Tenth Annual Meeting 59 



sizes by his illustration the truth that, as our country grows 

 older, the ownership of land, the development of a landed 

 estate, the business of farming will become more and more 

 popular. I verily believe that we are at the beginning of an 

 epoch in this country, during which the men that are most 

 greatly interested in affairs of rural life will rapidly forge to the 

 front in moulding the destinies of the nation. 



Americans have some attributes of character that emphasize 

 their ability to make the most of the situation. I can perhaps 

 illustrate this better by negative examples. In traveling through 

 the southeastern part of France, and in skirting the beautiful 

 lakes of Switzerland, I found a climate that was adapted to 

 the growing of a wide range of fruits. The climate and the 

 conditions have been there always, and still the people have 

 not taken advantage of them and they do not grow the range 

 of fruits that I find in a great many places in our own country 

 not nearly as well situated or having half the valuable attributes 

 of an advanced horticulture. In the vicinity of Boston, for 

 instance, fifty years ago, there were grown nearly all of the 

 finer varieties of pears known to the Old World. In the 

 western part of Michigan we have all of the finer varieties of 

 peaches extant growing successfully. In parts of Missouri and 

 Kansas the finest apples in the world are growing in the greatest 

 variety, but, in this ideal location for fruit culture which I 

 mentioned, I found fruits of only moderate value and rarely 

 any of the best. 



The reason that you people live in Connecticut, and my 

 people live in Michigan, may be found in a variety of causes, 

 but whether in Connecticut or in Michigan we adjust ourselves 

 to the conditions, and we bring to our conditions an ability 

 and resource which enable us to evolve pronounced success. 



There is a tendency in the realm of horticulture as well as 

 in commerce, to equalize the conditions in different localities. 

 Each locality reaches over into the ground of the other, and 

 this fact is not one to be ignored or sneered at, but to be 

 considered thoughtfully in connection with the business side of 

 the occupation, and dealt with in such a way as to recognize 

 it as a factor of great importance in connection with the 

 attainment of success. The grower and the seller of products 



