IMPORTANCE OF THIS CULTURE. 167 



into earnest competition with these old orchard countries. 

 Their rich soils produce larger and more beautiful fruit, 

 but inferior, it is said, in that high flavour which distin- 

 guishes the Atlantic apples. This inferiority, however, 

 is not conceded by the western cultivators, among whom 

 orchard-planting is rapidly extending, and who estimate 

 the average profit of fruit cultivation at 100 to 150 dol- 

 lars an acre, (£20 to £30.) 



In Oneida County, at the eastern extremity of Lake 

 Oneida, part of four townships shipped on the canal, in 

 1848, as many as 18,000 barrels, at from 62J to 100 

 cents per barrel. This is a low price for good apples. 

 But in New York the best apples sell for three or four, 

 and in London for nine dollars a barrel. In Wayne 

 County, about the middle of this belt of land, the mer- 

 chants of Palmyra, a shipping village on the Erie Canal, 

 sent oif 50,000 barrels of green or fresh, and 10,000 of 

 dried apples in the same year, and along with them 1000 

 bushels of dried peaches. 



These facts show that the fruit-culture is becoming 

 one of considerable importance, and the number of per- 

 sons now interested in it has caused the formation of 

 what is called the Pomological Convention, which held 

 its meeting at Syracuse on the occasion of the State 

 agricultural fair. Everything connected with the cul- 

 ture of the apple, and, I believe, of the other more com- 

 mon and more important fruits, such as the pear, the 

 peach, and the grape, form subjects of inquiry, consider- 

 ation, and discussion ; and from the proceedings of this 

 Society good can scarcely fail to arise to this growing 

 branch of practical agriculture. 



Nearly 200 recognised varieties of apples are 

 already cultivated in the States, of which 186 are 

 described by Mr Downing.* One important object 



* Fruits and Fruit-trees of America. New York, 1849. 



