78 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



I have visited a number of towns and cities with the apple 

 inspectors. Quite a large shipment of apples have been sent 

 out of the state this year. I was treated with courtesy by the 

 packers and farmers. The apples in some sections have had 

 queer looking spots on them. In many of the orchards the 

 apples were greatly affected, and, while I do not know what is 

 the cause of the spots, it has been a serious thing for the 

 farmers, as a great many apples afifected were of good size and 

 color and free from worm-holes. 



I attended the exhibition of the Maine State Pomological 

 Society at Portland. The exhibit of fruit and flowers was 

 very fine, some of the box fruit being very attractive. It shows 

 what can be done with Maine grown fruit and helps advertise 

 what Maine is doing in orcharding. The more we can bring 

 our fruit to the attention of the people, the more and better 

 markets we can secure for our fruit. 



White Pine Blister Rust. 



I have visited with Mr. Posey, the federal inspector, York. 

 Cumberland and Androscoggin counties. In Springvale, York 

 county, we found, in a swamp, infections of White Pine Blister 

 Rust on the leaves of the wild skunk currant. On the road 

 from Lewiston to Lisbon we found currant bushes growing in 

 a field near a barn, where leaves were badly infected with 

 Blister Rust. We went across the road into a grove of white 

 pines and found the disease on them. The worst infection 

 we found was beyond Riverton Park, near Portland. Mr. 

 Posey and Mr. Wilkins accompanied me. Some of the pine, 

 trees were badly diseased. This disease is very dangerous to 

 our white pine forests of Maine. We must do something to 

 protect our white pines from infection from currant and goose- 

 berry bushes, either cultivated or wild. As I understand the 

 disease, it cannot spread from pine to pine, but has to go from 

 the pine to the leaves of currant and gooseberry bushes, the 

 alternate host, and then goes back to the pine in a seed (spore). 

 It can live on all kinds of five-leaf pines, but does not live on 

 the three-leaf or two-leaf pines. 



Maine has a great amount of valuable white pine forests. A 

 great industry comes from the lumbering interests of our state, 



