208 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



count of tlie privileges granted nie by these four roads that I am enabled to 

 get about at all among the fruit growers and gather material for assistance in 

 planning our work. If similar privileges could be accorded the secretary on 

 all the Michigan railroads, he could assist in the organization of local societies, 

 which would help to upbuild the horticulture of special sections as we cannot 

 do by our general meetings. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



This year the correspondence of my office has been unusually large, owing to 

 the issuing of the fruit catalogue and the gathering of opinions upon various 

 topics which have been condensed in the miscellaneous papers of our volume 

 for 1879. I was desirous of securing the opinions of prominent persons upon 

 the two topics '^ grape rot" and ''embellishment of country school yards,'^ 

 and to this end entered into a very extensive correspondence, the results of 

 which you will find in the report of this-year. 



SCREENS, FORESTRY, STATISTICS. 



At the winter meeting a resolution was passed instructing the executive com- 

 mittee to offer premiums upon wind-breaks and screens. The committee in 

 carryin^j out the mandate of the society incorporated the following in the- 

 premium list : 



DIVISION S,— SCREENS. 



The society is impressed with the conviction that the unchecked movement of the- 

 wind when allowed to come in direct contact with the surface of the soil, is calculated 

 to greatly increase evaporation, and lience the tendency to drought and frost; while 

 such winds are especially deleterious to the bloom of fruits, and to the growth of 

 tender plants, and early vegetation generally. 



As a means of inviting attention to a practicable remedy, the following premiums 

 are offered: in awarding which, committees are instructed to do so only in cases in 

 which such screens shall be suitably located for the required purpose: and also of 

 sufficient height and density to be adequate to the object had in view: 



Class 1 — For the most perfect and effective screen for the protection of an orchard 

 or garden, or both; reserved and maintained as such from the original or natural 

 growth, not less than thirty rods in length, nor more than four rods in width; 

 whether deciduous, evergreen or mixed. $25.00 or diploma, at the option of the 

 Executive Committee. 



Class 2 — For the same, when artificially planted and maintained for the above pur- 

 pose; and of the requisite height and density. Same premium as In Class 1. 



Class 3 — For the most perfect, and best managed artificial plantation of Evergreen 

 or Deciduous Trees, or a combination of both, properly located for this purpose; and 

 not less than four by thirty rods, nor less than four years planted. §10.00, or a Certi- 

 ficate of Life Membership in Society, at the option of the Executive Committee. 



The only entries were made by Mr. Benjamin Steere, of Adrian, and as I 

 was appointed u committee to visit and view Mr. Steere's entries, it seems 

 proper I should give tlie results of this visit in the report of my work for the 

 year : 



The first entry was a double row of trees, extending north and south on the 

 west line of Mr. Steere' s place, consisting of rod cedar, arbor vitxe, European 

 larch, Austrian and Scotch pine, white pine, American tamarack, and perhaps 

 scattering trees of other sorts. The line is thirty-five rods long; the trees 

 stand nearly or quite forty feet in height, and many of them will measure three- 

 feet in circuit at the base of the trunks. They were planted in 1857, and 

 quite thickly together, so that as they have crowded each other, the proprietor 

 has had opportunity to show his courage to do what most men would shrink 



