28 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



preparation of the j^round before the trees are planted, and also must 

 pay attention to the ground and the tree both after it is planted. I 

 want to know of Mr. Lamm whether he plowed the ground first or 

 simply planted them out on the praiiie. I know one person who 

 planted an orchard out on the prairie and forgot to plow the ground 

 first. The result was he had no orchard. The trees lived a little while 

 and then died. I do not know where his place is, bat whether it is on 

 the hills or in the valleys, I would say that the ground ought to be 

 plowed first. It ought to be plowed a foot and a half, if not two feet, 

 deep. 



Mr. Goodman— I will offer a word on this subject. We can tell 

 s,s dark stories as anybody. I can tell of as much failure as Mr. Lamm 

 has. I have made rank failures and been disappointed and discouraged. 

 But we are aiming to tell what could be done in this State. That was 

 our idea in bringing out the discussion of the subject — to speak of the 

 possibilities of our State. But if we want to discuss our failures, it is 

 a good time to do it now. The gentlemen who have spoken are not 

 alone in their failures. One year I planted 2806 trees, and the grass- 

 hoppers came and ate them all up. The next year I planted 2800 

 again, and there was a drought and they all died. But ihat did not 

 make my orchard a failure. For all that I did not feel that I had en- 

 tirely failed. I think if we do the best we can in any department we 

 ought to be satisfied to leave the results in other hands. I know of 

 an orchard planted in prairie land in Jackson county. Mo., which is the 

 <»ame age as the orchard Mr. Lamm has been telling about. The man 

 who owns it has not had any apples. But if he has done the best he 

 <iOuld, he cannot help the back-set, and must accept it and hope for 

 better things in the future. In Michigan, when I was buying, I passed 

 through the same experience. We thought that was a good fruit coun- 

 try. But a friend and neighbor bad an orchard for ten years, and never 

 had an apple. He got disgusted and sold out, and the next year the 

 man who bought the orchard made more money than he paid for the 

 whole farm. 



Mr. Lamm — I will state further my position on this question. I 

 am in the position in which I have spent a good deal of money on my 

 orchard. I took the best land I had for my orchard and spent a good 

 deal of time, energy and money in trying to make my orchard a suc- 

 cess. The land I took for my orchard I could have raised a good crop 

 of wheat or corn on every year since, I believe, if I had planted it in 

 corn or wheat. I said if I had waited for that orchard for my living 

 J would have made a miserable failure. 



