49 



questions. There was one asked this morning that was re- 

 ferred to this afternoon, and if the gentleman is in the hall 

 I think it would be well to take that up first. 



MR. D. W. REYNOLDS OF HAVERHILL. My question 

 was, is apple raising in sodded ground better for giving the 

 apples color and for keeping purposes than under cultiva- 

 tion ? 



PROFESSOR JARVIS. There may be someone here 

 who can answer that question better than I can. It is surely 

 the case that apples are better colored Avhen grown on sod, 

 but whether they will keep better is another question. A 

 few years ago I conducted a little experiment along this line 

 and I found that there were a great many conflicting results. 

 AVith an apple grown on sod we have a little less water in it, 

 and therefore it is not quite so susceptible to some of the 

 diseases in storage and will not spoil so soon. On the other 

 hand, we found apples grown under cultivation that kept 

 better than some samples that were grown on sod, so that 

 there are a great many other factors entering into that 

 problem, and I am not prepared to say whether the appl'i 

 grown on sod will keep any longer than one grown under 

 cultivation. 



MR. BROOKS. Suppose you have your young trees 

 v/ith a growth of, we will say, twelve inches and you don't 

 know when is exactly the right time to practice your sum- 

 mer pruning. Suppose you took that growth of twelve 

 inches and started pruning it, — were satisfied with that 

 amount — would that check up the trees enough so that they 

 Avouldn't go on and make a soft growth: i. e., when your 

 twig is out twelve inches, would you prune it then ? 



PROFESSOR JARVIS. I would. You can do it then, 

 although it is a little better, I think to wait until the annual 

 growth is completed, then you have a better idea as to how 

 much bigger the tree is. You can cut back some of that new 

 growth and thin out even some of the past season's growth 

 if necessary. It is not necessary to restrict your summer's 

 pruning to the present season's growth; you can thin out 



