78 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



ety. then in my judgment there is something wrong somewhere 

 in what you are getting out of your varieties which possess 

 greater intrinsic merit. The Ren Davis has not sufficient merit 

 to warrant such results. ]\Iany apple buyers are now refusing 

 to take this variety or if they take it, it is under protest and 

 only for the sake of getting others in the orchard where it Is 

 grown that are desirable. 



If this variety could be marketed as a cooking apple and 

 used only for that purpose, it would probably have a better 

 standing. But justly or unjustly, an apple has to "pass muster" 

 largely on the basis of its dessert quality. 



I said a moment ago that I believed you could do better than 

 to plant the Ben Davis. If you carefully study the list of possi- 

 ble sorts for planting, I am confident that you can find plenty 

 of varieties which can be produced in Maine in such perfection 

 that they can successfully compete with the best of fruit grown 

 anywhere. The way of your greatest success lies in planting 

 those varieties which are preeminently well adapted to your 

 conditions, regardless of the fact that another variety may be 

 the one which is of paramount importance in a region where 

 conditions differing from your own obtain. 



There is another phase of this Ben Davis matter that I 

 want to mention. It is one which I belike is of a good deal 

 of importance, though it has received but little attention. And 

 m this connection I would use the Ben Davis as a type, rather 

 than in its varietal significance, to represent all those varieties 

 that are distinctly poor in dessert quality and which reach the 

 market in considerable quantities. The most of you will admit, 

 I think, that the Ben Davis is a very prominent member of such 

 a group. 



I do not know that it stands as a definitely enunciated eco- 

 nomic principle, but I believe it is sound doctrine that when a 

 commodity of poor quality repeatedly goes on the market in 

 such large quantities that its presence is constantly conspicuous 

 it is bound to injure the industry of which that commodity is a 

 part. It must be admitted that a very considerable portion of the 

 apples that enter into commerce are relatively poor in dessert 

 quality. If my logic is sound, then the portion of the apple 

 crop that enters the trade which is of poor quality must have 



