SECRETARY'S REPORT. 71 



had a care in this direction, do not see a diligent cow losing an 

 hour of precious time on a summer morning, chewing a bone for 

 the morsel of phosphate she may detach from its surface. 



Many now save all the bones and throw them into a tub with 

 moist ashes, where they become decomposed and made ready for 

 use as a fertilizer. But the larger portion of the soluble phos- 

 phates from our farms goes beyond our reach, in our stock, milk, 

 and crops sold. The bones that accumulate with our consuming 

 population are mostly sold to go abroad — lost to the State. 



Finally, as we are forced to stop at a point not very far from 

 whence we started, we only add that we need several bone mills, 

 to encourage a general gathering of old bones, and to entirely 

 arrest all export of that substance. 



We want to see marine manures, in long trains, moving inland 

 over all the lines of conveyance, till it reaches every farm. 



We want to see every man and woman more awake to the 

 importance of improved habits in saving and applying plant food. 

 To awaken interest in this direction is to do good. 



Mr. Pratt, for Committee, presented the following Report on 



Fruit Culture. 



There may be other questions of more importance to the farmers 

 of Maine than the cultivation of- fruit, but certainly it is one of the 

 most important and is deserving of much more attention than has 

 been paid to it by the farmers of Maine generally. The considera- 

 tion of fruit opens so wide a field for investigation, embracing as it 

 does the apple, pear, plum, cherry, and all the smaller fruits, (the 

 cultivation of which is almost entirely neglected by the farmers of 

 Maine,) that your Committee have been compelled to narrow down 

 their investigation to that of the apple. The apple without doubt 

 stands at the head of the list of fruits both in point of usefulness 

 and profit ; yet many orchards are going to decay which might 

 with trifling expense be made a source of profit. Few efforts com- 

 paratively are being made to rear new orchards or to resuscitate 

 old ones, a fact which every one who has the welfare of our State 

 at heart must deeply deplore. If we attempt to discover the 

 causes which have led to this state of things we shall find them to 

 be various, and differing in different localities. 



One of the principal causes of discouragement in putting out 

 new orchards has been brought about by the purchase of misera- 



