13 



largest crop was in 1875 ; and, on the peninsula of Delaware 

 and Mar}'liuul alone, it was estimated at between seven mil- 

 lion and eight million baskets; 



From California, there were sent east, in 1876, three hun- 

 dred and thirty-four car-loads of fruit, of four hundred bush- 

 els each. 



The increase of strawberry culture in the vicinity of 

 Norfolk, Va., is astonishing, completely heading tlie page of 

 horticultural progress. Tiie shipments this year have been 

 over three millions of quarts. There were nearly ten thou- 

 sand pickers in the field in one day. One grower had a 

 hundred and eighty-five acres. To Boston alone there have 

 been shipped this year 11,547 crates, of forty-five quarts 

 each, or more than sixteen thousand bushels. 



The increase in the crops of apples in New York, Michi- 

 gan, and the more Western States, is wonderful. 



From New York, it is estimated, that, in abundant years, 

 a million and a half of barrels are exported in addition to 

 those consumed at home. One county, it is said, received 

 one million a year of dollars for apples sold ; a single firm 

 at Boston receives from that State from thirty thousand to 

 forty thousand barrels of apples per year. 



The immense collection of fruit shown at the Centennial 

 Exposition last year, surpassing even the great exhibitions 

 of the American Pomological Society at Boston and Chicago, 

 deserves mention here. One of the judges writes me, "I 

 know that the judges examined over twelve thousand dishes 

 of fruit during the week, commencing the 10th of September, 

 and I have no doubt that the entire exhibition during the 

 season reached the grand number of over sixty thousand 

 dishes and over four hundred thousand specimens." 



In view of the wonderful progress which has already been 

 made, we begin to realize the great importance of American 

 pomology ; nor should we forget, as among the great bene- 

 fits of fruit-culture, the employment of thousands of men, 

 women, and children, or the immense amounts paid for 

 freiglit on fruits to railroads, steamboats, &c., and the profits 

 to dealers. 



But who can estimate the amazing quantities of fruits 

 that are to be produced on this continent, when the lands 

 suited to fruit-culture are brought into use ! Look at the 



