14 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



over-production of the two preceding ^ears is the potential cause of 

 our present sliortage. This conclusion is further conhrmed by the fol- 

 lowing observations: 



1. Some varieties did not form many fruit buds last autumn. This 

 was evidently the direct result of over-bearing during the two previous 

 seasons, 



2. Some varieties showed a large percentage of immature buds before 

 winter set in. These buds were found to be black at the center, as if 

 they lacked maturity, and on this account they dropped from the trees 

 before the blossoming season arrived. 



3. Very many blossoms that opened in an apparently healthy con- 

 dition were imperfect, or so enfeebled from some cause that they dried 

 up on the limbs that bore them, before the germ had sufficiently devel- 

 oped to show a peach ; and also before the leaf-curl had made its appear- 

 ance. 



•i. Some varieties have shown but very little tendency to curl-leaf, 

 and yet failed to hold the blossoms that promised a good degree of 

 fruitfulness at the time of opening. 



5. Fruit that drops as a result of leaf-curl does so after the young 

 peach is well formed, whereas a large proportion of the peach bloom 

 of this year that disappeared did so before the germs were sufiflciently 

 mature to show their right to be classed as fertilized flowers. 



Other parts of this state and of our country probably had a temper- 

 ature low enough to injure fruit buds, and suffered from cause, but this 

 part of the lake shore was evidently exempt from that calamity. 



In view of the various conditions and causes referred to above, we are 

 decidedly of the opinion that over-production in '95 and '96 had more 

 to do with the failure of '97 than all other causes combined. Over- 

 production must, from the very nature of natural law, lead to enfeebled 

 fertilization and ultimate failure. The remedy for future conditions 

 of the same kind is too obvious to require discussion. Eeduce the fruit- 

 bearing branches, or thin the fruit, so that the root can nourish the top 

 with such strong growing fiber as will hold the germs that form until 

 the fruit is grown. 



