146 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Hartzell : In self-defense, I will pay soniethinin: about the 

 preparation of the jjronnd. We must prepare the ground before we 

 put the trees in. No one ever saw a sun-scalded tree in properly pre- 

 pared ground. We must emphasize the fact of planting the tree in 

 the ground. 



Mr. Morrill : Some of you are familiar with Prof. Brunk. He has 

 shown by experiment that a tree pruned of its side roots when planted 

 will, in a few years, have a better system of roots than trees planted 

 with all their roots. 



B. F. Smith : When an apple-tree starts down hill and the crop 

 becomes unprofitable, cut it down. 



Next came one of the most important papers of the meeting. 



The Lessons of the Hour. 



A. Nelson, Lebanon, Mo. 



Shall we, as horticulturists, profit by its teachings'? The lost ap- 

 ple crops the past three years have had a demoralizing effect on many 

 of our horticulturists; but to the man who takes a philosophical view 

 of the losses sustained, and once stops to consider that other crops 

 have failed, that business men failed, that corporations, banks and 

 bankers failed, and when they fail, the results are much more disastrous 

 than the loss of one, two or even three apple crops. You may ask, 

 why? My answer is, that when our crops of fruit fail, it is giving 

 to our orchards, in many cases, a much-needed rest. You must un- 

 derstand, if you do not already understand, that fruit-trees need, like 

 men or beasts of burden, seasons of rest and time to recuperate; but 

 our fruit losses have come upon us wholly through cliuiatic conditions. 

 A change is coming, and is near at hand, and the man or men who 

 have carefully cared for and watched their orchards, as they ought to 

 have done, will reap a golden harvest in the near future. I know there 

 are those who have met with serious losses. Take the grasshopper 

 plague of little more than a year ago, then the untimely frosts that 

 killed outright, in many cases, and badly damaged in others, so many 

 acres of orchard recently planted ; then, after all, comes on the locust 

 plague, putting on the finishing touch to many thousands of newly- 

 planted orchard trees. To such who have met with these losses, I can 

 only say, do not be discouraged. Do not give up, for apple trees of 

 the finest quality can be bought at very low prices. Labor is cheap, 

 and there is no better time to plant than right now, for we have fapts 

 before us that will give you courage. 



