THE OLD PEAR TREES, ETC., OF MONROE. 357 



is a tree evidently set out some 80 years ago, as the evidence showed that there 

 was an orchard there prior to 1796. It is seven feet eight inches in circumfer- 

 ence, with an aggregate of limbs 19 feet G inches, and has an immense top, 

 being 50 feet in diameter. In 1873 this tree bore 35 bushels of apples. It is 

 52 feet high. 



A REMARKABLE TREE. 



In the orchard of B. Dansard, Esq., by the former residence of Gov. McClel- 

 land, is an apple tree which is well worth seeing, and whose history is of some 

 moment. It is ten feet in circumference six inches from the ground, and nine 

 feet six inches four feet from the ground. There are four branches, which 

 aggregate sixteen feet four inches in circumference. It was set out as early as 

 1781 or 1782, hence is over 90 years old. Eobert F. Navarre well recollects as 

 among his earliest memories, that there were at that place four or five trees, 

 then some nine or ten inches in diameter, and apparently the same size of his 

 father's, which were as old as the Navarre pear trees. Tiiis tree is as sound 

 and as full of life to-day, appaicntly, as it ever was, and bears from fifteen to 

 twenty-five bushels of fruit every year. In 1841 Gov. McClelland had it grafted 

 by E. H. Reynolds, Esq., of this place, to Rhode Island greenings. Mr. Rey- 

 nolds set some three hundred scions in it. All things considered, it is the 

 most remarkable tree on the Raisin, taking into account its age, vigor, and the 

 remarkable vitality which has enabled it to carry such an amount of grafts in 

 its hale old age. Two years ago Mr. Dansard trimmed off some of the decayed 

 limbs; they cut up into more than a cord of wood. 



SIXTY YEARS OLD. 



In the yard of Thomas Clark is an old apple tree, set out by Jacques Lasalle 

 some sixty years ago. It is supposed that this and its companions were brought 

 from Montreal, but of this I have my doubts, as it is manifest "the straits" 

 had an abundant supply. A companion tree died a few years ago, but the 

 year before its death bore seventy bushels of apples. 



A YOUNG AND OLD ORCHARD. 



In Judge Warner Wing's lot, as also in the lot of B. Dansard, stand several 

 trees, set out in 1804 by Dr. Joseph Doxette. They are in prime condition. 

 They range from five feet six inches to six feet eight inches in circumference. 

 Their vigor is all the more wonderful, if it be true, as seems to be well authen- 

 ticated, that the doctor, following a whim as astonishing to the old French 

 settlers as to our modern horticulturists, cut off the roots, made a hole in the 

 ground with a pointed stick, and drove the trees in, insisting that that was 

 the way to set out trees. At any rate he succeeded in making good trees, how- 

 ever he may have set them out. This orchard, including, as it did, the lots 

 now owned by Judge Wing and Messrs. Dansard and ligenfritz, will now show 

 you what is a rare sight, namely: trees of all ages, from nearly 100 years old 

 down to 10 years' growth, all in vigorous health and bearing. You will there 

 see to-day the trees of all the ages and epochs I have spoken of, — those of 1780, 

 of 1804, of 181G, of 1830, of 1840, and of the present generation. As one tree 

 died, another one has been substituted. 



SOME REFLECTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS. 



This orchard may perhaps be made the basis of a remark I desire to make, 

 as a conclusion I have come to, in my researches. This orchard st ems to have 

 always belonged to parties who have taken care of their trees. If the same 

 care had been taken of the other old orchards as has been of this, ninety-year- 



