STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9I 



special side of the question as to varieties of their kind, and 

 methods of cultivation, to others that are to follow me. 



This is an age of progress, and in horticulture, as in every 

 other occupation, there are new ways of doing things, new ideas 

 are coming to the front. Along every line there are new lessons 

 to be learned, new applications of old principles. 



Almost everything in this world has a theoretical side and a 

 practical side. This is the case in growing fruit. 



Theory is good in its place — that evolved from practice, for 

 instance, and from everyday, common sense facts developed by 

 actual contact with the plants in cultivating and caring for them. 



THE POINT WHICH POINTS. 



The point is this: Farmers are so accustomed to hearing or 

 reading finely written essays painting in glowing colors the 

 beauties and pleasures pertaining to the production of the sum- 

 mer fruits for home use, that it would almost seem that the very 

 air about the farmer's home must be redolent with the fragrance 

 and perfume of strawberries and raspberries in blossom and in 

 ripened fruit. 



Most of our farmers know that while this all sounds well on 

 paper, there are practical preliminaries to be attended to, a 

 measure of expert work of its kind to be done, to make possible 

 the flowery glories of the fruit garden and indulgence in its lux- 

 uries. But notwithstanding the work necessary to accomplish 

 this, it is not of a kind that prohibits such realization. 



Everybody can have a garden and raise a few fruits; every- 

 body who can get access to earth, air, water and the sunshine. 

 There are no trusts to freeze out the householder from enjoying 

 these God-given bounties, no letters patent to restrict their 

 enjoyment to a chosen few. All classes, from the mechanic, to 

 the farmer who cultivates his broad acres, may if they will, par- 

 take of the rich bounties Nature has so liberally provided for 

 man through the exercise, on his part, of a little well-directed 

 labor. 



According to an account I saw in an agricultural paper lately, 

 anybody with a space of earth at command on which to set a 

 barrel may enjoy the luxury of several bushels of strawberries 

 grown in a very novel way, simply around a barrel. Linseed 



