NEW YORK, OCTOBER 5, 1907. 
Vol. LXVI. No. 3010. 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PKK YEAR. 
NEW ENGLAND HILL-TOP ORCHARDS. 
New Value to Old Pastures. 
Part I. 
On September 17 the Connecticut Pomological So¬ 
ciety held a field meeting on the farm of J. H. Hale 
at South Glastonbury. In some respects this was one 
of the most remarkable horticultural meetings ever 
where before they saw only rocks and brush. In or¬ 
der to make the contrast even more striking after stu¬ 
dying this orchard, the people were taken to another 
rough old pasture where the work of clearing was just 
beginning. Here a lunch was served, and afterwards 
short talks were made by Mr. Hale and others—a big 
moss-covered flat rock resting on a high knoll serving 
as a platform. The meeting was an impressive one, 
country people know what an abandoned pasture 
means, but few western farmers can imagine the hope¬ 
less tangle that covers the ground, save where the 
rocks push up through the hard soil. I was not sur¬ 
prised to hear Hale say that this land was bought for 
$20 per acre. Yet four years ago I saw even rougher 
land where now thrifty trees are growing, which bid 
fair from next year on to pay interest on at least $300 
held in this country. Four years ago Mr. Hale started 
to clear a large tract of rough land for a peach or¬ 
chard. At that time the Society came to the farm 
and Saw what he was starting with. At the sight of 
the rough and rocky hills the majority of those pres¬ 
ent probably voted the scheme a visionary one, and 
could not see through it to a profitable outcome. It 
must have given Mr. Hale great satisfaction to take 
the same people this year to the same hillside and, 
show them over 35,000 strong and vigorous trees, 
and those who attended and caught the true signifi¬ 
cance of it, will always carry it in mind. Perched on 
the hills nearly 600 feet above the beautiful Connecti¬ 
cut Valley many of the audience were seated on an 
old stone wall—sole remaining evidence of man’s work 
upon the soil. The field, once cleared and perhaps once 
the support of a home, was now a wilderness—a tan¬ 
gle of brush and small trees. It would seem as if 
half a century before man gave up in despair, while 
Nature came in to claim her own. New England 
per acre through’the entire working life of a young 
man! Below us, far down the hill, bright slashes of 
green showed where the cow peas and clover were 
growing in the older orchards—solving the fertilizer 
problem. Far in the distance rose the spires of Hart¬ 
ford. There was the cheap rough land full of the 
energy gained by half a century of resting, and within 
sight of one of the best fruit markets of the world. 
Surely there is no place except in New England where 
such a combination can be found. And the human 
