148 * MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



practice shall find the intermediate and wise treatment, and help nature 

 to develope the wonderful resources of the fruitful highlands of the 

 Ozarks. Eespectfully submitted, 



D. S. HOLMAN, 



One of Com. on Orchards. 



EEPOKT ON ORCHARDS. ' 



BY CHAS. PATTERSON, KIRKSVILLE, MO. 



Considering the short crops and general depression of agricultural 

 products, and the very light attention generally paid to orchards, I 

 think the latter have much better returns in proportion than most any- 

 thing else the past season. Notwithstanding the very severe drought, 

 and a full average depredation of codling moth, etc., we had a fair pro- 

 portion of good, marketable fruit. In the early part of gathering time 

 the outlook for disposing of our surplus looked very unpromising, as 

 few, if any, have ever been known to make money by buying to ship, 

 and therefore refused to invest; but a very unexpected demand sprung 

 up by farmers' wagons from close by in Iowa, where the crop was said 

 to be destroyed by a severe storm, and hail in places in early summer, 

 qnite extensively. This may never occur again, and even be reversed, 

 although the people of that State make quite discouraging reports of 

 disasters by winter damage and killing. The price realized probably 

 averaged fully 25 cents per bushel in the orchard, the buyer generally 

 helping to gather them, and sometimes doing it all, and considering 

 how they were graded, this must be accepted as very satisfactory. 



My own experience is again somewhat contradictory and confus- 

 ing. Some of you may recollect my last year's report, stating how I 

 had fought tbe codling moth with some $40 or $50 worth of labor, and 

 found my fruit far worse eaten than that of any of my neighbors. This 

 year I was fully determined to make a change of tactics and steal a 

 inarch on them by sprinkling with paris green, but I let the earliest op- 



