REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FRUITS. 196 



in Massachusetts and when a more hardy ])each of good quality 

 is produced this will become one of the leading peach-growing 

 states. 



Plums \\ere also more or less affected by the winter, but in many 

 cases where two-thirds of the buds were destroyed those left pro- 

 duced very fine fruit. While plums are not a great commercial 

 crop they are grown quite extensively in the gardens of our state 

 and form an important adjunct to the fruit used for home con- 

 sumption. This is especially true of the Japanese varieties which 

 are more hardy and less liable to disease than our native and 

 European kinds. 



There is probably less known and less done about growing grapes 

 in Massachusetts than any other fruit; hardly a vineyard of over 

 two acres is cultivated in the state, and the few vines which are 

 found in the home gardens are as a rule more or less neglected so 

 that we do not see many good grapes here. This year the crop 

 was very badly injured by the rose bugs. These insects attack 

 the vines as they are blooming, eating out many of the small florets 

 and leaving the bunches to develop in a very straggly and ill-shaped 

 manner. It seems as if we should grow more grapes in Massa- 

 chusetts, not entirely for the market, Init in our gardens; this fruit 

 will thrive in any good soil and does better in poor soil than any 

 other fruit native to our climate. It can be grown in a very small 

 space and is also one of the most delicious and healthful of fruits. 

 We need earlier good-flavored varieties as our climate is too uncer- 

 tain to develo]) many of the finer late kinds imless the vines are 

 girdled. The large Italian population in our state is at present 

 creating a demand for grapes for wine making and this would seem 

 to promise a very profitable industry as grapes can be grown much 

 cheaper for this purpose than for table use. The crop was good 

 where the rose bugs did not destroy it and the quality of some 

 varieties was never better. This was partly owing to the fine 

 weather which gave the grapes ample time to ripen. 



The small fruits other than the strawberry do not seem to play 

 a very important part in the fruit market or even in the gardens of 

 the state; most of our markets are supplied from other states 

 with raspberries, blackberries, currants, and gooseberries, and we 

 have not yet learned that these fruits can be made a source of 

 profit at well as of pleasure. 



