l to prop with.

Mr. Simmons: What is the cost?

Mr. Dyer: Well, you know what the lumber is, I paid about $24.00 a
thousand.

Mr. Simmons: When I tried to buy the props from the lumber yard they
would have cost me twenty cents each. I bought the twenty foot bamboo
poles for $7.00 a hundred and the sixteen foot poles for $4.50 a
hundred.

A Member: I didn't get where his orchard is located, and I would like to
ask about the variety of apples he had the best success with.

Mr. Simmons: The orchard is located at Howard Lake, forty-three miles
west of Minneapolis. We grow Duchess, Patten's Greenings, Hibernals and
Wealthys.

Mr. Ludlow: What is your average cost per tree for thinning?

Mr. Simmons: We have for years thinned the Wealthy trees and our
top-worked varieties, but I never kept any accurate account of the cost
of thinning.

Mr. Ludlow: How old are your Wealthys?

Mr. Simmons: Fourteen years old.

Mr. Huestis: Mr. Simmons stated that he used the wire and the ring and
the screw-eyes. If he used that, why does he need props? I used the same
thing this summer on some Wealthys and thinned them besides, and I
didn't need any props because I used the wire from the center ring to
the branches.

Mr. Simmons: Well, the wire supports support the main limbs but there
are a great many laterals. For instance, you have the main limb going up
here at an angle of 90 degrees and the limbs that come out of that are
not supported. The props I use are supporting the laterals.

Mr. Anderson: Are your returns satisfactory shipping to the Minneapolis
market?

Mr. Simmons: Always have been very satisfactory; that has been my only
market.

* * * * *

FIGHTING MOTHS WITH PARASITES.--Over 12,000,000 specimens of
two parasites which prey on the gipsy moth and brown-tail moth were
released in 201 towns in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode
Island during the fall of 1914 and spring of 1915, according to the
annual report of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of
Agriculture.

As a result of the successful establishment of colonies of these and
other parasites which feed on the gipsy and brown-tail moths, marked
progress is being made in reducing these pests. Effective co-operation
is being afforded by the States, which carry on as much work as possible
within the infested areas, thus allowing the Federal authorities to
carry on field work along the outer border of