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130 ANNUAL REPORT. “std be 
eral attention to it would add to the general health of, and be a source of : 
profit to the people, and also tend to mental and moral culture, by opening 
up an attractive field for the excercise of observation and thought, and of 
true tastes and sympathies. Imported fruits are always expensive items of 
consumption, compared with the expense of raising such as our climate will 
admit of, to say nothing of the vastly inferior quality of most of the im- 
ported, canned and dried fruits. This county, and those west and north, 
have been backward in taking the initiatory steps in the enterprise of fruit 
raising, in the way of setting out trees and plants; likely owing to the pre- 
vailing impression that this part of the State at least is too far north, and 
consequently the climate too severe to admit of a chance for much success. 
' Apples. 
Still, in the successive past few years, many have ventured to set out 
quite largely of the Transcendent and Hyslop trees, mostly of the former, 
and the two last seasons the oldest trees have proved productive. Last fall 
there was an abundance of Transcendent apples in town for sale at $1.25 a 
bushel. It is very rarely that any of the tried, standard trees have stood 
the climate so us to perfect any desirable growth. 
Small Fruits. 
But few have made a commencement with small fruits, and there seems to 
be a geveral want of knowledge as to their importance, and indifference in 
regard to their raising, though enough has been done to prove that with 
care they can be profitably raised. I had last season half an acre of rasp- 
berries; about two-thirds yearling plants of the various kinds, the rest two 
year old, on highly manured sandy land, all bearing well. I have the Sen- 
eca, Doolittle, Davison’s and Mammoth Cluster, of the black-caps. Part of 
them were mulched in fall and stood the winter the best. Iam not yet cer- 
tain which are the hardiest and most prolific. The Seneca and Davison’s 
Thornless certainly have done well. I have two rows each of the Philadel- 
phia Red and Purple cane, The Philadelphia has stood two winters, with 
ground almost bare of snow, and no protection, without killing at all, and 
last season bore prodigiously. The Purple Cane stood the winter nearly as 
well, and fruit is very delicious, but bore nothing like as well as the Phila- 
delphias. I keep the red bushes pinched back severely, the same as the 
black, making them stocky, which may account for their hardiness. I know 
of several parties who have cultivated the black-caps for a number of years 
successfully in this vicinity, and for eating when fresh in summer, and for 
canning and drying, every farmer who regards economy and the comfort and 
health of his family, should raise them. If apples of standard varieties are 
uncertain, they and strawberries with care are not. Of course, some years 
are singularly unfavorable. Last winter there was but little snow, and 
many warm days, thawing the frequent light falls to an ice, which com- 
pletely covered the beds, and in most cases so bound the canes as to destroy 
