104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



to-day, and proposed to get my living out of the soil, I 

 would start with apple culture, and increase it as far as 

 I could in doing well. I believe there is money in it, and 

 the safest investment that an}^ young man can make. 



The Chair. I want to tell a little incident. Some ten 

 years ago in Wilbraham they proposed to hold a farmers' 

 institute, and it Avas voted to send them a speaker on fruit. 

 I sent our friend who just took his seat, and they had a good 

 meeting, and the good seed seemed to take root. Next year 

 they Avanted another, and I don't know but j\lr. Wood went 

 that time ; and the third year they sent a request for Mr. 

 Hale, the great peach grower. And the result of those 

 three institutes Avas that more than 20,000 baskets of peaches 

 Avere shipped from a distance Avithin a mile of where the 

 institute Avas held. I would like to have Professor Waugh 

 tell about peach culture. 



Professor Waugh. I believe that the prospect in peach 

 culture is better, perhaps, than the a})ple. Those fruits that 

 require special knowledge and that are a greater luxury 

 always bring greater reward, and in the United States there 

 has been much attention given to peach culture. The in- 

 crease in twenty years is 08 per cent in apples and 85 per 

 cent increase in })eaches. Whether in profits or not, I could 

 not say, but evidently it is so. Mon who have understood 

 the production of peaches have made money, have demon- 

 strated that money can l)e made in peaches at a good profit. 

 One consideration that should be borne in mind in the apple 

 business and peach business is, that they can be carried on 

 on land comparatively worthless. I have been looking 

 around, and I have seen land that can be had at $2.50 to 

 $5 per acre suitable for peaches or other fruits. 



Mr. Wood. This has brought me to state some things I 

 have seen in Massachusetts the present year in the way of 

 raising fruit. I am always pleased Avhen I can find and in- 

 vestigate an agricultural industry that is a success. It is 

 worth a farmer's while to go to some good farmer's estab- 

 lishment and learn hoAv he docs things. I am not engaged 

 in the fruit business myself, but I have a friend Avho is. 

 He invited me this fall to his orchard of peaches, and his 



