FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 25 



THE FRUIT SECTION. 



The first half of Tuesday afternoon was devoted to the discussion 

 of topics relating to fruit culture with C. F. Hale, of Shelby, President 

 of the State Horticultural Society, in the chair. 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 



BY PROF. JOHN CRAIG, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA^ NEW YORK. 



Before speaking on the subject which has been assigned to me, I 

 wish to express my appreciation of the privilege accorded to me of being 

 present at this gathering. I wish also to congratulate the farmers of 

 the State on the excellent state of efficiency and the fine organization of 

 your State Farmers' Institutes, You are to be congratulated on having 

 one of the best agricultural colleges in the land, — one of the most up- 

 to-date in its organization, and manned by an energetic and enthusiastic 

 corps of trained workers. The names of many of your workers rank 

 high in the list of scientific investigators in the country. Both the 

 college and the rank and file of farmers are to be congratulated upon 

 the close connection maintained between them. This is as it should be. 

 The investigator of the experiment station and the teacher of the college, 

 should work and walk hand in hand with the husbandman. Unfortu- 

 nately, in some states, this intimate association is not maintained. 



The fine apple products of Michigan have a reputation more than 

 nation-wide. Whether the varieties which have more or less naturally 

 distributed themselves from the Detroit river westward, are the vari- 

 eties which are best adapted to your climate and soil, or not, is to be 

 numbered among the problems yet to be solved by the cooperation of 

 fruit growers and experiment station investigators. Certainly the 

 Northern Spys and Shiawassee Beauties of Michigan create a very desir- 

 able impression wherever they have wandered. 



Problem of orcJiard management. — The various problems of orchard 

 management may be conveniently grouped under the following captions: 

 The variety question, the fertility question, the pruning question, and 

 the spraying question. 



The variety question resolves itself into a more or less personal one. 

 Shall we grow for quality, or for quantity? Shall we grow that 

 variety from which we obtain the most personal enjoyment, or shall 

 we cultivate a kind which in the average of years will bring in the 

 largest returns and which obtains general recognition in the world's 

 markets? We can recognize two types of markets. The one is gen- 



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