72 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the year, it is a healthful luxury ; enters into consumption as an article of 

 food for both man and animals ; is valuable to manufacture into cider, and 

 also enters into the domestic exports of the country as an article of mer- 

 chandise. Its product, then, becomes a matter of interest. The past year 

 this has been exceedingly variable — in some sections of the country a total 

 failure; in others, as in this vicinity, abundant. At the exhibitions of the 

 Society it has been shown by numerous contributors in great variety and of 

 good quality, some of the varieties being new, or such as had not been be- 

 fore noticed. Among these may be named the Thomas, a sweet apple, 

 eomewhat resembling in appearance the Ladies' Sweet, a fine fruit, exhib- 

 ited perfectly sound as late as April ; and a very handsome apple of medium 

 size, shown on the last of May, said to keep until July ; it wds unnamed, 

 but was thought to be the MacCartney, so called from the name of its 

 grower. 



At some of the weekly exhibitions there was a fine display of apples ; 

 among them, in October, the following that had not been before noticed : 

 the Boxford, a large yellow apple, nearly covered with stripes and blotches 

 of red, remarkably tender and very pleasant flavor ; and the Polliard, prob- 

 ably a local name. This last was more beautiful th :n the Maiden's Blush, 

 that it resembled in its color, with a very white flesh of a very agreeable 

 subacid flavor. Both these varieties made a very favorable impression. 



At the annual exhibition the display of apples was very fine, and there 

 were some varieties of recent origin or of late introduction ; as the Ohio 

 Nonpareil, a yellow apple, with red in the sun, of medium size, now, it is 

 supposed, raised for the first time in this vicinity. This apple is held m 

 high estimation in Ohio, but, so far as can be judged from a single, trial, not 

 too much so. It has been pronounced by some, whose opinions are usually 

 deemed authority, to be identical with the Cogswell, but it is believed that 

 this opinion has been expressed under some misapprehension with respect 

 to the varieties, and that they are not the same, the two varieties differing, 

 it is said, in both wood and leaf. The John's Sweet, a New Hampshire 

 apple of good size, mostly covered with stripes and blotches of red, a pro- 

 fuse bearer, and the Ledge, now fruited for the first time in this vicinity, 

 were also upon the tables. The Ledge, when it was first exhibited some 

 ten years since from Portsmouth, attracted much observation, and was com- 

 mended by the then Fruit Committee as promising to be of great value as 

 a late-keeping sweet variety. Grafts then obtained seem to be coming into 

 bearing, and it is to be hoped that it will justify the encomiums that have 

 been bestowed on it. 



Smith's Cider was also exhibited for the first time ; the specimens were 

 of medmm size, of yellow color, with blotches and stripes of red. This is 

 a Pennsylvania apple, and is extensively cultivated in the Middle Slates 

 and at the West. It may be that it is peculiarly valuable as a cider apple, 

 but if, by that affix, it is intended to designate a fruit valuable to manufac- 

 ture into cider only, it is certainly a misnomer, for it is a fine table fruit. It 

 is a most abundant bearer and of vigorous growth. 



These four last-named varieties were exhibited by Dr. Wight, who has 



