WINTER MEETING. 165 



fruits can be sent 3,000 miles by rail at high freight rates, and sold at 

 a profit in a market where fruit-growing is eminently successful, is in- 

 deed remarkable. 



In Missouri we have the most favorable conditions for profitable 

 fruit-growing of any country on the globe; our fruits lead all others in 

 size, color and quality. Last October our Missouri Ben Davis were eel- 

 ling in Hamburg, Germany, at $6 a barrel, and they had taken as many 

 up to that date as altogether last year. We might increase our orchard 

 planting in Missouri three fold with great profit to our people, and 

 along with it we should increase our poultry to five times what it is at 

 present, as a matter of protection to our fruit. The poultry product 

 for this year exported out of Missouri amount to $7,000,000. This 

 showing is very good, but there is room for improvement. Last year 

 we imported 1,000,001) dozens of eggs, 130.000 dozens were imported 

 from China just to make sure of freshness. I wish to emphasize the 

 importance of the poultry industry in connection with horticulture, 

 because the distribution of poultry throughout the orchard is the most 

 natural, easy and successful way of producing perfect fruit. The drop- 

 pings of the poultry will help to keep up the fertility of the land, and 

 the eggs, if sold, will add to your daily cash account, and for eating 

 will certainly be preferable to those imported from China or from 

 Canada. 



The time has come when many of our fruit-growers may find it 

 profitable to grow sugar beets in their young orchards. Experiments 

 are being made, and we will know more about it in the near future. 

 One thing certain, we should encourage this new industry all we can. 

 Each year we send one hundred millions of dollars out of the country 

 to pay for imported sugar, and when we have sent over the ocean 

 enough wheat to balance the account, we have sent out sixteen millions 

 of dollars of the fertility of our soil that never comes back, as the sugar 

 all comes from the air. It is time we were converting American air 

 into sweetness by American labor and thus retain one hundred millions 

 of dollars in cool cash among our own people. We should encourage 

 the planting of parks, public grounds and highways to trees, and in 

 place of so many forest trees that produce nothing but leaves. 



We ought to plant more of the nut-bearing trees, also cherry, 

 KeiflFer pear and persimmon. But in order to carry the horticulture of 

 Missouri to a higher plane and achieve more satisfactory results, we 

 must educate our people up to a higher practical knowledge, of all 

 that relates to horticulture from start to finish. As wide awake pro- 

 gressive horticulturists, we should select and breed our fruits to fill 

 the place we desire. We should always keep in view size, color, quality, 



