PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 23 



of the last century and the early part of the present, but 

 they were the exception to the general rule even there. 

 Choice varieties of apples, pears, peaches^ and cherries were 

 known only to a few careful cultivators, and the number of 

 varieties of these was quite limited as compared with the 

 present day. Cider was plenty, but its quality was much less 

 regarded than its quantity. It is stated that so late as 1824 

 there was not a nursery for the sale of apple and pear trees 

 in New England. Trees had to be bought in New York or 

 New Jersey, or imported from abroad. The first horticul- 

 tural society in the country was established in New York, 

 about the year 1820. It lived but eight or ten years, and 

 then died. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society was or- 

 ganized in 1827, and the Massachusetts in 1829. The 

 orchard products, according to the last census, have' now 

 risen to $48,000,000, and the general culture of fruit is rap- 

 idly progressing. 



We are now prepared to appreciate the condition of our 

 aiyriculture at the time of the outbreak of the Revolution. 

 We have seen that the settlers had 'out poor and inefficient 

 tools, poor and profitless cattle, poor and meagre crops, and 

 poor and miserable ideas of farming. They had no agricul- 

 tural journals, no newspapers of any kind, and few books, 

 except the old family Bible. There were less than a dozen 

 papers published in the country at the middle of the last 

 century. There was not one in New England at the begin- 

 ning of that century, but four in 1750, and these had but a 

 very limited circulation in the rural districts. There was lit- 

 tle communication from town to town. The facilities for 

 travel were extremely limited. It was before the days of 

 many stages even, and the liberalizing influence which mod- 

 ern travel and social intercourse exert. Everything was fav- 

 orable to the growth of prejudice and of narrow-minded 

 views. 



KESTRICTIONS ON COLONIAL AGRICULTURE. 



Moreover, it is to be considered that throughout all the 

 days of the colonies, from the very outset, the policy of the 

 home-government was to make the provinces a source of 



