86 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



cold weather, there were nearly two feet of snow on the 

 ground. 



Question. Have you ever tried mulchmg them ? 



Mr. Hale. No, sir; I never have. 



Question. Do you wait until the peaches are thoroughly 

 ripe and ready to eat ])efore you i)ick them ? 



jNIr. Hale. The aim is to let the fruit get fully matured, 

 just thoroughly ripened, fully grown and ripe, but not mel- 

 low, and then all that is ripe is picked. Our pickers are 

 trained to judge by the color of the fruit whether it is ripe, 

 not by feeling of it to sec whether it is mellow enough to 

 pick. By looking on the under side they judge by the color 

 whether it is ripe enough to i)ick. AVhen the fruit is picked 

 it is sent to the })acking sheds, and there it is separated into 

 the three grades before mentioned. In aliout four or five 

 days that same tree is gone over again, and the other fruit 

 picked from it that may have matured in that time, and again 

 in three or four days ; so that it takes from six to ten days 

 to iret all the fruit from one tree. 



Mr. Cruicksiianks. The question has been asked by the 

 Secretary whether thinning ap})les will pay. Being a neigh- 

 bor of Dr. Fisher, and somewhat familiar with his mode of 

 treatment, perhaps I can answer that question. It will be 

 remembered that three years ago he read a paper before this 

 Board at Fitchburg upon orchard management. It will be 

 remembered also that he favored the practice of thinning 

 apples. When they got to bo al)out one-third grown he 

 employed a number of boys to go through his orchards, with 

 instructions not to leave any two apples together, to remove 

 everything that had the appearance of a worm-hole in it, and 

 those that had worm-holes or any insects al)out them were 

 all put in a basket, so that they should not fall on the 

 ground. Those that were perfect were droi)ped on the 

 ground, and he did not ol)jec-t to their lying there. The 

 question naturally arose, "How nmch docs it cost? It 

 must cost a great deal to thin apples in that Avay." The 

 doctor said, " Not so much us you think." He had over a 

 hundred barrels of ai)i)h's that ycnv, and he said it did not 

 cost him so mucli to thin them on the tree as it woidd to 

 liavc had them picked. He stated that it cost a little over 



