older varieties have, witliin a few years shown serious weakness and 

 it is probable that they will not increase in vigor or productiveness, 

 but rather deteriorate, and it is the part of good business forethought 

 to be casting about for new varieties that shall take the place of 

 those that fail to give profitable results. Among the many vaiieties 

 attracting attention and which every grower should investigate, are 

 the Ben Davis, Sutton Beauty, Palmer Greening, Mackintosh Red 

 and Wolf River. It is a very difficult matter to determine the exact 

 value of any variety until it has been extensively planted under 

 varying conditions, but its behavior and value may be much more 

 quickly determined if systematic report be made by all the growers 

 who may have tested it. It is hoped that during the coming season 

 something may be done toward collecting data concerning the merits 

 of the ditferent varieties in all sections of the state. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH PEARS. 



NiLinber of Varieties Tested, 64. 



The trees of the station orchard bloomed very full and until the 

 middle of June promised a large crop of fruit, when the trees were 

 attacked by the fire blight. The little insect known as the pear tree 

 Psylla also appeared in great numbers at about the same time com- 

 pletely checking growth, and the crop was finally almost ruined by the 

 hail storm of Sept. 11th, so that hardly a bushel of marketable fruit 

 was obtained from a crop of a hundred bushels or more. 



The appearance of the fire blight in such destructive force and for 

 which no remedy has been found may perhaps be accounted for by 

 the late growth of the trees during the autumn of 1894, after the 

 unprecedented drouth of July and August of that summer. All 

 branches attacked were cut off and destroyed as soon as possible, in 

 many cases so many were cut away as to seriously disfigure the 

 trees. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH PEACHES. 



Nximher of Varieties Tested, 42. 

 A large per cent of the peach buds was destroyed during the cold 

 weather of the winter of 1894-5, but enough remained uninjured to 

 give a good crop and the fruit set well, some of the early varieties 

 being secured in good condition, but the hail storm so injured the 

 later varieties that no comparison could be made. 



