54 State Horti cultural Society. 



Mr. Dix — The Early Sunrise ripens about same time as 

 Michaels early. Looks like it in foliage, but seems more prolific. 

 It's a mistake not to consider the foliage. Unless that is perfect, 

 we can't have fine fruit. 



Mr. Sinnock — The local market here is not very well supplied ; 

 some were shipped in. The prices were good when the local fruit 

 came on the market. The drouth caused the shortage. But we 

 don't want you to take advantage of this and run into berries and 

 spoil the home market. 



LESSONS WE LEARN FROM FAILURES. 



(Jacob Faith, Montevallo. Mo.) 



In reply to the paper assigned to me by our worthy Secretary, 

 lessons in failures in this age of keen competition and of scientific 

 methods in all lines of business, it becomes necessary to keep in- 

 formed. Devote one-third of your working hours to reading horti- 

 cultural reports and farm papers, to get the life-long experience 

 of fruit growers and to learn by their work how to avoid the many 

 expensive failures. I have learned that self-experience is very 

 dear, and feel like not giving it freely to persons too stingy with the 

 dollar to become a member of our Horticultural Society, and to 

 subscribe for a good farm journal. I have heard the remark from 

 fruit growers that it is too good to give free to neighbors and 

 cause competition, which I know to be a fact. Five hundred dol- 

 lars would not pay my loss in telling what to plant and how to cul- 

 tivate. My desire, however, is more to do good than to make money. 

 Nothing is too good for the farm paper to give to its readers. If I 

 had an enemy who wanted to grow fruit and I wanted to keep him 

 poor, I would avise him to work all the time and not read any hor- 

 ticultural papers and to buy all the new untested fruit the glib- 

 tongued agent would ask him to. 



Pointing out the failures I made would require pages. I will 

 give a few hints about what I learned by failures and success. 

 Planting thirty-one years ago, before we had the benefit of our 

 experiment stations, of the sixty-five varieties of apple trees for 

 market, only a few varieties were profitable, in order named : Ben 

 Davis, Jonathan, Winesap and Red Romanite. But since the ad- 

 vent of cold storage, I would not plant Red Romanite. Plant only 

 the new varieties that seem best adapted to your soil and climate. 



