70 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



class were poor and scabby. Tlic season following it was just the reverse, 

 and the fine Winesaps, Pearmins and others helped to sell the Ben Davis. 

 Shippers, too, desire to have variety in stock. Several instances can be 

 given where the dealer came to me with a request for a number of barrels 

 of any kind^ just so they were different from those he had, having orders 

 for several car loads, and those he did have were nearly all of the one 

 kind his customer had on former shipments requested him not to send 

 so many of, as his trade did not in their turn desire them. 



Speaking of difference of taste and a clinging to such sorts as we 

 were acquainted with long ago, was forcibly impressed on us a few years 

 ago. A dealer was shipping from our county to the northwest, he could 

 obtain all -the fruit he wanted with us, but he ordered ten car loads from 

 Michigan, remarking, "I had to have them, though they will cost me over 

 50 cents a barrel more than those I get here; my customers do not es- 

 teem your Missouri fruits, they want some of the northern varieties, such 

 as Russets, Baldwins, Northern Spys, etc." 



Good sheds or permanent buildings should be erected at convenient 

 points in the orchard. Sheds should be constructed in such a manner 

 as to be taken apart and moved to another point without loss of much 

 time in re-erection. 



The gathering and packing season is one in which every hour is 

 worth a day and every convenience that can be had to save that hour 

 will soon be paid for. 



Sheds are requisite to put our material in to keep dry; workmen make 

 poor headway in working upon it while wet; after the fruit is in the 

 package we must keep dry; when rain threatens our sheds are handy — 

 the situation is mastered. A few inducements of this kind will have an 

 attraction for your dealer; he feels safe that his men can put all their 

 time to use and his orders will not suffer from delay by the .state of the 

 weather. Another convenience to be looked after are low wheeled wag- 

 ons or trucks, suitable to be drawn about the orchard either by men or 

 horses, upon which boxes or barrels empty from the sheds or returned 

 quickly as the case may require. Under such sheds, or say properly 

 houses, if the owner wishes, cellars can be made, something of a perma- 

 nent class or to keep out a few degrees of frost only; days often occur in 

 late fall when it would be unsafe to ship, while in a few days after, for 

 weeks the weather is mild. 



The care of the orchard must be diligently attended to; good culture 

 must be gi/en— should the growth become too rampant in consequence, 

 check it by giving the soil a rest, but do not neglect it. After a few 

 large crops, the trees need more food to store up for future yields; thin- 



