102 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Stearns : I have found it too expensive to thin the plum as we do 

 the peach and pear, by hand. I do it mainly by pruning and heading 

 back. 



Mr. Boss: In pruning, if there are trees affected with the yellows, 

 is it dangerous to go from one to another — that is, is there danger in 

 going from a yellows tree to one that has not been affected? 



Mr. Morrill : Yes, and if you have any yellows, it is important that you 

 carry a dish of crude carbolic acid with you, and dip your pruner or knife 

 in that acid. We have so thoroughly rid our orchard of yellows that we 

 have not had a yellows tree for three years. 



Q: Where you have a peach tree which has been pruned correctly 

 from its first year, up to the third, fourth, or fifth year, is there any 

 necessity of thinning the fruit? 



Mr. Morrill: Yes, sir; if you prune correctly you will have immense 

 crops of fruit on what there is left, probably three to five times as many 

 as you want, and if they are all left on it will break the trees down. 

 Q: What is the first symptom of yellows? 



Mr. Morrill: You are very fortunate if you have never seen it. The 

 first symptom is the premature ripening of a few specimens. Perhaps the 

 balance of the tree will be green fruit; or it may be within a week of the 

 time of ripening, and then when you pick the fruit you will find red 

 specks on it, that run down through the flesh like red veins. 



Mr. Clay: In answer to the question of when should you trim, there is, 

 at the Farmers' Club at the county building here, an illustration of thi>s, 

 prepared by Mr. Slayton. There are samples of wood, cut from trees 

 that were trimmed every month in the year, showing day and date when 

 the branch was trimmed or cut back, and showing of themselves how well 

 they have healed, and what is the time to trim. 



Mr. Preston : It is my impression that the time to cut a limb is when 

 it is hard; it will dry up hard. 



Mr. Bramin : What strength is the Bordeaux mixture, used for spray- 

 ing peach trees, after the leaves have come out? 



A : I use four pounds sulphate of copper and about six pounds of lime 

 to fifty gallons of water. I use this excess of lime so there will be no ill 

 effect from the sulphate of copper. You can use twice the amount of 

 Paris green, if you use a little excess of lime. The lime counteracts the 

 poison. 



In regard to the pruning; if you prune for wood growth, prune in 

 March or April ; if you prune to set a tree into bearing — an old tree — 

 prune while making a vigorous growth. 



Mr. Taylor: I want to say a word in connection with what Mr. Stearns 

 referred to in regard to spraying the peach for curl leaf. I made a trial 

 of that a year ago last spring, with very marked results in favor of the 

 spraying.^ I sprayed before the leaf buds made any appearance of 

 growth and the buds had commenced swelling, and the results were very 

 marked. 



Further; in regard to cutting back at different times of the year. 

 Two years ago this past December, I was in New York state, where they 

 make some showing of fruit culture, and in the vicinity of Geneva 

 they were cutting back their plum trees in December. Whether they 

 were wise or not, I do not know, but it was evidently a uniform practice 

 there, and they were following it up, from year to year. 



