WESTERN NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL 



SOCIETY. 



EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINCJS AT ANNUAL MEETING, 



JAN. 24-25, 1894. 



PRESIDENT W. C. BARRY'S ADDRESS. 



Members of the Western Neiv York Horticultural Society: 



Gentlemen — To-day we are assembled to hold the thirty-ninth annual meeting of 

 this society. At this time I can with propriety congratulate you upon the prosperous 

 and flourishing condition of this organization. There are now nearly four hundred 

 members enrolled, and with a little effort the number can be increased to live hundred. 

 The attendance at the meetings has been large, and great interest has been manifested 

 in the proceedings. The annual reports are valuable compendiums of practical and 

 scientific information and are indispensable to the progressive horticulturist and 

 fruitgrower. For this success much credit is due to the scientists, who have honored 

 us with their presence at the meetings, and who have so liberally contributed to our fund 

 of experience and information through their papers and addresses. I avail myself of 

 this opportunity publicly to acknowledge our obligations to them for the interest they 

 have shown in the society's welfare. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR FRUITGROWERS AND TERRACULTURISTS. 



The present outlook for fruitgrowers is not by any means hopeful; on the contrary 

 the prospect is rather discouraging. This industry, like almost every other, has suffered 

 from several causes. Many will attribute their failures to excessive production, while 

 some will ascribe their losses to the ravages of diseases and insects. I will not attempt now 

 , to trace the causes of failure, but rather to suggest some means to meet and overcome 

 the difficulties which confront us. As regards excessive production, all are agreed that 

 there is annually sent to market an over supply of indifferent fruit. Buyers and con- 

 sumers everywhere complain that not enough attention is given to the production of 

 high grade fruit and that consequently the markets at cei'tain times become glutted 

 with an article, the sale of which has to be forced. Gathering, handling, sorting, and 

 packing come in for their share of criticism and condemnation. It is therefore obivious 

 that every fruitgrower and horticulturist should give more care and attention to these 

 important details. The best business methods should be adopted. The demands of 

 the various markets should be attentively studied; old and worn-out machinery and 

 tools should be discarded, and labor-saving devices and implements should ba employed, 

 so that the greatest economy in labor can be practiced. Wastefulness of all kinds, in 

 cultivation and management, should be avoided, and expenses reduced. When compe- 

 tition is so keen, success is impossible if we do not keep fully abreast with the times 

 both in thought and methods. 



The youth who propose to follow this pursuit should prepare themselves by a course 

 of study at an agricultural school, where the dignity and importance of their calling 

 will be impressed upon them and where a desire for knowledge and a taste for study 

 and science will be acquired. The condition of affairs in the cities of this country 

 to-day furnishes evidence enough, that it is unwise and foolish to forsake the farm 

 with a view to bettering one's self at other industries; thousands are now out of employ- 



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