126 STATE HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



local attendance of fruit-growers intent on finding some solution to the 

 puzzling questions of the hour. 



The President called upon Eev. S. H. Otto to offer the opening 

 prayer of the session, after which the subject of orchards was taken 

 up and the following papers read and discussed : 



APPLE CULTURE. 



' DK. J. W. GREENE, CHILLICOTHE, MO. 



In this business the first thing one should do is to make up his mind to be a 

 specialist. Nearly all business must henceforth run in the channel of specialism ; 

 and horticulture, in its several branches, as well as the rest. 



Apple culture now has too many drawbacks to be successful without special 

 knowledge and special care. 



With some general idea as to what this specialty must include, one must 

 examine himself as to whether he has the native requisites and adaptability or not. 

 And if there is any doubt about it, one had better give himself the benefit of the 

 doubt, and go into something he is sure will fit his capacity. 



And now. Mr. Jones ( a familiar name for our candidate for the apple branch 

 of horticulture), even after you have weighed and measured yourself, as you think, 

 well, and have concluded you are the man for the calling, it would be well to 

 reconsider your case and have yourself tried before a council of your most success- 

 ful apple-growing neighbors, both friends and foes. Your enemies will be apt to 

 give your case the best analysis, as they have, no doubt, studied your weak points 

 pretty thoroughly. 



And, Mr. Jones, to make sure of a thorough trial, and to avoid, maybe, a very 

 grave mistake in life, you would do well to insist that the council select, as a 

 prosecuting attorney against you, its most independent member, to the purpose 

 that the most adverse facts be brought out in the trial, for you should .know them 

 all. 



Let this attorney question you from head to foot, for you will need a tireless 

 brain and nimble feet to do the puzzling, planning and constant charging against 

 the enemies of apple culture. 



Let the prosecution put a few leading questions like the following : 



1. Mr. Jones, do you take this step of ;your own free will and accord, or have 

 you been persuaded into it ? If you have been persuaded into it, better take a year 

 to investigate the subject and yourself in relation to it. 



If it is of your own option, free from alluring calculations of tree peddlers 

 and other interested parties, then go on to the next question. 



2. Mr. Jones, is this a sudden notion you have taken, or have you given the 

 subject timely ^consideration ? if the attack is fresh, let the apple fever run its 

 course a little while, and call the council together, if you still think best, after a 

 whole or partial failure of the apple crop in your neighborhood. 



But if jou have observed for some time that the apple business has its ups 

 and downs like other industries, you can pass on to the next question. 



3. Mr. Jones, are you a man of detail, an observer of little things as they 

 transpire and exist around you, or are you one of casual notice and generalities? 

 If you have been observant and inquisitive enough to learn considerable about the 

 different species and varieties of birds and insects and vegetation that you must 

 see around you constantly, together with their habits, the council will score you 

 several points favorably. They will give you good credit for information already 



