WINTER MEETING, 1S79. 25 



mulching (coarse, half-rotten nianuro is the best) sliould not be piled against 

 the bodies of the trees, as is often done, but should be spread evenly over the 

 roots, as much to destroy the sod as to furnish nourishment to the trees. If 

 the soil has been exhausted by cropping, richer manure will be needed. Ashes, 

 lime, muck, old leaves, etc., are always valuable. If tlie orchard is young, and 

 just planted out, a few years of thorough cultivation is very important. Corn, 

 potatoes or other hoed crops may bo planted witli profit if the soil is rich as tlie 

 soil of a young orchard should be, but wheat, oats, barley or meadow should 

 be very decidedly avoided. These crops are such absorbers of the moisture of 

 the soil that young trees will seldom thrive while growing in connection with 

 them. 



One of tlie greatest losses that the fruit grower sustains in the raising of 

 fruit for market purposes is an injudicious selection of varieties. This is a 

 ■very important subject, and a subject too, that even those who have devoted 

 .-some attention, and have had more or bss experience in the cultivation of 

 fruit, unfortunately, to some considerable extent, disagree. A committea 

 .appointed by the Grand River Valley Horticultural Society, as reported in the 

 Pomological Report for 18 7G, report a list of seven varieties in a list of one 

 hundred trees for winter market fruit, among which is neither a Baldwin nor 

 ;a Russet, but thirty Canada Reds, ten Wageners, twenty Peck's Pleasants, ten 

 Ben Davis, etc., while I. E. Ilgenfritz of the Monroe Nursery recommends 

 twenty Baldwins, three Wageners, five Canada Reds, two Peck's Pleasants, 

 three Golden Russets, etc. An orchard of one hundred trees of winter apples 

 without a Baldwin or a Russet, in my opinion, would be very deficient. 



There is no variety of winter fruit that will bear more bushels of marketable 

 apples of the Baldwin, and their color and size usually make them 

 <>ornmand the highest price. The Golden Russet, too, is one of the hardiest of 

 trees, a profuse bearer, and the fruit can be kept until it will bring a good 

 market price in any season. So, too, is the Roxbury Russet, one of the very 

 best of our long-keeping varieties. Its size, richness of flavor, excelling for 

 ■cooking and cider, renders it hardly to be excelled. But the tree is somewhat 

 tender, and the fruit quite subject to injury by the codling moth. Yet with all 

 its failings it should occupy a place in every orchard. In fact a good line of 

 the old varieties still stands nearly at the head of the best list of fruit. The 

 Russet, the Greening, the Baldwin, the Talman Sweeting, the Wine, the 

 Maiden's Blush, the Astrachan, the Sweet Bough, the Sour Bough, the Golden 

 Sweet, etc. I refer to their places can hardly be filled. 



ANNUAL REPORT OF 1878. 



The secretary called attention to the report of the society for 1878 saying 

 that 100 copies had been struck off for the members who attended this meet- 

 ing. He called especial attention to the portfolio and gave an abstract of its 

 contents, and also spoke of the two articles, prepared especially for insertion 

 in this volume, the one by President Lyon on the ^'History of Michigan Pom- 

 ology," and the other by Prof. Halsted on the ^'Origin, Structure and Func- 

 tion of Flowers." 



The next paper of the afternoon was given by Prof. W. J. Beal, on 



ACCLIMATION OF PLANTS. 



In the discussion of this topic, I have started out with an unusual number 

 of quotations from eminent scientists and horticulturists. As I proceed, you 



