INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 183 



convince people that there is money in it, and we can best do that by- 

 object lessons. Of course, you do not want to, and I do not want to 

 start the object orchards, but it ought to be done in every community. 

 Now, the conditions that surround apple growing are dilTereut from what 

 they were a few years ago. Eight or ten years ago all of you know that 

 in an apple year we could not dispose of all of them; they were not 

 prolitable; we could not sell them because of a gorged market, and had 

 to lose many from the fact that there was no way of keeping them. We 

 now have cold storage within reach of every part of the State. Apples 

 can be kept from summer to summer as good as they were when they 

 came from the trees. This, you will readilj^ see, gives us a chance to 

 keep them without flooding the market. There is ready sale in Indianapo- 

 lis, Chicago and every other large city. There may be others where there 

 is a slight demand for apples in cold storage. Indianapolis and Chicago, 

 I am informed, never had as many apples in cold storage as they wanted, 

 and Mr. Burton and Mr. Waltman have shown, and I think I have myself, 

 that apple growing in Indiana can be made very profitable. There is 

 nothing that one can put his land to that will bring him any more money 

 than apple growing. I have an orchard of fifteen acres that was planted 

 in 1875. I have had one total failure. Kvery other year except that one 

 1 have made money enough to pay all expenses and have something be- 

 sides. My orchard has been bearing twenty years. The general average 

 year after year is about .$00 an acre above expenses. I paid $05 an acre 

 for my land and put it out. It is worth now perhaps .$100 or $125 without 

 the fruit. I make nearly my land back every year. It is not the hard, 

 intricate matter it is supposed to be. Any person with good common sense 

 can attend to it. All he has to do is to have the energy and a liking for 

 his liusiness. I believe that Indiana possesses advantages for apple grow- 

 ing that no other State west of the Allegheny mountains possesses. She 

 has the climate and soil. It has been demonstrated by the above showing. 

 She has the market from the west and east, north and south. She has a 

 market at home wiiich will consume all the apples that Indiana can grow 

 for yenrs to come. 1 am anxious about this matter, and would be glad 

 to see Indiana wake up to her possibilities in apple growing. 



President Stevens: Does central Illinois possess any better advan- 

 tages for apple growing than most of Indiana, and why is it that the fruit 

 industry along the apple growing line is more thoroughly tested, and the 

 apples are larger than we are growing? 



W. B. Flick: It appears they grow fine apples in central and south- 

 ern Illinois. Their land is, perhaps, a great deal of it like southern Indi- 

 ana; they are subject to pests and conditions that we are not. Their 

 apples mature earlier than ours; thereby less valuable for cold storage. 

 They are further away from the eastern market. I don't think they can 

 excel us in quality and color. They may have larger apples, but for qual- 

 ity and color they can not excel us. 



