MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 313 



should be picked up every day or two. The curculio remains ia the 

 plum about nine days after the plum drops. 



I believe no tree needs more the study of the horticulturist than 

 the plum, and no tree has received as little attention. 



Horticulture in Missouri. 



By E. S. Pollard, Olden, Mo. 



Horticulture in Missouri is a topic that would require volumes' 

 ■were it thoroughly treated in all its details, and I will not attempt, 

 in the brief space of one short paper, to cover the field that is opened 

 by this subject. 



I have been engaged in this department of industry but a few 

 years, and my opportunities for observation have been limited ; but I 

 will give you a few thoughts, as they have impressed themselves upon 

 me as I have looked about to see what Missouri is doing in this line. 

 We are. all proud of the showing that our State has made in the last 

 few years, and the recognized position she has taken as a fruit state. 



The products of our orchards and vineyards are gaining more and 

 more of a reputation each year, and now we are credited with being 

 the third state in the Union in the production of grapes and wine, and 

 yet when we see car after car and even train-loads of grapes coming 

 into our market from other states, what does it mean ? 



Apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries and other fruits also from 

 other states are finding markets right here among us. 



Why is this? Cannot we grow these fruits successfully? Have 

 •we not a soil and climate in this big State of ours, covering 65,000 

 square miles of territory, that will produce the fruits to as great per- 

 fection as any other spot on the continent? Of course we have. The 

 honors that our State Horticultural Society has carried off at all our 

 great expositions in recent years have demonstrated that our fruits can- 

 not be excelled. Are these same fruits not profitable ? I can point to 

 Instances where our peach orchards made us $300 per acre at four 

 years old; where Wild Goose plums made a half bushel on three-year- 

 old trees ; where a two-acre apple orchard that had beey neglected for 

 years, and containing a promiscuous assortment of varieties planted 

 mainly for family use, made its owner $400 clear money ; where straw- 

 berries have made $400 netjper acre, and four-year-old pear trees made 

 one bushel of fruit per tree ; nine-year-old cherry trees produced three 

 ■cases to the tree and sold at $2.00 per case. 



