436 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PRACTICAL ORCHARD MANAGEMENT FOR PROFITABLE 



RESULTS. 



By DR. I. H. Mayer, Willow Street, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen and Fellow Fruit Growers. — It is with 

 a little diffidence that I come before you with a subject that has 

 been discussed at this meeting a number of times. We in Lancaster 

 county have not as many fruit growers as you have here, in fact, 

 there are only a few commercial growers there. Now Lancaster 

 county produces more agricultural products than any other county 

 in the United States, and while no other county produces a larger 

 quantity of agricultural products, Lancaster county, up to a few 

 years ago, has been producing \erj few apples to send out of the 

 county. Lancaster city has a population of about fifty thousand. 

 They claim now sixty thousand. We find that we can sell there quite 

 a quantity of fruit of all kinds, apples, peaches, pears, plums and 

 quite a lot of cherries. We ought to grow more cherries. A cherrv 

 orchard I believe to be profitable and very easily managed, but be- 

 fore speaking about the orchard management, I would say that the 

 man behind the orchard is perhaps more important than anything 

 else. If a man don't look after his trees and don't take an interest 

 in their growth or do anything of that kind, why he had better leav^ 

 orcharding alone, even though he thinks he could obtain figures 

 like we have here on the wall. I was reminded while looking at 

 your statistics, of something that happened last summer. We have 

 a well in our orchard so that the men can get a drink of water 

 without losing time and in the pump house over the well some bum- 

 ble-bees had their nests. They too, are very good things to have 

 around. They are like the honey-bee, work for nothing and board 

 themselves. I came to the pump house one day and found one of 

 the boys making a fuss and I said, "Lloyd, what is the matter?" 

 He said, "The bumble-bees got after me." I asked him, "What 

 did you stir them up for?" He said, "I thought they needed it." 

 I feel that I might be like the boy. I might go away a little the 

 worse for the year if I should stir you up for that is hardly what you 

 need. 



There are a good many things that we don't believe that we 

 did believe once. I think it was Josh Billings who said, "I would 

 rather not know so much than to know so much that is not so." 



Years ago we looked up to those who edited papers. We be- 

 lieved everything they told us. We were a little like the Dutchman 

 who was on the witness stand. When the judge began to question 

 him he would always start out by saying, "My wife says" — "Never 

 mind what your wife says, what did you see?" "My wife says".. 

 "No! NEVER MIND what your wife"^ says, just tell us what vou 

 know." "When I was at George's my wife says" — The judge said. 



