552 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I was raised on a farm, and from childhood have been familiar with the general 

 routine of farm labor, which included some knowledge and practice of horticulture, 

 and have never ceaeed to retain an interest in the soil, and some of its many varied 

 productions; but I confess that while moderately successful in ordinary farming, 

 I am a long way from being a model farmer, and still further away from being a 

 master in the science of horticulture. 



I have, however, recently connected myself, in a financial way, with that 

 most inviting branch ot industry, and the more I investigate, it the larger, more 

 interesting and the more important the subject appears to me. 



On the principle that where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be also, 

 I expect to maintain an ever-increasing interest in the business of horticulture ; 

 and 1 already see that however much I may learn about fruits and their production, 

 there will continue to open before me most inviting fields for study and researeh, 

 and the more knowledge I gain of the industry, the broader and more interesting 

 the field to be surveyed appears. 



In all ages of the world, among barbarous, civilized and enlightened people, 

 fruits have ever formed an important part of their food, and on large portions of 

 the globe it would be almost impossible for them to exist without the native fruits. 



This is especially true of the warmer sections, where fruits fresh from the 

 tree or vine are daily used, and no other kind of food could be substituted for it, 

 and the people maintain so comfortable an existence as they do, with their fruits 

 ever ready to be plucked and eaten. 



Fruits form a very considerable article of commerce, and wherever .transpor- 

 tation facilities exist, they are exported from the place of production and consumed 

 by those to whom they are real luxuries, generally promoting the health of the 

 consumers, as many fruits supply to the system those elements that go to make up 

 a vigorous and healthy body. 



Of the extent and variety of fruits gathered and consumed every year by 

 the fifteen hundred millions of people on the earth, we can have but a faint con- 

 ception. 



I will only give a table of the imports and exports of fruits as they are given 

 in ofiieial reports oT the Government. 



The fruits imported into the United States in the year 1892, on which a duty 

 was paid, were as follows : 



Figs, 8,338,750 pounds, valued at $511,142; lemoas, valued at $4,548,263; 

 plums and prunes, valued at $437,271; oranges, valued at $1,210,338; preserved 

 fruits, valued at $1,234,828; all other kinds valued at $538,306. The total amount 

 on which a duty was paid was $9,444,457. Total amount paid out for bananas, 

 cocoanuts, currants etc., on which there was no duty, was $9,649,578, making a 

 grand total paid out on fruits imported of $19,093,035. This was a falling oflfrom 

 1891, of $1,661,090 



Now what did we export in the way of fruits last year ? Dried apples, 

 $1,288,102; green apples, $2,407,956 ; preserved fruits, $1,558,820 ; canned fruits, 

 $214,738; all others, $1 095,854-making a total of $6,565,461. 



This amount is more thin doable what we exported in 1891, as we sent abroad 

 a total of $2,384,176. So it would seem that we are increasing our exports and 

 reducing our imports, but there is a matter of some twelve millioiis of dollars 

 against us yet. 



But what most directly concerns us is the best means of developing the fruit 

 industry of this portion of our country, to supply, as far as possible, the ever- 

 increasing demand for fruits. 



