SUMMER MEETING. 49 



that were perfect beauties in 1893, and the variety making me $400 an 

 acre net from the crop of 1893, may be seen now sick ; look as if they 

 had malaria. ( Howell county people can tell you all about that part 

 of our troubles.) Leaves cup up, grow pale and commence dropping 

 about the middle of May and by the following spring are ready to be 

 pulled out. 



I planted in 1889 fifty apricot trees, and up to this time I have 

 grown some nice looking trees, but have never had a half peck of good 

 specimens. Either the frost kills the blossoms or the curculio gets 

 them all. Plums, ditto. Cherries are doing a little better as a rule, 

 but this year was a hard one on them. 



When we talk about raspberries, I used to think that Oregon 

 county was about the only place that they could be grown to perfection, 

 and now I must say that if they are grown anywhere it will be in some 

 other county. To be sure, I still have four acres of them, but I hardly 

 think you can find a fruit-grower that ever will make a success of the 

 business unless he be in aeep love with his trees and plants. He must 

 study them and be acquainted with every tree on his place, and as soon 

 as he sees one begin to fail, look carefully for the cause. 



Watch, watch, watch, should be the daily motto of every fruit- 

 grower who would be financially successful. We should not only 

 watch our trees to detect the instant they begin to decline, but watch 

 the condition of the soils, be awake, active, ever on the and alert, going 

 steadly forward, so that when the harvest comes we may be ready. 



Large opportunities come to the watchful man. Large usefulness 

 and great returns are the result of thoughtful fruit-growers. He who 

 watches thoughtfully and guards carefully his trees daily, hourly, will 

 be ready to meet the issues of each day. Watching does not mean 

 that we are to stand trembling with a fearful looking forward into the 

 future. It means more and something entirely different from this. 

 He who stands in dread of the issues of the next day or week or year 

 will not accomplish much in getting ready to meet those issues when 

 they come. Watch, means a thoughtful, careful and a diligent use of 

 every moment, that there may be a readiness, a life fully prepared for 

 any emergency. 



It is well not to know the future in detail, the disappointments of 

 tomorrow, next week, next year. If these were all known to us in de- 

 tail, would fill our life with such apprehensions that we would not only 

 be most miserable, but wouldnot beable to do the work of the present. 

 And successes, if they were made known, would greatly hinder the 



H— 4 



