SECRETxYRY'S REPORT. 191 



stances in point, tve may mention the Baldwin apple and the Bart- 

 lett pear. The Baldwin is most at home in Massachusetts, where 

 it has scarce a fault as a late keeping profitable market apple ; but 

 here it is not so hardy, and succeeds only in favorable situations, 

 or when grown by being grafted into the limbs of hardy, well- 

 grown trees. Out of the hundreds of thousands of young trees 

 of this variety, budded or grafted in the nursery, which have been 

 planted out in Maine during the past twenty years, scarcely one in 

 ten, probably even a less proportion, is now in a sound, healthy 

 condition, and by far the greater number have been killed out- 

 right ; yet it would seem we are slow to profit by experience ; for 

 at the present time there are few persons proposing to plant ti-ees 

 who do not call for nursery grown Baldwins. Three winters out 

 of four, these may escape serious injury, but this is not enough. 

 To be satisfactory they should do this in twenty-four out of twen- 

 ty-five years. So, too, with pears, we have followed too blindly in 

 the lead of cultivators in other States, and the Bartlett has been 

 more sought for and planted than any other. This is described in 

 nearly all books on fruit culture as a hardy variety, and so it is 

 where the writers had seen it ; but except under very favorable 

 circumstances, as in city gardens or other warm, well sheltered 

 spots, with a dry subsoil too, it is quite unreliable in Maine. 



If we would have fruit in abundance we must be content to learn 

 what kinds are hardy and otherwise suited to our wants, and con- 

 fine extensive culture to these. We may and ought to ti'y on a 

 limited scale such as give promise of excellence, as among them, 

 doubtless, some prizes will be found, and in this way we may ex- 

 tend our lists until they embrace as great a variety as can be de- 

 sired. 



From the nature of the case, it is impossible for any one to give 

 a list of fruits equally adapted to the difi'erent sections even of a 

 single State. The orchardist may learn a great deal from a critical 

 examination of the successes and failures of others in his immedi- 

 ate vicinity. It is not necessary that these neighbors be scientific 

 culturists in order to give valuable testimony. What is most 

 needed are facts, and in gathering the.''e we should note carefull}'', 

 not only what varieties succeed or fail, but also the kind of soyl, 

 the exposure, the shelter, the culture, and as far as may be, all the 

 ponditions, which, not less than the inherent qualities of any vari- 

 ety itself, tend to bring about the result. 



