STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ;[35 



supply — namely, the i)oor (4uality of much of it. There is the best au- 

 thority for the assertion tliat at least one-third of all the peaches sent to 

 Chicago from Southern Illinois, were absjolutejy worthless, — green, knotty, 

 wormy, and utterly unfit to eat ; and what was worse, in some instances, 

 the bo.\es containing thi< worthless stuff, were faced at the cracks with 

 good fruit, thus showing the fraudulent intent of the shippers. 



Much has been said, and sometimes truly, of the dishonesty of 

 Chicago commission men, but it must be allowed that all the dishonest 

 men do not do business in Chicago. 



The natural effect of filling the market with worthless or indifferent 

 fruit, and especially with fruit thus dishonestly packed, was to depreciate 

 the value of that which was really good. Purchasers, after having been 

 cheated two or three times, would not be eager to buy any more. 



It may be remarked that, even during the worst glut in the market, 

 really good peaches, under the lirand of growers of good reputation, 

 sold readily at paying prices. 



With the present method of jjeach-growing, as it is generally pur- 

 sued, when the trees are allowed to grow unpruned and often uncultiva- 

 ted, and permitted to bear all the fruit that sets, and when tne Curculio 

 is suffered to have full swing, the result is inevitable that much the 

 largest portion of the crop will be entirely unfit to go to any decent 

 niarket. 



Apples — The Apple crop in my district was a pretty full one the early 

 sorts brought good prices ; fall and winter varieties rotted and fell from 

 the trees, just before maturity, to a greater extent than ever before ; of 

 some kinds, all went in this way, so that when gathering-time came 

 there was very little to be harvested, in proportion to the promise the 

 trees had given. 



This premature decay is generally attributed to the remarkable 

 drouth and heat of the latter half of the summer, and the autumn. 



There has been little planting done in my district during the present 

 year, for people have began to understand and appreciate the fact that 

 the business of planting fruit trees has already been greatly overdone, 

 and there is no disjjosition to push it any further. Indeed, not to put 

 too fine a point on it, there is a general feeling of discouragement 

 amongst orchardists, growing out of the many difficulties that beset 

 their calling; among which the most important are excessive produc- 

 tion, and consequent low prices in favorable seasons — loss of crops by 

 frost — destruction by insects — the amount of intelligent labor required 

 under any circumstances and, last, but not least, the onerous cost of 

 transportation to the j^laces of sale. 



A. M. Brown. 



DISCUSSION ON THE PEACH. 



Mr. Flagg — I would like to bring up one point, in order to solicit 

 the experience of others. In talking with Captain Hollister of Alton. 

 I was taking ground in defence of i.*r. Mull's practice of severe thinning ; 



