60 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



point, which is that old fruit trees that have outHved their use- 

 fidness and all other trees that are breeding-places of injurious 

 insects and fungi should be cut down and destroyed. 



The beginnings taught these early settlers that conditions were 

 favorable for growing apples, and there followed the introduc- 

 tion of better varieties and a more general growing of fruit for 

 home use, for no one then thought of marketing fruit. Mr. 

 Sears, an enthusiastic fruit grower of Winthrop, some years 

 later came into the county and grafted many trees to the best 

 varieties available. The fruit growers of the county owe him a 

 debt of gratitude for the impulse his labors gave to fruit grow- 

 ing. 



From these beginnings the growing of fruit has developed into 

 a leading agricultural industry- In Franklin county, 1901 was 

 the banner year for its fruit growers, for in that year they 

 received more than $200,000 for their apples and apple products. 

 This year, 1903, there are not so many apples in the county, and 

 yet many growers are blessed with abundant crops. While the 

 prices are much less the quality was never better, and what we 

 may lose in the receipts we shall gain later on in the fame our 

 apples are gaining in the markets of the world. This fame, by 

 the way, deserves a few words, for it is a reward well earned, 

 and if we wish to keep it, we must remember to be honest in 

 packing our fruit for market. Some, I know, seem to think if 

 they can only get a dollar from their apples it is all they care for. 

 They see only the present. Next year the man v/ho bought the 

 apples will shun these growers and these orchards because the 

 sellers were so selfish as to sell all the grades together. Some- 

 times such fruit is sent to the commission men and when the 

 checks come back the selfish grower gets his medicine. It tastes 

 bitter and he does not like it. He blames the commission man 

 and next year he sends his fruit somewhere else. I saw an illus- 

 tration of this some days since in Boston. One of the commis- 

 sion men told me a certain grower sent him a lot of apples to 

 ship across the water. As it happened, they were taken to the 

 ^vllarf before they were examined. A barrel or two were 

 opened there, and instead of being placed on the steamer the 

 whole lot was taken to the commission house and sold for a 

 nominal price. The commission man said, "If I had sent those 

 apples to Liverpool, the grower would have been in debt to me," 

 and I think he told the truth. 



