HORTICULTURE FOR THE PEOPLE. 489 



for. A quarter-acre vineyard will give an annual half ton of grapes, — enough 

 to afford a daily feast of six pounds on the table for the two autumn and three 

 winter months. All these supplies will he obtained from less than two acres of 

 well managed ground ; and, if pUmted so as to be subjected to horse cultiva- 

 tion, the expense of keeping the whole in order will not be a twentieth part as 

 much as the mere money value of the crops yielded, to say nothing of the com- 

 fort afforded to the family. 



It is better, however, to have too much fruit than too little ; for it is easy to 

 dispose of the surplus by canning, or drying, or hy selling, or by giving away. 

 It is only the meager supply that has led many to adopt the opinion that fruit 

 cannot be kept long, and that the yearly circle is an impossibility. Take for 

 example the Anjou pear. Twenty years ago, when first introduced, it was 

 regarded by every cultivator as only an autum pear, ripening in October. The 

 fact was, the specimens were so few that they were all eaten before they had 

 an opportunity to show the world that they could endure till midwinter. It 

 was when fine fruit was scarce that the famous rule for keeping fruit was pro- 

 mulgated, namely : place it in a cool cellar, lock tl)e door and hide the key. 



EAKLY HISTORY. 



It is not unreasonable to expect that before long the people at large will 

 have provided themselves fully Avith these luxuries. Go back fifty years and 

 see what progress has been made. Land-owners had generally planted a few 

 fruit trees at that early period, for the appetite for fruit is scarcely less uni- 

 yer sal than the appetite for money; but orchards then Avould hardly satisfy 

 adepts at fruit culture at the jn'esent da}'. Apples were commonly known as 

 of two kinds, "natural fruit,"' and "grafted fruit." We had then two sorts of 

 cherries, " sour cherries," and "English cherries,"' with sometimes a rare aris- 

 tocratic mixture of "oxhearts" and " maydukes."' There were also two sorts 

 of plums, — the " blue plum," with its shades of variation, and green or yellow 

 plums, which, however worthlesi, were known under the one comprehensive 

 title of "green gages," or in some places the only distinction was between 

 "wild plums" and "tame plums." Few had ever heard of nectarines and 

 apricots; cultivated strawberries, in beds a yard or two square, were a great 

 variety. 



TROGKESS. 



But a few enterprising and intelligent cultivators were striking out boldly 

 from the great mass, and some fruits were becoming introduced a few years 

 afterwards, that even now are classed with our best varieties. The Sweet 

 Bough, the Early Harvest, the Fall Pippin, Esopus Spitaenburgh, and Swarr, 

 among apples; and the Madeleine, Jargonelle, Virgalieu, Seckel, and Bart- 

 lett, among pears, were finding their way into the grounds of many. Since 

 that day, hundreds of thousands of acres have been planted with the most 

 delicious sorts v/hich Europe and America can afford, and although millions of 

 trees have been literally lost in experimenting for the best sorts, the progress 

 in successful fruit culture made throughout the country has been of the most 

 extraordinary cliaracter. 



GREAT EXTENT OF XURSEKIES. 



With the increase of taste and intelligence, and the demand for trees to 

 j)lant, nurseries have increased in a corresponding degree. I Avell remember, a 

 little over thirty years ago, visiting a nursery at Rochester, New York, then 



63 



