I04 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



What shall we do with the class of fruit not good enough 

 to ship — the over-ripes, the slightly decayed ones, and the small 

 and imperfect, of which there will always be some? The 

 orchard man usually has enough to do in taking care of the 

 better fruit, and certainly he did have the past season. It 

 would seem that any locality that might serve as a fruit center 

 would very properly have a fully fitted establishment to make 

 use of this class of fruit, as well as of a better class — can the 

 best, evaporate or otherwise make use of some, and obtain the 

 juices from the remainder of the fruit. I see no other way 

 that seems practicable of making use of the orchard wastes. 



I have alwa3's held that it was wise policy for the peach 

 grower, as much as possible, to isolate his orchard in order 

 that slackness of management on the part of would-be neigh- 

 bors might not prove a source of annoyance and loss to him, 

 but I am ready to admit that under present market conditions, 

 a large quantity of fruit in the locality convenient for shipment 

 from a certain point is an advantage, for when it becomes 

 known that good fruit in abundance can be had, buyers and 

 receivers will fairly hustle one another to get it. 



The fact should not be lost sight of that, at the present time, 

 the fruit from an orchard of medium size can be disposed of 

 more readily in a locality where the business is well established 

 than it can in a position where improved shipping facilities 

 cannot be taken advantage of, and the place is not readily 

 reached by prospective buyers. 



No doubt we all desire to produce fruit that will class as 

 "best" — there is more pleasure in it and it is more profitable. 

 One very important quality such fruit should possess, is color 

 that is attractive. I believe that is the most important quality 

 to work for ; then texture and size. From some experiments 

 made in the past, and from noting conditions surrounding cer- 

 tain individual trees, I am inclined to believe that mulching 

 sufficiently to keep down vegetable growth and retain moisture, 

 will tend to give better color ; that a tree that is growing very 

 fast, either from the efifect of very persistent thorough tillage, 

 or the effect of heavy applications of fertilizer, will tend to be 

 deficient in color. There is no doubt that soil has very much 

 to do with fruit color, and applying either of the above men- 

 tioned, or the lack of so doing, might seem to be negative in 



