STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 807 



annual crops of line fruit, yet we should be very cautious about 

 manuring young orchards on naturally rich ground, instances 

 being given where such a course had produced disastrous results. 



Prize essays were read on Entomology. That of Mr. Dixon 

 describes the Tortrix, a species of leaf-roller which deposits its eggs 

 on the fruit buds of the apple, and hatches a worm so small as to 

 be scarcely visible to the naked eye, which eats into the fruit 

 germ, frequently destroying an entire crop without the knowledge 

 of the owner. Mr. Dixon sprinkles his trees about the time the 

 buds burst, with a solution of white arsenic at the rate of one 

 pound to 200 gallons of water, with beneficial results. 



The people of Iowa, especially in the central and northern por- 

 tions, are not satisfied with their present list of winter apples, and 

 are looking for improvement in two directions. First, by raising 

 seedlings from best Russian and native varieties, and, second, by 

 direct importations from cold countries of the Old World. The 

 seedling advocates seem to be just a little ahead at the present 

 time, as they had many promising new seedlings on exhibition, 

 whilst, if there were any valuable imported winter varieties, they 

 escaped my notice. 



The display of apples was fine, but the gorgeous show of oranges, 

 lemons, and other fruits, with freshly-plucked flowers from the 

 delightful fields of enterprising Riverside, California, was the 

 grand center of attraction. Whilst such things are delightful to 

 behold, and have a strong tendency to soften our frigid hearts 

 towards the "sunny climes," yet it seems unfortunate to those 

 of us who are poor that those crops were produced by irrigation 

 on land valued at from $200 to $500 per acre, and that the supply 

 of irrigable land in that section is quite limited, making it abso- 

 lutely necessary for most of us to seek elsewhere for our haven 

 of rest. 



The Iowa plan of dividing the State into fruit districts and elect- 

 ing a director for each, seems to secure so many advantages that I 

 will mention some leading features for your consideration. The 

 President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and twelve direc- 

 tors, form a board for the general supervision of the affairs of the 

 society. (See page 520, Transactions Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 1881.) Each director seems to have a general supervision over his 

 district — can impart information through the local press, and if a 

 faithful sentinel, will sound the alarm when the insidious fraud 

 enters his domain with his lying tongue, magnifying glass jars 

 of imported fruit and other modern appliancies for swindling the 



