16 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 223 



they are not well equipped to spray. Merrimack County has only 12 

 per cent, the reduced proportion being undoubtedly due to the very 

 strong preference for Baldwin in that territory. 



While there are less than half as many Mcintosh trees as of Baldwin 

 and the crop harvested in 1924 was less than 10 per cent of the total, 

 a glance at Fig. 4 indicates that in recent j^ears tlie Mcintosh has been 

 gaining rapidly. There are more than seven-eighths as many Mcintosh 

 trees under 15 years of age as there are Baldwins. There are more than 

 14 times as many Baldwins as Mcintosh over 15 years of age. During 

 the period between 1920 and 1925, only 10 per cent more Baldwins than 

 Mclnto.sh were planted. 



The popularit}^ of the Mcintosh is due to many factors. It is rel- 

 atively hardy and bears large regular crops at an early age. Only 45 

 per cent of the trees are recorded as non-bearing, although 61 jier cent 

 are imder 10 years of age. Its fine dessert quality has created an active 

 and growing demand in the market. While production of Mcintosh 

 has increased with great rapidity in recent years, its popularity with 

 the buying public has made demand keep pace with supply. 



New Hampshire growers have been conservative, and man.y have 

 felt that production of even this fall variety with a limited storage 

 period might be overdone. Some at first did not pick and handle it 

 with sufficient care. However, within the past five years methods of 

 picking, packing and handling the Mcintosh have so improved that at 

 the present time with prompt storage it is kept on the markets \m1il 

 March or even April. Now an increasing competition between the 

 Mcintosh and Baldwin is being felt. The buying public prefers the 

 Mcintosh as long as tlie.y can get it with the result that the stocks of 

 Baldwins cannot bo placed on the market as early in the season as was 

 furmerly the case. 



Fear of the scab disease undoubtedly restricted planting of Mcintosh 

 at certain times. For a period i)rior to 1920 when the infection had 

 gained a foothold in the orchards, some growers were nearly discouraged 

 and even thought of grafting the trees to other sorts. With the devel- 

 opment of better spraying methods the disease has been fully con- 

 trolled and is no longer feared by the up-to-date grower. 



The gradual appreciation of these facts has resulted in a growing 

 confidence in this variet.y. An interesting side-light on the changing 

 opinion as regards Mcintosh may be gained from the proportion planted 

 as fillers in recent as compared to former years. Ordinarily, because 

 the fillers are removed at from 15 to 25 years of age, the bearing trees 

 of any variety consist more largely of permanents than do the non- 

 bearing. Thus with Wealthy, for instance, about 30 per cent of the 

 bearing and 50 per cent of the non-bearing trees are fillers. With Mc- 

 intosh 13 per cent of the bearing and slightly less than 10 per cent of 



the non-bearing trees are fillers. This simply indicates that growers 



who formerly planted the Mcintosh for a filler are now setting it for a 



permanent tree. In the total of all fall varieties there is about 16 per 



