83 



the poorer, and you can afford to lose some poorer ones for 

 the sake of getting the others bigger and bettei-. 



MR. MUNROE MORSE : Will thinning the apples make 

 those that are left on there hang on better than if they Avere 

 all left l 



THE PRESIDENT: I don't know, I am sure, but I 

 shouldn 't suppose it Avould have any particular effect on that. 

 The only point I can see is that where there, are two apples 

 hanging together they might break one another off more 

 often than where one was taken off, but I don't believe it 

 makes them stick any better. 



QUESTION: What time do you thin? 



The PRESIDENT: About the 10th of July and the 10th 

 of August. Those are roughly the two dates. 



QUESTION: Is there any practical way of thinning ex- 

 cept by hand? I picked ten barrels, one barrel off the tree 

 and eight or nine on the ground, but they weren't picked 

 quite soon eno«gh. Wouldn't it take quite a long time to 

 thin a tree like that? Couldn't it be done by a small-tooth 

 rake or something of that kind, for the first picking, and 

 then do it more, thoroughly ? 



THE PRESIDENT: I don't know. Apparently the 

 audience don't think so, for many of them are laughing. I 

 don't believe there is any satisfactory short-cut in the mat- 

 ter of thinning. I think you have got to have somebody 

 with more or less brains to do the work. 



NoAv. Question 17 is asked for: "What is a fair price 

 for lal)or, per barrel, for picking apples on average sized 

 trees with a medium crop?" 



:MR. MUNSON: If you can get a man to pick by the 

 barrel and pick fast enough, it will pay pretty well, but as 

 a rule by the day is the cheapest way. The going price in 

 most sections for picking by the barrel is 20 cents, picking 

 the trees as they run, large and small. A man can make a 

 pretty good day's pay, and will pick more than ten barrels; 

 and ten barrels on high trees is considered a pretty good 

 day's picking. 



