I20 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



You know we have been hearing from the marketmen of 

 Boston just now about the barrel as being preferred by the 

 marketmen of Boston instead of the box. There are several 

 reasons for that. You know the barrel can be rolled, and the 

 box has to be carried, and the marketmen in Boston like to 

 roll things. Then again, the box, as a New England market 

 production, is a new thing in the Boston market. Up to this 

 present year there have been very few boxes of Oregon apples 

 in the Boston market, but this year, I understand, they were 

 presented a few from some wholesale dealers in New York. 

 They have had more calls for the box of apples than ever 

 before, but they are not dealing in them very extensively. I 

 wrote to the members of the firm we are dealing with and 

 asked them a question similar to one that was asked here. I 

 said to them, *T see by the paper that the Boston market are 

 selling boxes of apples from Oregon at five dollars a box, and 

 you are giving us returns at from two to three dollars a box 

 on pur apples; how is that?" He writes back and says, "You 

 understand, every Oregon apple is perfect, and you understand 

 further that the men that are buying these boxes of Oregon 

 apples at five dollars a box, which means fifteen dollars a 

 barrel, are the class of customers that let their accounts run 

 for six months or a year before they pay, and we common 

 handlers cannot wait that time for payment." There are a 

 great many reasons wh}- the Oregon apple is sold for those 

 extreme prices, but our own apples when sold in boxes sell 

 or have been selling as high as three dollars a box, which 

 makes nine or ten dollars a barrel, there being about three and 

 one-third boxes to the barrel ; but there is lots of objection 

 to the box business. Now v/e will consider the production 

 of apples, after the tree or the orchard has become of bearing 

 age, and the first matter that I will call your attention to will 

 be the matter of pruning. We learn from the nurserymen's 

 catalogues that the standard apple tree is self-sustaining and 

 will care for itself, after it comes to the bearing age. Now 

 that statement has gone by, and never should be placed in a 

 catalogue to-day, because the apple tree when it is in the bear- 

 ing age to-day, in order to produce the best of fruit, must be 

 pruned continually until the time it is pruned the last time 

 with the axe at the bottom. Ever\' apple tree should be cared 



