FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. 45 



low headed orchard. I estimated the height and the lowest fruit was 

 about seven feet from the ground. They were using a six-step ladder 

 and the man was standing on the fourth step and the lowest apple 

 was just even with the man's head. This is higher than I wish to go 

 for fruit. Get the fruit down where you can reach it. 



A Voice — I think I can tell Mr. Hall one or two ways that he could 

 get his high tops down. He can go up and cut them down with a saw. 

 If he has any scale, it will do the business for him. 



Mr. White — I think I qualified my remarks when I said that different 

 varieties had to be treated differently. If I did not say it in that many 

 words, that is what I meant. An upright tree should be given a lower 

 trunk than a spreading tree. I think Mr. Hall ought to say, when he 

 says that his limbs are strong, that they are six feet from the ground and 

 still he can pick the fruit from the ground very easily — and he should 

 say that he has all the way from eight to fifteen branches forming the 

 head of the tree. They are long and slender and bend to the ground. 

 I am watching that orchard with a great deal of interest for the reason 

 that I suspicion that Mr. Hall will find that, as these trees grow older, 

 so many branches forming the head of the tree, particularly in the 

 Spy, the limbs will push one another apart. Maybe they will not but 

 I expect it. Twenty-eight bushels of Spies off from a twenty year old 

 tree and pick them all with a 12-foot ladder is pretty well, but I will 

 say this, I have known of cases where two persons picked from Bald- 

 win trees, 140 bushels in 8V2 hours. These trees could not have been 

 of an upward growth due to the pruning they received. 



A Member — I have found that if the trees whether pruned or not, 

 if they have plenty of room, will not go up — the limbs will come down. 



Another Member — I had a young orchard that went up and up so that 

 I had to use a 22-foot ladder and there was a lady that picked 91 bushels 

 in a day from those trees. 



Mr. Welch — The old re-occurring question of our demand of the 

 nurseries, I think, should be emphasized and that is that they should 

 furnish a good, straight tree and all right. 



A Member — I think the after-pruning has as much to do with it as 

 the first pruning. 



Another Member — One speaker said that he did not want sod to start 

 an orchard on. I think that is right and now I would like to ask if a 

 crop of corn were put on the orchard, would it stop the growth of that 

 tree enough? 



Mr. Graham — I want to get the growth as soon as I can and I failed 

 to get that where the sod is plowed under. You cannot get a real nice 

 condition to produce an early growth. I want to get a growth as 

 early as possible so that it will ripen up by the first of August and 

 I have failed to get the tree to stop growing by the first of August. 

 By that time the sod begins to rot. Corn has a tendency to ripen up an 

 orchard but when each hill of corn is 4 feet from your tree, it does not 

 stop the growth very much. I planted a peach orchard and it was 

 planted on sod and I presume I had lots of growth 5 feet long and 

 they are just as green as they can be today with the leaves all hanging 

 on. 



A Member — I suppose you have better land than most of us fellows. 



