TU'ENTIEril ANNUAL MEETING. 



159 



War was the very web and support we needed to en- 

 courage us to our best efforts; who knows but that the 

 hills of \'irginia never would have blossomed with the 

 apple, if our soil had not been leddened with the blood 

 of brave men? And just by way of contrast, I gathered 

 up a few pictures before I left Winchester on Monday 

 of this week, and have brought them up here to give 

 you an idea of the road over which we fruit-growers have 

 traveled in the last twenty or thirty years. And I am going 

 to show you the first picture tha" I have, which will indicate 

 the condition of our country after the visit of our Connecticut 

 brothers. And then, by contrast, I am going to ask you to 

 look at another picture which was taken in the vallev of Vir- 

 ginia last year, that one with the traction engine. 



The picture at my left hand, as you will see, represents 

 a scene in the valley of Virginia at the close of tlie war, when 

 there was not a single apple orchard in that country. The 

 picture on my right represents a scene in that country last 

 }ear when we were drawing apples to the depot with a traction 

 engine, taking 250 barrels at a load. (Applause.) 



Incidentally, I am going to say that the gentleman who 

 owns the orchard from which those apples w'ere drawn with 

 the traction engine, is a Pennsylvania boy who came down to 

 Winchester a few years ago, and has not only acquired, 

 perhaps, what is the best apple orchard in the state of \"n- 

 ginia, but he has also acquired quite recently a l)eautiful \'ir- 

 ginia wife. A\diile we are looking at these pictures, I am going 

 to call }-our attention to this one that is now being held up 

 before you, to show you what is one of the oldest bearing 

 orchards in the W'inchester section, belonging to Mr. Stuart 

 Bell, whose photograph can be seen in the middle of the 

 picture. 



I brought this picture especially to tell you that that par- 

 ticular part of the orchard that is shown in the photograph 

 yielded Mr. Bell last year an average of 7S liushels of apj^les 

 per tree. Those apples were sold at $3 a barrel f. o. h. Win- 

 chester, making pretty close to $3,000 gross receijits per acre. 



