NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 1 1 1 



where no fruit is raised is increasing very much faster than 

 in the rural communities where there is an opportunity to 

 raise fruit, and they can readily see that the time will never 

 come when there will be fruit enough raised in New Eng- 

 land to supply the market. 



"If, as I stated in an address I gave a few weeks ago, a 

 person has a liking for work of this kind, and will go into it 

 in a business-like way, the same as they would go into any 

 other business, to make a success, and after starting in this 

 way will attend to their business as they would any other 

 business, and not as the majority of fruit growers have done 

 in the past, there can be no question as to their final success, 

 regardless of the fact that they have to contend with the San 

 Jose scale, and a thousand and one other things. 



"Let them bear in mind that there is no other branch 

 of agriculture or horticulture, and no line of business that I 

 am familiar with but what has an equal or a greater amount 

 of obstacles to overcome in order to make it a success. 



"I wish you and your Society great success, and hope 

 that this meeting will prove to be the best attended, and will 

 produce the best results of any that you have ever had." 



I wish, before going further, to say just one word to 

 correct what I fear was a misimpression created by our last 

 speaker. He made reference to the farmers walking down 

 the streets of New Haven, and putting up just as good an 

 appearance as business men. I would like to ask what the 

 farmer is to-day if he is not a business man? He will not 

 be a farmer very long if he is not a business man, I can assure 

 you of that. I will admit that it has been common talk, or a 

 common expression that has often been taken for a fact by 

 the public generally, that the farmer is not a business man, 

 and I am sorry to say that too many farmers have not ap- 

 peared to be business men, but most farmers are business 

 men. Mr. Lee is a farmer, and many other successful busi- 

 ness men are farmers, and I do not want them to get the 

 idea and perpetuate the notion that the farmer is not a busi- 



