THE MANY MAINE OPPORTUNITIES. 



By D. H. KnowIwTon, Farmington. 



More than a century ago an early settler in what is now the 

 town of Strong 5'oked up his steers to a hay-rack and drove 

 over a spotted road through the forests to the town of Win- 

 throp, some fifty miles away. He had learned that in this town, 

 since made famous from the excellence of its fruit, he could buy 

 apple trees to set on his newly cleared land. He selected his 

 own trees, many of which appeared to have been grafted. While 

 he knew nothing of varieties, he concluded that these were 

 grafted because of some merit and were likely to prove better 

 than the natural fruit, so he selected all he could of these. He 

 was wise in his conclusions for the orchard — the first in the 

 town — became famous for the excellence of its fruit. Among 

 these trees there was one or more of the Winthrop Greening. 

 Not knowing its name the people around named it for the set- 

 tler. There are many better orchards in that town today, but 

 there are none that have given more pleasure or exerted a wider 

 influence in fruit growing, for its fruit was sought by many 

 when fruit was scarce, and many a man when he had trees of his 

 own came to obtain scions of some variety growing there and 

 known to be better than his own. To the writer it appears as 

 the one object lesson in fruit growing, enjoyed and sought for 

 more than any other in the locality, where year after year it 

 blossomed and bore the most luscious apples for miles around. 

 Recently driving past the old farm I noticed the remains of some 

 of those pioneer trees, shorn of their beauty, but living monu- 

 ments still of their own usefulness to the community in which 

 they stand. 



