FRUIT CROP OF EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA. 189 



During the early part of the season it seemed quite promising;, and of 

 some early varieties and medium early ones, as Early Harvest and 

 Oldenburg, a fair yield was obtained and the quality was good, but of 

 course the market price was not so favorable. Later the eifect of dry 

 weather, hot and high winds, and above all the ravages of the codling 

 moth began to appear, and by the beginning of September the pros- 

 pects for a crop of winter varieties was ebbing rapidly, and a month 

 later, when the harvest time was fully come, not one bushel of good 

 fruit was to be found where sixty days previous a score of bushels 

 was seemingly a certainty. Many farmers who had expected to have 

 a hundred or more bushels to sell had not enough for family use. 

 Most of the crop had become windfalls, and they decayed so rapidly that 

 very few were utilized in any way, even in the production of cider 

 for vinegar. A few good apples were obtained from young orchards 

 bearing first crops, especially where protected on the south by location 

 of ground and wind-breaks. The varieties which gave the best results 

 were the Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Little Romanite, and Ben Davis. 

 Only a few of our fruit-growers have given any attention to spray- 

 ing for any purpose, and those who have, mostly only for the codling 

 moth. During 1895, owing to the scarcity and inconvenience of the 

 water supply, spraying was neglected, perhaps more generally thaa 

 heretofore, which may account in part for our shortage in apples. 



REPORT OF THE FRUIT CROP OF EAST CENTRAL 



NEBRASKA. 



G. A. MARSHALL. 



(Stenographic report.) 



Mr. President: I have not prepared any written report. I took 

 it from the program that you wanted a report of the crop of the past 

 season, consequently I am not prepared to say anything concerning 

 the prospect for next year. Our fruit crop the past season has been 

 very satisfactory considering everything, although some varieties of 

 the small fruits have been a total failure, and among these is the straw- 

 •berry. The main cause was that we had no strong plants. What 

 few strawberry plants had survived the severe drouth of the year be- 

 fore had but very little life to begin with, and then they were injured 

 by late killing frosts. 



