738 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



wher there is not already a sufficient supply, is the liberal planting of many varieties of the 

 best fruits, of all kinds, both large and small. And we would advise no farmer in making 

 this important improvement on his new farm, to allow an entire year to go by without its 

 being accomplished if possible, since the sooner they are started in growth, the sooner will he 

 reap the result of his labors, and gather the fruit his own hands have carefully planted, 

 pruned, and tended, and which, it has always seemed to us, tasted a little sweeter than that 

 from other sources, since it has blended with its pleasant aroma and delicious flavor, these 

 most attractive associations. It is astonishing to note the progress made in fruit culture 

 within the last half century, and every year affords additional evidence of the skill of man in 

 the acquisitions of new and valuable varieties, the ease with which they may be obtained, and 

 the degree of perfection that may be reached by careful culture. 



Hon. Marshall P. Wilder says in this connection: &quot;Fifty years ago the products of our 

 soil were scarcely thought worthy of a place in the statistics of our country. Now our exports 

 of these amount to nearly six hundred millions of dollars annually, and our western granaries 

 are treasure houses upon which the world may draw to supply deficiencies elsewhere. Then 

 the supply of fruits in our market, excepting apples, was limited to a few varieties and to a 

 few weeks of use. Now our markets abound with fruits for all seasons of the year. Then 

 almost the only strawberry in our market was the wild strawberry of the field, and that 

 limited to a short season. Now we have in variety these delicious fruits, by the facilities of 

 transportation, for two or three months, receiving from the South in a single day five thousand 

 bushels, and from the single city of Norfolk, in Virginia, sixteen thousand bushels, and from 

 our own town of Dighton ten thousand bushels in a year. Then not a single hybridized fruit 

 of the strawberry had been produced, so far as we know, in our land; now so great has 

 been the increase in this period that my register contains the names of nearly four hundred 

 kinds of strawberries that have been under cultivation in my day. Then there were no 

 American grapes cultivated in our gardens except here and there a vine of the Catawba or 

 Isabella; now there are more than two hundred varieties of American grapes in cultivation, 

 and grapes may be had from our shops during more than half the year; and so extensive are 

 our vineyards that, in addition to the production of the grape for the table, California alone 

 produces ten millions of gallons of wine, of which large quantities have been exported to 

 Europe, South America, and Mexico, some of which is mulled over and returned for con 

 sumption. 



Then the cultivation of the pear was limited to a few varieties, since which the gardens 

 of Manning, Hovey, the writer, and others have embraced more than eight hundred varieties 

 of this noble fruit. Then no exports of fruit of any note had been made. Now, Boston 

 alone has shipped over six hundred thousand barrels of apples in a year, and the export of 

 fruit from this country has amounted to nearly three millions of dollars in a year.&quot; 



Production of New and Improved Yarieties of Fruit from Seed. The only 

 means of securing valuable fruits adapted to the various sections of our country, is in the 

 production of new varieties, which are obtained principally by hybridization, or the cross 

 impregnation of plants. Colonel Wilder says respecting this subject: &quot; The scientific laws 

 upon which this science is founded are as fixed and certain as those of moral and natural 

 philosophy, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and although we may not now be able to 

 prescribe the exact limits to which improvement maybe extended, we do know that upon the 

 subtle forces of hybridization, either accidental or by the hand of man, we must ever depend 

 for the improvement of our fruits. Natural hybridization, or the cross-impregnation of 

 plants, is as old as creation, and must have given to man the first idea of the power placed in 

 his hand for the improvement of the species. God works by means, in nature and in grace, 

 and requires us to join our efforts with His. Seek and ye shall find ; knock and it shall be 

 opened to you, were the original conditions. Nor do we doubt that this art was confided to 



