FRUITS. 



This subject has engrossed the attention of scientific and 

 practical men for the last four hundred years. We do not 

 presume to enter into their speculations and investigations ; 

 our object is a much humbler one — to give a few simple and 

 practical hints on the subject of fruit culture, culled from our 

 own experience, and that of one or two individuals upon whose 

 judgment we can place reliance. There are few, even of those 

 who have studied the nature and character of fruits, that, out 

 of their own collection, know, at first sight, many varieties ; 

 and such is the diversity of taste, that we greatly question if 

 five individuals out of one hundred could be procured that 

 would agree as to the best six Apples, Pears, Peaches or 

 Grapes. This incongruity entirely disconcerts the inquiring 

 amateur, gardener, or farmer ; but the reason of it is evident. 

 The slight differences that distinguish some varieties ; the 

 alterative effects that soil has upon the growth and flavor of 

 others ; as well as the favorable and unfavorable results from 

 situation, causing trees grafted from the same stock frequently 

 to mature fruits so entirely dissimilar that they are inconsid- 

 erately noticed as being something new. This desire for new 

 fruit has become such a mania, that it greatly encourages the 

 introduction, both at home and from abroad, of sorts that are 

 worthless, compared with our old well-tried kinds. These are 



