138 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cultivation of the sweet cherries. Mr. Perry follows the clean method for about four seasons, 

 using cover crops, when the ground, is allowed to go to sod. The growth between the 

 rows of trees is cut about twice each season thereafter and the material spread about the 

 trees as a mulch. He does not prune heav^' — only the dead limbs are removed after the 

 fourth year. His product is marketed in quart packages and crates. 



R. A. Smythe, of Berrien county, said that he had received the same result from the 

 lime and sulphur wash as did Mr. Perry. He followed this with the Bordeaux mixture, 

 and trees thus treated were not badly affected with the disease causing the yellow leaA'es. 

 Mr. Gebhardt thinks the method of clipping the cherries and allowing them to fall upon 

 a sheet below the tree where they are sorted by women and children is quite as rapid as 

 the old plan of picking directly from the limbs into the basket. The Windsor and Na- 

 poleon have given Mr. Perry better satisfaction than any other of his 38 varieties of sweet 

 cherries. He believed the excessive cracking of fruit was largely due to too liberal cul- 

 tivation. 



As to the query, "Would it be desirable for the Michigan fruit growers to establish an 

 agency to divert foreign laborers to the farmers?" it was stated by Mr. Ward that he en- 

 deavored to secure Japanese and Chinese while in the west but the little difference in the 

 wages paid there and here was not enough to make it worth while for the men to come. 

 Secretary Bassett reported that Mr. Hale, of Connecticut, is now employing Italians with 

 good success. 



"To what extent is it advisable to store the apple crop on the farm?" Let the storage 

 people have that work to do, was the opinion of Edward Hutchins, of Allegan county, 

 who thought the work so exacting in the conditions demanded for the successful keeping 

 of the crop that it called for the full attention of some man, or men, who was particu- 

 larly prepared for the duty. Another grower was of the opinion that in a series of ten 

 years the man who sold his apples in the fall would be ahead of the one who stored. A 

 third testified that the cold storage paid. His cellar was small, but it permitted him to 

 hold his crop until the price was right, or the very fact that he had a cellar was a good 

 factor in moving the buyer to offer better figures for the apples in the field, since he knew 

 that the grower could store if necessary. Many of the failures reported of fruit rotting 

 in large commercial cold storages are due to the handling that the fruit had previous to 

 the storing. The cellar of Chas. Wilde, of Kent county, was cited as a very successful one. 

 The opinion seemed to prevail that where one is located near a good market he can afford to 

 have a storage, but if his market is some distance it is better to get the fruit in a cold 

 storage near where it is to be sold. The largest number of cellars described did the cool- 

 ing by letting in cool air during the night and closing all doors and windows during the 

 day time. 



GENERAL CARE OF A COMMERCIAL APPLE ORCHARD. 



(EDWARD HUTCHINS, FENNVILLE.) 



The Michigan apple seems destined to again take its place of prominence in the markets 

 in the near future — at least in point of quality if not quantity. The supply of apples 

 in the principal markets of this country is reported as liberal, but on a recent visit to 

 Chicago, very few Michigan apples were exposed for sale. Many New York apples were 

 there and quite a supply from Missouri, but not so the Michigan fruit. This is probably 

 due to the fact that only a comparatively small number of the Michigan orchards are cared 

 for in a manner to produce apples of the finest quality such as the market now demands, 

 and yet those who are giving the necessary attention to the production of first class apples 

 are realizing good returns for their labor. And the probabilities are that in the very 

 near future only the best grades of apples will be grown, not only in Michigan but in all 

 parts of the covmtry. The various insects and diseases that have thus far attacked the 

 apple have made the production of good fruit difficult but have only lowered the grade 

 and to an extent reduced the quantity. They have not put the negligent grower out of 

 business. The probabilities now are, however, that the San Jose scale, which is rapidly 

 spreading over the orchards of the State, will in a very few years destroy all of the orchards 

 that are not properly cared for. For only the thoroughgoing fruit grower, who gives 

 proper care to his orchards \till provide the necessary conveniences for combatting the 

 scale, and others will succvmib. There is therefore a bright outlook for the enterprising 

 apple grower who has the courage and confidence to incur the trouble and expense necessary 



