STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 135 



H. M. Dunlap, of Committee on Farmers' Horticulture, was not 

 present on the first day when the report was called for, but afterwards 

 made the report liere presented: 



FARMER'S HORTICULTURE. 

 BY HEXRY M. DUKLAP, SAVOY, ILL. 



There would seem to l)e no subject more interesting to the aver- 

 age farmer than that of a fruit garden and a family orchard. While 

 it is true that nearly all farmers adiuit the value of fruit to the 

 family, there is no one thing more strikingly neglected about most 

 farms than the setting out and cultivation of fruits, both in the gar- 

 den and the orchard. 



Some go so far as .the planting out process, and then, on account 

 of the accumulation of other work, the plants are neglected, and that 

 is the end of the chajjter. Weeds spring up and choke, stock break 

 in and trample down, and in the case of orchard trees the singletree 

 of the careless driver finishes the work. Still it cannot be said that 

 such men do not appreciate the fruit itself, for no one can accept 

 from their more painstaking neighbors more quickly the invitation 

 to ''send the children over after a mess of berries," or who takes 

 more delight in visiting those whose vineyard, garden and orchard 

 supplies them with fruit the season through. 



The fact of this wholesale neglect of fruit culture on the part 

 of farmers is not due to the lack of necessary knowledge nor the 

 uncertainty of fruit culture, but to a lack of capacity and a want 

 of thoroughness on the part of the farmers themselves. So many 

 farmers think it takes so long to get a crop of fruit that thev have 

 not the patience to wait even one year. Many men work In' the day, 

 week or month, because they have not the ability of planning ahead, 

 nor the capacity to see the returns Avhich would come in in the course 

 of time and doubly reward them for tlieir iiatience. For this reason 

 they continue to work for others because they can then tell when 

 night comes just what they have earned during the day. To be s-uc- 

 cessful in fruit-raising as well as in business, a luan must have souie 

 faith in the future, and not expect to plant trees in the spring and 

 harvest his fruit the next autumn as he does his corn. Farmers, let 

 us exercise care in selecting our varieties, in the setting out and cul- 

 tivation of what we do select, and our reward shall be in proportion 

 to our labors. 



It is not necessary in order to raise strawberries for family use 

 that a farmer should have the knowledge and experience of a Parker 

 Earle, or in order to grow successfully an a]i])]e orchard to ])rovide 

 fruit for his family that lie sliouhl l)e a Haumunid or a Whitney. 

 No; if nature has endowed him with a fair sprinkling of common 

 sense he can, with a little inquiry, ascertain the peculiar methods of 



