps with the 

 expenses. The Bartlett blights badly; the Howell is a shy bearer. We 

 have mostly Keiffer and have never had any trouble with fertilization. 



What experience have the members had with girdling apple trees? 



Mr. Briggs — I was thoroughly disgusted with some Transparent 

 Crags because they did not bear. I began girdling limbs here and there. 

 They bore full of bloom and fruit, while there was none at all in the rest 

 of the tree. I then girdled the body of the tree with perfect success, and 

 no bad effects have been noticed on the trees. In starting to girdle I 

 would do part this year and part the next, in order to overcome the tend- 

 ency trees have to bear every other year. I cover the wound with cloth 

 if it is not naturally shaded enough, and I have lost no trees. I have 

 heard that Mr. Wragg girdled a width of four inches and did not cover 

 the wound, but his trees shaded the trunk, so there were no ill effects. 



Mr. Wayman — Our girdling experience is not extensive enough to 

 give any results. 



Secretary Goodman — I girdle if the trees do not bear, even large 

 trees of Ben Davis. Gano and Mammoth Black Twig. It is no use to 

 have trees that do not bear. I have girdled thousands of trees the last 

 few years, and expected proof of my work this year, but the freeze pre- 

 vented that. When trees are eight years old and do not bear, girdle 

 them. Take out a ring close to the branches, from two to four inches 

 wide, and so make the tree set fruit buds, giving a chance for the whole 

 season's growth to go into fruit buds. It looks like murder to do such 

 a thing, but it works out all right. The proper time to girdle in South 

 Missouri is about the first of June, in the central part of the State, the 

 tenth, and in the northern part, the fifteenth to twentieth. 



Mr. Briggs — I would advise shading the girdled part with cloth. 



