ness. I believe now, without any further remarks, we will get down to busiWe have quite a lengthy program before us. We must be prompt. If you have any questions to ask, address them to the Secretary or speaker who address you. All are cordially invited to take part in our proceedings. We will get down to our program at once, and proceed first with the roll call. The following members were present and enrolled under their names: Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Aikens .Franklin. Joe A. Burton Geo. P. Campbell. Riley C. Case. G. N. Campbell. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Demaree Mr. and Mrs. Byron Dawson Mr. and Mrs. Evan B. Davis Mr. and Mrs. Edw. Eickhoff Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Flick. Amos Garretson. J. C. Grossman J. K. Henby Mr. and Mrs. Elisha J. Howland. N. C. Haims. E. M. C. Hobbs. Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Henry Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Hale Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Johnson J. G. Kingsbury George N. Moyer Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Robison. W. C. Reed... Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Stevens. Evan Swift.. B. F. Stinger. Wm. M. Waltman W. S. Young.. Orleans. .Bloomington. Woodruff. .Marion. .Jamestown. Morgantown. .Laporte. .Indianapolis. Bloomington. Cartersburg. . Alquina. Greenwood. Pendleton. . Greenfield. Pendleton. .Salem. .South Bend. Indianapolis. Mooresville. . Franklin. . Vincennes. Bennetts Switch. ..Salem. .Franklin. Charlottsville South Bend. Lafayette. . Connersville. Franklin. President Stevens: I will appoint and announce the following com mittees: On Awards-W. C. Reed. On Flowers Mrs. E. J. Howland, Mrs. Sylvester Johnson and Mr. J. C. Grossman. On Resolutions-Sylvester Johnson, W. S. Ratliff and H. M. Stout. On Nomenclature-E. Y. Teas and Prof. J. Troop. On motion Prof. Troop's address on "The Seventeen Year Locust" was postponed till this evening and a recess taken till 1:30 o'clock p. m. AFTERNOON SESSION. Tuesday, 1:30 p. m. President Stevens: Secretary Flick wants to make some announce ments. Secretary Flick: We have enrolled sixty-eight members up to this time. If any have come in since the noon recess, please let them enroll, and we invite all who are not members to join our Society. You will receive all the publications free and help to educate our people in fruit growing. The membership fee is one dollar, or fifty cents to members of local societies. President Stevens: We will now proceed with the program. The first subject for this afternoon is "Possibilities of Indiana for Apple Growing on a Commercial Scale." The first paper on this subject will be read by Mr. J. B. Burris, of Cloverdale, Ind. POSSIBILITIES OF INDIANA FOR APPLE GROWING ON A COMMERCIAL SCALE. BY J. B. BURRIS, CLOVERDALE. The members of this Society need not be reminded of the fact so often demonstrated that Indiana possesses conditions most favorable to commercial orcharding. But while such recognized conditions do exist, comparatively few have taken advantage of the same. It has been a question with the writer why so few carry to a realization these opportunities. Efforts have been made to create an enthusiasm for orchard planting, but with little success. I feel satisfied that no business could be so successfully exploited in favored districts of our State as apple growing. After noting the gross neglect permitted by the average grower to his orchard, I am inclined to believe that orcharding, if carried to a successful venture, at least at the present time, must be conducted on a large scale, and necessarily a thoroughly practical one. Individuals or companies should plant large areas, the care of which should be given over to a well-informed, experienced grower. I feel that a number of successful ventures of this kind would do more to develop orcharding, and especially apple growing, than all the agitation given the subject by talking and lecturing upon what we know to be true. Besides, it would give us a reputation beyond the borders of the State, attracting buyers of fruit and fruit lands. Success in apple growing in Indiana can be expressed in one word— care. Care in selecting locations, care in selecting varieties adapted to different localities, care in cultivation, including fertilizing, care in spraying, care in packing and marketing. This lack of well-directed effort is the source of failure of many who engage in apple growing, or any other business, for that matter. I feel that it were better, from a commercial standpoint, for the individual farmer to plant more extensively than he does, provided, of course, the planting is judiciously done. A great deal of the expense of orcharding is in the fighting of fungi and insect pests, and this work will be the better and more effectively done when more is invested. It is easier to neglect a few trees, thinking them not worth the bother. Besides, pests and disease are not so prevalent, and trees bear better when planted in larger areas. Cultivation would porbably be better done in the case of the large orchard, for tools adapted to the business would be purchased. Perhaps one of the best arguments for extensive planting is in the matter of marketing. Buyers are attracted to districts where large orchards abound and where these orchards are limited to a few varieties. Transportation in this State is now a minor consideration. Thousands of acres of cheap lands suitable for apple growing could be made valuable in eight years, yielding creditable revenues to the State and the owner. I have no desire to give an optimistic coloring to the business of apple growing in a commercial way, for, like all ventures, it is beset with reverses and difficulties. But it does seem that with suitable land selling at from ten to fifteen dollars per acre that in a few years' time can be made to realize three times its former value, there is not much of an element of chance. Recently a small grower in my own neighborhood sold his orchard of fruit at one dollar per bushel on the tree, the buyer taking all risks; and an inferior quality of Maiden Blush is retailing at the present time in the Indianapolis market at forty cents per peck. The hillside farmer of Indiana must of necessity quit grain growing because of wasted fertility. Let us insist that he engage in apple growing. I know a vast deal of matter has been written, much of it presented to this Society, in the same strain as this paper. I have wondered if there was any new or novel method by which the importance of the subject of apple growing could be presented to the farming and landholding class of our State. Perhaps there is no better way than has been suggested, viz.: Let each enthusiastic horticulturist present an object lesson to those about him and hope for good and lasting results. President Stevens: We will now hear a paper on the same subject by F. M. Buker. POSSIBILITIES OF COMMERCIAL APPLE GROWING BY F. M. BUKER, ROME CITY. Endeavoring to comply with the request for a paper on the possibilities of Indiana for growing apples on a commercial scale, will state that I am unacquainted with the southern and central belts of the State, never having visited either, and from personal observation know nothing of the capabilities of those sections for apple growing. I have grown apples to a limited extent in the northern belt of the State, and have observed the system of apple growers in the past and which is still much practiced, namely, to plant the tree and let nature do the rest. That method thirty or forty years ago gave the early planters an abundance of excellent fruit, but owing to a change in conditions, obvious to all apple growers, the method is not now producing the results it formerly did, and the scarcity of good apples and the exorbitant price they command ought to suggest the necessity of a better method of production. The commercial grower has found that better method, and will grow the commercial apples of northern Indiana, unless the private growers adopt the methods which give success to the commercial grower. The northern belt of the State, situated on the great glacial drift which covers bedrock to a depth of several hundred feet, with an average elevation of nearly 900 feet above the gulf climate, modified by proximity to the great lakes, and not subject to destructive spring frost, presents an inviting field for the labors of the commercial grower of apples. President Stevens: Mr. Waltman, of Nashville, a successful apple grower, will read the next paper. POSSIBILITIES OF INDIANA FOR GROWING APPLES ON A COMMERCIAL SCALE. BY WM. M. WALTMAN, NASHVILLE. When our forefathers came to the State of Indiana, sixty, seventy and eighty years ago, in the southern portion of the State they found a soil and climate that was suitable to the growth of timber. The hills and the valleys were covered with an immense growth of poplar, walnut, oak, beech, sugar, lynn, hickory and other timber, and among this growth could be found wild fruits of crab apples, persimmons, grapes, blackberries, sarvises, hawes, huckleberries and many others. The lay of the land is rolling and hilly, with here a high peak, yonder a ridge dividing the waters of the various streams winding their courses to the Ohio river, and arms from these ridges are putting out every few rods, and between each arm is a deep gulch or ravine which form the feeders for the streams. So that the surface of the land in the southern part of the State is uneven and what is termed "hilly," thereby giving the lands the best surface drainage possible, and not only a surface drainage, but also the deep gulches leading down from these high ridges gives a good atmospheric drainage. The soil is of the red, yellow and white clay mixture underlaid first with a shale of sandstone which, when exposed to the air or freezing, dissolves and becomes soluble, and is rich in the fertilizing qualities that produce timber growth. After you get below the shale, then you strike sand or limestone, which has large crevices or seams and permits the roots of trees to penetrate its seams or crevices, from whence they draw very rich support, giving them a most vigorous and healthy growth. The climate is of the medium, having in the winter season from freezing to zero, and sometimes ten or fifteen below, and in spring, summer and fall nice, lovely and balmy temperature, from freezing to ninety degrees, and in extreme cases may reach the one hundred mark. The seasons are supplied, usually, with a sufficient amount of moisture, and droughts seldom or never occur of long enough duration to kill or injure the strong and healthy timber, and in the spring following one of the seasons that we term a drought the timber will put forth her foliage strong and vigorous. The lands above described are cheap, and thousands of acres of the unimproved lands can be bought for from five to ten dollars per acre. It is true that most of the merchantable timber from said lands has been removed, and the forest fires have destroyed many other trees, but the land being of such nature, soon puts forth a new growth of timber, and fields and plats that have been cleared and "turned out" for a few years |