FKUIT GROWERS' INSTITUTE. 161 



section of the state. The result of these raeelings will be the organiza- 

 tion of county apple growers' associations. These associations are organ- 

 ized for educational purposes. The State Horticultural Society and horti- 

 cultural department of the experiment station will be called upon for 

 assistance in the different phases of orchard management. The chief 

 work to be conducted during the present season will be the renewing of 

 neglected orchards. Demonstrations in proper methods of pruning the 

 trees will be the first step taken. Arrangements are being made in 

 several places to conduct the experiment of community spraying. Pro- 

 fessor Howard, in his address before these meetings, offered to take 

 charge of this spraying work, by communities, if a number of the growers 

 owning small orchards would join in buying a power outfit and furnishing 

 spraying material. 



The work will not only include assistance in pruning and spraying, 

 but also cultivation of the orchards will be directed, and later instruction 

 will be given in harvesting the crop of apples. 



The exhibit of boxed apples at the winter fruit show has created a 

 demand for apples in box packages, and the growers are planning to hire 

 an expert box packer to give instruction in this method of packing for the 

 market. 



It is the general opinion of those interested in the development of 

 Nebraska resources that the Horticultural Society has started a move- 

 ment which will be fruitful of much good. Arrangements are being made 

 by the communities in the counties where meetings have already been 

 held; also in nearly every county where apples are produced on a com- 

 mercial scale similar meetings will be conducted. 



No attempt was made at these meetings to effect a commercial organ- 

 ization. The speakers were merely starting an educational campaign, 

 trying to instruct and encourage the owners of small orchards to apply 

 up-to-date methods in caring for their apple trees. The importance of 

 vigorous pruning was insisted upon. The first step in caring for the 

 average neglected orchard is to prune out at least one-half of the wood 

 from the tops of the trees. In removing the branches the cuts should be 

 made close to the trunk and larger limbs, and all wounds larger than half 

 an inch in diameter should be painted. Professor Howard was emphatic 

 in his demands that this pruning must be done, and stated that he would 

 not attempt to spray an orchard unless the trees were properly pruned. 



The importance of the first spraying, while the trees were dormant, 

 was also urged by the speakers. For this purpose the standard 4-4-50 or 

 6-6-50 solutions of Bordeaux mixture were strongly recommended. 



By a series of charts such apple diseases as scab, blotch, and apple 

 canker were explained. That these diseases could be controlled by the 

 intelligent use of Bordeaux mixture and line-sulphur was one of the chief 

 points impressed upon the growers. Because unsprayed apples the past 

 two seasons were comparatively free from these diseases it should not 

 be taken as evidence that the diseases would not appear in troublesome 

 form in seasons of greater rainfall. The speaker also tried to impress 

 upon the growers that spraying was a preventive and not a cure for 



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