IN OUR ORCHARDS 173 



life cluster about the apple orchards. It is a wonder- 

 ful tree standing alone on the hillside, haunted by 

 boys and a favorite place for robins' nests, but an 

 orchard of apple trees, standing in long rows all over 

 the slope that looks down into a valley full of homes 

 is a gift surpassing all other for human ownership. 



Peach trees bear only half a dozen good crops, but 

 the apple orchard is good for a hundred years. I 

 have two trees out of an orchard that was planted 

 one hundred and twenty years ago, and they are still 

 bearing their annual loads of good will. I do not 

 doubt but that, with rational care and apple sense 

 given to an orchard through its whole life, it might 

 be in bearing for a full two hundred years maybe 

 longer. The pear is even more enduring than the 

 apple, for there are still growing some old Flemish 

 pears, near Monroe, Michigan, that were planted 

 before Philadelphia was founded by William Penn. 



Select apples have been selling for five dollars a 

 barrel in the orchard. In the spring of 1908 they 

 went up to ten dollars in the New York markets. 

 The increase of consumption is really enormous and 

 accounts in some degree for the swollen prices, but 

 we cannot escape the conviction that every country 

 home-maker should grow his own apples and have 

 a small surplus for market. When this is done the 

 price will be a just one for both producer and con- 

 sumer. 



We have now catalogued over two thousand sorts 

 of apples that are worth discussing. I grow eighty 



