ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. I79 



164 bushels. Then following, in the years 1900 and 1901 there 

 were still larger crops than followed the year 1896; that is, com- 

 paring the two crops following 1896, which was the largest up 

 to that time, with the two crops following 1899, and the figures 

 show that there were nearly 150 barrels more produced, follow- 

 ing the large crop of 1899, than there w'ere for the two years 

 follow'ing the crop of 1896. After the large production of 1899, 

 it was followed by a larger production by 150 barrels over 

 the two years following 1896. And right in there may come 

 an interesting question on the subject of thinning. Beginning 

 in 1898, it became necessary to take off some of the fruit in 

 order to get reasonably fair-sized apples. Perhaps that has 

 had something to do with the increased annual crop since 1898, 

 for it does show a high percentage of increase over the period 

 when just simple spraying was practiced, and no thinning 

 attempted. Now take the seven years up to 1894 and the 

 seven years since 1894, and we find that the increase in the 

 seven years following 1894, as compared with the seven years 

 up to 1894, is actually 670 barrels over the production of the 

 earlier period, and owing, it must be, to better spraying, some- 

 thing to better fertilization, and also to thinning. The figures 

 show it was due to something anyway, but whether it was due 

 to one thing more than to another of course cannot be told. 

 I am carrying on the records, and some time in the future 

 they may show something more of a change than they do 

 now, but the figures do show that under this practice there 

 is an increased production of fruit. Of course a tree may 

 grow a little more, and in comparing the seven years back 

 of 1894 with the seven years this side of it, there may be a 

 slight change in the productive area of the tree, but that would 

 have nothing to do with the marked increase in productiveness 

 of the later period -over the earlier one. 



Mr. Sternberg: I think there is one thing we should do 

 before we close, and it is a very important one. We all agree 

 that this Society has been very prosperous, and we must 

 acknowledge that we owe a great deal to the efforts of Secretary 

 Miles. We are heaping more w^ork on him every year, and I 

 think it is only in fairness that we should increase his salary by 

 a small amount. I beg to offer a resolution that we raise the 

 salary of the Secretary to $100 for the ensuing year. 



