20 



year — and pick them out with a knife or wire. I prefer the 

 fall for this work. 



Mr. Turner. Fifty years ago we used to have magnificent 

 Russets clear into the spring ; what has become of them ? 



Mr. Drew. The general market does not call for many 

 Eussets. If you have a retail trade and ship them yourself, 

 and people know enough to appreciate them, there is no better 

 apple grown than the Roxbury Russet. 



Mr. Asa Dodge. Why have the sweet apples gone from 

 the market? 



Mr. Drew. Because there isn't any great demand for 

 them. There is no reason why a discriminating public 

 should not call for some sweet apples, but I should be cau- 

 tious myself about planting them too extensively. 



Mr. Reed. Is it better policy to market your fruit as soon 

 as possible or to store it ? 



Mr. Drew. That depends on the class of fruit. The 

 poorer grades must be put on the market up to Christmas 

 time, because people have not adequate storage facilities. 

 The first-class apples, as a rule, bring a higher price after the 

 inferior grades are out of the way, and therefore should be 

 held. 



Mr. Reed. Do you consider the Wealthy and Mcintosh 

 short-lived trees, and use them sometimes as fillers ? 



Mr. Drew. I don't think we know how long lived these 

 trees are, because where would we find a Wealthy or Mcin- 

 tosh tree forty years old in New England ? So far as the 

 choice of a filler goes, the Wealthy will last as long as is 

 required under that system. The Mcintosh is a compara- 

 tively long-lived tree, and has a tendency to bear heavily 

 every year. 



Question. I have about ten trees of Mcintosh in an or- 

 chard where there are forty Baldwins, all eighteen to twenty 

 years old. The Mcintosh bore the most the first four or five 

 years, — more the first year than ever since. The Baldwin 

 trees haven't borne heavily, but I think they have borne more 

 than the Mcintosh. The latter have had the same treatment 

 as the Baldwins, but are not more than two-thirds as large. 

 The soil is a clay loam ; I have raised good potatoes on it. I 



