46 



reapers, bad weather, whiskey shops, manure spreaders, hasty pudding, farm 

 labor, and— well Mr. Newell seemed to be inexhaustible and his rambling, spicy 

 remarks had the closest attention. 

 The meeting was then dissolved. 



THE EIGHTEENTH INSTITUTE. 



The Society held its Eighteenth Institute at the Town Hall, Great Barring- 

 ton, on Thursday, December 11th, 1884. The weather was favorable, and the 

 attendance about two hundred persons, which included quite a number of ladies. 

 Capt. John B. Moore of Concord, president of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, was introduced by the President, and addressed the meeting on the 

 subject of " The Cultivation of Fruits, Pruning, and the Care of House Plants. " 

 Capt. Moore thinks Berkshire County farmers can raise fruit with profit, and 

 that the soil is better adapted for it than any other part of the Commonwealth. 

 Apples do well in a clay loam, or sandy loam, also on a granite soil. They do 

 better on higher or sloping land rather than in the lower parts of the valleys, where 

 they are most subject to frost, and to immature growth. Land worth $100 per 

 acre is too expensive for apples, sod land, almost unfit for other crops, will 

 answer ; plow it and make it mellow and rich enough to grow forty or fifty 

 bushels of corn to the acre. If the soil is too rich it may do injury. If forced, 

 the heart becomes dead. Plant trees forty feet apart, rather than nearer, dig a 

 broad hole that the roots may spread in every direciion to nourish the tree and 

 to brace it against winds. A narrow deep hole is the worst possible condition, 

 like setting it into a flower pot. Don't plant lower than they grew in the nur- 

 sery. To grow good apples the trees must have light, heat and air. Peach trees 

 can be planted between the rows and will bear and get out of the way before the 

 apple trees begin to bear much. Sheep and swine are useful to eat the fallen 

 fruit and the worms with it. Plow and cultivate the ground often to get the 

 best fruit. Canker worms cause the most trouble to apple trees. They may 

 be kept from crawling up the tree by placiug troughs filled with oil, or tarred 

 paper, or cloths filled with printer's ink around the trunk. It must be used 

 very early in the fall however. The coddling moth is another enemy that may 

 be caught somewhat by placing cloths in the crotch of the trees, they will gather 

 in them and can be then destroyed. It gets into the blossom end of the fruit if 

 it is left undisturbed. The curculio don't cause so much trouble with apples. 

 Apples are the best market fruit crop for profit, for when there is a surplus they 

 can be exported to Europe. In 1880, 500,000 barrels were shipped from Portland 

 and 700,000 barrels in 1882. Every steamer from Boston this winter carries 

 apples. Our apples are preferred in England to English or French apples. Ex- 

 port apples must be the best, and must be carefully packed. 



Captain Moore was asked by Alonzo Bradley of Lee, as to the preparation 

 of apples for export. They should be put up cool and the barrel then headed, 

 without letting them lie on the ground. If a barrel that has contained flour is 

 used, the barrel should be washed inside. Their manner of selling our apples 

 in the English market is at auction, a barrel, taken at random from the lot to be 

 sold, is opened in the presence of the buyer, and the whole contents poured into 

 a large basket. The English stack their barrels of apples on the head, one above 

 another, so they will not keep as well as if laid on the side. Daniel B. Fenn of 

 Stockbridge, wanted to kiaow why it is better to let barrels lie on the side, than 



