JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. hi. 



MARCH, 1849. 



No. 9. 



IN'oTHiKG appears so fully to occupy the atten- 

 tion of our horticultural public, at the pre- 

 sent moment, as the culture of Feuit Trees. 

 Our table is loaded with inquiries, proposi- 

 tions and suggestions, — all relating to this 

 subject. Fruit g-ardens and orchards, of 

 all descriptions, from acres of strawberries, 

 raspberries and cranberries, to hundreds and 

 thousands of acres of peaches, apples and 

 pears, have been planted from Maine to 

 Texas, vfithm the last year ; and thousands 

 of acres more ^^iii be planted the coming 

 season. 



There are many who think fruit-growing 

 will be "overdone." They point to parti- 

 cular seasons, when the markets have been 

 glutted with poor peaches, and poorer ap- 

 ples, as a proof that it is unwise to plant 

 more trees. But they forget that these oc- 

 casional excesses in over-production, are the 

 very effect of large previous profits. Messrs. 

 Reybold, the great Delaware peach-grow- 

 ers, for instance, make $10,000 in a single 

 season by their crop of peaches. This im- 

 mediately induces hundreds to plant large 

 tracts entirely with peaches, as a specula- 

 tive investment ; and for two or three years 

 the two m.arkets of Philadelphia and New- 

 York, at which these speculative growers 

 aim, are deluged with fruit. What is the 



Vol. III. 26 



result ? The regular growers make very 

 little profits, and the speculative growers 

 none at all. A couple of seasons of this 

 kind of disappointment, is enough for the 

 latter. They abandon their scheme, their 

 orchards go down, and the price of peaches 

 rises again to a fair and remunerative profit. 

 It may always be laid down as a safe 

 proposition, that the market will never be 

 overstocked with really fine fruit. Three- 

 fourths of all the farmers, who grow fruit 

 for market, send it to market in such indif- 

 ferent order that it brings half price. The 

 consequence is, that the careful growers 

 get double and treble profits. When ap- 

 ples from western New -York, are so abun- 

 dant in New- York market as to be worth 

 only a dollar and a quarter per barrel, the 

 apples of the Pelham farm, — several thou- 

 sand barrels in a season, — command readily 

 three to four dollars a barrel. When peach- 

 es are so abundant as to be worth only 50 

 cents a basket, fine samples of Crawford's 

 Late, or Old Mixons, bring two dollars a 

 bushel. What is the inference ? Plainlj', 

 that if it is Avorth while to grow fruit for 

 market, it is best worth while to grow onlj' 

 the best, and to grow it in the superior 

 manner. Ten dollars an acre will often 

 cover the cost of superior cultivation, Mobile 



