;0 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



for western success in orcharding and as to the comparative 

 advantages of the East and the West as apple growing sections. 

 This of course was without any first hand knowle-ige as to the 

 West. I was greatly interested, therefore, to "check up," in 

 this recent trip of mine, the impressions I had received from 

 reading and talking with others, and from observation of the 

 western fruit in our eastern markets. And it was a source 

 of considerable satisfaction to find that my long-range impres- 

 sions were generally sustained on closer examination. I want 

 now to record my notions on this point, both because many are 

 still looking to the \\'est as the only (or at least the best) place 

 to grow apples, and because those of us who are taking up the 

 fruit business here in New England need every encouragement 

 to keep us "strong in the faith." 



I believe that the following is a fair, and I hope impartial 

 presentation of the case of the western apple sections. Their 

 advantages as I see them are : 



(ij That they can and do, as I have said, produce fruit 

 of the very greatest beauty, more handsome than we produce in 

 the East. I know some of you will want to object to that, and I 

 know that some of our finest fruit leaves little to be desired 

 from the standpoint of beauty, but I, for one, am willing to 

 admit that as a class western fruit is prettier to look at than 

 eastern. I certainly never saw an}1:hing quite so handsome as 

 some of the Baldwins, Rhode Island Greenings, York, Rome 

 Beauties, etc., which I saw on exhibition at Vancouver and 

 v^pokane last year. And since looks will always be an import- 

 ant item in selling fruit, we must concede that the western 

 growers, as a class, have a distinct advantage there. 



(2) Their trees bear earlier, I should say from two to 

 three years earlier on the average. This. I think, is principally 

 due to their very long season, which really allows the tree to do 

 the same amount of growing, to reach the same amount of 

 maturity, say in four years that our eastern trees reach in six. 

 Take the following examples: 



"The Olds Company, Burch Flat, Wenatchee. Washingto-i, 

 have fifteen acres of King David Trees four years ohi, which 

 will average one box per tree ;" or this, "H. S. Wetherald, 

 Wenatchee, has ten acres of six year trees which will give 3500 

 boxes, or between five and six boxes per tree ;" or this, "N. D. 



