Tenth Annual Meeting 185 



that the thinning increases the size of the apples without any 

 doubt. 



"Now just two or three more points. In our commercial 

 orchard that we planted I struck another idea that is coming 

 out this fall, and which I shall act on hereafter, and that is 

 this: why not grow our apple orchards on the plan I have 

 laid out ? What is the use of our buying trees two or three 

 years old and then fooling with them all summer, and then 

 begin to get some results ? Why not grow the trees and put 

 them into the orchard ? I wanted some Ben Davis. In our 

 nursery I had been very careless about the Ben Davis. But 

 I wanted some, and in running over stock I happened to run 

 into those that I showed you, four years old when I bought 

 them. We had grown them three years. It occurred to me 

 at that time to use them. I went into them in a pretty 

 thorough manner, and cut out the tops pretty thoroughly. 

 This spring when I set that orchard there were twenty of 

 them. They made a good big cartload for one horse;. I 

 thought if I could get those Ben Davis there in a row, and 

 I thought if they lived through the summer, I should be per- 

 fectly satisfied. I did not ask them to do any growing. I 

 had some three-year-old trees, and I had some four-year-olds, 

 and I had these that were practically new trees, and I am 

 blessed if they didn't make a better growth than the others. 

 If a few of them had died I should not have been surprised. 

 The point I want to make is this: why can't we buy our 

 nursery stock two, three or four years old, and plant it in 

 rows and keep it there ? I believe that is a practical idea. 

 The point is this, however: you must get them on your own 

 land. You cannot afford to ship those trees twenty rods off 

 from your farm. You can make more money by taking them 

 just as you can get them, but you can't afford to go very far 

 away for them. Their moving won't cost such a lot. I 

 believe that those will come into bearing in a short time, and 

 you will be a good deal the gainer by it. They will be just 

 what a man wants. 



"Last year I think I talked a little to the Society about 

 some of the nice cions on stock we have started there. I 

 have a red Canada apple growing. I have it growing on 



