FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 15 



tliis orchnrd T described to you of Baldwins tliat have always borne 

 the even year, and nothing doing the odd year, except possibly a limb 

 here and there. By that plan I got that 100 trees up to 200 barrels the 

 odd year, and then I fell down. My men struck. Did you ever have 

 any of your help quit on you and say they would not do a thing? Well, 

 that was the waj' with me. We were late with our thinning — it was in 

 August — but we got our men started picking the apples, and I went to 

 Niagara Falls to the International Fruit Shippers' Association. While 

 I was gone the foreman goes through the orchard and finds the men all 

 sitting on the ladders. He says, ''What is the mjatter; can't you do the 

 work?" They said they had made up their minds not to pull off another 

 of those apples. "They are all good and we are not going to pull off 

 any more of them." Well, he told them to put their ladders away. I 

 got back well into August. It was late and the apples were all good. I 

 took my chances, and I am set right back again to fifty barrels, or possibly 

 75. It can be done by heavy feeding of potash and phosphoric acid, 

 trimming the trees and thinning the fruit. It can be done a great deal 

 easier on young trees than on old, but you can effect the old. Now with 

 that orchard I told you about I run about 1500 to 2500 barrels of Bald- 

 wins just as regular as the year comes off the whole 25 acres. I have 

 more Baldwins than anything else — more than all the other varieties 

 put together. If anyone wants to ask a question, just ask them. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Marvin: How far apart do you thin these apples? 



Mr. Case^ When you can see what the June crop has been we thin 

 one on a cluster, leaving one or a couple. Then we go right over them 

 the second time and do that four to six inches. 



Mr. Bassett : What is the object of that second thinning? 



Mr. Case: I find a lot of things the second time over that I have 

 missed. You can tell early just when you want to thin. We start on 

 one variety. The first variety will be Wealthy, then probably the 20 

 Ounce, and then the Greenings and then Talman Sweets and possibly a 

 little on the Kings, and along up to the Baldwins. By the time we get 

 through with the Baldwins we go right back to the Wealthy again. The 

 Wealthy has to be thinned over and over again. We had quite a joke 

 this year over our Wealthys^ When we brought them in the first time 

 we took in one-half. I was not satisfied at all and sent the men over 

 again to take one-half of what was left. Then it ruu along and I was 

 not satisfied yet, and sent them back to take one-third of them yet. Now 

 what proportion of the apples that were set were left on the trees? 



A Member: Do you thin the Duchess? 



Mr. Case: I have no Duchess bearing. I certainly would thin any 

 apple. I have 450 trees of Duchess that are just commencing to bear. 

 We went over them this year and didn't do any thinning. We are not 

 in the Duchess section. 



A Member: Have you ever thinned any before the June crop? 



Mr. Case : Some of our people are doing that. 



A Member : Would you get more of a crop the second year by taking 

 off half the blossoms? 



Mr. Case: How would you get the blossoms off? 



Member: Pick them off. 



