112 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



So now they get all my culls, and orders and other towns get the best 

 fruit. 



I have one dealer in Illinois to whom I have shipped a large amount for 

 seven or eight years, and he did not sell a peach for me the past seasou for 

 less than $2 per bushel, and the most of them brought $3 per bushel. 



As I presume I will be asked, I will give my choice for 1,000 trees, 

 which would be about as follows, of those I have fully tested: 50 Lewis, 

 100 Richmond, 300 Kalamazoo, 100 Sturtevant, 300 Golden Drop, 100 

 Smock, and 50 Salway. 



I find the pear a profitable fruit. Of this I now have planted about 

 1,500 trees, and I will say I have more faith in this fruit for profit than in 

 the peach in its most favored locality. It is less work to grow and is easier 

 handled, being not so perishable, and I am enabled to get full better prices. 

 The same party in Illinois, spoken of in the sale of peaches, sold every 

 pear I sent him at $8 per barrel, and the culls sold in Chicago for $1.50 to 

 $1.75 per bushel. 



It is said the great drawback to growing pears is the blight. I have no 

 more trouble with this than I do with yellows in the peach, which I 

 head off by eternal vigilance and promptness in cutting out. Some seasons 

 I have found it necessary to go over my pear orchard every week, regu- 

 larly, and cut out every affected twig. The past season I have not had a 

 twig of blight nor a tree of yellows. 



I cultivate my pear orchard as thoroughly as I do the peach, and have 

 done so for fifteen years. I am a full believer in thorough cultivation for 

 every fruit, from the strawberry to the apple. 



The two pears I find paying best are Angouleme, dwarf, and Bartlett, 

 standard, but the former, to do well, should be planted on good, strong 

 soil. 



If I had not soil, then I would plant Howell and Louise Bonne instead. 

 Of course there are several other sorts very desirable to have, but those 

 mentioned above I have found most profitable. 



To sum up, with close attention to marketing, for the time I have been 

 in the business, I have found the growing of these fruits to pay: The 

 strawberry, gooseberry, blackberry, peach, and pear. 



Thursday Afternoon Session. 



At the opening of the session of Thursday afternoon. President Lyon 

 spoke briefly as to the change of officers, the presidency especially, effected 

 by the vote of the morning, saying it would be found to be highly advan- 

 tageous to the welfare of the society. He had often before urged 

 that it be made, and so was more than pleased that it had now been accom- 

 plished, though it was with regret that he severed a relation which had 

 been so pleasant. He warned against the entrance into the work of the 

 society of too much of the commercial spirit, instead of giving aid and 



