Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-11-13

tcrcst. and may well he Il ,lnit "' CT
fort in behalf of that common interest.
This new movement cannot ran Oh a.
strong influence towards centering
thought. awakening interest and arous-
ing effort in a warmer love OF nature
as eXemplified in fruits and flowers
ard will aid in embellishing country
life with the useful and the pcautlful
SO lavishly laid before all who have
eyes cultured to see and the taste u
enjoy the embracing bounty AS CO.
workers in our chosen field Of effort we
extend the glad hand to the delegates
and visitors from kindred societies from
ether States. and assure them warm
welcome to our deliberations.
Your President congratulateS all as
sOciate fruit growers wherever located
over the surprising bounty that has
rewarded their efforts the past season.
The report Of Secretary kn0wltOn
was interesting document. which was
listened to with the closest attention by
those Interested in the society and its
work.
Secretary's Report.
1t might not seem necessary to mem
| tier the past winter in connection with
fruit growing were it not for the fact
that the winter is blamed by many
| for the injury suffered by our orchards.
| So far as Your secretary is concerned
he does not "blame it all on the wealth
err" while the injury is more serious
than most of our fruit growers realize,
there ere other conditions that should
I, ln1 n iv~
Davis suffered the most. Those varie-
ties are both early and free bearers.
and the growers look upon the two
| hanging fun of beautiful fruit and re-
joice ever the magnificent crop of
fruit promised. I do not know Of a
| fruit grower in Maine who has to any
grea; extent felt it necessary to re-
lieve the trees of the burdens it Is
| bearing. In one case the present sea-
son prominent grower told me he had
| used over 1900 stakes to prevent the
| trees from breaking down. In cam
vass covering 4 large number OF or
charGs this fall o conspicuous fact APP
pears. The dead and injured trees are
almost without exception trees that
bore heavily the year before. In other
words the trees have been so weaken
ed by Overbearing that they have not
| hau the power to resist the cold. Many
trees have borne heavily this year I
found seriously injured. and it will be
| strange if there are not many more
dead trees next spring than the last.
| The secretary suggests whether 1t
| would not be wiser to pick Off some
fruit and burn the stakes up. The ex-
| tent Of this injury will be shown by
speakers at our meeting. who have been
| investiga ting orchard conditions in the
State. Yet notwithstanding this un-
| favorable condition. the New England
| Honlesteads reports the crop in Maine
| this year al LOO, 900 barrels. and in an
| edi: 0rial upon the fruit situation re-
| marks that Maine has now come to be
| an important factor in measuring up
| the apple situation in the United States.
| This is the largest crop thus far credit
| ell 10 Maine.
| Ir going about among the fruit grow
| erS of the State several facts are noted.
The rapid increase in the size of the
| orchards. Twenty-Five years ago a
man with a thousand apple trees was
called an "Apple King" Today there
are many orchards in the state that
contain many more trees than that.
and quantities of farmers have five
hundred or more trees. The extent Of
the industry is a genuine surprise to
all. and it is very doubtful if more than
| one-half of the trees have come into
bearing. This is indeed significant of
what The future has in store for us.
Another fact to which attention was
| called in the last report of the secre-
tary is the better care the orchards are
| receiving. 1t is apparent in all parts
of the state. that the trees are better
fed, better pruned. and it will not be
| many years when our growers will not
permit their trees to bear themselves
! to death.
Another interesting and astonishing
| fact is that the industry seems to have
| outgrov'n the capacity of the growers
to handle the fruit economically. As
result Of this one finds thousands OF
barrels nf fruit unpcked and ruined by
| the cold. The cellars and store rooms
are full Of fruit and thousands of bar
rels of apples are today stored in open
sheds and Outbuildings. and today the
slump in the market. to no small de-
gree, may be traced to the rush of the
growers 10 get their apples into the
market before they freeze when stored
at home. There is still scarcity of
help and barrels, and it will be strange
indeed if many of these apples are not
frozen up before the farmers can get to
them
Sc far as conditions in fruit growing
=