60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



to overgrow. I know a few men who grow the King and make 

 it bear very liberally every year, and they are great believers 

 in it ; but for the most part they are located on light, sandy 

 soil, where it does not overgrow. 



Question. Is there any way to make the Williams fit to 

 eat, and not woody and full of brown chunks ? We have tried 

 spraying with different formulas, but it may be that the tree 

 will not bear good fruit. 



Professor Sears. I usually find the trouble is with the 

 man, and not with the tree. Usually, if the tree is properly 

 fertilized and sprayed, say with arsenate of lead and Bor- 

 deaux mixture, it will do well. We have given up the Bor- 

 deaux mixture at the college, because we found, on such varie- 

 ties as the Mackintosh Red and the Wealthy, and even the 

 old Ben Davis, that the apples rusted when we used Bor- 

 deaux; and we intend to use lime and sulphur, or something 

 of that sort. 



The Chairman. We would like to hear from Professor 

 Rane. 



Prof. F. Wm. Rane. I have been exceedingly interested in 

 this subject to-night, because it brings me right back where 

 I used to be. This question of varieties is one of the biggest 

 I ever tackled. I have done a great deal of work making out 

 lists for other people, and I do not feel any surer about it 

 to-night than I ever did. There are so many varieties of 

 apples, and they all have their good points. The flavor of the 

 Baldwin never appealed to me, and I have tried to find some- 

 thing to take its place, but the more I looked into it the more 

 I got back to the old Baldwin. The IvTorthern Spy is another 

 that I think a great deal of. People ask what varieties of 

 forest trees to plant. We plant the white pine, because it is 

 easily grown. They ask what is to be the more valuable in the 

 future. We do not know. But the Baldwin is always pretty 

 sure to win. It is the biggest money-producer we have had, 

 with no care whatsoever. Some towns put in 5,000 barrels 

 of Baldwins every other year, that have not been sprayed, 

 fertilized or taken any care of. That shows what they will do 

 without care. We have sometimes found, in S2)raying as a pre- 

 ventive against the gypsy moth, that one or two trees that were 



