104 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Nebraska. The general opinion prevailed that many varieties that were 

 once so highly commendable had fallen by the wayside, degenerated, and 

 only two things remained to be done. One was the origination of the 

 new varieties suited to Nebraska's ever-changing climatic conditions. 

 Tbe other to move the trees to a country, better suited to apple produc- 

 tion. While the result of these conclusions brought forth the introduc- 

 tion and origination of many new and valuable varieties, it also had the 

 effect of driving from Nebraska's fertile glacial drift and loose soils hun- 

 dreds of people who are now producing fruit in the volcanic ash of the 

 western states. 



Those who have left the state to pioneer in horticulture are at pres- 

 ent flooding our markets with apples, beautiful in appearance, but miser- 

 ably inferior in texture, flavor, and keeping qualities. 



Now that we have solved the problems of producing high-class ap- 

 ples, it is up to us to face a market condition which can only be done by 

 teaching the consumer the difference between two things: general ap- 

 pearance and real quality. 



In dealing with the question of quality of Nebraska apples, we may 

 be able to come to a better understanding by the use of a few concrete 

 comparisons. By making these comparisons we do not wish to reflect 

 discredit on any individual, community, or state. Our ideal is to boost 

 the apple business and to educate the consumer until there is a general 

 appreciation of the difference between high-class and ordinary fruit. Be- 

 cause Mother Nature has seen flt to make conditions in Nebraska ideal 

 for the production of apples of superior quality, it would certainly be 

 unjust to blame any individual or community who were fortunate enough 

 to own these lands. 



The most encouraging thing concerning the fact that we can produce 

 apples of high quality is that the factors which play a part in the pro- 

 duction of our apples are permanent. It has been clearly demonstrated 

 that it is our soil and climatic conditions which determine the quality of 

 Nebraska's apples. 



Hereditary tendencies in the evolution of varieties are not respon- 

 sible for the difference between Missouri river and western grown tarie- 

 ties. 



The same varieties taken from the same nursery stock shipped to 

 Colorado, Idaho, and other western states and planted on those soils in- 

 variably produce fruit of inferior quality. 



An investigation of this subject shows that large shipments of apple 

 trees from Stork Bros., of Missouri, and Youngers & Company, from Ne- 

 braska, have been planted in the mountain states, and the same varieties 

 from those nurseries used in orchard planting in Nebraska invariably 

 produce fruit of superior quality. 



During the past few years western grown apples from the states of 

 Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Washington have been consumed by Nebras- 

 ka's people in immense quantities. Not merely a few boxes but by car- 

 loads, by the hundreds of carloads, they have been shipped into the mar- 



