[Illustration: IN FULL BLOOM.] =Horticulture.= Another Kansas industry is horticulture, the cultivation of fruits. The first orchard in Kansas was planted at Shawnee Mission in 1837. Very little tree planting was done, however, until after the Civil War, and even then the Kansas plains were for many years regarded as unfit for fruit growing. The early crops were small but of a very fine quality, and Kansas apples won the gold medal at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. This aroused much enthusiasm, and during the next few years many thousands of fruit trees were planted, but most of them proved worthless because the varieties were not adapted to conditions in this State. Long years of hard work and patient effort were required to secure the knowledge necessary to make a successful fruit state of Kansas. To-day there are many fruits grown here, but it is the Kansas apple that is famous. Scarcely a farm in the eastern and central parts of the State is without its orchard, and there are a number of commercial orchards that are making horticulture an important industry in Kansas. [Illustration: KANSAS APPLES.] =Farmers’ Organizations.= The farmers of the State have at different times, especially in the earlier years, formed a number of organizations. An early organization was the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, or the “Grange,” a national movement, introduced into Kansas in 1872. Its general purpose was the improvement of farm life. Many granges were organized during the ’70’s. The Farmers’ Cooperative Association, begun in 1873, and the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit Association in 1883, had for their general purposes the cooperation of the farmers in buying and selling and in securing lower freight rates. [Illustration: ONE OF THE CROPS IN CENTRAL AND WESTERN KANSAS.] About 1888 the Farmers’ Alliance, already a national organization, formed many local organizations in Kansas. The Alliance demanded a number of measures for the betterment of the farmers, including lower freight and passenger rates, and better mortgage, debtor, and tax laws. The Farmers’ Alliance was a widespread movement and, for a time, overshadowed all other farmers’ organizations. In 1890 the People’s party, or the Populist party,[17] as it came to be called, took over the political work of the Farmers’ Alliance, and that organization gradually disappeared. The Farmers’ Educational and Cooperative Union of Kansas is a more recent organization. [Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS, 1915―――― ARTHUR CAPPER HENRY J. ALLEN]