LIBRARY

OF THE

DATE DUE 1

■'

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
LIBRARY

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

Maine State Pomological Society,

FOR THE YEAR 1886.

Including the Proceedings of the Winter Meeting held at Music Hall,
Farmington, February 3 and 4, 1887.

EDITED BT THE SECRETARY,

SAMUEIL l_. BOARDMAN-

AUGUSTA:

SPRASUE, BURLEIGH & TLTTNT, PRINTERS TO THE STATE.
1887.

.. \,

B*\SS.

Ji

.- /

/ 'g ^ 6

"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity: children
love thera ; quiet, tender, contented, ordinary people love them as they
grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered. They
are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town, mark, as with a lit-
tle broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose

heart rests the covenant of peace."

— John Euskin, 1819.

"Think once more, my friends, of the great blessings which you may
confer on mankind by the multiplication of good fruits. Next to saving
the soul is the saving of health, and I know of no better means than an
abundant supply of ripe fruits. Fruits are the overflow of nature's
bounty ; gems from the skies which are dropped down to beautify the
earth, charm the sight, gratify the taste, and minister to the enjoyment
of life ; and the more we realize this, the more shall we appreciate the
Divine goodness to us, and the duty of providing them for others."

— Marshall Pinckney Wilder,

1798-1886.

INTRODUCTION

In presenting to the members and correspondents of the Maine
State Pomological Society the fourteenth annual report of its trans-
actions, I take great pleasure in congratulating them upon the con-
tinued prosperity and in(;reasing usefulness of the Society as evinced
by the character, variety and practical usefulness of the matter con-
tained in this volume. With only limited means at its command,
the Society is carrying forward a good work in promoting one of the
largest and most important of our agricultural interests, and dissem-
inating correct and trustworth}' information regarding varieties of
fruits best adapted for our State, with the mobt approved methods
of culture, handling and marketing. This is a work which needs
"line upon line" in its presentation to the public, although in the
present volume there is believed to be little repetition, but on the con-
trary much of new, original and valuable information.

The exhibition at Lewiston last fall was one of the largest and
most attractive the Society has ever held, the fruit shown represent-
ing a large crop, the third one in succession which the orchardists of
our State have harvested. Each j-ear the unprofitable varieties are
more and more dropping from cultivation and from the exhibition
tables, as our fruit growers come to realize the importance of grow-
ing only the more valuable late keeping, shipping varieties for which
Maine is becoming so justly celebrated. The apples to grow are the
apples which keep the longest and sell the best. Concerning the re-
port of the Winter Meeting, it is proper to say that the Society is
not to be held responsible for the correctness of statements, either of
fact or opinion, in the papers and discussions presented, but under-
takes simply to report them, or the substance of them, correctly.
The writer of each essay is alone responsible for the same.

Through the work of the Society, as expressed in the report of
the Committee given on page 89, as well as from the action of the
State Grange and the influence of the public press, our Legislature

IV STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

at its last session established Arbor Day, which was first observed on
Tuesday, May 10, 1887, in accordance with a proclamation issued
b}' His Excellency, Hon. J. R. Bodwell, Governor. It was quite
generally observed throughout the State, and as the years go on,
and its objects become better understood by our people, I believe it
will conduce in a large measure to the beautifying and adornment of
our home surroundings, school grounds, streets, highways, ceme-
teries and public parks. The more the home and the town are em-
bellished the more they will be loved, and the closer our associations
with them the stronger our attachment to home and native land.

Our Society is in correspondence with thirty-three national and
State horticultural and pomological associations, which issue annual
reports of transactions and proceedings. In some cases these re-
ports are contained in small pamphlets of twent}- pages, in others
they extend to large volumes of six hundred pages. Generally they
•contain matter of great importance to fruit growers, much of which
is as applicable to our own State as to those where the volumes are
•originally issued. To render this information of service to our fruit
growers, I have included in subsequent pages a few selections from
these reports because they are not accessible to members of our So-
ciety excepting in this way, while the extracts made I believe to be
of great value. Especially would I call attention to the articles on
the apple scab, — to which President Pope alluded in his annual ad-
dress— and the results of arsenical spraying for the codling moth.

For the portrait of our much-loved and lately-deceased President,
the Hon. Robert Hallowell Gardiner, which forms the frontispiece to
this volume, we are under obligation to a member of the family who
has generously presented the same to the Society'. For the use of
the plate of portrait of Hon. Marshall Pinckney Wilder, late Presi-
dent of the American Pomological Society, the Society is indebted
to the kindness of James Vick, Rochester, N. Y. The plate of the
Boardman apple was loaned by Hon. Henry E. Van Deman, chief
of the Division of Pomology, Department of Agriculture, AYashing-
ton, D. G., and is from the Report of the Department for 1886.

I wish here to express to the officers and members of the Society,
as well as to the various persons with whom I have been in corre-
spondence or association in the preparation of this volume for the
press, my high appreciation of their uniform courtesy and kind con-
sideration.

Samuel L. Boardman.

Augusta, August 28, 1887.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Eeport of Annual Exhibition — 1

General Rules of the Exhibition 5

List of Premiums Awarded 8

Proceedings of the Winter Meeting 17

Address of Welcome, by Hon. J. G. Hoyt 19

Annual Address of the President, Charles S. Pope 24

Memorial Address on the late Robert Hallowell Gardiner, by Sam-
uel L. Boardraan 27

My Experience in Orcharding and Marketing the Fruit, by P.

Whittier 35

Floriculture for Children, by Mrs. Sarah B. Purington 45

Influence of Flowers in the Home, by Mrs. Addie S. B. Weston. . . 51

Defects in Orchard Management, by Leander H. Blossom 58

Notions— Pomological and Otherwise, by D. H. Knowlton 61

How 1 Have Protected my Orchard from the Ravages of Mice and

Borers, by S. R. Leland 77

Twenty Years' Experience and What I Have Learned, by William

P. Atherton 81

Report of Business Meeting 88

Value of a Knowledge of the Natural S(;iences to the Farmer, by

Mrs. Hattie Park Keyes 91

The Old and the New, Poem, by C. A. Mace 101

Original Papers 109

A Chapter of Reminiscences, by Calvin Chamberlain 101

Fruit in Aroostook County, by E. W. Merritt 115

Some Aspects of Fi'uit Culture in Sagadahoc County, by J. W.

Lang 119

Orcharding in Somerset Countj% by Frank E. Nowell 122

What Shall We Do to Increase the Profits of Fruit Culture in

Maine, by Henry A. Sprague 125

Letter from Hon. Henry E. Van Deman 127

Propagation and Culture of the Plum, by J. E. Bennoch 128

Fruit Culture in Piscataquis County, by H. L. Leland 130

Letter from Patrick Barry 132

Letter from W. S. Devol 132

VI STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PAGE.

Selected Papers 133

Sketch of Marshall Pinckney Wilder 135

The Rose, Its Culture and Insect Enemies, by John Poste 136

Seedling and Russian Apples, by Peter M. Gideon 147

Kerosene Emulsion for the Apple Aphis, by Charles Little 151

Storing Apples for Winter, by Henry M. Dnnlap 153

Fewer Acres of Small Fruit — More Fruit to the Acre, by P. C.

Reynolds 155

The Bleedhig of Apple Trees, by T. H. Hoskins, M. D 158

Arsenical Poisons for the Codling Moth, by Prof. A. S. Forbes. . . 160

The Apple Scab 165

Kerosene Emulsion as an Insecticide, by Prof. C. V. Riley 174

Preventives and Remedies for Pear Blight, by Prof. J. C. Arthur. . 175

The Boardman Apple 176

Appendix 177

pomological and horticultural societies 179

List of Members 181

Index 183

Illustrations :

Portrait of Robert Hallowell Gardiner Frontispiece

Portrait ot Marshall Pinckney Wilder to face 135

The Boardman Apple to face 176

OFFICERS FOR 1887.

President.
CHARLES S. POPE, Manchester.

Vice Presidents.
D. J. BRIGGS, South Turner.
O. C. NELSON, New Gloucester.

Secretary.
SAMUEL L. BOARDMAN, Augusta.

Treasurer,
D. H. KNOWLTON, Farmington.

Executive Committee.
The President and Secretary, ex-officio ; W. P. Atherton, Hallowell ; L.
H. Blossom, Turner Centre ; J. W. True, New Gloucester.

Trustees.

Androscogghi County, A. S. Ricker, Turner.

Aroostook " E. W. Merritt, Houlton.

Cumberland " S. R. Sweetser, Cumberland Centre.

Franklin " M. C. Hobbs, West Farmington.

Hancock "' Charles G. Atkins, Bucksport.

Kennebec " E. A. Andrews, Gardiner.

Knox '• Elmas Hoifses, Warren.

Lincoln " H. J. A. Simmons, Waldoboro'.

Oxford "' Jairus K. Hammond, Paris.

Penobscot " J. E. Bennocli, Orono.

Piscataquis ''• H. A. Robinson, Foxcroft.

Sagadahoc *' H. S. Cary, Topshara.

Somerset '' James S. Hoxie, North Fairfield.

Waldo " D. B. Johnson, Freedom.

AVashington " Nelson S. Allen, Dennysville.

York '•'■ Luther S. Moore, Limerick.

Committee on Nomenclature.

Samuel Rolfe, Portland ; W. P. Atherton, Hallowell ; D. P. True, Leeds
Centre.

VIU

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

D. H. KNOWLTON, Treasurer,
In Account with Maine State Pomological Societt.

Dr.

Cr.

To cash in treasury Dec 31, 1885. . . .
" loan First Nat'l B'k of Wiscasset,
" " People's Trust Co., Farm-

ington

" " State Treasurer, bounty for

1885

" life members' iees

" annual members' fees

" State Agricultural Society ....
" interest on Permanent Fund . .
" " " deposit

$12 78

400 00

300 00

500 00

60 00

54 00

380 00

15 64

3 44

$1725 86

By paid orders oi Executive Com. . .

" Secretary's salary

" note, First Nat'l B'k, Wiscasset

" interest on loans

" premiums paid, bal. 1885

" " " in full, 1886

" cash in treasury Dec. 31, 1886. . . ,

$237 25
125 00
400 00

26 35
242 50
613 25

81 51

$1725 86

Financial Condition of the Society Jan. 1st, 1887.

Assets.

Amount due fi-om State Treasurer,
bounty for 1886

Cash in treasury ...

Property owned by the Society,
estimated

Amount on deposit in Wiscasset Sav-
ings Bank to credit of Permanent
Fund

Balance due from State Agricultural
Society

$500 00
81 51

150 00

344 40

45 00

$1120 91

Liabilities.
Amount due on loan at Wiscasset

National Bank

Amount due on loan, People's Trust

Company, Farmiugton

Amount due on bills and accounts

not rendered, estimated

$200 00
300 00
100 00

Permanent Fund.

Dr.
To amount on deposit to credit of
Pund

$344 40
535 60

Cr.

$880 00

$880 00

$880 00

D. H. KNOWLTON, Treasurer.

Farmington, Feb. 2, 1887.

Maine State Pomological Society,
In Annual Meeting, Farmington, Feb. 3,

A

The following members were appointed a committee to examine the Treasurer's account, viz. :

D. J. Briggs, L. H. Blossom, W. P. Atherton. The committee reported that they had attended

to their duty, having examined the account, which was found correct and properly cast, with

vouchers for all amounts paid out. The committee was discharged.

A true copy from the records.

Attest: Samuel L. Boardman, Secy.

REPORT OF THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION.

MAINE STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Annual Exhibition of 1886.

The fourteenth annual exhibition of the Maine State Pomological
Society was held at Lewiston, September 14 to 17, 1886, in connec-
tion with the annual exhibition of the Maine State Agricultural
Society. The exhibit of the Society was placed upon the third floor
of the large exhibition hall on State Fair Park, three wings of which
were entirely given up to the Society's use, thus making one-third
more floor and table space occupied by the exhibits than was the case
at the fair of 1885. The exhibits were also more attractively ar-
ranged than at any previous fair, the location of the tables in the
South Wing of the large hall having been changed, in order to give
some variety to the displays, and the collections of cut flowers here-
tofore shown in the end of the North Wing were moved to the centre
of the hall. The light was not quite as good here as it was in the
old position, but what was lost in this respect was gained in variet}-
of arrangement and the pleasing effect of a change in the appear-
ance of the hall. A floral arch opening from the East Wing to the
centre of the hall was another pleasing change in arrangement
from previous years, and was admirably fitted up under direction of
President Pope and with the assistance of Mr. Geo. M. Roak of
Auburn.

The various collective exhibits of the Society, as for instance, the
State, county and single variety exhibits, were each arranged by
themselves, and all were most attractively displa3'ed. For the best
general exhibition of apples there were thirteen entries. In the
class of count}' collections, the following-named counties did not
exhibit, viz : Aroostook, Hancock, PiscataquiSf Washington and
York. In the class of best five autumn apples there were thirteen

(3)

4 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

entries ; in that of winter apples, eighteen ; in that for best collec-
tion for home use, thirteen. In the second division of apples, single
plates of separate varieties, there were three hundred and eighty-
seven entries.

For the best general collection of pears there were seven entries ;
and for other entries in class II, a total of one hundred and thirty-
five entries. There were but few entries of grapes. In class IV,
plums, there were fort3'-six entries. In the miscellaneous class,
which embraced canned and preserved fruits, there was a total of one
hundred and eighteen entries. The department of flowers, class
VI, was large and more attractive than for some years past, a fine
display of pot plants having been made by G. M. Roak of Auburn.
The entries in this class numbered sixty-one.

The general rules of the exhibition, together with the several pre-
miums awarded in the various classes, are herewith given. Names
of fruit and other articles for which no competition appeared are
not given ; and the numbering of the various prizes, as published
in the list of premiums, has been omitted.

GENERAL EULES OF THE EXHIBITION.

1. The general regulations of the joint exhibition will govern this
department, as far as applicable thereto, and except as herein oth-
erwise provided.

2. Entries may be made at the office of the Secretar}', in Au-
gusta, personall}' or b}' letter, until September 11th, and after that
at the Exhibition Building at the Park, up to and including the first
day of the exhibition, Tuesday, September 14th.

3. Exhibitors are requested to present full and accurate lists of
the varieties of fruit or other articles to be entered ; and to specify
the premium for which each article is entered ; also to affix their
names and post-office addresses, so that the same may be correctly
transferred to the books and exhibition cards.

I^^Persons intending to make entries will confer a special favor
by sending lists of the same to the Secretary at an earl}' day.

4. All fruits and flowers offered for premiums must have been
grown by the exhibitor, and an}- violation of this rule will debar or
forfeit the premium. Specimens offered for exhihilion only, by others
than the growers, must in all cases have the name of the grower af-
fixed, if known.

5. All fruits and flowers exhibited must, as far as possible, be
correctly named a(^cording to the standard nomenclature adopted by
the Society, and it will be the duty of the standing committees of the
Society to examine labels and correct all errors ia nomenclature dur-
ing the exhibition.

6. Where a certain number of specimens or varieties, or a defi-
nite quantity of any article, is required by the schedule, exhibitors
should conform to such requirement ; and larger quantities will not
be admitted except by special arrangement with the Executive Com-
mittee, having reference to economy of space and the symmetry ot
exhibition.

(5)

b STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

7. Dishes and labels for the exhibition of fruits, and phials and
stands for cut flowers, will be furnished b^^ the Society', and no
others will be admissible. No premium will be paid on any article
which is accompanied by an advertisement or business card.

8. Exhibitors must see to the delivery of their contributions,
and will be required to put them in the. places designated for them.
After the articles are arranged they will be under the exclusive
charge of the Society, and the owners will not have liberty to re-
move them until the exhibition is closed. All reasonable precau-
tions will be taken for the safe keeping of articles on exhibition af-
ter their arrival and arrangement upon the tables, but the Society
will not be responsible for any loss or damage that may occur.

9. No premium will be awarded merely for want of competition,
nor unless the article exhibited is worth}- of it ; and the committees
are authorized to withhold the first and award the second or any sub-
sequent premium, or none, at their discretion, according to merit.
They are also to withhold all premiums from any articles not exhib-
ited according to the rules, or where an}- unfair practice has been
attempted by the exhibitor.

10. The committees are authorized to recommend gratuities for
any new or rare fruits, flowers, plants, or articles of merit for which
no premiums have been offered.

11. When a specimen is presented for identification, the exhib-
itor shall communicate all the information he possesses as to the
origin and local appellation.

12. No member of an}' of the committees for awarding premi-
ums shall, in any case, vote or decide respecting an award for which
such member may be a competitor, or therein have an interest ; but
in such case such member shall temporarily vacate his place upon
the committee.

13. All premiums awarded will be payable by the Treasurer in
sixty days after the close of the exhibition : subject^ hoivever, to the
following conditions Und limitations^ viz :

1st. — The Society guarantees to pay premiums and gratuities to
the amount of $500, but reserves the right, if more than that amount
is awarded, to make such a pro rata reduction as will reduce the
whole amount payable to that sum.

2d. — All premiums not applied for before the first day of Janu-
ary next shall revert to the Society.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 7

3cl. — The Society's premiums are open for competition to all per-
sons residing in the State ; but when premiums and gratuities ex-
ceeding $1.00 and less than $20.00 are awarded to a person not a
member of the Society', the fee for membership will be deducted
therefrom ; and when premiums and gratuities amounting to $20.00
or more are awarded to any person not a life member of the Society,
the fee for life membership will be deducted therefrom ; and in either
case certificates of membership will be issued accordingly.

LIST OF PREMIUMS AWARDED.

Class I.— APPLES.

FIRST DIVISION.

Rules. Entries for all premiums in this division must consist of
■five specimens of each variety exhibited, and (except Nos. 18, 19,
20 and 21) of at least twent}'^ correcth' named varieties, and not more
than fifty. Eki tries for premiums Nos. 18 and 19 must be separate
and distinct collections, not embracing any other collection or speci-
mens, and in awarding the premiums regard will be had both to the
quality of the specimens and the value of the varieties exhibited.

By "named varieties" is meant such as are named and described
in some standard work on pomology, or have been named and ap-
proved by some national or state horticultural society.

In adopting 20 as the number of varieties required in these collec-
tions (1 to 17), the Society does not intend to encourage the multi-
plication of varieties ; and the committee will be instructed, in award-
ing the premiums, to have regard to quality and value rather than to
the number of varieties, and will be authorized to recommend gra-
tuities for meritorious collections embracing less than the number of
varieties required as above.

Awards. For best general exhibition of apples, grown by the
exhibitor in any part of the State : W. R. Wharff, Gardiner
$15.00; Miss L. L. Taylor, Lakeside, $10.00; G. W. Blossom,
Turner, $5.00.

Best general exhibition of apples grown by the exhibitor in Andros-
coggin County : John Dunton, Lewiston, $10.00 ; I. T. Waterman,
East Auburn, $8.00 ; D. J. Briggs, South Turner, $5.00.

For the same in Cumberland County : S. R. Sweetser, Cumber-
land Center, $10.00 ; Milton Dyer, Cape Elizabeth, $8.00.

(8)

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9'

For the same in Franklin County : M. C. Hobbs, West Farming-
. ton, flO.OO; E. F. Purington, West Farmington, $8.00; Henry
Judkins, $5.00.

For the same in Kennebec County: E. A. Lapham, Pittston,
$10.00 ; Charles S. Pope, Manchester, S8.00 ; R. H. Gardiner,
Gardiner, $5.00.

For the same in Knox County: Elraas Hoffses, Warren, $10.00.

For the same in Lincoln County : E. W. Dunbar, Damariscotta,
$10.00 ; H. J. A. Simmons, Waldoborough, $8.00

For the same in Oxford County : C. H. George, Hebron, $10.00 ;
• S. M. King, South Paris, $8.00.

For the same in Penobscot County : J. E. Bennoch, Orono, $10.00 ;
H. W. Brown, Newburg, $8.00 ; E. H. Kenniston, Simpson's Corner,
$5.00.

For the same in Sagadahoc Count}': L. R. Powers, $10.00; C.
E. Sanford, Bowdoinham, $8.00; H. S. Cary, Topsham, $5.00.

For the same in Somerset County : F. E. Nowell, Fairfield, $10.00 ;
J. S. Hoxie, North Fairfield, $8.00.

For the same in Waldo County : M. E. Bartlett, East Dixmont,
$10.00; Mrs. A. B. Strattard, Monroe, $8.00.

For the best five varieties of autumn apples : C. H. George, $3.00 ;
S. R. Sweetser, $2.00 ; D. J. Briggs, $1.00.

For the best five varieties of winter apples : H. T. & S. E. Leech,
East Monmouth, $3.00; James Bickford, Carmel, $2.00; F. E.
Nowell, $1 00.

For best collection of apples for house use : H. J. A. Simmons,
$5.00; C. H. George. $3.00; S. R Sweetser, $2.00.

For best collection of crab apples : J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

SECOND DIVISION.

Rules. Entries for premiums in this division must consist of from
five to ten specimens, according to size, of each variety exhibited,
and must be separate specimens from an}- exhibited in the first
division.

Awards. Alexander: Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00; J. E. Ben-
noch, 50c.

American Golden Russet: I. T. Waterman, $1.00 ; T. M. Lam-
bert, Auburn, 60c.

Baldwin : I. T. Waterman, $1.00 ; D. H. Knowlton, Farmington,
50c.

10 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY.

Benoni : J. S. Hoxie, $1.00 ; T. M. Merrill, New Gloucester, 50c.

Black Oxford : E. H. Kenniston, $1.00 ; L. M. Berry, Winthrop,
50c.

Blue Pearmain : R. H. Gardiner, Gardiner, $1.00 ; H. "W". Brown,
50c.

Briggs' Auburn : Miss L. L. Ta3'lor, $1.00.

Cole's Quince: J. E. Bennoch, $1.00.

Deane: Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00; J. S. Hoxie, 50c.

Duchess of Oldenburg: S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; A. W. King,
Charleston, 50c.

Early Harvest: T. M. Lambard, Auburn, $1.00.

Fall Harvey : Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00 ; J. E. Bennoch, 50c.

Fameuse: S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; F. E. Nowell, 50c.

Franklin Sweet: Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00.

Grave n stein : S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; Charles S. Pope, 50c.

Grimes' Golden : E. A. Lapham, $1.00 ; H. W. Brown, 50c.

Hightop Sweet: F. E. Nowell, $1.00; H. S. Cary, 50c.

Hubbardston Nonesuch: Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00; T. M. Mer-
rill, 50c.

Hunt Russet: F. E. Nowell, $1.00: Elmas Hoffses, 50c.

Jewett's Fine Red: S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; Miss L. L. Taylor,
50c.

King of Tompkins County: C. H. George, $1.00 ; E. H. Ken-
niston, 50c.

King Sweeting: F. E. Nowell, $1.00 ; A. W. King, 50c.

Large Yellow Bough : C. H. George, $1.00 ; E. A. Lapham, 50c.

Moses Wood: Elmas Hoffses, $1.00; Miss L. L. Taylor, 50c.

Mother: Charles S. Pope, $1.00; Miss L. L. Taylor, 50c.

Northern Spy: C. H. George, 1.00; E. W. Dunbar, 50c.

Orange Sweet: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00; H. W. Brown, 50c.*

Peck's Pleasant: D. P. True, Leeds Centre, $1.00; J. S. Hoxie,
50c.

Pomme Royale: C. H. George, $1.00; Charles S. Pope, 50c.

Porter : E. G. Woodside, Lewiston, $1.00 ; I. T. Waterman, 50c.

President: L. H. Blossom, Turner Centre, $1.00; I. T. Water-
man, 50c.

Primate: L. R. Powers, $1.00; Miss L. L. Taylor, 50c.

Pumpkin Sweet: C. S. Chase, $1.00; H. S. Cary, 50c.

Red Astrachan : S. R. Sweetser, $1.00 ; J. S. Hoxie, 50c.

Red Canada: Lorinda Skillings, Lewiston, $1.00.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. * 11

Red Russet: S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; Mrs. M. L. Robbins, Win-
throp, 50c.

Rhode Island Greening: I. T. Waterman, $1.00 ; C. H. George,
50c.

Rolfe: B. G. Allen, $1.00; J. E. Bennoch, oOc.

Roxbury Rnsset : W. R. AVharff, $1.00 ; C. H. George, 50c.

Russet: F. E. Purington, $1.00; D. C. Averill, Temple, 50c.

Sops of Wine: I. T. Waterman, $1.00 ; F. E. Nowell, 50c.

Somerset: Miss L. L. Taylor, $1.00; F. E. Nowell, 50c.

Starkey: Charles S. Pope, $1.00; A. W. King, 50c.

Talman's Sweet: L. Skillings, $1.00; T. M. Merrill, 50c.

Tetofsky: J S. Hoxie, $1.00.

Wagener : N. W. Harris, Auburn, $1.00 ; J. S. Hoxie, 50c.

Wealthy: S. R. Sweetser, $1.00; J. E. Bennoch, 50c.

Williams' Favorite: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00; Miss L. L. Taylor, 50c.

Winthrop Greening: L. M. Berry, $1.00; F. E. Nowell, 50c.

Yellow Bellflower: R. H. Gardiner, $1.00; H. W. Brown, 50c.

Crab Apples : J. Bickford, Carmel, 50c ; Miss L. L. Taylor, 25c

Class II.— PEARS.

For best general exhibition of pears : Samuel Rolfe, Portland,
$12.00 ; L. J. Perkins, Portland, $8.00 ; D. P. True, Leeds Centre,
$5.00 ; John Dunton, Lewiston, $3.00.

For best single variety winter pears, L. J. Perkins, $2.00.

For best single variety autumn pears, L. J. Perkins, $2.00 ; H.
T. & S. E. Leech, East Monmouth, $1.00.

For best dish of Bartlett: L. G. Jordan, Lewiston, $1.00 ; C. A.
Leavitt, Turner, 50c.

Belle Lucrative: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00; S. M. King, South Paris,
50c.

Beurre d' Anjou : L. G. Jordan, $1.00 ; I. T. Waterman, 50e.

Beurre Superfin : D. P. True, $1.00.

Beurre Clairgeau : D. J. Briggs, $1.00.

Beurre Diel : D. J. Briggs, $1.00.

Buffum : Samuel Rolfe, $1.00 ; S. W. Shaw, 50c.

Clapp's Favorite : L. J. Perkins, $1.00 ; A. B. Chipman & Son,
West Gloucester, 50c.

12 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETr.

Dnchesse d' Angonleme : J. O. Howe, Lewiston, $1,00; A. B.
Chipraan & Son, 50c.

Eastern Belle : J. S. Hoxie, $1.00 ; J. E. Bennoch, 50c.

Flemish Beauty : Mrs. I. V. McKenney, Auburn, $1.00 ; G. W.
Blossom, 50c.

Glout Morceau : D. J. Briggs, $1.00.

Howell: L. H. Blossom, $1.00; J. S. Hoxie, 50c.

Lawrence: J. E. Bennoch, $1.00; D. P. True, 50c.

Louise Bonne de Jersey : D. P. True, $1.00 ; G. C. Chase, Lew-
iston, 50c.

Nickerson : H. J. A. Simmons, $1.00 ; S. W. Shaw, 50c.

Seekel : Mrs. L V. McKenney, $1.00 ; S. W. Shaw, 50c.

Sheldon: S. W. Cook, Lewiston, $1.00; G. C. Chase, 50c.

Swan's Orange: S. W. Shaw, $1.00: C. H. Hibbard, Lewiston,
50c.

Souvenir du Congress: Samuel Rolfe, $1.00.

Vicar of Winkfield : S. W. Cook, $1.00 ; D. P. True, 50c.

Winter Nelis : J. E. Bennoch, $1.00.

Special Premium : Admiral Farragut, Eastern Belle and Indian
Queen, J. E. Bennoch, 50c each.

Class III.— GRAPES.

For best exhibition of grapes grown with artificial heat : J. C.
Baker, Lewiston, $8.00.

For best cluster of Black Hamburgh, White Muscat, Muscat Ham-
burgh, White Chasselas, Lady Downes, Buckland Sweet Water,
White Nice, Red Chasselas, Chasselas Musque : J. C. Baker, each,
$1.00.

For best exhibition of grapes grown in open air: J. S. Hoxie,
$5.00; D. P. True, $3.00.

For best single variety grown in open air : Mrs. I. V. McKenney,
$2.00; J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

For best three bunches Delaware: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

Hartford Prolific: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

Adirondac: D. H. Swan, Waterville, $1.00.

Wilder: D. H. Swan, $1 .00.

Worden : J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

Moore's Early: Mrs. I. V. McKenney, $1.00.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 13

Class IV.— PLUMS.

For best general exhibition of plums: John Dunton. Lewiston,
$8.00 ; D. P. True, $5.00.

For best dish of plums of an}' variety' : M. P. Hawkins, Auburn,
$2.00 ; E. W. Dunbar, Damariseotta, $1.00.

For best Green Gage: L. R. Powers, $1.00; C. H. Hubbard,
Lewiston, 50c.

Purple Gage: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00; E. W. Dunbar, 50c.

Red Gage: D. P. True, $1.00.

Yellow Gage: F. E. Nowell, $1.00; D. P. True, oOc.

Coe's Golden Drop: G. W Chase, $1.00.

General Hand; F. E. Nowell, $1.00.

Yellow Egg : D. P. True, $1.00.

Lawrence: J. S. Hoxie, $1.00.

McLaughlin: E. W. Dunbar, $1 00.

Lombard: C. H. Hubbard, fl.OO; Lorinda Skillings, 50c.

Smith's Orleans: D. P. True, $1.00.

Class v.— MISCELLANEOUS.

For best peck cultivated cranberries : J. A. Morton, Bethel, $2.00 ;
L T. Waterman, $1.00.

For best exhibition of nursery pear trees : D. J. Briggs, $2.00.

For best variety of canned fruits, pickles, preserves, etc., made
and put up by the exhibitor : Mrs. D. H. Colby, Lewiston ; $3.00 ;
Mrs. O. G." Douglas, Lewiston, $2.00.

Canned peaches : Mrs. P. W. Murch, Lewiston, $1.00 ; Mrs. Ben-
son Grant, Lewiston, 50c.

Canned plums: Mrs. P. W. Murch, $1.00; Mrs. A. W. Peuley,
Auburn, 50c.

Canned strawberries: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00; Mrs. A. W.
Penley, 50c.

Canned raspberries: Mrs. D. H. Colby, $1.00; Mrs. O. G.
Douglas, 50c.

Canned cherries: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00; Mrs. D. H.
Colby, 50c.

14 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Canned quinces : Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00 ; Mrs. D. H. Colby,
50c.

Canned pears: Mrs. E. M. Leavitt, Auburn, $1.00; Mrs. Ben-
son Grant, 50c.

Canned tomatoes: Mrs. T. W. Murch, 1.00 ; A. B. Chipman i\c
Son, 50c.

Preserved quinces: Mrs. D. H. Colby, $1.00; Mrs. O. G.
Douglas, 50c.

Preserved apples : Mrs. D. H. Colby, #1.00 ; Mrs. 0. G. Douglas,
50c.

Preserved plums: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00 ; same, 50c.

Preserved pears: Mrs. D. H. Colby, $1.00; A. B. Chipman tt
Son, 50c.

Preserved strawberries: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00 ; Mrs. D.
H. Colby, 50c.

Preserved raspberries: Mrs. D. H. Colby, $1.00; Mrs. O. G.
Douglas, 50c.

Preserved currants: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00; Mrs. Benson
Grant, 50c.

Preserved cherries : Mrs. Frances Hoyt, Winthrop, $1.00; Mrs.
D. H. Colby, 50c.

Tomato catsup: Mrs. O. G. Douglas. $1.00; Mrs. A. W. Pen-
ley, 50c.

Jar quince jelly: Mrs. Benson Grant, $1.00; Mrs. Frances
Hoyt, 50c.

Jar apple jelly: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00 ; Mrs. D. H. Colby,
50c.

Jar currant jelly: Mrs. D. H. Colby, $1.00; same, oOc.

Jar strawberry jelly: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, $1.00: Mrs. Frances
Hoyt, 50c.

Jar grape jelly: Mrs. E. M. Leavitt, $1.00; Mrs. 0. G. Doug-
las, 50c.

Grape marmalade: Mrs. Benson Grant, $1.00.

Canned currants, citron ; preserved citron, cranberries, barber-
ries: Mrs. O. G. Douglas, each, $1.00.

Green gage jelly, rhubarb jelly, damson jelly : Mrs. Benson Graut,
each, $1.00.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 15

Class VI.— FLOWERS.

FIRST DIVISION.

Rules. In this class no article can be entered for more than one
premium. All plants and flowers entered for premium must posi-
tively be in their places at the exhibition room on the second day of
the Fair at 9 o'clock A. M.

Awards. Best display of cut flowers filling not less than one hun-
dred phials : Mrs. Charles Stanley, Winthrop, $10.00 ; Mrs. A. B.
Strattard, Monroe, $8.00 ; Mrs. J. L. Douglas, Bath, $5.00 ; Miss
Cora E. Ring, Richmond, $3.00.

For best display dahlias : Mrs. Charles Stanley, $2.00 ; Q. M.
Roak, Auburn, $1.00.

Asters: Miss M. L. Pope, Manchester, $1.00; Mrs. Charles
Stanley, oOc.

Gladiolus : G. M. Roak, $2.00.

Verbenas: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $2.00.

Chinese pinks: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00.

Pansies: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00.

Japan lilies : Mrs. Charles Stanley, $2.00 ; Mrs. A. B. Strattard,
$1.00.

Phlox Drummondii: Mrs. Charles Stanlej'^, $1.00.

Stocks: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00.

Balsams: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00.

Chrysanthemums: Mrs. A. B. Strattard, $2.00; Mrs. Charles
Stanley, $1.00.

Petunias: Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00; Mrs. A. B. Strattard,
50c.

SECOND DIVISION.

For best pair parlor bouquets : Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00.

For best pair wall bouquets : Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00 ; Mrs.
Frances Hoyt, 50c.

For best pair hand bouquets : Mrs. Charles Stanley, $1.00 ; Miss
Helen M. Hoyt, Winthrop, 50c.

Basket of wild flowers : Miss Cora H. Stanley, Winthrop, $1.00 ;
Mrs. Frances Hoyt, 50c.

Everlasting flowers: Mrs. Frances Hoyt, $1.00.

16 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Fancy basket of flowers : Miss Cora H. Stanle}^ $2.00 ; Mrs.
Frances Hoyt, $1.00.

Floral design : G. M. Roak, $5.00 ; Mrs. Charles Stanley, $3.00 ;

Floral pillow: Mrs. A. B. Strattard, $5.00.

Floral wreath : Mrs. A. B. Strattard, S2.00 ; Miss Cora E. Ring,
$1.00.

THIRD DIVISION.

For best exhibition of green-house plants : G. M. Roak, $8.00.

For best exhibition of ferns, geraniums, begonias and coleus :
G. M. Roak, each, $2.00.

For single plants of tuberose, double geranium, salvia splendens,
foliage begonia, flowering begonia, coleus, fuchsia and carnation, G.
M. Roak, each, oOc.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING.

Proceedings of the Winter Meeting.

The annual Winter Meeting of the Society was held in Music
Hall, Farmington, on Thursday and Friday, February 3d and 4th,
1887. The invitation to the Society- to hold its meeting in this in-
teresting part of the State was made by the Franklin County Agri-
cultural Society, the Farmington Grange, and the citizens of Farm-
ington. The local committee of arrangements consisted of M. C.
Hobbs, West Farmington ; D. H. Knowlton and S. R. Leland,
Farmington, and Edward W. Hall, Chesterville ; and the success of
the meeting, one of the largest and most profitable the Societ\' has
ever held, is due in great measure to the excellent arrangements and
earnest work of these gentlemen. The forenoon of the first da}' of
the convention was devoted to a business meeting of the Societ}', at
which the annual reports of the Seci'etary and Treasurer were pre-
sented, the election of officers for the ensuing 3'ear made, and reports
of committees presented. The details of these several matters, with
a list of the members of the Societ}', are found in other parts of
this report.

FIRST DAY. AFTERNOON.

The Society met at 1.30 P. M., President Charles S. Pope, Esq.,
in the chair. Hon. J. G. Hoyt of Farmington was then introduced,
who delivered the Address of Welcome.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

By Hon. J. G. Hoyt.

Mr. President: Because it has been assigned to me to open this
convention with a few remarks, it should not be assumed that I am
qualified to impart instruction upon the subject which you have
assembled to consider to-day, for there are many resident gentlemen

(19)

20 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETr.

who are far better informed than I am upon fruit culture. I shall
leave that subject main!}- in the hands of the members of the Maine
State Pomological Society and other practical fruit growers, who
are amply able to entertain this meeting upon all matters laid down
in your programme.

It is always in order nowadays (no matter what may be the imme-
diate subject under consideration) for the American orator or speaker
to roam at his will and speak upon such topics as he ma}' choose.
Availing myself of this license, I hope you will not consider it inap-
propriate in me if I spend the few minutes at my command in speak-
ing of the past and present of Maine, as seen from the standpoint
of one who has been cognizant of and, in a humble way, identified
with the people of this State in their struggle for a better inheritance,
industrially and sociality, during the last four decades. Forty years
ago the State of Maine was emphatically poor, meaning, of course,
the people of the State. The farmers were poor, the mechanics were
poor and the great mass of the people were poor. There was ver^'
little money in circulation, and the most of the business was carried
on b}' barter or exchange, and always on credit of six months or a
year, and then perhaps a long note with high interest. There were
no markets in the State worthy the name. There were no railroads,
no telegraph and no daily papers. There was no labor-saving ma-
chinery on the farm, in the shop or in the house. There were but very
few industries in the State. There were no savings banks in the State
simpl}^ because the people had no savings. And it was not known or
believed that there were any resources on the earth, or in it, except
such as might be developed in the line of agriculture. A large pro-
portion of the farms were under mortgage at ten or twelve per cent
interest.

Our young men, who should have been the strength and glory of
the State as soon as they became of age, and oftentimes before,
turned their backs upon us, impelled by some indefinable belief that
somewhere beyond the present confines there must be a "land
flowing with milk and honey " Our young women also left us to go
into the mills and factories of other States, and into the families of
the rich in the great cities, to earn mone}' to clothe themselves with
and to send to the poor ones at home. This is a dark picture, yet
it is as true as dark. But the indomitable spirit of the "'old stock"
held their faces to the grindstone and endured. And now, without
going into the processes and struggles of the people up out of that
low estate, let us look at the other side of this picture.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 21

To-day, we have railroads running through the entire length of the
State, and from the sea-board penetrating back into the interior coun-
ties. We have the telegraph, the telephone and the daily paper.
Thousands of industries have sprung up in all parts of the State.
Resources have been developed that were never dreamed of forty years
ago. Mills and factories have been built on all our streams and
rivers. Savings banks have grown up in all parts of the State in
which to store the savings of the people. The farmer of to-day is
armed with modern improvements, and, with the markets of the world
at his command, is not the scrimped-up man of olden times.

The great heart of the State is moved with the spirit of enterprise.
The man of Maine sits down to his evening paper and learns
through the "signal service" of the country that a blizzard is on its
way east, carrying death and destruction in its path, and he congratu-
lates himself that before it reaches Maine it will have spent its force.
He reads perhaps in the same paper that yesterday the mercury was
fifteen degrees below zero at St. Louis, and twenty below at Chicago,
and thirl}- below at Minneapolis, and sixty below in Manitoba, and
he is better satisfied with his own State than ever before. He reads
of earthquakes in the "sunny South" but it creates no fear that his
own walls are in danger of tumbling down overhisown head. He reads
of thousands of people in the soutli-west on the verge of starvation
and he turns with thankfulness to the well-supplied homes of Maine.
He reads of thousands of cattle perishing on western plains for want
of shelter, and he rejoices in the knowledge that his own sleek
horses and fat cattle and sheep are comfortably housed.

The man of Maine on the whole feels that our State is not only a
good State to live in, but a good State to emigrate to. Maine, instead
of being abandoned as formerh', is now sought by thousands of
people from all over the country for her healthy climate, for her
splendid scenery and for her glorious summers. From Old Or-
chard to Bar Harbor, yea, from Kittery to Calais, and from the
mountains down to the sea, Maine is a vast summer pleasure ground.

Maine has her representatives in every State in the Union, and
perhaps in every country in the world, and however honorable, and
wealthy, and useful they ma}' have become, and however happy they
may be in their new homes, I doubt if there are many among all
these sons and daughters who do not at some time have a longing
to look once more upon these hills and valleys, these mountains and
rivers, these school-houses and churches, and these homes and faces
in dear old Maine.

22 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. President, j'ours is the advancing column of the coming in-
dustry of the Pine Tree State. You are the representatives of
the higher life of the farmer. It cannot be denied that there is much
in the farmer's life that is purely and simply drudger}-, that never
enlists his higher and nobler sj'mpathies. But here is something en-
nobling and refining, something that captivates the mind. A man
falls in love with it as the artist falls in love with his ideal. He
commences with his tree no larger than his whipstick, and when it
differs not much from the forest sapling or the sapling at the way-
side, but he knows that inside of that bark there is the germ of a
delicious, soul-inspiring fruit. He plants it, he waters it, and trims
and educates it, and treats it as a thing of life ; he follows it up
through its slow growth and development until he sees it bud and
blossom, and then the long-wished-for and long-waited-for fruit
appears, and his soul has a satisfaction that the mere toiler for
mone}' knows not of.

Gentlemen, we welcome 3'ou to Franklin County, one of the
smallest and humblest of the family of counties. Yet even here
we have felt the pulsations of that new blood that has entered into
the veins and arteries of the "body politic." Just as you enter the
gateway of the county, there is a granite hill, which in the days of
which I have been speaking, was barren and unsightly, and of value
only as it furnished the underpinning for the few straggling houses
in the vicinity, and for the outlying villages. During the year 1886
that hill has been the scene of a busy industry. One hundred and
eighty-one skilled men have quarried and shipped eleven hundred
and forty-six (1146) car loads of "paving blocks" for the streets of
the great city of Cincinnati. They have also quarried and shipped
six hundred (600) car loads of granite for the Maine Central Rail-
road and its branches, for bridges, culverts, and other masonry.

Other parties have cut out and shipped stone for monuments and
building purposes, to the amount of fifty car loads more ; and all
this in addition to the ordinary home consumption.

Coming still farther into the county, there has been built within a
few years a railroad up under the shadow of Mt. Blue and be-
yond, and the great "inland seas" of Northern Maine have been
opened up, where the whole piscatorial fraternity of the country can
come and gratify that immortal longing which has been transmitted
down from or through Isaac Walton. Still more recently, a railroad
has been built up towards the approaches of Mt. Abram, and

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23

there, in the original forest where the sound of the "woodman's
axe" was never heard before, mills have been erected capable of
cutting out forty thousand (40,000) feet of lumber per day, and
cars stand ready to transport it to the markets of the world. A
large number of men are there employed, and it is estimated that
they will work up during the season six million (6,000,000) feet of
lumber.

We cannot boast of having any "money kings" in this county,
and if we had them, I do not think that we should be any better off
mdustrially, but we have "apple kings," and I notice that one of
these potentates is on your programme to speak to-day. This gen-
tleman raised this last season fifteen hundred (1500) barrels of ap-
ples, and every barrel was grafted fruit ; and he manufactured his
own barrels, and of that fifteen hundred barrels of apples he evapo-
rated twenty-one hundred (2100) bushels ; and that fruit thus pre-
pared and put into the market in his inviting way, is worth as much
as the best quality of raisins, pound for pound.

Perhaps the best illustration that I can give you of the thrift and
general prosperity of our people may be found right here; just
across the way there is an institution, modest and with little noise of
machinery, but very telling in its figures; I mean the savings
bank. You will find deposited there over four hundred thousand
dollars ($400,000) of the people's money, and not one dollar of the
insurance money paid in, on account of the recent fires, is included
in that amount. The People's Trust Company of this town has
also on deposit three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) above its
capital stock.

There is another savings bank in the thriving town of Phil-
lips, with one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) more, making
eight hundred thousand dollars of the savings of the people piled
away in this little county. There are also three other banking insti-
tutions in the county with a capital stock of two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars ($225,000) more.

Gentlemen, on behalf of the Franklin County Agricultural So-
ciety and also on behalf of the Grange in this place, as well as
on behalf of the farmers and the people of this town of Farmington,
I bid you welcome. We welcome you to this once the "loveliest
village of the plain," now stricken and humbled. Its magnificent
streets were the pride of our own people, and the envy of those less
favoured. Those streets were lined with the homes of cultivated and

24 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

intelligent people ; with comely and pleasant Christian churches ; with
well-kept and prosperous hotels, and with substantial and beautiful
business blocks ; but they all went down in one night, and in those
ruins (for the time being) were buried the hopes and ambitions of a
lifetime. But, thanks to the recuperative power of this people, we
pledge 3'ou here to-day, if you will re-visit this place at some time in
the near future, we will show you above those ashes, houses more
costly and beautiful, churches more modern and complete, hotels more
commodious and prosperous, business blocks more substantial and
imposing, and a larger and more flourishing business. Hail to the
possibilities of Maine !

The response to the above address was made in behalf of the So-
ciety, by the Secretary, Samuel L. Boardman.

D. J. Briggs, Esq., first Vice President, then assumed the chair,
and introduced Charles S. Pope, Esq., who proceeded to deliver his
annual address.

ANNUAL ADDRESS.

By President Charles S. Pope.

Ladies and Gentlemen : It was with pleasure we received the in-
vitation to hold our annual meeting at Farraington, as we had for
years desired to meet with the fruit growers of Franklin County. It
is particularly fitting that we should hold a meeting at this time, here
in the center of one of the finest fruit-growing sections of the State.
We cannot wonder that the early settlers thought this a goodly land
to possess, when we take into account its great beauty of scenery,
happilj' combining mountain and intervale, and its fertility. Their
descendants have added orcharding, for which the land is admirably
adapted, to ordinarj' farm pursuits, and have carried it on so suc-
cessfulk that the region is now widely and favorably known for its
orchard products. Among so many thoroughly conversant with the
theory and practice of fruit growing we anticipate an unusually
pleasant and profitable meeting.

Since our last meeting death has removed from our midst one of
our most earnest and enthusiastic members, Hon. R. H. Gardiner of
Gardiner. For three years President of this Society, he was one
whom we shall truly miss, with his ready counsel and sympathy. He
was ever ready to advance the best interests of the Society, either
by his purse or his own personal efforts. I need not dwell upon this
subject, as it will receive the more extended notice it merits from

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 25

the committee appointed to prepare a memorial of his life and labors.
We maj also fittingly mention here, the death of Hon. Marshall P.
Wilder, the founder and President of the American Pomological So-
ciety. A long life activel}' devoted to advancing the interests of
horticulture had endeared him to pomologists everj'where, and we,
in common with our sister societies, gratefully acknowledge the debt
we owe to this pioneer.

Having in his younger days a love for rural life, he chose farm
work rather than a college course. Later he became a merchant in
Boston, spending his morning hours in superintending the work in
his garden and orchard. Since retiring from business some 3'ears
ago he has spent nearly all his time in his favorite occupation, the
culture of fruits and flowers and flora-hybridizing. It can truthfully
be said that no man in this country has done so much for the cause
of floriculture and pomology as Marshall P. Wilder.

Our September exhibition, which was held in connection with the
State Fair, was in some respects more satisfactory than usual. We
had all the space needed for spreading the fruit, and by making some
changes in the arrangements of fruits and flowers, the exhibit was
more pleasing and much more convenient for the awarding commit-
tee. While it is impossible in the rooms assigned us to make an
artistic display, we think still further improvements can be made that
will add very much to the attractiveness of the exhibition. I would
again call your attention to the fact that it will be impossible to give
satisfacticJn to exhibitors until we are able to employ expert judges
who have no personal interest in the exhibit.

We recommended last year that the Society take some measures to
encourage the setting of trees in public places, and we hail with pleas-
ure the suggestion of Governor Bodwell, in his address, that a law
be enacted, appointing a day, as a holiday, to be known as "Arbor
Day," to be devoted to the planting of trees, useful and ornamental.
We suggest a committee be appointed b}' the Society, whose duty it
shall be to use their influence in giving this bill a passage.

I would call your attention to a bill which has been presented to
Congress by Hon. W. W. Hatch of Missouri, entitled "A bill to es-
tablish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the agri-
cultural colleges in the several States." It seems to us that this is
a step in the right direction, and such a station rightly equipped, with
competent officers, would be of incalculable benefit to the fruit growers
as well as the farmers of Maine. How many fields of potatoes were

26 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY.

entirely destroyed before we learned how to kill the potato bug?
How many apple trees were ruined by the forest-tree caterpillar, a few
years ago, because we did know how to meet the enemy ? And now we
have the apple maggot, Trypeta Pomonella^ with no remed\' to stop
his ravages, and the disease commonly called "apple scab," caused
b}' a fungus named Fttsidadium Dentriticum, which has caused more
damage in this section than all the insects combined. I fear some
of us will be obliged to abandon the raising of the Baldwin unless
something can be found to check this disease. These and the myriads
of other destructive agents call for help which could best be furnished
by such a station.

I would recommend that a committee be appointed to urge our
delegation in Congress to support this bill.

We would suggest meanwhile that all who are troubled with the dis-
ease called apple scab should be self-constituted members of a com-
mittee to experiment, both by feeding the trees, with a view of sup-
plying some constituent that maj' be lacking in the soil, and by
showering the trees while the apples are small with some mixture
that will kill the fungus without injuring the foliage, and report at
our next meeting. In this way something may be discovered that will
keep the disease in check, without too great trouble and expense.

Since human nature is prone to indolence and neglect, except when
pleasure and comfort are the immediate results of eflbrt, many
of us become indifferent and need to be reminded at least once a
year that our fruit trees are calling for more dressing, that the borers
need looking after, that the codling moth is increasing and the apple
maggot is abroad, all urging better care and more attention, if we
would make a profit from the orchard.

While some of these subjects require reiteration, there are still left
other topics fraught with ever renewed interest — the comparing and
examination of new varieties, improved methods of culture, and new
modes of dealing with the enemies of the fruit grower. These admit
of sufficient variations to keep alive an interest and enthusiasm and
render our meetings as profitable as they are pleasant,

I would reply to the charge of sameness in my annual addresses
as did the old preacher when his congregation complained because
his discourse was about the same week after week: "When j'ou
mind this I will try and give you something new."

Following the address of President Pope, the next exercise was
the presentation of the Gardiner memorial :

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 27

MEMORIAL OF HON. ROBERT HALLOWELL GARDINER, LATE

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY.

By Samuel L. Boardman.

From the foundation of our Society it has been a devout custom
to place upon record in its Transactions memorials of its deceased
members, thus preserving among the workers of to-day recollections
of the lives and services of its founders and helpers of the past, as
an incentive and for the emulation of those who will carry on its
good work when we who are here shall all have become numbered
with the ''silent majority." In accordance with this pious and rev-
erent example it becomes our sad duty to commemorate the life and
work of the late Robert Hallowell Gardiner, a member of our Soci-
et}' from 1877 to his decease, and its President from 1880 to 1884.

Mr. Gardiner was descended from a long line of honorable and dis-
tinguished ancestry. His great-grandfather. Dr. Sylvester Gardiner,
was born in Kingston, R. I., in the j'ear 1707, was educated in Eng-
land and France under the best schools and instructors, and became
one of the most learned and accomplished physicians and surgeons
of the time. He was one of the proprietors of the Kennebec Pur-
chase, which, commencing its scheme of colonization in 1757, did so
much for the settlement and development of the fertile sections along
the Kennebec River, and as agent of the company was largely instru-
mental in shaping its policy and promoting its prosperity-. To him
the praise should be ascribed of settling the region of ancient Pow-
nalborough and the entire Kennebec valley. In a history of the
Kennebec Purchase, in the Collections of the Maine Historical Soci-
ety (Vol. II, p. 279), it is said, "To his enlarged views, indefatiga-
ble exertions and liberal mind may be attributed those plans which
so rapidly advanced the prosperity of the Patent." "He brought an
uncommon zeal, a ripe judgment, great business talent and a pow-
erful interest in the growth of the country to bear on this enter-
prise, and so confident was he of success that he was willing to
commence at his own expense what the large company of Proprie-
tors had never been able to accomplish." He received from the
company a grant of four hundred acres of land, and continued to
accumulate possessions of real estate until at one time he owned one
hundred thousand acres of land. The present cit}' of Gardiner was
named in his honor. At the breaking out of the Revolution Dr.

28 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Gardiner embraced the cause of Great Britain, left Boston witli the
British army and went to Halifax. His property- was confiscated by
Government and sold at auction, but in consequence of a legal flaw
in the proceedings it was, at-the conclusion of peace, restored to his
heirs. Dr. Gardiner died August 8, 1786, aged 76 years.

A daughter of Dr. Gardiner, Hannah, married Robert Hallowell,
who was born in Boston in July, 1739, and who died in Gardiner in
April, 1818. A memorial tablet under the corner of Christ Church,
in that city, says of him that he was "a man of firm integrity, dis-
tino"uished courtes}^ and strong affections." A son was born to
Hannah Hallowell at Bristol. England, during the absence of his
parents and grandparents to that country 10 February, 1782, and
was named Robert. His grandfather, Dr Gardiner, displeased at
the religious and political views (he was a Unitarian and a republi-
can) of his eldest son John, willed all his property to this grandson,
when he was only five years of age, on condition that he should
assume the name of Gardiner. This he did on becoming of age, in
1802, and a special act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, passed
March 11 of that year, enabled him to take the legal name of Robert
Hallowell Gardiner, he having just graduated at Harvard University
ranking second in a large class which contained many afterwards
very distinguished names. After graduating he spent two years
abroad, and then came to the Kennebec to assume the management
of his estate. He married, in 1804, Emma Jane Tudor of Boston,
daughter of the late Hon. William Tudor, oue of her brothers being
the late William Tudor, the first editor of the North American Re-
view, and the biographer of James Otis ; and another, the late
Frederic Tudor, who was the originator of the modern ice business
and whose love for beautifying nature is shown in the tens of thou-
sands of trees which he planted on the bleak coast of Massachusetts
along what is now the beautiful and popular Nahant shore.

Mr Gardiner was a man of great energy of character, singularly
simple and unostentatious in manner of life, generous, kind-hearted
and just. He was thd first Mayor of Gardiner ; the President of its
savings bank from its organization to his decease ; for many years
an overseer and for nineteen years a Trustee of Bowdoin College ;
for a long time President of the Kennebec Bible Society ; an influen-
tial member of the Board of Visitors of the State Hospital for the
Insane, and for eleven years President of the Maine Historical
Society of which he was one of the original members. He died 22

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29

March, 1864, aged 82 j-ears. A memorial stone in Christ Church,
Gardiner, says, in the expressive language of the late Bishop Bur-
gess, that from youth to old age he was the "leader, benefactor, and
godh' example" of the people of that parish.

Robert Hallowell Gardiner, third child and eldest son of the above,
the subject of our present sketch, was born in Pittston, Nov. 9, 1809,
the family moving the next year to Oaklands. In an autobiograph-
ical sketch of Mr, Gardiner, prepared for use in his college class biog-
raphies, with extracts from which ^our committee have been favored,
he said of himself that "there are probably very few persons in at-
taining old age who can, like him, look back to their boyhood and youth
without a single memory to mar the delights of those days," and that
cheerful, innocent spirit, as innocent and fresh as a happj- child's,
remained with him through life, and enabled him to bear many trials
and adversities without despondency. Mr, Gardiner was educated
first by a private tutor at home, then at Partridge's Militar}' Academy
at Norwich, Connecticut, then at the Gardiner Lyceum — the first
school established in this country forgiving a scientific and industrial
education, in the founding of which his father had done great ser-
vice— after which he went to the famous Round Hill School, North-
ampton, Massachusetts, and then entered the class of 1830 at Har-
vard University, in the Sophomore class.

After graduating Mr. Gardiner engaged in business in this State,
but was unsuccessful. He then accepted an invitation of Col, Long
of the U, S, Ordnance Corps to go to Georgia and assist in making
survey's for a State road from what is now Atlanta to the Tennessee
River. There he spent three years, during which time he became
attached to the lady who afterwards became his wife. Miss Sarah
Fenwick Jones, daughter of Noble W3'mberly Jones of Savannah.
They were married June 28, 1842. A few years after their marriage
it became necessary, for the management of Mr. Gardiner's large
property, for them to remove to Augusta, Ga., where the attempt
was being made to establish manufactures and develop the resources
of the South. Into these business projects Mr. Gardiner entered
heartily and did all in his power to promote their success. A friend
who knew him at that period writes of him : "His life during this
time was that of a private citizen, respected and beloved by the
community at large, esteemed for his kind and charitable heart, and
honored for the zeal he displayed in promoting the material interests
of the South." He was the first President of the Augusta Manufac-

30 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

turing Company, and in 1851 was a member of the city council of
that city. Mrs. Gardiner and her sister, afterwards wife of the Rev.
William H. Harison, D. D., built, at their own expense, the Church
of the Atonement, in Augusta, and to this work Mr. Gardiner him-
self gave a great deal of the labor of love. He was for many years
a delegate to the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal
Church from Georgia, meeting in those sessions his father who had
been for many years, and until his death continued to be, a delegate
from Maine to the same body.

On the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Gardiner and his wife
came north, and afterwards visited Europe, where they spent several
3'ears. On the death of his father, in 1864, he took up his permanent
residence at Oaklands, where the remainder of his life was spent.
Mrs. Gardiner died in 1869. They never had children. Mr. Gar-
diner succeeded his father as T/easurer of the Maine Episcopal Mis-
sionary Society, and as Senior Warden of Christ Church.

After the death of his wife Mr. Gardiner devoted his time to the
care of his orchard, farm and garden, and also to church and phil-
anthropic work. In referring to this period the writer of an obituary
notice in the Gardiner Home Journal says : "Through weary years
the church and the Master's work have been to him his greatest joy
and supplied the place of wife and children. They have been served
with a heart pure and loving, ever ready to spend and to be spent in
any good cause, ever ready to respond, and to even anticipate the
call of charity and the cry of woe."

The famous orchard of Bellflowers at Oaklands was the especial
pride and care of Mr. Gardiner. This orchard was planted in 1863,
and commenced to bear for the first time in 1879. He gives an ac-
count of the same and its management in our Transactions for 1880-
81. It numbers about three hundred trees and its yield in 1886 was
seven hundred barrels. The care of this orchard and of his ornamental
grounds and garden, was a source of constant pleasure to Mr. Gar-
diner, and many of the trees were grafted and pruned b^^ his own
hands. Meteorological records have been kept at Oaklands for
nearly fifty years, since 1869 by Mr. Gardiner himself. He was
greatly interested in this work, exacting as it was, and was very
prompt in forwarding the monthly reports to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution at Washington, and to the local papers. Some idea of the
exacting nature of the work may be gathered from the fact that each
day's record demanded three different observations of temperature,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 31

barometer, winds and cloudiness — and for each day's observations
thirty-nine different columns of tables were required to be filled out,
and at the end of each month nineteen different and additional col-
umns, to contain the results of monthly averages. And yet up to
only two days before his death Mr. Gardiner had filled out these ta-
bles himself. At the end of the month he has been many times
known to work till 2 o'clock in the morning making out his aver-
ages and copying the tables for the Smithsonian and the public press.
All this work was conscientiously performed for j^ears, not only with
no compensation, but at a considerable personal expense for instru-
ments and apparatus. The Smithsonian regarded him as one of its
best correspondents. In view of the value of these records and their
increasing importance to science the longer they are continued, it is
a matter for public congratulation that they were taken up at the
point where Mr. Gardiner's accurate but weary hand stopped its
work, and are now continued by Rev. Charles L. Wells, the rector
of Christ Church.

Mr. Gardiner became a member of our Society' in 1877, and took
great interest in its exhibitions and meetings. Whenever possible
he was a large exhibitor, and so long as health allowed attended all
our winter meetings. At the annual meeting of the Society held at
Lewiston in 1880, Mr. Gardiner was elected President, and received
a re-election for three successive years following. His annual ad-
dresses, although generally brief, were well written, contained good
thought, correct information and were chiefly devoted to apple orchard-
ing, the specialty in which he was most interested. All his energies
seemed to be engaged in behalf of our Society and its work, and
many are the members who will long remember his animated pres-
ence and cheerful conversation while in attendance upon our meetings
and exhibitions.

Mr. Gardiner was a member of the New England Meteorological
Society, and of the Maine Historical Society. In the objects and
work of the last named he was much interested, and the occasions
were very rare when he did not attend its regular meetings at Bruns-
wick and Portland, as well as its summer excursions.

The estate at Oaklands comprises about four hundred acres. It is
one of the most lovel}^ spots on one of the most beautiful of our
Maine rivers — in the midst of fine and varied scenei-y. The mansion-
house was built in 1835-36. It is of Hallowell granite, in the English
style of architecture of the time of Henry VIII, with buttresses, tur-

32 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

rets and battlements of hammered granite. So distinguished an
architect as the late Mr. Richard Upjohn, who designed Trinity
Church, New York, was consulted in the making of its plans. Its
main front faces the river — which is some four or five hundred yai-ds
distant — between which is a fine lawn. The house has a frontage
of ninety feet, the large hall running the entire length, and its main
portion extending to the roof. There are over thirty rooms in the
house, the library, parlor and dining-room occupying the east front,
being 14 feet high, and finished in plain solid wood. The library' is
large and rare, and upon the walls of the hall and parlor are family
portraits of three or four generations, by distinguished painters, and
copies by some of the best Italian artists of the more celebrated
paintings in tlie Florentine galleries, obtained by members of the
famil}' when abroad. The cost of the house was $32,000. For
years it has been the seat of great hospitality and good cheer. The
late Bishop Burgess writing of the life at Oaklands during the time
of Mr. Gardiner, Sr., says: "The judges of the courts on their
circuits did not fail to become his visitors. Every intelligent traveller
from abroad who came to the Kennebec was almost sure to bring
letters which threw open its doors. The clergy were ever honored
under his roof for the sake of Him by whom they were sent." Between
1822 and 1840, Oaklands was frequently visited by the late distin-
guished author, Hon. George Ticknor, who, in his memoirs, describes
the daily life there as "like that which forms so graceful a feature
in the country life of England." In 1874, when on his eastern tour,
President Grant and his suite were entertained at Oaklands, in right
royal, though simple style, by the subject of our notice who was then
its chief. By the will of Mr. Gardiner this place descends to his
nephew, Robert Hallowell Gardiner of Boston, a young and brilliant
law3er, who intends to keep up its former character, and who has
already become a life member of our Society.

During the past summer Mr. Gardiner had not been very strong,
although his indomitable will and energy kept him active in spite of
slight bodily indispositions, even when these were long continued
and would to most persons have made them sick. He would not
"give up." "I must rally from this indisposition, somehow," he
said to his nephew only a few hours before he died, making an at-
tempt to raise himself in bed — and this was characteristic of his
whole life. It was his happiness to be busy, to be active, to be do-
ing something for others. On Friday, Sept. 10th, he recorded his

STATE POMOLOOTCAL SOCIETY. 33

meteorological observations and made up the table of the day's results.
Our annual exhibition was to open the 14th, and he had been bus}-
for a da}' or two in getting together his fruit, and making arrange-'
ments for the fair. On the 10th, he wrote a letter to your Secretary
in regard to his exhibit, which was the last letter he ever penned.
In it he said : "I fear on account of the drouth and the early date of
the fair there will not be so good a displa}^ of fruit as usual. I hope,
however, to be able to make a fair show. I have been quite unwell for
some weeks but hope to be strong enough to go to Lewiston on Tues-
day." He penned a few directions to his head farmer in regard to the
exhibit which he was to make, and these were found upon his table after
his decease and faithfully carried out. He died on Sunday, September
12th. Mr. Merrill took charge of his collection, some thirt}' varieties,
and it was given the central place in the Kennebec County exhibit,,
marked off from the others b}' a festoon of crape. In the centre
was a beautiful floral design, the work of Mr. Roak, which consisted
of a wreath of white lilies and buff roses, cut in twain by a sickle
of dark pansies, the handle of which was composed of white carna-
tions. A mourning card contained the words "Robert Hallowell
Gardiner, 1809-1886."

On the day of his funeral His Honor, Mayor Ladd, issued a procla-
mation to the business men of Gardiner, asking them, '-'in respect to
the memory of a life-long and esteemed citizen," to close their places of/
business from 4 to 6 o'clock P. M. , and this was universal!}- observedi-
as showing the "respect due to an aged and honest citizen." The
vestry of Christ Church passed resolutions in which was expressed :
"His life has been replete with earnest zeal for the Master's cause
and the good of the church, increasing more and more with each
passing year unto its perfect end. The communit}^ has lost a valued
citizen, the poor a friend and benefactor whose charity knew no
bounds, and we a brother, friend and leader whose place in our hearts
now thrills with pain at our loss — which is his gain." The Board of
Missions of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine recorded its tribute to
the deceased in these words: "We, its members, feel that it is an
honor to ourselves rather than to him to recognize and recall his
refined courtesy, his unvarying kindness, and his unostentatious
liberality ; and to have seen in him, one who, through youth, man-
hood and old age, was one who received the kingdom of heaven as
a little child and has now gone home to his reward."

34 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Obituary notices in the press of the State were general. The
Gardiner Home Journal said : "The eyes of man^' will grow dim
as they read that he has gone to join his wife in the home above, of
which they loved to teach, and to which they sought to lead the way
by the pure example of a godlj' life." The Kennebec Reporter said :
"Public spirited as a citizen, scrupulously honorable as a man of
business, affectionately liberal as a friend, his death will be remem-
bered by the entire community." The Boston Daily Advertiser said :
"The death of Robert Hallowell Gardiner in the Maine city named
for his family, is an unwelcome reminder that a fine illustration is
lost to us of simple and noble courtesy. The coarse aggressiveness
of some newly rich people was offset, in a measure, by his winning
example of gentle blood working out in an unpretentious life. New
England is seeing many repulsive instances of money-made manners,
and Mr. Gardiner's life ought not to be forgotten." These, among
many other notices and expressions of a similar nature, show the worth
of character of our deceased associate, and the esteem in which he was
held by those who knew him best, and their mention in this sketch
renders a more formal tribute of our own unnecessary.

His funeral occurred on Wednesday, September loth, the Right
Rev. Henry A. Neely, Bishop of Maine, officiating ; being largely at-
tended by church, parish and people — many distinguished gentlemen
from different parts of the State being present. The church was
simply decorated with golden rod and the wild asters, a chain of oak
leaves from Oaklands being twined about the chancel rail. While
our last annual fair was in progress, and thousands of careless visitors
were crowding past his fine exhibit, devout men were carrying his
remains to their last resting place in the little yard of Christ Church.
In the blessed faith of our holy Christianity we believe that his ran-
somed soul had already been granted an abundant entrance into that
glorious land where the fruits and flowers exist in a beauty and
fragrance which is immortal.

At the conclusion of the reading of this Memorial, it was given
a passage by a rising vote.

Mr. P. Whittier of Chesterville then read the following paper.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35

MY EXPERIENCE IN ORCHARDING, AND MARKETING THE

FRUIT.

By Phineas Whittier.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I do not come before you
as a fancy fruit grower with plenty of money to do as I please, but
one who has been so cramped for funds as to labor under great dis-
advantages. Without saying anything against stock-raising, dairy-
ing, grain-growing or any other branch of farming (for I think that
there is a chance for fair success in any of those pursuits when in-
telligently engaged in by persons who love the business) , I thoroughly
believe myself when I say that there is far the easiest and greatest
chance for satisfactory success in orcharding in this section of the
State, for a person who likes the business, of an}' one thing I know
of. Right here, let me say, that the surest way for a person to make
a failure is to engage in that which he has no liking for. We have an
abundance of good and cheap orchard land and are near good markets.
We can raise the best and latest keeping fruit. All that is lacking
is the right kind of men, those who have faith in the business,
great courage, perseverance and a good share of patience to wait for
the fruits of their labor. Not those whose faith and courage are good
for one 3'ear and when ill-luck and circumstances make things look
dark will give up beaten. There are many discouragements lo meet,
and he who would succeed must be a man of such faith and de-
termination as to make a steady and long struggle and never give
up. None others need expect to obtain any great reward, for in
orcharding, steady and constant care is more necessarv than in al-
most anything else. It is a settled conviction with me, that with an
orchardist no better than myself, almost any of our hard and rocky
farms, and even old pastures, now worth from $500 to S2000, can be
made to produce for sale, each year, more value of fruit than they
are now worth, besides getting something from stock, especially sheep.
This is not guess work. I have worked this problem all out and
proved it, and if any doubt it I can show how it is done.

Many fruit culturists go 'to Florida, thinking to make fortunes in
orange groves, but many of them get discouraged because it requires
more labor and expense in fertilizing and clearing the land in order to
succeed than it would to get a good orchard of apple trees here in
Maine, besides it must be a very favorable location for orange trees to

36 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY.

escape the occasional freezes. I think the chances for success are
largely in favor of apple raising here, especially' for any one without
considerable capital. No matter how poor one is, if he is able to keep
his farm and has his health, if he is made of the right kind of stuff, he
can succeed as an orehardist here. Your worthy Secretary suggested
that what I may sa3' should embody m}- experiences, studies and ob-
servation as to orcharding. Now, I have not time to touch on but few
of the many points of this subject, and if you will pardon me, I will
first say something of myself, of the disadvantages, discouragements
and hardships I have had to overcome to obtain what success I
have, and speak of them for the encouragement of others who have
like ones to overcome.

Orchardists, like poets, are born, not made, and if I can be called
one you will see that I am not to be blamed, and I take no credit to
myself. I cannot remember the time when it was not my delight to
plant trees and watch their growth. After becoming of age, I worked
by the month one season, and the next spring I bought 90 acres of
old, rocky pasture and wood land for $400 and all I could pay to-
wards it was $75. There were 60 or 70 old natural fruit apple trees
on it, considei'ed worthless. Not over 5 or 6 acres of the lot had ever
been ploughed. It was good orchard land, but no better than thou-
sands of other lots and not so good as many. The first three years
I spent in clearing eight acx'es and building a house and barn and
getting some of the old pasture read\' for crops, which got me con-
siderably more in debt. I then married and moved on to the place
when 25 years old, and then commenced setting apple trees from a
small nursery I had started on father's farm. I also commenced plant-
ing nurseries on my own land. I had the old trees grafted and I
trimmed, cultivated and manured them, and I have taken a great
deal of good fruit from them and they are quite profitable trees yet.
I struggled along 4 or 5 years after that. My trees had not yet
commenced bearing enough to help and I found with the strictest
economy I could bareh^ support my family without paying even the
interest on my debts. I went to Massachusetts to earn money in a
shop to pa}' my debts. With hard work, both myself and wife, I
succeeded in three years and came back with the same determination
to make a good fruit farm, and I went to work with renewed zeal,
planting nurseries, setting trees and caring for those already set.
After years of hard work and care I had got well under way with
quite an orchard, when, lo ! one spring when the snow went oflf I

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 37

found several hundred trees completely ruined by mice. Determined
not to be beaten thus, I planted a larger nursery, set out all the trees
I had that would do, and took great pains to guard against mice. After
several years, when I had repaired damages and enlarged my orchard,
the grasshoppers came and the next spring I found 500 of my trees
dead and almost all of them damaged. I confess that I felt
sick for a da}' or two, but it soon passed ofi' and m}' determination
to succeed rose higher than ever. I then had quite a large lot of trees
in the nurseries and the next few years found me setting more trees
than I ever did before, and working hard to repair damages. Soon
after came caterpillars, and for three years it was a hard fight, but, as
I could fight them better than I could grasshoppers, I did it so suc-
cessfully that they did but little damage to my trees.

I have mentioned only a few of the obstacles I have had to over-
come. In addition to everything else I, at two different times, lost
$2600, clean cash, and all before my orchard was any great income ;
and this has kept me continuall}' in debt, at least until recently. So
you see that povertj' and hard luck has been m}' lot. You may ask
what encouragement is there in all this? Well, I will tell you. I
have steadily increased the sales of fruit from my $400 lot from one or
two hundred dollars after the first eight or ten years, to probably up-
wards of $3000 this year, having already sold $1825 worth, and I still
have five or six hundred barrels of my best apples on hand, and my
fruit is increasing faster than ever before, with a large share of ni}'
trees not yet come into bearing. I fancy that with proper care I
have something that will last as long as my children and grand-
children may live. I have obtained this with only my two hands to
help me, and have all the while depended on my farm to support my
famil}'. Hold, I have made a slight mistake. My better half should
come in for a good share of the credit.

A man, having made a fortune in some other business, may take a
notion to try farming. He can b}' lavish expenditure of money take
an old, worn-out farm, and succeed in making it the most productive
of an}' in the vicinity ; and have the best stock, and the best and
most convenient buildings and neatest surroundings, but at a cost
far above the money value of the improvements, or what can ever be
got out of them. This is one kind of success, but not the kind that
those of us desire who depend on our farms for our support, and
not the kind that many of us common farmers can stand a great
deal of; but no one is so poor, if he has possession of an acre of

38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

land, that he cannot start an orchard, and if cared for it will be
something that will pa}^ the best of any improvements that can be
made by a person of limited means.

One of the most important things to make orcharding profitable is
to know how to dispose of the crop to the best advantage, especially
those that are not fit for an extra nice No. 1. I at first got me a
cider mill and made large quantities of cider, and I must sell it to
make it pay, and in doing so it made me feel so mean that I stopped
it. I next tried feeding to stock, but tiiat was not satisfactory.
Then after evaporators came around I sold to be evaporated ; that
did better. I then bought an evaporator and have evaporated on
my own account for several years, and I am better satisfied with this
way of disposing of mj' No. 2 apples than any other I have tried.

When apples are plenty and cheap at harvest time, it requires
some faith for most people to be at extra expense to careful!}' han-
dle, sort and store them, but it will pay well every time. Roughlj'-
handled and badly-sorted ones must be marketed early or they will
be in very bad condition later, and then it is that extra nice ones
will bring a high price, even if the market is glutted with the poor
ones. I have never known it to fail. When 1 sold to agents who
were buying for large city dealers, they would not and could not pay
me enough extra to make it profitable for me to put up an extra nice
quality ; but when I began to send them into market with my own
brand, to be sold on their merits, I found it to pay me well to have
them very nice in every respect, and if any are a little nicer than
the rest, I put them in the middle of the barrel. Only about one-
half of the crop will, on an average, make such a quality of No.
I's as I send to market, and they will net me more money than they
all would put up as apples are usuall3^ About one-half of the re-
mainder will make a very good second quality, that will pay some
years to send to market, but I usually find it to pay best to evapo-
rate them. I consider it absolutely necessary for those who raise
several hundred barrels of apples to have each an evaporator, in
order to dispose of the fruit satisfactorily. I think that two or three
times as much net profit, one year with another, can be made by
evaporating the poorest as in an\' other way, especially if pains are
taken to make a very nice article. When I say poorest, I do not
mean unripe, ill-flavored or crabbed, but that unfit for No. I's by
being bruised, wormy or under-sized. Such apples well pared, with
extra care in trimming, and rightly bleached and dried, make a very

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 39

nice quality. For those who do not raise enough to pay for them
to have an evaporator, canning can be done at a profit, and it would
cost but a small sum to fit up for that on a small S3ale.

Apples should be marketed in good, tight, new, clean barrels of
full size ; but I warn 3-ou that it will be useless to have ever so nice
barrels unless the fruit is eqaally good, and if it has not been care-
fully handled when picking and storing, the best sorting in the
world after that cannot make them nice enough to bring a fancy
price.

For those who raise limited quantities, and who do not wish to
send into market their fruit under their own brand, I think more
money can be obtained for their fruit by sorting it, as others usually
do, than by making it extra good. It is the practice of some ship-
pers to send apples abroad. No. 1 and 2's all together, with only care
to cover the barrel heads with X's, and will pay about the going
market price for them. If this can be followed it will be a good
chance for careless fruit growers to dispose of their fruit, but I fear
it will be bad for the reputation of Maine fruit. There i« a greater
difference in price between extra good fruit and that which has been
carelessly handled and sorted, later in the season, than there is in
the fall or early winter. Fruit that has been badly handled must be
disposed of earl}* or else there will be a great loss on it ; and if it is
put into market late it will be in bad condition, and then it is that
very nice fruit will bring a very satisfactory price, and I have never
known it to fail, often selling for nearly double market price. I can-
not find language strong enough to express my contempt of the
practice of deaconing apples, or putting good ones at the ends of
the barrel and poor ones in the middle. It is the silliest and most
suicidal practice I know of. What opinion can a man have of him-
self, to say nothing of the opinion of others, who sells fruit which he
declares to be nice and alike all through but proves to be poor all
except a few on top, and he knows he will be found out almost as
soon as he is gone ; and then again, how many times can he sell his
fruit there except at the price of poor fruit, no matter how well it
appears or what he sa^'s about it?

Many, if not most, of the wholesale buyers an:l commission men
desire to have their apples put up with about one-half bushel of the
best ones at the faced end of the barrel. If you are looking for a
commission merchant, and he directs you to put up your apples in
that way, look out for him, but if he desires to have them put up

40 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

alike all through, whether he is buying of you or is to sell on com-
mission, you may score one for his honesty with you as well as his
customers, and he is the one who will get the best price for your
really nice fruit.

The fruit interest in this State is destined to be an important one
and a profitable one too, if we will only take care to put it up as it
should be in order to gain a high reputation, and every one who does
not do so is an injury to the business. If we would increase our
profits from fruit we had better spend our time and energies in in-
creasing the production, than to spend them in trying to sell poor
apples for No. I's. I know of parties that try so hard to sell all of
their crop for No 1, that they have to look up a new buyer every
year. That is not the way to make orcharding profitable nor the
way to make an honest man feel satisfied with himself.

Maine fruit commands a little better price than that from other
States, but it is not because it is better sorted or handled, but because
of its later keeping qualities. Where we now get twenty-five cents
per barrel higher for our apples we should and could by care in putting
them up get dollars more per barrel with such apples as we can raise.
I wish all fruit growers and shippers could realize the advantages to
be gained by establishing a high reputation for extra sorting and
handling our apples and the sooner it is done the easier and better
for us.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. W. P. Atherton. Do you manufacture your own barrels ?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, sir, I have followed that practice for some
years. I have the material worked up at the mill and put them to-
gether myself.

Question. The matter of feeding apples to stock is an open ques-
tion and one of considerable importance, and I should like to know
if you think it a profitable method of using up refuse fruit?

Mr. Whittier. In reply to the question I would say that in my
opinion it is a practice that amounts to but very little. It may be of
considerable benefit to the stock but I do not think it will pay,
especially where you have to hire help. If you could do the work
yourself it would be a good way of using up poor apples.

Question. What would you do when a man has from three to four
hundred bushels of refuse apples which he does not know what to do
with? That is my case and I feel too mean to make them up into

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 41

cider. What has been your experience, and have you experimented
any in this matter?

Mr. Whittieh. During the first of my experience as an orchardist,
for about four years, I could do nothing else with the refuse fruit. I
fed from three to six hundred bushels to sheep. They liked them
very much but it did not pay me to do it. I should say that if a
man had time and could afford to hire help it would pa}', but if he
could not I would employ some other way of using up the poor fruit.
1 know that it does not pay me to take care of it in that way.

Mr. S R. Leland, Farmington. Will it pay better to feed them
to pigs than to sheep ?

Mr. Whittier. I fed apples to a shoat from the fall until the fol-
lowing spring and could not see that the animal was in any better
condition than before for having received them. I boil them until soft
and then feed them mixed with meal or shorts.

Mr. D. J. Briggs, South Turner. I would like to return to the
subject of barrels. What size barrel do you use and how much will
they hold?

Mr. Whittier. The barrels are seventeen and one-quarter inches
in diameter across the head, with the staves twenty-eight inches long.
The way they are set up makes considerable difference with the
amount they will hold. If the staves are narrow there is some bilge.
I should mix the staves and thus insure a better uniformity in the
capacity.

Mr. Briggs. We have been making our own barrels and there
has been a great deal of discussion about the matter and much differ-
ence of opinion in regard to the amount that a barrel should hold.
What do you consider the proper amount for a barrel to hold ?

Mr. Whittier. I do not think I can state definitely in relation to
it. There is a great deal of difference everywhere. Some heap the
measure and others do not. I think it almost impossible to state,
either by bulk or weight, the amount which it would take to make a
barrel of apples.

Mr. Leland. Has the time arrived for the use of new barrels?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, sir, it is time now.

Question. Do new barrels increase the valae of the fruit?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, sir, because many of the old barrels that
are picked up are unfit for packing apples into. I want good new
barrels and then I feel safe about my fruit. I have tried both ways
and think it better and in the end cheaper to use new barrels.

42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Question. What kind of wood is used for making the barrels?

Mr. Whittier. Most an}^ kind of wood will do.

Question. Is poplar used ?

Mr. Whittier. Yes.

Question. Is basswood used, and is there danger of its moulding?

Mr. Whittier. Basswood is unfit for barrels because it shrinks
too much. Some buyers will take an}' kind of barrels. I bought one
thousand barrels last year and would have been willing to have paid
more than I did for them.

Mr. Atiterton, What is the usual price for them?

Mr. Whittier. Twenty-five cents for old, and thirt3^-one cents for
new ones, is what I pay.

Mr. Briggs. In our town we make about two thousand barrels
and they are of beech and birch and have six hoops made of ash
that are one inch and a quarter wide. We pay thirty-two cents a barrel
for them and buyers say that the}- will pay ten cents more on the
barrel where they are put up in new ones than they will when the
barrels are old. Unless old barrels are cleaned by steam it is im-
possible to get them into condition fit to pack apples into them.
Therefore, 1 should say use good, new barrels. It is with this as with
everything else, the best packages bring the highest prices.

Mr. Atherton. I would like to enquire in relation to the influence
which sheep have upon an orchard and also their influence upon the
codlin moth. Most orchards are troubled with this insect pest and
as my orchard is no exception I had the idea of putting in sheep if
I could free it from their depredations. Are your apples more free
from the influence of the moth on that account?

Mr. Whittier. My orchard is in three or four enclosures, all ad-
joining. The apples in the western portion, which is pastured to sheep,
are not one-quarter as wormy as those in the other three parts. After
the trees get to growing, if you have a large flock of sheep, there is
but little need of much other dressing. A large flock is necessary,
however, to furnish the needed amount. A ten-acre orchard won't
do well unless a liberal supply of fertilizer is applied.

Mr. Briggs. Wouldn't it work to give these sheep an allowance
of provender?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, I would pasture them in the orchard and
give them also an allowance of provender and thus benefit both the
orchard and the sheep and increase their value.

Mr. Briggs. I feed my sheep some provender, as they cannot ob-
tain enough food to sustain them by foraging, and find that it helps

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43

them verj' much. It is well known that sheep are advantageous in an
orchard for many reasons. The apples are of very fine flavor and
free from worms in orchards pastured to sheep.

Mr. Whittier There is no animal that will eat green apples so
well as sheep. They will eat them when they are in the blow up to
harvest time. There is one thing that should be done All who have
plowed know that there is general!}' but about two inches of sward ;
well, if you mow that sward and plow, you will turn that sward eight
inches deep. In pasturing all the earth should be in this condition
and' then it will produce the best results.

Question. Will you please give your experience in mulching?

Mr. Whittier. I cut all the way from thirty to one hundred loads
of mulch each year and I wouldn't know how to get along without it.

Question. Do you mulch large trees?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, very frequently.

Question. Do you use anj' other mulch besides ha}' and straw?

Mr. Whittier. Yes. I use brakes sometimes, but would use ha}'
when it is in the orchard. Hay used for mulch is worth ten dollars
per ton.

Question. Do you have any trouble with the mulch harboring
mice?

Mr. Whittier. Do not use the mulch too near the trunk of the
tree, and you will have no trouble. Spread the mulch on thick so
that it will kill the witch grass.

Mr. Atherton. Did I understand you to say that hay was worth
ten dollars per ton for mulch? If good would you let the stock have
it?

Mr. Whittier. I should use it on the orchard if it grew in the
orchard. It will pay, however, to feed it to the stock and use the
manure for the orchard. There is always plenty of material for
mulch.

Question. Does it make much difference what you use?

Mr. Whittier. There are two things I would not use under any
conditions, and those are green sawdust and apple pommace.

Question. Have you tried muck ?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, I have put it on and plowed it in.

Question. What was the result?

Mr. Whittier. I got a good crop of hay and apples.

Question. What is the value of ashes as a mulch?

Mr. Whittier. They are good and will make nice fruit. I have
not used ashes much, but like them as far as known.

44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Question. Have you used commercial fertilizers?

Mr. Whittier. No, not for trees.

Mr, Briggs. Have you ever made apple jell}?

Mr. Whittier. I never have. I have made many inquiries, and
have nearly alwa^'S found that those who have undertaken the busi-
ness have failed. It is only the sour fruit that is used for making
jelly, and it is unfit for such a purpose. If sugar was used and
there was a good market for it, it might be made to pay pretty well.

Mr. Briggs. If we sort and sell only No. 1 apples, we must use
up the other apples either by evaporating or by some other wa}', and
if we can make a profit on jelly, why not make them into jelly?
Man}^ apples are not fit for evaporating and could be made into
cider and then into jelly, and we could thus dispose of consider-
able second qualit}' fruit.

Question. What kind of trees would you recommend planting?

Mr. Whittier. I have not used many other kinds than the Bald-
win. I think the Baldwin the most profitable and best market apple
for general use.

Question. How small should a perfect apple be to be classed as
No. 1?

Mr. Whittier. I make three grades. The smallest I evaporate,
the next go as seconds, and the rest as No. 1 apples.

Question. Would an apple that would go through a two-inch auger
hole be classed as a No. 2 or 3? How about keeping apples?

Mr. Whittier. I should say an apple of that size would be about
right to evaporate. In keeping it makes a great deal of difl!^erence
in the kind of apple. Russets will keep well when kept in a tight place.
Cover them well with paper to keep the air out, and then they will
not wither and wrinkle. I should barrel them, if possible. For
Greenings I use an open shallow box. Otherwise they will change
color. I have kept some in bins and have now about six hundred
barrels of my best apples in the cellar in bins. In regard to evap-
orating apples I would say further, that I evaporated last fall twen-
ty-one hundred barrels of apples which yielded over six tons of
evaporated fruit of very choice quality, samples of which are on
exhibition here. This was all sold in one lot at 12 cents per pound,
the order for its sale being sent to me by telegraph.

Question. How deep was the bin in which you had the apples?

Mr. Whittier. Two feet and one-half deep. Set in the bottom
one tier of barrels, then floor over the top and lay in the apples
three feet deep, in bins partitioned from each other.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45

Question. Is the cellar wet, or dry?

Mr. Whittier. Wet. The water runs into it in the spring.

Question. Do 3'ou use an}' other method ?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, I store some in barrels.

Question. Do you ever store in bulk?

Mr. Whittier. Yes, I store in large bins partitioned off as be-
fore stated,

Mr. Nelson. I have always put my apples in large bins, and
have taken three hundred barrels from one bin. I do not believe in
having them too near the ceiling. The larger the bin the smaller
the number of poor apples. I have often found the best apples
nearest the bottom ot the bin.

Question. What is the disadvantage in having them deep?

Mr. Whittier. It makes too much pressure on the apples at the
bottom.

Mr. Nelson. I believe the less surface exposed the better.

Mr. Whittier. I never have any trouble with that.

Question. Do you carry them neaily to the floor?

Mr. Nelson. Yes.

EVENING SESSION.

A very large audience was present in Music Hall at the evening
session, and at 7.30 the meeting was called to order b}' President
Pope. Previous to the opening of the literary' exercises the audience
was favored with a piano duet, finely rendered by Mrs. Frank
McLeery and Miss Agnes Allen. The first essay was on Floricul-
ture for Children, by Mrs. Sarah B. Purington of the State Normal
School, Farmington.

FLORICULTURE FOR CHILDREN— FLOWERS IN HISTORY,

POETRY AND SONG.

By Mrs. Sarah B. Purington.

The little gardener whom I have in mind was three years old, a
sturdy little boy in a gray Mother Hubbard, not taller than the garden
gate through which he trotted, with a box of morning-glory seeds in
his baby hand.

Walking the length of the garden, he soon returned to the house
and scattered his seeds under the dining-room windows. He had
been examining seeds, had watched the vigorous growth of a hand-

46 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIKTY.

ful of beans under the tall leaves of a calla lily, and was interested
in a very young apple-orchard and orange grove. Whatever seeds
he had planted, had rewarded him with a most gratifying develop-
ment.

He did not remember the flowers of the morning-glory, but he felt
sure that the tiny black seeds, after lying a few days in the ground,
would come up, fresh and green, and be more and more beautiful
every day.

There is a lesson of faith as well as of patience in the planting
of a seed.

One of the little gardener's vines was the first in the neighborhood
to bloom, and a shout greeted the crimson flower. Other flowers
soon gladdened the eager eyes, and there were exclamations every
morning, "O, see ! See these white ones ! See these purple ones !
O, see the bees rolling in the pollen !"

He plucked as many as he liked, to play with, or to give his friends.
They were sometimes bells and sometimes umbrellas

Not far from the morning-glories, he had two hills of squashes.
Each pair of seed-leaves was welcomed with a burst of joy. Every
morning the growth of the previous da}' was noted ; and when, at
length, the soft yellow bloom appeared, the child's eyes were large
with wonder, and his "O, see!" brought the whole family out-of-
doors. What would the magic vine do next?

In a few days one of the flowers left behind it a pretty green ball,
which was soon large enough to take the place of one of the lost
rubber balls, and it went flying about the yard till its destiny as a
giver of knowledge and pleasure was accomplished.

At the end of the doorstep, the little gardener had his crowded
hill of beans, — "little trees," he called the separate plants. These,
too, were watched with his customary interest. Some of the blossoms
were plucked, and only three pods ripened in the autumn. But these
were a sufficient conclusion to the story of plant-life which he had
been reading all summer.

He had regarded these pods as especial treasures, and when they
grew yellow, he presented them to his dearest young lady friend.

Early in the following spring he began taking lessons in color,
form and numbers from the geranium blossoms. He also learned
some botanical terms. It is easy for a child, with his quick percep-
tions, bright imagination and unfailing memory, to learn even diffi-
cult technical terms. He likes the sound of a long word, and

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 47

smilingly repeats it to himself again and again, for its very music,
till it is his own both in sense and sound. Man}- things in education
which are burdensome to boys and girls in the High School are
mere pla}' to a child. At four years of age the little gardener began
to have his own house plants, six or eight young geraniums in one
broad flower pot. This was his window garden. "Mamma, here
are some stumps," he remarked one day.

The word had been explained to him not long before, and he had
just been illustrating it. With his scissors he had felled his entire
geranium forest, and there remained only the bare green stumps,
about two inches high. His little brother soon uprooted these, and
the desolate flower pot was ready for a new supply of plants.

There was too much regret for the lost plants to allow any repeti-
tion of this experiment. The little gardener became so fond of his
plants that he tried to be verj' careful of them, and rarely broke a
flower pot. One day, however, some sudden motion of his was fol-
lowed by a crash. Looking serioush" down at the uprooted plant,
and the earthen fragments upon the floor, he said, quietly inverting
a sentence from Hawthorne, "lam more like a physical reality than
a beautiful thought." But the accidents were so few that they are
not worthy of mention, compared with all the pleasure that sprang
from the little gardener's efforts.

The next year he had quite a collection of house plants. He liked
to carry them from place to place in the yard, and sometimes across
the street to show to a friend. So some strong, light flower pot
seemed desirable. To meet this want, two or three rain}' days were
delightfully spent by himself and a few friends in the stable, paint-
ing some tin cans and decorating them with bronze grasses. These
proved very satisfactor}'.

One morning a lady invited the child into her hot-house, and

showed him more flowers than he had before seen growing together.
As she watered them, she remarked, "It is a great deal of work to

take care of these flowers."

"O," he replied, "I will tell you how we do it at home. We just

plant the seeds and water them, and God does the rest. And they

grow and bloom."

A young girl who taught a small school in a lonely place told me

how much her scholars enjoNjed a flower-bed which she assisted them

to cultivate in their play hours.

A little neighbor of mine derived great pleasure last summer from

a small package of mixed seeds. The furrows in which he sowed

48 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

them formed his initials, and he was ver}' happy when his autograph
appeared in small green leaves. The personality of the little plot
was lost, however, in the summer growth, but there was abundant
compensation in the number and variety of the flowers.

It is but a step from the garden to the fields. Children like to
go with older friends to the woods in spring, and bring home ferns
and wild flowers for shady places about the house. They are thus
unconsciously cultivating an accurac}' of observation upon which the
telling of the truth greatly depends. They are learning to name
and classify objects, to have man}' thoughts instead of few, to love
Nature and reverence a Creator.

The little gardener soon becomes a little botanist. In his rambles
he becomes interested in birds and insects, and so begins the study
of natural history. Pebbles, bowlders and river-terraces have their
stories to tell, and in listening to them he becomes a geologist. Sit-
ting in winter before the blazing coals, he likes to hear something of
the wonderful coal forests, and if no fossils are at hand, to see pic-
tures of the fern-impressions, the sculptured lepidodendrons and
sigillarids, and strange animals of those gloomy tropical swamps. A
bit of marble possesses new interest to him when he knows it was
once alive. He laughs to hear the long names that scientists have
given to the great sea-monsters of the fifth da}' of creation, and has
no difliculty in remembering them.

"I wish I had brought my microscope," said a little boy, looking
at a flower one day last week. He knew there was a great deal in a
flower that his eyes could not see. The same far-looking instinct
may lead us away from living flowers to the fields of history, art and
literature in which they have had their part. Kings have always
surrounded their palaces with gardens, and heroes and poets have
been crowned with myrtle and laurel. There was never a banquet
without flowers. They have always been a social necessity. In
battle they have marked contending armies. When Napoleon re-
turned from Iiilba, all France wore violets. The Irishman loves the
shamrock, the Scotchman the thistle, and proud is the story of the
fleur-de-lis, the white lily of France, presented by an angel to
Clovis at his baptism. A line of English monarchs is said to have
derived its name from the broom plant, planta genista, used in pen-
ance by an ancestor. ,

Fascinating to the flower-loving child — who is usually himself a
tasteful builder — is architecture, with its order, symmetry, its mani-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49

fold transformations of the most obdurate materials, and the trans-
fusion through all of a sul)tle element in life. Long stories may be
told over the engravings of Karnak and its lotus columns ; over the
acanthus-wreathed temples of the Greeks and the doors of cedar,
the gold and silver leaves, the sculptured lilies and pomegranates of
the Jewish temple. Moorish architects wrought delicateh' in leaves
and flowers, and the grand Gothic builders, in the expression of re-
ligious faith and aspiration, sought all their designs in nature, as if
the}- had the feeling of the Swedish poet Tegner : "We thank Thee,
0 God, that we are permitted to think thy thoughts after thee."

There is no literature without flowers. Many of our words have
been suggested b}- plant-life, and writers are lovers of flowers..
Chaucer loved best the blooming month of May. Spencer sang,

"Strew me the ground with daflFodowndillies,
And cowslips, and kingcups and loved lilies.*'

The daisy, the cowslip, the daffodil, the lily and the rose have been,
sung over and over again by the English poets, and not a voice among
them all would we like to miss. Sweet peas and poppies have not
been forgotten. All the dear common flowers have their places in,
our literature. Every one is familiar with the

"Flowers purple, blue, and white,
Like sapphire, pearl and rich embroidery,''

that grace the wisdom of Shakespeare, and adorn the stately verse
of Milton.

Cowper, who lived very near to nature, has given warmth and
color to one of his winter poems by a few lines on the brilliant sum-
mer flowers, that were missed from the landscape.

There are sweet flowei'-passages from the Lake poets. Mrs.
Browning writes of

"A thousand flowers each seeming one
That learnt by gazing on the sun
To counterfeit his shining."

Tennyson so loves the violet that he can find it in the dark. With,
the rose and the lily, it blooms beneath the cypress shade of *'In
Memoriam." He associates a beautiful truth with the thistle.

"Xot once or twice in our rough island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory.
He that walks it, only thirsting

50 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

For the right, and learns to deaden

Love of self, before his journey closes,
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting
Into glossy purples which outredden

All voluptuous garden roses."

He seems to have embodied the universe in six lines.

"Flower hi the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand.
Little flower — but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is."

Shelley and Moore, Tennyson, Browning and Mar}' Howitt have
written of the "light-encbantcd sunflower." Here are three lines
that can illumine a cloudy day :

'"Miles and miles of golden green.
Where the sunflowers blow
In a solid glow."

The best American writers have said beautiful things of the flow-
ers that grew in their mother's garden, or the wild- wood blossoms of
their boyhood. Holmes loves morning-glories and damask roses,
and Emerson the rhodora. Bryant wrote of the yellow violet in
spring, and the fringed gentian in autumn. Whittier draws from
field and forest beautiful lessons of faith and trust. Thoreau takes
us into the heart of the woods. Mrs. Thaxter has given us a pic-
ture of the golden- rod with an ocean background.

"Graceful, tossing plume of glowing gold

Waving lonely on the rocky ledge;
Leaning seaward, lovely to behold.

Clinging to the high cliffs' ragged edge."

There is a sweetness in Longfellow's allusions that is almost better
than the flowers themselves. Hawthorne added beauty to whatever
he touched. We all remember the scarlet flowering-beans in the old
Pyncheon garden, and Phoebe's crimson rose that, for a moment,
brought back his youth to the sad ruin of a man. Nothing can be
more charming than the description of his garden at the Old Manse,
.and the cardinal flowers and pond lilies along the Concord river.

In our churches we still preserve a relic of the ancient floral offer-
ings. Religion has been associated with flowers in sacrifices, in
decorations, in emblems, and in the words of divine teachers. The

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51

prophets often borrowed their imagery from the vine, the oak, the
olive, the fir and the cedar. Daniel walked beneath the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon. He who said, "Suffer little children to come
unto me," gave from the fields the parables of the fig-tree, the mus-
tard seed and the sower. Looking up from the blossoms at his feet
into the faces of his disciples, he said, "Consider the lilies how they
grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin." "If God so clothe the
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
Paul taught the resurrection to the refined Corinthians under the fig-
ure of tlie sowing of a seed, and the beloved disciple saw in the
vision on Patmos, "the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
fruits, and yielded her fruit ever}' month : and the leaves of the tree
were for the healing of the nations."

Our race was born in a garden, "to keep and to dress it." We are
making a garden of the world, and to paradise, the garden of God,
we are destined.

To his inheritance in the world's wealth of thought, and to a true,
ever-radiating life, I know of no better introduction for the child,
than his own little garden.

After the reading of this essay a fine musical selection was ren-
dered by a male quartette, consisting of Prof. George C. Puringtou,
Rev. C. H. Pope, Mr. C. A. Allen and Mr. H. H. Rice. Following
this a sketch showing the influence of flowers in the home, writtea
by Mrs. Addle S. B. Weston, was, in her absence, read by Mrs. Love
N. Ames of F'arraington.

INFLUENCE OF FLOWERS IN THE HOME.
By Mrs. Addie S. B. Weston.

"Were I in churchless solitudes remaining.
Far from all voice of teucliers and divines,
My soul would find, in flowers of God's ordaining.
Priests, sermons, shrines !"

Deacon John Thompson owned the largest orchard of small fruits
and the most beautiful flower garden in town. Every one admitted
that, and also, that it was all the work of his wide-awake, ambitious
daughter, Huldah, who had brought about this desirable transforma-
tion within the once neglected, old garden, with its rows of straggling
currant bushes and rank stretches of parsley weeds and witch grass.

52 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT.

Hiildah's influence, Huldah's orders and Huldah's strong, willing
hands bad brought it all about, the beds of bright flowers, the mats
of strawberry vines, the prett}' bordered walks and rows upon rows
of thrift}- 3'oung fruit trees — plum and apple and cherry, which black
knot and curculio pests vainly tried to molest.

The south end of the Thompson garden skirted the road that
wound over and around the hills that lay between two countr}- villages :
but the white pickets of its high, trim fence could not shut out from
the view of passers-by, the beautiful blossoms and vmes and ripening
clusters of fruit therein.

"Huldah's garden is a living reproach to me, because we haven't
a bit of a flower patch at our house ;" or, "I never see Huldah's
garden but I am tempted to lay out grounds just like it for our
women folks ;" or, "When I'm grown up, I'll have just such a garden
as Huldah's, see if I don't ! Flowers and berries and grapes and
plums, — grists of 'era to eat and give away just as Huldah does ;
see if I don't !" were the thoughts that the beautiful, thrifty garden,
with its wealth of color and fragrance, lying close to the country
roadside, set stirring in the minds of old and young passers-by.

Voiceless 3'et earnest sermons are such grounds, waking into life
warm inspirations and ambitions in those who will notice them, to go
and do likewise. Who of us would dare measure the length and
breadth of the influence such a garden carries, especially with the
little children who longingly peer through the pickets, or, when per-
mission is given, go eagerly tip-toeing along its walks, gazing with
admiration and keen interest on this and that flower and plant, and
stowing awa}' in the active, retentive mind earnest resolutions and
purposes to have just such beautiful blossoms and fruit and neatly
kept flower beds and walks, when that long dallying ship comes in —
"when I am grown up."

Little Edith Quint, on her waj- to and from school, alwaj's stopped
to run to Huldah Thompson's garden fence, to peer through its pickets
and take note of the opening flowers and ripening fruit.

Rain or sunshine, it was the same, and Huldah often gave the
little girl, who so eagerly watched her at her work, whether it was
picking luscious fruit or weeding garden paths, handfuls of bright
blossoms and red ripe berries. But to give her a budded cutting or
a flower root she had not thought to do, not knowing but that the child
had an abundance of such plants in her own home.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 53

But Edith had not. Her mother had never tolerated even one
house plant, because "they are nothuig but weeds, anyway," she de-
clared, "darkening the windows and littering the house." Aud
Edith's father as stoutly opposed an out-door flower garden, because
"good land that would grow potatoes and corn shouldn't be thrown
away on a mess of prosy weeds !"

Acres and acres of land Edith's father had in his homestead farm ;
land enough to grow all the corn and carrots and cabbages he cared
to raise ; time enough to set onions aud plant fodder corn and kidney-
eyed beans, even to the sill of the house door that opened into the
back garden, but no room or time to be given to the dear flowers
whose fragrance and beauty helps so much in making life cheery.

So the Quints' front yard had grown up to briers and sapling
lilacs and rank witch grass, slowly choking out the life of the brave,
old snowball bush and peony roots that a busy house mother, years
before, had taken from her butter-making and dish-washing to plant ;
but, now, for thirty years, the witch grass and the lilac sprouts had
had their own way, and the old flowering plants, after such a brave
but bootless struggle, had succumbed and all that remained of
Grandma Quint's flower garden was a rank swamp in one corner of
"Bouncing Bet" and "Butter and eggs." They wouldn't die.

"Please, Miss Huldah, please may I have just one of these pretty
plants you have piled against the fence?" a child's shrill voice piped
one October morning, and looking up, Huldah saw Edith's round
face peeping through the pickets, while she eagerly pointed to a heap
of thrifty petunia plants that she had uprooted for lack of garden
room, and that they might not sow the ground with ripened seeds.
The topmost plant on the rubbish heap she had piled for removal —
seedling though it was — had put out a single bright crimson blos-
som, with plent}' of buds promising more.

"It's such a pretty little red trumpet of a flower, and you've
thrown it away : please. Miss Huldah, may I have it?"

"Bless you, dear child, yes. Just so many of the plants as 3'ou
like." And the rejected petunia with its root ball of earth and
healthy, green top crowned with a flaring, flaunting, crimson blos-
som, Avas carefully lifted, wrapped in damp moss, and given into the
eager, up-stretched hands of the little girl.

She scampered home with her prize as fast as her little, racing
feet could carry her. When she reached the shed door, she hid the
brown parcelunder its sill and went foraging round for an old tomato
an she had seen in the rubbish of the back yard.

54 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

When Mrs. Quint laid down her sewing that October afternoon,
and went into her kitchen to prepare tea, what do j'ou think she
found cosil}' perched on the broad ledge of its south window? A
thrifty petunia plant nodding its green leaves, and saucily leveling
two crimson flower trumpets at her, as though heralding: "We've
come, and we've come to stay !"

And stay tliey did, and hundreds of other blotched and mottled
and striped and streaked and clouded blossoms that put out through
the long, cold winter their crimson and white flaring flower lips on
that sporting petunia, tliat seemed trying for tlie very fun of the
thing, to throw out as many strange markings and shadings of color
in its flower blossoms as possible.

"It's clean, Isaac ; there isn't a bug or a spider on it from I'oot to
top, and Edith has set her heart on having the plant this winter ;
supposing we keep the thing?"

"Well, then, keep it; keep the posy weed for all I care!" was
the ungracious welcome Editli's parents gave the little seedling,
whose mission was to brighten their home and whose influence would
be felt through more than one generation.

The petunia grew as petunias will when given the right soil and
atmosphere and a sunny south window over which it can throw its
green arras, clambering right and left as it goes up, up, covered with
scores of bright blossoms. Mrs. Quint thought well of the plaut
when she saw passers-by turn their heads to get a long, full view of
her window with its beautiful curtain of crimson and white and
green, and heard exclamations of admiration and covetousness from
her neighbors. She thought still better of it when ladies from town
called to beg slips of her sporting petunia, that came out with new
markings of blotch and stripe with every flower opening ; so odd and
rare, that even Judge Davenport's wife drove out to ask for a cutting
from her plant.

"I don't know whether it's the rinse water I give it, or the hot
steam from my bilin' dinner pots, or, maybe, it's the winter sunshine
that makes our petunia blow and grow so, but grow and blow it will,''
Mrs. Quint said complacently, as she snipped generous cuttings, here
and there, from the plant for her distinguished guest.

Edith overheard that — '•'■our petunia." It used to be "that thing,"
and '•'•your posy weed," and she knew that house plants had come to
their house to stay. Slips of ivy, rare geraniums, begonias and a
host of other plants were brought and offered in exchange for those

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 55

of Mrs. Quint's petunia. Sl)e could not well refuse tliera, and Editli
had such a ''knack" of getting tiiem to root and thriftily growing in
her pretty papered and netted cans and di.saliled ci'ocker}', almost
before she knew it, Mrs. Quint had her window U-dge full of plants,
and was just as eager and ambitious as any ol' her neighbors to have
the best variety of house plants in the community.

Some one has said that when a woman takes a new tack, she never
goes it l)y halves, and Edith's mother was no exception. She sub-
scribed for a leading lloral magazine that she might wage war against
red spiders and rose lings, plant lice and scales, underslandingly
and with sure destruction. Indeed, she became such an authority
on the subject of insect extermination, and in tiie ready recognition
and correct naming of rare plants, by the help of her well studied
journal, she became a subscriber to other standard floral and agri-
cultural periodicals, that she might keep fully posted and her repu-
tation might not suffer from any mistakes.

Edith and her brothers also read this new literature that had come
into their home, and enjoyed it. Wide-awake growing boys will read
something, and if interesting, pure matter is not furnished tliem they
are apt to turn to that which is entertaining and unclean, thus stain-
ing their minds and hearts. The Quint boys were just at that age
when yellow-covered, "blood and thunder" literatuie creeps in. but
their mother's beautiful floral magazines and fresh, breezy journals,
coming into their home every week or month, headed it ofl? and filled
their minds with a real love and zeal for better things. The clean,
bright pages illustrated the making of rustic shelves and seats,
hanging baskets and other iagenious designs. The boys read,
thought, planned, whittled, sawed and hammered, and prett}' brack-
ets, rustic trellises and swinging plant rests, ''just like those in moth-
er's book," grew under their busy hands, all helping in the good work
of making home beautiful and the children happy and contented in it.

One article on "Window Slielves" sent them clattering round in
the garret, till they had unearthed from a pile of rubbish two old
bedstead head boards of bird's-eye maple, richl}' stained with age and
past all warping with their seventy years of seasoning under that
same house roof. The boards were cut down to the right length and
width, and mounted on stout, iron brackets before upper lights of a
south window. When Edith's thrifty seedlings and clambering vines
had been placed on them, filling the window from sill to top with
beauty, antl tlie neighbors came in to admire and approve with hearty

56 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

words, there wasn't a woman amongst them but that went home to
forage over her own attic in search of an old, disabled head-board of
oak or cherry wood, to oil and polish for a plant shelf.

These same live floricultural papers, full of breez}' instruction,
opened the e3'es of the Quint children to the possibilities coming from
odd, beautiful growths in their father's woods — moss-grown old
knolls, richly stained half circle shelves of fungus formation, queer
knots and quirls of deformed limbs and the twisting, coiling stems
of the bitter-sweet vine. In the search for such growths, they woke
to new interests in the fields and woods.

An out-door flower garden followed naturally and readily in the
wake of Edith's house plants. Geraniums need good bedding through
the summer months, drooping coleus and roses quickly take on leaves
and hardiness when given a foothold in out-door soil, and they got it
and ihey kept it in the Quint garden. Sods of witch grass were first
broken in little patches, here and there, just to make room for the
budding annual or brown bulb some friend had given, but not long
was it before the sods between the patches were upturned, the soil
cleared of grass roots and a goodly part of the wide old garden laid
out in pretty flower beds with rows of thrifty fruit canes and vines,
of which the boj's had learned and been filled with ambition to raise,
from careful reading of the health}' journals that now came into
their home. The dimes and quarters which, doubtless, would have
been exchanged for tobacco, had the Quint boys, when a little older,
followed their father's example, were spent for choice varieties of
fruits ; and which, think you, was the wiser investment?

Years ago, we of the "Fifth Reader class" used to stand in a
long row on the dingy boards of the school-room floor and repeat in
concert, with more force than eloquence, Mary Howitt's beautiful
poem :

"God might have bade the earth bring forth
Enough for great and small,
The oak-tree and the cedar-tree,
Without a flower at all."

Yes, God might, but glad and grateful are we that our Creator
saw fit to give us, and so lavishly, beautiful flowers. With their
help we may make our homes so full of cheeriness that the children
will not be tempted from them b\' outside impure influences. An}'
resource within our reach that will help develop purity of thought,
and recognition and love for God's beautiful creations in the hearts

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 57

of our little children, is a resource we should not slight. Then, will
any of us refuse to give in-door room and out-door room to these
beautiful plants and blossoms that God gave

"■To comfort man, — to whisper hope,
Wliene'er his faith is dim,
For whoso careth for the flowers
Will care much more for Hiui" !

By birthright a little child loves bright things, — color, light, sun-
shine and gay flowers. How the little busy-bodies love to toddle
round mamma's flower beds, snapping off the bright blossom heads
till their aprons will hold no more, or till they are discovered in their
mischief. How their sweet baby faces dimple with smiles, and the
wee, dainty hands eagerly outstretch for the proffered gay blossom !
What a pity to make of such beauty-loving little folks prosy, short-
sighted men and women whose thoughts have grown so fearfully
practical, that the sunshine to them means only so much growth or
curing of their crops, and "daises and buttercups, sweet-wagging
cowslips" and ''brave marsh Mary-buds, rich and yellow" that star
their meadows with golden blossoms, simply as desirable feed for
their cows, whose "baitings thereon will insure gilt-edged butter!"

Snubbing, cramping and crushing every timid or brave effort that
the children may make to bring a little beauty into their bare homes,
may kill out, in time, the desire for anything outside the hard old ruts
in which their fathers travelled so long. How much wiser to encour-
age everything in our children that tends to fill the busy brain with
pure thoughts and so head off those that are bad ! The culture of
flowers will help. The sunnier, the happier our childhood's home,
the stronger its influence for good over our after life. Do you believe
the grown-up children, out in the world for themselves, will stray
very far from their mother's teachings, when the sight or fi'agrauce of
flowers like hers cause a rush of memories so sweet and precious,
there is a longing for home and her presence?

"I never see a bed of the lilies of the valley, or smell the breath
of their spicy white bells," eaid a grey-bearded man who had made
his home in a foreign clime, "but that I am carried back to my boy-
hood's home, with its plot of sweet lily sprays by the door, and mem-
ories of mother, her wise counsels, come fresh in mind, though she
has been in Heaven this fifty years."

Knowing this, that every green cutting, or flower bulb or root that
we may send out into the world, or give culture in our own home,

58 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ma}' carry an influence for good long after we have done with earth,
shall we not do all we can to secure foot-holds in every home within
our reach for these plants, "Whose voiceless lips" are ''living
preachers, each cup a pulpit, every leaf a book?"

SECOND DAY. FORENOON.

The convention was called to order at 9.30 A. M., President Pope
in the chair. The attendance was much larger than on the opening
day ; and the large displa}' of fruit arranged on tables running the
entire length of either side of the hall, formed an attractive feature.
The first exercise was a paper by Mr. L. H. Blossom.

DEFECTS IN ORCHARD MANAGEMENT.
By Leanuer H. Blossom.

What are some of the chief defects in our present system of
orchard management?

First and foremost, in starting an orchard that will in the future
be an honor and a profit to the owner, it must be started right. And
just here we are met with the question as to what is right. This
point wants to be carefully studied, for if we make a mistake at the
beginning it will be a mistake all through the life of that orchard.
If the start is intelligently made then the success of the orchard is,
generally speaking, assured.

LOCATION.

For a moment let us look at the best location for an orchard.
What is it ? Why a north or a westerly cant. Why ? First, because
the land on the north or west cant is less liable to a drouth than land
on a southerly cant. Second, an orchard on a northerly cant is far
less liable to winter kill than one on a southerly cant. In fact, I have
never seen an orchard planted on the north cant, no matter how
bleak and exposed the situation, but the trees were sure to winter all
right.

How often do we see, in riding through the country, an orchard
planted on the south side of some high hill. The orchard has been
planted in the best manner, all the care and attention that are possible
had been given to the orchard, the land had been highly enriched, the

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59

soil thoroughly pulverized, in fact everything had been done to make
it a model orchard. It was just getting well into bearing, and soon
would have been a source of profit as well as pleasure to the owner,
when lo ! and behold, he awoke one fine spring morning to find that
his trees were nearly all winter killed. A sudden cold wave had come
down on them in March, after a long spell of verj' warm weather,
and in one short night that beautiful orchard was ruined. Brother
orchardists, let us take a lesson from this, not to plant on a south
cant, no matter what the inducements ma}- be.

Again, what shall be the height of our trees, from the ground to
the limbs ; or in other words, shall we have a high-headed, or a
low-headed tree? Botli have their advantages and disadvantages.
Long-bodied trees will admit of working around them with a team
better than low ones, but they are more exposed to the winds than the
low trees, the trunks are more exposed to the burning suns of
summer, thus causing sun-scald, than low ones. I think the tendency
with too many of our farmers is for the high-headed tree. I think
many times they come from the nursery trimmed too high.

DRAINAGE.

Another mistake is in the proper drainage of orchards. Let us
remember the old saying that "what is worth doing at all is worth
doing well." This applies more especially to the orchard not only
in the preparation of the soil but in the drainage. I believe we
should drain deeper for an orchard than for any other crop. I recol-
lect draining a part of one of my orchards one fall. The trees in
that pari of the orchard had never seemed to thrive and grow as well
as I wanted them to, so I put an underdrain between every row of trees,
digging the drain three feet deep ; and the next summer it was sur-
prising to see the change in the trees on the drained land, over those
on the undrained land. The foliage was of a darker hue, the
trees made a better growth, looked healthier, came into bearing
younger and bore better, in fact, were better in every respect and
have already'' paid the cost of drainage.

I believe almost an}- soil is better for being drained, especially if
we intend to plant an orchard upon it.

PRUNING.

Perhaps a few words in regard to pruning at time of transplant-
ing may not be out of place just here.

60 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY.

M}' rule has been to prune the top in proportion to the amount of
roots cut off at the time of digging, thus preserving the natural bal-
ance of the tree. Should the roots be dry, cut the top out rather
more. In pruning at this time I prefer to cut out all unnecessary
branches ; then, if the tree needs any more pruning, I cut back those
that have grown the most. This will probably be all the pruning
necessary.

I prefer this mode of pruning to that of cutting the top back, as
is practiced by many at time of planting, as it makes less wounds to
heal over. Now, don't think that this is all the pruning that your trees
will need ; you must prune every 3'ear, so that when 3-our trees come
into bearing you will have no trouble in passing through the tops of
your trees to gather the fruit.

How many have not had their clothes as well as their patience most
sorely tried, in crawling through the tops of their trees after the fruit ;
and when they got it, it was of a poorer quality both in flavor and
color — for certainly an apple grown in the shade is not to be com-
pared for a moment with one grown in the sun. AVhile the well-
ripened apple fills all the demands of the market, the poor, unrip-
ened, shade-grown fruit is neither fit for the market nor for home
use. Brothers, let your light shine — let in a little more sunlight.

I worked for a Lewiston firm some four weeks this winter, pack-
ing apples for the foreign market, and I have about come to the conclu-
sion that I could tell what kind of a farmer a man was by his fruit.
If his apples were large, smooth and handsome, free from worms
and bruises, I put him down as a good farmer. If, on the other
hand, his apples were small, pale in color, poor in quality and all
covered with dents and bruises, I marked him down as a poor farmer.
While in the first case the apples were mostly No. I's, in the second
case about half would be No. 2's In the first case there was a
profit, in the second a loss. The first man would tell 3-ou that or-
charding paid, the second, or No. 2 man, would tell you there is no
money in the business. But I am sorry to say that we have too
many like the second man in every town and neighborhood in the
State. We find them everywhere. No, not everywhere— they are
never found at the Pomological meetings, for they can't get time
to go ; ''it don't pay."

TOO MANY VARIETIES.

One more suggestion, and then I am done. That is in regard to
the multiplicity of varieties. It is certainly one of the greatest evils

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 61

that can befall the orchardist to grow too many sorts. I noticed in
m}' work this winter where there were twenty- barrel lots, ten of them
would be Baldwins, the other ten would comprise from eight to ten
different varieties. Now, all the profit in that lot of apples was in
the first ten barrels.

And now, if in preparing this paper, I have offered one thought or
suggestion that will be of any benefit to any one here present, I shall
feel well repaid for preparing the same.

The following essay was then read by Mr. D. H. Knowlton of
Farmington, Treasurer of the Society'.

NOTIONS-POMOLOGICAL AXD OTHERWISE.
By D. H. Knowlton.

Several influences have been at work in Maine during the last
thirty years, which have resulted in largely developing our fruit pro-
ductions. Previous to that time there were many notable failures in
certain lines of fruit culture, but true, earnest pomologists had estab-
lished the fact that Maine possessed certain natural conditions of soil
and climate, particularl}' favorable for the production of the very
best fruit. This fact was believed bj- raan^', previous to that time,
but somehow the farmers generally did not imagine that their own
farms were adapted to the production of fruit. Nor did they realize
that fruit growing for the market would ever become a very impor-
tant feature of our agricultural industries. Our natural conditions
having been found to be favorable, the work began. There was
much to do, for although the conditions referred to were favorable,
there was little knowledge of varieties and their adaptation to these
conditions. The State Board of Agriculture, through the medium of
its excellent reports, was one of the earliest organized efforts to pro-
mote the interest of fruit growing. Several local societies were
organized and by their public discussions were verj' valuable aids to
the farmers among whom they were held. It was about this time the
Maine Pomological and Horticultural Society was organized. It
numbered among its members some of the most successful fruit
growers in the State, and during its existence rendered most valua-
ble service to the State. For some reason the Society ceased to
exist and its records were lost, after a few years of active work. It
was not till 1873 that the Maine State Pomological Society was or-
ganized and fully equipped for active duties. Under the leadership

62 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of Secretary Gilbert, its first president, the Society entered upon
its career of usefulness. Since that time it has held annual exhi-
bitions and annual winter meetings without interruption. In hastily
examining the reports of the Society during these ^'ears I recognize
the unselfish work of those who identified themselves with it. Our
State is large in area and the climatic conditions vary greatly in dif-
ferent parts, and man^' fruits thriving in York County would perish
in Aroostook snows. The published reports show what has been
done by the Societ}' from year to year. The ground covered by the
doings of the Society may be summarized under four general heads,
culture, varieties, marketiyig and esthetics.

THE CULTURE AS TREATED IN THESE REPORTS.

In many parts continuous cropping has exhausted them of those
elements essential to the growing of the best fruit. The raising of
good stock from the seed, the preparation of the soil for setting, the
fertilizing, the pruning, the protection of the trees from mice, the
borers and other enemies, these and other matters connected with the
culture of fruits of all kinds may be found in these reports. It was
a notion of our fathers that only the most valuable tillage land was
adapted to orcharding, but the teaching of Maine fruit growers to-
day leads us to the conclusion that upon a large part of our rocky
hillsides apples of the best quality niaj- be raised. Moreover, that
when raised in these localities the fruit is much less anno^'ed bj' in-
sects, while the trees are hardier from their exposure, the fruit more
highly colored and having far better keeping qualities than apples
growing in more sheltered spots. This fact is an important one, for a
knowledge of it enables the farmer to retain for tillage the land best
adapted to it.

There are several notable instances in Franklin County where in-
dividual farmers have increased the value of their farms by orchard-
ing, and to a few of these I invite your attention :

On a rocky side-hill with northwesterly slope, in the town of Chester-
ville, is a tract of land covered with fruit trees, some 4,000 in number.
The hill is so steep and the outcropping boulders so large and plent}'
that a man can hardl}' drive a sheep among them. Mr. Whittier in
his excellent paper has told you how much he paid for this tract of land.
Sixteen hundred barrels of apples on paper does not look very large,
but when these apples put $3,000 into the farmer's pocket-book, there
is a substantial commercial value in orcharding. This is about what

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63

these trees have done the past three years. Many of them have not
come into bearing yet and they are all young. Upon our exhibition
tables Mr. Whittier has kindly placed an exhibit of his evaporated
apples, from which he tells you he has netted this year over $1,000.
Doesn't this evaporated fruit suggest to you that our fruit has a
market value not yet appreciated by our farmers ? There is no danger
that evaporated apples like these will not sell for a fancy price, and
Mr. Whittier has no monopoly in their production.

Some twelve years ago, Mr. Nelson Libby purchased seventeen
acres of land in the town of Temple, upon which a gentleman had
set a fine lot of apple trees. A set of ordinary farm buildings was
erected, and twenty-five acres of pasture land was purchased upon
the other side of the highway. The first purchase cost $500. A
little over a year ago he was offered $5000 for his fruit farm, and
he was unwilling to sell for less than $7000. The past three years
this orchard has averaged some over 600 barrels each year ; besides,
the last year he raised over 100 bushels of pears. The pasture land,
I will add, is just as good for orcharding as the orchard itself.

In the northern part of Phillips, Mr. Silas M. King & Son have
developed a fine fruit farm. A meadow has been converted into a
cranberry bed, where as fine berries are grown as anywhere in
Maine. Apples, pears, plums and grapes here thrive wonderfully
well, and yet the entire farm without the fruit planted upon it would
be worth no more than pasturage or timber land in the same locality.
Last spring, Hon. R. P. Thompson & Son of Jay purchased an
upland farm for about $2500. The farm cuts some thirty tons of
hay, and is well divided into tillage and wood land. The original
owner set in one pasture 300 native apple trees, and set them to
Baldwins. This man, strange as it may seem, is driving a truck
team in one of our cities. But the orchard this year produced some
over 300 bushels of marketable apples. After fencing the lot, prun-
ing and mulching the trees for an undivided half of the orchard, a
reliable party offered one-half the price paid for the entire farm only
a few months earlier. Thus it is, thousands of acres of our rocky,
unprofitable hillsides could be economically converted into profit-pay-
ing orchards. All it needs is the intelligent, wide-awake farmer to
take advantage of the situation. There are others here who have
made equally as good records as those referred to, but enough to show
how orchaiding enhances the value of these lands has been said.

64 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIEXr.

BEST VARIETIES DETERMINED BY EXPERIENCE.

There are thousands of varieties of apples and pears, known and
described in Dowuing's great worlv on "•Fruit and Fruit Trees of
America." Strange as it ma}' seem, a large part of the trees planted
in Maine have been grown in nurseries outside of the State, and sold
to our farmers by the tree agent. The model tree agent, as you all
know, is a well-dressed gentleman of fluent speech, and, equipped
with his beautifully-colored plates of fruit, he has been known, even
in our own county, to sell crab apple trees by the dozen to a single
farmer. The best fruit growers in the State have long ago learned
that many of the apples known to be good in New York State, and
farther south, are worthless here in Maine ; and the words of these
fruit growers recorded in the reports of the Society, have kept many
a man from buying inferior varieties. I remember attending an ex-
hibition of fruit not long since where our friend Bennoch had a re-
markably fine display of apples consisting of 114 named varieties.
I asked him how man}' were of value in Maine, and he replied, "Not
more than a dozen." The Society has repeatedly said to the farm-
ers of Maine, "too many varieties for profit." At the same time it
has encouraged people to provide for home use the best tliey could
raise. Tlie other day one of our farmers told me he sent to a nur-
sery-man for a hundred Tompkins King stock for his orchard ; the
nurseryman wrote him back advising him to set a ditfcrent variety,
but one which has no market reputation at all, while the King is
near the highest in the markets. The fruit growers of Maine who
have read and studied the doings of our Society, or who have at-
tended its meetings, know better than to plant new and untried va-
rieties for profit. The frequent fruit lists published by the Society
are of great value to our fruit interests, and show what fruits are
successful in Maine. My own notion is that we should revise this
annuall}', and if the catalogue could be classified under such titles
as "Apples for Family Use," "Apples for Market," etc., it would
aid some of us very much in understanding more fully the facts we
want to learn from it.

A lecture recently delivered before the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society on the "Degeneracy of Fruit and Vegetables" said upon
this subject :

"Pears are comparatively' short-lived in southern climates, and va-
rieties imported from France to this country are not as a rule long-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 65

lived. Grafting the pear tends to shorten the life and impair the
vigor of any variety, and since all varieties are multiplied in this
wa}', it becomes a question of time as to how long any variety can
be expected to live. Fifty or sixty years ago the St. Michael was
justly esteemed the best pear grown ; it is now entirely abandoned.
The Flemish Beauty is another excellent pear of twenty or thirty
years ago, but is fast going out of use.

In 1838 Mr. Wm. Kenrick published a list of twelve old varieties
of pears, none of which are grown to-day; and eightj^-seven new
kinds, of which seventeen are now occasionalh* seen, four of these
still survive as valuable pears, the Bartlett, Bosc, Seckel and Duch-
ess. In 1839 Mr. W. R. Prince of Flushing, L. I., published a list
of three hundred and sixty-seven varieties of pears ; of these thir-
teen now survive. There have been many hundreds of new varieties
imported since then, of which less than twenty are retained as worth
cultivation ; many of these, of course, were rejected for various other
reasons, but man}- would still be in cultivation, if thej- were not de-
generated.

Of sixty varieties of apples cultivated fifty years ago, forty now
remain. Among good varieties that have failed recentl}', are the
Early Harvest and Newtown Pippin, but the Rhode Island Greening
is as good now as one hundred and fifty years ago, and in England
the Costard has been a favorite apple since the thirteenth centur}^

Cherries and plums do not seem to degenerate at all ; the same
varieties are grown now that were well known one hundred years
ago, and are quite as good as ever.

The strawberry, however, seems not to be a long-lived fruit. At
best it seldom exceeds thirty years in valuable condition, with the
single exception of the Alpine variety, which seems as good as ever.

Of those popular now, most are new kinds, very few are over
twenty years old. Currants are all long-lived, and the old kinds
seem as good as ever."

This affords another illustration of the importance of our work to
the people of the State. Every man cannot afford to spend his time
and energies in ascertaining the value of individual fruits. Life is
too bus}' and too short for this, and there is no need of it ; for from
year to year, as we meet together, the papers and discussions before
the Society ai'e very likel}' to point out the defects of varieties, as
well as to bring before the public the value of the new ones. In this

• 5

66 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

matter the experience of succcsstul fruit growers may be accepted as
a safe guide in the selection of new stock for replacing the old, or
in setting out new orchards and gardens.

MARKETING THE FKUIT CUOr AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

Notmaii3" years ago the apple growers in Maine who were fortunate
enough to have a few apples for sale took them to the village store
in bags and baskets, but now so great has the country become in the
production of apples that Maine fruit not only goes from State
to State in search of consumers, but in immense quantities i^s shipped
by ocean steamers to foreign marts. The apples have to be properly
picked, sorted and packed if they are to sell for the highest prices.
Oni}' a few years since an apple grower not a thousand miles from
here sent some laborers to gather his fruit. You ought to have seen
them do it. A long pole was used lo beat the apples from the limbs
they could not reach and in this bruised condition the apples were
put into barrels and placed upon the market. Another man handled
his apples as carefully as he would a nest of fresh-laid eggs, and for
his trouble received nearly- a dollar extra on each barrel he sold.
Both men were i-aising apples for profit, too. The supply of barrels
is another matter often dis^cussed at our meetings. The time Ifas
come when Maine needs more flour barrels than its people can empty
during the year. During the fall an apple buyer said he had a car-
load of barrek shipped from Boston to his railroad station, on which
the freight was fifteen cents per barrel. On investigating the matter
it was found the Boston and Maine Railroad received four cents of
this amount and our enterprising Maine Central the balance. More
barrels were needed from the same source and a special rate was se-
cured after a good deal of difficulty — but even then the Maine Central
got the lion's share, for it carried the barrels a less distance and re-
ceived six cents and the Boston and Maine the same as before. This,
too, for empty Ixarrels that must go back over the road again when
filled. It may be time for us to say something as a Society upon this
matter of freights. Again, I notice that it costs one-half as much
to send a barrel of apples from here to Boston as it costs to send
them from that point by steamer across the ocean. So rapidly are
our fruit-growing interests increasing that all these matters connected
with marketing should rtceive in the future even more careful con-
sideration than the Society' has given them in the past. At several
points in Maine parties are making barrels for orchardists and some

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 67

are making their own. This is like)}' to become still more important
in the futnre as there is greater demand for shipping purposes.

THE ESTHETIC WORK OF THE SOCIKTV.

Thus far at all the exhibitions of the Society it has been my priv-
ilege to attend, the fruits and flowers have been well displayed.
Several exhibitions of the Society have been especially fine in this
respect. The influence of a lieautiful array of fruits and flowers is
far-reaching, especially when visited by thousands from different parts
of the State. I do not think we spend quite enough now, however,
in this direction. I have visited exhibitions of fruit that were massed
together in such a rough-and-tumble way that no good impression
whatever was left. There are many smaller exhibitions of fruit in
the State and ours can but make its impress upon them, particularly
when it is notabh' attractive. The esthetic idea does not end here,
for upon hundreds of tables in our State, could we look in upon them,
we should see fruits more attractively arranged and more invitingly
served. Then, again, the flowers are carefully studied and every new
design of floral beauty is remembered by hundreds of flower-loving
people, and who does not love and enjo}' flowers when in their inno-
cent beauty they tastefully adorn our homes? Let us continue this
good work by making our exhibitions more esthetic in their arrange-
ment, while in our winter meetings we may be able to do in the same
direction even more than we have done in the past.

EDUCATIONAL W^OKK OF OUR AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS.

This leads me to suggest several ways in which we ma}' increase
our usefulness in the State, in fact I am not quite sure but it is our
duty to do very much more than we are doing. I have endeavored
to show that our Society in its work is a public educator in the State
and country. It is well for us to recognize our attitude towards the
public in this respect, and to the extent we may have influence call
to our aid the other organizations and institutions in the State. It
is encouraging to note that there is a demand among our more intel-
ligent people that our agricultural organizations shall become more
useful by more fully occupying their respective fields of labor. The
Board of Agriculture being at the head of all these bodies should
always be in advance of them. The Board is doing a good work but
we should like to see it do better. Perhaps it may be visionarj' but

68 STAT?: POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

we maintain that every farmers' institute should be a model of excel-
lence, that the programme should be so made up and advertised that
the farmers and others in the locality where held will anticipate the
pleasure of attending the meetings, knowing from previous announce-
ments that they will be of a high order. If this cannot be done with
the present appropriation, would it not be better to hold less institutes
and make them of a higher order?

I notice with satisfaction the talk made in and about our Legislature
relative to making it the dut}' of the agricultural societies to do more
educational work for the farmers. Some of them do too much edu-
cational work now but it is not the right kind. From some cause,
many immoral features seem to have entrenched themselves within
the exhibition grounds and halls. It is difficult to remove them aad
put something better in their place. There has been great progress,
however, and it is with special satisfaction that I have noted the im-
provements in the Maine State Fair. The evils are not all gone
yet, but we believe the future will see still less of them.

farmers' meetings during the fairs.

For several years there has been more or less talk about farmers'
meetings on the fair ground during the exhibition, but as yet I have
not known of any body of farmers who cared to hold such meetings
in the open air, especially when surrounded by bawling medicine men
and hawkers. The idea, however, of such meetings is a good one and
if a suitable place was provided for the purpose, say a wing of the
exhibition building parted ofT and furnished with comfortable seats
and lights, there would be no difficulty in holding such gatherings.
The State Society would require it one or more evenings, the Pomo-
logical Society could arrange a programme for another evening.
There are several other State organizations such as the Bee Keepers'
Association, the Stock Breeders' Association, the Patrons of Hus-
bandry, the Board of Agriculture and others, — enough in fact in a
few years, by holding single meetings each, to have something of pub-
lic interest transpiring during the entire fair. The annual business
of these various organizations could be more cheapl}^ transacted dur-
ing the State Fair than at any other time, papers could be read, dis-
cussions introduced, and a vast amount of agricultural information
could be imparted to the public. The horse trots and other attrac-
tions outside the building might draw the crowds, the Lewiston Jour-
nal might have to issue a larger paper and employ' a few extra re-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69

porters, but I see nothing so far as the interests of the State Agricul-
. tural .Society and the public are concerned that would not make these
annual gatherings within tlie Society's grounds more popular and vastly
more educational. I have read the doings of various national gather-
ings during the American Fat Stock Shows in Chicago. Can any one
doubt the value of the work done by them? So potent are they that
the direct influence of these meetings is felt from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, on the Maine farm, the western cattle rauche and even in the
balls of Congress.

SOME ONE NEAR TO EXPLAIN.

The exhibits may be made more instructive in many instances, if
there could be some one near at hand familiar with them to explain
them to the crowd. One of the most valuable exhibits of the last
fair in Lewiston was a fine display of the various ingredients of
which commercial fertilizers are made. The exhibit was made by
our State College at Orono, and had there been at hand a professor
or a corps of students to have explained to the farmers the exhibit
in detail, it would have been an excellent advertisement for the Col-
lege and a grand opportunity of lielping the fjinners. This is no
more than one ol our we&lein agriculiural colleges is doing. We
can do a little more in our department in the same way, though I
think exhibitors for various reasons are likely to be found near their
own fruits a large part of the time, and so far as it has been ray
privilege to meet them they are always ready to give any informa-
tion in their power.

MORE AGRICULTURAL TEACHING NEEDKO.

The larger part of our people are engaged in agricultural pursuits,
and it is a lamentable fact in view of this to know how little agri-
cultural teaching is done in the public schools. There are studies
with reference to future industrial pursuits, but agricultuie is not
among them. There would be no difficudty in introducing the study
of natural history, which would include our domestic animals, the
birds, reptiles and insects. Among these are found the enemies to
fruit culture, and their habits once learned in the school-room would
the more easily enable future generations to prevent or in a meas-
ure ccmtrol their ravages. Children are naturally very fond of flow-
ers, and will enjoy their study. This study carried a little further
covers the entire production of the soil. It would help the farmer

70 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

and the fruit grower alike, besides, the knowledge of plant life would
always he a source ot pleasure and satisfaction to its possessor.

ARBOH DAY AND ITS OBSERVANCE.

I like very much the idea of an Arbor Day in Maine, not that I
have any great fear from the depletion of our forests during the
present generation. For, aside from their destruction by fire, I
think there is no great depletion in them not fully made good by
growth from year to year. It may be that in our southern counties
it is not true ; it may not be true in Aroostook County, but in most
others 1 think it is. The doctrine of protection here, however, is a
good one, and I believe there should be no unnecessary waste of our
forest trees. Arbor Day, however, has immediately rather to do with
the beautifying of our homes and our public places, and as such
ought to be generally observed. Suppose our school teachers should
plan for Arbor Day, and set a few trees about the play grounds.
The old school-houses would not look quite so lonely, and the new
ones would be less conspicuous in their nakedness. A very interest-
ing programme could be made up, giving all the boys and girls a
chance to take some part. A little care should be exercised in set-
ting the trees so as to secure the best effects possible. The outlook,
if there happens to be one from the school-room, should not be ob-
structed. A clump of evergreens in the corners, and sometimes
elsewhere about the premises, is far more beautiful than long rows
of deciduous trees. They should not be planted so as to shut out
the sunlight, for this we all need to make our rooms light, pleasant
and healthful. There is one tree we rarely see in Maine as an orna-
mental tree, and yet there is none more graceful or more easily
grown. It bears pruning well and may be grown successfully singly,
in clumps or in hedges. The hemlock, Tsuga Canadensis, deserves a
place among our ornamental shade trees, and we are glad to notice
that gardeners are using it more. Its beauty is not alone during the
summer months, but all the year. The poet says :

'•'O hemlock tree! O hemlock tree I faitliful are thy branches I
Green not alone in summer time.
But in the winter's frost and rime I"

There is a custom here of which I do not know the origin, but 1
think it is entirely wrong. Before setting out the sugar maple, which
is one of the best shade trees, the top is cut back and only the side
branches are allowed to grow. These limbs grow rapidly and in a few

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | ^ G jh ^ 71 *-\!v>S

years it is found necessary to cut them off because theys^^^po low/ 0"/:^
The wounds caused by tiiis do not heal readily and in cf^K^OfU^fC ^

many of the trees thus treated slowly decay. Reverse the ordertmd-... ->

trim off the low side branches and let the tree grow tall as it may
It will make a graceful tree and grow to a ripe old age.

Yes, let us have Arb^r Day, but let us observe it with public ex-
ercises by our schools and churches. And why not go further still
and observe the day in planting trees about our homes, making the
event notable in the family history by some social or literar}- gather-
ing that shall give special interest to each tree as it is planted. There
is not nearly enough of this sort of thing in the State, and we may
profitably observe the day.

GIVE THE aCHOOLS A PREMIUM FOR FLORAL DISPLAY

One more recommendation and I am done. It was long a custom of
Mr. James Vick, the well-known Rochester seedsman, to offer free all
the flower seeds the school children would plant upon the school
grounds. The idea was a beautiful one, but I never knew whether
many or few seeds were called for. Few of our Maine school grounds^
however, are cared for as they should be. It would be an easy matter
to make them beautiful and attractive by devoting to them a little
care. We have known a lady teacher to successfully handle a school
containing a lot of unruly troublesome boys, by simply- interesting
them in making Hower-beds in the school yard, where a few hardy
annuals were planted. The flowers were well cared for b}' the bo3's,.
who during the school not only took special interest in them, but, as
a matter of fact, became studious and cheerfully obedient to all the
rules of the school. The flowers in the school yard did it, and this
sweet influence is felt throughout the land where the cultivation of
flowers is permitted, whether in public grounds or in the private
garden of the humblest tiller of the soil. The cultivation of flowers
should be encouraged still more b3- this Society, and I would recom-
mend that one or more liberal premiums be offered to the schools in
Maine that will make the best display of flowers grown by the chil-
dren within the school grounds. It will not cost the Societj- much,
and the influence would be permanent. I do not imagine there would
be a crowd of competitors the first year or tw», but in future years
it would become more general.

Our various agricultural organizations are intended for the dis-
semination of knowledge among the people of the State. The public

72 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

funds to a large extent maintain them, and it is time for a closer
union among them. They have alf^o the right to expect the aid of
our public schools. The future development of our great natural
resources must largely be the result of the combined educational work
of all. There is no occasion for other than cordial feelings among
these organizations. We must show the public that we are worthy
teachers, that we are deserving of confidence, and convince the peo-
ple, moreover, that our object is above all things to make true, useful
men and women, by placing within their reach a knowledge of the
means b}' which the goal is reached.

DISCUSSION.

The remainder of the forenoon was occupied with a discussion of
the papers read, the main features of which are presented below :

Mr. T. M. Merrill, New Gloucester. Last year I had trees that
were all matured and seemed to be full of apples, but when picked
the}- would average only about half a bushel to a tree.

Mr. D. H, Knowlton of Farmington. The King of Tompkins
in this county, though not a very large bearer, produces an average
crop as good and marketable as that of any other varietj' raised.

Mr. Merrill. It must be that the King of Tompkins does well,
according to the amount of this variety exported. I would like to
ask those who have grown this variety, how they regard it and what
kind of fertilizer they use for the trees?

Mr. Atherton. I have had some experience in growing the King.
I do not like the idea of pitching into anyone, but I sometimes get
a misapprehension of the meaning of a writer, as I have the one who
read the first essay. The trouble came when he laid considerable
stress on planting trees on land sloping in certain direction, after-
wards saying that under no considerations should an orchard be planted
on a southed}' cant. What is a man to do when he has no northern
slope upon which to plant his trees? I want to say to such, don't be
discouraged ; plant on a southern slope and observe the rules and
you can succeed. Some of our best orchards are planted on a southern
or eastern slope. During one time I had the privilege of visiting the
farm of T. B. Hunter. He showed me an old orchard on a hillside,
having a steep slope to the south, planted with native fruit, and the
•orchard succeeded well. There was something about it that made

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 73

•the fruit hardy. Then, take it in Hallowell. We have there nothing
'but southern slope, and we have splendid orchards of New York stock.
Mr. G. H. Wingate from only one acre gets most gratifying results.
From sixty to one hundred barrels are grown in his orchard and it
•is situated on a southern slope. Not far otf is another orchard on
the same slope, productive and healthy. While I agree with the
•writer that a northern slope is the best, 1 believe that other slopes
will also do extremely well.

Drainage is an all-important feature in successful orcharding.
When an orchardist doesn't have his orchard well drained he will have
trouble from the effects of the snow in winter. If we haven't con-
fidence in nursery stock grown outside of the State, let us grow our
•own trees and when they are first set out mulch them well aud keep
the frost under the mulching. When this is done they are better
able to stand the thawing. I believe we ought to be interested in
forestry. I remember of being at a meeting of the Board of Agri-
culture in Augusta and advocating forestry, but I was sat on by the
fat member from Washington County. I have seen a good deal of
danger to our forests. Farmers are exceedingly to blame in the matter
of forests. How many are there among the farmers of the State
who protect the forests ? Not one out of ten ; I know that. They cut
down the trees and let in the cattle, which is a most injurious practice.
I have seen acres entirely ruined by having been Vjrowsed by cattle.
It can't be done. I have seen where a forest was cut of!" forty years
ago, now looks nicely from the very fact that no cattle were allowed to
run in it. I endorse the appointment of Arbor Day as suggested by
Ben : Perley Poore, and think it a subject well worthy of our considera-
tion.

Mr. Nelson. I would like to know Mr. Blossom's reasons for
pre faring a northern cant.

Mr. Blossom. My reasons are that the trees are not so liable to
winter-kill, and that all of our best orchards are planted on any other
cant than a southern one. I don't say but what there are good
orchards on other land.

Mr. Nelson. I fully agree with Mr. Blossom in the general points
of his essay. There is one thing further, however, that he hasn't
alluded to in relation to the Baldwin. On a northern slant they did
not do as well as on a southern one. However, I think the best cant
loT an orchard is the barn-yard cant.

74 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. Blossom. This winter I have had a little experience in rela-
tion to position. The apples in my town, on the River Road, about
forty barrels of nice fruit were grown on a hill Across the river
are apples grown on a westerly cant that are better.

President Pope. There is something else besides the cant which
must be considered in choosing a slope. Oar orchard slopes north,
and in the winter of 1855 and 1856, the trees on the northern slope-
were all killed, while those on the southern slope remained uninjured,,
so you see it is not all slope.

Mr. Briggs. This matter of setting fruit trees is important..
The Northern Spy will do best on bottom land, but plant tiiem on a.
high hill and they will suffer from many causes. We must study
both the nature of the fruit and the nature of the soil and their
adaptabilit}' to each other. When we know these points we can raise
good fruit on all lands. The Baldwin is at home ou hilly land. The
King of Tompkins is not so well grown for profit on high land, un-
less piovided with suitable protection, on account of its being a large
apple and easily injured by the high winds. The}' are a profitable
apple for us to raise in Maine and when we raise more than we want
for our own consumption we are raising what some one else wants
and will try. We know the King is fine grained and handsome, and'
if it is productive why not grow it. We want to grow what brings
us the most money. We can produce apples on almost all soils iu'
the State of Maine. I am not so familiar with pears, but I think
they can be grown with profit. In Massachusetts they raise fine pears.

President Pope. Some soils are better adapted for certain va-
rieties than others.

Mr. True of New .Gloucester. Can you raise from two to four
barrels of Baldwins where you can only raise one of Kings?

Mr. Blossom. Yes, I can raise many more. I cannot raise the
King as I can the Baldwin. The King is handsome and can grow it
anywhere. I have them growing in a moist soil and doing well. In
fact, I don't know where I can't grow them.

Mr. BuiGGS. I can raise good Russets. Mr. Ricker tells me that
he would give most anything if he could raise Russets. We should
study our locations and then we can find one suited to every variety
of fruit.

Mr. Atiierton. What do you want Russets for when you can.
make more money out of Baldwins?

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. id

Mr. Rriggs. I wouldliave the large bulk of my apples Baldwins,
.but 1 also want some other varieties. I do not like to eat one kind
all the time.

Mr. Leland. For the last five or six 3'ears if my Russets had been
Baldwins it would have made $1000 difference with me each year.
If I could get $8 a barrel for Russets by keeping them, it would pay,
but it will not now, as they are only worth a trifle more than Bald-
wins. There is not such a market for Russets as there used to be.
I would give $1000 if I could change my Russets to Baldwins.

Mr. Nelson. In my soil Baldwins have been a success, and I can
raise all varieties of apples except Bellflowers and Roxbury Rus-
sets. I would like to ask Mr. Whittier if he considers the Russets
a worm gatherer? The Baldwin with me is quite free from worms.

Mr. Whittier Yes, sir, Russets may be more liable to be at-
tacked by worms than the Baldwins, but I think not to any great ex-
tent. They are both worse than the Northern Spy and Bellflower.

Mr. Nelson. What is 3'our idea of the Hubbardston Nonsuch as
an apple for profit and as one which is free from the ravages of the
codlin moth, in comparison with our present standard varieties?

Mr. Whittier. I have never raised enough of them to judge
competently.

Mr. Nelson. My experience is tliat the Hubbardston is free from
the ravages of the codlin moth.

Mr. Leland. Mr. Blossom referred to the matter of drainage.
How dry must the land be in order not to necessitate drainage ? Will
land on a side-hill with gentle slope which is sufficiently dry for til-
lage have to be drained for orcharding?

Mr. Blossom. It makes a difference in the situation of the land.
The piece spoken of was formerly cultivated and sloped gentl}' to
the north with the trees sixteen by twenty-six feet apart. I have
never drained much land that was dry. I don't know as I care how
wet a piece is, if it is good strong land and I can drain it.

Mr. Atherton. What kind of drain do you use?

Mr. Blossom. I build my own drains out of boards

Mr. Atherton. Why not use a rock drain?

Mr. Blossom. Because a rock drain fills up so fast, and a board
drain will last so much longer.

Mr. Briggs. There is one point in relation to raising Russets.
They must be carefully protected so they will not shrink and wrinkle.

Mr. True. At what distance apart do you set 3'our trees?

76 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. Whittiek. I consider this subject one of vast importance to
orchardists. I would put them thirty-five or fort^y feet apart each
way. A distance of twenty-five feet will do very well at first and
until they commence to shade each other, when it will be foand insuf-
ficient. The apples will be small and poorly colored. The limbs
will die and when cut off the trees will just that much lessen their
supply of sap toward the ripening of the fruit. When set forty
feet apart and well taken care of, the trees will grow the nearest to
perfection. The lower limbs will grow well owing to their being well
supplied with sunlight. An acre set in that way will give more sun-
light and surface to the apple and tree than when only twenty-five
feet apart, and will, therefore, produce much nicer fruit.

Mr. Nelson. My experience has been different. I would not set
over-apart and I think I get the best results from trees set from
twenty-two to twentj'-five feet apart. The trees when forty feet
apart are not neighbors ; the wind will blow every leaf away, and
you can keep no mulch around them, I have heard that trees set
twenty feet apart would in twenty years give as good a money return
as the same number of trees set forty feet apart. I have an orchard
of sixty trees set twenty feet apart which came into bearing in 1856
and have borne immense crops of apples ever since. In 1871 I sold
the apples raised in that orchard for $410. That orchard will mulch
itself and keep the ground mellow.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

After the meeting had been called to order by the President, Mr.
S. R. Leland of Mt. Baldwin Farm, Farmington, was introduced,
who read the following paper :

HOW I HAVE PROTECTED MY ORCHARD FROM THE RAV-
AGES OF MICE AND BORERS.
By S. R. Lelanu.

I think pomologisls agree that there are more fruit trees destroyed
by mice and borers in Maine than by all other causes combined, and
any methods that tend to prevent or even diminish the destruction
of our orchards by these pests, from whatever source obtained, is
perhaps worthy of a careful trial. In relating ray experience in
protecting trees from mice and borers, and the marked success I
have met with, I by no means claim that the same methods would
be followed by the same results in all soils and situations, particu-
larly in relation to the borer. I shall be compelled to use the
personal pronoun in this paper oftener than I like, for w^hich you will
please pardon me, as it is unavoidable in describing my own doings.

My orchard is situated on a ridge running north and south, and
extends down to wet land to the west and through the easterh'
part of it is a narrow swale that drains a muck swamp lying in tlie
N. E. corner of the orchard. These wet lands are just where mice
delight to live. When I commenced setting trees the land was
newly cleared, in grass, covered with decaying stumps, lots of
stones, uneven, with knolls and hollows, and seemingly a more in-
viting home for mice could not exist. I commenced my orchard in
the spring of 1869 by setting one hundred trees. In the spring of
1870 I set more and in the last week in October of the same years I
set eighty-five trees, of which I lost nearly all. In 1871 and 72, I
enlarged m^- orchard to three hundred and fifty trees. Up to this
time I had done nothing to protect my trees from mice except an
application of ashes once a 3'ear, as I will explain later on. The
year 1872 was what is known in this section as the "■sorrel 3"ear.'»
My land, having been newly cleared, bore an immense crop of
sorrel, with so little grass with it that I didn't esteem it worth

78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

storiii^i for fodcier, so I mowed it and raked it around my trees,
which gave them a bountiful mulching.

After d(jing tliat I became frightened for fear the sorrel might
contain too much acid for the good of the trees, so wrote to the
venerable S. L. Goodale, at that time Secretary of the Board of
Ao'iiculture, for his opinion. He answered chat I need have no
feais on account of the acid in the sorrel, but it would make a good
harbor for mice'nest winter and I had better rake it away in the
fall. Either from want of faith in Mr. Goodale's judgment or
lack of time I failed to rake the sorrel away from my trees. The
following winter there were more apple trees killed by mice in this
vicinity than any other winter since I commenced setting ray orchard.
A neighbor had thirty-five trees in the spring of 1872, the sorrel
year, near my orchard, and in the fall to protect them from mice had
hauled out well rotted manure and heaped it around the trunks of his
trees from 12 to 18 inches high. After there had been some thawing
weather the next spring, and a funnel-shaped hole had thawed around
thfe trunk of the trees, he came into my store one day and said that
the mic^ had'4;;irdled every one of his trees, and inquired about mine.
I had not been to my orchard since the fall, and you may imagine my
feelings when! I thought of the advice Mr. Goodale had given me.
I hastened to my orchard and went over it. The snow had thawed
around the body of most of the trees so I could see them to the
ground or nearly so, and I found no work of mice.

After the snow was gone, I visited every tree and found, per-
haps, half a dozen that had been barked a little but not a single tree
materially injured. But the sorrel ! Imagine a nest of straw on
which a numl)er of pigs have lain a long time and you have a good
idea of the condition of that sorrel— thoroughly cut and fined up and
almost innumerable nests in it made by mice. I have every reason to
believe, and do believe, that the sorrel seed saved'a large proportion of
my three hundred and fifty beautiful young trees from destruction.

After looking the situation over leisurely and thoroughly. I seated
myself on a bowlder to reason, and came to the following conclusions :

Fir><t That mice never eat the bark of an apple tree from prefer-
ence but as a last resort to sustain life.

Second. If there is grain or seed of any kind within their reach
sufficient to sustain life, they will never molest an apple tree.

Third. That 1 had got to winter more or less mice each winter and
I could do it cheaper on grain than on apple tre<?s. I have seen no

statp: pomological society. 79

reason yet for cbanging the conclusions arrived at while seated on
that bowlder, and have acted accordingly.

Knowing mice prefer oats to any other grain, I have supplied my
mice each fall with the amount my judgment told me would be siiffl-
cient to winter them, and that is the principal protection I have given
my orchard. My method is to carry oats into the orchard late in the
fall, take a bailed basket full on one arm and drop handfuls in the
hollows and along the edge of the wet land alluded to above, and
where the snow drifts on. A little observation in spring has shown
me where the most mice winter and there I leave the most feed. I
have used tarred sheathing paper around trees to a limited extent,
but if mice are driven to the necessity of living on the bark, they
will gnaw the tree above the paper. A little observation during the
summer and fall will determine whether there are few mice or many,
^u(\ I provide for them accordingly. When the mice are thick cn^er
winter I seldom see a pile of oats in spring not eaten. When there
are but few they are not eaten so clean.

Now for the result of my method of protecting trees from mice.
,1 have now about seven hundred trees. I commenced setting
.sevent/^en years ago and liave set some every spring since I have
probably lost in the time one hundred trees (losing eighty-five fall
planted at one time), so I have set out eight hundred trees. In ad-
dition to this, I have sowed two nurseries in the time and within the
limits of my crchard. The trees in the oldest one are all disposed

■ of, and nearly all in the other. All the trees I have lost by mice
in the orchard and nurseries in seventeen years can be numbered on
the fingers and thumbs of m^'^ two hands. I think no one will

■ doubt the eflficiency of my method of protection, but the question
of expense may be raised, and in anticipation of such an event I
will answer in advance, it is not as expensive as paper or birch

*bark. The extra time required in putting on the bark or paper in
the fall, and removing them in spring, will more than balance the

■ cost of oats above that of the bark or paper.

Thousands of trees girdled by mice are given up as spoiled, that
could be saved b}' timely care.

Visit the orchard often in early spring, and if trees are found
:gnawed, immediately apply mortar made of clay and horse manure,
and wind with woolen cloth. Trees with the bark removed to the
wood, treated in this way, before they have been exposed to wind
and sun long enough to sear the wood, nine times in ten, will form
a new hark .and come out all right.

80 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE APPLE TREE BORER.

Saperda Candida, Fabr.

Of this species of borer I have not much to sa}'. In fact I don't'
know as I ought to find any fault with him as far as I am personallj';
concerned, for he has never destroyed a tree for me.

I have learned by observation and enquiry that this species of
the borer is much nrore destructive to orchards on light soil, or soil-
inclined to a sandy loam, than those on stony, rugged, loam land.
My orchard is on the latter kind of soil and that, perhaps, is the
reason this species of borer has not given me any trouble.

If any preventative I have used has protected my trees it is the
application of ashes, for I have used no other.

Each spring after there have been a few thawing days and a tunnel-
shaped hole thawed around the body of the trees I take the advan-
tage of the snow crust and with a basket of ashes in one hand and &>
small scoop in the other I pass from tree to tree and throw a pint or
such a matter directly around the trunk. If there is snow around the
trunk, when it thaws the ashes follow down aud more or less adhere
to the bark. Equally as good a time to apply them is immediately
after the snow is gone and when the trunk of the tree is wet. The
ashes are visible on and around the trunk of the tree during the early
part of the season when it is supposed the beetle depositsher eggs, and'
are particularly offensive to her. Ashes applied as above early in
spring are also quite a protection against depredations by mice.

Another species of borer called the trunk borer is giving me
more trouble. The first ten years of my orchard experience I hardly
found a trunk borer, but the past five years I have had to wage war
upon them continually. Their presence is easily detected by a slight
discoloration and depression of the bark.

Alkaline washes have been highly recommended as a means of
keeping away the beetle, but I have never practiced it. I carefully
examine the younger portions of my trees, in which they work the-
most injury, once or twice during the summer and with a sharp knife
remove all the affected bark and wood, if any, and apply a thin coat-
ing of grafting wax.

Many trees look, after I have been over them with the knife, as I
imagine the rods of green poplar and hazel looked that Jacob piled,
white streaks in them, and set in the gutters in the watering-troughs
where Laban's flocks came to drink., but they willsoon heal and come

STATE POMOLOGICAL SoCIETV. 81

out all right. Instead of cancer-like aftections that are continually
•spreading broader and deeper, and over which nature has no healing
power, we have smooth, fresh wounds which nature will hasten to
heal.

TWENTY YEARS EXPERIENCE AND WHAl" I IIWE

LEARNED.

By William P. Athehtox.

From twenty years experience in the iutroJuction and [)i-opagation
of some of the newer varieties of apples, I have learned some things
that could not have been learned, perhaps, in any other way than by
experimental knowledge and which may serve as a safe guide to
.future 0[)erations in my own orchard if they are of no value to others.

three lessons.

iFirat. Not to introduce into my orchard any new variety on a large
•scale until it has been thoroughly tested in a small way. This
statement implies that the best descriptions and recommendations of
the very best authorities upon the subject of fruit-culture should be
taken with many grains of doubt, not as to their truthfulness or cor-
rectness in general, but only as applied to one's own individual case ;
and it implies, furthermore, that the testimony even of those in your
•own immediate neighborhood is not wholly reliable, because soil, if
not situation, has as much influence upon the pi'oductiveness or non-
pi oductiveness of a fruit as climate itself.

As an illustration, take the King variety of apple. With my neigh-
bor it has succeeded admirabh", in growth, in hardiness and in pro-
ductiveness ; with me the tree has been perfectly hardy, the growth
of wood slower than that of many other varieties and the production
■of fruit almost contemptible. My climate is the same as that of my
neighbor's, the situation of my trees neither too exposed nor too shel-
tered, and I am, therefore, driven to the necessity of ascribing my
want of success iu producing fruit of this variety to difference in soil,
and this more particularly, because 1 have taken the same pains in
the matter of cultivation as with other varieties in my orchard.
Perhaps some element, still, is lacking to make them fruitful, but
alas! what is it? If a plenty of barn-yard dressing and an abund-
ance of compost made up of muck, manure, ashes, lime and ground
•bones and applied as a top-dressing every two or three years has

6

82 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

failed, what then will avail? Will any of the comiriercial fertilizers-
in the market supply the needed want? Or, must I come to the con-
clusion that the variety is not suited to my kind of soil, and that,
therefore, the variety must be changed ? It is not a pleasant conclu-
sion to come to after planting, cultivating and taking the best of care
of a tree for ten years and when you expect, and it ought, to come
into bearing, to have to coax, coddle and wheedle the same tree for
ten long 3-ears more with no results worth mentioning.

In m^' orchard there are twenty trees of the above variety' which
vary in the setting from ten to twenty years and which have produced
of fruit, in thai time, comparatively nothing, and yet I have been ad-
vised by a good orchardist, who also is one of the largest fruit dealers
in the State, to bear a little longer with this variety, as it is a good
one. Other winter varieties, such as the Golden Russet of New York,
the Poughkeepsie or English Russet and the Rambo or English Dom-
inie, which were introduced into my orchard quite extensively, have
long ago been discarded, as also other varieties introduced in a-more
limited way, such as Walbridge and Cooper's Maiket for winter,
Twenty Ounce, Colvert, Plum Cider, Grimes' Golden and Haas for
late autumn ; while for summer all my Duchess and Tetofsky trees
have been reduced to one each, and my Red Astrachans will, next
year, be reduced to two or three trees.

Second. In the laying out and planting of an orchard it is more
economical and convenient, far more conducive to equanimity of
temper, and, consequently, it will tend to greater longevity of life to
have as simple au arrangement of the different varieties of apples as is-
possible or, in other words, to have each variety set by itself. I have
learned the folly of having a complex orchard and it has been my
desire and effort for the last few years to remedy this great defect
which was due more to a want of forethought on the part of my pre-
decessors than to indifference or carelessness on the part of myself.
Sometimes varieties will not come true to name, sometimes tags get
removed in transportation of 3'oung trees from the nursery, and some-
times varieties are misplaced in an orchard through the carelessness
or the indifference of the grafter. Every orchardist is liable to such
mistakes and no one can be too careful in guarding against them.
In this case, as in all others, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure.

Third. I have learned that no exact rules can be laid down
either for pruning or training apple trees. In the training of a young,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 85

orchard something will depend upon location, upon the variet}- and
habit of growth and whether the orchard is to be pastured to sheep
or kept in tillage and mowing. In sheltered positions the trees can
be trained very much lower than in exposed places where the wind
has full power, as on the top of a hill. When sheep are kept in an
orchard the trees will have to be trained higher than they otherwise
would be on account of their propensity to browse and to pull out
young scions ; but even in orchards where no sheep have been kept
I have learned that some varieties must be trained higher than what
we w^ould suppose when the trees are young. This is especially the
case with the Yellow Bellflower and R. I. Greening. When these
varieties are young and low- headed you will think it nice to train
them so aud it will be grand fun to stand on the ground and gather
nearly all the fruit, but when they are older and the lower branches
have extended far out and grown out of proportion to the head and
the upper branches, when these same branches are heavily laden with
fruit, and a large proportion of the fruit lies upon the ground and
mildews, then you will not think it so nice.

PRUNING,

In regard to pruning an orchard, the best principle to be observed
is to prune early, often and moderately. Some persons say that all
the pruning which is necessar}^ for a young aud growing tree may be
done with the thumb and forefinger. This is certainly a mistake.
It might do in a garden plot or with but few trees, but with a thou-
sand or more such a course is utterly out of the question. When buds
will form shoots and grow from three to five feet in one season, they
will need pretty constant and sharp watching in order to be removed
with the thumb and finger. Moreover, as you cannot tell, always,
the ultimate direction of a bud, it is necessary to leave it for a while
and ere you know it, it has become a branch too strong for the thumb
process and it will require the knife and saw. I used to think that
June' was the best month to prune young trees, but of late years I
have changed my mind, having learned by experience that early
spring — say the last of March and first of April — is the ver}' best
time. It is before the sap begins to flow much ; there are no leaves
to obstruct the sight ; in a few da^'s the cut will harden a little and
when the sap does begin to flow, new wood will begin to form almost
immediately and the wound will heal over quicker and better than at
any other time of the year. This was the practice and experience

84 STATK PO.AIOKOGICAL SUCIKTY.

of the late Hon. Rol)t'it Hallowell Gardiner, one of the iiiosi zeal-
ous, enthusiastic and devoted poinologists in the State.

Having adopted his practicf', I am free to say that I l)avi' l)een
benefitted by his ex[)erience in this direetion. Of course, rather
than not prune at all, I would recoinnit-nd to prune at any time when
the saw and knife is sharp Old trees tliat are full of suckers and
dead branches had Itetter be pruned in October or November lather
than in the spring

DISTANCE APAKT.

Twenty years or more of ex|)erience has not only stiengthened
my belief, but it has tuliy confirmed it, that thirty feet apart each
way is none too far foi' most varieties, and especially for Baldwin,
Roxbury Russet, R. I. Greening, Bellflower and Nortliern Spy.

UKAINAGE.

M}' experience has been that wlinre there is not natural diainage
sufficient, artificial drainage must be given, and that it always pays.
In one portion of my orchard theie is a plat of ground three-qiuir-
ters of an acre in extent, which in years past has been thoroughlv
underdrained. To look at the land you wfuild never think that once
it was nothing but a morass or quagmire, wiiere nothing but qnack-
grass, poUy-pod and mares'-tails grew, but such was the case. Now,
and for several years past, there has been growing upon it first-class
grasses and heavy cro|)s, and there is also a fine young orchard of
Roxbury Russets and Yellow Bellflower apple trees. Yes, drainage,
and especially uuderdraining, has paid me more than twenty per cent.

STORAGE AND PACKING OF FKIIT

My practice has b(>en to store in the cellar in barrels well headed
up rather than in l)ulk, but were all my conditions right I might i)re-
fer to store in bulk. I have learned not to put apples in heaps in
the orchard, never to carry them into a loft, for there they are sure
to rot, and that it is better to carry fruit, if possible, directly into a
cool, clean cellar and let them lie there undi.sturbed till packing and
selling time, rather than into barns, sheds or open buildings where
they are liable to be more or less bruised in a second handling, and
where they are more likely to heat and sweat.

In packing api)les we have always taken pains to have a uniform-
ity of fruit throughout the barrel, consequently we have never had

STATE POMOI.OGICAL SOCIETY. 85

any troiil»k! in selling, having sokl to one party alone for more than
thirty years. It costs something to take pains in the packing of
fruit, but carelessness or indifference will cost yon more. When
ODce a dealer finds that you have taken pains in packing and that
3'ou have put up your fruit honestly you will have no further trouble.
In closing, allow me to say that no one can learn all about the fruit
business in one year ; it will take a life-time to learn many things
essential to success, and then then' will l)e something more to learn.
But to him who perseveres all knowledge will gradually be unfolded,
and with knowledge will come pleasure, if not complete happiness.

DISCUSSIONS

Mr. SwEETSER. I would like to ask Mr. Atherton if he would
recommend setting barrels of apples on the head, in preference to
}a3'ing them on the bilge?

Mr. Atherton. My practice, after barrelling, is to put the bar-
rels on the bilge, and keep them out of the cellar until the weather
becomes quite cold.

Mr. Merrill. 1 would like to understand if Mr. Atherton thinks
that the barrelling of apples is a better practice than storing them in
bulk. We all know that it is even temperature that keeps fruit in
the best condition. He says in his cellar they keep well in barrels,
but had they been stored in bulk I think they would have come out
in just as good condition. Cold storage is good, but I don't agree
with him in barrelling the fruit. In buying and barrtlliug apples
for market. I have found the best apples in large lots in cool cellars.
I buy from lots in large bins in preference to small lots, as my expe-
rience is tliat I get better apples

Mr. Atherton. Did I understand that you wished me to give my
opinion as to whether it was better to store in barrels than in bulk?

Mr. Merrill. I presume you intended to give it as your opinion.

Mr. Atherton. I don't pretend to give any opinion. I simply
give my experience.

Mr. Briggs. I presume that Mr. Atherton represented his expe-
rience.

Mr. Merrill. I understand he is experimenting. He has apples
stored both in barrels and in bulk. Now, if he has them stored
both ways, and they come out in better condition in the barrels, I ad-
mit that I am wrong.

■86 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. Atherton. Wheu they were put in in bulk I was away and
had nothing to do with putting them up, and consequently could not
regulate the temperature, which may have caused the difference in
the way they came out.

Mr. Brigos. There is one point in Mr. Atherton's paper which I
should like to have explained a little better, and that is in relation to
the cultivation of the orchard.

Mr. Atherton. For the first few years I give it the best of cul-
tivation, provided the young trees were uninjured by the means.
Take the best land and prepare it well before setting out the trees-
Mr. Briggs. Did you crop the orchard?

Mr. Atherton. Yes, we cropped for several years. Had rota-
tion of crops for about ten years.

Mr. Briggs. What do j'ou call rotation of crops?

Mr. Atherton. By rotation of crops I mean plant corn one year,
and beans the next, then potatoes and so on.

Mr. Briggs. Did j'ou ever sow grain in the orchard?

Mr. Atherton. Not unless I intended seeding down to grass.

Mr. Briggs. Would you then?

Mr. Atherton. Yes, sir, and put on lots of manure and extra
mulching. After you seed down apply top-dressing and mulch the
young trees. If you fear any damage from mice, in the fall remove
•the mulch and bank up with earth, removing it again in the spring
and putting around the mulch again. The last orchard I started was
under cultivation three years. It has onh' been set eight years, and
rStill has produced considerable fruit of the Nodhead, Swaar, Red
Astrachan and other varieties.

Mr. Whittier. I would like to hear from Mr. Gilbert.

Mr. Z. A. Gilbert. I would like to add my testimony to Mr.
JMerrill's in relation to the storing of apples in bulk. I have handled
^ne hundred and fifty barrels stored in bulk direct from the treas. I
disagree with Mr. Atherton for two reasons. First, because it saves
labor in handling and the damage to the fruit in handling it ; and,
second, I would store them directly in the cellar because it is best for
the fruit. Apples should be placed in as cool a place as possible
immediately after being taken from the tree, and hence the cellar is
the best place for them. I sort veiy carefull}- in the orchard, alwaj's
superintending the work myself, and always insisting that small and
imperfect fruit shall be thrown away. The apples are picked in bas-
kets and drawn to the cellar in bulk, and stored in bulk. In this

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETr. 87

nv^a}' I have put three hundred barrels in a large bin five feet deep
running through the cellar, with a few left over that I put in barrels,
with one end left open. The fruit in bulk came out last week in ap-
parently perfect condition, bright and fair. If anj* apples had
<;hanged it was those on the top ; those in the interior being perfect.
This, I think, is the experience of apple growers in my own town.
Last year they shipped in the cars 12,000 barrels besides those con-
sumed in Lewiston and Auburn, nearly all of which were stored in
bulk and taken immediately from the trees to the cellar. I wish to
endorse one point in Mr. Leland's paper in relation to mulching. It
has been my experience that^nulching is a great protection to trees.
I have heard arguments against it because it sheltered the mice. The
mice are there but they are no more likely to girdle trees that are
mulched than those that are not. If it has lain long enough to de-
stroy the grass it is a good protection.

Mr. Atherton. I wish to go on record right in relation to this
matter of storing apples. It is my opinion that, on the whole, it is
preferable to store apples in bulk rather than in barrels. I consider
mulching a protection rather than otherwise.

Mr. Briggs. I wish to say that I never lost but one tree on ac-
count ot uiice, and I never took exira precautions against their rav-
ages. I mulch heavily and find a good many nests of mice but never
lose trees.

Mr. Gilbert. I would like to ask whether mulch is of value as
regards its efficiency for apple production or not? I have never found
it so. It is excellent for young trees to keep them healthy and thrifty,
but I have found that mulch, such as ha}' and straw, does not take
the place of manure.

President Pope. I don't know about that point, but if I had
large trees and wished to put on a coat of dressing of any kind, I
would also put on a good supply of mulch, and for this reason, in
iipplying fertilizer it first strikes the grass and two-thirds of the benefit
goes to the grass, but this application when spread under the tree and
then covered with a mulch insures that the tree gets all the benefit.

Mr. Nelson. Did I understand Mr. Gilbert to say that he did
not believe in mulching?

Mr. Gilbert. I had an orchard and spent twenty j'ears in finding
out that mulching will not take the place of manure.

Mr. Nelson. Have you any trees along by the side of double
walls ?

88 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. Gilbert. I have.

Mr. Nelson. Don't yon tiud them the best bearing trees?

Mr. Gilbert. I can't sa\' that I do.

Mr. Atherton. I want to ask as to the respective value of grass
as hay and unilch. Had 1 better mow the grass and let it lie in the
orchard as mulch, or cnre and feed it to stock and put manure in its
1)1 ace ?

Mr. Gilbert. That question can only be answered in a general
way. Hay is not worth $15.00 to mulch a|)ple trees with. I would
not recommend that course. 1 mak^ some allowance for extreme
statements. A little fertilizer applied often is the best for an or-
chard. The question of where we shall obtain fertilizers for the
orchard is one which this Society should discuss at no distant day.
I use ground bone and believe it to be good. Ashes are good, but
thev are scarce.

EVENING SESSION.

BUSINESS MEETING OF THE SOCIETY.

A business meeting of the Societ}^ was held at 6.30 o'clock, P.
M., President Pope in the chair.

It was voted inexpedient to change the by-laws of the Society in
regard to the fees of membership for annual members. The matter
of holding the annual exhibition of 1887 was placed in the hands of
the Executive Committee, and by them to be decided as they deemed
best for the interest of the Society.

Mr. T. M. Merrill of New Gloucester, from the committee to ex-
amine the fruit on exhibition, reported one of the largest displays
ever made at a winter meeting of the Society, and presented the fol-
lowing list of exhibitors, with the number of varieties shown by
each :

G. K. Staples, Temple, thirty varieties; D. P. True, Leeds Cen-
tre, four varieties of pears, six of apples ; Wra. True, Farmington ;
G. Hayes, Farmington ; Calvin Chamberlain, T^oxcrofr, one ; B. H.
Ridley, Jay, twelve ; E. W. Merritt, Houlton. one ; Lorin Adams,
East Wilton, three ; Phineas Whittier, Farmington Falls, twenty-
three, and samples of six varieties of evaporated apple ; B. Tit-
comb, F'armington, eight; S. M. Keep, Jay, nine; George Good-

STATE POMOLOGICAF. SOCIETY. .Si)

ridge. North Jay, nine ; Kinorv Axlel, Norlii Jay, two ; Oliver Diiii-
nell, Jay, four ; A. J. Liiiscott, Jay. sevei) ; Win. Eustis, Nortli
Jay; S. H. Niles, Nortli Jay, five; Alvan Currier. Fariningtou,
four; 8. R Leland. Fariniugton. heven ; D. EI. Kiiowlton, Farui-
ington. six; Mrs. I). M. Howe, Farmingtoii. six varieties of ap-
ples, two of canned fruits ; A. M. Goodiicli, Industry ; Harry P.
Dill, Phillips, eigh:; Elbridge Dill, Phillips, seven; Ansel Dill,
Phillips, three ; Silas M. Wing, Phillips, three ; M C. KelU^y. Phil-
lips, seven ; A. F. Hardy, Farniington, twelve ; D. J. Briggs, .South
Turner, ten ; Eugene E. Eaton, Farniington, seven ; J. S. B. Hinit-
er, Farniington, two; B W. Brown, Wilton, ten; W. W. Rodltird,
Jay, twenty-tw(>; E. G. Blake, Farniington. eight; O. C. Nelson,
New Gloucester, nine ; S. II. Sweetser, Cumberland Centre, eigh-
teen ; L. H. Blossom, Turner, two; J. J. Towle, South Carthage,
seven, and one sample of evaporated applt* ; J. Popii & Son. Man-
chester, fourteen.

Mr. W. P. Atherton, for the Committee on Nomenclature, pre-
sented a rejiort. The committee recommended that the seedling
apple exhibited by Mr. S. R. Leland be called the "Leland;"
"Aunt Mary,"' a local apple forwairlcd by Mr. Calvin Chamberlain,
of Foxcroft. was pronounced ''fine for dessert;" and the "-Aroos-
took Baldwin," forwarded b}- ^. W. Merritt of Houlton, was men-
tioned as being hardy, and no doubt usefid for that high locality,
although wanting in <iualities which would recommend it for other
parts ot the State.

Mr. D. H. Knowlton, for the committee appointed to considei
the recommendations made by the President in his annual address,
presented his report, viz :

Your committee to whom was referred the President's annual ad-
dress beg leave to report as follows :

1st. The employment of experts to act as judges at our annua
exhibitions is deserving of careful consideration by the Society, and
though our present finances may not admit of the expense tor a year
or two, we believe the awarding of premiums woidd be more satis-
factory to exhibitors.

2d. That this Society recomnien<l the setting apart of a day to
be known and observed as Arbor Day ; and, furthermore, we recom-
mend the passage of such a law by the present Maine Legislature
a,< shall establish the same.

3d Information reached us last night that the Hatch bill 'to estab-
lish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the agricul-

^0 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

tural colleges in the several States" has passed the Senate, and that
the House committee has voted to report favorably upon the bill in
that branch. We believe the fruit-growing interests of this State
call for the passage of this bill, and we would assure our members
of Congress that its passage would prove of great value to our State,
and we would most respectfully urge them to use their influeuce to
secure its passage.

4th. That in accordance with the recommendations of the address
we would cordially invite all fruit-growers in the State to inform the
Secretarv of our Society from time to time of the condition of fruit,
of the various diseases affecting it, the progress of the diseases,
the causes of the same and anj- remedies which may prove efficient in
treating the same.

Mr. W. P. Atherton then said: —

Mr. President: I hereby tender the following resolution, viz:

Resolved, That the thanks of this Society are extended to the
people of Farmington and vicinity, for their cordial and hearty wel-
come ; for their liberal hospitalit}' ; for the free use of their beauti-
ful hall ; for the fine display of their fruits ; for the music which has
contributed so much to the evening entertainments, and for their
uniformly kind and courteous treatment of all our members.

This resolution was given a passage b3' a rising vote.

Votes of thanks were then passed to the managers of the Sandy
River and Maine Central Railroad Companies, for the favor of half
fare rates over their lines to all persons attending the meeting. But
for the liberality of the railroads, the benefits of our meetings would
be shared by coraparativel}" few of those in our State interested in
the work of the Society.

The business meeting was then adjourned, and after a brief in-
termission, the public session was called to order by President Pope.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 91

PUBLIC SESSION.

The hall was crowded, this being the closing meeting of the cou-
•^'ention. Prof. George C. Purington, Principal of the Northern
Normal School, rendered a fine musical selection ; after which Mrs.
:Hattie Park Ke^'es, the gifted wife of Capt. Charles W. Ke3'es of
ithe Farmintrton Chronicle^ read the following essay :

THE VALUE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES
TO THE FARMER.

By Mrs. Hattie Park Keyes.

The subject is so broad and invites thought in so many different
•directions that, in a brief article like this, one can hope to follow but
a few of the possible avenues of consideration, and these only for a
little way. It ma}' be trusted, however, that the candid and thought-
ful minds of those to whom this topic is introduced may work out
■for themselves some ideas which, sooner or later, will be of some
advantage ; and I shall be, indeed, well pleased if calling attention
to this matter at this time may, in any degree, assist in the way of
greater enjoyment and a more remunerative income from a life on the
-farm .

One of the great problems studied in agricultural gatherings in
?Maine of late years is how to keep the bo3's — and it ma^' be added
;girls. too — on the farm. The tendency has been so strong the past
thirty years to leave the farm for the workshop or the store, or, what
is as disastrous to the prosperity of our State, to leave the farms in
;Maine for a farm, a ranch or a miner's camp in the West, that the
rural sections have suffered a serious decrease in population and,
'therewith, a great loss in the results of the labor which these runaway
sons of the farm would have performed had they remained on or near
the old homesteads. There is an old saying that times change and
we must change with them. This is true in the relative attractions
of farm and city life. In former times, when intercourse with the
city was less easy and frequent than now, when the opportunities it
offered to young people were far less varied and not so well known as at
Xhe present time, when the city streets possessed in much less degree

92 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

the glare and glamour whicli so delight and dazzle youthful eyes, the'
contrast in the indiieements of the city and the country was not so-
marked as it appears now to be. If the city is all the time enhancing
its claims to favor, the country must look to see what it can do to re-
tain its hold on the affection and interest of the people. Is it doing
this most necessary thing? The statistics of New England farming:
towns indicate that it has failed sadly in this respect. And yet the
remedy is plain. Life on the farm must be made more satisfactory
and enjoyable financially, aesthetically and socially. Granted that it
ought to be. the next step brings us to the question, How can it be
accomplished ?

I fully believe the possession of a knowledge of the natural sciences-
by the farmers and the farmers' wives, their sons and daughters, will
do not a little in increasing the profits and pleasures of their life
on the farm, and for this reason I have gladly chosen this topic for'
my theme this evening.

The financial benefits which a knowledge of the natural sciences
may give the farmer are so obvious that it would seem little, if any-
thing, need be said on this part of the subject. C4.t, must be appar-
ent to the most superficial thinker that he whose business is so closeW
connected with nature and whose income is so largely dependent on'
the cause and effect of natural principles should, of all men, be well'
acquainted with those principles, should know how far he must govern'
and direct them for his own advantage, when to look for exceptions and'
when to apply the rule ordinary results have established^ The need of
an acquaintance with the elements of the soil and the additions^
requisite to bring forth the most desirable and profitable crops is mani'
fest to every one. The kinds of feed most nutritious and which can be
most economically combined are subjects of great importance and'
if only guessed at are quite likely to be followed by lean stock and a
lean purse in the pocket of a discouraged farmer. To know the-
right way to manage these things he should have a knowledge of ag-
ricultural chemistry. The kinds of insect and other animal life not
gathered into barns are matters with which the farmer has constautl3'
to deal. Which are his friends, which his enemies, he surely ought
to know ; what the nature of this, what the habits of that, are things
he certainly needs understand. Here, an acquaintance with natural
history will be of great assistance. The varied forms of plant life,
the manner in which each species is reproduced, the benefits of some,
the injury of others, a knowledge of botany will assist greatly to-

STATE POMOLOGICAL .SOCIETY. 93

<letermine. These and many other familial' but vaguely eouipre-
"hended objects are governed by natural laws, and the earlier and the
,inore thoroughly the farmer understands these laws the more -success-
ful he is likely to be.

Yes. you say, but doesn't the farmer learn all he need know of
these things by experience and isn't experience, after all, the best
'teacher? Experience is a oood teacher, but, you know, it has been
said for many a year she keeps a dear school, and this we have found
to our sorrow in all the walks of life. The lessons the fanner learns
there are not only expensive but often they have to be repeated several
itimes over before their meaning is heeded, and some, it seems, hardly
learn theii' sigtiiticance at all. luit go on in the same old blundering
way, laying the blame of their want ot success at the door of bad
iuck or something other than the true cause of their ill fortune. Nor
■is this strange. The person who has not been trained to habits of
observation and quick perception can hardly l)e expected to be any-
thing else than a slow scholar even in learning the habits and nature
■of objects by which he is daily surrounded. While facts established
and theories and opinions advanced by scientists are of great value
to the iaimcr, a spiiitof incjuirv and an observing, attentive eye are
likewise of inestimable worth to him who would have nature lend
him the assistance she is always ready to give ; and, to possess these
qualities in their l)est estate, he leally needs an early training.
But as it is never too late to learn, it is better to begin late than not
3it all.

Again, it may be said. Do not the farmeri have an opp:>rtunit_y to
acquire all necessary information through the columns of the agri-
cultural papers and the bulletins and reports of agricidtuial schools
:and experiment stations? There is an opportunity to learn much,
very much, in this way, and I am truly thankful our State is so well
favored as it is in this regard. 1 have felt sometimes the past
few years as if such aids and the information and inspiration ema-
nating from well conducted agricultural societies, present comj)any
wot excepted, were the chief power which is preserving the life and
vigor of many a farm in Maine. The reports of the Government
Bureau, as well as of the State Board of Agriculture likewise, often
■contain much of value and their leading is to be commended. But,
while I would do all 1 could to encourage the use of these and simi-
lar helps and believe that much may be gained thereby, the fact re-
mains^ and I think all present will agree, that much of the interest

94 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY.

in such articles is abated and mucli of the benefit is often lost be-
cause more or less of the terms used are not understood. Agri-
cultural writers are sometimes blamed for employing phrases that
the common people are not familiar with. I do not thiok there is
just cause for censure. It seems to uie that as a rule agricultural
teachers make the endeavor to be plain and simple in their language,
not to make a show of wisdom b}' talking in long words and foreign
phrases, but simply to impart needed instruction. Yet there are dif-
ficulties in the way greater than would seem at first thought. There
are many scientific subjects which cannot be treated at all without
the use of more or less technical terms, and others where the use of
common names in preference to scientific would lead to confusion
and perhaps to serious errors. To illustrate : A writer might speak
of chickweed and think there was not the least danger of being mis-
understood, but to one person here in Maine this would mean one
plant and to another another, while if he had lived in the Middle
States very likely the name would stand with him for yet a third,
for, in all, not less than eight species are called iiy this word. If,
on the other hand, he says Stellaria media, we know exactly what
he means, or it he speaks of Cerastivmi viscosum, there can be no
mistake, for in botany one plant and one alone is given a certain
name, while in common language the same name is often applied to
several. These are familiar examples and errors in the case cited
might be of little consequence, but the same confusion is likely to
occur in matters of far greater importance.

We take it for granted that all candid ones will agree at once that
some knowledge of chemistry would be an excellent thing for the
farmer, that an acquaintance with the elements of natural history in
its several departments might also be a convenience now and then,
that some familiarity with physics and the allied sciences might like-
wise prove useful from time to time. Allowed that a knowledge of
these sciences, if not absolutely essential to financial success in the
business of agriculture, is, nevertheless, a good and desirable pos-
session, the question now arises, is such an acquirement practicable,
indeed, hardly possible, for the average farmer who is passing his
youth or has already passed it with no other advantages than the
district school affords? We admit that only ten years ago the effort
would have been somewhat discouraging, but the case is different
now : all the new attractions of life are not for city people ; the
country shares in some of the good things the last few years have

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95

provided for favored Americans. One of these is that noble, benefi-
•cent institution, the Chautauquan, which, with its thousands upon
thousands of students, is doing an inestimable amount of good work
in promoting general intelligence and diffusing knowledge of litera-
ture, science and art in all places where the English tongue is spoken.
Here is a means of acquiring knowledge which every farmer's fam-
ily, if it has not already adopted, ought, at least, to be considering.
1 speak of this course first not because it makes a specialt}' of scien-
tific branches or because it is designed especially for farmers but
because it is such an excellent appetizer for all kinds of home study.
There have been of late various excellent works arranged with par-
ticular reference to farmers' use. Among them the publications of
Prof. Fernald formerly of the State College deserve a favorable
mention.

The scientific works used in our schools of lower grade than the
college will be found well adapted to the general reader. If not
familiar with the titles or the place of sale of books on these sub-
jects, a little inquiry will soon bring the desired information. Farm-
ers' clubs have sometimes, among other good things, purchased more
or less of a library ; so also have local granges here and there. The
practice ought to become universal with such organizations, and
such libraries, if well selected, would have a due proportion of sci-
entific works.

These are a few of the helps that may be looked to by those who,
from reason of years or other causes, cannot enjoy the privileges of
schools ; but we hope the farmers' boys, who are going to be farmers
themselves, may have the aid of competent instructors in introduc-
ing them to the pleasure and profit a knowledge of the natural sci-
ences surel}- has in store for them. Happily even our common
district schools are often found nowadays with instructors who
can teach the elements of some of these branches and, by object
lessons or other pleasant methods, educate — draw out — the mind in
search for scientific truth. Better still when this early training is
supplemented by attendance at some of the higher institutions. A
full course at an agricultural college will prove, we believe, a good
investment of time and money.

Before leaving this part of the subject I cannot refrain from sa}'-
ing that I hope the day is not far distant when the public schools of
Maine will pay more attention to the study of the natural sciences.
Thereby they would not only do much to increase the general intel-
ligence but would confer a special benefit on agricultural interests,

iff; STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

direcllv by teaching laws and principles, and indirectly by trainins;
the perception and reasoning faculties for better service in the 3'ears
of later life. A bill is now before the Legislature, I believe, which,
if it becoin^'S a la.v. will r^q tire public S3li:)ols to give instruction in
agricultural eheuiistry. So far, so good.

And now, since a happy life is niade up of many things beside
financial success, let us pass on to another phase of the subject and
see how a knowledge of the natural sciences can aid in making farm
life more agreeable in an sestlietic point of view.

There are people who love study for its inherent pleasures, and,
if there were no pecuniar}^ or social advantage likel\' to result, would
still give more or less time to its pursuit. Jo^'s which come in this
line are of a high order, and will do much to make the possessor
content in anv place where his l<jt may be cast. While farm life has
some obstacles in the way of such enjoyments, it still lias much to
aid and as.si.st. Heie we aie brought near to nature, and, if heart
be in harmony with her Maker and mind be trained to discern her
marvelous beauties, we shall lind an unfailing source of delight in
the multitude of wonders on every hand Rocks and trees, forest
and garden, the earth beneath, the sky above, furnish an inexhaust-
ible and ever fascinating Held for study and recreation. But, as be-
foie, the question may be asked, how is this training to be obtained
if we have not been so fortunate as to receive it in our younger days?
Granted again that there aie some difficulties, yet the}' are not in-
superable. ]n the first place I l)eg the mothers to be governed by a
litile common sense. There seems to be no excuse in this late day
for a woman to go into hysterics at the sight of a moui^e, or turn a
whole congregation into a panic stricken mob at the presence of a
harmless June bug A slight knowledge of natural histoiy will teach
her better, and this she can acquire with as little time and expense as
it takes to read some novels, adding thereto just a moderate mental
effort. Then such objects of aversion and terror will become mat-
ters of deep interest. It would be to her like the vision of beasts
to Peter, teaching her that notiiing the Lord has made is common or
unclean. But the mischief of her ignorance and foil}' does not, un-
happily, end with her own discomfiture. The children of the family
catch the feeling and repeat over and over the same ridiculous ex-
periences. Sometimes, alas, this feeling of aversion for living creat-
ures is not taught indirectly but directly also, thus filling little
breasts naturally loving and tender with contempt and hatred for
things made like them of flesh and blood.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97

Under the caption "Seeds of Cruelty and Fear," the Christian
Union a year or two ago published a story describing a scene the
like of which, alas, we have all seen enacted time and again. I
will make a brief extract, it is so apropos :

"Waiting in a public room in a hotel the other day, I saw a little
incident which suggested to ray mind the words at the head of this
piece.

A little boy, perhaps three years old, a lovely child, ran into the
room, followed b}- his nurse at a little distance. Crawling on the
carpet in front of the fire was a large water-bug. The child caught
sight of it at once and stopped to watch it. He showed no signs of
either fear or aversion, only of interest and curiosity. The nurse,
noting his intent gaze on the floor, hurried up and, seeing what he
was looking at, exclaimed, 'Ugh, the horrid thiyuj ! Nasty ! Nasty !
Come away !' at the same time seizing him by the hand and attempt-
ing to draw him away. Her tones and gestures expressed fear as
well as disgust. The child took the cue instantly ; the expression
of his face was transformed in the twinkling of an eye. He screamed,
struck out with his fists, stamped his feet, all the time backing away
from the poor, harmless little bug. A look of hatred deepened on
his features, which one short moment before had been kindled with
genuine childlike curiosity and pleasure.

At this moment the mother entered the room. Breaking away
from the nurse, he ran to his mother, took her hand and drew her
nearer the fire-place, still continuing his expressions of alarm and
dislike, and pointing to the bug with his tiny fingers.

The mother echoed the nurse's exclamations of disgust and added,
'Charley, kill the old bug ! Charley, kill it !' Upon which, the nurse
taking the little fellow's other hand, the two women led him to the
bug, he all Ihe while half holding back, half fascinated with the ex-
citement of the attack. The}- led him closer, the mother repeating,
'Yes, Charley, kill the old bug ; it shan't bite Charley ;' until, at last,
lifting his small foot, the child crushed the bug to death, and then
jumped up and down on it with chuckles of delight, saying, in his
broken baby talk, 'Bug dead ! Bug dead !' "

The writer goes on to saj' :

"I looked on, speechless with indignation, sorrow and shame.
The mother was a person apparently of intelligence and refinement.
Her face was a more than usually' attractive one. Her dress and

98 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

bearing were those of a woman of the world. The servant was evi-
dentl}' of a higher grade than the average nursery maid. And yet
this was the thing they had done in that one short moment to that
little child : taught him to fear, hate, torture and kill helpless creat-
ures."

It is needless to sa}'^ that by indulging such feelings as those ex-
hibited in the scene described, the country is shorn of much of its
attraction for mother and children. On the other hand, teeming as
it is for a large part of the ^-ear with countless varieties of animal
and vegetable life, those who know even a little of botany or natural
history will find there ample entertainment and instruction. To them
the days will not be void or dull or monotonous. In the words of
Coleridge, they can saj' :

''He prayeth best who loveth best

All things both great and small
For the dear Lord who loveth us

He made and loveth all."

We have all enjoj'ed the charming descriptions of natural scenery
penned by the gifted "H. H." That the common, humbler forms of
plants and animals were as dear to her as the grand, inspiring scen-
ery of the Rockies there can be no doubt. Hear how she describes
what she would have for her last, long home :

"Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree
Or flower, the little grave which shelters me ;
Let the wildwood seeds spring up unharmed
And back and forth all summer uualarmed
Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep."

I would fully endorse all that has been said on the cultivation of
flowers at home. I would also urge an acquaintance with our native
specimens. I have often been surprised and sometimes almost
grieved that ladies who devote considerable time to the care of im-
ported plants should appear so indifferent to those of native growth,
and yet the real beauty of many such is unsurpassed. No culti-
vated ox alls I have ever seen can equal the exquisite delicacy of
the Oxalis acetosella of our Maine forests. Scores of others beau-
tiful and wonderful might be mentioned, but time forbids. There
seems of late to be a better sentiment in this respect so that the
aster, the golden I'od and one or two others have taken their true
position in public favor.

While it is to be deplored that so many have lived unmindful of
the opportunities for happiness and improvement life on a farm af-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 99-

fords, yet it is pleasant to know some have not overlooked them.-
Especially happ}' are the children of those families where father and
mother or older brothers and sisters have taught them to open their e3'es
and behold the wonderful and beautiful things all about them. Chil-
dren are apt pupils in such things and only need a trifle of encourage-
ment and guidance to do very good work as amateur naturalists. L
knew a little miss who, long before she could speak distinctly, could
tell the names of a goodly number of minerals. A little boy in this
town with slight assistance from a judicious mother had made and
classified quite a collection of native plants when he was onlj^ five or.
six years of age. I do not believe that boy or that girl when they,
grow up will desjnse a farm. It ma}^ be that all parents are not so
well prepared to aid their little ones in these researches as those I.
have in mind, but all can, at least, give courteous answers and not
chill the ardor of young minds seeking after knowledge. Some-
times, I am sorry to sa}', parents not knowing how to answer the
question directly give instead an impatient reply like "don't bother"
or some other phrase intended to check further inquiry. Children,
thus brought up can hardly be expected to take an interest in the
old farm. Sooner or later they will be seeking for entertainment and.
pleasure in some more genial atmosphere.

Lastl}' comes the question. What can natural sciences do to make
farm life more satisfactory in a social way? I would answer, much
in various respects. A few of these have been already referred to.

As companionship lends an indescribable charm to study, so, re-
ciprocally, study gives to companionship some of its sweetest joys.
A grange or farmers' club whose members are studying the natural
sciences will find their organization not only more profitable but far
more enjoyable also. And since the grange recognizes the princi-
ple of equal rights, the sisters, ever active in preparing good things
for the palate, will not be debarred from partaking this rich and
wholesome mental food. Securing a competent instructor to give a
course of lectures in the winter season would be a wise expenditure,
and, as in the matter of books, the outlay falling on so many would,
not be burdensome.

The pleasures of the neighborhood can be greatly increased by the
spread of interest in study. Diamonds cut diamonds, and minds
having some store of information cause each other to give out their
best thoughts, putting to flight petty jealousies, heart burnings and
idle gossip. Might not Q.ny community be better by the change ?-

100 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

To speak more in detail, young and old can unite together in a
•Chautauquan Circle or can enjoy the inexpensive luxury of a circu-
lating library. In summer and autumn geological or botanical pic-
nics may be made a delightful variation from the every-day toil.
In winter, if the more abstruse departments of astronomy seem too
formidable, a company of country people can pass some of their eve-
nings very pleasantly in learning the geography of the heavens, an
enjo3'ment their city cousins well may envy. The chief pleasure of
companionship in study will, however, be found in the family when
parents and children are alike interested in something more than
their daily round of labor. Young hearts are neai-est, perhaps, to
the great heart of nature, and their childlike enthusiam will do much
to inspire their more weary fathers and mothers. The great benefit,
too, of their early introduction to scientific truth will repay their
parents for any little sacrifice of time and trouble. The child who
is early taught to investigate the truths of the natural world has
the double advantage of a great gain in time and, better still, of
possessing perceptions well trained from the start.

In conclusion, a knowledge of the natural sciences is of great
value to the farmer in making his business successful, his home
pleasant, his life happy. This knowledge is most easily and readily
acquired by early training at home and in the town school, supple-
mented by some months or years at one of the higher institutions of
learning ; but those who have not had these advantages need not,
on that account, be discouraged ; those who go to it in the right
spirit will find a very excellent seminary in the old chimney corner.
Mothers and sisters need this knowledge as well as the fathers and
brothers. They need it to conduct the household on hygienic prin-
ciples, to lead the youthful members of the family in the way of
usefulness, to give to home and neighborhood life the agreeable and
elevating atmosphere it ought to have.

Have the public schools and the agricultural societies done what
they ought to do to promote so good a cause ? They have done
something, but the opportunity has not been fully taken yet. The
field is so promising and the results so desirable, they surely warrant
a decided effort. We wish the Dirigo State might take a leading
step in this direction.

At the conclusion of Mrs. Keyes' essay, Mr. C. A. Mace of
Readfield was introduced, who read the following poem.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 101

THE OLD AND THE NEW.

BY C. A. MACE.

The average farmer we have oft been told
Was not a truit grower in the clays of old.
His flocks that roamed the country far and wide;
His herds that greeted him at eventide;
His fields of grain soft waving in the breeze
Filling the air with pleasing melodies,
He loved far more than planted vine or tree,
For these gave quick returns for industry.
And if by chance a fruit tree should be found
So venturesome to occupy his ground,
'Twas there by accident not by design
And yielded fruit fit only tor his swine.
Thus years roll on and added to his store ;
His earthly goods increased yet more and more.
An honest, kind, hard toiling man was he
And noted far for his integrity.
His home, perchance, may be a mansion grand
On lofty hill, the fairest in the land ;
Or yet, perhaps, some cottage by the way,
Around whose walls the soft winds gently play;
And yet no restful shade, whose sheltering arms
Lend to his home its most inviting charms ;
No fruitful vines or sweetly scented flowers
Adorn his grounds and cheer his weary hours;
Beauty, with no encouragement to stay
Has spread her wings and silent flown away —
While stern necessity in plain attire,
His only counsel round the evening fire.

The good wife wends her weary, ceaseless way
Through constant, tiresome duties day by day —
Yearning for all that's beautiful and good ;
Starving in fact, for need of mental food.
Children, as they grow older, are possessed
With ardent longing and vague unrest,
And soon 'mid other scenes they hope to find
Employment more congenial to their mind.

Pomona and Flora, two sisters fair and gay,
Left their mystic home so far away,
Each laden with their choicest gifts to man,
And their work of love through earth began.
They visited the lowly in their humble home

102 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

As well as those to whom great wealth had come.
Pomona there her richest fruits displayed,
Before them, too, her choicest gifts arrayed.
She pointed them to sacred gardens old.
Whose ample fruitage rivaled purest gold —
The source of all she brought to them this day, —
And whose ri<;h tints reflects pure Eden's ray.
This gift was not intended for display;
Its benefit all can enjoy who may.
For the Creator ever had designed
This fruitage for the good of all mankind.
Thus as she proved 'twas not the way to live
To spurn the gifts that nature has to give,
But man should seek to know and understand
The laws that form this good work of His hand.
Forthwith she taught him all her secret art,
A love for all God's works did she impart.
Till man comes forth from this one interview
With ardent hopes and aspirations new.

Meanwhile fair Flora does not idly stand,
But scatters treasures thick on either hand.
Their fragrance fills the humble farmer's home ;
Their beauty calls forth praise from every one.
Her mission is to open to our eyes,
The world of beauty that around us lies ;
To show to us that God has not designed
His noblest work no rest from toil shall find.
But ceaseless wend his constant, weary way
Through irksome duties, with no cheerful ray
To smile on him and soften daily care,
And fill his life with pleasures rich and rare.
Sweet comforter, a noble mission thine !
To cheer our weary eyesj, our thoughts refine.
Thy offerings of purity and love
God's goodness to his toiling children prove.
Although her labors to in-doors pertain
Her form is seen o'er all the farm's domain.
Fair messengers spring sweetly from the ground,
By wayside brook, in forests deep are found,
Reminding us of our Creator's love.
And pointing us to our fair home above.
Yet Flora's presence brings more joy and peace
To weary house-wives in their brief release
From weary toil, who eager seek to find
Some recreation to divert their mind.
To such lair Flora is a cherished friend
As arm in arm through shaded walks they wend

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 103

Their way, while on the toiler's weary brow
Sweet rest and peace we find are resting now.
The young are sure to find in Flora a glad friend ;
For youth and purity most happy are to blend.
She comes to them a messenger of love;
And future life will full of beauty prove.

As time moves on with its resistless tide,
A change is seen along the country-side.
The husbandman no longer, as of yore.
To flocks alone looks for increase of store.
Although his herds and fields of waving grain
Their proper rank in the year's round maintain,
New occupations of congenial kind
Now interest and occupy his mind.
The lone fruit-tree that in the corner stands
No longer suflers from neglectful hands,
But, pruned and fertilized, it yearly pours
Into his lap its most abundant stores.
We look around; upon the hill-side steep
And meadows broad, with soil both rich and deep.
Are planted fruit trees of the choicest kind,
Whose slender branches waving in the wind.
Bear fruit that in the beauty of rich colors vie
With brightest rainbow tints in summer sky.
We wander now within the garden's bound
Wherein fruitage of choicer kind is found.
Here shrub and plant and every useful vine
To add unto his treasures rich combine,
And pleasure, health, and recreation rare
Are found in training slender tendrils there.

As we approach the farmer's lovely home,
Into a world of beauty we have come.
For flowers reflecting Eden's purest rays
On every hand meet our enraptured gaze,
And looking upward to the heavens above
Teach us the lessons of purit}^ and love.
And now the cheerful voice of song is heard
As sweet and clear as song of woodland bird,
When showers of spring come floating on the breeze
Or summer's sun makes glad their melodies.
This home a type of others in our land
We enter at the housewife's kind command.
The matron's brow may show some signs of care.
And marks of toil perchance are resting there.
Yet by the love that shines forth from her eye
We know her heart is filled with melody.

104 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Intelligence now guides hev toiling hand

And drudgery departs at her coniniand,

While pleasant recreation for the mind

And restful pleasures she can ever lind.

The house plants that are every lady's pride

In tasteful order ranged on every side,

While luscious fruitage of a goodly hoard

In great profusion decks the farmer's board.

Tiie children of this modern household fair

With their surroundings happily comjiare.

Reared amid such influences bright

They fill their home with happiness and light.

You hear no longing for more distant scenes,

And tViey dread not the time that intervenes

Ere they shall leave their childhood's happy home

In other lands, 'mid other scenes to roam.

Home is to them the dearest spot on earth

And sad the day they leave its sacred hearth.

I've held to-night no picture to your view,
And told no tale that one may call untrue.
I look far back upon the page of time ;
I see some noble men in manhood's prime
Forming a band of earnest brotherhood,
Working together for the common good.
And soon societies all o'er the land
Originate from this the parent band.
Fruit culture now an impetus receives
And rich returns to thoughtful minds it gives,
While many a name to-daj" ennobled stands
For choice production by his skillful hands.
I see long trains of loaded cars to-day
Bearing the fruit of your old trees away
To cities, where huge transports waiting lie
To take the products of your industry;
Thence waited by stern winter's icy breeze
They reach the homes that lie beyond the seas.
I look around upon the grand display
Of apples fair this cold, raid-winter's day.
Bright hue, fair form and tempting as of old,
When Eve's desire to taste was not controlled.
I ask whence cometh this bright, fair array.
The gentle goddess, whose name you bear to-day,
Who hovers ever near with noiseless wings
An answer to our eager question brings :
"It is my work to guide the inquiring mind;
For in my kingdom j^recious gems you find.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 105

They are but samples of my varied store,
And richer gifts await those who explore."

Again, 1 turn to scenes of long ago,
A company are battling winter's snow;
Cold and bleak their home on Plymouth shore
Within the sound of the Atlantic's roar.
No outward beauty now adorns their lives
Save only that which stern religion gives.
The spring-time flowers awake no tender thrill,
And slight the joys that in their life instil.

Now this is changed; along your village streets
Many a fair picture now my vision greets.
The changeful lamplight in the evening hours
Shines brightly tiirough a foliage of flowers.
The windows bar the winter's icy chill ;
AVithin is summer sweetness reigning still,
That robs the monarch, ever stern and cold,
Of half his terrors, and breaks his icy hold.
And man now resting from his laboring hours
With ever grateful heart, thanks God for flowers.

In olden days, the Latin term for home
Was an abode, a dwelling place alone.
It might be in the country fair and wide.
Or in the town, washed by the river's tide.
A cave or tent upon the hillside bare ;
Or if in town, perhaps a cottage fair.
Where'er a family lodged was called its home.
And thus a sacred ness around this spot did come.
For old English laws hold, even to this day,
Man's home his castle is, both strong and gray ;
That none may enter there unless he gives consent,
For civil pi'ocess, or for their own intent.
Our dear word home, round which a halo lies.
Is from the Saxon ; and it signifies
An object sacred, and covered from the eyes ;
A quiet and retirement, likewise the term implies.
Ln sunny France this prevalent idea
Is not so prominent as with us here.
Not much of true home life the Parisian enjoys ;
The city's gayeties his time and mind employs.
In restaurants, he eats his food with zest ;
In lodging rooms, he seeks his needed rest.
In classic daj^s few people owned a home.
A million souls once walked the streets of Rome.
Of this vast number we are truly told
Only two thousand their homes controlled.

106 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

In later clays we look to English laws ;

In Erin's isle we see the wrong they canse.

Wliere land is owned but by the titled few

Distress is prevalent and riots brew.

In our idea of home the interest lies

In that one owns the home he occupies.

'Tis this that gives each toiler in the land

Courage to labor with an honest hand ;

Incites him on in every enterprise ,

Wherein success and an improvement lies ;

While this one thought his hours of labor cheers,

The benefit will come in later years.

His home may be a humble cabin now

On fertile plain or on the hillside brow;

With trusting faith he cultivates his lands

And plants his fruit trees with industrious hands;

Improvement marks his steps where'er he goes,

And all waste places blossom as the rose.

The cabin low, abode of toil and care.

Gives way at last for stately mansion fair.

While soft winds sing among his fruit trees near,

Which pour their offerings grateful year by year.

And flowers their precious perfume freely shed

And fall in showers of sweetness on his head.

There's many a home in our fair land to-day
Such as 1 have endeavored to portray.
And if I ask, where in our country's bound
Can peace and satisfaction true be found,
You will not turn alone to learning's walls.
Nor yet to pleasure's gaily lighted halls ;
Nor will you seek 'mid riches' dazzling glare
For perfect peace and happiness most rare,
But, turning to our humble farmer's home
Reposing sweetly neath high heaven's dome,
You say— this is a life that pleasure gives,
Happj' is he who 'mid such beauty lives.

There's many an influence that unbidden comes
From silent objects that adorn our homes.
A lady once lamented even with tears
To one — a playmate of her childhood's years —
That as her boys approached maturity
They had an ardent longing for the sea.
She could not understand the cause, she said,
That they should thus desire to earn their bread.
A beauteous picture hangs within their view,
A noble ship, speeding the waters blue.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 107

The ifriend then poiHted to the picture rare,
Hanging these years in all its beaut}' there;
"That painting fair an inspiration gives,
And this has influenced your dear boys' lives."

Fathers, plant trees, and interest your boy
In a pursuit tbat will increase his joy.
Each fruit tree planted by his youthful hand
Binds him more firmly to his native land.
Fitting companion you will ever find
The thrifty fruit tree for the youthful mind,
And lessons true unconscious day by day
They ope to them in their impressive way —
While being trained to stand erect and strong
And pruned of errors that will lead them wrong,
Engrafted with the fruit we know is pure
That to the end sliall prosper and endure.
Such occupation to the young mind gives
A virtue that lasts ever while he lives.
And in the coming years will prove to be
A source of pride and noble legacy.

Nations afar reach forth an eager hand
For choice production ot our sunny land;
And we shall find an ever open door
For all the surplus of our choicest store;
For England's fog we know can never vie
With the productions 'neath our sunny sky.

Some years ago I saw the refining power
Exerted o'er the young by blooming flower.
I chanced while in a city's busy street,
A group of young and noisy girls to meet,
111 clad, uncouth, they proved themselves to be
Examples of a low humanity.
Gazing into their face you could not say.
You saw of virtue one redeeming ray.
At last they paused, by mutual consent.
And in low tones gave to their wonder vent.

'Twas then I saw upon the sidewalk there
A lot of potted plants of beauty rare,
Exposed for sale amid the passing throng,
And shedding fragrance as they rushed along.
These children from the homes of want and care
Unconscious gazed upon the picture fair.
While on their faces clouded by unholy blight
There shone, it seemed to me, redeeming light,
As they beheld the silent beauties there

108 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

And caught their perfume in the summer air.
And tlien I thought each behig He has made —
In whatsoever guise they are arrayed —
Some portion of divine love are possessed,
And His sweet flowers can make it manifest.

Our homes to-day may be like gardens fair
With nought that is unlovely growing there;
Or yet perhaps they tarnished are, by sin
"With weeds of error ever creeping in.
Let us, dear friends, exert the utmost care
That nothing ever thrive that is not pure and fair.
So when the Master walks in cool of day
We need not fear and hide ourselves away.

Mothers, how oft you've trained the liousehold vine
That gracefully about your homes entwines —
How oft in gardens fair the beauteous rose
More sweet and lovely by your guidance grows;
And lilies fair in all their purity
Grow fairer still beneath your watchful eye.
And yet in these fair homes of yours to-day —
When you may turn from outside scenes away —
And when those little arms in tenderness
Cling round your neck with their sweet child caress,
A rose, more sweeter far than earthly garden flower,
A lily, fairer than e'er those in Eden's bower,
This earnest, toiling life work beautifies.
And makes your home an earthly paradise.
May you have grace to guide with loving care,
Until they bloom in Heavenly gardens fair.

This exercise closed the evening's programme, and the annual
winter meeting ; although foi* a half hour afterward most of the
audience remained in the hall and spent the time in social inter-
course. All pronounced the meeting a very successful one, the sev-
eral papers and discussions having contributed largely to promote
the objects, and help carry forward the work of the Society.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

Three of the papers given in this division were prepared for the
winter meeting, and announced in the Programme. But as it was
impossible for their authors to be present, they were simply read by
title, and are here published in full. It is manifestly unjust to a
person to have his essay read by another in his absence, when such
paper contains opinions, statements or experiences which the writer
is not present to explain or support, should his ideas draw out a
discussion, as is usually the case. This has occurred once or twice
at previous meetings of the Society, and it has seemed unfair to the
Secretar}' to bring such essaj's as a target for criticism, in the ab-
sence of the writer. He has therefore deemed it best to take them
from the order in the Programme in which they stood, and present
them in the form here given. The other papers were especially pre-
pared for the Society, one of which was intended to be read at the
Farmington meeting, was addressed to the Secretary at that place,
but did not reach him until after the close of the meeting. All the
papers are not only interesting, but valuable ; and some of them are
important contributions to the local history of fruit growing in our
State, especially as regards varieties for particular sections. The
thanks of the Society are due the several writers for their contribu-
tions.

(110)

ORIGIN^AL PAPERS.

A CHAPTER OF REMINISCENCES.
By Calvin Chamberlain.

As the time of the winter meeting of the Poraological Society ap-
proaches, we who cannot be with you physically can very properly
extend to you the assurance of beiog with 3'on in spirit. I fear Pis-
cataquis will not be represented at your meeting in any other way.
While you are preparing for that event, I have nothing to send through
you that now presents a special claim, — perhaps nothing that might
not as well or better be omitted. But I am rather inclined to send
you a box of apples if I can seasonably see a favorable break in this
Arctic weather. I have ever hesitated long before deciding to call
general attention to a new variety of fruit, as we are always heavily
loaded with such claims.

I have a fair apple of medium size, green in color, a native in an
orchard in this town, that I helped my father set, beginning about
the year 1820, and adding thereto in the few succeeding years. My
attention was first directed to this apple by the circumstance that a
business man at Milo came to me at harvest-time in several succes-
sive yeai's for a load of apples. After he had become acquainted with
the orchard, at each visit he looked first at a particular tree, and if
it had produced, his load was largely made up from that. From this
hint I put some in the cellar for winter trial. About that time, my
wife was transplanted from the county of Worcester to Piscataquis ;
and one of the small comforts that helped to make the removal tol-
erable was the finding this apple better suited to her taste than any
she had before met. The children of our relatives and neighbors
soon introduced a household phrase — "Aunt Mary's tree," "Aunt
Mary's apple." I speak of what was passing forty years ago.
Since then, I have many times presented a dish of apples mixed —

(111)

112 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Nodhead, Fameuse, Hiibbardston and others well known, — with the
"Aunt Mary," and on trial the preference is very generally' given in
favor of the last named. Its fine, tender, juicy flesh is peculiarly
refreshing, and appears specially' agreeable to persons of weak diges-
tion ; for which real or fancied merit it presents a claim for further
trial. It retains its sprightly qualities remarkably long ; usually ex-
tended to one-third of the year. The tree forms a round, thick head,
rather drooping, requiring care in thinning. Branches slender but
strongly set, so as to carr^' safely its enormous crop which comes in
alternate years. If thought worthy of place, please call it "Mary"
or "Aunt Mary."

I will send you a sweet apple from an old tree of my own growing,
which I suppose to be grafted, but cannot say how I obtained it.
Perhaps some one may recognize it. The tree is a good bearer, fruit
always fair; larger than Talman, more juicy, better when baked,
and keeps as well.

The market for Piscataquis apples has recently been opened a little
by a trading firm at this village taking them in exchange for goods,
and they have handled two car-loads or more, paying $1.00 per barrel
delivered at the store ; they transferring to their own barrels. These
have been taken from a few cellars within eas}" distance of the village.
This party came to my cellar for a few barrels of Talman to fill an
order. My other market, and the one to my taste quite as satisfactory,
is in the daily ration that goes to the faithful old horse, the pet Jerseys,
and the quiet pig. When I was first planting trees, my thoughts
sometimes found expression through the types of the old Maine
Farmer, to the point of crowning our hill-tops with sweet apple trees
to an extent to fill the market and leave a possible surplus for our
domestic animals, I have since taken satisfaction in that my practice
was then made to run so nearl}' in accord with theory.

While we are together we may properly indulge a little in a brief
retrospect of the interest we represent, and especially now, from the
circumstance of the recent removal of our good and great leader and
teacher, Marshall P. Wilder.

The first attempt to pron)ote the interest of fruit culture in this
country through a general, comprehensive organization appears to
have been made in the year 1848. There was at that time a large
number of local organizations active in the good work. The man-
agement of the State Agricultural Society of New York in that year
caused a meeting of delegates at Buffalo from fifteen States and the

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 113

Canadas. That convention resolved itself into a permanent organi-
zation with the name of "North American Pomological Convention,"
and the first meeting held under that title was at Syracuse in 1849.

Another movement of analogous character was made the same
3-ear (1848) by a meeting of fruit growers at New York City, which
meeting organized itself into a permanent association under the title
of the "American Congress of Fruit Growers." These two organ-
izations were subsequently amicably merged in one, with the name
of the "American Pomological Society."

I was at the meeting in Syracuse in 1849, — went there as a silent
pupil, representing onl}' myself. None other there from Maine.
I there met for the first time many active workers whose names are
well preserved, whose works have been approved, and the most of
whom have now closed their record. The assembly was mosth' made
up of citizens of New York, — a small delegation from other States
and Canada — more from the West than from the P^ast or South.
From the workers of whom I retain the clearest recollection of person,
manner and matter presented, I will name J. A. Kennicott, C. Down-
ing, P. Barry, C. M. Hove}', David Thomas, J. J. Thomas, L. F.
Allen and J. J. Mapes. Dr. Kennicott was a young, active enthusi-
ast in the orchard interest of Illinois, and was chosen president of
the convention. Mr. Mapes was then publishing an agricultural
paper at New York City. Mr. Hovey was publishing a maga-
zine at Boston, devoted mainly to horticulture. Mr. Barr}' then, as
now, located at Rochester, New York, was engaged in one of the most
extensive nurseries in this or any other countr}'. Mr. Mapes also
had a nursery in New Jerse}', and Mr. Hove}' one at Brighton, Mas-
sachusetts. It was not convenient for me to attend the meetings of
the consolidated society until 1856 at Rochester. I there met my
young friend, John W. Adams, then conducting a nursery of a few
acres at Westbrook. We were there as the sole, self-appointed del-
gates from Maine.

I have attended none of the meetings of that organization since, ex-
cept one holden at Boston. From the many citizens of our State
whose names I can easiest recall as my associates and teachers in
this special interest, are those of Holmes, Benson, Foster, Fairbanks,
Sears, Little, Noj'es, Carr, Weston, Rogers, Adams. I do not repeat
for the purpose of saving them from oblivion, for these with many
others will be retained while the industrial literature of the age shall
exist.

114 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Of Ihe men with a wide-world reputation, active in the earlier
years to which I refer, with whom I can claim some personal ac-
quaintance, I can name none now remaining in the world but P.
Barry, J. J. Thomas and our own S. L. Goodale. Of our great and
good teachers, Charles Downing and Marshall P. Wilder, I would on
this occasion give you words expressive of my appreciation of their
individual characters and their acquittal of assumed obligations in
life's mission, but my impulse is checked by inability to express a
tythe of what I feel. Their contributions to the well-being of the
race are rarely, if ever, excelled in individual endeavor at any era
in man's history. Each in a life well extended through careful com-
pliance with physical laws — each in early life devoted to a special
pursuit of vast impoitance to mankind — each lived to accomplish
that for which we, with a united humanity, will hold them in perpetual
remembrance. It was my privilege to receive favors from their hands ;
and no gentleman was more prompt and painstaking in private cor-
respondence than they were. It was once naively remarked of Mr.
Wilder that "wherever he steps, flowers bloom around him; and
whenever we meet him, his hands are full of richest fruits "

In and through their unselfish works in disseminating life-giving
fruits, these model men builded wisely and well their homes, and
planted their choicest fruits in that real ayid perfect world — separated
onlv by a vail from this — where they may enjoy without limit, where
blight and insect pest may never enter. We miss them here, and
where will be found those worthy to take their places?

Foxcroft.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETV. 115

FRLITS IN AROOSTOOK COUNTY.
By E. W. Merkitt.

As I attempt to write on fruit culture in Aroostook C'ouiiiv 1 feel
my incompetency, although one might suppose that nine years ought
to acquaint me with the facts ; but please bear in mind, the county is
large, the soil varies greatlj' and conditions which are favorable in
one localit}' are detrimental in another ; also ditFerent treatment is
required on these diverse soils and localities, and while we may start
at the southern boundary of the count}- (which is seventy-five miles
north of the fruit-growing belt) with a list of thirty-five varieties of
apples, it rapidly diminishes as we proceed north. In order that you
may better understand this, I will say that the catalogues of Massa-
chusetts embrace some three hundred and fifty varieties of the choicest
apples, which is only a small part of all grown, our friend Bennoch at
Orono has one hundred and forty, while at Houlton not more than
twenty can be successfully raised, and the list will run down to four
or five kinds at Fort Fairfield and Caribou. There may be an occa-
sional place in this county where the number ma\- be slightly increased.

SOILS.

In this county there are (according to Colby's Atlas) one hundred
and seventy-five sections of about six miles square. Fiftjof these
are settled, twenty-five more partially settled, and the remaining one
hundred have but few, if any, settlers. The principal settlements
are on the east side of the count}- and embrace a comparatively nar-
row strip running north and south for a distance of one hundred and
twelve miles, Houlton being thirty-four miles north of the south line.
By this you will see 1 am able to speak of only this small portion of
our count}'. This area is cut still smaller by the fact that low, frosty
ground, also land where there is a loose subsoil and intervals, are not
adapted to orcharding. Yet, in spite of this, a large portion of the
southern part of the county is as good orchard ground as any part
of the State (aside from the fact that we are restricted to a few of
the choicest varieties).

In most of the clay and slate, and all of the granite soils, apple
trees will flourish and become a profitable orchard with the proper
care and protection. Orcharding is yet in its infancy, although a great

116 STATE POMOl-OGICAL SOCIETY.

outlay and effort has been made, which has been bn!; a partial success
owing to these causes :

1st. A want of care and judgment in selecting hardy varieties, the
buyer not knowing what to buy and the agent not understanding his
business.

2d. A want of care and protection from cattle, mice, caterpillars,
etc.

3d. Trees raised in New York are not so good as those raised here,
for, the soil being alluvial and light, it makes the growth light and
spongy ; the soil is deep, allowing the roots to run so deep that a large
part of the roots have to be cut off in raising the tree when shipped ;
and then, again, it is too great a change in climate, and the tree can-
not be depended upon to make a health^' orchard.

Those who have orchards of grafted fruit find it a very profitable
investment, and there will soon be apples enough raised in this vicinity
to supply the home demand. A large number of choice varieties are
set out here each year, as the apples raised here are of superior flavor
and will keep longer than when raised south of here. I think thai
eventually apples will be shipped from this county ; they may not go
to England, for we have a great country north of us which will always
want them. Every one that has an orchard in bearing is well pleased
and wishes he had more trees. What 1 wish to emphasize is that
orcharding is a success in this part of Aroostook and will be more
so as the people learn to take better care of their trees. These con-
ditions, however, cease at forty-five miles north of the south limit of
the county, which is at Bridgewater. It is no use for any one to
tliink of raising an orchard above this line except of a few early and
fall apples and these only in isolated localities. This may seem
strange, yet it is a settled fact in my mind, for the following reasons :
1st, In parts of Blaine and Mars Hill the soil is four feet deep ; 2d,
The subsoil has an excess of lime, resting on a rotting lime ledge ;
3d, The snow comes on before the ground freezes and being a light,
loose, warm soil, the trees start early in the spring and are killed by
late freezing. These conditions reach as far as Fort Fairfield, where
the subsoil is fine gravel. If these hindrances did not exist the cli-
mate is now too cold for orcharding.

Some of the above difficulties may be partially remedied on young
trees by treading the first snows about them, allowing the ground to
freeze, but this is not practicable in a large orchard or around large
trees. If the above alleged facts be true we are led to conclude that

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 117

tnost of the soutbern third of the county is well adapted to orchard-
ing, while north of that it cannot be made a success.

NURSEKIES.

The nursery business has been repeatedh' tried here and as re-
peatedly failed. Out of seven, five have been closed or abandoned.
One nursery of sixteen thousand trees set out in the spring of 18^7
has been able to raise not more than one out of ten to what might
be called a tree, and probably not half of these can be made salable.
The last one of thirty-two thousand trees set in the southern portion
of the county lost one-third of their trees the first winter. Young
and tender trees and extreme cold, coupled with other difficulties too
numerous to mention, make the losses too heavy for an inexperi-
enced person. It costs twice as much to raise a tree here as in New
York, it grows slower, looks scrubby- and has not their glossy appear-
ance ; but being raised on a hard, granite soil they are well supplied
with roots and a solid, firm wood. Mr. Sharp of Woodstock, N. B.,
is the only one in this vicinity who has been able to surmount these
■difficulties, and his success has been attended with consideiMble loss.

SMALL FRUITS.

Please bear with me when I make the seemingly extravagant
statement that there is no place on the face of the earth better
adapted to small fruit culture than Aroostook County. The soil is
good, while the climate could not be better. Here is their home.
My nursery consists partly of cambrian, slate and alluvial soils, and
the fruits seemingly do equally well on each. The snow comes on
before it is cold enough to do any harm and keeps tiie biislies and
vines houted all winter ; preventing all freezing, thawing and heav-
ing of the soil. When the snow has gone in spring it is warm and
they will start forth with all their vigor, not having lost any of their
strength by repeated attt'Uipts to start before it was safe to do so.
Any tree or bush exposed to the cold of our winters and the drying
wind and sun of March sustains no inconsiderable loss, hence the
benefit of snow. Our most serious obstacle in gooseberry and cur-
rant culture is the currant worm, which will strip a currant bush as
quick here as anywhere. A limited home market is also a hindrance.

Gooseberries make a strong, healthy growth. From seven hun-
dred and fifty Houghtons set out in the spring of 1885 we gathered
ninety pecks this past summer, some bushes yielding as high as two

118 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

quarts. I consider two thousand pecks a naoderate yield per acre
for this variety. I sold most of mine at $1 per peck, and they will
pay well at half this price, but the demand is limited unless the}' can
in some way be preserved for winter use at a moderate cost.

Currants. With currants as well as gooseberries there is no hot
sun here to curl the leaves, stint the growth, and injure the fruit ;
most of the shoots making a growth of from two to three feet each
in one season. I think there are fortunes for those who may engage
in currant culture, making them into jelly for the outside market.
The most of mine are the Red Cherry' variety', yet I think I shall
hereafter set mostly Fay's Prolific and White Grape

Strawberries are a goop crop here and may be held back in the
spring, making the fruit late, ripening after the wild ones here are
gone and outside markets bare, when I think thev can be shipped at
a profit. I have the Bidwell, Jumbo, Finch, Piper, Daniel Boone,
Sharpless and Manchester, which have all done well, none winter-
killed ; the last two named varieties take the lead.

Raspberries are right at home here, and, there being so many wild
ones, I have as yet done but little with this fruit. The Herstine and
Crimson Beauty are perfectly hardy, and have stood up during the
winter uninjured.

Blackberries have received but little attention : I do not know of a
blackberry hardy enough to stand up during the winter.

I have in my experimental grounds Smith's Improved gooseberry ;
Victoria and Fay's Prolific currants ; Parry, Jewell and Belmont
strawberry ; Gregg, Cuthbert, Marlboro' and Golden Thornless
raspberries; Agawam, Wilson, Jr., Staymen's Early and Snyder
blackberry ; and all of the above have done well so tar but have not
been thoroughly tested yet. I intend to add, the coming spring, Rus-
sian mulberry, apricot and pear with some choice varieties of apples
and small fruits. My nursery being nearly one hundred miles further
north than any other in the United States, I have been able to profit
but little from the experience of others. The modes of treatment
used to advantage by those farther south are not safe here. Should
an}' one of this Society have a choice fruit and wish to have its hardi-
ness tested, if they will send it to me in the spring it shall receive
my personal attention.

Ho^iUon.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 119

SOME ASPECTS OF FRUIT CULTURE IN SAGADAHOC COUNTY.
By J. W. Lang.

Sagadahoc County lies in the southern and consequent!}- the best
fruit belt of the State. It has its territory pierced by the lower
Kennebec, with its branches of Sasanoa and Back rivers forming
the island towns of Arrowsic and Georgetown ; and its south is
bounded by the Androscoggin River near its confluence with the Ken-
nebec, through the medium of Merry-Meeting Bay. Its geography
is further diversified physically by the Abagadassett, the Cathance
and the Muddy rivers, all flowing into the great common water of
Merry-Meeting Ba}'. It will thus be seen that we have considerable
climatic modification and conditions dependent upon and caused by
influence of these waters. One of these conditions is a considerable
humidity. The county borders upon the ocean, and ocean waters, in
the towns of Woolwich, Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phipsburg, Bath
and West Bath.

The apple is particularly at home on our rocky ridges and lighter
clay loams. There is considerable gravel loam and the heavier
sands, where orcharding thrives quite well. Being so easy of access
by water this count}' was earlv settled, and many of its towns have
now already celebrated their centennials. The early settlers planted
seeds of the apple about their dwellings, and there are many vestiges
of these first orchards. The generations succeeding also planted or-
chards, and these, before the art of engrafting became known and
practiced by the people, while they bore abundant crops from the
strong and unreduced soil, were in many instances fit for little else
than feed or cider, and were mostly used for the ' ; i The best
were used for food, but for time out of mind great quantities of cider
have been annually made, and this has had its influence on the temper-
ance question of the section.

The younger or later orchards are of improved fruit ; but enough
of old natural trees are left to suppl}' several cider mills in nearly
every town with a good fall's work, and enough cider is made to
keep a great many of the boys and young men in the downward
road, that for too many of them can end but in a drunkard's grave.
The product of cider is far greater than any demand of market, or
promise of profit for working into vinegar. The writer conceives

120 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

that he has done some effective work the past season for the tem-
perance reforra by cutting down and clearing up a large number of
these old "naturals" that were beyond the redemption of the graft,
and yet too tenacious of vitality to die of their own accord, and
which annually persisted in bearing their annual crops of gnarly ap-
ples not worth picking for feeding to stock or swine. These trees
were near old cellars and cumbering the best of soil, showing they
were planted about the early farm-houses of this section.

More care is taken in planting out trees than formerly. The
ground, as a rule, receives a previous preparation, and the trees are
carefully selected and carefully handled and planted. They are
usually well managed by manuring and cultivating the land between
the rows, and if on sward ground they are kept well mulched.

The borers with us are on the increase, and require vigilant look-
ing after twice a year at least. Bark lice are far too common, and
the caterpillar and web- worm more or less troublesome every Aear.
There are man}' other drawbacks, so the life of the apple man and
the fruit grower is not one of an all intense delight. On the other
hand, good care, careful attention and judicious cultivation are duly
rewarded.

There is more attention given than formerly to pears and small
fruits each year. There is no rapid growth or marked excitement,
but a slow, careful, increasing attention. One of the lecturers at our
Farmers' Institute next week will treat of strawberries ; another of
raspberries and blackberries, and we venture to saj' of their remarks
that the3' will be listened to closel}' and their teachings carefully
treasured up in earnest and interested hearts, and in years succeed-
ing their good points will be woven into practice. These two lec-
turers are practical men in the subjects they si>eak about — the one
from Knox, and the other from Waldo counties.

There is a tendency to grow more winter apples. Our local mar-
kets are over-stocked with early fall, fall and late fall apples. There
is also a tendency to grow a better suppl}' of greater variety of fruits
for home use, and home sale — for supply of the raiser's table, and
that of the village and city resident. There is more studying up the
subject, consulting the reports of this Societ}', and interest in the
fruit exhibits at our fairs. It is found that the Maine-grown straw-
berry always brings a good price, as most_^of the crop comes after
the western supply is stale or out oi the market. Our Maine ber-
ries, fresh from the vines, must always bring a fair — even large

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 121

price, and wlio ilare imagine when there ever will be an over-pro-
duction of good strawberries and cream?

The gooseberry and currant are two of our neglected yet highly
meritorious small fruits. Since learning how easily they may be met
and fought with a two gallon sprinkler and a teaspoon ful of white
hellebore stirred in the sprinkler full of water, there can be no good
reason why their cultivation will not increase. While Maine may
never grow grapes for market, there is no reason why every farmer
and every villager may not raise an abundant supply for their own
use.

The cherry of the "Black-Heart" variety is as easily grown and as
hard^' as the wild cherry of our waste lands. They are easily and
rapidly grown from seed, come into bearing in a few years, and the
child always closely resembles the parent. The trees live to a great
age, and continue bearing annual crops generation after generation.
The Rev. Charles A. Cone brought the "Black-Hearts" into this
vicinity, from the Vaughau estate at Hallowell, years ago, and has
some splendid trees, and there are also some grand trees on a place
here where he formerl}' lived. Others incited by his precept and
example have raised and are raising fine trees. The -'Black-Heart"
grafts kindl3' into the wild cherry, and forms a very good tree if
grafted in the limbs.

Altogether the present condition and future prospect of fruit cul-
ture in Sagadahoc is encouraging. Each bearing year larger quan-
tities of winter apples are called for and sold out of its borders, and
car load after car lead is loaded at our stations and shipped to Eng-
land, some of which doubtless find their way to the Queen's table,
by the way of Queenstown.

Bowdoinham.

122 STATE POMOLOGICA.L SOCIETY^

OKCHAKDING IN SOMERSET COUNTT.
By Fkank E. Nowell.

Has the Maine State Poraological Societ}' given an}- force to fruit-
raising in our county? I think it has, for in travelling over Somerset
County we see signs of marked improvement in fruit growing during
the last twelve years, not onl}' improving and caring for old orchards,
but also in the planting of young trees. You can see fine fruit in
the southern half of the county of both fall and winter varieties.
This is in part, I claim, due to the advanced markets, and in part tO'
influence of the Poraological Society, although there are not as many
members as there should be in the county, still I am glad to say itS'
reports are read by the firesides of manj- of our orchardists, and the
future will show that its recommendations are silently working an
influence for good. It is a fact there is a decided improvement in
growing apples for profit in this county. You will find orchards set
out of our native stock where the tops have been properly grafted,
are yielding good, paying crops. One great trouble is, we see too-
many varieties in small orchards, and generally too much fall fruit,
for profit. Another misfortune is in having two and three varieties-
on one tree. This should be avoided. A chief objection is, it makes-
a great trouble and extra work at gathering time.

I believe in Maine-grown trees for Maine orchards. You can buy
trees to-day that are grown in native nurseries at less price than the
Western trees can be bought for, and it is my idea they are far
superior for the cold hillsides of central and northern Maine.
Another thing. In buying Western trees of agents one is apt to get
duped sometimes. To illustrate : Four years ago oue of my neighbors
bought seventy-five western trees from an agent. The varieties bought,
as he supposed, were Baldwin, Russet, Talman Sweet and Nod-
head. I helped him set them out in checks twenty-four feet apart.
The}' looked first-rate and grew well, as they all lived. Of course
he was much pleased with his trees. Well, the next year ten of them
bore apples of the crab variet}'. The second year more crabs ap-
peared and the third year they all bloomed with crabs. So much for
buying fruit trees of travelling men recommending stock from firms
we have never heard of. This, I grant, is an exceptional case, for
I have had some experience with western trees in the last twenty

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 123

years, and am willing to admit I have some good trees of the hardj-
Tarieties, such as Northern Spj', Talraan Sweet, Rhode Island Green-
ing and Yellow Bellflower ; but at the same time I have set native
trees in the place of the lost westerners and top-grafted them, and
to-day they are bearing more apples than the western trees in the
same row. So I will repeat again, I believe in Maine stock from
Maine orchards.

The shipment of apples to Europe is quite a business, and evi-
dentl}' a growing one. That the foreign demand for shipping varie-
ties of Maine apples has increased at a rajjid rate in the past few
years we can all testify. Wh}' is it so? In my view it is because of
their fine flavor and good keeping qualities, if careful!}' picked and
packed. Some have said apples should be handled like eggs ; I don't
think they are quite so tender, still, they need very careful handling
to put them in the market in good shape, so as to receive the high
prices we all like to obtain for our fruit.

Somerset County so far has been noted more for its sheep and fine
wool than for fruit. Still, it has taken some part in our annual State
shows in the past, and I think it could have done better, had the
orchardists fully understood the pomological merits ; but we hope
as the years roll by to see a greater advancement in fruit culture —
for our old sheep pastures on the rocky hillsides make fine places to
set our native trees and graft them to Baldwins. And just here let
me say a word as to tiie importance of setting out orchards at ouce.
Do not wait until everything else is done, and for the convenient time
as you think, for on a farm there is always something to be done. One
of my townsmen, over twenty years ago, thought when he had a leisure
time he would set out an orchard, but that time never came and the
consequence is, he only raises a few apples from some old trees that
were on the farm when he took possession of it. I know from ex-
perience it takes both care and time to look after trees and keep them
in order ; but it pays every w^ay to do so. And my advice is, take
the time now and set out trees. They will grow while you are doing
your other work, and in a short time you will feel well repaid for your
time and trouble by the fine returns which the trees will make.

Now, in regard to the different kinds of fruit, I will give you a list
of nine varieties for home use, lasting the entire year : Red Astra-
chan, High-Top Sweet, Winthrop Greening, Nodhead, Tompkins'
King, Talman Sweet, Baldwin and Northern Spy. I find these give
good satisfaction in my section. Of course people have different

124 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'.

ideas about fruits. Some think the Spy a better apple than the
Baldwin, but to 1113- mind the Baldwin is still chief of the winter
market, although the Sp}- is a fine apple. Some object to them on
account of being slow bearers ; however, it is proving a profitable
apple on high ground for Somerset County.

I cannot say much in regard to pears in this county, as they are
rather hard to raise. I have noticed that where they do succeed in
raising them it is on a rather dry subsoil on slaty ground. I have
some trees that have been set out for twenty years and the}- have
never borne twenty good pears in that time. The Flemish Beauty
cracks badly with me, while a neighbor of mine raises ver}- fine ones,
as his soil is different from mine.

We hear but little said about plum trees in this count}', yet they
are easily grown, and I think it would be safe for me to say the fruit
is a favorite with everj* one. I have noticed in riding over the county
horse-plum trees in clumps in door-3'ards and orchards. They can be
easih' grafted to Washington, McLaughlin or any of the Gage family.
They are all good. Last fall I sold Red Gage at $3.20 per bushel,
and if a large amount had been at mj' command could have sold them
all. Later I learned parties sent to Boston for them and paid $4.00
per bushel ; so it is evident plums can be grown in Somerset Couuty
at paying prices. All it needs is a little care and enterprise to grow
them anywhere in the old ''■Pine Tree State."

Fairfield .

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 125

WHAT SHALL WE DO TO IXCREASE THE PROFITS OF FRUIT
CULTURE IN MAINE ?
By Henry A. Sprague.

I can think of only two wa.ys to do this : First, to grow more or
better fruit ; and, second, to get a better price for our fruit.

To raise more and better fruit would not increase our profits, un-
less the increase be raised at a cost which will leave a margin for
profit ; but if we can secure a large increase both in the quantit}- and
quality of our fruit without any additional expense, an increase of
our profits will evidently follow.

And this I think we can do, if we will. A large proportion of
our fruit is either destroyed or injured by insects. There probably
are no insects in the world which are not preyed upon by bird, beast,
reptile or insect enemies ; and where human agenc}' has not inter-
fered to destroy the balance between the different classes, insect in-
juries are few. To take away the cause — or possibly to assist na-
ture, in some instances, to restore equilibrium — is all we can do,
and will in most cases be sufficient. What we farmers should do is
to come to the front, as our leaders in the grange tell us, and assert
our rights and demand greater protection for our purely insectivor-
ous birds and other animals. The grange has been successful in
some of its demands on the Legislature ; why should it not in this?

In regard to the price of fruit, what can we do to make that any
better? Nothing, unless the grange helps us, but through that we
should demand as much import duty on Canadian apples as the Ca-
nadian Government charges us, when our trees yield a better crop
than those of the Dominion.

And now, perhaps a few notes on the progress of fruit culture in
this county will be of interest to some. All varieties of apples and
pears at present under cultivation wintered safely, and would have
produced a fair crop of apples but for the extreme dry season of
1886, which reduced the apples in size very much. A few pear
trees produced a little fruit, making it appear probable that when
full bearing age arrives pears may be a profitable crop in this county.
Four Shaffer raspberries, all I had of that variety, wintered perfectly
without protection, while two Nemaha growing beside them were
practically destroyed. From my limited experience with the Shaffer,

126 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

I think it will prove a valuable fruit for this section. Its fruit is not
as rich as Brinckle's Orange, hut is good and in size surpasses Do-
little. Ohio. Nemaha and Cuthbert, In flavor and color it stands
intermediate between the blacks and the reds. Fruit of all kinds pro-
duced a light crop this year, but the fruit crop was better than most
other crops, as it seems to withstand dry weather better.

The cranberry crop in this section was almost entirely destro3'ed
by early frosts. I should have said that over a hundred young Shaf-
fer rasi)berry plants raised from the four which I bought in the spring
of 1885 all wintered beside their parents without loss, and without
winter protection. I have just read President Pope's address of last
winter, and would like to ask whether the apples which were sold
for five dollars per barrel were those of our common varieties, or some
rare, fancy apple sold for ornament rather than use ; and how many
such apples could be sold at such a price?

With regard to the discussion on short-jointed trees, I would say
that about twenty years ago I bought scions labeled Drap d' Or
which had buds closer than usual, and none of the scions lived long
enough to produce any fruit ; and I now have a variety' (Early Col-
ton) which have the buds nearer than anj' other variety which I have
seen. It has not fruited with me yet, and is not perfectl}' hardy.

In regard to some of the varieties of apples in the last publication
of the Society's list, marked ( ?) for the Central Division, and the va-
rieties of which my experience has led me to regard them differently
from the description given, I would say :

Fall Jenneting has not yet fruited with me. Moses L. Damon of
South Charlotte speaks highly of it, but says it is only a biennial
bearer.

FoundU:>g. My experience is very limited, but I think it is hardy
when grafted in limbs, but not always so when grafted on young
stocks.

Gravenstein. The scions whicli I obtained under this name were
grafted in young trees, and all winter-killed or became black hearted
and dieU without producing a single specimen of fruit.

King of Tompldiis CounJ/y. About twenty years ago I set eleven
trees of this variety, produced by splice-grafting young seedlings
with scions obtained of Calvin Goddard of Portland The trees
made a rapid growth, and every fall promised an abundant crop of
apples for next season ; but the buds always winter-killed, and the
wood was more or less discolored. I succeeded in getting perhaps

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 127

-a dozen very nice apples in all. Some of the trees died ; but I
■grafted most of them to other varieties to save their lives.

King Sweeting. I obtained scions under the name of High-Top
Sweet, but by description of the late Joseph Taylor they are King
tweeting. A nice apple, but the trees are often injured in winter.

Large Yellow Bough. Nice when fully ripe, but a thin bearer and
not as early as some other apples.

Porter. Scions obtained of C. Goddard for Fameuse produced
some nice fruit, which appeared to be Porter. The trees were very
tender. A neighbor also had some Porters which killed badly.

Primate. Very nice, but too tender for profit.

William's Favorite.. Yavy nice and fruit buds not so likely to kill
as those of the Primate, but bearing trees sometimes wholly kill.

Charlotte, Washington County.

LETTER FROM HON. HENRY E. VAN DEMAN.
JMr. Samuel L. Boardman,

Secretary Maine State Pomological Society.

My Dear Sir: I have this day the honor to acknowledge the re-
-ceipt of the programme of 3'our Society at F'armington, next week.
It would be a great pleasure to me to be present on that occasion,
but as I have only to-day returned from an official trip which has
taken two weeks of mj' time, you can easily imagine the work now
awaiting my attention. But it is in my mind to meet with you at
some future time. Let me assure you of the interest that Commis-
sioner Colman and myself have in the prosperitv of your Society,
and the culture of fruits in jour State.

As the Pomological Division has but just been started, let us hope
that it may be made a means of assisting the fruit growers of Maine
in more successfully and intelligently pursuing their work, and let us
work hand-in-hand to that end. If you see any way in which this
Division can aid you, do not be backward in calling on me.
Yours Fraternally,

H. PI Van Deman,

Chief of Division of Pomology.

U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Division of Pomology,

Washington, D. C, Jan. 29, 1887.

128 tTATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PROPAGATION AND CULTURE OF THE PLUM.
By J. E. Bennoch.

Plums for the past few years have not, in my section of the State,,
been on the increase, but rather sadly on the decline ; and I think,,
with the exception of some few localities, it has been very generally
so. With me the fruit has been scarce for the past few years, but
previous to that I have usually raised line crops of this fruit.

My experience with plums — which has been extended over quite
a period of years — shows that after a certain age they become shy
bearers, owing, no doubt, to the fact that they have performed the
offices of their nature and are no longer useful. On the whole the
plum tree is of short life, especially on the plum stock, or on its
own roots. The trees also show decay very rapidly. I find mj'
best plum trees are upon the pomegranate stock or roots. I also find
that I gather larger and fairer crops and of larger fruit in most if
not quite all cases, and that the tree is also of longer life. What
plum orchards I call to mind at present are from the Woodstock, N.
B., nurseries and I am ver}- sure their roots are the pomegranate.
One very bad fault with the pomegranate is that it throws up large
quantities of suckers from its roots, which I have noticed is not en-
tirely so with stocks raised from the stone-seed but generally so with
suckers that have been apart from roots ; and these sucker very badly
and at long distance from the mother tree. My last grafting and
setting of trees are strictly from seed growth, and in fact all graft-
ing of whatever sort or variety of tree growth should be from seed
growth and on such.

The best soil for the plum is that of a clay nature, and to in-
sure good crops the strongest and best manures should be used.
Dressing from the hog-pen and poultry houses is the best that can
be used ; also a yearly ration of salt must not be forgotten. Poultr}-
and pigs should be detailed as policemen in the plum orchard to ar-
rest the grower's enemy and the plum destroyer, the little monster
curculio. The pig and the poultry will leave none to tell the tale
the next year ; and in cases where there are no plum orchards in
close proximity, one 3'ear, or rather one season's work they will not
show up, for three or four years, to do but little harm. I think as
a general thing plum trees are Dot so well understood as are other

STATE POMOLOCiICAI. SOCIETY. 120

fruit trees. I am of the opinion that phun trees need and should
have an annual fall top-pruning, the same as the pear for instance,
I think in the month of October. What is meant by top-pruning
is the cutting or nipping back of the present year's growth to from
two to six buds all through the tree, which tends to strengthen and
develop the fruit buds, while in a year of heavy growth of wood
the buds would not develop, as in many erases fall pruning lessens
wood growth and develops fruit growth. Where a tree is backward
in wood growth, and it is wanted, cut back from the terminal bud in
the spring, and if the ground is in fair condition 3'ou are quite sure
to get it.

I have known some plum trees to be quite a number of years de-
veloping their fruit buds, and making also but very little wood that
is of strong growth, but rather short and quite plenty ; when, if this
growth had lieen nipped back and about one-half of such growth
spoken of had been entirely cut out of the two years' wood, I think
the tree would have set a crop of plums the next year.

To meet with success in plum raising the trees should be set in
orchards by themselves. In this case they can be cared for moi'c easilj'
and with less trouble than by being grown here and there with other
fruit trees. In starting stocks for the plum I should use pomegranate
stone-seed stock to graft upon and graft on the collar for the plum.
In the pursuit of new varieties I should use plum seed, and it is the
only way for experimental purposes. The stock for grafting upon
should be worked at two years' old growth ; the next year from the
pip the stock sliould be nipped back so as to give a strong growth
on the collar for purposes of grafting. This should be done from the last
of June to August. Seed for testing purposes should be from large,
fine varieties, such as McLaughlin, Smith's Orleans, Washington,
Coe's Golden Drop, Duane's Purple, and other good varieties ; the
large fruit of the plum in all cases bring the best prices.

Plum trees as a general thing are quite hardy, until old age ar-
rives with them, and then their infirmities onlj' end with their death.
When they begin to show signs of feebleness it is time to replace
with younger and more vigorous trees. Of the fine and valuable
varieties there are manj- to select from — those above mentioned be-
ing among the best. There are some diseases peculiar to the plum
tree, such as black knot, oozing of what is called gum, which last
shows the tree to be in a diseased condition of the stock. Black

9

130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

knot has not, I believe, been fully defined as yet ; the only remedy I
know is to cut off the affected branches and burn them ; and I think
it is the only safe cure. One thing that the plum demands with
good care and dressing is its most favorite natural soil, clay, to
insure good crops and bring the longest life and health to the tree.
Why I have said this much about the plum is because it is a fruit of so
much value and character, and so little has been written about it that I
wanted to bring it to 3'our consideration, that it might take its place
as equal to other fruits of our State ; for we all know the fruit of the
plum is much sought after and in numerous localities can not be had
at any price.

Orono^ Penobscot Couyity,

FRUIT CULTURE IN PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
Letter from Mr. H. li. TjELAND.
Mr. Samuel L. Boardman,

Sec'y of Maine State Pomological Society.

My Dear Sir: I am sincerely obliged to 3'ou for the invitation to be
present and take part at the winter meeting of the Pomological So-
ciety to be held at Farmington. It would give me much pleasure to
meet friends who, like myself, are interested in fruit growing. I must,
however, deny myself that pleasure, although realizing that much
might at that meeting be learned that I feel m3'self very much in
need to know.

Of the present condition and future outlook of fruit growing in
Piscataquis County there is not much to l)e said that would be of
general interest to those outside the limits of the count}'. Our
farmers have not generally shown an}' special interest in fruit grow-
ing beyond the planting out of trees that the persistent western tree
vender has cajoled them (too often through misrepresentations as to
merits of new varieties) into giving orders for. It has too often
been stated to need repeating that as a rule western fruit trees are a
failure in Piscataquis County. Exception can be made of several
of the extremely hardy varieties among which are the Duchess of
Oldenburgh, and of more recent introduction the Haas and Wealthy.
While the tree venders are pushing these varieties and other iron
clads our villagers and to a considerable extent farm orchards are

STATE POMOLOOICAL SOCIETY. 131

being filled with these to the exclusion of other well-proven and much
more desirable varieties.

The old, well-known desirable varieties that succeed perfectly in Pis-
cataquis County are the same as those in the central counties of the
iState, except the Baldwin which in Piscataquis matures only into a
fair cooking apple. Our present needs in fruit production are :

(1). Properly grown home grown nursery stock would be in the
line of econoni}' and an assurance to the purchasers of future suc-
cess.

(2). Our people need to learn that a tree is a living thing, and like
all other living things demands attention.

(3). We need more knowledge of varieties adapted to our climatic
conditions and such as are called for in the markets.

(4). We propagate far too manj- varieties. Our agricultural soci-
eties encourage this error by offering premiums for the largest num-
ber of varieties shown by exhibitors.

Finally we need just that sort of practical knowledge which it is the
province of the Maine State Pomological Society to disseminate.

Thanking you for copy of Transactions of the Society for 1885, I
remain,

Yours Fraternally,

H. L. Leland.
East SANfiERViLLE, Jan. 24, 1887.

132 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

LETTER FROM MR. PATRICK BARRV^

President of Western New York Horticultural Society.

Mr. Samuel L. Boardmak,

Secretary Maine State Pomological Society.
Dear Sir : I have just received copy of Transactions of the Maine
State Pomological Society for 1885, for which accept my tlianks. You
have made up an excellent volume. Success to you !

Respectfully,

P. Barry.
Rochester, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1887.

LETTER FROM MR. W. S. DEVOL,
Secretary Columbus Horticultural Society.

Mr. Samuel L. Boardman,

Secretary Maine State Pomological Society.

Dear Sir : T have received your reports, and from a hasty peru-
sal of them T think 3'ou must be doing much good in Maine. The
catalogue and descriptions of fruits are valuable above the most of
such. I liope in this time of reviving interest in horticulture, with
a Division of Pomology in the Department of Agriculture, &c., that
you may have still greater prosperity.

Y''ours Truly,

W. S. Devol,

Secretary.
Columbus, Ohio, May 24, 1887.

SELECTED PAPERS

The sketch of Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, late President of the
American Poinological Society, given herewith, has been made up from
an obituary which appeared in the Boston Journal, from a memorial
in the report of the Michigan Horticultural Society, and from the
funeral discourse of Rev. Edward N. Packard. The dates have
been carefully collated with records, and are believed to be correct.
Following this a few extracts are made from reports and transactions
of kindred societies to our own, on subjects of interest to Maine fruit
growers, florists and horticulturists.

(134)

'/:^^^:01^

SELECTED PAPERS.

MARSHALL FINCKNEY WILDER.

1798-1886.

"The man of all others whom the pomologists of America respected,
admired and loved." These are the words of Hon. Charles W. Gar-
field, Secretary of the American Fomological Society, in announcing
the death of Col. Marshall P. Wilder, which occured at his home in
Dorchester, Mass., on the morning of Thursday, December 16, 1886.
"One of the most noted men in the science of pomology of the pres-
ent century," is the language of Mr. S. D. Hillman, Secretary of the
Minnesota State Horticultural Societ}'. Similar expressions have
been made by the officials of every horticultural and pomological
society' in the country, and by the press generall}', especially by the
agricultural and gardening journals. It seems eminently fitting that
we should preserve upon the pages of our Transactions some memorial
of Col Wilder's life and services ; and, accordingly, the follow-
ing sketch is published. It has been chosen from several sources, all
of which are believed to be trustworthy, although we have deemed it
best to omit many details pertaining to his political and business career,
and to give prominence to that which pertains to his love for and de-
votion to pomology and horticulture.

The death of Hon. Marshall Pinckney Wilder occurred at his home
in Dorchester, Thursday morning, December 16, 1886. Mr. Wilder
was at the breakfast table as usual, and died about half-past nine
o'clock. His death will occasion a widespread feeling of regret.
Though he had attained an age beyond fourscore years, he had by
no means outlived his usefulness. For many 3'ears Mr. Wilder has
been honored in this communit}' as a man who was living with the
most unselfish aims. While he appreciated the respect shown to him
by public honors and private acts of kindness, he was never happier

(135)

136 STATE rOMOLOGlCAL SOCIETY.

than when il was in his power to make others happj'. The accumu-
lation of large wealth was not within the scope of his ambition. His
love of horticulture and of genealogical pursuits gave ample occupa-
tion to his active mind. His promotion of pomology has been of
benefit to the people of the whole country.

Col. Wilder was born at Rindge, N. H., September 22, 1798,
coming from an old Massachusetts family. His father, Samuel Locke
"Wilder, removed to Rindge from Sterling, Mass., and engaged in
mercantile pursuits there with a brother. He became an honored
citizen of his adopted State, serving in the Legislature thirteen years,
and holding other important positions. Marshall was the oldest son.
Placed in school at the early age of four years, he continued his studies
until sixteen years old, becoming a pupil in the New Ipswich Academy
at the age of twelve. When read}' to enter college he was allowed
by his father to choose between continuing his education, entering
the store or becoming a farmer. The taste for husbandr}' which has
been the prominent characteristic of his life led him to choose farm-
ing as his occupation, and he went to work on a farm. But his
father's growing business soon demanded his services in the store,
and, forsaking his chosen calling, he assumed a subordinate position
under his father and uncle. Industry and faithfulness marked his
course here and he rose step b}' step until finally, on attaining his
majority, he succeeded his uncle in the firm, which became S. L.
Wilder & Son.

BUSINESS LIFE.

The partnership with his father continued about four years. In
1825, his ambition for a larger field of operation led him to remove
to Boston, where he began a wholesale business in West India goods
as head of the firm of Wilder & Payson, locating on Union Street,
removing subsequentlj' to North Market Street, when the firm name
was changed to Wilder & Smith, and finally taking the entire busi-
ness in his own hands and locating at No. 3 Central Wharf. In 1837,
he changed his line of business, becoming a partner in the commis-
sion house of Parker, Blanchard & Wilder, rising eventually to the
leading partnership in the concern. As a business man he attained
and held a high position, and was honored with a number of impor-
tant trusts. One of the original directors of the Hamilton Bank
and of the National Insurance Company, he held his position in each
many years. He was a director of the New England Mutual Life

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 137

Insurauct; Company more Llian a score of years and alsu held direc-
torship in other institntions. Strict integrity in all his transactions,
gentlemanly manners in all his intercourse with others and faithfnl
attention to every duty made him both popular and successful as a
business man, and no chapter in his history is more creditable to
him than this.

Col. Wilder was a most successful pomologist as well as floricul-
turist, and after retiring from the piesidency of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society began to work for the promotion of education
in the matter of fruit raising. He had done a great deal in the way
of improving fruit culture on his own estate, and was widely known
both in America and Europe as an ardent stutlent of pomology. He
succeeded in securing the organization of a ''National Congress of
Fruit Growers," but at the same period a "National Pomological
Convention'* was organized in New York. Of course there was no
necessity for two similar societies, and steps were taken for securing
a consolidation. This resulted in the formation of the "American
Pomological Congress," of which Col. Wilder became President soon
after the consolidation, retaining the otBce to the time of his death.

The United States Agricultural Society was another result of Mr.
Wilder's labors. In 1852, as President of the Massachusetts Board
of Agriculture, which board was formed during the previous year,
he called a National Convention of Agriculturists. The convention
met at Washington and the Society named was organized with Mr.
Wilder as President. He retired from this ofHce in 1858, on which
a silver tea service valued at $250 was presented to him.

Col. Wilder, in addition to his membership in the societies we have
named, has also been connected with similar organizations in other
lands, such as the Royal Horticultural Societies of Paris and of
Fraukfort-on-the-Main, and the Pomological Society of Van Mons
of Belgium, l^y which he was appointed a Commissioner for America.
The fact that his reputation is not bounded by his native country has
been shown in various ways, but in none more complimentary than
in the publication a few years ago of a sketch, with portrait, in the
Loudon Gardener's Chronicle. We quote the following from the
sketch :

"•We are glad to have the opportunity of laying before our readers
the portrait of one of the most distinguished of transatlantic horti-
culturists, and one who, by his zeal, industry and determination, has
not only conferred lasting benefits upon his native country but has

138 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

b^' his careful experiments in liybriilization and fruit culture laid
the horticulturists of all nations under heavy obligations to hira.
The name and reputation of Marshall P. Wilder are as highly esteemed
in Great Britain as they are in America.

Mr. Wilder was President of the Massachusetts School of Agri-
culture, incorporated in 1858, and has been a trustee of its successor,
the Massachusetts Agricultural College, since its establishment. To
the latter he gave a collection of more than 1000 valuable plants.
He was one of the prime leaders in the movement which gave to
Boston the Natural History Rooms and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, has been long a member of the Massachusetts Agri-
cultural Club, has been a member of several commissions ai)pointed
in connection with agriculture, and has been an industrious writer on
subjects connected with his favorite pursuits."

HORTICULTURE AND AGRICULTURE.

The varied interests which during his busiest years demanded his
attention did not withdraw Col. Wilder's mind entirely from the con-
sideration of matters connected with tlic calling to which he was in-
clined early in his life to devote himself. Horticulture and agricul-
ture have had few more devoted students than he has been, and
perhaps no other person has ever done more to advance these branches
of industry toward perfection than he has. The garden and the field
were his places of recreation, and he studied much and went to great
expense to develop them. Not only did he endeavor to improve the
native products of the soil, but he imported trees, plants and seeds,
and tried in every possible way to add dignity- and worth to the pro-
fession of husbandry. His library was enriched by whatever valu-
able works on his favorite studies were to be obtained, and he has
been regarded for many years as a leader in all matters relating to
the field, the garden and the conservatory. His studies in connection
with pomology have been especially valuable. His labors have
happily met with wide appreciation, and it was both a pleasure to
him and an honor to the various societies that have shown tangible
recognition of his merit that none of his efforts in the direction of
making "the wilderness to bloom as a rose" were allowed to expend
themselves fruitlessly. One of the earliest members of the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society, which was formed in 1829, he was
associated with the late Dr. Jacob Bigelow in the movement which
resulted in the purchase and laying out of Mount Auburn Cemetery,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 139

and it was to his good management that the amicable separation of
the society and of the proprietors of the cemetery, accomplished in
1835, was due. He was elected President of the Horticultural So-
ciety in 1840, which ollice he held eight years, securing within that
time the erection of a fine building for the society on the present site
of the Parker House. This building was occupied until the need for
more commodious quarters became pressing, when it was sold at a
considerable advance on its original cost, and the corner stone of the
present building was laid in 1864. Mr. Wilder declined another re-
election as President of the Society in 1848, and his retirement was
the occasion of some very flattering tributes to the efficiency of his
administration, one of which was the gift of a silver pitcher valued
at $150. Since that time he has maintained an active connection
with the Society and has always been ready to work for the advauce-
ment of its interests. His studies and experiments in floriculture
have been interesting and have gained him a wide reputation. He
was especially successful in the cultivation of the camellia, and in
his honor two seedlings of that flower raised by him have been named
by the Horticultural Society the Camellia Wilderi and the Mrs. Abbie
Wilder, respectively. He was also awarded a premium of $bO. The
Camellia Wilderi was sold to J. L. F. Warren of Brighton for the
extraordinary sum of $1000. In 1853 he was honored by the Society
by the placing in its hall of a fine marble bust.

VARIOUS PUBLIC SERVICES.

As a presiding officer Col. Wilder has always been regarded as the
possessor of qualities which made his presence in the chair a matter
of satisfaction. He was frequently called on to officiate as Presi-
dent of the Day, notable occasions being in Boston, Oct. 29, 1852,
and the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the settlement of
Dorchester, July 4, 1885.

A visit to Europe in 1867 was a pleasant event in his life. He
went to represent the United States Agricultural Society, and while
abroad he was appointed United States Commissioner at the Paris
Exhibition of that year. He returned Sept. 1, and immediately went
to St. Louis to attend the meeting of the American Pomological So-
ciety. During his visit to Europe he devoted much of his time to
investigating the condition of pomolog}^ and horticulture in England
and on the Continent, and received very kind attentions from the

140 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

leading pomologists of Europe, to whom his labors in that science
in this country had made his name familiar.

In January, 1868, Mr. Wilder succeeded the late Hon. John A.
Andrew as President of the Massachusetts Historic Genealogical
Society. His election was unanimous, and he has been re-elected
every year since. The funds for the purchase of the premises on
Somerset Street were secured by his personal effort. At each annual
meeting he had delivered an interesting address, and in view of his
death so soon after the last was delivered, we cannot refrain from
quoting the following signiflcant paragraph therefrom :

"Human life is changing and transitory' ! A few more days, a few
more months, and this tired brain and this languid tongue will have
cast otf their threadbare, worn-out covering ; but the spirit shall con-
tinue to praise God for His wonderful works in this AVestern World,
and the blessings which have (lowed from the influence of New Eng-
land character. We shall pass away, and the dust of past and future
generations shall be commingled with ours in one common grave.
But more and more appreciated for the work it has done and is do-
ing, so that the record of our own New England and its families may
be perpetuated with historic continuity while the Anglo-Saxon race
shall have a place in the annals of time."

INTERESTING EVENTS.

On September 22d, 1877, Col. Wilder comi)leted the 80th year of
his life, and the event was made one of very pleasant moment by his
many friends. A banquet was given at the Parker House, ex- Alder-
man Chas. H. Breck presiding, and many prominent gentlemen hon-
oring the guest by their presence Col. Wilder made a speech full
of reminiscence, and was followed by Hon. Charles L. Flint, Charles
M. Hover, P^s(i., Rev. J. H. Means, and a number of others. In
1883 a banquet was given in honor of his eighty- fifth birthday, at
which a number of ex-Governors of New P^ngland States were pres-
ent, and in 188G his eighty-eighth birthday was celebrated by a
dinner.

WRITINGS.

We have already stated that Col. Wilder has been an industrious
writer. From 1835 to the time of his death he published more than
sixty pamphlets, mostlj' addresses which he had delivered on agri-
cultural, horticultural, pomological or historical subjects.

STATE POJUOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 141

DOMESTIC LIFE.

We come in conclusion to that chapter of personal histor\' whicli,
in the case of such a man, is most sacred. Col. Wilder was a man
of the purest character and of domestic habits. Such tastes as his
were when cultivates! are certain to develop the home instinct, and
it was therefore natural that he should have a happy home. He was
married on December 31, 1820, to Miss Tryphosa Jewett, daughter
of Dr. Stephen Jewett of Rindge, N. H. Six children were born
of the marriage. Mrs. Wilder died during a visit to Rindge, July
31, 1831. Col. Wilder married a second time, Abigail Baker,
daughter of Capt. David Baker of Franklin, Mass., becoming his
wife August 29, 1833. Six children were born of this marriage, also.
Death again left him wifeless April 4, 1854, and he married on Sep-
tember 8, 1855, Julia Baker, a sister of his second wife, who has
borne him two children.

The many friends of Col. Wilder honored the anniversaries of his
birth in late years by pleasant reunions and congratulatorj' calls. A
friend who sent kindly- greetings in September, 1886, received the fol-
lowing reply, which is characteristic of the man :

Dorchester, September 23. 188G.

My dear old friend: Your knid notice of me and your still kinder letter
are in hand. Words cannot express my gratitude I feel for the congratu-
lations I am receiving on the return of another anniversarj'^ of my birth.
I am not worthy of such affectionate regard, for I have only been follow-
ing the instincts of my nature and the convictions of my conscience in
mueli of what I raaj"- have done for the great interests which I have tried
to promote; and so I shall continue to labor while life and strength shall
hist. But ere long all of us must pass over to tliat better land where the
proofs of life shall be finally set up and the tj^pes of earth be exclianged
for the tj-pes of blessed immortality in Heaven.

As ever yours,

Marshall P. Wilder.

1798-1886.

A PERSONAL TRIBUTE.

The memorial discourse at the funeral was delivered by Rev. Ed-
ward N. Packard, pastor of the Second Congregational Church,
Dorchester, with which Col. Wilder had maintained an active con-
nection for upward of half a century. The closing portion of the
discourse is here given :

142 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The remarkable successes of this long life have been largely clue — shall
we not say? — to qualities of heart. This large assembly to-day, repre-
senting so many of the departments of his beneficent activity, will, as in-
dividuals, remember the man as a friend. He lived in his friends, with
his friends he worked for great objects ; for friendship's sake, nothing but
honor was too dear to be withheld! He "loved the praise of men" — we
all knew that — but it did not lower him in our thoughts, for he sought the
approbation of the best by no sinuous processes, surrendering nothing,
losing nothing. His heart was an open fire, around which men gathered
instinctively. We may well question whether there has ever lived in this
State a man who has enjoj'ed more friendships and more worthy ones.
Gather the foremost men of the whole region for fifty years past in the
walks of trade, of art, science, politics, jurisprudence and the so-called
learned professions, and how few among them were not personal friends
of our departed brother — a brother indeed to them all !

They have sought his counsels, received his encouragement, and the best
men were his best friends ! He seemed to say to all who were worthy of
his confidence, ''If thy heart is as my heart, then give me thine hand!"

His domestic life, extending over a period of more than threescore
years, has been singularly happy, although its very happiness has opened
the door to the sorrows inseparable from the mortal lot. He has survived
his three wives and nine of his fourteen children. Yonder cemetery, to
which we are about to wend our way, contains what he used to call his
"garden of graves." He has said during his past year in terms of reverie,
"I shall be with wife soon." Old age has its pleasures, but the sadness
of frequent partings is mingled with them, and these impressed them-
selves deeply upon his heart. He lived to see generations of the good and
noble with whom he had been intimate pass beyond his touch and sight ;
and as I have heard him at times speak of this and that one, to whom his
soul had been grappled with hooks of steel, who had laid down to sleep
first, I have recalled the lines of the poet Vaughan, as expressive of his
feelings about the host of the departed :

"They are all gone into the world of light,

I alone sit lingering here !
Their very memory is fair and bright,

And my sad thoughts doth clear,
It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,

Tvike stars above some gloomy grove,
Or those faint beams in which the hill is dressed,

After the sun's remove."

In the narrower circle all these gracious and winning traits liad full
play. He loved his neighbors and, in turn, was loved by them. For fifty-
four years he was a member of this parish, and for fifty, at least, there
were few Sundays that did not see him in the fomily pew a reverent list-
ener and worshipper. He was a most generous supporter of the Gospel
and promoted all the good works to which the church lent her hand. To

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 143

say that he has contributed thousands of dollars for these interests beyond
the merely business claims of the parish, would be but a tame statement.
He has been a most faithful worker, presiding for years at the annual
parish meetings, giving dignity and stability to the whole course of things
in which he has taken a conspicuous part down to the last days. It is
only a few weeks since he brought his cheek to the treasurer for .$500
toward the renovation of this house of worship. For fifteen years he
was the valued friend of the first pastor of the church, Dr. Codman, and,
when death terminated that long and good ministry, he joined in calling
his successor — Dr. Means — who, in a pastorate of thirty years, had no
firmer supporter nor more generous helper. And when the day came for
another to take that place, he entered vigorously into the plans and cor-
respondence necessary, signed the call as chairman of the parish commit-
tee and greeted me, when I first descended from this pulpit, eiglit years
ago, with a cordiality and kindness I can never forget. That old-time
courtesy, that delicate consideration, that freedom of conversation on the
deepest themes, at all times ; the hours of bereavement and sickness in
which we have been drawn peculiarly near to each other — the last Thanks-
giving remembrance from his orchard — these will always be among the
choicest treasures and best honors of my life.

He inherited a strong religious bent from his godly ancestry, and was
brought up under the old regime of faithful instruction and implicit obe-
dience. Around him the most helpful infiuences have always been thrown,
in the innermost circle of his life. The prayers of the now sainted women,
whom Providence gave him as his wives, have girded him for the toil and
confiict of his long day. Nor have his own been wanting. It has been
his custom for 34 years to ask a blessing at his meals and gather his fam-
ily around him every morning, down to the very last, to hear a portion of
the Word of God, to sing some familiar hymn — his favorites being sung to
us to-day, the "Sweet Bye and Bye" being his hymn above all others —
and then to kneel and seek the favor of God. He invariably offered an
earnest petition for a "heavenly inheritance," and that "we may be led in
the paths of salvation for Christ's sake." This last was his last petition
on the morning of his death. To one of his family he said not long ago :
"I tremble when I think of the temptations to which I have been exposed ;
but God has kept me from yielding to them." To me he said within
a year : "I am sure that my life lias been a selfish one. I do not know
that I have ever done anything from the best motives. I have no claim
save on the mercy of God. If I am permitted to enter Heaven it will be
as a little child to learn Ilis will."

The greatness, the incomprehensibility of the Deity, were frequently in
his thoughts. He said recently that all he could do was to throw himself
upon the mercy of God, and that he believed in Christ. In the midnight
watches, during the past year, lie has been overheard praying, and onlj'-
on the last night of his life he was heard to say, "O Lord, have mercy
upon me."

144 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

His smi sank serenely to the west. Old friends passed on, bnt younger
ones filled their places and thronged his path. He could say with Job of
old, '"I washed my steps with butter and the rock poured nie out rivers of
oil ; when I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my
seat in the street, the young men saw me and hid themselves and the aged
arose and stood up ; the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand
on their mouth. Tiie nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to
the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, it blessed me ; and when
the eye saw me it gave witness to me. I put on righteousness and it
clothed me; mj^ judgment was a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the
blind and feet was I to the lame. I was father to the poor, and the cause
that 1 knew not, I searched out. My root was spread out by the waters,
and the dew lay all night on mj^ branch. My glory was fresh in me and
my bow was renewed in my hand."

On the morning of liis sudden departure he rose as usual, took break-
fast, led in devotions, dictated a letter and signed it in his bold but tremb-
ling hand, and as he turned to greet his physician with a word of good cheer
he pressed his hand upon his heart, fell back in his arm-chair to breathe
out his spirit without a sigh or a groan.

Fortunate in his death as in his life. We shall see him no more, and the
world which he has made a different one to us will be diU'erent to us with
his departure.

THE ROSE— ITS CULTURE AND INSECT ENEMIES.
By John Poste.

[From Journal oi the Columbus, Oliio, Horticultural Society, 1887.]

Whcui seeking to adorn our gardens and we are selecting from the
extensive and varied assortment of floral beauties from which, in
this day, we are privileged to choose, the rose will at once occur to
us as entitled to pre-eminence, combining, as it does, in one "charm-
ing whole, those features which singly characterize our most popular
flowers, viz., beauty and variety of form, rich colors and delicate
tints, with the most delightful perfumes." With such characteristics
it has been rightly called the ''Queen of Flowers."

Now, as true lovers of floral beauty can for themselves select their
ideals of excellence in shape or color, from an3^ well-assorted collec-
tion, I will leave them fancy free to select from the numerous varie-
ties and classes, and rapidly passing along will only point out, hei'e,
the delicate bud of the tea rose, which in its maiden modesty charms
one with its non-expanding coyness, and there, of the hardier consti-
tuted Remontant, with unblushing consciousness of purity, invites

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 145

you to look into its richly perfumed heart of hearts. Deeply im-
pressed with the exquisite gradations of form and color, having fin-
ished our selection, we are in a frame of mind to quickly pass from
the sentimental to the practical, and to receive hints as to the neces-
sary conditions of culture to secure the best results. It i> upon this
branch of the sulyect, I presume, that I am desired to givr any in-
formation I am able to offer.

When you plant roses, you desire an abundance of blossom and.
luxuriance of growth ; to produce these results, you mu'^t give the
necessary conditions of soil, judicious pruning, climate and location.

Your soil, if not naturally so, must be made as nearly as possible
a deep, porous loam ; on the one hand, not too light and saiidy, nor,
on the other, too stiff and cold a clay — as nearly the happy medium
as possible — a retentive but thoroughl}- drained soil Almost any
soil can be brought to proper condition by spading to the depth of
fifteen inches, and incorporating with the natural earth well-rotted
manure and sand if too heav}', and of well-rotted manure and claj',
and perhaps wood ashes, if too light and sandy. The rose is a
hearty feeder, therefore will bear annual manuring, and as results
a,re desired to follow annuall>' also, none but u-ell-rotted stable ma-
nure or sod should be applied, or such other stimulant as can be
readily assimilated with the soil.

In planting in such a prepared bed, make your holes large enough
to place the roots so as not to cramp them, then press well to the
I'oots the earth first put in, but leave the surface dirt loose, so as to
admit rain or such artificial watering as may be necessary, in a dry
time. An excellent liquid manure for watering the soil in immediate
proximity to the roots can be made by soaking the sciapings of the
•chicken house in a barrel of water a few da3's before using.

Now as to pruning. Since the rose bears its blossoms only on the
young shoots of the current year's growth (as with the grape),
therefore in the spring cut back the last year's wood freely, entirely
removing an}- dead and half dead branches, and cutting back those
you leave to the strongest buds ; cut the unbranched shoots or canes
to such height as the bush is desired to be ; each bud left will make
a blossom-bearing branch, so don't be afraid to cut back, as from
them you will get your finest blossoms if so treated. Roses that
fcloom more than once during the summer, such as the Tea, Noisette.
Bourbon, China, and the Hardy Monthlies, so-called, or Reraontants,
should be pruned back after the first blossoming to a strong bud, then
10

14tJ STATE POMOLOGIOAL SOCIETY.

a vigorous new growth wili sliarfc which will bear the next crop of
blossoms. Never allow haws, or seed capsules to mature on your
bushes, for in bringing the seed to perfection they will so far sap
the vitalit\" of your plant.

Of the insect enemies of the rose I will first mention the slug,
which by skeletonizing the foliage destroys nature's well devised
econom}^ of atmospheric absorption through the leaves and their ad-
junctive assistants — the very lungs of the plant — thereby preventing
that vigorous new growth which wc have seen is absolutely necessary
to the production of blossoms. Any dry dust or powder coming in
contact with their slimy bodies will destroy them ; having thoroughl}'
applied your dust, whether it be road dust, lime, or any of the pow-
dered insecticides of commerce, after the lapse of a few hours thor-
oughly syringe off the foliage and restore it to its normal condition
of respiratory organs. The green fly, which, however, is most likely
to prove troublesome in the conservatory, or to house plants, readilj*
succumbs to tobacco, Vvater or smoke, or to immersion of the affected
limbs in water as hot as the hands will bear. The red spider is eas-
ily routed by systematic watering alone.

The bug which attacks the opening bud fortunately is compara-
tively rare ; it is best removed by hand picking or eradicated by per-
sistent syringing with au}^ insecticide, or even pure water ; but rec-
ollect that bushes from which dead and half dead limbs and rubbish
have been seasonabl}' removed, and are getting proper food, are
rarely much aff'ected by any insect pests. Imperfect blossoms,
stunted growth, a general consumptive appearance, are a mute appeal
to you for better soil, more food, and the removal of superfluous wood
— the incubus of an unhealthy past — the prompt cutting loose from
which we will all acknowledge as necessary for human reform. Then
realizing that the main essentials of plant life are identical with
those of animal life, if you will take your garden pets into your
family, do unto them as 3-ou would be done by. My long acquain-
tance with her majesty, our queen of the garden, enables me to
promise you right royal favors in return for the tender treatment j'ou
will accord her.

LIST OF BEST ROSES FOR BEDDING.

China. — Agrippina — crimson ; Douglass — cherry red ; Madame
Jean Sisley — white ; Eugene Beauharney — crimson.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 147

Bourbon. — Hermosa — rose ; S. de la Malmaison — blush ; Queen
Bedders — dark crimson ; Mad. Bosanquet — flesh color ; Louis
Margottin — rose ; Alfred Aubert — bright red.

Hybrid tea, — La France — silvery pink ; Due de Conuaught —
crimson.

Tea. — Duchess de Brabant — ros}' salmon ; Duchess of Edinburgh
— crimson ; Etoile de Lyon — light 3-ellow ; Bougere — bronze rose ;
Bon Silene — deep rose ; Catherine Mermet — pink ; Mme. Welch —
amber yellow ; Mme. Rachel — yellowish white ; Maria Guillot —
white ; Devoniensis — creamy white ; Sunset — light amber ; Souvenir
d'un Amie — rose.

Hybrid perpetual. — Gen. Jacqueminot — crimson ; Coquette des
Alps — white ; Captain Christy — flesh color ; Victor Verdier — cherry ;
Magna Charta — clear pink ; La Reine — deep rose ; Sydonia — light
rose ; Anna de Diesbach — clear rose ; Jules Margottin — deep rose ;
Giant of Battles — crimson; Gen. Washington — crimson; Paul
Neyron — deep pink ; one of the largest roses, if not the largest.

SEEDLING AND EUSSIAN APPLES.
By Peter M. Gideon.

[From Report of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, 1887.]

It is with pleasure that I comply with your request to give my
views on Russian and seedling apples. The seedling has been my
hobb}' for the last sixteen years, and the success attained gives me
hope that not far in the future the cold Northwest will be one of the
leading apple-growing districts of North America.

Twenty-three 3^ears ago I planted a few cherry crab seeds, ob-
tained of Albert Emerson, Bangor, Maine, and from those seeds I
grew the Wealthy apple ; in seven years it fruited, and that fruit
convinced me that the true road to success was in crossing the Sibe-
rian crab with the common apple, and on' that line I have operated
ever since, with results surpassing my most sanguine anticipations.
I did not suppose that in the short space of sixteen years, the time
since the Wealthy first fruited, that I should have more than twenty
first-class apples — as good as the world can produce — in succession
from the first of August to March, and in hardiness of tree surpass-
ing all known varieties of the common large apple. But it is done,
and in the doing the problem is solved, as to what to do and how to

148 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT.

<lo it, with the material at hand with which to attain yet greater results.
At the outset, it was test and try ; but now that the problem is
solved, it is onward, with great results certain.

When I say we have twenty first-class apples, that does not in-
clude all that are worthy of cultivation, by any means. And now,
with such results, and only a few thousand trees fruited at the end
of sixteen years, what maj' we not expect at the end of the next
sixteen years, with twenty or thirty thousand choice, selected trees
from the very best of seed, which are not yet fruited, and the seed
of over 100 bushels of choice apples planted this fall, all to fruit in
a few 3'ears. Then on, on, plautiog the seed of the best each year ;
soon the choice varieties will count into the hundreds, and the great
Northwest will be the fruit paradise of America.

To get the desired cross we plant the selected varieties in close
promixity, so that the natural flow of pollen will the more surely do
the desired fertilizing, and the seed thus produced is planted, the
most promising of the seedlings selected and set in orchards for fruit-
ing, and, after fruiting, the best in tree and fruit is selected from
which to grow seeds to trj' again, and so on, at each repetition I find
there is a gain. The young trees that fruited this year for the first,
gave a larger percentage of first-class apples than any lot ever fruited
before.

By crossing and judicious selection we retain the hardiness of the
crab in the tree without the crab thorns, and on top grow large apples
without the astringency of the parent crab. And yet, by the com-
mingling of the two natures, we get an exquisite flavor not found in
any other class of apples, especially so when made into sauce. But
our triumph is not 3'et complete ; we must, we can, fill up the balance
of the year with a continued succession of luscious apples. There
is no question as to the certainty of such a result ; the past is a
guarantee that it can be done.

But the proper cross can't be got in Minnesota, a fact clearly de-
monstrated in the extensive and expensive trials that have been made
in the last nine years in the State orchard. And here let me state,
that the seedling is inclined to ripen its fruit at or near the time the
parent apple did, from which the seed was taken, hence the need of
seed from long keepers to grow the same. There are no long keepers
of the best qualit}' yet found that are hardy enough to fruit in Min-
nesota, but we can take our best hardy seedlings further south,
where the long keepers can be grown, and there get the cross and

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 149

then bring tlie seed here to grow and test the hardiness of tree and
qnality of fruit. We want first-class apples, and to get them we
must use first-class parentage. And even then scullions will be
numerous, from the fact that all varieties of apples are mongrels of
many degrees of crossing, and the various relations will crup out in
a multitude of forms. But past success is a guarantee for the future,
that out of the many some will be good. Our seedlings will average
iu quality with Hyslop and Transcendent; but iho.se of first-class,
such as we propagate, stand about as one to five hundred, as hard}'
Duchess and Wealthy, and of the extreme hardiest about one to one

thousand five hundred.

t

SEEDLING TREES EOU DISTRIBUTION.

Two years ago this winter was the first time tlie Duchess and
Wealthy were seriousl}' hurt, and a like fate befell all the Russians
on our grounds, so that not a Russian set an apple on our grounds
last year, whilst alongside of them our seedlings carried a fair crop,
some of them piofuse, and this year all bore heavy crops; showing
beyond a question that the crab infusion is to be the foundation of
successful fruit culture in the Northwest. The State orchard, yielded
about one hundred bushels of apples this year, all of thena being of
our own seedlings ; all else of value failed two years ago this winter.
This fall we planted the seed of over one hundred bushels of choice
apples, to grow trees for trial purposes. We now have thousands
of choice trees on hand for distribution to those who want one, two,
three and four-year-old trees from seed. Those who come and dig
the trees will get them free of cost, others will have the cost of
digging and packing to pay ; and. unless otherwise instructed, will
ship free of cost, except as above stated, to any one in the North-
west who may so order. The great bulk of the trees are two years
old. The cost of digging, boxing or bundling w^ould be about one
dollar per hundred. All who get trees will be expected to take good
care of them until the3- fruit, and if any prove of extra value, so re-
port, but the trees and the profits thereof belong to the cultivator.
We onl}' ask the report, that we can note the progress. The trees
which produce poor fruit can be top-grafted with any good variety
that the owner ma}- select, and thus make permanent trees of value.
Those who want large trees had better come and do their own digging
and thus save a large bill ; the trees are large for their age and a
more promising lot of seedlings I never saw.

loO STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PLANT VARIOUS KIND3.

Though we have a good collection of iiardies. and in siiccessiou
from the first of August till March, yet, I would not discourage the
planting of Duchess, Wealthy, and some of tiie best of the Russians.
Their value is too great to be rejected on account of one partial fail-
ure, after over twenty years of uninterrupted success, for such a
winter as that of two 3'ears ago may not occur again in a lifetime,
if ever. If those varieties should stand only ten years, they would be
the most profitable crop a land owner could plant. Therefore, I advise
to mix them in -with our extra hardies, especially if you have a clay
soil, for in such they do best. A north, northwest or northeast ex-
posure is the best for the apple, and, indeed, for any fruit except the
grape — give that all the sunshine you can.

While on the subject of apple culture, let me state a few facts in
regard to root-grafts. The so-called crab roots are not all hardy —
none are pure crab, all are mongrels — and where the crab predomi-
nates the graft that is not a crab mongrel does not take well, neither
on root or stock. The mongrel root and mongrel stock are only
preferable when a mongrel graft is to be inserted, but as all such are
not hardy, a good mulch is needed, of some coarse litter, to make
sure against root-killing under certain conditions, as not all winters
will kill even the most tender roots.

The common apple will not make a smooth junction on a stock
where the crab predominates, and, consequently, will not make a
lasting tree, and a hardy variety grafted or budded on the common
apple stock is worthless, as the stock below the junction of graft or
bud is sure to winter-kill the first hard winter. You can protect a
tender root, but you cannot save a tender stock, so avoid the tree
agent with his ))udded trees.

NURSERY FRAUDS.

And, lastly, it matters not where a tree is grown — whether east,
south or north — that tree is best that comes to the planter in the
best condition, if true to name ; but, with the great mass of tree
planters, the smooth-tongued agent with his rubbish and frauds is
the one thing needful. Though fleeced a score of times, they patron-
ize him the twenty-first time as freely as ever, and the bigger the
price of the fraud the more greedily they swallow the bait. The fact
is notorious that tree agents have sold one hundred trees of the Gid-
eon apple, at one dollar per tree, where I, the originator, have been

STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 151

able to sell one at twenty-tive cents. They have been swindled so
often, and paid so dear for it, that they have come to love to have it
so. They are wedded to the agent; it is love's union, and dead
trees, plants and grape vines cannot separate them.

EXPEKIMENT8 WITH KEEOSENE EMULSION ON THE APPLE-
TREE APHIS.
By' Charles Little, Rochester, N. Y.

[From Proceedings of the Western New York Horticultural Society, 188".]

The summer of 1886 was, in this vicinity, an unusually severe one
for nursery stock, particular!}' cherries aud apples ; the black aphis
on the cherry and the green one on the apple-trees being unusually
numerous and persistent, and of course they gave ns nurserymen a
great deal of trouble.

The cheriy aphis appeared first, but, lortunately for us, were not
so numerous on our trees as on those of some of our neighbors. We
went over the trees two or three times with the old remedj'of whale-
oil soap and tobacco-wator, but found it of comparatively little use,
as a solution strong enough to kill the aphis was also strong enough
to affect the trees injuriously ; and, as our trees had made a consid-
erable growth before the appearance of the aphis, we did not pay
much attention to them afterwards.

The ajjple aphis appeared about the usual time, and, at first, we
were not much concerned about them, expecting that they would dis-
appear, as usual. But for some mysterious reason of their own they
did not take their departure, and bi'sraii to incnase alirmingly fast.
On our yearling trees we tried dipping in whale-oil soap and tobacco-
water with success, but to dip a large tree was a slow and costly opera-
tion. We then began to look about for some chea[)er and quicker
method. We found, by experimenting on a small scale with kero-
sene soap, that it was sure death to the aphis, but this soap was open
to the same objection as the other remed}' ; it was too costly.

About thifc time there was published by the Department of Agri-
culture, at Washington, a receipt for killing the hop- louse, which
was making such ravages in the central part of the State. As the
principal ingredient was kerosene, we determined to try it on our
apple-trees. It was a decided success. After going over our blocks
twice there were few or no aphides left, and the expense was trifling

152 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ill comparison with any of the old methods, both as regards tl)e cost
of materials and the labor of application.

The receipt is as follows: "Spray the trees with the following
mixture : Kerosene, two gallons ; one-half pound common soap, or
whale-oil soap ; water, one gallon. Heat the water, and dissolve
the soap in it; then add it boiling hot to the kerosene. Churn the
mixture bj- means of a force-pump and spray nozzle for ten min-
utes. wh(-n it will form an emulsion. Dilute before using one part
of the emulsion with nine parts of cold water. This mixture will
kill every louse that it touches, and the good accomplished depends
only on the thoroughness of the application." It will be seen that
two gallons of kerosene and one-half a pound of soap make, when
diluted to the right strength, thirty gallons of wash.

We have found that, in using this receipt, two precautions musti
be carefully observed : first, and most important, the oil and water
must be thoroughly mixed ; soft water is preferable. With a little
experience it is easy to tell when the mixture is complete, as the
fluid becomes a milky white, and all globules of oil disappear from
the surface.

Second : The mixture should be applied to the trees in the forui
of a fine spray from a force-pump. The nozzle we used was simply
a deflector ; the mixture left the mouth of the nozzle in a solid
stream, then struck against a tin disc, which flattened the stream
into H fan-shaped sheet.

To illustrate my precautions: We made some experiments on a
small scale with dipping, but found that unless the mixture was
most thoroughly made, the young leaves would turn brown by com-
ing in contact with the globules of kerosene which would rise to the
top. The use of a force-pump obviates this difficulty, as, in the
first place, the pump draw^s the mixture from the bottom of the ves-
sel, and, secondly, the fine spray in which it is applied to the trees
tends to divi<le into minute portions any kerosene that may be left
unmixed.

Our method of handling the emulsion is quite simjale. A small
force-pump is fastened to a good-siztid pail, which holds the liquid.
On the front and rear of the pail two pieces of leather are fastened
(like trunk-handles). The front handle and nozzle of the force-
pump are held by one man ; the back handle is held by a second,
who, with the other hand, works the pump. In this way three men
(one to make the emulsion and two to man the pump) can go over
two to three acres of four-yoar-old apple trees in a da}'.

STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. lo3-

'Fhe pumps we used were very simple, costing only $10 a dozen,
and they answered the purpose as well as a more expensive article.
There is one little bit of tinkering to be done, however ; there is a
rubber valve in the pump which soon gets soft and worthless ; this
should be replaced i)y a common marble, and the machine is perfect.

As regards the effect of this emulsion on the cherry aphis, I can
say but little, as our experiments were not decisive ; but tliey were
encouraging enough to induce us to give it a much more thorough
trial next summer, if necessary.

STOHIXG APPLES FOR WINTEH.
By Henry M. Duxlai'.

[J"roiu Tian.«;utioiis of the Illinois State Hovtieultund Sociery, 18S(i j

I put my apples into the cellar the last of October or first ol' No-
vember, after carefully sorting, placing them in open bins made of
pine lumber, or in barrels, according as I expect to sell in a local mar-
ket or ship. Winter fruit I pick as late as possible, being governed
b}' the weather, color of fruit, and how well it adheres to the tree.
Place in piles under the north side of the tree, and remove to the
cellar on a cool da}', or during the morning hours If it is intended
to store in bins, I fill the bushel boxes before mentioned at the piles^
carefully assorting the fruit at the same time. The filled boxes are
transferred 1o the cellar and there the contents carefully emptied into
the bins.

If it is desired to store in ba'rels, the barrels are filled in the
orchard, headed without the use of the barrel press, and stored in
tiers in the cellar, as man}- deep as cellar will permit. The apples in
bottom tiers keep the best. It is desirable to have narrow alleys be-
tween the rows of barrels, in order that access can be had to any
barrel in the cellar. These alleys also prevent the rats from doing
damage to the fruit, because no cover is afforded them in which to
hide.

Storing in bins I much prefer where apples are marketed in
bulk, the cost of the barrels being saved. The bins are made by
laying upon the floor of cellar two-by-four inch lumber, and pine
boards upon these for the floor of the bin. The two-by-fours should
be close enough together to prevent the sagging of the boards, and
thus affording an entrance for the rats. My object in having these
two-inch pieces beneath the bin floor is to aflford circulation of the

154 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIKTV.

air. Next to the side walls 1 nail up strips oue inch thick, with the
pine boards forming the sides of the i)in removed from the wall one
inch, thereby making the circulation about the bin complete. Any
kind of pine lumber will do, and can be used for any length of time,
if exposed to the sun before using, and allowed to cool in the shade.
I usually use fence lumber, and find it useful in the spring, either in
building new or repairing old fences. Care must be taken to have
the sides of these bins as tight as possible, so that no holes are left
for the rats to get in. I have found that rats will not attack an
open bin of apples filled to the top, but allow him to get an opening
into the bottom or side of bin, where he can work in secret, and he
can make more chips than an old-fashioned hand cider mill ; for he
worketh both night and day, and his jaws are reversible. I have
found that apples keep best when they are four to five feet deep in
the bins. Large dry goods boxes are excellent, or for storing for
family use, shoe boxes can be used, and covers nailed on.

Ventilation and temperature are the two most important items
in keeping apples. For the first four weeks that apples are in the
cellar, and while the temperature is warm during the day and cool
at night, I open the cellar in the evening and close up in the morn-
ing, and w^hen the first cold snap comes I leave the cellar open both
day and night, closing up when the weather again turns warm.
During extreme cold weather the cellar must be opened on the op-
posite side from the wind, and can be allowed to remain open until
the temperature in the cellar goes to 25°, when it should be closed
until it runs up above the freezing point, which, owing to latent
heat in the apples, it will quickly do. This process of ventilation
■can be repeated until you have your apple cellar about 32°, when it
should be closed as tightly as possible, and not opened oftener than
necessary. To keep apples, then, we should open the cellar when the
temperature outside is lower than in the cellar, and close it when
the temperature outside is warmer than in the cellar. Keep the cel-
lar as dark as possible at all times. Burn sulphur in the cellar fre-
quently, say once or twice each week for several weeks after apples
are placed in the cellar. The nearer air-tight cellars are, the better
fruit will keep. I find it much easier, and many limes more profit-
able, to regulate the temperature of my apple cellar than to sort out
rotten apples. My apples are never sorted until I get ready to mar-
ket them, for the reason that apples will decay much faster after be-
ing disturbed, and it does not pay to handle twice. If they are not
keeping, sell them at once.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETV. 155

FEWER ACRES OF SMALL FRUIT— MORE FRUIT TO

THE ACRE.

By P. C. Reynolds, Rochester, N. Y.

[From Report of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, 18S6.]

Very general complaint has come from nearl3' all sections of the
couutr}- where small fruits are produced for market, that prices the
past season were unremunerative. Such being the case, one of two
alternatives seems to be indicated, namely : the reduction of volume
of products or the diminution of its cost. It is a very ditflcult mat-
ter for fruit growers, scattered as they are over a wide area, to com-
bine to reduce production. The orderly operation of the laws of
trade and production have a tendency to diminish production when
excessive, but combination rarely does. The prices of small fruits
are destined, I believe, to rule low in the future, and growers will be
wise to adapt their business to that condition ot things. With un-
limited land and labor for production, the amount pi'oduced will be
likely to increase quite as fast as population. The proper way to
cheapen production, in my opinion, is l3y producing more per acre.
Every grower can do this for himself without the necessity of com-
bination or co-operation.

Small-fruit growing used to be considered a branch of horticulture.
Recently many have conducted it as if it belonged to agriculture. The
result is not surprising. The liorticulturist aims to grow large quan-
tities of produce on small areas of land by means of heavy manuring
and high culture, the agriculturist spreads his operations over broad
areas of soil, which he cultivates enough to enable the roots of crops
to spread through the soil, without serious obstruction, in search of
adequate supplies of suitable food and to prevent weeds from obtain-
ing such growth as to overcome the plants he is seeking to grow.
The horticulturist seeks a small tract of garden soil, near a town or
city, where he can have an abundance of fertilizers, laborers of the
right kind, and where proximity to market enables him to deliver
his products, from da}' to da}', fresh to consumers.

Now, it seems to me that too many small-fruitgrowers have within
:a few years come to adopting the methods of the agriculturist
rather than those of the horticulturist. They have planted their
fruits in fields instead of gardens ; they have manured as if for farm

156 STATE POMOLOUICAI< SOOrETY.

rather than garden crops, aud they have cultivated after the manner
of farmers rather than as gardeners cultivate. Moreover, mauN' have-
located remote from town, subjecting themselves to quite a tax in
transporting their finits to market and in transporting their laborers*
to and fiom their labor. Let the farmer stick to farm crops and
they who are fitted by nature, tastes and training for horticultur-
ists grow small fruits. This, I think, is the natural order of things,-
and to this I believe we shall be obliged to come.

(van it be proved that growing the same quantities of fruits oa
smaller areas of land will reduce their cost? 1 think it can. Let us
first take strawberries, the fruit in which the grower now sinks the
most money. We will say that 200 bushels per acre is a possible
crop of strawberries. I have known much larger crops grown, but
we will take 200 for our demonstration. I do not believe that the aver-
age yield, in the way they are generally grown, is over 60 bushels
per acre. Suppose that a grower of strawberries cultivates so as to
grow on one acre what he now grows on four, does any intelligent
horticulturist btlieve that the berries would cost so much per quart?

To start with, the rent of three acres would be saved. At a low
estimate this would amount to $24 in the cost of 200 bushels. It
would neither require the same amount of manure nor labor to grow
200 bushels on one acre that it would on four acres — one-half of
each would be a liberal allowance. If 20' two-horse loads of barn-
yard manure to the acre is generally applied under the present sys-
tem, I think 40 loads would answer under the approved .system, thus
saving 40 loads, worth $40, in the 200 bushels.

The cultivator of one acre would probably plow deeper and pulverize
much finer, expending about as much labor in preparing the one acre
for planting as the farmer does in preparing four acres. Only one-
fourth the number of plants, however, would be required. If we
plant three feet by eighteen inches it would take 9',680 plants to set
one acre — three times the number, or 29,040, would be saved. At
$2.50 per thousand, these would amount to $72.00. In planting the
strawberries, I suppose that about one-half the time would be ex-
pended on the one acre that is ordinarily devoted on large plantations to
four acres, and about half the labor in cirltivating, hoeing, weeding and
clipping runners. It is not practicable to make a ver^' close estimate
of the value of the labor saved, as different tracts of land differ so
much in the amount of labor required to keep them clean and mellow,
and the same grounds require so much more labor in a wet than in a.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 157

dn' season. Taking an average of seasons, we will say that it would
take four days' work to clean an aore of the larger plantation and
that it would need cleaning four times before the first crop is grown.
That would be 64 days for the four acres, which at $1.50 per day
would amount to $96. It would be fair to estimate that half of those
$48 would be saved in labor by our plan of intensive culture.

"When we come to the picking I think all will agree that it would
cost not more than half as much to pick 200 bushels from one acre
as from four. If it costs two cents per quart for picking, on the
larger plat, it could be done for one cent on the smaller, and this
saving of one cent per quart, or $64 on 200 bushels, would afford a
moderate profit on an acre. We have figured out savings as follows :

In rent of land $24 00

In manure . 40 00

In plants ... 72 60

In culture 48 00

In picking 64 00

Total $248 60

This in 200 bushels, or nearly 4 cents per quart. If the agricul-
;tural strawberry grower comes out about even growing strawberries
hy farmers' methods, the horticultural grower might make a few cents
per quart at the reduced cost.

Very likely considerably more can be done in cheapening produc-
tion by extensive culture in strawberries than in other small fruits,
but the same principle holds good in all. It is quite doubtful whether
plantations of black raspberries, covering from 40 to 80 acres, yield
upon an average more than 50 bushels per acre, yet 150 bushels are
a possible yield. By cultivating so as to produce the latter amount
you save the rent of two acres, the value of nearly 5,000 plants, and
quite a sum in manure and labor. Raspberries planted six feet by
three require 2,420 plants to the acre. To grow 150 bushels, 4,800
quarts, on those plants, every hill must j-ield about two quarts.
There must be no vacancies and every hill must contain quite a num-
ber of strong, vigorous canes, and every cane must be productive.
8uch results can only be achieved by thorough, intensive culture.

The same methods would undoubtedly result in cheapening pro-
duction of blackberries, currants, and grapes. I have visited a great
many small-fruit farms during the last fifteen years, and the difference
in yields where slack, partial culture and high, thorough culture were

158 STATE POMOLOGieAL SOCIETY,

followed, was too different to permit a doubt as to which resulted in
most profit.

THE '^BLEEDING" OF APPLE TREES.
By T. H. HosKiNS, M. D., Newport, Vt.

[From Report of ihe Minnesota State Horticultural Society, 1886.]

A recent writer sa3's he has trimmed apple trees every month m
the year, and has come to the conclusion that from May 25th to June
25th is the best time, because a wound made in the full flow of the
sap will begin to heal immediately. He adds that March and April
are the two poorest months to prune, because there will be a liquid
"forming" (querj^ flowing?) out of the wound, which will kill the
bark underneath the limb. Another writer insists that March is the
best of all months to prune, because the sap is not then in motion,
and the wound will dry before the sap starts, and that then the pro-
cess of healing will go on most favorably, while anything but very
light pruning in June will greatly weaken and sometimes kill the
trees. Still another writer says, shortl}' and emphatically, "Prune
when your knife is sharp," without regard to season. All these
writers are orchardists of experience. Is there, then, no proper
time to prune, or no way of intelligently reconciling the seemingly
contradictory views of these practical men?

WHY APPLE TREES BLEED.

A widening accumulation of facts does, in all disputed questions,,
tend towards the reconciliation of conflicting opinions. In the thir-
teen years that I lived in Kentucky 1 never saw an apple tree
"bleed," that is to say, I never saw a flow of disorganized and
blackening sap from the stump of a severed limb. In the first years
of my orcharding in northern Vermont, this so-called bleeding ex-
hibited itself in nearly every case where a limb of any size was re-
moved, no matter at what season the operation was performed. It
was the most discouraging of my experiences at that time, and I
could not understand it, or find a remedy for it.

About fifteen years ago, at a session of our State Board of Agri-
culture in the Champlain Valley, where this question of pruning and
subsequent bleeding was discussed by many orchardists of that or-
chard country, one of the speakers dropped the casual remark that
he bad never known an apple tree that wa» not "black-hearted" tO'

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. lo'J

bleed, no matter at what season it was pruned. That thought was
'much more fruitful to me than my orchard had been up to that time,
for all my trees were black-hearted, except the Siberians and Rus-
sians, which I at once remembered never bled, no matter when they
were pruned. And at the same time I remembered that apple trees
are never black-hearted in Kentucky.

THE CAUSE OF BLACK-HE ARTEDNESS.

The state of black-heartedness in the apple tree is unquestionably
the result of excessive winter's cold. In New England a large pro-
portion of the most popular apples are grown upon trees that are
more or less black-hearted. The Baldwin is always black-hearted
in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, and frequently so in the
three southern New England States. Along its northern limit it can
only be grown when top-giafted on some hardier stock. With me a
Baldwin tree or graft has never lived long enough to bear an apple.

Now, if it be true that only black-hearted trees bleed, then the ex-
perience of orchardists must vary according to whether they are
growing more tender or more hard}' sorts. When I began, though
I planted the hardiest known of New England sorts, yet almost all
my trees became black-hearted in a few years. Now that nearly all
of that class of trees have been up-rooted from my orchard, and re-
placed by the "iron-clads," I see almost no bleeding, and when I
do see it I know the cause. I do grow a few sorts that sutfer some
in this way (such as Faraeuse), because of the excellence of their
fruit. The Fameuse is with me as hardy as the Baldwin in the up-
per Champlain Valley, and though the trees are short-lived in both
cases, they are planted because of the merits of the fruit.

WHEN TO PRUNE.

In my experience it makes no difference at what season a black-
hearted tree is pruned, as regards the subsequent flow of disorgan-
ized sap, provided the limb severed is so large that the stump will
not quite or nearly heal over in one season. This flow takes place
during the whole growing season, and injures (often kills) the bark
over which it runs. A tender tree, subject to black-heart, should
be pruned very sparingly. Branches not too large to heal over in
one season may be taken off, and the best time to do this is in June,
as the sap is then too thick to flow freely. But heavy pruning in
June is a severe shock to the tree, even to the hardiest kinds, and

160 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

almost surely fatal to any tender sort. Fall and winter pi'uning is
also injurious to tender sorts, as the bark around the wound will be
killed foi- some distance, and there is little hope that it will ever
afterwards heal. But an}' of the varieties that nfver become black-
hearted may be pruned "whenever 30ur knife is sharp," remember-
ing this, that June pruning is a shock more or less severe, according
to the amount of wood removed. "Prune in summer for fruit" ii an
old and correct rule, for the very reason that the shock of summer
pruning (like anything that weakens the tree) tends to cause the
formation of fruit buds. The effect is much like that of root prun-
ing, and both must be [jractised with moderation and judgment.

ARSENICAL POISONS FOR THE CODLING MOTH.

[From Bulletin No. 1, of the Entomologist of the State of Illinois, Prof. S. A. Forbe«,

Pli. I)., 1887.]

The Paris green mixture was of the same strength as last year,
— three-fourths of an ounce by weight, of a strength to contain 15.4
,per cent of metallic arsenic, being simply stirred up in two and a half
gallons of water. The arsenic solution was made by boiling one
ounce of arsenic in one quart of water, and adding this solution to
twenty gallons of cold water. The method of procedure was pre-
cisely as last year, the trees being thoroughly spra\ed with a hand
force-pump, and w^ith the Deflector Spray and Solid Jet-Hose Nozzle,
manufactured by the Lowell Faucet Company. Lowell, Mass. The
fluids were thrown in a fine mist-like spray, applied until the leaves
began to drip.

As a summary statement of the final issues of the Paris green ex-
periments for the years 1885 and 188G, we may say in a word, that,
in 1885, eighty-seven per cent of the fruit exposed to damage by the
€odling moth was preserved to ripening by the poisons applied, and
that fifty-eight per cent of the picked fruit had been thus preserved ;
or, that taking picked and fallen fruit together, sixty-nine per cent,
which would otherwise have been sacrificed, had been saved by our
remedial measure.

Furthermore, during 1886, seventy-three per cent was saved from
falling b}' a single spraying, seventy-seven per cent b}' two, and
about seventy-two per cent by three. The difference unfavorable to
the last was doubtless due to the accidental differences in trees and
treatment.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IGl

The benefit to the picked fruit apparent from a single spra_ying,
stands at fortj^-seveu per cent, and that from twice spraying, at
ninety per cent, while that from thrice spraying falls away, again,
to seventy-seven per cent. Or, summariziug still more briefly, we
may say, in general, that the results of once or tvnce spraying tviih
Paris green, in early spring , before the yoxing apples had drooped
ujion their stems, resulted in a saving of cdjout seventy-Jive per cent of
the applies exposed to injury by the codling moth.

I wish especially to emphasize the fact that the results now ob-
tained are drawn from computations so made that the}' may be ex-
pected to hold good without reference to conditions other than
variations in the treatment itself. The apples protected from in-
]x\Y\ by the codling moth are evidently apples effectively p)oisoned, and
our "•ratios of benefit" reall}' express the ratios of these poisoned
apples to the whole number treated. These ratios clearh' will not
vary either with the abundance of the apples, with the abundance
of the codling moths, or with anything else except the original
treatment, and subsequent accidents affecting the length of time dur-
ing which the poison may adhere to the apple. This view is, in fact,
substantiated by the essential agreement between the results of 1885
and 1886, under conditions as widely difll^erent as it would be pos-
sible to find by ten years' waiting.

We have next to determine the time of the 3'ear at which poison-
ing is the most effective : whether, in fact, it takes principal effect
upon the first brood or the later ones. A moment's reflection will
show that if only the first brood of the larvi^ was directly di-
minished in a certain ratio, the second brood should show a similarly
diminished ratio, since these descend from the first ; whereas if both
first and second broods are directly poisoned, then tiie ratio of dam-
age to the second brood should be greater than that to the first ; or,
in other words, the percentage of benefit to the picked apples should
be greater than that to the fallen. Our data for the present season
do not apply to this question, since all the sprayings were made in
May and early June while the apples were still very small ; and it
is incredible that the poison should have remained upon the fruit
through all the vicissitudes of weather and time for the two months
and more that elapsed before the appearance of the second brood of
larvae. The results of 1885, however, when the spraying was
continued until September 3, give us important information. Refer-

11

162 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ring to onr records it was shown that the benefit to the picked apples,
instead of being greater than that to the fallen fruit, was in 1885
about twent^'-seven per cent less, so that certainly no appreciable
effect was produced by spraying daring the life of the second brood.
The greater injury to the picked fruit is readil}' accounted for by
a circumstance to which I have already alhuled : viz., that our ex-
perimental trees were surrounded by others upon which no experi-
ment was tried, and were consequently subject to invasion by codling
moths of the second brood reared upon these unpoisoned trees.

Not only do these experimental facts point to the inefficiency of
Paris green as against the later broods of the codling moth, but it
is plain that the result was what we must have expected a 2^riori,
As the codling moth of all broods deposits the egg habitually on the
blossom end of the apple, the poison taking effect only in case it
reaches the surface of the apple between the calyx lobes, it is evident
that there is little probability of effectively poisoning the fruit when
the apple is full grown and pendent upon its stem.

Furthermore, I wish to emphasize especially the point that spray-
ing after the apples have begun to hang downward is unquestionably
dangerous, and should not be permitted under any circumstances if
the fruit is afterwards to be used. The results of the chemical
analysis reported in 1885 show that even heavy wind and violent
rain are not sufficient to remove the poison from the fruit at this
season, and remembering that the stem end of the apple presents a
large conical pit by which the poison could be received and held,
where neither rain nor wind could dislodge it, we have additional
reason for this absolute prohibition of the use of any poison danger-
ous to health except when the fruit is young.

The experiments above described seem to me to prove that at
least seventy per cent of the loss commonly suffered by the fruit
o-rower from the ravages of the codling moth or apple worm may be
prevented at a nominal expense, or, practically, in the long run, at no
expense at all, by thoroughly applying Paris green in a spray with
water, once or twice in early spring, as soon as the fruit is fairly set,
and not so late as the time when the growing apple turns downward
on the stem.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 163

[From Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, IS85.]

Spraying trees with Paris green and water has been often recom-
mended as a preventive against injury from the codling moth {Car-
pocapsa pomonella, L.). In order to learn to what extent the harm
wrought by this destructive insect may be thus avoided, we sprayed
a few of the trees of the station orchard the past season, and on a
portion of the trees made careful notes, intended to show as nearly as
possible how much benefit resulted from the application. The trees
selected lor the experiment were eleven in number, of which nine
were of the Fall Pippin variety, and the remaining two Rhode
Island Greening. On June 3d we sprayed five of the Fall Pippin
trees and one of the Rhode Island Greenings with Paris green and.
water at the rate of a teaspoonful to ten gallons. At this time the
fruits were about the size of a cranben-y. Alternate trees were left
unsprayed for comparison.

The liquid was applied to the trees by means of a garden engine
and the "cyclone nozzle." The nozzle attached to a hose was tied
to the end of a light pole, about ten feet long, by means of which it
could be raised and lowered at will, for spraying ditl'erent parts of
the tree.

We found this method of application quite laborious. The
amount of water that the nozzle would allow to pass through it was •
so small that from a fourth to half an hour was necessary to thoroughly
wet the foliage of a large tree. We tried attaching two nozzles to
the end of the hose, which performed the work considerably faster
than one.

On June 5th a very heavy rain fell, and fearing that this had largely
washed off the poison, we made a second application of the Paris
green and water at the same rate as before.

On June 17, we found on close examination that the larv£e of the
codling moth were still hatching and entering the fruits, which were
at this time about the size of a small cherry. Wishing to make our
application as thorough as possible, we sprayed the trees again on
the following day, using one ounce of Paris green to ten gallons of
water ; applying the mixture this time with the so-called Field force
pump fitted with the "Boss" nozzle. We found this apparatus very
satisfactory. The liquid left the nozzle in a thin sheet, which ex-
panded in width as it rose in the air, and soon became broken up
into a fine spray. Bj- the time it reached the height of the tree top
it was so finely distributed that it was necessary to hold the nozzle in

164

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

one position for a considerable time before the water commenced
dripping from the leaves. The nozzle could be held in the hand,
dispensing with the pole, and b}' waving it to the right and left the
foliage of the tallest apple trees in the orchard could be wet in one or
at most two minutes, with very little waste of the liquid.

As the apples began to drop in August, the windfalls were collected
and examined, under the sprayed trees, and those not sprayed,
and the number of sound and worm}' fruits counted. Oct. 5 and 6
the remaining fruit was picked, and assorted, and counted in the
same wa^'. The whole number of sound and worm}- fruits yielded
by each tree and the per cent (fractions omitted) of wormy fruits
upon each was as follows :

SPRAYED TREES.

Tree No. 1, Fall Pippin

3, '
" 5, '

7,
" 9, •
" 11, R. I

Greening.

S o

1755
1429
707
129
178
186

a 2

225
129
49
27
48
39

11

8
6

17
21
17

Average per cent of wormy fruits from spra3'ed trees, 13|.

TREES NOT SPRAYED.

•Tree No. 2, Fall Pippin

" 4, "
" 6, "
" 8, R. I. Greening

'5 o

331

617

393

1591

292
247
309
618

a u

47
29
40
25

Average per cent of worm}' fruits from trees not sprayed, 35^.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 165

Tree No. 10 was sprayed on June 11th with a kerosene emulsion
consisting of four pounds common 3''ellow hard soap, one gallon ker-
osene oil, and one gallon soft water, the soap being dissolved in the
water, the solution heated to boiling, the kerosene added, and the
whole stirred until cold. One pint of the mixture was diluted with
twenty gallons soft water, and applied to the trees in the same man-
ner as the Paris green and water. The foliage seemed to be injured
considerably by the application, a portion of the leaves turning
brown in a few days, as if scorched.

This tree yielded 208 fruits that wei'e not wormy, and 162 wormy
ones, or 44 per cent of wormy fruits.

It appears that the percentage of worm}' fruits from the trees
sprayed with Paris green and water was about 22 per cent less than
from those not sprayed. In other words, at this rate 100 barrels of
apples picked from the spra3ed trees would have yielded 22 barrels
more fruit free from worms than the same number from the un-
sprayed trees. The kerosene emulsion in this case did not seem to
prove beneficial.

THE APPLE SCAB.

[From Proceedings of the New Jersey State Horticultural Society, 1886.]

What is the experience of the Society in respect to what is gen-
erally known as apple scab ?

The President would like to hear from Prof. Scribner.

Prof. Scribner. The Department of Agriculture is engaged in
preparing a special investigation of this disease of the apple, and I
should be very glad to learn from practical fruit growers their ex-
perience in regard to it, and what varieties are most subject to it ;
under what conditions is it most prevalent ; whether any one has no-
ticed its absence under any peculiar circumstances, and what are the
probable losses resulting from it.

The fungus in its active form, as it attacks the apple, is well'known.
It attacks the apple, the leaves and 3'oung shoots, and has been re-
peatedl}' propagated from one orchard to another on the grafts. It
is probably perennial in its habit, living from one year to another in
its vegetative state ; what other forms it may have besides those
familiar to us all we don't know. It does not penetrate deeply in the
tissues, but is a surface disease, and is readily susceptible to fungi-
cides.

166 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Experiments have been made at the New York Experiment Station
the past year to combat this disease. A tree badly affected, in 1885,
was selected to experiment with, one-half of the tree was spraj^ed
with hypo-sulphide of soda ; two weeks later it received another ap-
plication ; the result at harvest was that this portion of the tree
yielded much better fruit than the other.

This is a disease which causes an immense loss, rendering the
quantity of number two apples unnecessarily large. Mr, Charles S.
Pope, the President of the Maine Pomological Society, wrote to the
Department a few weeks ago relative to this disease, sa^'ing it had
damaged him to the extent of $1,000 the past season ; the Baldwin
was especially affected.

I have noticed apples in our Washington market, particularly £he
Bellflower, badly affected with this disease.

The Secretary, in reply to the Professor's inquiry, would say,
That with him the Carolina Red June, Fall Pippin, Red Astrachan,
and Early Harvest, were among the varieties most affected, the loss
to the first named being fully fift3' per cent

Wm. R. Ward. The Greenings and Baldwins have been affected
this year badly ; had never seen them troubled before. I attribute
the early dropping of the apples to this cause. However, this may
be due to the very dry season. I think a solution of London pur-
ple or Paris green sprayed on the trees would be beneficial.

Prof. ScRiBNER. The fungus of the apple-scab does not cause
the apple to rot. These apples keep as well as others. Under the
fungus growth is found a corrugated layer that protects the healthy
tissues of the apple from decay. There are other fungi, more con-
ducive to rot, that attack the apple ; I have noticed several this
season, I have noticed that apples affected with the scab, if kept
in a warm place, will commence to rot about this fungus sooner than
elsewhere.

I have noticed, also, that on trees affected with this fusicladium
the leaves fall prematurely, and when the apples are attacked when
quite young the disease will doubtless hasten maturity and cause the
premature falling of the fruit.

The Secretary had noticed that where the fruit was attacked it
stopped the growth and expansion of the fruit at the point of
attack.

Prof. Scribner. This fungus distorts the apple very much ; some-
times to the extent to cause the apple to crack.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 167

Mr. Baird reported the apples of Monmouth County very badly
affected the past season. Smith's Cider especially.

President Pearson reported the loss of fruit and foliage.

[From article by Prof. J. T. Burrill of Illinois, in Transactions of the Mississippi Valley
Horticultural Society, Vol. 1, 1883.]

It is, however, no new thing. It has neither come into existence
in our time nor has it recently been introduced in our part of the
countr3\ Its dispersion over the world seems to be as wide as that
of the apple itself, and records now exist in the books of its occa-
sional prolific development and injuries over nearly a century of
time. Botanists have baptised it with several names, hard enough of
course, and collectors of specimens count it in the make-up of herbaria,
sometimes more than once, on account of the synonymical names
under which it is known. Now, however, the authorities are quite
generally agreed that henceforth Fusidadium dendriticum, Fhl.,
shall be its true and only title in scientific parlance.

Turning now to the supposed conditions which have of late influ-
enced the increased iiijuries of the fungus, nothing can be asserted
with positiveness, but all indications seem to point to atmospheric
and climatic causes rather than an}' special physiological changes in
the trees themselves. Some kinds of trees are much worse affected
than others, and this may be generallv true of special varieties, or
onl}^ during certain seasons, or at certain ages of the stock But nearly
all varieties of apples and pears have unusually suffered, at least in
places, during the last year. Even nursery stock has been singed
and stunted.

It seems to me, we are first to look to the open and humid autumn
of 1881 as an important contribution to the severe result. During
this time the fungus certainly did vigorously develop on the fading
leaves, and especially on the unripened shoots of the year's growth.
As the spores ver}' readily germinate when moistened, it is not
probable that any of them survive the winter on the fallen leaves.
When once germinated, winter's vicissitudes soon put an end to
them as they do to sprouting seeds. But on the twigs, in the dry air,
both spores and mycelium successfully pass the winter and freely
grow in the spring.

Having thus an unusual start last spring (1882) and unusually
favored by the remarkable lateness and wetness of the season, the
fungus became immensel}' developed, and, as we know, did immense

168 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

damage. The outlook for next year (1883). as at present indicated,
is not encouraging, but no one can certainly predict the results.
Certain it js that the trees are now badl}' infested, and with similar
conditions a similar development may be expected.

The important question is, '■'Can anything be done to reduce the
damage?" I cannot, with assurance, say "yes." But some ex-
periments on a small scale seem to be sufficiently encouraging to
plan for further and more extended trials. The thing to do, of
course, is to kill the fungus and prevent its reappearance, F'rom
what has been said the most favorable time for treatment is in the
winter, when the leaves are off, and the applications should be made
to the .voung wood.

The suggested trials are, first, pruning away any unnecessary 3'oung
growth and especially that most affected, then syringing the tree with
an emulsion of kerosene oil made with soap and water. To prepare
this, mix equal quantities of soft soap, or hard soap softened with
water and heat, and common coal oil ; stir vigorousl}^ and for at least
five minutes, then add ten to twenty times the quantity of water,
and again stir. The result should be a uniform milky fluid. Apply
in any way so as to wet the bark of the last year's growth, or, lor
thoroughness, that of two years' production. No fears need be en-
tertained of injury to the tenderest part of the tree if the emulsion
is well made. It can be applied, if desirable, to the leaves, but there
is much less surface to wet before these appear, and it is much easier
to reach it.

Coal oil of itself is injurious to vegetation, but when made into an
emulsion, and thus diluted, no fears need be entertained about its
use. Still, it may be in this State quite destructive to such fungus
growths as that of which we write.

Sulphur has been recommended for similar use, but in this case
little good can be anticipated from it, at any rate, if applied in winter.
The sulphur itself does not kill fungi, because it is insoluble, but the
beneficial effect comes from the gases, products of which it forms a
part. In the winter these are not formed, while the rains wash away
the solid material. Kerosene, on the other hand, is as efl^ectual in
cold as in warm weather, and kills b}^ direct action.

There is another thing that ma}' be mentioned in favor of the oil
emulsion : It is also destructive to insects, and, wherever they may be
reached, to their eggs. It is probable that the eggs of the apple
aphis, which are deposited in autumn on the twigs, maj' be destroyed
in this wa}'. If so, we can kill two birds with one stone.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 169

[By Prof. William Trelease, in the Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the
University of Wisconsin, 1883.]

The scab fungus does not seem to penetrate below the epidermal
layer of cells. These are split open and destroyed. The cells
immediately below them are usuallj^ somewhat shrunken and flat-
tened, while their contents are dead or injured, as is shown b}' their
brown color. Sometimes, but not alwaj's, a small mass of tissue
lying under the scab is quite green and intensely bitter, but the
injur}- seldom extends far beneath the surface of the fruit, unless
this is deeply cracked, and the seeds of scabby apples are apparently
as vigorous as those of sound specimens. Usually, as the spot
grows older and enlarges, an effort is made to throw off the parasite
and heal the wound by the formation of a layer of cork just below
it, and it is this brown cork which is seen through the cracks in old
scabs.

From what has been said, it appears that the leaf or twig mildew
and the scab of the fruit are diseases caused by the same parasitic
fungus, which at first lives beneath the cuticle, in the one case,
and in the epidermal cells, in the other. I have not 3'et been able
to learn how the parasite penetrates the epidermis. It is well
known that the skin of many varieties of the apple is marked by
simple or areole dots which occur naturally on the healthy fruit, and
are similar in their nature to the corky dots called lenticels that are
found on the branches of the apple tree. These dots are slightly
elevated portions of the skin where the epidermis is commonly
split, and I suspect that the spores often find a lodgement in these
dots, and through them reach the surrounding cells, when they
germinate.

The. age at which the fruit ceases to be infected is also uncertain.
Last spring Mr. Tuttle found the young apples scabbed when no
larger than peas, and it appears probable that the disease may
attack them at any time from the unfolding of the blossom to their
maturity ; but the scab does not seem to spread from one apple to
another in the barrel, though, as has been said, the individual spots
continue to grow on the ripe fruit.

Those conditions of the soil and atmosphere which favor the
development of leaf mildew are, in the main, most favorable for the
formation of scab on the fruit, although hotter weather ma}' be neces-
sary for the excessive development of the former. This fact,
taken in connection with the greater prevalence of active spores

170 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

when there is much of the leaf disease, explains the belief of many
orchardists that scab is caused by the mildew.

Mr. A. L. Hatch, of Ithaca, writes: "Apple scab worst on a
poor soil, or rather subsoil. Where an orchard has been planted on
heavy timber lands, where the original forest was mainly basswood,
white oak, and some ash and maple, the apples are much fairer than
on our white oak brush land, or on black oak land. An apple tree
is more influenced b}' subsoil than surface soil, when of bearing age.
In 1882, Joseph Elliot, of Port Andrew, in this county, had 1,600
bushels Fameuse, fair and smooth, while almost every apple we had
in 150 to 200 bushels here, was scabbed. On some soils Walbridge
is smooth and good. Mildew, we think, is worst where scabbing is
worst, i. e., as far as soil influence goes ; but is also \Qvy bad on
richer, warmer soils, especially if sandy.

"Our notion is, that soils and subsoils that furnish most of the
protecting covering to leaves and fruit (whether it is silex or wax),
will grow trees less affected with scab and mildew ; and this is heavy
timber soil, with a subsoil not as porous as we have here on white
oak brush land — such as we find where basswoods, white oaks, ash,
etc. , attain large size, but not where black oak and second growth brush,
poplars, etc., prevail. Also, that a very damp atmosphere, with cold
when apples are from one-tenth to one-quarter grown, produces scab,
and with heat produces mildew, provided it occurs before the first of
July, before the first growth of apple trees is completed, and while
leaves are tender. This first growth is always complete in orchard
trees by the middle of July at latest."

Prof. W. J. Beal states that scab is worst in seasons which are wet
at first, with alternating extremes of wet and dr}' weather later, and
Mr. Harris finds more of it in "muggy" weather following a cool, dry
period. According to Mr. Garfield, the side of the apple most ex-
posed to light is most seriously affected as a rule, so that from the
center of the tree "the fruit looked fair and beautiful, when really
there was not a perfect apple on the tree because of scab on the
outer side of the fruit."

Like the mildew, scab is more troublesome on some varieties than
on others. As a boy I noticed the knobby, cracked fruit of the Early
Harvest in New York State, where, in damp summers, this variety
was always ruined. Professor Beal mentions Fameuse and Northern
Sp3" as scabbing badly, especiallj' on the lower limbs where they are
thick, while the Baldwin and Rhode Island Greening scab little, often

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETr. 171

not at all ; and Secretan* Garfield reports Early Harvest, Fameuse,
Rhode Island and Northern Sp3' as suffering in other parts of
Michigan.

In Wisconsin, the Fameuse is pre-eminent as scabbing badly, while
the Walbridge, Late Strawberry, Haas, Northern Spy, fall and winter
Winesop, Roman Stem, Sweet Pear, Rawles Janet, Fall Stripe,
McMahon's White, Ben Davis and Talraan Sweet scab more or less
badly in wet seasons or on heavy, poorly-drained soil.

Several correspondents believe that no variety is absolutel}' exempt
from the disease under all circumstances ; but they agree that Duchess,
Alexander, Golden Russet (and, in fact, all russets), Wealthy,
Pewaukee, Tetofsk}", Red Astrachan, Sops of Wine, Plumb's Cider,
Utter, Bethlehemite, Fall Orange, St. Lawrence, Cole's Quince and
Lowell, scab much less than most varieties of the first list. Of about
one hundred Russians in Mr. Tuttle's nursery, only a few scab to an
injurious extent.

Some idea of the injury caused by the scab may be gathered from
Mr. Hatch's statement that in his locality (Richland County) 99 per
cent of Fameuse and Walbridge, 40 per cent of Haas, 20 per cent
of Plumb's Cider, 10 per cent of Pewaukee, 5-10 per cent of
Tetofsky, and something less than 5 per cent of Duchess, scab in-
juriously in bad years. The total failure of the apple harvest in 1883
over a large part of the State is attributed to the leaf mildew and
scab by several correspondents.

These two diseases of the apple are not new diseases, nor are they
confined to Wisconsin. The theory has prevailed with a few orch-
ardists that both result from the age and lessened vigor of their
trees, or from a sort of natural deterioration of certain varieties
through long cultivation ; but neither of these theories is accepted by
the best observers. The same diseases occur on the pear. On
either plant they are, so to speak, epidemic in seasons which are
favorable for their development and propagation. Like a widespread
outbreak of small-pox in a large city where isolated cases have oc-
curred all the time, the}' appear new to many people, and, like the
small-pox epidemic, may require active, concerted and intelligent
measures to prevent extensive damage as a result of their thorough
establishment in the past two 3'ears.

Both diseases occur the world over. The fungus on the leaf was
studied and described in 1833, by Wallroth, as Cladosjyorium dendrit-
icum. From the variability of its spores and its wide distribution,

172 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

it has received a number of synonj'ins, of whicti Spiloccea poimi^
applied in 1829 to the reproductive cells which separate directly from
the mycelium, is the only one which need be mentioned. In 1875,
Sorauer pubhshed an account of the scab, which is known in Ger-
many as the apple rust or scurf, showing that it is caused b}' the
same fungus that attacks the leaves, as Cooke had suggested in 1873.
From the occasional presence of two-celled spores, and the slight
turnip shape of these bodies. Von Thuemen has proposed the genus
Napicladium for the reception of our plant, which he calls N.
Soraueri ; but the general tendency of botanists is to retain it in the
genus FusiclacUum, to which it was transferred by Fuckel.

The reader who has followed this account so far naturally' desires
to learn of a remedy" or preventive for the disease. Several measures
can be suggested as promising relief. One of these is a better sys-
tem of a drainage* and more open planting than we find in the aver-
age orchard, both tending to promote the general health of the tree.
Where leaves fall from mildew, they should be raked together on a
damp, still day and burned.

In the paper referred to. Professor Burrill suggests "pruning away
any unnecessar}^ growth, and especially that most affected, then
syringing the tree with an emulsion of kerosene oil made with soap
and water. To prepare this, mix equal quantities of soft soap, or
hard soap softened with water and heat, and common coal oil ; stir
vigorously and for at least five minutes, then add ten to twenty
times the amount of water and again stir. The result should be a
uniform milky fluid. Apply in any way so as to wet the bark of last
year's growth, or for thoroughness, that of two years' production.
No fears need be entertained of injury to the tenderest part of the
tree if the emulsion is well made." It is recommended that this be
done before the leaves appear, to destroj' the mj-celium and spores
on the twigs, but this treatment should also be tested after the leaves
were out and the fruit has set, if the fungus is on the increase. The
oil emulsion, if properly made with either soap or milk, is a good
and safe application for the apple aphis, oyster shell bark louse and
other insect enemies of the tree ; used in connection with a proper
system of planting and drainage and the occasional removal of the

*I am aware that oui- agricultural journals for the last year contain numerous articles written
to show that the apple lives in soggy soil or cau even be flooded for a loug time without dying,
just as the bark maj' sometimes be stripped off without killing it; but the testimony its prac-
tice of most successful and well informed horticulturists is against the ultimate success o^
trees subjected to such barbarous treatment.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 173

old bark and of fallen leaves and rubbish, it promises to well repay
the man who uses it. Alkali, which is largeh* used for the destruc-
tion of orange scale insects, in California, might likewise be tried
against this fungus, and experiments with sulphur and lime, when
it is likely to do harm in summer, may yield good results. From
the observations of Secretary Garfield it would also appear desira-
ble to test the efficacy of protecting the fruit from too strong sun-
light. The results of careful experiments in an}' or all of these di-
rections will be grate full}' received at the Station.

The prevention or eradication of this and other fungoid diseases
should be understood to demand a rigid application of the principles
which govern the rational treatment of the contagious diseases of
man and the domesticated animals. Until a proper system of or-
chard supervision is adopted, at an}' rate, we must expect that when-
ever a favorable season occurs both leaf blight and scab will appear
on susceptible varieties and in badly located orchards. In setting
an orchard, therefore, care should be taken to choose the greater
part of the stock from those hardy, "thick-leaved" varieties which
prove most resistant to this disease, as well as to our trying winter
and summer climate.

[From Report of the New York Agriciilturiil Experiment Station, 1885.]

We made a series of applications intended to prevent the growth
of the fungus which produces the apple scab, Fusidadium dendriti-
mim Fclk. The tree chosen for the experiment was one of the com-
mon Siberian (?) crab that had been very subject to injury from this
fungus in previous years.

On May 5th, we syringed one-half of the tree with a solution of
hyposulphate of soda, at the rate of one pound to ten gallons of
water, and repeated the application on May 9th and May 15th.

During the summer, the foliage appeared less injured by the fun-
gus upon the syringed half of the tree. On September 19, we
picked a quantity of the fruits from the syringed part of the tree,
and from the part not syringed, and assorted each lot into three
qualities. In the first quality we put only the fruits not attacked by
the fungus, in the second, those attacked in but one place, and there
but slightly, and in the third, those much injured. The results ap-
pear in the following table, in which the percentage of the fruits of
each quality are given for the syringed and unsyringed part of the
tree. We also give the weight of 100 fruits in each quality, as an
indication of the amount of injury wrought by the fungus :

174

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

First Quality
Second *'
Third "

Syringed

Portion.

Unsyringo

o .

O N

G

c

O

o

u

:*^ 3

u

Ph

f^^

P.

21.5

19

10.

38.5

16

29.7

40.

13

60.3

It appears that in the syringed portion of the tree the per cent of
uninjured fruits was double that in the unsyringed portion, while
the percentage of the third qualit}', or much injured fruits was one-
half less. It also appears that all the fruits on the syringed por-
tion were larger in size than those on the unsyringed portion. We
also noted that there were many more decayed fruits on the uns3'r-
inged portion of the tree.

The indications are, therefore, the hyposulphite of soda proved
beneficial. The solution may be applied at the same time as the
Paris green and water, where the latter is used for the codling moth,
thus avoiding the expense of a special application.

KEROSENE EMULSION AS AN INSECTICIDE.

[From Report of Prof. C. V. Riley, U. S. Entomologist, 1884]

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon all who use kerosene as
an insecticide, that it can be considered a safe remedy onl}- when
properly emulsified. The formula for the kerosene and soap emulsion,
as found most satisfactory by Mr. Hubbard, is as follows :

Kerosene 2 gallons=67 per cent.

Common soap or whale-oil soap ^ pound \ ^^g , ^^^^

Water 1 gallon j ^

Heat the solution of soap and add it boiling hot to the kerosene.
Churn the mixture by means of a force pump and spray-nozzle for
five or ten minutes. The emulsion, if perfect, forms a cream, which
thickens on cooling, and should adhere without oiliness to the surface
of glass. Dilute, before using, one part of the emulsion with nine
parts of cold water. The above formula gives three gallons of
emulsion, and makes, when diluted, thirty gallons of wash.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 175

The kerosene and soap mixture, especially when the latter is warmed ,
iforms, upon very moderate agitation, an apparent union ; but the mix-
ture is not stable, and separates on standing or when cooled or diluted
by the addition of water. A proper emulsion of kerosene is obtained
onl}' upon violent agitation. It is formed, not gradually-, but suddenly :
in short, to use a familiar phrase, "it comes" like butter. The time
required in churning depends somewhat upon the violence of the
agitation, but still more upon the temperature, which, however, need
not be much above blood heat.

"When obtained, an emulsion of kerosene and soap is known b}'^ the
perfect union of the ingredients, and the absence of oiliness, so that
the liquid clings to the surface of glass or metal. It resembles a
rich cream, more or less thickened according to the proportion of soap
in the mixture.

PREVEN^TIVES AND REMEDIES FOR PEAR BLIGHT.
By Prof. J. C. Arthur.

[From Report of the Mycological Section of U. S. Department of Agricultiu-e, 1886.]

Whatever form Pear Blight assumes, it is started by germs gaining
access to the tree in one of the three ways described — through the
flowers, the growing shoots, or injuries of the bark. No method is
known or has yet suggested itself of rendering the tree insusceptible
to the disease, and a direct prevention must be sought in some means
of excluding the germs. There are three ways by which germicides
may be applied to trees — b}' fumigation, by spraying and by washing.
The first method offers a possibility of at least partial success, and
is done by sulphur mixed with lime and applied as a wash to the
trees. The odor remains upon the trees for weeks and is said to
ward off the disease.

Spraying offers little more hope of success than fumigation. An
experiment tried during last season in spraying with a solution of
hyposulphite of soda, applied several times during the period of ex-
pansion of the buds, gave no evidence of beneficial effects.

The application of washes cannot, of course, be made to the flowers
or growing shoots, but excellent results may reasonably be expected
when made to the trunks and larger branches. To decrease the
amount of cracking the boclj^ of the tree may be shielded from the
sun's fiercest rays by a low trimmed head, or by leaning the whole
tree toward the southwest, or by boards, matting, or other protection,
on the sunny side of the trunks.

176 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Among the indirect methods of fighting the disease none are more
important than those which secure slow growth and earl}- maturity
of the shoots. This has been recognized from the first agitation of
the subject, but until the present time there has been no unanimity
of opinion as to the exact objects to be accomplished.

Of genuine remedies there are none ; but as the disease is local,
and spreads through the tissues slow)}', it is possible, as has long
been known, to effectively check its progress by amputation. The
smaller limbs are to be cut oflf a foot or two below the lowest mani-
festation of the disease, and the spots on the trunk and larger limbs
are to be shaved out, cutting deep enough to remove all discolora-
tion. A careful operator will keep the knife disinfected with car-
bolic acid or otherwise ; if this is not done the disease will be con-
veyed in a small percentage of instances to the freshly cut surface,
necessitating a subsequent excision. The beneficial effects of this
treatment are least apparent during periods of epidemic, when the
tree is attacked at almost every vulnerable point. At such times
a more radical method has been found serviceable, which is to cut
off the whole top to within a foot or two of the ground. It can be
practiced to advantage upon trees that are as much as ten years old,
or even older.

THE BOARDMAX APPLE.

[From Keport of U. S. Department of Agi'iculture, Division of Pomology, 18S6.]

A box of very handsome apples of medium size and qualit}^ was
received from Mr. E. H. Purington, of West Farmington, Me., said
by him to be from a seedling of the Dean, and which I named "Board-
man," in honor of Samuel L. Boardraan, the Secretary of the Maine
State Pomological Society. Below is a description of one of the
specimens :

Size, small to medium, 2J inches; shape, flat, conical, but not
pointed, regular ; surface, smooth, glossy, bright mixed and splashed
carmine almost entirely covering a white ground ; dots, not very
numerous, gray, prominent; basin, medium, abrupt, regular, slightly
marked with russet or leather-cracked; eye, small, partially open;
cavity, deep, narrow, furrowed, but little russeted ; stem, long, slen-
der ; core, small, closed ; seeds, broad, plump, sharply pointed, dark ;
flesh, very white, tender, fine grained, juicy ; flavor, subacid, not
rich ; quality, good ; season, December to spring in Maine.

THE BOARDMAX APPLE.

From Plate 10, Report of Department of Agrriculture, Division of Pomology, for 1886.

APPENDIX.

12

Pomological and Horticultural Societies.

Below is given a list of those Pomological and Horticultural socie-
ties and their Secretaries, in the different States, with which our
Society is in correspondence, and with which it exchanges Reports
and Transactions. We should be very glad to extend the list so as
to embrace all societies of this nature in ever}' State in the Union.

American Pomological Society. Charles W. Garfield, Secretary, Grand
Rapids. Michigan.

Department of Agriculture of the United States. Hon. Norman J.
Colman, Commissioner, Washington, D. C. Hon. Henry E. Van Deman,
Chief of Division of Pomology.

American Horticultural Society. W. H. Pagan, Secretary, Greencastle,
Indiana.

Society of American Florists. Edwin Lonsdale, Seci-etary, Philadel-
phia, Penn'a.

Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Robert Manning, Secretary,
Boston, Mass.

Western New York Horticultural Society. P. C. Reynolds, Secretary,
Rochester, N. Y.

New Jersey State Horticultural Society. E. Williams, Secretary, Mont-
clair, N. J.

Pennsylvania Fruit Growers' Society. E. B. Engle, Secretary, Waynes-
boro', Penn'a.

Ohio State Horticultural Society. George W. Campbell, Secretary,
Delaware, Ohio.

Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. H. C. Adams, Secretary, Madi-
son, Wisconsin.

Indiana Horticultural Society. C. M. Hobbs, Secretary, Bridgeport,
Indiana.

State Horticultural Society of Michigan. Charles W. Garfield, Secre-
tary, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(179)

180 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Illinois State Horticultural Society. A. C. Hammond, Secretary, War-
saw, Illinois.

Iowa State Horticultural Society. G. B. Brackett, Secretary, Denmark,
Iowa.

Missouri State Horticultural Society. L. A. Goodman, Secretary,
Westport, Missouri.

Kansas State Horticultural Society. G. C. Brackett, Secretary, Law-
rence, Kansas.

Nebraska State Horticultural Society. Samuel Barnard, Secretary,
Table Rock, Nebraska.

State Board of Horticulture of California. A. H. Webb, Secretary,
San Francisco, California.

Minnesota State Horticultural Society. S. D. Hillman, Secretary,
Minneapolis, Minn.

Columbus Horticultural Society. W. S. Devol, Secretary, Columbus,
Ohio.

Colorado State Horticultural Society. Nelson Millett, Secretary, Den-
ver, Col.

Massachusetts Agricultural College. Hon. Henry H. Goodell, Presi-
dent and Librarian, Amherst, Mass.

New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. E. Lewis Sturte-
vant, Director, Geneva, N. Y.

Entomological Department of the State of Illinois. Prof. S. A. Forbes,
Entomologist, Springfield, 111.

Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. N. S. Townsheud, Director,
Columbus, Ohio.

Department of Fruit Pests, California State Board ot Horticulture.
W. G. Klee, Inspector of Fruit Pests, Sacramento, Cal.

North Carolina State Horticultural Society. S. Otho Wilson, Secre-
tary, Vineyard, N. C.

California State Board of Viticultural Commissioners. Chas. A. Wet-
more, Chief Viticultural Officer, Sacramento, Cal.

Fruit Growers' Association of the Province of Ontario. L. Woolver-
ton. Secretary, Grimsby, Ontario.

Montreal Horticultural Society. E. J. Maxwell, Secretary, Montreal,
P. Q., Canada.

Entomological Society of the Province of Ontario. Edmund Baynes
Heed, Secretary, London, Ontario.

Fruit Growers' Association of Nova Scotia. C. R. H. Starr, Secretary,
Port Williams, N. S.

Ontario Department of Agriculture, Entomological Division. James
Fletcher, F. R. S. C, Entomologist, Ottawa, Canada.

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

Note — Any errors or changes of residence should be promptly reported to the Secre-
tary. Members will also confer a favor by furnishing the Secretary with their full
Christian names where initials only are given.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Andrews, A. Emery Gardiner

*Atherton, H.N Hallowell

Atherton, W. P "

Atkins, Charles G Bucksport

Atwood, Fred Winterport

Bennoeh, John E Orono

Boardman, Samuel L Augusta

Briggs, D. J South Turner

Briggs, John Turner

Burr, John Freeport

Carter, Otis L Etna

Chase, Henry M North Yarmouth

Chase, Martin V. B Augusta

*Clark, Eliphalet Portland

Cole, Horatio G Boston, Mass

Crafts, Moses Auburn

*Crosby, William C Bangor

Dana, Woodbury S Portland

DeRocher, Peter Bradentown, Fla.

Dirwanger, Joseph A Portland

Dunham, W. W North Paris

Dyer, Milton Cape Elizabeth

♦Emerson, Albert ... Bangor

Farnsworth, B. B Portland

Frost, Oscar F Monmouth

*Gardiner, Robert H. , Gardiner

Gardiner, Robert H Boston, Mass

George, C. H Hebron

Gilbert, Z. A North Greene

♦Godfrey, John E Bangor

Eanscom, John Saco

Harlow, S. C Bangor

♦Harris, N. C Auburn

Harris, N. AV "

Harris, William M "

♦Hersey, T. C Portland

Hopkins, Miss S. M Gardiner

Hoxie, James S North Fairfield

Hobbs, M . C West Farmington

Ingalls, Henry Wiscasset

* Jewett, George Portland

Johnson, Isaac A Auburn

Jordan, Francis C Brunswick

Knowlton, D. H Farmington

Low, Elijah Bangor

Low, S. S "

Lapham, E. A Pittston

McLaughlin, Henry Bangor

♦Metcalf, M. J Monmouth

Moore, William G "

Moor, F. A Waterville

Morton, J. A Bethel

Morton, William E Portland

*Noyes, Albert Bangor

Perley, Chas. I . . . . Seward's ( Vassalboro')

Pope, Charles S Mancheste^

Pulsifer, D. W Poland

Purington, E . F West Fa rmington

♦Richards, F. G Gardiner

Richards, John T "

Ricker, A. S Turner

♦Richardson, J. M Gardiner

Roak, George M Auburn

Robinson, Henry A Foxeroft

♦ Deceased.

(181)

182

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Rolfe, Samuel Portland

Sawyer, Andrew S Cape Elizabeth

Sawyer, George B Wiscasset

Shaw, Stillman W West Auburn

Simmons, II. J. A Waldoboro'

LIFE MEMBERS— Concluded.

Sweetser, S. R Cumberland Center

*Taylor, Joseph Belgrade

Taylor, Miss L. L.. ..(Lakeside) Belgrade

Thomas, William W., Jr Portland

Tilton, William S Boston, Mass

*Smith, Alfred Monmouth True, Davis P Leeds Center

Smith, Henry S "

Starrett, L. F Warren

*Stetson, Isaiah Bangor

Stilphen, Asbury C Gardiner

Stanley, Charles Winthrop

Stanley, 0. E "

Strout, S. F AVest Falmouth

Varney, James A The Dalles, Oregon

Vickery, James Portland

Vickery, John Auburn

Wade, Patrick Portland

* Weston, James C Bangor

Wharff, Charles S Gardiner

Whitney, Edward K Harrison

Strattard, Mrs. A. B...

. Monroe Woodman, George W Portland

*Deceased.

ANNUAL MEMBEPwS, 1886.

Allen, Nelson S Dennysville Hoyt, Mrs. F Winthrop

Bartlett, M. E East Dixmont Hawkins, M. P Auburn

Blossom, Leauder H Turner Centre Hibbard, C. H Lowiston

Berry, L. M Winthrop Judkins, Henry Chesterville

Blossom. G. W Turner Jordan, L. G Lewiston

Baker, John G Lewiston Kenniston, E. H Simpson's Corner

Brown, Henry W Newburg

Bickford, James Carmel

Carpenter, James M Pittston

Colby, Mrs. D. H Lewiston

Gary, Henry S Topsham

Chase, G. C Lewiston

Chipraan, A. B West Gloucester

Cook, S. W Lewiston

Cushing, J. S Turner

Douglass, 0. G Lewiston

Douglass, Mrs. J. L Bath

Dunton, John. . Lewiston

King, S. M South Paris

King, A. W , Charleston

Leach, H. T E. Monmouth

Lombard, T. M Auburn

Leavitt, Mis. E. M "

Merrill, T. M West Gloucester

McKenney, f . V Auburn

Murch, Mrs. T. W Auburn

Nowell, Frank E Fairfield

Nelson, 0. C New Gloucester

Perkins, L. J Deering

Penley, Arthur W Auburn

Dunbar, E. W Damariscotta Powers, L.' G Georgetown

Espionnette, Albert Lewiston

George, C. H Hebron

Grant, Mrs Benson Lewiston

Hoifses, Elmas Warren

Haskell, E. C West Gloucester

Harmon, George H Auburn

Harmon, Mrs. G. H Auburn

Ring, Miss Cora E Richmond

Sanford, C. E Bowdoinham

Skillings, Lorinda Lewiston

Swan, D. H Watervill*

Wakefield, Seth D Lewiston

Wharff, William R Gardiner

Waterman, I. T East Auburn

ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1887.

Carpenter, James M Pittston Nelson, 0. C Upper New Gloucester

Merrill, T. M West Gloucester True, J. W New Gloucester

INDEX.

PAGE.

Address of Welcome 19

of President Pope 24

Aesthetics of fruit culture G7

Agricultural societies, educational work of 67

Atherton, W. P., paper of 81

Annual exhibition, report of 3

Apple trees, distance apart for 84

'• Aunt Mary's " 112

tree aphis, kerosene for 151

borer 80

trees, bleeding of 158

pruning of 59, 83

black hearted 159

scab, the 165, 167, 169, 173

the Boardman 176

Apples, premiums on 8

sorting for market 39

discussion on 40, 74, 75, 85

evaporating 44

too many varieties of 60

best varieties determined by experience 64

early varieties of 65

storing for winter 84, 85, 158

Seedling and Russian 147

Aroostook County, fruits in 115

soils of 115

nurseries in 117

small fruits for 117

list of 118

Arbor Day 70

Arsenical poison for codling moth 160, 161, 163, 164

Arthur, J. C, paper of 176

Barrels for packing apples 39, 41

Barry, P., letter from 132

Bennoch, J. E., paper of 128

Blossom, L. H., paper of 58

(183)

184 STATE P0M0L06ICAL SOCIETY.

PAGE.

Black-hearted apple trees 159

Boardman, S. L., paper of 27

apple 175

Borer, apple-tree 80

Burrill, Prof. J. T., paper of 167

Children, a plea for 45

Chamberlain, C, paper of Ill

Chapter of recollections Ill

College, State, exhibit of 69

Codling moth, poisons for 160, 161, 163, 164

Culture of small fruits 155

Defects in orchard management 58

Devol, W. S., letter of 132

Distance apart for apple trees 84

Drainage of orchards 59, 73, 84

Dunlap, Henry M., paper of 153

Educational work of fairs 67

Exhibition, report of annual 3

of truit at winter meeting 88

rules of 5

Farmers' meetings at fairs 68

Farmers, value of natural sciences to 91

Flowers, premiums on 15

in poetry , 49, 50

influence of, in the home 51

sacred associations of 51

school premiums for 71

Floriculture for children 45

Forbes, Prof. A. S., paper of 160

Fruit, storage of 84

exhibition of, at winter meeting 88

in Aroostook County 115

Piscataquis County 130

Sagadahoc County 119

Somerset County 122

Fruit, marketing, paper on 35, 66

Fruits, degeneracy of 64

for Washington County 126,127

premiums on 15

Gardiner, Hon. K. H., notice of 24

memorial of 27

Gideon, P. M., paper of 147

Grapes, premiums on 13

Home, influence of flowers in the 51

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 185

PAGE.

. Hoskins. Dr. T. H., paper of 158

Hoyt, Hon. J. G., address of 19

Index 183

Increasing profits of fruit culture 125

Insecticide, iierosene as an 174

Kerosene emnlsion 151, 174

Keyes, Mrs. Hattie Park, paper of 91

King of Tompkins, culture for 72

Knowlton, D. H., paper of 61

Lang. J. W., paper of 119

Leland, H. L., letter of 130

S. R., paper of 77

Little, Charles, paper of 151

Location for an orchard 58

Mace, C. A., poem of 101

Marketing fruit, hints on 35, 66

Merritt, E. W., paper of 115

Memorial of R. H. Gardiner 27

M. P. Wilder 135

Members, list of ISl

Mice, ravages of, protection for 77

Miscellaneous articles, premiums on 13

Mulching for apple trees 43, 88

Natural sciences for farmers 91

Nowell, Frank E., paper of 122

Nurseries in Aroostook County II7

Orchard, defective management of 58

location of 58

drainage of an 59, 84

pruning an 59

borers in an SO

mice in an 77

Orchards iij Franklin County 62 63

mulching of 43, 88

Orcharding, twenty years' experience in 81

in Somerset County 122

cost of 35

Original papers 109

Old and New, poem 101

Pears, premiums on 11

Pear blight, remedies for 175

Piscataquis County, fruit culture in 130

Plum, culture of 128

Plums, premiums on 13

Pope, Chas. S., address of 24

186 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PAGE.

Poetry of flowers J9

Pomological notions, paper on 61

Poem, "The Old and the New" 101

Poste, John, paper of 144

President's address 24

report on 89

Pruning, time of 159

apple trees 59, 83

Proceedings of winter meeting 19

Premiums on miscellaneous articles 13

aAvarded, list of 8

Purington, Mrs. Sarah B , paper of 45

Rkminiscences, chapter of Ill

Reynolds, P. C, paper of 155

Rose, culture of the 144

Roses, list of 146, 147

Rules of the annual exhibition 5

Russian and Seedling apples 147

Sagadahoc County, fruit culture in 119

Scab, apple 105, 167, 109, 173

Schools, flower premiums for • 71

Selected papers 133

Seedling apples 147, 149

Small fruits 155

cost of growing 157

in Aroostook County 117

Somerset County, fruit in 122

varieties for 123

Sprague, H. A., paper of 125

Storage of fruits for winter 84, 85

Teaching agriculture 69

Trelease, Prof. Wm., paper of 169

Trees, distance apart in an orchard 76

pruning apple 59

Varieties of apples, too many 60

the best 64

new 81

Van Deman, Hon. H. E., letter of 127

•Vegetables, degeneracy of 64

Washington County, fruits for 126, 127

Weston, Mrs. Addle S. B., paper of 51

Whittier, P., paper of 35

Wilder, M. P., notice of 25

memorial of 135

Winter meeting, proceedings of 19