264 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



setting of cabbage plants, and the trees are made to head more uniformly. 

 The thinning of fruit is accomplished in a good degree by pruning. 



Fungous and insect enemies have made spraying a necessity. Doubters 

 are few. Experience confirms believers. Crops of canlver-worms and 

 codlin moths are common, and various forms of disease prevail where 

 spraj'ing is neglected or but partially done. As a condition of future suc- 

 cess, those who do not spray, must; and many who do, must spray more. 



The best time and manner of gathering the crop is important. Manj' of 

 us delay beginning too long. So soon as the seeds turn black and the 

 fruit cleaves easily from the stem, it is time to begin. This, with winter 

 varieties, will be about the last week in September. Those ripening first, 

 and most likely to drop, should be gathered first. Ladders pointed at 

 the top, half-bushel baskets with hooks on the handles, bushel baskets 

 to handle the fruit in taking to the place of storage, and trucks with 

 bolster springs with which to convey them, are useful adjuncts to the 

 apple harvest. Some improved step ladders have I'ecently been manu- 

 factured, and these are useful for the purpose. The i)latform truck in use 

 with us carries thirty bushel baskets at a time. As a rule, the fruit can 

 be taken directly to the cellar or fruit house. Varieties having dark 

 spots, as some Greenings and a few. other varieties have this year, would 

 better be stored in a manner to secure the best ventilation. I noticed 

 that such fruit developed these spots most that was in the center of the 

 bin. These bins were in the barn, above the cellar. I think the method 

 in use by Mr. Sebastian Smith of Watervliet, in cribbing the fruit in the 

 orchard, would be good in such a case. 



Where the crop is to be held for sale in the winter or spring, the method 

 of storage should receive special attention, I refer now to methods that 

 are practicable for ordinary fruitgrowers. Cold-storage by the use of ice 

 or chemicals, in large and expensive buildings, as in the large cities, 

 we know to be effective; but such inethod is too expensive for individual 

 fruitgrowers. What seems to be necessary is a plan of cold-air storage 

 without the use of ice or chemicals, where large quantities can be kept 

 with a good degree of perfection. 



For the storage of a large quantity in a given space, I have followed 

 the practice of Mr. Welch of Plymouth, AVayne county, and with good 

 results. He stored in the cellar of his residence, one bin the length of his 

 cellar, about three and a half feet wide, piled as high as he could turn 

 a basket; and then another next to that, until his cellar was filled. He 

 did not handle them until shipment in the si)ring. I have added some- 

 what to his practice. I store in a cellar under a bank-barn, A house 

 cellar is too warm. It is not good for the health of the family or for the 

 fruit to be so stored. Besides. I have covered the floor and sides with 

 narrow boards an inch a])art, and have an air space of two inches between 

 the board and cement floors and between the sheathing and walls. It 

 will be a still further improvement to add a feature of the grape-house 

 of Mr. Munson of Grand Rapids — the laying of tile four or five feet under 

 ground, to conduct cold air from outside into the cellar, with a ventilating 

 pipe through tlie roof to carry waiiii air (»ft'; these so arranged so as to 

 open or close as desired, the diameter of the tile and ventilator to bo 

 according to the size of the storage room. 



