FRUIT committee's REPORT. 65 



and flavor, may render some of the foreign varieties desirable for the gar- 

 den of the amateur, but it is believed that they will in no case be found 

 adapted to the purposes of those who desire to produce this fruit on an 

 extended scale ; and while such results as are now had can be obtained 

 from the cultivation of American varieties, it is hardly worth while to resort 

 to foreign sources for any additional supply. 



Of the long established and well known favorite sorts of this fruit, no 

 remarks are necessary, unless it be to say that the Jenny Lind, having now 

 been subjected to the test of a somewhat extended and general cultivation, 

 seems to justify the encomiums that were bestowed on it at its first appear- 

 ance. It was then said that it seemed to be an improvement on the Virginia 

 Scarlet, to which it bore a resemblance, and was well adapted to be a fer- 

 tilizer to some of the pistillate sorts — a belief now confirmed by subsequent 

 experience. 



CHERRIES. 



Cherries were exhibited for the first time on July 3d, and for the second 

 time, in considerable variety, on the 10th of that month; many of those 

 then shown being thoroughly ripe, well grown, and fine in appearance. 

 The varieties offered consisted of those already often described and well 

 known, and no statements respecting them are now called for. With the 

 exception of two seedling Mazard varieties, both of which seemed worthy 

 of commendation, no new cherry has this year been brought to the notice 

 of your Committee. 



The cultivation of the cherry, if it is not gradually diminishing, certainly 

 does not appear to be extending. It is a delicious fruit, but the ravages 

 of birds and insects, its liability to crack open and immediately decay, 

 when rain occurs at a particular period of its ripening, renders it a very 

 precarious crop ; and, what is still worse, the tree seems to be becoming 

 tender, and so liable to disease as sometimes to excite an apprehension 

 that, like the plum, its cultivation may be nearly abandoned. The past 

 season was, more than is usual, favorable to this fruit. 



RASPBERRIES. 



The only new raspberry placed before your Committee this year was a 

 new White one from Samuel Walker. The berries were of good size, 

 somewhat resembling, in their general appearance, the White Antwerp. 

 Mr. W. stated that it was not hardy. The varieties of the raspberry most 

 generally cultivated in this vicinity continue to be the Knevet's Giant and 

 the Franconia ; the Catawissa, and some of the French ever-bearing sorts, 

 being also occasionally grown. The Fastolf, besides that it is more tender, 

 is too soft to bear carriage well, and adheres too closely to the stem. The 

 Hudson River Red Antwerp, the favorite kind in New York, does not 

 appear to have been ever very generally tried here ; and, while the varieties 

 now generally cultivated continue to be as satisfactory as at present, it is 

 scarcely worth while to do so. 

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