STATE POMOLOGlCAIv SOCIETY. 85 



Wednesday Evening, 



THE APPLE INDUSTRY,— PAST, PRESENT AND 



FUTURE. 



By Mr. J. H. Hale, Glastonbury, Conn. 

 (Stenographic copy.) 



From the earHest settlement of our country apples have been 

 grown. Our first settlers brought seeds with them from the 

 old country, and later scions, and in the march of progress 

 across our great country the apple-pie and cider-mill have 

 kept pace with the church and school-house even to the Pacific 

 coast. Our early settlers planted apples simply for the home 

 supply of food and drink, more largely drink, and it was well 

 into the last century before commercial orcharding became of 

 any considerable importance anywhere, and then only in the 

 few older sections of our country. The few apple trees that 

 were planted under the early conditions were about the home 

 and home grounds, or along the fences of some of the culti- 

 vated fields or mowing fields or pastures, and received practi- 

 cally no attention except what occasionally came from cultivat- 

 ing the fields adjoining them. The question of care as we 

 know it today was never thought of. There was an occasional 

 butchering in the way of a so-called trimming, simply to cut 

 away lower branches that were in the way. That was the only 

 style of trimming, and looking at trees between Boston and 

 Portland this afternoon I saw any quantity of those old time 

 butchered trees. 



Our treatment of our trees was not bad method; there was 

 simply no method at all in the old times. In the earlier days I 

 suppose there was not the fungus and the insect troubles that 

 we have today. But long before science came to our aid the 

 fungus troubles of various kinds, and insect pests of every 

 kind, were giving us a very inferior product. With the growth 



