TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. 
8 $' 
the rooting of the stock from the live wood at the surface of the ground. 
Practically no beneficial results were obtained in the case of apples or plums. 
With the grapes, however, eighty per cent of the varieties in the college 
vineyard were saved by cutting them back severely and hilling them deeply. 
They have rooted near the surface of the ground and have made a top growth 
of from iy 2 to 3 feet, but of course, will need thorough protection for two 
or three seasons until the roots penetrate to their normal depths. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 
A careful canvass of the whole field with the assistance of the leading 
fruit growers of the state leads to the following conclusions: 
1. That the lack of a protecting blanket of snow coupled with unusually 
low temperatures was the chief cause of the great loss of nursery stock and 
orchard trees. 
2. That in as much as trees on north slopes suffered more than trees on 
south aspects and in proportion to the surface protection present the intensity 
of frost bore a definite relation to the amount of injury inflicted. 
3. That conclusive data, are wanting to show that more injury resulted 
on untiled orchard lands than on those supplied with tile drains. 
4. That orchard and nursery trees suffered more on exposed dry knolls 
with northern aspects than elsewhere. 
5. That the character of winter surface cover, in other words, desirable 
cover crops, is a question of paramount importance in northern Mississippi 
Valley States. 
6. That the matter of congenial and hardy stocks for plums, apples and 
cherries is a subject worthy the earnest attention of Experiment Station 
wmrkers and nurserymen in the northwest. 
The Society, upon motion, adjourned, to meet at 2 o’clock p. m. 
FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 
September 8, 1899. 
I’he Society reassembled at Horticultural Hall at 2 o’clock p. m., Presi- 
dent Watrous presiding. 
Prof. H. E. Van Deman, of Parksley, Va., being called upon by the chair, 
read the following paper: 
RELATIONS OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS AND SOILING CROPS TO 
FRUIT CULTURE. 
BY PROF. H. E. VAN DEMAN, PARKSLEY, VA. 
With the progress of fruit culture our soils, although filled with the ele- 
ments of fertility in their natural condition, are becoming less and less 
productive. The orchards, vineyards and berry fields are showing the effects 
of repeated cropping as well as the grain fields. Although fruits do not take 
