THE FRUIT GROWING BUSINESS. 



,HE uncertainty which at- 

 tends the business of the 

 fruit grower is some- 

 times very trying to his 

 patience, the results are 

 sometimes so disappoint- 

 ing that he is almost discouraged. If 

 sometimes the returns for a fruit crop 

 are higher than for ordinary crops, it is 

 only a just compensation for the frequent 

 failures to which the crop is subject. 

 Sometimes we meet a summer frost, 

 sometimes a winter of unusual severity ; 

 one year the apple crop fails completely, 

 another year it is too small or too scabby 

 for shipment ; now the peach, now the 

 pear is a total failure, and a whole year's 

 income is gone. 



And when to these misfoi tunes we 

 add two years of depressed prices such 

 as we have just experienced, it is no 

 wonder that many have turned their 

 attention to other lines, and have offered 

 for sale fruit farms that formerly it was 

 almost impossible to buy. All these 

 considerations however make for the 

 ultimate good of the fruit grower who 

 has made the business his life work, and 

 is not possessed by a fickle mind. The 

 second class will be weeded out. the 

 poor orchards rooted out, and when the 

 good times and higher prices come, the 

 deserving and persevering will have the 

 reward they so well deserve. 



As an txample of the disappointments 

 whirh have fallen the lot of many of our 

 fruit growers this spring, wegue a letter 

 just received from Mr. W. W. Hillborn, 

 Leamington, an experimenter in peaches, 

 he sa>s : 



" I find the damage done to our fruit trees 

 by frost was much gi eater than we first 

 thought. All nursery trees in this district 

 were killed, about 100,000, and I think I am 

 safe in saying that not less than 95% of all 

 the peach trees planted in orchar.l are killed. 

 It is hard to believe such to be true when we 



look at the tops and see they are bursting 

 out nicely in leaf, and most of them very full 

 of blossom buds just beginning to open. 

 When we examine the roots we find nearly 

 all are killed. Many plums, some cherries, 

 pears and apples are injured. I expect to 

 have to clear off the whole farm and start 

 over again. A week ago I thought there were 

 many that would pull through, but at pre- 

 sent I fear it will be a clean sweep. Mr. 

 Carpenter, of Winona, has just been here, he 

 says he thinks much damage has been done 

 there also. Mr. W. H. Lee, of Virgil, writes 

 me that his nursery trees (Peach) are all 

 killed. Cannot send out any this season. It 

 is only within the last few days that it was 

 apparent what damage had been done." 



This is indeed a deplorable story, and 

 our friend Hillborn, and others in the 

 same boat, have our sincere sympathy ; 

 at the same time we admire his pluck, 

 for he writes that he intends replanting 

 as soon as possible. Time will show 

 that he is doing the wise thing. 



The result will not be all loss, for the 

 wreck is so wide spread, especially in the 

 Western States, that large prices must re- 

 sult, and the persistent grower must 

 eventually receive his reward. 



Fig. 1599.— J. H. H\le. 



J. H. Hale, the Connecticut peach 

 grower, seems never discouraged with 

 reverses, and his success is phenomenal. 

 He is an enthusiast, and a quotation 

 from a recent address of his before the 

 i3 



