408 ttSPOK'T 01^ THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



experiment, althougli, after two years' experience, there was no doubt in my mind 

 about its beneficial effects. The benefits accruing are treble : fi^rst, an increased mar- 

 ket value of the fruit ; second, a more handsome, vigorous, and healthy tree ; and, 

 third, a great saving of labor and time in thinning the frnit. We all know what an 

 unsightly object an old peach-tree becomes when left to itself. A few long, lean, skele- 

 ton branches, with nearly all the foliage and fruit at the extreme ends, will correctly 

 describe them. All this can be remedied, and handsome, round, compact heads, Avell 

 filled with foliage and fruit throughout secured, by the simple process of shortening-iu. 

 I usually choose mild weather in the late fall or winter in which to perform the work. 

 Early spring is just as good a time, only our duties are more pressing then, and if put 

 off until that time is very apt to be neglected. Occasionally I have found it of great 

 advantage to cut back some of the longer branches to where thoy are an inch to an 

 inch and one-half in diameter, but usually it is only necessary to shorten the new 

 growth from one-half to two-thirds — shortening the longer growths the most. My trees 

 80 treated exhibit all the beauty and vigor of form and growth at twelve years of ago 

 usually seen in trees of four and five years. When the season for thinning the fruit 

 arrives, I find it takes only about one-third the time to do it. This of itself would pay 

 if there were no other benefits, as at that time we are driven with all kinds of work, 

 and are apt to neglect, or, at best, slight, this very necessary labor. For I hold that no 

 man who raises peacjaes for market can afford to let his trees mature a great mass of 

 BmaU, inferior fruit, which will bring next to nothing, when, by judicious thinning, he 

 can get the highest market-price. On my younger orchards I have commenced cutting 

 back at four years from setting, but shortening only the leading shoots the first season. 



This report contains many additional papers and discussions of inter- 

 est and value. 



MISSOURI. 



The eleventh annual report of the Missouri State Board of Agricult- 

 ure, for the year 1875, is one of more than average interest. In addi- 

 tion to the business transactions of the Board at its annual meeting, the 

 volume contains many practical papers and interesting discussions on 

 various important branches of agriculture. It also contains the proceed- 

 ings of the sixteenth and seventeenth annual meetings of the State 

 Horticultural Society, and an exceedingly valuable illustrated report 

 by Prof. C. V. Riley, State entomologist. Additional papers, detailing 

 the results of further investigations into the habits of the western locust, 

 and of the history and habits of the grape phylloxera, are contained in 

 Professor Eiley's report. His thorough investigations into the habits of 

 the last-named insect add much to the value of this report. 



The State Board convened on the Ist day of December and continued 

 in session four days. In his opening address, President Luman A. Brown 

 briefly alluded to the devastation committed by the grasshoppers in the 

 early part of the season on the growing crops of the northern counties 

 of the State. He also alluded to the great prevalence of hog-cholera in 

 various sections of the State during the past season, and urged upon the 

 Board the importance of devoting a portion of its time to a consideration 

 and discussion of this subject. At the afternoon session of the board 

 the subject came up for consideration and was discussed at some length. 

 Mr. Colman said the disease resembled a low fever of typhoidal char- 

 acteristics, and he thought it was in some degree contagious. Hogs 

 attacked by it die very suddenly, and it takes but a short time to carry 

 off an entire herd. Mr. Monteith said that in the higher portions of the 

 State, among the Ozark hills, where there is an abundance of clear run- 

 ning water, the hog-cholera, so called, is scarcely known. He regards 

 the disease as a kind of low typhoid fever, and attributes its prevalence 

 largely to the absence of pure water. Speaking of preventives of the 

 disease, he stated that he had once cured a bad case of fistula by an 

 application of dry earth, after trying a great many other remedies, and 

 he believed there were many properties in earth which, if properly ap- 



