PLUMS AND CHERRIES. 487 



Mr. Ciitte: It has been said that chickens keep the j;Toiin<l 

 scratched up, and this prevents it. 



Prof. Green: Chickens may do some g-ood for curculioa, but I 

 don't see that they could have anything- to do with plum pockets. 



Mr. Murray: If spraying is so injurious to the plum trees, is it 

 not equally injurious to apple trees? 



Pres. Underwood: It does not injure the apple. 



Mr. Murray: Why should it injure the plum? 



Mr. Elliot: It is the difference in the foliage. 



VEGETABLES. 



D. T. WHEATON, MORRIS. 



The vegetable crop (1895) was abundant in this section of the 

 state. Although there are no market gardeners here or any that 

 raise vegetables as a business, yet there are more vegetables raised 

 than for which there is a demand. Most of the farmers have very 

 good gardens, and they generally raise more than a supply for 

 their own table. The varieties grown are the more common and 

 hardier kinds and do not equal those raised in market gardens. The 

 demand for vegetables in the country or villages is quite limited: 

 so it is poor policj' to raise more than enough for home consump- 

 tion. 



To have a good garden requires constant care and attention. If 

 the weeds are not kept down and the soil cultivated, it is useless to 

 try to raise vegetables. Often when the garden recjuires attention, 

 the farmer is busy with his held crops, and I think it an open ([ues- 

 tion whether it pays to leave the field and give the garden the 

 needed attention. If it was not for the women folks, I doubt 

 whether many fanners would have gardens. 



The meteorological conditions were not favorable to the largest 

 growth. (I think medium sized vegetables are superior in quality 

 to the overgrown ones). The amount of precipitation for the past 

 year was the smallest for over eleven years. The rain came at op- 

 portune times generally, so that crops of all kinds were good. More 

 depends upon when the moisture comes than upon the amount. 



The season opened early. Most seeds were planted from the first 

 to the middle of April. The ground was so very dry that many of 

 the smaller seeds failed to gerininate till the rains of the last days 

 of April. The seeds that came up made a good growth, and looked 

 finely when the cold week beginning Maj' eleventh came. After the 

 freeze, plants had to take a new start, either from the roots or from 

 new seed. From this titne on vegetables made a rapid growtli, and a 

 fair crop matured. 



The acreage of potatoes was largely increased, owing i)r(>l)ably to 

 the high prices prevailing a year ago. The potato crop was heavy 

 and they were so abundant that there was practically no market 

 for them. Some fields were not harvested.^ The prices were so low 

 that it did not pay to sliip them. After the local market was t«uii- 



