• 154 



weight,) and as the price per hundred weight varies between one and three thalers, 

 gold, (about one dollar to three dollars of our currency,) the average crop of fruit repre- 

 sents a value of six to seven millions of thalers. 



The greatest danger to fruit crops lies in the spring frosts during the blooming 

 season ; yet as this season varies nearly four weeks in the different sections, it is easily 

 understood that frequently one county has plentiful crops, whilst another has a fail- 

 ure, but general failures are rare. For the same reason it is evident that the warmest 

 districts are not the most favorable for fruit cultivation, as the earlier the time for 

 blooming, the greater is the danger of frosts ; and for the same reason it is exceptional 

 when good fruit and wine crops are produced the same season, as the former prospers 

 best under late vegetation and a wet summer, while wine requires early vegetation 

 and a dry and warm season. 



The yield of cider and dried fruits is considered with us as of great importance, but 

 table fruit is also extensively cultivated in some sections, i. e., " Rems hal," "Neckar 

 shal." The apple crop is the most useful of all. There is also some export of this 

 «rop, as well as of fresh cherries, into Bavaria. 



The cherry tree is among the stone fruit most cultivated in the valleys of the Alb 

 and Rems. The prune tree* (Zwetschenbaum) is very common all over the country, 

 and yields the most valuable fruit for drying. The year 1868 abounded in all kinds of 

 stone fruit, especially prunes. The walnut tree (English walnut) prospers most on the 

 slopes of the Alb, and yields good crops and fine cabinet wood. Peaches and apricots 

 are raised in vineyards and gardens, in the former as standards, in the latter as wall 

 fruit. 



A great advantage and ornament is derived from the planting of fruit trees all along 

 the roads of the country, the trees being mostly owned by neighboring fiirmers. 



To promote pomology there are several nurseries, and in the vineyards there are 

 raised a great many young fruit trees, yet the demand is greater than the supply, and 

 there are every year great quantities imported from Bavaria, Baden, and France. 



The tree fairs every spring in Essliugen, Rentlingen, Goeppingen, and Stuttgart are 

 interesting and peculiar features of Wurtemberg. The prices of young trees vary con- 

 siderably. Trees which, from 1848 to 18.52, sold at six to ten kreutzer (three to five 

 cents) each, now sell at one to one and a-half gulden, (thirty to forty -five cents.) The 

 average price of young apple trees is forty-two kreutzer (twenty-five cents) each ; pear 

 trees forty-eight kreutzer, (twenty-eight cents;) cherry or prune trees eighteen kreut- 

 zer, (ten cents,) varying with the quality of the tree. 



Some years ago a school for pomology was established, which proves of great value. 



The greatest portion of the fruit crop is used for cider, the favorite beverage of the 

 farmer. This cider keeps very long, if made of certain species, as, for instance, the 

 orange pear, wax pear, roast pear, sugar apple, Borsdorfer apple, Reine-Hen apple, &c. 



In unfavorable years, and even in average years, during the last decennium, large 

 quantities of fruit have been imported from Switzerland, Baden, and Hessen, to answer 

 the steadily increasing demand for cider. Essliugen alone produces in good years 10,000 

 eimer, (800,000 gallons,) mostly of sugar apple. A sugar apple tree is known to have 

 yielded from eighty to one hundred sei (twenty-six to thirty-three hundred weight) of 

 apples, at a value of 600 to 1,000 gulden, ($300 to $500.) 



The industry of distilling liquor from cherries and prunes (kirshengerst and zwet- 

 schengeist) is also lucrative and important. 



EXHIBITION OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AT 



ARNHEIM. 



During tlie session of the agricultural congress of the Netherlands there 

 will be held at Aruheim, in June, July, and August of the current year, 

 an international exposition of agricultural machinery and implements, 

 the first of the kind held in the Netherlands. All kinds of agricultural 

 implements will be admitted, as well as those applicable to horticulture, 

 forest arboriculture, live stock, and dairy produce, with plans and de- 

 signs explanatory of articles exhibited. 



Foreign exhibitors must be represented by local agents living in the 

 Netberhinds, and it is requested that the secretary of the committee be 

 notified by mail before the 1st of May of the intention to exhibit, with the 



* Our prune tree does not prosper in America, neither from seed nor from imported cuttings, but 

 always degenerates into damsons. 



