REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



HORTICULTURAL XOTES. 

 "W. M. Ml'NSOX, Horticulturist. H. P. Gocld, Assistant. 



It has been the policy of the Horticultural Division from the outset 

 to conduct work which should be of permanent value and to con- 

 tinue every investigation through a series of years. Each year's 

 experience gives additional facts for the direction of investigation ; 

 the field is ever widening, therefore we have not completed any 

 line of investigation and do not expect to do so. 



In addition to our perennial studies it is our purpose to conduct 

 a certain amount of work which shall have an immediate practical 

 value to the farmers of the State. This work is mainly in deter- 

 mining the characteristics of different fruits and vegetables offered 

 for sale, in applying approved methods of culture and in combating 

 the insect and fungous pests of orchard and garden. The interest 

 in this work on the part of the gardeners and fruit growers 

 of the State, as evinced by the increasing volume of our corres- 

 pondence and the demand for bulletins would seem to justify its 

 continuance, but we would not lose sight of the main point, viz. : 

 that principles are of more importance than isolated facts. 



I — Notes of Potatoes. 



The Rural New Yorker Trench System. 



In 1893 a comparison was made between the ordinary furrow 

 culture of potatoes and the so-called Rural Neio Yorker Trench 

 System. From this work we concluded: "Ttjat it is questionable 

 whether the results obtained will justify the extra labor involved in 

 practicing the trench system. * * * Duplicate lots in every 

 instance produced contradictory results."* This conclusion was 



*Rep. Me. Exp. Sla. 1S03. p. 124. 



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