A Glcmce at the Past and an Editorial for the Future. 



say that our pursuit is any more systematic 

 than it was twenty-seven years ago? True, 

 we have, and are yet, continually learning 

 in the great school of experience. How 

 else could it be otherwise ? 



And, although we are far, very far, from 

 perfection, a point that we may very readily 

 believe will never be reached, yet any one, 

 be he ever so obtuse, must feel that he has 

 not lived in vain, and that new truths must 

 inevitably be discovered, when daily per- 

 sonal labor in one's own garden is the rule 

 of life. 



Systems change, and varieties that were 

 good in their day change with them. Still, 

 others rise to take their places as regularly 

 as the planets revolve in their orbits ; so 

 that, in a long succession of years, we find 

 that we have not suffered, neither are we 

 any nearer perfection than when we first 

 learned to love our occupation. 



In the place of the White Doyenne Pear, 

 we now plant the Bartlett. Apples vary in 

 different localities, as they did in the past, 

 although that fine old variety, the Newtown 

 Pippin, has now very nearly finished its 

 course. Instead of the old Morris White 

 and Melocoton, we have the splendid Craw- 

 fords, with varieties earlier and later than 

 ever before, and in this we have made a gain. 



The Green Grage Plum has, perhaps, not 

 found a successor in point of flavor, but it 

 certainly has in size and beauty. 



Where the Catawba formerly reigned su- 

 preme, we now grow the Concord for the 

 million ; a sacrifice of quality, but an in- 

 crease in productiveness and reliability. 



Among the small fruits, we have now 

 substituted the Wilson's Albany for the old- 

 time Hovey's Seedling Strawberry, and the 

 host of hardy raspberries for those of tender 

 proclivities, still another sacrifice of quality 

 for hardiness and profit. Blackberries are 

 now added to our list of cultivated fruits, 

 when formerly we were content to gather 

 the wild, inferior specimens from our fence 

 corners. In gooseberries, we have not made 

 great improvements, yet we believe the few 

 new seedlings of late will prove to be the 



forerunners of a new race, at once hardy, 

 reliable and worthy of the dessert. Cur- 

 rants, too, have been neglected for several 

 years, so far as the introduction of new 

 varieties is concerned ; and now for a re- 

 capitulation : 



We formerly had, as standards of excel- 

 lence, the Ne2vtow?i Pippin among apples ; 

 White Doyenne and Seckel in pears ; Green 

 Gage in plums ; Coe^s Tra?ispare/it and 

 Belle de Choisey in cherries ; Grosse Mig- 

 nonne and Morris White in peaches ; Cataw- 

 ba in grapes, etc. ; and we would ask that, for 

 the last quarter of a century, where are all our 

 boasted improvements in quality over these? 



Let us inquire whether popular opinion 

 has not retrograded somewhat in this re- 

 spect, and substituted in the place of flavor 

 a desire for mere outward appearance and 

 productiveness ? In other words, are we 

 not giving the preference to such varieties 

 as will please the pocket, rather than the 

 palate ? We greatly fear that the majority 

 of our orchardists are drifting in that direc- 

 tion, and although they may not be culti- 

 vating the taste of the masses to a higher 

 standard of excellence, they are performing 

 a very creditable work by increasing the 

 demand for tho most healthful of all articles 

 of food, whilst supplying it at a constantly 

 reduced rate. 



The systems of cultivation, as we said 

 before, have changed, but new diseases and 

 the presence of new destructive insects have 

 had their influence in bringing it about. 

 Therefore, as a natural result, new methods 

 of culture had to be adopted, and improved 

 plans for the routine of the orchardist weie 

 put in practice ; that such answer a better 

 purpose, or secure for us a greater result, 

 than formerly, is a question that we ai-e not 

 now prepared to answer. 



Two prominent parties espouse the oppo- 

 site extremes, the one taking for its motto — 

 " there is nothing new under the sun ; " the 

 other, that we are making astonishing 

 strides. Each may be right in one sense, 

 and yet each may be wrong when we view it 

 from another standpoint. 



