34 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



everyone was lamenting the almost entire failure of the pear crop, 

 I was propping up m^- trees to prevent their breaking down under 

 their heavy load of Rostizers, Baffa:ns and Clapp's Favorites. 

 Hence, I think that I can safelv say that there is little danger of 

 over-feeding pear trees or their not giving good returns for good 

 feed. Pear trees with me have thus far been much less liable to 

 disease and have less enemies to contend with than apple trees. 



About the time I sowed my pear nursery, my father, being a pro- 

 gressive man, went to a neighboring county and hired a man to graft 

 the old orchard — a feat that was then understood by but few. Like 

 other boys, I was much interested and watched attentively during 

 the few days he worked, and the morning after this man left found 

 me in the orchard, armed with m}" old jack-knife, newly ground, 

 the famil\- hand-saw, and together with the butcher-knife to split 

 the stumps. "With these tools I commenced to graft, and 3-ou may 

 rest assured that the scions thus set were attentively watched, and 

 when I saw them growing like those set by the wonderful man from 

 abroad my boyish measure was full, and from that da}' to this what 

 grafting has been done on the old homestead has been done in the 

 family. The grafts thus set were in old trees that have long since 

 yielded to the march of time and have been replaced b}' others. 



Soon after I sowed m}' pear nurser}', in company with an older 

 brother, I procured some apple pomace from a neighboring cider 

 mill and started an apple nursery — I being at this time not more 

 than twelve vears of age. We succeeded in raising several hundred 

 nice trees which from time to time were transplanted to the orchard 

 to replace old trees. 



After being in the orchard a year or two I found they nearh- all 

 toppled over and died. In this wa}' all of our hundreds of trees 

 soon went save less than a score which came to bearing. What the 

 trouble was I knew not, but have since learned that it was that ter- 

 rible scourge to the orchard, the borer. After arriving at manhood 

 and being settled upon the old homestead of my great grandfather, 

 where my experience in orcharding began, in the fall of 1860, I de- 

 cided to commence an orchard. I selected six and one-half acres 

 of pasture land that was inclined to the north-west, gravelly loam. 

 This was plowed very deep and heavily dressed with barn manure. 

 I was several years in setting the orchard and during this time and 

 several years afterwards the ground was cultivated and well manured. 

 Tt was finally seeded down and for several years I cut large crops 



