STATE POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY. 93 



ous foe to the cultiyation of the apple that we have to contend 

 with. The failure of the crop of this fruit in very many sections 

 of Maine the past season was owing to his persistent ravages. 

 Old apple trees especially, and the branches of such as were inac- 

 cessible to man, were almost entirely denuded of both leaves and 

 fruit, and yet after all the destruction of the apples on the old 

 trees by this enemy, such fruit growers as had had in previous 

 years a provident forecast of the necessity year by year, of re- 

 plenishing their orchards with young and thrifty trees, had the 

 pleasure, after the contest with the enemy was over, of harvesting 

 a pretty fair yield of apples. 



Now, in speaking of the comparative value of the different 

 kinds of farm products, by placing the apple crop at the head of 

 the list. I do not intend to exclude, by any means, the cultivation, 

 in degree, of most other kinds of farm products, and so much of 

 all the different kinds as are needed for family use, such as pota- 

 toes, garden vegetables, all the diflFerent varieties of small fruits, 

 and even corn, and if the farmer has the courage to cultivate 

 wheat enough for flour for his own use, he is to be commended for 

 his frugality and enterprise ; and the cultivation of all these dif- 

 ferent products of the farm and the garden need not interfere 

 with that attention to the orchard which is needed for its success- 

 ful development of growth, and the product of fruit. 



In making these remarks, I assume that the orchard has already 

 been planted out, and if not, I advise every farmer that has neg- 

 lected it hitherto, to lose no time, should he live and be in health 

 at the opening of spring-time, in preparing at least one acre of 

 ground for an orchard, and setting it out with apple trees of 

 healthy and seedling growth. 



I will now give my views in reference to the cultivation of the 

 pear, as it regards the profit or otherwise of its general or exten- 

 sive cultivation. I do not deny, nor do I suppose any lover of 

 good fruit will, that the pear in its own intrinsic perfection, is a 

 luxury unsurpassed by most kinds of fruit, but to enter into an 

 extensive cultivation of it, for other purposes than for home use 

 and for a limited home market, would seem to me of doubtful 

 propriety. I have cultivated the pear, on rather a limited scale 

 it is true, for the last twenty years, but as far as my experience 

 has gone, I have not found the culture of the pear so remunerative 

 as that of the apple. True it is, that the pear tree is not liable to 

 be infested with so many obnoxious insects as the apple tree ; but 



