608 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Wall Street capital. Tlie only other connection it needs is to get 

 the man. Orcharding is a question of the individual man almost en- 

 tirely. That is the big thing. Don't think, my friends, those of you 

 who don't own orchards, and wish you did, and wish you had some 

 of the wonderful "prolits'' that Surface and 1 are getting out of it — 

 don't think you can simply buy a piece of land and you have money 

 to buy trees, and money enough to pay for a spraying outfit, and so 

 forth, don't think that will make you an orchard. It never will. 

 There must be a man. 1 recollect when Cecil Khodes died in South 

 Africa, Kudyaid Kipling wrote an ode to him, and 1 don't know 

 what was said in it, except one single line, ''Once on a time there 

 was a man." That is what made South Africa. Cecil Khodes made 

 the great South Africa of today, one man with a knowledge and be- 

 lief and faith and ability to handle other men; and so whenever you 

 see any great business going on successfully in the country, don't 

 think it is running itself, but back somewhere is the soul and spirit 

 of a great man, or a great woman, and so in every orchard enterprise 

 that is going to be successful in this sharp competition that is ahead 

 of us, it means men and women who can stick, who have faith in the 

 ultimate success, and who never know failure; men who can go out 

 and see the frost kill their blossoms on the trees, and think, "It is 

 only 365 days to another blooming time, when there won't be a frost, 

 and that time can be hurried by putting notes in the bank to pay 

 for fertilizers, spray lixtures, labor, etc. If that man is back of the 

 orchard, he will finally arrive and make some. There are mighty 

 few people who have that grit and knowledge and all the thing nec- 

 essary, so I want to say, this great big orchard boom that is in the 

 air now is going to spell failure to many people. Perhaj)s I ought 

 not to predict that . The fellow who says, "I told you so," is despised, 

 and I ought not to make any predictions, but from a life's work in 

 fruit culture and a life looking over the horticultural interests of 

 America, I feel that the present orchard boom that is now on, is a 

 great big crazy mistake, which means loss to so many people, and 

 especially where carried on in a larger way. It is going to be the 

 individual man and woman who can know every tree on his place, 

 who can learn to love it, who can say every individual tree is a per- 

 sonal friend and acquaintance, and every bug and fungi an enemy to 

 be met and fought by the general in charge. That is just a general 

 whack at the whole proposition. Yet mighty few of you will believe 

 me now. 



Now, assuming we are going on with orcharding. There are 

 a good many things to be considered. The place most of us will take, 

 the land that is at hand; that is, our own farms. Most of us suc- 

 ceed best right at home, where we are known, and know the land 

 and know the condition, and the orchard lands on our own place, 

 those will be the ones probably best for us to develop, but if Ave are 

 foot loose and can go where we like, then the selection of location 

 is of first inrportance. The elevation of the land in relation to that 

 which surrounds it, is of importance; the character of the soil and 

 its ease of tillage and natural fertility are to be considered, but of all 

 things, what is our market going to be; the market conditions; are 

 we going to market with our own wagons or auto truck to some 

 nearby towns and villages within a radius we can reach? If so, the 



