212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



most interested. When we consider that it takes no longer 

 to harvest the good apple than the poor one, and that one 

 established fact is that the market is seldom overstocked 

 with the best, it proves that the poor stock is what suffers 

 from the over-supplj'. This lesson we have learned by many 

 years of practical experience. 



In this connection, it is a sad commentary on the apple 

 product of Massachusetts that it has a very low standard in 

 the markets, and shippers sometimes call their produce New 

 Hampshire grown, to secure better prices. We have seen 

 quotations from foreign markets where Baldwin apples, best 

 quality, from Massachusetts, were rated at less than the 

 second quality of the same varietj^ from Maine ; in fact, 

 prices for Massachusetts apples rule from one shilling to four 

 shillings less per barrel on the average than those from other 

 States. There are fortunately some exceptions to this rule, 

 to prove what can be done in Massachusetts ; a few growers 

 who take proper care of their trees produce the very best 

 fruit, which commands the highest price in the Boston 

 market. 



There have been shipped during the past season to Eng- 

 land, France, Germany, etc., over 2,500,000 barrels of apples 

 from all ports ; of this number, 1)31, 8(53 barrels were shipped 

 from Boston, though not all gi'own in Massachusetts, as 

 Maine, Xew Hampshire and Vermont supplied a part. 



Now, if the next year is the so-called "apple 3^ear," with 

 a larger crop, to find a ready market the fruit must be in the 

 best condition and well put up, as the eye is the critic in 

 sales of fruit. 



Respectfully submitted, 



WILLIAM H. SPOONER, 



Chairman. 



