Winter Meeting. 247 



were on the tables on December ist, in a perfect state of preservation. 

 Maiden Blush gave out in June, Wealthy in July, Grimes in August, 

 York in September, Rome Beauty in October. These are examples, and 

 other varieties followed in one or another of these classes. 



We feel sure that as a general rule apples must be picked as soon 

 as ripe, well colored, while still firm and hard ; handled carefully, put 

 at once into cold storage, cooled down as quickly as possible, held at 32 

 degrees without variation, and, if held until late in the season, then 

 wrapped in paper, and if for show purposes then double wrapped. 



The next most important lesson was the adaption of varieties to 

 soils, subsoils, elevation, location and climate. This is such a broad 

 and open field that we have not the time to discuss it, only to say that 

 it is one of the most important of all the questions in the face of the 

 fruit grower — this question of adaption and the variation of varieties 

 due to soils and elevation and climate. JNIany very plain lessons were 

 before us during the summer and were well worth the study of our fruit 

 men. 



The most interesting of any of the questions was this of variety. 

 Some of the older and familiar apples were under new names as new 

 varieties. Others were found under different names from different 

 states, and yet they were the same variety. The only criticism we have 

 to offer for the whole management was the failure to provide a strong 

 committee on nomenclature, so that all apples would be properly 

 named. This renaming of old varieties and having them passed upon 

 as such because of the variation caused By climate is simply un- 

 pardonable, and one which does not have the approval of any horti- 

 cultural society. 



Other lessons of spraying, packing, marketing, kind of packages, 

 time of shipping, results obtained from orchards or berry plantations, 

 methods of selecting specimens, making exhibits, making entries, 

 judging by scale of points, all require a separate paper and time for 

 their discussion, and some of these have been well presented by the 

 able papers at this meeting. 



But the best lessons of all are the ones which our young men and 

 maidens, and the older ones as well, have learned in realizing the fact 

 that there are abundant fields to explore still, a thousand of nature's 

 secrets yet to unfold, a world of knowledge yet to be secured, un- 

 known facts to be yet established, a field as broad as the universe, 

 where every incentive is to seek the explanation of facts, and obtain 

 knowledge. All of these ready for the student to take and use if he 

 will. Information that we can have if we put out our hands to grasp 



