INTRODUCTION. V 



in the State of New York, the entire fruit plantations of more 

 than three fourths of the agricultural population consist of very 

 ordinary orchards of apples. Not a dish of fine pears, plums, 

 cherries, apricots, grapes, or raspberries, has ever appeared on 

 their tables, and not a step has yet been taken to produce them. 

 People are but beginning to learn the uses of fruits, and to 

 appreciate their importance. 



At one time apples were grown chiefly for cider ; now they are 

 considered indispensable articles of food. The finer fruits, that 

 were formerly considered as luxuries only for the tables of the 

 wealthy, are beginning to take their place among the ordinary 

 supplies of every man's table ; and this taste must grow from 

 year to year, with an increased supply. Those who consume a 

 bushel of fruit this year, will require double or treble that (pantity 

 next. The rapid increase of population alone, creates a demand 

 to an extent that few people are aware of. The city of Roches- 

 ter has added 20,000 to her numbers in ten years. Let such an 

 increase as this in all our cities, towns, and villages, be estimated, 

 and see what an aggregate annual amount of new consumers it 

 presents. 



New markets are continually presenting themselves and de- 

 manding large supplies. New and more perfect modes of pack- 

 ing and shipping fruits, and of drying, preserving, and preparing 

 them for various purposes to which they have not hitherto been 

 appropriated, are beginning to enlist attention and inquiry. 



Immense amounts of money are annually expended in import- 

 ing grapes, wines, figs, nuts, prunes, raisins, currants, almonds, 

 &c., many of which might be produced perfectly well on our own 

 soil. Pears have actually been imported from France by the 

 New York confectioners, this present season, (1851.) These 

 are facts that should be well understood by proprietors of lands, 



