24 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The followinET resolution was then read bv the Secretary, and on motion was 

 unanimously adopted : 



Besolved^ That a committee of five from this body be selected to appear before the 

 Judiciary Committee of the House of Eepresentatives aud preseut such facts as they 

 deem uecessary or desirable to place the entire matter of Peach Tree Yellows pro- 

 perl}' before that committee. 



The President selected the following gentlemen to act on such committee : 

 Geo. "\V. Lawton, N. H. Bitely, W. J. Beal, H. C. Sherwood and S. B. Mann. 

 The society then took a recess for dinner. 



Wednesday AfternooJi Session, 



The tirst paper of the afternoon was by Nathan Sliotwell. of Concord, Jack- 

 son county, entitled 



CARE OF THE ORCHARD. 



There is no better time for pruning the orchard, than during the months of 

 February and March, and that important business should not be neglected. 

 Though orchardists to some extent disagree in regard to the very best time for 

 pruning, some preferring the month of June, and others even later in the sea- 

 son, nearly all agree that February and March is a good time, if not the best ; 

 and as it can be attended to at this season of the year without interfering with 

 other important duties of the farm, that important duty should be attended to 

 at once. The business should be at least overseen by the farmer himself, or 

 one somewhat accustomed to the business, and not left to ignorant hired men, 

 who often do more damage than good to the orchard. The removal of large 

 branches should be avoided as much as x^ossible ; the center of the top kept 

 quite open, though not sufficient to allow the sun's rays to strike any of the 

 bare branches, and such a general thinning should be accomplished as will let 

 in light, and allow the circulation of air. Fruit never matures well in a thick 

 shade. It is better to go througli the orchard annually, cutting out the sap 

 sprouts, and thinning here and there as is necessary, than to allow the top to 

 get heavy and bushy and do all the cutting in one year. Trees that have lately 

 been grafted should be yearly pruned without fail, until the old top is wholly 

 removed and the new cions have taken its place. Much money is worse than 

 thrown away in grafting on account of such needless neglect. 



Y^oung grafts that are neglected and not pruned for four or five years after 

 setting, lose their vitality and thrift; the center of the stock in which they are 

 sec more or less dies and decays, and the cions become so diseased that no treat- 

 ment will afterwards make them of much value. Tliousands of dollars are 

 yearly expended for grafting in this State that never pay a dollar to the 

 employer, for no other cause but that of after-neglect. It is useless to graft 

 an orchard unless pruning is afterwards promptly attended to ; but if proper 

 care is afterwards bestowed, an orchard bearing worthless fruit, and even if the 

 trees are old but the bodies sound, can be made one of the most profitable por- 

 tions of the farm. It is not so much the age as it is the soundness of the 

 trees that should govern the judgment in determining whether the trees are 

 worth grafting. The writer lias grafted orchards of thirty and forty 

 year's standing that are now bearing as profusely as tlie younger 

 orchards in their vicinity. Orchards should be well mulched and thoroughly 

 pastured with sheep and hogs, or else cultivated without cropping. Tb.9 



