190 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



much of this on hand now, but I am glad to say that that day is pass- 

 ing rapidly away when there is any pay to it, and consequently will 

 soon be lost or past entirely. 



What I have paid about our orchards is also true about our small 

 fruits, vegetables, flowers, tree planting along our streets, and beauti- 

 fying our lawns, too much, of course, neglected to this day, but gradu- 

 ally improving. 



Our growth in all these directions has been slow, gradual, sure. 

 In small fruits we see hundreds of thousands of boxes of the luscious 

 berries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, going to market every 

 day through the entire season. We see some of our inland cities now 

 using thousands of boxes of them where a few years ago you could 

 scarcely sell a quart. We see our large cities full of them from the 

 very earliest of the season until the end. ^e see used in thousands of 

 our families fruits daily, where years ago they thought them only an 

 expensive luxury. 



Only the other day I met the man who was express messenger on 

 the Illinois Central R. R., and who carried the first shipment of straw- 

 berries from Southern Illinois to the Chicago market. Today we see 

 whole train loads of them going to Chicago daily, while from that one 

 little town which sent the first shipment there are often loaded ten or 

 twelve car loads daily. On the western border of the State lives the 

 man who helped to plant the first vines of the Concord grape. Kow 

 we see car load after car load of these grapes shipped all over our 

 country. Near the center of this State lives one who originated some 

 of the strawberries which have paid 6uch enormous returns to our 

 fruit-growers. 



But our growth has not alone been along this line ; our stone fruits 

 have year by year been increasing in value, notwithstanding the failure 

 of the peach in a portion of the State. And our large fruits — how have 

 our orchards grown ! how have the varieties increased and improved! 

 how Las the care and cultivation changed ! 



We have to-day orchards of 40, 60, 80, 100, 160 acres, all planted 

 of one or two or three varieties, while we have others of 200, 300 or 

 400 acres, all planted strictly for commercial purposes. The day is not 

 far distant when our apple buyers can go to one of these orchards and 

 get all the fruit they want to pack, and that all of uniform packing 

 and standard varieties. Where before we had only a few doubtful 

 varieties, to-day we have standard varieties — good, hardy, productive, 

 handsome standard market varieties— not all of them, of course, suited 

 to all parts of the State, but especially suited to some part of it— Red 

 June, Benoni, E. Pennock, M. Blush, Mother, Lowell, Fulton, Red 



