ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 217 



Mr. President : As I am expected to state at this meeting 

 " What is the Prospect of the Southern Illinois Fruit-Grower?" I 

 will endeavor to do so as far as T am able. 



If I was asked in common every day conversation what their 

 future prospects were I should say that they wereanythinj^ hut good. 

 When our able Secretary asked the question at the beginning of the 

 year, his ideas on the subject were hardly as mature as they are now. 

 The past season has taught the most sanguine of us that there is 

 but very little stability in great expectations, and the only conso- 

 hition left us at the close of 188G will be a little of that Dutch con- 

 solation, which teaches us that there is '' nothing so bad Ijut it 

 might have been worse." 



The reason for the past dull times in fruit-growing may be due 

 to many causes, prominent among which, in this section at least, is 

 the practice of farmers in general growing small fruits, and they, not 

 being used to the business, have flooded the local, as well as the dis- 

 tant, market, with fruit of different kinds, some of it, I am sorry to 

 admit, of a very questionable character. It has been said more than 

 once in our meeting-; that choice fruit will sell at any time, and I 

 think that I have said so myself. I am, however, forced to admit 

 now that a glutted market will, by delaying the sale of choice fruit, 

 reduce it to the state of the poorest of the poor in a short time, and, 

 as a rule, the more choice the fruit the more apt to decay; inferior 

 fruit is nearly as bad as it can be when pat on the market. It is 

 therefore necessary to dispose of it as soon as possible. 



f.Tust what to suggest as a remedy for this depression, I do not 

 kn^w. Combinations of circumstances are much easier described 

 than remedied. I think, however, that a good many of the farmers 

 in my neighborhood who have gone aside from their legitimate call- 

 ing and have engaged in the growing of small fruits especially, have 

 become more or less disgusted with the business, its heavy expense, 

 its hard work and its small profits, and if, as from present appear- 

 ances, there should be an extra crop of wheat in 1887, they will be 

 very apt to leave the growing of small fruits alone except so far as 

 what they may need for their own use. 



Bat, Mr. President, the above will not apply to the apple crop. 

 The apple orchard is a thing of permanence, and there is not much 

 prospect of an advance in price in the near future for the apple 

 grower. It is true that there will be always more or less demand at 

 the cider mills for apples, but it is very doubtful if the prices real- 

 ized from that source will be sufficiently remunerative. This (ques- 

 tion I must leave to be discussed by those who raise apples in large 

 quantities and have had exi)erience. 



Upon the whole I think that the " Prospect for the Southern 

 Illinois Fruit-rirowor " is not very encouraging, and as an iiulividual 

 I have no advice to offer. There will be, shortly, I understand, a re- 

 port from other localities, which will be of interest, and may have 



