54 
SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OP THE 
1ashing*poles. This is the exact measurement. I dropped a 
plumb opposite the outer limb and measured across the space 
and it measured twenty-nine feet. The circumference of the 
trunk was thirty-four and a half inches. I estimate that this 
tree will carry twenty-five barrels of fruit. Last year I had 
two trees that were so heavily laden with fruit that they split 
to the ground and fell flat. I have heretofore estimated that 
an orchard should average ten barrels of lrnit to the tree at 
ten years old. I have written some articles on the subject 
and I have always made that estimate. I believe now that it 
would be possible for a man to make a grove of Le Conte 
pears at ten years old average twentyfive barrels to the tree. 
That would be 1,750 barrels to the acre. I sold my crop last 
year in Chicago principally, while I shipped to Nashville, 
Cincinnati and St. Louis, but the larger portion went to Chi¬ 
cago, and my fruit netted me $1.02 per barrel. These are the 
possibilities. It is possible for a man to raise 1,500 barrels 
on an acre often year old trees. I have a nice grove, and it 
certainly has proved successful. Whether it will continue so 
or not is a question ot the future. 
As to the quality of the Le Conte pear, two years aso I was 
in Chicago and I spent several days and nights on the fruit 
market there. I found at that time a great prejudice against 
the Le Conte pear. It had, prior to that time, gone mainly to 
the eastern cities; Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and New 
York. A very prominent commission naan in Chicago said to 
me that he did not think much of our Le Conte peats. I did 
not see or hear from him again until last spring, when I de¬ 
cided to ship his house my fruit. I sent him a carload to be¬ 
gin with, and after selling that carload he wrote me that he 
had revised his opinion of the Le Conte; that this carload had 
sold better than any other pears on the market and that he 
believed the Le Conte the best early market pear. The Le 
Contes brought more than the Bartlett at almost every sale; 
this was quite encouraging. With my experience and from 
what I have seen, I have reached the conclusion that there is 
no equal to the Le Conte for marketing. 
Gr. P. Healy —I would like to hear from Col. Harvey as to 
his method of gathering the fruit. 
Mr. Harvey —I use cheap ladders in gathering my pears. 
I have one fifteen feet high, one twenty feet high, and one 
twenty-eight feet, with others even higher. I put two ladders 
together at the top, tying them with three-fourths inch rope. 
This makes a step ladder of two single ladders. I put two 
men on the ladders and they go up in the trees. They carry 
with them a sack with straps over the shoulder, such as is 
commonly used in gathering oranges. These sacks are made 
