66 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



venerable orchard pays him a net profit of se vent}'- five per cent. 

 In many places these old trees are sadly neglected. They often 

 bring to the mind sad thoughts, as they remind us of those who 

 cared for them in early days, and from their grateful limbs plucked 

 the first fruits they bore. But they refuse to die, and stand firm as 

 the rocks from whose crannies their roots gather the scanty food 

 allowed them in their old age. They are living witnesses, grown 

 gray and mossy with the years, that the apple tree is thoroughly 

 hardy in Maine. And from this we also conclude that only artificial 

 conditions have given us stock and varieties that will not stand our 

 climate. 



SUPERIOR QUALITY OF MAINE FRUITS. 



It has not yet been explained why any fruits we can mature in Maine 

 possess such qualities of excellence. That they surpass those grown 

 where the seasons are longer, and one might think, more favorable, 

 is generally conceded. Tiie fruits we can mature to perfection have 

 the most delicious qualities known to the varieties. Some time, as 

 the years roll by, our experiment stations may be able to explain 

 why Dame Nature chooses to make Maine Baldwins a little better 

 than any others in the market. If you will look at the market 

 reports any day, you will find "Maine Baldwins'' are quoted by 

 themselves, and that they are a little higher than New York or 

 Western Baldwins. The market has found out the quality, and it is 

 for us to take advantage of it by producing better Baldwins still, and 

 more of them. At the last Bay State Fair, held in Boston, in 1889, 

 the officers of our society decided to show some Maine apples. Of 

 this collection. President Pope said in his annual address, last year : 

 "Care was taken to make a small collection of choice apples, rather 

 than a large one of nondescript fruit. Only twenty-eight varieties 

 were taken, and these were collected mostly in Penobscot and Frank- 

 lin counties. The exhibit was said to be the finest in the hall, but 

 as there was no premium for best collection of apples alone, it was 

 necessar}^ to enter for premiums in the general collection, which 

 included pears also. In this class they were awarded second pre- 

 mium. The single plates were entered, and seven of them won first 

 premium, two, second, and the other, third. From this it will be 

 jeen that the collection was a choice one, and we have reason to be 

 proi.d of the result. Our object in exhibiting the apples was not to 

 secure premi?ums, but to show that Maine can grow as fine fruit as 

 away other section." 



