98 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



The total number of living trees was close to 3200. These, 

 planted so far as we have been able to learn about 25 to 28 

 years ago, were well advanced on the road to death from injury 

 and starvation ; indeed some were already so far gone that they 

 have since been mercifully relieved of a useless existence, and 

 turned to good account as fire wood. 



In size these 28 years old trees resembled normal 10 and 15 

 years old ones, so slow had been their wood growth. The 

 foliage was of the pale yellow-green color so characteristic of 

 vegetation in an abnormal condition. The tops were a tangled 

 mass of intertwined branches and twigs. Limbs were over- 

 grown with lichens and mosses. Foliage was peppered with the 

 leaf spots of numerous fungus parasites. Apple insects of 

 nearly every kind common to this region here found congenial 

 abode, and were rearing their generations to be counted as 

 individuals in the tens of thousands. 



Nor was parasitic life the only factor that had been at the 

 work of destruction and devitalization. All the orchards had 

 for years been under a thick sod of the toughest witch grass, 

 which, besides exhausting the soil of the moisture so necessary 

 for tree development, harbored great numbers of field mice. 

 These in turn wrought havoc in the orchard in the winter 

 months, taking their toll of the youngest trees, in the earlier 

 days, and inflicting serious damage on those of greater age. 

 In addition, several orchard fires of more than ordinary sever- 

 ity had run through the grass during the four or five years 

 previous to 1909, inflicting very marked injuries to trunks and 

 roots. 



This, in brief, was the legacy of the horticultural division of 

 the Station from the preceding owners of the farm. Here was 

 a typical neglected orchard. Could it be successfully renovated? 

 Could it be made to pay? Here was a problem which, if not 

 abstractly scientific, was of direct and vital import to the fruit 

 growers of this State. \Ye have not yet come to the final word, 

 but we have some results to submit that should be of interest. 



As aforesaid, the trees were sprayed once in the season of 

 1909 — the first part of June with bordeaux mixture of the 

 4-4-50 formula, with three pounds of lead arsenate added. The 

 insecticide was successful in checking insect depredation, al- 

 though the most telling injury had been effected before the 



