344 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman : I am sure the meeting will feel that we have had 

 most interesting papers read to us ; and now comes the time for dis- 

 cussion. I will ask any gentleman who wishes to give us his experience, 

 or make any remark, or ask any- question, to come up to this end of the 

 room. 



Mr. Fred Moore (Glasnevin) : I should just like to make a 

 few remarks upon the papers we have heard read this morning 

 and this afternoon. I think there is one thing that will strike 

 everyone, and that is, the diametrically opposed nature of the views which 

 have been put before us. How are we to find our way and hammer out a 

 reasonable solution from the very different advice given to us ? Mr. 

 Massee has insisted that we do not spray enough ; he says that we must 

 spray more — in winter, spring, and summer. Professor Theobald says 

 that we are not to spray in winter and decries the winter spraying. 

 Which of them is right ? There is one thing I think which they have 

 discounted and that is the intelligence of the cultivator. You will find if 

 you get into contact with the cultivator that he is not the simpleton he 

 is supposed to be, especially the cultivator who has got to make his 

 living out of the business. Leave it to him to decide whether spraying 

 is wanted or not ; and if the scientists would set themselves together, 

 as was suggested most practically by Mr. Collinge this morning, and 

 devise an efficient and cheap wash to meet the exigencies of the occasion, 

 I think that would do good on both sides. But I do strongly advise 

 cultivators not to give up their spraying merely because they are told 

 to do so, but to satisfy themselves first whether spraying is necessary 

 or not ; and I would strongly urge them not to give up winter spraying, 

 which is, I believe, an essential thing for the cultivation of fruit trees. 

 And I would further advise cultivators to consider very carefully 

 before they accept the statement that constant spraying with the 

 existing sprays in the winter is deleterious to the health of the trees. 1 

 would go further than that, and emphatically state from experience 

 that it is beneficial to the health of the trees. The trees that are 

 regularly sprayed in winter do not require nearly the amount of 

 spraying they otherwise would do ; and also I would say you get a 

 healthier and better condition of your tree. Professor Theobald has said 

 that we do not physic ourselves until we are ill. Why not put the 

 converse and say that all decent people wash themselves and their 

 surroundings ? 



We have got two points which have been leading us all astray. In 

 getting at our applications we have neglected two things, the climatic and 

 the physical conditions, where the experiments have been made. You 

 will find in Cornwall and in Devonshire and other warm counties that 

 a very dill'erent class of conditions prevails from that in the Midland 

 counties. Many people in London have been complaining of the heat and 

 want of rain. Last week we had much rain in Dublin ; we had a wet 

 night on Wednesday and continuous fog ; and we have the greatest 

 fangous growth on grass in the district, greater than I have ever seen 

 previously to my knowledge. Are those conditions of climate going to 



