66 state; pomologicaIv socie;ty. 



THE GOSPEL OF CHASE'S MILLS. 

 Solon Chase. 



" The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." 



What we need is to raise better apples and more of them. 

 Now I have got a trademark that I put on one brand of my 

 apples and it counts. Whenever I take out a barrel of Spies 

 and put them steers right on, whoever gets that barrel of apples 

 will want another one every time. 



My friend Knowlton came down to Turner, my home town, a 

 few years ago and addressed a meeting and I was there. I had 

 begun orcharding then, and what I got from that meeting has 

 helped me a good deal. I got in the first place an idea to raise 

 small fruits. From that time to this I have had plenty of small 

 fruits all the time for my use. I have not raised for market. I 

 had then got my interest on Northern Spies. They call me a 

 Northern Spy crank. Well, perhaps the time may come when 

 they will call me a Northern Spy king instead of a crank. 



Any fellow can pack a good barrel of apples, but the man don't 

 live that can make a good barrel of apples out of inferior fruit. 

 There is where it comes. It is right back there. We have got 

 to raise better apples or get out of the market. That is what we 

 have got to do. The possibilities of the Maine apples are just 

 immense. I can see that. I know it. My method has been a 

 liberal use of the harrow, the handsaw and the jackknife. I had 

 rather plant a Northern Spy in a sand bank than in witch-grass 

 sod. I put them steers on a barrel of apples and they will go 

 anywhere. I have got three hundred of them in the cellar now. 



I am interested in this talk about cold storage. I have got 

 cold storage in my cellar for 300 barrels, but I can see prospects 

 ahead for 1,000 barrels of Northern Spies. I am eighty-three. 

 I haven't got to live many years more before I shall want cold 

 storage for 1,000 barrels of Spies. Apples in my cellar will be 

 in perfect condition the middle of next May — keep longer if you 

 wanted them to. My cellar is not a warm cellar. It is a moist 

 cellar — frost sometimes a little — if they do it won't hurt them 

 any. All you have got to do is to let them alone. If they frost 

 a little, they stand right where they are and don't ripen. If you 

 have your cellar warm they will ripen and soon perish. The 



