72 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



tweuty years' standing), and the most gratifying part of the whole 

 business was, not a coniphiint tame from any one, either as to price or 

 quality. 



Now, my friends of the State Horticultural society, there is an im- 

 mense amount of fruit being planted in this state, and from my observa- 

 tions for the season of 'U7 there is no such important matter to be con- 

 sidered by the fruitgrower, both for the individual and for the state. 

 This state is getting an exceedingly bad reputation for "snide" packing. 

 A friend of mine bought about eighty carloads of peaches at South 

 Haven this season, and his partner sold most of them in other states. 

 I heard his partner tell him he could have gotten an average of |50 

 more per car if he could have guaranteed the packing. Now, there 

 was a loss of |4,0U0 to the growers in just that small territory, as they 

 would have been willing to have paid that much more for the goods 

 if they could have guaranteed. That is but a small part of the profits 

 that would be derived by establishing a reputation for the future. As 

 I have stated before, I believe it would be a good thing for this state 

 if we had to ship all our fruits (for a few years at least) to the distance 

 of California. Then we would soon learn it would pay to ship only 

 good fruit. 



Another observation of '97 is, we are leaving too much top on all 

 our trees, not heading back and thinning out enough, so as to concen- 

 trate the vitality of the tree and improve the quality of the fruit, also 

 preserve vitality for future crops. 



I made a great mistake the past season in not thinning my pears 

 more thoroughl}-, especially the Bartlett. I had a great crop of pears 

 this season, between two and three thousand bushels from five acres. 

 But there were too many small ones. I could have realized more money 

 if nearly one half had been picked off while verj' small, and the trees 

 would be in much better condition for next season. 



Each year I become more and more convinced of the benefit of very 

 frequent stirring of the surface of the soil in dry seasons, with a weeder 

 or fine-tooth smoothing-harrow. In fact, it can not be done too often. 

 With proper attention to this and with sufficient amount of fertilizers 

 we ma}' grow good fruits, no matter how dry the season. 



Another observation of '97 is that with the very large planting of fruits 

 of all kinds it behooves the planter to put out sorts that will sell for a 

 fair price in seasons of abundant crops. As a rule, such sorts are not as 

 sure bearers, but in seasons of big yields these bring the price to make 

 the ]>rofit. 



Four years ago strawberries brought a big price, selling in Chicago 

 at f=3 per case of sixteen quarts for the best. This caused many to 

 plant large plats, and the results the past season were that many fehip- 

 ments were made that did not pay the cost of picking, to say nothing 

 of the expense of jiackage. It reminds me of the experience of many 

 some twenty years ago. Hops went up to |1 per pound. Everybody 

 planted hops; and of course, as soon as they began to produce, the price 

 dropped so low they did not pay for picking, and nearly everybody 

 hopped out as quickly as they hopped in, but to the few who continued 

 to grow them as a business, handling them properly, looking after the 

 market, etc., they proved a paying crop. 



