140 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Plums and apples also are found at their best in these sections; 

 but ^Massachusetts as a whole presents more possibilities for the 

 fruit grower than have ever yet been dreamed of. It has accessible 

 markets; it has the soil and climate; and all it needs to produce 

 abimdantly and profitably are energy and capital. The ever 

 increasing demand for good fruit both for home consumption and 

 export ought to induce the expenditure of more capital in the fruit 

 growing industry in ^Massachusetts. There are extensive areas 

 all over the state which are admirably adapted to the growing of 

 the best fruit. Our markets are constantly demanding a higher 

 grade of fruit which can be supplied in better condition by our 

 local growers than from the orchards of the West and South. One 

 lamentable fact about fruit growing in ^Massachusetts is the lack 

 of young men with power and brains Avho can take up this important 

 industry. Most of the men who are now engaged in the Mork have 

 grown up with their orchards; many of them are past the prime 

 of life and cannot give their orchards the care which they formerly 

 did. City life appeals more often to the young man and it should 

 be the duty of every person who is interested in horticulture to use 

 his or her influence to keep our young men in the country. 



The •strawberry crop was abundant this year and of good quality; 

 yet many beds were hurt by the open winter. The other small 

 fruits — currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and blackberries, where 

 not hurt by the winter, yielded good crops. 



Our exhibitions have been very successful the past year in regard 

 to the number and variety of fruits shown, although the Strawberry 

 Show was smaller than usual. At this exhibition several very 

 interesting new varieties of the strawberry were shown ; chief among 

 which were three varieties by H. L. Crane of Westwood, unnamed 

 seedlings numbered 196, 104, and 233. The chairman of the Fruit 

 Committee afterward visited the farm of ]Mr. Crane and found that 

 these strawberries in their growing condition exceeded the promise 

 of those specimens which were at the exhibition. 



Samuel H. Warren of Weston exhibited very fine Golden Gate, 

 a variety of much promise, for which he was awarded the Benjamin 

 H. Pierce Fund prize. The Flub was also exhibited for the first 

 time. "Other classes were well competed for, but the number of 

 new varieties was not large. 



