The Canadian Horticulturist. 203 



and when this is expressed we have a residue which cider makers call pomace, 

 composed mainly of the compressed cellular structure of the fruit with the cores 

 and seeds, and a small remaining proportion of juice and flavoring material. 

 The proportion of juice in apples will average about 80 per cent., although it is 

 not possible in cider-making to recover the whole of this. The juice contains 

 varying proportions of malic acid, which is the acid principally in apples. Sweet 

 apples sometimes contain less than ^ per cent, of this acid, while the sour 

 varieties contain from i to i^ per cent. The Baldwin apple has been found to 

 contain about i per cent, when tested in October, and the Rhode Island Green- 

 ing at the same time about i}( per cent. As the ripening process goes on, the 

 proportion of acid diminishes, while the sugar increases, and Rhode Island 

 Greenings analyzed in December have given less than i per cent, of this acid. 

 The proportion of sugar varies in different varieties and at different periods of 

 ripeness from 6 to about 1 2 per cent. Beyond these ingredients, the juice con- 

 sists of water with a little flavoring material. Everything in the juice, excepting 

 the water, is compounded by the plant from the gases taken from the atmosphere, 

 and hence there is no drain on the soil in the formation of this material. 



In the pomace will be found the cores and seeds, with the skin and the 

 compressed cellular structure of the fruit. The seeds are especially rich in 

 nitrogen, and their formation and maturing is a considerable tax on the vital 

 forces of the tree. For this reason heavy crops exhaust the tree very much less 

 if the fruit be thinned. In apple growing this practice is in every sense econ- 

 omical, for when a heavily-laden tree is thinned the fruit produced is much 

 improved in size and quality, and hence commands a higher price, while the 

 vigor of the tree is less impaired, and its productive capacity for the future 

 economized and increased. 



Apple pomace is found to contain, as it comes from the cider press, in 

 every 100 lbs., as shown by the analysis of Dr. Goessman, of Amherst, Mass., 

 about 4}4 ounces of nitrogen, about 2 ounces of potash, and less than ^ of an 

 ounce of phosphoric acid. 



The question is often asked as to the food value of apples for stock. 

 Much will necessarily depend on the condition of ripeness of the fruit, also on 

 the variety of the apple from which the supply is to be furnished.- European 

 authorities consider the money value of fodder constituents in ordinary varieties 

 of apples and pears as somewhat higher than those contained in an equal weight 

 of turnips, and those of the apple pomace as about ys higher in feeding value 

 than the whole apple, which has served for its production, and about equal in 

 value to sugar beets. 



Where apples are fed to stock they should be given in moderate quantities, 

 and should be liberally supplemented with more nutritious and more highly 

 nitrogenous food, such as bran, shorts or oil cake, with a fair proportion of hay. 



We reserve for another issue that portion of Prof. Saunders' address relating 

 to manures for the apple orchard. 



