86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



MULTIPLICATION OF VARIETIES. 



Such attention has been given to the cultivation and perfec- 

 tion of this valuable fruit, that, while the number of varieties, 

 which at the commencement of the Christian era is believed 

 not to have exceeded twenty, had increased in 1650 to five hun- 

 dred kinds, there are at present classified in the published cata- 

 logues two thousand five hundred different varieties, and never, 

 perhaps, have the varieties multiplied so rapidly as during the 

 present generation. 



THE BEAUTY OP THE APPLE. 



In all the floral kingdom, where can be found a more beauti- 

 ful sight to behold than an apple orchard in full bloom — each 

 blossom perfect with its delicate shades of coloring, and the 

 whole grand mass of blossoms forming a perfection of beauty 

 which a maiden's cheek well might covet, and wasting its sweet 

 fragrance upon the gales of spring-time. 



And when the season of the ingathering of the fruit returns, 

 what beautiful tints of crimson and gold — of pink and green 

 and russet — of mottled, striped and spotted with every rich and 

 beautiful hue ! "What can excel the feast they offer to the eye, 

 unless it be the rich, juicy flavor which they bring to the taste ? 



USES OF THE APPLE. 



But the beauty of the apple will not, with the generality of 

 cultivators of this fruit, bear a comparison with its economic 

 value in the multitude of uses in which it is found so exceed- 

 ingly desirable. It is, when fully ripe, an excellent preventive 

 of disease, and its value in this respect is becoming better appre- 

 ciated, and it is also not without its important curative varieties. 

 It would seem to have been provided by nature as the chief one 

 of those fruits intended to supply the system with some of those 

 elements so necessary for its healthy condition. What multi- 

 tudes of invalids have found comfort, invigoration and strength 

 in a roasted apple ! 



In all the circle of fruits in our climate, perhaps none are 

 preserved in their natural condition during the whole year with 

 so much ease as the apple, and this quality of its being com- 

 paratively so imperishable, adds immensely to its value ; while 

 the great variety of berries — the peach, plum and grape — are 



