446 State Ho..fic^^if^iyai Society. 



cost 25 cents apiece, 50 or 60 yeari. ago. After they had been bearing 

 for years the county became alive wrt^ mining camps. Almost within 

 sight of these trees to the southeast ros» ^^g smoke of the old Wyan 

 smelter where a quarter of a million poui^s of lead were produced. 

 A little to the northeast could be seen the cuni^g smoke of the cross- 

 roads smelter. 



The hills surrounding these smelters are seani-d and scarred by 

 pick and shovel. Small fortunes were made. The tmelters fell into 

 ruins and are gone. 



Gone, also, are the people who worked them and the money they 

 made. These old trees still remain and give promise of an abundant 

 harvest for years to come. Scattered through these hills are many 

 of these old apple and pear trees. Their owners give interesting accounts 

 of their long service and productiveness. There are few commercial 

 orchards in the county. The lack of shipping facilities until recently 

 may account in part for this act. But there is an occassional farmer in 

 these hills who has planted an orchard in recent years. Three years 

 ago I visited the orchard owned by Geo. Hufif. The trees were thrift}^, 

 and just coming to their best. The apples were large, highly colored,, 

 well shaped and of superior quality. I procured some of his Ben Davis 

 apples for exhibition purposes. Twenty-nine of these apples heaped the 

 half bushel. There were hundreds of bushels in the orchard equally fine. 

 Mr, Huff sold his apples to a buyer. When he delivered them in Ver- 

 sailles, the buyer refused to take them by measure because they were so 

 large, and paid for them by weight. Minor Caldwell, another farmer in 

 the hills, set out a small orchard 12 years ago. Last year, from 23 trees,, 

 less than 1-2 acre, he sold $70 worth of apples. The first commercial 

 orchard planted in the county was set out by the late D. R. Edwards, a 

 man of large courage and a lover of Horticulture. I was in his orchard 

 while he was gathering his fruit the fall of the severe drouth of 1901. 

 There had not been a good rain since April 18. He had a block of trees 

 that had been protected by a dust mulch. The fruit from these trees had 

 brought him at the rate of $119.50 per acre. Upon removing the dust 

 mulch from a little patch the soil was found to still retain so much mois- 

 ture that when a handful was pressed together it retained its shape like 

 moist clay and this after a period of five months in which there had not 

 been enough rain to lay the dust. 



Mr. Edwards exhibited fruit at the Paris Exposition, and received a 

 medal for his display. It is to be regretted that the St. Louis Exposition 

 should have occurred when blighting frosts and chilling rains so seriously 

 injured Missouri fruit. However two silver medals were awarded to 



