PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 335 



it, neither in the bearing- of the tree nor in the damage done by the 

 winter. Notwithstanding this, I accept the presentation of the articles 

 and the remarks made upon them in their localities. I fail to see in 

 my own experience any evil results, and great benefit accrues in the 

 employment of my help. 



Mr. Ramsdell: Where is your orchard? 



Mr. Taylor : On the lake shore in western Allegan county. 



Mr. Morrill: I would like to say a word regarding Mr. Rork's state- 

 ments a few moments ago. He rather inclines to follow nature more 

 closely than some of us have found profitable. I believe in studying 

 nature, as he says; but, after studying it, I like to go and do as I please 

 about it, and in some instances I have found that nature was not doing 

 the best for the tree in hand. A peach tree, I think, invariably overdoes 

 itself. I believe that the root of the peach tree is not able to support 

 the amount of top that it will grow under any sort of normal condition. 

 There is a question of when and how to take away w^hat is really surplus. 

 I have a friend near me who has about a hundred acres, and he has 

 practiced just what Rev. Taylor has practiced for years — five years at 

 least. His orchard is all pruned when spring opens; the brush is usually 

 burned, if he has an open spell, and everything is done in his orchard 

 that can be done in the winter. He tells me he has seen no bad 

 results. I don't know how close an observer he is, but he is a very suc- 

 cessful man, so I have tried the experiment. On theoretical grounds I 

 have been afraid to do it. I trimmed a hundred trees this fall, and 

 trimmed all my plums, believing they would stand it better if there was 

 any damage resulting. But going back to this plan of cutting away peach 

 trees, which Mr. Rork seems to think would be necessarily harsh, and 

 perhaps not profitable, as he seems to have discovered somewhere that 

 the fruit was not so large where this enormous growth was made. I 

 have found, in my own practice, when I have cut away severely, that 

 while I do increase the size of the top very materially I also increase the 

 size of the fruit. I wish to impress upon you what I believe to be a fact, 

 which Mr. Kellogg expressed in his paper, that the important thing is 

 to do this previous to pollination. Then I should follow it up with some- 

 thing which he did not consider. I would thin previous to bud forma- 

 tion. Set those two things right down in your hat, where you can always 

 see them when you take your hat off— that you must do that in peaches if 

 you expect to get the very best development of fruit. I am satisfied that 

 is true. I am satisfied that the leading growers of the state will tell 

 you so, I am satisfied of it from my own experience. Mr. Morrill here 

 demonstrated his method of pruning. 



