ORCHARDS. 97 



cost of setting and taking care of the trees at twenty-five dol- 

 lars. We have raised fruit enough in past years to pay nearly 

 that amount. The fruit raised the present season was not all 

 measured, but we estimated it at sixty bushels, worth one dol- 

 lar per bushel. 



Am K BEST, October 26, 1853. 



HAMPDEN. 



Report of the Committee. 



The cultivation of fruit in this county is a subject of vital 

 importance ; one in which every individual has a direct interest. 

 It is not the farmer who owns his hundreds of broad and rich 

 acres that alone is interested j every one who owns even a 

 building lot, has an abiding interest in the cultivation of fruit. 

 His own necessities, his convenience, his love of rural scenery, 

 his taste for the embellishment and improvement of his happy 

 home, are all concentrated in the pursuit and accomplishment 

 of this subject. Other equally cogent reasons are ready to 

 sustain our views. But argument upon this point is unnecessa- 

 ry. The fact is demonstrated, and it is a matter of gratulation, 

 that it is fully recognized by many in various sections of our 

 county. The increasing attention bestowed upon the subject 

 for a few years past, affords a cheering prospect for the future.* 



But the ardent hope that the supply will soon equal the de- 

 mand, is a precarious one, with all its cheering appearances. 

 While the demand is still increasing far beyond the supply, how 

 long will the citizens of this county permit this state of things 

 to exist ? How much longer will you continue to reward the 

 enterprise of those living in other States, to the sacrifice of 

 your enjoyment as well as property. This should not be so 

 any longer. The time has come when every individual should 

 not only think but act, and act with decision and energy. Every 

 inducement is before you to engage in this enterprise. It is a 



* From the most reliable sources we are informed that not less than five thousand 

 dollars have been paid in Springfield for apples only, this fall ; from one individual 

 we learn that he has paid for cherries this season, $61.50 ; strawberries, $135.37 ; 

 peaches, $309.08 ; melons, $80 ; pears, $2.50 per bushel, $100 ; chestnuts, $174 ; 

 walnuts, $142 ; apples, $500. Another house has paid for strawberries, peaches 

 and pears, $207.75, making a total of $1,710.62. 



13* 



