76 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



for instance, habitually excells for its excellence; orchards of 

 ^vhich it is said in the various communities in which they are 

 located: "It produces the finest Tompkins King of any orchard 

 in this whole region." Or, it may be that someone says of an 

 orchard : "It grows good Kings, but I never saw a Yellow 

 Bellflower come out of it that was fit to eat." 

 ■ Needless to say, these are hypothetical illustrations used 

 merely to represent types of cases which are not uncommon, 

 but the meaning of which is not always rightly interpreted and 

 the practical bearing of which is sometimes overlooked. The 

 only object I have in presenting them here is by way of call- 

 ing your attention to the fact that such cases of marked vari- 

 etal adaptability are not uncommon and to suggest that wdiere 

 they become apparent they ofifer a clue which, other things 

 being equal, ought to be followed to its logical conclusion. If 

 the conditions in an orchard give markedly favorable results 

 with a particular variety, and that variety is a good commercial, 

 sort then plant it and make a specialty of it; if some other 

 variety established in the orchard seems less desirable when all 

 its merits have been duly weighed, then top-work it to the bet- 

 ter sort. Cut out the star boarder in the orchard as the dairy- 

 man cuts out that kind of boarder in his herd of cows. In 

 other words, take advantage of the information that Nature 

 thrusts upon you, and use it in a business-like fashion. Study 

 the behavior of your varieties with a view to ascertaining what 

 sorts are really best fitted for filling the place for which you 

 are growing apples and which ones are not coming up to a 

 desirable standard either in the excellence of their development 

 or in the actual cash returns which they bring on the market. 



This matter of considering carefully any special advantages 

 which you may possess for particular varieties, perhaps finds its 

 most important application in the further development of the 

 orchard interest of your State. In many regions the fruit tree 

 agent is a much more potent factor in determining what varieties 

 are planted than is the grower himself. The grower is more apt 

 to buy the varieties that the nursery agent suggests than he is 

 to buy those which, from a critical study of his own conditions 

 he is convinced are of the greatest usefulness to him. And if 

 the same community is canvassed by agents of different nur- 

 series that are located in widely separated sections of the 



