CULTIVATION OF FRUIT. 177 



I think I am safe in assuming that there is no State in the 

 Union which, in proportion to her population, spends so much 

 money for fruit, or that consumes so great a quantity as the 

 old Bay State. If the fruits which we consume are adapted 

 to our soil and climate, and can be profitably cultivated by 

 our farmers and gardeners, it would seem that no ordinary 

 obstacles should prevent their cultivation. Our cities and 

 large towns are unsurpassed as fruit markets, the demand 

 being generally brisk and the prices remunerative. The 

 Western fruit-grower being aware of this fact, sends his 

 apples to the Eastern market, and you will scarcely find a 

 grocery-store in the State, at the present time, that has not on 

 hand a few barrels of Western apples. They are large, fair, 

 and handsome, I admit, but the question is. Ought we to 

 depend on other States for them, or should we produce them 

 ourselves? I shall be told, I am aware, that we cannot com- 

 pete with the West in raising apples, and it is useless to make 

 the attempt. This matter can be best determined by a fair 

 trial, — an experiment, I apprehend, that has not been frequently 

 made of late years. 



Formerly an orchard was considered a good investment ; 

 trees were freely set, and the fruit was fair and abundant. 

 But this old-fashioned practice, I regret to say, has been 

 brought into disrepute, and in travelling through the State, 

 we rarely meet with a newly-set orchard. Now, I pretend to 

 say that we can raise apples of superior flavor, and as large 

 and handsome as they can in New York or Michigan, and 

 there is no good and suflScient reason whv it should not be 

 done. It is clone, to some extent, in Bristol, Middlesex, and 

 Hampden counties, and, for aught I know, in other parts of 

 the State. 



True, we have obstacles to overcome and enemies to 

 subdue, with which the Western fruit-grower is just beginning 

 to be made acquainted. The borer, curculio and canker- 

 worm are indeed formidable enemies ; but are we to quietly 

 submit to their ravages and acknowledge their supremacy? 

 No man who cultivates the soil of Massachusetts, I care not 

 what may be his crop, unless it be a crop of weeds, must 

 expect to succeed, without waging an unceasing war against 

 the hosts of insects injurious to vegetation. All the small 



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