106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



varieties, has proved not adapted to regions no further west than 

 the State of Ohio. 



Still another reason for producing new varieties, is to obtain 

 kinds superior to those we now possess, for notwithstanding the 

 number of fine fruits we now have, there is no reason to sup- 

 pose that the possibilities in nature are exhausted. We want 

 also to fill up the blanks in the seasons. In raising new varie- 

 ties an object of special importance is to extend the season of 

 fine fruit, by producing varieties, ripening at the beginning and 

 end, of greater excellence than we now possess. How desirable 

 to produce a pear as handsome and good as the Bartlett, ripen- 

 ing as late, and with the certainty of the Beurrt^ d' Anjou ! 



What a prize to the cultivator, and what a boon to New Eng- 

 land, would a grape be, the quality of the Delaware ripening 

 the middle of August, like our wild grape of the woods, and 

 possessing the hardiness and productiveness of the Concord ! 



It may be that nature has set limits to our achievements ; it 

 may be that time is requisite to produce size in fruits, so that 

 we cannot expect our earliest varieties to be as large as our later 

 ones ; still, we may make some approach toward it ; but he is a 

 bold man, who, in view of what has already been attained, and 

 this wonderful age of discovery, invention and enterprise in 

 which we live, shall attempt to fix bounds to the acquisitions of 

 the pomologist. 



I have thus stated my reasons for attempting the production 

 of new varieties of fruits, because it is often asked, why we 

 should desire to add to the already long catalogue of fine sorts. 

 When we consider the numerous valuable American varieties 

 which have been obtained during the last twenty-five years ; 

 when we consider the great number of cultivators now turning 

 their attention to this most interesting department of pomology, 

 the multitude of seedlings now in growth from accidental 

 sources, and the thousands of hybrids produced by artificial 

 impregnation, our most sanguine hopes are awakened of richer 

 and more abundant acquisitions in the future. 



Our native fruits are fast supplanting foreign sorts. All of 

 our grapes in cultivation, and nearly all of our strawberries, 

 are of American origin ; and the time is fast approaching when 

 we shall claim for our apples and pears the same honorable ex- 



