STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



HO^IE FERTILIZERS AND CULTIVATION. 

 V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield. 



I have not come here with any written preparation. The 

 secretary notified me that he would Hke to have me spend about 

 ten minutes in giving you a Httle talk on home fertilizers and 

 cultivation. Consequently I thought that wouldn't demand a 

 great deal in the way of preparation. Accordingly what I say 

 at this time will be upon the spur of the moment. In so doing 

 if I can throw out any thoughts that will do you good, it will be 

 very gratifying to me. 



In the first place I will say to you that I am a thorough 

 believer in the cultivation of our fruit trees. \Miat would you 

 think of a farmer planting his corn, his potatoes, his crops that 

 he is raising in the field, and then trusting to the hand of Prov- 

 idence to do the rest. When I see a man that is raising 400 

 bushels of potatoes to the acre or $100 worth of corn, I make 

 up my mind that man has done some work, he has done some 

 thorough cultivation. Now it is exactly so with our fruit trees. 

 When we hear of a man who is a successful fruit grower we 

 have got to look into the matter and see what he has done, and 

 we find that the man who has best cultivated his trees is receiv- 

 ing the greatest profit. What would you think of a man intend- 

 ing to run a mill with just sufficient water to turn the wheel? 

 As soon as he lets the water on, or the steam, he begins to work 

 to some profit. 



Now, I take precisely the same ground with our fruit trees. 

 When a man sets out his trees and just simply lets the hand of 

 Providence do the rest, he is getting no profit from those trees. 

 As soon as he commences to feed them the result is sure. There 

 is no one thing upon the farm that shows a quicker or surer 

 ' return than a fruit tree. 



Then the question comes — \\'hat shall we do? Ever since I 

 commenced orcharding — I think 1 spoke of it in Auburn that I 

 raised my own trees, planted the seed myself and have grown 

 them up to the present time so that they are now averaging from 

 ten to twenty bushels of apples to a tree — they have been fed 



