184 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in their bietorj-. By the latter extended into all their provinces, Brit- 

 ain included, from whence it was brought to America. By the Ameri- 

 cans it has been highly improved, brought to the notice of all nations, 

 made an important article of food and commerce, and exhibited at 

 World's fairs in such beauty and magnificence as to enchant and hold 

 spell-bound in admiration visitors from all parts of the world. 



'Tis done, and I close with a couplet from Lord Byron's " English 

 Bards and Scotch Keviewers : " 



"What reams of paper, what floods of Ink, 

 Do some men spoil wlio never think." 



The Orchard Question of the Northwest. 



N. F. Murray, Oregon, Mo. 



When our worthy Secretary assigned me the "Orchard Question 

 of the Northwest," he certainly meant to be liberal and give me room 

 to spread. I have no fault to find with him, for this is the true broad- 

 gauge American idea. Give us room to spread and grow, room to 

 plant and grow our orchards, and if room is the one great essential to 

 success, we will certainly find it in the Northwest. 



Northwest, and what is meant by the term? Where is the limit? 

 Where shall we draw the line ? What idea have we of the great North- 

 west? Some have a vague, dreamy, indefinite notion that it is a vast 

 and almost boundless waste of a kind of good-for-nothing country, 

 much of which will never be susceptible of improvement. 



For the purpose I have in view in writing thisjpaper, permit me to 

 draw a line to include eight of our great Northwestern states, and 

 make some comparisons. I shall name Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, 

 South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and we 

 have a territory of 697,518 square miles, with a population of only four 

 millions. Out of this we could carve nine states, each as large as all 

 of New England (and have 17,000 square miles left for a national park), 

 and with the same density of population as New England. Their 

 population would be multiplied by eight, and they would contain 

 32,000,000. Or we might carve 500 states out of them, each as large as 

 Bhode Island, and have a large remnant left. With same density of 

 population they would contain 184,000,000. Or we might carve 'a 

 country the size of Japan nearly five times, and with same density of 

 population they would contain 180,000,000. 



But why draw these comparisons ? I answer, because it is only 

 by comparison that we can know how rich or how poor, how strong or 

 how weak, how intelligent or how ignorant, and what our opportunities 

 are for growth as compared with other states and other countries. 



