84 STATK PO.AIOKOGICAL SUCIKTY. 



of the late Hon. Rol)t'it Hallowell Gardiner, one of the iiiosi zeal- 

 ous, enthusiastic and devoted poinologists in the State. 



Having adopted his practicf', I am free to say that I l)avi' l)een 

 benefitted by his ex[)erience in this direetion. Of course, rather 

 than not prune at all, I would recoinnit-nd to prune at any time when 

 the saw and knife is sharp Old trees tliat are full of suckers and 

 dead branches had Itetter be pruned in October or November lather 

 than in the spring 



DISTANCE APAKT. 



Twenty years or more of ex|)erience has not only stiengthened 

 my belief, but it has tuliy confirmed it, that thirty feet apart each 

 way is none too far foi' most varieties, and especially for Baldwin, 

 Roxbury Russet, R. I. Greening, Bellflower and Nortliern Spy. 



UKAINAGE. 



M}' experience has been that wlinre there is not natural diainage 

 sufficient, artificial drainage must be given, and that it always pays. 

 In one portion of my orchard theie is a plat of ground three-qiuir- 

 ters of an acre in extent, which in years past has been thoroughlv 

 underdrained. To look at the land you wfuild never think that once 

 it was nothing but a morass or quagmire, wiiere nothing but qnack- 

 grass, poUy-pod and mares'-tails grew, but such was the case. Now, 

 and for several years past, there has been growing upon it first-class 

 grasses and heavy cro|)s, and there is also a fine young orchard of 

 Roxbury Russets and Yellow Bellflower apple trees. Yes, drainage, 

 and especially uuderdraining, has paid me more than twenty per cent. 



STORAGE AND PACKING OF FKIIT 



My practice has b(>en to store in the cellar in barrels well headed 

 up rather than in l)ulk, but were all my conditions right I might i)re- 

 fer to store in bulk. I have learned not to put apples in heaps in 

 the orchard, never to carry them into a loft, for there they are sure 

 to rot, and that it is better to carry fruit, if possible, directly into a 

 cool, clean cellar and let them lie there undi.sturbed till packing and 

 selling time, rather than into barns, sheds or open buildings where 

 they are liable to be more or less bruised in a second handling, and 

 where they are more likely to heat and sweat. 



In packing api)les we have always taken pains to have a uniform- 

 ity of fruit throughout the barrel, consequently we have never had 



