WINTER MEETING. 187 



think it pays even to buy apples. I bought 11,000 bushels and paid 

 20 cents per 100, and I think it will make a very fair profit if I get 5 1-4. 

 I hope for more. With reference to bleaching, I cannot help but 

 think it pays to bleach, because when you put apples on the market 

 without bleaching they will not pay more than about half as much as 

 they would if they were bleached. In some localities they prefer the 

 unbleached fruit, and will pay more for it, but the market will not take 

 it, and I want to give them what they want, and it costs nothing to 

 bleach. My evaporating machine has a capacity of about 500 a day. 



I should like to ask Mr. Durand what machine he prefers. We 

 run by hand and we use the Excelsior machine. I also use the 

 Bonanza and the York. 



Question. Is the autumn or spring the best time for planting? 



Answers. Stone fruits should be planted in the spring on ac- 

 count of too much evaporation. Other fruits should be planted in 

 the fall. 



We planted 16,000 peach trees in December, and we did not lose 

 one per cent of the entire plant. I have made two failures in planting 

 stone fruits in the fall. 



Question. What is best to fertilize to give color and uniform 

 quality to the Ben Davis? 



Answers. You cannot do it. You cannot fertilize with anything 

 that will improve the color or quality. If you grow a seedling you 

 may get a better variety than the Ben Davis. 



Question. Would it be better to plant some other variety with 

 the Ben Davis than two large blocks together. 



Answers. Have others mixed with them instead of having large 

 blocks of one variety together. 



We have large blocks of Ben Davis, and we wish we could ar- 

 range them so that they would not bear quite so much. We have to 

 thin them out. 



Fertilizing will not improve the color and quality. I know from 

 the best authorities that it is not correct to thin out everywhere. I 

 have had the Ben Davis planted in close proximity to other varieties, 

 and at the same time the block of Ben Davis did not bear scarcely 

 any. I think we get better crops by having other varieties inter- 

 spersed. I find in the Olden report where a man planted 50 Ben Davis, 

 in his orchard by themselves, and ^t the end of 15 [years, having 

 planted 400,000 standing with other varieties, had borne full, uniform 

 satisfactory crops and the other had been a failure. 



Question. Can a commercial orchard be thinned profitably? 



