1895.] ESSAYS. 19 



adapted to the soil and climate of the grower; and, as a rule, they are 

 not, when grown for market, found as remunerative as the apple, but 

 afford an agreeable family and dessert fruit, well suited to a refined 

 taste, and in season eight months in the year. 



In the main, however, I believe the experience of the last forty 

 years of pear cultivation in New England will not warrant large 

 orchard industry, with the sole view of profit ; the greater portion of 

 our people are unaccustomed to use pears as freely as they use other 

 fruits, and the supply is often found greater than the demand ; its ten- 

 dency often to rapid decay, is also against it. 



By far the most important phase of pomology is the apple, and, 

 without any hesitation, I will affirm the best fruit God has given to 

 man. 



Fortunately, New England lies within the great apple-growing belt, 

 ranging from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and it is still more 

 fortunate in the exquisite flavor of New England apples. I have 

 never seen them equalled, and I believe I have travelled over this 

 country from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, to and from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific. 



The soil and climate of New England is even more favorable to the 

 production of the apple than of the pear, plum or peach. 



During the past sixty years the apple has been more largely planted 

 in orchards than all other fruits combined, and the supply for home 

 jise and export, from year to year, is enormous. 



There have originated in New England many apples of the most 

 approved varieties ; they are largely grown here, and have dissemin- 

 ated over the whole country, Downing's Fruit Books recording over 

 three thousand kinds of apples, fifty-five of which have their origin in 

 Connecticut, more than eighty in Massachusetts, fifteen of these in 

 Worcester County, and undoubtedly many more that have not found 

 their place in printed works. 



The other New England States have also contributed a large num- 

 ber that take a first rank throughout the country. 



At the Hxhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 

 1829, apples were barely mentioned ; and at the first Exhibition of the 

 Worcester County Horticultural Society in 1840, but few apples were 

 designated by name. 



Since tliat period the apple has made most remarkable advance, its 

 cultivation being stimulated by Agricultural and Horticultural Socie- 

 ties and State Boards of Agriculture in all the New England States. 



Previous to the formation of these societies there were but few 



