January 31, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



49 



THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



President Barry congratulated the society on its nourishing 

 condition at this its thirty-ninth annual meeting and on the 

 large attendance even when the outlook for fruit-growers was 

 not hopeful. He did not attempt to trace the causes which had 

 brought suffering upon this industry. If it was from excessive 

 production, the aim should be to produce a higher grade of 

 fruit and to use greater care in handling, sorting and packing. 

 There seems to be no reason why young men should desert 

 farming and fruit-growing for other pursuits, for while only 

 three per cent, of all merchants escape failure, hardly three 

 per cent, of farmers fail. Statistics show that agriculture is 

 safer than banking, manufacturing or railroading, and there is 

 no good reason why farming and fruit-growing should not pay 

 well if the business is conducted on correct principles and with 

 an enthusiastic desire to excel in every particular. 



Go'od books, weekly horticultural and agricultural papers 

 and the reports of experiment stations are necessities for 

 fruit-growers. Progress made in controlling injurious insects 

 and fungus diseases has been largely due to the work of the 

 Department of Agriculture and the various experiment sta- 

 tions. In combating these enemies system and co-operation 

 are demanded throughout all fruit-growing regions, so that 

 no breeding-places are left for parasitic fungi or destructive 

 insects. That farmers fail to take the full advantage of the 

 information furnished by the stations is shown by the fact that 

 only 300,000 of them in the country receive these bulletins, 

 which is a comparatively small fraction of the entire number. 



As a matter of practical cultural advice, Mr. Barry recom- 

 mended the planting of wind-breaks, not only to protect 

 orchards against winter storms, but against such wind-storms 

 as those of last September, which were very destructive to 

 fruit in western New York. Such severe storms are rare, and 

 yet it is not uncommon to have high winds in early autumn 

 which blow down the largest and best fruit, and it is, therefore, 

 advisable for fruit-growers to prepare for such emergencies 

 by planting wind-breaks of evergreen or deciduous trees on 

 the north and west sides of their orchards. 



PREVENTION OF PEAR-SCAB. 



Professor S. A. Beach, of the Geneva Experiment Station, 

 gave the results of some successful efforts to control this dis- 

 ease during the last season. The fungus which causes the 

 Pear-scab resembles the Apple-scab fungus in general appear- 

 ance, and in its life habits, so far as they aj'e known, and since 

 the Bordeaux mixture had been successfully used in treating 

 Apple-trees, the same remedy was tried in a Pear-orchard. 

 This orchard was situated on high land, near Seneca Lake, 

 and on account of the disease had produced little first-class 

 fruit for several years. Two of the varieties peculiarly sus- 

 ceptible to the attacks of. the fungus, White Doyenne and 

 Seckel, were selected for treatment ; and since the investiga- 

 tions have shown that this disease of the Pear, as well as the 

 allied trouble with the Apple, begins its work before the blos- 

 soms open, part of the experiments were to test the efficacy of 

 early treatment, and, therefore, three applications before 

 blooming were made in some instances for comparison with 

 the effect of two applications. The Seckel-trees treated were 

 surrounded on all sides by unsprayed and affected trees, so 

 that the sprayed trees were constantly open to attacks of the 

 fungus. If an entire orchard were treated, this source of infec- 

 tion would be measurably obviated. One block of Seckel- 

 trees were sprayed on the third of May, when the buds were 

 just swelling. A week later these were treated at the same time 

 with the second block of Seckels and the White Doyennes. 

 The cluster-buds were then opening. The next spraying was 

 given when the trees were just beginning to blossom, and as 

 soon as they were out of blossom they were sprayed again, 

 and Paris-green, at the rate of an ounce to eleven gallons, was 

 added to the Bordeaux mixture as a protective against the 

 codlin-moth. The experiments left it doubtful whether three 

 treatments before blooming were better than two, but there was 

 no doubt as to the value of the mixture as a preventive of scab. 

 Without going into details it may be said that the cost of six 

 treatments averaged fifty-five cents to a tree, and five treat- 

 ments averaged forty-eight cents, and that the gain in the 

 value of the marketed fruit over all expenses varied in the two 

 varieties from $42.94 to $56.24 to every hundred trees. A se- 

 vere wind-storm three weeks before the pears were picked 

 blew down many bushels of the fruit, and but for this the show- 

 ing would have been more favorable than it actually was. It 

 should be remembered, also, that this average gain of more 

 than $50 00 on a hundred trees from the sale of fruit does not 

 represent all the benefit from the spraying. The treated trees 

 had a more healthy foliage, and, therefore, they went into the 



winter in better condition and better prepared for a good crop 

 next year than the unsprayed trees. This increased health and 

 vigor of the sprayed trees was shown by the fact that during 

 the wind-storm mentioned above a larger proportion of the 

 fruit held on to the trees which were sprayed than on the un- 

 sprayed trees. Professor Beach seems, therefore, quite justi- 

 fied- in saying that tens of thousands of dollars might be 

 annually saved by the pear-growers of New York state by the 

 adoption of this treatment to prevent the depredation of fungus 

 and insect enemies of the pear. One pound of copper sul- 

 phate to eleven gallons of the mixture was used. 



In another interesting paper on the leaf-blight of Plum and 

 Cherry nursery stock Professor Beach showed that the advan- 

 tage of using the Bordeaux mixture was seen in an increased 

 growth both of roots and of tops and in healthier foliage, 

 which remained on the branches a month later than the un- 

 sprayed foliage did. 



THE BEST PLUMS. 



One of the most interesting discussions of the Convention 

 was upon the subject of Plum-culture, and was led by Mr. S. 

 D. Willard, of Geneva. Mr. Willard believes that Plums are 

 particularly influenced by soil and other local conditions, and 

 this makes it more difficult to give general advice about them 

 than about almost any other fruit. This may be one reason 

 why so many persons fail in Plum-growing. Mr. Willard has 

 had a wider range of experience than any Plum-grower in 

 New York, and, therefore, the following lists of the best mar- 

 ket plums for this region are unusually valuable : For the first 

 six he names, (1) Bavay, Green Gage or Reine Claude ; (2) 

 Hudson River Purple Egg; (3) French Damson; (4) Fellen- 

 berg or Italian Prune; (5) Grand Duke; (6) Monarch. The 

 varieties numbered 1, 4 and 5, as a rule, thrive best when top- 

 worked on other stock, because they are poor growers. These 

 six are enough for a commercial orchard in this region. If the 

 list were extended to twelve, the following would be added: 

 (7) Field ; (8) Bradshaw ; (9) Guii ; (10) Golden Drop ; (1 1) Ger- 

 man Prune, if care is taken to secure the true variety and not 

 some spurious type; (12) Peter's Yellow Gage. Of the Japan 

 Plums he recommended Yellow Japan, the true Sweet Botan 

 and Burbank, with Willard for very early. Lombard and Union 

 Purple are first-rate stocks upon which to work the poor- 

 growing varieties. In Mr. Willard's opinion the Niagara and 

 Mooney Plums are identical with Bradshaw, the Silver 

 Prune of California is identical with Coe's Golden Drop, while 

 the Hungarian Prune of California is the same as Pond. The 

 true Hungarian Prune, however, is a very difterent tree and 

 fruit. 



The subject of cold storage for apples was discussed in a 

 novel way by C. H. Perkins, of Newark. He cited the instance 

 of the cheese interests, which have been greatly benefited by 

 co-operative manufacture. Dealers now come directly to these 

 factories to buy. The same thing should be done with apples 

 by establishing a system of neighborhood storage of barreled 

 fruit. Mr. Perkins does not advise ice-storage, but the erec- 

 tion of large frost-proof cellars, much like the nurserymen's 

 cellars, in which the fruit can be kept at a naturally low tem- 

 perature. Mr. Perkins has such a building, erected for nur- 

 sery stock, which has been used for storing apples with excel- 

 lent results. This building holds 10,000 barrels, and cost 

 $1,400. It is 100 feet by 40 feet, built upon a stone wall two 

 feet thick and three feet high, and the sides of the structure is 

 built of studding hemlock sheathing and building paper, com- 

 prising three air-spaces. The roof is tarred and graveled, and 

 it has windows sufficient to light the structure. The sides are 

 about six or seven feet high. In such a building, with double 

 doors, the temperature need not vary over twelve degrees 

 throughout the winter. Such a building belonging to a neigh- 

 borhood should pay four years out of five to the extent of fifty 

 cents profit on a barrel, and should make apple-growing in 

 New York more profitable than orange-growing in California. 



The display of fruit was rather large, and it was particularly 

 valuable because of the great variety shown. Ellwanger & 

 Barry exhibited forty varieties of pears, forty of grapes and 

 twenty-five of apples, and other exhibitors made displays of 

 special varieties. The Anjou pear was the most noticeable 

 single variety of fruit on exhibition. The Boiken apple, one of 

 the more recent Russian introductions, was shown in fine con- 

 dition, and attracted attention for beauty and long-keeping 

 qualities. Its quality is fair. Longfield, a Russian apple of 

 great beauty and productiveness, was also on exhibition. The 

 specimens of Josephine de Malines, one of the prominent but 

 little-known winter pears, were taken from cellars, and not 

 from special cold-storage houses, and the display was an excel- 



