J 04 FRUIT-GROWING 



was. It required no small amount of persuasion 

 to induce these old time "fruit men" to part 

 with half of their crop in return for the care I 

 proposed to give the trees. Most of them 

 granted that their crops had been falling off in 

 quantity and quality pretty regularly for a 

 good many years, but they nearly all claimed 

 that the trees "still produced enough for me 

 and the old woman." However, in nearly every 

 case we managed to convert the owner and 

 after the first conversion their faith grew 

 strong with the advance of the season for they 

 saw upon their trees such crops as they had 

 never had before. 



There are still unsprayed orchards in the 

 country, not only in my state but in every state 

 where apples are grown. There are, however, 

 comparatively few owners but will admit that 

 spraying is a necessary measure if one is to 

 grow fruit. Where that step is neglected you 

 will usually find the owner one who is busy with 

 other crops. With him apples are a secondary 

 consideration to be accepted as a gift of the 

 gods if it is a good fruit year or to be bought 

 from some commercial grower if the season is 

 unfavorable. No commercial grower would 

 think of trying to produce a crop of apples 

 without spraying any more than he would at- 

 tempt to mix concrete without cement. Many of 

 these commercial growers, however, spray in a 



