REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFERENCE. 



75 



the country still stick to their pots. I do not mean earthenware, 

 but wicker, which hold from five to seven pecks each ; but 

 invariably they sell by weight, and this, I think, is the fairest 

 way, as anyone can compute the value of a ton of apples. Before 

 apples are hand-picked for storing they should be ripe, that is to 

 say, the kernels should be brown and somewhat loose in their 

 cells. The fruit, moreover, should be perfectly dry and free from 

 spot or blemish, as one black sheep soon demoralises the flock. 

 Once put away, the less they are turned or handled the better, 

 especially when sweating or during frosty weather. 



If the store-room is fitted with lath shelves, the choice varie- 

 ties should be placed one, or at most two layers, thick, but late 

 sorts grown in great quantities may be laid upon dry floors 

 in greater bulk. They may be stored also in dry flour-barrels, 

 which should be labelled and put aw^ay in a low even temperature 

 for the winter. Good aristocratic store-rooms are rather expen- 

 sive ; but a cutting driven into a dry bank and covered with 

 thatch, with double doors at one end, will make a store equal to 

 the best and most elaborate in the kingdom. Eesinous wood 

 should never be used in the manufacture of shelves. Neither 

 should hay or straw be admitted within the walls, as all these 

 materials impart a disagreeable flavour. Dry fern, on the other 

 hand, may be used for covering purposes, but very little of this 

 will suffice where frost, and, more especially, heat-proof stores are 

 properly constructed. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Clarke considered a little practice worth a great deal of 

 theory, and the best planters always planted early apples so as 

 to gather from the trees and take them straight off to market. 

 Planting late sorts involved a considerable outlay in sorting and 

 storing. He once grew a hundred bushels of Wellingtons, and 

 half of them went rotten before it was time to take them to 

 market. 



SELECTION OF APPLES AND PEAES FOR SCOTLAND. 



By Mr. Malcolm Dunn, F.R.H.S., The Palace Gardens, 

 Dalkeith, Midlothian. 



In drawing up the following lists of the best apples and pears 

 for growing in Scotland, for the National Conference, I have 

 aimed at selecting those varieties which are of a hardy and 

 vigorous constitution, free-bearing, and large-sized fruit of their 

 respective kinds, and particularly varieties that are generally 

 found doing well wherever they are grown throughout the country. 

 Generally speaking, the best dessert apples are of rather a 



