60 STATE POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY. 



are of varieties said to succeed anywhere, particularly the North- 

 ern Spy. They have succeeded remarkably well. I commenced 

 to raise trees from the seed when I was quite young, and have 

 them now eight or ten inches in diameter. I have on my farm 

 from six hundred to a thousand of such trees, and have grafted 

 them in the limbs. I can say that I have succeeded as well as 

 people generally, and perhaps better ; and for the reason that I 

 believe I have taken care of my trees. My idea is that it does not 

 make so much difference where a tree is raised, if the wood is well 

 ripened when it is set. I think a foreign tree will succeed as well 

 as a native if the wood is well ripened. Still, I do not think trees 

 that are pushed, as most of our Western trees are, can be as well 

 ripened as those grown here. And for that reason, if I were to 

 purchase trees, I should purchase from my own State. I would 

 say if it was not for one drawback — the witch-grass [Triticum 

 repensi on my farm, I would go into the nursery business. I be- 

 lieve there is no branch of farming that a man can engage in to- 

 day and be so profitably remunerated as raising nursery trees, if 

 he is situated so he can. Witch-grass is the greatest enemy our 

 apple trees have, and I believe we cannot successfully grow them 

 with a great amount of it in the soil. The borer is a great pest, 

 but by going over them two or three times a year, I can get clear 

 of that trouble, and I very seldom lose a tree. 



W. P. Athekton, of Hallowell : 



The question this afternoon is, " Shall Maine grow her own 

 fruit trees?" and probably if the question was put to me point 

 blank, I should say, "Yes, certainly, if she can." But the ques- 

 tion also comes up, is she growing her own fruit trees to that 

 extent which is demanded by the times ? Probably in times past, 

 Maine has produced a sufficient supply of fruit trees, either graft- 

 ed or as seedlings, to supply the demand, whatever it was. But 

 to-day I think the demand goes beyond the supply. We must 

 remember that there are in this State seventy thousand farmers, of 

 whom probably a very large majority are now more or less inter- 

 ested in fruit culture, and we must remember that when farmers 

 want trees, they want from twenty-five to one hundred trees, good, 

 sound and healthy, and of a certain age and height. When they 

 want these trees, they want them at once, when the land is ready 

 for them. Where shall they send their orders? Are there any 

 places in Maine producing Maine grown trees in sufiicient quan- 

 tities to warrant these farmers in ordering that quantity ? I take 



