FRUIT CULTURE 127 



I do not think myself that we are coming to a time when apples 

 will not be worth picking, and I have enough faith in New England 

 apples to believe that when the time comes that there is not to be an 

 over-production but a larger production than we have at the present 

 time, Massachusetts will stand at least as good a show as any 

 other part of the country. But I cannot help feeling that we ought 

 to be a little more conservative than we are. 



In the short time allowed to me, I am going to take a few 

 scattered points here and there in reference to the three subjects 

 assigned to me, and attempt to give you a few suggestions. 



First, in the matter of planting I want to endorse and emphasize 

 what Mr. Wheeler has said in reference to varieties, because I feel 

 that that is a crucial point with us; and I think I can endorse 

 almost the entire list he gave. I think it is an excellent one. I 

 think where we are likely to err the most is in wanting to grow the 

 Western varieties. The only one Mr. Wheeler put in was the 

 Winter Banana, and I have seen some as fine Winter Bananas grown 

 here as are grown anywhere. People look at some of our fruit 

 stands in this city, or any other city, and see these beautiful 

 Western fruits and they say, " That is what I want. I want to 

 grow some of those Spitzenburgs or Winesaps or Delicious or 

 Winter Bananas, I don't want to bother with these Eastern 

 varieties." Or they send in a list, and ask for advice concern- 

 ing them. Or more often they send to nurseries and buy the 

 trees without asking advice. Now I think that is one of the most 

 serious mistakes we can make, because out of the whole list which 

 is grown out there, there are very few that may be considered as 

 valuable commercial varieties for New England. Just another 

 word on quality: We ought always to insist on high quality. 

 People are coming to feel that New England can grow — at least 

 we people in this part of the country feel that we can grow — fruit 

 finer in quality than they can in the West. And that has been the 

 slogan of ovir campaign, that we can grow better fruit in the East 

 than they can in the West. That is one of the strongest argu- 

 ments in favor of the New England industry, and I think we 

 make a great mistake in not planting high-grade varieties. And 

 yet some insist on planting such varieties as the Ben Davis. I 

 should say stick to the high quality varieties. Do not grow any- 



