24 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



because they know them by association and reputation, and they 

 know they have the advantage of fine appearance and fine 

 quahty. 



Now one more thing about apple orcharding, and that is, 

 with the exception of the hay crop, there is no crop that may 

 be grown in New England, or in ]\Iaine, to which the soil is so 

 well suited as the apple crop. And further than that, there is no 

 acre of land used for agricultural purposes that may be laade 

 so valuable as an acre of well cared for and well managed apple 

 orchard. I know of orchards that have been paying six, eight 

 and even ten per cent on a thousand dollars an acre ever since 

 they were twelve years old, and of just the ordinary kind, that 

 is, the kind which is not recognized as the highest degree of 

 excellency. If we took the Mcintosh apple, which is selling at 

 the rate of four, five or six dollars a barrel, I would hardly 

 dare to state what the results from an acre of that variety 

 might be. 



Xow I want to consider briefly a few of the fundamentals 

 that underlie practical pomology. It seems to me that the 

 starting point in the growing of better fruit, should be the im- 

 provement of our orchards as they stand today, in other words, 

 in a large number of cases, the renovation of our old orchards, 

 the renovation of trees and orchards which have stood by the 

 roadside and in the fence corners, and been more or less neglect- 

 ed. Isn't it really a marvel to think of our raising such fruit 

 as we do raise, under conditions of comparative neglect? If 

 such fruit as we do get can be grown under such conditions, 

 what are the possibilities, I ask you fairly and plainly? If we 

 shall adopt more modern methods of producing these articles ; 

 if we shall feed our trees, or if at least we shall produce an 

 environment about them whereby the plant food that is in the 

 soil, or that may be applied to the soil, shall be made more easily 

 available for those trees ; if we shall scrape off that rough and 

 rugged bark that harbors insects, that prevents new development 

 of the bark, — if we sliall scrape off that loose bark and give 

 the trees a different appearance ; if we shall climb into that tree 

 and cut out the portions of surplus wood, the dead and dying 

 limbs, those that arc affected with canker, and revive the tree 

 and put it in better physical condition to produce fruit, and 

 then last but not least if we put on a spraying mixture which 



