

JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



51 /tin Vdmh m /ritit €i3,\kxt. 



Y far the most important branch of horticulture at the present moment in this 

 country, is the cultivation of Fruit. The soil and climate of the United States 

 are, on the whole, as favorable to the production of hardy fruits as those of any other 

 country — and our northern states, owing to the warmth of the summer and the clear- 

 ness of the atmosphere, are far more prolific of fine fruits than the north of Europe. 

 The American farmer south of the Mohawk, has the finest peaches for the trouble of 

 planting and gathering — while in England they are luxuries only within the reach of men 

 of fortune, and even in Paris, they can only be ripened upon walls. By late reports 

 of the markets of London, Paris and New- York, we find that the latter city is far 

 more abundantly supplied with fruit than either of the former — though finer specimens 

 of almost any fruit may be found at very high prices, at all times, in London and 

 Paris, than in New- York. The fruit grower abroad, depends upon extra size, beauty, 

 and scarcity for his remuneration, and asks, sometimes, a guinea a dozen for peaches, while 

 the orchardist of New-York will sell you a dozen baskets for the same money. The re- 

 sult is, that while you may more easily find superb fruit in London and Paris than in 

 New- York — if you can afford to pay for it — you know that not one man in a hundred 

 tastes peaches in a season, on the other side of the water, while during the month 

 of September, they are the daily food of our whole population. 



Within the last five years, the planting of orchards has, in the United States, been 

 carried to an extent never known before. In the northern half of the Union, apple 

 trees, in orchards, have been planted by thousands and hundreds of thousands, in al- 

 most every state. The rapid communication established by means of railroads and 

 steamboats in all parts of the country, has operated most favorably on all the lighter 

 branches of agriculture, and so many farmers have found their orchards the most pro- 

 fitable, because least expensive part of their farms, that orcharding has become in some 



July 1, 1851. 



No. VII. 



