STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 77 



beauty of the Russet matured in its color of gold, where can its 

 equal be found? 



But a query may arise in regard to the permanence of this branch 

 of industry, and the probable condition of the market whence this 

 product must tend The future is wisely hidden from our view, 

 yet the question of supply and demand regulates itself, and I 

 hazard the opinion that fruit grown in the State of Maine will, for 

 an unlimited period of time, find a ready market and bring prices 

 so remunerative that no grower will ever regret the time and capi- 

 tal invested. Men of deep foresight and well-balanced judgment 

 look upon this enterprise now fully inaugurated and so successfully 

 placed upon a broad basis, as only the beginning of that important 

 period when Maine will stand as notably among her sister states as 

 the producer of this delicious and valuable product, as does now 

 California with its great variableness of climate, which sends forth 

 in great abundance the yields of her vineyards and ranches, even 

 to the supply of the large cities of our land, and extend' ng to the 

 farthest reaches of the continent. Then why delay? In nearly 

 every town and neighborhood there are j'et unoccupied farms and 

 lots that may be obtained at mere nominal prices, and it only 

 remains for young men, who, like myself, have only brains and 

 muscle to aid in working out a destiny, to lay hold of such opportu- 

 nities with a courage that knows no abating, coupled with a knowl- 

 edge that follows experience and close observation, so that in the 

 near future the waste places and abandoned farms will be trans- 

 formed into a fruitful heritage. I am encouraged in this idea by 

 the fact that in my own county there are numerous instances where 

 changes have been made in the right direction, and not only has 

 there been put a check upon the drifting away to manufacturing 

 centres, but former residents have returned to their first love and 

 have entered with renewed zeal into the laudable work of renovat- 

 ing the old home. 



I might refer to many cases where a personal application has 

 been made of the methods herein hinted at, and where a systematic 

 and thorough course has b^en pursued, the result has no doubtful 

 significance. And in every town in the county there may be found 

 earnest, resolute workers whose end and aim is to carry forward 

 the principles embodied in a just and equitable transaction in all 

 that pertains to the growing of fruit, to a profitable solution. And 

 in this connection I cannot forbear to mention one whose entire 



