74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



fact science has now developed. The old tree had left the soil 

 deficient in the elements of growth and fruitfulness. 



In relation to locality, some fruits succeed best in one place, 

 others flourish well in several districts, and are elsewhere nearly 

 worthless. A faw are adapted to general cultivation. 



By the soil for a tree, we do not mean the identical spot, the 

 artificial bed in which the tree stands ; for, in time, the roots 

 take a wide range in search of food. Some fruits are good in 

 nearly all places, others only in their original locality. Some 

 succeed best on light loamy soils, others will thrive tolerably 

 well in clayey soils. In the latter, many pears, for instance — 

 the Benrre Bosc, Passe Colmar, Beurrc Diel and Xapoleon, are 

 astringent, while in the former they are entirely free from this 

 quality. The Benrre Ranee, in England and in some parts of 

 France, is the best late pear. So it is, also, in some of the soils 

 of Belgium, while with others, and with us, it is generally 

 inferior. 



One of the chief causes of failure is the non-adaptation of the 

 tree to the locality. Some varieties are constitutionally delicate 

 and feeble ; and, of course, more subject than others to climatic 

 influences. They may be of exquisite flavor, but are not well 

 adapted to general cultivation. These should only be grown 

 by amateurs in favorable positions. Others are robust, vigor- 

 ous, hardy as the oak, resisting the extremes of cold and heat, of 

 tempest and storm, retaining their luxuriant and persistent 

 foliage to the end of the season. Such are the Baldwin and 

 Rhode Island Greening apples, the Buffum and the Lawrence 

 pears. 



But the limits of this report do not allow us to specify the 

 particular locality and kind of soil adapted to each species and 

 variety of fruit. A treatise, which shall teach this upon scien- 

 tific and practical principles, is a desideratum in fruit culture 

 which we hope some one will, at no distant day, supply. 



III. — Climatic and Meteorological Agencies. 

 Seasons vary in the degree of their temperature and humidity. 

 Where they are cold and wet, the fruit is often insipid and 

 watery. So powerful is the action of meteorological agents on 

 the flavor and other qualities of some fruits, that we can hardly 

 believe they grew on the same tree in different years. 



