4S4 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Oft. Doc. 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD 

 ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE FRUIT GROW- 

 ERS ASSOCIATION OF ADAMS COUNTY, HELD 

 DECEMBER 18, 1907. 



COMMERCIAL APPLE GROWING FROM THE STANDPOINT 



OF A NEW YORK GROWER. 



By Mr. T. B. Wilson. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. — I can say with Mr. 

 Scoon that I thank you for the invitation extended to us to be with 

 you. We, I think, are about as you are, we are looking for in- 

 formation and it is certain that there is no one man that is capable 

 of giving- it all to anybody. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that the fruit 

 growing business is in its infancy. W^hat I have to say to you here, 

 I am afraid don't bear all together on your conditions. It seems to 

 me that your conditions are dilferent from ours in many ways. 

 What I have to say is from the standpoint of a Western New York 

 fruit groAver, and where it diifers from your methods and your ex- 

 perience, I hope you will jot it down, or if you prefer to ask ques- 

 tions any time during my address, it will not throw we out, and 

 any questions I am able to answer when I get through I will try 

 to do it. Mr. Scoon said that he is sorry to see that there are so 

 few young people here. I think he learned that especially from 

 being at our New York meetings. I wish we could induce the young 

 people to attend the sessions more than they do. Mr. Scoon has 

 two boys and is going to induce one of them to stick to the farm, 

 but the other is not. All the boys can't stay on the farm. If they 

 did the cities would go to the bad. There are probably a great 

 many things in this world that a young man can engage in to make 

 more money than fruit growing, but he cannot obtain more so- 

 cial pleasure, and real life, from any other business. There are 

 reasons enough for anyone to follow it. I don't know of anything 

 better than fruit growing to develope knowledge, and love of nature. 

 "We all have been very careless about observing common things. 

 We do not observe things as a botanist or a plant student would, 

 and do not see one-half the things they would see. We should 

 study, observe and profit thereby. 



Now, in talking of things from the standpoint of the Western 

 New York grower, I will begin at the beginning and go to the end 

 in a short, minute way and try to cover a few of the points. We all 

 have our different views, but we begin first, by locating our soil. 

 The soil conditions make such a difference in the kind of apples 



