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DATE DUE 1

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
LIBRARY

SB
354

M234
1901

This book may he kept out

TWO WEE K S

only, and is subject to a tine of TWO
CENTS a clay thereafter. It will be due on
the dav indicated below.

<ic(fH"«rRE?^

JOHN W. TRUE, NEW GLOUCESTER.

See page 108.

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

Maine State Poniological Society

FOR THE YEAR 1901.

EDITED BY THE SECRETARY,

D. H. KNOWLTON,

AUGUSTA

KENNEBEC JOURNAL PRINT
1902

LIBRARY

Ui^JlYER5-!n' OF
MASSACHuoETTS
AMHERSfrMASS.

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CONTENTS

Secretary's Report : page

Pan-American Exhibit 5

The Awards at Buffalo 5

Paris Exposition 6

Public Meetings 6

Maine Fruit in 1900 and 1901 8

Officers for 1901 11

Members of the Society

Life Members 12

Annual Members for 1900 13

1901 13

Treasurer's Report 14

Business Transactions 16

Officers for 1902 21

Awards at the Pan-American Exposition 22

Annual Invocation, by Rev. W. H. Gould 23

Address of Welcome, by Prin. W. S. Brown 24

Response, by D. H. Knowlton 26

Annual Address, by Z. A. Gilbert 28

Care of the Orchard

The Importance of It, by R. H. Libbey 31

J. H. Hale on same 32

Methods of Fruit Culture, by V. P. DeCoster 33

Fertilization by Chas. S. Pope 36

Results of Culture, by John W. True 41

The Selling of Our Fruit — How to find the Market for Small

Fruits, by A. A. Eastman 44

J. H. Hale 46

How to prepare Fruit for Market 49

Package for Apples, by J. H. Hale 51

by G. Harold Powell 52

To Whom and When to Sell, J. H. Hale 54

The Biggest Price— How to Get It, Hall & Cole 56

Cover Crops for the Orchard, by G. Harold Powell 57

Fruit and Fruit Culture, by J. H. Hale 63

X^JJ

r

4 CONTENTS.

PAGE

Maine Fruit at the Pan-American Exposition, by W. M. Munson, T2

The Storage of the Fruit 74

Care of the Exhibition 75

List of Varieties Shown 76

Contributors ^^

The Awards 11

The Cost n

Recapitulation 78

Pleasure and Profit from Plant Study, by Prof. A. L. Lane 79

Mant Growing for Garden and Lawn, by W. H. Allen 86

Flowers — Their Use — Arrangement, by Miss G. P. Sanborn 89

Nature Study, by G. Harold Powell 93

Books of 95

Varieties 96

What is the Best Variety, by G. H. Powell 97

The Fall Webb Worm, by Prof. Munson 98

Dexter Meeting, by Hon. Stanley Plummer 99

Rev. W. H. Gould 100

Living for Health, by Mrs. Alonzo Towle loi

John W. True. Sketch of 108

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

PAN-AMERICAN EXHIBIT.

The year has been a very busy one for the Pomological society
and an unusually large amount of work has been accomplished.
It will be remembered that at our winter meeting in Norway
Charles S. Pope was instructed to secure contributions of fruit
for the purpose of making an exhibition of fruit at Buffalo.
Two hundred and fifty dollars was appropriated by the execu-
tive committee later on and the same amount was granted by the
Legislature. At the Brooks meeting the secretary was instructed
to install the exhibition of fruit at Buffalo, but the sickness of
his partner prevented his attending to this work, and arrange-
ments were made with Prof. IMunson to look after this work.
The secretary visited Buffalo the first of June and had the judge's
examination made, giving special prominence to the excellent
keeping and market qualities of our fruit. Prof. Mun'son in his
article on "Maine Fruit at the Pan-American Exposition." gives
a full report of the society's proceedings and the excellent results
secured by the exhibition. It is of interest here to note that
without a dissenting voice the legislature granted the society
$250 to aid in carrying on this work, while it defeated every
attempt to secure aid for other exhibition purposes. The secre-
tary congratulates the society on this mark of confidence on the
part of our law makers.

THE AWARDS AT BUEFALO.

It is a matter of congratulation that the Maine fruit shown by
Prof. Munson at the meeting of the American Pomological
society held at Buffalo was awarded a bronze medal. As few of
these were awarded the fact is deemed worthy of this public
mention.

6 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. H. E. Van Deman, judge of fruits at the Pan-American
advises the secretary as follows :

"You have two gold medals, one silver medal, twelve bronze
medals, three honorable mention as awards for the products
shown at the Pan-American Exposition."

AWARDS AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION.

In this connection it is a pleasure to call attention to the awards
made to Maine fruit at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Early in
June I received a letter from the U. S. Commission to the Paris
Exposition, to the effect that the Maine State Pomological Society
was awarded a "Diploma of Silver Medal" and G. B. Brackett,
pomologist, writes, "This is understood to be the final ofificial
equivalent of the awards to your society on fresh fruits, exhibited
in the several temporary competitions in horticulture held during
the course of the exposition and reported to you from time to
time as announced by the class jury. It is expected that the
diploma will be forwarded by the exposition authorities in due
time through the United States commissioner general. Please
accept our hearty congratulations on the successful outcome of
your fresh fruit exhibit. We also extend our sincere thanks for
your co-operation in the preparation of our general fruit exhibit
at Paris. The United States received a larger number of awards
in this class than any other foreign country, a result largely due
to the hearty co-operation of fruit growers in the important pro-
ducing sections. A 'diploma of gold medal' was awarded to
Prof. W. M. Munson as collaborator in the general fruit exhibit
of the division of pomology, to which a 'grand prize' was
awarded. Prof. Munson was instrumental in securing this
exhibit while he was president of the society, and the tribute paid
to him was well deserved and a compliment to the pomological
society."

PUBLIC MEETINGS, ETC.

At the January meeting of the executive committee the fol-
lowing outline of work was presented to cover the year : A
Spring meeting, two horticultural classes, a small fruit meeting
and the usual annual meeting and exhibition.

The spring meeting was held in Brooks, Friday, March 22.
The day preceding the meeting was very rainy, and in conse-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 7

quence the traveling- was soft and unfavorable for a large attend-
ance. As it was the morning session was omitted, but the after-
noon and evening sessions were well attended and much enjoyed.
The exhibition of fruit although not large, was very good and bore
evidence of favorable fruit conditions in this part of the State.

As circumstances did not seem favorable horticultural classes
were not organized, though I am confident that such efforts
would be appreciated by the public. I hope to see something of
the sort brought about another year.

The small fruit meeting was held in Rockland, August i. A
good program was presented, after being well advertised, but
the attendance and! exhibition were not as large as was anticipated.
The desirability of holding meetings of this sort is apparent, for
only in this way can fresh fruits be offered as object lessons of
tillage, flavor and quality of fruit.

Early in the season an invitation came from the grange at Dex-
ter to hold the annual meeting and exhibition of the society in
that thriving town. After careful consideration the executive
committee accepted the invitation, and all our efforts were
directed toward this meeting. A local committee, consisting of
A. A. Eastman, Geo. C. Furber, L. W. Jose, E. O. Additon and
W. H. Curtis, was chosen to make all necessary local arrange-
ments and to co-operate with the officers of our society. The
committee was active throughout and at every point rendered
the most valuable service, for which we wish to make this per-
sonal acknowledgment. The meeting itself proved to be one of
the strongest and most enthusiastic ever held by the society, and
reference is here made to the excellent practical papers and dis-
cussions there offered to Maine fruit growers. It was enthusi-
astic from first to last, and was widely reported in the papers of
the State. The music was excellent, and the cordiality of the
Dexter people seemed to be unlimited.

The exhibit occupied four tables the entire length of the hall,
while cross tables in the rear were occupied by the canned goods
and pears, and tables across the front weregiven up to the flowers,
and the stage was decorated with well grown plants from the
greenhouse of Air. Chas. H. Hayden of Dexter.

Of the apple exhibit in general it may be said that it was just
fine, the fruit being l?rge in size, high colored and very attrac-
tive. At everv available moment there were crowds around the

8 STATE POAIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

tables, and all seemed interested in examining the beautiful dis-
pla}' of fruit. The fruit shown by the Experiment Station was
much admired, and contained more or less varieties not generally
grown in the State. Several of these were Russian varieties,
which thrive well at Orono. By courtesy of Mr. H. E. Van
Deman some fine specimens of Missouri Ben Davis, York
Imperial, Sultan Beauty and Rome Beauty were shown from the
Pan-American Exposition. A plate of apples grown by C. D.
Tolman, East Dixfield, was shown with the name given by the
exporter, who last year sent this variety to Liverpool as the N. Y.
Pippin, where it sold for twenty-seven shillings, the highest price
received for any Maine fruit sold in that market last year. There
were also some fine specimens of the xA.rctic shown by Mr. O. K.
Gerrish of Lakeville, Mass. Among the pears shown by Mr.
S. H. Dawes of Harrison was a very good plate of the Idaho.
Prof. Powell found many varieties with which he was not
familiar, especially several of Maine origin. Selections of these
were made and forwarded to the department at Washington, and
his report on the merits of the fruit will be awaited with interest.
During the afternoon session of the second day the secretary
suggested the propriety of sendmg a barrel of Maine apples to
President Roosevelt. At the close of the meeting a barrel of
the choicest fruit was selected, neatly packed and sent forward
to the White House with the compliments and best wishes of
the society. Shortly after a letter was received, acknowledging
the arrival of the fruit, and expressing the thanks of the Presi-
dent for this delicious Maine fruit.

MAINE FRUIT IN I9OO AND I9OI.

The fruit of 1900 so far as it was placed in the market this
year brought good prices. The last shipment to Europe was
made from Skowhegan — 300 barrelsof Ben Davis, which netted
the grower $900. The panic in prices in the fall which caused
so many to sell at nominal figures led our executive committee to
ask President Gilbert to ascertain and publish the actual condition
of the crop of 1901. His bulletin has been published. Buyers
in Maine this year sent parties out to estimate the quantity of
fruit in certain orchards and based on this estimate offers were
made for the lot. In one case the buyer offered $200 for a lot

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9

and the owner declined to sell at that price. He paid out then
for harvesting $83 and the same man paid him $500. He
thought he sold too soon, and so did I, for 75 barrels of the lot
were Kings. Some are still holding their fruit, and it remains
to be seen what the price will be. It was not the purpose of the
bulletin to tell people when to sell or what they should ask for
their fruit ; it was rather to advise the fruit growers of the quan-
tity and ctmdition of the crop, leaving them to draw their own
conclusions.

Of the crop of 190 1 in Alaine the early estimates were nearly
all wrong. The early indications were unfavorable, as the blos-
som was irregTjlar and occurred during cold, damp weather — too
cold for the bees to work, and there were more or less showerSc
The season was favorable later on and as the fruit matured every
one was surprised at the size of the crop, which was much larger
than anticipated and of excellent quality. Apples were never
better in Maine than this year, and the buyers from out the State
are enthusiastic over the Maine apple, and one of these buyers
has purchased a Maine orchard. One farmer tried in vain last
year to sell his farm for $500, and this year he harvested 250
barrels of choice fruit. Another man a few years ago had the
courage to buy a farm for a thousand dollars. His friends
thought he could never pay for it, but this year he had 300 barrels
of fruit. Another young man owned half of the old farm on
which he was born and gave his brother $1500 for the other half.
He gathered 600 barrels of as fine apples as ever grew, most of
w^hich are in cold storage at this time. These instances teach
their own lessons, and there are many more that have come to
my knowledge.

Our Buffalo exhibit called the attention of buyers to Maine
fruit, and they have come in from all quarters. So great has
been- the American demand that foreign buyers have not found
people so ready to send their fruit abroad. But the result of
this is that a large part of the fruit has already been sold at satis-
factory prices, while those who are holding their fruit are expect-
ing still better prices. Nor is this all, cider apples and apples
for canning have also found a good market. Estimates of the
crop place it from 250,000 to 300,000 barrels — probably about
300,000.

lO STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Attention is especially called to the papers and discussions pre-
sented at our several meetings. They bear upon nearly every
feature of practical fruit culture and I bespeak for them the most
careful reading and study.

D. H. Knowlton.

OFFICERS FOR 1901.

President.
Z. A. Gilbert, North Greene.

I'icc-Presidcnts.
D. P. True, Leeds Center,
C. A. Arnold, Arnold.

Secretary.
D. H. Knowlton, Farmington.

Treasurer.
Charles S. Pope, Manchester.

Executive Committee.

The President and Secretary, ex-officio ; John W. True, New
Gloucester ; R. H. Libbey, Newport ; V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield.

Trustees.
Androscoggin county, John Briggs, Turner.
Aroostook county, Edward Tarr, Castle Hill.
Cumberland county, T. M. Merrill, West Gloucester.
Franklin county, F. D. Grover, Bean.
Hancock county, Mrs. S. L. Brimmer, Mariaville.
Kennebec county, E. A. Lapham, Pittston.
Knox county, Alonzo Butler, Union.
Lincoln county, H. J. A. Simmons, Waldoboro.
Oxford county, Lemuel Gurney, Hebron.
Penobscot county, C. A. Arnold. Arnold.
Piscataquis county, H. L. Leland, East Sangerville.
Sagadahoc county. A. P. Ring, Richmond Corner.
Somerset county, F. E. Nowell. Fairfield.
Waldo county, Fred Atwood, Winterport.
Washington county, J. F. Sprague, Charlotte.
York county, C. A. Hooper, Eliot.

Member Experiment Station Council.
Charles S. Pope, Manchester.

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

Note.— Any errors or changes of residence shoukl be promptly reported to tbe
Secretary. Members will also confer a favor by furnishing the Secretary with
their full Christian names wheve initials only are given.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Andrews, A. Emery Gardiner

Andrews, Charles E Auburn

Arnold, C. A Arnold

Atherton.'Wm. P Hallowell

Atkins, Charles G Bncksport

Atwood, Fred Winterport

Aveiill, David C Temple

Bailey, W. G Freeport

Bennoch, John E Orono

Bickford, Lewis I Dixmont Center

Bisbee, George E A uburn

Blanchard, Mrs. E. M Lewiston

Boardman, Samuel L Bangor

Brigga, John Turner

Burr, John Free port

Butler, Alonzo Union

Chandler, Mrs. Lucy A Freeport

Chase, Henry M.,103 Federal St., Portland

Chase, Martin V. B Augusta

Corbett, Herman Farmington

Crafts, Moses Auburn

Crowell, John H Farmington

(.'unnijing^, Mrs. Anthony Auburn

Dana, Woodbury S Portland

Dawes, S. H Harrison

DeRocher, Peter Bradentown, Fla.

Dirwanger, Joseph A Portland

Dunham, W. W North Paris

Dyer, Milton Cape Elizabeth

Emerson, Charles L South Turner

Farnsworth, B. B Portland

Frost, Oscar F Monmouth

Gardiner, Robert H. Gardiner

George, C. H Hebron

Gilbert, Z. A North Greene

Goddard, Lewis C Woodfords

Grover, Franklin D Bean

Gurney, Lemuel Hebron

Hackett, E. C West Gloucester

Hall, Mrs. H. A Brewer

Hanscom, John Saco

Harris, N. W Auburn

Harris, William M Auburn

Harvey, F. L — Orono

Hoxie, James S North Fairfield

Hoyt, Mrs. Francis VVinthrop

Jackson, F. A Wlnthrop

Johnson, Isaac A Auburn

Keene, Charles S ..Turner

Knowlton, D. H Farmington

Lapham, E. A Pittston

Litchfield, J. H Auburn

Litchfield, Mrs. L. K Winthrop

Lombard, Thurston M Auburn

Luce, Willis A South Union

McLaughlin, Henry Baugor

McManus, John Brunswick

Merrill, T. M West Gloucester

Mitchell, Frerlerick H Turner

Moody, Charles H Turner

Moore, William G Monmouth

Moor, F. A Waterville

Morton, J. A Bethel

Munson, W. M Orono

Page, F. W Augusta

Parsons, Howard G Turner Center

Perley. Chas. I Cross Hill

Pope, Charles S Manchester

Prince, Edward M .. West Farmington

Pulsif er, D. W Poland

Purington, E. F West Farmington

Richards, John T Gardiner

Ricker, A. S Turner

Roak, George M A uburn

Robinson, Henry A Foxcroft

*Rolfe, Samuel Portland

Sanborn, Miss G. P .. Augusta

Sawyer, Andrew S Cape Elizabeth

Sawyer, George B Wiscasset

Simmons, H. J. A Waldoboro

Skillings, C. W North Auburn

Smith, Henry 8 Monmouth

' Deceased.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

13

LIFE MEMBERS— Concluded.

Snow, MaryS Bangor

Starrett, L. F Warren

Stetson, Henry Auburn

♦Stanley, Charles Winthrop

Stanley, O. E Winthrop

Stilphen, Asbury C Gardiner

Strout, S. r .. West Falmouth

Taylor, Miss L. L., (Lakeside) Belgrade

Thomas, William W., Jr Portland

Thomas, D. S Korth Auburn

Thurston, Edwin West Farmington

Tllton, William S Boston, Mass

Townsend, Mrs. B.T F''reeport

True, Davis P Leeds Center

True, John W New Gloucester

Vickery, James Portland

Vickery, John Auburn

Wade, Patrick Portland

Walker, Charles S Peru

Walker, Elmer V Oxford

Waterman, Willard H East Auburn

Wheeler, Charles E Chesterville

Whitney, Edward K Harrison

♦Woodman, George W Portland

Yeaton, Samuel F West Farmington

ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1900.

E. W. Wooster Hancock

S. F. Sweetsir New Gloucester

V. P. DeCoster Buckfleld

J. W. Ricker East Auburn

F. H. Rollins Farmington Falls

Mrs. W. S. Marsh Intervale

Mrs. A. S. Carsley New Gloucester

Mrs. A. C. Chandler New Gloucester

Mrs. A. L. Richards New Gloucester

Z. McAllister Lovell

Benj. Tucker. Norway

Mrs. E. F. Bryant Buckfleld

J. W. Bradbury Norway

J.A.Roberts Norway

O. N. Cox North Norway

Mrs. Frank G. Noble Norway

Mrs. O. B. Upton Norway

Mrs. J. A. Chadbourne ..North Bridgton

Herbert M.Tucker South Paris

S.D.Edwards Oxford

A.C.Day South Turner

J. W. Dudley Castle Hill

S. L. Merchant Winthrop

L. P. Toothaker Simpson's Corner

E. Tarr ...Mapletoii

ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1901.

Austin, Alfred Parkman

Austin, Chas South Berwick

Beal, Mrs. Altana North Fairtield

Clark, Chas. H Wells Branch

Copeland, Llewellyn Dexter

Davis, Fred Newport

Day, A. C South Turner

DeCoster, V. P Buckfleld

DeCoster, Mrs. V. P Buckfleld

Dudley, John W Mapleton

Dunn, A. L Buckfleld

Eastman, A. A Dexter

Edwards, K. G Brooks

Emery, Frank E . ..Laramie, Wyoming

Fogg, A Ivan H Rockland

Greenleaf , A . C Farmington

Haines, J. W Dexter

Hall, Chas. G Cedar Grove

Hayden, Chas. H Dexter

Johnson, C. F Dexter

Jose, S. O Dexter

♦Deceased.

Leland, H. L East Sangerville

Leland, Will E Sangerville

Libbey, R. H Newport

Libbey, Mrs. R. H Newport

Litchfield, L. K Winthrop

Mathers, Mrs. A. C Rockland

Merchant, S. L — Winthrop

Munson, W. M Orono

Nowell, F. E Fairfield

Phillips, W. H Hancock Point

Plummer, Stanley Dexter

Roberts, M. W Brooks

Robinson, O M Dexter

Rowe, W. C Brooks

Spear. Mrs.CarusT Rockland

Stoddard, Mrs. AlmaS Farmington

Titcomb, B. M Farmington

Waterman, L. C Buckfleld

Whittier, Phineas . ...Farmington Falls
Wooster, E. W Hancock

TREASURER'S REPORT.

Charles S. Pope, Treasurer, in account with Maine

Pomological Society.

Dr.
To cash from treasurer of 1900

interest Farmington National Bank

interest Farmington Water Company

interest Merchants' Bank, Gardiner

State stipend

appropriatian for Pan-American exhibit

received from annual members

received from life members

State

Cr.

By paid W. M. Munson, cash paid out in 1900

D. H. Knowlton, expenses as Secretary

Maine Farmer, printing

J. W. True, expenses as member of Executive Committee ... .

Miss L. P. Welch, services as stenographer at Norway

R. H. Libbey, expenses as member of Executive Committee...

W. H. Allen, expenses at Brooks meeting

V. P. DeCoster, expenses as member of Executive Committee.

Chas. S. Pope, expenses as Treasurer

premiums awarded at Brooks meeting

board bill and express bill at Brooks meeting >

D. H. Knowlton, on account of salary

J. W. True, boxes for plates, vases, etc

Knowlton, McLeary & Co., bill printing

M. F. Uonohue, board at Rockland meeting

C. S. Pope, sundry expenses as Treasurer

D. H. Knowlton, expenses as Secretary

R. H. Libbey, expenses as member of Executive Committee...
D. H. Knowlton, express, trucking, posters, etc., at Rockland.

W. M. Munson, expenses at Rockland

Miss G. P. Sanborn, expenses at Rockland

J. W. True, expenses as member of Executive Committee —
V. P. DeCoster, expenses as member of Executive Committee.
R. H. Libbey, expenses as member of Executive Committee...

D. H. Knowlton, cash paid at Dexter meeting

Knowlton, McLeary & Co., printing

Mrs. Alonzo Towle, expenses and services at Dexter

J. H. Hale, expenses and services at Dexter meeting

W. M. Munson, expenses at Dexter meeting

G. Harold Powell, expenses, etc., at Dexter meeting

Eastern Gazette, printing posters, etc

A. A. Eastn»an, cash paid on account of Dexter meeting

Am.erican Express Co., charges at Dexter

D. H. Knowlton, services as Secretary

$39& 04

20 00

10 00

6 00

1,000 00

250 00

41 00

20 00

$1,745 04

$3 10
12 36
3 38
6 77
25 50
17 35

3 00
8 75

8 74
27 50
12 85

25 00
17 50
32 47

12 77

9 88
10 40
10 95

23 12

5 52

4 90

6 30
9 75

7 46

24 12
14 23

26 .55
41 25

6 40
39 00
6 2ft
3 12

13 95
50 00

STATE POMOUHUCAL SOCIETY. 1 5

By paid H. M. Gates, board of officers and speakers, winter meeting $52 SO

premiums awarded at Rockland meeting 17 76

premiums awarded ai l)exter meeting 296 25

Miss L. B. Raynes, stenographer at winter meeting 30 20

Cbas. S. Pope, salary as Treasurer 25 00

D. H. Knowlton, balance of salary as Secretary 75 00

D. H. Knewlton, traveling expenses, etc., as Secretary 4 58

Cbas. S. Pope, Pan-American expenses 503 32

Z. A. Gilbert, sundry items paid as President 3 28

Burleigh & Flynt, engravings, etc 3 38

Augusta Trust Co., box rent 5 00

V. P. DeCoster, expenses as member of Executive Committee... 2 15

R. H. Libbey, expenses as member of Executive Oommittee 5 72

W. L. Churchill, board of Executive Committee 5 35

Smith & Reid, binding Transactions . 2125

Maine Farmer Publishing Co., printing bulletins, etc 7 25

Cbas. S. Pope, expenses as Treasurer 18 36

Permanent fund on account of membership of VV. M. Munson ... 10 00

Cash in hands of Treasurer 12121

$1,745 04
GENERAL SUMMARY.

Cash in treasury January 1, 1901 $432 79

Receipts for the year 1,312 25

$1,745 04

Amount paid as per vouchers $1,623 83

Cash in treasnrj' January 1, 1902 121 21

1,745 04

This is to certify that I liave examined the foregoing accounts of the treasurer
of the State Pomological Society for the year 1901, and find them properly vouched
for and correct, with the balance in the hands of the treasurer of one hundred and
Iwenty-one 21-100 dollars. G. M. TWITCHELL, Auditor.

Augusta, Me., January 17, 1902.

RESOURCES.

Exhibition outfit consisting of plates, phials, vases, etc $150 00

Permanent fund 1,.}90 00

Cash in treasury 121 21

$1,661 21

LIA.BIL1TIES.

The only liability so far as is known to the officers is $10 due to the permanent
fund, while there is due on deposit interest of permanent fund nearly or quite
enough to meet it.

PERMANENT FUND ACCOUNT, 1901.

Dr.

To stock First National Bank, Farmington $460 00

Merchants' National Bank, Gardiner 100 00

Farmingto:i Water Company 100 00

deposit Augusta Safe Deposit and Trust Company 790 00

$1,390 00
Due permanent fund 10 00

$1,400 00
Cr.
By 141 life members $1,410 00

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS.

MEETINGS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE-

Auburn, January 14, 1901.

Voted, To apply $250 of the funds remaining in the treasury
of the society together with such sum as the legislature may grant
for the installing and maintaining an exhibition of fruit at the
Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y.

Voted, To instruct Mr. Gilbert to draw up and present to the
legislature a resolve, asking for an appropriation of $250 for the
above purpose.

looted, That Mr. Pope be instructed to complete the collection
of fruit for the above purpose, not to exceed twenty-five barrels,
and forward the same to Buffalo for cold storage at the proper
time.

The following outline of work was presented to cover the
entire year: A spring meeting — Two horticultural classes — A
small fruit meeting — Annual meeting and exhibition.

Voted, That the president, the secretary, and Mr. DeCoster be
a committee to take into consideration the above outline and
elaborate the same for presentation to the full committee.

The secretary presented an invitation from Dexter Grange to
hold the annual meeting with them, and another invitation to
hold a strawberry meeting with Pleasant Valley Grange, Rock-
land. Mention was also made of invitations from parties in
North Chesterville and North Jay to hold horticultural schools
with them.

Leeds Junction, February 8, 1901.

A severe storm was prevailing and only Messrs. True, Libbey
and the Secretary were present.

Reference was made to fruit and other matters pertaining to
the Pan-American Exposition, but in the absence of President
Gilbert and Treasurer Pope no information was at hand.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IJ

Voted, To refer all matters referring to the above to the presi-
dent and secretary, where immediate action may be required, and
that they be authorized to apply for necessary space for making
the same.

Voted, To refer the preparation of programs, location of meet-
ings, dates, etc., to the president and secretary.

Brooks, March 21-22, 1901.

Report was made that resolve in favor of our society to aid in
making an exhibition of fruit at Buffalo had passed.

j\[r. Pope reported that he had not yet perfected the supply of
fruit for the purpose.

Correspondence was presented from the authorities of the
exposition at Bufit'alo, acknowledging the receipt of application
for a space of 100 square feet.

Voted, That Mr. Knowlton be employed to install the exhibi-
tion of fruit at the Pan-American Exposition, and perfect
arrangements for keeping up the same during the exposition, for
which the society is to pay him $2 per day and travel and board ;
that in case he cannot attend to the same he be authorized to
employ a suitable person to do the same.

The secretary reported regarding the horticultural classes pro-
posed, and it was voted that the secretary be empowered to
organize one or two classes at such places and times as he may
deem best.

March 30, 1901, received from Chas. S. Pope a bond as treas-
urer of the society.

Leeds Junction, June 21, 1901.

The secretary made an informal report on the Maine exhibit
at the Pan-American Exposition.

Voted, To ask the secretary to prepare a statement for the
public press concerning the Maine exhibit of fruit at the Pan-
American Exposition.

Voted, That packers of blueberries be invited to send canned
blueberries, at their expense, to be installed by our representa-
tives, the same to apply to any other canned fruits.

J'oted, That Mr. Pope be instructed and authorized to prepare
an exhibition of evaporated apples for the Pan-American exhibi-
tion and to forward the same.

l8 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

V'oted, That the secretary and W. M. Munson be appointed
delegates to attend the biennial meeting of the American Pomo-
logical Society at Buffalo, September 12 and 13.

Voted, That the secretary be instructed to visit Rockland and
arrange for the August meeting.

Voted, That the Secretary be authorized to perfect the pro-
gram and dates and make such announcements as may be neces-
sary for small fruit meeting.

Voted, That the president of the society be instructed to put
himself in communication with other state societies, in order to
report the condition of fruit in the country to the Maine fruit
growers.

State Fair Grounds, Lewiston, September 5, 1901.

This meeting was informal, but after discussion it was agreed

That the November or winter meeting of the society be held in
Dexter November 6 and 7.

That the president and secretary make up the program and
announce the same.

That Prof. Alunson be sent to Buffalo to care for our fruit
exhibit and represent the society at the American Pomological
Society's biennial meeting.

That fruit be sent for this meeting and to keep up our exhibit
at Buffalo.

That the proposed field meeting with Wm. P. Atherton be
referred to the president and secretary.

Dexter, November 5, 1901.

All the committee present.

Communication of Elmer V. Walker of Mexico urging that
the meetings of the society be held earlier, and the matter was
laid upon the table.

Appointed judges on exhibits as follows :

Classes i, 2, and 3, apples, R. E. McLatchy of Boston and
H. L. Leland of East Sangerville.

Class 4, pears, C. A. Arnold, Arnold.

Classes 5 and 6, canned fruits, etc., ]\Irs. Alonzo Towle. Free-
dom, N. H.

Classes 7 and 8, plants and flowers, Prof. W. M. Munson,
Orono.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1 9

/' 'oted, That the secretary be instructed to ascertain the cost
of an engraved certificate of membership.

At the Annual Meeting, November 6 and 7, 1901.
November 6 and 7, 1901, annual winter meeting. Met in
Town Hall, Dexter, November 6, at 11 o'clock. The meeting
was called to order by President Gilbert. Prayer was offered by
Rev. W. A. Gould of Dexter. The program of the meetings was
substantially as follows, with more or less discussion of the vari-
ous topics as presented. Many of the papers and discussions
appear in the pages following :

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6- — II o'CLOCK, A. M.

Address of Welcome, Prin. W. S. Brown, Dexter

Response, D. H. Knowlton, Farmington

President's Address, Z. A. Gilbert, North Greene

Afternoon.
Music.
The Care of the Orchard.

The Importance of it, R. H. Libbey, Newport

Methods of Culture, V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield

Fertilization, Chas. S. Pope, Manchester

Results of Culture, John W. True, New Gloucester

Music.
Maine fruit at the Pan-American Exposition,

Prof. W. M. Munson, Orono

Music.

Evening.

Music.

Bees and Insects in Raising Fruit, F. O. Additon, Dexter

Music.
Address, J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Conn.

Music.

20 STATS POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THURSDAY FORENOON — 10 O CLOCK.

Examination of fruit and other exhibits by the judges.
Annual meeting of Society.

Informal reports of Secretary and Treasurer.

Election of officers.

Music.

Afternoon.

Music.
The Selling of our Fruits.

Small Fruits — How to Find the Market,

How to Prepare Fruit for Market,

J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Conn.
Apples — How to Gather and Pack them.
To Whom and When to Sell.
The Biggest Price — How to Get it,
G. Harold Powell, Ag'l Dept., Washington, D. C.
Music.

Mvening.

Music.
Reports of Committees.
The Future of the Maine Apple, R. E. McLatchy, Boston

Music.
Address — Living for Health,

Mrs. Alonzo Towle, Freedom, N. H.

Music.

The lantern for the use of Mr. Hale and Mr. Powell was fur-
nished by the University of Maine and operated by Dr. C. D.
Wood.

Prof. W. M. Munson and C. A. Arnold were appointed a com-
mittee on resolutions and their report was accepted as follows :

REPORT OE THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS.

Your committee recognizing the fact that the present meeting
has been one of the most successful in the history of the society
would express the appreciation of officers and members to all of
those who have contributed to its success. Therefore

Resolved, That the hearty thanks of the Pomological Society
are due to the railroads of the State and to the hotels of Dexter

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOClKTY. 21

for substantial reduction of rates, and to the press for liberal
notices and full reports of the meeting.

Resolved, Further, that special mention be made of the efficient
aid of the local committee, the grange, and the citizens of Dexter
in making arrangements and providing such a satisfactory hall,
and to the musicians who have added so much to the attractive-
ness of the program. ^
Respectfully submitted,

C. A. ARNOLD,
W. M. MUNSON,

Committee.

At the annual meeting held on the morning of the 7th the
following officers were elected for the year 1902, R. H. Libbey
and L. K. Litchfield being appointed a committee to receive,
assort and count the ballots.

President — Z. A. Gilbert, North Greene.

Vice Presidents — D. P. True, Leeds Center ; H. L. Leland,
East Sangerville.

Secretary — D. H. Knowlton, Farmington.

Treasurer — Charles S. Pope, Manchester.

Executive Committee — President and secretary, ex-ofhcio, R.
H. Libbey, Newport ; V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield ; C. A. Arnold,
Arnold.

Trustees — Androscoggin county, A. C. Day, South Turner;

Aroostook county, John W. Dudley, Mapleton ; Cumberland
county, John W. True, New Gloucester; Franklin county, E. F.
Purington, Farmington ; Hancock county, E. W. Wooster, Han-
cock ; Kennebec county, E. A. Lapham, Pittston ; Knox county,
Alonzo Butler, Union ; Lincoln county, H. J. A. Simmons,
Waldoboro ; Oxford county, IvCmuel Gurney, Hebron ; Penob-
scot county, A. A. Eastman, Dexter ; Piscataquis county, W. E.
Leland, Sangerville; Sagadahoc county, A. P. Ring, Richmond
Corner ; Somerset county, F. E. Emery, Skowhegan ; Waldo
county, Fred Atwood, Winterport ; Washington county, D. W.
Campbell, Cherryfield ; York county, C. A. Hooper, Eliot.

Member of Experiment Station Council — Chas. S. Pope,
Manchester.

Orders were drawn on the treasurer, covering the expenses of
this meeting and other items, which will be found in the treas-
urer's report.

22 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Leeds Junction, December 13, 1901.

Meeting of the executive committee ; all present but Mr. True.

All accounts, so far as known, were settled and orders were
drawn for the same.

An invitation to hold the next annual meeting in Ellsworth,
was received from E. W. Wooster of Hancock. The matter was
laid on the table for future action.

A letter was presented from Prof. W. M. Munson regarding his
intention of preparing a monograph upon the apples of Maine
origin, and asking that it be made a joint production of the
society and Experiment Station at the expense of the Station.

Voted, That the executive committee approve the suggestion
of Prof. Munson to make the proposed monograph a joint pro-
duction.

The secretary presented a communication from the director
general of the Pan-American Exposition regarding the awards
made to our society and other Maine Exhibitors, and it was
voted that the secretary be instructed to procure two gold plated
medals awarded to our society, and also a bronze medal awarded
to Chas. S. Pope.

The awards as announced in this communication are as

follows :

Diploma of gold medal on its general display of fruit; also

collection of market apples.

A diploma of silver medal to the Maine Agricultural Experi-
ment Station on its exhibit of apples.

Diplomas of bronze medals were awarded to the following
exhibits from this State :

J. E. Bennoch, Orono, collection of pears ; J. E. Bennoch,
Orono, collection of apples ; J- W. Dudley, Mapleton, display of
apples ; E. W. Gould, Bean, display of apples ; F. D. Grover,
Bean, collection of apples ; J. W. Libbey, Hartford, display of
apples ; F. H. Morse, Waterford, display of apples ; C. S. Phin-
ney, Standish, display of apples ; Chas. S. Pope, Manchester,
display of apples; E. F. Purington, Farmington, display of
apples; B. M. Titcomb, Farmington, display of apples; G. W.
Whitney, Sweden, display of apples.

Diplomas of honorable mention were awarded to :

T. M. Merrill, Sabbathday Lake, display Ben Davis apples ;
C. F. Fletcher, Augusta, display Yellow Bellflower apples ; V. P.
DeCoster, Buckfield, display of R. I. Greening apples.

PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS OFFERED AT THE
VARIOUS MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

ANNUAL INVOCATION.
By Rev. W. H. Gould, Dexter.

Our Father who art in heaven, whose loving kindness is in
every right and thoughtful and earnest hope, whose goodness is
manifested in the coming together of those who have good pur-
poses in mind and in heart, we ask that thy grace may be mani-
fested in our midst at the beginning of these series of meetings.
We come to thee, thanking thee for thy goodness and blessings
which have been with us all our days, thanking thee for the
reward which comes in the autumn for the toil of hand and for
the care of mind and for the devoted purpose of the heart. We
would remember that thy blessings come to those who work and
wait day by day, and we learn by our experience that our own
joy and satisfaction and delight in life increase as we learn to
thank and know thee as the one who rewards our toil and our
thoughtfulness and all our loving service. And so we find it
to be fitting at the beginning of any earnest enterprise, and so
at the beginning of these meetings, to bring our thought close
to thee, to remember in gratitude how gracious thou hast been
to us, how thou hast prospered us in our effort and in all our
enterprise, how thou hast brought and given satisfaction and
joy and happiness to us.

We thank thee for the peculiar privileges that shall be ours
during these meetings. We pray that thou wilt increase happi-
ness to those who renew old acquaintances and old friendships
and in the forming of the new ; that thy Spirit may be so mani-
fested in kindness and thoughtful consideration and desire to
give and to receive, that there shall be great reward in the meet-
ing together.

24 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Do thou bless with thy loving kindness the absent friends,
those whom some of us have left in our homes. Be with them ;
guard them from every danger and all peril and all harm. Pre-
serve thou us and them and all thy people, that as we strive for
the better things of life, as we give the work of our hands and
the devotion of our minds, that we may accomplish better
results, that more of comfort and more of convenience and more
of happiness may come into our homes and into our lives ; do
thou bless our endeavor. 'Do thou be with these brethren who
meet together to exchange their experience and their knowledge.
Bless those who give and bless those who receive. Let kindness
and mutual regard be manifest in all the meetings.

Hear these our prayers, forgive us, we pray thee, our short-
comings which are too many, and prosper us by the presence of
thy Holy Spirit in all our thought and in our speech and what
we do and what we are striving to become. We ask it in His
Name. — Amen.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME
By Principal W. S. Brown, Dexter.

In behalf of the citizens of our town and village, I extend to
you a sincere and cordial welcome to our community. You have
met here for consultation, discussion and deliberation. You are
interested in the development and promotion of an important
branch of our agricultural interests.

Though farming always has been, is, and must ever be the
basis of the world's industrial activity, yet it has never received
the attention it has merited. Most men have followed it more
as a fate than a vocation. A youth of today, standing on the
threshold of life, confronted by the momentous necessity of
choosing his sphere of labor, of taking his place among the mil-
lions of competing toilers, too often turns his back on the farm
and casts his lot with those who are already congesting the busi-
ness and professional avenues.

Why does he leave the only field which today is not over-
crowded for one where the laborers are many and the harvest
small ? The answer is not far to seek. There are two reasons.

state; pomological society. 25

One is a prevailing notion that farming is a sort of vulgar occu-
pation. No more false or pernicious notion could be conceived.
The dignity of farm labor was recognized by the Romans and
they gave to it the benefit of the best minds they produced.
Rome's greatest poets sang of the beauties of rural life and her
historians chronicled the wealth of her rural classes, but all
feared when Rome in her hour of need called her soldiers and
statesmen from the plow, and they passed away before the
approach of a more splendid but far less substantial age.

The second reason, that farming is unremunerative, is true
only to the extent that one fails to bring to the management of
his agricultural business the same degree of skill that the busi-
ness man brings to the management of his business interests.
Too many farmers leave everything to the seasons and soil, and,
acting on the consoling assurance expressed in the old adage
that God takes care of the lame and the lazy, see their buildings
run down and their farms run out. This class of farmers are
those whom we hear forever complaining of the hardness of
their lot and the unprofitableness of farming. I retain memories
of these men. Their sleds were housed during the summer and
fall under the open sky ; their wagons were sheltered the same
in winter ; their mowing machines, rakes and plows were found
when needed where they were last used the year before. If,
finally, the sled broke down with a load of wood, or the cart with
a load of hay, or the mowing machine gave out in the half-mown
field, they would invariably curse their luck.

I am no believer in luck. What is termed good luck is the
result of good calculation and bad luck is the result of bad cal-
culation. I believe if every farmer should bring to the manage-
ment of his business that same degree of careful and systematic
supervision that characterizes every other branch of industry
today, his success would be practically assured. His returns
would not of course be large, but the balance would be on the
right side of the ledger. There would be no six per cent mort-
gage to torment his peace and devour his substance. Thousands
have grown rich out of his toil and thousands are still growing
rich. Too long the wealth he has created has flowed into the
pockets of those whose only title rests on nothing firmer than
connivance and cunning. He must take his lesson from the
events transpiring in the great industrial world about him.

26 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Organization, consultation and co-operation is the slogan of the
manufacturer, the mine owner and the railroad magnate.
Whether this policy is to prove beneficial or the reverse, it is a
condition of the times, — a situation, not a theory.

Education, organization and co-operation are to bring to the
farmer his full share of the fruit of his labors. Much along
this line has already been done by the Grange and kindred socie-
ties like the Maine Pomological Society, but much more remains
to be done. I believe it is the province of this society to con-
sider not only what varieties of fruit are the most profitable to
cultivate in our State and how best to overcome the many hind-
rances in the way of fruit raising and fruit growing, but also to
consider how fruit raisers are to realize the largest profits from
their crops.

Again, I extend to you, one and all, a hearty welcome to the
hospitality of our town, and trust that your visit here may result
in mutual good, and that when you return to your respective
homes you may carry with you pleasant recollections of your
visit.

RESPONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
By D. H. Knowlton, Farmington.

I can assure you, sir, and the good people of Dexter, that we
are exceedingly glad td be with you. We have anticipated rather
more this year than usual, because the invitation from the
Grange reached us early, so that we have had all the year to
think about it and anticipate it, and I can assure you that up to
this point we have not been disappointed in our anticipations.

The Maine Pomological Society was organized nearly thirty
years ago. It was organized when the industry in the State was
in its infancy. Brother Gilbert, who has the honor of presiding
over our body at this time, had the earlier honor of being the
society's first president, and largely through his efiforts the
organization was perfected at that time, and during all these
years that have intervened he has been one of its warmest
friends and wisest counselors. He, perhaps better than many in
the State who were interested in fruit culture, could look forward

STATD rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 27

into the future and see somewhat along the line of possibilities
what we have shown to us here today ; and he, I am sure, for I
have heard him so state, looks into the future still further and
anticipates for Maine fruit and its growers more triumphs than
have yet been won.

The industry then was in its infancy. Sometimes I think that
it has not outgrown its infancy ; but, at the same time, when I
find how many men there are in the State who have benefited
by the teachings of the society and the inspiration which they
have gained from attending our meetings and reading our trans-
actions, I am sure we can see that we have accomplished much.
I regret that we have not accomplished much more, but that we
have not accomplished many things is not our fault.

Our Society, and the fruit growers of the State, are faced by
important fruit problems today. I don't know why it is, but
somehow it seems that every step we advance, the next step is
more difficult. It is the plan of the great Creator, I believe, to
make us work harder and work better.

But we are doing all we can to meet these problems, and our
program for this meeting is shaped so far as possible to meet
these questions, these difficulties, where we can not only give
you some good lectures by eminent authorities but mutually con-
verse upon these subjects and bring out the difficulties. I know
the people of Dexter will be well pleased with the program. We
have flattered ourselves thai, it is an exceedingly good one ; and
I anticipate that as one result of our meeting here you will go to
your homes much wiser in fruit culture than you are now.

Franklin county is one of the smaller counties in the State,
but the fruit growers of the county this year will receive over
$200,000 for their apple crop, and it is the largest item in the way
of agricultural products that our county has ever had in any one
year.

I can assure you again that we are exceedingly glad to be here.
We know we are going to have a good meeting and we hope
that your anticipations will not be disappointed.

Now, thanking you still further for your cordial invitation,
sir, and realizing, as I have already said, that we shall have a
good meeting, I gladly give way to those who are to follow.

28 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Hon. Z. A. Gilbert, President.

Ladies and Gentlemen: An established custom of this society,
handed down from its first organization, makes it incumbent
upon me to address you at the opening of this annual convention
on such points connected with the work of this society, and
related to the industry it was instituted to promote, as may be
considered important to its further usefulness.

The work of such an organization can never be completed.
As step by step progress is made new conditions arise, new
obstacles are met, new enemies encountered. These make new
demands upon our intelligence. Study and experiment must
ever keep on. New conditions must be fathomed, obstacles in
the way must be overcome, enemies must be subdued. Thus
will there ever continue to be a demand for such an organization
as ours, and always problems in sight calling for solution.

Fruit growers are to be congratulated on the condition of the
fruit market the present year. Demand is sharp and prices high.
Maine apples of late have been gaining an enviable reputation
among both dealers and consumers wherever they have been dis-
tributed. The crop of fine Maine apples of last year found a
market largely in the South and West. Their superiority was
such as to create a sharp demand for more. It was to stimulate
this demand, and still further show the merits of the products of
Maine orchards that this organization made an exhibit last
spring of our late keeping commercial varieties of apples at the
Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. The reputation thus
gained and kept up is plainly manifest in the sharp demand and
wide call from the same quarter for the crop of Maine apples
of the present year. Such facts may well be a source of encour-
agement to our society in the noble work it has done for the fruit
industry of the State, and should be an incentive to further effort
along similar lines.

There never was a better outlook for the fruit grower than at
the present time. The population of the country, all hungry for
fruit, is increasing year by year, and far more rapidly than is
our ability to respond to the call for more. Far and wide,
among ourselves, our neighbors, other states and other countries,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIKTV. 29

the demand is for more fruit and that of the highest merit with-
out regard to cost. Business is booming in all directions, people
are at work and likely to be for a series of years to come, wages
are good and money plenty, and among Americans it is ready
to be spent freely.

The only unfortunate feature of the situation the present year
with the grower of fruit is that there is not a full crop of fruit
with which to meet the wide demand and liberal prices at com-
mand. This leads directly to the important question of fruit
every year, and the means through which annual bearing may
be promoted. I am aware this is an old problem, but in Maine
orcharding it is still important. We want not only better fruit,
the best, but we want it in the off years. Our fruit is too much
a volunteer crop ; we want it at command. While it may never
be possible to overcome in full damaging conditions of weather,
yet I maintain that a compromise, at least, can generally be
secured with those climatic conditions that otherwise would
result in total failure. Maine orchards are starving, that is,
the most of them. A more liberal policy of manuring and of
culture is imperative with nearly all our Maine orchards. Our
society can do no better service than to dwell upon this one fact
until common management is greatly improved in this direction.
The means through which our expanding orchards may be fer-
tilized up to the limit of the ability of the trees to respond is the
most important problem that confronts Maine fruit growers at
the present time.

Fruit growers need inspiration as well as instruction. A
knowledge of how to grow fruit is of little avail where there is
not first a faith in the business and a confidence that it may be
made successful. The great fruit crop of 1896, when there was
more fruit grown than consumption called for or the market
could handle, gave rise to the question with growers whether the
country at large had not already passed the limit of demand with
their planting of orchards. Certainly evidence at that time
unmistakably showed there was more fruit than market. It is
not strange perhaps that confidence in the orchard as a source of
profitable revenue was shaken for the time. But since that year
every barrel of choice apples produced among us has found a
profitable market awaiting it clear down to the present autumn's
harvest when purchasers are on the run all through the State

30 STATIC POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

after them at $3 and upward a barrel before they were placed
in storage. I claim it a safe conclusion and believe that events
prove that there will always be a paying demand for all the fruit
we may grow, save alone the rare occurrence of a full crop in
all the fruit growing sections of the country the same year. This
may not again occur in a generation, and is too remote a factor
to stand in the way for a moment of a still further extension of
the business.

There are many other matters connected with the business of
fruit growing that may well receive the attention of our society.
Our method of disposing of the products of the orchard is with-
out system, order or sense. Cold storage is a matter with which
we shall soon be under the necessity of grappling if that time
is not already at hand. But it is not my purpose to confuse by
rehearsing a multiplicity of duties. Enough has been presented
in that direction.

In closing there is one other matter I wish to call attention to,
and that is our exhibitions. They must be made attractive.
Neatness and order should everywhere abound. We must not
become fossilized in forms and methods. The art of showing
must be studied by those in charge. The work of other societies
conducting similar work should be visited with a view of catch-
ing up new ideas. Progress is ever onward. Classification
must be modified to meet new demands. There never is a place
to stop and stand inactive.

Fellow members, we have everything to encourage us in our
work. We have thrown off the necessity of an admission fee
at our doors, which so long has stood in the way of a general
attendance on our exhibitions. Nor is it longer necessary to join
with any other organization to brace us up in our efforts. Our
annual proceedings are a record of faithful and efficient effort
that we may look back upon with satisfaction and with pride.
Let us in our further labors strive to emulate the example thus
set before us by those earlier workers.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 3 1

THE CARE OF THE ORCHARD.
By R. H. LiBBEY, Newport.

THE IMPORTANCE OF IT.

The subject that is alloted me is the importance of orchard
culture. Now that is but a small part. Had I time to take it
from the seed, and carry it through till you roll up the checks or
bank bills, I could explain better my way, — but this of mine is
only the importance. Now at the swell places, and this seems
to be one, the first course is soup. Now the secretary has seen
fit to put me on as the soup part, and I represent the soup part of
this, — just simply the opening.

The importance of orchard culture is but one thing and that
is the commercial value, — nothing more. I have no right to go
on and tell how, the manner, the fertilizer to use, — that is not in
my part ; it is simply the importance. Now the importance of
orchard culture is the value that you can get out of it. It used
to be different years ago. In my boyhood days, when apples
were not as plenty, we cultivated our orchards for fruit for our
own use, but that has gone by. Such a change has come about
in fruit, it has become so much better, that there is always a
plenty of good nice fruit without much cultivation for home use,
and now the cultivation is for what we can get out of it. A man
in my town who was eighty years old, only a few years ago set an
orchard. He didn't think he would live to get any fruit, but he
did live to old age and got some fruit from his seedlings, a little
more than he had use for at home, — and sold it for twenty-five
cents a barrel for cider. He passed away. The property came
into his son's hands and I advised his son to graft those trees.
He didn't set them in a square as an orchard, but he set them
round the fences. Living in a corner he had two sides, and
between his field and pasture he had 200 trees of seedlings, seed-
lings that he got from pummace by the side of the road, and not
over and above thrifty but still they lived and did well. The
orchard changed hands, the farm changed hands, and the man
that is on it now did graft it a few years ago and it has com-
menced to bear. This year he had about 75 barrels from them ;
the year before he had 199 trees grafted and about 175 barrels.

32 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

He told me a short time ago that he was going to set out a
couple of hundred more trees, — that he was getting more out of
his orchard than he did off his whole farm. That was the
importance of it because he took care of it.

There are two other men that have done similar things. One
of them has left his orchard without any cultivation on one side
of the fence and the other has cultivated his, and I have noticed
the difference. The man who has cultivated his is getting about
200 barrels this year — the other man is getting ten or fifteen.
That shows the importance.

Here is another man down in Vassalboro, from two acres
of orchard got 358 barrels of winter fruit. He took care
of his orchard. Three hundred and fifty-eight barrels
from forty-two Baldwin trees, giving an average of a little
more than five and a half barrels to the tree. Some of
them gave ten. That was the importance. I wrote Mr. Smiley,
inquiring something about it, because I was interested in it. He
wrote me that he pastured his orchard with sheep, — that there
was a large pasture joining and he took pains to yard his sheep
every night, or about every nignt, in that orchard, and that is
about all he did to it. And the income, — he said that many of
those people there had, and were getting $300 an acre. He
thought there was no other crop like it.

Now that is the importance of orchard culture. That is about
all that it is necessary for me to say, that unless you cultivate
and take care of your orchard you can't get any income. If you
sit on a nail keg in the store and smoke and say farming don't
pay it won't pay, but when you get up and go to work and say it
must pay and it is going to pay, then it will pay. And it is just
so with orchards.

Mr. J. H. Hale said he kept his orchard land constantly stirred,
harrowed and plowed and cultivated. This question was asked
Mr. Hale : "How many years do you continue this cultivation ?"

A. Tell me how long I will live and I will tell you.

Q. Do you remove many crops from the orchard ?

A. No, sir, I am growing apples.

Q. What do you put on for a crop ?

A. Crimson clover, cow peas, vetches, — mostly clover and
•cow peas. This question, what other crop do you grow in the
orchard, — of course it is admissable in the early days of an

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 33

orchard to grow something there, but you never know when to
get out, and when you try to handle two crops on the same bit
of land you get into trouble. Some of these old fellows here
could tell you, if their wives were not here, that in the early days
they tried to have two girls, went to see one girl Thursday night
and the other Friday night * * * and they made a miser-
able failure of it. Now fruit tree planting is a good deal like
the best girl, she wants nursing and coddling and taking care of
right straight along all the way through. Give the orchard the
whole use of the land and if you haven't faith enough in your
trees and in your business to do that, don't go into that kind of
business. You will find the men in this country who are making
the greatest success are men of one idea. They are right after
that particular crop, that is what they are after and nothing else.

METHODS OF ERUIT CULTURE.

E. P. DeCosTER — As you are riding through the country, you
will notice that nearly every farmer has adopted some method of
fruit culture. Some we notice pasture their orchard to swine and
allow them to root the soil to keep it loose and from becoming
root bound. While others pasture it to sheep and allow them to
keep the grass down and enrich the soil, while others keep their
orchards under the plow ; while others believe in mulching with
meadow hay and even sawdust ; and there are many others who
have adopted no method, but have simply placed their trees in the
ground and trust to the hand of Providence to do the rest. Such
persons are as sure to fail in fruit culture as in any occupation
they may pursue.

I believe in raising our own fruit trees. I have not fifty trees
on my farm but what I have raised from the seed, and it has
been a great pleasure to me to watch them and care for them
from the time they first broke through the ground to maturity.

I will give you my method of raising my trees. I select a
good deep loam soil, and if I want one row of trees I plow a
strip of land some six feet wide ; if I want two rows, I plow four
feet wider, then plow a good furrow in the center, make a good
ditch of it, then I fill that partially full of dressing and work
it well in with the soil. Upon this sow your seed. I use pumace
from a cider mill and cover it about the same as I would corn.

34 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

This must be done in the fall as the seed must stay in the ground
through the winter. I let these trees grow the first year as they
come up, excepting I may trim them some. To keep the snow
from breaking them down, drive a stake in the row and tack
some boards on each side. The next spring take them all up
and set them in a row one foot apart. If these trees are properly
held, mulched, and cared for in three or four years from the seed
they will do to set out. I prefer to raise them as seedlings and
graft in the limb. I believe I can get better shaped trees by so
doing and they will come into bearing as soon as those grafted
in the nursery. In two years after setting out will do to graft.
In grafting trees those scions that are making a large growth I
allow the sprouts to grow which will act as a preventive from
blowing out. Cut them out the next spring.

Setting out trees. Many of us are not particular enough about
setting out our orchards. Who is there of you who would
expect any return from your corn and potatoes were you simply
to plant them in the ground and let them care for themselves.
I find the profit and income is commensurate to the care and labor
you put into it. No one crop we may raise upon the farm will
show good care sooner and profit surer than a fruit tree. I am
convinced that two-thirds of the fruit trees that are set upon our
farms die from starvation and never pay the first cost of the tree.

As you are traveling through the country you may not ask
how a farmer is caring for his fruit trees, a single glance will
tell you. If they are pruned, mulched and cared for as they
should be, even an experienced eye will tell you the variety of
the fruit as you will notice the Baldwin, Greening, Spy, Russet,
Ben Davis, Talman's Sweet, etc., all grow their branches in dif-
ferent shape.

Pruning trees. We are not paying enough attention to the
pruning of our trees. Fruit and not wood is what we are after.
You cannot grow good fruit and a surplus of wood. I had an
experience with a Beurre d'Anjou pear tree which taught me
a lesson. The tree blossomed well every year but the fruit did
not set and what did was small and would wither when put into
the cellar, I had made up my mind to discard this pear, so
grafted one tree and left two good limbs. Those two limbs
were loaded with pears and matured well upon the tree. I found

Cyirrx^oYx C}cijcy

FROM DNAWINt; SHOWING IJOOTS OK CRIMSON CI.OVKR.

15y courtesy of Prof. Jolin CijiIk. Cornell University.
See article on Cover Crops for tlie Orchard, pa;;('

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35

the pear was all right and the fault was with me. After trim-
ming the other trees well it had the same result

Thinning of fruit. I believe the thinning of fruit is a question
we should look into more than we do. Nature perpetuates all
fruit by the production of its seeds. It brings just as heavy
strain upon the tree to grow and mature the seeds in a small and
wormy apple as it does in a good one. I believe by thinning our
fruit we will get a better sized, better colored and a better flavored
apple. I much prefer one good apple than two poor ones. It
can be done at any time after the fruit is well set, the sooner the
better. When a tree is allowed to bear so heavily that it takes
all of the nourishment from the tree and the tree gets no growth,
disease is after that tree, and it takes from one to two years for
that tree to get into bearing again. I believe if a tree is properly
dressed, pruned and thinned, it will produce fruit every year.
The question is often asked when to prune trees. I believe the
best time is when you set them out and then do a little every
3'ear. How often we hear that father or mother say, give me the
training of a child until it is twelve years old and I will character-
ize his whole life. It is the same with a fruit tree. You can
form that tree into any shape you choose. Many are asking
what time of the year is the best to prune trees. I make it a
rule to prune when I have the time; any time after the leaves
fall.

I believe the future prospects are good for fruit growers.
Many and many a farmer in Oxford county, this present year,
have received as much for their fruit as their farm would be
v\^orth outside of their orchard.

Q. At what time and how do you thin fruit ? It is not much
practiced here.

A. At any time after June, after it gets well started. Did
you ever notice. Brother, that an apple that is perfectly clear,
not touching anything, that you don't see any coddling worms
working on the limb. They always w'ork where limbs come
together or leaves touch. I thin any time after June ; rainy days
in haying is a good time. This year the hot weather in June
thinned the fruit quite badly for me. although I raised quite a
good average crop.

36 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Q. What time would you prune ? You told us not to prune
in June.

A. Any time after the leaves fall. I hear some parties advo-
cate trimming in the fall and letting the limbs lie beneath the
trees as a preventive to the mice; possibly there is something
in that.

FERTILIZATION.

Chas. S. Pope — Our president stated this forenoon that three-
fourths or seven-eights — I have forgotten the fraction — of the
trees in the State of Maine were dying of starvation, and there
is too much truth in this. And even those which are not dying of
starvation are simply existing and giving a crop only when, —
well, the school-boy said the hitching-posts were bearing this
year — and that is just the year when there is no profit in fruit.

Now, I can remember when Mother Nature was so kindly that
all that was necessary was for us to set a good tree in good soil in
the pastures where it still retained its fertility from the forests
that had not been exhausted. All that was necessary when I
was a boy was for us to set a good tree and keep away the insects
and we would raise good crops of apples year after year. But
as time goes on and the fertility of the soil is exhausted, it now
becomes necessary for successful fruit-growing to keep the con-
dition of the soil up more in the condition that it was in fifty or
seventy-five years ago. And the soil we don't want simply to
maintain that growth, as we could easily in any soil that was fit
to raise a crop, but what we wish is to grow fruit in larger quan-
tities and of better quality and every year, so that when fruit is
worth something we will have a crop of fruit to sell. What
seems to be lacking in our soil now is the lack in the physical
condition as much as anything to grow good trees. The soil
seems to be hard and dense. It is lacking in vegetable fibre, the
humus of the soil ; the decaying organic matter that we ought to
have there for the successful growth of the tree is lacking.
Therefore we must look first to the condition of the soil before
we begin to fertilize ; have our soil in that condition where the
trees can take hold of the fertilizing material before anything
else. If we are putting this fertilizer into the soil, we want to
put it in in such shape that the trees can get it out and improve
on it. Therefore it behooves us not only to add this fertilizing

state; pomological society. 37

material but to add it in such a manner and in such a way that
the trees will get the benefit of it. For this reason I would not
fertilize on the top of the greensward under a tree, in this case
because the grass would steal the greater part of it, and we are
fertilizing the trees.

My method and what I would recommend would be to keep the
orchard under the plow. We are not all situated as Smiley of
Vassalboro, or DeCoster, is, — have a large lot of waste pasture
land where we can put in a great flock of sheep and let them
feed during the day and then drive them up on to the orchard on
the top of the hill and yard them in, stealing from this waste
land and pasture and bringing it to the orchard. Most people
are obliged to fertilize their orchards either with barnyard
manure or commercial fertilizers purchased, and to these I say
the time has come when we must raise our best fruit and our best
trees on cultivated soil as we would any other crop. It is what
they are doing all through the western country, through New
York State, for years. If we wish to raise fruit when other
people have no fruit, get it year after year, get our big crops, put
in the plow and keep them cultivated. Begin to plow as soon
as the trees are set. Plow lightly ; keep the roots below. I
would not advise going into your old orchards and putting the
plow in deep and tearing the roots to pieces and ruining the trees.
If you have an old orchard that requires this, put your plow in and
just barely turn the turf; then get your turf rotted and keep it
down with the cultivator and harrow. Then whatever is put
upon this soil the trees get the full benefit of.

The constituents called for in the tree are the same as for any
crop, but perhaps in different proportion. They call for a cer-
tain amount of nitrogen to keep the foliage in good thrifty con-
dition, for without this you can have no good fruft nor no good
growth of the tree. But too much nitrogen will grow you foliage
at the expense of fruit. Potash in large quantity is called for,
for 60% I think of the fruit, ash of the fruit, is potash and quite
a large per cent, of the tree. A small amount of prosphoric
acid, smaller than is needed for some crops ; lime ; you will find
trees growing in a limestone soil make a gopd thrifty, vigorous
growth and ripen their wood early so that they stand our hard
winters. Therefore in some of your soils it may be necessary
to add a little lime. It is impossible to tell how much of each

38 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

one of these constituents may be required in any orchard. What
is lacking in the soil must be found out by your own experiment-
ing.

But one thing you cannot expect, to follow the directions I am
giving, plowing and harrowing and adding only the commercial
fertilizers, the minerals as you buy them in the phosphates, and
in this way to keep your ground in good mechanical condition.
There is lacking in the soil the humus. Something must be
added to keep this soil loose and light. This can be done with
cover crops. Nature abhors a bare surface. She is always
planting something on a naked soil, and it is much better to raise
weeds than it is to keep that soil bare the year round. There-
fore, cultivate the first of the season, keep the ground thoroughly
mulched with a light dust soil until August or the first of Sep-
tember, then plant some crop that shall leave the fibres through
the soil and keep the soil loose and light. In this way you retain
the moisture in the soil which is one of the great advantages of
keeping your soil loose and light. That is one of the methods of
holding the moisture in the soil. The heavy, compact, dense soil
dries out very quickly, and the apple tree requires, especially
when growing a crop of apples, requires an immense amount of
water for a large crop. Therefore never plant a crop in the
spring that shall take all through the months of June and July
moisture from the soil very much faster than the bare surface
itself, but keep it plowed loose and cultivated lightly through the
first of the season, keeping the ground full of humus, full of
fibres to hold the soil loose and light, to prevent the evaporation
of the water, to conserve the moisture through the summer ; then
when it comes early fall, plant rye. wheat, peas or something of
that kind to cover the ground through the fall and winter, and
all the little fibrous roots decaying in the soil will keep up the
supply of humus and keep it loose and light for the next season
\o conserve the moisture through the coming year.

One of the best fertilizers for the orchard for this reason, to
supply the lack of humus that is in nearly all fertilizers, is stable
manure. But in the larger part of stable manure we get more
nitrogen than the trees need, therefore making it a very expen-
sive manure, unless we put a very small amount of the stable
manure and supplement it with potash and phosphoric acid in
mineral form, — ground bone and muriate of potash. Therefore

STATE J'O.MOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 39

I would recoininoiid both the stable manure and the potash and
ground bone in addition as the cheapest fertilizer that we can
apply to the orchard, for in the stable manure we get a good sup-
ply of humus to keep the soil in good mechanical condition.

O. Mr. Pope, a question, please. Does not phosphoric acid
enter largely into the composition of fruit, especially the apple?

A. Yes, that you would get in the ground bone which I
recommended — potash in a large proportion.

O. You say that in the ash of the apple there is 60% do you
not?

A. Of potash. We have a larger proportion in the apple and
in the apple tree of potash than we do when we are growing the
cereals and our common farm crops on the average, so that we
require in orchard culture a larger proportion of potash than in
the ordinary farm crops, and less nitrogen.

O. Wouldn't you want then, in a fertilizer, quite a large per
cent, of phosphoric acid as well as potash ?

A. I would have enough to keep the trees in good, healthy,
growing condition, which you would get in a small amount of
stable manure and ground bone with muriate of potash to make
up the lack in potash, to give color to your fruit and firmness. If
we were so situated, as some parties are, that we could have our
waste land pastured with sheep and bring in the fertilizing mate-
rial from that part of the farm to the orchard, as Brother
DeCoster and Smiley of Vassalboro do, it might be the better
way for fertilizing the orchard. We have had perhaps more or
less apple orchards where they were too rough to put in the plow,
or even where they were quite smooth, where we have let the
hogs do the plowing, then spreading on the fertilizer, using the
hogs mostly for cultivating and not expecting fertilizing from
them but adding to the fertilizer as needed.

O. In the German ootash salts — I think you have used them
to a certain extent — what proportion would there be of potash
and of phosphoric acid relatively ?

A. There would be no phosphoric acid in the potash salts ;
that is supplied in the ground bone. That is why we mix, using
phosphoric acid with the application of ground bone, the surplus
potash in muriate of potash, and what nitrogen we get — we get a
small per cent, of nitrogen from the ground bone, making up the
rest in stable manure.

40 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Q. Then if you use one ton of gu und bone, you would use
what proportion of muriate of potash ?

A. I would use 500 weight of muriate of potash.

Q. Are the German salts a better source of potash than wood
ashes ?

A. It is no better if you can get the wood ashes, but with us
it costs considerably more in the form of hard wood ashes than
it would in German salts.

Q. Salts are cheaper?

A. Ashes with us cost too much, twenty-five cents a barrel.

Mr. Knowlton : Mr. Pope, I would like to call your atten-
tion to this Stevens' circular which has been sent to me for distri-
bution, whether you know anything about these goods or not?

A. I don't. I never have purchased any Canadian hard
wood ashes for the reason that I think they are too expensive and
I am a little fearful that they may not contain the potash which
good hard wood ashes ought to have, — a little fear of adultera-
tion.

Q. Is it advisable to plow in young orchards in the fall of the
year?

Mr. Pope : I would not advise plowing in the fall. I
wouldn't want to stir up the soil and let the air in about the roots
in the fall, but do the plowing in the spring. It is liable to expose
more or less roots and let the air in about the roots, and, as you
know, a root coming in contact with air and frost is almost sure
to be killed. Therefore, plow in the spring.

President Gilbert: Not necessarily kill the tree?

Mr. Pope : No, but kill that root and the better way would
be to let the sod remain as a protection until spring and then plow
and cultivate in the spring.

O. I would like to ask the gentleman relative to mulching,
what is his opinion of that. Years ago it was advocated very
much and late years not so much. I would like to hear what he
thinks relative to that.

Mr. Pope: If you have plenty of mulching to cover the
ground, or if while your trees are small, if you mulch as far as
the roots can possibly extend, and mulch deep enough to kill the
sod, that is sufficient. But with most of us, the mulching after a
few years does not extend far enough ; it is expensive ; and there
is no mulch any better probably than a light soil that we get from

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 4I

cultivating. After plowing, cultivate lightly ; put in a cultivator
tliat will not work very deep, and just keep that surface stirred
and keep a light dry mulch. You can go to my orchard ,now,
you will find an experiment we are carrying on at the station,
where four rows of trees are plowed and cultivated and four
rows of trees are mulched. These trees are large enough to bear
a barrel of apples, — four or five inches in diameter, — one to two
barrels of apples possibly, and without any doubt those roots now
extend fifteen feet from the tree or more, and in mulching of
course it is impossible to think of mulching more than five or six
feet from the tree. It is plainly visible that the trees that are
cultivated and the entire surface kept mulched with the loose
soil are doing much better than those that are mulched with a
good depth of mulching five or six feet from the tree.

Q. You would call the mulch the cheaper method ?

A. I call the plowing and cultivating much cheaper unless
you have a large amount of waste hay. With us, meadow hay
and such mulching as we can get, straw and fine shavings, will
cost more, much more than the cultivating, for after once plow-
ing it is but little work to run the harrow through every few
weeks.

Q. Then are we to infer that you consider the chief advantage
of mulching is keeping down vegetable growth?

A. Keeping the soil loose and light so that you can save the
moisture, which is done by a mulch of dry earth as well as by a
mulch of meadow hay.

RESULTS OP CULTURE.

John W. True — In early times when our country was first
settled, all that was necessary to raise all the apples required for
family use, was simply to set the trees and they would take care
of themselves, eventually becoming, in many cases, very large
trees. They were seldom grafted, and if grafted, usually to
some fairly good cooking apple but the situation of the trees
plainly shows that they received no culture.

To-day it is very different; if an orchard is set, at least in the
older parts of the State, it must be cultivated if we expect to
obtain good results.

And what are these results ?

42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Without care and culture the trees will go, one by one, to the
brush pile, until at the end of five years, when the young orchard
well cared for should begin to show signs of fruiting, not one tree
in ten will be found worth saving. If they can have two or three
years of care and culture they will get rooted, and, with hardy
sorts, will cling to life for a number of years, but with steady
culture for fifteen years we get a good thrifty tree, with trunks
measuring twenty-eight or thirty inches in circumference and
paying a profit.

Culture, we should understand, means any method of care that
will keep the grass down and the tree growing. It may be by
mulching, or by plowing and harrowing.

We had the opportunity, the past season, of seeing some of the
results of simply plowing and harrowing, no dressing being used.
It was noticeable; as far as the orchard could be seen the large,
dark foliage and the more abundant and better fruit plainly told
the story.

Another result of culture is that an orchard properly set and
cared for will be an even stand of trees. It is seldom that a tree
will be lost except by accident or an ice storm, something that
we cannot foresee and guard against.

With proper culture the roots run deeper and will spread over
the whole ground. We have found them two and one-half feet
below the surface, firmly imbedded in solid pin ground fifteen
feet from the tree at the end of ten years. With such roots a
tree will not be affected by any drouth that we have in this
climate, and will hold its fruit much better, in our opinion, than a
tree growing in grass with its roots near the surface.

The fruit from a well cultivated orchard, (which should
include pruning,) will be far more abundant and will be pro-
duced more regularly ; it will also be of better size, and if the
pruning has been properly attended to it will be of just as good
color; and we are all well aware of the fact that it is the well
grown fruit that is sought for by the buyers, and will bring the
most money, the "Results" that we are all striving for.

Q. I would like to ask Brother True if he has adopted any
method to try to kill twitch grass ?

A. Some of my orchards I have plowed for fourteen years
and now the limbs are getting so near that I cannot get a team in
to do very much work and I have been for the last two or three

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43

years almost stuck as to know what to do. Two years ago I put
some sheep in one of the orchards for a month or two, long
enough to keep the weeds down, and then again last year for
about the same length of time, just enough to keep the weeds
down — more or less clover came in and very good feed there.
And this last spring I cut off some of those under limbs so as to
put my team in and we got out the spring tooth harrow and went
over it thoroughly; it was in April on gravelly ground, just as
soon as the snow was off, to tear it up thoroughly, and again
in about two weeks more we went over it again, and then I put
in hogs. And it has looked finely. I got more than a hundred
bushels of apples out of it. I will say, back of that, in this plow-
ing and cultivating I put on barnyard manure and dressed it very
well, and then I put on ashes and from some reason or other it is
looking exceptionally well this year and the twitch grass is very
nearly all out again. I don't believe in putting in too many hogs.
You have got to use your judgment in putting them in, for thev
won't use any in rooting around the trees. They will take some
one tree perhaps and root it to death and neglect other trees.
You have got to watch that quite carefully.

44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

THE SELLING OF OUR FRUIT— HOW TO FIND THE

MARKET FOR SMALL FRUITS.

By A. A. Eastman, Dexter.

First you must have a good location near a local market and
shipping station. In order to succeed in this as in any other
business it is absolutely necessary to keep thoroughly up with the
times. The picking and gathering of fruit is another important
point to know, the proper time and stages of development to
gather the fruit according to your market. The small fruits
should be picked in the cool part of the day and at once put in a
cool place, and not picked when wet with dew or rain, the fruit
will soon spoil and be worthless. But if you are close to a local
market get out early and pick the fruit with the dew on and have
it on the market early as possible. Do not send fruit of poor
grades to market, have the small fruit graded by the pickers, as
it is hardly possible to assort afterwards, and see that all your
fruit is up to an established standard.

Sell these as first-class goods and if you market the seconds
mark them as seconds. As to the manner of selling this is a local
question. If you are close to a small town sell direct to the con-
sumer, but endeavor to have the man who handles your fruit in
touch with you. If you are obliged to ship to a commission mer-
chant get him acquainted with your fruit, go and see him and get
acquainted with what he is doing in the markets. Establish
confidence between yourself and your dealer and then do nothing
to shake that confidence. Just how you will do this will depend
upon yourself. While fruits are the most profitable source of
revenue from a farm they might in many cases yield double the
profit if they were marketed in a proper manner. The trouble
with fruit growers in Maine and New England States, is they do
not make a business of it as a rule. You do not want to mix
farming in with small fruit culture but very little. If a person
is farming he wants to raise what small fruit is needed in his
family ; if he is making a business of small fruit culture he can-
not attend to farming and make it pay as a rule. Farmers fre-
quently complain that they fail to get satisfactory prices for their
products and find fault with dealers because they will pay no
more when in reality the trouble lies with themselves. The sale

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45

of any fruit depends very much on its appearance to the eye.
Pick your fruit honestly in a nice clean box or basket, and don't
forget to put some large berries in the bottom ; the people will
iind them and give you lots of credit. Always insist on a fair
price and back it up by a comparison of value and you will have
no trouble in getting and holding your customers. Be firm and
courteous under all circumstances ; don't get angry if they do.
A neat personal appearance is a good stock in trade. Wear a
^ood business suit and keep your shoes blacked and be in condi-
tion to approach the wealthy family and make a good impression
and never offer customers berries in an old dirty basket. Keep
your horse and wagon as neat and attractive as possible. Fruit
is or will be what we make it, and thus more than a slight differ-
ence in soil. Make pets of your plants and trees with generous
and reasonable care born of a wish to succeed. Love your busi-
ness, make your own recod as a fruit grower.

In using berry crates I used to buy old second hand crates at
the markets and pay ten cents each for good, bad, indifferent and
I had to put out from ten to thirty minutes in labor for repairs
and to clean them up for business, and then they were old crates,
dirty and poor. I got sick of these, and I have adopted a gift
crate that costs very much less ; they hold twenty-four quarts and
twenty-four pints. The twenty-four quart crates I use in ship-
ping strawberries, currants and gooseberries ; the twenty-four
pint are used in shipping raspberries ; they are very neat and
attractive and the fruit sells very much better when they reach
the market, the fruit is all there in good condition free from dust
or dirt. The question now will be where to find such a market
as will best maintain prices, with this comes.the problem of trans-
portation which must be taken into account. The individual
■shipper is at the mercy of the railroad and express companies
who without fear, favor, or affection for ten or twelve hours
transit take not less then twenty cases out of one hundred of
berries for their portion, while the commission man takes ten
more. You can see what is left for you to pay for packages,
picking and cultivation. The fruit grower has no subsidy to
relieve him in protection from the extortionate freight charges.
Can the fruit growers of Maine combine in their shipment to
secure lower rates ? I think they can if they ill would combine
together.

46 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

J. H. Hale — Certainly the subject of the afternoon that is laid
out on your program here is one of very great interest and prac-
tically covers the whole broad field of commercial pomology, and
any one of the subjects which you have here would take a whole
afternoon. I haven't given it special thought for this time but
there are thoughts upon it which I have rubbed up against in my
life on a fruit farm, and I have some fixed ideas upon the subject
of small fruit. "How to find the market." The best way to find a
market is to produce something that the market wants, and put
it up in a way they want it. Simply growing such small fruits
as come up, putting the plants and bushes in the ground and
giving them indifferent cultivation and indifferent food, and gen-
erally indifferent care, consequently getting moderate fruit of
moderate size and quality and color and style won't find a market,
or at least people won't go very far for that sort of fruit. The
first and foundation principle of marketing lies in production.
That is the first thing, to produce. But to make a broad, general
statement, the wisest way to find a market is to produce some-
thing that the people want and to produce it a little better than-
the other fellow. When you hear laboring men, people of any
kind saying they can't get along, and there is no place for them
in this world, the trouble is they are not furnishing thoroughly
and well what people want. The man who can do a common
thing well, or can do it better than anybody else, is the man that
is never out of a job, whether he is a hod-carrier or a blacksmith,
or a carpenter, or a lawyer, or a preacher, or a doctor. When-
you hear of a lawyer getting tremendous fees, you may know that
that man puts his whole heart and soul into his case and leaves
no single little thing^undone that he may develop that case to its
utmost possibilities along his line. And everybody wants that
man. And when the doctor does, and when the preacher does,
and v/hen the strawberry grower, small fruit grower does it and
leaves no single thing undone to produce a little better fruit than
the other fellow in every possible way, why he need not worry
about a market, — not a bit. The market will find him, and find
him pretty quick too.

After he produces it as well as he knows how, and a little bet-
ter than anybody else if he can, — and we want everybody to each
try and do more than the others — the more rivals w^e have in the
business and the more men that can beat us the better ofif we are^

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 47

it Stimulates us to do better all the time and it broadens the con-
sumption— then, further than that, grade your fruit, for it pays.
It is more difficult to grade small fruits, for if you are going to
grade at all it must be at the time of picking. To take them to
the sorting house and attempt to do this is an injurious process
to the small fruit. If the small fruits are to be graded, and if
}'ou are working for an extremely fancy market it will pay to
grade your fruit, some varieties, — it must be done in the pick-
ing—you must pick extras into one package, number ones into
another, and so on — and it will require paying an extra price to
your pickers. You cannot get money unless you spend it. The
more you scatter, the more things come back to you. The more
you put into a thing the more you get out.

Now this fruit must be graded carefully, and to do it — in fish-
ing for a very fancy market — you have got to pay a higher price
than the average for the picking. You want your packages the
newest, the cleanest you can get. We used to talk about venti-
lated packages, for our small fruits, especially. Years ago when
I first began to grow strawberries and carry them to market —
grew them on a little quarter acre patch — we put them in the little
round boxes, perfectly tight, solid box, and put the cover on, —
then put them in an old trunk and gave them to the stage driver
and he took them to market, and the biggest dollars I ever saw
in the world were what that old stage driver brought back from
that little lot of strawberries. Then came the ventilated basket,
and the ventilated basket and crate was talked about as a revolu-
tion in small fruit handling, — it gave them light and air and
everything else. And we have drifted so far away that we have
got into that ventilated package and we are ruining our fruit with
too loose packages, too much air. I go to the grounds and they
take me on top of the hill. Right on too of the hill they have got
a little tent erected of boards or something else and it keeps the
sun off and the air blows through there. They bring their fruit
in here and spread it out for the wind to cool it oflf. But the air
going through there all the time is ruining it. The quicker you
can get fruit cool from the vine into a tight package the better.
Your grocer down here buys some strawberries to-day. He does
not sell them and to-morrow they look a little wilted on top and
especially alongside of the fresh ones. He holds them until
to-morrow afternoon, they have wilted down and look pretty bad

48 state; pomological society.

and a customer goes by and won't buy them. What does he do?
Just before Mrs. Brown comes round the corner he takes them
and puts one basket over the other and turns them upside down
and the bottom ones away from the air are bright and she buys
them. Very soon the men who get the best market for very high
grade fancy fruit are going to put them back into the absolutely
tight package, but that means cooling them before they go in
there. Don't go out in the heat of the day, or wet of the day,
and shut them up there, but get them ofif the vines and cool and
dry them as quick as you can in cold storage if you can have it,
or something of the kind, and then put them in a tight package
and they will keep. That is another way to find a market.
Show them up to the people in the right way, make them attrac-
tive.

I can tell you a little incident in my own business. Some years
ago, or a good many now, I am not so much of a kid as I look
although in some ways I am all right — I went into the city of
Hartford one morning with a large load of berries. I sold them
and came back and got the second load, thinking I had got prac-
tically all. When I came home at noon I found they had picked
five bushels more strawberries. What should we do with them ?
You know that is a tremendous lot of strawberries. I said "I
will have to go back into the city with them." As I drove down
by my sister's she came out and wanted to see one particular
variety. She had a little bunch of roses in her hands and she
dropped one in on top of one of those baskets of strawberries.
Then a thought struck her and she said "Wait a minute and let
me fix these up for you." I let the horse stand and went and got
some strawberry leaves at her direction and she came out with a
whole handful of roses. If you want a little tasty job, get a girl
back of it. She just dressed those five crates of berries with a
strawberry leaf and a rose on the top of each of the eight baskets
on the top layer. I went to one store and another where I hoped
to sell them, and then I went to the leading grocer. He said he
had got more than he could sell any way. I said "Come out here,
I have got some pretty ones I want to show you." He came out
and lifted up the covers and used a great big swear word. He
says "Golly, ain't they pretty ! What do you ask for them ?"
"Thirteen cents a quart." He says "I don't want them, but they
look so pretty I won't let them go." He bought the whole five

STATE POMOI.OCICAL SOCIETY. 49

crates and put them out in front of his store, they were pretty
and they tempted him and they tempted his customers. When
I asked him how he came out on that deal — "First rate, sold them
all. I have never had such a big strawberry deal in my life."

Small fruit must be shown to the people and carried to them
in the most attractive. manner possible to catch their eye first.
Then give them a good solid package full to impress them that
you are liberal, and then have your package all right from top to
bottom, and then just as good quality as it may be, and the market
will take care of itself.

We need some sort of advertising. How the advertising shall
be done, I don't know. I have a friend over in western Massa-
chusetts starved out in the grocery business, went to growing
fruits and getting rich ; but he grows fruits better than his neigh-
bors, he packs them bettter than his neighbors, packs them in a
nice package, puts them up attractively all the way through, and
then puts a little business card into every package, giving the
name of his farm, the principal productions of his farm, the name
of that particular variety of fruit, so that the buyers may know
what they are eating — if they get something that is good they will
want more of it — and across the bottom of that card what does
he say? "Price always five cents above the market." Tells
them right to their faces that his price is five cents above the
average market right along, and yet they come to him every day
as fast as he can supply them, and way over in western Massa-
chusetts as far almost away from Boston as you are, yet he has
a trade in Boston among the fancy retailers there who buv his
fruit and pay him for it in his own station.

HOW TO PREPARE FRUIT FOR MARKET.

How to prepare fruit for market — ^that depends upon the
variety. In the first place, prepare it in the production, begin to
prepare it for market when you begin to grow it. All these
things lead right back into the ground, lead right back into the
man or woman that is back of the job. You have got to have a
heart and soul in it to begin with. You have got to believe in
it yourself, and you have got to love to do it and then do it just
as well as you know how.

The other end of it is to go to the market and find out how they
want it. Go down and studv the various markets. T have

50 sta-te; pomological society.

knocked about the United States a great deal in my time, in fact
what money I have made the most of it is spent in travelling and
going round and seeing what the other fellow was doing,— and
I never stop in any large city or town over night but that I am
out at market hours in the morning to study the market end of
it — in New York two o'clock in the morning, in Chicago five or
six, or four or five, and in Boston it is not until six o'clock — and
I study the market and see if certain things are selling. Why did
I say last night, pack your apples in boxes instead of barrels?
Because my observation in the great markets was that a barrel
of apples in boxes will sell for 30% more than the same apples in
a barrel. I have found that from observation. That is why I
recommend it. And I have found that people want certain kinds
of fruit in certain kinds of packages and in certain ways, so that
in a large measure you have got to conform to the demands of
the people.

I know of a prominent grower in a neighboring state who
shipped twenty barrels of apples to market, all packed together,
good, bad and iridififerent. They were not very badly faced on
the top or bottom, but nevertheless they were a mixed up lot.
When they got to market the best offer the commission man
could get for them was $1.50 a barrel, but the apples were worth
more than that. He wouldn't sell them to outsiders at that and
he bought them in himself. He had a little leisure — those apples
were bought in at $1.50 a barrel, twenty barrels, and they were
resorted so that he got some eight or ten — I did have the exact
figures — he got about eight barrels extra good apples which he
finally sold for $3 a barrel ; six barrels of good No. one, at $2.25,
a shrinkage of one barrel, and the rest No. threes which he sold
for Si a barrel. He made about 30% on that lot of apples by put-
ting a little common business honesty into the barrel along with
the apples. Just as mean and dishonest as you may be at heart,
the meanest old money grabber on the top of the ground — if you
want to make money, be honest. If you want to make money in
the fruit business, be honest all the way through every single
package and in every detail. Be honest with the soil. Be honest
with the tree and the plant. Be honest with the fruit in its hand-
ling all the way through, and then be honest with the customer
at the other end of the line — because it will pay in dollars and

Ha}rij l/etck

FROM DRAWING SHOWING ROOTS OF HAIRY VETCH.

By courtesy of Prof. John Craig, Cornell University.
See article on Cover Crops for the Orchard, page 57.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 5I

cents if you want to measure it by that low, miserable standard
of dollars and cents. Put it on that ground, it will pay you better
than any other policy.

PACKAGE EOR APPLES.

Question. What is the best box for apples ?

Mr. Hale: The best we know of yet is a box just about 22
inches long and about 10 inches deep, and ioj4 or 11 inches wide.

Air. Knowlton : About like the Canadian box ?

[The Canadian box is made of ^ lumber and its dimensions
are 10^x113^x21^ outside — cover and bottom narrower to
admit of ventilation. — Secretary.]

Mr. Hale : Well, I think the Canadian box, if I remember
right, is a little wider than that. You want a box with not too
great a surface on the top for the heading, and ten or eleven
inches seems to be enough. You want it pretty nearly equal
depth and width so that in the cooling off process there wont be
any long ways to the center from any point.

Mr. Knowlton : Do you have the box made open ?

Mr. Hale : No, sir. Tight box, ^ inch material on the ends,
about 34 "ich veneering for the sides, bottom and top. I think
it would be an advantage to make these boxes with a little
thicker sides. The veneering sides spring a little and are apt
to crush the apples ; if the corner of one box strikes the fiat side
of another there will be some spring and bruising of the apple.
While the apple boxes that have already been made are about 34
inch material on the sides and bottom, and it will cost a little
more to make one with jA inch material, I think our best apples
will carry better in a box with a little thicker sides.

O. Do you recommend wrapping apples in tissue paper?

A. I would recommend wrapping in some sort of paper, I
am not sure yet whether tissue or paraffine paper or something
of that sort. What you want is to keep the apple away from
the air. The apples will shrink. They will shrink in cold
storage. I was talking with a gentleman yesterday on the
question of cold storage, and as I told him, when I was a kid and
used to go with the boys all round the neighborhood into every
cellar to get apples, we always found the best and finest in the
cellars that had wet bottoms, the damp, old cellars. We have

4

52 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCII^TY.

been talking about a dry cellar as the proper place for apples, it
has been advocated in our agricultural papers, but give me the
wet one and I will keep an apple longer and brighter every time.
So of cold storage, it is a question, I think, of which we know
actually very little at the present time, They merely get a good
cold room and put stuff in there and it will keep pretty well, but
I think our cold storage rooms want to have some plan of retain-
ing the moisture. If I had apples to store today in the average
cold storage house in barrels, I should arrange to sprinkle those
barrels twice a week as long as I kept the apples there. I would
take my chances on their coming out better than any other apples
in that storage house that looked equally well when they went m.

Q. Those boxes you spoke of will hold about half a bushel ?

A. Made to hold just a bushel, 50 lbs. of apples.

Q. Most of them hold a little less than a bushel.

A. They are intended to hold a full bushel of apples, the Cali-
fornia box is, and the Colorado box. We want a standard
American box and a standard of grading. You want a standard
that is made and maintained by your Pomological Society, so
that when an ol^cer of your society is willing to put his stamp
on a barrel it my be known all over the world, it may mean some-
thing.

By G. Harold PovvSll, Agricultural Department, Washington.

I desire to add a few words m regard to the box as a package
for the finer grades of apples. I have recently been in the land
of the "big red apple" in Missouri and Kansas, and I found sev-
eral growers, especially among the younger men, adopting the
box for the better apples such as the Grimes and the Jonathan.
Their box is much like the Colorado box of the dimensions given
by Mr. Hale. They are made of white wood and are the most
attractive and best formed box for the purpose I have seen.
They cost about 10}^ cents knocked down by the thousand. The
top and bottom of the box bulge out when the cover is put on,
but the boxes are stored on their sides so that no pressure comes
on the bulge. The tops and bottoms and each side were made
of one solid piece each rendering the package very attractive.

Apples need to be packed very tight in the box or they shake
around in transit and bruise badly. I found one young man

state; pomological society. 53

lining the boxes with a Hght tinted paper which set the fruit off
effectively.

The ideal box is about as wide as it is deep and about twice as
long as wide. A flat broad box shows the fruit off advantage-
ously but it is objectionable in that too many fruits are bruised
in putting on the cover. I have had some experience this year
in the cold storage work of the Department of Agriculture with
a pear box used in western New York. This box is made of
^8 inch stuff for the ends and ^ inch for the sides and tops. It
is 17 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 7 inches deep. I found
this box very objectionable. It is too shallow to take three layers
of good size apples or pears and there is too much fruit surface
exposed for bruising when the head is nailed on. I had to fill
these boxes from the narrow sides.

The box used in Missouri holds a full bushel, while this New
York box holds but seven-eights of a bushel.

The Californians are using boxes extensively for their apples.
Only last year the Pajaro valley shipped 1,000 cars of apples,
of which 220 cars of Yellow Newtowns were sent to Europe.
The box is the coming package for the finer apples and I would
advise the Maine apple growers to give the matter serious
attention.

One word about fruit wrappers. I had occasion to examine
a lot of LeConte and Duchess pears in cold storage the day I
left Washington. Part of the fruit of each variety was wrapped
in a thin tissue paper, and an equal part was left unwrapped.
The fruit had been in storage more than a month, having been
picked and stored at the same time. The difference between the
wrapped and unwrapped fruit was striking. The wrapped fruit
was hard and bright, the unwrapped showed a distinct shrinkage,
the fruit was not firm, and it had lost its bright glossy appear-
ance. While we are not now prepared to say very much about
the practice of wrapping, it looks as though it paid well to wrap
the finest kinds of fruit either for the immediate market or for
cold storage. (Figures were here given to show the value of
wrapped P>artletts in comparison with unwrapped Bartletts in
the London market. The wrapped fruit whether in barrels,
boxes, or half boxes sold considerably above the unwrapped
Bartletts.) The Department of Agriculture has this question
under experimental study this year. It is using tissue, parch-

54 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ment, parafine and newspaper wrappers in the experiments with
both pears and apples.

TO WHOM AND WHEN TO SELL.

Sell to the fellow that wants them and when he wants them
always. That is a good business rule to sell to the man who
wants to buy real bad. After all, farmers, fruit-growers, the
New England farmer particularly, is by force of circumstances
a laborer, a business man and a capitalist combined in one. Nine
times out of ten he forgets that he is anything else but a laborer.
Nine times out of ten this laborer, this business man and this
capitalist works so hard earning his little $1.25 or $1.50 a day
that he forgets all about his capital he has got that needs looking
after, and he forgets all about his business interests which need
looking after, to guide his labor and to guide his capital that they
may both give the greatest returns, and he does not look far
enough out into the world about his market interests or the sell-
ing of his product. So that question of to whom to sell and
when to sell is the business one, a knowledge of what other people
are doing. Your society did a grand thing this year in getting
out this little circular about your apples — the best money you
ever spent for your society if your growers took advantage of it.
The grower should be constantly on the alert to know what the
other fellows are doing, what they are planting, how they are
caring for it, what sort of production, where they aim to sell,
why they succeed and why they fail, all these things. He should
give constant attention to what is going on on the outside. Of
course the man with a dozen apple trees, fifty or a hundred can't
spend a thousand dollars travelling round the United States, but
he can get in touch with other men in different sections of the
United States, keeping in close touch with the Pomological Divis-
ion of the Agricultural Department at Washington. They will
freely answer your questions. And keep in touch with the secre-
taries or the live men, members of the different horticultural and
pomological societies. If the secretary himself hasn't time to
correspond with you, say, who is there in this society that keeps
his eyes open and is willing to talk a little? You can find in
every state in this Union commission men. They know where
all the apples and peaches are long before they are ripe. They

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 55

know the condition of the fruit crop all over the country, because
it is their bread and butter, but it is bread and butter and pie to
the grower if they only knew it and what Yankee don't want pie ?
A dead one is all the one I know. And so it comes that we need
a knowledge of our business, and when we get that knowledge
we shall know each for himself whom to sell to and when to sell.
But we can't have any general rule that we will all sell to Boston
and that we will all sell on the 17th day of November, — not at
all. We want the knowledge of marketing conditions, and pro-
ductive conditions, and climatic conditions, and then apply that
knowledge each for himself and to himself and by himself, or
through an organization if you will, but in a general way we need
all that in our head. That is where the money is made in your
business. That is where the success comes in your business.
Main strength and awkwardness is at very low premium every-
where. Brains, intelligent brains that may be well directed in
any business are worth money, and they are worth just as much
in agriculture and just as much in horticulture as anywhere else.
I believe myself, as one who was born on a New England farm,
and has lived all his life on a New England farm, that the busi-
ness of agriculture today rightly managed in New England will
pay better dividends than any other business in New England
today.

And I say to you now, and I say particularly to you fathers
and mothers who have got boys coming up, if you will impress
upon them what there is lying locked up in the good old soil of
Maine today, and show them the opportunities of New England
agriculture, show them the opportunities that may come to them
through these societies and through the work of the Grange, and
through your agricultural press and through your college over
here at Orono and your Experiment Station, they need not go
to New York, Boston, or any of the large cities to make a living,
they can stay right here on the farm. And a man can get a lot
of fun that he can't get anywhere else, the enjoyment that comes
from working with trees and plants and the soil and with Mother
Nature, providing your mind is open to receive it. I know some
people don't see that. They don't get the pleasure out of it, the
glorious enjoyment of working with these beautiful pictures on
this table, and the trees that grow them, and the little plants that
grow out of the soil. All that has a wonderful joy in it if we are

56 STATJ5 POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

big enough and broad enough and deep enough to hold it all.
We shut our eyes to too many things, we farmers who live in
the country.

THE BIGGEST PRICE — HOW TO GET IT.

In a communication to the secretary Messrs. Hall and Cole,
well known commission merchants of Boston, write some trite
suggestions that should be carefully read by Maine fruit growers :

"Of course we have a pretty thorough knowledge of our end
of it, and referring to your question, 'The biggest price — How to
get it ?' would state, that one who has nice apples, handles them
through all the stages of harvesting and packing, in a faithful
manner, sorts well, and 'faces' so that when a barrel is opened,
the face is an indication of the balance of the barrel, not all large,
or all small, but a sample of its contents, who faithfully packs
nothing but hand picked fruit, and does not allow himself to put
in a barrel a 'drop' apple, even if it is the best one on the tree,
fills barrels solid, so that they will arrive at market in like condi-
tion ; and can be depended on to do this, is the grower who gets
'the biggest price.'

"We have growers on our list, who have placed their goods in
our hands for forty years, or more, who always do as we have
stated above, and we have a trade that buys these apples year
after year, and does not ask to have a barrel opened — they knozv
the goods.

"We know many growers, who are faithful in every detail of
handling their apples, but might mention Mr. Phineas Whittier
of Chesterville, and Mr. Charles S. Phinney of Standish, who
know how to do it, or have it done.

"A word to growers, who send their goods to market in small
lots. To meet with the best results, each barrel should be marked
as to what it contains, variety, and quality, and in case shipping
stencil has not been furnished, name of shipper appear on each
barrel, and in shipping, advice of shipment should be mailed at
once.

"This is important. It is surprising how many neglect the
whole or some part of this advice. Perhaps one-third do not
advice of shipment, fifteen per cent do not state a thing on the
barrels, but name of consignee. Perhaps someone makes a ship-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 57

ment of five barrels, and nine others do the same, from as many
different places ; they reach Boston ; unloaded, and mixed
together; come to market; buyers ready to purchase; but just
what is at hand to sell cannot be determined, only by opening each
barrel, and that is impossible. Result — some of the goods may
not have full justice done them, but if attention was paid to the
advice, there would be no mishap."

COVER CROPS FOR THE ORCHARD.

By G. Harold Powell, Washington.

Illustrated by Stereoptican Views.

One of the finest features of the pomological meeting is the
large attendance of the ladies and in the evening session of the
boys and girls. I am delighted to see the gallery crowded with
young people. In a few years they will be occupying your places
on the main floor and no effort on your part to encourage their
sympathy with rural life and its manifold activities now can be
too great. I heartily wish that I had not committed myself to a
subject for this evening. I would consider it a privilege to
address my remarks wholly to the younger people and to
endeavor to stimulate their interest in the different forms of
nature around them. Apples and peaches and pears and plums
and soil management are all right, but the best fruits of the Maine
farm are the children that grow there.

In the older sections of the country where crop rotations have
succeeded each other generation after generation or where similar
crops have been under intensive cultivation for a long continued
time, there is a constant diminution of the vegetable matter of the
soil. The orchard soil that is tilled once or more a week for
several years, and in which no provision is made for replacing
the vegetable matter that burns out, grows heavier and "deader,"
with smaller water holding and less productive capacity. Good
tillage wisely guarded increases the productivity of orchard lands,
but intensive tillage has its accumulating effect for evil imless its
operations are thoroughly understood.

It may be well at this point to briefly review the primary
objects of orchard tillage.

58 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

First, it makes the soil fine and loose and favorable for the
growth of roots. A crop cannot grow on a stone wall nor on a
bank of stiff clay, yet either may contain as much mineral food
as a rich garden loam. The soil must be fine, and open, for the
highest development of plants.

Second, it acts as a dressing of fertilizer, as it helps liberate the
unavailable plant food. I imagine that every acre of land in
Maine is rich in potential plant food which only needs to be awak-
ened for the use of the plants growing on it. An acre of soil may
contain from 5,000 to 30,000 pounds of potash, and from 2,000 to
8,000 pounds of phosphoric acid in the first foot, and I imagine
that there is not an acre of Maine soil that will not exceed the
minimum figures in its native fertility. Exhausted soils ! Where
are they ? Abandoned farms whose fertility has been exhausted !
Their plant food is only locked up and the key thrown in the well
"by those who have abused them. They need working. They
need vegetable matter and a rational system of agriculture that
does not burn them out.

Tillage then helps Hberate plant food, putting the soil in condi-
tion so that the chemical activities and the biological activities
within it can progress more rapidly. One of the most emphatic
problems in modern agriculture is how to get these stores of plant
food out of the soil, rather than how to buy them in the form of
commercial fertilizers.

Third, it acts as a continuous gentle irrigation in that it pre-
vents evaporation. Tillage prevents evaporation by making the
surface layer coarser than the underlying ones, putting the soil
in condition so that the chemical activities and the biological
surface layer coarser than the underlying ones. The water rises
by capillary attraction until it reaches this coarse layer of soil
where it is held, and a rational system of tillage is one that con-
tinuously preserves this soil mulch.

And fourth, it kills weeds. This last function has been the
principal reason for a large part of the tillage of the past.
Blessed be weeds !

Soils are made up of a number of mineral elements formed by
the disintegration of rock and of organic materials such as leaves
and sticks and stubble and the roots of plants. This organic
matter is essential to a fertile soil but its content is constantly
reduced by long continued cropping and cultivation unless some

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59

means is provided for maintaining the supply. Soils that are
lacking in vegetable matter are burned out and dead. They are
inactive. They hold a small amount of water, and they lose that
quickly. I desire therefore to impress upon you the need of
supplying vegetable matter to your orchard lands, and that brings
us to a discussion of the subject of orchard cover crops. A cover
crop, as the term is understood in horticultural language, is one
that is sown in the orchard after the trees have made their annual
growth and is allowed to remain there until the land is plowed
the following spring. The cover crop has several distinct offices
to perform besides supplying vegetable matter to the soil, and to
these functions I desire briefly to refer. The cover crop idea for
orchards is distinctly a modern one and has grown up since the
intensive cultivation of orchards has come into prominence.

The most expensive and the most illusive element of plant food
is nitrogen. In the condition in which plants use it it melts away
like sugar or salt. Growing plants take it up and use it in their
growth, and on soils that are barren of plant life, the nitrogen is
lost in drainage water. The greatest loss of nitrogen occurs
through the fall and winter months, and a distinct function of the
cover crop is to take up the available nitrogen at that period of
the year, and to hold it for the future use of the orchard. The
cover crop also takes up other available plant food during the fall
and thereby assists in checking the growth of the fruit trees which
harden down or ripen their fruit buds more satisfactorily. This
latter point is one that cannot be too strongly emphasized in the
-colder fruit growing sections of the country.

The cover crop keeps the soil open so that the fall and winter
rains, instead of running off into the streams, sink slowly into the
ground, and, by its mechanical action, it prevents the washing
and compacting of the soil.

If the cover crop is one that lives over winter it pumps out the
water of the soil in the spring sometimes hastening the period
when the land can be plowed from one to two weeks. I desire to
emphasize this water exhausting power of the cover crop in the
early spring, for sometimes when the succeeding months are dry,
the early growth of the cover crop may have wrought a serious
injury to the future orchard crop. Have seen both corn and
tomatoes that were a partial failure after following a heavy
:growth of crimson clover that had pumped out tons of water in

60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

its spring growth. I am firmly convinced that the practice of
allowing cover crops to make a large growth in the spring before
they are plowed under is a serious mistake. I base this convic-
tion, first, on the fact that a fruit tree should be forced into rapid
growth early in the season so that it may largely complete its
growth in the north by the first to the middle of July and have a
long fall for ripening its buds, and, second, because a rapid, early
growth and a slower growth in late summer is more conducive to
the formation of fruit buds than a growth that is rapid when the
fruit buds are beginning to form, and, third, because every effort
should be made as early as it is practicable to plow the land to
conserve the moisture that has accumulated during the winter
months.

T would call your attention to the following figures given by
King. (The Soil, p. 191.) On May 13, the moisture was deter-
mined in a soil just planted to corn and in an adjacent clover field,
the samples being taken within two rods of each other.

1-6 in. 12-18 in. 18 24 in.
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.

Corn ground 23.33 19.13 16.85

Clover ground 9.59 14-75 13-75

Difference 13-74 4-38 3.10

These figures illustrate the evil effect of allowing a crop to
grow too late in the spring when the ground is to be used for a
subsequent crop.

And now we come to one of the most important of^ces of the
cover crop. It supplies the soil with vegetable matter when it is
plowed under. I have already stated some of the relations of
vegetable matter to crop production, but the subject is of suffi-
cient importance to justify a repetition. Humus or vegetable
matter gives a soil a greater water holding capacity, and it accel-
erates its chemical and biological activities. Of this latter point
I desire to speak briefly. The decomposition of the mineral
matter of the soil and the decay of its vegetable matter is caused
directly or indirectly by millions of little organisms called bac-
teria living within it. A mass of soil is not a dead inert body.
It is a storehouse of the most wonderful living activity. The
bacteria within it thrive and multiply and perform their work
only under the most favorable conditions. Plant food is made
available through them. Air and light and moisture are essen-

state; POM.OLOGICAL SOCIETY. 6l

tial to their life, and if we should follow the problem to its ulti-
mate analysis the most desirable system of land management is
that which provides the most desirable conditions for the multipli-
cation of soil bacteria. I wish to state several propositions that
bear upon our orchard work, regretting that there is not more
time to discuss them. First, in cultivated soils the number of
bacteria is larger in well cultivated soils than in uncultivated
soils ; second, the number of bacteria increases with the amount
of organic matter or humus in the soil, and, third, an increase in
the number of bacteria means an increase in the available supply
of plant food.

We have said that the cover crop increases the water holding
capacity of the soil. It makes it sponge like. The statement is
probably conservative when I state that fruit crops suffer oftener
from dry weather than from lack of plant food. There is prob-
ably not a fruit grower in the room whose apples or other fruit
crops have not been reduced in volume by dry weather. Yet if the
soil had been prepared to hold a large amount of water, and if
the winter rains and snow had been conserved by judicious til-
lage, it is probable that, in nine years out of ten, a fruit crop could
be kept in a vigorous growing condition in the droughtiest times.
It has been well said by Bailey that the people in the dryest sec-
tions of the country suffer least from drought. They catch all
the water they can, and then hold it in the soil.

To illustrate the effect of turning under three cover crops on
the water retaining capacity of a soil in a dry spell the following
figures are taken from moisture analyses made by Cornell
University :

Soil in which three crops clover had been turned under had
15% of moisture in July. An adjoining soil with no crops turned
under had 8.75%, and lastly, the cover crop, especially if a legu-
minous one, furnishes nitrogen to the soil, through the bacteria
that live on the roots of the plants. The time will not allow us
to discuss this phase of the question further than to say that
every pound of nitrogen used in the ordinary fruit growing oper-
ations can be supplied free of charge by leguminous crops, turned
under, in the form of cover crops.

There are two general kinds of orchard cover crops, first,
leguminous crops or those that can make use of the free atmos-
pheric nitrogen through the bacteria on the roots of the plants.

62 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

This class includes the beans, peas, vetches, and clovers ; and
second, non-leguminous plants, such as oats, rye, buckwheat,
rape, turnips, and salt bushes.

These crops may be sub-divided further into two kinds, first,
those that die after a few fall frosts like the beans and peas, and
second, those that pass the winter and begin to grow in the spring
like the clover and hairy vetch.

( Mr. Powell then illustrated a large number of cover crops by
lantern slides discussing the merits and demerits of each one.
The crops he thought best adapted to Maine were the cow peas
and soy beans for the coarser lands and following them the hairy
and spring vetches, alfalfa and crimson clover. The cow pea,
soy bean and vetches are especially valuable on land that has not
previously been sown in cover crops, while the crimson clover
and alfalfa are at the top of the golden chain of cover crops and
require the finest preparation of the soil.

Of the non-leguminous crops rye, rape and cow horn turnip
were strongly recommended. The speaker also discussed the
advantage of mixing several cover crops together like crimson
clover and cow peas, clover and vetch, or clover and turnips.
The coarser crops shades the clover which usually makes a strong
sfrowth during the late fall months.)

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63

FRUIT AND FRUIT CULTURE.

By J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Ct.

I have not come here with any fixed lecture in mind, with any
prepared talk, but just as one fruit grower to another I will talk
to you a little while on some of the subjects that interest us all.
The first one is this question of fruit that is here before us, and
did you ever think that of all the choice food products that God
has given man, that come to us from the farm, fruit is the only
one that comes to us ready finished as palatable and wholesome
food without any other manipulation or preparation? It is in
its best possible condition, and no amount of cooking, no amount
of witchery of any sort that the housewife can put upon it can
improve it. Now all of our other food products have to go
through some cooking process, some butchering process, some
more or less great amount of work before they are fit for food of
men, but here is one good product that is ready without any such
expense, and that is an item to be thought of ; and while fruit a
few years ago was considered a luxury, people are finding that
fruit is one of the staple articles of food the country over, and
people are using fruit three times a day upon the table and a
dozen times a day between meals if they can get it, and are saving
a great expense and a great amount of work, and above all are
adding to their health. This idea has been caught on to by men
who are interested in fruit culture, men who must make a living
out of something, and the planting of fruit in the United States
of America to-day is something enormous. In my own fruit
growing industries both north and south I have had to look into
the fruit growing of other sections of this great United States,
and it is astonishing the rapidity with which acres and acres, and
hundreds and thousands are being planted in every section of our
country. A few years ago Delaware and a little section of Mich-
igan were considered the only peach regions in the United States
and now Connecticut, my little state of Connecticut, grows more
peaches than Delaware. Peaches are now practically grown in
every state in the Union and immense tracts are being planted in
Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Missouri. I know of one concern
that is to plant out more than 2,000 acres in Texas this coming

64 STATU POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

winter. And so it goes over into Missouri, and parts of Kansas
and Nebraska, Colorado and over on to the Pacific coast, apple
orchards are being planted in similar way. In the Ozark region
of Missouri, sections of southern Iowa, eastern Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico, and up in Oregon and
Washington and Idaho, besides California, they are planting
apples by the twenty and the fifty and the 200 and the 500 and
the 1,000 acres. Grapes and plums and pears are being planted
in proportionately large areas.

When I go about visiting the people who own large orchards
in the central west and the far west and the far southwest and the
south and meet the owners of some of these large plantations,
and they show me about, show me their packing house facilities
for shipping, their cold storage and the way they handle their
crates and packages and all that sort of thing, the first question
comes, where are you going to market this fruit? And while
they expect to market a portion of it locally, or in near by states,
the general agreement is that all of the fancy and thoroughly
first-class fruit is to be shipped north and east, which means east
of the Mississippi river and north of Mason's and Dixon's line.
A little further questioning develops the fact that for their very
choicest markets they are looking to the northeast corner of the
United States, New York and New England, close where your
farm and mine are located. What is the matter with you and
me that we are not planting more orchard fruits to supply these
markets right at our door? If these people five hundred and a
thousand and two thousand miles away can invest their capital
and their energy in producing these fruits in large quantities and
expect to make dividends on it after they have paid one, two,
three or four hundred dollars a car to get it into the very markets
where your farm and mine are located, is there not something in
it or more than something in it for you and me who are here on
the ground and can leave our fruit on the tree, plant or vine until
it comes to almost perfect maturity? It seems to me so. It
seems to me that we are lacking in something, that we have not
fully awakened to the opportunities that are before us.

We land owners who live right close to these markets and take
no interest in these great questions of fruit industry, and fruit
marketing and fruit supply, are dead to our interests, and we
need waking up and a most thorough waking up. Why for

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 65

years the people in the west, every railroad in the west has been
waking up to this proposition. You who have been to Kansas
City will remember the sign right across the way from the big
railroad station, at night lighted up with electric lights, which
reads : "Come to the land of the Ozark, the land of the big red
apple." It has been advertised in magazines in this country and
in foreign countries "Come to the land of the Ozark, the land of
the big red apple," and you people of Maine have kept still when
you might have hollered a great deal louder, "The State of
Maine, the land of the big and the good red apple." What -is the
matter that you have not advertised it on the house-top and all
over the world?

The best markets in all the world are in New England or very
close to it, and the next best markets are right across the water,
where we have ferry boats running at frequent intervals. The
men who are fishing for foreign markets must come right in by
your door to reach the seaboard and then go across, and they have
to pay a great big tax to the railroad when you and I don't.

In and around the city of London there are more than six mil-
lion people who must buy all the food they consume, and as a very
large measure of English food products are imported, the farm-
ing lands of the eastern United States are nearer to them than
any other lands of cheap production in the world. It is a won-
derful opportunity for us not only in our fruit products but many
others, and if we fail to take advantage of it, it is our own fault
and not the fault of the situation. Now as to our own eastern
markets, as I have said before they are the best markets in the
world and we are the nearest to them of any fruit producers in
America. It gives us an opportunity to develop our fruits upon
the tree, plant or vine to their highest perfection and then market
them quickly. These eastern people not only have a taste for and
appreciation of our fruit, but have an ability to buy that is not
equalled by any people on the face of the globe. The recent cen-
sus shows that the deposits in New England savings banks are
far greater than in any other section of the country, and the
increase in deposits for the last five years has been greater than
in any other period of fifteen years. We can have our share in
this money if we only will.

Let me tell you a little thing that came out of the World's Fair
at Chicago ten years ago. How many of you brought home the

66 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

business idea of that fair to Maine ? There were milHons in that
fair for the State of Maine if there was anybody smart enough
to have brought it home in their heads. As you all know, the
various states made plans for the apple exhibit by having the fruit
put in cold storage the fall prior to the fair, and later it was sent
to the permanent cold storaee building on the grounds, so that
there was fruit at hand day by day to replace any specimens that
failed through decay or other means of loss. Friends of mine
who visited the fair in May and early June came home and told
of the wonderful apple exhibit of some of the far western states
and the southwest and said that New England wasn't in it at all.
But early in July a great fire destroyed the cold storage building
and then the fruit from every section of the country had to stand
or fall on its own merits, as there were no specimens to replace
the daily decaying ones. In a few short weeks practically all
the apple exhibits were wiped out except those from the north-
eastern corner of the United States, showing that our apples have
keeping and staying qualities superior to those from any other
section in America. There was millions in that little idea if
Maine had got hold of it. It is a point of tremendous value, and
is going to be more so in the future as the demand for good all-
the-year-round apples is steadily increasing. You have the soil,
you have the climate, you have some of the finest apples, you
have thousands and thousands of acres that will produce as fine
fruit as can be grown anywhere on earth, and all it wants is men
and women who have faith in themselves and in the business to
practically apply culture on an extended scale. No amount of
hard work will win the highest success. Men work too hard but
they think too little. If I was a preacher and was going about to
preach to farm audiences, I would take for my subject "judicious
laziness," and I would preach to the farmers to be judiciously
lazy. Don't work so hard that you haven't a rested brain that
can think and plan about your business.

I want to emphasize the fact that our fruit growing cannot be
very successful without the most thorough tillage of the soil and
thorough preparation of the soil, and to show what it does on
land, on good land and poor land, I want to cite an instance
from the wonderfully fertile soil of the Sacramento valley of
California. I went there some years ago to visit the great farm
of Gen. John Bidwell, whom some of you voted for perhaps for

\J-'

\

^>lam met^

V /

KKO.M DUAWIVC SlloWlNG ROOTS OK MAMMOTH rH)Vl-:K.

I'.y courtesy (.f I'l-.if. Jnhn CniiK, Cornell Dnivi-isit y.
Sfc nrticlc on Cover Crops for the Orclianl, piige o7.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 67

President of the United States on the Prohibition ticket some
years ago, a grand good man and a fine farmer. He has a farm
of 40,000 acres. Besides fruit he grows a good deal of wheat
and the fields are plowed with eight gang plows which turn over
hundreds of acres daily. This is seeded to wheat and hurriedly
harrowed in with broad, sweeping harrows that cover twenty-
two feet every time across the field. Business is done on a very
extensive scale. Right adjoining his farm there is a widow who
has a farm of 500 acres, land practically identical with that of
Gen. Bidwell, but as she has not the money or the machinery,
this land is thoroughly well plowed with a two-mule team and
a modern steel plow, and after lying fallow a couple of months
is again cross plowed and then thoroughly pulverized over and
over again with cut away harrows, after which the seed is applied
and it is thoroughly worked into the soil, which in this way is
far better tilled and prepared than the adjoining land of Mr.
Bidwell. The result is that year after year, while Gen. Bidwell's
yield is about fifteen bushels of wheat per acre, that of the widow
is from thirty-three to thirty-five bushels, more than doubling
the crop simply by tillage alone.

Everything depends on culture. Every year the public is
demanding better things, finer berries, larger and more beautiful
plums and pears and peaches and apples. The only way to bring
them to their most perfect development is through thorough and
frequent tillage of the soil, which keeps the trees steadily growing
all the time by furnishing the necessary amount of moisture and
by freeing what plant food there is in the soil by constantly
bringing new particles of earth in contact with one another.

I was down in northeastern Massachusetts two or three years
ago, talking to an institute there, and one man there said he had
recently planted out a hundred peach trees to please his wife, but
as he hadn't much faith in their ever bearing peaches he had seeded
the land down to grass so he would be sure to have one crop any
way. Surely such an orchard as that has "gone to grass" at the
start. Coming up on the train today, all the way from Boston I
haven't seen a cultivated apple orchard, and I suppose that more
than 90% of the orchards in your state are in sod. You get many
and fine apples in this way, but you could get more and better
ones and more frequent annual crops, by thorough cultivation.

•5

68 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Next to thorough cultivation, inteUigent and careful pruning
is one of the essentials to successful fruit culture. To give a
thorough talk on pruning would require one whole session of
your society and I can only hint at it now. The question of
pruning is a local one, depending upon the tree itself, upon the
soil it is in, and what you want to prune for so that no man can
lay down any definite rules of pruning, only the broad and gen-
eral one of doing some pruning every year, pinching a little here
and getting it that way, and a little there and getting it the other
way, a general training up instead of letting it grow at will and
finally putting it in jail to reform, that is giving it an everlasting
slashing once in four or five years. The pruning is for several
purposes. One is to let sunlight in upon the fruit.

The next essential to fruit culture, it seems to me, is thinning
the fruit. If you plant a tree in soil prepared as well as possible,
and prune it as we ought to year after year, when it comes in
bearing it will be inclined to produce too much fruit, and there-
fore a thinning off of a large proportion of whatever may set
on the tree is absolutely essential to the production of fine fruit.
This question depends largely on your courage and your knowl-
edge and on your wants, but as a general proposition, every tree
develops from two or three to ten times as many fruit buds every
year as it ought to develop in fruit. If the first time it comes
to bearing, — take an apple for instance. — I may be treading on
dangerous ground, — but taking an apple, when it has got to be
five or six or eight years old, according to the locality, it will
bear its first fruit. If it should set forty apples the first year,
take off thirty apples and leave ten well distributed over the tree.
The chances are that the next year it will produce a hundred,
and if it does pick off seventy-five. The following year it may
attempt two hundred. If it does, pick off a hundred and fifty,
"because the seeds in that extra amount of apples will sap the
vitality of the trees and you want to get the tree into annual
bearing.

Here is a point you are going to differ on. Some will say, "1
would like to see a man make Baldwin apples bear every year."
But if a Baldwin apple or any other apple is brought up in the
wav it should go and the fruit is thinned from the start and it
is never allowed to overbear, it is nineteen to one in favor of its
bearing annually. The trouble is you let the tree, the first time

state; pomological society. 69

it attempts to bear, produce all the fruit it can grow and the
strength of that little tree is taken in developing the fruit, the
whole strength is gone into developing the fruit and none is left
for bud making. The next year, having no fruit, it has got
plenty of time to overdo itself in the line of bud development. I
want to state right here at this time that there need not be any
"off years" in apples except the tree is growing on the land of
an off man. That is a broad general proposition. There will
be occasionally failures from conditions that you cannot help,
but six years out of seven you can have annual crops of apples
if you will. By thinning you increase the size, beauty and
quality. The quality of the fruit is very much superior when a
moderate amount is distributed all over the plant. So with all
kinds of fruit, — you increase the quality, you increase the size,
you increase the beauty, — consequently you increase the value.

When fruit has been grown to its best possible development
through culture, feeding, pruning and thinning, then comes the
question of spraying. Spraying is practically as much of a
necessity as culture or pruning. The man who plants an apple
orchard or an orchard of almost any kind today and does not
plan to spray the trees at the right time is taking a tremendous
chance of loss. It is essential that this should be done. Of
course you know as much about that as I do, and if you don't
the Experiment Station can tell you in detail. It is thoroughly
explained in their bulletins.

After the fruit is grown the question comes up of packing it
in packages most suitable for the market, and there is where we
often miss it. We have missed our opportunity, it seems to me,
in this country to reach the consumer because we do not have our
fruit put in packages of convenient size. I got a tremendous
lesson this last year. There were two Belgians over here, bright
young fellows, graduates from a university, who had some means
and were looking for a new country and new opportunities. One
of them was an engineer and the other had some other profession,
but they came over to look America over and see what the oppor-
tunities were for young men of brains and energy. They
travelled up and down this country for five or six months and
they became interested more and more in fruit. They were
astonished at the consumption of fruit by the people of this
country ; they were astonished at the difference that was paid for

70 state; pomological society.

fine fruit and inferior fruit, and they looked the question all over
and finally decided that the opportunity for the fruit grower
was the greatest of anything for any man in America. There was
no profession or business that they could see in America that
offered such splendid rewards for brains as the culture of fruit,
and they visited various fruit growers. One point they rnade
to me in regard to the apple. They said thgy could go to the
fruit stand and pay five cents apiece, but they wanted to buy a
package as they came from the grower, and it was a great big
barrel, and they said, "Why don't you put up the apple in some
package that a man can buy and take home and take to the
hotel ?" Another thing these men criticised was that there was
no adequate distribution of the fruit. There would be good
fruit in one city and a hundred miles away but very little.

What are we doing about these things? What are we plan-
ning about these things? These are questions that want to be
thought out. Somebody in Maine has got to begin to do some-
thing about this question of apple packages. In the large cities,
where the people live in flats, they never think of buying a barrel
of apples because there is no place to put it, but they would buy
a barrel in four packages or three, and they would find a place to
put it and use it up quickly and want more. You could double
the consumption of apples in this country right away, perhaps
not for the first year or two, but in a very little while, by giving
a package that would go into the home. Then cram the package
just as full as you can get it. If it is supposed to be a ten-pound
package, get in ten and one-half pounds of fruit if you can.
Pack it just as full as it can be crowded. Pack it honestly all
the way through from top to bottom. If you have one single
imperfect specimen to go into the package, put it on the top, imper-
fect side up. Put a label on top with your name on it, and let
them know who does business in that way, and then make them
pay for it, pay big for it, — they will be glad to do it. Every farm
ought to have a name and a reputation. Every farmer ought to
have a business sign up in front of his farm, giving his name,
the productions of his farm, and the postoffice address if
necessary.

But if you have to ship your fruit away, ship it to a commis-
sion merchant who knows how to reach customers in a wholesale
way better than you do. Talk about dishonest commission men

STATE POMOLOGICAL S0CIE:TY. 7I

is all rot. I know commission men and I know farmers, and
there are more honest commission men than there are honest
farmers as a matter of fact. They simply know more about the
ways of the business world. A man who is honest is honest
because it pays. Nothing in the world pays like telling the
truth. Decide on what market you want to supply and supply
regularly. Go to the commission man and have a heart to heart
talk with him and tell him what you are going to do and how
you are going to do it, that you are going to have clean packages
honestly packed and that when he finds your name on top it is
a guarantee that he can stand by ; talk to him until you convince
him, and if you can't, go and see the rival across the way. They
all want that sort of thing. Invite him to come and see your
farm ; take him out in the field and show him what you are doing ;
get him in sympathy with you and your business. Some one
has said very foolishly and unwisely years ago that "there is no
friendship in business." Don't you believe it. There is friend-
ship in all good business and the best business is that which is
based upon trusting friendship between buyer and seller, between
commission man and producer. So get your man into real sym-
pathy with your business. You must be in sympathy with it
yourself ; you have got to be thoroughly interested in your busi-
ness to succeed.

E. W. Wooster.

Q. Which do you consider the more correct method of fruit
improvement, by bud variation or seed ?

A. By seed for new varieties, and by bud variation and selec-
tions from most valuable specimens of standard sorts great
improvement can be made.

Q. In strawberry culture, do you advise fall and spring appli-
cations of fertilizer on plants that are to fruit that spring or
summer ?

A. Not for the purpose of developing more fruit buds or root
power, but perhaps to aid the production of a somewhat greater
foliage such application may be advised on weak foliage varie-
ties.

O. Have you ever tried the experiment where you have
applied fertilizer during the whole season, all that the plant could
possibly take up, and then put on more in the fall or early spring,
and then noticed the results carefully of the extra amount?

72 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

A. I have never tried it in late years because I think I know
better for my soil and the varieties I grow mostly for market.

Q. Will you name a half a dozen of the best strawberries ?

A, For general purposes over a wide range of country, Glen
Mary, Haverland, Splendid, Sample, Clyde, Mammoth and Dun-
lop are undoubtedly the best now known.

Q. Please name several of the best plums.

A. I prefer the Japanese plums, a new race of fruit that has
come to this country recently. They are as productive as cider
apples, as pretty as "the best girl" — they come early and medium
and late, and they go through a large range of color — Red June,
Abundance, Chabot, Burbank, perhaps represent the cream of
them. For this cold north country. Hale is highest in quality,
Wickson largest and Satsuma best for canning.

MAINE FRUIT AT THE PAN-AMERICAN EXPO-
SITION.

W. M. MuNSON, Orono.

Most of you are aware of the history of Maine's Pomological
exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition, At the winter meet-
ing of the society held at Norway in November last, it was voted
to appropriate $250 for the purpose of showing Maine's fruit and
later the legislature granted $250 more. So the total sum avail-
able for collecting, installing and maintaining and exhibit was
$500. With this fact in mind I trust that censure will not be too
severe when our exhibit is compareed with that of New York,
Missouri or Illinois — especially when it is known that these
states provided from $10,000 to $15,000 each for a like purpose.

The collection of Maine's fruit was begun so late in the season
that it was difficult to obtain all of the varieties desired and much
of the finest fruit had already been shipped. The officers were
therefore compelled, in many cases, to depend upon the open
market for their supply and only the late winter varieties were
represented. Some of the fruit was too small and poorly colored
for exhibition and was rejected; but in general it opened up well
and was typical of Maine's commercial orchard product.

STATU POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 73

A word as to how the exhibit was collected and forwarded mav
be of interest. Mr. Pope, treasurer of the society, was authorized
to invite contributions of fruit, and many growers responded
generously. It was necessary, however, to purchase several bar-
rels. The fruit was sent to Augusta where it was carefully
re-packed, each individual fruit being wrapped in two thicknesses
of paper — the one next to the fruit being usually waxed paper.
It was then placed in the warehouses of the Buffalo Cold Storage
Company and kept at a temperature of 34° until desired for the
tables. •

In response to a telegram from Secretary Knowlton I went to
Buffalo on the loth of May last to make necessary arrangements
for installing the exhibit. At that time the only exhibits in place
were those of California and Connecticut. The hall was in con -
fusion and it seemed impossible that order could be brought out
of the chaos in time for the formal opening on the 20th. As
a result of constant effort, however, when the time for formal
opening arrived, besides the states already named, Delaware,
Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oregon and the
Province of Ontario were able to make creditable displays,
After that time Washington, Idaho, Virginia, Nebraska, Wis-
consin, Minnesota, Florida and some other states came into line,
and Horticultural Hall finally presented a very attractive appear-
ance. The building itself is a beautiful structure 220 feet square
and from the two corners nearest the main esplanade are large
conservatories which connect the horticultural building with
those devoted to Mining and Graphic Arts respectively. On
each of the four sides is a wide entrance and the broad aisles
intersect under the central dome. At the intersection stands a
large statue of the Goddess of Light, made from the same model
as that of the famous electric tower. Around this statue are
grouped numerous cocoanut palms and banana trees which were
brought from Florida. The larger portion of the western half
of the building was given up to California, Missouri and the
Province of Ontario; while in the eastern half New York, Illi-
nois, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Michigan and Mexico occu-
pied most of the space. Delaware, Virginia, Idaho, Minnesota
and some of the other less extensive exhibits occupied space along
the wall adjacent to the larger exhibits. Maine occupied a ver^
advantageous position on the west side of the north entrance and
just across the aisle from Missouri. The space was not large.

74

state; pomological society.

but it was the best available at the time the exhibit was decided
upon.

About ICG square feet of floor space were occupied and, con-
sidering the circumstances, the location was all that could be
desired. The exhibit was placed upon shelves, the front one
being two and one-half feet wide and the five narrower ones
were arranged in a series of steps above and back of this. The
shelves were covered with green cloth and no plates were used.
Upon the wall was placed the name of the State, and under this a
placard bearing the nAme of the society and its officers. Heje
also were placed the diplomas awarded to the society at the Col-
umbian Exposition in 1893. The exhibit itself, as already
stated, consisted principally of winter apples — the object in view
being the exploitation of Maine's commercial orcharding rather
than the display of a large number of different sorts. The most
prominent varieties shown early in the season were Baldwin,
Ben Davis, Northern Spy, R. I. Greening, Roxbury Russet, Bell-
flower, Stark, King, Blue Pearmain, and a few others. Some
of the fruit came out in excellent condition ; in other cases there
was a loss of about 50%. This difference is due to differences
in packing and in the maturity of the fruit when harvested. The
following figures will give some idea as to the general condition
of the fruit when taken from cold storage :

m

c

<o

tn

Date.

oS

0).-.

>>1

In

OJ

® 0

0 (U

0

^t

a- 11

CO V

Remarks.

Exhibitor

R. I. Greening ..

Roxbury Rusaet.
!^Blue Peaimain..

, Canada Red

r Baldwin

Exhibitor ..
Baldwin ..

Exhibitor .
Baldwin

Exhibitor

Northern Spy
Northern Spj'
Baldwin

May IS

May 18

May 18

May 18

May 18

May 18

July 11

June 13
June 28
Sept. 18

355

250

.26

A very creditable exhibit. Fruit
well packed, and in good con-
dition. Some of the Roxbury
Ru.ssets slightly wilted as if im-
mature. *Four of these badly
bruised.

Fruit apparently over ripe and
poorly packed.

About 75 specimens were too
small for exhibition, but all
were packed carefully and in
excellent condition.

A very fine lot; but only 15 per-
fect specimens remained on the
table July 11.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 75

In general fruit kept in cold storage is not expected to "stand
up" very long after it is taken from the refrigerator, and here
again there was a marked variation in the contributions of fruit
as well as in the varieties sent. The most remarkable case of
long keeping was that of some Canada Reds sent by Mr. B. M.
Titcomb of Farmington. The specimens were placed upon the
exhibition table on May i8. The last of them were removed
when the exhibit was replenished on July ii. In other words,
some of the specimens were in good condition for a little more
than six weeks. Some Blue Pearmains shown at the same time
kept nearly as long. As a rule, however, ten days to two or three
weeks marked the extreme limit of time during which any variety
was presentable and in many cases some specimens would decay
within three or four days. The fruit placed in cold storage sup-
plied the table until the first of September when the early fall
varieties came on.

September lo, at the request of the executive committee, I
went to Buffalo to attend the meeting of the American Pomolog-
ical Society and to make arrangements for continuing the exhibit
during the remainder of the season. At this time there were
placed upon the tables two barrels of fruit from the Experiment
Station at Orono and one barrel sent by Mr. Knowlton. This
lot consisted of the choicest autumn varieties including Alexan-
der, Dudley Winter, Munson Sweet, Chenango, Primate, Porter,
Wealthy and many others. The expressions of surprise on the
part of strangers to our State at the fact that such fruit could
be grown "way down in Maine" and the words of satisfaction
and commendation from those who have formerly lived in New
England, were particularly pleasing.

During the time from July lo to September lo the exhibit was
in the care of Mr. Chas. H. Ross, the superintendent of the
Washington state exhibit, and he was supposed to replenish the
supply of fruit as often as necessary. From the latter date to
the close of the exposition other arrangements were made and the
supply of fruit was regulated from this end of the line.

After October i, Maine's choicest winter fruit was shown in
all of its excellency. From Aroostook, Cumberland. Franklin
and Penobscot came offers of the best that could be obtained
with no expense to the society save the cost of forwarding. The
result was that Maine's reputation as a great apple producing

76 state; pomological society.

state was fully sustained as shown by the comments in the leading
agricultural papers and by personal letter from Professor Van
Deman, the judge of fruits.

The Rural New Yorker of October 19 says : "The exhibit of
apples made at the Pan-American Exposition by the Maine
Pomological Society made a very effective display. The society
tried to show the commercial apples of Maine, and made no effort
to collect abnormal specimens. This business-like exhibit
showed all the colors and beauty of the fruit of the far West,
with far superior flavor and keeping quality. We have never
been able to understand why the people of Maine are so modest
about showing their magnificent apples. The display at Buffalo
attracted much attention but the Pomological Society ought to
have had fifty times as much money as they did have for showing
their fruit. As it was there was nothing finer in Horticultural
Hall."

Professor Van Deman says : — "I am happy to say that your
exhibit has been a creditable one, considering the opportunity
which your state has had to make an exhibit here. The fruit
has ranked well up in character and awards, which will soon be
published, will show this to be the case. I am sure that it will
result to the benefit of your State and especially to your Pomo-
logical Society which has been at the back of the entire exhibit."

LIST OF* VARIKTIUS SHOWN.

The following list will indicate the varieties which were given
most prominence at some time during the session : — Alexander,
Arctic, Baldwin, Bellflower, Ben Davis, Black Oxford, Blue Pear-
main, Canada Red, Chenango, Doctor, Dudley Winter, Golden
Russet, Granite Beauty, Hubbardston, Hurlburt, King Sweet,
King Tompkins, Mann, Milding, Munson Sweet, Northern Spy,
Pewaukee, Porter, Primate, Ramsdell Sweet, Roxbury Russet,
Rhode Island Greening, Stark, Shiawassee, Tallman, Wealthy,
Wine.

Other sorts were shown, but aside from a number of the more
valuable Russian varieties shown by the Experiment Station at
Orono, they were not provided in quantities.

Besides the apples mentioned above, several cases of choice
evaporated apples from Chas. S. Pope, Manchester, were shown ;

state; POMOLOGICAL society. 'J'J

also some canned blueberries from J. & E. A. Wyman of Cherry-
field, and eight varieties of pears from J. E. Bennoch, Orono.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

The following parties contributed from one-half bushel to
three barrels each :

John W. True, New Gloucester.
Chas. S. Pope, Manchester.
Chas. S. Phinney, Standish.

B. M. Titcomb, Farmington.

E. F. Purington, Farmington.

C. F. Fletcher, Augusta.
V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield.
J. W. Libby, Hartford.

S. L. Plummer, Sweeden.

G. W. Whitney, Newburg.

T. M. Merrill, Sabbathday Lake.

F. H. Morse, Waterford.
J. W. Dudley, Mapleton.
J. E. Bennoch, Orono.

Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono.

F. D. Grover, Bean.

E. W. Gould, Bean.

In addition to the above, several of the exhibitors at the spring
exhibition at Brooks gave the fruit which was shown there and
likewise the exhibitors at the county fair at Farmington.

THE AWARDS.

In making awards at the exposition, each exhibit was judged
according to its own merits, rather than in competition with other
displays. At the close of the season it was found that Maine
had received two gold medals, one silver medal, twelve bronze
medals and three honorable mentions as awards for the fruit
shown.

THE COST.

Early in the season it was feared that the amount of money
appropriated would not maintain the exhibit until the close of
the season, and after carefully considering the matter the execu-
tive committee decided to use some of the present year's funds in

78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

this direction. The wisdom of this action was abundantly shown
by the magnificent display of autumn and winter fruit that came
in toward the close of the exposition. By careful management,
however, the cost was kept practically within the limits of the
original appropriation. The following is a summary of expense
incurred :

Fruit purchased $65.30

Collecting and forwarding 133-89

Storage and cartage 36.1 5

Installation and maintenance 267.98

Total $503.32

To recapitulate: With the exceedingly limited fund available
Maine's exhibit was necessarily small. It was, however, repre-
sentative and in quality it compared favorably with that from
other states — in spite of the unfavorable criticism which has
appeared in certain local newspapers. Any fair minded person
who has given more than a passing glance at the pomological
display in the Horticultural building, will concede that Maine's
tables usually presented a creditable appearance and that her
exhibit was not surpassed by that of any of the states which did
not expend far more money and maintain constant attendance.
This latter fact is, perhaps, due quite as much to the well known
quality of Maine fruit as to any other condition. I may add that
as a natural sequence to the display of Maine's fruit, the tide of
buyers has been turned eastward during this year of short crops
and Maine's farmers and orchardists are able to dispose of their
crop at very satisfactory prices.

state; pomological society. 79

PLEASURE AND PROFIT FROM PLANT STUDY.
By Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville.

The profit to be derived from plant study is at once apparent
from the simple fact that all our food comes from plant life.
Directly or indirectly, at first hand or at second hand, all animals,
and man among them, receive their entire sustenance from vegeta-
ble growth or through the mediation of plant activity. We take
our daily bread at the hands of practical botanists.

It would be absolutely impossible for the seventy millions of
our population to find food for themselves, still less to have sur-
plus for exportation, but for the fact that men have made careful
study of the various food plants, their propagation, cultivation,
improvement, multiplication and transportation. Contrast our
present abundance with the precarious existence of the Indian
tribes that roamed over this country and secured scanty susten-
ance by hunting and fishing and to a slight extent by the culti-
vation of Indian corn. If he is a benefactor of the race who
makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before, still
more is he who introduces improved kinds of grain or better
methods of cultivating and utilizing those already known. Plant
study is directly contributing and absolutely necessary to this
result. The practical, working knowledge of food plants, of
grains and fruits, already obtained, gives us a wealth of
resource lying at the foundation of national prosperity and there
is still abundant room for study and improvement. It seems to
be a law of nature that only the plant can feed directly upon
inorganic matter, upon matter that has never been alive; and
thus the higher, more intelligent life of animal and of man could
not exist without the intervention of the lower and less sensitive
life. Even the birds and other animals share with us in the fruits
of this study and gather their food with us often from the fruits
of our own labor. In the higher forms, plant and animal are
separated by a wide gulf ; there is great diflference between a man
and an elm tree, for example ; but in the lower forms consisting
of single cells and studied only with the compound microscope,
it is harder to draw the line, and when we come to separate such
a plant as a diatom from such an animal as the amoeba the task

8o state; pomological society.

is more difficult. Here scientists make use of the principle before
stated and call the one a plant and the other an animal according
as it can or cannot feed upon inorganic food.

Having seen the necessity of a knowledge of plants and how
to care for them even to our daily bread, let us come to the sub-
ject of pleasure from plant study. No real distinction can be
made between pleasure and profit. As in the well-known defence
of Bunker Hill Monument, "I would like to have the idea of
good, explained and analyzed and run out to its elements" and
then it would be easy to demonstrate that whatever ministers to
pure and innocent pleasure is of real value. As Emerson says
in his poem on one of our common flowers, the rhodora, "Beauty
is its own excuse for being." Pleasure is one of the utilities of
life as real as any other. Whoever would keep sane and sound
and not grow morbid and misanthropic, must have varied forms
of pleasure and enjoyment. The duller and more plodding the
daily work the greater the necessity for change and recreation.

The largest part of our life has relation to pleasure.

Business depends upon this element. The greater portion of
the business of the world ministers to taste, to enjoyment, to the
sense of beauty, to pleasure rather than to mere utility. If we
are going to rule out all pleasure why not wrap ourselves in the
blanket of the Indian or in the coarsest, rudest material for
clothing instead of in the beautiful forms and colors with which
civilized men and women adorn themselves ? The world is made
beautiful for our enjoyment and for our profit. We are false
to our high privileges, we are going contrary to the evident pur-
pose of creation, if we do not open our eyes to behold the beauty
and our minds to understand something of the mystery with
which the Creator has everywhere surrounded us. The sky over
our heads is beautiful. Look upon such an evening as this and
see in the western sky the new moon as a crescent holding the old
moon in its arms ; in the southwest see Orion, the most beautiful
of our winter constellations, still shining brightly; overhead a
little to the east of the zenith is the sickle of Leo with Mars the
reddest of the planets still beautiful; and in the northern sky
shines the Pole Star marking almost the exact north, with Cas-
siopeia a little removed, and the Great and Little Dippers like
"the two hands of the clock in the sky" as Prof. Proctor calls
them, turning constantly around the pole, but in our latitude

\ • J

'.^

\

.\"

\

i

1

/

) )

I

ai|ai^

a.

FROM DRAWING SHOWING ROOTS OF ALFALFA.

By courtesy of Prof. John Craig, Cornell University.
See article on Covi-r Crops for the Orchard, page 57.

STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 8l

never quite setting. Is it not worth while to be acquainted at
least with the more prominent stars so that we may recognize
them as old friends on their reappearance each in its season ?

The very rocks are beautiful, whether as on some mountain
top bold and bare, wind-swept and storm beaten, or more often
gray with lichens or green with mosses or outcropping amid
grasses and shrubbery. The hills and valleys are beautiful,
whether the valleys are sharply cut into gorges and canyons, or
by longer weathering worn down into more flowing outlines.
Stand for an illustration on Mount Percival and look far out and
see our fringed coasts and the many islands lifting themselves
to your view and the very blue of the sea rising up to your vision
until it meets the blue of the sky in the far horizon.

In the trees and smaller plants we find a beauty of endless
variety and of ceaseless changes. How the trees differ in size,
in form, in foliage, in coloring; how they change from season
to season. Think of the giant sequoias of California 300 or even
400 feet in height, 100 feet in circuit at the foot, and in age the
Methuselahs of the forest counting their years by the 6,000 or
7,000. Contrast these tallest of trees with the willows of the
far north where the fully grown tree may not be more than two
or three inches in height, or with the evergreen trees on Mount
Washington or on our own Katahdin where the trees become
mere dwarfs crouching closely to the thin soil and the rocks lest
they should be torn away by the winds.

In the extensive forests of our Pine Tree State beauty and
utility go hand in hand. Alas that this glory of our State should
ever depart. But when we contrast the small logs which are now
floated to our mills with the huge sticks of timber of which our
fathers tell us, it would seem that there might be danger of
regretting too late our own lack of care for our woods. Forestry
and orcharding are not so far apart but that each may learn
something of value from the other.

Trees have relation to each other and to smaller plants which
are often very interesting and suggestive. When the farmer
transplants trees into a row to serve as a protective hedge to
shelter more delicate plants, he is only doing on a small scale that
which nature often does on a large one. My attention has been
recently called to a most striking example of this fact. When
our forests of spruce are cut off, it is well known that they do

82 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

not grow up at first to spruce, but that other and shorter lived
trees notably birches and poplars take their place, apparently
fully occupying the ground ; but if one searches closely among
these trees he will find here and there small spruces making their
appearance, and that what is really going on is that these trees
of more rapid growth and shorter-lived are furnishing protection
for the slower-growing spruces, sheilding them from wind and
storm until they are large enough and sufficiently compact in
mosses to shift for themselves and to protect each other. Mean-
while the birches and poplars by their death and decay enrich
the soil for the more vigorous growth of the coming forest of
spruce. This process one may witness in different stages in dif-
ferent places. To witness the entire transformation he would
need to live about three hundred years according to the estimate
of an experienced lumberman. There are so many lines of
investigation opening before the student of botany that he need
never be at a loss for subjects of study. There can be no place
in this State surely where the plants of one's own neighborhood
would not furnish most interesting material. To set one's self
the task of becoming acquainted with the plants of his own local-
ity and doing this by personal exploration in different directions
so far as he could readily extend his search, would prove to any-
one at all interested in plants a most pleasant way of extending
his acquaintance with them. Such tramps may well furnish a
very pleasant part of the memories of one's childhood and how
quickly these recollections recur at the sight or even the mention
of the well-known plants. The plants will vary somewhat with
the locality, but among them in most parts of Maine will be found
the dandelions, buttercups, daisies, clovers, mallows or cheeses
of the roadside, and the violets, anemones, jack-in-the-pulpits,
trilliums, lilies, irises, dog-toothed-violets or adder's tongues,
lady's-slippers and many more treasures of the more secluded
hunting grounds. That fishing excursion has not been a failure
of which the net proceeds consist in a bouquet of arrowheads,
pond-lilies and cardinal flowers. To go specially for the flowers
themselves would be even better, and less likely to end in disap-
pointment, for in this quest, if we do not find the particular
flowers we are looking for, we may find others that may please
us even better. Nature is so profuse with her gifts that with
rare exceptions "Everyone that seeketh findeth." The unex-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 83

pected finding of some rare plant will repay or prevent many a
disapointment. It is no small joy in April after wading through
snow in the woods to come out on the sunny side and to find
butterflies flitting about and the ground dotted with hepaticas in
full bloom, their delicate flowers in all shades from the pure
white up to a most beautiful blue ; or later to find by a babbling
brook on a wooded hillside a level plot of rich, damp soil filled
with plants of the yellow lady's slipper in full flower, so that
you pick all you can well carry and yet leave many more for the
next comer; or to search for years for the showy lady's-slipper
and then by a passing glance find a swamp by the roadside so
full of them in full blossom that you gather these largest and
most beautiful of our wild orchids literally by armfuls ; or in the
deep seclusion of a cedar swamp where the damp moss yields
like softest carpet to footfall to find by scores that rarest, dainti-
est orchid of them all, the beautiful calypso ; or once more in the
late fall, "When woods are bare and birds are flown," riding
along a country road suddenly to catch a glimpse of blue by the
roadside and to know that a flower long looked for in vain has
been found at last, the fringed gentian of which Bryant sings so
sweetly. Such experiences as these and others like, them are
like cold water to a thirsty soul

"The source of an exquisite pleasure,

The purest and sweetest that nature can yield."

When one becomes fairly familiar with the plants of his own
locality, he may then set for himself the broader task of study-
ing the flora of the entire State. Maine is so large a State with
such varied conditions of soil and climate that it has a very rich
and abundant flora and one which invites and repays enthusias-
tic study. The twenty-five hundred or more miles of seacoast
fringed by inlets and projections and bordered by many islands,
the extensive river systems, the unnumbered lakes and ponds, the
bogs and marshes, the valleys, hills, mountains, the unique
position, the nortliern oceanic current that reaches our shores,
the southern slopes of many of our hills and valleys, — all these
give to Maine a range of plant life wonderfully varied and inter-
esting. To make a full study of all these plants and their locali-
ties would be a task too great for any one person, though it may
be very largely accomplished by combined efiFort such as the Jos-

6

84 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

selyn Botanical Society of Maine is endeavoring^ to secure. The
Portland Natural History Society publishes a list of Maine plants
to which additions are constantly being made. Among those
specially active in this work may be mentioned Merritt L. Ker-
nald of Harvard University and Edward B. Chamberlain of
Brown University; but the name which should be mentioned
with greatest honor as of one having done the largest amount
of personal exploration is that of Miss Kate Furbish of Bruns-
wick. She deserves highest credit for her work as a collector
for many years and especially for bringing her trained skill as
an artist to the task of reproducing in color the flowers of the
State. Any one may aid in this work by exploring his own
neighborhood and by putting himself into connection with other
botanists in the State.

The life history of different plants is another extremely inter-
esting line of study. To begin with the seed and to trace the
growth of the plant through rootlet, first leaves, root, stem,
branches, foliage, flowers, fruit, seed again, until the cycle of life
is completed ; to compare different plants at all these stages ; to
distinguish annuals, biennials, perennials in their habits of
growth ; to notice what office in the economy of the plant the part
which we take as food or which serves as food for birds and
other animals, was designed to fill ; to study special contrivances
as for crop-fertilization in the lady's-slipper, barberry, iris, eve-
ning primrose, sage and many other flowers ; or for the scattering
of seed as in the witch-hazel, pansy, burdock, bur-marigold,
agrimony, dandelion, thistle, milkweed, willow, maple, poplar and
so on in a list of indefinite length; all these subjects and many
worthy of mention with them such as propagation of plants by
runners, layers, cuttings, grafting ; whole classes of plants as yet
unmentioned, grasses, sedges, ferns, rushes, fungi, mosses,
lichens; all these may furnish endless subjects of profitable
study. A few plants must be studied to be avoided because they
are poisonous. Fortunately only one plant at all common in
Maine is poisonous to the touch and that is the well-known three-
leaved ivy or mercury so-called. The simple knowledge that the
common woodbine with leaves in five leaflets may be safely
handled, and that you must keep your five fingers off of the some-
what similar plant with three leaflets, would prevent many cases
of severe poisoning. There are certain common roots which are

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIICTY. 85

even more dangerous if eaten. When a man moves with his
family upon a newly purchased farm and, as recently occurred in
Winslow, within a few days loses a three-year-old son by his
eating- a small piece of the root of the water hemlock (cicuta
maculata), ploughed up in the field near the house, it is a sad
beginning- of life in the new home. There are so many poisonous
roots, berries and flowers that the simple rule never to eat what
you are not sure is harmless should always be observed.

Another and a most interesting subject of study may be found
in the various changes which take place in plant life with the
succession of the seasons. It is a source of constant pleasure
and of ever fresh experiences to watch the inflowing tide of plant
life as it rises higher and higher from earliest spring till late
summer, and then as it ebbs again until it seems to come to a
dead pause in mid-winter. There is no season of the year when
the botanist may not find ample material for profitable investi-
gation. In the fall he may study the later flowers of the year,
golden rods, asters, gentians, the witch hazel blossoms clinging
yellow upon the stems after the leaves have fallen, many belated
blossoms of earlier blooming species, and often flowers which are
really early comers of the following spring, aldertags, pussy-
willows, violets, strawberry blossoms and may flowers at least
in bud. It is the time most forms of fruit, the fading of the
leaves and other changes of the season are in their glory. It is
exceedingly interesting to mark the preparations which Nature
makes alike for the winter's rest and for the more vigorous life
of spring.

In winter one may study the evergreen trees, the very shape
of which is protective against the breaking of their branches by
the snow ; the general habit and branch arrangements of dicidu-
ous trees, the record of earlier growth in the scars upon their
branches, and the promise of future growth in the snugly-packed
buds upon their twigs ; the many ways in which latent life is
packed away in roots or in bulb, under ground, or in the air in
buds variously covered with scales, or wool, or varnish. There
is no need to mention subjects for spring and summer. They
thrust themselves on the attention of every one who has eyes to
see, and richly repay his observation and thought.

86 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

PLANT GROWING FOR GARDEN AND LAWN.
By W. H. Allen, Augusta.

We are well aware that there are few, if any, callings, where
more hours and longer days are necessary, than on the farm ;
yet there is need in this particular direction for a small share of
our time, which would be to our advantage. A good slick look-
ing animal will often times sell for double what an inferior
looking, though far better one, will bring, but when we have the
two qualities combined ; the value is greatly enhanced. The eye
is quick to detect the beauty of the surroundings of the most
humble looking home, that has a well kept lawn and a few flower-
ing plants to speak for the thrift of the owner. It is not neces-
sary for us to engage the services of a landscape gardener, to
carry these suggestions into effect. Let us suppose we have
determined to improve the grounds surrounding our homes and
we find old trees — it matters not what kind — old, simply from the
lack of proper trimming and pruning ; we will trim these up and
shape them ; if there are others that have outlived their useful-
ness, we will take them out ; now if there is nothing to interfere,
we will plow to the road and make the improvements look as if
all on our own land ; before grading it would be advisable to
remove the top soil from and depressions, to be replaced when
poorer earth has been used to bring the grade up, thus keeping
the best soil on the top ; we should now grade and even up the
surface, get our elevations from the house to the road and make
it uniform and equal. We are doing something now, which we
hope to be permanent, so we use plenty of well rotted manure,
made fine, and if a liberal quantity of bone meal and ashes art
added ; so much the better.

Lawn grass seed mixtures that can be had already for sowing,
produce the best results. Not less than one quart of seed should
be sowed to an area of 300 square feet, or four bushels to an acre.
A perfect lawn cannot be obtained with a light seeding. After
the seed is thoroughly harrowed, it should be rolled smooth and
firm ; this rolling is of great importance to insure a uniform catch.
A lawn to continue smooth and even, should be mowed often.
We now have a rich velvetv lawn and we wish to further beautify

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 8/

it with the addition of a few plants and shrubs ; this can be
accomplished with a very small outlay.

We have annuals, biennials and perennials to start with ; the
annuals and perennials being the most popular for general use.
Many of our most beautiful bedding plants can be propagated
by seed, and while it is true that the hot bed or greenhouse is
the most convenient for this purpose ; yet it can be satisfactorily
accomplished in the windows of our dwelling houses by exercis-
ing a little care, and with the use of shallow boxes two inches in
depth, one-half filled with leaf mold or fine light loam, sowing
the seed in rows with very light covering and pressing the seed
firmly, leaving a smooth surface, a light sprinkling and partial
shade from the hot rays of the sun, and being careful not to allow
the young seedlings to become dry. When the first character
leaves form, they are ready for transplanting into other boxes,
or small flower pots ; there to remain until removed to beds on
the lawn. A most beautiful effect can be had through the entire
season by sowing annuals in this way.

The selection of varieties depends entirely upon our own fancy,
but let us picture to ourselves the effort of a border bed with either
phlox Drummondii, marigold, petunias of begonia vernuon for
the center row with borders of either the dwarf blue ageratum,
double-flowered portulaca or Tom Thumb nasturtium, plants of
dwarf habits. For circle beds, a border of verbenas with salvia
(scarlet sage) next, and cannas for the center. A bed of either
description is very effective. The canna may be grown from
seed and will bloom the first season, if started early ; the seed
should be soaked twenty-four hours in water and the outer shell
be nicked with a knife to insure germination. The tubers may be
stored in the cellar through the winter and increased by divisions
for future planting. The canna is growing in favor as a bedding
plant. I might add to this list, but suffice it to say nearly all
annuals are of a showy nature and add a charm to their surround-
ings. Coleus, achyranthes, alternanthera, centaurea and stevia
verigator are for their foliage most beautiful and showy bedding
plants. There is no plant yet introduced in the floral kingdom to
take the place of the pelargoniums (our old favorite geraniums)
and the vast improvement made in this most popular flower is
really remarkable. When the hardy perennials are once estab-
lished, they may be said to be there for an indefinite time.

88 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Among the herbaceous plants of this family, may be mentioned
the perennial phlox, producing immense clusters of white, pink and
crimson flowers ; the rudbeckia or golden glow with its numerous
bright yellow blossoms, the spirea japonica, for a dwarf plant,
there is nothing more graceful ; hollyhocks in their various
shades, and dianthus barbatus — the old garden sweet William.
In hardy vines and climbers for the piazza and trellis, honey-
suckle is fine, and the clematis is a great favorite, because of its
large and beautiful flowers, and for climbing roses, in white, the
Baltimore belle, the prairie queen in red and the modest little
crimson rambler. For covering old walls there is nothing better
than the ampelopsis veitchii, where it will get partial protection
in winter, as it is not entirely hardy in our climate. For shrubs,
hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, is so well known, it requires
simply to be mentioned. A bed or single plant attracts a great
deal of attention on a well-kept lawn. The deutzia and weigelia
are ornamental and useful for cut flowers. Hibiscus althaea (or
rose of Sharon) should be on every lawn, the diversity of color
in the different sorts makes a fine display. Lonicera (or bush
honeysuckle) is valued highly on account of its fragrance.
Pruning of the shrubs is very important ; for the flowering of
each succeeding year, depends largely on the proper method pur-
sued with the knife. Indiscriminate prvming is too often prac-
tised, because the flowering habit of the shrub either is not known,
or considered. The new growth of the lilac, deutzia and others
produce their bloom for the following season, and consequently
only the dead wood and weaker branches should be cut back to
the ground ; such as the hydrangea and althaea form their flower
buds on the young growth in the summer of the same year they
bloom, so that a moderate amount of pruning to shape the shrub
is all that is required.

There are so many varieties of plants that might be added, that
I have ventured to mention but a few of our most popular kinds,
but a list would not be complete without including a selection of
sweet pea, if for no other purpose than to decorate the table. To
insure their blossoming the seed should be sowed early in
trenches, well enriched with dressing and not less than five inches
in depth, only that the covering should be gradual, at first about
one inch and the balance filled in as the growth advances. Yes !
we should endeavor to make our homes as pleasant and attrac-

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 89

tive as our means will permit ; so if we want a few specimen
plants for large vases, what is more graceful than a dracaena
indivisa, the araucaria (Norfolk Island pine) makes a beautiful
plant either alone or in clumps, caladium esculentum is of easy
culture, only requiring plenty of water, as it has leaves of
immense size. For a choice selection, a bed of hardy hybrid
roses might be included and for a range of color, the General
Jacqueminot, a rich crimson ; Baron de Bonstettin, a dark red ;
Margaret Dickson, white, and Magna Charter bright pink.

FLOWERS— THEIR USE— ARRANGEMENT.
By Miss B. P. Sanborn, Ben Venue Greenhouse, Augusta.

The uses for flowers are so many and varied that it will be
impossible for me to name them all, even if I could. It must be
true, however, that Providence had great good in view, for we
find them everywhere, on mountain tops, in valleys, in marshes
and bogs, on tablelands, in our mowing fields, by the roadside in
the far North where the sun shines only a few months in the year.
If vegetation starts at all it is in a solid carpet of perfect tiny-
flowers. In our climate we have great variety, in the tropics the
richest abundance, in fact, they are everywhere.

We read that in France there are acres and acres of roses
grown for the sole purpose of attar of roses for the world's
market. Rose leaves are preserved and used with spices for Pot-
pourri jars, we have also opium from the poppy, the arnica plant
grown under our feet, taraxacum from the dandelion and thou-
sands of other things familiar to the professor of science, all
made from flowers, their stems, seeds, bark or roots, besides the
numerous perfumes and extracts with which the market is filled.

I found very wonderful histories of some of our familiar
flowers and trees when I begun on my paper, and here is one
good use to be mentioned to the young people, which is to take
time to trace the origin, growth, life, character and language of
these interesting plants.

I read in Henderson's "Handbook of Plants" "that the almost
innumerable varieties of pansies, embracing any color from white
to black, maroon, yellow, purple, blue, self-colored and those with
the most delicate markings as well as the bold and showy faces of

90 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

others are all hybrids between the annual species which is a weed
in the English fields and gardens, and the perennial kinds from
Tartary, Switzerland, and the natives of Great Britain and
France and this country.

The first attention paid to the cultivation of the pansy and that
which resulted in making it a florist's flower, was given by Mary
Bennett, who had a small flower garden in the grounds of her
father, the Earl of Zankerville at Walton-on-Thames, England.
She had prepared a little bed in which were placed all the varie-
ties of pansies which she accidentally discovered in this garden.

Aided by the industry and zeal of the gardener, several new
varieties were raised from seed and transplanted to this bed.
From this small beginning in the year 1810 may be traced the
rage which has since prevailed in the cultivation of this popular
flower. The English, French and German horticultural socie-
ties offered great inducements to the florist in the way of pre-
miums for the finest flowers, and as the race was free to all, the
interest awakened was of a most lively character, one which any
gardener of importance helped to keep alive. The result has
been the pansy of to-day in contrast with the little violets of our
woods and fields. So much for the pansy.

I read in a "Tour Round my Garden," translated from the
French, that the wood anemone is a pretty "little white flower
tinged with violet." This is the original anemone which was
brought into France from the East Indies more than two centu-
ries ago by Mr. Bachellier, who grew them more than ten years
before he would give a single one to anybody. A magistrate
went to see him in his robes and purposely making their folds
drag over the anemones in seed, contrived to carry away a few
of them which adhered to his garment. The improved varieties
form a beautiful rich green turf from which spring simple rose-
shaped anemones, red, scarlet, purple, violet, white, or streaked
with all these colors, forming a rich bed of beautiful coloring.
Our gladiolus comes from South Africa, the name meaning small
lily. The Tiger lily comes from Asia, the Easter lily from
Bermuda, or Japan. Our white stock or gilliflowers are Italians.

Asters came from China more than a hundred years ago. The
horsechestnut tree is from Constantinople ; it was sent into Aus-
tria in the year 1594 and carried to Paris in 1610 by the same
man who had the anemones.

STATi) POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9I

Violets have been brought from ahnost every country even
Patagonia. The market affords a perfume called violet, but it is
never distilled from this flower. It never separates its odor from
itself. Perfumers use the root of the Iris of Florence, which
gives a slight violet odor. But the perfume of the violet you
never get except from the flower itself.

There is no country without roses, from Sweden to the coasts
of Africa, from Kamtschatka to Bengal, or on the mountains of
Mexico ; the rose flourishes in all climates and in all soils. What
is the use of them ? We call them luxuries, yet they are within
the reach of almost every one. Even in any large cities they are
brought from fields, lanes, woods, gardens and green houses.
Sometimes the sidewalks are almost lined with men, women and
children calling to the hurrying throng, "mayflowers, roses, vio-
lets, three cents a bunch, two for five."

Flowers are used to express love, sympathy, condolence,
remembrance and farewell. We send them into hospitals,
prisons, jails and dungeons. Flowering plants and vines are in
most of our schoolrooms as a refining influence. Do we not
always believe in the man or woman, be they ever so bad, who
loves flowers ? We are sure there is something in them to appeal
to. ''Visit a children's hospital and see how the little sufferers
turn their pale faces to the flowers as the flowers turn their faces
to the sun."

It was once a seven days' wonder when Trinity church in Bos-
ton furnished $500 worth of flowers for Easter Sunday, and a
still greater marvel when Phillips Brooks, with his own hands,
gave them every one to the mission children to be carried to their
homes in the slums. Have we a sick friend? Straightway
we send a bunch of flowers, and unless one has been a "shut in"
and unexpectedly had a cluster of fresh, fragrant and graceful
flowers brought at a time of hopeless depression and physical
weakness, he can never know the sympathy and cheer which
comes with them.

Think what a bunch of buttercups can be to a young person
slowly dying of a hopeless disease, who knows his days are num-
bered, whose future is the "great beyond." The common flowers
represent to him his whole past life, bringing sunshine in their
color and memories of long sunny afternoons in meadows and
fields, besides the feeling of being tenderly remembered in the

92 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

gift. Regret and sorrow are sweetened by these pleasant memo-
ries. The giver receives the blessing of those who give the cup
of cold water "In His name."

Our modern weddings are incomplete without masses of
flowers for the church service ; doorways, piano and mantel are
daintily trimmed at the house. Roses for bride and groomsman ;
bouquets for bridesmaids and train-bearer. "We wreath our
dead with flowers ; they are the best we have to offer ; 'tis the
last we can do for them." "Gethsemane was a garden."

In the arrangement of flowers there are some rules to follow
but usually each person has individual taste. The tendency now
is for finer flowers than formerly, depending more on graceful
arrangement, in contrast with the stifif bouquets and short stems
of the past. Another point emphasized now is one kind of
flowers in each vase or bouquet instead of a variety of flowers,
also an effort is made to use the foliage belonging to the flower
instead of green of another shade. Long stems and tall, slender
vases with plenty of foliage are in favor with city florists. We
all know it greatly depends on the flowers we have and the sur-
roundings. This is something I am very anxious to learn about
and shall be more than interested in the coming discussion.

The custom of decorating dining rooms and tables is almost
universal, especially when guests are invited, and there are hun-
dreds of tables among our working people, where you always
find some dainty wild flowers in spring and summer ; banks of
brilliant leaves take their places later, while bright geranium
blooms, which grow and bloom for anybody, anywhere, brighten
the plain rooms and frugal meals during the long New England
winter.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93

NATURE STUDY.
By G. Harold Powell.

Now I wish to diverge somewhat from the general topics on
your program and make a few remarks along another line. The
progams of our horticultural meetings are usually well filled with
subjects relating to the methods of fruit growing, such as tillage,
spraying, varieties, marketing, and other questions closely con-
nected with the practical side of the business, yet I sometimes
feel that we are not giving enough attention to the cultivation
of one of the most important products of the farm, the boys
and girls who are to fill the places occupied by us in a few years.
\\'e may rejoice in the magnificent display of fruits and vegeta-
bles and the abundance of the general farm crops, but after all
the most valuable crops you grow on your farms are your sons
and daughters. We are taught that we must spray better, culti-
vate better, know more about the insect pests and fungous
diseases with which we have to contend, understand more of the
chemical and biological activities within the soil, and yet do we
pause and enquire how are we to get all of this information?
We hear nmch in these days of the boys and girls leaving the
faim — and we are glad when one does leave it to actually better
his place in life — but do we stop and ask why the boys and girls
are leaving the farm? I have only a few minutes to discuss this
topic and can only touch on the outside of it, but I want to say
that J firmly believe that one of the first §teps necessary to meet
the greater demands of modern fruit growing and farming, arid
to attract the best boys and girls back to farm life is to foster in
every possible way a close sympathy between the boys and girls
and everything that lives about them. If the boys of today have
an entliusiastic interest in plants, in orchards, in meadows, in
soil, in animals, from their earliest childhood to manhood, the
modern needs of fruit growing and farming will take care of
themselves, and less will be heard of the depopulation of rural
districts. The trouble today is farm life appeals to the boy
mainly through his biceps, and not through his intellect and heart.

HoAv are the boys and girls to come in closer sympathy with
everything around them? Not entirely through every day
experience, nor through these meetings, nor the granges, nor

94 state; tomological society.

papers and bulletins. We believe the interest in farm life must
be fostered by the public school, and that the environment of the
boy and girl should form the basis of his education. We would
not teach agriculture or horticulture as such in the public school,
but we would bring the life of the orchard, the stock yard, the
brook, the forest into the every day experience of the children,
through the various studies already in the school room. We
would make Nature Study the basis of a large part of the intel-
lectual training of our young people.

The time will not allow of a discussion of the methods of teach-
ing nature study, or of the preparation of teachers for such work.
We would emphasize however the importance of this movement
throughout the country on the future agricultural and horticul-
tural industries. There have been three great educational move-
ments for the betterment of farmers in America, first, the estab-
lishment of the Land Grant Colleges, second, the establishment
of an Agricultural Experiment Station in each state as a depart-
ment of the Agricultural College, and third, the nature study
movement in its relation to the public schools. The last move-
ment has not risen to the national proportions of the first two,
but it is liberally supported by state aid in several instances.
New York State has been the leader of the movement and thou-
sands of dollars have been appropriated, under the direction of
Cornell University to interest boys and girls in nature, and in
showing teachers how nature studies can be adapted to present
school methods. Other states have followed the example of
New York so that now there is under way one of the most impor-
tant movements looking to the betterment of farm life. I have
great faith in the present public school system but I am convinced
that American agriculture will be touched more closely by it,
when the school is able to draw its teachings largely from its
environment, when the life of the farm is part of the material
on which the boys and girls build up their education. If our
boys and girls catch their inspirations from the life of the
meadows, the orchards, the brooks, and the forests, the manifold
difficulties that now beset the fruit grower, and which will
increase rather than grow smaller, will be more intelligently met
by the generations that are to come, and the public school will
be a more potent factor in the permanent upbuilding of rural
life.

state pomological society. 95

Mrs. DeCoster :

Q. I would like to ask a question of the Protessor, if he has
in mind any appropriate text-book that he would advise, even
before this matter is presented in a way to the public schools,
that he would advise for the use of children at home. This sub-
ject has deeply interested me, and there was a move made and
text-books were printed for that purpose and a partial law, I
believe, requiring examination of teachers along that line, but
it has become a dead letter law and the book was never generally
introduced — it was called the Principles of Agriculture, written
by a professor in this State — but I never knew of it being used
in any of the public schools.

Mr. Powell:

No, I am unable to mention offhand any single book for
teachers that covers the whole field of Nature study. There have
been a large number of Nature study books written within a few
years, many good, others very bad. I might mention a few
books that are excellent for their purpose.

Lessons with Plants, by L. H. Bailey. McMillan & Co., New
York.

First Studies in Plant Life, by G. F. Atkinson. Ginn & Co.,
Boston.

Insect Life, by J. H. Comstock. D. Appleton Co., New York.

The Principles of Agriculture by L. H. Bailey. McMillan
Co., New York.

Nature Studies, by Mrs. Wilson. McMillian Co., New York.

The best nature study publications I have seen are the leaflets
issued by Cornell University, and they are valuable because they
are full of the nature study spirit and the teacher is sure to catch
some of the inspiration that pervades them. These are sent at a
small cost to teachers out of the state.

I would say as a general principal, and most emphatically, keep
the books out of the school room. Teach from nature, not from
books. The minute nature study is taught from a text-book,
nature flies out of the window and the children learn by heart.
The value of nature study is lost when it becomes mechanical.
The spirit of out door life must be caught if nature study is to
help out door life and make it more livable.

96 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Books and leaflets should be used largely as guides by the
teacher and occasionally by the pupil for supplementary reading
or reference, but the book of nature is the principal text-book for
the boys and girls.

Q. What I referred more to was something that would give
the child a correct naming of all the parts which are necessary
for the child to know. We know that many of the names of the
parts, the common way we call them is not correct according to
the language which great scholars use.

Mr. Powell:

Never mind the great names. The child will see the names of
plants and of their parts from day to day and hear them used
by the teacher and they become in time a part of the common
language of the pupil. I was stuffed with big names in school
and it took me a long time to get over the feeling that if I knew
the name of a plant, I knew all about it.

VARIETIES.

Inquiry was made concerning the York Imperial, and Prof.
Munson replied by saying :

"It is a very good variety and one that is becoming quite prom-
inent a little further south. The principal objection to it is that
it is a little rusty and not highly colored enough for our northern
markets."

Secretary Knowlton said Mr. Van Deman recently called his
attention to this variety and observed that it deserved a trial in
Maine. He believed it would do well there. He also called
attention to some specimens of this variety he obtained from Buf-
falo through the kindness of Mr. Van Deman. He also referred
to some Sutton Beauty, Rome Beauty and Missouri Ben Davis
obtained from the same source. He also called attention to some
fine specimens of Arctic sent in by Mr. O. K. Gerrish of Lake-
ville, Mass., and a plate of apples grown in East Dixfield. This
variety, last year, sold in the Liverpool market for 27 shillings.
It was sold as N. Y. Pippin, but he doubted the correctness of the
name, which no one present had been able to correct.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97

WHAT IS THE BEST VARIETY?

One other matter has impressed me strongly this afternoon.
It is the frequency with which the question has been asked,
"What is the best variety for this or that purpose?" Now the
more we think of this question the more we will come to feel that
after all it is largely a personal matter. Almost every man has
a personal attachment for some variety, and that is the variety
for him to grow, provided it has market value. The variety
after all is of less importance than the man who grows it. If
you are firmly convinced that Ben Davis is a high quality apple,
then grow it. You will get more satisfaction out of it than in
growing a spy that you grow under protest, even if you do
deceive yourself. There is no such thing as a general-purpose,
best apple. There are too many ideals in fruit growing today
to have one sort fill every ideal. We must grasp this general
principle in variety selection. The variety is largely an expres-
sion of its environment. Certain qualities that make the variety
what it is are transmitted from its parents, but the quality, texture,
flavor, color, time of ripening, growth of tree and other second-
ary characteristics are profoundly modified by the immediate
surroundings of the variety. The Maine Baldwin is different
from the Baldwin of New York or Delaware. It is still a Bald-
win in the South but it ripens in September, rots badly, and dif-
fers in many minor essentials

The tables in this room show that you have the best possible
foundation for a successful apple culture. The color of your
fruit cannot be surpassed by that in any other section of the coun-
try. The clearness of the skin, the high quality of the varieties,
the large size, and remarkable keeping qualities stamp the Maine
grown apples as among the very best in the world. Therefore
I would say to you, use your Maine apples as a basis for your
future apple culture, and stop looking the country over for new
kinds. Take your Baldwins, Hubbardstons, Hurlbuts, Nod-
heads, Kings, Ribstons, Famueses, and other equally good kinds
as a basis for a more extensive Maine apple culture. Select buds
only from the best individual trees of each variety for your future
orchard, cultivate intensively, prune judiciously, spray con-
stantly, pack honestly, and you can make a name in the market

98 state; pomological society.

for Maine apples that will sell them at a good profit in competi-
tion with similar kinds from other less favorable localities. In
closing my remarks on the variety question I cannot do better
than emphasize strongly that the fruit growers of Maine have a
distinct opportunity before them in the apple growing business,
and I would encourage this society to foster that opportunity in
every possible manner. — G. Harold Pozvell.

THE FALL WEB WORM.

Mr. W. P. Atherton spoke of the prevalence of the fall web
worm in the Middle States and inquired of Prof. Munson
whether they were the same as ours, and how the pests could be
controlled. In reply Prof. Munson said :

The web worm of the Middle States is the same as the web
worm that works in Maine. There is no necessity of having the
whole tree defoliated by this web worm. It is very conspicuous
and by removing the branch when the web is first formed we may
very readily control the pest. It is not necessary to spray.
Indeed, as your informant said, it would not be desirable, it
would not be practical to spray as late in the season as would be
necessary to check this pest, but by simply removing the twigs
when the webs first start the pest is very readily controlled.

Q. Please describe that web worm.

A. Well its is somewhat similar in appearance to the tent cat-
erpillar in the spring, although it does not grow as large, — about
an inch to an inch and a quarter in length, and it invariably forms
a web over the whole twig and the web expands as the insect
grows. It does not leave the tent to feed as do the tent cater-
pillars.

O. If that limb is not removed, is there danger of the worms
multiplying and destroying more of the orchard ?

A. Certainly, and the web will continue to extend in size until
the worms reach maturity.

Q. How would you dispose of the limb after it is taken off?
Burn it?

A. Burn it, — yes, sir.

STATK POMOLOr.ICAL SOClKTV. 99

THE DEXTER MEETING.
Hon. Stanlkv Plummer, Dexter.

I was interested in what the gentleman who has just taken his
seat said about nature study in the pubHc schools, about begin-
ning this educational system in regard to horticulture and agri-
culture m these great lines of business, which are so important to
our State, with the children themselves, in the earliest days. I
will say so far as this state is concerned that in my youth there
was a text-book introduced here called Hooker's Child's Book
of Nature, and it was studied in our public schools under the old
system of using text-books, which we in this State are fast out-
growing ; but that did a good work, suited to the time and the
circumstances of the occasion. Since then in our normal schools
and teachers' institutes, stress has been laid upon the teaching
of nature study, and the thing begins very early in the education
of the children here in the State in most of the towns, especially
where normal graduates are employed and where the kinder-
garten system is in vogue. W'e in this town have two kinder-
gartens in operation today.

I have learned a great many things here. I have attended the
sessions here. I have been very deeply interested. I feel, as a
citizen of Dexter, very much, gratified that this meeting has been
brought here. I know it will do a great deal of good, and not only
to our people here but to this whole community, because it will
awaken an interest in these things. I have learned that it is a
good thing to cut ofif a bough on which caterpillars get and to
burn it up. not to throw it in the road to be driven over by the
passing carriage, and I have learned a great many other things
of practical benefit. This matter of packages to put up fruit so
that it will go on the market is an important one for us. Why,
here in this vicinity we have been ransacking right and left to
get barrels, old discarded flour barrels, to put up our fruit in.
We have had to pay extravagant prices in order to get them.
We have been unable to find any sort of package to market our
fruit in. 1)ecause we depended on these second-hand barrels.
This is all wrong, it is a crude condition of things and it should
be rectified. A fruit grower ought to be able to go somewhere
7

lOO STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

and buy proper packages to put his fruit in, and I hope that will
be one of the results of this agitation and of this meeting, but I
must not take any more of your time.

Rev. Mr. Gould :

I was brought up on a farm and spent my early days there,
and I think sometimes that my interest in farming increases. I
don't know but what I am a better farmer now than I was when
I was living on a farm. I used to think I didn't like it very well,
but when I hear such men as Mr. Hale talk about farming, Mr.
Pope, and the other gentlemen who have been speaking, I think
I like farming first rate.

But the word that came to me when Mr. Gilbert told me that
he was going to call on me was this, the interest and value of
such meetings as you have been holding here for all of our people,
not simply for the people who are engaged in raising fruit but
the people who are engaged in any kind of business ; because in
laying down the principles which must be the foundation for
success in the raising of fruit, you have been calling our atten-
tion to the principles which must be the foundation for success
in any kind of effort or enterprise. I don't know but Mr. Hale
suggested the fact this afternoon, that a minister must work for
his success along about the same lines that a man must who is
growing apples. And so I felt that it was an occasion to learn,
an occasion for getting inspiration and encouragement, for any-
body to attend these meetings. I am very glad that the oppor-
tunity has been afforded to our community here to come in and
listen to the reports and addresses and counsel and advice that
you have given us at this time.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. lOI

LIVING FOR HEALTH.
By Mrs. Alonzo Towle, Freedom, N. H.

Phillips Brooks says : "The duty of physical health and the
duty of spiritual purity are not two duties, they are two parts of
one duty, which makes the most complete life that human beings
can live." We start wnth this hypothesis, the keeping or getting
of health is one part of our highest and most binding duty. To
make the body a fit temple for the spirits, indwelling is a sacred
obligation. For what have the leaders of men always been
noted? Has it been for courage? Some ignorant and uncul-
tured have been truly brave. Has it been for refinement ? Many
isolated and unknown have been most refined. Has it been for
morality ? Not always. One may possess all these qualities and
not be at the front. With other qualifications he must have
enormous nervous vitality. That which enables him to with-
stand long hours of close application, attention to details, and
power to resist influences and temptations. We decide then that
it is nervous vitality that tells. The sources of this vitality are
food and air transformed by bodily functions. These functions
being powerfully afl^ected by the mental attitude of the individual,
also by exercise, rest, sleep and other personal habits. That we
make mistakes in our food economy is no longer a vague theme
to be passed over thoughtlessly. One class eat too little, another
too much. The wear and tear of an active life requires a class
of food stuffs that to the brain worker would be a burden, caus-
ing dearth of thought and darkness of mind. Still the majority
eat too much and too often, beside being excessive in quantity,
food is often of low value or combined to be useless.

We who advocate temperance are altogether too narrow in our
interpretation. It should not only mean abstinence from alco-
holic beverages but abstemiousness in partaking of food. There
is more sickness and untimely deaths from over-eating than from
over-drinking. One physician says : *Tt is no exaggeration to
state that fully 90% of all the population eat vastly more than
they ought. The intestinal tract is overloaded causing auto-
intoxication or self-drunkenness by food. The toxic matters
from this mass of decaying food causes nearly all the ills to

102 state; pomological society.

which flesh is heir, among which are insanity, melonchoHa and
violent paroxysms of temper in both children and adults. To
those who have passed middle life, these accumulations and
obstructions mean many serious diseases.

In all man's activities we find expression of thought, con-
sciousness, and power of choice. This power makes us in a
large measure arbitors over our own destinies physically and
enables us to leave to posterity something better than gold, health
with a knowledge of the laws governing a hygienic life. While
all along the food line we fully understand that "one man's meat
may be another's poison" there are a few tried and proved facts
that hold good, proved even by the exceptions. Fruits are an
essential in our diet, owing to their medicinal and curative quali-
ties. Fruits, nuts, certain kinds of vegetables and cereals are
best adapted to give the greatest amount of force with the least
output of energy. Next in order come the pulses — peas, beans
and lentils. They tell us that grapes may be given in such large
quantities that the organism will absorb so much of the liquids
that it reaches every part of the system restoring to a healthy
state of functional activity. There is no fruit of the earth which
enters so largely into the appetizing plans of the household and
public as the apple. To those of sedentary habits it is a daily
need. One of our senators is said to be a marvel in the amount
of work he performs in the Senate though over sixty-five years
old. He says it is owing to his daily lunch of apples which he
has taken exclusively for years. Beside apples and grapes are
the delicious pears, luscious peaches and all the small fruits.
Fruits are not only wholesome but delicate and nice, easy to serve
and always relishable. It would be far better to let them take the
place of our desert of rich pastry.

There was, at one time, a wide-spread report that German
soldiers were to be supplied with sugar as a part of their daily
rations. It caused quite a number of a certain class to partake
of extra quantities, saying "it must be that lots of sugar is good
for us." Different conditions call for different treatment.
Soldiers upon a march in cold weather in a severe climate require
heat-producing food. Sugar produces heat and energy beside
is easily transported. An extra supply for us is but adding fuel
to a fire already well supplied if our diet is what is best for us.
The digestive organs will elaborate sugar from nearly all fruits,

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IO3

cereals and vegetables, we have no need of a large extra allow-
ance. Bread, the staff of life, the mainstay of humanity from
earliest date, is so important an article of diet to all, that the
systematic extraction of the brain-sustaining phosphates, leaving
it little better than starch, calls for an entire change. While our
population may increase at the rate of 100%, brain and nerve
troubles are increasing at the rate of 600%. The immediate
cause is a lack of brain nutrition. Primarily the lack is in the
bread we eat. The most valuable part of the grain lying in the
outer covering. A brain cannot act with vigor unless fed. Brain
starvation is the one cause of the craving for stimulants that one
class have to meet. "Tell me what you eat and drink and I will
tell you what you are" is not a very old or far-fetched adage.
Edison says, "He who eats rice only, thinks rice only." Work-
ing people have by hard experience, learned certain dietetic
usages. Bread and milk, pork and beans, meat and potatoes,
chicken with rice or dumplings, eggs on toast, oatmeal with
cream, for thin workers have the best results and they have some-
thing like the right combination. While faulty, viewed from a
scientific standpoint, they are preferable to those dishes con-
cocted to tempt the appetite because they taste so nicely. W^hile
advising the cutting down of our meat-eating some will object,
bringing the old Hebrews as an example of a sturdy, healthy
race of flesh-eating people. At first thought, it seems that is
true. Quite the reverse is the fact. Their diet, like that of all
Orientals, was simple, light and mainly of vegetable origin, the
staple being bread, made from the whole grain or from rye with
the flour of millet, beans or lentils added, making a perfect food.

Fruit was abundant, also vegetables, with honey and oil. They
were pretty good hygienists from necessity. We have here as
article No. i under Living for Health, to eat less food, of bet-
ter combination, masticate thoroughly, drinking only pure water.

New England people can well follow the last prescription.
From every hillside bubbles and sparkles pure, sweet water.
Here and there may be found mineral waters of great value.
The time was not so long since the people were drinking spiritu-
ous liquors as an every-day beverage. We have had to take our
temperance reform by installments. At first it provided for
breweries for those who were reforming, next in order was a
cutting off of all beer and cider-making, but prescribed strong

104 state; POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

coffee in its place. One noted temperance worker it is said,
would get away with twenty cups of strong tea in as many
minutes. Now hygienists say tea and coffee should take their
proper places with all other stimulants and nervines.

The second source of vitality is the air. The importance of
proper breathing has been recognized in all ages. In many
religious systems the breathing has occupied first place as a means
of training in self-control. The breath means life. Without
food we may live forty, fifty or sixty days. Without liquids for
several. Of all the essentials to life the oxygen of the air is most
important. The more we breathe the more oxygen. The more
oxygen the more life. Throughout the animal kingdom from
the mouse that breathes 150 times in a minute to the elephant
that breathes six times, the same rule holds good. The stronger
the animal, the deeper and slower it breathes. Our great men
of all times and countries, our Napoleons, Martin Luthers, Crom-
wells, Websters, Gladstones and Bismarcks have all been deep
chested, full breathing men with well-developed, active lungs,
the consequence being vitality and the force that comes from!
vitality. In an examination of over a thousand men and women,
less than one per cent, made proper use of their lungs. Of all
the vital activities the breathing is most under the control of the
will. When chests are sunken and lung capacity small, a few
months patient, persistent work under proper direction will, in
most cases, show improvement in both form and vitality.
Shoulders are appendages of the chest. Rounded or stooping,
they can never be made to take their normal place until the chest
is expanded and uplifted by active lungs. One hindrance the
business women of today will be obliged to meet is the condition
of business places. Many reek with foul air, bad ventilation and
unsanitary surroundings. The mass of women do not hold
their health as dear as they ought. Even the housekeeper clings
too much to her own fireside, especially in cold weather. The
woman of vigorous constitution may be able to pull through, but
most need a daily constitutional to feed brain and nerve with
pure oxygen. Some say they are too tired when the time pre-
sents itself, that thev cannot do this, too tired to walk and breathe
vigorously enough to expand the lungs. Breathing does not
tire, but strengthens heart and lungs, purifies the blood, and
stimulates the entire system. Oxvgen is a far better tonic and

STATK PO.MOLOGICAI, SOt'lKTY. IO5

health-preserver for women than any drugs or stimulants.
Breathing affects nutrition in several ways. It hastens the peris-
taltic movements of the stomach and intestines, it oxydises the
blood, then removes from the body through the lungs certain
poisonous waste matters, the retention of which weakens the
organism. Sleep has an important part in increasing vitality.
Better sleep is needed in some cases, more in others, more and
better in still others. If we reform our diet, sleep in well-venti-
lated bed-chambers, breathe well, and practice muscular relaxa-
tion, that is, let go of ourselves and allow the bed to hold us,
instead of trying to hold ourselves, with a fairly good conscience,
we shall sleep the sleep of childhood.

Article third is as important as the other two. It is : To
labor everv day with the muscles, with the mind and with the
moral powers. To labor more is not a general need with agri-
cultural people. To labor less and recreate more would be far
better for hard workers. Farmers' families have physical exer-
cise enough for growth and strength. Those of other vocations
have had to invent something in exercise equivalent to work.
He who does out of door work is sure to breathe more nearly
correct than any other. If he is not always judicious in food
selection and combination, he will take better care of it than aiiy
other class and is less likely to suffer from it. Sometimes we
workers wonder if our burden of work is not heavier than others'
burdens. We frequently feel that our cares are more numerous
and annoying than those of the other half of the world. Do not
allow such ideas to find resting place in your minds for an hour,
it is not the truth. It has been my privilege to know both sides
of the question. Providence has used some of us better than
we should have used ourselves if we had control of circum-
stances. There are many people of wealth who would give a
part of their gold and all of their dull days, miserable feelings and
idle hours for the ability to do physical work, digest their food,
sleep w^ell, following it by still more work. There is as much
comfort and satisfaction coming to men and women as they look
upon their goodly herds and crops, gather around them their
broods of birds and watch the peculiar workings of their
families of bees as comes to any people living. The breadth of
living that comes to one who appreciates the country for all there
is in it, has not its equal in any city or town. At one and the

Io6 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

same time we are getting good health and giving to the world
a valuable product. As we have progressed the old sentiment,
that to do manual labor is degrading, has died out.

It has always been an insult to genius, talent and industry, the
powers that rule the world. Progress that assumed th'e well-
being of the human race, to be their end of education was
embodied in the thought of extending man's empire over matter.
To make men perfect physically or otherwise we never can. To
make them more comfortable is the end of all right effort. For
sixty generations those old ancient philosophers worked upon
the body and mind. What did they accomplish for our practical
help? Since Queen Elizabeth, more has been done than in all
the years from Plato and Socrates down the line. Gladstone
says, ''I'Vom 1800 to 1850 there was as much permanent wealth
produced as during the 1800 preceding years." One hundred
years ago there was no science worth the name. Since then men
have been studying and investigating with the object of doing
something. It has already lengthened life, wiped out many
diseases, made life healthier and therefore happier. They
called it a curse that "in the sweat of his brow mctn must eat his
bread." That is the only way he can healthfully and happily
eat it, then it is his — he has a right so to do. We are l»2arning
that crime is a disease or the result of disease. Crime is the cost-
liest product of our civilization and is increasing in this country
to a greater relative degree than in any others except Spain and
Italy. New York spends six millions of dollars for police and
prisons while only a little over half that amount is used for edu-
cational purposes. If "an idle man's brain is satan's workshop"
then the first act for us is to ftumish work to those who will work,
making the idle, indolent and unbalanced do something if under
surveillance. We should be in earnest, for these crimes called
disease, or this disease called crime, there must be found a
remedy or the whole country will be made to suffer again and
again. Our America, our United States is a magnificent gift, one
of inheritance. If we still sustain our former characteristics and
keep progressing we shall see to it that the deep-breathing of
our patriotism throws out all poisonous and noxious elements,
that the good red blood of our forefathers makes us strong and
staunch for a liberty not to be confounded with license and for
safety, unguarded which should be the pride of every republic.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. lO/

Teaching always that work makes mind and character. Not
overwork, but employment that is worthy. Teach that whatever
dignifies life and makes that labor sweet, whatever awakens in us
an enthusiasm for heroic and just acts is a part of the grand whole.
The power to dare and bear for what is right, to stand firmly,
then go, these qualities are a large part of our recommendation
to the world and out of all struggles we may come with more
enduring fiber. We have heard it said so often that "brain
power rules the world," that we sometimes forget the action and
reaction between brain and muscle and the close relationship
between mind and body ? We scarcely have it in mind that mus-
cle fiber is doing its part in digestion and respiration and sending
the life-giving current to every organ, tissue and cell. That it is
important in controlling all mental processes that result in intel-
lectual efifort, some learn alas, too late.

Emerson says : "See only that thou work and thou canst not
■escape the reward. Whether thy work be coarse or fine, plant-
ing corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work done to thine
own approbation it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as
the thought." Ruskin says: "So with our youths. We once
taught them to make Latin verses and called them educated, now
we teach them to leap, to run and hit a ball with a bat and call
them educated. Can they plow? Can they sow? Can they
plant at the right time or build with a steady hand? Is it their
-effort to be chaste, knightly, faithful, lovely in word and deed?
Indeed it is with some, nay with many and they are the strength
■of the English nation." May we, Americans, have not less, but
more of that real culture which is omnipotent over human des-
tiny. So that when the centuries have rolled away, our civili-
zation passed out giving place to another or others, we may be
seen clearly in the looking backward and felt for our strength,
health and symmetry, chosen and immortal for practical helps
through all after changing years. Yes, changing, continually
changing.

God only is unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and for-
evermore. Go back to the morning of history and guided by
modern thought let the mind retire into those ages long past and
you have not found the birthplace of the Eternal Father. Then
as now. His mercy. His justice. His love and especially His
physical laws were the same without shadow of turning.

Io8 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

JOHN W. TRUE.

Some years ago a man of New Gloucester birth said to the
writer, that "to be well born was more than half a man's success."
So have I often thought of this other New Gloucester man of
whom it is a pleasure to write at this time. Being born in New
Gloucester was a fortunate beginning, for I know of no rural
Maine home more pleasantly located than his. His parents were
both of strong character and sterling integrity. Such was the
inheritance of John W. True.

He was born in New Gloucester, August 4, 1848, where he
spent his boyhood days. He was educated in the common school
and two years at a private school in his own town. At the age
of nineteen he went to Boston, where he was employed in the
express and grocery business for seven years. On the death of
his father in 1874, he returned home where he has lived ever
since.

Air. True married Carrie Murdock of Springfield, Mass., in
1873. They have four children, two of whom are graduates of
Bates College.

He is a successful farmer. When he began farming for him-
self, the farm carried ten head of cattle and one horse. Year by
year he has improved the farm to such an extent that he now has
thirty-five head of cattle and three horses to do the work and a
small flock of sheep. The old orchard has been added to until
he has one of the best cultivated orchards in the State. Many
of the trees are too young to be large producers, though he has
had good crops for several years, and I know of no orchard in
Maine more promising than this, in the development of which
he and his family have taken so much pleasure and satisfaction.
Nor is this all, for in recent years he has had an ideal farmer's
fruit garden stocked \vith all the fruits needed by the family with
a surplus for his neighbors.

He has been exact in his farming operations, and they have
been conducted in a business-like manner. There are few
farmers who can tell from what particular line of work they have
made money ; but Mr. True has carefully systematized his farm-
ing so that he knows not only what pays but how much this or
that crop has cost and how much he received for it. Farming
would become more profitable if more of this work was done.

STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IO9

He has been a man among men, and his neighbors and towns-
men have deHghted to honor him with official responsibihties.
For nineteen years he was a member of the board of selectmen,
sixteen of which he served as chairman. Several times he was
elected chairman without a dissenting vote. New Gloucester is
known to be one of the best governed towns in this State, and it
is certainly a high tribute to hold the highest office so many years.
The town has long been out of debt, has long had the best of
schools, the best of highways, a good town house, fine public
library built and maintained by town, and all the other good
things that have contributed so largely to make New Gloucester
one of the most popular farming towns in Maine. For two
years he was town clerk, and the past three years he has
been town treasurer. He is a justice of the peace, and is now a
deputy sheriff of Cumberland county.

Mr. True has long been identified with the agricultural inter-
ests of the town, county and State. For several years he was
trustee of the Cumberland County Agricultural Society and a
member of the Board of Agriculture. He was elected a member
of the executive committee of the Pomological Society in 1888,
and was elected year after year until he was chosen president of
the society in 1895 where he served four years, when he was
again elected a member of the executive committee. At our last
meeting he declined re-election. Mr. True's associates in this
society have always had the fullest confidence in his judgment,
and all the duties assigned him have been well performed. His
influence in building up the society has been far reaching. When
he became an officer of the society, there was a debt hanging over
the treasury and a deficiency in the permanent fund. So well
managed has the society been during these years he has the satis-
faction of retiring from office with the society's debts all paid and
a balance in the treasury, the deficiency in the permanent fund
made up and the fund safely invested. Less than a hundred life
members were enrolled when he became a member of the society ;
now there are 141. In his official relation to the society he has
always advocated the best interests of the organization, and in all
his words of counsel he has advocated improved methods and
progressive work. He was most convincing in his words to fruit
growers for what he told them grew out of his own experience

among his trees and plants.

D. H. K.

INDEX.

PAGE

Address of Welcome, Prin. W. S. Brown 24

Annual Address, Z. A. Gilbert 28

Invocation, W. H. Gould 23

Meeting 7, 99

Program 19

Judges 18

Apple Crop 1901 9

Brooks Meeting 6

Brown, W. S., address by 24

Business transactions 16

Cold Storage 30

at Pan-American 74

Cover Crops — cow pea, crimson clover, vetch, turnips and

clover 62

for the Orchard, G. Harold Powell 57

Culture of Fruits 67

Methods of, V. P. DeCoster 33

DeCoster, V. P., paper by 33

' Executive Committee Meetings 16

Fall Web Worm 98

Flowers — their use — arrangement, Miss G. P. Sanborn 89

Fertilizers — Potash, Phosphoric Acid, German Potash Salts,

Canadian Ashes 39, 40

Fertilization, Chas. S. Pope 36

Fruit and fruit culture, J. H. Hale 63

Biggest price — how to get it 56

How to find market for small fruits 44

Market for 46

How to prepare for market 49

Thinning fruit 35. 68

When and to whom to sell 54

Wrappers and fruit wrapping S3

Gilbert, Z. A., address by 28

Gould, Rev. W. H., invocation by 23

talk by lOO

112 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PAGE

Hale, J. H., address by 63

market for fruits 46

Hall & Cole, letter from 56

Knowlton, D. H., response to address of welcome 26

Lane, Prof. A. L., paper by 79

Libbey, R. H., address by 31

PAGE

Living for Health, Mrs. Alonzo Towle 101

Maine fruit 1900 and 1901 8

Members of the Society — Annual 13

Life 12

Munson, W. M., paper by 72

talk by 98

Nature Study, G. Harold Powell 93

Books 95

Officers — election of 21

for 1901 II

Orchard, the care of, R. H. Libbey 31

Package for Apples 51, 52, 70

Canadian Box 51

Colorado Box 52

Missouri Box 52, S3

Close package 47

Pan-American Exposition 5

Awards 5, 22, 77

Appropriation 16

Care of Maine's exhibit there 75

Contributors TJ

Cost 'j'j

Maine fruit there 72

Storage of Maine fruit 74

Varieties 76

Paris Exposition Awards 6

Plant Growing for Garden and Lawn, W. H. Allen 86

Pleasure and profit from Plant Study, Prof. A. L. Lane 79

Plummer, Hon. Stanley, remarks by 99

Pope, Chas. S., address by 36

Powell, G. Harold, lecture by 57

talk by 93

talk by 52

Public Meetings 6

Resolutions 20

Response to Address of Welcome 26

Results of Culture, John W. True 41

INDEX. 113

PAGE

Sanborn, Miss G. P., paper by 89

Secretary's Report 5

Small fruit meeting 7

Towle, Mrs. Alonzo, address by lOi

Treasurer's report 14

Trees — setting and pruning 34

True, John W., paper by 41

sketch of 108

Varieties 96

What are the best 97