FRUITS THAT PROMISE WELL. 25 



appointed to lead, remarked that the transition from the glowing 

 accounts of tropical vegetation to the common fruits of our own 

 country was great and sudden, especially after the extremely 

 severe weather which we had just endured, yet perhaps the lat- 

 ter subject is more interesting practically. It is difficult to con- 

 fine the subject to new fruits, for man}' that are new in one place 

 are old in another. A change is not so easily brought about in 

 fruits as in some other things ; a machine ma}' show its value in 

 a single year, but it is only by long continued experience that 

 we decide what varieties of fruit are best. Most fruits are best 

 in the place where they originated, and deteriorate when they go 

 away from it, but there are exceptions, such as the Wilson straw- 

 berry and the Gravenstein apple. 



Probably as many good apples have originated in Massachusetts 

 as in any place of equal extent, and our winter apples possess so 

 man}' good qualities that it is difficult to surpass them. The Bald- 

 win grows well, bears early, and is of good size and color, and it 

 will probably be long before anything will be found to displace it 

 as a market apple. Worcester county presents some good apples, 

 among which is the Palmer Greening or Washington Royal ; a 

 late keeping variety, green changing to yellow when ripe, and of 

 excellent quality, bringing from fifty cents to a dollar per barrel 

 more than Baldwins. It originated in Leominster. The Sutton 

 Beauty has been longer introduced, but is not as well known as it 

 deserves to be. It is of good size, excellent quality, and hand- 

 some, and has other good points. A seedling apple sent to this 

 Society in 1884 by John F. Jones, of Contoocook, N. H., is large 

 and of solid dark red color and as attractive as the Fameuse. The 

 Chenango apple is little known here ; it is large, handsome, of fine 

 quality, and valuable for family or market. 



Among the newer pears the Frederick Clapp has been sufficiently 

 tested to show that it is of superior quality and a good grower and 

 bearer and should be in every amateur's garden. The President 

 Clark, a seedling raised by the late Francis Dana, is of the highest 

 quality, but is not yet disseminated. The Keiffer has been well 

 written up and well paid for, but there has never been a specimen 

 shown here that could be considered of fair quality as a dessert 

 fruit. 



Perhaps there has been more improvement in grapes in recent 

 years than in any other fruit. The Worden and Moore's Early 



