46 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



"Oh, in Boston and at my old stamping-ground on South Water 

 street, Chicago." 



"What commission house do you consign to?" 



"To the same one which has received all my products for more than 

 twenty years. I have never changed. I sell car-loads to parties who 

 come to ray farm at an advanced price." 



" What was your small-fruit croj) this year, and how about prices ?" 



"I had a very large crop, and it paid me good profits." 



I said : "Now, Mr. Morrill, here is a remarkable condition of things. 

 Here you are in the midst of the greatest peach and fruit belt in the 

 world, extending almost 300 miles along the lake and well back in the 

 interior (Mr. Morrill is about seven miles from the lake). There are 

 probably not a half-dozen who had a paying crop, and you seem to be 

 the only one with so large an acreage having such fancy prices for 

 everything. I should like to know how far you attribute this success 

 to the physical condition of your trees and the method of propagating 

 and caring for them." 



"It has everything to do with it." 



"How were these trees propagated, and who did it?" 



"I have in my orchard many trees which bear better fruit than 

 others. Indeed, on some of these trees there are certain limbs which 

 bear better fruit than others. I propagated these trees as far as pos- 

 sible myself, taking all my buds from these better trees. Of course, 

 I have had to buy new varieties. I have full faith in the individuality 

 of trees and plants, as much as the stock I breed. There are great 

 variations iu trees and plants, and in jDropagating through buds and 

 stimulating them by high tillage and restriction they develop better 

 characteristics; and when we find them we must breed from them. I 

 have practiced this for many years While it is difficult to furnish 

 absolute proof, yet I cannot account for such crops as I have grown 

 for half a lifetime, without a failure, on any other hy^jothesis." 



"Then, Mr. Morrill, you believe that trees under neglect overbear 

 and decline in vitality, and easily fall a victim to fungi, insects, and 

 unfavorable climatic conditions, and that trees or plants propagated 

 from them share in this weakne.ss?" 



"Well, I should think my work proved I believed in it absolutely. 

 I would not think of taking buds from an unfruitful tree." 



"What is your method of pruning ?" 



"We iDrune every year in March, removing any weak limbs and 

 cutting off about half of last year's growth, operating on each indi- 

 vidual limb and cutting out in such a way that every leaf shall have 

 full sunshine." 



"Then you believe that excessive bloom is a factor in potency of 

 pollen and the develoj^ment of fruit ?" 



