1877.] 



AND H0RTIGULTUBI8T, 



879 



warded by having the tree called by his name. 

 Other children were paid for all the loose papers 

 and other unsightly things which they would 

 pick up and remove from the street. Gradually 

 the work of the association extended. It soon 

 took in hand the streets connected with the 

 main street. Year by year it pushed out walks 

 from the center of the village towards its outer 

 borders. Year by year it extended its line of 

 trees in the same manner ; and year by year 

 there has been a marked improvement in the 

 aspect of the village. Little by little, and in 

 many nameless ways, the houses and barns, the 

 door — yards and farms, have come to wear a 

 look of neatness and intelligent, tasteful care 

 makes the Stockbridge of to-day quite different 

 from the Stockbridge of twenty years ago. Trav- 

 elers passing through it are apt to speak of it 

 with admiration as a finished place ; and, com- 

 pared with most of our New England villages, it 

 has such a look ; but the Laurel Hill Association 

 does not consider its home finished nor its own 

 work completed. Still the work goes on. Com- 

 mittees are even now conning plans for further 

 improvements. The association fosters libraries, 

 reading rooms and other places of resort, where 

 innocent and healthful games, music and conver- 

 sation, will tend to promote the social feeling 

 and lessen vice by removing some of its causes." 



ADDRESS OF MARSHALL P. WILDER. 



(Continued from page 320.) 



THE EXTENSION OF FRUIT CULTURE, AND THE 



IMMENSE CROPS OF OUR COUNTRY, 



As the source of light and heat travels from 

 the East, completing its daily circuit on our 

 Western shore, there to rejoice in all his strength, 

 so fruit culture has crossed our continent to the 

 Pacific slope, there to produce almost all the 

 fruits of the habitable globe, and finally to per- 

 meate, enrich and adorn our whole land. 



At the time of the organization of our Society, 

 the cultivation of fruits for the market, or for 

 exportation, was limited to a few of the older 

 States. In Mr. Coxe's opinion the fine apple 

 growing section was bounded by the Mohawk 

 river in the North, and the James river in the 

 South. Fruit growing in this section was con- 

 fined principally to apples and peaches ; but 

 very few of the latter found their way to the 

 markets of the North, while strawbei'ries and 

 other small fruits were scarcely to be seen, except 

 in the locality where they Avere raised. 



But now, almost every steamer from New 

 York for Liverpool or London, in the Fall and 

 Winter montlis takes appjes varying 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 Decem- 

 ber last, ninety thousand barrels of American 

 apples were landed at Liverpool. Very little 

 difficulty is experienced in the winter months, 

 but arrangements have been made to ship in 

 warm weather by vessels with refrigerator 

 compartments. 



As the refrigerating process becomes more 



and more perfect it will aid largely the exporta- 

 tion, not only of apples, but of more delicate 

 fruits. Pears, peaches and grapes have been sent 

 to England in good order, and it is confidently 

 expected that American peaches will soon be 

 well known in the markets of England. 



But what shall we say of Canada, Iowa, Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, California, 

 Oregon and other sections, and other new States 

 and Territories, where the cultivation of fruits 

 had scarcely commenced when this Society was 

 established ! Who that witnessed the exhibitions 

 of fruit from the States first mentioned at our 

 various sessions in Richmond, Boston, Chicago, 

 and at the Centennial in Philadelphia, has not 

 been surprised at the progress already made. 



At the time this Society was formed, the area 

 of fruit culture and the value of our fruits was so 

 limited that it was not thought worth while to 

 collect the statistics. Then many States, Canada 

 and Nova Scotia, had given but little attention to 

 fruit culture, except that of apples. These and 

 other sections were deemed too far North for 

 successful fruit cultivation. Now they produce 

 large quantities of fine fruits, the Nova Scotia 

 Society having received four medals from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society of London, and the 

 Ontario Society, at the Quarter Centennial ses- 

 sion in Boston in 1873, the Wilder Medal, for the 

 best collection. 



The estimate by the Government for the Cen- 

 tennial, last year, furnished the following statistics 

 (soon to be published), of the fruit culture of our 

 country : 



The number of acres under cultivation, in 

 orchards, vines and small fruits, is estimated at 

 4,500,000. The number of trees is estimated as 

 follows: apples, 112,000,000; pears, 28,260,000 

 peaches, 112,270,000; grapes, 141,260,000; total 

 393,790,000. The estimated value of fruit pro 

 ducts is: apples. $50,400,000; pears, $14,130,000 

 peaches, $56,135,000 ; grapes, $2,118,900 ; straw, 

 berries, $5,000,000; other fruits, $10,432,800 _ 

 making a grand total of $138,216,700 ; or, nearly 

 equal to one-half of the value of our average 

 wheat crop. California, to say nothing of figs, 

 oranges, olives and almonds, has nearly one- 

 third of the whole grape area, sixty thousand 

 acres of vineyards, and forty-three millions of 

 vines, yielding annually, besides grapes and 

 raisins "for the market, ten millions of gallons of 

 wines, to which may be added the wines _ of 

 Missouri, Ohio and other States, the whole wine 

 product being fifteen millions of gallons, as the 

 annual crop. 



The following are a few illustrations of the 

 immense quantities of fruits which are sent to 

 market in addition to what is consumed at 

 home. 



Of strawberries, there were received in one 

 day, in the New York market at the height of 

 the season, from all sources, 7,000 crates, averag- 

 ing at least a bushel and a half each— more than 

 10,000 bushels. The crop of peaches raised in 

 this country is so enormous that we hardly dare 

 state the quantity. The largest crop was in 1875, 

 and on the peninsula of Delaware and Maryland 



