443 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



thriftily and straight in the nursery; in the orchard it should be a medinni 

 grower, and tend to keep a leader; its foliage should be healthy; it should 

 bear young and annually, and not overbear; the fruit should be medium size, 

 smooth, regular, beautiful, the skin should be strong, the flesh firm and juicy, 

 the flavor sprightly and refreshing. It should be good for cooking, should 

 make strong cider, and should remain a long time in perfection. An apple 

 may have all the excellencies of fruit and be worthless from its faulty habit of 

 tree growth, or from shy bearing, and also, though less commonly, from over- 

 bearing. An apple may be perfect in tree, bear early, annually, abundantly, a 

 medium size, strong skinned, firm, regular, smooth and beautiful fruit, and 

 with poor flavor be worthless. An apple may also have all the good qualities 

 of tree and of fruit, and if its season of use is very short, it is of no value. The 

 perfect Avinter apple should combine the good qualities of tree, productiveness, 

 size, firmness, flavor and beauty, with the ability to keep readily without loss 

 through the whole winter, and with little loss until the summer apples mature, 

 keeping its flavor to the last. Such can be matured in mid-winter if wanted, 

 by keeping in warm places. To us, situated on the great and cheapest high- 

 way between the East and the West, that apple which combines the most of 

 the excellencies with the fewest and smallest deficiencies, is the perfect one, or, 

 in other words, the one to plant. We may never agree upon the name of it, 

 but if we bear these facts in mind we shall reject many sorts that are com- 

 monly planted. We want to raise large quantities of fruit that will sell, and 

 that will cultivate the taste of consumers. 



Let us use our means to the end, and we may justly take pride in raising the 

 "perfect winter apple." 



Mr. Pratt. — I would ask Mr. Parmelee if high cultivation tends to keep ofi' 

 insects, and whether they are more numerous where the land is seeded down ? 



Mr. Parmelee. — It has occurred to me that 'we should set apart an evening 

 for the discussion of this subject. There are many ways of killing the "cod- 

 ling moth," — by bands and cloths placed on the trees, etc. 



Working the land late in the fall tends greatly to destroy insects. Pasturing 

 hogs in the orchards also helps to keep down the codling moth. 



WINTER Al»PLES. 



Old Mission, Jan. 5th, 1874. 



The club met at 6i p. m., Mr. J. E, Savage in the chair. 



Mr. Reynolds. — I would ask what is the cause of scab spots on apples. Al- 

 though we are comparatively free from them here, I would like to know in 

 what they originate. 



Mr. Avery. — I would not attempt to fully answer this question; but my ob- 

 servations lead me to believe that they are due to bad cultivation, climatic in- 

 fluence, and overbearing. My Snow apples were affected by scab last year, but 

 I believe they would have escaped it had I thinned them out one-half. Apples 

 grown on young trees are less liable to this defect than those grown on older 

 ones. 



Mr. B. Montague. — Why was it that my Snow apples grown on young trees 



