FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 303 



fruit per acre. Some small pieces have been said to pro- 

 duce at tlic rate of 4,000 boxes per acre, exclusive of the 

 alleys, and measured perhaps with the stems on. 



A word in regard to profit. I do not think that in Essex 

 county, larger average profits are made in strawberry culture 

 than in the cultivation of many other crops, although great 

 profits are sometimes realized for one or two seasons. Putting 

 the receipts of a full crop sold at good prices, against the 

 expenses of that year, might show an exceedingly large profit, 

 but it should be remembered that it often requires one or two 

 years to prepare the soil, and always one year's cultivation 

 before obtaining a crop, and that after two or three years the 

 crops will continually decrease. When all things are taken 

 into account, the profits will not seem so great, and, indeed, in 

 seven years' culture the balance may be quite on the wrong 

 side of tlie leger. With a favorable situation, suitable soil, 

 skilful culture, constant care, and a good market, strawberry 

 growing is profitable. 



Danversport, 10 mo., 1, 1857. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Flowers. — The testimony of Mary Plowitt, as sweet a poetess 

 as ever sang, is abundantly sustained by thousands of the highest 

 intellects of the age. 



" God might have made the earth bring forth 



Enough for great and small ; 

 The oak tree and the cedar tree, 



Without a flower at all. 

 Our outward life requires them not — 



Then -wherefore had they birth ? 

 To minister delight to man. 



To beautify the earth ; 

 To comfort man — to whisper hope 



Whene'er his/aith is dim, 

 For whoso careth for the flowers, 



Will much more care for him ! " 



Hear Henry Ward Beecher, one of the few modern preachers 

 who dares appeal to nature and her divine teachings. He 

 speaks not to gladden and encourage the pampered pride of 

 sectarian bigotry, but to cheer, CAlighten, and exalt the entire 



