Show arntt tor for the T B E goodrich president of 0 the tot MI state horticultural society contributed tri buted a paper to the annual issued by the students of 0 the illinois agricultural college in which he ha said I 1 have visited nearly every portion ot of illinois havo have met her farmers on p public ab conveyances at institutes on t their heir farms and in their homes I 1 have met them under all circumstances of farm life and am always surprised at the tha lack of 0 fruit their tables a are r e pa painfully in full y barren of this great nece necessity s s ity N no 0 other class of our citizens consumes so little fruit as they and a large proportion of 0 what they do consume Is bought not grown why this Is so la Is a mystery yet unsolved with the tha land the teams and the tools with the intelligence to plant and care tor for they too frequently buy or go without A few have all they can consume and a surplus tor for less fortunate friends and neighbors a few have a partial supply but the majority have a very scant allowance or none at all many a doctor or merchant on a town lot working during his leisure moments and clai chiefly efly tor for the love of it produces a greater supply of luscious health giving fruit than scores ot of farmers on their broad acres and the enthusiasm thusia sm they show is refreshing to see gee why I 1 have seen ministers bring specimens of fruit to fairs and fruit growers meetings that would be a credit to any fruit exhibit and they discuss it and their mode of 9 rowing growing with equally as much eloquence as when discoursing on other themes in their own pulpits whatever their efforts may have been in changing the natural man to a more fruitful condition of good work and the cardinal virtues their efforts as fruit growers were certainly a noble example and a beautiful object lesson to all fortunate enough to see and hear I 1 have in mind professors and physicians in the several educational and charitable institutions of illinois who more from love of horticulture than from necessity grow a surprising amount of 0 fruit from a very limited area these are men whose knowledge and CA opinion are eagerly sought for by the various societies of the land showing conclusively that the knowledge and skill acquired by them Is within the reach of all for some unexplainable reason farmers seem reluctant to experiment for themselves and not infrequently are reluctant to accept the results of the experiments of others with abundant and d reliable nurseries at hand and with express companies ready to lay down trees and shrubs at their doors too frequently the farmers table Is without fruit and his dooryard without ornamentation na Is it any wonder that the boys leave the farm the wonder Is that they do not all go let the farmers begin planting fruit and work up to a home supply A few bushels of wheat or corn even at present prices will buy trees and plants enough for a beginning it if possible ascertain 1 what varieties thrive best in ones own locality and plant them it that is impracticable then take the following varieties as a suggestion strawberries tor for e early arly crystal city or michels for medium warfield ld fertilized with sucker state tor for late gandy set plants each raspberries Rasp berries gregg or kansas for black and cuthbert and hansell tor for red set plants each blackberries early harvest and ancient briton it if tor for a cold climate substitute snyder it if but one kind ot of tree fruit can be planted let it be apples and three of each variety E early arly harvest duchess connells cannells Con nells fancy jeffries Jet Cries den ben davies jonathan grimes grimee golden and minkler LIi ukler it if cherries are to be planted set three trees each ot of dye house and early richmond of plums set wild goose and burbank |