102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



difficult to handle them in the market. Whether you con- 

 sider there are varieties of the plum, and methods of their 

 production, so they can be grown and marketed here in 

 Massachusetts to a profit ? 



Professor Waugh. There is no doubt about it, ^ — not the 

 slightest. There are people who do do it ; and it seems to 

 me that if there are people who do it, that is the best 

 answer to your question. Your question is this: "Can 

 plums be growm and have a profit here in Massachusetts ? " 

 I say yes, sir. 



The Chair. What is the future of apple growing in 

 Massachusetts ? 



Professor Waugh. There is a great future in it, if it is 

 improved. I am sorry to say that what I have seen of 

 apple growing here is behind the times. The people in the 

 neighboring States are considerably ahead of those in Massa- 

 chusetts in growing apples, especially in Maine, New 

 Hampshire and Vermont. They have better methods, raise 

 more fruit on a given number of trees, buyers pay them 

 better prices. The methods in use in the Massachusetts 

 orchards are not what they ought to be. I should say there 

 is very particular need for the extension of the apj^le busi- 

 ness in Massachusetts, but that the greatest need is not to 

 make it more extensive, but more intensive. 



The Chair. Kindly give us a few points in which in- 

 tensiveness is to be increased, — particular work all along 

 the line, is it? 



Professor Waugh. In a way, yes, sir. I cannot give it 

 l)riefly very w^ell. I should say better cultivation is needed, 

 better treatment of the soil. The majority of orchards am 

 not cultivated at all. If I were going into the apple busi- 

 ness, I would like others to grow their apples in the grass, 

 and keep up that practice ; because certainly it is the experi- 

 ence of everybody that much of the profit is made by giv- 

 ing good cultivation and good feeding, and that means good 

 spraying and pruning. There is one thing which strikes 

 me more particularly in the line of argument I have been 

 trying to follow to-day, and which I think should be men- 

 tioned. The apple needs to be more specialized here in 



