SECRETARY'S REPORT. 141 



either to help or hinder it ; or that little or no thought is given to 

 the subject. 



I have my own opinion on the subject and have stated it above. 

 It seems proper to add the testimony of others, from various parts 

 of the State. To obtain this, a circular was sent out last sum- 

 mer to several hundreds of orchardibts, in which, among other 

 inquiries, was the following : " What would you estimate to be 

 the comparative returns from an acre of apple trees, say one hun- 

 dred, well cared for, during a period of twenty or thirty years, and 

 from an acre of similar soil devoted to other crops, and receiving 

 the same amount of care, labor, and manure, during the same 

 period ? " 



I have reason to believe that most of the replies came from men 

 whose experience and observation are such as to enable them to 

 speak advisedly on the subject. It is evident that the question 

 was variously understood, and this fact may account, in part, for 

 the diversity of the replies. 



Below are some of them, from different sections, the least favor- 

 able and the more favorable, — as nearly as possible a fair sample 

 of the whole, — and iirst I will quote from a communication from a 

 gentleman living in latitude between 45° and 46°, not far from forty 

 miles from Bangor, and where I have seen evidences of as severe 

 injury from the hard winter of 1856-7, as I have in any part 

 of the State. "Before 1847 my chief study of apples was how 

 best and most expeditiously to gather and dispose of a thousand 

 bushels, more or less, each fall, and how fastest to work a big 

 cider mill. Since then I have set, with my own hands, more than 

 a hundred thousand scions, in various orchards in this county. I 

 ought to have learned more in regard to apples in northern Maine 

 thau I really know. I have passed through several towns of this 

 county during the past season, and I have not seen an orchard of 

 any age that is cultivated and cared for as indicated in the tenth 

 question of your circular of July last. Consequently that ques- 

 tion cannot be answered where no data exist for its solution. The 

 little orchard where I now reside, was first set ten years since. 

 Many of the trees failed by the effects of the hard winters. All 

 vacancies were filled as they occurred, and all the trees had a cir- 

 cle of four feet well hoed around them and an occasional applica- 

 tion of some fertilizer. The last two seasons the whole ground 

 has been plowed and planted, and the improved condition of the 



