302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



setts, many of the most popular varieties in our country have 

 been raised from seed, constituting some of the most desira- 

 ble sorts for wide and general cultivation. 



With the close of this year, half a century will have 

 passed since the organization of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, from which has emanated, more than from 

 any other source, the remarkable extension of fruit-culture 

 which now permeates and enriches our whole land. In few 

 things is progress more apparent than in the advancement of 

 pomological knowledge on this continent. I have on many 

 occasions spoken of this; but I have thought it might not 

 be inappropriate, now, at the close of the first quarter of a 

 century in the history and operations of this Board, to allude 

 again to the remarkable 



EXTENSION OF FRUIT-CULTURE, AND THE IMMENSE CROPS OF OUR 



COUNTRY. 



At the time of the organization of that society, the cul- 

 tivation of fruits for the market, or for exportation, was 

 limited to a few states. In the year 1816 Mr. Coxe, the first 

 great American pomologist, thought the fine apple-growing 

 section bounded by the Mohawk River in the North, and the 

 James River in the South. Fruit-growing in this State was 

 confined principally to apples and peaches. But very few of 

 the latter found their way to the markets of the North ; while 

 strawberries and other small fruits were scarcely to be seen, 

 except in the locality where they were raised. 



Now, the culture of fruits has extended from Canada to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 coast. Almost every steamer from New York for Liverpool 

 or London, in the fall and winter months, takes apples, vary- 

 ing from five hundred to three thousand barrels. Shipments 

 have been made from other ports ; and, as late as last May, 

 there were fifteen hundred barrels sent to England from 

 Philadelphia. In December last ninety thousand barrels of 

 American apples were landed at Liverpool. These exports 

 have varied much in yearly amounts, occasioned by scarce or 

 abundant seasons. In 18G1 the amount was only $269,000 ; 

 in 1871 it was ii5509,000 ; while for the year ending June 30, 

 1877, it amounted to 12,937,025, — as kindly furnished me 

 by Dr. Young, chief of the Bureau of Statistics, — showing 



