64 1^I-IE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



each year, care having" been taken that no branches have 

 crossed, that no bad crotches have formed that will weaken 

 the trees under a load of fruit, and, above all, the middle of 

 the trees should be kept open so as to allow the sun and air 

 to enter and color up the frtiit and keep it dry, thus preventing 

 to a great extent damaging fungous troubles. There is a good 

 deal in that, and there is a great deal of difference in w'hat 

 apple trees do among the different varieties of apples, regard- 

 less of differing treatment, too. There is a great difference 

 among varieties in regard to the results that you get from 

 them in the way that you treat the trees. With an open 

 headed tree there is much less trouble in thoroughly spraying 

 every part of the tree and every apple thereon, which should 

 be carefully and repeatedly done during the growing season. 

 That is particularly the case with the Northern Spy and some 

 kindred varieties that produce such rank growth of wood. It 

 is absolutely necessary that the tops of such trees as that be 

 opened up in order to secure anything like a successful color- 

 ing of the crop. The Northern Spy grows very thick, and 

 produces a tremendous amount of wood, and, unless the 

 branches are thinned out, so that the sun can get in, your fruit 

 will be lacking in color, and will be lacking in those qualities 

 which make it such a favorite among the buyers of good fruit, 

 when it is raised to perfection. Those who have examined 

 fruit from the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast States 

 remark on the wax-like color and texture of the skin, and 

 attribute it to the peculiar nature of the climatic conditions 

 there. When we learn that the successful apple growers in 

 that region spray before the fruit buds open, and then just 

 after the petals drop and every ten days thereafter, until it is 

 nearly time to pick the fruit, we may understand why their 

 fruit is so choice, and this is the fruit that sells for two and 

 three dollars for a forty-pound box; on the cars at their rail- 

 road stations. Eternal vigilance is surely the price of success 

 in growing choice apples. Whether we cultivate our orchards 

 after they come in bearing, or mtdch them, we must give them 

 the verv' best possible care, and we must spray. Experience has 

 proven that it is the spraying that does the business every 



