No. 4.] FRUIT TREES AND INSECT FOES. 113 



ness, on business principles, and with the determination to 

 produce the very best fruit in existence, in order to establish 

 a satisfactory market. 



The difference in freight rates from points in this State to 

 Boston, as compared with those from the west, is worthy of 

 a moment's consideration. If a Kansas fruit raiser, for ex- 

 ample, ships apples in carload lots to Boston for export, he 

 pays from 25 to 35 cents per hundred pounds to the Missis- 

 sippi River or to Chicago, and 30 or 35 cents more from there 

 to Boston, his total freight being 60 or 70 cents per hundred 

 pounds. The Massachusetts grower shipping in the same 

 way would pay on the average 8 cents per hundred pounds, — 

 a saving of nearly seven-eighths of the total shipping charges, 

 as compared with the Kansas shipper. 



It is high time for the farmers of Massachusetts to throw 

 off the lethargy in which they have so long remained, and pre- 

 pare themselves to occupy markets properly theirs, and which 

 they can supply easier and better than can the residents of any 

 other section of this country. 



A recent editorial writer in the Youth's Companion has 

 expressed his views upon this subject as follows: — • 



The rapid development of the fruit-growing industry in this region is 

 due to the great fertility of the soil, the intelligence and energy of the 

 western farmers, and the co-operative organizations of growers. Poor 

 fruit has been discouraged and almost eliminated. Packing is in boxes, 

 with every apple wrapped separately, and warranted to be perfect. 

 The number of apples which a box contains is printed plainly on the 

 outside, and there is absolutely no "deaconing." 



These methods have enabled the western growers to realize a profit 

 on apples and pears of $100 to $1,000 an acre. . . . There is no mys- 

 tery about this remarkable development. It is due solely to intelli- 

 gence, enterprise and hard work, and is just as much within reach of 

 eastern growers as it was in the grasp of their western rivals. The 

 lesson ought not to be lost upon eastern farmers who wish to retain 

 such of their fruit market as still remains to them. 



Even under present conditions, there are many persons in the 

 State who derive three-quarters of their entire income from sales 

 of their fruit. One such man, whose name would be familiar 

 to many of those present, recently admitted that his trees are 

 growing in sod land, without fertilizing, pruning except at long 



