«24 ANXOAI. REPORT OF THE 0£E. Doc. 



According to the Census of 1900, Pennsylvania is one of the 

 «?rea( a}»ple-gi-o\vin<>' stales, lanlcing third in total value of all kinds 

 of fruits. It is probably safe to say that there is not a county in the 

 State of Peiiusylvania in which some kind of fruit cannot be grown 

 with profit. It is needless to state here the dilfereut kinds of fruit 

 that can be profitably grown in the dillereut sections of I'ennsyl- 

 vania. You can decide better by what has succeeded best in any 

 locality, what is likely to be the moneymaker in a given section. 

 Since the Census of 1900 when Pennsylvania ranked second to New 

 York in her apple crop, great changes have taken place, and more 

 attention has been paid to up-to-date methods of orcharding. 



A new interest in orchard growing has been awakened. Hitherto 

 a large percentage of the fruit crop came from the home orchard 

 or small commercial planting; now under the new impulse large 

 plantations are being started and Pennsylvania is keeping |)ace 

 with her sister states in the great movement, and her possibilities, 

 it is safe to say, are unsurpassed by any of them, but if she would 

 keep up with the procession she must adopt the improved methods 

 of the times, in all the details of culture, pruning, spraying, thin- 

 ning, harvesting, grading, packing and marketing the fruit. 



Intensive versus extensive culture is the watchword. Eternal vig- 

 ilance is the price of good fruit. The old method of planting an 

 orchard and trusting to providence to take care of it is a thing of 

 the past. Much depends on the man behind the enterprise. Success 

 in fruit growing is not the result of chance or accident. It means 

 the exercise of brain and muscle; it means business in every sense 

 of the word. 



However much you have done in fruit culture, recent statistics 

 show that your orchardists fall far short of growing sufficient 

 fruit to supply the great home demand, and large quantites are 

 shipped in from other states. With this condition existing and 

 with the wonderful possibilities of fruit growing in Pennsylvania, 

 it seems to me that there never was a time in the history of the in- 

 dustry so favorable for orcharding as at the present, when view- 

 ing this subject from a commercial standpoint. 



With the favorable climatic and soil conditions of Adams, Berks, 

 Lehigh, Lancaster, Lebanon, Montgomery, York and other fruit 

 growing counties of your State, and with such fine markets as Pitts- 

 burg, New York and Philadelphia right at your doors, there is every 

 incentive to further the progress of fruit growing. 



Next to the long list of apples that originated in Pennsylvania 

 comes the list of pears consisting of fifty-two varieties of which the 

 most valuable variety of all is the Sickel. 



Your Horticultural Society is one of the oldest, having been or- 

 ganized in December, 1827; since then nearly all of the territory 

 west of the Mississippi Kiver has been settled and made into states 

 whose populous cities teem with varied industries. 



Y''our Society has on its roll of honor such names as Meehan, 

 Landreth, Hoopes, Warder, Barry, Fox, Wilder, Parsons, Parry, 

 Thomas and other distinguished pomologists, many of whom have 

 passed to the Great Beyond. I would urge the young men of your 

 State to take up the great work so ably begun by these illustrious 

 pomologists for orcharding is a pleasant and profitable occupation. 



