494 BOARD OF AGRICCLTDRE. 



Chairman I-atta: Mr. Mace, is that true of your sick- oL" the county, 

 over at Lexington? 



Mr. Mace: Yes. sir. 



Mr. Isaac Mitchell. Gibson County: I am not a fruit grower at all, but 

 1 am rather amused at the discussion. There have been some things 

 said that I -would like to believe, and a great deal that I do not agree 

 with. There are quite a large number of orchards of the Beu Davis in 

 my part of the State, and they soem to be the leading fruit there; but 

 I learn from the cold storage men that are coming in around there, that 

 they are going to boycott the Ben Davis hereafter. They say that their 

 loss on the Ben Davis was so immense from rotting that they do not 

 want to handle it any more; so tliat those who have Ben Davis orchards 

 want to "look a leetle out." I know on my place— I only have seven 

 acres— and I have planted different varieties. I know the Winesaps do 

 well, and the Rome Beauties and the Baldwins, and the Grimes Golden 

 are good apples, if you can get them to stay on the tree, but they are 

 early bearers, though apt to fall witli me. 



Mr. Simpson: Do j'ou spray any? 



Mr. Mitchell: Once in a while, but 1 neglect it oftener. I think there 

 is generally a good deal of neglect among fruit growers. 



Mr. Burton, Orange County: I did not hear Mr. Simpson's paper— did 

 not get to the meeting in time. I had breakfast at 4 o'clock this morning 

 and was veiy hungry, and it took considerable of a New Albany dinner 

 to satisfy me. But rather than talk so much about fruit, and referring 

 to what Mr. Flick said, I do not know that he put the matter strongly 

 enough— that we have the very best apple location in the world. The pe- 

 culiarity of the soil— heavy clay soil that is not well suited to peaches 

 — is pre-eminently suited to growing line apples. It does not matter 

 what apple you grow, wliether it is the Ben Davis, or the Whitney Crab, 

 so it grows and you find a market for it. I sliould lilie to talk at some 

 length on the adaptability of this country to the apple if we had the 

 time to dwell upon it. But I will just say tliat with us, in our section, 

 the most profitable is the Winesap; the next to tliat, so far as we have 

 tried, the Rome Beauty and the Grimes stand just about equally in the 

 scale, but the Rome Beauty does not do well in poor soil; the apples 

 will not grow large enough, nor bear often enough, nor stay on the 

 trees. I have this to say in justification of the Winesap: I have an idea 

 that these trees are not always cultivated. How is that, Mr. Tliomas? 

 ,The Winesap is a very aristocratic apple, and does not grow under neglect. 

 It responds readily to good treatment, but you must pet it some. One of 

 the new apples that has shown up well in every instance I have known, 



