08 - MISSOURI STATE IlOUTICULTUKAl, SOCIKTV. 



the thought ot car loads and barrels full, but desire to produce the best, 

 the sweetest and most luscious. Our selections will be necessarily of 

 many kinds. The good housewife will wish to have her choice of 

 apples for this or that sort of tart — dumpling or pie — for frying, for frit- 

 ters or stewing; pears for baking or preserving, and so on with all 

 the fruits. Again the selection should be of various kinds, since all 

 personal tastes differ, and the inclination we may have for eating one 

 variety to-day, a change to another may please us to-morrow. 



The question, what ought we to plant.'' cannot well be answered ; 

 as already remarked, every person will naturally wish to plant all their 

 old tavorites. while there are so many new ones to demand a place in 

 the collection, the planter will not be at a loss for a choice, and but few 

 that will not give some satisfaction in the home orchard. But the suc- 

 cession in ripening is an important point to be kept in mind. The 

 cherries will give us fruit in June; with July will come the apricot, the 

 apple, pear and peach, and so till late, these in their various turns will 

 keep us well supplied. 



To those living near large towns and cities there need never be 

 a surplus. For fruits so choice and grown with so much care will always 

 be eagerly sought after and good prices paid for them by private cus- 

 tomers. 



Dwarf trees can be used to great advantage in the garden, especial- 

 ly by those whose grounds are limited, for if the inclination would be for 

 a large number of kinds, two or three hundred could be planted at eight 

 or ten feet apart with all results desirable. The use of dwarf trees, though 

 practical in every way, are to be recommended more for the amateur than 

 for the general planter. In the choice of ground, when that can be done, 

 the hillside, the best drained spots, though the soil be medium in fertil- 

 ity, would be preferred, as all the elements for proper fruiting and growth 

 of the different varieties can be supplied; while naturally there would 

 not be such stimulation to overgrowth we wish to avoid for the produc- 

 tion of fruit. Thus have we endeavored to present to you something in 

 regard to the family orchard, feeling that a beginning was only made in 

 saying what should be said, leaving the subject to you and your discus- 

 sions and turn to the other part of our paper, though of less domestic 

 and poetic nature, is still a source from which millions receive their en- 

 joyment of fruits, eating them with as much relish as if they themselves 

 could pluck them from the tree. 



Forty years ago the product of the Delaware peach orchards was 

 spoken of and regarded as something wonderful, their yield being so 

 large, some bringing their owners over ten thousand a year. The apple 



