30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



this yviw, a« lliey were I'iper lliaii usual when picked, and 

 therefore will not keej) so lung. U'lie keeping quality of the 

 fruit of dill'erent seasons varies widely. The condition of 

 the cellar or other storage place has a great deal to do with 

 it also. 



]\lr. WiLDEK. It is my impression that one trouble about 

 kcei)ing comes from the fact that apples do not receive suffi- 

 ciejit care to be of as high standard as they were twenty years 

 ago. Twenty years ago we could get very good apples wathont 

 spraying; ]iow it is necessary to spray often, and otherwise 

 improve on the care given the orchard, if we are to have the 

 same degree of perfection. This needed care is not given in 

 many eases, and I think this affects the keeping qualities of 

 the fruit. 



Mr. JonA" J. Erwin. I think that one trouble comes from 

 the fact that w'e live a good deal more comfortably than twenty 

 years ago, with furnaces in most houses, so that the cellars 

 are not as cool as they were. I cannot keep ap})les in my 

 cellar over a month. 



]\Ir. Wilder. For a ])articular instance of this I know of 

 a grower who used to keep Roxbury Russets away into the 

 next summer, in open storage. lie found that he could not 

 keep them in his house cellar, but that they would keep as 

 well as ever in his barn cellar, wdiere there was no heat. 



Secretary Eni-swoRTn. Last year one reason Avhy l^aldwin 

 apples did not keep well was that they w^ere in such demand 

 that they were sold at good prices much earlier than usual. 

 Prices in the fall were from $2.50 to $3.50 ]ier barrel, but 

 dui-ing the winter they went u}) to $5, $G, $7 ami -t^^. and at 

 the very last of the year sold as high as $0 ])er barrel. The 

 prices received speak ])retty Avell for our Xew England apples. 

 I want to ask l\h: Wilder if it is not a fact that through Barre, 

 ITardwick, Xew Eraintrce and West Brookfield, and llic ad- 

 joining towns, we have a naturally fertile soil, where almost 

 any crops can be grown, especially grass, corn and apples, 

 which seem to go together ? 



^Ir. Wii.DKR. That is unquestionably the fact. I drove 

 through this section last summer and was much iui]u-essed 



