president's address. 17 



other horse tries to pass him, heat and fatig-ue were forgotten, and 

 we must see the orchard. Philips, always ganiey, was no less en- 

 thusiastic, and we were soon there. Some of the trees were fruiting- 

 and at once suggested to Philips' inquisitive mind the problem of 

 how we were to harvest when the trees get into full bearing. Well, 

 I hadn't got that far along, but we have since studied it out. Tlie 

 cold storage and packing house will be located near the spring at 

 the foot of the bluff. A canvas spout is to be put up, extending 

 from the top of the house across the deep ravine to the top of the 

 bluff; shorter ones will be used leading into this from the trees. 

 These will have an eas^^ attachment so as to move them along when 

 necessary. With the upper end at the trees, all that one will have to 

 do will be to pick the apples and carefully place them on the can- 

 vass, and down they will go into .the packing house. In order to 

 overcome, in part, the momentum they would otherwise attain and 

 to prevent their bruising, it is proposed to utilize some of the wind 

 friend Dartt told us about, by blowing it into the lower end of the 

 spout in just sufficient quantity to hold the fruit in check and to 

 prevent too rapid a transit. At the lower end, the apples will be 

 carried across a canvass sorter with holes all over it four inches in 

 diameter, so that all the small apples will drop through onto a can- 

 vass below and there be conducted to the cider press, thus allow- 

 ing onlj^ the large, first-class fruit to go into the barrels for market. 

 Orders for this fruit will be filled numerically, in the order in which 

 they are received. 



One advantage in growing an orchard on a side-hill like this is 

 similar to that of a twelve-story building over a one-story; the foot 

 of the tree above is only on a level with the upper story of the tree 

 below, so that the upper tree in no way interferes with the lower 

 one. This plan also admits of planting quite thickly without de- 

 priving any of the trees of plenty of light and sun. As this was to 

 be an experimental orchard, I planted every variety I could get. 



Seriousl}-, I believe there is enough bluff land in Minnesota that 

 is not in use on which could be grown all the apples that the state 

 could use. 



In conclusion, let me urge that organizations are the means b3- 

 which reforms are brought about. We have a pardonable pride in 

 the work that has been accomplished by our societj-, but not until 

 every man who owns a piece of land has learned to provide his own 

 family with healthful fruits and vegetables and also become a con- 

 tributor to those who must necessarily live in towns and cannot 

 grow them; not until every newsboy on the street and the inmates 

 of every cottage shall be supplied; not until every breeze that fans 

 the brow of toil and care shall carry to them the perfume of our be- 

 loved flowers, will our opportunities cease. 



An old farmer who had made most of his money by growing- grain 

 once said, "When I get a good apple crop and sell it, the money it 

 brings it always seems as if I had been made a present of." 



