STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 129) 



The Wealth}' has done well here on nearl}' all kinds of soil and 

 treatment; we have not a hardier or more thrift}' tree on our list; 

 the Gideon does not thrive on a deep or sand}' soil. Fameuse is- 

 hard_y, is a garden tree, needs to be cultivated and well dressed ia 

 order to produce fair, nice fruit ; but after all these varieties have 

 been admired and commended and placed in their proper loading; 

 place in the list, then, standing out ahead and alone witliout a peer, 

 is the New Brunswick, bearing a very heavy crop ever}' year, mak- 

 ing the whitest and best flavored dried apple, easily cooked, withi 



flesh as while as flour. 



E. W. IMerritt. 



Houlton. 



FRANKLIN COUNTr. 



There is no material difference in the climate of the settled part 

 of Franklin County and that of Cumberland and Kennebec. We 

 have more snow here and it lies on later in the spring, but the frost 

 is usually out of the ground when the snow is off and vegetation im- 

 mediately starts. Apple trees in this vicinity blossom a full week, 

 earlier than on some soils nearer the coast — say on Walnut Hill^ 

 where I have particularly noticed it. Some late-growing varieties, as 

 the Spy, attain their growth a little earlier near the coast, as in the 

 more southern portion of the State, than here, I have noticed. All 

 varieties that will mature in any part of Maine will mature in Frank- 

 lin, as far as climatic influences are concerned. 



The Baldwin grows in great perfection in this part of the county 

 if put upon high land, and it succeeds well in Kingfield, Phillips, 

 and fairly well in Madrid. In the Dead River Valley and the Lake 

 regions apple raising is in much the same condition it was here fifty 

 years ago, nearly all natural fruit which produces fairly well, but I 

 doubt if any but the most hardy varieties could be grafted into those 

 regions with much prospect of success. 



If you wish to set definite bounds of the northern limit of culture,^ 

 I should say a line drawn somewhat south of Mts. Abraham, Bige- 

 low and Saddleback. The leading apple in this county is the Bald- 

 win. The leading varieties are Baldwin, Northern Spy, Rhode 

 Island Greening, Fameuse and Talman Sweet, for winter apples, 

 and almost all the kinds you ever heard of for summer and fall use 

 — but it is not profitable to raise the latter here, except what are re- 

 quired for family use. 

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