272 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



result: J. Lannin, president; K. Moeeill, first vice-president; W. A. 

 Smith, treasurer; W. A. Taylor, secretary; executive board, W. Phillips, 

 C.J. Monroe, Danol Falconer, J. C. Gould, J. B. Houk; vice presi- 

 dents, A. Hamilton, G. H. La Fleur, A. C. Glidden, C. A. Hawley. 



J. C. Gould: It has been stated that an off year would produce poor 

 fruit, but I think that will not always account for the inferior quality. 

 This year the weather was so warm that the sap started and was injured 

 by souring. The leaves indicated an injury, and I think that the cause of 

 the inferior fruit was climatic. 



W. A. Brown: I find that, notwithstanding the starting of the buds 

 and freezing, the trees blossomed but failed to perfect the fruit. If 

 the injury was caused by freezing, would the trees set full and then 

 drop their fruit? In New York, we are told, the trees present this fall a 

 blighted aiDpearance, as if fire had run through them. 



There are certain climatic conditions that will injure the tree and dam- 

 age the crop. It is beyond our ken, and we shall never be able to ascertain 

 the cause. 



E. 0. Keid: Was there not another cause for this beyond freezing the 

 buds? I found among the forest trees the same blighted appearance that 

 we had on the fruit trees, and I think there was some climatic disturbance 

 that very generally affected all trees. 



A. C. Glidden: I am clear that the appearance of the trees this year 

 has been affected by some climatic disturbance that injured the trees and 

 that it could not have been affected by spraying or any other artificial 

 means. 



E. C. Keid: The belt of high ground that extends across the state on 

 the watershed between the Grand and Kalamazoo river valleys, produced 

 most of the fruit we had in the state this year that was good. 



J. C. Gould: Right through that region they had a snow storm that 

 kept the ground cold, which retarded the sap, while in other places where 

 the ground was bare the sap was affected by the warm weather. 



E. Morrill: It was stated here today, and I do not think it was fully 

 understood, that early picked apples are better keepers and are preserved 

 longer than the late picked ones. I think that when the seeds begin to 

 color is the proper time to x^luck the fruit. 



J. C. Gould: In Vermont I have a friend who keeps his apples in 

 drawers, in his cool, damp cellar, and I have eaten ajaples kept therein that 

 were two year old. He picked his apples very early. 



Mr. Lannin : Pears will keep better if picked before ripe, and I suppose 

 it is the same with apples. Nature cares for the seed for reproduction, 

 and cares nothing for the pulp surrounding it; and when the seeds turn 

 black then is the time to gather. 



R. Morrill: The subject of cold storage is one that will cut a great 

 figure in the keeping of apples and other fruit, and for other purposes. 

 At the great new storehouse in Chicago, six trains of cars can stand at the 

 platform at one time. Fifty cents will keep a barrel of apples there until 

 the first of May, and if apples are put in in good order in September or 

 October, they will come out in May in good condition. The temperature 

 will not vary one degree during the season. Speculators will use it and I 

 see no reason why farmers should not do the same thing. 



W. A. Brown: We have a cold storage house at Benton Harbor that 

 will hold 20,000 pounds of apples and other things, and there is the place 

 for a cold storage — at home; 950 tons of ice are used to fill it; others will 



