68 FIELD XOTES OX APPLE CULTURE. 



acre of trees equally prolific and profitable would be 

 -vorth." 



In the present season (1884) of cheap fruits even good 

 fall apples, packed in the ordinary careless manner, have 

 brought remunerative prices. Hubbardstons have sold 

 in the Boston markets on an average of $1.50 a barrel net, 

 and Gravensteins have brought from $2 to 13. It is still 

 an open question how to bring the producer and the con- 

 sumer closer together. Most consumers are willing to 

 pay good prices for good fruit, no matter how great may 

 be the supply of inferior fruit. Daring the season of 

 1884 Hubbardston apples have retailed rapidly for $1 to 

 $1.50 per bushel, when the grower received $1.50 per 

 barrel for them, and the best Gravensteins have sold all 

 along for $1.75 to $2.75 and upwards per bushel. The 

 dealer, with less risk, makes a greater profit than the 

 grower. 



In years like this prices are injured by the great quan- 

 tities of jjoor fruit put upon the market. It is time for 

 growers to understand that there are other ways of dis- 

 posing of apples advantageously than by lumping them 

 all off to the Boston, New York or Chicago market as 

 soon as they are picked. The markets of inland towns 

 are often more satisfactory for limited quantities than are 

 those of the great cities. It is safer to ship only the 

 best grade of green fruit and to make other grades into 

 cider, vinegar or jellies, or to evaporate them. The ad- 

 vent of evaporators has opened a new source of profit to 

 fruit growers. One bushel of apples will yield from four 

 to eight pounds of evaporated fruit, such as sold in job- 

 bing lots in our market all last winter for twelve and 



