296 State H orticultural Society. 



time. But with the natural adaption of the Ozarks for fruits, all these 

 are and will be, successfully worked out by those desiring to engage 

 in the profitable production of fruits. The fruit grower who observes 

 most succeeds best, avoiding bitter experiences and profiting by the 

 mistakes of others, who recognize that there is more profit in four 

 hundred crates of strawberries grown upon two acres than if grown upon | 

 four ; more profit in two thousand barrels of apples gathered from twenty 

 acres than from forty acres of orchard ; two thousand crates of peaches 

 from ten acres than two thousand from forty acres. 



The advantages that are to come to the Ozarks as a fruit section 

 will be the rapid increase of the population of the larger western 

 cities which are our natural markets ; the increase of railroad facili- 

 ^^ies ; the proper adjustment of freight and refrigerator rates in the 

 ttansportation of our products ; the more thickly settling up of the 

 fruit sections of the Ozarks and the- systematic planting of diversified 

 fruits upon smaller farms as is now done in the older and more thickly 

 settled fruit growing states. 



A number of varieties of cherries are a success ; most all the small 

 fruits do well. Grapes are in their natural climate ; the strawberry 

 reaches perfection ; the peach from soil and climatic conditions gathers 

 'to itself the most luscious flavor, and the apple adorns itself with 

 such beauty, quality and elegance that it is sought for in all the 

 markets of this country and Europe. 



In conclusion, let me call attention to the proper pride we should 

 all take in the character of the fruits we grow; appreciating that na- 

 ture will do her part and that it is possil^le for us to so pack and 

 market our fruits from the Ozarks in such a way as that the name will 

 insure it an abiding place in all the markets of the world. 



POSSIBILITIES FOR PEAR GROWING IN MISSOURI. 



(.J. A. Durkes, Weston, Mo.) 



All the fruits of our orchards seem to thrive better in some locali- 

 ties than others. Sites in a neighborhood but a short distance apart 

 possessing some in^gredient in the soil or position in the land more 

 favorable or necessary to the kind of fruit grown. The pear tree in 

 its wild state is always found on dry soils and high locations. We 

 read of very old and large trees in Europe. Blight, which has been 

 so discouraging to us, is unknown there. True, the trees have not 



