140 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



sli'oy them hy spraying when the blossoms are open, which is almost 

 certain to be fatal to the delicate stamens and pistils of fruit blos- 

 soms. From experience I am satisfied that fertilizing and cultiva- 

 tion are the principal factors to produce first class fruit, and on all 

 apple trees it is safe to use stable manure freely, while on peaches 

 the various commercial substance®, potash, phosphoric acid and 

 nitrate of soda, are preferable, and stable manure had better be used 

 on other crops. It has been recommended in starting an apple 

 orchard, to plant alternate, peach trees as fillers, while the apples 

 are young, with a view of utilizing all the ground and produce sev- 

 eral crops of peaches while waiting for the apple trees to mature. 

 This practice is, however, not to be recommended because the same 

 soil is not adapted to the successful growth of trees so different in 

 nature. The apple thrives best in a rich, fine and deep soil, while 

 the peach does better on a coarser, light soil, not so rich in humus, 

 rtud not necessarily &o deep. The pursuit in which I am engaged 

 aifords a good field for observation and study, not alone on the 

 lines of crop production and their sale, but also in the study of 

 human nature. Some persons met with are ladies, some are women 

 and others are something else, who are never satisfied, denominated 

 by some writer as ''bargain buyers," and the fewer of this class 

 one has on his roll of custom the more composure may be enjoyed. 

 In the masculine forio, too, there are various characteristics, and 

 some of the hardest lo please is a class of economists who are so 

 prudent in spending money that they would rather set them up 

 three for a quarter than take a whiskey straight for two nickels, 

 just to save five cents. 



Cleanliness is said to be next to godliness, and we aim to have all 

 our produce in attractive form, upon which a reputation depends, 

 and it is not often carried to excess by market men, but it may 

 even be overdone. A case in point occurred in one of our country 

 towns where a market woman, offering cottage cheese to a patron 

 after measuring it out with a ladle to prove that she was a careful, 

 cleanly housekeeper, licked the adhering cheese from the ladle 

 and replaced it in the unsold remainder, thereby losing for herself and 

 all other hucksters a good cheese customer, w'ith no advantage to 

 any but the family cat which was benefitted. With the advent of 

 the twentieth century the prospects for the horticulturist looks 

 promising for an increasing demand at home and abroad for choice 

 products, but competition is also growing, so that those who would 

 succeed must study as never before the practical and scientific parts 

 of their business. The hedge row productions which are common 

 in our markets will not be marketable in the near future, as tastes 

 are getting more fastidious and the consumers more discriminating. 

 Ordniarily, water is cheap and may be used to good advantage (not 



