FIRST FR U ITS. 



559 



The Horticultural Department contains twelve acres. 

 It will be fully covered with crops designated for inves- 

 tigation and for school room teaching, i. It has set an 

 important line of economic forest trees not grown in the 

 Territory, for test in this climate. 2. It has growing 

 seventy-five varieties of apple trees. 3. It has growing 

 twenty-five varieties of pear trees. 4. It has growing 

 twenty-five varieties of plum trees. 5. It has growing 

 forty varieties of peach trees. 6. It has growing 

 twenty-five varieties of cherries. 7. It has growing 

 thirty vartieties of strawberries, eight of raspberries, 

 eight of apricots, and various other fruits. 8. It has 

 varieties of vegetables, including potatoes, under test. 

 9. It has in progress tillage and irrigation tests of crops 

 falling within its sphere of work. 



This department of the station work will be conduct- 

 ed fully in the interests which it represents. 



Mill Creek Pomological Society. — President H. 

 T. Bigott read a paper upon " Theory and Practice," 

 in which he said that so many of the ideas of professors 

 and experimenters were mere theories, that they were 

 of no use to practical men. We need more prac- 

 tical men in these positions, men who know what they 

 are talking about. A unanimous vote of thanks was 

 tendered Mr. Bigott, and it was ordered that his essay 

 should be preserved in the archives of the society. 



The question of insects and bugs was then taken up. 

 Mr. Bigott found buckwheat and rye plowed under to be 

 a sure preventive of the ravages of the codlin moth. 

 A. J, Betterman thought that plowing under sowed corn 

 was better, as it had less acid in it than buckwheat and 

 did not sour the land so much. Mr. Bigott said that 

 buckwheat was best because a gas was generated by 

 the rotting of the flowers which is fatal to all bug life. 

 In regard to the failure of the peach crop, M. T. Pur- 

 verse said that the hot winds of the first of last Novem- 

 ber had dried up the sap, so that buds could not set. 

 Mr. Bigott said that this could not be true, for it is well 

 known that at that time of year the sap is all in the 

 roots. O. C. Smith said that the failure in his orchard 

 was due to a cold and dry wind from the northeast 

 early in March which dried up the pollen and killed it 

 in the bud. He had always noticed that a failure fol- 

 lows a dry northeast March wind. U. C. Weathers 

 said that the wind Mr. Smith referred to'blew from the 



southeast. These winds are always blighting in this 

 section because they contain so much alkali from the 

 marshes about the lake. Mr. Bigott was sure that the 

 early spring winds were at the bottom of the mischief, 

 but said that it was due to the drying up of the core 

 or heart of the bud. Such buds would then produce 

 leaves but no flowers. — Elvy Scriber, Seirt'taiy. 



Foreign Fruit Prospects. — During the last few 

 weeks the weather has been so changeable that all 

 kinds of fruits have suffered severely. 



England. — Plums — The prospect is very bad : not 

 one-tenth of a crop. Pears — Blossomed well, but 

 neither early nor late varieties set properly. Black and 

 red currants have been attacked by the " honeydew ;" 

 hardly one-half a crop is expected. Cherries — Early 

 kinds were destroyed the second week in May. Since 

 then the later sorts have suffered ; the crop is reckoned 

 as one-third. Strawberries and raspberries will be re- 

 duced one-half unless warm weather soon sets in. 

 Gooseberries have been attacked by vermin and injured 

 by frost, so about one-half a crop is expected. Apples 

 — Those who washed their trees will save the bulk of 

 the crop. Unwashed trees have been attacked by ver- 

 min and the crop will be very poor. Barely one-half 

 a crop can be counted upon. 



France. — The fruit crop has suffered on accountof the 

 cold wet weather . Early cherries have suffered severely. 

 Apples in the south promise good crops. Plums and 

 green gages half a crop. Black currants are only half 

 a crop in the north. Pears are a fair crop. 



Bilgiitni. — Reports from several places speak of cher- 

 ries from a quarter to one-third of a crop. Green 

 gages and plums only a quarter crop. Early pears 

 half a crop. Late pears a. fair crop. Apples look well 

 with every prospect of a fair crop. 



Holland. — Gooseberries and currants are said to be a 

 fair half crop. Cherries, one-third of a crop. Pears, 

 one-third of a crop. Apples fairly good. Plums are a 

 verv small crop. 



Germany. — The weather of May has affected the fruit 

 in the Rhine districts, and it has also been attacked by 

 vermin, so much so, that apples are now said to be a 

 bad crop, cherries only half a crop, and plums a bad 

 crop. — .Adapted from The Fruit Trade Journal. 



