SUMMER MEETING. 69 



The real development of fruit culture in Howell county may fairly 

 be stated to have begun when the President and Secretary of this 

 Society, who had been long considering the project of establishing a 

 great fruit farm and had investigated many localities, associated with 

 themselves five other well known fruit-growers, namely : Z, S.Regan, 

 John K. Cravens, Frank H. Holsiuger, W. G. Gano and G. F. Espen- 

 laub, all members of the Missouri Valley and State Horticultural So- 

 cieties, and organized the Olden Frait Company. They selected about 

 2600 acres of land around Olden station, in the center of Howell 

 county, and completed the purchase March 25, 1884. Thirty days later 

 18,000 peach and 4000 apple trees had been planted, and five years 

 later, in 1889, the shipments from this farm were 30,000 boxes of 

 peaches and 12,000 crates of berries. 



In 1892 one hundred acres of five and six year old Ben Davis trees 

 yielded 3000 barrels of apples, which sold at $3 per barrel at the 

 station, and the total shipments for that year were about 60 car-loads. 

 The crop of 1895 from the 1350 acres now planted, with about 160,000 

 trees (90,000 being of bearing age) is variously estimated at $100,000 

 to $150,000 in value. An estimate from a very high source places the 

 apple crop alone at no less that 25,000 barrels. The success of the 

 Olden farm naturally attracted much attention and the fruit growing 

 movement really became active only about 1889. 



Through a systematic effort, involving much labor, a fairly accurate 

 enumeration has been obtained expressly for this paper. Lists were 

 sent to the 32 postoflQces in the county and were also distributed in all 

 neighborhoods. The aggregate represents an actual count or careful 

 estimate of 1200 orchards, furnished by upwards of 70 individuals, who 

 have taken an interest in the work. Yet, with all the pains taken, many 

 small orchards comprising thousands of trees have inevitably been 

 overlooked, and, with this explanation of the means employed to obtain 

 the figures following, they are confidently submitted as being under 

 rather than over the actual numbers : 



There are now in Howell county 610,000 apple trees and 460,000 

 peach trees, with 45,000 other fruit trees, a total of 1,115,000 trees. 

 There are 347,000 apple and 248,000 peach now of bearing age, leaving 

 263,000 apple and 212,000 peach yet to come into bearing. The regular 

 nurseries in the county sold for the planting of 1895, 280,000 apple 

 (225,000 two-year and 55,000 one-year), 95,000 peach, 3500 pear, 5500 

 plum, 2000 cherry and 1100 other trees, a total of nearly 500,000 trees 

 (besides 80,000 grape). Allowing that some of these trees were ship- 

 ped out of the county by these nurseries, some trees were probably 



