140 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Williams: That question has been somewhat near to me, and 

 I can not discuss it quite in the form that it is given there but it is 

 closely related to this question, what I call "bread and butter education." 

 From the point of the fruit grower and the children of our public schools, 

 there should be some means devised for bringing them together. Now 

 for instance, just to illustrate my point of view: Last fall, during my 

 grape harvest, I found it difficult to get grape pickers. After school be- 

 gan it was very difficult to get pickers enough to harvest my crop as 

 fast as I wanted. I had a number of students who went to high school 

 and as soon as school began they quit, and the same in strawberry sea- 

 son. The strawberry comes in just before the close of the high school, 

 and 1 found it difficult to get berry pickers, and I asked concerning the 

 idea two years ago, to let school out earlier in order to give us relief. 

 And this question that is raised here is closely related to that, and it 

 occurs to me if our high school educators should allow their pupils to 

 take credits for some line of worK like that, it Avould give us the relief 

 we need, and be right along the line of a practical education for more 

 students and let them know whether or not they want to pursue that 

 industry or not. The present trend of our education is so intensive in 

 getting a classical education that it is impossible to divert them from 

 that course in spite of the effort that is made on the part of the agricul- 

 tural educators. Our public school education does not affiliate with the 

 needs of the fruit growers and gardeners. We can not get the help from 

 them we need, and that is the long and short of it 



The Chairman: Remember the banquet at the Lincoln hotel this 

 evening, in honor of Dr. Bessey. That banquet is served at 6:15 or 6:30, 

 I think. Now, Dr. Billings, 1 can give you about five minutes. 



Dr. A. S. Billings: The question I had was somewhat answered in 

 part. I wanted to find out as much as 1 could what had been done, and 

 what was being done in the way of the producing and growing of nuts. 

 I have made a start in that way myself, and in inquiring around I have 

 not heard of any mstance of the growih of them only on the Mor- 

 ton farm in Nebraska City. There are some grown in New York 

 and I have some of them that I am going to put out in the spring, the 

 same nut that the gentleman spoke of. One man has fifty acres of nuts. 

 I am at work putting out butternuts, English walnuts, chestnuts and fil- 

 berts and anything else that I can get. 1 wanted to find out what had 

 been done along that line. There is one word more outside of that and 

 1 want to thank these gentlemen here for having helped me very, very 

 much. As I said, 1 bought the Helene Fruit Farm and I have fifty acr.-^s 

 of fruit, and in the last three years it has pretty nearly killed me. All 

 : knew about it was what I Tound oui as a boy in Vermont. Every time 

 I saw a piece of fruit 1 wanted it, and 1 bit off more than I could chew 

 when I got 50 acres. 



I had some very handsome raspberry vines and they did not seem 

 to produce anything and 1 had made up my mind that the best thing 

 that could be done was to get rid o\' them. And one day during the 



