FRUIT CULTURE. 



87 



A member of the American association and myself have in 

 trust many of the seedlings of that great master of pomology, 

 which have not yet fruited. We have those of the eighth gen- 

 eration, which, from vigor, beauty and signs of refinement, give 

 promise of superior character, and seem to confirm his doctrine 

 of improvement by successive reproduction. And while we are 

 anxiously awaiting the further and ultimate results of his 

 theory, others on this side of the Atlantic are zealously engaged 

 in hybridization and experiments which cannot fail to Ije of 

 immense advantage to the scientific and practical cultivator. 



This progress should cheer us onward. No other country, in 

 extent and variety of soil and climate, is so well adapted, or 

 ofFers so great advantages to the pomologist. Not only does 

 our correspondence from abroad testify to the truth of this 

 statement, but our rapidly extending domain continually de- 

 velops new facts in confirmation of this sentiment. 



By the reports from individual fruit growers, and from asso- 

 ciations, it appears that some varieties of the pear succeed 

 equally as well in the extreme south part of our Union as in 

 the north. A gentleman from Oregon Territory recently 

 informed me that settlers there had already provided themselves 

 with extensive orchards, and from which they gather fruits of 

 great size and excellence. lie also makes a similar report in 

 relation to Washington Territory, and instances among others 

 an orchard of one hundred acres, which is now yielding a large 

 annual income to its proprietors. 



A letter from the Vice-President of this society for Utah, on 

 the borders of the Great Salt Lake, expresses the hope that it 

 will not be long before that region shall be a successful rival of 

 other parts of the Union in variety and excellence of its fruits. 

 Similar accounts are received from the district of Santa Clara. 



Another communication, from an officer of this society in 

 California, assures me of the great progress in our cause in that 

 State, and pledges a full report of its horticultural exhibition 

 for our Transactions. One of my neighbors, who went to Cali- 

 fornia in 1854, and now residing in Napa city, writes : " Such 

 is the rapid growth of vegetation in that district, that apple 

 trees, from seed planted in the spring of 1853, and budded the 

 same year, yielded fruit in the autumn of 1855." He says : " I 

 wish you could take a look at our peach orchard, loaded with 



