ORCHARD NOTKS. 45 



$7.50. Tarred paper for an equal number cost 84 cents, — refuse 

 binding twine being used as tying material. The time required 

 for applying was about the same in each case. Next spring, 

 however, the paper must be removed, only to be renewed the 

 following winter, while no further attention need be given the 

 wire. 



Strips of wood veneer, costing $5.00 per thousand, are largely 

 used in the western states. About 200 of them were used in 

 comparison with the other materials named. Very little time is 

 required for applying them, as no tying is needed, but the work 

 must be done before freezing weather comes, or many of them 

 will crack and be worthless. 



Another protective measure which has been used with satis- 

 factory results is the tramping of the snow about the bases of 

 the trees after a heavy storm. This makes a wall of ice which 

 serves as a barrier. If, after tramping, a covering or mulch of 

 stable manure is applied, there is less probability that further 

 tramping will be needed. 



Still another, and cheaper, method of protection, is to apply a 

 coat of paint to the tree. Many fear the efifect of the paint, but 

 if pure materials are used no ill effect appears to follow. On 

 nursery trees at the Station, white lead, zinc white, and a special 

 preparation, "Tanglefoot," have been used. While it cannot 

 definitely be said that any of these keep the mice away — since 

 none of the other trees in the nursery have suffered — no injury 

 to the trees has in any case resulted. 



Suggestions as to Handling Fruit. 



Just when and how to pick fruit depends largely upon the 

 kind of friiit, the distance it must be shipped, and the demands 

 of the market supplied. If one is delivering fruit directly to the 

 consumer, and catering to a so-called "fancy market," he must 

 see that the produce is in the very finest dessert condition, and 

 fully ripe before picking. Consumers of such fruit are always 

 willing to pay an extra price for the advantage of having it in 

 the highest state of perfection. 



The process of ripening is incipient breaking down of plant 

 tissue, and there, is no well marked distinction between "green- 

 ness," "ripeness" and "decay." One stage passes into the other 

 insensibly, and it may be seen that the riper the fruit the sooner 



