42 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



never be any higher from the ground than when it was first made, and. 

 the branches, instead of increasing in height from the ground, will be- 

 come nearer to it by their increase in diameter. 



Just here some one may want to ask : Why, then, do we have 

 trees in the forests with trunks fifty, sixty or more feet in height with- 

 out a limb, or even the scar of one, this whole distance ? and all of the 

 branches and leaves are at the very top of the tree. 



Trees in a forest grow near together, and only branches situated at 

 the top can expose their leaves to the full light of the sun. The leaves 

 are, as it were, the lungs of the tree, and must have free access to sun- 

 light, or they cannot perform their work, and soon become diseased 

 and drop off ; if now a limb is so shaded that it cannot produce healthy 

 leaves it soon begins to decay, and in time drops off. The scar left is 

 soon covered by the new growth which forms over it, and all outward 

 trace of the limb that once existed is blotted out. As the trees mount 

 higher in their struggle for the topmost place, to give their leaves the 

 full light of the sun, the branches beneath gradually die and drop off, in 

 consequence of which the distance to the lower limbs increases with 

 the age of the tree. 



A tree growing in the open field does not show a tall, naked trunk,, 

 but retains its lower limbs. 



A tree is simply a machine, and we have as much right to expect 

 the looms in the mills scattered over our country to perform work with- 

 out the raw material being given them, as we have to ask a tree to grow 

 profitable crops year after year without returning anything to the soil. 

 There is as much sense in the one as in the other ; but how many fruit- 

 growers are there in this room who return anything to their orchards; 

 to keep up the fertility removed from the soil J ? An apple tree in full 

 bearing takes from the ground in making its regular annual growth and 

 developing its crop of fruit, fertilizing material which, if purchased in 

 the markets at the regular prices, would cost about 45 cents. Xow, where 

 is there a soil rich enough to stand this continued drain? Do not think 

 that you have it, for if you do the only crop that will increase on your 

 hands as the years go by will be that of disappointment and failure. 

 Starve your fruits and they will starve you ; feed them and they in 

 return will feed you. 



Song by the choir : "The King Shall Come." 



Piano solo and encore — Prof. Hand. 



