WHERE CAN WE GROW APPLES SUCCESSFULLY? Ill 



But in spite of this handicap, I can speak with sorfiewhat of confidence, 

 for your conditions here are in many respects similar to those in western 

 Iowa, where I have resided for so long and have been so closely identified 

 with the horticultural development of that region. Therefore, taking all 

 these things into consideration, I could not find sufficient excuse to decline 

 the request of your secretary. 



We have come to the conclusion in western Iowa that there is no 

 good reason why any one should go to the mountain states or the far 

 West to engage in apple growing from a commercial standpoint, and as 

 Nebraska, especially the eastern portion, is similar in many respects to 

 western Iowa, I feel that experiences in our own territory will justify 

 conclusions as to conditions in Nebraska, and especially as to the eastern 

 part of your state. 



At the annual session of the Southwestern Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 held in Council Bluffs, December 3 to 5, 1912, we had an apple display 

 that, for quality and appearance, could not be surpassed anywhere, and 

 as to variety far in excess of the needs of any commercial apple grower, 

 for we had nearly one hundred varieties, and about half of them were of 

 such superior excellence as would attract attention anywhere. All of 

 these apples were grown in southwestern Iowa, and every exhibitor but 

 one was from the western part of our district. The one exception, Clayton 

 O. Garrett, of Adelphi, and the location and names of the others were 

 J. M. Bechtel, C. E. Mincer, of Hamburg; Miss Minnie Avery, P. Barton, 

 J. F. Keeline, I. N. Minick, Council Bluffs; D. W. Lotspiech, Woodbine; 

 W. R. Coy, Tabor, and C. H. Deur, Missouri Valley. So, as you can see, 

 most of our splendid exhibit came from the hill lands bordering on the 

 Missouri river and just across from your own state, and so you see that I 

 can speak with confidence, although I do not have the honor of being a 

 citizen of your state. 



Your hill lands, and especially your hill lands of the Missouri slope, 

 are so admirably suited to commercial apple growing that this part of 

 the subject is most in mind in preparing this paper. This is not said 

 with any thought of disparaging the growing of apples or other fruit in 

 any other part of your state, for fruit should be grown everywhere that 

 it is possible to grow it, for the home, and, besides, there is a much wider 

 field for commercial fruit growing than the eastern part of your state, 

 but I have preferred to speak more particularly of the advantages of the 

 hill lands bordering the Missouri and extending back an indefinite distance 

 where observation has shown that such orcharding should prove highly 

 successful, and every home owner should raise fruit even if he does not 

 reside in the favored locality under especial discussion. 



The home owner should plant in such quantity that there will be 

 plenty in seasons of partial failure; for the surplus can be disposed of in 

 case there is more than needed for the home. And, of course, the home 

 orchard should contain more varieties than the commercial orchardist 

 can afford to plant. So we can appeal to the homemaker and the home- 

 lover, and urge him to supply himself and family with an abundance; for 

 he can do so so easily and so satisfactorily that he can not afford to do 



