OVER-PRODUCTION OF APPLES. 45 



the whole tree, because a single sprout, coming up from the 

 bottom, above where it was budded, is worth more than a 

 whole top which has been exposed until it has become dry. 

 What I want to buy is, simply the roots, in perfection. I 

 can make a top very fast, and just as I want it, whereas, the 

 Western nurserymen do not make it as I want it. So much 

 for that question. 



Something has been said by Mr. Strong about the crop of 

 apples. The difficulty is, it seems to me, that poor apples 

 are too easily raised. There is the whole difficulty. It is 

 too easy to raise apples to make them valuable. There is an 

 over-production of apples, and the result is just the same as 

 it would be in the case of anything else. Suppose we should 

 make ten times as many shoes as the community can wear, 

 have we any right to find fault with the shoes because we 

 cannot sell them at a profit? If we produce more apples 

 than the community can consume, by eating and cooking, we 

 have no right to find fault with the apples if we cannot find a 

 market for them. We can and must produce something 

 else. 



Now, there is no doubt that by cultivating our apples we 

 can make them much more valuable, and those people who 

 do will find their account in it. The Messrs. Clapp of Dor- 

 chester have practised that system for some years, and I have 

 no doubt it pays. I have no doubt it will pay anybody. I 

 know it pays with pears. The custom is with some growers 

 to throw out one-half or two-thirds of the crop. The Bartlett 

 will bear thinning just as much as the Baldwin. There are 

 certain varieties of apple which ought to be thinned ; for 

 instance, the Gravenstein. It is a very valuable apple, and 

 yet I would not recommend farmers to go into it. Poor 

 Gravensteins are just as poor as poor Baldwins ; it is only 

 the finest that pay. I have had Gravensteins this year that 

 were sold in the market for five dollars a barrel, right by the 

 side of other apples that could scarcely be given away. 

 Those were very handsome, very large, and perfect. If we 

 should all go to growing Gravenstein apples (I have no fears 

 that we shall), it would probably reduce the price of that 

 variety as low as the Baldwins. But the Gravenstein will 

 not grow without care. If you should neglect it as you do 



