30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the original human race, or the gander part of it, enjoyed 

 that fruit. It then came into Greece and Rome, and was 

 brought across the ocean by merchants, and thus scattered 

 by the John Appleseed, and finally crossed the continent to 

 Utah, and the apples of Utah exported to China and Japan ; 

 and the white man crossing the waters of Asia has completed 

 the circle of the earth, and carried the apple with him. Now, 

 New England has no competition with the south, as you 

 speak, in the orchard. It does have competition with the 

 west. I have spoken of some of the pleasant things about 

 Massachusetts, but it is not to the credit of this Common- 

 wealth that, in a climate suited to the growth of orchards and 

 a soil where apples can well be raised, we should be having 

 competition with fruit of that description raised on the Rocky 

 Mountain plains and under natural disadvantages. The 

 Mormon elder is not supposed to be the superior in intelli- 

 gence of the Massachusetts farmer. The Mormon elder has 

 nothing but a barren plain, to which he himself by human 

 labor has to convey the necessary moisture for the raising of 

 his crop. Massachusetts has no excuse for the utter destruc- 

 tion of her orchards ; and I trust that the day is not far 

 distant when Utah apples will cease to be imported into 

 Massachusetts, and when Massachusetts apples will be, not 

 a temptation to man's downfall, but an aid to man's pros- 

 perity. 



I now take great pleasure in presenting to you as chair- 

 man during the discussion, Mr. William II. Spooner of 

 Jamaica Plain. 



The Chair. It was a happy thought of our secretary to 

 choose as one of the subjects for discussion at this winter 

 meeting that of market gardening. I believe to-day it is the 

 most important branch of agriculture in Massachusetts. The 

 fact that here near the great market we have, in the sur- 

 rounding towns of Arlington, Belmont, Watertown, Newton, 

 immense establishments, shows that the proprietors evidently 

 had faith that there was room on top, and we have to-day 

 some of the largest and best-conducted establishments in this 



