88 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



larger proportion of the total crop shipped so that reasonable 

 estimate would be in the vicinity of 150,000 barrels. 



An effort is being made to have the Government give a com- 

 mercial estimate, as well as an agricultural estimate, so called. 

 This would be of great benefit to the grower in that he would 

 have a clear understanding of the competition to expect from 

 other sections. At the present time the estimate is a hin- 

 drance rather than a help, showing as it does an enormous 

 supply and one greatly in excess of the actual commercial con- 

 sumption. Such an estimate tends to depress the market at 

 picking time, and to injure the confidence of the grower and 

 speculator alike. This probably was one big reason for the 

 lack of activity on the part of the apple buyers a year ago. 

 Another feature of the Government estimate which is more or 

 less misleading is the term normal, as applied to the apple 

 crop. I have yet to find out the exact meaning of such a term, 

 even after continued discussion with the Government exjjerts 

 on the subject. It would seem that last year's crop furnishes 

 the most desirable basis for an apple estimate. It may be pos- 

 sible, however, to adopt a variable standard of production per 

 acre, which will clear up the meaning of the term normal. 



In the tables shown below is given the number of barrels of 

 apples shipped over the various transportation lines from Sept. 



1, 19 1 4 to August I, 191 5, and the number of barrels shipped 

 from the larger producing centers of the state. In Table i 

 it was necessary to take out the barrels transferred from one 

 road to another so that the actual total, as given, does not 

 represent the compilation of shipments over each road or line. 

 As before noted, the actual total is 598,487 barrels. In Table' 



2, we find that West Paris led the other stations by a consider- 

 able margin in the number of barrels of apples shipped, and it 

 is especially noticeable that six of the first seven leading sta- 

 tions are located in Oxford county and represent approximately 

 150,000 barrels or 25 per cent of the entire crop. This propor- 

 tion is considerably increased with the addition of many smaller 

 shipping stations in the county. Somerset. Kennebec and An- 

 droscoggin are the only counties other than Oxford repre- 

 sented in the first 12 shipping stations. 



