70 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



blight or some other disease; but the balance are sound and healthy 

 trees, are nearly all of them literally loaded with fruit the present 

 season. The lower limbs had to bo supported to prevent their 

 breaking down with the weight of pears; the limbs were all so much 

 bent with their load of fruit that it was difficult to get around 

 under the trees. At President Smith's request, he bad brought 

 some of the pears and put on exhibition. One branch of the White 

 Doyenne, about twelve inches long, hal forty pears on it, and this 

 was not an exceptional cluster; there were many others like it. He 

 had never seen a crop like it elsewhere. The orchard had paid for 

 itself many times over, bearing more or less every year, and fre- 

 quently, very heavy crops. The different varieties all seemed about 

 equally thrifty and productive. The trees were low, branching out 

 near the ground; the largest of them were about eight inches in 

 diameter. 



President Smith thought that with these facts before us it was 

 wrong to say that we cannot raise pears in Wisconsin. He was 

 confident that great advances would be made in pear culture; hard- 

 ier varieties will be found, and we shall learn better how to culti- 

 vate them. By observing closely the facts in connection with the 

 soil, location, and cultivation of this and other successful orchards, 

 we shall find many locations where the same conditions can be had, 

 and like culture will bring like results. A pear orchard of five 

 acres like this would be a fortune to any man. This orchard has 

 paid for itself many times over. The trees were set out in 1862, 

 and, commencing to bear in 1865 and 1866, had borne every year 

 since. 



Mr. Bennett, of Brown county, was acquainted with Mr. Decker, 

 who set out the orchard. Great care was taken in the preparation 

 of the ground and the setting of trees, and afterwards their culti- 

 vation was such, while Mr. Decker retained possession, as to pro- 

 mote a strong and thrifty growth. The soil was poor in quality, 

 being mainly composed of a yellowish sand, the color seeming to 

 indicate the presence of iron. About a foot from the surface, a 

 clay subsoil was found. The surface soil was thrown off, the sub- 

 soil trenched, and the hillside formed into terraces, about five feet 

 high and the same wide. The sandy soil was then thrown back on 

 the surface of the terrace and lightly manured, and a row of trees 

 set on each terrace. They made a remarkably healthy and thrifty 



