3B2 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in quality and ripens when we have plenty of good sorts. It is a fall pear 

 here. Prices of pears averaged about i§1.00 per bushel. 



THE APPLE. 



Usually an every-other-year crop, it was not the case tliis year. The. 

 crop was very large and the fruit well formed and comparatively free from 

 worms. Last year the crop was also full. About one hundred thousand 

 bushels were evaporated and made into cider by five dryers established at 

 this place and at Chelsea. The amount shipped of first-class apples 

 aggregated about as many bushels. It is estimated that the farmers in 

 the county received about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for 

 apples. If the varieties were less in number and consisted of but a few 

 leading sorts, the income from this source would be much greater. The 

 early apples do not sell well, coming in competition with other fruits- 

 peaches, pears, and grapes. The farmers have not jiut out new orchards for 

 some years past, the old ones are now rapidly dying out. and this state of 

 things will cut down the crop in the aggregate to some extent in the near 

 future, an action the farmers will likely have to regret. The apple was 

 sacrificed to wheat. 



The southern tier of counties in Michigan can favorably compete in the 

 growing of apples with any section or country of the world. This can not 

 be said of wheat. To succeed with the apple, as a business, a man should 

 have a natural taste for it. To be profitable, the orchard must be manured 

 like other farm crops, the trees properly pruned, and the ground culti- 

 vated at least periodically after getting into bearing, and constantly 

 between setting and bearing. It is now generally conceded that spraying, 

 to keep down the codlin moth, is a part of the business. vSprayers are 

 now manufactured in large numbers and are sold cheap. Six dollars buy 

 a good one. One pound of London purple to two hundred gallons of 

 water is sufficient and this is inexpensive. 



The trees in the apple orchard should not be crowded, and should be set 

 on elevated ground. There is nothing gained in planting trees too close 

 together. It causes the trees to run up high, making the gathering of the 

 apples slow and expensive; besides, the fruit is not so well colored where sun- 

 light is not freely allowed. The Baldwin is our leading market apple. It is 

 peculiar, however, as to its location, requiring high ground in order to 

 escape injury from cold winters. Northern Spy is more hardy, is never 

 hurt by winters in our county; an excellent fruit, good keeper, good 

 bearer when of bearing size, and, what is of much importance, hangs well 

 on the tree. This is high praise for a large apple. Red Canada has no^ 

 superior for quality. It is a good bearer here (in alternate years), a good 

 keeper and a good shipper. It deserves more extensive planting. These 

 three sorts are about the cream of the market varieties and are enough for 

 this purpose. For family use a larger list is desirable and there are many 

 good sorts to select from. 



The prices of apples were satisfactory. First-class, or what are known 

 as shipping apples, sold for fifty cents per bushel, or SI. 50 per barrel, the 

 purchaser furnishing the barrel. Evaporating stock sold at twenty-five to 

 thirty-five cents per hundred weight, cider apples, tw^enty to twenty-five 

 cents per hundred weight, delivered at the dryers and cider mills. About 

 half of the apples, as usually grown, are of shipping stock; the other half 



