REPORTS. 



Report of the Committee on Fruits, 

 for the yeau 1871. 



By Robert Manning, Chairman. 



The circumstances which affect our fruit-crops, so far as they are 

 connected with the soil, are to a great extent within the control 

 of the cultivator; and, the best conditions having once been deter- 

 mined by experience, it will be the aim of the fruit-grower to se- 

 cure them; and for this reason, except as improvements are 

 introduced, they may be expected to vary but little from year to 

 year. Not so with the condition of the atmosphere, which, though 

 not less important than that of the soil, is, in out-door cultivation, 

 almost entirely beyond human control, and in one year will be 

 found more favorable, in another less so. We therefore, as in pre- 

 vious years, commence the review of the fruit-crop by an examina- 

 tion of the peculiarities of the season affecting the crop. For the 

 means of comparison with previous seasons, we are again indebted 

 to that accurate meteorologist, Mr. R. T, Paine, a former secretary 

 of the society. 



Undoubtedly the winter-weather most unfavorable to the fruit- 

 crop is a succession of sudden and frequent changes of tempera- 

 ture ; and hence we are accustomed to speak of a winter of 

 steady cold, with the ground covered with snow, as most to be 

 desired by fruit-growers. It cannot be doubted, however, that 

 steady mild weather is still more favorable, especially to tender or 

 partially-tender plants, such as the blackberry and raspberry, which 

 are liable to greater or less injury from severe cold. Such a winter 

 was that of 1869-70 ; and it was followed by an excellent crop of 

 fruit of all kinds. The changes of the weather in the winter of 

 1870-71, though not so great and sudden as sometimes occur, were 

 yet much greater than any in the previous winter; the mercury 

 having on Feb. 5, the coldest day, fallen to — 5^°, and, on Jan. 



