STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 35 



on iu the vicinity of large cities, is, in his operations, taxed to his 

 utmost ingenuity to get at the most expeditious and economical 

 method to produce the finest crops." "At present prices ( 1886 ) no 

 one would be safe to start the business of vegetable market garden- 

 ing, in the manner it is carried on in the neighborhood of New York 

 City, with a capital of less than ^300 per acre, for anything less than 

 ten acres; if on a larger scale, it might not require so much." 



"The number of men employed throughout the year on a mar- 

 ket garden of ten acres, within three miles of market, planted in 

 close crops, average seven; this number is varied in proportion, some- 

 what, according to the quantity of glass in use." Some have gener- 

 ally employed more than that — fully a man to an acre — but that 

 was in consequence of having in use more than the ordinary propor- 

 tion of sashes. This may seem to many an unnecessary force for 

 such a small area, but all experience proves that any attempt to work 

 with less would be unprofitable. 



The pomological display, of the Missouri State Horticultural 

 Society, made in the St. Louis Exposition, September and October, 

 1888, said to contain about 5,000 plates of fine fruit, comprised the 

 largest number of varieties of nice apples I ever saw together. Pos- 

 sibiy every variety grown in the state of Missouri, were exhibited 

 there. The gentlemen in charge of this display were very proud of 

 it, and with every reason to be so, as it was beyond praise in itself, 

 and said to be the finest ever made by any horticultural society in 

 the United States. Not failing to attend, I learned that results like 

 these were not caused by slip-shod work. Admitting that the climate 

 of the state of Missouri, may possibly be a little more favorable to 

 apple growing than that of our state, yet — judging b}^ success only 

 brings the test of good generalship — the greatest cause of the suc- 

 cess must be attributed to the skill of the grower. In their discus- 

 sions they readily answered almost any question asked them, about 

 the names and habits of most varieties of apples, the various diseases 

 and insects affecting the same, with all the known remedies. One of 

 the marked improvements in apple growing, was that all present 

 attributed the chief cause of their success, to spraying the trees with 

 arsenical poisons, showing that the use of these remedies so much 

 advocated by the most practical horticulturists and entomologists is 

 fast coming into use. 



While it may not seem practicable for the private gardener, to 

 go fo such expense as the commercial gardener, for taking into con- 

 sideration the low price of land, fertilizers which can often be had 

 for the hauling, and much of the labor done at odd times, thereby 

 reducing the cost to a minimum, yet it must not be forgotten that 

 as a rule too little care is given to private gardens, which cannot be 

 properly cropped and cared for with less labor than can a market 

 garden, no matter how low the expense of producing may be. 



