112 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



"Each j'ear shall give this apple-tree 

 A broader tlnsh of rcseate bloom, 

 A deeper maze of verdurous gloom, 

 And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower, 

 The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower. 



The years shall come and pass, but we 

 Shall hear no longer, where we lie, 

 The simimer's songs, the autumn's sigh, 

 In the boughs of the apple-tree." 



AJy revered mother was born and brought up on this farm. 

 There were apples and pears in great abundance, and when she 

 married and settled on a distant farm, no one will ever know how 

 much she hungered and thirsted for the fruit she had so much 

 enjoyed in her childhood. From her I inherited my appetite 

 for fruit. Fearing I was eating too much fruit recently, I asked 

 my doctor if he thought my aches and pains were due to that 

 fact. "No," said he, "cat all the fruit you can, it will do you 

 good." 



As an introduction to what follows, attention should be called 

 to favorable conditions for profitable apple growing in Maine. 

 While these facts seem to be well known by our own people they 

 are too often overlooked in the anxiety of many to drop a good 

 thing and go for some "get-rich-quick" bubble, and the oppor- 

 tunity of a lifetime is sacrificed. While we have long winters 

 and frequently much cold weather, apple trees thrive every- 

 where over a large part of the State. The trees like the rocky 

 Foam of the granite hills, and their roots will crow:d their way in 

 among the rocks, and how they get so much plant food from the 

 hillsides no one can tell. Even in the valleys where the soil is 

 damp and heavy with moisture some varieties will grow and 

 thrive and when such land is properly drained the trees will 

 grow fast and bear the best apples. Away from the sea coast 

 there is hardly a foggy day during the entire season; the skies 

 are clear the most of the season, and nowhere does more of the 

 sunshine get into the fruit than here. Say what we may of 

 other things, there is nothing that makes such delicious fruit. 



Our best orchard land is the rocky loam, and here the trees 

 seem to grow in many places under the most unfavorable condi- 

 tions. It is because their rootlets like to creep down among the 

 stones and drink in the food Dame Nature has stored away for 

 them. Manv of our best orchards are upon this kind of soil, 



