more than thirty years. On the farm of Mr. Steven Hollingshead at Miners- 

 ville stands an orchard that speaks, or, rather, groans, for itself. Blue damson 

 plums and Ben Davis apples drag their supporting branches earthward; one 

 fine tree of Bartlett pears, whose yield was estimated at 1 5 bushels, was loaded 

 with half ripe fruit of uniform size and development. The apricot trees, bend- 

 ing beneath their yellow treasures, bore fruit as large as lemons; four scarcely 

 ripe apricots weighed exactly one pound. Spring wheat was seen, yielding 60 

 bushels per acre, weighing 90 pounds per bushel ; and oats yielding 92 bushels 

 per acre, weighing 55 pounds per bushel. 



A visit to the Davis farm displayed further wonders. Standing in the 

 orchard beneath a tree of blue damson plums whose fruit hung like clusters 

 of large grapes, a man from California vented his skepticism: "I reckon it took 

 you some time to glue all the plums in your orchard on that one tree." His 

 remark seemed warranted, for the profusion of fruit was almost incredible. 

 In addition to these, there flourished crab apples, apricots, golden plums, wal- 

 nuts, Kingston and wine grapes and cherries. Underneath the generous fruit 

 trees grew strawberries, black and red raspberries and gooseberries. The sun, 

 brightening the green and red burdens of the fine eld apple trees, prepared one 

 for believing the assertion of the farmer. "A photograph of Milford Valley 

 land," he said, "when shown to an ordinary apple tree, will make it bear 

 seven fold." 



The excellent fields of wheat, potatoes and alfalfa, through which the 

 traveler may pass for miles, are remarkable for their uniformity. Coming to 

 a beautiful stand of alfalfa, the California declared: "I'll take off my hat to 

 that field." As the party sped along, it was noticed that he kept his hat off, 

 for the succeeding tracts were no whit inferior. Presently, however, there 



TESTING THE SOIL NEAR MILFORD, BEAVER COUNTY. 



