116 STATE POMOl-OGICAL SOCIETY. 



outlay and effort has been made, which has been bn!; a partial success 

 owing to these causes : 



1st. A want of care and judgment in selecting hardy varieties, the 

 buyer not knowing what to buy and the agent not understanding his 

 business. 



2d. A want of care and protection from cattle, mice, caterpillars, 

 etc. 



3d. Trees raised in New York are not so good as those raised here, 

 for, the soil being alluvial and light, it makes the growth light and 

 spongy ; the soil is deep, allowing the roots to run so deep that a large 

 part of the roots have to be cut off in raising the tree when shipped ; 

 and then, again, it is too great a change in climate, and the tree can- 

 not be depended upon to make a health^' orchard. 



Those who have orchards of grafted fruit find it a very profitable 

 investment, and there will soon be apples enough raised in this vicinity 

 to supply the home demand. A large number of choice varieties are 

 set out here each year, as the apples raised here are of superior flavor 

 and will keep longer than when raised south of here. I think thai 

 eventually apples will be shipped from this county ; they may not go 

 to England, for we have a great country north of us which will always 

 want them. Every one that has an orchard in bearing is well pleased 

 and wishes he had more trees. What 1 wish to emphasize is that 

 orcharding is a success in this part of Aroostook and will be more 

 so as the people learn to take better care of their trees. These con- 

 ditions, however, cease at forty-five miles north of the south limit of 

 the county, which is at Bridgewater. It is no use for any one to 

 tliink of raising an orchard above this line except of a few early and 

 fall apples and these only in isolated localities. This may seem 

 strange, yet it is a settled fact in my mind, for the following reasons : 

 1st, In parts of Blaine and Mars Hill the soil is four feet deep ; 2d, 

 The subsoil has an excess of lime, resting on a rotting lime ledge ; 

 3d, The snow comes on before the ground freezes and being a light, 

 loose, warm soil, the trees start early in the spring and are killed by 

 late freezing. These conditions reach as far as Fort Fairfield, where 

 the subsoil is fine gravel. If these hindrances did not exist the cli- 

 mate is now too cold for orcharding. 



Some of the above difficulties may be partially remedied on young 

 trees by treading the first snows about them, allowing the ground to 

 freeze, but this is not practicable in a large orchard or around large 

 trees. If the above alleged facts be true we are led to conclude that 



