68 FIELD NOTES ON APPLE CULTURE. 
acre of trees equally prolific and profitable would be 
worth.” 
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 $3. 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. During 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 poor 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 
