ANNUAL MEETING AT LEXINGTON. ISO- 



Ill the early part of last summer I noticed but few apples damaged 

 by tlie 



CODLING MOTH, 



and was led to believe that they had received a check from some nat- 

 ural cause, and that for once we raio-ht escape. But later, when the 

 second brood got in their work, I found plenty of wormy apples. I see 

 no hope of getting rid of this pest without organized, systematic and. 

 general effort for their destruction. 



One of the greatest discouragements to the fruit-growing industry 

 is the high rates charged by the railroads for transportation. These 

 rates are based upon " what the article will bear," not upon what they 

 can afford to carry for. The rate now charged for 100 or 200 miles is 

 as much as it should be across the continent. When, last summer, a 

 committee from our county society made an appeal to one of our rail- 

 road officials for a reduction of rates on apples, we were told: "You 

 Missouri farmers want too much for your apples. Michigan growers 

 are now selling apples at forty cents per barrel." Their plan on this 

 subject, seems to be based on the theory that the grower will take a 

 mere pittance for his apples, rather than let them rot in the orchard- 

 Grant that to be true, and that it might be wisdom on the part of the 

 producer, where is the encouragement for further enlargement of the 

 business if the net proceeds must go to swell the purses of the railroad 

 kings of this republic. These very roads were mainly built by gifts 

 from the government and the people, in lands, money and bonds. These 

 were given in the belief and expectation^based on the promises of the 

 men who solicited them — that transportation, like other business affairs, 

 would be a matter of competition ; that rates would be reasonable and 

 just to all concerned. Instead, we see too much of combination and of 

 extortion. 



I learn from Mr. Hatfield, to whom I sold my winter apples this 

 year, and who has been in the trade for a number of years, that he sold 

 Missouri apples this year in competition with apples from Michigan ; 

 that there was a decided preference among buyers for Missouri apples, 

 because of their better appearance and quality, and also the fact that 

 they were keeping much better; that this year it took two bushels of 

 ^S^ebraska wheat to pay for one bushel of apples; that buyers prefer 

 apples in bulk to having them barrelled. ^Iv. Hatfield also thinks there 

 is no danger of overstocking the market with large, high-colored,, 

 smooth apples. 



