1867.] KEPORT ON GRAPES, PEACHES, <tc. 15 



REPORT ON GRAPES, PEACHES, QUINCES, &c. 



Edwin Conant, Chairman; B. Butmax, D. Waldo Lixcolx, Francis H. 

 Dewey, Horatio Phelps, Charles Richardson, of Worcester; and Paul 

 Whitin, of Whitinsville. 



The Committee on Peaches, Grapes and other Small Fruits, submit the 

 following report : — 



A superb display of Peaches that -v^ould have done credit to the Society in 

 former years, when this delicious Fruit constituted the most common, as well 

 as the most valuable of all the products of our gardens, was a marked feature 

 in this year's Exhibition ; and we may hope was an earnest of the " good 

 time coming," when it can again be cultivated with profit and success. The 

 old stock of diseased trees has fortunately died out. . A different cultivation 

 and a rotation of crops for a series of years have now prepared the ground for 

 the new trees. No cultivator of experience can have failed to observe that, a 

 young Pear or Apple tree cannot be made to thrive in the spot from which 

 another tree of the same kind had been removed, without thoroughly changing 

 the soil. For years the Peach was the most common fruit of our gardens, 

 exhausting all the constituents of the soil which were essential to its growth 

 and development. By the lapse of time and a change of cultivation, these 

 constituents should now be restored, and it is not unreasonable to expect that 

 the Peach can be, now again, for a series of years, cultivated with success in 

 Massachusetts. 



The specimens exhibited by Mr. Allen, of Shrewsbury ; by Col. Phillips and 

 Mr. Foster, of Worcester, and by other exhibitors were of unusual beauty and 

 excellence. 



For the best collection, of six varieties, of not less than ten specimens each, 

 the premium of six dollars was awarded to Asa H. Allen, of Shrewsbury. 



For the best two varieties, of twelve specimen each, the first premium of 

 three dollars was awarded to Col. Ivers Phillips, of Worcester. 



For the second best, the second premium of two dollars, to Gideon Harris. 



For the third best, the third premium of one dollar, to Stephen S. Foster, 

 both of Worcester. 



For the best variety, of twelve specimens, the first premium, two dollars, to 

 John Claflin, of Worcester. 



For the second best, the second premium, to Samuel Smith, of Worcester. 



The Committee recommend the payment of a gratuity of one dollar each to 

 William S. Lincoln, of Worcester ; Newell Wood, of Milbury ; S. H. Coltou 

 and Sylvanus Sears, of Worcester, for their collections of Peaches ; to .Tohn B. 

 Pratt, of Worcester, for his fine plate of Crawford's Late, and to Francis 

 McCracken, of Millbury, for his handsome Cooledge's Favorite peaches. 



