58 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



I received an invitation from your secretary to be with vou 

 this year. 



When I was a boy, my ancestors used to occasionally 

 drive throug^h Connecticut, and whether it was from obser- 

 vation and experience, or whether it was from their say-so, 

 I used to hear a good deal about Connecticut people and "Con- 

 necticut apple-jack," and I believe in those susceptible days I 

 did hear something- about the famous Connecticut "wooden 

 nutmegs," to which my friend from Virginia referred this 

 morning. I never supposed, however, that you would have 

 to go to Virginia to get the wood to make them of, nor do I 

 believe this state will ever have to get the apples to manufac- 

 ture your "apple-jack" from any other state, for I believe you 

 can raise enough in Connecticut without going elsewhere. 



Coming from the Hudson River valley in New York state, 

 as I do, my experience in apple growing is based upon my 

 observation in that locality, but as the Hudson valley almost 

 touches your western counties, you can readily see that, as we 

 are such near neighbors, having the same climate, similar soil, 

 the same insect and other pests to combat, and practically the 

 same market conditions, wdiatever afTects the Hudson river 

 districts must also affect Xew England in a similar manner. 

 What affects one locality affects the other. 



The growing and marketing of applies is now an entirely 

 different proposition from what is was a generation ago. and 

 it requires entirely different methods, both in the growing and 

 selling, tO' what it did then. The time was, and not so long 

 ago either, when apple orchards were planted and then left 

 to the tender mercies of the elements, and with but little help 

 from their owners, and it is surprising that so many of them,, 

 under such conditions, did in time reach maturity and pro- 

 duce profitable crops of fruit. It seems to me that they do 

 remarkably well in Virginia, and it is surprising that they are 

 able to produce such fine crops, particularly of cherries, as 

 Mr. Lupton described to you this morning, under the condi- 

 tions that they have there. Of course, it must be largely due 

 to the character of the climate which they have there. We 

 are not so highly favored in this country as they are there. 



