118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Question. Can apple trees be made to bear every year? 



Mr. Willard. I know an orchard that produced an im- 

 mense crop in 1896, a fair crop in 1897 and a good crop in 

 1898. These instances are somewhat rare. There is some- 

 thing in the man, as well as in the tree. This man is a good 

 cultivator, a good feeder; he thinned the crop in 1896 with 

 reference to the fruit that would come later. You must lay 

 the foundation in advance. You cannot do the necessary 

 work the year the fruit is grown. It must be done before. 

 His work was always ahead. He can figure pretty closely 

 on what his receipts will be annually. 



I do not know but I shall take up Brother Hale a little 

 now on what he said about insect pests. He and I disagree 

 a little bit, I found to-day, in regard to some features of the 

 insect pests. As I crossed the line yesterday when coming 

 into your own State, I noticed the neglected apple trees 

 along the road (very much the same as in my own State), 

 and I thought, what a beautiful place in these neglected 

 apple trees for the breeding-places of these insects which we 

 hear so much about and know so very little about. Now, 

 we have the oyster-shell bark louse and the scurfy bark 

 louse and the tent caterpillar and the canker worm, and, 

 last but not least, we have the San Jose scale. My own 

 impressions are from a slight investigation into this matter, 

 that we know but little as yet concerning the extent to 

 which this insect is disseminated. We know it has been 

 very abundant in New York, and that it is not only plentiful 

 there in my own State, but also throughout New England ; 

 and I want to say to you that the further I have gone in 

 investigating this matter, the more fully I am satisfied that 

 we do not know very much about it. In the first place, I 

 believe it is scattered over a territory far beyond what any 

 one has anticipated. The farther we go the worse we find 

 it in New York. At first we supposed it was confined to 

 Long Island. There have been trees enough destroyed 

 there to bankrupt somebody. It is now way up the Hud- 

 son, there are orchards there where it can be found. This 

 scale is more dangerous, because it is insidious in its work. 

 You would have to call in an expert with a powerful micro- 

 scope to detect it, yet it is doing its work*. It is eating out 



