314 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



done it. But I expect to make it profitable ; and it does seem to me that 

 it goes out with ill-grace from this Society to say that there is no profit in 

 apple orcharding. What do we come here for, but to learn how to grow 

 apples with profit? Have we learned nothing in our gatherings? And 

 are we now compelled, after so many years of experience and teaching, to 

 put up our bulletin-board and announce to the world that there is no 

 profit in growing apples? If that is the case, let us disband and go 

 home, and never meet again ; for what is the use ? If that is the case, 

 why have we not quit the business years ago, and taken up with some 

 thing tha.t does pay ? 



But what are the facts in the case ? No doubt, many orchards do 



not pay. Mine has not paid me for three years, because of the failure of 



the crops. In fact, for seven years we have had unfavorable seasons for 



the most part, and for three seasons the dry summers and hard winters 



have been especially against us. But will this always be so ? Do not 



other crops experience unfavorable seasons as well ? Another reason 



why so many orchards are unprofitable is because of their age and poor 



quality of fruit. The varieties set twenty or thirty years ago are not now 



generally wanted in the markets. I have varieties in my orchard that I 



wish I did not have. They are unprofitable. But I have enough that 



are good to encourage me that I shall have profits. I admit, a man who 



does not know how to grow apples can not grow them with profit ; but 



there is not a man in this Society but knows all about the business : and 



so I say I regret to hear gentlemen say there is no money in the orchard. 



Men who give no proper cultivation, and do most outlandish pruning 



with the axe or otherwise, as I have seen, and whose sins of omission and 



commission are more in number than the Decalogue, ought not to have 



profits, and they will get their deserts, sure. But for the members of this 



Society to say they can not profitably grow apples is preposterous ! I 



regard the present as the best time to set out an orchard, and, if I were a 



young man, and contemplated growing fruit, the first thing I should do 



would be to set out an orchard. But there are some varieties I would 



not set : I would not set out the Early Harvest for one, because it gi\es 



me almost no fruit. 



Mr. Hollister — Does not the Early Harvest need extra cultivation 

 in order to do well ? 



Mr. Huggins — That may be the case. At any rate, it is not valu- 

 able in my orchard, and I would not set it. 



Mr. Pearson — How would you renovate an old orchard ? 



