REPORT OF STATE HORTICULTURIST. 5 1 



21 barrels of No. I's at $2.75, leaving us 11 barrels of No. 2's 

 which sold at $1.50, making a total of $74.25. For the thinned 

 trees we got $92.75 ; subtracting $74.25 gave us $18.50. The 

 time it took, at 20 cents an hour, was $3 and this gave us a net 

 profit of $15.50 in cash returns. The most important part of 

 this was the fact that those trees have borne an annual crop 

 right along. 



The block we did not thin, the following year, had three and 

 one-half barrels. Those apples, especially on the lower 

 branches, were small, immature and under-colored. Quite a 

 large part in 1909 was absolutely worthless. Where they were 

 thinned they were practically all good apples. They were 

 sprayed, cultivated and fertilized, and the two blocks were 

 pruned along at the same time; there was no difference at all. 

 The condition was as near alike as two blocks of trees could 

 be. The result has been that in the thinned block there has 

 been a good crop every year. The block that was not thinned 

 had a small crop in 1909; in 1910 it bore a fair crop, and 

 since then the whole orchard has been thinned because we 

 found there were more dollars and cents in doing so. The 

 trees were in a more healthy and more vigorous condition. If 

 we allow a block of trees to overbear, we have found a weak- 

 ened condition. The vitality of these trees is sapped to such an 

 extent that it allows all the diseases to which a tree is sub- 

 ject to enter. It is like what the Bible says about the poor — 

 you will always have them with you. We have to do these 

 things if we are going to have more healthy trees, and then we 

 are going to have more dollars in our pockets. 



If a man has a large orchard of 80 acres or so, it would be 

 impossible for him, with the scarcity of help, to go ahead and 

 do that. 



Now the main thing to consider is whether we are going to 

 grow our orchards on the intensive or extensive plan. If, as 

 an intensive orchard, then select the best there is, the quality 

 that will sell for the highest price, then study the individual 

 need of the tree requirements. Fertilize to bring out the best 

 that is in the tree. Cultivate the soil around it and you will get 

 money out of it. The Ben Davis is a despised apple, but it has 

 been a commercial apple. As the business increases the trees 

 are larger, and it is only a matter of time when the buying 



