WINTER MEETING AT LEBANON. 203 



them with great care, cultivates them well, has a fine young orchard of 

 which he is proud ; he keeps a plat of it so he may know just where the 

 different varieties are planted ; he waits year after year for his trees to 

 bear, and when they come into bearing he finds his Jonathans are 

 Janetts or his Ben Davis are Summer Sweets; what his feelings are I 

 leave you to imagine. 



And after he has successfully raised an orchard and has a fine 

 <?rop of fruit, he sometimes finds a very poor market. How many 

 wagon loads of what should have been fine fruit (and in fact was fine 

 fruit when it grew on the tree) have we seen made almost worthless by 

 improper handling and hauling. The grower sees quite a dark side when , 

 after drawing such a load of apples ten or more miles to town, he has to 

 dump them out for little or nothing or take them home again. Or he 

 does as I know of one case this season: he packs them up in barrels 

 in a poor shape, improperly assorted and packed, and ships them to a 

 grain dealer to sell for him, and just about gets pay for his barrels. 

 The fruit business certainly has not a roseate hue for this man. 



But why dwell upon the dark side of this question'? Is it neces- 

 sary for me to speak of the ravages of borers, mice, rabbits, canker 

 worm, codling moth, curculio, caterpillar, and all the other destructive 

 pests that at some time or other come in to cast a cloud over the busi- 

 ness of fruit-growing J ? I think not; the most of us have been there — 

 we have all made mistakes and suffered losses. 



It is the province of this society to point out the dangers that 

 stand in the way of successful fruit-growing, as well as to hold up to 

 view the roseate-hued side of the business. We are here to hear and 

 tell of failures and successes, that others may profit by our experience, 

 and that we may learn to avoid the mistakes of the past. 



DISCUSSION. 



A. Ambrose — So far as I am individually concerned, I am well 

 pleased with the paper, but I don't think our friend enlarged upon 

 the " dark side of fruit-growing" as much as he might have done. I 

 want to say that I expected he would come down heavy upon the 

 nurserymen, but he let them off very lightly, for which I thank him. 



N. F. Murray — I think he left off one of the darkest sides of the 

 business, and that is transportation. It is no use to grow fruit and 

 give all the profits to the carriers. I consider this as the darkest 

 cloud hanging over the producers of this country ; but were it not for 

 the drawbacks and dark sides, fruit would be worthless. 



C. J. Robards — As to the dishonest agent or nurseryman, the man 

 who in this age of information is gulled into planting worthless trees 

 is without excuse. 



