STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 87 



COST OF AN APPLE. 

 Dr. G. M. Twitchell, Monmouth. 



Mr. President: It is said that the average New England 

 farmer would rather lose one dollar than see his neighbor win 

 two. Whether or not that is true, I wish that every farmer in 

 the State of Maine, every producer of apples and other farm 

 products for the markets, might have heard the clear, terse, 

 straightforward statements made by the speaker this morning. 

 Because it seems to me he has touched the very heart of the 

 problem which we are working over in this state and trying 

 to solve or to approach a solution. 



The farmers of the State of Maine and of New England have 

 been having a hard time this year and they are not, perhaps, in 

 just the frame of mind to listen to a discussion of questions as 

 they might be under more favorable circumstances. It seems 

 to me that they are somewhat in the position of the little boy in 

 school when the teacher called out the class and said, "Now, 

 children, I want each one of you to tell me what you have to 

 thank God for." Commencing at the head, the first boy thanked 

 him for a good father, the next one for a good mother, another 

 for his sisters and brothers, finally coming to the foot of the 

 class where there stood a little boy who was all twisted and 

 deformed, cross-eyed, hook-nosed, etc. "Jim, what have you got 

 to thank God for?" He hesitated a moment and then he said, 

 "I don't know as I have got anything to thank God for. He 

 has just about ruined me." 



I don't know as the farmers have very much to be thankful 

 for today, in view of the crop conditions which we have been 

 meeting. Yet, as I go about among them, I hear no complaints. 

 If any other industry, any other class had met what the farmers 

 have met this year, there would have been an extra session of 

 the legislature called for state aid before this time. Go where 

 you will, you hear no complaints, just that sturdy holding on 

 in faith, believing that next year things are coming better. 



How are we to determine the worth of an apple tree? Mr. 

 Bassett has covered that question along the line that I want to 

 discuss for a few moments. I ask the manufacturer of shoes in 

 the city of Auburn what it costs to produce a pair of shoes and 

 he tells me. I say, "Do you know that is correct ?" and he says, 



