152 ■ STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



convened but many fruitgrowers express their doubts as to the future of 

 the apple industry. We are told that this variety or that has run out or 

 outlived its usefulness. We can not, however, come to think this a cor- 

 rect conclusion, but rather regard it as an unwarrantable assumption. 

 Is it not more likely to be true that the soil upon which most of our 

 unproductive, diseased fruit plantations are found, may by continued 

 croppings have become so impoverished of the essentials required for 

 perfect production of the thing sought to be grown, that the weakened 

 plant structure has not the vital power to resist disease and the perils of 

 insect life, the apparent increase of which has been the outgrowth of this 

 lack of material for their support? It is an undisputed fact that the leaf, 

 root and fruit all make a wonderful draft upon certain well-known ele- 

 ments which may or may not exist in quantities sufficient to meet this 

 continued drain required to maintain vigo? and productiveness. It is 

 quite well known that different varieties of the same genus differ mater- 

 ially in their constitutional strength and power of resistance, so there is 

 need of different treatment to meet nature's requirements. We have been 

 told that, upon some of our newest lands, varieties that have ceased to 

 be of value in the older sections are grown with the greatest success, 

 while some who are regarded authority report corresponding results from 

 the very liberal use of appropriate plant food. Is it not safe, therefore, 

 to argue that neglect to comply with nature's laws is largely the occasion 

 of failures with which the fruitgrower is contending in this year 1895? 



But what of the future? Just now we seem to be in a state of tran- 

 sition, with no fixed purpose of what to do next. With the rapid 

 increase of evaporating and canning interests; the multiplication and 

 cheapening of facilities for transporting the products of the same to all 

 known parts of the world, and, above all, with a sentiment keeping pace 

 with the increased intelligence of the human family, in favor of fruit as 

 a wholesome and economical food, we predict an annual increase in con- 

 sumption of all of the fruit products that will greatly exceed the anticipa- 

 tion of any whose plans for future work are based upon the demoralized 

 condition of trade as found today. Low prices prevail for all soil prod- 

 ucts, too low to afford a fair remuneration for labor and investment, 

 but we believe the horticulturist who is working on intelligent lines has 

 decidedly the advantage of the agriculturist, and that this condition will 

 continue to prevail for years to come. 



A friend who was a guest on Thanksgiving day has a farm of one hun- 

 dred and fifty acres. On this he has a peach orchard of about nine acres, 

 the product of which was sold the past season, to a near-by canning fac- 

 tory, the returns amounting to about $1,000, which he assured me was 

 considerable more than was received from all other of his farm crops 

 combined. Ten acres for horticulture and 140 acres for agriculture! 

 But, lest some one may say, "I am not in a situation to become a grower 

 of peaches," we will cite a good grower of apples who, seventeen years 

 ago, desired to set a Baldwin orchard of 1,000 trees. The variety was 

 scarce, but, having his land prepared, he was determined to plant some- 

 thing; and finally, contrary to his judgment, he put 800 Oldenburgh 

 apples and only 100 Baldwins. This was a matter of necessity, inasmuch 

 as he could not secure the desired number of Baldwins. The former 

 have not failed of a crop since the fifth year, and in the month of July 



