Miscellaneous. 197 



York Horticultural Society, is both timely and appropriate, and should 

 be of interest to Rural World readers. Mr. Powell says : 



Our fruits and other horticultural productions are no longer con- 

 fined within the borders of our home markets, but they are now being 

 used in the markets of the world. The American Beauty rose, in its 

 splendid development and in its great and universal demand, has set a 

 new pace and activity which the producers of fruits, as well as of flowers, 

 must follow. Where any product is rare and limited in quantity it 

 goes, but when it becomes abundant and common, discrimination be- 

 comes closer and a higher standard of quality is demanded. 



In the production of fruit, when the quantity was less and it was 

 considered in the light of a luxury, and values were high, a lower grade 

 was acceptable ; but in these times, when fruit is considered as necessary 

 as bread, quality counts for much. We have sold Bartlett and Anjou 

 pears for eighteen dollars a barrel, which would not compare favorably 

 with the standard that is required to command five or six dollars. That 

 better grades of fruit are demanded in our domestic trade is being most 

 forcibly realized by both the growers and the dealers in apples, for while 

 the dealers have lost money for several years in handling apples bought 

 on a wrong basis in the deadlock between the growers and the dealers 

 over the price to be paid, the growers have at present on their hands 

 a large quantity of fruit, which, the dealers have learned at dear cost, 

 markets will no longer take at the prices asked for the apples that were 

 forced upon them. 



With the 200,000,000 apple trees that are planted in our country, 

 and which are expected to furnish a large surplus for foreign export, the 

 future presents some stern problems in apple growing, for with the very 

 great quantity of inferior fruit that will be produced, much of it in the 

 future will not pay the cost of packages and transportation. The cities 

 of Europe, as well as those in our own country, are growing, and there 

 will be an increasing demand for apples especially, but they will have 

 to be of a better grade, in quality. 



How can the higher standard demanded be reached? First, by 

 studying the adaptation of soil to variety. While considerable attention 

 has been given to the study of soils for certain crops, and to their quality, 

 it has not claimed the attention that it merits. This has been done, to 

 some extent, by horticulturists in attempting to improve the color and 

 flavor of fruits, and of the color, perfume and other desired qualities 

 in flowers. The clays represent a variety of soils, as also do the sandy 

 formations. There is a vast difference in the soils in relation to the 

 plant food that they contain, in the vegetable matter they possess and in 



