WINTER MEETING AT LEBANON. 221 



mer, this fruit at the close of the shipping season rules the highest in 

 all markets of any year since the war. Where is your surplus to-day t 

 My first extended visit in Missouri was in the fall of 1880, when dili- 

 gent inquiry failed to show a failure of this crop up to that time, from 

 the codling worm. This fall I saw in Greene county the worst failure 

 in commercial orchards I have ever seen from that cause (except in 

 Wisconsin). I think your oak and hickory ridges will not suffer from 

 fungoids very much, but everywhere you will have the codling and cur- 

 culio to fight, and what are you going to do about it ? These are the 

 "little foxes" that spoil the hopes of the orchard, and only organized, 

 intelligent and persevering work can head them off. 



These are standard questions which will always be with you ; and 

 many others will crowd in to .spice your discussions. 



And so, as your State grows in wealth and culture, the question of 

 horticultural adornment will more and more claim your attention. 



The home in country and city has large claims on horticulture for 

 its health, comfort and beauty. 



And so the Missouri State Horticultural society has a large and 

 growing field of usefulness, which should have both the sympathy and 

 the material help of the State. 



I hope at no distant day to be one with you in this work, as I have 

 been for over fifty years in Wisconsin. Ever since I first saw those 

 rich limestone magnesian hills of the Ozark range, I have had full faith 

 in Southern Missouri as the apple region of the West. 



My greetings to all Missouri fruit-growers. 



J. C. Plumb. 



t 



DISCUSSION. 



L. A. Goodman — I would never cut the top bud from a tree in 

 planting. In planting 2-year trees never cut the center shoot. Let it 

 grow up straight as long as possible. The buds at the tops of the 

 branches have more power to draw the sap than other buds. Trees 

 pruned thus will have fewer forks to split. I would never cut the cen- 

 ter bud from a tree unless it is in the case of peaches, which sometimes 

 grow six to eight feet high in one year. 



Prof. Specking — I think the side branches should be subordinated 

 to the main branches. Xever have the branches divide into two equal 

 parts. 



Mr. Gilbert — Some peach growers say cut back the tree to two 

 and a half or three feet at planting. In planting that way last spring, 

 I did not lose a tree in a thousand. I understood Mr. Gano to say that 

 he would not cut back a peach unless he wanted it to branch lower. 



