4.j8 150AKI) OF AORirULTlTKK. 



1 think tins is nil I liave to s;i\-. 



Mr. W. T. Do Vilbiss: Speaking of llio profits of eouimercial fruit 

 jiro\viii,i:. 'riiouias says in tlio "Fruit (J rower," puhlislu'd in 1850, "For 

 the last twenty years good winter apples have .seldom sold at less than 

 20c per bushel and often as high as 30c." Me claimed that at these 

 prices it was more prolitable than any otlun- hiMUch of agricultiire, 

 and recommended the plantin;^;- of orchards. 



Today, Avitli good facilities for conveying to tlie market, with eliicieut 

 machinery for caring for the orchard and handling the crops, and with 

 the prices from 300 to 500 per cent, higher, there is no reason in my 

 estimation why apple growing can not lie made one of the leading in- 

 dustries of our great S^ate. 



Commercial fruit growing as it is and as it sliould be are so far 

 ajjart th:it nt the present I'ate of impi'ovement it will be a long time 

 until it will reach anytliing like it should be. 



We have i)lenty of good fruit land. We have a home market for 

 all of our fruit, at prices that will make fruit growing more protitable 

 llinn any other l)ranch of agriculture. 



There are individual trees in this county (Allen) that have borne 

 as many as forty bushels of marketable apples, and in the off year they 

 have l)orne a paying crop. Yet our people have to look elsewhere for- 

 a great per cent, of their apples. Only a small orchard of the trees 

 mentioned, properly cared for, would mean a fortune to the owner. 



Forty trees to the acre, and an average yield of only twenty bushels 

 Avould mean 800 bushels. In Indiana these apples would sell from 75 

 cents to $1.25 per l)ushel. There are very few other crops that yield 

 as large a profit Avith the same amount of labor and expense. 



But mere figures do not count much to the grower. He has the 

 drought, the borer, the blight and a hundred and one other annoyances 

 to deal with. All of these, however, can l)e overcome. With patience, 

 perseverance and pluck, he Avill come out victorious. 



Tt is necessary for the beginner to select a site carefully, and select 

 f tdy such varieties of good winter apples as have been proven successful 

 in his vicinity. The new orcluird must have eflicient and painstaking 

 culture. A crop of fruit is like no other crop. A man can not plan 

 it for a year or perhaps tAvo, but he must plan it for tAventy, thirty 

 or for the lifetime of the orchard. In order to make a success he 

 must make a life business of it. 



President Stevens: I see that the Iaa^o genthunen lli.it have the 

 next snnject are not ])reseut, so this \v\U cut short our discussion and 

 we Avill l)e (•(infilled only to "('oniniercial .\piil(> GroAving." 



Mr. Kingsl)ui-y: I Avaut to read a statenuMil from Henry Ward 

 Beecher. 



