FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 1 15 



The audience was much pleased and Miss McCall very 

 kindly responded to an encore. 



The first address of the evening was by Mr. Ethelbert 

 Bliss of Wilbraham, Mass., whose subject was "Experiences 

 in peach orcharding at Mapleside Farm." Mr. Bliss' remarks 

 were illustrated with many lantern slides showing the various 

 phases of his successful orchard undertakings. 



[As it is impossible to reproduce here the pictures shown 

 in connection with this address and without which it would 

 be of little value, we are compelled to omit this feature of 

 the i^rogram entirely. — Editor.] 



i\rr. H. W. Collingwood of the Rural Ncn'-Yorkcr was 

 introduced next and gave the principle address of the eve- 

 ning, as follows: 



The Trend of Present-Day Fruit Growing. 



By H. W. Collingwood, Editor The Rural Ncw-Yorkcr. 



I am not a prophet, a son of a prophet, or a fortune teller. 

 It does not need a prophet, however, to see that wonderful 

 changes are working out and that the changes of the future 

 are to be even greater and more rapid than those of the past. 

 Those of us who are able to go back 25 years or more remem- 

 ber what was done then in the way of fruit. On my uncle's 

 old farm over in Massachusetts there were possibly a dozen 

 apple trees ; Porter and Baldwins were the chief varieties. 

 These trees, poorly cared for and not fertilized, butchered, 

 rather than trimmed, added a fair sum to the income of the 

 farm, and, what is more, laid the foundation for the feeling 

 which has developed into the Apple Consumers' League. 

 These apples were sold within a limited range of possibly 10 

 miles. Few, if any, rotted or were lost. Those which could 

 not be sold were generally cut up by hand, dried in the sun, 

 and either sold or eaten as dried apples. I regret to say that 

 even the parings were soaked or boiled in water, squeezed 

 throuo-h a bag. and sold as cider or weak vinegar. It certainly 



