72 Second Annual Report 



now almost unknown — the Yellow Bellflower, which Mr. Kinney 

 used to grow — he doesn't grow them any more; and the Pound 

 Sweet apple. We don't have them. We grew many varieties 

 that have been suppressed, taken out of the list altogether. A 

 few varieties have been added; just a few, one the Mcintosh, 

 a new variety, a commercial one ; there are very few varieties 

 that have recently been brought into commercial propagation. 



We may notice that the relative importance of varieties has 

 been shifted. I can remember lo years ago, we supposed the 

 Greening was one of the best of our commercial apples. As 

 cold storage came to be of such importance we found the Green- 

 ing did not stand storage well, and scald developed. We did 

 not know anything about that a few years ago. When that 

 trouble came up it diminished the importance of the Greening, 

 and today you do not find as many as you did lo years ago. I 

 remember the first meeting of this Society that was held in Burl- 

 ington, which was 9 years ago last fall — a pretty creditable insti- 

 tute considering the circumstances — I think one-third of the 

 apples there were Rhode Island Greenings ; yet there are few of. 

 those here today, compared with other varieties. The Baldwin 

 is of less importance, relatively, also, and the Ben Davis is of 

 more importance than 10 years ago; 10 times as many are raised 

 as 10 years ago, and I believe 10 years from now there will be 

 still more, and I am not recommending them either. 



As to the methods of growing, one of the first in which we 

 may notice a change, is a tendency to growing the trees closer 

 together. The speaker who preceded me told you we learned 

 some years ago to put them further apart. Since that time we 

 have learned to put them closer together. We want to use 

 all the sunshine there is ; put as many trees on an acre as you 

 can grow there. While the fruit growers of this country were 

 acting on the theory, 10 or 15 years ago, that trees should be 

 planted 40 and 50 and even 60 feet apart, they are now planting 

 them 35 feet apart, and some even closer than that. There are 

 a great many things to be said along that line. First, I would 

 call your attention to another development of that close plant- 

 ing idea. L,and is getting valuable. These people up here in 

 Grand Isle want $100 and $125 an acre for this apple land. 

 It is worth every cent of it. One of the speakers has said to 

 you that it will be worth four or five times as much. The land 

 is valuable, and one can't afford to have acres of that land lying 

 idle while an orchard grows up. If you plant an orchard of 

 Baldwins or Greenings or Spies, it is 10 or 15 years before the 

 ground is occupied. The first five years the trees do not occupy 

 half the ground. You can't afford to do that and pay taxes, so 

 something must be done to use that land. Of course, some 



