438 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



of a very fine and close grain, and next to box for the use of the 

 engraver on wood. It takes a fine and permanent black stain, 

 and can then with difficulty be distinguished from ebony, so 

 that it is sometimes substituted for it. It is tough, not liable to 

 warp, and fitted for the use of the turner and for the manufac- 

 ture of tools. As fuel, it burns readily and vividly, and yields a 

 great heat. The leaves and the bark afford a yellow dye. 



The number of names of pears contained in the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society's Catalogue for 1831, was 677. — (London, p. 

 883). All these, it must be remarked, are varieties of a single 

 species, the common pear, and yet all are distinguishable by the 

 qualities of the fruit, and oftentimes by peculiarities in their 

 leaves, modes of growth, color and appearance. 



The Apple, P. mahis, is still more valuable, in every respect, 

 than the pear, but does not form so handsome a tree. It has 

 been longer and more carefully cultivated than any other tree, 

 and the effects of cultivation are visible in the immense number 

 of varieties, and in the prodigious difference between the deli- 

 cious qualities of some of the choicer sorts, and the harsh, sour, 

 and austere crab- apple, produced by the same tree growing 

 wild. It is native to all the temperate parts of Europe and 

 Asia, and is every where cultivated for its fruit. 



The apple flourishes in every part of New England, though, 

 like the pear and the peach, it is liable to great fluctuations from 

 year to year. Many people think that all these species, esper 

 cially in their tender varieties, are less successfully cultivated 

 than formerly. The change is probably not greater than is to 

 be ascribed to the loss or diminution of the forests. The last 

 two or three years seem to be bringing back the olden time, and 

 make it probable that the apparent decline of some previous 

 years is only part of a cycle, which, when completed, will bring 

 round again the seasons most favorable to these valuable fruits. 

 The climate seems to be subject to some such periodical change. 

 Old and valuable varieties of this fruit and of the pear are con- 

 tinually dying out, and alarm is sometimes felt lest none so 

 good shall be found to take their place. But the arts of the 

 fruit-cultivator were never in so high a state as at this moment ; 



