Winter Meeting. 191 



of the things we have been looking at for years without actually 

 seeing them. So I come in full sympathy with the fruit growers 

 of this Society, but my only hope is in telling the same old story, 

 perhaps in a slightly different way from what you have heard it 

 before, and with renewed emphasis in some instances. 



During the last 15 or 20 years the commercial growing of 

 fruit has developed in a remarkable manner, but in no direction 

 has the development been more marvelous than in the mere ''big- 

 ness" of the industry. In fact, its "size" has developed in some 

 ways, out of proportion to some other important features. This 

 is partially explained by the fact that many sections of the coun- 

 try, hitherto unknown as fruit growing regions, have been ex- 

 ploited during the past generation as to their advantages for that 

 end. This exploitation has resulted in the investment of vast 

 sums of money. Professional men, clerks, retired capitalists, as 

 well as land owners themselves, have launched out in the busi- 

 ness of growing fruit. These investors have represented four dif- 

 f rent types of men : A comparatively few who knew something 

 about the business and went at it with all due intelligence and 

 caution; others who knew nothing about it, but realized their lack 

 of knowledge, and, with keen business acumen, have taken ad- 

 vantage of every opportunity to supply that lack ; others who, like- 

 wise, knew nothing of fruit growing, but with wonderful avidity 

 have accepted the "gold brick" style of advice as "law and gos- 

 pel," often scorning advice that was really good; and the fourth 

 type are those who knew nothing, but thought they knew every- 

 thing, — and there have been not a few of this latter type. 



If fruit growing could be done by "rule-of-thumb" methods, 

 it would be a simple matter, but it cannot be carried on in that 

 way. No two orchards can be managed in just the same manner 

 with an equal degree of success, because in no two orchards are 

 the conditions exactly the same. The fruit grower, then, has to 

 deal with principles. The success of one grower or the failure 

 of another is, in general, measured by the ability of the one more 

 than the other to grasp the fundamental principles underlying 

 the various orchard operations and to apply them to his own con- 

 ditions. The failure to do this has wrought havoc and disap- 

 pointment in hundreds of cases. Because Mr. A. or Mr. B. does 

 thus and so in his orchard under certain conditions and with grati- 

 fying results, it does not necessarily follow that Mr. C. will get 

 similar results in his orchard unless his conditions are likewise 

 similar. 



