STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 73 



But now all this is changed, we are beginning to recognize 

 the fact that a large part of the area of New England, rough 

 though it be, and difficult of manipulation for the ordinary farm 

 operations, is well adapted to the production of fruits of the 

 finest quality and highest color. We are beginning to realize 

 that with a moderate annual expenditure for labor and plant 

 food, we may reap a rich and sure return ; that right at our 

 doors are the best markets in the world for a commodity which 

 we can produce as readily as we can make shoes, cotton cloth 

 or wooden nutmegs. 



Over much of the area of New England, the apple tree grows 

 almost spontaneously ; and wherever, in the past, seeds may 

 have been scattered, we may find the trees growing. These old 

 trees, though neglected and broken by storms, usually produce 

 some fruit every year, and are frequently loaded to the ground. 

 When given half the chance of ordinary farm crops these same 

 old trees, regrafted to varieties of recognized merit, become the 

 most valuable factor in the assets of the farm. In this con- 

 nection I have in mind an old orchard in southern Maine, set 

 more than eighty years ago, and naturally somewhat decrepit 

 now. In three successive years recently, this orchard, covering 

 about two and one-half acres, yielded 650, 400, and 350 bushels 

 respectively; which brought the owner $480, $300 and $350, 

 or an estimated net profit to the owner of 75 per cent.* These 

 old moss-covered, neglected veterans, hardy as maples and 

 refusing to die, stand as living witnesses to the possibilities of 

 New England's hillsides. 



Nor is the testimony confined to these old veterans. Very 

 many modern instances of men who have accumulated a com- 

 petence from old rocky pastures by the aid of the apple tree 

 might be cited. Phineas Whittier, Maine's "apple king," began 

 his labors as a fruit grower about 1850 with the purchase of 

 ninety acres of most unpromising rocky pasture and woodland 

 for the sum of $400 — of which he was only able to pay $75 

 down. Apple trees were set wherever a place could be found 

 among the rocks, and today there are substantial buildings, 

 including fruit cellar and evaporating house, and the annual 

 returns from the orchards, which now cover nearly 100 acres, 

 are from $3000 to $6000. 



Cited by D. H. Knowlton, Maine Pomological Society. 



