70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Massachusetts. The consumption of fruits has become so com- 

 mon as to constitute one of the most important articles of daily- 

 food. The loss of a crop is now deemed as a great calamity, its 

 abundance as one of the choicest blessings, adding largely to 

 the social health and comfort, and to tlie commerce and wealth 

 of the country. It is wise, therefore, for this Board to take 

 under its special cognizance this department of husbandry, and 

 to offer every encouragement for the further development of 

 this interesting branch of industry. 



Vicissitudes attend the cultivation of fruit trees as well as 

 other vegetable products, and it is proper to record the fact in 

 the Transactions of this Board, that owing to the injury sus- 

 tained by the sudden and extreme fluctuations of temperature 

 in the autumn of 1860, which arrested the ripening of the wood, 

 and the revulsions of the winter of 1861, there was but little 

 fruit throughout all the northern and middle States. In con- 

 sequence of this extraordinary reverse, your committee were 

 arrested in their investigations, and were unable to submit their 

 report, as was anticipated, at the commencement of last year. 

 But a kind Providence has brought about a restoration, so that 

 the year 1862 has been as remarkable for the abundance and 

 excellence of the fruit crop as that of 1861 for the loss of it. 



Tlie revulsion of 1861 is not, however, without its compen- 

 sating advantages, serving as it does to illustrate the compara- 

 tive hardiness and power of endurance in some varieties of the 

 same species, and develop different degrees of susceptibility to 

 injury in others. Thus we deduce the fact, that some varieties 

 of the pear are even hardier than the apple. For instance, 

 among the ^qw sorts of pears which bore abundantly in 1861, 

 were the Urbaniste, Louise bonne de Jersey, Vicar of Wink- 

 field, and Belle Lucrative, while the apple and most other varie- 

 ties of the pear failed of a crop. During the last quarter of a 

 century the apple has failed repeatedly in the vicinity of Boston, 

 but these varieties of the pear have borne fruit annually. 



The different ability of trees to resist heat and cold is remark- 

 able. Some are suited to one location, some to another; some 

 are exceedingly cai)ricious and sensitive, only suited for the 

 collections of amateurs, while a very few flourish in a great 

 variety of latitudes. 



