-Additional Papers. 327 



The "something iiew," supposed to bring "good luck" if worn on 

 Easter day, will be the new resolve that you have made. Should the 

 birds happen to tell old Sol about it, I am very sure he will, as the 

 superstition says, "dance for joy on resurrection morn !" If you are 

 so fortunate as to be able to get a new bonnet, let it stand for a con- 

 viction. A "love of a bonnet" should bear evidence of love. If it does, 

 the Te Deum will resound with greater force and meaning. Easter 

 flowers will assume higher symbols, and if perchance a robin's note is 

 heard through an open casement, you will know that it means a thank 

 you for your pledge. Should the beatitudes be read, "Blessed are the 

 merciful" will mean you. 



COMMERCIAL FRUIT GROWING. 

 (J. H. Hale, Pres. Am. Pomological Society, South Glastonbury, Conn.) 



The commercial side of the fruit question was one in which the aver- 

 age grower fell down, yet it was fully as important to be able to sell as 

 tc grow. In fact, there was little object in raising fruit unless it could 

 be sold, and that at a profit. The commercial fruit grower should make 

 it his business to find out what the market wanted, how it wanted it, and 

 then he should do his best to produce the article wanted. The fruit 

 grower can do a little missionary work in educating public taste, but 

 life is short and it will not do to spend a great deal of time along such 

 lines. It would pay the fruit grower to visit his markets and observe 

 for himself. He himself had just returned from a four-thousand mile 

 trip, undertaken just to see the people who used his fruit, and to learn 

 what he could of the way other growers did. Our greatest competitiors 

 are producers three thousand miles away, and the way they get the 

 market is by attention to minute details and giving a nearly perfect 

 article in attractive and suitable packages. We have a great advantage 

 over these far-away rival growers in the fact that we are only a few 

 hours from the points of consumption. We not only have great ad- 

 vantage in the short haul, but we can see for 'ourselves the fruit being 

 sold, and talk with the middlemen. 



In his long trip Mr. Hale was surprised at every stop by the quan- 

 tity being produced and consumed. The growth of the fruit industry 

 is like a fairy tale, almost top incredible to be believed. Fifteen years 

 ago there was no commercial peach orchards of any size in Georgia. 

 Ten years ago there were only a million trees; now there are 19 millions, 

 with three or four millions being planted this winter and spring. In 

 States of about the same latitude there are from 15 to 20 million trees, 

 and more are being planted. In November a rather small convention of 

 apple growers met in St. Louis, yet this gathering owned over one 



