No. 4.] EXPEKIMENT STATION. 211 



REPOKT OF COMMITTEE ON EXPERIMENTS AND STA- 

 TION WORK. 



[Read ami accepted at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 12, 1004.] 



We shall notice onl}^ a few of the important features of 

 the work at the station, as the reports of tlu^ various heads 

 of departments cover the work so well ; but a few things 

 seem to deserve mention. 



In the pomological department the peach orchard is of 

 special interest. In common with most orchards of the kind, 

 the trees were killed back by the frost and the fruit buds 

 destroyed ; these trees were cut back severely early in the 

 season, and by the last of September had grown fine heads, 

 which having been well trimmed out, the foliage w^as clean 

 and the stems well set Avith fruit buds, — certainly a re- 

 markable change from their appearance in June. We have 

 seen nothing in other peach orchards that could compare 

 with these trees, which certainly furnish an object lesson for 

 practical cultivators. 



A noticeable experiment in the agricultural department 

 was a collection of apple trees, in several groups of four 

 trees each, containing Gravensteins, Greenings, Baldwins and 

 Russets. These several groups were fertilized differently ; 

 the trees had been sprayed and carefully pruned, and were 

 in good shape, with round heads, clean foliage, and loaded 

 wath fair, smooth fruit; even the smaller apples were clean, 

 and would certainly be worth more for cider than the wormy 

 fruit frequently used. This collection is well worth a visit. 



In driving through one of the apple sections of this State 

 last summer we saw scarcely an orchard in bearing that was 

 free from the apple scab or the sting of the apple curculio ; 

 but neither precept nor example seems to avail with those 



