38 



crop and develop fruit buds for the next year ; but if one will follow 

 this lip for two or three years, I see no reason wliy the bearing years 

 of any tree cannot be clianged. 



Tlier«i are instances where trees have liad their blossoms picked off 

 for a single year ; this caused them to bear tlie next year, but in some 

 cases tliey gradually worked back to their regular bearing years, iu 

 others they bore moderate crops every year. If these trees had been 

 made to fix their bearing the odd year by pickinir off the blossoms for 

 one or two years more, they would, in all piobability, have remained 

 permanently changed. Quite an intei'esting case of the bearing year 

 of a large apple orchard being changed, and permanently changed in 

 a single year, happened not far from Worcester. The year referred 

 to was the bearing year ; the trees blossomed full, but the canker 

 worms were abundant that year and all the fruit-growers iu the 

 vicinity, with the exception of the one rcfui-rcd too, kept the worms 

 from injuring their trees by putting printer's ink around them; this 

 man put nothing on his trees so that the worms had full play. The 

 consequence was he had no f:Miit tiiat year, while his neighbors had 

 an abundance ; the next year he put ink on his trees, and kept the 

 canker worm down ; the trees produced a large crop of fruit and have 

 borne the odd year ever since. 



Apples when first gathered should not be placed in the cellar imme- 

 diately, but kept in as cool a place as possible and not freeze ; they- 

 can be put iu barrels, in heaps under the trees, or if one has the 

 room, in a building that can be well ventilated. Spread on the 

 floor from one foot to a foot and a half in thickness ; here they should 

 be allowed to remain until they have done sweating, when they should 

 be barreled and kept cool until freezing weather approaches. The 

 barrels should now be headed up, taking care not to (ill so full that 

 one will be obliged to press down to put the head in, as it will bruise 

 the top layer and cause them to decay so that they will be worthless 

 when opened in the winter to be re-packed for the market. Put iu a 

 cool, dry cellar ; the nearer apples can be kept to freezing and not 

 freeze the better they will keep. Apples should never be wiped when 

 barreling them for winter, as it rubs off the oily coating with which 

 they are covered, that prevents and keeps them from withering. If 

 the fruit is wet it should be exposed to the sun or wind until dry 

 before barreling. Of the insects which prey upon our apple trees, 

 and there are many, some of which do a great amount of damage, 



