The Somerset reporter., 1909-05-27
The State Fruit Farm.

"Although absolutely nothing has
been done looking to the purchase of
any particular farm, nor has the com
mittee having the purchase of a
farm any partiality for any farm,
yet I'll venture to say that the new
fruit farm authorized by the Legis-
lature to be conducted for the bene-
fit of fruit culture in Maine, will be
located within radius of 15 miles of
Leeds Junction." says Director
Charles ID. Woods of the University
of Maine experiment station, who is
not only the executive officer of the
pure food laws of Maine, but also be-
comes the executive officer in the
enforcement of the new law which
will govern the sale of Mainegrown
apples and which goes into effect
with the maturing of the crop Of
1909.
$50 far from being a detriment to
the apple growing and apple selling
industry in Maine, as some have
claimed" went on Mr.. Woods, II
see where the new law Is going TO
work a decided benefit to Maine
orchardists. In the first place, every
barrel of apples must be plainly
marked with the name of the state
and the grade of stock contain ed
within. Quite a good many un-
scrupulous dealers in fruit have been
putting out apples of a decidedly in
ferior quality and labelling them
maine apples,' with the result that
the reputation of Maine grown fruit
has suffered greatly.
"Under this new law that would be-
come impossible, and only a certain
grade of apples would be allowed in
a barrel marked as containing that
grade. There are to be three stand
ard grades, in the endeavor which
the orchardists of the state are bound
to make TO bring their fruit up to the
standard so that they will be market
outside of the apple belt there may
be very few sections where the
apples grown can be called choice
or 'selected,' which would be the
first grade packed, but NO. l. apples
part of the state where the highest
grade can't be raised in quantity
"Apples, you know, have long
farmers, anyhow. If the trees bear
were 80 much in; if they didn't bear
a good crop, there wasn't much loss,
as they didn't get any special care
they bore was clear gain. They
haven't really begun to wake up to
their opportunities in the fruit line in
waking up somewhat. Spraying,
upon which depends in great measure
the production of a high grade of
apples, hasn't begun to be adapted to
apple raising in Maine, comparative
ly.
"When trees on farm have a big
crop, they are allowed to remain till
they mature, and not infrequently
the apples will be understood on ac-
count of their number being too great
for the tree. Again, they will be
wormy, because there is abundance
of food for the worms, and the
spraying, which should have pro-
tected the blossoms from the pest,
isn't applied. Consequently, the
next year, which is almost invariably
lean year, the small crop is sub
jected to the invasion of the large
crop of caterpillars resulting from
the heavy yield of the preceding
year.
"Yet, if the farmer would but
spray his trees in the spring at the
dangerous time, thin out his fruit
when it is too plentiful, and so allow
the vigor of the tree to go into a
reasonable crop, which should have
material on which to develop, the
crop would be of high grade without
blemish, while the increased size of
the fruit would make up for any loss
in numbers. Maine farmers do not,
by any means, appreciate what a
golden opportunity they are letting
slip by them in this particular"