Some Causes for Failures in Growing Fruit in Nebraska. 89 



THE PRESIDENT: Mr. C. G. Marshall of College View will next 

 read a paper on "Some Causes for Failures in Growing Fruit in Ne- 

 braska." 



SOME CAUSES FOR FAILURES IN GROWING FRUIT IN NEBRASKA. 



By C. G. Marshall, College View. 



Thousands of dollars are spent annually by the people of Nebraska 

 for trees and plants for the improvement of their homes, and a great 

 part of this money is thrown away, because a very great per cent of 

 these plants and trees never produce anything of value. 



The man who drives through the country from one farm house to 

 another, selling fruit trees, and listens to the story, that every man has 

 to tell in regard to his successes and failures in trying to grow an 

 orchard and small fruit garden, can hardly blame him for sometimes 

 getting discouraged, and swear that he will never spend another dollar 

 for fruit trees. 



'Ihere are a great many reasons why so many farmers over the 

 state are not very successful in growing an orchard, but according to 

 my observation there are two main causes of failure. One is lack of 

 knowing how to buy, plant and care for his stock, and the other is the 

 crookedness of the agent or tree man, as he is commonly called. 



It is astonishing how little the average man or woman in Ne- 

 braska, who plant trees and plants, know about them, and it is mostly 

 their own fault, because they do not try to learn. Two years ago last 

 summer I took the names and addresses of a number of farmers living 

 in northeast Nebraska, and sent them to the Experiment Station and 

 had them put on the mailing list. Since that time a number of bulletins 

 have been sent on different agricultural subjects. I called on those men 

 again last summer, and made it a point to find out how they liked the 

 bulletins. I found that only about one man in four had read the 

 bulletins on horticulture, while almost all had read the bulletins on 

 other subjects. 



The average farmer will read all his agricultural paper has to 

 say on feeding stock, growing alfalfa, etc., because he thinks he might 

 make an extra dollar or two by reading it, but because he does not see 

 a few actual dollars hanging on an apple tree when it is two or three 

 years old, he will not take the time to read literature on that subject. 



