THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
625 
from an European shipment; and when certain scale insects 
and other pests are coming from Japan. 
The Editor asked for my story in brief. Condensed as it 
is, I want particularly to ask the nurserymen to use still 
greater care in buying their stock, greater care in controlling 
known pests and also to keep in very close communication 
with the authorized state inspectors to the end that we may 
be successful in delaying as long as possible an invasion of 
insects and diseases that threaten the Horticultural industry 
of the country with loss possibly very great in the future. 
ILLINOIS LEGISLATION 
The state legislature of Illinois has passed a bill empower¬ 
ing the state entomologist to prescribe certain precautions 
whereby nurseries and orchards may be prevented from 
infection by dangerous insect pests, and contagious plant 
diseases. This places the matter largely in the hands of the 
state entomologist. 
FRUIT GROWING IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 
W. P. Stark, Louisiana, Mo. 
“The possibilities for fruit growing throughout the entire 
valley are great and the demand is there, yet it is not sur¬ 
prising that growers have neglected orchards since they find 
corn growing more lucrative than apple growing under 
existing conditions which are different from the conditions 
of a few years ago, said Mr. Stark before the Farmers’ Con¬ 
gress at St. Louis. It is necessary to adopt the up-to-date 
methods of the west, for there fruit growing is reduced to a 
practical science and operated strictly on business principles. 
This has had as much to do with their success as the soil or 
the climate. 
“The question has been asked: “Will not the western 
orchards monopolize the market?’’ Yes and no. The 
answer lies with the orchardists of the central west and the 
east. Missouri is peculiarly and most favorably located as a 
fruit growing state. This has been proven by many profit¬ 
able crops harvested. True, we sometimes have wet 
springs and late frosts and we miss a crop now and then, but 
even some of these unfavorable conditions can be avoided. 
In the west, they solve the problem of raising the tempera¬ 
ture by orchard heaters, thus saving the crops. “Since the 
Mountain would not come to Mahomet, Mahomet went to 
the Mountain.” During the past season, some work has 
been done along this line and they have been partially suc¬ 
cessful in fighting the severest spring freeze in many years. 
It is a lamentable fact that throughout these sections thou¬ 
sands of apple trees have been cut down or neglected until 
practically worthless, simply because the growers are dis¬ 
couraged at repeated failures. There is nothing seriously 
wrong. The difficulty is simply that the orchardists have 
not adapted themselves to changed conditions and it 
is necessary that educational work be extended among 
them. 
The Agricultural College can not do all of this work for it 
does not come in contact with many of the older generation. 
It must be done through organized boards and farmers’ 
institutes as well as the co-operation of the states. The 
adaptability of new varieties must be tested as well as 
methods improved and a great deal of work has already been 
done along this line towards simplifying the problem. For 
the home orchard, a number of kinds of fruits are desirable, 
but for commercial purposes each region can produce several 
varieties or more to best advantage and should not attempt 
to grow and ship other sorts which another region can pro¬ 
duce better. In the west, their methods are intense and 
their yields maximum. They are content with nothing 
else. They change their varieties to suit conditions and 
they think nothing of working over the tops of orchards of 
such inferior varieties as Ben Davis, or Mo. Pippin. “Why 
should we grow the poorer varieties when we can just as 
easily grow the better quality fruit that will command more 
remunerative prices?” Last year they could not ship Mo. 
Pippin and Ben Davis in competition with Eastern apples, 
but they could ship the high class varieties such as Delicious 
Jonathan, Stayman Winesap, and Rome Beauty. 
“The markets everywhere are demanding higher quality 
and learning to discriminate. Col. Dalton and others pro¬ 
duce large, attractive Jonathan apples along the river bluffs 
north of St. Louis. The Grimes’ Golden is a fitting com¬ 
panion to go with the Jonathan and nowhere does the 
Grimes grow to higher perfection, not even in its own West 
Virginia, than on the clay lands of Missouri and Illinois. 
From Calhoun County northward and thence westward to 
Glen wood, Iowa is the home of the Grimes. The prize¬ 
winning Grimes at the Paris Exposition were grown by Mr. 
Fred Shaw of Pike County, Illinois. A California man, after 
sampling some Grimes here, said they were the finest apple 
in the world and asked what the land was worth which pro¬ 
duced such apples. We said $40 per acre. He replied that 
land of such producing capacity should be cheap at $400 
per acre. 
“Cherry growing has never been given the attention it 
should receive. The market is never half supplied with 
small fruits. The cherry, especially the Montmorency type, 
which are adapted to the valley, are hardy, bear large crops 
regularly and bring good prices on the local markets. They 
require very little water and can be grown in the western 
plains country without irrigation. Cherries come into bear¬ 
ing young and for this reason many growers have been 
planting them as fillers in the young apple orchards. They 
yield some very profitable crops before it is necessary to cut 
them out in order to make room for the permanent apple 
trees. It costs no more to cultivate an orchard with the 
fillers than without. 
“The growing of Kieffer and Garber and others pear is an 
industry that is overlooked and neglected. Last year a big 
crop moved out of Pike County for $2.50 to $3.00 per barrel. 
The orchard was neither cultivated, pruned or sprayed. 
The fruit grew unthinned. Had they been sprayed and 
thinned a couple of times and properly boxed, they would 
have yielded the owner a crop equal to the entire value of his 
farm. Our list of varieties which are especially adapted to 
the different regions is constantly growing. Men are giving 
their lives to the securing, producing and development of 
new kinds of fruits as well as grain and livestock.’ 
