STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 123 



consequences upon the apple interest of our State. And the evil, 

 apparently, is enhanced every 3ear by the continued enlargement of 

 orchards and setting of more apple trees. 



We have said such argue from false premises. Why? In the first 

 place, who are the consumers of fruit, and what are the conditions 

 upon which our markets are based? The apple, unlike some other 

 commodities that enter into the domestic cuisine, is both a necessity 

 and a luxury. Considered in that connection, the wealthy will alv7a3-s 

 have it if it grows, but with the poorer class, which includes the 

 great mass of laborers, the apple under certain conditions comes to 

 them as a luxury which can be dispensed with in times when labor 

 is in excess of demand, and luxuries have to be relinquished. 



During the last two years great depression has ruled in business. 

 Labor has been in excess of demand, with the consequent low price 

 for the same. Economy has been the watchword in the millions of 

 homes to the exclusion of luxuries in living, indulged in in prosperous 

 times when labor is all emplo^^ed at fair wages. It is not consump- 

 tion of the products of New England farms b}' the thousands of the 

 wealthy class, which gives active demand and remunerative prices 

 for the products of Maine orchards, or anywhere else, but the mil- 

 lions of mouths of the families of wage-workers which determines 

 the price of Maine apples at home or abroad. With the thousands 

 of London's laborers parading her streets and howling with the 

 despair of starvation, is not an augur for quick sales or remuner- 

 ative prices for Maine apples shipped to English markets. With 

 our laborers living from hand to mouth on scanty work and scantier 

 wages, the luxury' of a constant fruit diet gives place to the sterner 

 necessities of bread and clothing. 



WHAT OF THE NIGHT. 



The times upon which we have fallen are anomalous. Financial 

 depression lies upon the whole business world. America is not 

 alone in the low state of her business interests. The same is true 

 of the countries of the Old World. A reaction is coming when busi- 

 ness will revive, and the Maine orchardist will be happy. He can 

 grow the best apples in the world, and he knows it. That he will 

 alwajs find a market for them at remunerative prices, the horizon 

 of the future glows with roseate hues of promise. While the wheels 

 of our manufacturing interests are in motion, with their goods find- 

 ing their way to the homes of millions of consumers, making a 



