STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 327 



ney No. 20 for a stock to work on, but may change my mind. 



The modus operandi of budding and grafting you can learn from 

 any practical orchardist, so I will not detain you to describe it here. 



Next I see in the directions given by your Secretary for this 

 essay is protection from severities of the seasons, but I have been 

 dealing on that more or less all along, and if you will follow the 

 advice already given in this essay up to this time you will have an 

 orchard that will stand the severities of any season like the past. 

 What is yet to come we know not, and no class of persons look to 

 the coming winter and spring, or in fact the whole season each year 

 with more anxiety than the men engaged in fruit culture in this 

 climate, as no tree that requires a shed built over it, or a mound of 

 earth and straw built around it, or planted in a box on wheels and 

 run into the cellar or laid down anl covered in winter, can be grown 

 with profit in Minnesota, and, as I before stated, if you have fol- 

 lowed my advice so far, you have an orchard with all the resisting 

 and enduring power for a cold winter that is possible to give it in 

 a profiable point of view; so I'll use no more of your valuable time 

 on this point. 



Next in order C3mes protection asjainst insects, with which I 

 have had perhaps less experience than on anything in the orchard. 

 My plan is to destroy by burning all caterpillars as soon as 

 discovered. Care for and protect all ant-hills I find in or near the 

 orchard, as they are industrious fellows and destroy millions 

 of lice. Destroy all fruit by feeding to hogs, or otherwise, that 

 is injured by insects, causing it to fall prematurely. Place bands 

 of building paper around the trunks of trees to keep insects from 

 passing up. I have had no practical experience in sprinkling or 

 showering trees with liquids to destroy canker worms, as they 

 have not troubled me any. Still, when they are troublesome, 

 a decoction made of whale-oil soap and rain water in proportion 

 of one gallon to five is recommended by successful orchardists, and 

 my observation of its effects convinces me that it is a good remedy. 

 It is usually thrown into the tree by means of a syringe or force 

 pump. There are many who would say that in this essay it would 

 be useless to spend any time on harvesting and marketing the 

 apple crop, as they would be willing to risk that if they only can 

 raise them ; but to me it is a matter of importance, and deserves a 

 place in this paper. Early apples, and, in fact, all fall fruit, 

 should be picked and handled carefully at least ten days before 

 fully ripe, assorted and laid in a cool place until wanted for mar- 

 ket, or for use. Winter apples, in this climate, can remain on the 



