Ten Years in Horticulture. 197 



fifty Fameuse, twenty-five Jonathan, twenty-five Willow-Twig, 

 twenty-five Pewaukee, twenty-five Walbridge, twenty-five Ben 

 Davis ; the balance will be a winter seedling I have, MeMahon's 

 White, and a few new varieties. So you can see how my mind 

 runs now. Years ago, I said that No. 20 would not blight. I 

 find that a man should be careful about saying anything positive. 

 I now say, it is not liable to blight, but plant it near a Price's 

 Sweet, or other tree that blights badly, and it will blight some. 

 In 1880, I had about three hundred bushels of apples, mostly on 

 young trees. 



Now, after hearing this imperfect review of a wild and reckless 

 adventure. I leave it with you, fellow horticulturists, to judge 

 whether I have made any progress in teu years or not. I do 

 know this : I hardly knew a single variety of apples ten years 

 ago, but now I can carry a few to the fairs without labels. I 

 was not acquainted with any trees or tree-growers then, but dur- 

 ing these years have become acquainted, with most of the leading 

 fruit men of this state and some in other states. I am working 

 into the wool and mutton business by raising a good large flock 

 of sheep, so that if the present winter, or some succeeding one, 

 wipe3 out the trees entirely, I will have something to fall back 

 upon. In this event, I should be loth to give up these winter 

 meetings, but at present I want to be numbered with the men 

 referred to by B. R. Bones, in 1830, who are bound by persistent 

 effort to succeed in fruit growing; and right here I will give some 

 items, by way of an inventory, so that anyone who contemplates 

 eng-a^ino- in the business I have been reviewing, can form some 

 idea of what he needs aside from soil suited, etc. When I started 

 in 1871, as near as I can remember, the stock in trade was about 

 as follows: Wild land, worth $500; experience and observation, 

 $10; cash on hand, $500; trees, bought and paid for, $50; grit, 

 $100; making a total of $1,160, for engaging in a business I 

 knew but little about, Now, to continue the same business tea 

 years later, I invoice as follows: Cultivated land in orchard, 

 $3,000; experience and observation, $2,000; cash on hand, $10; 

 trees on hand and in nursery, aside from orchard, $500 ; grit, 

 $1,990, making a total of $7,500. Parties here who are adepts 



