FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 21& 



crossing the Rocky mountains who will wish they had not. Without any 

 doubt there are crops raised there that are perfectly marvelous. One man is 

 stated to have raised on thirteen acres a crop of oranges selling for $6,500, 

 or $500 per acre. But there are drawbacks which we do not see at first, and 

 to the tenderfoot these stories are marvelous and attractive. The speaker 

 illustrated by his own experience. When I left the bleak and snow-capped 

 mountains and descended into the lovely Sacramento valley, only three hours' 

 ride, and saw the fragrant orange grove filled with the luscious fruit and 

 heard the marvelous stories, I thought the land well worth 11,000 per acre,, 

 and felt that were I a millionaire I would pay that price for all in sight. 

 Then after investigation I fell to $800, then to $600, then 1400, then $100, and 

 finally, after seeing them cutting down some of their groves, I came away with- 

 out investing a cent. A man at Monroe last year got $60 per acre for his 

 potatoes, which cost him $18.25, and a man at Lansing once received $1,100 

 for five acres of Concord grapes, and when I had bought 130 acres at Monroe 

 some advised me to put it all out to grapes, saying I could raise 2,000 pounds 

 to the acre, which at even five cents per pound would bring $100 per acre. 

 But I said grapes will come down to business just like wheat, for if everyone 

 could do that then everybody would go into the grape business. They have 

 pests in California as well as here, and they are cutting down their orange 

 groves, for they have the scale there, as well as many other drawbacks, and 

 fruit raising in California as well as here must come down to business. So I 

 say we have no "soft thing" anywhere on God's green earth, and I came 

 back and say it is no harder to get a living here than in California. 



PROF, bailey's TEIS" POINTS IN HORTICULTURE. 



At the close of the remarks by President Willits, and after music from the 

 orchestra, President Monroe prestnted Professor Bailey of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege to an audience of his personal acquaintances, before whom he needed no in- 

 troduction. The following is condensed from his very interesting remarks 

 on the ten most essential points to success in horticulture : 



Ladies and Gentlemen — It is with great diffidence I appear before you and 

 attempt to say anything in this place, for I remember that something has been 

 written about a prophet in his own country. But as President Willits has 

 well said, we are not down here to teach you but to get the benefit of what you 

 have done. There are many points we might take up, but we wish to take up 

 that in which you are most interested. I wish to speak of commercial horti- 

 culture. Does it pay? Now, I do not say there are only ten points, but that 

 these are the most important, and the first is that the man must be a good 

 observer. He must know if the effect grows out of the stated cause. A man 

 must read, but he must read the right thing. Good brains are more impor- 

 tant than good land. We must know something of insects in order to know 

 how to combat them. Our insect pests are increasing, and as the forests are 

 destroyed they come from thence into the orchard. The flat-headed apple 

 borer has been transferred from the oak to the apple. Professor Cook will not 

 tell you so, but he was the first to discover the way to destroy the codling moth. 

 He saw that the blossom stands erect and the moth lays her egg in the blos- 

 som. Il, now, the tree is sprayed with Paris green, it holds the poison and 

 kills the moth, and later, as the blossom turns down, they fall out. Now,, 

 the fruit grower must be up to his business if he is to make money. 



