Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-11-11
Apple Posaihilities.

Week-and of the season for that mat
ter-is the meeting to be held on Friday,
under the auspices of the Board of
Trade for the farmers of Washington
county to be addressed by Mr.. Holmes,
OF Charlotte, perhaps the most famous
apple grower of Vermont. There has
been much discussion of the general
subject of apple growing and one of the
interesting articles which has appeared
of late on this subject is found in the
Hampshire Gazette. This tells of the
.rediscovery of New England" by ].
II. Hale, the famous Connecticut fruit
grower. 1t appears that one of the
men whom he interested in fruit grow
ing some twenty years ago was Michael
Coleman, factory worker, who plant
ed his trees on boulder strewn ridge
in Seymour, Conn.
The result of Mr.. Coleman's expert
ment is told in the story written by the
editor of the Gazette, who saws in part
''As we toiled up the hill and bounded
over the boulders, had listened to the
story of Michael Coleman. We wound
upward through rows of apple trees, ex-
tending in all directions as far as we
could see, passed the pickers in the or
chard, the packing house, the worke rs,
dining hall and barn, and at the top
came to fine new house with running
water, large rooms and ample freplaces,
Michaels home. There was a great
view of the valleys and hills and Sound,
with Long Island beyond, and there
were apple trees stretching out in all
directions, so that you see no beginning
and no ending. And the rocks, large,
loose, plentiful. Do you tell me you
have been hauling these off for years I?
Have these great mountains of rock
been hauled off these fields, and yet so
many remain
After dinner we go out to look for
the discovery. We walk among the
trees, stopping to examine and admire,
and ask questions. There are 1000 ap-
pie trees and $4,000 peach trees. The
Oldest trees are eleven years old, but
part of them are but seven. There
are more Baldwins than any other kind,
then Rhode Island Greetings, Ben
Davis, Wealthy, Mcintosh, Jonathan,
Rome Beauty, York Imperial. Some
of the trees are set forty feet apart,
each way, some thirty and some thirty
six.
But where is the re-discovery {?
Here are apple trees and buildings,
horsts and men, do not all orchards
have these? Does it lie in the size of
the apples that see, their color, the
yield of the trees, their smooth, shining
bark, their freedom from scale and
blemish? Is it in the possibility of do
ing in New England as well as they can
doin Oregon and Washington, Colorado
or Montana? Is it in any material
, thing?
1.-The apples were truly Oregonian in
co. oNlO. Il
ly better in quality. 1t takes longer to
get tree to bearing in New England
but when once mature the trees will
outlive half-dozen Oregon orchards.
On the day of my visit a carload of
apples was being shipped to a retailer
in Chicago, who had great many for
mer New England people among his
customers, and they wanted the old
home flavor in their apples. The fruit
was almost up to the Oregon size. Not
an imperfect apple was sent him. But
still better fruit was being sorted out
to be put in bushel boxes to be sent to
! the cold storage houses, and to go 10
market in the winter. The Oregon APP
pie has educated us to eating apples out
of hand, as We used to do, and it is the
hope of the re-discoverer of New En-
gland that the people will retain this
taste, now that he is able to supply
them with apples as good in size and
color and far better in flavor.
There is no real road to success.
Like the approach to Seymours's apple
crowned summit, the way is long and
/ hard. broken by thank you-ma ans of
doubt and bestrewn with boulders of
disappointment.
! Can others do it? That is the
question. Is there more than one
Hale? There is no secret in his meth
DDS. He has given his life to inspiring
others with enthusiasm for the posi-
bilities of the old sod. What he has
learned in years of practice with fruit
he freely gives, and yet few can fol-
low him. His success is greatly assist
ed by his wonderful ability to see the
possibilities in men and get as much
more by his ability to inspire them with
enthusiasm for the work. We do not
look for an overcrowding of the market
with New England grown apples of the
Oregonan size and color and smooth
ness. Many there will be to enter the
field but few will endure to the harvest.
And yet man advances by imitation. 1t
is easier so than by originality.
1.-The editor of the fruit paper of the
Northwest was on Re-Discovery Hill in
Seymour, and after being shown over
the orchards hanging heavy with giant
red apples, said:
why, you have got just as large
apples as we raise in Oregon. did not
know that this could be done in New
England. How did you happen to dis
cover this spot? Is there any more
such land in New England?"
Eyes, said Mr.. Hale, You go over