KEPORTS OF LOCAL SOCIETIES. 353 



The conditions essential to success arc as follows: Soil, — This may be 

 from a meilium cliiy to a liglit sand, provided they are well drained and free 

 from surface water, either naturally or made so by thorough drainage. This 

 is an essential that cannot be dispensed with, or failure will be inevitable. Soil 

 may be found in nearly all parts of our State, perfectly adapted to the growth 

 of this fruit, but the fact that it is not grown to any extent except in the Fruit 

 Belt, is ain})lc ])roof that tliere is some cause for tlie failure. There is only one 

 reason wliy tliis favorite fruit is not grown in all parts of our State witli as uni- 

 form success as the apple, and that is the severity of our climate. This is the 

 greatest and insurmountable difliculty in all the Northern States, except a few 

 localities peculiarly favored and ])rotected from tlie natural inclemency of our 

 climate. Tiiis protection can only be enjoyed through the protecting iniluence 

 of large bodies of water that remain unfrozen through the extremest cold. 

 AVhcrever this exists, it will afford protection, in proportion to the width of the 

 unfrozen surface. 



Having thus stated general i)rinciples, let us apply tliem to tlie i)articular 

 subject under consideration, viz. : " The Adaptation of Our Soil and Climate to 

 Fruit Growing." 



Our soil is peculiarly adapted to fruit growing for the following reasons: Isfc, 

 Particular kinds and varieties of fruit require different soils for their sucessful 

 cultivation. Sonui require heavy, and otliers light soils. Some require dry, 

 and others moist soils ; and the fruit grower, in order to succeed well, must 

 raise a variety of fruits that ri})cn in succession ; this necessitates a variety of 

 soils. This diversity of soils is a peculiar characteristic of our vicinity that I 

 have never seen equalled in any other section of country. It is a common 

 occurrence that on a ten or twenty acre fruit lot we may hud several kinds of 

 soils, — one portion a clay loam, another portion a sandy loam, another a sandy 

 muck, etc. Tlie>e combinations and variations constitute a soil unsurpassed 

 for fruit growing purposes. Practical fruit growers need not be told, for they 

 are well aware of the advantages arising from this diversity of soils; and, not- 

 withstanding this, we are free from the extremes of very heavy clay or light 

 and drifting sand hills. All fruits that can be successfully grown in a temper- 

 ate climate seem to be at home among us, and attain their greatest size and 

 excellence, as our numerous exhibitions and first premiums have abundantly 

 demonstrated, — having never failed of carrying off the first prize where we have 

 competed for it. This proves conclusively, I think, that our soil is not only 

 adapted to fruit growing, but that its adaptability exists in a preeminent degree. 



Having a soil perfectly adapted to our success, there is one other essential of 

 still greater importance, and that is climate. 



I believe that we are favored with a climate unexcelled, if not unequaled, in 



this latitude between the Atlantic coast and the Rocky Mountains. As a basis 



of the correctness of this belief, I offer the following synopsis of the extremes 



of cold for the last eight years, taken from my record of extremes : 



December 1868 to April I8G9, not below zero. 



" 18G9 " 1870, 1° below zero once. 



" 1870 " 1871, as low as zero once. 



" 1871 " 1872, coldest -5°; only below zero twice. 



" 1872 "•' 1873, coklest winter on record to tbat date; below zero nine 



different days. 



1873 " 1874, coldest day January 31st, 5° above zero. 



1874 " 1875, coldest day February 9th, 1G° below zero for a lew 



moments only; during the winter it was below zero 

 seven times. 



1875 " 187G, coldest 5° above zero. 

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