44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



must be some means of storing for spring sales. The great want now is a 

 method that shall eliminate the losses by decay which we are now subject to in 

 our ordinary cellars. 



H. P. llanford, Bristol, Indiana. — 1 have seen apples sold for seventy cents 

 a barrel, — good nice apples. One might as well give them away and have done 

 with it, if this is a necessity; but there is no need of this, if we will take proper 

 steps to save our fruit until the rush is over. I can keep apples as well as 

 potatoes with as little percentage of loss, — will use no ice, but substitute strong 

 common sense. My house is known as a Cope house. We use lots of saw-dust, 

 but no ice. A building suitable for this purpose can be erected for four hun- 

 dred dollars, large enough to store three thousand bushels, — will require no 

 watching, and save the apples perfectly. The plan is to save the cold air in 

 the building when it is warm outside, and maintain an even temperature when 

 it is very cold outside. 



Mr. Bryan. — Almost everything depends on the time of picking. If the 

 apples are too ripe, or it is too warm when they are packed, no system in the 

 world will make good keeping fruit of them. 



In . Bogue, Batavia, N. Y. — We had no choice in weather last fall ; it was 

 hot all the time until the fruit fell to the ground, and there was no cool place 

 to store our packages, so a large proportion was lost. 



Mr. Dorr spoke of varieties changing. The Rhode Island Greening used to 

 be called a winter apple, but with him it had a habit of maturing in the fall. 



Mr. Lyon. — This depends on locality; on our west shore there is no ques- 

 tion but that it is a winter apple. 



DISCUSSION OX FERTILIZERS. 



The discussion of manures was next brought up, and this discussion was 

 principally confined to salt. At the request of Mr. Holloway, Mr. Cottrell 

 related an instance in which by mistake one ton of salt was applied to each 

 acre of a ten-acre wheat field which had been sown to timothy seed. This 

 occurred near Detroit a few years ago, and the owner expected that his wheat 

 and timothy were both ruined, but to his great surprise the wheat was not 

 injured, and the timothy grew too large to be first quality. The next year 

 and each year since the timothy crop has been a good one, and no manure has 

 been applied since. 



Mr. Cottrell said he used salt among his small fruits. He said he should be 

 cautious about applying salt in the spring or when the ground was wet. Prof. 

 Beal regards salt as an excellent manure. Mr. Guild, of Saginaw, said that 

 there was no difference in the quality of refuse salt and good salt, only in the 

 dirt. Mr. Cook, of Grand Rapids, said that too much salt should not be 

 applied to fruit trees, although a limited quantity was perhaps no injury. Mr. 

 Campbell, of Ypsilanti, said that as he understood it the salt was only benefi- 

 cial as it helped to liberate the manurial qualities of the soil. Mr. Satterlee 

 having been called upon, stated that salt, like plaster, as he understood it, 

 was of little good in itself, but that it was very useful in liberating manurial 

 qualities from the soil. 



The discussion upon this topic lasted until time to take the recess for tea, 

 and it was discussed by several others who substantially agreed with those above 

 quoted. 



