44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



fruit, and the sun has put on the finishing touches. It is to these 

 trees that we go for our samples. Now if we have a few such trees, 

 as these, let us try and have more of them before we enlarge on our 

 orchard. 



What would we think of a man who had dressing enough for four 

 acres of land, if he should go and plow up twice that amount and 

 apply the dressing for the four acres to the eight. It is needless for 

 me to note the result, you all know it must be a failure. And is 

 this any the more true with the corn than with the orchard ? Most 

 certainly not, only with the corn we see the result a little more 

 quickly. 



The spread of diseases of fruits, resulting from insect depredations, 

 and other causes, might be checked, if not eradicated, if we would 

 but turn our attention in this direction. A very little attention on 

 the part of all the fruit growers of Maine would accomplish much 

 that would be of great benefit to us all. 



Last fall I was passing through the orchard of a friend, when we 

 came to a tree of Franklin Sweets, many of which had fallen to the 

 ground, and on my calling the gentleman's attention to them, he 

 said they were utterly worthless on account of the apple maggot, 

 and on examining some of them I found them to be completely 

 infested with that pest. I asked hira what he did with them ; he 

 said, nothing at all, that he had not picked any of them up for two years, 

 they had been so poor, and yet that man was setting out trees every 

 spring, giving no thought to that deadly enemy that he was so care- 

 ful not to destroy. 



Now to obviate and overcome this evil, to restore and perpetuate 

 our fruits, a change in the manner of cultivating them is absolutely 

 necessary. We must do less planting, and give more attention to 

 those planted. Too many persons in growing fruits practice quite 

 different from that pursued in growing other crops. They act as 

 though all that is necessary is to plant the trees, when, in fact, this 

 is but a small part of the labor that is required to grow an orchard. 

 Because our forefathers grew full crops of perfect fruit with little or 

 no labor after planting the trees, we should not expect to do so now. 

 They had the rich virgin soil, full of all the elements that were 

 necessary for tree growth and the perfection of its fruits. With us, 

 we find all things are changed ; we must prepare the land by deep 

 cultivation, and thoroughly enriching it, and underdraining where it 

 is necessary. Fruit trees, to be healthy and vigorous, must have 



