ORCHARDS AND FRUIT CULTURE. gf 



also sufficiently hardy to succeed there, do not require so great 

 distance. Twenty-five to thirty feet for the Duchess gives as 

 ample room for development as forty to fifty feet for a Baldwin in 

 Oxford County. 



With regard to aspect, I would recommend to one planting a 

 new orchard to study carefully the facts presented by the orchards 

 in his vicinity ; just as I would recommend the same careful 

 observation in relation to the varieties to be selected. Let him 

 follow the indications thus found, both as to aspect and in relation 

 to the kinds which have been proved by experience under similar 

 conditions to be hardy and profitable. One aspect may be found 

 better in one locality and another in another, and not very 

 far off either. So with varieties In some parts of Kennebec 

 county the Roxbury Russet is the most profitable variety to culti- 

 vate by far, and the Baldwin is hardly worth growing. A very 

 few miles distant the reverse will be found to be the case. 



In my report for 1863 are some remarks on root-grafted trees, 

 such as are known in common parlance as " New York trees," by 

 no means recommending them for planting in Maine. I am happy 

 to say that the general character of the nursery grown apple trees 

 brought from New York into Maine has considerably improved 

 since those remarks were written. A large proportion of them 

 are grown on longer pieces of root and are of kinds better suited 

 to our soil and climate ; and with suitable care a tolerable pro- 

 portion of them may eventually become productive trees. The 

 mere fact that a tree is root-grafted need not necessarily condemn 

 it. If it be grafted at the cruivn — i. e., on the upper part of a vig- 

 orous seedling root, (a whole root) and if it be grafted with a sort 

 adapted to our soil and climate, and in addition to this, if it be of 

 a kind adapted to this method of propagation, it may do well if 

 brought hither uninjured, with good treatment afterwards, not- 

 withstanding it be nursery grown in a soil and climate foreign to 

 ours. It was the utter neglect of these necessary conditions 

 which rendered the trees spoken of in that report worse than worth- 

 less. At the same time, nothing has transpired to occasion any 

 change of view in regard to the expediency of growing our trees 

 in Maine in preference to buying from abroad. The true policy 

 for us is to grow them at home. In fact the only successful 

 method with some of our leading sorts, such as the Baldwin, 

 Roxbury Russet and others (with very rare exceptions) is to plant 

 out healthy seedlings of home growth, and when of proper size 



