384 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



a few apples to towu. He brings about everything he produces — big, little, 

 green and ripe— and a great many people get their opinion of the Ben Davis 

 apple from that source. As to the commercial value of the Ben Davis, I 

 have had no Ben Davis apples on the New York market, but I get the in- 

 formation from a reliable source that they have been bringing as good 

 prices there and abroad as the eastern apples, including the Baldwin. 

 While a good portion of the trade prefers a Baldwin or a Greening or a 

 Russet, or something of that variety of apple, when they are good, they 

 prefer a good Ben Davis to a poor Baldwin or a poor Greening. To my 

 own personal knowledge, Ben Davis apples sold in Kansas for as much 

 money as New England Baldwins brought in New England. The crop of 

 Ben Davis apples in Illinois, when they wei'e good, brought, on an aver- 

 age, just about as much money as the eastern crop sold for in the orchard. 

 Most of the orchards in Kansas sold the entire crop, and that crop brought 

 on an average as much as the eastern orchards, which are generally sold 

 in the same manner. For instance, the varieties in Kansas consist largely 

 of Ben Davis, Winesaps, Missouri Pippins and Jonathans. The Jonathans 

 brought a premium where they sold by themselves; Winesaps also; but 

 the orchards where they sold as a whole, including the Jonathans, sold for 

 about the same as the eastern crops. AVe can raise the Jonathan in this 

 State very well. It is a native of this State, and there is a section where 

 Baldwins and Spies can be raised successfully. The finest Baldwins and 

 Spies and Greenings, as well as the finest Yellow Bellflowers I have seen— 

 and I have been looking at them nearly all my life— were raised in the 

 northern part of this State. But south of Indianapolis, or through this 

 section here, I am sure eastern varieties of apples are not suited to the 

 climate. In this climate they ripen too early and mature too early^ and 

 what is a winter apple in New England makes a good fall apple in central 

 and southern Indiana. 



As to the Keiffer pear, I will say that some idea may be had of the 

 value placed upon the Keiffer pear when I say that after careful thought 

 and consideration I have come to the conclusion that so many of them are 

 being used that it is hurting the consumption of apples. That would indi- 

 cate that they are not extremely unpopular. We sold a great many of 

 them and the trade sold a great many. We had a great crop of Keiffer 

 pears, not only in this State, but almost everywhere; yet they were con- 

 sumed. If they were so exceedingly unpopular they would not affect the 

 sale of apples as they did. People do use Keiffer pears and use them 

 extensively. As to their market value, the man who i-aises them is best 

 prepared to pass an opinion on that. It is true that the trade will pay more 

 for good Bartlett pears than they will for good Keiffers, but they can not 

 always get good Bartlett pears, and there is trade that likes the Keiffer. 

 There is a very large consumption of Keiffers, and that consumption Is 

 so great that I am satisfied it affected the price of apples this fall. Of 

 course, you can have an over-production of any crop, and this fall there 



