98 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The President. Such questions are very much to the point, 

 and another one which is suggested right here, is. Whether there 

 is any profit in growing fruit for the market? I think a man 

 should manure his orchards to the extent of his means, or as far 

 as circumstances will allow him to do so. I was talking with a 

 prominent fruit grower in my own town a few days since in rela- 

 tion to an orchard which he formerly owned and which bore 

 abundantly, and which had since fallen into other hands and beea 

 neglected. I inquired of him whether it had run down under the 

 slack treatment, and in reply he said that it had, very much. 

 Speaking of the value of manure, he said that he had known one- 

 half cord of manure to produce more than $20 in apples raised 

 from the tree to which the manure was applied. Now that in part 

 answers your question, and is proof of the necessity of high cul- 

 tivation ; and I think that this is a subject on which there cannot 

 be too much said. I will call on Mr. Atherton of Hallowell. 



Mr. Atherton. I am only a young man, and I think there are 

 persons here who have probably had more experience in orchard- 

 ing than I have, but this subject is one that interests me very 

 much. Not long since I was in Vassalboro' on business, and was 

 stopping with a prominent and well-informed citizen. While at 

 dinner, the subject of fruit-growing was introduced and discussed 

 at some length. Speaking of apples in Massachusetts, he said 

 they did not pay for their culture and care. Now this is a serious 

 question, — Whether we shall put our money into orchards or not, 

 and could we not invest it otherwise to better advantage ? I was 

 very happy to listen to the address by Dr. True, this afternoon, 

 although there were some things mentioned by him which are 

 rather discouraging to us, who cannot get the $1000 which he 

 spoke of as necessary to start an orchard. If a man has the 

 thousand dollars to invest in the enterprise, of course it is well 

 enough, but if he does not have it, it seems to me that he may 

 start an orchard on a cheaper scale with $500 or perhaps even 

 with $100. I know of two young men who started some time 

 ago ; their father told them if they would take a piece of ground 

 and take good care of it, that he would buy for them one hundred 

 trees apiece. They took a piece of ground that did not produce 

 five hundred pounds of hay, and turned it over ; this was in the 

 fall ; early in the spring the father bought the trees, and they were 

 set out, I think about twenty by thirty feet apart ; they were well 



