STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 



is not more profit in one acre of apple trees than on any other acre 

 of your farm. 



DISCUSSION. * 



J. H. Hale. I will say a word in regard to the paper which the 

 gentleman presented on apple culture. There isn't any danger of 

 overdoing the business if you will grow fine apples, and there is no 

 question but 3'ou will grow fine apples if you follow the directions 

 he has given Thorough preparation of the soil is an important 

 point. Too many of us think that after we have set an apple tree 

 it raaj' be left to take care of itself and it will produce something. 

 It is a wonder to me that they produce anything ; but they do pro- 

 duce something, but that is not a good quality or marketable apples. 

 But the thorough preparation of the soil as he has suggested, and a 

 thorough cultivation of it after the trees are set will show themselves 

 wonderfully in the quantity or quality of the crops. And I sa\' amen 

 to his idea about care in setting trees, and to his manner of pruning 

 with the thumb and finger and the pruning knife ; it is a good deal 

 better than using the saw. The thorough cultivation of the trees 

 after they are set and until they come into bearing is of great impor- 

 tance. I believe in reasonably large apple orchards ; I would rather 

 have a large one than a small one, as the proportion of profits is 

 much greater. A man with twenty barrels of apples to sell may 

 have trouble in finding a market for them at a profitable figure, but 

 a man who has 500 or 5,000 barrels of apples can handle them 

 at a much greater profit. I believe that fair sized orchards on 

 most of the farms in New England will bring greater profit than 

 almost anything that can be raised. I would ask your secretary if 

 the Smith's Cider apple has been tested here in Maine. The name 

 would indicate that it was a cider apple, but it is not ; it is a Penn- 

 sylvania apple originated b}' a man who happened to be a celebrated 

 cider maker, and hence its name. It is one of our most vigorous 

 and hardy apples in Connecticut. It is a profuse and annual 

 bearer, a bright red apple of fair quality, no better than the Bald- 

 win — only an ordinary apple, but it is a magnificent growing tree, 

 and is hardy and healthy and bears annually ; nearlj' every year 

 you can depend on a good crop of Smith's Cider, which will sell at 

 high prices in any market on account of its fine appearance. 



Mr. Knowlton. I will answer the question by saying that I ob- 

 tained some very fine specimens of that apple grown in Franklin 



