Il6 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



orchards to produce paying crops of both apples and hay upon 

 the food supply and care which should be given for one crop 

 alone, is on a par with the man Who expects to maintain his 

 herd of cows and flock of sheep upon the rations of one. 



These statements should not be taken as implying that good 

 crops of apples cannot and are not often obtained in New Eng- 

 land on well fertilized and otherwise well cared for orchards 

 in sod. It is also admitted that some of the most highly colored 

 fruit is obtained in this way. However, carefully conducted 

 experiments go to show that to secure the most profitable re- 

 turns year after year the orchardist should not rob his bearing 

 trees of food materials by trying to produce other crops, es- 

 pecially hay, on the same land at the same time. 



Before I attempt to discuss the more fundamental questions 

 of how the tree takes up the crude food materials from the 

 soil, transports them to the leaves to be manufuctured into 

 plant food, and then transports this elaborated or manufactured 

 food to the various organs of the plant to nourish and build up 

 the tissues, I wish to call your attention to some practical results 

 which we have obtained at Highmoor Farm from cultivation, 

 fertilization, pruning and spraying, and I hope to make clear, 

 before I finish, that all of these have a more or less direct bear- 

 ing upon questions of nutrition and growth. 



Highmoor Farm was purchased by the State in IQ09 and 

 came under the management of the Maine Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station that summer too late to do much that year. Origi- 

 nally there had been 5000 trees but for various reasons, chiefly 

 through neglect by certain of the previous owners, the number 

 had been reduced to about 3100. Many oi the remainder had 

 been badly injured by borers and winter killing, and fires started 

 by railroad locomotives had been allowed to run through a part 

 of the orchards at various times. All of the trees were in a 

 semi-starved condition, sadly in need of pruning, and there 

 was little evidence of previous cultivation. After determining 

 which trees were in a hopeless condition the number was re- 

 duced to 2300 in 1910. The trees were about 20-25 years old 

 in 1909. 



I cannot take the time to go into the details of the treatment 

 which these orchards have received since the Station assumed 

 control. Briefly, in 1909 they were sprayed once in late spring. 



