246 State Horticultural Society. 



are trying the dwarf trees, but cannot recommend them, as I 

 haven't tried them long enough. We do close root pruning. Take 

 a two-year-old tree, cut down close and trim the roots back to about 

 three inches. Dig a small hole, put in the tree, stamp the soil down 

 well, and then put mulch around it. If ground is so can plow, we 

 do so; and if not, just let it alone. Next year put some fertilizer 

 on it. It don't pay to force wood growth. Can't spray so well. 

 Mr. Hale furnishes a good example of careful cultivation. At four 

 years old the tree and cultut-e has cost $1.60 per acre. We have 

 just as good trees that only cost us twenty cents. We never plow 

 or cultivate on our hillsides. We cut the grass and pile around the 

 roots. Don't advise any one to follow this method, but this is 

 what we are donig. This form of culture on a steep hillside pays 

 better than to cultivate. Find that a tree raised like this forms 

 its head close to the ground and grows up more like a bush, and 

 this is one of the best forms we can have when it comes to spray- 

 ing. Believe that a man growing fruit for commercial purposes 

 has got to be a law unto himself. He must start a number of va- 

 rieties and watch them, and the one doing the best is the one he 

 should grow, whether it should happen to be a Ben Davis or not. 

 From what I have seen of your fruit, am frank to say that if I 

 raised Ben Davis apples I might hurt my feelings, especially if 

 I had to eat them. Have got twenty-five Ben Davis trees, and have 

 some black Ben Davis, but when I can raise Baldwins to perfection, 

 'it is foolish to raise Ben Davis. The majority of the New York 

 people do not eat apples as you and I do. They eat with their eyes 

 — eat on the run. The fruit must be high colored and well packed. 

 There is more and more of a demand for a small package. We ad- 

 vertise that we have boxes of apples to sell, and deliver direct to 

 the consumer. These big apples you like to show are not the best 

 ones to sell that way. There's a heap of human nature in this ap- 

 ple business. If it hadn't been for these Yankees, the fruit grow- 

 ers would starve to death. What would happen if everybody ate 

 three apples a day, as you ought to? Just think of the sale! You 

 are buying oranges and bananas, when your beautiful Ben Davis 

 apples are growing right under your nose. Fruit is bringing more 

 money than ever before. There never was a better opportunity for 

 a boy on the farm than there is today. Have come to realize that 

 the financial side of the business is not all of it. We are coming 

 to know that if the country is to be saved and made what we want 

 it to be, it must be worked out in our farm homes. When a man 

 takes a tree and plants it in the ground, his neighbor in the city 



