58 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



came into boariiiji' t<» tako flio ]>la('es of ilio oI<l ones as they went 

 out. Evi«l<'ntly tlio l<>asin_<> svsleni was an eye <tj)ener to some of the 

 owners for we liave known of several cases where owners liave refused 

 to renew leases at the expirati(m of the hrst term, tliinking thai if the 

 renters could make money froiu the orchards, they could make both 

 men's profiis by Avorkin"- their own. Sad to i-clate, this has not always 

 I>roved true, and in some cases they are being allowed to go back to 

 tlieir old condition. We now have several very nice young orchai-ds 

 of moderate size that have come into bearing in the last ten or fifteen 

 years. These are being well cared for usually, and are giving good 

 results. 



In discussing the fruit growing conditions of a section like this we 

 naturally think of apples first, but these are by no means our only crop 

 here. Several are growing peaches with good success. We are uj) against 

 the Yellows, Little Peach and other troubles that will find a i)each 

 tree no matter how carefully you hide it, and, in fact, a nund)er of 

 orchards that were started some time back soon went out due to these 

 troubles. But a few growers stuck it out and are still in the game, 

 and doing well at it. Generally speaking we may be a little more sub- 

 ject to frost damage than is the case nearer the Lakes, but we know it 

 to be true that on our better elevations, we get our share of crops with- 

 out more than our share of losses. Some of our best peach orchards 

 are on heavy land that it wa^s once supposed would not raise peaches. 



Pears are not one of our favorite crops here. This may be due more 

 to methods or to lack of them than to natural conditions. I am enclined 

 to think that if we took more care to look after the blight and other 

 pests that pears would do as well for us as the other fruits. Cherries 

 and plums are grown rather more, and both do very nicely here. All 

 of these are usually used mostly on the home markets, although in some 

 seasons shipped in small quantities. Berries are not grown as much 

 as formerly, most of the growers seeming to prefer to turn their atten- 

 tion t(j other fruits or to the other branches of farming. 



A large share of our product passes from the hands of the growers 

 direct to the retail dealers or in many cases direct to the consumer. 

 Those who are in a position to sell on their home market have solved for 

 themselves one of the problems that is now causing many gray hairs in 

 the heads of fruit growers, that of cutting out some of the middlemen. 

 Personally we are very much in love with the system of local marketing, 

 although this is not perfect. We have the advantage of coming in close 

 touch with our trade, we are able to get our money for each day's load 

 and bring it home with us, and our package expense is very much less 

 than in shipping. Of course, the very large growers usually cannot 

 work any such system, but we feel safe in recommending the growers on 

 the smaller ]daces to try to find a market near home first. 



The keynotes of successful marketing are quality and service. If we 

 can get a product as good as the other fellows then give a little bit 

 better service it will not be long that we will have to worry about mar- 

 ket for our crops. We have several good examples here of what can 

 be accomplished in the way of making an individual custom. We are 

 glad that the trade is becoming educated to the fact that it really pays to 

 buy and use the better grades of fruit. There are several local dealers 



