42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the fine quality of the best varieties ; it will bear transportation 

 better than any other, making it a ver}^ valuable market variety. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. L. F. Starrett. We have a remedy tor the curculio, which 

 my mother has tried for two or three years, and in which she has 

 great faith, and I think it is well worth a trial by an}^ who are 

 troubled with this insect. It is to take good dry corn cobs, soak 

 them in well sweetened water and hang them on the trees. The 

 theory is that the curculio is attracted by the sweetness and lays her 

 eggs in the cob instead of in the plum. The cobs can then be de- 

 stroyed and with them the young insects. My mother saw this 

 method advocated in a newspaper and tried it and it has worked 

 well. She had not had much success with her plums, but this plan 

 has worked so well that she has continued to use it every Acar. 



Mr. Nelson. I would like to ask Mr. True what amount of salt 

 it will do to put around a plum tree. 



Mr. True. I do not pretend to be an expert and I should not 

 dare to fix the amount. I think it would be very dangerous to put 

 much salt very near the trunk of a tree. I should use a small 

 amount, comparatively speaking. We all know that too much salt 

 is death to vegetation. But 1 have been in the habit of using it and 

 have taken it for granted that it was good for my trees. 



Mr. Nelson. Why I asked that question was that in 1858, 1 had 

 twelve nice plum trees that were bearing first rate. I read in some 

 agricultural paper that salt was just the thing to put around them. 

 In clearing out some pork barrels I had about a bushel of salt, and 

 I spread that around these twelve trees, and they never leaved out 

 afterwards. 



Mr. Merrill. Mr. Nelson's experience does not seem to be in 

 harmony with the advice and practice of the great plum-growers of 

 the West, who recommend salt as being ver}^ beneficial. In Mr. 

 Nelson's case it seems to have been fatal. I would like to inquire 

 what time of year he applied his salt and how he applied it; whether 

 it was distributed equally over the whole orchard or applied directly 

 about each tree ? 



Mr. Nelson. I will say that I put this around as I poured it out 

 of the pork barrel, brine and salt. Of course it was quite an 



