Fig. 4. Northwestern Greening apple tree six years old unpruned. Fig. 5. Northwestern Greening pruned (same tree shown in Fig. 4.) care of itself. A little cutting back of the top every year will do away with the time when "dehorning" is necessary and also the bad effects which "dehorning" causes. The cutting back to branches, the size of those which are cut off can always be done with no bad future results. Fourth. The next step in the work should be around the tree in cutting out cross limbs which are rubbing against each other or are likely to. In shortening up long willowy branches by cutting to inside or outside buds or branches this depending on whether the tree is a spreading or upright grower. Fifth. A fruit tree should be so pruned that it will hold up a good load of fruit without breaking down and at the same time have plenty of leaf surface and a chance for the sunlight to reach each fruiting limb. Sixth. Every wound three-fourths of an inch in diameter and especially if it has a flat surface should be painted over with a thick white lead paint which has been thinned down with raw linseed oil. The President: The paper is open for discussion. Mr. Van Houten: Explain what you mean by dehorning. Prof. Herrick: Perhaps that word originated from the peach district, where they were allowed to grow up maybe 15 to 20 feet high, and they wanted to bring the bearing wood down, they would cut branches perhaps three inches in the diameter, and from these would spring off the branches. Mr. Van Houten: Leaving that same distance from the body? Prof. Herrick: Yes, sir. In apple pruning it is sometimes necessary to do a little of that in that way; never cut to a stub. A tree that has not been pruned for many years, it is well always to resort to dehorning. Out of an apple tree you can cut pretty small limbs, but you want to be careful about the Ben Davis. If you cut the Ben Davis back to a large limb it is apt to injure the tree. Q. What is the objection to pruning in freezing weather? Prof. Herrick: The objection is it may freeze dry around large wounds and cause a girdle. If you are sure of having no such freezing temperature, I wouldn't hesitate to start pruning right after Christmas. Mr. Blodgett Can't the owner of the tree climb into it with rubbers on? Prof. Herrick: Yes. I know we often make bruises in the bark which we do not realize. Fungi is liable to enter the place where the wound was made. I would rather use the ladder and stay on the ladder. If I couldn't prune my tree from a 16 or 18 foot ladder, I think I would do a little dehorning. Mr. Beebe: Why do you advise paint, and have you used the wax or resin covers? Prof. Herrick: There is no doubt but what the formula you refer to is better than lead paint, but it is a little more expensive, and for the most part of our state, I think we can get good results with lead paint. It should be put on a day or two after the wound is made; the paint will not stick as well at first. For Minnesota there is no doubt but what you are right. I doubt whether grafting wax will wear as long as a good big coat of paint. Mr. Beebe: There is one reason why I prefer resin to the paint, because it will last longer. I do not use the regular formula of grafting wax, but I use the plain resin. If you are careful in putting it on and not put it on too warm, it will give a good coating over your wound. As to not putting on the paint for a day or two after the limb is cut off, that is one thing I wouldn't want to permit in my work. I would want the wound covered immediately. Mr. Van Houten: How do you keep your resin and linseed oil boiled? Mr. Beebe: We have a little can with a hole in the bottom, just like an old fashioned tinner's stove. Mr. Patten: I would not recommend trimming fruit trees, apple trees in particular, from central Iowa northward to Minne. sota in very cold freezing weather. It would not be safe to do that. Nurserymen everywhere in the Mississippi Valley have found they cannot cut scions from their trees north of central Iowa without cutting out from the tree an inch to an inch and a half to prevent severe thickening of the body of the tree. South of that line it does not make so much difference, and they have winters there when it would be scarcely safe to do it. Mr. Van Houten: I do not consider it prudent to prune, even in the south half of the state in very severe weather. The President: We will now hear the report of the Committee on President's Address. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Your committee on the President's address beg leave to report: That we desire to commend the spirit of optimism which pervades the address; that as to the specific matters touched upon in the address, such as the amount of appropriation to the various auxiliary societies, the maintenance of the experiment stations, we beg to suggest that they be referred to the board of directors without recommendation. Respectfully submitted, W. B. CHAPMAN, On motion duly made the report was adopted. THURSDAY EVENING SESSION. The Vice President: The first thing on the program this evening is a paper "Old Age, Its Cause, Cure, and Horticultural Foods," by Dr. A. B. Dennis, Cedar Rapids. OLD AGE, ITS CAUSE, CURE, AND HORTICULTURAL FOODS. DR. A. B. DENNIS, CEDAR RAPIDS. To know how to avoid, or cure old age, and keep physically young, we should know what makes us grow old. What is known as old age, is really a disease, and which is a long step towards somatic death, or death of the body as a whole. As we advance in years, this next door neighbor to death gradually increases and if not checked or cured, general decreptitude of both body and mind sets in with general deterioration; under these conditions elasticity of youth gives place to rigidity of old age, calcarious and other inorganic elements are deposited in the tissues and arteries, and obstruction of the millions of little vessels called capallaries, that convey the blood from the veins to the arteries, and when these blood vessels choke up as it were, with calcarious matter, we then have the disease known as old age, and in medical science is known as "Arterio-Capillary Fibr the neck and face are criss-crossed with deep The facial signs are, wrinkles, and as year creep over us the cheeks sink in, and deep hollows appear, where in youth they were full and round; and later the loose hanging "cheek jowls," so often seen in old people. The throat becomes either skinny or disfigured with double chin, and loose hanging skin, the mouth droops at the corners, and fan shaped "crow's feet," at the corners of the eyes; and the retreat of these beautiful windows of the soul, hide lusterless in their bony sockets, and the skin below the eyes becomes baggy and withered, and the beautiful freshness of youth has disappeared. This skein of life, that old age has woven for us, is never beautiful and the pattern we would cheerfully exchange for the artistic and lovely picture of youth. The form yields to the law of attraction, stoops and bends to mother earth. The walk and step is no longer elastic, but becomes shuffling, for the feet fail to lift from the ground, nor do we rise upon the toes or soles of our feet, and the elastic step of youth becomes the shuffling gait of old age. Upon the arterial system from the largest artery to these small microscopic capallaries, our youth and elasticity depends; so it is purely a question of keeping free from all dead matter these life streams, from the smallest rivulets to the largest streams in the human body. We will quote from a few medical writers to give us the cause of old age and to impress more forcibly what I state as to the arterial system generating all our woe from birth to death. Dr. DeLacy Evans states: "The most marked feature of old age is, fibrous and earthy deposits have taken place, the latter being composed chiefly of phosphates of lime, magnesia and other traces of earth." Dr. Gubber says: By anatomic examination it is found that the thickening of the muscular membranes is due to the accumulations and fatty substance, but mostly mineral compositions, carbonate and earthy phosphates. These deposits with years, will increase just as the calcareous incrustations form in the boiler tubes, and are just as detrimental to the human body; as a result of these deposits the arteries become thickened and smaller in caliber; hence the supply of blood to the brain becomes less and less, its functions become impaired, and the vigorous brain of middle life, gradually gives place to the loss of memory, and imbecility characteristic of old age." What these doctors state should impress us that old age is a disease, and affects the muscles and organic system as well as the brain. We can clearly see, the arteries and capallaries are a network of tubes, through which the blood must pass, in order to build up our bodies from day to day, and if this lime and other mineral matter, as well as the dead cells will be dropped into these tubes, they become clogged and lessened in size; as a result the whole body in time will become internally buried, and then rapidly deteriorate for want of food and water, just as our plants and trees would wither and die, if not carefully watered and fed; our blood vessels become hardened, until the kindly friend called death, steps in and frees the spirit by destroying its earthly home, the same as we should do, with a city that refuses to remove its rubbish and filth, until its purity and health can no longer be administered to the living inhabitants; it would be necesary to burn it and build a new. It becomes evident from what has been stated, if the arterial system is kept free from |