COST OF PRODUCING APPLES WESTERN NEW YORK. 23 



5 to 20 barrels and often more, the amount of labor necessary to do 

 thorough thinning is obvious. The average grower removes a con- 

 siderable amount of overabundant and aphid apples and depends 

 upon props to hold up the remaining crop and keep the limbs from 

 breaking. In the case of the younger bearing orchards thinning is 

 more common than with the old orchards, the trees being smaller 

 and the labor difficulties not so great. 



Thinning does not seem to affect the quantity or regularity of 

 apple production, although where trees bear well the fruit remaining 

 on trees may be thus increased in size and color. 



Probably, if other farm work did not interfere, more thinning 

 would be done ; however, only 19 per cent of the growers considered 

 in this investigation followed this practice. The actual cost was 

 $4.63 per acre or $0.05 per marketable barrel. The labor required 

 for this work was 23 hours per acre. 



PROPPING. 



Propping is governed to a great extent by the amount and method 

 of pruning, by the size of the apple crop, and the thoroughness with 

 which thinning is done. Propping is a more common practice than 

 thinning among the growers throughout western New York, being 

 reported by little over 50 per cent of the men considered in this study. 



Board props 1 by 2 or 1 by 3 inches and of lengths varying from 

 8 to 15 feet are very often used. It is not uncommon to see rails 

 formerly used in an old-fashioned worm fence serving as first-class 

 props. The actual cost for this operation was about $1.40 per acre, 

 or 4 cents per tree. 



SPRAYING. 



Spraying was introduced into New York State about 1890, just 

 after apple scab and insect pests became so prevalent in western New 

 York that it looked as if the apple business were doomed. Bor- 

 deaux mixture was the fungicide first used and Paris green the 

 insecticide. About 1900 lime-sulphur began to replace the Bor- 

 deaux mixture. Up to this time Bordeaux had caused considerable 

 damage at different times by russeting the fruit. With the intro- 

 duction of lime-sulphur this, to a great extent, was eliminated, 

 though under certain weather conditions a heavy application of lime- 

 sulphur, either commercial or homemade, is more or less dangerous. 

 Bordeaux mixture, either the Bordeaux paste or similar mixtures 

 containing a different percentage of' copper sulphate, and sold under 

 trade names, is still used by a few growers. Lead arsenate, both in 

 paste and powder, is used as an insecticide. Tobacco extract has 

 been used and is gaining favor among the growers because of its 

 success in the control of sucking insects. 



