NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 49 



mine what shall be left on. Why should not this principle 

 apply to apples as well? I wonder how many of you have 

 ever tried it? Unless you have I am sure you would say it 

 is impracticable, that it would take too much time and labor, 

 and that the effort and expense would be all out of proportion 

 to the benefits derived. With the old-fashioned high-headed 

 trees, way up in the air, the expense would be much larger ; 

 that is one reason I am advocating low-headed trees. For 

 the past three years I have made it a practice to thin all my 

 bearing trees in June, picking off all wormy and imperfect 

 specimens, and leaving only one fruit on a spur or the apples 

 not closer than five or six inches apart. 



The first year I attempted it the neighbors for miles 

 around came to see the novel spectacle of the fanatic who 

 was picking his apples in the summer, and yet in the fall 

 when the demonstration was plain they allowed there might 

 be something in it after all. It is not such an expensive ope- a 

 ration. On trees yielding eight to nine barrels it only costsM 

 from forty to fifty cents pe r treej The other advantages are : 

 The percentage oF'culls is small; the fruit is larger; the 

 strain on the tree is less, and we are getting our trees more 

 nearly into annual bearing. VVV\A' AjV 



We are getting so we can grow good fruit, but we are' 

 still woefully weak on grading, packing and marketing. These' 

 are the things we must study. In time I believe we must 

 form associations like our western competitors. The man 

 who grows the fruit cannot be trusted to grade and pack it, 

 however honest he may be in other directions. We must get 

 together, cooperate, even if we do not form associations. We 

 must adopt a uniform package, hire expert packers and grad- 

 ers to do this work for us, so that Connecticut fruit, at least, 

 will be known and respected. 



President Gold: Mr. Drew is here before you and 

 ready to be questioned. He has already told you a good 

 deal, but if you will just ask him some questions he is 



