The Grit-advocate., 1903-01-16
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Illinois HorticuIturists Meet.

ciety held its 47th annual meeting at
the State University of Illinois, Ur-
bana, Dec. II to 19. The attendance
was good. The fruit exhibit was un-
usually good and occupied two rooms
in the agricultural building.
Cultivation and care of the orchard
was treated by w. S. Perrine in an
Interesting paper. He said that bear
ing orchards should be cultivated and
have cover crops to keep the soil in
condition. If hilly orchards are to be
cultivated at all. it must be only to
seed at once, to prevent washing. The
orchard on level land should be sown
to COW peas.
Prof. T. ]. Burrill talked on the bit
ter rot Of the apple and the efforts
made to control it by spraying. Spray
ing infected trees showed some re-
suits in favor of spraying, but not
enough to warrant its advocacy. Prac-
tically all that can be done with the
spray is to prevent the bitter rot by
covering the apples with the spraying
solution before the coming of the
disease. Prof. Stinson of Missouri
said that in his state it had been found
to be most difficult matter to pro-
tect the trees against bitter rot. One
| season the spray seemed to prevent
| rot, while the next year the spray
would be found to be ineffective.
H. L. Doan talked on cultivating and
pruning the peach tree. He advocated
| planting 20 feet apart each way.
| Peach orchards should not be cropped
after the third year. 1t is easy to
produce an over-growth on strong
lands. These trees bear tardly and
are not productive. They run to
wood. Peaches that overgrow are
! likely to suffer in winter.
The farmers garden was discussed
by ]. L. Hartwell. He said that in
addition to the tools needed, every
farmer should have some kind of
horse cultivator, wheel hoe and
| garden seeder. A greasy rag is
necessary accompaniment of this out
fit and should be applied to every tool
as often as used. have seen but
few spades that are not rusty and the
average farm hoe is entirely unusa-
BILE.
| Mr.. James Handy spoke on the
benefits or organization. He said
that local organizations although COM
prising but few members, could be
profitably established in all neighbor-
hoods.
| Pruning of the apple orchard was
- ,%ol
by Prof. John Craig of Cornell Uni
! versity. He said that trees should
| not be allowed to develop according
| to their natural tendencies. He had
| seen such orchards knotted and
| broken after many years. Low
! heading he said, was becoming the
| accepted method Of shaping trees in
| shaped head and protected the trunk
| from sun-scald.
Prof. S. A. Forbes, state entomolo-
| gist, reported on his inspection of nur-
series in Illinois, during the past year
| The total number inspected was 291,
three others remaining to be in
spected. There are 294 nurseries in
the state. The total cost of inspect
| ing these POI nurseries was S1,1O6.11,
an average expense of $3.50 per nur-
sery. This is 40 cents more than the
average cost of last year, which was
| $40. During the past year 24,231
| trees received a thorough insecticide
| treatment, and 1,119 trees were de-
stroyed as worthless on account of
the extent to which they were in
Tested by the San Jose scale. About
20 miles of Usage Orange hedge had
been inspected, of which about 1G
miles of it was found to be infested
with the San Jose Scale
F.! Prof. John w. Lloyd told of the ex-
periments made to ascertain the pos
sibility of controlling the second brood
| of the codling moth. He advocated
spraying as the only thing that would
in any way check the insect at this
time.
The growing and the keeping of
fruit for exhibition was treated of by
E. A. Riehl of Alton. Trees should be
in perfect condition as to health and
vigor If they were to be expected to
bear fruit that would be exhibitable.
This means that the orchard must re-
ceive good cultivation, not only dur
ing the year when the show fruit is
borne, but for several years previous
to that. With both apples and peas
we must spray against both insect and
fungous pests. Sacking helps the fruit
by keeping off insects and improving
the color of the fruit. Pick the fruit
when 1t is mature, but do not allow
1t to hang too long on the trees and
become over-ripe. Peach trees should
be so pruned that the branches will
permit the sun to reach the fruit early
in the day, which will help to color up
the fruit. Peaches to be shown should
also be thinned.
j. w. Stanton talked on the market