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former case will merely add to the troubles, unless it be a 

 certain amount of judicious work in the summer. Exces- 

 sive winter pruning would merely result in disaster. 



A few of the best colored Spy trees in Geneseo, or 

 rather trees producing the best colored fruit, are inclined to 

 be of the light willowly order and not the thicker wood 

 growth. Here, it would seem to me that the orchardist and 

 the nurseryman might have different ideals, for from the 

 nursery standpoint, Avhere one desires to sell wood, one 

 would naturally select scions from the heavy growing tree. 

 At the present time we have strains of our own and from 

 Bridport, Yt. and also one from the Bradley tree in Wyom- 

 ing County; it was from this tree that Mr. Pat Gleason, 

 formerly well-known as an extensive apple operator used to 

 select his fruit, for a great many of his shows and it was 

 fruit from this tree that won the prize at the Paris Exposi- 

 tion. One would judge looking at this tree that it was not 

 ideally located, for Spy ; it is situated down on the valley 

 floor, on a gravel loam soil ; the tree has been planted in 

 among others rather close and shaded somewhat, and yet, it 

 has a local record for producing some of the highest quality 

 best colored fruit grown in our vicinity. Is it local condi- 

 tions or is there individual merit in the tree? We hope by 

 planting from this to secure data, but when? Ten years 

 frohanow? Perhaps twenty ? We cannot hurry this work, 

 it is a slow piece of business at the best. We cannot tell 

 definitely anything about it, until we have data which can 

 be secured only at the expense of considerable time to say 

 nothing of money. Is the game worth while? That is ths 

 question of a great many. One thing certain : By selecting 

 buds and wood from such trees we know that our variety 

 is true to name ; otherwise, we are losers if there is no bene- 

 fit from heredity, because the same buds from the nursery 

 would produce a larger tree at the end of two years than we 

 can possibly secure from these individual bearing trees ; and 

 it is quite possible that my friend, Prof. Hedrick of Geneva 

 is right when he tells me that I am merely wasting my time 



