PROGRESS IN FRUIT CULTURE. 103 



oats and pease, could they, with prophetic eye, have seen the 

 thousand million of bushels in our annual crop, a crop of 

 grain sufficient to give a bushel each to every man, woman 

 and child on the face of the globe. Nor would I omit to men- 

 tion the mountainous piles of cotton, without which for a single 

 year, the commercial world would be stricken with dismay. 

 Why, it is not a hundred years since the first five bales of 

 cotton exported to Liverpool Avere seized as a contraband ar- 

 ticle in the belief that no such product as cotton could be 

 grown on American soil, a product that now reaches the 

 wondrous amount of sixteen hundred millions of pounds, and 

 produces an income of three hundred millions of dollars an- 

 nua^y. 



And have you ever, my friends, duly considered the advan- 

 tages and privileges which exist at the present day as com- 

 pared with olden times ? It is only about ninety years since 

 the first agricultural society was established on this continent. 

 Your own Middlesex Society, one of the oldest in the State, 

 dates back to only 1794. It is only about twenty years since 

 this Board of Agriculture, one of the first in this country, 

 was formed. It is only about twenty years since the first Ag- 

 ricultural College of our Union was formed. Now, the ma- 

 jority of our States have colleges and Boards of agriculture. 

 And so numerous have agricultural, horticultural and kin- 

 dred institutions become, that they may be counted by the 

 thousand. Let me also mention in this connection, the knowl- 

 edge w^hich has been acquired in the arts of hybridization 

 and cross-fertilization, by which numerous and valualjle vari- 

 eties of grains, vegetables, fruits and flowers have been pro- 

 duced. Within our own recollection, the process was but 

 imperfectly known or practised. Now, to such perfection 

 has this art arrived, that every year produces new and supe- 

 rior sorts, which are alike renowned for excellence in the best 

 European catalogues. 



Let me also allude to the amazing progress of fruit culture 

 during the last half of this century. In this pursuit, Massa- 

 chusetts has been a pioneer and leader, and from whence ema- 

 nated, primarily, much of the enterprise Avhich has spread 

 throughout our land. Fifty years ago the list of fruits wiis 

 limited to a very few varieties, which were mostly confined to 



