SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT. 



There are many things in fruit growing that none of us can 

 explain. One of these was the phenomenal crop of 1901 — 

 phenomenal in this respect : that there were few orchards where 

 all the trees bore fruit, while parts of orchards and localities bore 

 very little fruit. Some one describing the crop said it was 

 "patchy." This year some of the same conditions prevail, and 

 while there are no localities in Maine with a full crop, there are 

 not many where there are above 50 per cent. This year like last 

 the spring was cold, wet and late. The bloom was not a very full 

 one, and the bee men say it was too cold for the bees to work 

 among the flowers, while others think the rain may have pre- 

 vented polination. 



Fortunately, perhaps, the blossoms and foliage came late, so 

 that nowhere in the State does it appear that the apple trees were 

 injured by the freeze on the nights of May 9 and 10. The cool 

 weather of the season appears to have been favorable for the 

 growth of the trees and size of fruit : at the same time it made 

 the maturity of the fruit quite a couple of weeks later than in 

 ordinary years. As illustrative of this the Ben Davis was small 

 and "unwilling" to be plucked from the tree, and it would seem 

 in consequence that this variety would compare more unfavorably 

 than usual with those grown further south. 



There have not been so many insects to prey upon the foliage 

 as usual, and the frequent rains in some cases interfered with 

 spraying. It is further noticeable that the orchards that have 

 been best cultivated in years past have been the most fruitful this 

 year ; a fact that confirms what our society has taught for the 

 thirty years of its existence. 



Our people are indebted to the agricultural papers as well as 

 the Pomological Society for the prices at which apples sold early 



