Winter Meeting. !208 



whole blocks of nurser}^ stock was worthless and orchard and forest 

 trees are still dying from the efi'ccts of that freeze, although they had 

 all the year 1900, which was fairlf seasonable to repair the damage. 

 Peach orchards that were too old to cut back profitably were so 

 damaged that now they are total wrecks. Those that were properly 

 cut back are now bearing profitable crops. 



The drouth of the present year, 1901, commenced earlier and 

 continued to a later period than that of '97, and yet the permanent 

 damage has not been as great by half, as that of '97, which com- 

 menced on a very dry earth, while that of the present year set in 

 on a wet one, and although there has been no rain fall that reached 

 the sub-soil since April, the trees have carried a healthy foliage and 

 made a fairly good growth, and are in good condition to go into 

 winter with a fairly good crop of buds for next year's fruiting, and 

 in some sections, a full crop of fruit has been matured while the 

 drouth of the present year seemed to have been the worst in the 

 history of the country; and the corn, hay and potato crop have been 

 cut to less than half, and the pastures and water supply seriously 

 affected ; yet the permanent damage has not been half what it was 

 in '97. The damage of '97 was estimated in Missouri alone at fifty 

 million dollars, and yet a fair average crop of all farm products and 

 a good half crop of fruit were raised. This year a much better crop 

 of horticultural, and only a half crop of farm products were raised. 

 It is fortunate that these bad years have been sandwiched with 

 better ones, for surely a famine would have resulted had they all come 

 together; and now let us be thankful that it did not come and hope 

 that the centennial period has passed and that we will have better 

 seasons in the future. 



While we have been suffering all these damages, we have learned 

 some valuable lessons. We have learned that certain crops, such 

 as sorghum, kaffir, brown dura and cow peas will grow without rain, 

 and are good substitutes for stock feed. 



We are more fully convinced of the importance of thorough 

 cultivation, especially in dry weather. We have been forced to rea- 

 lize the importance of a better supply of water for our families and 

 for our stock. 



The fruit grower has learned that some varieties of fruit will 

 stand the drouth better than others. Many other things have been 

 learned that will be of value to us in the future. I 'have in mind a 

 section of country (will call it a few countries), where not enough 

 rain has fallen since the 17th day of April to more than lay the 

 dust, and yet, it has produced the largest and best crop of tree fruits 



