84 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



apple leaf and curl-leaf are very much concurrent with the degree of fer- 

 tility and the general good care and condition of the orchard; in other 

 words, is it not true that the orchards in which the land was in good heart 

 (as the farmers would say), rich and healthy, that the fruit of those trees 

 did not suffer from this small leaf and curl-leaf? 



Mr. Hale: I can not answer that it is, from my experience. I have a 

 good orchard where half of the trees are Elbertas and half Conkling, and it 

 is my pet orchard, so to speak, and 1 took extra care of it, sprayed thor- 

 oughly; but on my Conklings I succeeded in growing a partial crop, and on 

 my Elbertas I could not get anything of a crop. 



Prof. Tracy: Was that ground as fertile as you would like to have it? 



Mr. Hale: Yes, sir; the ground was in good shape, good ground. 



Mr. Morrill: I have pretty strong ideas on both of those questions and 

 there have been strong observations made this year. Take the apple, par- 

 ticularly. Where apples have been in the past uncultivated, in our vicinity, 

 it is noticeable this year that they suffered worse than those that had been 

 cared for. Now, what I mean by *' cared for " is not only the fertility cared 

 for but the cultivation and spraying, not only this year but in years gone 

 by. There is one thing noticeable, and you can go to three or four orchards 

 in our county and get an object lesson from this. I will take one, for 

 instance, at Watervliet — forty acres of apples. The owner commenced 

 fertilizing his orchard, probably, nine or ten years ago — feeds hogs in it 

 every year, and grows peas to turn under, and he sprays three, four, and 

 five times; and when he sprays they are thoroughly' sprajed, the top of 

 the leaf and the bottom of the leaf and every limb and to the ground is 

 covered with Bordeaux mixture. He sprays at just the right time, not 

 three or four days too late. Now, he has taken seven successive crops of 

 apples from that orchard, and they are good always. This year he sold 

 his at home — his firsts for |2.75 and his seconds for |1.75, in the ordinary 

 Michigan barrel, delivered at the train, the whole crop. Those trees, which 

 are twenty-five and thirty years old. are as clean as nursery stock, in the 

 body, and they have made growth right along each year, right in the face 

 of heavy crops — a good, clean crop each year. Now, this year that orchard 

 did not suffer. I will take another orchard, in my own township, belong- 

 ing to Mr. Allen Bronson, who has followed^the same plan. I mean the. 

 complete plan. He does not have oft" years, and the trees did not suffer 

 this year. He hauled Maiden Blush apples, load after load, on our own 

 streets and they sold for |3.50. He has only ten or twelve acres of orchard, 

 but it was better than a 160-acre farm in our county- this year, I believe. 

 for net profit; and he has followed these things right through, and these 

 vicissitudes do not affect those two orchards. There are numerous in- 

 stances of just that kind. Take the peach, and I believe that the best cared 

 for orchards suffered the worst witli curl-leaf. There is a thing that is a 

 little peculiar there. My orchards are certainly well cared for. I cut back 

 severely, and I thin out and treat them according to a particularly defined 

 plan that I have (and a good many other good growers use the same ideas), 

 and they suffered worse from curl-leaf tlinn the orchards not so cared for. 

 I do not say any more that that system is absolutely faultless. I say that, 

 so far as I know, curl-leaf is worse where the trees start that strong growth 

 that comes right out like a iniishronm. There are those two conditions, 

 taking the apple and peach. 1lint have come under my experience and ob- 

 servation this year, and I think they are worth talking about; at the same 

 time, I shall not change my method of handling peach trees. 



