The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-24
APPLE CULTURE
In VERMONT
some Suggestions Made to
Possible Producers
AT THE FARMERS MEETING
Speakers Urged upon Vermont the Ad-
vantage of Going into Apple Rails
ing on a Sound Basis--The
Speeches Summarized.
At THE FARMERS MEETING

Burlington, Feb 24--Interesting pa
pers were read at yesterdays meeting
Of farmers week at the university Of
Vermont. Speaking on "The farm Or
chard, Prof. NJ B. Cummings OF the
university OF Vermont said;
"The general requirements OF a farm
orchard are several. A good site and
a convenient location are preliminary
considerations. Provision should be
made for culinary and dessert use, sea-
sonal succession including liberal sup
ply for winter needs, and for team cul-
tivation and spraying so that the work
may be done at the minimum expense
Proper location is important Let
the family orchard be located conyen-
iently to the house; let the soil be deep,
we'll drained, and fairly fertile; let the
land be capable of good tillage, and
possess gentle slope eastward OF west
ward and above all select an elevrat-
ed rather than depressed area.
Select many varieties of good quail
ity and from the family favorites; have
some early, a few medium and liberal
supply for winter use culinary as well
as dessert. Plant stone fruits, pome
fruits and small fruits in quantity to
suit family needs.
"Lay ont the orchard on an oblong
area that team work may be utilized in
eutivating and spraying Long rows,
even If composed of three sorts Of fruit,
are time and strength savers. Small
fruits may be grown between rows or
in the rows OF tree fruits ii the land
is limited in extent. Aim to give the
best Of care. Cultivate the soil, prune
and spray the trees, and there will be
a crop TO harvest. Provide suitable stor-
age BY having a COOL sweet, and mod
erately dry room for fruits. Without
good storage, halt the labor of summer
goes for naught
Harvesting and Marketing Apples"
was the topic Of G. w. Perry OF Chester
Depot, and in the course of his remarks
the speaker said This fruit has gen
orally been picked carelessly, in many
eases shaken from the trees, left in
heads in the orchard then poured into
barrels or brought 10 market in bags,
often in very bad shape Now we are
beginning to understand the advantages
Of careful picking, fine packing and in
telligent marketing The fruit should
be picked as carefully as ii eggs were
being handled never shaken from the
trees or turned from baskets into bar
rels. 1t should be carried into cool
storage in cellars Of other places, handled
with the utmost care in the repacking
and transported on spring wagons,
whether on the farm or the road
"The barrels or boxes in which IL IS
packed should be lined and cushioned
and in every way should be made as fine
as possible. This lining and eushioning
costs nothing as it takes the place OF
more than its value Of fruit. Great
damage is done to the apple business
by fraudulent packing largely induced
BY the buyers representations. The
middleman is largely to blame for apples
being thus packed as be will pay more
for the same fruit thus packed than he
will for that honestly packed. The only
remedy is to require the name Of the
grower or packer on every package, as
is done in Canada. Why should we
pack our best apples on top and poor
potatoes, beans or butter thus. The APP
pie is the king of fruits, but we treat
it like a beggar; We let il shift for
itself. We give it only the scraps from
our tables rather than loving care.
Cooperative Work Among Farmers.
~The Trade in Young Cows" by Prof
r. NJ. Washburn OF the state experiment
station was also full OF interest. He
said:
'Dairyipg is very properly the prin-
cipal farm industry in this state There
are many thousands Of acres Of hillside
grass which can very properly be con
verted into money through the medium
of milk, yet these large tracts Of pas
ture lands are largely in back towns
where the sale of milk as such is entire
" impractcable because of distance from
the railroad am firmly convinced that
the time has arrived when the farmers
in many such back towns should get
together and seriously consider the
proposition OF cooperative community
breeding Of one breed. They should
choose breed which will produce most
salable young cows, and raise heifer
calves and develop them and breed them
to meet the demands of the market,
When this is done, they can advertise
and sell collectively with less labor and
usually at higher prices than if each
farmer sold independently.
While thus converting the otherwise
valueless rOughage into COWS to be sold
to distinctive milk producers near the
railroad, these back town farmers can
also find excellent profit in the manu-
facture of butter, which often finds
ready market with these same milk pro-
ducing farmers In fact, a combination
back town business would be the pro-
duction of COWS and butter and pork to
sell to those farmers who are shipping
away their entire product aud who there
fore cannot profitably produce these
things for themselves"