STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95 



FRUIT GROWING IN MAINE. 



The ably wintteii articles on fruit culture which have appeared in the 

 Farmer of late, have been read with deep interest. Much capital has been 

 and is still being invested in this branch of farming, while the returns for 

 a few years past have been rather slow and uncei-tain, and the present out- 

 look is far from encouraging. While these failures are so frequent around 

 us, we need the views of the most experienced orchardists in the State 

 concerning the cause. Let us hear from them ; whether they have made 

 the business pay or otherwise ; their notes of warning or encouragement 

 will be valuable to those who desire instruction. 



A glance at the orchards over the State shows that the business has 

 been both overdone and but half done. If but one half the money paid 

 out yearly for trees, could be expended for good trees only, of tliose varie- 

 ties proved to be adapted to the locality where they are set, and receive 

 the same attention and cost of culture that the whole are now receiving, 

 large losses and disappointments would be avoided. Perhaps no State in 

 the Union has a greater variety of soil than ours — portions being well 

 fitted for orcharding, and others valueless for this purpose. One has only 

 to contrast the size, vigor and productiveness of both apple and pear trees 

 in the central and western parts of the State, with those in the northern 

 and eastern, to see that the former localities are quite preferable. I 

 recently measured two apple trees in Kittery, one of which gave eleven 

 feet nine inches in circumference, three feet from the ground ; the other 

 twelve feet nine inches, five feet from the ground. These trees are esti- 

 mated to be two hundred years old. The oldest inhabitant can remember 

 them fifty years ago, when they were in full vigor. They are still bear- 

 ing fruit, although their hollow trunks and decaying tops show that 

 they will soon pass away. They evidently belong to a hardy race, and 

 have been favored with a good soil and location. We need not expect 

 the puny trees of the present day to attain to the size and age of these, 

 but if we desire the best trees that can be grown, we should be more care- 

 ful to select the hardy ones. 



Starting an Orchard. — How shall I start an orchard? Shall I set seed- 

 lings or buy Western trees? These are questions often asked by young 

 orchardists. My advice to everj' farmer is to raise his own trees as far as 

 practicable, and set only the best. If he wants to propagate Baldwins or 

 other tender varieties, he should not graft until the trees are well started 

 in the orchard. Duchess of Oldenburg, Talman's Sweet, and other per- 

 fectly hardy varieties, may be safely worked in the nursery. I should 

 judge three-fourths of the trees that have been set during the past twenty 

 years, were raised out of the State, mostly in New York. Some are well 

 grown, many are rather refuse, with small roots, cramped and ill-shaped 

 tops, and they are often bruised in tran^orting. When two thousand 

 dollars are paid out in one year for Western nursery stock by one ioxon in 

 Maine alone, we can but see the need of doing something to check this 

 drain. ' 



