42 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



about seventy of pears. ]\Iy pear crop last year was about tbe 

 same as this season and I used the same amount of chemicals. 

 Xo\Y these are the facts and you can judge as well as I how 

 much is due to the season and how much to the chemicals. My 

 nearest neighbors have only about half as many this season as 

 they had last, and the same is true of Neighbor Breed, with his 

 orchard full of pigs. But I shall look for a better yield next 

 season, for some cause or other that I cannot explain his orchard 

 always does its best the odd year. 



J\ly experience teaches me that no fertilizer will, as a rule, 

 produce uniform results with different kinds of fruit, neither 

 will it cause trees to bear every season or change the bearing 

 year. Trees, like individuals, have their own peculiariries that 

 no influence can change. I should as soon think of changing 

 the disposition of a company of young people by treating them 

 with ice cream and cake as I would the natural habits of trees 

 by any method of fertilization. There are exceptions I must 

 admit to this rule, for I had some Baldwin and Bellflower trees 

 that never bore any fruit to speak of until I applied the formula 

 and they have yielded bountiful crops ever since. Whether it 

 was natural or not I cannot say, neither do I care as long as I 

 have the fruit. I wish it distinctly understood that I am no 

 agent for any man, corporation or company, and that I have no 

 interest whatever in the manufacture or sale of any kind of a 

 fertilizer either directly or indirectly. All the benefit I get is 

 by using them, which you all can have if you choose, and from 

 what experience I have had I do not hesitate to recommend to 

 everyone who is interested in fruit growing to try some, in a 

 small way at first; study the results and if it does not leave a 

 good margin of profit stop using it. I don't believe in doing 

 business for nothing and when I find that it does not pay me I 

 shall stop. 



Mr. DeCoster: Mr. President, allow me just a word. I 

 was at our State Grange meeting a year ago and I took the lib- 

 erty of buying 500 pounds of this chemical that Mr. Dawes spoke 

 of. I had some trees that were not doing what I thought they 

 should. I make a point of looking over my trees and if I find 

 a tree not growing as I think it ought to I realize I must do 

 something for it. I thought I would use some of this chemical 



