Summer Meeting. 59 



FRUIT INTERESTS AND DIFFICULTIES IN MILLER COUNTY. 



(J. R. Helfrich, Eldon, Mo.) 



Our worthy Secretary requested me 'to furnish a paper on Fruit 

 Interests and Difficulties in Miller county. As this is my first time 

 with you and my first attempt at anything on this line my paper will 

 be short. There is but little interest taken in fruit growing in Miller 

 •county, so it will not require a very long paper to tell it. 



In the first place I think Miller county possesses natural advan- 

 tages for fruit growing "equal to any other section in the State. We 

 have thousands of acres of land better adapted to fruit growing than 

 any other crop ; but with the exception of a few who have planted 

 small commercial orchards there is practically no interest taken in 

 fruit growing. True almost every farmer grows some fruit for family 

 use, but about three-fourths of these are without fruit nine months out 

 of the year. As I said before we have a few, probably half a dozen, 

 men in the county that have planted small commercial orchards. Among 

 them I might mention Mr. H. R. Kelsay who has about 5,000 apple 

 trees, most of them bearing size. This orchard was planted on old 

 w^orn out ground that had been cropped principally in corn for about 

 ■sixty-five years, but the trees are doing fine, have made a good growth 

 and look healthy, Mr. Green says the worst difficulty he has is the 

 root louse and leaf roller. Henley, near Spring Garden, has about 4,500 

 trees, from three to five years old. The most of them are looking' very 

 nice. Another orchard I might mention of about 1,200 trees owned by 

 J. A. Hanly, south of Spring Garden. This, I think, is one of the finest 

 orchards I ever saw. It is twelve years old and every tree about the 

 same size and shape. This and Mr. Kelsay's orchard are proof enough 

 to show what this soil will do if the proper care and attention is given. 

 While the trees grow thrifty they are also long lived. On a farm 

 joining Mr. Kelsay's is an old orchard that was planted in 1834, and 

 a great m.any of the trees are alive and healthy and bear large crops 

 of fruit. 



Now as to the difficulties, there seems to be plenty to contend 

 with. The borers, root louse, leaf roller, rabbits, etc., but one of the 

 greatest difficulties to fruit growing to the fruit interest in this section, 

 is grass. That may seem strange, but to illustrate, I will mention a 

 little conversation I had with a man a short time ago. He said he had 



