52 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



public is going to be more discriminate. They are going to pick 

 for quality as well as for quantity. The varieties of trees are 

 not productive enough, but never mind ; what they want is 

 what will tickle the other fellow's palate, and he will pay for 

 it. We want to set those trees that will produce fruit, and what 

 the other fellow likes and will pay for. It is a business proposi- 

 tion to grow those apples for the local market, and it will pay 

 to do it in an extensive way. 



If, on the other hand, we are going to try it in the extensive 

 way, simply selling by the barrel and getting out of the barrel 

 what we can, I don't believe it will pay — not at the price we 

 got early in the fall, anyway, but you get increased vigor, 

 vitality and productiveness of the trees by thinning the fruit, 

 and you get a larger apple. But the larger ones are where the 

 profit comes in, and it is more satisfactory to show them to the 

 other fellow when he comes to see you than it is to show him 

 a lot of culls. 



I think we were allotted five minutes, and I have taken more 

 than that time, already. 



Question : How many barrels did you get from those 

 thinned trees in 1909? 



Mr. Yeaton : We got the best crop there ever had been, 

 and those trees had been set 18 years, and had fairly good 

 care. We got 50 barrel.-, a little ab -ve the average size. In 

 my mind, it is the size that improves in thinning. 



A thing that I want to caution you against now, is, don't 

 stand on the branches or limbs while you are thinning, because, 

 in dropping apples you may strike some of the apples you want 

 to leave. I would suggest that you begin at the largest space, 

 which is by necessity at the top of the tree, and always use a 

 light ladder. Never use a heavy ladder where you have to lean 

 it against the tree. Use a light ladder and you can put it 

 pretty nearly perpendicular against the outside and you can 

 also put your foot in well, and you will not break any limbs, 

 but if you take a heavy ladder, you will break the tender 

 branches and are liable to injure the work. 



Instead of stepping on the branches, climb up into the tree. 

 At that season of the year the bark slips ofif very easily and you 

 will injure the tree to such an extent that it would be better to 

 keep out of the tree. If you tear the bark off, it is only a 



