508 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Owing to the impossibility of giving timely cultivation and the extreme diflS- 

 culties under which spraying operations had to be carried on, anthracnose, mildew 

 and currant worms have left extremely few of the fruit bushes in a condition fit 

 for fruiting. Cultivating too late in the season for several years has caused the 

 roots of the bushes to grow too close to the surface, and when on June 11 the 

 ground was dry enough to use the horse cultivator, it was found that the work 

 had to be abandoned, the bushes being killed almost as soon as cultivated. That 

 the strawberry plants upon adjoining plots have been able to withstand the 

 unnatural conditions as well as they did speaks perhaps for the climatic condi- 

 tions of this region which seem to favor this crop, though in a large measure this 

 is due to the different growing habit of the plants, their greater freedom from 

 insects and diseases, and especially to the greater depth of soil upon which the 

 plots were located. The behavior of the varieties under these adverse conditions 

 has been such as to give promise of favorable results whenever they can be given 

 the cultivation and spraying which every successful fruit grower knows to be 

 indispensable. 



ORCHARD. 



The severe conditions of the preceding winter left their impression upon some 

 of the varieties of all orchard fruit. The cold weather was unusual in persist- 

 ency rather than intensity, though the damage occasioned was due rather to heat 

 than to cold, resulting in what is commonly termed as sunscald. Up to the snow 

 line, or about 2i/4 feet above ground, no tree was damaged. Above that several 

 varieties were injured more or less on the south side, dead bark subsequently 

 resulting, from merely a few spots in the tops to the entire south half of the 

 trees. With few exceptions the damage was greatest as the exposure to the rays 

 of the sun was greatest, the trees on the southern slope of a knoll faring worse 

 than those on the opposite side. The damage was done during the few days 

 of the middle of December, forepart of January and last of February, when zero 

 weather and high temperatures sharply succeeded each other. There is ground 

 for assuming that future experiments may show that such damage can be avoided 

 by simple means. Fruit buds of hardy varieties were also damaged to some 

 extent, this also occurring on the south side of the trees, and more upon southern 

 slopes than elsewhere. The more seriously damaged varieties which were sub- 

 sequently cut off are Mann, Wagener, Baskoop, Dr. Walker, Ontario and Canada 

 Red of the apples, Moore's Artie of the plums, Vermont Beauty and Bessamanka 

 of the pears. Cover crops have as yet not been used in the orchard, and this 

 no doubt aggravated the damage, for the forepart of the fall season was wet, the 

 latter part was quite warm, and the sap was more active than usual when winter 

 set in. Though effective spraying, even at the expense of a great amount of labor, 

 is scarcely possible any longer with a hand outfit, there was no difficulty in 

 keeping disease and insects fairly well subdued. Scab under existing conditions, 

 is hardest to control, while shot hole fungus, the only other disease observed, 

 was merely persistent on the trees of the Forest Garden variety, the trees being 

 the tallest, hence hardest to reach with a hand pump. Were it not for the aphis, 

 spraying for insects could be well dispensed with, for nests of wrens, gold finches 

 and several species of sparrows are very numerous in and around the orchard, 

 and the few insects which escape the attention of the birds are not numerous 

 enough to cause any damage. One spraying at the time the buds were well 

 opened was sufficient to dispose of the first brood of aphis. The second brood 

 during July could not be entirely controlled, as the aphis multiplied faster than 

 they could be killed by spraying, for when the leaves begin to curl up, it is 

 slow work to reach the insect even with a power pump. The spraying mixture 

 consisting of one pound of laundry soap and one pound of tobacco stems to eight 

 gallons of water has proved effective when used fresh. If allowed to stand until 

 it bpgins to ferment, the mixture is of no great value. As during former seasons 

 high winds from the south maimed or broke down several trees, the orchard 

 being unprotected on that side and being located on a slope \^hich affords unusual 

 destructive powers to southerly winds. The trouble with all cherry trees, as 

 related in Bulletin No. 28, continues unabated, and while all the trees ripened 

 some fruit, it is not expected that many of the trees will be alive next season. 

 Six of the trees were dug up and sent to experts for examination. Like those 

 dug up during the preceding season, the trees were found diseased about two 

 inches above and two inches below the point where the scion was grafted into 



