142 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Q. What are the indications when apple scab is present ? 



Mr. Platt : Apple scab shows first on the leaves; they 

 look smutty, and there is a light streak along the rib. 

 This disease causes more injur}^ to apples in Connecticut 

 than any other. 



Q. When is the time to pick apples in this section ? 



Mr. Merriam : Apples should be picked as soon after 

 they are ripe as possible ; do not pick when green. I had 

 an experience of this kind and found that those picked 

 when not ripe enough did not keep so well as those well 

 colored. 



After this discussion, the apple topic, so important to 

 Connecticut farmers and fruit growers, was well handled 

 in the following address : 



SOME IMPORTANT POINTS IN THE CULTURE OF 

 CHOICE APPLES 



BY PROF. A. G. GULLEY 



I think but few realize the value of the apple crop in this state. A 

 great deal is said and written about the other fruits, but not much 

 about this one. While no figures can be obtained, as Connecticut is 

 not given to agricultural statistics, I venture to say that if the total 

 value of the stone fruits, the small fruits and the other seed fruits 

 grown in the state for any series of five years, could be compared with 

 that of the apples grown in the state for the same time, the value of 

 the latter would be the greatest. This result is obtained, too, with very 

 little effort on the part of the grower, while much time and expense is 

 given to produce crops of the others. 



If one considers the possibilities of the apple crop, in relation to 

 the places where it can be grown and the much greater certainty of 

 producing apple crops as compared with that of producing the other 

 fruits, then the apple is very far ahead. 



One other point, not often considered in connection with apples, is 

 that the market seeks the grower, and not the reverse, as is usually the 

 case with most other fruits. The grower who can say he has a car- 

 load of Baldwins or any other good market variety, or even of mixed 

 %'arieties, need seldom leave his farm for a buyer. 



With all these advantages it is still true that in Connecticut there 

 are few well cared for, young orchards, and I might add that most old 

 ones give but little evidence that their owners call them valuable. This 

 neglect probably began with the decline of agriculture in New England, 

 and, at first, did not show in the products of orchards. They then 

 gradually failed till they did not seem profitable; perhaps they were 

 not, but even yet they produce a crop of great total value, but not of 



