40 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



think the best and judge for ourselves; but try them lightly, as I feel 

 assured you will find none of them equal to our old well-tried varieties. 



As to cultivation, I find that you can hardly give too much of it after 

 trees once commence bearing. Before that, if soil is very rich, too much 

 cultivation may cause a too thrifty growth; and if the growth is very long, 

 it should be cut back, early in spring, about one-half, or your trees will 

 become misshapen. For fertilizers, some soils may be rich enough in all 

 the parts that go to form fruit. Then, again, there may be plenty of 

 nitrogen but lack of phosphoric acid, or potash, or it may lack all these, 

 and that is often the reason people who have fruit trees do not get any 

 fruit. Where such is the case, I advise applying, in June, ashes to some 

 trees for potash ; dissolved bone to others for phosphoric acid; to others, 

 a complete fertilizer composed of all these. You will then find out what 

 is needed and which has done the best, but you will not receive any 

 apparent benefit that season, as these fertilizers often require to be applied 

 a season in advance to give full benefit, where trees do not blossom; but 

 where trees blossom and fail to set fruit, early in the spring may answer 

 — as soon as snow is off and enough frost out to allow the fertilizer to soak 

 into the soil. These are points in manures that I have tried to my satis- 

 faction. But try them for yourselves, as soils differ so very much and 

 locations, climate, and all go to require changes from any formula for 

 growing fruit. 



There may be some here who do not want to plant a large variety of 

 plums, or a large quantity of trees. For those I will here give a small list 

 of some among the best, in order of ripening: Washington, Bradshaw, 

 Lombard, Yellow Egg, Glass' Seedling, Coe's Golden Drop, Bavay. 



Black-knot was very bad with me for several years, but I commenced 

 using commercial fertilizer on my orchard every spring, early, and cutting 

 the knots twice each year, always burning the knots. I always cut in July 

 and August first; then, as soon as leaves fall, cut those I missed before. 

 My orchard is very nearly clear of knots at present, and trees very healthy 

 and bearing large crops. But they would not, if I did not destroy the 

 curculio, which have always been bad with me. For several years I jarred 

 the trees and caught the insects on a sheet. This was very hard work, and 

 when spraying with Paris green came to my notice, some eight or ten years 

 ago, I bought a Lockport pump and went at it, and found it good — so good 

 that I have sprayed every year since, my pears, plums, and apples for 

 insect pests, and would no more think of trying to grow good fruit without 

 it than I would of flying without I was built that way. I use scant three 

 ounces of Paris green to forty gallons of water, kept well stirred. 



Mr. WiLLARD pronounced this a practical paper by a successful man, 

 having in it points worth remembering. He cautioned plum-growers to 

 exercise great care in use of arsenites, as the leaves of the plum are 

 exceedingly sensitive; and he had had losses from use of too strong mix- 

 tures. Spraying for curculio had not met growers' expectations in New 

 York, and they were obliged to continue use of sheets. An implement is 

 made in Geneva, N. Y., for this purpose, being a sheet mounted on wheels 

 in nice shape. He had not been successful in efforts to stop rot. He 

 advised thinning plum crops, first by cutting back and afterward by remov- 

 ing surplus fruit. 



