64 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The above inquiries about the apple have led me to consider the 

 adaptation of fruits to our soil and climate. It certainly does 

 look as though we must depend upon ourselves — that we must 

 originate here on our own soil, varieties suitable to our climate, 

 and which shall be in all respects preferable to our old varieties, 

 combining hardiness, good quality, productiveness, and beautj'-, 

 with which to fill the gaps in our present lists. 



Only a few years ago, and long after this society was founded, 

 we depended almost entirely for our pears upon varieties originated 

 in Europe. The older members of the society, with a commend- 

 able desire to increase the number of good pears, and at a con- 

 siderable expense, imported varieties by hundreds, tested them, 

 and were obliged to reject a large portion of them either for their 

 poor quality or some other fault. The only American pear then 

 in common cultivation, which in quality would now be called 

 strictly first-rate, was the Seckel. Now, how is it ? In the prize 

 lists of this society, for the present year, you will find special 

 prizes offered for eight American, and for seventeen European 

 varieties, and were I to be restricted to fifteen out of the whole 

 twenty-five, the eight American varieties would be among the 

 fifteen. Now I do not wish to be understood as objecting to the 

 importation of new fruits, or to the European varieties. I know 

 well that the interest in raising new seedlings, and even the seed 

 from which some of them were grown, came from these importa- 

 tions, but I wish to show that native varieties are fast gaining in 

 public favor, and in the end must displace many of the old varie- 

 ties, because they are better suited to our climate and soil. 



In a collection of five varieties of apples for general cultivation, 

 only one variety not native, the Gravenstein, would be selected, 

 and this for its good quality and beauty, for it is not remarkably 

 productive. The same remark applies to strawberries, the English 

 varieties, though large and handsome, being a failure here ; and the 

 French and Belgian varieties, if we except the Triomphe de Gand 

 and Jucunda, which are not destined to become great market 

 varieties, are no better. 



Foreign varieties of grapes have long since proved a failure for 

 out-door culture. Constant attempts are being made to hybridize 

 the native with the foreign varieties, with the object of attaining 

 the fine quality of the foreign and acquiring hardiness sufficient to 

 withstand our climate. Many varieties have been produced from this 



