346 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



FRUITGROWING UP TO DATE. 

 BY MR. W. W. RORK OF AGNEW. 



Tbis topic is too large for one paper. We can not give the barest out- 

 lines of the subject. A general treatment will apply to each particular 

 branch. We know fruitgrowing has become a large and rapidly increas- 

 ing industry. This year's extension exceeds that of any other. Hundreds 

 of acres and millions of trees and plants have gone into orchards and vine- 

 yards. As yet the supply, with declining prices, has not equaled the 

 demand. The import far exceeds the export; means for profitably pre- 

 serving fruit are multiplying; knowledge of plant life, its needs and 

 enemies, is far beyond that of the past, and every year marks a longer 

 •distance still, as this meeting will show. 



The experiment station is more and more a factor of greatest value; 

 methods for shipping and selling are being perfected; large sections of 

 country are waiting for the orchard; horticulture is deservedly attracting 

 wider attention, the public consumes an ever-increasing quantity in ratio 

 to the people. So we may safely say the limit of fruitgrowing is beyond. 



But we have most emphatically come to changed conditions. In the 

 memory of some, fruitgrowing was not thought of as a great commercial 

 enterprise. A few years ago it was limited to a few spots, and expected 

 to stay there. There was no organization of fruit interests. Now it 

 possesses large territories, north and south, east and west. 



There's Canada, across our northern line, 



Has fields of promise, so says her Craig, both long and wide, 

 And threatens us with fruit most rare and fine 



To flood us like a ceaseless ocean tide. 



Connecticut with cold extreme and rock-bound hills, 



Has orchards large and full, is planting more; 

 Her Hale, with facts that seem like story, thrills 



The men along our wondrous fruit-belt shore. 



And Georgia with her sunny clime and showers 



Comes with her loads of luscious peach to cope 

 With that summer land of ever-blooming flowers, 



California's famed Pacific slope. 



But first of all, our Michigan we might expect, 



Set as a gem amid great inland lakes 

 Which, like paternal arms, enfold, pi-otect 



From heat and cold, cyclone and blizzard wakes. 



Again, our early clingstone peaches once brought a good price. Now 

 they come with the finest of southern fruit and are almost worthless. But 

 yesterday small fruit was unknown in the market; now the market is 

 filled with it. The distinction between superior and inferior fruit is much 

 more sharp. Common or small fruit, though good, is not wanted. The 

 •demand is for large and fine-appearing fruit. The distribution of large 

 •quantities is such as to break down the market. Heavy shipments 



