Il6 MAINE) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I907. 



Every year there are shown at the various state and local fairs 

 and grange exhibitions of Maine certain apples of considerable 

 merit but only of local repute. Some few of these have reached 

 the officers of the State Pomological Society, or the Experiment 

 Station, and have thus been brought to public notice, others have 

 never been distributed beyond the limits of the town where they 

 were first produced. The purpose of the present notes is to call 

 general attention to those varieties of Maine origin which are 

 worthy of wider dissemination and to record, as accurately as 

 possible, the history of such varietes. In securing data for the 

 subsequent notes of this bulletin, the officers and members of the 

 Maine Pomological Society, as well as other well posted fruit 

 growers, have been freely consulted, and their aid is hereby 

 gratefully acknowledged. 



While Baldwin, Greening and other standard varieties, mostly 

 of New England origin, will doubtless remain for many years 

 the leading market sorts, new and valuable types are continually 

 appearing, and these will be most likely to excel near their native 

 home, or in their native state. In order to test such of the 

 Maine seedlings as may be of merit, the Station has established 

 a " Maine Orchard " where such new native sorts as come under 

 observation are, if considered worthy, top-grafted into bearing 

 trees for immediate and careful inspection. Many of the sorts 

 named below are now included in the Station collection, and 

 others are being added from year to year. Fruit growers in the 

 State who have seedlings of special merit are urged to forward 

 specimens of the fruit to the Experiment Station for inspection. 



From the earliest times apples have been raised in Maine, and 

 the quality of the fruit produced has always been recognized as 

 of the best, but the farmers of the State have been slow to take 

 advantage of the natural conditions offered. The various 

 county and local agricultural and horticultural societies offered 

 premiums before 1850. The Maine Pomological and Horticul- 

 tural Society was organized in 1847, though it lived but a few 

 years. In 1873 the State Pomological Society was incorporated. 

 From the first, this society has encouraged the development and 

 dissemination of meritorious seedlings. 



Nurseries have at various times been established in the State, 

 notably those of Colby, in Limerick, Bowman, in Sidney and 

 Meritt, in Houlton. The deep snows, however, which in set- 



