86 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



We have been sitting down and congratulating ourselves over 

 the adaptability of Maine for fruit growing and the quality of 

 our apples, and have overlooked the lesson so apparent to the 

 business man in other lines of work. We have pointed with pride 

 to our exhibits and the volume of their output as though we were 

 doing more than playing about the borders of a great area, rich, 

 promising and certain to give returns. 



What is needed now is a thorough awakening to the possi- 

 bilities of this business as an industry. I said we have been 

 playing about the borders, and that this is true one has but to 

 drive about the country and note the rows of trees by the road- 

 side and the indifferent treatment and care given them by the 

 great majority as compared with what the orchardists of Maine 

 are accomplishing. 



Fruit growing is not an industry in Maine save in a few 

 isolated cases, but an adjunct to other lines of work, and hence, 

 not being the essential, fails to receive the attention its importance 

 demands. We forget or fail to keep in mind the two funda- 

 mental statements already emphasized. Any presentation of the 

 subject of insects and the use of insecticides hinges upon our 

 conception of these two underlying facts, for if fruit growing 

 be of secondary importance insect pests and their destruction will 

 not claim that close attention necessary to insure highest quality 

 in the fruit. Year after year we are finding the army of these 

 pests seemingly increasing, new varieties appearing, and the 

 scientists at our experiment stations are kept busy studying the 

 life history, habits and method of control or destruction. The 

 greatest obstacle in the way of successful fruit growing is to be 

 found in this great army of destroyers, neglected by so many, 

 diligently fought by so few. Until we come to an appreciation 

 of the possible value of fruit growing as an industry, and realiz- 

 ing the quality sure to follow protection from these pests, give 

 careful attention to spraying, our hold upon the great markets 

 must be more or less insecure. The fact that from the great 

 fruit centres of the West, from Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois 

 and Ohio there has been coming this year an increasing flow of 

 inquiries concerning the volume of our fruit and its quality, only 

 attests the importance of the question before us. 



It is impossible to brush away the claim made by the careful 

 student for the thorough and systematic spraying of all fruit 



