SUMMER MEETING AT OREGON. 67 



The plum will make a full crop where not destroyed by curculio, 

 which within my observation, has not been as bad as usual. 



Upon the whole the outlook to the orchardist in our county is favor- 

 able and should inspire our people to better care of what they already 

 have and more extensive planting in the future. 



Respectfully submitted, 



HENRY SPEER. 



Mr. Durkvs, of Weston, then read the following paper on the family 

 and commercial orchard: 



THE FAMH^Y AND COMMERCIAL ORCHARD. 



BY J. A. DURKES, WESTON, MO. 



"A love for home, the garden and the cultivation of a taste for rural 

 life, 'tis gratifyirg to note is largely on the increase throughout all 

 parts of the land. It has been said that we are an unsettled nation, 

 that a man builds a house, gathers many of the luxuries of life around 

 him, and before enjoying them half a dozen years, will draw up stakes 

 and travel a thousand or fifteen hundred miles to shake off his happiness. 

 True as this may be we believe the traits for local attachments to be 

 as strong in the American people as those of any other nationality. 



There is a lasting love for the old homestead; with its every shrub 

 and tree around it. And what delightful recollections cluster around the 

 memory of 'my father's orchard' and the fruits that were in it. 



The family orchard truly is a part of home, its value and import- 

 ance we cannot estimate too highly. The comforts derived from it are 

 so many and so varied to all our wants, combining in their excellency 

 tood and pleasure to both mind and body, we almost fail to appreciate 

 them. Our design, therefore, in the family fruit garden will be to 

 gather all the fruits we consider choice and suited to the tastes of the 

 inmates of the homestead and its welcome visitors. Here we lay aside 



