134 MASSACHUSETTS AGEICULTUEE. 



encourage them to plant and raise for themselves by giving 

 them roots and cuttings. 



The past season in many respects has been an unfavorable 

 one for grape ripening. Many people lost their crops before 

 fairly ripe. Yet others were successful enough to make a 

 good show at our fair, and keep up their courage for another 

 season. 



H. K. Starkweather, Chairman, 



PLYMOUTH. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



With few exceptions all are benefited by the use of apples 

 daily, either cooked or uncooked. They should be eaten just 

 before, and form a part of the meal, rather than as is too 

 commonly the case, a sort of adjunct after the stomach is 

 already well filled. This may seem a trifling matter, but it is 

 mostly attention to just such trifles that makes us happy or 

 miserable in this life. The value of the apple, physiologically 

 considered, cannot be overestimated. The general failure of 

 this crop for quite a number of years almost, at least for a 

 time, discouraged the universal planting of this noble fruit. 

 The conditions seem to be gradually changing, and it is to be 

 hoped that with care we may yet grow all our own apples, 

 and not depend on other States for our supply. More than four 

 thousand barrels of Western apples have been disposed of in 

 one town in this county, in some seasons when our own apple 

 crop was a failure. The average price could not have been 

 less than $3.50 per barrel, making the sum of over $14,000 

 paid in one town. One-half this amount distributed among 

 the producers of this same town would have made many a 

 hearthstone happ3^ I am quite certain that in a season of 

 scarcity, more than $50,000, after deducting the commissions 

 to the seller, are paid in Plymouth County for apples. 



In the cultivation of apples, as well as other fruits, more 

 attention should be given to general principles, and not all the 

 thought and labor spent in a particular direction, or on some 



