STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 5 



of the inferior apples displayed beside them. So that it may be better 

 to protect the trees we now have, give them high culture, destroy 

 the insects and fungi that injure the fruit, grow better fruit and sell 

 it for higher prices. 



The apple crop was hardly an average in quantity in 1891, but 

 the quality was inferior in const quence of the coddling worm and 

 other pests. Less than fifty per cent of the fruit was No. 1. So 

 Large was the crop in other parts of the country that a foreign market 

 was sought. It is a source of regret that packers have been care- 

 less and in many instances the price has been low. Maine shippers 

 generally, we think, have made money the past season though on 

 the last shipments made in February and March, 1892, there were 

 considerable losses. But the unfortunate thing about the whole 

 matter is to be found in the fact that our Canadian neighbors, Just 

 over the line, have won a better reputation for apples than Maine. 

 Our investigations lead us to conclude that the cause is chiefly in the 

 inferior quality of the apples shipped from the State. By this we 

 mean that it is unwise and in the end unprofitable to send to a dis- 

 tant market anything but the best fruits carefully packed. One of 

 the largest buyers in Maine said to the writer, '•There are only two 

 farmers in this part of the State who know how to pack their fruit. 

 If all would pack as well as they, Maine fruit would lead in the 

 markets of Europe." 



At the first meeting of the World's Fair Managers held in Augusta 

 in May, 1891, three members of < the executive committee were 

 present, and by courtesy of the Board presented for their considera- 

 tion the interests of Maine fruit growers in connection with the Fair. 

 They urged the Board to make an appropriation of $2,000 for the 

 purpose, and that the exhibition of Maine fruits should be entrusted 

 to the Maine State Pomological Society. Again at a later meeting 

 the executive committee was represented by President Pope, and 

 by correspondence the committee have been in communication with 

 the managers. The executive officers have urged at all times early 

 action, and they believe that the organized fruit industries of the 

 State are entitled to all they ask in their behalf. The officers of the 

 Society have not deemed it advisable to appear at other meetings 

 of the managers, as the funds are necessarily applied to other pur- 

 poses. The latest information at this writing (April 1, 1892) is 

 that the committee on fruits have unanimously recommended that 

 $2,000 be set apart for the fruit exhibition and here the matter rests. 



