WINTER MEETING. 151 



Why may we not expect that our Experiment station will take up 

 this line of work that would go through a line of years ? Possibly not to 

 benefit you and me, but it will benefit those who will soon be called 

 upon to fill the places we are filling today. I believe it is possible, 

 Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, to breed a line of fruit that will be hardy 

 enough to stand such chilly winds and frosts that lost us our fruit crop 

 this last season, and at the same time improve in quality. 



Mr. Chairman, you know that this work of experimenting is being 

 carried on, not only in our State, but in many other states, in a small 

 way by individuals. But the life of one man is too short to take up 

 the line of work here suggested, and as the general government has 

 donated very handsomely to our State many thousand dollars per year 

 to carry out this and other lines of experimental work, why not from 

 the Experiment station let this work start and be carried out in such 

 a way that the people will be benefited thereby ? It is not my inten- 

 tion or wish to follow this line further, but to bring to your minds, in as 

 brief way as possible, more important lines of work that the horticul- 

 turists and fruit-growers of the State feel that we want more know- 

 ledge upon, for, as above stated, we nor any one of us are able to carry 

 these lines of work to completion ; but we do ask the Station to take 

 it up and carry it through, that the future generations may work in the 

 light where we are working in the dark. 



One or two more points and I will close. The fruit-growers of 

 Missouri would like to know of this matter of spraying, to rid our or- 

 chards of the different orchard pests, and would like to know about 

 the value of Paris green and other substances used for spraying. How 

 pure is the Paris that goes to the public? Has the Experiment Sta- 

 tion fixed its seal to any particular brand, so that they can tell the fruit- 

 growers of Missouri how many ounces of poison should be used to one 

 hundred gallons of water ! And again, we want the managers at the 

 Station to tell the fruit-growers what are the cheapest and best fertili- 

 zers to use on their soil ; how to make them at home, or how to obtain 

 them and where to obtain them the cheapest — as the time i3 at hand 

 when this subject of plant food, especially food to the orchard^, will 

 have to be taken up, and why not take it up now? I believe now is a 

 good time. I have, no doubt, gone far enough in outlining some prom- 

 inent wants of the fruit-growers of Missouri, and for fear of wearying 

 you, I will close ; but let me tell you, fellow-horticulturists, these ques- 

 tions are among some of the all-important subjects the horticulturists 

 want answered. 



