Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-10-21
kENNEsEc POMONA GRANGE.
Fruit Day Meeting a Sidney . Grand Sue
cess.

unpleasant weather the attendance
was good, about l50 members being
present In the absence of the worthy
master. r. c. Drummond, master OF
| Winslow Grange. presided.
This being the fruit day" meeting.
many fine exhibits OF fruit were made
| The banner grange exhibit was made
by Sidney Grange. There were 23 ex-
hibits shown by this grange. led by G.
| r. Bowman who had 80 plates of fruit
| Oakland Grange also made fine ex-
| hibit. The largest exhibit of this
| grange was made by r. II. Hersom
| who had 10 varieties. Among the in
dividual exhibits were noted the fol-
lowing: Frank A. Page, Belgrade, Il
| varieties: G. J. Wyman, South China,
! IA; F. C. Drummond. Winslow, I. Sid
ney Grange, being the largest exhibi-
| tor, received first premium. and Oak
| land Grange received the second.
A bountiful harvest feast was served
at noon by the ladies of Sidney Grange.
| The fifth degree was conferred upon II
candidates.
| At the afternoon session the first
question was How to Get Good Or
chard." The discussion was opened
| by Brother G. F.. Bowman of Sidney.
| followed by Brothers Drummond of
| Winslow, Crowell of Riverside and
Mayo of Manchester. The discussion
of the question How to Pack and Ship
Fruit" was opened by Brother Cook of
| Vassalboro. who was followed by 9TH
ers. The third question, "Object Les
sons From the Exhibit" was discussed
| by Brothers Drummond, Stevens.
Hastings and others.
The next meeting of kennebec Po
mona Grange will be held with Oak
land Grange the second Wednesday in
! November
| The paper read at this meeting by
| Mr.. f. p. Mayo of Manchester on
| How to Get a Good Orchard con-
| tanned so much valuable information
on this important subject that 1t is
here given in full for the benefit OF
| Journal readers. Mr.. Mayo said:
| 1t is necessary in order to attain sue
cess in any calling to have love for
| it. This is especially true with refer
ence to the orchardist. He must not
| only love his calling. but be perfectly
| infatuated with 1t, so much so that TX
will be in his thoughts much OF the
time during the day, but also present
with him in his dreams at night. In
fact one must be born an orchardist
| to reach the goal of his ambition.
When we choose the particular line
of farming. we intend to follow, we
| form in our minds an ideal, as we might
say. we have pattern to work by. If
our speciality is the production of but
| ter. we have in our mind the ideal
dairy cow II ii is raising stock for
| beef we fix upon the model steer. like
wise the fruit grower has Il model or
| chard in view.
| The ideal orchard will vary some
what with different individuals. one
with an unquenchable desire for beau
| tiful surroundings filing his artistic
soul. wants an orchard, with trees of
even size. symmetrical in shape. in
| straight rows. no missing trees. with
| luxuriant foliage, making thrifty
| growth with an abundance of fine
| fruit Another who looks for nothing
| in life but the chance for the dollars
cares for nothing but the fruit that is
furnished by his trees. They may be
irregular in outline. the rows have
many vacancies disfigured with dead
! branches il is just as well provided he
| gets some fruit.
| Let us take as a maxim. the best
| is none too good" and work for the
perfect orchard. Being satisfied that
we are fitted for the work and having
our model to guide us we will briefly
| consider some of the steps to be taken
| in reaching the goal.
| First. we will consider the location
and soil. We formerly thought that
| an orchard to be success. must be on
a hill. but we have modified that view
somewhat. still while we know that
trees grow and fruit abundantly on
well drained lowlands, yet the best
conditions for fruit raising are found
northerly or westerly cant of the hill
for two reasons, one. less liability to
damage from drouth, the other greater
immunity from the action of frosts at
time of bloom In this last statement
we refer more particularly to plums
and early blooming pears, but if we
were not favored with the desired To-
cation we should not hesitate to set
trees in any place, either naturally or
artificially we'll drained.
Rocky soil has always been consid-
cred best for fruit trees and justly |
reason for this fact. Rocks contain |
enclosed within their hard surface, |
nearly all the life giving and fertilizing |
elements which trees need and a con-
slant process of disntegration is TAX
ing place from natural causes by which |
these materials are liberated and re-
turned to the soil for use. This is why |
rocky soil, as we say, is strong soil. |
Some additional fertilizer is needed as
not enough is furnished in this manner.
PREPARATION OF SOIL.-We be-
lieve just as strongly in a thorough |
and careful preparation of the soil
where we wish to set fruit trees. and
think it as necessary as we do for any
other crop. PIow carefully, fertilize
well. cultivate thoroughly and when
just right set the trees. l do not, how
ever, wish to discourage one from
using for an orchard, place otherwise
well adapted to the purpose. but which
from some reason cannot be plowed.
With great care, and liberal fertilizing,
and mulching some measure of sue
cess may be reached.
SELECTION OF TREES.-The most
Ia in .l-..1 hal