80 



some Baldwin trees that will run, in a good year anywhere 

 from three to eight barrels and we started thinning the lOtn 

 of July, and went over the whole tree, taking off every apple 

 except one in a cluster, and waited about a month and went 

 over the trees agiain, and on the second time over you could 

 usually detect the poor or defective apples, and pick out any 

 clusters that had been overlooked the first time over. We 

 have been using boys for that thinning, and paying them ten 

 cents an hour, and we have had men at twelve cents added 

 to that, and using labor of that kind it has cost us for the 

 two thinnings on trees even bearing perhaps four barrels per 

 tree, 40 cents a tree for the two thinnings, or ten cents a bar- 

 rel. I haven't any figures available to show how much 

 advantage we got from the thinning, but of course it was a 

 good deal more than ten cents. The only real figures I have 

 are shown by an incident about a neighbor of ours, also a 

 commission man in Boston, who wanted to buy our crop, and 

 he started in by saying he would give us two dollars, and I 

 laughed at him, and I said, "If you want to offer us three 

 dollars, we will talk to you." Well, he came up to $2.25 and 

 then $2.50, and he said he was a fool for offering $2.50, but 

 it was the best crop he had seen and he wanted it, and I said 

 that I was probably a fool for not taking it, but we wanted 

 $3. and he went away and he said if anybody offered more 

 than that to let him know\ He finally offered us what he 

 said was one dollar a barrel more than was offered to any 

 one else. Now, I think that the main difference between our 

 apples and anybody else's was that they were thinned. 

 There were other people who sprayed and took just as good 

 care, only we had thinned and got rid of the poor ones, and 

 we had nothing but good stuff left. 



QUESTION : Do you always thin a crop so that you 

 won't have to prop? 



THE PRESIDENT : No, I don't believe you can do that; 

 certainly not with a good many varieties. 



A MEMBER: I have heard it stated both ways. 



THE PRESIDENT : I have known Mr. Marshall to say 



