96 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



poorer classes, seem to buy more dollars worth of fruit when prices 

 are high than when they were low, and with some the usual amount is 

 purchased, for fruit is becoming, more and more a necessity, and, 

 when people get in the habit of eating it, they do not desist, merely on 

 account of higher prices; and some do not even diminish, to any great 

 extent the amount used. Again, better, and it is to be expected, 

 cheaper, transportation facilities will enable growers to reach more dis- 

 tant markets, and make a better distribution of products. 



It is said that the orange growers of Southern California have 

 secured a rate of $1.25 per hundred, for their output to any point in 

 the United States, while a rate to any sea port of Europe has been ob- 

 tained at a flat rate of $1.00 per hundred — that is 25 cents a hundred 

 lower rate from California to Europe than to points in the United 

 States. The apple growers of Oregon have secured special rates and 

 have been shipping to Europe at prices close to or equal to 15 cents 

 a pound, to the growers in Oregon, for specially packed Newton Pippin. 

 Not many years ago I visited a place in Virginia, where the same va- 

 riety, under the name, Albermale Pippin, were being sent to Europe 

 at prices nearly as high, and recently have been informed that they are 

 now getting as much as the Oregon growers for the same variety. It 

 may be true — perhaps is true, that the localities getting such fancy 

 prices, have soils and climates peculiarly suited to that particular 

 variety, and that there are people in Europe who are willing to pay 

 such prices for apples of their choice; and it may also be true that we, 

 of the central west, cannot profitably produce such varieties, but we 

 can grow as good apples, and, if proper methods are used, can work 

 up desirable markets, for Jonathan, Grimes and others of our success- 

 ful varieties having quality even superior to the one named as bringing 

 such high prices. 



Again, as the difficulties multiply, greater skill and better care 

 will be required to insure success. This, many will fail to employ, so 

 there is a more hopeful outlook for the intelligent, careful orchardist, 

 and, if he has good soil and proper conditions, it seems to me to be a 

 propitious time to plant. At any rate, it is the part of wisdom to care 

 for what he has. The high price of land, and the great demand for 

 pastures, cause many to pasture their orchards, and he who runs may 

 read of destruction of trees 'almost everywhere in the central west; 

 while population is rapidly increasing, and the demand is increasing at 

 even a greater rate, while the facilities for reaching the consumer 

 prognosticate constantly increasing demands, if not higher prices. 



Few people, it seems, have a clear conception of the vast extent 

 of land to the north of us, who cannot, or at least will not, raise fruit, 



