Notes and Gleanings. 295 



business pursuits, which make men impatient of the slow but certain rewards of 

 terraculture. With us no one has planted a pear orchard at all approaching that 

 of Dr. Houghton's in magnitude. No one has selected a spot with special 

 reference to its fitness, and cultivated it with an undivided and unflagging interest. 

 In a moral and social point of view, it is well that every homestead among us is 

 supplied, to a good degree, with the complement of fruits, and that the public 

 supply comes mainly from this large aggregate. Yet it is desirable, in many 

 ways, that we should have some prominent examples in the culture of large fruits, 

 such as we have among the small fruits. We cannot name the examples of our 

 ex-presidents, because their culture has been either incidental or for the purpose 

 of testing varieties. We can name no one who has pursued pear culture with a 

 single eye, as men pursue other occupations. Yet we are persuaded that very 

 few long investments promise more certain returns, with honorable distinction, 

 than do the careful selection of localities and the extensive planting of a half 

 dozen varieties of pears with sole reference to the market. 



The Apple in Massachusetts. 



We spoke of the apple in similar language last season. It is, par excellence, 

 a Massachusetts fruit. We have thousands of slopes precisely adapted to its 

 most successful culture. The only want now is of men of clear foresight, who 

 ean discern the wants of future millions, who have a considerable capital, and who 

 can in patience possess their souls during the tedious years of preparation for a 

 sure return to skilful culture. To such men the canker-worm and the whole horde 

 of evils will prove only as a healthful stimulus to activity. 



Gentlemen, we are too much disposed to congratulate ourselves upon what we 

 have done. We have but just begun ; we are like children paddling by the shore. 

 It is time we should launch out with a bolder stroke. 



Markets axd Prices. 



We are inclined to dwell upon the condition of the Boston market, as exceed- 

 ingly prejudicial to the interests of fruit culture in this vicinity. Cultivators 

 have the impression that the market is well supplied, that fruits are rather slow 

 of sale, and that it would be an easy matter to cause a glut, by a slight increase 

 in quantity. Indeed, dealers will tell you they have pears kept back which they 

 let go to waste rather than overstock the market and reduce the price. The 

 producer's price is low enough ; and yet he must keep his supply at a moderate 

 limit, lest he should cause a decline in prices. Now, instead of this, the truth is, 

 that we have not made any approach to a test of the capacity of our market for 

 fruits. The price of most fruits to the consumer is altogether too high to acfmit 

 of their free use by all classes. We have only to call to mind a surplus crop of 

 any fruit, — the peach of this season for example, which compels a moderate retail 

 price, — to notice the vastly increased demand which seems to absorb all that is 

 received. It is, then, manifest that the. price governs the demand. Make the 

 price reasonable, and there can scarcely be a danger of overstocking our markets 

 with really good fruit. But we have before said that the producer's price is low 

 enough. The difficulty is with the retail price. For example, the average price 



