TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING, 151 



owner, and, in after years, afforded a revenue that enabled him to live in 

 luxury. But it was of more value in its influence and results, which can 

 never be estimated. "Sowing the seed, what shall the harvest be?" 



The elements of plant life then existed in such abundance and requi- 

 site proportions as to produce the most healthy tree and perfect fruit, 

 which found its way to market at prices affording profit so satisfactory 

 as to stimulate increased planting from the valley of the Hudson to the 

 shores of lake Michigan, of an acreage then unknown in the world's his- 

 tory. Those were days of promise. Such beautiful and excellent fruit 

 could be found nowhere else on the face of the globe. Many of us can 

 recall those days when the produce of a single tree of White Doyenne 

 pears sold at from |20 to |30 per annum, and whole orchards of Bartletts 

 netted their owners |10 to $12 per barrel. Those beautiful Spitzenberg 

 apple trees, yielding from six to eight barrels each, were a sight worth 

 going miles to see. The apples were sold at from $2 to |2.o0 per barrel. 

 Not a blemish on them. No orange tree laden with its golden fruit sur- 

 passed them in beauty. The Newtown pippin, another favorite, unexcelled 

 for productiveness and keeping qualities, was produced in the greatest 

 perfection and with great profit. But, in the nature of things, these 

 palmy days could not always continue. Those varieties of apple then 

 generally grown became worthless, and in time were superseded by the 

 Baldwin, which we were assured had come to stay. Not equal in quality 

 to its predecessors, its productiveness and fine shipping qualities were 

 regarded as compensating sufficiently for what it lacked in goodness, 

 and the Baldwin was planted to an extent unprecedented in the history 

 of any other apple. No one seemed to realize it possible that too many 

 could be grown. From every^ apple-growing section was heard the cry, 

 "More Baldwins." But what is the situation today, with a favorable sea- 

 son for apple production? A surplus is always found of this variety, 

 and purchasers take advantage of the fact by purchasing them at pretty 

 much their own prices. Worse than all, it has fallen a victim to the 

 deadly fungus, which, wintering upon the tree, attacks the young and 

 tender foliage, and finally is found upon the fruit that is so often ren- 

 dered worthless. While in this w^eakened condition the tree is rendered 

 powerless to appropriate the required supplies for a crop for the succeed- 

 ing year. Such were the conditions incident to hundreds of orchards in 

 western New York in 1894. Hence, no crop on them in 1895, and the 

 same has frequently been observed in southern and central Michigan — 

 two crop failures in succession, sometimes accounted for in one way and 

 at others in another, but quite frequently people assigned the wrong 

 cause rather than the right. The fact, however, has been made clear that 

 this popular variety has foliage which, today, is more readily subject to 

 disease than that of almost any other apple known. Hence, many plant- 

 ers are discarding it, while others, discouraged by their repeated crop 

 failures, denounce apple-growing in general, and assert that it is no use 

 to follow it longer as a profitable business. One acquaintance, with fifty 

 acres, tells me that he has not averaged a crop once in five years, and his. 

 trees, being regarded as past that age at which they may be profitably 

 grafted over, he is strongly inclined to convert into firewood. Nor is 

 he alone in his conviction. 'There are hundreds cherishing the same sen- 

 timent throughout the country. Scarcely a horticultural meeting is 



