iyii. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
1101 
THE ROCHESTER, N. Y., APPLE SHOW OF 
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
Another attempt has been made to bring producer 
and consumer together, this time by the Chamber of 
Commerce of Rochester, N. Y. Early in November 
they announced a “Genesee Fruits Dinner.” “This 
dinner,” to quote from the circulars, “will be devoted 
to the exploitation of the magnificent fruits grown in 
this section, especially apples. This country is classed 
as the richest agricultural section in New York State. 
* * * Your committee feels that it is time the im¬ 
portance of Genesee fruit was known to Rochester 
men. The important growers of this section will be 
present.” 
At the same time letters were sent to fruit growers 
within 40 miles of Rochester, asking them to exhibit 
plates, boxes or baskets of their choicest fruit in 
several varieties, saying: “The Chamber of Com¬ 
merce has a keen interest in the dissemination of 
intelligent information regarding the fruit industry in 
this section and the spreading of valuable publicity 
regarding the high quality of fruit and the promotion 
of its use. You can do much for this cause in which 
you and we are jointly interested by a prompt re¬ 
sponse.” 
As a result an apple show was held in the Chamber 
of Commerce rooms for three days preceding the 
dinner. The rooms were beautifully decorated, tea 
and apples were served to the ladies, apple pie, apple 
jelly and baked apples were exhibited with the fresh 
fruit. The fruit was arranged on plates, in boxes 
and even barrels, with the grower’s name and address, 
the variety of fruit, keeping quality and special use. 
The public were interested, over 1,400 attending on 
one day. Apples could be ordered direct from the 
grower. 
The object of the show was to bring producer and 
consumer together. A year ago the agitation started. 
At that time Western box apples were prominently 
displayed in grocery windows, Western New York 
apples ignominiously heaped in dirty piles in the rear 
of the store. Why ? the people began to ask. The 
automobile has an educative value. The citizens of 
Rochester began to realize that they were living in 
the midst of a country which furnished ammunition 
What will be the result? 
Will the consumer have sufficient confidence in these 
newly met farmers to trust them to ship an honest 
barrel of apples? The “honest farmer” has long been 
a byword amongst city folks. Well, so has the 
“honest lawyer.” Admitted there are dishonest men 
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD WEALTHY. Fig. 480. 
in the country. But consider. A fruit grower 
spends several years in raising an orchard to bearing 
age. He spends nine months in raising a crop. His 
business is necessarily a continuous one, which forces 
him to plan far into the future. 
-. . ... -.- r .... v ..... --... Will he imperil this 
for the great American dessert—pie; that within an future for one season’s dishonest sales? Far from it f 
hour’s ride of the city the growers 
raised the rosy Spitzenburgs they had 
eaten when boys on the farm, the Seek- 
no-further which had added a last touch 
to the school dinner basket, the Green¬ 
ing, Northern Spy and King. They 
could see on their pleasure trips along 
country roads in the Autumn young 
orchards of Wealthy, McIntosh and 
Jonathan, the fruit of which rivalled 
that of the West in color, and as they 
occasionally ascertained, far surpassed 
it in flavor. Yet when the snow came 
and, with visions of this fine fruit, they 
visited the groceries, no trace of it was 
to be found. As one Rochester man 
said, he was offered instead “apples 
from Oregon, from Washington and 
from Michigan at prices ranging from 
five cents each to three for a quarter, 
like cigars. Yet we are living in one 
of the greatest apple regions of the 
world, and Rochester merchants say 
they are compelled to offer us fruit 
from three thousand miles away.” 
As a result perhaps of inquiry and of 
discontent the Chamber of Commerce 
made this effort honestly and backed by 
intelligent enthusiasm to give the peo¬ 
ple what they want, to bring them in 
contact with the men who raise the 
fruit. At the “Genesee Fruits Dinner” 
following the apple show and attended 
by about four hundred, the Chamber of 
Commerce, as host, introduced pro¬ 
ducer and consumer. They extended 
their hospitality with the sincere and 
honest hope that such acquaintance 
would benefit all concerned. Commis¬ 
sioner Pearson in a telling address de¬ 
fined the situation and suggested reme¬ 
dies therefor, one of which was a 
trademark. He said: “Instead of let¬ 
ting your fruit be absorbed into the 
great world’s markets unlabeled and 
unknown, or marked by so many different names that 
no one can remember them, why not have one trade¬ 
mark for the whole Genesee fruits country, which will 
be used only on the best ? Let a responsible organiza¬ 
tion stand behind this and protect it, so that it will 
be as well-known as ‘Rochester made means quality.’ ” 
PROFITABLE EASTERN APPLE ORCHARD. Fig. 487. 
THE OLD METHOD OF HIGH-HEADED TREES. Fig. 488 
The brand on his apple barrels is his trademark, 
which must stand for an honest pack. This brand 
must become established in order to bring him success. 
It is not always fair to blame the fruit grower for 
the small apples in the middle of the barrel. The 
public must remember that a very large percentage 
of fruit is purchased by the dealer and repacked ac¬ 
cording to his own ideas. 
On the other side is the exhibitor. Has he fruit to 
sell—such fruit as he exploited at the apple show? 
Did he raise it himself? Can he ship it in the original 
package and guarantee his pack? Among the 30 or 
more exhibitors the names of middlemen and fruit 
companies were much in evidence. This is the time 
for fair play. It is not fair to try to deceive a credu¬ 
lous and, as we hope, an apple-eating public by ad¬ 
vertising in the morning papers as “apples with that 
real York State flavor” the Ben Davis and his equally 
insolent and handsome brother, the Gano, and at 
almost prohibitive prices—$2.10 and $2.35 per box. 
This was not done by a grower. Some of us know 
that these varieties are good—to look at. But the 
man who sends them home for his family to eat must 
himself expect to dine at his club. 
The public is aroused not only in Rochester but in 
the cities and towns both east and west. We hear 
echoes from Panama and from Alaska. A firm in 
Gloucester stands ready to ship sea foods direct to the 
consumer. There is talk of grocery stores combining 
to buy farm produce in car lots. Is the farmer alive 
to the situation, ready to take advantage of this op¬ 
portunity? Does the country produce keen, alert, 
business men or only that type of downtrodden 
drudge, “the man with the hoe?” Perhaps the test 
has come. ___________ F. C. 
WAYNE COUNTY, N. Y., APPLE TREES. 
The picture on this page shows trees at the Shore 
Acres farm of W. W. Cornwall. The single tree is 
a five-year-old Wealthy, showing the characteristic 
head and the way the fruit is bunched. This tree is 
one of 500 which in this season of 1911 produced 
375 barrels of apples. The shape and habit of 
Wealthy makes it of special value as a “filler” 
wherever the fruit can be sold to advantage. 
Fig. 488 shows the old-style manner of trimming 
apple trees with the heads high in the air. There are 
many left in this shape. We have them over 60 feet 
high. The picture shows the fearful loss in case of 
high winds. The apples fall from these high heads 
so far that they are badly bruised or split. We were 
in Grant Hitchings’ orchard last Fall. The trees arg 
headed low and the ground has a thick mulch of 
sod. When the apples fall they are no 
more hurt than an egg dropped in a nest. 
Fig. 487 shows the modern method of 
handling apple trees in Eastern orchards. 
This includes low heading, thorough cul-' 
tivation and spraying. They used 4,000 
gallons in five applications. The fer¬ 
tilizer was 4,500 pounds of a mixture 
of three parts bone meal and one part 
potash. You will notice the low-down 
healthy appearance of the trees. This 
low head also gives protection from 
high winds. In this orchard of 35-year 
Baldwins and Greenings 5}4 acres pro¬ 
duced, in 1911, 1,448 barrels packed in 
three grades and 533 bushels of drops 
and culls. 
CORN TROUBLES. 
The picture, Fig. 485, shows three 
ears of corn affected with mold, a small 
amount of which occurs each year, but 
more prevalent and occasioning much 
loss when the weather is very damp and 
warm in early September. Our weather 
this year at corn maturing time was 
particularly wet and hot, and the result 
to some of the corn is shown herewith. 
Most of the injury occurred before the 
corn was cut, and the damage ranges 
from five to 25 per cent, the least in¬ 
jury occurring in the early fields, while 
the late planted fields suffered the 
greater injury. The corn molds and 
ear rots are fungus diseases capable of 
being spread in various ways, and will 
live over from year to year, to menace 
each succeeding crop and especially 
when conditions suit. Rotation of the 
cornfields and the burning of infected 
ears will tend to reduce the trouble to a 
minimum. The ear rots and moulds are 
largely responsible for the high level of 
corn prices in the corn belt States to-day. 
Ohio. W. E. DUCK WALL. 
R. N.-Y.—The Ohio Experiment Station at Woos¬ 
ter has issued a leaflet on these diseases. The dry rot 
of corn is now under suspicion as a possible cause of 
pellagra, a disease of humans, long prevalent in 
some parts of Europe, and now appearing in this 
country. 
