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mention of flowers. "Our apples are 

 without doubt as good as those of Eng- 

 land, and much fairer to look to, and so 

 are the pears, but we have not got all the 

 sorts. Our peaches do rather excel those 

 of England, and then we have not the 

 trouble or expence of walls for them : for 

 our pear trees are all standards, and I 

 have had in my own garden seven or 

 eight hundred fine peaches of the Rare- 

 ripes, growing at a time on one tree. Our 

 people, of late years, have run so much 

 upon orchards, that in a village near Bos- 

 ton, consisting of about forty families, 

 they made near three thousand barrels of 

 cyder. This was in the year 1721. And 

 in another town of two hundred families, 

 in the same year I am credibly informed 

 they made near ten thousand barrels. 

 Our peach trees are large and fruitful, 

 and bear commonly in three years from 

 the stone. Our common cherries are not 

 so good as the Kentish cherries of Eng- 

 land, and we have no Dukes or Heart 

 cherries, unless in two or three gardens." 

 8 113 



