252 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



same determined purpose, every one can succeed. And so do 

 I. He has felt sensitive in relation to the prophecy of our dis- 

 tinguished friend, to whom he alluded [Dr. Loring] in relation 

 to the apple crop, and I think, as the last season has proved, he 

 has got rather the better of the doctor. But in relation to the 

 peach crop, as a crop for general cultivation, with the expecta- 

 tion that it will succeed, as it did in old times, I think, with 

 due deference, he has taken for granted what he has not yet 

 proved. I am as anxious to have you cultivate the peach as 

 any man can be. I have been cultivating it for forty years. It 

 is very seldom I get a crop, and I believe the reason to be, as I 

 said last year, the removal of the forests (and that reason has 

 been assigned by gentlemen of far greater intelligence and 

 science than myself), which has had such an effect upon the 

 atmosphere and the temperature, that the peach cannot succeed 

 here. It certainly has not succeeded here at the North, of late 

 years, as it did fifty, sixty or seventy years ago. There are ex- 

 ceptions. As the gentleman has said, peaches have been raised 

 here in certain sections in quantities, but they have not been 

 raised around Boston in quantities. I remember that in the 

 town of Walpole, in my own county of Norfolk, fine crops of 

 peaches were raised for years, and it was supposed- that they 

 could continue to raise them ; but they failed, and nobody cul- 

 tivates them now. 



Not to prolong my remarks, I hope every gentleman Mill be 

 encouraged by what Mr. Moore has said. Try the peach. 

 Plant it as you do your corn. You will get your crop some- 

 times ; but I don't believe we shall ever see the crop of peaches 

 in this region, — where our fathers used to get them as plenty 

 as potatoes, without any care, — come round again so that their 

 cultivation will be successful for a series of years. I hope it 

 may be. 



Now in relation to the importance of the fruit crop. I al- 

 luded to that subject in the opening remarks which 1 had the 

 honor to address to the Board. I am glad to know that Capt. 

 Moore's opinion agrees with mine. I think it is going to be one 

 of the most important crops in Massachusetts ; second only, as 

 he says, to the hay crop. And, gentlemen, let us believe that 

 this branch of farming can be made just as profitable in Mas- 

 sachusetts as it ever has been, and as profitable as it is anywhere 



