38 AGRICUWURE OF MAINE. 



England States should do even more than they are at present 

 doing to promote and foster the development of the apple indus- 

 try. I believe that each state should establish and maintain a 

 series of demonstrations showing the practical feasibility of 

 renovating old orchards, also a series of demonstrations show- 

 ing the profitable nature of present day orcharding by up-to- 

 date methods. My own faith is intensely strong in the possi- 

 bilities of apple growing, and in my orchard work and with my 

 pen and with the spoken word I would use all the enthusiasm, 

 sincerity and common sense to demonstrate this fact that a 

 minister would in preaching the gospel of religion. 



A PECULIAR APPLE SITUATION. 

 By D. H. Knowlton, Farmington, Maine. 



MAINE IS GROWING APPLES. 



Little by little, not as they are booming the industry in the 

 newer Western states, the farmers of Maine have been setting 

 fruit trees. In a recent trip across the country, it was a surprise 

 to learn the extent of the industry. Everybody was growing 

 apples, some having a hundred trees, some two hundred and 

 from this up to two thousand trees. Not a farm did I pass 

 where there were not apple trees in the orchard, in the pasture, 

 by the roadside — apples, apples everywhere. A large propor- 

 tion of the trees were in bearing while many were just coming 

 in. Almost without exception these farmers were setting more 

 trees year after year, so that for years to come we may look for 

 an increase in the quantity of fruit produced in the State. This 

 increase will not be rapid, but just the same as in the past it will 

 be a steady increase. Putting it in other words, Maine is grow- 

 ing apples. The fact has also been established that IMaine is 

 growing the best of apples, though it is often difficult to find 

 them in the New England markets. 



The industry is now well established. It is full of promise 

 for the future, since with the steady increase of the orchard 

 there has been a corresponding increase in the care of the trees, 

 the culture of the soil and the handling of the fruit. Under 



