1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 143 



Mr. Gold. No, sir. 



Mr. Cruikshanks. I have had a few of them. It is the 

 earliest apple that I have ever seen, of a good quality, large 

 size, somewhat the shape of the Porter, larger than the 

 Porter, I think. It is bright yellow. It is not nearly as acid 

 as the Astrachan, and from ten days to two weeks earlier. 

 At the Pomological Society's meeting a year ago last Sep- 

 tember, Dr. Hoskins of Vermont pronounced it the best early 

 apple which he had. 



Question. Does it come into bearing early? 



Mr. Cruikshanks. All the testimony that I have is, 

 that it is very early, and a superior apple for the market on 

 that account. Dr. Hoskins said it could be planted much 

 nearer together than some others, because it grows so 

 compactl}^ 



Mr. Palmer of Groton. I am sorry this discussion has 

 to come to a close ; as I understood the Secretary, the 

 time is up. I am very much interested in the raising of 

 apples. If I have been prospered at all in farming, I owe 

 my success to the apple crop ; and I was delighted to hear 

 the first gentleman state his views in regard to setting out 

 an orchard. I have set out three myself, and one orchard I 

 selected in the very same manner he described, going to the 

 nursery myself and picking out just the trees that I wanted, 

 paying a few cents more for them. I set out ten acres in 

 that way. I trimmed them in the way he spoke of, except 

 that I left three branches instead of four. The orchard is 

 twelve or thirteen years old. I picked this year on an aver- 

 age a barrel to a tree of Baldwins ; some trees bore a barrel 

 and a half. I have never put a saw into the orchard ; never 

 used anything but a jack-knife. I trimmed them to three 

 branches. Then I watched them for the first few years, and 

 whenever a "sucker" or branch came out, I cut it off on 

 the inside. I think the trees are nearly perfect in their 

 shape. There have never been any large limbs on them. 

 The advantage of starting an orchard in the way he described 

 is that you do not have to come in and murder it with the 

 saw. I have not cultivated the ground except for an ordi- 

 nary crop ; that is, I have ploughed it, and planted corn, 

 seeded down to grass, and it has been treated in that way 



