426 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. WiLLAKD has imported many new varieties for the purpose of 

 testing their value as orchard sorts, and he is now fruiting about fifty 

 varieties, many of which he finds of no practical value to the orchardist, 

 but the experience thus obtained he regards of great vlaue to him in the 

 work in which he is engaged. 



He believes the nurseryman should also be the grower of fruits, and that 

 the commercial orhardist should not pin his faith too strongly upon the 

 production of any one of the many fruits that can be grown so successfully 

 in western New York. He was the first to plant the Kieffer pear as an 

 orchard tree in New York state, and has ever been a strong advocate of this 

 variety as a profitable orchard fruit. His faith is shown by his works, as 

 he continues to plant largely of the variety, and has recently shipped a car 

 load of the fruit to Chicago to parties who have been handling it there for 

 him for several years. He is a believer in thorough drainage and regards 

 it unwise for any one to plant orchards on land which is not naturally or 

 artificially well drained. 



As he is now approaching sixty years of age, with no boys to take up his 

 work, he feels that he must contract his efforts for the future, but declares 

 that were he thirty years younger his future planting would be measured 

 only by his means, and that, if possible, he would be the owner of the 

 largest fruit orchards in America, so great is his confidence in the future of 

 this industry. 



He has been wonderfully interested in fruitgrowing in northern Michi- 

 gan, and has often declared that, were he younger, this northern region 

 would offer to him inducements more attractive as a field for operations in 

 fruitgrowing than any other section he had ever looked upon. 



He is a strong advocate of growing the greatest variety of all adapted to 

 the section of the orchardist and required by the markets patronized, and 

 fully believes that the Michigan lake shore is well adapted to the produc- 

 tion of a wider range of such products than has generally been supposed. 



In his own work, while prominence is given to the plum, the pear, 

 cherry, quince, apple, apricot, and many of the small fruits come in for 

 their full share of attention. 



Mj:. WiLLARD is no theorist, but thoroughly practical and knows well 

 the nature and habtis of every tree of which he is the owner. For years he 

 has been one of the most active members of the Western New York Horti- 

 cultural society, of • which he is vice president. He is a member of the 

 executive board of the State Agricultural society, the horticultural depart- 

 ment of which, under his management, has gro^\ai^ to be the finest in its 

 exhibit of any state in the union. 



