NINE TEEN TH A NN UA L MEE TING 1 79 



different from what it was a few years ago. There are 

 comparatively few men in the state interested in growing 

 peaches compared with what there were five or six years 

 ago, or perhaps ten years ago. It seems to have come 

 down to where there are only a few who have made it their 

 life work, the main industry on their farms, but, of course, 

 there are quite a number who have taken it up in con- 

 nection with other lines. I think that the story of Adam 

 and Eve was a mistake in one respect ; that Eve should 

 have offered Adam a peach instead of an apple. We men, 

 of course, can appreciate Adam's situation. We can all see 

 that Adam must have thought that Eve was a "peach," 

 even if she had offered Adam a pumpkin. 



Now to go on with my subject, I would like to say 

 that I will briefly give you my impressions of the pros- 

 pects of the future of the peach industry in Connecticut, 

 and incidentally, I shall bring in my observations in re- 

 gard to peach growing in the states that would compete 

 with us, naturally, in the growing of the fruit. As I said 

 before, the conditions are different from what they used 

 to be. We must look at the business in a very different 

 light. As it has been for the last six or eight years, and 

 as it will continue to be in the future, we have got to put 

 up a stiff fight against all these insects that have been im- 

 ported into the country, and which I guess, have spread all 

 over the world. By the increased facilities of transporta- 

 tion, these parts have spread practically everywhere. 



I might say that the competition from the states that 

 have usually competed with us, it seems to me, is going 

 to be much less in the future than it has been in the past. 

 T had occasion to take a little trip south through New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and I observed there 

 few peach orchards that were in a thrifty condition. There 

 were a great many small orchards going out, orchards 

 which had been killed by insects, or something had de- 

 stroved them. A comparatively few trees were being set 



