ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. I77 



that paints our fruits in their beauty and gives that richness of 

 flavor that pleases the eye and tickles the palate ; the sunlight 

 must permeate every portion of the tree, and also give warmth 

 and comfort to the soil. 



It is a law of nature that ''you cannot get something from 

 nothing" ; trees must be fed, if they are to produce fruit ; the 

 expended energies must be supplied with proper food to restore 

 those energies to their normal condition. 



The President: Now we will be glad to hear from Mr. 

 E. M. Ives of Meriden. 



Mr. Ives : Mr. President : My chief factors, perhaps, will be 

 grouped under five or six heads. First and foremost, I believe, 

 is annual wood growth, full and healthy foliage, checking fung- 

 ous diseases and insects, pruning, and thinning. 



Get your wood growth first. I don't care how you get it, but 

 get it. Some have got it one way, and some another. You 

 must have annual growth in order to develop fruit buds. 



And full and healthy foliage. I believe that is very essential 

 for the full maturity and development of the fruit, and particu- 

 larly in reference to its keeping qualities. The fruit is depend- 

 ent upon good foliage for that. 



Then again we want perfect pollinization. We may get it 

 by assisting nature. I think many times we attribute the loss 

 of our fruit crop to other conditions that have nothing to do 

 with it. If we have imperfect pollinization we may think it's 

 a lack of constitutional vigor, and the failure of the crop has 

 been attributed to conditions which had nothing to do with it 

 whatever. I believe this. Many times we do not get at the 

 root of the matter. The true condition is neglected, and it may 

 not be the condition of the weather altogether. 



Of course, the checking of fungous diseases and injurious 

 insects is very necessary, and we have had that pretty thoroughly 

 discussed. If we allow our trees to go unprotected, our insect 

 enemies are so numerous they are sure to do considerable dam- 

 age. The depredations of the codlin moth, and the work of the 

 apple scab, which we have had illustrated here, attack the leaves 

 and cause a good deal of injury to the foliage, so that by harvest 

 time we have little or nothing, and especially is it due to neglect 

 of those simple essential conditions and allowing these insect 

 depredators to go on without being checked. 



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