SECRETARY'S AXXUAE REPORT. 



One after another there have been three freakish years, the 

 last of which perhaps because we are right in it, seems the worst 

 — a frost every month in the year — a spring frost that froze 

 everything to death it could lay its icy breath on, and an early 

 September frost that ruined a large part of the corn that had 

 survived the unfavorable conditions with which it was begirt. A 

 season like this a century ago in Maine would have made a 

 famine as great as that of which our grandmothers told us in 

 our youthful days. Yet under these unfavorable conditions for 

 many of our crops, the State has had a good crop of apples. 

 The first year the fruit was in ready demand, and in not a few 

 cases a barrel of apples paid for a barrel of flour. The second 

 year in consequence of the immense crop in New York and other 

 states the price was low a large part of the season, though there 

 in many instances in consequence of careful handling and 

 honest packing the price was satisfactory. The present season 

 in Maine the apple crop in the State is the largest of the three, 

 and by some is estimated as high as a million barrels. The early 

 or fall fruit sold well, and the prices being paid later have been 

 satisfactory to most growers. 



ORCHARD COXDITIOXS. 



In recent years there has been a marked improvement in the 

 care of the orchards of the State, though in many cases there is 

 a notable absence of care. 



There was about the usual planting of fruit trees in the State 

 — a very general planting of a few trees, though not many large 

 plantings were made. This for years has been the policy of our 

 farmers, and while the work of extension does not go forward 



