i04 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Dr. R. C. Kedzie: Yes, sir. It should be allowed to freeze first and then spread upon 

 the soil. '■ '■ 



Q. Shall we plow or drill in peas? 



F. A. Croman: I drill in two bushels to the acre, using a drill with the teeth 

 weighted with a log chain. 



Mr. ::\Iorris of Monroe: We plow them under with a gang plow. 



O. What about brome grass? 



C. D. Smith : Brome grass is a coarse grass adapted for light sandy soil. 



NEW IDEAS IN FRUIT GROWING. 



L. H. BAILEY, PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



The speaker explained at some length the gradual change or evolution 

 in ideas respecting the growing of fruit from the early history of the 

 country until now. He developed the fact that in the early days to be 

 a Pomologist was to know varieties, yet at the present time one may be 

 regarded as an authority on pomology and know very few varieties. 

 In Downiug's book of several hundred pages very little was said about 

 the tilling of the soil and there was no attempt to treat the matter from 

 the point of view of underlying principles. The older generation, of 

 pomologists who knew hundreds of varieties, is now nearly past. One 

 of the last of this generation was T. T. Lyon, whom the speaker eulo- 

 gized. The fact is that varieties are personal and local facts, but the 

 methods of tilling the land, feeding trees, pruning, and the like, are 

 questions which are fundamental and which apply wherever trees are 

 grown. The speaker also developed the fact that in the old days one 

 asked for advice and expected to receive specific directions. He was 

 told just how a thing must be done. At the present day one asks for 

 advice and expects to receive suggestions. He is told the reason why. 

 He then applies the advice to his own circumstances as best he may. 

 It was a relatively easy matter in the old days to give specific directions 

 because the area in fruit growing was small and the purposes for which 

 fruit was grow^n were few. At the present day there are as many pur- 

 poses and ideals as there are growers. Markets have become much ex- 

 tended and greatly diversified. More kinds of fruits are grown. Enor- 

 mous areas are devoted to the business. It is no longer possible for 

 a man to give specific directions for anything more than specific cases. 

 Even then his advice is better and safer if he states some of the funda- 

 mental principles, than it is if he merely gives directions. 



In the old time the teacher was a iiuiltum in parvo. His advice was 

 supposed to be final. When his advice failed he was discredited. In the 

 present time a teacher is merely a guide. He suggests, and if his advice 

 fails it is quite as likely the fault of the recipient as of the giver. In 

 the old days the teacher was supposed to do the thinking and the ex- 

 perimenting for the grower. At the present day the teacher sets the 

 grower to thinking and experimenting for himself and merely guides his 

 work. 



It is now taught that there is no short cut to successful fruit grow- 

 ing. A man must have all the factors in his hands and must manage 

 them largely for himself. Executive or business ability counts for quite 



