14 



can be utilised at that season of the year when it is most abundant, and 

 most of it running to waste. It is claimed that by thoroughly saturating 

 the soil with water in winter, it can be conserved for use during the growing 

 season, keeping a dust mulch on the surface of the ground by means of the 

 cultivation of the soil previously described. 



THINNING. 



This is a most important proceeding, if Xo. 1 merchantable fruit is 

 wanted. Generally speaking, no two fruits should touch one another. This 

 is, of course, all but impossible in the matter of cherries, and in a minor 

 degree with plums, but apples, pears and peaches should be thinned most 

 rigorously. Apples should not be less than 4 to G inches apart. It will 

 appear to the beginner when he relentlessly plucks and destroys fruit of good 

 promise, that he is losing most of his crop. This idea can be dismissed with- 

 out hesitation; the probability is that, with severe thinning, he will have as 

 large a quantity in weight as if he had left the whole crop to come to 

 maturity, with this difference, that in the former case he would have a crop 

 consisting of a majority of No. 1 fruit, whilst in the latter case, the proba- 

 bility is that only a very small percentage would pass as Xo. 1, and the 

 remainder would consist of X'o. 2, and a large proportion of an inferior grade. 



DISEASES AND PESTS. 



Insect pests and fungous diseases of every description await the orchard- 

 ist at every turn ; few are of native origin, the majority being the product 

 of other countries, introduced on fruit, shrubs, trees, seeds and other means. 

 As a rule, there is a compensating law of nature by which all insects injuri- 

 ously affecting plant or animal life are kept in check by some antidote in the 

 shape of enemies such as parasites and diseases, which, by preying upon their 

 particular hosts, keep them within bounds. Xow it so happens that in most 

 cases, probably all cases, the antidote is not introduced with the pest, and 

 therefore the increase of fruit pests in a country where importations of 

 nursery stock, fruit, etc., are of daily occurrence is abnormally great, as com- 

 pared with their native habitat. Recognising this fact, the authorities in 

 the Old Country and the United States have gone to great trouble and heavy 

 expense in ascertaining the particular enemies of imported pests, and under 

 the direction of advanced entomologists and others have introduced the 

 enemy, so that the ravages are greatly reduced. Xevertheless, in spite of 

 natural enemies, the orchardist, if he seeks to attain success, must supple- 

 ment these natural enemies by artificial means. In this country, where 

 formerly fruit pests were practically unknown, it has been a difficult matter 

 to induce the old producers to adopt means for the cleansing of their fruit 

 trees, and the consequence is that many orchards have been either abandoned 

 or destroyed. About the same conditions prevailed in Washington and 

 Oregon, where Professor C. V. Piper, Entomologist of the Pullman Experi- 

 mental College, states in Bulletin Xo. 153, as follows : 



" Along with the rapid development of the industry there has been a 

 much more rapid increase in the damage caused by insects and diseases. 

 Ten years ago there was little or no need to fight orchard i?ists. as the injury 



