406 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Oft. DoC 



can be raised almost without an effort. And import the poor half 

 ripe oranges as a substitute. 1 find even worse conditions with the 

 farmers. I have visited many farm homes the past winter and the 

 apple or any other kind of fruit seemed to be a luxury beyond the 

 reach of its members. Is it any wonder that children pray for 

 deliverance from such surroundings, and there is no provision being 

 made for the future. 



In twelve of the western counties, I did not see twelve young or- 

 chards that had been planted within the last ten years, and the old 

 orchards are woefully neglected, literal brush heaps, so thick with 

 limbs and water sprouts that the vitality of the tree is exhausted 

 in supporting the life of the tree that there is none left to bring fruit 

 worthy of the name. These same people assert that fruit raising does 

 not pay, and yet they have a veritable bonanza within their possess- 

 ion and do not recognize the fact. They are in the best portion of 

 the great apple belt of the United States, they have an altitude of 

 from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above sea level. The soil is well adapted as 

 shown by the trees that have grown under neglect and starvation. 

 The same conditions exist with other fruits, 1 never saw more thrifty 

 cherry trees than I saw in Butler and adjoining "counties. These 

 same people tell me it is useless to plant peach as they will not last, 

 and yet at W. Suubury, Butler county, I saw large trees growing in 

 sod, without pruning or other attention that the owners tell me 

 have borne successive crops for 15 years. The same experience is 

 had in Crawford count}', between Franklin and Blackash. In this 

 section I saw as thrifty apple, pear and peach trees, with bark clean 

 and smooth as I saw in any portion of the State grown under the 

 same condition. Here would be a good location to have an orchard 

 of select varieties of fruits under competent management to dem- 

 onstrate to the people the possibilities of fruit raising in Western 

 Pa., where there are thousands of acres of sutable land that is now 

 laying idle which could be converted into a great source of revenue. 



Pear. 



The pear crop this season (with a few local exceptions), was con- 

 siderable below the average in quantity and quality owing to neg- 

 ligent methods of culture, where orchards and isolated trees have 

 been receiving proper attention for a number of years, the crop was 

 all that could be desired. At the Paragon Fruit Farm the crop was 

 abundant, but a part was under size where the trees were in sod 

 and had not been fertilized for a few years and the fruit not suffi- 

 ciently thinned. These are essentials that must be observed to ob- 

 tain success, care must be observed to avoid too much Nitrogenous 

 food. 



The pear is being sadly neglected, few trees are being planted, for 

 fear of the bligiit, which has destroj-ed many trees the past few 

 years, and yet it is an easy fruit to raise and very profitable. Blight 

 has not been serious in S. E. Pa. the last few years, except where 

 kept nnder high cultivation, which canses too succulent a growth, 

 rendering them very susceptible to the disease. The Bartlett pear 

 should be more extensively planted as it is a pear of high quality, 

 valuable for canning or for eating out of hand. The market de- 

 mands this fruit at high prices, the past season choice Bartletts 



