544 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



weather, when the work of destruction will continue with increased 

 force. 



Commercial growers are protecting their trees by spraying, gen- 

 erally with lime, salt and sulphur and the results have been, as a 

 rule, very effective in controlling the scale. But the great mass of 

 tree owners are doing nothing to check the ravages of the scale and 

 a vast majority of farmers do not know the scale, to say nothing of 

 preventing its ravages. It is believed that the educational work 

 being done by Prof. Surface and his co-laborers will be highly effec 

 tive in encouraging a general warfare against the scale. It is purely 

 a work of education, and while Prof. Surface is teaching the people 

 what the scale is and how to kill it, every possible means should be 

 employed to emphasize the value and importance of a full line of 

 fruit trees on our farms, to furnish an abundant supply of fruit for 

 home consumption if not for market purposes. We hope the time 

 will never come when fruit culture will be limited entirely to com 

 mercial growers who will furnish general farmers with all the fruits 

 they need for family use. 



FERTILIZERS. 



The use of commercial ferrilizers is practically limited to specialists 

 or those growing fruits and vegetables on a large scale. It is very 

 rarely that fertilizers of any kind, "except barnyard manure, is ap- 

 plied to the farm orchards of the State. The fertilizer usually em- 

 ployed by Mr. Gabriel Hiester, President of this Association, con- 

 tains about 6 per cent, phosphoric acid and 14 per cent, potash. Mr. 

 Snavely of Lebanon uses a mixture containing 300 pounds muriate 

 of potash, 400 pounds 14 per cent, rock phosphate and 300 pounds of 

 steamed bone. When crimson clover or other legumes are grown 

 successfully as cover crops, sowing about mid-summer, there is little 

 or no necessity for using nitrogen in any form or even the applica- 

 tion of barnyard manure. 



TILLAGE. 



Orchard tillage is not generally practiced except by commercial 

 growers. The benefits of tillage, especially in the early development 

 of the trees, is conceded by all. A favorite practice in bearing or- 

 chards is to cultivate at frequent intervals until about mid*-summer. 

 then sow cover crops, preferably legumes, as crimson clover or cow 

 peas which are plowed under the following spring and the ground 

 harrowed until time to sow the cover crop again. An excellent plan 

 for the young orchard is to grow vegetables or small fruits between 

 the trees, using fertilizers liberally so that the trees do not suffer 

 from an insufficient supply of plant food. 



SCHOOLS. 



There is room for great improvement in the rural schools of the 

 State, particularly in their relation to country life. Nature study 

 receives more attention than formerly, but the work is not usually 

 conducted in an intelligent and enthusiastic manner. The fact is 

 that a large percentage of our country school teachers are not in 

 sympathy with the work and life of our farmers, and when this is 

 the case we cannot expect them to stimulate in the minds of the 

 children any real interest in the great wonders of nature. Elemen- 

 tary agriculture is not taught at all, or not enough to be worth men- 



