different fruit-trees on a meadow

Entry door to the fomrer Eisern orchard

The orchard, planted in 1888 by the forest cooperative of Eisern, was a peculiarity in Siegerland for a long time. In 1888, shift-foreman Fritz Schmitz had about 190 apple-trees, 30 pear-trees and 80 plum-trees planted. The trees should supply the inhabitants of Siegen with fresh fruits. In spite of politicians' and scientists' criticism because of the Siegerland’s raw climate, the crop was good. In the beginning it was an experiment but the crop exceeded all expectations. The calculation of profit for one fruit-tree was originally set at 8,00 Marks per year, with 560 trees this was about 4,500 Marks – a tidy sum that was never reached though.
In 1896, the orchard was enlarged to 1,000 fruit-trees. In 1911, a chicken farm was set up in the orchard. In 1912, the orchard got a barbed-wire fence with a spruce hedge. For better bloom pollinating a beekeeper put up many beehives. In 1924, the fruit crop was 300 Zentner (33,000 lb), and the crop was sold in an auction in the orchard. (The early fruits and wildfalls had been sold in the village beforehand.) In good years they earned up to 1,800 Marks. After World War II, the old trees could not be replaced by young trees and so it came to crop failure. The orchard was neglected and nowadays nothing is left of the many fruit-trees. The only memory is the old gate and several strangely-grown spruces at the way-side, planted in the 1950s as a broad hedge round the former orchard.