STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35 



MY EXPERIENCE IN ORCHARDING, AND MARKETING THE 



FRUIT. 



By Phineas Whittier. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I do not come before you 

 as a fancy fruit grower with plenty of money to do as I please, but 

 one who has been so cramped for funds as to labor under great dis- 

 advantages. Without saying anything against stock-raising, dairy- 

 ing, grain-growing or any other branch of farming (for I think that 

 there is a chance for fair success in any of those pursuits when in- 

 telligently engaged in by persons who love the business) , I thoroughly 

 believe myself when I say that there is far the easiest and greatest 

 chance for satisfactory success in orcharding in this section of the 

 State, for a person who likes the business, of an}' one thing I know 

 of. Right here, let me say, that the surest way for a person to make 

 a failure is to engage in that which he has no liking for. We have an 

 abundance of good and cheap orchard land and are near good markets. 

 We can raise the best and latest keeping fruit. All that is lacking 

 is the right kind of men, those who have faith in the business, 

 great courage, perseverance and a good share of patience to wait for 

 the fruits of their labor. Not those whose faith and courage are good 

 for one 3'ear and when ill-luck and circumstances make things look 

 dark will give up beaten. There are many discouragements lo meet, 

 and he who would succeed must be a man of such faith and de- 

 termination as to make a steady and long struggle and never give 

 up. None others need expect to obtain any great reward, for in 

 orcharding, steady and constant care is more necessarv than in al- 

 most anything else. It is a settled conviction with me, that with an 

 orchardist no better than myself, almost any of our hard and rocky 

 farms, and even old pastures, now worth from $500 to S2000, can be 

 made to produce for sale, each year, more value of fruit than they 

 are now worth, besides getting something from stock, especially sheep. 

 This is not guess work. I have worked this problem all out and 

 proved it, and if any doubt it I can show how it is done. 



Many fruit culturists go 'to Florida, thinking to make fortunes in 

 orange groves, but many of them get discouraged because it requires 

 more labor and expense in fertilizing and clearing the land in order to 

 succeed than it would to get a good orchard of apple trees here in 

 Maine, besides it must be a very favorable location for orange trees to 



