STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97 



WHAT IS THE BEST VARIETY? 



One other matter has impressed me strongly this afternoon. 

 It is the frequency with which the question has been asked, 

 "What is the best variety for this or that purpose?" Now the 

 more we think of this question the more we will come to feel that 

 after all it is largely a personal matter. Almost every man has 

 a personal attachment for some variety, and that is the variety 

 for him to grow, provided it has market value. The variety 

 after all is of less importance than the man who grows it. If 

 you are firmly convinced that Ben Davis is a high quality apple, 

 then grow it. You will get more satisfaction out of it than in 

 growing a spy that you grow under protest, even if you do 

 deceive yourself. There is no such thing as a general-purpose, 

 best apple. There are too many ideals in fruit growing today 

 to have one sort fill every ideal. We must grasp this general 

 principle in variety selection. The variety is largely an expres- 

 sion of its environment. Certain qualities that make the variety 

 what it is are transmitted from its parents, but the quality, texture, 

 flavor, color, time of ripening, growth of tree and other second- 

 ary characteristics are profoundly modified by the immediate 

 surroundings of the variety. The Maine Baldwin is different 

 from the Baldwin of New York or Delaware. It is still a Bald- 

 win in the South but it ripens in September, rots badly, and dif- 

 fers in many minor essentials 



The tables in this room show that you have the best possible 

 foundation for a successful apple culture. The color of your 

 fruit cannot be surpassed by that in any other section of the coun- 

 try. The clearness of the skin, the high quality of the varieties, 

 the large size, and remarkable keeping qualities stamp the Maine 

 grown apples as among the very best in the world. Therefore 

 I would say to you, use your Maine apples as a basis for your 

 future apple culture, and stop looking the country over for new 

 kinds. Take your Baldwins, Hubbardstons, Hurlbuts, Nod- 

 heads, Kings, Ribstons, Famueses, and other equally good kinds 

 as a basis for a more extensive Maine apple culture. Select buds 

 only from the best individual trees of each variety for your future 

 orchard, cultivate intensively, prune judiciously, spray con- 

 stantly, pack honestly, and you can make a name in the market 



