INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 487 



lioi)c aud feel sure will bo changed within a few j-ears, for there are a few 

 men who are pursuing opposite methods and are demonstrating to the 

 people some of the greatest possibilities in the fruit business in southern 

 Indiana. 



There is one thing— tliere is always a demand for the best, and there is 

 not enoiigh of the best of any c•onlmoditJ^ But bear In mind that you can 

 not make the best of anything unless you have the ability for it. It is of 

 the greatest importance, therefore, that the first weeding, tillage, pruning, 

 spraying and culling be apjiliod to the man rather than to the crop. It is. 

 then, of financial importance that these be intelligently applied to the crop. 

 The keynote to the fruit business is diversification or individuality. The 

 successful should aim to have something or do something which his 

 neighbors do not, although it may really be no better than they do. I 

 )neau by this that you must be persistent, keep in close touch with all the 

 branches of your business, and do not be dependent on your neighbor or 

 your grandfather for information and instruction— he does not always 

 know the best methods. There is often a better method than your neigh- 

 bor's, and it is within your poAver and is your duty to work it out. He 

 need not fear failure if he uses ordinary business methods, grows what 

 the people want and packs it in an honest and attractive manner. 



The grower should acquire the skill to make his plantations bear the 

 years of least heavy crop, and thereby escape to a large extent the effect 

 of overproduction or a full market. This can certainly be done. The very 

 fact that there are years of overproduction and underproduction shows 

 that fruit growers have not yet mastered the conditions which control 

 their plantations. Perhaps the most important, and often the last thing 

 for the grower to learn, is to thoroughly master his local conditions. What 

 we can learn from books and teachers are principles and truths. We can 

 pick up suggestions, and through them acquire ability to grasp our local 

 conditions. However, let it be understood that each grower must solve his 

 individual problems for himself. The most profitable stock in the fruit 

 business is business training, for there are ten men who can raise a given 

 quiility of fiuit where there is one who can sell it to advantage. 



I believe that pruning, cultivating and spraying are very sadly neg- 

 lected in many of our best orchards, thereby causing our fruit industries 

 to be unjustly underestimated in value. I also believe that if careful 

 pruning, thorough cultivation and thorough si)raying is practiced, that 

 (barring frosts) we can ])roduce four apple crops in five years, and some- 

 times five. 



rhairm.nn L:itta: Mr. Simpson, what is the proper Winesap soil, and 

 give us some idea as to (h(> extent of that, and the location geographically. 



Mr. Simp.son: A very heavy clay soil is the best, I think; and where 

 you can find a heavy soil well elevated and rough or rolling, that is an 



