STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1 5 



whole program and possibly failed, many of us, in the quality 

 of fruit in the last instance, I want to say : Keep up your cour- 

 age, keep up the fight, do not give up. Just remember those 

 four lines of Kipling — 



"Orchards where I'd ruther be — 

 Needn't fence it in for me ! — 

 Jes' the whole sky overhead. 

 And the whole airth underneath." 



APPLE GROWING IN VIRGINIA. 



S. W. Fletcher, Fisherville, Va. 



(Illustrated Lecture.) 

 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Society: 



I am glad that I do not come here tonight as an utter stranger 

 to New England. I was born in Middlesex county, Massa- 

 chusetts, and if I am to believe the fragrant memories that 

 come to me now of my boyhood days I was raised mostly on 

 pumpkin pie, doughnuts and Baldwin apples. I have gone far 

 afield since then, across the continent and back, and finally 

 have come to rest in Virginia where I have a home that I love 

 very dearly and an apple orchard that I prize very highly; but 

 as I came through these familiar hills today, the first time in 

 eight years, I realized that however dear is the state of my 

 adoption, it can never be quite as much to me as New England ; 

 and however much I may value my Virginia York Imperials 

 and Winesaps, there can be no apple that will taste quite so 

 sweet to me as the New England Baldwin. 



I have come not to lecture or to advise, but simply to tell how 

 we are growing apples in Virginia, and perhaps to draw a few 

 lessons which may be applicable here. A good business man 

 learns from his competitors. We in Virginia are your competi- 

 tors in the apple markets of the world. Over one-half of our 

 apples are exported and come in competition with your Bald- 

 wins; and we meet in the markets of Boston and New York. 



Location. Virginia apple growers share with you the advan- 

 tage of a location near the great centers of population. We are 

 equally advantageously located as regards local markets, facili- 



