112 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



otherwise; for fruit does more than almost any other one thing to make 

 the members of the family satisfied with the home and with country life. 

 So we appeal to the rural dweller to provide the home with the best of 

 nature's gifts, an abundance of fruit. 



It is often said that an appeal to the pocketbook is the strongest plea 

 that can be made. While not pretending to emphasize this view from a 

 sordid standpoint, yet the fact remains that there is no place within my 

 knowledge that promises better returns and more certainly than com- 

 mercial apple growing in the locality under discussion. Among the 

 reasons that may be enumerated are tlie following: 



Cheap Lands. Now please do not get excited when the present 

 prices of land are called cheap. Of course they have been much cheaper. 

 I remember, in the early days before you had any railroad in your state, 

 that one day we remained near Fort Kearney, having been detained by 

 the United States soldiers until we should have accessions to our num- 

 bers, because the Indians were hostile. While we were waiting we dis- 

 cussed matters in general and particularly as to the value of lands in the 

 Platte valley. We had nearly fifty men in our wagon train, and most of 

 us were westerners, and should have known more as to the prospective 

 values of land than we did at that time. It was the consensus of opinion, 

 and very well expressed by several during the discussion, that the land 

 was not worth a cent an acre, and one man said that if he had a million 

 dollars that he would not give a cent an acre for all of it, or any of it. 

 Not a man of the number offered a dissenting opinion, for this was the 

 deliberate judgment of all present. At that time those lands were con- 

 sidered dear at any price, and nobody wanted them, and they could have 

 been had for the taking under the homestead law, the only expense being 

 the small filing fee. But we now know that all these lands will raise 

 wonderful crops, and they rank in price above the price of lands in some 

 of the older states. We did not know then, and in fact it is only recently 

 that we have become aware of their great value for fruit growing. When 

 we consider the prospective value of these lands, and especially when we 

 consider that orchard lands of the far West are selling for a thousand 

 dollars or more per acre, we must conclude that your lands are cheap, 

 especially when we consider their great producing power for horticultural 

 and other valuable crops, we must conclude that they are very cheap. 



Soil. When the quality of soils is considered, and that there is 

 nothing further to be desired, and if any one was so unreasonable as to 

 desire better, that it could nowhere be found, it gives us the idea that so 

 far as soil is concerned there is nothing better than can be had anywhere 

 at any price. Not only is there a great depth of the very best of soil, but 

 in addition to this there is perfect natural drainage. As soil drainage is 

 necessary to successful orcharding, and as the expense of tiling imper- 

 fectly drained soil is great, it will be seen that this is a highly important 

 item and worthy of the greatest consideration. 



Air Drainage. An essential of successful apple growing is air drain- 

 age, and your hill lands afford this. Even level lands afford this, provided 

 there are lower lands in the immediate vicinity. Freedom from leaf 



