SORTS FOR FAMILY USE. 203 



Committee of that society ; but the cultivator must 

 not lose sight of the more particular influences of 

 soil and exposure. 



The use to which the fruit is to be applied should 

 influence the selection. If the amateur desires a 

 collection of some one species to combine all the 

 styles of growth, of beauty, or oddity of form and 

 delicacy of flavor, the bearing properties will be a 

 minor consideration. With such a man, a careful 

 selection is not of importance ; for the discovery of 

 adaptation is a part of the study in which he 

 delights. 



For family use those varieties should be chosen 

 which are of acknowledged worth, both for the table 

 and the kitchen, and such as will afford a constant 

 succession ; while beauty is unimportant compared 

 with productiveness. 



For the market we should have but few varieties. 

 Many of our fruit-growers have erred in this re- 

 spect ; they have multiplied their sorts, which gave 

 them only a few trees, and so little fruit of each 

 kind that it was difficult to market it. The most 

 successful cultivators for the market have been 

 those whose orchards contained but few varieties, 

 and their crop of each was sufficiently large to in- 

 duce them to make a business of selling it. The 

 variety should also be of vigorous habit, because it 

 is designed to tax its bearing properties as much as 

 is consistent with safety. If, by accident, or the 



