February, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
87 
accomplished facts indicate great- 
ly improved conditions under 
which we will market our fruit in 
the future. 
Last spring we received a let- 
ter asking us to direct an orchard- 
ist in this state to some one to 
whom he could lease his farm or- 
chard of something less than four 
acres. He stated he was a busy 
farmer and did not have time to 
care for the orchard even though 
he knew how. After considerable 
correspondence we arranged to 
use this orchard for a pruning 
and spraying demonstration. In 
one of the earlier letters from the 
farmer, he says, “The last two 
years the orchard has blossomed 
full and produced very few ap- 
ples. This last season I got only 
about 25 bushels of very inferior 
apples.” On November 2 he 
writes, “We have realized $525.00 
from apples so far and have a lot 
to sell yet, so we consider that the 
project was sure a successful 
one.” It cost approximately 
$25.00 to produce this result. The 
significant part of his letter, how- 
ever, was contained in the remark, 
“I have not yet decided just what 
to get for next year’s use.” 
Regardless of what our attitude 
towards this type of farm orch- 
ard is we are sure of one thing, 
that, like the poor, we will always 
have them with us. That they 
exert a marked effect upon our 
fruit industry can scarcely be de- 
nied. When you consider that the 
larger part of the fruit produced 
in Wisconsin and, I also believe, 
the larger part of the fruit mar- 
keted in the state comes from 
just such orchards as this, we can- 
not, ostrich-like, stick our heads in 
the sand of our personal opinion 
and thereby perform our greatest 
service to Wisconsin horticul- 
ture. 
The incident 1 have recited is 
just one of many that come to our 
attention every year. The signifi- 
cant fact is that the farm orch- 
ardist is awakening to the fact 
that he should do something for 
his orchard. He frequently does 
not know what or how, but he is 
expressing an eagerness to learn 
and when he has once “been 
shown”, he becomes another dis- 
ciple to the slogan of “Better 
Wisconsin Fruit.” Most of us 
can remember when it required 
much persuasion to even induce 
the commercial orchardist in this 
state to spray and we still experi- 
ence some difficulty in getting 
some of them to follow the ap- 
proved methods. It is to be ex- 
pected that the task of getting the 
farm orchardist to spray will be 
much greater for his heart is sup- 
posedly set on cows or corn, not 
fruit. Never-the-less the signs of 
the times would seem to indicate 
that “the field is golden unto the 
harvest” for a campaign for bet- 
ter methods in the management 
of the farm orchard. You may 
say, go ahead ; that is part of the 
business of the Horticultural De- 
partment. We have been going 
ahead as fast as the facilities 
which we are able to command 
have permitted but we can only 
scrape the surface of this job. 
Wisconsin is a large state, its 
farm orchards are numerous, the 
demands for help are many. If 
we are to accomplish the most pos- 
sible at this opportune time, we 
will all have to lend a hand. You 
can do much in your community 
by setting a good example. That 
is especially true if you are not 
now doing it. If you are profes- 
sing to spray and not doing a good 
job at it, a job which will give sat- 
isfactory returns, you are hinder- 
ing. not aiding the development 
of the fruit industry of the state. 
If you are setting the right kind 
of an example, make your orchard 
a demonstration orchard. Be 
neighborly, invite in your friend 
who does not give his orchard 
proper care and diplomatically in- 
oculate him with the “better fruit 
germ”. It may take the infection 
quite a long time to show any re- 
sults, but in the majority of cases 
it will produce them sooner or 
later. 
Sometimes we are inclined to 
look out for No. 1 so much that we 
lose our persepctive and instead of 
helping, hinder ourselves. You 
may now have the only real good 
fruit coming into your market and 
therefore suffer little competition 
in marketing your product. Per- 
haps you are asking, Why should 
I encourage my neighbors to be- 
come my competitors in this class 
and thus make my problem of 
marketing more difficult? If you 
hold such views, it seems to me 
you are looking at the problem 
from the wrong angle. In the 
first place you suffer competition 
even though you have the only 
good fruit on the market. The 
poor quality stuff sets the market 
price, because it is the bulk of the 
fruit coming on the market. You 
may get a premium, but it is a pre- 
mium over an unusually low price 
and probably not as high as if you 
were receiving no premium on a 
market set by good quality fruit. 
An additional fact which should 
not be overlooked is that if a larg- 
er percentage of better fruit was 
available, the consumption and 
therefore the demand would in- 
crease. 
What shall we do then as con- 
cerns this significant fact of an 
awakened sentiment for better 
management of the home orchard? 
(Continued on page 9(i ) 
