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Report oF ACTING POMOLOGIST.* 
The past season has been in many respects as'peculiar as any 
in the memories of our oldest fruit growers. Last spring the 
expectation of an abundant crop of apple, pear, plum, cherry, 
quinee and in fact nearly, if not all, of our fruits growing in this 
climate seemed fully justified. Orchards bloomed freely, and with 
the apple it was the “off year,” as it is commonly called; there- 
fore an abundant harvest was looked for the past autumn. Instead 
of our expectations being realized, the apple crop has proved a 
complete failure ; pears a very light crop, probably less than fifty 
per cent; peaches and plums a total failure except in a very few 
orchards. A notable exception is that of a plum orchard owned 
by Smith & Sons at Peach Orchard, on the east shore of Seneca 
lake; this orchard set an average crop of fruit, and in the face of 
unfavorable weather matured a fair percentage of the crop, while 
another orchard planted with about the same varieties at Lodi, a 
short distance east and on the same side of the lake, blossomed 
freely but failed to bear fruit.. Quinces gave a fair crop. Rasp- 
berries and blackberries not uniform, and in many sections below 
an average crop. The grape and strawberry seem to have been 
the only satisfactory fruit crops of the season, and in many locali- 
ties the former has been rendered a partial, and in some vineyards 
nearly a total failure by black and brown rot and mildews. 
The total failure of the apple crop in western New York, which 
is one of the leading fruit sections in the country, is a very seri- 
ous matter; add to this the failure of crop last year due to more 
natural causes, and we are confronted by conditions tending to 
discourage the most sanguine. A great deal of interest has been 
awakened and many theories advanced as to the cause of the fail- 
ure, but very little of general investigation has been undertaken, 
and there seems to be no satisfactory reason given to account for 
a total failure of crop in orchards where the bloom seemed to be | 
*@G. W. Churchill. 
