67 
yield well, and from proximity to Washington markets return large profits to 
the producer. Our correspondent writes that from one peach orchard $1,000 
was realized in one season, and from an apple orchard of four acres $800 worth 
of fruit was sold in one year. 
In Baltimore county the apple crop is the principal fruit crop, and the most 
profitable ; the peach is also remunerative, but not reliable. The Baltimore 
markets present great inducements to fruit-growers. Grape culture is attracting 
attention in this county, and it is claimed that its success has been satisfac- 
torily demonstrated. Harford county reports unfavorably in reference to large 
fruits, but success in berry culture. Cecil— Apples do not yield well; pears 
do better. Peaches are raised in large quantities in the southern part of the 
county, but they are subject to failure from unfavorable weather changes. A 
full crop is valuable, however. A neighbor realized $1,000 from about eight 
acres. Small fruits are beginning to be raised for market.” In Kent county 
most fruits adapted to the latitude do well; peach trees averaging $5 per tree, 
and apples $10. ‘This has been a great peach district for ten or twelve years. 
From Talbot county our reporter writes: ‘The capabilities of this county 
for fruit-growing are great, particularly for the grape, which is found all over 
our woods ascending the tallest trees. Little attention has been paid to fruit 
culture, but from the location of our county, with prospect of early direct com- 
munication with Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, strong inducements 
are held out to fruit growers.” Our Queen Anne reporter says: “No soil or 
climate is better adapted to fruit, and for three or four years previous to the 
last one, peach growers averaged a clear profit of $100 per acre on their fruit. 
The crop last season was much injured by rot, caused by excessive wet weather. 
Pears are proving even more valuable than peaches, and many orchards of 
standard trees have been planted. Those who have tried dwarf pears have 
partially failed, because they planted too many varieties. Only the Louis 
Bonne de Jersey and Duchess d’Angouleme have succeeded well ; but these 
have yielded enormous profits. Of the standard, the Bartlett is worth all the 
rest. Apples have not been so profitable. Our old winter varicties seem to 
have run out, while the northern winter apples ripen here in the fall. Sum- 
mer and fall varieties bear abundantly, and when the railroad gives us a market 
in Philadelphia and New York I think we shall find them profitable. A new 
fall apple from Pennsylvania, called the Smoke House, proves a great bearer 
and very superior fruit with us.” 
VIRGINIA. 
1. Two-thirds of the counties report a decrease in the value of land since 1860, 
ranging from ten to sixty per cent., and averaging thirty-five; the remainder, 
with two or three exceptions, make the present price in currency no greater than 
the valuation in 1860. An average decrease for the entire State may be placed 
at twenty-seven per cent. This makes the depreciatioa, in comparison with the 
date of the last census, about the same percentage as the appreciation which 
was reported in New York—that is, property worth $100 in 1860 is now valued 
at $73 in Virginia, and $128 in New York. Yet this reduction is more apparent 
than real; at least it is not permanent, and is far less marked to-day than it was 
a year ago. Very few sales were made at prevailing prices; yet such has been 
the dearth of money, and almost everything except land, that more frequent 
sales—apparent sacrifices—would have been better for the people. Those who 
are able to hold their land, and many who are not, refuse to sell at less than 
former prices ; still there are thousands of farms or uncultivated tracts of land 
tlrat can now be bought for less than their intrinsic worth ; and there are oppor- 
tunities, at foreed sales or under stress of immediate want, to obtain valuable 
