Winter Meeting. 199 



and we need not change onr location, nor think we are in the poorest 

 place in the State because of our failure to find a profit from our orchard 

 this year. 



The work of the society has been a continuation along the lines of 

 previous years, answering questions from our fruit growers, helping to 

 settle this question of varieties, and its mixture, assisting many new 

 comers to find homes, locating fruit growers in lands favorable for their 

 purpose, giving planters the result of our experience in planting, as to 

 soils, locations, varieties, age of trees, conditions for planting, etc., etc., 

 day by day until often you wonder when will this seeking for information 

 cease, and the answer comes, never ! no, never ! 



The growth of Missouri, in this orchard work, has been a wonder 

 to the orchardists of our land and other lands. The value of our fruit 

 products in a full crop year will more than astonish them. The develop- 

 ing of new locations specially devoted to fruit growing, our investi- 

 gations along these newer ideas, the plans for marketing, the opening 

 of a foreign market, the picking, packing and handling of fruits, the 

 kind of packages, the transportation problem, the distribution of the crop, 

 best plan of selling, have all come up for more or less of study and in- 

 formation. All of these items come to us over and over again, and by 

 the reports of this society, containing the articles written by the mem- 

 bers of our society these facts are scattered and I am happy to be one 

 with you in doing this work. 



Our report for 1902 was received with as much favor as many of 

 our last volumes, and they are called for every day from many dififerent 

 states, lands and countries. These reports are valuable because of the 

 expereience of our fruit growers given in an intelligent, practical, syste- 

 matic way, so that anv one can understand. 



Employing good judgment in the use of this information, is, then, the 

 correct application of these items of experience to their own individual 

 cases. 



You cannot make good fruit growers out of every one, any more 

 than you can make a good lawyer or doctor or merchant or farmer from 

 every person who wishes to be such. 



OUR world's fair exhieit. 



Steps were taken about one year ago b)'- this society to start the 

 work. Your secretary put in an application last January for space for 

 our exhibit, with the understanding that there would be official action 

 taken by the commission in due time. Knowing Mr. Taylor and Mr. 

 Stinson, we were given the promise at that time that ^Missouri should 



