No. 4.] FRUIT GROWING. 161 



FRUIT GROWING. 



BY E. W. WOOD OF WEST NEWTON. 



Fruit has never received from the farmers in the New 

 England States care and attention in proportion to its value, 

 compared with other crops, either for domestic use or as a 

 market product. 



In the earlier years, when the first object with the farmer 

 was to produce as far as possible everything required for 

 domestic use, the fruits were mostly what are termed wild or 

 natural fruits, and among a scattered population were suffi- 

 ciently abundant without care or cultivation to supply the 

 limited demand. There were no means of turning to profit- 

 able account any surplus except in the case of apples, which 

 were used much more than at the present time for making 

 cider and vinegar. The introduction of new and improvecj 

 varieties and the concentration of population in manufactur- 

 ing villages and cities created a demand for fruit, and both 

 the improvement in quality and the demand have continued 

 to increase to the present time. The improvement in culti- 

 vation has not kept pace with the improvement in quality or 

 the increased demand. W^ith most farmers the tree fruits 

 are an incidental crop, grown upon land from which some 

 other principal crop is annually taken. 



The members of the Board early recognized the impor- 

 tance of fruit cultivation on the farm. In 1861 they ap- 

 pointed a committee "to prepare a catalogue of fruits 

 adapted to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." In their 

 report the following year they say : — - 



Fruit culture has become an important appendage to the farm, 

 and although the temperature and soils of New England have not 

 been considered so propitious as some other portions of our country, 

 yet it is believed by your committee that with judicious cultivation 



