SOMETHING ABOUT THE FRUIT CONVENTIONS. 



127 



the general good may be the gainer by 

 it. 



I M dig ° into this subject a little, because 

 I see the absence of this spirit of compro- 

 mise appears to have retarded a little the 

 onward march of the fruit-growing interest 

 in the convention. I say appears, for I 

 do'nt know that this is really the fact ; for 

 I am told that the conventions, both at 

 Buffalo and New-York, were both success- 

 ful and useful things ; but some of the 

 journals, and especially the agricultural 

 papers, have fussed and fumbled over the 

 meeting of these conventions, each giving 

 a local colouring to the matter, till they 

 have almost made it appear that harmony 

 is impossible, when, in. fact, there is not the 

 least cause for discord. 



According to the papers, western fruit- 

 growers can't meet with eastern fruit- 

 growers, and eastern knowledge and expe- 

 rience is worth nothing in the west. Softly, 

 my friend. This may be all very well for 

 editors, who wish to rally local parties and 

 patronage round their own presses, but it 

 is a blight-wind to your interests, depend 

 upon it. Exactly what you want in con- 

 vention, is to bring all sorts of different 

 experiences together, — the Boston man, 

 who coaxes his half dozen Bartlelts in his 

 back yard with guano, till he makes prize 

 specimens, and the Ohio man, who gathers 

 his apples from orchards that cover half a 

 township, and thinks he is a scientific cul- 

 tivator. It is exactly by getting all these 

 growers together in convention, and com- 

 paring notes, and sifting opinions, that 

 you are to get at the real kernel of the 

 matter; for there is a kernel to every nut, 

 as well as a husk. Those who sit down 

 amicably and crack the nut are very likely 

 to get at the kernel. Those who wrangle 

 and quarrel are very likely to get only the 

 husk. 



Local patriotism is a good thing. I might 

 call it the foundation stone of the national 

 edifice; for it do'nt need any argument to 

 prove that if a man do'nt love his own 

 family, neighborhood and state, he wont 

 love anything rightly. But an edifice is 

 not all foundation ; and unless the stones 

 at the bottom of the wall are contented 

 that there should also be stones at the top, 

 it is easy to see there can be no regular 

 house. I have been a little amused with 

 this bubbling up of local patriotism in va- 

 rious articles in your journal, intended to 

 be merely descriptive of the productions, 

 and the fertility of certain sections of our 

 common country. A writer in Vermont is 

 certain that no part of America can beat 

 the shores of Lake Champlain for apples ; 

 another, in Illinois, is equally sure there is 

 no part of the Union equal to his for the 

 same fruit. One pomologist, at Buffalo, 

 feels confident that, all things considered, 

 Buffalo is about the best soil and climate 

 in the Union for all kinds of fruit; while 

 you, in the valley of the Hudson, claim to 

 raise the best of everything, from Dennis- 

 ton's famous Albany plums to Pell's still 

 more famous Newtown Pippins. 



Very little hurt will come out of this 

 pleasantry in the right place. It is only 

 chuckling'a little over the good things 

 Providence has sent us. But we must not 

 grow too serious about it, and declare that 

 we of the west can beat the east in or- 

 chards, and do'nt care to be dependant on 

 her; or we of the east have got all the 

 science, and can teach all the rest of the 

 nation. There is something to learn all 

 round ; and if we have learned all that is 

 to be learned at home, and in our own 

 heaven-blest neighborhood, state or coun- 

 ty, why then there is a great deal more to 

 be learned by watching sharply what cul- 

 tivation and cultivators have done all over 



