406 



APPLES IIV VERMONT. 



owing probaMy to ilie fact, that the men 

 engaged in the business, arc, for the most 

 jnrt, of a class wlio are unwilling to engage 

 in any employment which does not promise 

 a speedy return for the investment. Peach 

 trees, however, grow so rapidly, and with 

 so little care, that large orchards are planted 

 annually ; and the ground being kept in cul- 

 tivation, in three years a large crop of fine 

 fruit is gathered, after which, the trees de- 

 cline, and a second crop, for the most part, 

 finishes them ; it being considered cheaper 

 to plant new trees annually, so as to have a 

 constant succession of young trees, than to 

 attempt to preserve or renovate the old ones. 

 Enough has been done by individuals, how- 

 ever, to prove the fitness of our soil for the 

 culture of every species of choice fruit. 



The plum, and other smooth skinned 

 fruits, it is true, are liable to the attacks of 

 the curculio, which finds a safe harbor in 

 our sandy soil, but wherever his attacks are 

 guarded against, the finest fruits are pro- 

 duced. To any one desirous of making a 

 business of cultivating choice fruits, this 



portion of New Jersey oflers such a combi- 

 nation of advantages, as could hardly be 

 found elsewhere. A large portion of the 

 lands may yet be bought at far less than the 

 value they might be made to attain, under 

 proper cultivation, and a choice of trees may 

 be had in this vicinity, from some of the 

 best nurseries in the country. 



A taste for such culture, is indeed rapidly 

 forming, and the efTorls of the State Horti- 

 cultural Society are doing much to foster 

 and increase it. Indeed, the success of the 

 Society itself, is an evidence of the sense 

 which the people have of the importance of 

 its objects. It has been in existence only 

 four years, but has gone on steadily increas- 

 ing in strength and spirit, in spite of many 

 sage predictions that it must fail, which 

 predictions were mainly based upon the 

 fact, that we have no large city in which to 

 concentrate our forces, and whose wealth 

 should furnish the means necessary for its 

 support. Your ob't serv't. 



H. W. S. Cleveland. 



Oatlands, BurliHgtoii, N. J., Jan. 20th, 1847, 



APPLES IN VERMONT. 



BY CIIAUNCEY GOODRICH, BURLINGTON, VT. 



Start not, gentle reader, at our title, if you 

 have supposed that " out of the world and 

 in Vermont," we really " never use snow 

 until two years old," and that we subsist 

 much like the natives of Lapland. Just visit 

 us next season, and you will see a little State, 

 though usually called the Switzerland of 

 America, whose agricultural products are 

 greater in proportion to her population than 

 that of any other State in our Union, and 

 among them a few apples besides other fruit. 

 A large portion of our State was settled 

 immediately after the close of the war of 



the revolution, and among the settlers were 

 great numbers of the officers and soldiers of 

 the continental army, who, destitute of any 

 means except continental money, not then 

 current, came here, where they were sure 

 of obtaining plenty of wild land, and a 

 hearty welcome from the hardy Green 

 Mountain boys who had so recently ab- 

 solved themselves from all foreign control, 

 and established a government of their own. 

 Most of them, like the honest Germans from 

 Fader Land, brought seeds with them, and 

 among these always a small bag of apple 



