4 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ure of the Pear is as certain of success, with us, as it is possible to be 

 anA'where in this uncertain world. The crop is never a ftxilure, our 

 tables are always filled. There are seasons of superabundance and of 

 comparative lack. But we never have an approach to a failure. It is 

 true that we ouj^ht to have more of this fruit in our markets, and at 

 lower rates, through it is now a common and comparatively cheap 

 article, in the autumn months. That it can be produced in vast quan- 

 tities, with little cost of labor, with more than ordinary certainty, and 

 that the cro]) can be sold so as to yield a good profit, is beyond dispute. 

 We have cultivators who have demonstrated this problem. That we 

 have not many witnesses is simply because most of our citizens direct 

 their main energies to the factory, the warehouse, or the exchange, as 

 the source of largest profits. There is a possibility of gains, there is 

 an activity and a fascination in business pursuits which make men impa- 

 tient of the slow but certain rewards of terraculture. With us no one 

 has planted a Pear orchard at all approaching that of Dr. Houghton's in 

 magnitude. Xo one has selected a spot, with special reference to its 

 fitness and cultivated it with an undivided and unfiagging interest. In a 

 moral and social point of view it is well that every homestead among 

 us is supplied, to a good degree, with the complement of fruits, and that 

 the public supi^ly comes mainly from this large aggregate. Yet it 

 is desirable, in many ways, that we should have some prominent exam- 

 ples in the culture of large fruits, such as we have among the small fruits. 

 We cannot name the examples of our ex-presidents, because their cult- 

 ure has been either incidental or for the purpose of testing varieties. 

 We can name no one who has pui'sued Pear culture with a single eye, as 

 men pursue other occupations. Yet we are persuaded that very feAv 

 long investments promise more certain returns, with honorable distinc- 

 tion, than do the careful selection of localities and the extensive planting 

 of a half dozen varieties of Pears with sole reference to the market. 



We spoke of the Aj^ple in similar language, last season. It is, par 

 excellence, a Massachusetts fruit. AVe have thousands of slopes pre- 

 cisely adapted to its most successful culture. The only want now is of 

 men of clear foresight, who can discern the wants of future millions, who 

 have a considerable capital and who can in patience possess their souls, 

 during the tedious years of preparation for a sure return to skilful cult- 

 ure. To such men the cankerworm and the whole horde of evils will 

 prove only as a healthful stimulus to activity. 



Gentlemen, we are too much disposed to congratulate ourselves ujwn 

 what we have done. We have but just begun; we are like children pad- 

 dling by the shore. It is time we should launch out with a bolder stroke. 



We are inclined to dwell upon the condition of the Boston market, as 

 ■exceedingl}^ prejudicial to the interests of fruit culture in this vicinity. 

 •Cultivators have the impression that the market is well supplied, that 



