STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 115 



The next paper on the programme was contributed by Mr. S R. 

 Leland of Mt. Baldwin Farm, Farmington, read in his absence by 

 Mr. Atherton. 



THE FUTURE OUTLOOK FOR FRUIT RAISING IN MAINE. 

 By S. R. Leland. 



I shall not attempt to write a carefull}' worded essay on fruit rais- 

 ing, but instead write in a conversational and interrogator}' style, as 

 though I were conversing with a friend upou the subject. When I 

 speak of fruit raising in Maine as a profitable business, a money- 

 bringing crop, I mean principall}- the raising of apples. Pears, 

 grapes and the small fruits cannot, in m\' judgment, be raised at a 

 profit in Maine, except, perhaps, in the vicinity of our cities and large 

 villages, but I would most surely recommend for everj' person who 

 owns a piece of this earth, if no more than a village lot, to raise them 

 in sufficient quantity' (if he has the space to spare) for the use of his 

 family, as a source of health, pleasure and enjoyment. 



Is there any danger of an over-production of apples in Maine? 

 The raising of certain classes of apples is already overdone. There 

 is a large amount of inferior natural fruit raised in this State, mostly 

 in the original orchards, which is worthless for anv other purpose 

 than for cider or feed for stock. Such fruit is of some value for the 

 above-named purposes, but as the original orchards were almost in- 

 variably planted on the best tillage land on the farm, would it not be 

 econom}', where such orchards are too far advanced in decay to be 

 grafted with any prospect of profit, to root them out and appropriate 

 the land to other crops? Another class of apples raised in Maine far 

 in excess of the demand is the summer and earl}' fall varieties. That 

 class of fruit matures at the season when the markets are over- 

 stocked with fruit of the same class. The tendency of such fruit to 

 immediate decay after maturity makes it almost worthless to the 

 orchardist in the interior of Maine except in sufficient quantities for 

 family use. Now we come to the late-keeping varieties of apples 

 such as have an established reputation in the markets. Is there any 

 prospect of the production of that class of apples being overdone in 

 Maine? The fine flavor and the late-keeping qualities of Maine 

 apples have established for them an enviable reputation in all the 

 markets of the world which they have ever reached. 



Twentj'-five or more years ago, when the tree agents began to flood 

 Maine with the New York nursery stock, the cry was heard on every 



