228 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



harry, then we would enjoy our success and not have it grinding our 

 lives out with extra business, extra cares, extra responsibilities. 



The year has been one of strange surprises. We had the severe 

 cold that destroyed most of the peach crop in the southern part of 

 the State, and yet in the northern part the crop was a fall one. The 

 spring was one of the dryest we have ever seen, and yet when the 

 rains came the trees responded so vigorously that we have never 

 before seen such a growth on our young trees. It seemed in the 

 spring that we might not have an apple, but when fall came everyone 

 was wondering what to do with his enormous crop. The same people 

 who allowed hundreds of thousands of bushels to go to waste and 

 hundreds of thousands more to be sold from ten to twenty cents per 

 bushel, are now without a peck in their cellars, while apples are- bring- 

 ing more per bushe) than they did per barrel a few weeks ago. The 

 warning so often given, " take care of your apples," was unheeded in 

 far too many cases. 



The whole song we heard all during the summer was: "The 

 wonderful crop of fruit and what shall be done with it!" All the 

 papers had to say, the greatest crop of apples Missouri ever had will 

 be this jear. The buyers from the East reiterated it, and added the 

 false story of the great crop in the East. The farmers sang the song 

 aloud over and over, but further than this, they left thousands of 

 bushels of their apples to rot because of the surplus. What is the 

 result ? Today the surplus has gone into the hands of the specalator. 



The cold storage houses are filled with the best apples that they 

 have ever had, and there will be enough to supply the needs of the 

 people, but the prices will be very high and the farmers get no benefit. 

 The Jonathan apple is selling now in Kansas City for $2 per bushel^ 

 the Grimes Golden for the same, choice Winesap and Huntsman for 

 $1.50 and Ben. Davis for $2.50 per barrel. Those who would not save 

 their apples at 20 cents now have none to sell at 60 cents. When will 

 we learn to take care of our products ? 



The growth of the fruit business has been a steady and rapid one 

 in many parts of our State. Millions of trees have been planted dur- 

 ing the last few years, and the end is not yet. From what has just 

 been said we may understand what our product would have been worth 

 if our farmers and fruit-growers could have held a part of their fruit 

 until the present time or a few months later. It becomes us, there- 

 fore, to be prepared to take care of ou)- fruit when we have it. 



A sort of Western horticulture has grown up that is tending to 

 spread over our country so that fruit-growing will be made as much a 

 business as any other in our land. How will and how can this grow ? 



