GEORGE S. WILLIS'S ADDRESS. 397 



the State. But onr orchards and fruit yards cannot vie with 

 those of Middlesex or Norfolk. A nearer and readier market 

 for surplus products, may have induced their superiority. The 

 facilities for intercourse, and speed and cheapness of transpor- 

 tation are rendering such benefits universal, bringing the mar- 

 kets close by home, and giving fresh and quickening stimulus 

 to exertion. Can there be found in all New England, an area 

 of no greater extent than our own county, where there is so 

 great a diversity of soil, climate and position, and where a 

 greater variety of fruit trees from the nurseries can be trans- 

 planted and reared ? The substantial constituent of all trees is 

 the same or nearly so ; their growth is promoted and their 

 wastes repaired by substances common to all. Different species 

 and varieties require respectively, in addition to the common 

 aliments, their specific food, as well as their peculiar conditions 

 of soil and climate ; and the number of valuable fruits grown 

 on this continent, in the same latitude with Berkshire, is few. 

 which cannot here find, in some localities, a congenial home. 



It may be true, that in most places within our borders, the 

 peach cannot be propagated without disproportionate expendi- 

 ture. It is cheaper and wiser, therefore, for most of us to ob- 

 tain it by interchanges in markets. Still, there are positions 

 very favorable to its growth, and where full remuneration is 

 given to the grower by the superior qualities of its fruits ; and 

 when its insect enemies, and the destructive efforts of sudden 

 and unseasonable changes of temperature shall have been over- 

 come, the ground for its cultivation will be very much ex- 

 tended. And that this will be realized, is by no means im- 

 probable, as countervailing guards and agents to these sources 

 of annoyance and ruin, are every day being discovered. He 

 who shall find cheap and effectual remedies for these evils, will 

 contribute largely to the comforts and enjoyments of life, and 

 be entitled to the benedictions of his species. 



That apples, pears, cherries, plums, and other kindred fruits, 

 can be raised here in full abundance, in all their varieties, and 

 of superior size and flavor, cannot be doubted. Experience, 

 the unfailing test, has decided this question, if it were ever made. 



The soil suited to the apple abounds with us. A soil rich. 

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