STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97 



TWO YEARS' WORK AT HIGHMOOR. 



By W. W. BoNNS, Horticulturist, Maine Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



In the year 1909 the legislature of this State appropriated 

 the sum of $10,000 for the purchase of a farm whereon the 

 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station could conduct experi- 

 ments in orcharding and other agricultural pursuits. Some 

 time later in that year Highmoor Farm was selected for the 

 purpose by a duly appointed committee, but actual possession 

 was not obtained until late in the summer of 1909. There was 

 indeed little that could be done that year in the way of agricul- 

 tural operations ; fertilizer was applied in small amount in the 

 orchards, the trees were sprayed once during the summer with 

 bordeaux mixture and in September they were subjected to 

 their first regular pruning. 



Orchard renovation, therefore, in its real meaning, compris- 

 ing as it does the care of the plantation throughout the entire 

 season, did not really begin until the spring of 1910. The 

 results of the work since that time have been gratifying to 

 those who have been connected therewith and not without sig- 

 nificance, we hope, to Maine orchardists in general and to the 

 members of this Society in particular. 



The interest of this organization centers chiefly, if not wholly, 

 in the production of fruit; for that reason I shall omit all 

 discussion of the experimental work at Highmoor Farm involv- 

 ing other crops, some of which come wholly or partially within 

 the domain of horticulture. You are interested, I take it, in 

 hearing about apples. It is, therefore, of apples that I purpose 

 to speak. 



Let us return to the summer of 1909, when the speaker first 

 came to Highmoor. A sorrier lot of trees it has rarely, if ever, 

 been his misfortune to see in any planting that aspired to the 

 name of orchard. 

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