food product. 5Iost of our cultivated fruits rank as lux- 

 uries, but the apple in most parts of our country is one of 

 the leading staple products of the farm. It is a eommodity 

 of trade, in the handling of which, after leaving the growers'' 

 hands, large numbers of people are employed. Due to its- 

 numerous varieties, its season of maturity extends through- 

 out the year, and, in late years, the natural keeping tendencjr 

 of the apple has been supplemented by artificial means of 

 preservation until we have them sometimes two years from 

 the time when they were gathered from the tree, in a per- 

 fect state of preservation, as far as their physical appear- 

 ance is concerned, but, of course, with a somewhat impaired 

 condition as to their natural flavor. 



' ' Apples have probably been grown longer in New Eng- 

 land than in any other section of our country, but as the 

 early settlements gradually extended back from the At- 

 lantic coast regions the pioneers who overspread the interior 

 of New York, hewing farms out of the forests, planted or- 

 chards around their new homes and finding the apple so 

 naturally adapted to that location, soon wrested the su- 

 premacy from the New England apple grower. Whether 

 we are ever to attain the remarkable success of our New 

 York apple growers may be a matter of opinion, but it is 

 surely the consensus of opinion among those who have made 

 an exhaustive study of the adaptability of the apple to our 

 soils and climate, and to the economies involved in all 

 phases of the industry, that there are great possibilitiea in 

 apple culture riglit here in New England. 



"Although we have many types of soil, the apple so 

 marvelously adapts itself to such a variety that there are 

 few hill farms but what some portion of it will support ami 

 develop an orchard if properly planted and eared for. As 

 soil fertility is an important factor in all lines of crop pro- 

 duction, it is especially so in regard to the production of the 

 apple. This crop is not produced in a year, but is the cul- 

 mination of a series of years' growth, hence it can be readily 

 seen that the richer the soil in plant food, the quicker will 

 be the development of the tree, and other things being equal, 

 the sooner the tree will bear profitable crops of fruit. It i» 

 in our vsoil that we have one of our richest assets, particular- 

 ly the soils of newly cleared forest lands, where the accu- 

 mulation of leaves, branches, etc., for years have produced 

 a rich leafy molds especially suited for the rapid, growth of 



