188 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



baskets by the car-load two years ago, and that fruit was put 

 into those new baskets and sent away to market. I Ijelieve 

 that we should renew our cultivation of the peach, and that 

 we shall see peaches lying upon the ground in our gardens 

 as we saw them in our boyhood. 



But, gentlemen, that is not the fruit in which we are the 

 most interested. I have been particularly pleased with the 

 paper this afternoon. It seems to me that we cannot over- 

 estimate the value of the red apple crop here in Massa- 

 chusetts. Our Massachusetts farms lie directly in the centre 

 of the great red apple belt of the world. Go where you will, 

 you will not find the Baldwin apple maturing with that 

 peculiar flavor and size that it matures with here in New 

 England. North the red apple grows smaller and to the 

 south it does not do as well, but in New England the Baldwin 

 reaches its perfection. 



In our eastern section we hear a great deal about the cran- 

 berry crop, and a very large part of the cranberry crop goes 

 to foreign countries, where the fruit is not grown. The 

 apple growers of New England have no necessity for any 

 large expenditure to introduce the apple in foreign places, 

 for there is no place on the face of the globe where the apple 

 is not appreciated. Carry it where you will, wherever it is 

 known it is sought with an eagerness that surpasses our 

 relish for the fruits of the tropics ; so that I say, brother 

 farmers, let us make the most of this, our great blessing. 

 We can cover the hillsides of New England with Baldwin 

 orchards, and at the same time we can keep three varieties 

 of farm stock which to-day are acknowledged to be the most 

 profitable variety that we can keep on our farms. I refer to 

 sheep, swine and poultry, which can be kept in connection 

 with our Baldwin apple orchards. In fact, poultry can be 

 kept with better success where we have fruit trees than 

 where there are no fruit trees. We cannot, I say, overesti- 

 mate the value of the crop that has l)een recommended in the 

 paper, and I have been particularly pleased, and I know that 

 as an incentive to the farmers of Massachusetts it will result 

 in great value. 



Mr. . I want to ask a question. In setting out an 



orchard, among other varieties of apples I tried Roxbury 



