REPORT OF STATE HORTICULTURIST. 8l 



secure a suitable apple for trains, having been compelled to use 

 western grown fruit. It now affords me pleasure to learn that 

 you will be able to furnish the future supply of our require- 

 ments. 



"In all these years we have never seen apples equal to this 

 shipment, either in color, size or uniformity, while in flavor they 

 are much ahead of western fruit. Maine is surely coming to 

 the front in the production of apples." 



Now, that was unasked for. Every box of apples that has 

 been used on the train since then has been our Maine fruit, in 

 fact, has been grown by the Oxford Bears. What we have 

 done, anyone could do that puts their fruit up in this way, but 

 I want to say right here that there are very few who know what 

 box apples are. The time is coming when we must organize 

 in some way so that we can get together and keep these western 

 box apples from the state. 



I want to give you a little idea of the number of boxes we 

 might have sold and the amount of money that we lost last 

 year. Last year was especially good, and there were more 

 box apples from the west than ever before. They claim there 

 were 16,250 boxes sold in the State of Maine at the rate of 

 $2.25 a box. What does this mean? That $36,562.50 went 

 west for fancy apples, and here we are in the apple business. 

 in the State of Maine. Do you have any idea that the western 

 men would allow us to ship our apples there? Not on your 

 life ! Stop it or not, it is just up to us whether we keep that 

 money in the State of Maine. We ought to have kept that 

 $36,562.50 in our own state last year. 



The only way we can do this is to organize and put up our 

 apples and have them handled by one man, and in that way I 

 can see no reason why we cannot increase our sales, not only 

 in the west, but also in the New England states. But you see 

 it is just up to us. 



There is a lot more I would like to say, but I will leave the 

 matter for your discussion. I am ready to answer any questions 

 you want to ask. 



Question : What variety did you furnish the Maine Cen- 

 tral? 



Mr. Conant: Mcintosh, Snow, Nodhead, Baldwin, and 

 Spy, besides a number of early kinds. This year we did not 

 6 



