QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS.

What about the Idaho pear?

Mr. WILLARD--Very poor.

Mr. HOOKER-Poor and rough.

Prof. ALWOOD-A failure in the South; blights badly; flavor abominable.

Mr. HOOKER asked:

How about North Star currant ?

The concensus of opinion was as strong against it as the Idaho pear.

Is the Loudon raspberry likely to supersede Cuthbert ?

Mr. WILLARD--Loudon is a pretty good berry; takes with the people. Strong commendation is given it in Ohio, and on the Hudson and other places. Should think canners would like it as it holds up well; understand it to be hardy.

Mr. HUNT--Isn't it larger than Cuthbert, on an average?

Mr. WILLARD--No; but is different in shape.

Mr. HOOKER confirmed Mr. Willard.

A MEMBER asked if it sprouted from the root and the answer was-yes. Is it advisable to use South Carolina rock in orchards in preference to bone?

Mr. SETH ALLIS-Is the acid used in cutting this rock injurious to crops?

Prof. JORDAN-Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) is expensive, and the manufacturer is careful to use no more than is necessary to dissolve the rock. If the process is properly carried on there will be no excess of acid, all of it being converted into the form of sulphate of lime or land plaster, which can be safely used to almost any extent.

Prof. VAN DEMAN recommends using this acidulated rock phosphate on stable floors to dissolve the liquid manures which usually go to waste. He said this fertilizer contains a larger portion of gypsum or land plaster, and is a good absorbent, and the fourteen per cent. phosphoric acid which it contained made the manure exceedingly rich. Sixty per cent. of the value of manure is in liquids, which is usually lost. Every farmer ought to have a few tons of this dissolved rock for use in horse stables and cow stables. It is a deodorizer as well as an absorbent.

Mr. T. B. TERRY, of Ohio, has made his farm so rich by plowing under clover that he has no use for any other manure except what little he secures from his barnyard. It has been found that a commercial fertilizer will have no effect there. In other words he has secured such a supply of fertility by plowing under clover that the plants desire no more, and will not take any more if more is applied.

Prof. VAN DEMAN said that the orchardists could not afford to buy barnyard manure shipped by the carload, or bought in the vicinity, where clover could be grown and plowed under, since in fertilizing by clover the expense of drawing and handling of heavy manure was saved.

Mr. ALLIS-If we pay $42 per ton for bone what would be the proper price to pay for the rock?

Prof. JORDAN-That is about half as much again as you ought to pay. Who is charging you $42 for bone?

Mr. ALLIS-I was told that was the price.

Prof. JORDAN-An agent told me he could sell it dissolved and ready to apply at $10 per ton. Guaranteed fourteen per cent. phosphoric acid. You get more phosphoric acid in rock than in bone.

A MEMBER bought phosphoric acid in rock dissolved at $14 per ton. Considering the steady decline in prices, what is the outlook for the fruitgrower in the future?

Mr. WILLARD-Good.
Pres. BARRY-Why?

Mr. WILLARD-There are a good many questions involved. Our people are becoming more thoroughly educated from year to year. The population is increasing and the more thoroughly they are enlightened the more will they adopt the principles propounded by Prof. Jordan to day. The Lord has given us dominion over fruit trees, but, like Adam in the garden we do not realize the fact. Formerly, fruit growing afforded more than legitimate profits. Properly handled, we can make the orchard or tree produce almost what we choose. We are coming down to where the fruit interests of this state are going to be conducted on business principles, affording a fair profit for a man's labor. If I were young I would have the biggest apple orchard in the state, if I had to borrow money to secure it. It is my belief we are on the outside limb of the best apple belt in the United States. Missouri apples have not the quality of ours. Our ancestors have been planting Baldwins, but we have discovered that there is such a thing as planting too many of one variety. You cannot rely on a general crop of Baldwins oftener than once in four or five years. But if we plant mixed varieties, such as Hubbardston's Nonsuch and Duchess of Oldenburg. Twenty Ounce, Sutton's Beauty or Ben Davis, we can have crops every year if our trees are properly cared for.

Mr. D. K. BELL-Doesn't raising Ben Davis injure the sale of other varieties?

Mr. WILLARD-No, sir.

Ben Davis is one of the most profitable apples

for evaporating purposes grown in this state.

Mr. BELL-Well, I was visiting a neighbor of mine some time since, and he brought out some Ben Davis apples for us to eat, but they didn't disappear very fast. A half peck lasted them all winter. [Laughter.]

Mr. WILLARD—Yes; I have heard that same thing said here year after year in regard to the best pear ever put on the market-the Kieffer. There are men in this audience who once hooted that pear, but who now cannot say too much in its praise. [Laughter.]

Mr. MCCOLLUM-What about the hundreds of thousands of acres of plums and pears that are going to be like the white grape, of which they are now pulling out one-third in Chautauqua county?

Mr. WILLARD-I believe in plum-growing, and can truthfully state that the growing of apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc., has not been overdone. We are becoming more intelligent on this subject. There is a great difference in hardiness of fruit bud in the different varieties, and when such are chosen and grown, instead of planting indiscriminately, we shall find that peach-growing is profitable. The quince is an annual bearer, and while we cannot get the former high prices, still it is a profitable crop. In regard to plums, the future, to me, is full of hope. We are experiencing a revolution in regard to the varieties that can be profitably grown for market. In certain locations, too, apricots are being grown with profit; as also are our small fruits in their relation to canning factories.

Mr. GEO. T. POWELL-There is no more important question than this, and it is one that is being asked by men who have large amounts of money invested. The future of this industry is going to depend largely upon the extent to which the laboring classes of this country can be fully employed. There was not a barrel too many apples produced in 1896, but sixty per cent. of our laboring population was out of employment, and could not have bought apples if they had been but twenty-five cents a barrel. Then, too, fruit-growers have made the mistake of growing largely a variety regardless of aiming to get the finest quality. The same mistake was made in the kind that was shipped to Europe. Tens of thousands of barrels of apples were sent to those markets that should never have been sent to any market.

Mr. MCCOLLUM-What would you do with them? Two millions of barrels went to Europe and nothing could be got for them.

Mr. POWELL-Europe paid high prices for fancy varieties; but the good was swamped by the larger quantity of poor fruit. The other point I would emphasize is one made by Prof. Jordan, viz., that the fruit-growers of New York state must aim more at quality rather than quantity. We can never reach the point of over-stocking the markets with fruit of good quality.

Mr. MCCOLLUM—Considering the hundreds of thousands of acres of plums and other fruits now coming into bearing, I predict that the plums will not be picked from the trees.

Mr. POWELL-This touches again the question of distribution. While it is true that tens of thousands of our people never eat a peach, or a plum, or a bunch of grapes, we shall never produce enough if the people have the money to buy.

Prof. CARD, of Nebraska University—I am surprised to hear the remarks in regard to the Ben Davis apple. We can grow it in southwestern Nebraska and in Kansas larger than you, but not as good in quality. We buy the New York state apple there because we do not like the Ben Davis. You must aim for quality; but you are barking up the wrong tree in pressing the Ben Davis.

Mr. WOODWARD-New York should aim to produce a quality of apple that cannot be excelled. Let the West grow the quantity required for something else than the markets. When we have a small crop our cold storage men go West and buy up western apples, and fill their houses here, and afterwards send them out as Western New York" fruit. A New York firm canned California peaches and sent them back to that state to be sold as "New York peaches." Don't let us grow either Ben Davis apple or Kieffer pear. [Laughter.]

Mr. C. M. HOOKER asked why "Kieffer pear was quoted in the New York market higher than Anjou, which is one of the finest grown?"

Mr. WOODWARD-Simply because the fools are not all dead. I saw Kieffers labeled “cooking pears." [Laughter.]

Prof. VAN DEMAN--I would like to suggest that some of you try an apple called "Jonathan." Perhaps you all know it. An apple of high quality and beautiful. It brings the highest price paid for any apple in the St. Louis market. Ben Davis is not worth mentioning at the same time with Jonathan. A New York state-grown Ben Davis can never be like a western Ben Davis. Let me advise you to top-graft some of your old trees with Jonathan. Another good apple is Grimes' Golden; nothing equal to it; is different in flavor.

A MEMBER-How do these varieties yield?

Prof. VAN DEMAN-They are moderate producers, but annual bearers. Mr. CLAUDIUS L. HOAG-Reference has been made to the Niagara grape. They say it has been overdone. I wonder where the other varieties of grapes are in comparison. Concords, in Buffalo, are bringing a penny per pound. Whenever the Niagara has failed to be profitable it is because it was planted on the wrong soil, and has not received proper care. I know from long experience, that there is no grape so profitable as the Niagara when properly grown.

Mr. MCCOLLUM-At Dunkirk, a week ago, they were pulling out onethird of the Niagara grape belt. The average price obtained by the union for the year on the whole crop, was a little less than seven cents a basket. In Buffalo they fetched fifteen dollars per ton out of a commission storage, which was three quarters of a cent per pound. The Kieffer pear always brings money. E. Moody & Sons, Lockport, shipped fifty-six boxes of

On

pears to Liverpool, Eng., where they arrived in perfect condition. January 14th they were sold. Anjous brought three dollars per box of 45 lbs.; Kieffer and Bosc the same, and Clairgeau six pence (twelve cents) less. I advise planting Kieffer.

Prof. JORDAN-I am not a horticulturist. This question as to whether a great industry will die out and whether we must be discouraged from producing what all the world needs, amuses me. It is a big question-an economic question. Let me tell you that just so long as the world needs certain things men will produce them. Humanity is going to eat, and men are going to work and we need not fear that there is going to be an overproduction of the good things we want to eat.

A MEMBER-I am satisfied that the question of quality has been too strongly emphasized and not enough said in favor of appearance. California puts thousands of cars of fruit into New York, which sells for double what our own realizes. It was because of the beautiful appearance. Kieffer in New York brings big prices.

Can we recommend any Japan plums for general cultivation outside of Abundance and Burbank?

Mr. WILLARD-I place Burbank first. We sold 2,500 baskets last season. It was one of the best crops we had in quantity and for profit, while being extremely good in quality. But is there anything else coming that will equal it and Abundance? The Red June, the earliest ripening Japan plum, has a very promising future. We have fruited it two seasons. I have been told that it stood twenty-two degrees below zero and made a perfect crop of fruit. It ripened with me in 1896 on the 17th of July, which is the earliest we have had. It is medium to large, cherry red, it can be picked almost green and laid in the house to color up nicely. Wickson is a promising Japan plum; and another soon to be introduced by a Connecticut firm, is October Purple, a production of Luther Burbank's. I have fruited it two years, ripens about Oct. 1st, yellow flesh, good quality. I picked a few when perfectly green and placed them in drawers in the house and they ripened up a beautiful purple color.

Mr. GREINER-How did the Burbank sell compared with other varieties?

Mr. WILLARD-Rather better. We made three pickings, and they netted fifteen to twenty-five cents per ten-pound basket. If they had been held back they would have sold for more money. In the top of each basket was a nice card asking the customer to report concerning the fruit, and I received thirty or forty letters calling for more.

A MEMBER-Doesn't Burbank overbear?

Mr. WILLARD-Yes, every time; but it makes a remarkable growth of wood on the top. We thinned by shaking, and made three pickings, and the third picking gave fruit about same size as the first.