354 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Jae. Vick, Jessie, and Jewel were well spokeu of but not so well tested. 

 The fruit should be picked by reaching below the berry with thumb and 

 finfier and cutting the stem with the thumb-nail. On the next meeting the 

 topic of "English Sparrows and How to Destroy Them" was taken up and 

 discussed. It was claimed the sparrows were driving off the birds that de- 

 stroyed the worms and insects, and refused to do their work, so that these 

 insect pests were increasing, and it was resolved to take prompt measures to 

 destroy the sparrows by shooting, trapping, and by placing poisoned seeds 

 where they congregate, but out of the way of domestic fowls. 



During the year discussions were held on the merits of high and low prun- 

 ing, the evidence going to show that the trees should be pruned high enough 

 for the horse to pass under; and the top open enough so that the sun could 

 enter and color and flavor the fruit. On pruning black berries and raspberries, 

 there was some difference of opinion. More inclined to think they should be 

 pinched back at from two to three feet high and the laterals cut back in the 

 spring to within six inches of the stem. Currants and gooseberries should be 

 trimmed so as to make a good shaped bush, open to the air and sunlight. 

 Grapes, if stocky, leave four buds; if slender, two. Do not let too many 

 limbs grow, and pinch back to give stockiness and better fruit. Cut suckers 

 when they start, unless to renew the old vine. In setting trees, prepare the 

 ground in the fall. In the spring, just as soon as the ground is dry and warm 

 enough, set the trees 20x20 feet, if peaches or pears, and twice that distance 

 if apples. A peach tree should be trimmed up like a whipstalk, and all the 

 broken or bruised roots cut with a sharp knife, leaving the smooth cut on 

 the under side of the root, for the sprouts to strike downward, as little root- 

 lets will spring from the bark all along the cut. Plant eight or ten inches 

 deep, or two inches lower than in nursery rows. If set too deeply they will 

 not do well, as the roots need light and air. Take good care for the first two 

 years. Do not cultivate later than middle or last of August, as the stimulant 

 will cause late growth and winter killing. Trees should be cared for about 

 the same as corn. 



On the 30th of April, Professor Erwin Smith of Michigan University, who 

 had been gathering statistics and studying yellows in Maryland and New 

 Jersey, met with us and we had a discussion about yellows. He stated that 

 he had visited hundreds of orchards where yellows was prevalent, at the east,and 

 exhibited photographs and drawings which were recognized as just the same as 

 the Michigan yellows. He also stated that they held that there were two kinds 

 of yellows, and that poverty of soil was a prime cause ; and he wished to obtain 

 the opinions of the experienced growers of this section. The consension of opin- 

 ions, of those present, was that what caused yellows, or how communicated, no 

 one yet knew ; that in its modes of spreading it was a law unto itself ; that rich- 

 ness or poveity of soil, new or old, made no difference; that all varieties were 

 alike subject to it, and that the only remedy yet devised was the axe. Cut 

 the infected trees, pile the branches around the stump, and in the spring, when 

 removed, plant another tree in the same place, if you like, and it will not be 

 affected. Do not draw loads of green branches from the affected trees through 

 the orchard. Bees ap|)ear to carry the contagion to the blossoms. Yellows is 

 gradually dying out in this vicinity, and is reported less and less each year. 

 There will be no relapse, for the cure is radical. 



On the 4th of June the first notice was given of the appearance of the straw- 

 berry midge in this vicinity. It is described as a very small insect, about the 



