142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



trees shows that the former treatment was very far below what is 

 meant in the expression, 'well cared for,' * * * * 



" The raising of apples may be made a source of large profit on 

 the majority of farms in this county, both for home consumption 

 and for market, and many farmers are now realizing extensively 

 from this source, I am satisfied that no crop of the farm is more 

 deserving of, or will better pay for good care." 



Another in the same county says, " I cannot state definitely, but 

 the orchard would be more than double the profit of any other 

 crop." 



I know of no better section of the State for orchards than Ox- 

 ford county, but one reply received from that county gives by far 

 the lowest estimate received from any source, viz : "With fair 

 success, an orchard may be as profitable in thirty years from plant- 

 ing 9,s the same amount of culture of other crops. I should be 

 unwilling to set it higher, though no doubt there are many instances 

 of much greater profit from an orchard," This reply probably 

 refers to the income yielded by orchards on an average, and as they 

 are, rather than to what would be were they "well cared for.'' 



Another in the same county says, " I have fifty trees in a pas- 

 ture which have yielded me a hundred dollars a year on an average 

 of the last ten years," I do not know how much room these trees 

 occupy, or how much expense is bestowed upon them — but if not 

 more than an acre, and the amount is the net profit, that acre is as 

 good, while it holds out, as sixteen hundred dollars at interest ; and 

 it is probably taxed for a good deal less than that sum. 



From a very intelligent orchardist in Lincoln county we have as 

 follows : " One acre of orcharding on suitable soil, with proper 

 care and attention, will produce three times the amount in value of 

 any other crop we usually cultivate on our farms with the same 

 amount of labor and manure." 



From Waldo county we have the opinion " that an acre of apple 

 trees, in good bearing condition, on the right kind of soil and loca- 

 tion, will yield an average annual net profit of fifty dollars during a 

 term of twenty years ; and that the net profit per acre of corn or 

 potatoes will not exceed twenty-five dollars per year for the same 

 period," 



From Penobscot county comes the reply: " Decidedly in favor 

 of fruit." 



An enthusiastic cultivator in Kennebec sends the following : 



