Connecticut western news., 1910-02-10
POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Experts Give Advice on Growing Apples
 in Connecticut.


 in Connecticut.
 At the nineteenth annual session of the Connecticut PomolOgical Society held i'll Hartford last weok, President c. L. Gold of West Cornwall in the chair, several important addresses were made by experts on fruit growing.
 President c. L. Beach of the Con necticut Agricultural College spoke on What the Agricultural College and Stations may do to Promote Fruit Grow ing" Dr. Charles D. Jarvis of the college spoke of demonstration Or chards for the State" in part as follows:
 Realizing that Connecticut needs to take better care of her orchards and to improve her methods of handling the crop, the agricultural college, ill cooper ation with the Pomological Society, is planning to establish a number of demonstration orchards throughout the state. This demonstration work will be of two types, namely, the methods and possibilities of renovating neglected or chards and the best known methods of starting and caring for young orchards,
 "The work will be strictly of a CO., operative nature, the college working with and advising the fruit grower. It is also planned to start a series of CO., operative experiments in the interest of fruit growing. The character of these hoe hoaY 6nfnitn1xy planned, but the project will embrace subjects pertaining to tilling, cover cropping, fertilizing, spraying, thinning and so on. The aim will be to make this work educational rather than in- vestigatiOnal.
 George A. Drew, manager of Conyers farm i'll Greenwich, was the first speaker of the afternoon, his topic being "Re- claiming the Old Apple Orchard for the Production of High Grade Fruit" MT. Drew said the subject was an interest ing one to him, as the sight of neglected orchard is a sad one. Continuing, he said:
 "Will the farmers continue to neglect the orchards and see the fruit grown 2,0OO or 5000 miles away sold here at a good profit? There is no better soil for fruit growing than on the Now Eng land hills. The western grower has as many insect pests to contend with and color. The western grower simply realizes that he faces a business propo- sltion and goes at it with all his energy.
 "Is it possible to reclaim an old orchard here and make It profitable? It is. The trees should be pruned down and not up, the idea being to get limbs as near the ground as possible. If neces- sary cut down tho greater part of the top of the tree, taking three years for the work. The aim is to get new, vigor- ous and bearing wood. The wounds made by pruning should be cared for carefully and cavities In decayed trunks attended to-"
 No practice IS more important than spraying, especially in old orchards, one of the worst enemies being the San Jose scale. He had used both oils and lime sulphur solution, and, in severe cases, he preferred oil. He used it as soon as the leaves are off in the fall and then, in the spring, used the lime-sulphur solution. A disadvantage in using Bordeaux mix ture, he said, is that rust frequently follows, so that it becomes a risky proposition.
 This session had the largest attend anoe the society has ever had. The hall was decorated for the occasion and the stage was ornamented with boxes of apples raised in Connecticut, Massa- chusetts or Maine, but ill every case by members of the society, that equalled in ] color and appearance the fruit brought from the West.