Secretary's Budget. ' 399 



• 



a rest and cousolidatiou of that already formed, whilst that of 

 mineral manures is to favor consolidation rather than luxuriance. 

 Or, to put it in another way, a characteristic effect of nitrogenous 

 manures is to favor the extension of foliage, and to give it depth of 

 color, wliereas that of the mineral manures is to tend to stem forma- 

 tion and production of seed." In the light of recent experiments 

 in feeding peach trees, as carried on at Houghton Farm, and the 

 Massachusetts State College, many of our old peach growers who 

 had abandoned the business on account of the uncertainty of the 

 crop, are making preparations for setting out new orchards. We 

 should never recommend setting peach trees in the fall, but it is a 

 good time now to be getting a place ready, and to find out where 

 good healthy young trees can be procured for setting in the spring. 

 The peach is too valuable a fruit to be neglected wherever it can 

 be grown. 



If the pomological student now passes east from Breslau one 

 thousand miles to Saratov, on the Volga, he will learn another 

 lesson in cherry growing, which he will not soon forget. He is 

 now in the rich, black soil section of Russia, with an annual rain- 

 fall of only tw^elve inches, and with a common southeast wind in 

 summer bringing the breath of the desert, and a common north- 

 t'Rst wind in winter bringing a temperature of 40 degrees below 

 zero in extreme test years. Even here we find thrifty trees of low- 

 growing, thick-leaved, sweet cherries, said to be natives of Northern 

 Bokhara ; and we find many varieties of Amarelos with leaves 

 much thicker than those at Breslau and with fruit richer in grape 

 sugar. 



If the student now turns northwest to a point about one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles east of Moscow, he will be in the midst of the 

 largest cherry orchards of the east plain. Here he will see — if in 

 cherry season — whole trains loaded with dark colored, small-pitted, 

 nearly sweet cherries, picked from many-stemmed bushes rather than 

 trees. By this time — having in passing eastward and northward 

 eaten cherries for over a month — he will conclude with us that 

 America has a wide range to choose from in adapting the cherry to 

 the different soils and climates of the continent. 



Two years ago w^e obtained a number of varieties of the East- 

 ern cherries, and, last spring, we put in a specimen orchard , about 

 thirty other sorts. The behavior of these plants I have watched 

 with much interest ; so far they have fully met my expectations 

 as to endurance of our winters and ability to carry heavy fol- 

 iage through our changeable, half-tropical summers. In the near 



