426 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FRUIT CULTURE. 

 From an Address before the Essex Society, Sept. 28, 1853. 



BY JOSEPH 3. CABOT, ESQ. 



Upon the cultivation of fruit, both on account of its intrinsic 

 importance, as well as that it is at this time a matter of very 

 general interest, I propose to make some observations : — 

 The apple, I am inclined to think, is the fruit best adapted to 

 general cultivation in New England, and the one whose culti- 

 vation will be found most profitable. The tree is a hardy tree, 

 now thoroughly and entirely acclimated, is not subject to 

 disease ; it will grow and flourish in almost every soil, unless a 

 dry sand, or wet swamp. It bears abundant crops, its fruit is 

 of universal use and commands a ready sale, and will be found, 

 it is thought, in the long run more profitable for cultivation 

 than more delicate fruits requiring more care, though such, 

 when in perfection, find a sale at a high price. Apples too, 

 especially sweet apples, may be used as food for animals — 

 cows and swine, and any surplus in the crop, or such as are 

 unsuited to market, may in this way be disposed of with advan- 

 tage. There exists among farmers such universal experience 

 in the cultivation of the apple, that to say much upon the sub- 

 ject seems an unnecessary tax upon your time, unless it may be 

 that cultivation of some kind is essential to a healthy, vigorous 

 growth of the tree, and to a crop and perfect fruit. If an 

 orchard is worth setting out, it is worth cultivating ; the ground 

 beneath and around the trees at least should be kept broken 

 up, mellow, free from weeds and properly supplied with nourish- 

 ment, otherwise the trees become dwarfed and stunted, and the 

 fruit, if ever produced, small, knurly and inferior ; and yet it is 

 no unusual thing to see apple trees set out in grass land, where 

 the young trees cannot thrive. If the ground of the orchard 

 cannot be wholly spared from other purposes, it should be 

 devoted to the raising of root or other crops, that call for culti- 

 vation, and the application occasionally to the soil of manures — 

 and should not be laid down to grass until the trees have attain- 

 ed age and size ; even' then, this will be attended with diminu- 

 tion of vigor to the tree, and of perfection to the fruit. "When 



