108 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



Very few varieties have escaped entirely ; and while some are less 

 injured and do better than others, the exceptions seem much in 

 favor of special situations and their surroundings. 



While I have attributed the main trouble to the cause given 

 above, I think the character and quantity of our fruit this year has 

 been very much influenced by the cold, unfavorable spring. 



As to cure, we think we may find, in the next similar attack, in 

 immediate pruning and prompt, thorough cultivation to hasten the 

 growth of new and vigorous wood. 



Gentlemen, I am sorry that 1 cannot satisfactorily answer 

 either of your difficult questions. And, hoping that the " apple 

 trees " in other portions of the state are in better condition, and 

 while I cannot this time be with you and enjoy your session and 

 greetings, I really wish for you a profitable, and enjoyable meeting. 



Very truly, HENRY SCHOLTON". 



Speifgfield, Mo., December 1, 1884. 



The next paper was by C. Thorp on 



WHAT SIX VARIETIES OF APPLES MUST W^E PLANT 

 FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES ? 



This is a question in which there are millions of dollars to the 

 fruit growers of our state. The majority of our farmers are not 

 well posted on this subject, and instead of consulting some one 

 who is posted, they listen to the nice stories of unprincipled tree 

 peddlers and nurserymen, who do not want to sell any of the well 

 tried standard varieties of fruit, but something new for which they 

 charge exorbitant prices. Of late they are selling Russian apple 

 trees, peach trees budded into the Canada hawthorn, and pears 

 entirely free from blight, on French stock, and only two years ago, 

 agents for a nursery not a hundred miles distant, were selling 

 budded trees at double the price of good standard grafted trees, 

 and lots of farmers would buy them instead of going to, or order- 

 ing from, a good reliable nurseryman. But the American people 

 are fond of being humbugged, and squander thousands annually on 

 humbugs. A young man of our town last year bought three 

 hundred dollars worth of fruit trees that will never be worth the 

 ground they occupy, when, if he had purchased the proper kinds, 

 would have been worth thousands of dollars in a few years. 



W^hat I have said does not apply to the majority of our home 

 nurserymen, as we have a great many reliable nurserymen all over 



