PORTY-FOURTM ANNUAL REPORT. 83 



Q. I would like to ask the general opinion as to the advantages of 

 the grader compared to man grading — which is preferable in the judg- 

 ment of this meeting? 



Mr. Farrand, have you had any experience with a grader? 

 A. I never have. 



Q. Has thinning apples proved profitable this year, when the market 

 is so low? 



Mr. Hull, have you thinned any apples? 



A. Our apples were thin enough. We did not have to do it. I think 

 thinning apples would pay when apples are abundant for the reason 

 that only the best sell well. 



Q. Mr. Friday what did you find out? 

 A, I have not thinned any, but I believe in it. 

 Q. Mr. Banford what do you think? 



A. I am ])erfectly satisfied in my own mind but I want to hear from 

 other growers. The exhibit I brought is all from thinned trees. 



:^[ember: It is a fact that if a tree has ten thousand blossoms and 

 should not bear five thousand apples, a man can pick them off cheaper 

 in June and throw them on the ground and he can double the size of the 

 others left on the tree and thereby considerably increase his net profit. 

 I find that I can thin the trees for seventy-five cents to |1.25 per tree 

 and I found it highly i)rofitable as nearly as I could compare those 

 barrels in the fall with the others, as they brought a much higher price, 

 and was a much better fruit. Whenever you have too much fruit, you 

 are leaving it on the tree with the expectation of picking it sometime 

 and it costs twice as much to pick peaches or apples when they are 

 matured as it does before they are matured. I should say the question 

 is not "Can you afford to do it?" but "You cannot afford not to do it." 

 Member: I think you have to eliminate the excessive fruit this year 

 in order to have a crop next year and I believe this is one reason why 

 1h inning should pay. It would help to bring a tree to annual bearing. 

 Mr. Morrill : The time of thinning is more important than anything 

 else. In peaches, if you wait until the seed is matured and the pit hard, 

 y(m get practically little result from the thinning, but if you do this 

 vrork while the pit is soft, you get the benefit of this work and the 

 strength of the trees goes to the other fruit. I found from my experience 

 That results were always in favor of the peaches trimmed wide apart. 

 My fancy grade always came from the heavily trimmed trees. My 

 peaches usually cost me thirty-two or thirty-four cents per bushel but 

 while the average peaches would sell for forty-eight or fifty cents, my 

 fancy grades would bring me about |1.00. I had a man pick eight thou- 

 sand off a tree and throw them on the ground and I had a good crop of 

 peaches off that tree after that. The purpose of this Society is to raise 

 the standard and quality of fruit and one point we must keep in view 

 is — never overload a tree. 



Member: A great many times we think we cannot afford to thin the 

 larger and older trees, but I want to say that several of the growers 

 who have exhibits here have taken apples from trees that are thirty or 

 forty years old and the trees have been thinned. 



Member: (Mr. Hoyt) Possibly Mr. Farraud has forgotten that he is 

 responsible for my having settled in Michigan. About twelve years ago 

 T met him in Champaign, Illinois, and he told me of some of the good 



