STATE POiMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 3(J5 



cxpevimcntiiip; in this country witli two or three thousand varieties 

 of apples, and we have not yet found anything that excels the good 

 old varieties, Baldwins, II. I. Greenings and Bellflowers. Tlie wis- 

 dom of tliis State seems settled upon that point. 



Stk<)i;t. T have been told that the Ben Davis would be [)rolitable 

 to raise for a late keeper. 



GiLiJKKT. Good looks will go a great ways sometimes, but if I 

 was situated as you are I should not dare to base an expectation on 

 a market fruit so inferior in quality as tlie Ben Davis. AVe do not 

 cai-e so nuich for extremely late keeping apples as we have done in 

 the past, because we get early apples from the south in better con- 

 dition than formerly. They will 1)C better and bettei- as means of 

 transportation are improved. We don't want to keep apples after 

 the first of Jul}-, because new apples come then. The market does 

 not call for old apples in August; hence an extremely late keeping 

 apple may not sell upon that qualit}' alone. 



Question. Are there nurseries in this State where we can pro- 

 cui'e such trees as we want for high land ? 



Gilukut. I cannot answer the question with certainty'. I do- 

 know of some good nurseries that are putting out good trees ; ])ut 

 how many, I have no means of knowing. 



Many of our nurserymen have given up because they could not 

 compete successfully with the western nursery-men. These sharp 

 men, who make a special business of making sales, get the field, so- 

 the business has greath' failed, and every orchardist had better take 

 a good piece of ground and raise for himself a patch of trees, and 

 take good care of them, keeping the ground clean, as a suppl}- to- 

 di'aw from to enlarge his orchard, and thus keep his stock good. 



The Secretary. I have only a word to sa}'. I do not believe- 

 it makes much difference whether a tree is grown in Maine, Massa-- 

 chusetts, Connecticut, or New York. I do not believe it is a 

 question xohere it is grown, so much as how it is grown ; 1 do not 

 understand that this Society has undertaken, (although it has done 

 what it could to encourage the production of Maine trees as a home 

 industry,) or has gone so far as to say that Maine is at present' 

 producing all the trees it wants ; nor that the Society takes the 

 position that a tree must be grown in Maine. The important ques- 

 tion is, how the tree is grown, how it is transplanted ; how it is cared, 

 for in the nursery ; not where. And for the information of every- 

 body who asks for information, we designed at this meeting to ask. 



