414 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Lyman: Yes, it grows there still. I think it absorbs a 

 lot of moisture that should remain in the orchard. 



Mr. P. Clausen : Of what damage is fresh horse manure in 

 an orchard? I know it is very bad for manure, but I know there 

 are a good many people who use it for mulching. I do not 

 know what damage it will do myself. 



Mr. A. J. Philips (Wis.) : I have used a great deal of it. 

 The only damage it does is when you pile it two or three feet 

 deep around a tree. 



Mr. Radabaugh : It will kill a tree, and it will not take a very 

 big pile either. 



Mr. Clausen : It ought not to be piled right around the 

 tree, but it ought to be spread out. I never could see that it 

 did any damage if I spread it out around the tree, and we 

 should not make a hotbed of it, but if it is spread out thin I do 

 not think it will do any damage. If it is put in contact with 

 the trees, of course, it will burn the bark when spring comes. 



Mr. Radabaugh : Sydney Corp used to show the best fruit. 

 I was in his orchard about the loth of July. He said he could 

 not attend any more meetings. What surprised me was the 

 amount of fertilizer he had piled around his trees. Some was 

 piled as high as two feet, and it was mostly taken from the hog 

 pen. I asked him why he did not spread it out, and he said it 

 was not necessary, it would take care of itself. He has about 

 the finest fruit in Minnesota, and that was his method of mulch- 

 ing, and he seemed to make a success of it. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg (Wis.) : We have a very successful 

 orchardist in Dane county. His orchard is on clay soil and he 

 practices what he preaches by putting on a mulch. That pre- 

 serves the moisture. 



A DESTRUCTIVE BEETLE-A WARNING TO NURSERY- 

 MEN AND OTHERS IN PLANTING WINDBREAKS. 



PROF. F. L. WASHBURN, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



In a shipment of nursery stock which passed througli Minne- 

 sota from New York state on the way to a party in North Dakota, 

 a beetle introduced from England a good many years ago, known 

 as the alder and willow beetle, Cryptorhyncus lapathi, Linn., has 

 been found, and identified at this ofBce. This shipment was accom- 

 panied by inspector's certificate in New York, and the Minnesota 

 nurseryman accepting it in good faith has unconsciously contributed 

 to our supply of noxious insects. 



Previous to 1895 the beetle was confined to New York state, 

 where it became exceedingly abundant and is today so prevalent 

 that it would be practically impossible to eradicate it. But we are 

 informed by the New York Department of Agriculture that it is 

 possible to prevent the shipment of the beetle in nursery stock. 



