CONDITIONS FOR FRUIT RAISING. 275 



the specialties which our cultivators are adopting, and in which 

 they compete successfully with richer soils and more favored 

 agricultural sections of our country, — a system which we be- 

 lieve must ultimately prevail in Massachusetts of cultivating 

 those crops more generally, which are best adapted to our 

 markets. 



Among the lessons of experience which the Committee have 

 learned, they would submit the following, as opinions which are 

 now received and generally acknowledged as correct. 



THE INFLUENCE OF WARM, DRY SEASONS. 



The observations of the last few years, under the influence 

 of warm, dry seasons, would appear to have established the 

 principle that such weather (without excessive drought), espe- 

 cially in the earlier part of the summer, is more favorable to 

 the perfection and ripening of fruits, particularly grapes, than 

 cold, wet seasons. The fact is prominently shown in California, 

 as we have witnessed by personal observation ; and is especially 

 to be seen in the cultivation of the grape there, and also in 

 Europe, and in our Northern States, where, under the influence 

 of such seasons, neither the vine nor its fruit is affected by dis- 

 ease of any kind. These conditions we have noticed are also 

 peculiarly advantageous for the formation of fruit-buds, and the 

 storing up of the necessary perfected food for a future crop, and 

 for the ripening of the wood, so necessary that it may endure 

 the winter with safety. 



DRAINING OF FRUIT LANDS. 



In conformity with the foregoing remarks, we see the im- 

 portance of thorough draining of our fruit lands, which pro- 

 duces in soils not naturally possessing them the conditions of 

 warmth and dryness which we have named, thus rendering the 

 condition of the earth, in respect to warmth and dryness, anal- 

 ogous to that of the air, of the importance of which we have 

 before spoken. Besides these advantages is the thorough aera- 

 tion of the soil, whereby it is enabled to absorb fertilizing mat- 

 ter from the atmosphere, rain, and snow, and the moisture 

 evaporated from the springs below. 



