June 1, 1911 



347 



adise Sweet, at such a rate that I decided I 

 would pick them and put them in the cellar 

 before they all dropped off. This was about 

 the first of October — too early in this locali- 

 ty by a month for gathering winter a])i)les; 

 but i figured that, if they were all going io 

 dro]) otif and get bruised, I would forestall 

 tfiat dropping, and pick the ap])les and risk 

 ]Hitting them into the cellar that early. 

 A\'ell. the boy whom I set to picking them 

 l)icked about two l^ushels from the lower 

 limbs, ami then said he could not get those 

 higher up, for it always made him dizzy to 

 get uj) on a ladder. As there was nobody 

 else available just then the matter was neg- 

 lected, and I was greatly astonished to find 

 that no more apples dropped off. The drop- 

 l)ing, as I figured it, was because there were 

 too many on the tree to get matured and 

 ripen up. As no more ai)i)les dropped off, 

 or not enough to be worth noticing, I let the 

 rest stand until about a month later. There 

 were about three bushels of the latter ])ick- 

 ing; and they not only increased in size but 

 colored u]) very much better after the thin- 

 ning out; and I am just now greatly enjoy- 

 ing tliese I'aradise Sweet a])i)les every even- 

 ing when other i)eople are eating their regu- 

 lar suppers. Of course, my fliscovery is 

 right along the line of thinning out, so 

 much practiced by fruit-men, only the thing 

 is usually done when the apples are much 

 smaller — not large enough to be of any 

 value. 



Quite recently our experiment station at 

 AVooster, O., sent a man up here to teach 

 our i)eoi)le how to prune old orchards and to 

 give tliem a talk on apple-growing general- 

 ly. Among other things he advised all 

 those who had early trees, say Yellow Trans- 

 parent, Harvest, lied Astrakhan, etc., to 

 commence using the green ones just as soon 

 as they are at all fit for sauce or jiies — thus 

 thinning out the apples when near maturi- 

 ty. They are not only delicious and whole- 

 some as sauce, but tliey give what are left 

 on the tree a chance for much better devel- 

 opment and ri]iening up. Now a word 

 about old orchards. 



When our Ohio experiment station i)ur- 

 chased the ground near Wooster they found 

 a good-sized orchard of old apple-trees — t rees 

 that were past their usefulness, as most i)eo- 

 l)le would say. But they commenced ex- 

 perimenting to see what could be done for 

 old orchards; and last fall it was my pleas- 

 ure to go through this old orchard just be- 

 fore going south. First, the old trees re- 

 ceived a tremendous pruning. I am not 

 sure, however, it was all done at one time — 

 probably not. The great long si)rawling 

 limbs away up in the air were shortened 

 back; the ground was cultivated and ma- 

 nured, and the trees were mulched and thor- 

 oughly sprayed; and at the time of my visit, 

 when some of the apples were ):)eginning to 

 be picked, there was the most beautiful fruit 

 I ever saw in my life. The specimens were 

 so large and fine that I failed to recognize 

 my old favorites. And this kind of work of 

 rejuvenating old orchards will pay tremen- 



dously, especially if i)rices are going to con- 

 tinue at any thing like a nickel apiece or 

 $10.00 a barrel. 



Under date of ^hiy !> the Cleveland Press 

 has this to say in reference to this same 

 matter: 



The Wooster station has issued a lnUletin telliiie 

 of work done by its experts in Soiitlieastern (ihio 

 last year. One orcliard of 14 acres that they treated 

 retiu-ned a profit of §(5000; another, ^vith 300 trees, 

 of S3100. 



.Just now, May 10. I am ha])i)y every night 

 when supper-time comes, because my su])- 

 l)er is to consist of half a dozen or more of 

 these Paradise apples I have mentioned. 

 Then I am happy after su])i)er in looking 

 over our orchard, and seeing which trees are 

 going to give the fruit. By the way, I have 

 recently expended ten or fifteen dollars in 

 having our trees judiciously ])rimed. This 

 l)runing, as you will notice, is only another 

 way to thin fruit so as to have what is left 

 larger and finer; and T suppose it is a saving 

 to remove the sur])lus when it is in bud or 

 blossom rather than wait till the apples are 

 l>artly grown or nearly full grown. I be- 

 lieve our friend Terry eats a \ariety of fruit; 

 and a good many have wondered why I did 

 not take the cheajier oranges while down in 

 Florida rather than the expensive ai)ples. 

 Well, I have tried almost every kind of fruit 

 that our kind heavenly Father has given 

 us; but so far nothing agrees with me so 

 well as nice tiiellow apples. I think grape 

 fruit would come next; but that alone does 

 not quite seem to hit the sjiot as do the de- 

 licious apples I have been ha\ing now for 

 several years for the last nteal of the day. 

 Tf I take any thing else with my apples it 

 seems to reqtiire an additional efTort for my 

 digestive apparatus. I do not sleep as well, 

 antl I do not feel as bright and full of vigor 

 in the morning when I lirst get up. Now, 

 if it shotdd turn out with you as well as 

 myself that ai)i)les, e\ en at a nickel apiece, 

 are cheaper than doctors' bills or " stufT 

 you get in bottles," at the drugstore, don't 

 you believe you had better follow me and 

 take no other food into your stomach after 

 your noonday meal than beautiful rosy- 

 cheeked delicious apples? 



THE AUTOMOBILE AND THE FARMER. 



The Practical Farmer for May 15 has a 

 "good-roads special; " and their Experience 

 Pool has for its tojiic, "(live your experi- 

 ence with automobiles on the farm; are they 

 as expensive to maintain as horses? what 

 influence have they exerted toward better 

 roads?" I believe somebody made an esti- 

 mate that 70 ])er cent of the low-priced au- 

 tomobiles sold this i)resent year have gone 

 to farmers. .Just a short time ago, as you 

 will remember, our agricultural periodicals 

 were, a good many of thetn (the Farm Jour- 

 nal particularly), fighting the automobiles, 

 and \'ery likely they had some jiretty good 

 reasons for so doing; but since the farmer 

 has begun to use an auto, so that he can go 

 to town and run on errands without inter- 

 fering with the work of the big team that 



