250 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



lot of other pests have come since then. And all you fellows have 

 been growing for quality; you all know that when you feed into 

 a horse, you do so at the expense of vitality, and it is the same with 

 a tiee; when you feed for quality, you do so at the expense of vitality. 

 And that is just what is the matter with the orchard. 



The first thing in starting an orchard, is to select a proper loca- 

 tion. That is one thing we have perhaps not properly impressed 

 upon the men who go into the business. I was out looking at one 

 orchard yesterday, set right down here in this valley, where it will 

 not get the proper sum or air. Wlien we start out, let us start out 

 on a small "^cale, with a few trees, and then spread out. And the 

 first thing we want to do is to set our trees just as far up the hillside 

 as we can. 



Next thing, how about the soil? Some of us know something about 

 the soil, and some of us don't know very much. Wlien a man calls for 

 me to go out and see whether apples, or peaches or plums will grow 

 in a certain place, I don't look at the soil; I look at an old tree. Tf 

 I find an old apple or cherry tree doing well, I know the new trees 

 will do well, and it is the same with the peaches. 



HANDLING AND MARKETING APPLES 



By F. H. FASSETT, Meshoppen, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: The subject assigned me is 

 one of the most important that confronts the fruit grower today. I 

 wish it was possible for me to give you a solution. I can only sug- 

 gest some things that we may do to enable us to get more out 

 of the dollar that the consnmer pays for our product. We can grow 

 them, but we seem to fall down when it comes to marketing them. 



In handling apples, we should commence early in the season. The 

 trees should be properly pruned, sprayed and fertilized. Thinning is 

 another operation that is not practised as much as it ought to be. 

 Growers who have properly thinned can see the advantage in this 

 operation. We can secnre more bushels of salable fruit, and the 

 tendency of trees where thinning is practised, is to bear annual crops. 

 Apples should be thinned to about four inches apart. This thinning 

 should be done right after the June crop; the latter part of June 

 and the fore part of July is the best time to thin. 



The best time to pick apples is a question we do not all agree on. 

 Some handlers claim that apples will keep better in cold storage, to 

 be picked just before they mature. To pick at this time, it seems to 

 me we lose too much. We lose in size, color and quality. "WTien we 

 sacrifice quality we are sacrificing one of the strongest points the 

 East has over the Western grower. We believe that the apple should 

 be fully matured— that is, hard ripe; that is, just before they com- 



