STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 13 



ORCHARDS OF THE FUTURE. 



There is no doubt but what we, as practical men, should en- 

 courage the planting of orchards, but there should be no uncertain 

 sound as to what we should plant, at least in a general way. It 

 would be better that the farmer should plant no fruit trees at 

 present than to plant untried new native, or imported varieties, as 

 the result will in most cases be disastrous to the farmer and to the 

 cause of horticulture. Perhaps, in no business, cau swindling be 

 done so successfully and with such impunity as in the nursery business, 

 and the only safety there is in purchasing trees is to go to your 

 nearest reliable nursery or consign your order direct without the in- 

 tervention of tree agents. That there are many reliable nurserymen 

 goes Avithout saying, but it is also true that some of their methods 

 of doing business through dishonest tree agents, for which they are 

 either directly or indirectly responsible, resulting in "wholesale" 

 frauds in a ''retail" way upon the innocent customer, merits any- 

 thing — except our approbation. Now you are no doubt saying that 

 this is all very well, but where is the remedy for this ? The remedy 

 is with the nurserymen, of course, but we as a society can do some- 

 thing, and are in a measure responsible. We are responsible that 

 we have presented no better guide to the fruit planter. We have 

 been so quick to drop all of the old varieties and so eager to grasp after 

 the new native and Russian varieties that have been put forward, 

 that it is no wonder that the average farmer has been quick to fol- 

 low our example. With less horticultural knowledge, perhaps he 

 the more readily becomes the easy victim to the conscienceless agent. 

 Instead of buying for experiment he can't have too much of a good 

 thing, so plants his whole orchard to "iron-clad" trees. 



Two years ago, at Centralia, I took the position that those 

 varieties that had done the best for us in the past were what we 

 should plant for the future, and until we had fully tested by experi- 

 mental planting the new varieties presented to us. Since that time 

 I have had no occasion to change that opinion, but on the contrary, 

 I have been more firmly convinced as the new candidates for public 

 favor go to the wall. The hardy "Russian" fails to fill the aching 

 void. It takes years to determine the hardiness and bearing qualities 

 of new native or imported varieties, and while I do not wish to dis- 

 courage the testing of these varieties in an experimental way, I do 

 wish to condemn the planting of these varieties in the nursery for 

 general distribution, and it becomes the duty of this society to em- 

 phasize more emphatically the planting of the best of the old 

 varieties, and to discourage, except in the way stated, the planting 

 of untried varieties. 



It is a well-known fact that seedling varieties which have in 

 the original tree proven hardy, fail to maintain that quality when 

 grafted upon other stock, or even when transferred to a warmer 



