FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



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grown on the cleaner hill lands. This may seem a 

 ridiculous view at present, but when some of these hill 

 orchards now growing come into bearing, the flavor of the 

 fruit will be so remarkable that it will take the lead in the 

 market. Land 400 miles from the seaboard, and worth $150.00 

 an acre, will not forever compete with land 100 miles away 

 that cost $30.00 or less. In the end I believe that the cheaper 

 barrel of handsome apples put in New York will win, and I 

 believe that on the New England hills and along the ridges 

 south can be grown the cheapest barrel of fruit. I feel very 

 sure that the rough hill lands on the Atlantic coast are to be 

 the great apple orchards to supply the Eastern States and 

 Europe. Apple culture will climb up hill in order to secure 

 cheap land, less danger from frost, and cleaner sunshine and 

 air. During the next 10 years I expect to see great attention 

 paid to experiments in planting trees on rough land. There 

 are many things in this connection which are interesting. For 

 example, on my own farm, I am trying to work out a plan, 

 which may be practical. The farm stands on edge, with an 

 abrupt slope on either side. My plan is to get to the highest 

 point on this ridge and drill a six inch well down through the 

 rock till I strike a living stream of water. We generally do 

 this at about 125 feet, so that the water rises to less than 40 

 feet of the surface. When this is done, I intend to put down 

 a powerful pump and, by means of a gasolene engine, to pump 

 a constant stream through the months of May, June, July 

 and August, and let it trickle down on either side of the ridge 

 slowly, under the mulch which covers the ground. This 

 plan I believe to be thoroughly practical, and if the ground 

 is covered with mulch there will be little need of washing 

 the soil and both the grass and the trees can be provided with 

 an abundant supply of water. I succeeded in starting alfalfa 

 on this ridge, and, with this plan of irrigation, I see no reason 

 why both the alfalfa and trees should not thrive, the one 

 practically feeding the other. There are plenty of places in 

 New England where such a plan as this could be tried. If 

 we can make it succeed, we shall have an advantage over 

 every section of country that I can think of, for it is compar- 



