11 



a-cid mixed to one part, the potash alone to one part, the phosphoric alone to onfe 

 part, and no artificial fertilizer on the other part. By this means some idea of the 

 requirements of the soil may be learnt and the beneficial results from each fertilizer 

 together and separately may be studied. The fertilizer should be applied broad- 

 cast over the ground, preferably immediately after plowing, and cultivated in with 

 a disc, spring-toothed cultivator or spike-tooth harrow. Potash and phosphoric 

 acid fertilizers may be applied at any time through the season. 



Eeady mixed fertilizers are not recommended at all. 



Thinning. — ^This is an item of orchard practice unheard of in this district. 

 The Department of Agriculture has thinned the apples on a few trees in several 

 places near Morrisburg this season (1911) as a demonstration and experiment. 

 The apples were left one to a spur and four or five inches apart, and results have 

 shown a more even quality, larger size and better coloring of fruit. The other 

 advantages of thinning the fruit on the trees are : — 



1. It regulates the crop that the tree has to mature, and lessens the liability of 

 splitting and breaking of limbs. 



2. It gives the tree a better chance to mature its fruit buds for next season's 

 crop, and so has a tendency to produce crops every year, instead of a heavy crop one 

 year and none the next. 



3. It lessens the labor of handling culls at picking time. 



4. It relieves the tree of the work of maturing these culls. 



The price of thinning has been computed at five cents per barrel, and this price 

 alone is saved in the reduced number of culls to handle. 



The thinning may be done at any time during the summer, but is best done 

 when the apples are about an inch in diameter, as then the dormant fruit buds have 

 a good chance to develop. The fall apples may be left until they have developed, so 

 that the fruit taken ofi" can be sold as early cooking apples, and in this way a little 

 remuneration may be obtained to pay for the work of thinning. The method is to 

 first take ofl: all the injured, small and ill-formed fruit, then to leave only one apple 

 to a spur and to thin them to from four to five inches apart ; or to leave two apples 

 on one spur and none on the next, and not leave the clusters of two closer than at 

 least six inches to the next cluster. 



Picking and Packing. 



Here is a vital point in the upbuilding of the fruit industry. The respect and 

 confidence of the market is gained only by the quality of the picking, packing and 

 grading, and according to such will the reputation of a fruit district as a whole be 

 established. The picking should be done by careful and intelligent men. Long 

 ladders should be dispensed with as much as possible and step-ladders used in their 

 place. A specially constructed apple basket should be used, and in the picking the 

 welfare of the tree must be borne in mind as well as the gathering of the fruit in 

 the quickest possible manner. Care must be taken not to pull off or knock off any 

 more fruit spurs than is absolutely unavoidable, nor to break down branches, and a 

 srood deal of care is always necessary in putting a ladder up into a tree. 



Nearly all the fruit in this district that is sold for local consumption is not 

 packed at all, but simply put into some receptacle and taken to town. The most of 

 the packing for shipment is done by apple buyers who realize the value of good 

 packing and try to conform to the laws regarding packing and grading. The 'barrel 

 is the only package used here. It was the first kind of package used, and the 

 markets have been built up by it, and all the facilities for handling have become 



