182 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Professor Tracy, who long ago said he was always glad when a new 

 insect enemy appeared, for then he had something more to studj' and 

 had a chance to gain another yictory. Opportunities for new yictories 

 are becoming alarmingly frequent as the country becomes older and 

 more thickly inhabited. 



DISCUSSION. 



Q: Does the cedar-apple grow on any tree except the cedar? 



Dr. Beal : No, not that kind. 



Q: How far will it injure apple trees, how far from any cedar trees? 



Prof. Tracy: A mile and a quarter, of which I knew positiyely. 



Dr. Beal : It depends on the wind and the strength of it, and sometimes 

 possibly it is carried by birds and insects as well. It can not be answered 

 deflnitel}' so far as I know. 



Q: How do you ay old soft-rot? 



Dr. Beal : Haye your apples perfectly sound, free from worm holes and 

 cracks, and keep them cool enough. 



Q: Why do we haye three times as much of the soft-rot this year as 

 we haye had before? 



Dr. Beal : I think the reason we had more this year than we had last 

 is that apples are wormier than they used to be. 



Mr. Morrill: Is it not because there are less apples and more worms? 

 Dr. Beal: Yes, sir. 



Mr. Slayton: Will any kind of spraying or treatment ayoid soft-rot or 

 dry-rot? 



Dr. Beal : I do not think this soft-rot amounts to anything on the tree 

 at all, while the fruit is on the tree. It appears after the apples are 

 stored in the bin. 



Mr. Morrill: We would naturally suppose that a state that produced 

 13,000,000 bushels of apples in 1891, and has shrunk down to a yery small 

 proportion of marketable apples, would begin to wish to know what is 

 the matter, and there are a good many of these things the matter. One 

 great trouble in this country is apple scab. The spraying side of the 

 question has been repeated from year to year by the professor of the 

 experiment station. His spraying bulletins haye been spread broadcast 

 by the thousand oyer the state, in first, second, and third editions, per- 

 haps, and I presume he has a stock now ready for spring use. I think 

 they haye done a great deal of good. 



, Sec'y Eeid: There are some questions here directly upon this line. 

 The first is: Preyious to last year, 1896, and also this year, apples were 

 wormy and inferior, but last year they were free from worms, and cropped 

 with the same kind of treatment. What makes this difference — is it the 

 elements? 



Dr Beal: Our treasurer has answered that question. He says this 

 year there are not apples enough to go around. Last year there were a 

 good many wormy apples, if we had got at them in the aggregate, and so 

 of the fungi. The stock of insects last year had a good chance and there 

 was a good crop of them left over, and haying a short crop of fruit this 

 year, they make a remarkable impression. 



